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{{Nero's Infobox}}
 
{{Nero's Infobox}}
   
{{Q|Without strength, you can't protect anything.... I know that.|Nero, unknowingly repeating what [[Vergil|his father]] once said|Devil May Cry 5}}
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{{QEpigraph|Without strength, you can't protect anything.... I know that.|Nero, unknowingly repeating what [[Vergil|his father]] once said|Devil May Cry 5}}
   
 
'''Nero''' is one of the main protagonists of the ''[[Devil May Cry (series)|Devil May Cry]]'' series. He first appeared as a playable character in ''[[Devil May Cry 4]]'', and later in ''[[Devil May Cry 5]]''. He is the son of [[Vergil]] who is raised in [[Fortuna]] and serves as a Holy Knight in the [[Order of the Sword]], a religious group that worships [[Sparda]] and fights to protect the world from demons.
 
'''Nero''' is one of the main protagonists of the ''[[Devil May Cry (series)|Devil May Cry]]'' series. He first appeared as a playable character in ''[[Devil May Cry 4]]'', and later in ''[[Devil May Cry 5]]''. He is the son of [[Vergil]] who is raised in [[Fortuna]] and serves as a Holy Knight in the [[Order of the Sword]], a religious group that worships [[Sparda]] and fights to protect the world from demons.

Revision as of 17:47, 14 May 2019

Without strength, you can't protect anything.... I know that.
—Nero, unknowingly repeating what his father once said, Devil May Cry 5

Nero is one of the main protagonists of the Devil May Cry series. He first appeared as a playable character in Devil May Cry 4, and later in Devil May Cry 5. He is the son of Vergil who is raised in Fortuna and serves as a Holy Knight in the Order of the Sword, a religious group that worships Sparda and fights to protect the world from demons.

In Devil May Cry 4, however, he is forced to fight against the Order after encountering Dante and uncovering a conspiracy to conquer the world using The Savior. In Devil May Cry 5, Nero is a more seasoned demon hunter that has since changed his operation to being a mobile Devil May Cry branch. He finds himself fending off a demonic invasion as he chases a mysterious figure (later revealed to be his own biological father Vergil at the end) that severed the Devil Bringer.

Development

The Devil May Cry 4 Material Collection Artbook shows a myriad of sketches and changes over Nero's design. Later artbook, Graphic Arts 3142, confirms that Nero went through a tumultuous development. One of the first considered concepts was a Sherlock Homes-type of character, who would be "sipping tea as he fought off demons,"[6] and some of those concepts can be seen in Material Collection as well. Other concepts of him include Nero in white clothes similar to those worn by the rest of the Order, some which are very aristocratic in appearance, and some that are similar to Vergil, decked in blue. In most of them, Nero has a much slimmer build, and his eyes are a different color, where they are predominantly yellow, in contrast to the color seen in the final version of the game. The artbook also has several images depicting Nero with a full Devil Trigger that has wings, but this design was scrapped in exchange for the spectre-like form seen in the final game.

According to Devil May Cry 4: Deadly Fortune novel, Nero was originally named after a sculptor called Rodan, who created Gates of Hell, a monumental sculptural group depicting scenes from Dante Alighieri's Inferno in high relief. However, because the crew preferred a two-syllable name, and because they were afraid "Rodan" might give too much of an "intellectual" impression, they decided to go for a different name. As stated in the novel, Morihashi Bingo accidentally came up with the name Nero, and it has nothing to do with Nelo Angelo.

In early publicity art, screenshots, and trailers for Devil May Cry 4, Nero's Devil Bringer originally had a golden glow before it was changed to blue; the reason for this change is unknown.

Before Devil May Cry 5, which canonically confirmed it, Nero's heritage was less certain. At the time, the only facts stated for certain were that that Nero has a strong connection with Yamato, and that Sanctus places him somewhere inside the Sparda bloodline. Although logically, this would make Nero being Vergil's son the most plausible explanation, some statements from developers at the time contradicted that timeline.[7] Although there has been a number of unofficial statements since then which confirmed that Nero was, in fact, Vergil's son, the fans had to wait six years before Graphic Arts 3142 finally confirmed it.[4]

  1. Devil May Cry 5 Official Nero Character Page
  2. TGS 2018 - Sep 22, 2018 Livestream
  3. Devil May Cry 5: Before the Nightmare
  4. 4.0 4.1 3142 Graphic Arts (Click here to see.) (Pg. 92) Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name "Nero Relation" defined multiple times with different content
  5. "🗣 Face of #Nero in #devilmaycry5" - karlobaker on Instagram
  6. Q: How about Nero, the protagonist of "DMC 4"? Bingo: Oh, poor, poor Nero. (laughs) Dante has always just seemed too strong as a character, so I made Nero with the idea that the series could still continue even if we were to lose Dante. Figuring out the scenario and Dante's lines in "DMC 3" was an easy task. But Nero took months, even though the basics of the character were decided early on. I think he came out all right in the end, but he actually started out as a Sherlock Holmes-type character, sipping tea as he fought off demons. (laughs) But they decided that wasn't such a good idea. (laughs)
  7. Interview: Hiroyuki Kobayashi Talks Devil May Cry 4 Storyline "Hiroyuki Kobayashi: Lady appeared in 3, and now she's about ten years older than she was in that one <...>" Nero is clearly older than ten years old in DMC4.