Dante, Demons and Angels

[Ronin]

Will this series have Christianity in it? Same legacy? What kind of demons and angels will this game have?

Will Dante have the same personality as the old games throughout the new story?

 

[V]

I doubt it.

It may offend and trivialize a religion to those who believe in it put it explicitly into a game. The demons of DMC series - although they have similarities to existing demons in real folklore/religion - aren't, to my knowledge, taken directly from any current religion.

The word "Satan" is never used, for example, nor is any current term for God. Instead they use non-specific language like "I wished to be a God" and "the Devil's descendants" because neither of those are directly referring to any particular religion - "the devil" is a term used so widely, it doesn't relate only to Christianity. And someone out there would probably be upset if they did, so it is best for the game to create its own mythology.

Beowulf is based on a real demon called Pazuzu, but the civilisation that believed in him is long gone, so it's OK. Same with a few of the other enemies in the games. There's a suggestion of Christianity in there as well as the gothic churches and so on, but nothing outright. So I doubt this new one would contain real Christian references, that would be quite risky.

 

[Emerald]

I doubt it.

It may offend and trivialize a religion to those who believe in it put it explicitly into a game. The demons of DMC series - although they have similarities to existing demons in real folklore/religion - aren't, to my knowledge, taken directly from any current religion.

The word "Satan" is never used, for example, nor is any current term for God. Instead they use non-specific language like "I wished to be a God" and "the Devil's descendants" because neither of those are directly referring to any particular religion - "the devil" is a term used so widely, it doesn't relate only to Christianity. And someone out there would probably be upset if they did, so it is best for the game to create its own mythology.

Beowulf is based on a real demon called Pazuzu, but the civilisation that believed in him is long gone, so it's OK. Same with a few of the other enemies in the games. There's a suggestion of Christianity in there as well as the gothic churches and so on, but nothing outright. So I doubt this new one would contain real Christian references, that would be quite risky.

Woah woah woah, in DMC4, Nero says something along the lines of, "Y'know God, I always hated that you gave me this arm..."

 

[V]

True. But "god" is an adjective as well as a noun, and a proper noun too, right? So if someone refers to God, he may or may not be referring the Christian one... 'god' being an English word for any deity, as well. Only the context of someone's speech and personality and circumstance would be able to reveal whether he is or not. And in films and books etc., you frequently get (sometimes non-religious) characters refer to God or a god as though he or it is a person they know, sometimes hopefully or cynically, but we don't know what God they're referring to particularly. One off the top of my head - what Riddick says in Pitch Black, for example. We don't know which god he means; we might assume he is talking about the Christian one but we can't even be sure if he really believes, or is referring to Fate or chance or some other force of will that he seems to think of as malevolent. Another might be when god is used in informal language or as a curse... "oh my God!" "Jesus Christ!" etc. The context should determine whether the character is really talking about the Christian God in seriousness or not.

If Nero said anything specific, like "You know, Jesus...", then you might have a problem... but he said "god", which could just be Nero getting philosophical about causality... he may not literally be talking to a god, and I doubt he'd be talking to the Christian God, since there is no sign of Him in the DMC games anywhere else.

I always thought it was weird the way Nero refers to god like that. If he's in the Order, it kinda implies he doesn't believe in Sparda, (unless Sparda is god to them? But then why not use the word 'Sparda?' or some other word they have for him, to avoid confusion?) and if he's simply talking to himself, they didn't need to add the 'God' in there really. :/ If he does believe in a god, I doubt it's meant to be the Christian God specifically, and there's no way to know. It's up for interpretation I guess. Everyone's idea of god is gonna be their own.

So... it's still not a definite reference to the Christian God or any other. You'd need to use language like Jesus, Yaweh, Allah, The Lord, Shiva, etc. ...I think the word 'god' alone isn't offensive unless the person listening assumes it always refers to the god they believe in. Which would be their mistake I suppose.

 

[Emerald]

You... have a point.

Nero didn't seem really religious. He was blasting metal when Sanctus was preaching. Sounds kinda like me...

 

[Asmodaius]

I have never seen the DMC lore to be about Christianity. It is inspired by it with demons and angels etc, sure, but it was never the Christian mythos being used in these games.

As Lexy stated in a very good way, gods, demons and angels are not exclusive to the Christian mythos. They are in MANY different religions, but they are also a great part of many fantasy worlds such as the one in DMC.