Superiority complex

[Lionheart]

No, I'm pretty sure the games say nothing about Dante wanting to protect humans. If he did want to, he would've tried to save as many humans as possible in DMC4, when all those demons poured out of the hell gate. He didn't really seem to care. Though I'll admit that DMC1 portrays Dante slightly differently, as he shows strong, sincere emotion when Trish dies. But as for the rest, he is simply shown to like killing demons, and I never said anything about him wanting to kill all demons, so maybe you confused it with somebody else's comment. I see Dante feels that if he gets to save people, that's simply a bonus. Well, maybe bonus isn't the right word. He just goes: "good for you" and moves on. He doesn't seek attention, and he's made for killing demons, so why wouldn't he like it? He makes a living off of it, and gets to eat pizza whenever he wants to. Meanwhile, his shop pretty much stayed the same.

Look, no offense, but unless my memories of the DMCs are incorrect, I'd say you're... well... 'inflating' what little story there is, based on Dante and Vergil's background stories. Basically, I'm saying I'm not going to speculate about things that may or may not be true. Saying Dante wants revenge for what happened, well, when would he get his revenge, then? In DMC1, Dante kills Mundus, therefore getting his revenge. If revenge was all he wanted, he wouldn't have remained a demon hunter after DMC1 (in DMC4 and DMC2).

 

[IncarnatedDemon]

No, I'm pretty sure the games say nothing about Dante wanting to protect humans. If he did want to, he would've tried to save as many humans as possible in DMC4, when all those demons poured out of the hell gate. He didn't really seem to care.

Saving as many humans as possible, tell me Lion...which approach would be best to do so?
1) Deal with hellgates from which demons are entering into human world and killing humans
2) Kill demons

Let me guess, you think #1 is best right? I think so too. Isn't that what Dante did in 4?
Also Dante let the killing of the demons that were terrorizing humans to Trish.
So didn't Dante try to save as many humans as possible?
I would say: Yes he did.

Though I'll admit that DMC1 portrays Dante slightly differently, as he shows strong, sincere emotion when Trish dies. But as for the rest, he is simply shown to like killing demons, and I never said anything about him wanting to kill all demons, so maybe you confused it with somebody else's comment. I see Dante feels that if he gets to save people, that's simply a bonus.
Well, maybe bonus isn't the right word. He just goes: "good for you" and moves on. He doesn't seek attention, and he's made for killing demons, so why wouldn't he like it? He makes a living off of it, and gets to eat pizza whenever he wants to. Meanwhile, his shop pretty much stayed the same.

I believe he likes to deal with demons to save and protect humans. And his enjoyment of killing demons is exaggerated for fun.

Look, no offense, but unless my memories of the DMCs are incorrect, I'd say you're... well... 'inflating' what little story there is, based on Dante and Vergil's background stories. Basically, I'm saying I'm not going to speculate about things that may or may not be true. Saying Dante wants revenge for what happened, well, when would he get his revenge, then? In DMC1, Dante kills Mundus, therefore getting his revenge. If revenge was all he wanted, he wouldn't have remained a demon hunter after DMC1 (in DMC4 and DMC2).

But you have to ask yourself, why does Dante hunt demons in first place.

1. He knows many of them are evil and want to harm others.
2. He has had a personal experience with the evil ones, losing his mother as result

Yes, after dealing with Mundus, Dante could quit hunting demons. But Dante is a compassionate individual. He doesn't think "I dealt with demons in my life, i dont care for other humans, they can all get killed by demons for all i care".
He cares...
He doesn't want others to go through what he went through...losing someone.
Hence he hunts demons.

And the enjoyment of knowing that you have save someone precious from death at hands of a demon...is probably high.
Dante could have thought "My mother was killed by evil demons, i wish there was help. I wish someone could have helped. I wish...i could have stopped it"

I dont think Dante hunting demons after Mundus is for revenge at what happened to his mother, but i believe strongly that he hunts demons to ensure something like that does not happen again to another person. That a human does not loose their mother, father or siblings at hands of a evil demon.
So i am saying Dante works as a hunter to protect others, he doesn't do it primarily for his own enjoyment. That would actually be quite narcistic and evil if he hunted demons just to have fun.
In dmc1 Dante expresses why he is in demon hunting business. That is a clear sign that he started hunting demons for revenge (to begin with), he didn't do it out of a pleasure of killing demons.

SUMMARY
I think Dante began hunting demons because of his mother. But he continued doing his job to protect others, to prevent things similar to him losing his mother.
And i dont think Dante enjoys killing demons for sake of killing demons.

He enjoys it because he knows how big of a difference it makes to have someone to help you. Here are some things i imagine Dante have thought of or asked himself surrounding the night his mother was killed.

"Where was father?"
"Who is responsible for this..."
"Why... why couldnt i do something!"
"Why did i run away?"
"I shouldnt have hide, i should have helped mother.."

As you can see alot of the questions are related to helping.
Father could have stopped this.
I should have stopped this

Ill say it again, i dont believe for a second Dante hunts demons primarily because he enjoys it. There is a psychological explaination behind it.
No matter how dmc3 portrays Dante, dmc1 and the general impression of the character as a whole gives a different explaination as to why he hunts demons.

 

[Pale Rider]

No, I'm pretty sure the games say nothing about Dante wanting to protect humans. If he did want to, he would've tried to save as many humans as possible in DMC4, when all those demons poured out of the hell gate. He didn't really seem to care. Though I'll admit that DMC1 portrays Dante slightly differently, as he shows strong, sincere emotion when Trish dies. But as for the rest, he is simply shown to like killing demons, and I never said anything about him wanting to kill all demons, so maybe you confused it with somebody else's comment. I see Dante feels that if he gets to save people, that's simply a bonus. Well, maybe bonus isn't the right word.

Well, in DMC4, he refused help offered by Trish to bring down that giant statue, and instead asked her to help people evacuate the area. Looks like he cared for humans. It wasn't just a "bonus" or whatever the right word for it is.

As for him wanting revenge, it's upto anybody's wild imagination.

 

[Stylish Nero]

Actually in the DMC3 manga, Dante says that he hunts down demons so he can get closer to the ones responsible for his mother's death (something he said to Trish in DMC1) while in DMC3 when he says "This is what I live for and I'm absolutely crazy about it!" That is basically him saying he found his calling or purpose for living prior to before he was just some dude who was mainly in it for revenge or just cause.

As for not showing signs of revenge and malice against demons for what they did to his family throughout DMC3 was because the events of DMC3 pertain to his brother and not any vendetta towards demons responsible for his mother's death and none of those demons in Temen-ni-Gru were affiliated or connected to Mundus or his mother's death.

Plus Mundus isn't dead, Dante only sealed him and Mundus vowed to one day return and make Dante pay and rule mankind.

 

[Lionheart]

Saving as many humans as possible, tell me Lion...which approach would be best to do so?
1) Deal with hellgates from which demons are entering into human world and killing humans
2) Kill demons

Let me guess, you think #1 is best right? I think so too. Isn't that what Dante did in 4?
Also Dante let the killing of the demons that were terrorizing humans to Trish.
So didn't Dante try to save as many humans as possible?
I would say: Yes he did.


I believe he likes to deal with demons to save and protect humans. And his enjoyment of killing demons is exaggerated for fun.


But you have to ask yourself, why does Dante hunt demons in first place.

1. He knows many of them are evil and want to harm others.
2. He has had a personal experience with the evil ones, losing his mother as result

Yes, after dealing with Mundus, Dante could quit hunting demons. But Dante is a compassionate individual. He doesn't think "I dealt with demons in my life, i dont care for other humans, they can all get killed by demons for all i care".
He cares...
He doesn't want others to go through what he went through...losing someone.
Hence he hunts demons.

And the enjoyment of knowing that you have save someone precious from death at hands of a demon...is probably high.
Dante could have thought "My mother was killed by evil demons, i wish there was help. I wish someone could have helped. I wish...i could have stopped it"

I dont think Dante hunting demons after Mundus is for revenge at what happened to his mother, but i believe strongly that he hunts demons to ensure something like that does not happen again to another person. That a human does not loose their mother, father or siblings at hands of a evil demon.
So i am saying Dante works as a hunter to protect others, he doesn't do it primarily for his own enjoyment. That would actually be quite narcistic and evil if he hunted demons just to have fun.
In dmc1 Dante expresses why he is in demon hunting business. That is a clear sign that he started hunting demons for revenge (to begin with), he didn't do it out of a pleasure of killing demons.

SUMMARY
I think Dante began hunting demons because of his mother. But he continued doing his job to protect others, to prevent things similar to him losing his mother.
And i dont think Dante enjoys killing demons for sake of killing demons.

He enjoys it because he knows how big of a difference it makes to have someone to help you. Here are some things i imagine Dante have thought of or asked himself surrounding the night his mother was killed.

"Where was father?"
"Who is responsible for this..."
"Why... why couldnt i do something!"
"Why did i run away?"
"I shouldnt have hide, i should have helped mother.."

As you can see alot of the questions are related to helping.
Father could have stopped this.
I should have stopped this

Ill say it again, i dont believe for a second Dante hunts demons primarily because he enjoys it. There is a psychological explaination behind it.
No matter how dmc3 portrays Dante, dmc1 and the general impression of the character as a whole gives a different explaination as to why he hunts demons.

Right, I forgot about him telling Trish that in DMC4. Alright, at least now arguments have been brought forth. So Dante wants to save humans. Alright, so that confirms he cares about humans. He doesn't want people to die for no reason. But the question of all this was: is Dante saving humans because he's so traumatized and doesn't want people to go through losing their family like he did? I can't say I'm sure. DMC1 and the anime is something completely different than DMC3 and DMC4 to me. The DMC games don't provide one consistent story. So far, the only thing I know about Dante is that he loves killing demons. As for saving humans, he doesn't care to be in the spotlight for that, and you might argue that he simply wants appreciation in order to continue running his shop. I mean, running that agency no doubt costs money, and this could be a way to let the city lower taxes on it or something. We just don't know.

A great deal of your argument is still 'I think' instead of I know. Maybe we should take this story game by game instead of making assumptions about DMC3 and DMC4 Dante based on the Dante from DMC1. I'm sure you can imagine Dante saying all those things "why didn't/couldn't I stop Mundus" etc. I can too, but that doesn't mean he does what he does solely because he doesn't want humans to go through what he did. Like you said, he would've said those things the day he was killed, but I haven't seen Dante think or talk about Sparda like that in any of the games.

Anyway, wasn't this about Vergil, originally? I could see him being influenced by it more than Dante, as he actually wants power so much. And he wants to be like Sparda, whereas Dante couldn't care less, according to DMC3's script. Dante does acknowledge he's his son in the end, but he doesn't want power to protect anything, while Vergil can't think about anything else: ''without strength, you cannot protect anything. Let alone yourself''.

 

[darkslayer13]

evidence seems to point to Dante wanting to save people and considering killing demons to be fun, not one or the other.

 

[IncarnatedDemon]

But the question of all this was: is Dante saving humans because he's so traumatized and doesn't want people to go through losing their family like he did? I can't say I'm sure. DMC1 and the anime is something completely different than DMC3 and DMC4 to me. The DMC games don't provide one consistent story. So far, the only thing I know about Dante is that he loves killing demons. As for saving humans, he doesn't care to be in the spotlight for that, and you might argue that he simply wants appreciation in order to continue running his shop. I mean, running that agency no doubt costs money, and this could be a way to let the city lower taxes on it or something. We just don't know.

I disagree about Dante loving to kill demons. In dmc1 he showed compassion towards Griffon after he was wounded, in dmc4 he gave Berial a choice to go back to demon world or die. Berial chose to attack Dante, and he got killed by him.
However, i agree that Dante eventually decided to make a living by dealing with demons. But i don't think he does this primarily because he likes to kill.
So his primary reason: protect humans
Secondary reason: earn money.
I think Dante got a mild trauma compared to Vergil.

A great deal of your argument is still 'I think' instead of I know. Maybe we should take this story game by game instead of making assumptions about DMC3 and DMC4 Dante based on the Dante from DMC1. I'm sure you can imagine Dante saying all those things "why didn't/couldn't I stop Mundus" etc. I can too, but that doesn't mean he does what he does solely because he doesn't want humans to go through what he did. Like you said, he would've said those things the day he was killed, but I haven't seen Dante think or talk about Sparda like that in any of the games.

I realize my argument is not fact, but you know how messed up dmc story has gone to. It's like a car wreck. And from game to game there are different interpretations. But i try to have a overview and imagine "What kind of character is Dante?". In all of the games he shows compassion. Emphasizing dmc1.

In dmc1 and 3 Dante talked about Sparda. In 1 he told Trish about how his mother described his father and in 3 Dante seems to show anger towards Sparda, maybe because of past event. Just pointing out that Dante having thoughts about his father is there.
Though dmc1 and 3 is quite different (different developers).

Anyway, wasn't this about Vergil, originally? I could see him being influenced by it more than Dante, as he actually wants power so much. And he wants to be like Sparda, whereas Dante couldn't care less, according to DMC3's script. Dante does acknowledge he's his son in the end, but he doesn't want power to protect anything, while Vergil can't think about anything else: ''without strength, you cannot protect anything. Let alone yourself''.

Yes, many of us believe Vergil suffered a bigger trauma from Eva's death, but this thread is about Dante having a superiority complex.

ANYWAY, i am willing to look at all the games (one by one) to find out if Dante finds it fun to kill demons, for sake of killing itself, or if he kills demons to protect others which may be why he likes his job.
I am sure that one of his motives to hunt demons is to earn money, but i believe that's a small factor as to why he does it.

evidence seems to point to Dante wanting to save people and considering killing demons to be fun, not one or the other.

If killing demons is something Dante enjoys, why did he give Berial the choice to live and showed compassion towards Griffon?

 

[ROCKMAN X]

If killing demons is something Dante enjoys, why did he give Berial the choice to live and showed compassion towards Griffon?

Because he doesn't kill kind demons after all he's one himself so why would he kill demons unless they want to cause ruckus ?

 

[IncarnatedDemon]

Because he doesn't kill kind demons after all he's himself so why would he kill demons unless they want to cause ruckus ?

Berial isn't kind. He's quite evil.

Here is a question, if Dante likes to kill demons:
Why doesn't he go on a hunting mission in demon realm? I know your going to say that's what he did at ending of dmc2, but we all agree that dmc2 dante was very out of character (asides from looks), and that dmc2 was quite a failure (though it has it's good things).

Another question: If Dante likes to kill demons, evil ones, would he go kill a evil demon in a demon realm if someone paid him a good amount of money?

 

[ROCKMAN X]

Berial isn't kind. He's quite evil.

How is he evil ?? all he wants to do is have some fun and he didn't even try to hurt nero thinking that he just a human passing by.

 

[Lionheart]

I disagree about Dante loving to kill demons. In dmc1 he showed compassion towards Griffon after he was wounded, in dmc4 he gave Berial a choice to go back to demon world or die. Berial chose to attack Dante, and he got killed by him.

That says nothing about him not loving to kill demons. It only says something about him having compassion towards demons - mostly higher demons. He kills the demons who seem soulless or simply kill because they're ordered to, and will die if they don't follow those orders. Scarecrows? Kill. Assaults? Kill. If he could tell them to stop fighting, he would, but those demons don't listen to reason. What I'm saying is, he loves the hunt. He loves killing demons, but not all of them.

However, i agree that Dante eventually decided to make a living by dealing with demons. But i don't think he does this primarily because he likes to kill.
So his primary reason: protect humans
Secondary reason: earn money.
I think Dante got a mild trauma compared to Vergil.

I'm sorry, but the last two games (3 and 4) make it clear he likes to kill demons. I'm sure he cares about humans and some (maybe even all) demons, but that does not negate the fact that he likes to hunt demons. He set up an agency to kill demons, after all. Yeah, he doesn't just go everywhere to kill all demons in a bloodrage, but he does in fact like to kill demons who present themselves to be killed (like in Fortuna, when he attacked the cathedral).

I realize my argument is not fact, but you know how messed up dmc story has gone to. It's like a car wreck. And from game to game there are different interpretations. But i try to have a overview and imagine "What kind of character is Dante?". In all of the games he shows compassion. Emphasizing dmc1.

Compassion, yes. Still, it says nothing about him being traumatized or doing this merely because he lost his mother and father, or because he needs to defend all humans.

In dmc1 and 3 Dante talked about Sparda. In 1 he told Trish about how his mother described his father and in 3 Dante seems to show anger towards Sparda, maybe because of past event. Just pointing out that Dante having thoughts about his father is there.
Though dmc1 and 3 is quite different (different developers).

I'm not sure if he actually feels anger towards Sparda; he just doesn't want to recognize he's his son (the son of a demon). But I could see that he could. Vergil seems to idolize Sparda, and Dante does the opposite? Quite possibly. This could represent the two sides of Sparda, too. Dante (the human, loving side of Sparda) hates him for being demonic, and Vergil loves his demonic side and doesn't want to hear about his human side.

Yes, many of us believe Vergil suffered a bigger trauma from Eva's death, but this thread is about Dante having a superiority complex.

Ah, that's right. My mind was drifting to another thread, sorry.

If killing demons is something Dante enjoys, why did he give Berial the choice to live and showed compassion towards Griffon?

Because they gave Dante the opportunity/chance to be compassionate, like I said in my first paragraph of this comment. Those demons have a clear choice, and might be able to escape death at the hands of other demons. I'm not asking you to look at all games to determine what Dante is like in general, as there are different forms of Dante in each game. His DMC2 version is not even too Dante-like. However, I appreciate your zeal

 

[IncarnatedDemon]

How is he evil ?? all he wants to do is have some fun and he didn't even try to hurt nero thinking that he just a human passing by.

Do you seriously believe Berial would treat humans right and not enslave or kill them?
And do you think that the fact Berial did not notice Nero was because he came in peace?
Infact Berial seems to have issues with sight, as he didn't notice Dante on his own tail either!

Though i am sure the fact Nero walked so casual and Dante on Berial's tail was all done for fun/coolness.
Once Berial saw Dante the son of Sparda, he decided to engage Dante.

 

[Lionheart]

Berial isn't kind. He's quite evil.

Here is a question, if Dante likes to kill demons:
Why doesn't he go on a hunting mission in demon realm? I know your going to say that's what he did at ending of dmc2, but we all agree that dmc2 dante was very out of character (asides from looks), and that dmc2 was quite a failure (though it has it's good things).

He likes to kill demons - it's not his goal in life. He doesn't harbor such a grudge that he needs to kill every demon he can find. It would render his work useless, as well; you can't kill any more demons if every evil demon has been killed without a doubt. Like I said in my last post, he doesn't get in some kind of blood rage to exterminate all demons.

Another question: If Dante likes to kill demons, evil ones, would he go kill a evil demon in a demon realm if someone paid him a good amount of money?

That's a tough one, but... probably. Not all demons are evil, but if they are, chances are they're going to come find Dante anyway. And if not, they'll send other demons to do their work for them. Better root out the evil right away.

 

[ROCKMAN X]

Do you seriously believe Berial would treat humans right and not enslave or kill them?

That's like soo cliched XD why can't he be just a passive demon who just wants some good'ol fun ? i think all the poor guy wanted was to have fun and p!ss on old catholic priests.

Infact Berial seems to have issues with sight, as he didn't notice Dante on his own tail either!

That was actually just for comic relief.. i've seen it in many times in cartoons&movies

Berial clearly saw nero and just let him go on his way, i mean its not like every demon except sparda is evil right ??

Not to mention in the anime many demons actually live in human world without being an ass like Mundus or Vergil.

Once Berial saw Dante the son of Sparda, he decided to engage Dante.

Only because sparda stole Berial's marbles as a kid.. i mean its better than having no backstory

 

[Lionheart]

Do you seriously believe Berial would treat humans right and not enslave or kill them?

He wanted to ''avenge his compatriots slain by Dante's sword'', if I recall correctly. And Nero was just being annoying to him. He is ''The Conqueror of the Fire Hell'', though, so I'm guessing he didn't come in peace. But what about Echidna? Was she evil, or did she just claim a forest as her own? It's been a while since I played, though, so I could be flat out wrong.

 

[Chancey289]

Dante talks sh!t to demons all the time. He has an ego and can be a bit of a douche. He's definitely a dork though.

Superiority complex though is someone who acts like they're better than others but really aren't. Dante can back up his sh!t talk when he fights but he also isn't as cool as he thinks he is lol.

Vergil fits more the superiority complex bill. And is also a douche.

 

[IncarnatedDemon]

Your not answering the question Lion.

Thinking the evil demon will come to human realm is just a assumption.
Its about a evil demon who lives in demon realm, Dante is paid a nice sum to go kill that demon by a human. Even though the demon has not done anything to the human nor caused trouble and lives only in demon realm.

Would Dante accept the job and go to demon realm and kill the demon?
Because if Dante likes to kill demons, would he then accept this offer? To kill a evil demon that hasn't done anything bad to the person paying for the kill, nor the human world.
I think Dante would turn down the offer. Even if Dante had learned to travel easily between the two worlds, i dont think Dante would say yes.

So let me formulate the question again:
If Dante got a job to kill a evil demon that hasn't caused trouble for centuries (invading of human world), and neither bothered the person wanting the him/her dead, would Dante accept the job?
Would he travel to demon realm and kill the demon? Assuming the job is easy and Dante knows how to get to demon world with little time.

 

[Lionheart]

Dante talks sh!t to demons all the time. He has an ego and can be a bit of a douche. He's definitely a dork though.

Superiority complex though is someone who acts like they're better than others but really aren't. Dante can back up his sh!t talk when he fights but he also isn't as cool as he thinks he is lol.

Vergil fits more the superiority complex bill. And is also a douche.

Like. Except for the 'Vergil is a douche' part, lol

 

[Chancey289]

Like. Except for the 'Vergil is a douche' part, lol

*shrugs* Just was never really a fan of that guy.

 

[Lionheart]

Your not answering the question Lion.

Thinking the evil demon will come to human realm is just a assumption.
Its about a evil demon who lives in demon realm, Dante is paid a nice sum to go kill that demon by a human. Even though the demon has not done anything to the human nor caused trouble and lives only in demon realm.

Then why are you calling the demon evil if he hasn't done anything? This is very odd logic. Or is he evil because his parents were, or something? This makes no sense. My answer is still the same. If the demon has not done anything and is therefore not evil, then he would not.

So let me formulate the question again:
If Dante got a job to kill a evil demon that hasn't caused trouble for centuries (invading of human world), and neither bothered the person wanting the him/her dead, would Dante accept the job?

Ah, this changes things. Probably. Just because the demon hasn't done anything for a while doesn't mean he's not accountable for his crimes. And if Dante got money for it and thought it was worth the effort, he would do it. But I don't think he would find it worth the effort. I mean, how would he get to the demon realm? It might take a lot of time to even get to that demon, and maybe innocent demons would try to stop Dante from reaching him. Of course, Dante doesn't kill innocent demons.