Dante is the main protagonist of the Devil May Cry franchise and the playable lead in most of its games. Born to the demon Sparda and the human Eva, he is the twin brother of Vergil and Nero’s uncle. He is a private investigator and devil hunter determined to kill demons and other supernatural foes. He wants revenge on the demons who killed his mother, Eva, and corrupted Vergil. As Sparda’s son, he has inherited demonic powers that he uses alongside many weapons in the games.
Updated October 2026. We corrected the release year of Devil May Cry 4 (2008, not 2004), fixed descriptions of Dante’s weapons, Devil Trigger and the Devil May Cry 5 story, removed an unverified age, and added sources.
Meaning of the name Dante
The character is named after the Italian poet Dante Alighieri. Hideki Kamiya, the game designer of Devil May Cry, wanted the character to come off as a cool and stylish man.
Personality
Dante is muscular, with silver-white hair and icy-blue eyes, and he wears a red coat. His trademark weapons are Ebony & Ivory, a pair of semi-automatic handguns that never need reloading, and swords including Rebellion and the Force Edge. His half-demon heritage gives him extraordinary strength.
His father, Sparda, was a demon knight who took the side of humanity and fought off a demon invasion of the human world about 2,000 years before the games. His human mother, Eva, raised him and his brother, Vergil, but she was killed in a demon attack when they were children. Since then, he has been committed to killing her murderers. He is also known for taunting enemies and eating pizza, and the limited editions of Devil May Cry 4: Special Edition even came in a pizza box.
Also Read – Nero in Devil May Cry: Unveiling The Demon Within
What is Dante’s Devil Trigger?
Devil Trigger is a heightened demonic state that Dante can enter during battle. It increases his strength and speed, lets him regenerate health, and lets him fly with his melee weapon. How the Devil Trigger looks and works changes from game to game, depending on the weapons Dante has equipped and the entry in the series.
How old is Dante in DMC 5?
We could not confirm an exact age for Dante in Devil May Cry 5 from an official source. The game presents him as an older, more weathered devil hunter than in the earlier games.
Appearances
Devil May Cry
In The Devil May Cry, 2001, a woman, Trish, hires Dante and resembles Eva, his late mother. She wants him to prevent Mundus, the devil king. However, Trish is planning to get Dante killed by Mundus’ agents. However, one of the agents is Soldier Nelo Angelo, who is later revealed to be Dante’s brother, Vergil. Dante defeats Vergil and also defeats Trish when she tries to attack him. She gives Dante her power to defeat the devil King Mundus and become partners with Dante.
Devil May Cry 2
The story revolves around helping Lucia defeat Arius, the businessman who uses devilish powers to win the world. At the game’s end, Dante has to go to the demon world to prevent someone from escaping, but the gate closes, leaving him in the demon world.
Devil May Cry 3
Devil May Cry 3: Dante’s Awakening is the prequel to the first game, featuring a younger Dante. At the game’s end, Vergil stays in the world of demons, and Dante has ownership of Force Edge.
Also Read – Vergil in Devil May Cry: The Ambition of Power and Complexity of Brotherhood
Devil May Cry 4
In Devil May Cry 4, released in 2008, Dante first appears as an enemy of the new hero, Nero. Lady tells Dante and Trish that Sanctus, the head of the Order of the Sword, is using demonic power to conquer the world. Trish infiltrates the Order to gather evidence against Sanctus. Dante is playable in the second half of the game, where he fights Sanctus and helps save Nero and Kyrie. He trusts Nero with Vergil’s sword after Sanctus and the Savior are destroyed.
Devil May Cry 5
Dante returns in Devil May Cry 5, from 2019, as one of the main playable characters. A mysterious man named V hires him to fight the demon king Urizen, but Urizen defeats Dante early in the story. Dante spends a month in a coma, guarded by his father’s sword, Sparda, and returns stronger after absorbing Sparda’s power. He learns that Urizen is Vergil, Nero’s father. After Vergil is restored, Dante fights him until Nero forces the brothers to stop. In the end, Dante and Vergil leave for the underworld and leave the human world in Nero’s hands.
