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I've been rambling a lot lately, but I wanna talk about something before the new chapter of VoV (hopefully) comes out and proves me wrong (lmao).
And that is the scene in which V goes "If you never existed" on Dante. I think the thing that triggered him was Griffon saying
And that is the scene in which V goes "If you never existed" on Dante. I think the thing that triggered him was Griffon saying
"How can a guy be this lucky?" Which feed on one of the BIGGEST misconceptions Vergil has regarding his brother. But that aside, I think there might be more to that as well. The DMC3 manga profile for Vergil says that he feels like the power Dante's possess should have been
Rightfully his, but was instead divided in half. DMC3 manga and VoV, puts a lot on emphasis on V(ergil) reflecting on how he & Dante shares the same face, power etc.. With V questioning "why" he lost to Dante since they were supposed to be equals (it's important to note that he's
not asking why he didn't win/why he wasn't the one on top, but why he's lost, since it was supposed to be an equal fight between 2 people that should have been the same/equally balanced in everything). In the DMC3 Manga, Arkham tells him that he & Dante were supposed to be one
To which Vergil respond by asking something along the lines of "Are you implying I'm half a man?" only to get a "I'm just saying you need your brother" back. Vergil seems enraged and bitter by the fact during the whole discussion since it puts his identity and existence into
Question, which doesn't help is sense of self, as we all know that both twins suffer from an inferiority complex related to their nature. Yet, when we see Vergil for the first time in the manga, we see him sporting the same hairstyle as Dante and seemingly aimless. He only pulls
His hair back and recomposes himself, adopting the behavior he's know for in the games, only when he's mistaken for Dante and realizes that his brother is still alive and in the same city. In a way it feels like, discovering Dante was alive, allowed Vergil to re-center and be
himself again, which makes sense since the dev team explained that their relationship "is such that each of their selves are formed due to the other's existence" and that they're twins "one another's other self" and "should seek each other out" as a consequence cause they really
do, need each other, and that's part of the tragedy: They were always meant to fit together, two half of a whole (or in Dante's words: two side of the same coin), but their life experience (ie, their similar yet wastly different ways to deal with their trauma) separated them and
made it impossible for them to fit til now. The point is that while Vergil seems to reject the idea that he needs somebody else to be or feel like a complete person, we see how the lack of said person in his life affected him and damaged his sense of self, up til he found Dante
again. We see how this affected Dante too, both prior and after meeting and losing Vergil again. I find it interesting how Dante seems to be at his most sincere, open and completative in the 5SE ED, after being reunited with is brother, as we see him voice some of
his doubts and regrets and tiredness ("what do you think dad and mom would think?" "I'm starting to think this will never end" or something along those lines), this is something he's never allowed himself to do before with anyone, outside of Vergil.
But anyway, back to us, I don't think this is the only thing leading to the scene, but if we apply this knowledge to V's line, then I think one potential meaning could be that, if Dante was never born, then Vergil could have been born a complete person, as they were meant to be
And have the power (and anything else he might feel he's lacking but has been divided in half between the two) needed to accomplish everything he wished for (protecting himself, protecting Eva etc...), cause their power alongside everything else wouldn't have been diluted
He'd get back what he feels was rightfully his/his birthright and is sense of self might have been preserved as a result of it (since it's his perceived lack of strenght that made him reject humanity and a part of himself in the first place). Dante, as a individual person, is a
source of resentment for Vergil, because he's a physical reminder and representation of what's Vergil's lost (his family), what could have/should have been (again a whole divided in half) and what was supposed to be his and he felt was taken away from him (their shared power)
The issue isn't Dante, but Dante's mere existence, cause by existing he's taking away from the person Vergil was supposed to be/have.
Yet, it's a lot more complicated than that, cause as much as Vergil likes to deny it, he's still human with very human feelings.
Yet, it's a lot more complicated than that, cause as much as Vergil likes to deny it, he's still human with very human feelings.
Despite the resentment, their shared issues and all the misconceptions between the two, Vergil CARES for his brother: that's why he warns him to go back to the human world before the portal closes in DMC3 and part of the reason he decides to jump off the cliff, that's also why he
gives Eva's amulet back to Dante in the DMC3 Manga when Dante ask for it, why he doesn't deal the killing blow to him as Nelo Angelo, the reason he decides to interfere when Arkham is about to strike Dante with a potentially dangerous blow and decides to join Dante in the fight,
Even their shared style, "Sons of Sparda", basically spells it by stating (and I'm paraphrasing a bit here, cause I don't remember the exact words) that when Dante calls for him, Vergil will appear and watch his back/protect him in "his own way". Eh, amusingly, that's also how
their meeting in stuff like Project x Zone 2 is set up, with 3 Vergil seeing 1 Dante and being super ready to fight him as soon as he lay his eyes on him, till he realizes that there is something bad going on/there are a lot of dangerous enemies to which he immediately changes
his mind and suddenly decides (all on his own, mind you) to join forces with Dante. You can say his actions in both this instances are out of convenience, I say that Mr. "I don't need any help" has too much pride to ask for help, especially from Dante (who is number 2 in his
"must surpass and show my total dominance over" list). Considering the way he seems to perceive "power", asking for a truce out of convenience would be like admitting that he's "too weak to do it on his own" which is something I don't see Vergil admitting anytime soon
Joining forces with Dante against Arkham also didn't really benefit him in any way, technically it would have been more beneficial to him if he'd just let Dante and Arkham kill or exhaust each other. What I'm trying to say is that I feel like this behaviour is his way of finding
An excuse to look out for his brother whenever he might feel like Dante might be in danger because of external forces, without having to admit to weakness. They've got this "Only I'm allowed to beat my brother to a pulp" dynamic which is very realistic and common among brothers
Among some negative feelings (not always aimed at each other, but at times at what the other represent/stand for) and the various misunderstandings there is always still been love & care among them, even if they may not admit or understand it. Furthermore, power has always been
a synonymous and symbol (if unconsciously so) for Vergil's own (repressed) emotions. He wants power to not feel helpless and scared anymore, but also to protect what he loves. He loves his father and idolizes him, yet this love has been twisted and been compressed and fine tuned
in his obsessive quest for (his father) power, which is the one thing that he feel protected him when he needed it the most. In a way him trying to reach for his father power might be a metaphor for him reaching for his father protection, and him wanting to surpass Sparda
represent him wanting to be strong on his own and be able to protect himself without his father help. That's why I feel his resentment towards his brother, hides among other things a very human feeling of yearning that Vergil himself doesn't seems to fully understand, cause he's
too busy rejecting every human emotions he may feel and covering it with demonic ones to really explore it (ex: love for his father = love for his father's power). Sure, if Dante wasn't born, then Vergil would have been one whole person and coul have gotten everything he wanted
(included his mother attention AND power), but that doesn't really need to be the case for Vergil to gain the power that "was lost" when they were split, all they needed to do was to stand together, side by side to really complete each other and be stronger.
Despite his own rejection of the concept, Vergil seems surprised and annoyed by Dante's own, in 3 he basically ask why Dante doesn't see eye to eye to him when he wonder why Dante doesn't yearn for their father power like he does, when they fight join to fight Arkham, Vergil
seems genuinely happy and nostalgic, he even smile I-dare-to-say softly at one point. And even goes as far as to use a firearm (something that goes against his code) and to say Jackpot. I think that this is, subconsciously, what he yearns for and part of what he's buried
He wants and needs to estabilish his identity and find himself, and to prove his own existence which is something that it's only possible by fighting his brother, cause that's an important part of how they define each other (this is especially important in 5, in which is sense of
self is especially fragile, and he feel like he's on a short leash, cause he's dying and wants to prove his existence before it gets completely extinguished) yet he also wants to see and have his brother back. I think that's also one of the reason V was so tense about seeing
