Nelo Angelo

Nelo Angelo is a demon created by Mundus enslaving the elder Son of Sparda Vergil, entrapping him in one of Machiavelli's Black Knight armors.

Personality

Since Vergil serves as the basis of Nelo Angelo, he possesses a similar personality, though much more subdued. Nelo Angelo is an honorable fighter who does not attack enemies who are unaware of his presence, always announcing his arrival before drawing his blade for battle. Like Vergil, he is also rather cocky and will taunt his opponents, chuckling at them and calling them to attack him in order to taunt them.

After Vergil was defeated by Dante, and willingly cast himself into the depths of the Demon World, he happened upon Mundus himself. Despite his injuries and exhaustion, Vergil tried to fight the Prince of Darkness, believing himself capable of defeating him as his father once did.

However, Vergil was defeated and Yamato was destroyed in the clash. In his weakened state, Mundus recreated Vergil as Nelo Angelo, removing his human heart, will, and ego, which Mundus viewed as weaknesses. Even still, Vergil resisted inside of Nelo Angelo and attempted to wrest control of himself from the Devil Emperor's hold over him. It wasn't until Mundus returned Vergil's half of the Perfect Amulet was he finally able to reign Nelo Angelo in, the amulet serving as a symbol of his father's power Vergil so desperately desired. This in turn made Nelo Angelo completely obedient to Mundus

「 @devilmaycry_5 」

Mallet Island Incident

Nelo Angelo first appears to Dante as a reflection in the bedroom's mirror, from which he emerges, briefly taking on Dante's image before revealing his true form and challenging Dante to a duel in the castle garden. They fight, and while Dante seemed to gain the upper hand, Nelo Angelo overpowered him with hand-to-hand strikes and managed to pin Dante to a wall. However, Dante's amulet slipped out just as Nelo Angelo was about to deliver the killing blow, and the sight of it awakened Vergil's memories, causing Nelo Angelo intense agony. He threw Dante aside and fled, disappearing in a geyser of blue and purple flames.

He returned sometime later to challenge Dante in the garden near the Colosseum, but was defeated and again forced to flee. He returned one last time to fight Dante in one of the halls of the warped castle, where Dante points out Nelo Angelo's "guts and honor", before questioning the knight's loyalty to Mundus.

Nelo Angelo doesn't respond to Dante's words, instead he unleashes his full power, showing Dante his true face in the process (yet Dante shows indifference, still not recognizing his brother in his corrupted state). He challenges Dante one last time, and though he is no longer holding back and using the full extent of his power, Dante defeats Nelo Angelo for the final time.Dropping his greatsword and staggering back, Nelo Angelo rises into the air, clutching his head as he screams in pain before he disappears in a torrent of blue flames, with only his half of the amulet being left behind. His amulet then fell to the floor below. Triggered by looking at the amulet, Dante experiences a flashback of when he and Vergil first received their halves of the Perfect Amulet and realizes that Nelo Angelo was Vergil all along.

「 @devilmaycry_5 」

Legacy

While Mallet Island was destroyed following Mundus' defeat, fragments of Nelo Angelo's armor washed up on the shore of the island nation of Fortuna at some point along with fragments of Yamato, which were recovered by the religious organization that ruled the island, the Order of the Sword, who worshipped the legendary dark knight Sparda as a god. The order's chief alchemist, Agnus, studied the remains of the armor and used shards of them to create Alto Angelos and Bianco Angelos, with Agnus referring to Nelo Angelo as the "Black Angel" in his notes.

 Name

The name Nelo Angelo is a misspelling of "Nero Angelo" (Italian: "Black Angel") which is rendered in Japanese as ネロ・アンジェロ (, Nero Anjero)—since the same characters are used in Japanese to represent both L and R it can be unclear which letter is supposed to be used when translating back to Latin script.While the name was spelled correctly in the original Japanese game manual, incorrect spelling was featured in the Enemy file section of the game itself. This mistake subsequently made its way to western localizations of the game as well as novel translations, comics and later games. After introducing Nero developers acknowledged original mistake but still maintained the current spelling, possibly to avoid confusion with new main character.The name itself is a reference to the black angels mentioned in the Divine Comedy.

「 @devilmaycry_5 」