Eva

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	We must set aside this battle until I find out the truth of this.
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Eva
Name data
Katakana	エヴァ
Rōmaji	Eva
Personal data
Species	Human
Status	Deceased
Relations	Vergil (Son) Dante (Son) Nero (Grandson) Trish (Demonic Clone)
Significant other(s)	Sparda (Husband; Deceased)
Real world data
Appearances	Devil May Cry Devil May Cry 3 (manga) Devil May Cry 5
Actors	Sarah Lafleur (DMC) Wendee Lee (DMC5) Atsuko Tanaka (Japanese; DMC5)
Modelled after	Ariana Diamant (DMC5)
Mo-cap	Faye Kingslee (DMC5)
Music	Seeds of Love (DMC) The Theme of Eva (DMC) Pillow Talk (DMC)

“

If I don't return, you must run. By yourself, alone. You must change your name. Forget your past and start a new life as someone else. A new beginning.

”

—Eva to Dante, Devil May Cry 5

Eva was the human wife of Sparda and mother to the hybrid twins Dante and Vergil, and grandmother of Nero.  She appears as a photo on Dante's desk and as a voice in the first Devil May Cry game. Later in the series, Eva makes her physical debut in Devil May Cry 5, albeit only in a flashback Dante is having. Despite her importance as a factor to the paths her children take in life, little is known about Eva.

Etymology

Eva's name is an alternate spelling of the name Eve, who in the Bible is said to have been the first woman created by God. Eve is infamous for having been tempted by the serpent to eat the Forbidden Fruit, which led to Adam and Eve being exiled from the Garden of Eden as punishment for succumbing to temptation. In some versions, she is a replacement for Adam after God's previous creation, Lilith, abandoned Adam and became a demon.

Appearance

In her portrait found on Dante's desk in Devil May Cry, Eva has fairly long, straight flaxen hair, dark-colored eyes, and a very fair complexion. She wore her bangs short and swooping off to the right side of her face. Despite having lightly colored hair, her eyebrows were noticeably darker than the rest of her hair. She was complimented as being, "very pretty" by Patty Lowell in Devil May Cry: The Animated Series.

Eva's attire was fairly simple. She wore a black turtle neck dress and draped a red shawl over her arms. She also wore black opera gloves.

In Devil May Cry 5, Eva's appearance had been modernized with the more realistic style of the game. Her hair is still fairly long, however, it now has a more noticeable waving texture to it. The front of her hair is now cut shorter and rests just at collar bone length. Her bangs are also no longer swooping over her forehead but are now the same length as the front of her hair. She also now has a cleft in her chin.

Her attire also received some changes. What was a simple black turtle neck dress now has intricate gold patterns decorating the front torso half of the dress and also the ends of the dress. There are also now slits in her dress, revealing some of her décolletage, midriff, and her left leg. She also wears a pair of simple black stilettos and a black leather belt. Despite the changes made to her clothing, her red shawl remained intact.

Eva's makeup was kept fairly simple in all of her alliterations. She wore rouge lipstick, trace amounts of eyeliner, and kept her nails painted red.

Personality

“

You may look like my mother but you are no where close to her. You have no soul. You have the face but you'll never have her fire!

”

—Dante to Trish, Devil May Cry

Throughout Devil May Cry, Dante talks about his mother and what kind of person she was when she was still alive. She had often told Dante that his father was a man who had courage and a righteous heart. Despite Sparda shortly disappearing prior to the twin's birthday, Eva remained ever loyal and faithful to him. Dante also expressed that she had a fire within her that Trish could never replicate despite looking like her.

Background

Before Devil May Cry

For Dante and Vergil's 8th birthday, she gave each of the boys one half of Sparda's Perfect Amulet. Afterward, she was killed in a demon attack ordered by Mundus. She hid Dante inside of a closet and told him to run if she never returned. She ultimately gave up her life in order to protect her sons. However, it is unclear where Vergil was at this time. Eva's death is most likely the event that shaped the paths Dante and Vergil took, causing Dante to fight demons and Vergil to search for the Force Edge.

Devil May Cry

After Dante grew into adulthood, Trish was made by Mundus to look like Eva in order to manipulate Dante. This façade works on Dante and he unhesitatingly follows her to Mallet Island. Due to his lingering feelings for Eva, Dante saves Trish from falling debris despite her having already betrayed him.

During a cut scene, after Dante has defeated Nelo Angelo, Eva's voice can be heard wishing Dante and Vergil a happy birthday. Assumingly, the same birthday Dante and Vergil received their halves of the Perfect Amulet from Eva, based on Dante's reaction to seeing Vergil's half. Near the end of the game when you're fighting Mundus for a second time, Eva's voice can be heard again encouraging Dante. 

Devil May Cry novel

Eva is featured in a flashback in which she hides Dante and attempts to locate and protect Vergil during the attack in which she was killed and Vergil was kidnapped by demons. While subsequent works, particularly the Devil May Cry 3 manga, have left this mostly intact, they have also omitted Vergil's presence at the sight of Eva's murder thus leaving the details of Vergil's whereabouts at that time a mystery.

Devil May Cry 2 novel

In a parallel universe that Dante and Beryl visit in which Mundus has virtually conquered the Human world, Eva supported her late husband's armies in resistance to Mundus's rule. It is also strongly implied that her emotional support after Sparda's fall was the only reason Mundus hadn't completed his conquest of the Human world. After hearing the story about this universe's Eva, Dante comments something along the lines of, "she's the same in every universe."

Devil May Cry 5

Eva shown in Dante's memories.

For a brief moment, Dante sees his mother again, however only in memory. The memory is viewed in first person in Dante's perspective as the Sparda Manor is under attack by Mundus' forces. In Eva's final act to save her child, she hides Dante away in a closet. She tells him that if she doesn't return he needs to run away and start a new life. After she tells him this, she disappears into the house to look for Vergil and screams in agony before the memory fades away and Dante, having been in a coma after suffering grievous wounds from his battle with Urizen, finally wakes.

Dante later mentions her to Urizen after finding him in an illusion of their old family's house, where he rebukes Vergil for believing their mother had abandoned him, telling Vergil's demonic self that Eva had actually tried to search for him and died for it after she had secured Dante.

Character File

Devil May Cry 5

Nico's Character Report - Eva

Dante's mom—the woman the Dark Knight Sparda fell for, in other words.

Must've been a heck of a gal to snag the legendary dark knight himself.

I guess her feminine instincts were so strong even giving a demon a hug was no problem for her.

Quotes

"Vergil, Dante, happy birthday."

―Eva to Dante and Vergil

"Dante, you'll be ok, you can do it."

―Eva to Dante

"Come here!... You need to hide, Dante. No matter what happens, you mustn't leave! I need to find Vergil. I promise I'll be back. I know this is hard. You must listen to me. Be a big boy... A man, huh? If I don't return, you must run. By yourself, alone.You must change your name. Forget your past and start a new life as someone else... A new beginning."

―Eva to Dante

Appearances in Other Media

Viewtiful Joe

Mundus makes a cameo appearance in Viewtiful Joe, in which he delivers a rant and proclaims that, "the real enemy was you, Eva!", implying that she had planned out his defeat in Devil May Cry, years in advance prior to her death.

Bayonetta

The Bracelet of Time

Eva and her husband Sparda are both referenced within the description of the Bracelet of Time accessory in Bayonetta and its sequel.

“

Eva, a truly extraordinary witch, entered into a contract with the legendary dark knight, and then faced the amassed armies of Inferno. These bracelets were made by her hand, and those wearing them are said to become true masters of Witch Time at their very will.

”

—Bracelet of Time Description, Bayonetta

Teppen

Eva was added to Teppen with its "The Devils Awaken" expansion. She is featured in one unit card and her appearance is based on her Devil May Cry 5 iteration.

Trivia

• Eva's death was different from the Devil May Cry 3 manga's depiction. In the novel, she was torn to pieces by vengeful demons right in front of Dante's eyes and Vergil was kidnapped then, yet in Devil May Cry 5 her death was altered slightly in that she told Dante to hide before dying in the demon's attack (it's unknown how she died). However, in both versions, Vergil's exact whereabouts at a time are not explained, though V comments, upon seeing the remains of Sparda Manor, that he has a memory of playing outside when the demons attacked.
• As shown in Sparda's family portrait, it is implied Sparda's family might have been wealthy aristocrats, though this is not confirmed.
• Both Dante and Vergil were affected by their mother's death differently as shown in the games. Dante, from the start, didn't care for his demonic heritage from his father nor did he want power and grew to maintain his moral sense. Vergil, loathed his human part and felt that he was weakened by it, he thrived to achieve the power of Sparda. It's been hinted that Vergil has some bitterness over his mother finding Dante but not him, suggesting that he felt abandoned.

See also

• Trish