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★ Character Information ★

Character Name: Vergil
Character Age: 43/44-ish
Character Species: Half-human, half-demon. Vergil does not visibly appear any different than a human unless he accesses his Sin Devil Trigger form. While in this form, Vergil has four wings that resemble the leathery wings of a dragon or bat that he tends to keep folded down, arm-mounted blades made from his demonic energy, and has a barbed tail with a sharp tip that begins from between his shoulder blades. His horns are also hollowed out and vent more demonic energy, and the overall shape of his body and head looks more like that of a samurai's armor. Overall, Vergil looks significantly more reptilian in this form with scales and claws.
Current Health: Vergil is fine now albeit upon immediate arrival, he would need a few days to fully recover from the battles with Dante, Nero, and demons in the Underworld.
Outfit: Minus Yamato, obviously!

Character Canon: Devil May Cry
Link to History: Link
Canon Point: post-DMC5
Canon Iteration: Canon
Canon Iteration Explanation: N/A

★ Folkmore Roles & Attributes ★

Skills: Vergil is a highly skilled swordsman. His style of combat with Yamato is reflective of the Iaidou/Iaijutsu style wherein there is an emphasis on drawing the blade from its scabbard, striking, shaking the blood from the blade, and re-sheathing it. Vergil tends to also implement the scabbard in his techniques as well and will sometimes even attack with Yamato without ever unsheathing it. In addition to his skills with a blade, Vergil is also well-versed in hand-to-hand combat and although he tends to look down upon firearms, he is still an expert marksman with his mirage blades. Overall, Vergil is able to master most weapons fairly easily due to his skill.
Canon Abilities:

Demonic Heritage. Due to Vergil's demonic heritage, he possesses the cliches of superhuman strength, speed, agility, stamina, and overall durability. His strength and speed may lessen as he expends his energy or suffers injuries from fights, which can reduce his overall effectiveness in a battle. Regarding his strength, Vergil is able to fend off creatures significantly larger than himself or do things like literally rip his own son's arm off even while in a weakened state. As far as his speed and agility are concerned, Vergil can often move faster than the human eye can track. For example, his slashes with his sword can be quick enough to prevent rain from hitting the ground or allow him to catch/deflect bullets in mid-air. It's notable that Yamato's own power heightens Vergil's already incredible speed and agility. In terms of his durability, that which would normally kill a human will be something Vergil will ultimately walk off. His accelerated healing means that as soon as whatever has caused the injury is removed, his body will begin to immediately repair the damage. This healing factor appears to work quite well for Vergil to keep him alive even when his other abilities may falter more significantly, but he's not indestructible and can still be bested.

Demonic Energy. Vergil can use his own demonic energy to manipulate objects. In particular, he tends to use this demonic energy to create mirage blades, which are spectral blades that will break upon impact with their target. These blades can be manipulated to be launched at a target like projectiles or encircle them and shooting towards the target at Vergil's will from that short distance. He can also use the mirage blades to create a protective circle around himself wherein anything that gets close will have to contend with the blades spinning around him. He can also create a spectral version of his father's blade Force Edge that's known as Mirage Edge. Unlike the mirage blades, however, Mirage Edge does not break/shatter upon impact and he's able to continue wielding it. Lastly, Vergil can use his demonic energy to create a doppelganger of himself (in SDT) to fight alongside him.

Sin Devil Trigger. The tl;dr version of this is that Devil Trigger is a form demons (or those with demonic heritage) take to unleash the full extent of their abilities both physical and supernatural. SDT is an even stronger form of that. For Vergil, this includes the transformation mentioned earlier in addition to heightening his abilities both natural (strength, speedy, and healing) and through Devil Arms like Yamato. He also has the ability to fly due to the wings. When Vergil activates his SDT, there is a force wave strong enough to knock others back onto the ground, protecting him just long enough to complete the transformation. Vergil can transform both in and out of SDT at will, but he cannot maintain SDT forever.

Teleportation. In addition to be superhuman levels of quick, Vergil also has the ability to teleport even in the absence of Yamato.

Role: Myth
Role Qualities/Attributes: Going down the road of a Myth will result in more physical manifestation of traits akin to his SDT form even when not in that form. His single-minded drive for more power may also likewise be made more manifest wherein he will actively begin to struggle with taking into consideration the costs of his choices/actions, and be focused on his own self-preservation above that of anyone else around him.
Role Reasoning: The short version is that generally speaking, the basic description of what Myths could be just describing Vergil. Although Vergil has certainly had a significant breakthrough by the end of DMC5 in terms of giving up his constant drive for more power regardless of the cost, he is still in the very early stages of this change. Recognizing that you have done wrong and wanting to do/be better are the starting point of a journey, not the final destination. Vergil has a lot of work to do in order to get himself to evolve beyond this, and there is always still that possibility that he might very well slip back into those old habits, particularly without support and allowing himself to connect with other people. tl;dr Vergil needs to seriously learn the power of friendship and love to actually appreciably improve himself and perhaps someday become a Legend.

★ Personality ★

Choose FOUR-FIVE of the following questions to answer and expand upon. You may choose a fifth question if you feel it is integral to your character's personality. Each answer has a 100-300 word requirement.

What was the most traumatic experience your character endured? How did this change them?

When Vergil was a child, his father, Sparda, had mysteriously disappeared and it was just Vergil, his younger twin brother, Dante, and mother, Eva. When the boys were 8 years old, the remaining family members were attacked by demons at the behest of Sparda's old enemy, Mundus. Vergil had stormed off from the house that day to a nearby park, upset that he had gotten in trouble over fighting with Dante over his book of poetry when all he wanted to do was just read. Due to this, Vergil was completely on his own when the demons attacked. He attempted to flee home, but was unable to make it before the house was set aflame. Feeling abandoned due to being unaware that Eva had died looking for him after hiding Dante, Vergil's pleas as he lay dying were answered by his father's blade, Yamato. Vergil's demonic heritage awakened fully that day and he was able to slaughter the demons that had attacked him and his family.

This is what ultimately sparked Vergil's quest for power for the rest of his life. He didn't want to ever experience that sense of helplessness and vulnerability, and those feelings of abandonment ever again. So, eschewing humanity as weak, Vergil ultimately isolated himself, and denied his human heritage. For much of his life after that, Vergil sought his father's power for himself with the belief that "might controls everything." This quest for power, consequences be damned, cost Vergil family (both in Dante and his son, Nero), caused him to destroy whole cities, and trapped him in the demon realm where he suffered to the point of losing his own free will.

What experience challenged your character's core beliefs? How did they handle this or change from it?

Vergil's worldview was challenged the most when he was not himself. While his demonic half, Urizen, was vying for power to sustain his continued existence, Vergil's human half, V, was doing the same. However, due to V lacking demonic abilities and fewer resources available to him, he was decaying at a far quicker rate than Urizen. V's vulnerability was more than just physical, however, as he regained more and more of Vergil's memories. At first, the nightmares and visions were merely terrifying horrors, but when V began to face them more head-on, he came to understand Vergil's mistake in vying for power and isolating himself over the years. He came to understand that in terms of himself, Vergil's choices were self-destructive rather than protective as he perceived them to be. If he hadn't been so single-minded about power, much of what happened to Vergil likely never would have come to pass.

When V is merging once more with Urizen, V's compassion for Vergil and understanding of the consequences for Vergil's choices helps the greater whole that is Vergil come to the understanding that his humanity isn't a weakness. His desire to be loved and protected also isn't a weakness. Vergil resists these notions at first as V is reintegrating with him, of course. Decades of a particular philosophy are not unmade in a singular moment, but Vergil finally accepts his humanity and all the vulnerabilities associated with it. This is what sets Vergil on a path of redemption by seeking to right his wrongs and settling the now long-standing rivalry between Dante and himself.

What is the most important and defining relationship(s) in your character's life and why?

It's perhaps a bit cliche, but Vergil's relationship to Dante has always been the most important relationship Vergil had left after his mother was killed. While they have often been at odds with one another, Vergil has often used Dante as a metric for his own strength and development. Even as children, as the elder brother, Vergil found it grating to be bested by Dante in any capacity.

But more than just their physical skills and abilities, whether it's a matter of temperament or interests, or their philosophies and perspectives, Vergil and Dante are often at odds with one another. Particularly when it comes to the matter of Sparda's legacy, Dante believes in upholding the portion of Sparda's legacy pertaining to protecting those who cannot protect themselves. Vergil, on the other hand, views their father as a great and powerful warrior, viewing his skills and abilities as significantly more important than anything else. Thus, it's only natural that the brothers clash when Vergil seeks out power regardless of cost and that cost is often innocents. Likewise, their means of coping in the wake of the tragedy that befell them as children differs drastically. A part of Vergil always felt that Dante truly didn't experience the depth of loss he had because Eva had at least been able to protect Dante.

Despite their differences though, Dante has always tried to save Vergil from his dark path because they are still the Sons of Sparda. And beneath Vergil's resentments towards Dante, there has always been a part of him that's cared about Dante, too. Although he'd likely never admit it aloud.

What is your character's moral code? Do they have one? Why or why not?

Historically, Vergil's moral code has been best summarized by what he says to Dante during their first fight atop the Temen-ni-gru:

"Might controls everything. And without strength, you cannot protect anything. Let alone yourself."

This perspective has led Vergil to uphold self-preservation and the pursuit of power to that end above all else. This meant that Vergil did not really have much by way of relationships to/with others, and that he was willing to sacrifice whatever it would take to achieve ultimate power. If Dante stood opposed to him rather than with him, Vergil pushed himself to view it as an unfortunate reality over the tragedy it truly was for two brothers to be so opposed to one another.

After his time as V and Urizen though, this philosophy has been significantly challenged. In all his pursuit of power, Vergil (and those few around him) had only suffered as a consequence. Vergil, in some ways, was left even more vulnerable than he ever imagined he would be due to his isolation and willingness to pay any cost.

But these realizations are still relatively new for Vergil. The concept of allowing others to be close to him and allowing himself that vulnerability in seeking their help or support is still an extremely unnerving and alien experience to him. To this extent, Vergil is still forming his moral code and finding that balance between his old survival of the fittest mentality and his willingness to accept his humanity and want to be loved and protected.

★ Player Information ★

Player Name: Crystal
Pronouns: They/She
Are you over 18?: Yes
Contact(s): PM this journal.
Who Invited You?: Tessa
Current Characters: N/A
Permissions: Here
Writing Samples: 1 | 2

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↪ Vergil's half of the perfect amulet ↪ Yamato ↪ A copy of The Marriage of Heaven and Hell by William Blake ↪ A copy of Songs of Innocence by William Blake ↪ A copy of Paradise Lost by John Milton ↪ A copy of Paradise Regained by John Milton ↪ A copy of A Treasury of Romantic Poets (a compilation of Romantic era poetry) ↪ A collection of childhood photos of Nero at various ages ↪ Sparda Family Portrait ↪ A copy of Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson ↪ A copy of The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas ↪ A copy of The Aeneid by Virgil