Who is Vergil?

In the 2001 original, Vergil never appears as himself. He is Nelo Angelo, Italian for black angel: a silent armored knight in Mundus's service, who duels Dante three times across Mallet Island and stays his killing hand only when he sees the half-amulet Dante wears, their mother's keepsake. The reveal, that the knight is Dante's lost twin, brainwashed and armored by the demon who murdered their mother, is the first game's darkest turn, and Vergil seemingly dies with it.

Devil May Cry 3 rewrote him. Writer Bingo Morihashi wanted a living Vergil, and Kamiya gave him freedom to rework the backstory: the prequel's Vergil is a teenager hunting their father's power with the katana Yamato, cold where Dante is loud, who loses his final duel, stays in the Demon World, and walks out to face Mundus. Everything after is the series circling that fall: playable Vergil became the headline feature of the Special Editions of 3, 4 and 5, and Devil May Cry 5 confirmed the series' open secret, that Nero is Vergil's son.