berto
I Saw the Devil
Not long ago, a few weeks at most, I was cleaning up my office and arranging my books. I have pretty healthy DMC section and while moving them I opened one to a random page with interviews from the developers. In that random passage I flip to the developer was talking about how Lady was a character who had abandoned her femininity in DMC3 and in that moment something struck because suddenly some things made perfect sense to me. I made a connection and I realized something that now feels rather obvious: She cut off her own hair.
This in itself is a very common image, someone using a knife to chop off their long hair in a symbolic show of determination, greef or abandonment to their old life. The most famous example I can think is, of course, Mulan. Another similar one would be Sakura from Naruto, but it doesn't have to be a positive change, it can also be symbolic of loss, such is the case in the film All About Lily Chou-Chou where a young girl shaves her head after being assaulted in that one way that gets you banned to talk about directly on most platforms. I could try to cite more examples but we'd be here all day so back to the topic.
I actually felt somewhat silly for not noticing this before. 20 eff'n years, m8! Well, I always chopped off Lady's hair looking like it does (no pun intended) because she's made to look like Julia Volkova but I also always thought her hair looked pretty rough, messy, especially in concept art. Even so, just because one is true doesn't mean the other can't be, especially since she's exactly the kind of person who'd make this kind of decision. A woman who'd abandoned her name and go on a quest to kill her father because of his actions, takes the dishonor of what he's done as her own and as her responsibility, who'd name a weapon after her mother and use it as the literal weight she carries is exactly the kind of woman who would chop off her hair in this situation.
Similarly, I always assumed that Lady got all those scars from day her mother was killed, as in she got caught up in the violence of that day, especially that one on her nose, but now I'm starting to think they came from her training. Yeah, maybe both but I think she was just a normal girl before her father met that demon (Personal theory is that scar on her nose was from said day and the rest might be combination of both). This makes that line 'You've grown strong' take on a different meaning when you consider the fact she wasn't born kicking ass rather than training for it..
Unfortunatly, I am not sure where exactly I actually read this. For the life of me I can't find the passage but I do know that I read it, that's it's not something I imagined or am misremembering because I started to google the topic right after I read the it and those tabs were still opened. I thought it was the 3142 book but I've looked over those interviews repeatedly and I can't find the passage. I'm sure I'll bump into it again before long. Still frustrating to have to go look. Should've put a tab on it.
Interestingly enough, this makes the name 'Lady' a rather fitting for a (young) woman like her. As a name 'Lady' is a little unusual but it's not unheard of, even in Spanish, so it's not like it's impossible or even odd for someone to have it (that Cobra reference, though) but, as a name aside, when you look at it as a title for woman of nobility it can be argued that it's very applicable to her, in both terms of birth and as a character trait. This is something I've pondered about for a bit, how fiting her new name is, since not only is she the descendant of the priestess that was sacrificed all those centuries ago, implying a noble and maybe even divine lineage, but her ideals are of such a chivalrous, arguably even knightly, nature that you could argue a self imposed code akin to that of classical nobility, downright samurai. Just like Vergil, she never utters the word 'honor' but there is a definite sense of priority for it in her behaviour and motivations. While others would renounce their father for selling their soul and going on a murder spree she puts her life on the line to make it right. Trains for and is even willing to kill for it. Not a lot of people would. What her soul demands.
On a related note, another thing that I've wondered is how this relates to the legend of Sparda, as in from Lady's point of view. I've sort of planted this idea in my head that Lady's favorite story from all of the ones her father told her as a child was Sparda's. Let's just say for the sake of argument that this is the case. If we operate under this assumption then we can speculate about which came first; did she become the woman she is to day because stories like that of Sparda appealed and shape her in to the woman she is now or did she like them because she was always that kind of woman. There is a sense of romance to both postulations so, really, it's a matter of interpretation and since this just a baseless idea of mine you can take either, or neither, as a possible character factoid. That being said, and I know this is just a thought in my head with no foundation, but I like this idea because it would create a certain sense of destiny for her, like a young woman who loved listening to stories about a legendary gunfighter who later turned out to be her father/mother or a boy whose favorite video game was real. It just makes her meeting with the sons of Sparda something that was almost meant to be. I know it's kind of unrelated but this is really the only time it'd seemed appropriate to bring it up since there's no sense making an entire post about this tidbit of what can only be described as headcanon.
Anyway, back that whole abandoning her femininity thing. There is also a kind of sense of visual progression from the character as we move from 3 to 4. There is this part in the DMC4 interviews from that 3124 book where one of the designers mentions how Lady isn't wearing a bra and she's got short shorts on. He very specifically points out that short shorts both cover but also not really cover her butt. In the way they describe it it seems she is showing off now, not minding that the goods are peeking. Not... very ladylike attire (again, no pun intended) but if we assume this isn't just fan service (which it is but let's say there's more to it than that), that there is an understanding of where the character started and where they are in 4, which is not outside the realm of possibility because the people who made 3 made 4, then we could make an argument that Lady's in a place where she is ok expressing her femininity more (well, at least this is what I feel is what they want to instate). She's moved away from that dark state where she's defeminized herself to where she feels comfortable wearing something that shows off her... (ahem) figure. If we are going by visual storytelling then the implication here is that she's reclaimed her femininity and, from reading that interview, that's what I think is the idea they're trying to get across with her design in 4, that she's in a better place.
(If I'm being honest, I think the whole progression from rebel school girl to slutty secretary is too drastic and her design in 4 a tad goofy just because the outfit strikes me as silly. Ok, not the outfit itself but the fact that it's Lady wearing it. I know I just said all that but we had no actual sense of progression from one end to what could genuinely be described as the other extreme so this fanservice comes off very much as 'for the fans' and not as the character progression it feels like they're trying to convey. What I'm saying is that an in-between would've gone a long way to breach the two states of progress. At least for me. I know a lot of people like her look in 4 but to me it was only her second design and we got something rather different. I mean, we were there but now we're here and I don't see the road that got us here and it was kind of a long distance.)
After all this epiphany-ing the question did come up in my head of why did it never occurred to me to make the connection despite all these things so seeming obvious in hindsight. Seems rather blatant now, really. So? Yeah, well, that's thing. Lady's image has become so rooted in the design she has in DMC3 that either no one wants to deviate from it or maybe they are not allowed to. If you look at the original concept art for 4 Lady has longer hair in the initial development so it's not like the thoughts' never crossed their minds but DMC developers never stray far from the established parameters of designs. Looking at the concept art of the games they seem to want to do things but always settle for the familiar. Even if they thought about changing her hair they don't because what it is in 3 has become the staple. He silhouette won't change. Just like how they'll never dress Trish in anything except what is conceptually the same black outfit they'll never give Lady anything except the same conceptual haircut. It's why she has the exact same hair do in a prequel manga even though, if what I'm saying is true, this is before said drastic haircut.
Anyway. Those are my thoughts. I really wanted to put them in writing because if I don't I will forget so best to do it before long. Feel free to agree or disagree for which I will ban you or discuss or debate. I know I get very long winded with these things so, again, I apologize but hope it was something worth reading.
I'm kinda tired and still somewhat sick so I'm not going to edit and correct this further until I get some rest so this might not be the final draft. Just going to leave it for now. Errors and all.
This in itself is a very common image, someone using a knife to chop off their long hair in a symbolic show of determination, greef or abandonment to their old life. The most famous example I can think is, of course, Mulan. Another similar one would be Sakura from Naruto, but it doesn't have to be a positive change, it can also be symbolic of loss, such is the case in the film All About Lily Chou-Chou where a young girl shaves her head after being assaulted in that one way that gets you banned to talk about directly on most platforms. I could try to cite more examples but we'd be here all day so back to the topic.
I actually felt somewhat silly for not noticing this before. 20 eff'n years, m8! Well, I always chopped off Lady's hair looking like it does (no pun intended) because she's made to look like Julia Volkova but I also always thought her hair looked pretty rough, messy, especially in concept art. Even so, just because one is true doesn't mean the other can't be, especially since she's exactly the kind of person who'd make this kind of decision. A woman who'd abandoned her name and go on a quest to kill her father because of his actions, takes the dishonor of what he's done as her own and as her responsibility, who'd name a weapon after her mother and use it as the literal weight she carries is exactly the kind of woman who would chop off her hair in this situation.
Similarly, I always assumed that Lady got all those scars from day her mother was killed, as in she got caught up in the violence of that day, especially that one on her nose, but now I'm starting to think they came from her training. Yeah, maybe both but I think she was just a normal girl before her father met that demon (Personal theory is that scar on her nose was from said day and the rest might be combination of both). This makes that line 'You've grown strong' take on a different meaning when you consider the fact she wasn't born kicking ass rather than training for it..
Unfortunatly, I am not sure where exactly I actually read this. For the life of me I can't find the passage but I do know that I read it, that's it's not something I imagined or am misremembering because I started to google the topic right after I read the it and those tabs were still opened. I thought it was the 3142 book but I've looked over those interviews repeatedly and I can't find the passage. I'm sure I'll bump into it again before long. Still frustrating to have to go look. Should've put a tab on it.
Interestingly enough, this makes the name 'Lady' a rather fitting for a (young) woman like her. As a name 'Lady' is a little unusual but it's not unheard of, even in Spanish, so it's not like it's impossible or even odd for someone to have it (that Cobra reference, though) but, as a name aside, when you look at it as a title for woman of nobility it can be argued that it's very applicable to her, in both terms of birth and as a character trait. This is something I've pondered about for a bit, how fiting her new name is, since not only is she the descendant of the priestess that was sacrificed all those centuries ago, implying a noble and maybe even divine lineage, but her ideals are of such a chivalrous, arguably even knightly, nature that you could argue a self imposed code akin to that of classical nobility, downright samurai. Just like Vergil, she never utters the word 'honor' but there is a definite sense of priority for it in her behaviour and motivations. While others would renounce their father for selling their soul and going on a murder spree she puts her life on the line to make it right. Trains for and is even willing to kill for it. Not a lot of people would. What her soul demands.
On a related note, another thing that I've wondered is how this relates to the legend of Sparda, as in from Lady's point of view. I've sort of planted this idea in my head that Lady's favorite story from all of the ones her father told her as a child was Sparda's. Let's just say for the sake of argument that this is the case. If we operate under this assumption then we can speculate about which came first; did she become the woman she is to day because stories like that of Sparda appealed and shape her in to the woman she is now or did she like them because she was always that kind of woman. There is a sense of romance to both postulations so, really, it's a matter of interpretation and since this just a baseless idea of mine you can take either, or neither, as a possible character factoid. That being said, and I know this is just a thought in my head with no foundation, but I like this idea because it would create a certain sense of destiny for her, like a young woman who loved listening to stories about a legendary gunfighter who later turned out to be her father/mother or a boy whose favorite video game was real. It just makes her meeting with the sons of Sparda something that was almost meant to be. I know it's kind of unrelated but this is really the only time it'd seemed appropriate to bring it up since there's no sense making an entire post about this tidbit of what can only be described as headcanon.
Anyway, back that whole abandoning her femininity thing. There is also a kind of sense of visual progression from the character as we move from 3 to 4. There is this part in the DMC4 interviews from that 3124 book where one of the designers mentions how Lady isn't wearing a bra and she's got short shorts on. He very specifically points out that short shorts both cover but also not really cover her butt. In the way they describe it it seems she is showing off now, not minding that the goods are peeking. Not... very ladylike attire (again, no pun intended) but if we assume this isn't just fan service (which it is but let's say there's more to it than that), that there is an understanding of where the character started and where they are in 4, which is not outside the realm of possibility because the people who made 3 made 4, then we could make an argument that Lady's in a place where she is ok expressing her femininity more (well, at least this is what I feel is what they want to instate). She's moved away from that dark state where she's defeminized herself to where she feels comfortable wearing something that shows off her... (ahem) figure. If we are going by visual storytelling then the implication here is that she's reclaimed her femininity and, from reading that interview, that's what I think is the idea they're trying to get across with her design in 4, that she's in a better place.
(If I'm being honest, I think the whole progression from rebel school girl to slutty secretary is too drastic and her design in 4 a tad goofy just because the outfit strikes me as silly. Ok, not the outfit itself but the fact that it's Lady wearing it. I know I just said all that but we had no actual sense of progression from one end to what could genuinely be described as the other extreme so this fanservice comes off very much as 'for the fans' and not as the character progression it feels like they're trying to convey. What I'm saying is that an in-between would've gone a long way to breach the two states of progress. At least for me. I know a lot of people like her look in 4 but to me it was only her second design and we got something rather different. I mean, we were there but now we're here and I don't see the road that got us here and it was kind of a long distance.)
After all this epiphany-ing the question did come up in my head of why did it never occurred to me to make the connection despite all these things so seeming obvious in hindsight. Seems rather blatant now, really. So? Yeah, well, that's thing. Lady's image has become so rooted in the design she has in DMC3 that either no one wants to deviate from it or maybe they are not allowed to. If you look at the original concept art for 4 Lady has longer hair in the initial development so it's not like the thoughts' never crossed their minds but DMC developers never stray far from the established parameters of designs. Looking at the concept art of the games they seem to want to do things but always settle for the familiar. Even if they thought about changing her hair they don't because what it is in 3 has become the staple. He silhouette won't change. Just like how they'll never dress Trish in anything except what is conceptually the same black outfit they'll never give Lady anything except the same conceptual haircut. It's why she has the exact same hair do in a prequel manga even though, if what I'm saying is true, this is before said drastic haircut.
Anyway. Those are my thoughts. I really wanted to put them in writing because if I don't I will forget so best to do it before long. Feel free to agree or disagree for which I will ban you or discuss or debate. I know I get very long winded with these things so, again, I apologize but hope it was something worth reading.
I'm kinda tired and still somewhat sick so I'm not going to edit and correct this further until I get some rest so this might not be the final draft. Just going to leave it for now. Errors and all.
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