Silver

Course correction. Another proof is N!Lady, who not only is noticeably nicer for shipping purposes (until she left Dante to go fuck himself in the finale lmao), but swears far, far less than in S1, which was one of the most popular complaints about the character. You could even see Chi's darker skin tone as an answer to the outrage to Lucia's very noticeable pale skin in S1, although as I have amply explained, it only made things worse.

The plot:

like these two were gonna FUCK before the dart got im like 6 seconds later

[  Hellbound  ]

-I keep thinking of Dante squatting in the abandoned remains of Paradise after the events of the game, when he's in a bad headspace and self isolating. Maybe feeds the local stray cats, too, and has kinda adopted a black cat as his own.

As a more positive thing: I also like the idea of him rebuilding the place as some kind of homeless shelter or halfway house- but one of the good ones, warded against demons and cops alike. Or maybe him giving it to Kat and them forming a new Order (maybe renaming it the Protectors, like from DMC2?) there.

I'm not sure where he'd get the money and manpower to rebuild the place, tho, unless he got a hold of Vergil's wealth or somehow made enough to buy the place (assuming Vergil didn't already buy it). There'd still be so many issues with paperwork. It's not like he can exactly prove that he's supposed to inherit the place, even if Sparda and Eva willed it to him. I'm not sure if he could even buy the place or run it how he'd want to, given his criminal record. Same issue with Kat's criminal record. But its still a nice idea.

Could also see Dante just going "fuck the paperwork" and warding the place against demons and veiling it from the cops* and letting (as much as he can of) the local homeless population just turn the place into a tent city. Not as good as actually having the place fixed up and running as something official, but its better than just letting all that space go to waste.

Not sure how much Dante would actually do this one, tbh, since I'm not sure how comfortable he'd be letting people in to his old home. Even if there's nothing really left there but ash and memories and his parents' paintings, it was still the place he and Vergil grew up. Might be too personal.

*= Its not really clear what the rules for the Nephilim's powers ARE, so maybe Dante can hide things from sight, like illusion magic? I mean, the demons kinda did that, so ??? But if not then ignore this, lol.

-Headcanon that there are a lot of half demons and people with demonic heritage running around after the end of the game, just given how many demons there were integrated into human society under Mundus. I doubt all of them would be on Mundus' side, even just out of fear. Maybe after Mundus is gone, they can all rally around Dante and Kat instead? And help him and Kat build a better future? Maybe some good demons too, that never had the courage or the power to really openly defy Mundus/protect humanity before this? Idk, I just like the idea of Dante not being the only non-human good guy around, y'know? Same with Sparda. And Eva, tbh. I mean, making a nephilim takes a demon AND an angel, so presumably Eva wasn't the only one to rebel and fall in love with a demon. It'd be neat if we could see more of that, even if it was just second or third hand accounts of the relationships.

-Headcanon that Dante hangs out by Assiel's statue, sometimes, post game. He's not really sure how aware she actually is, since Phineas said she was slain, but she still turned her head and spoke to Dante when he approached her for help, so he talks to her anyway. Thanked her for her help, telling her that they killed Mundus, told her what happened with Vergil, told her about Sparda and Eva... Just. Anything. He thinks of it as kinda being like hanging out with his cousin. Or at least visiting her grave. Or both, sometimes.

He probably repaired her statue, too, as much as he could. It'd probably take some welding gear and extra metal and such, assuming he couldn't just use his powers, but hey, he's got time. Maybe tried painting her statue, too- if that's not too weird.

-Kinda inspired by the Vergil Chronicles, but I like the idea of Dante just clearing out a space in Limbo for him and Kat to just chill in. Maybe go on a date in? Just. Somewhere nice, and pretty to look at, and fun to walk around. No demons. Not sure if Dante can bring snacks into Limbo with him, but maybe he'd try anyway, for her? Or they could just eat when they get back to the real world, whichever.

(Idk if Limbo is even a thing anymore by the end of the game, but this idea was cute, so I'm sticking it here.)

-Headcanon that Dante's ill-fitting jacket in the game is a keepsake from an old boyfriend of his. Dante bounced before being around him could get the guy killed, but they were still fond of one another, and it probably could've been good if Dante had stayed/things were different. Dante kept the jacket as a memento of their time together. (I know it doesn't have to be that deep, I just like this headcanon.)

Oh these are fun!

I have thought about the idea of Dante returning to Paradise after the events of the game. I know it's one the reboot fandom considers a lot and I like seeing everyone's different takes. Me and my girlfriend had an AU once set entirely around the concept of Dante, Kat, and other survivors of the crash of Limbo City rebuilding Paradise as a sort of home base and it was always a fun one.

I had also never considered Dante with illusion powers, that's interesting. It always seemed like something more in line with Vergil but like you said there's not really any info on what powers Nephilim in the context of the reboot do or don't have and how universal all of these abilities are!

I'm also a big proponent of there being more morally nebulous demons and half demons in Limbo City. In a lot of my writing (most of which are WIPs right now) there's a lot of characters who are either full or half demons who are fairly autonomous with a lot of moral range. It's something I always liked about the reboot specifically, how we get a lot of implications that the demons are more morally complex then a lot of the ones in the preboot (given we have characters like Phineas who confirm that there were demons rebelling against Mundus and such)

As for other accounts of Eva and Sparda's relationship in the reboot, I find them really interesting. I actually wrote a meta post about them once that's just highly speculative on the nature of Eva and such (Part 1, Part 2 there's two parts). I've been meaning to do a follow up also I just haven't had time to finish it up. I'd also like to write a one shot about my view of their relationship which might not be everyone's cup of tea but I find them very interesting.

The idea of Dante returning to Assiel is very sweet! And the idea of Kat and Dante having their own little zone in Limbo/hell is very fun to!

-Not sure how plausible this would be in canon, but I love the idea of reboot Dante being able to read, speak, and understand different languages innately because of his angel heritage. Slowly, at first, and he probably needs to hear a language spoken a lot before it "clicks" for him, but he gets there. It gets easier the more into his angel powers he delves/uses. I headcanon the first time he spoke in a language he didn't previously know, the only reason he noticed the difference is because Kat asked him when he learned to speak that language afterwards. It just sounded/felt like English to him. Not sure how this magical translation would effect slang, since even in its native language, that varies so much, but its still fun to think about.

-Dante unlocking healing abilities (from either side, tbh, since we've seen demons heal people in the preboot continuity, and angels being able to heal people just seems like a given) in order to help heal Kat. Also love the idea of him sprouting wings/angel feathers (like Vash from Trigun) as a way to shield Kat or someone else from harm. And maybe learning how to do that shield thing the Witches do, that'd be cool. Just! Let him be protective! Let him have powers that focus more on building and maintaining connections rather than just destruction. I love that trope!

-Idk if you've read Brandon Sanderson's "The Stormlight Archives" series, but I keep chewing over the idea of angelic and demonic energy being less like opposites and more like Stormlight and Voidlight from Sanderson's series. If you haven't read the series and have no idea wtf I'm talking about, just skip this, sorry.

-Something I noticed when playing the reboot after playing all of the original DMC games:

The demons in Limbo City all look... less organic, I guess? Than the demons do in the original DMC timeline. Like, OG DMC demons all look like things that coupd exist in nature, if a bit twisted into something more dangerous, like goats or monkeys or lizards. Even the bigger demons, like Berial or Echidna or Bael and Dagon all look more organic/natural than the demons in the reboot.

This isn't a complaint, btw, I really do like this detail! Because the only demons that I think can really compare to how mechanical/constructed the reboot demons look are the Angelos- i.e. something Mundus literally made. And Mundus has made other, more "natural" looking demons, too, like the Blades and Frosts and such- but the designs of the demons in the reboot make me think that THIS is what the demons that Mundus "designs" (shapes to his purposes) look like after 2,000 years of having the Human Realm as a testing ground for his minions and no Sparda to stop him.

This could also just be what the demons under Mundus look like after they've had 2,000 years to adapt/evolve in or to the Human Realm, since according to the OG DMC canon, demons change based on what they want or a driving desire, like moving really fast or having extra mouths to make it easier to cast spells. But also I kinda like the theory that the demons we see in the reboot are like this because this is the way Mundus made them to be. It vibes well with Mundus' boss form being a big construct of asphalt and fire and darkness, and that weird darkness that the collaborators bleed from their eyes after Lilith/the demons brainwash them.

of course!! i am always very happy to talk about dmc 💖

I have a huge soft spot for bilingual characters so I think this is a very fun concept! I personally headcanon reboot Vergil as fluent in Italian (further elaboration is his adopted family is Italian American with close roots to Italy and family still there and he has to talk to his Nonna somehow). And I've always liked the idea of Dante kind of picking up something in osmosis. He's a clever boy I would love for him to speak more languages and this is a fun idea!

Expanding upon the healing abilities is very fun to, I think. It would be very cool to for him to adopt a sort of power focused on defense particularly since in the reboot he kind of explicitly picks up a protector role and everything, it'd be cool to see!

(Also I have not read the thing you mentioned but I do like connecting the angels and demons in the reboot more then just having them be sort of opposites)

I don't think you'd need Arkham for the reboot's version of DMC3/Temen-ni-gru, just because I think reboot Vergil could fill the role well enough himself. Maybe with some demonic armor, since he's King of Hell now?

(Maybe Kat could be involved too, helping Dante solve puzzles and navigate the tower? Assuming her magical abilities have jumped from "astral projection and seeing into Limbo" to "being able to cast Fireball", I mean. Unless you want to give her a rocket launcher. I'm more partial to giving her a Kablooey, but whichever works best for her.)

Mainly I wanna focus on character stuff- in this case, for Dante. Doppleganger the Deathvoid didn't do much as a test of character for DMC3 Dante, since preboot Dante was already kinda far enough along in his character development that he didn't need another test, but I feel like with what we see of dopplegangers in Vergil's Downfall (or whatever Hollow Vergil really was), you could have some fun with it. Especially if Vergil is here, especially if he's trying to manipulate Dante into helping him undo the seal on Temen-ni-gru and get the Force Edge/the Sparda.

The twins' amulets in the preboot don't have any kind of "security measure" (I guess you could call it) where they only respond to a certain twin, but apparently the reboot twins' amulets DO, so maybe reboot Vergil needs Dante to go along with him for whatever he's planning? At least as far as getting Dante's amulet to do what Vergil wants it to do, anyway.

I feel like you could have some fun with the blood ritual, too, in terms of like, exploring how Vergil is using his brother and how that makes Dante feel (bad; angry and hurt and betrayed, and its all the worse because/if reboot Dante really HAD hoped his brother was trying to connect with him again and make amends), and how Vergil thinks he doesn't "need" his brother/family any more because he's got more power now, and that's all that he thinks matters.

Idk, just. Mostly trying to dig into reboot Dante's character more. I keep thinking of him with issues with self-worth, like he sees himself as a tool, as something to be used (cause I mean, *gestures to Limbo City* living in a capitalistic hellscape'll do that to ya) only really good at killing demons. That and a sense of foreshortened future, since he probably thought he'd be dead from the demons by now, and even with Mundus gone, they're still probably hunting him, so he probably has trouble trying to live a "normal" life with Kat. Or at least as "normal" a life as they can have, being demon hunters and all.

Idk. What do you think?

Ok so firstly I want to say this is all really fun! I do think the plot of DMC3 ties in pretty easily into the reboot honestly and I'm surprised more people don't do anything with the concept. And I like it more then uh...the 'leaked' sequel idea that floats around every few years.

That and I always like the idea of Vergil going and finding Sparda and how it would be for Sparda to come back all these years later and see what became of his sons, given he was the one who decided to memory wipe them and separate them and everything.

My thoughts for a DmC2/reboot version of 3 are admittedly very swayed by my love of Kat/Vergil. I have jokingly referred to it as a gothic romance set in the ruins of the Order a few months after the end of the game. I've never had a full plotline for the concept but me and my girlfriend have discussed the idea of it being pretty loosely based around 3. Like there's still the tower of course, but this time around it's more Vergil's decided to come back from hell with his new demon king powers and army and stake claim and he creates a tower out of the ruins of the Order as a sort of home base which Dante and Kat then have to go through to find him. Which then would lead to a lot of fun character dynamics and tensions (also a lot more Kat being active in the plot and ideally playable at times).

-The giant Summoned Swords that Hollow Vergil uses on you in the boss fight are oversized for fighting the demons we see in the game, save maybe the Butchers, Tyrants, and Imprisoners. It's a great size, however, if your goal is using it against other giant creatures/demons... like, say, Mundus, or other Nephilim (assuming they're the size that we see Assiel and the other Nephilim statues have). Idk, I just thought that was a neat little detail. Not sure if that counts as an insight into Vergil's headspace by this point in the DLC, but maybe? I mean, he did already kill Hollow Dante and the Imprisoner, so maybe?

-I just realized that those Nephilim statues are probably the first dead Nephilim that Vergil has seen, since Vergil wasn't there when Dante "met" Assiel. I'm not even sure if Dante ever told Vergil about Assiel, either. Which probably means that Vergil doesn't know that those dead/"dead" Nephilim can move and talk and still be aware, even after being slain. Just. Interesting stuff to think about...

Ooo the summoning sword detail is definitely fun to theorize on. If it is an insight into his mental state, I wonder if you could read it a sort of tie in with how reboot Vergil tends to view himself as like...this grand figure in this big game where he's against much larger fish then everyone else, you know?