Lionheart
Solid Ocelot
Hey guys, I had some spare time, so I thought I'd elucidate my views on Nero. I'll summarize where I think he came from, and how he might be related to Sparda. I may also share what I hope will happen with him if a Devil May Cry 5 were to be made. I do not believe Nero is Vergil's son, even if some Capcom employee might've said that, and so I will not go on and on about that. I encourage new members to post here, as well 
This should be the final Nero thread.
!EDIT: What I meant by the second option is that Nero is Dante's first cousin (or something else). Sorry for the confusion; Dutch only has the words 'neef' and 'nicht'.!
It begins.
Nero certainly is an enigma. He has white hair and extraordinary power, and always has had it. He was supposedly left at the orphanage in Fortuna, where Credo and Kyrie's family adopted him from. It may be that he was adopted directly by the Order of the Sword, though. I wouldn't be surprised if they adopted him because he had white hair like Sparda. Sanctus seems to know he's a descendant of Sparda, though he probably only knew it after Agnus told him he resurrected Yamato (nobody can resurrect it except for Sparda's family). Another thing we know is that Sparda used to be the feudal lord of Fortuna. Of course, he can't have left Nero at the orphanage, since he died when Dante and Vergil were eight years old. Dante is around thirty in DMC4.
Now I'm motivated (symbolism ahead)!
The first time I saw Nero, I noticed some things. First of all, he wears the colors blue and red, signifying that he's sort of like Dante and Vergil combined. Indeed, his personality can be like that at times (if you don't count the wailing). He also has white hair, which signifies he is of demonic (human and demon) heritage. And then there's his immense power. All of this made it clear to me that he's definitely related to Sparda, even without his Devil Bringer arm.
Some believe the DB arm is some kind of infection; that Nero was infected by a demon and that Vergil's soul somehow nestled inside his arm. I do not think this theory sounds logical - how does a soul enter an arm? And physically, no less. From the artwork of Nero, you can see he was meant to have a full Devil Trigger body, like Dante. For some reason, they ditched that idea and gave him a gimmick - uuh... gameplay tool! Sorry! - , which grew to be the DB. I doubt Capcom can explain where that arm came from. I doubt they even care.
On the subject of Vergil, I do think he (or part of him) lives on through Nero. Nero even says a line that's associated with Vergil: ''From that day forth, my arm changed, and a voice echoed: Power. Give me more power!'' I think this means that when Nero's arm changed, Vergil's soul subsequently called out through the Yamato, which was suspended in an energy field in Agnus's lab. The 'echo' may stand for the fact that it was Vergil's soul that called out, rather than an actual person. Aside from that, Nero gets a Devil Trigger that looks a lot like Vergil's DT, though with an added halo attached to its shoulders, and different horns. This could mean it's a combination of his own DT and Vergil's DT.
On the subject of Sparda, I can say that Nero resembles him more than he does Dante or Vergil. Berial says ''you are just like he was'', referring to when he met/saw Sparda. Nero briefly gets a purple aura when he grips the Yamato in cutscenes. When he gets his Devil Trigger at Agnus's lab, he even starts talking as though he were Sparda; ''and if I become a demon (human?), so be it. I will endure the exile. Anything to protect her.'' What exile? He never associated himself with anyone before, aside from Kyrie, so this is quite odd. The parallels to Sparda and Eva alone are too good to be true. Eva, a human priestess. Kyrie, a human priestess & singer. Sparda, a demon turned human (sort of). Nero, a human turned demon (also sort of)
In the end, we are all satisfied, and you are set free.
In summary, I can conclude the following things:
1. Nero was always part demon. Whether that's half demon or a quarter demon, nobody's sure. He would be a quarter demon if he were the son of Vergil and a human.
2. Nero is not a reincarnation of Sparda, since a reincarnation likely would not have white hair. Nor could he have the blood of Sparda, since reincarnations have different bodies from the ones they reincarnated from. Hence the name reincarnation; the soul's return to the flesh.
3. Nero is not another son of Sparda, since Sparda died (or was sealed) when Dante and Vergil were eight, making it impossible for Nero to be nineteen. Moreover, Nero is not as powerful as Dante.
4. Nero is not Vergil's son; Vergil would be around thirty in DMC4. Thirty minus nineteen makes eleven. Vergil conceived Nero when he was eleven? Not only that, but presumably when he was under Mundus's control, since he was kidnapped when he was eight? :/
5. Nero is not the reincarnation of Vergil. Vergil died as Nero Angelo, when he was 28. So if Dante is thirty in DMC4 and Vergil would be too, that would make Nero two years old
6. Nero may be some kind of clone of Sparda. It is known that clones do not have to look exactly like their source body.
7. Nero could be an experiment created by a scientist or somebody else. Maybe even by Sanctus. This could mean he wasn't even left at the orphanage. One could understand why somebody would want to keep Nero's identity secret; what if Agnus or anybody else would've wanted to kill Nero because they wanted to eliminate all traces of Sparda? Or experiment on him on their own?
What if somebody actually made sure that Nero could survive and live well until he was nineteen, so that he could lure Dante? As Sanctus said: ''he came to us'' (referring to Dante). By experiment, I mean that Vergil and Dante's blood may have been combined (who knows what's possible in games). Or even the blood of all three: Dante, Vergil and Sparda.
I think there's a way for Capcom to explain where Nero came from, but the DB arm still baffles me. Since nobody in Sparda's family had huge spectral arms, and Vergil's ghost wouldn't be able to extend them, I can only assume it was some willy-nilly choice, implemented in the final stages of DMC4's development. It's such a shame; DMC4's cutscenes are glorious, but they may have been wasted on something that doesn't make any sense.
This should be the final Nero thread.!EDIT: What I meant by the second option is that Nero is Dante's first cousin (or something else). Sorry for the confusion; Dutch only has the words 'neef' and 'nicht'.!
It begins.
Nero certainly is an enigma. He has white hair and extraordinary power, and always has had it. He was supposedly left at the orphanage in Fortuna, where Credo and Kyrie's family adopted him from. It may be that he was adopted directly by the Order of the Sword, though. I wouldn't be surprised if they adopted him because he had white hair like Sparda. Sanctus seems to know he's a descendant of Sparda, though he probably only knew it after Agnus told him he resurrected Yamato (nobody can resurrect it except for Sparda's family). Another thing we know is that Sparda used to be the feudal lord of Fortuna. Of course, he can't have left Nero at the orphanage, since he died when Dante and Vergil were eight years old. Dante is around thirty in DMC4.
Now I'm motivated (symbolism ahead)!
The first time I saw Nero, I noticed some things. First of all, he wears the colors blue and red, signifying that he's sort of like Dante and Vergil combined. Indeed, his personality can be like that at times (if you don't count the wailing). He also has white hair, which signifies he is of demonic (human and demon) heritage. And then there's his immense power. All of this made it clear to me that he's definitely related to Sparda, even without his Devil Bringer arm.
Some believe the DB arm is some kind of infection; that Nero was infected by a demon and that Vergil's soul somehow nestled inside his arm. I do not think this theory sounds logical - how does a soul enter an arm? And physically, no less. From the artwork of Nero, you can see he was meant to have a full Devil Trigger body, like Dante. For some reason, they ditched that idea and gave him a gimmick - uuh... gameplay tool! Sorry! - , which grew to be the DB. I doubt Capcom can explain where that arm came from. I doubt they even care.
On the subject of Vergil, I do think he (or part of him) lives on through Nero. Nero even says a line that's associated with Vergil: ''From that day forth, my arm changed, and a voice echoed: Power. Give me more power!'' I think this means that when Nero's arm changed, Vergil's soul subsequently called out through the Yamato, which was suspended in an energy field in Agnus's lab. The 'echo' may stand for the fact that it was Vergil's soul that called out, rather than an actual person. Aside from that, Nero gets a Devil Trigger that looks a lot like Vergil's DT, though with an added halo attached to its shoulders, and different horns. This could mean it's a combination of his own DT and Vergil's DT.
On the subject of Sparda, I can say that Nero resembles him more than he does Dante or Vergil. Berial says ''you are just like he was'', referring to when he met/saw Sparda. Nero briefly gets a purple aura when he grips the Yamato in cutscenes. When he gets his Devil Trigger at Agnus's lab, he even starts talking as though he were Sparda; ''and if I become a demon (human?), so be it. I will endure the exile. Anything to protect her.'' What exile? He never associated himself with anyone before, aside from Kyrie, so this is quite odd. The parallels to Sparda and Eva alone are too good to be true. Eva, a human priestess. Kyrie, a human priestess & singer. Sparda, a demon turned human (sort of). Nero, a human turned demon (also sort of
)In the end, we are all satisfied, and you are set free.
In summary, I can conclude the following things:
1. Nero was always part demon. Whether that's half demon or a quarter demon, nobody's sure. He would be a quarter demon if he were the son of Vergil and a human.
2. Nero is not a reincarnation of Sparda, since a reincarnation likely would not have white hair. Nor could he have the blood of Sparda, since reincarnations have different bodies from the ones they reincarnated from. Hence the name reincarnation; the soul's return to the flesh.
3. Nero is not another son of Sparda, since Sparda died (or was sealed) when Dante and Vergil were eight, making it impossible for Nero to be nineteen. Moreover, Nero is not as powerful as Dante.
4. Nero is not Vergil's son; Vergil would be around thirty in DMC4. Thirty minus nineteen makes eleven. Vergil conceived Nero when he was eleven? Not only that, but presumably when he was under Mundus's control, since he was kidnapped when he was eight? :/
5. Nero is not the reincarnation of Vergil. Vergil died as Nero Angelo, when he was 28. So if Dante is thirty in DMC4 and Vergil would be too, that would make Nero two years old
6. Nero may be some kind of clone of Sparda. It is known that clones do not have to look exactly like their source body.
7. Nero could be an experiment created by a scientist or somebody else. Maybe even by Sanctus. This could mean he wasn't even left at the orphanage. One could understand why somebody would want to keep Nero's identity secret; what if Agnus or anybody else would've wanted to kill Nero because they wanted to eliminate all traces of Sparda? Or experiment on him on their own?
What if somebody actually made sure that Nero could survive and live well until he was nineteen, so that he could lure Dante? As Sanctus said: ''he came to us'' (referring to Dante). By experiment, I mean that Vergil and Dante's blood may have been combined (who knows what's possible in games). Or even the blood of all three: Dante, Vergil and Sparda.
I think there's a way for Capcom to explain where Nero came from, but the DB arm still baffles me. Since nobody in Sparda's family had huge spectral arms, and Vergil's ghost wouldn't be able to extend them, I can only assume it was some willy-nilly choice, implemented in the final stages of DMC4's development. It's such a shame; DMC4's cutscenes are glorious, but they may have been wasted on something that doesn't make any sense.
