History
At the beginning of the game, a younger, cockier Dante is seen in his yet-to-be-named shop. Arkham comes to his shop and invites him to the Temen-ni-gru on behalf of his brother Vergil by sending a few Hell Prides and Lusts to attack him. Dante, though, effortlessly kills them all, and heads to the tower in search for an interesting time, and it is soon revealed that Vergil is attempting to reopen the portal to the demon world in order to obtain the full power of their father, which remains in the demon world within the Force Edge, Sparda's demon-forged sword. Within the tower, Dante encounters and defeats the demonic gatekeepers who were sealed away by his father, as well as the demon hunter Lady, who is in pursuit of her father Arkham, and the demon Jester, who guides him through the tower for his own reasons. Upon defeating most of these demons, Dante acquires their souls in the form of new weapons and combat styles. Dante, Lady, and Vergil eventually discover that Arkham is Jester, and was using all of them in order to open the portal and acquire the Force Edge for himself, using it as a means to gain Sparda's power. After defeating Arkham in the Demon World, Vergil and Dante duel for the ownership of the Force Edge. In the end of the battle, Dante claims ownership of the Force Edge, while Vergil chooses to remain in the Netherworld.
Dante matures considerably during the game and, inspired by Lady's courage and commitment to her own family, continues his demon hunting business with a greater sense of purpose. They become partners and he decides to call his shop "Devil May Cry", in reference to what Lady said to comfort him over the loss of his brother Vergil.
"Maybe somewhere out there even a devil may cry when he loses a loved one. Don’t you think?"
Personality
Earlier in the series's story, Dante is incredibly flippant, mouthing off to even the most powerful of demons, and he generally enjoys rubbing people the wrong way. He does mature as time goes by, but never really loses his attitude. Dante is seemingly unflappable, not showing fear whether he's being attacked by the Seven Hells in his office or being swallowed by a giant serpent demon. Dante can seem at times to be uncaring or even callous, but actually has a very strong sense of justice and prefers to fight fairly. He can be counted on to do the right thing, even if he is makes cynical quips about it the entire time. Unusually, while he has issues with his own demonic side, Dante has little qualms about accepting demons who choose the side of good, such as Trish and Bradley. Though Dante is quoted as believing that "Humans are often worse than demons" in the anime, he refuses to kill full-blooded humans for any reason.
Despite verbally complaining about being in debt, Dante seems quite willing to perform missions solely for the good of them, and rarely enforces payment from poor clients. Many of his clients take advantage of this good nature of his, and leave bills for damages caused during the mission instead of paying for his services. He often borrows from Lady or gambles to repay these debts. However, he has extremely bad luck with gambling, and loses any game not involved with demon hunting. As a result he is horribly in debt to Lady, and is often left with no money at all after she takes her cut. However, in Devil May Cry 4 Lady actually pays him a small amount for his "assistance", implying that he no longer owes her money.
Dante has a fondness for pizza, and while he complains about olives, he always ends up with them on his pizza. His liking for pizza was added because the director believes that pizza is the "best food ever". In the animated series, he is also shown to favor strawberry sundaes. He has a habit of getting roaring drunk; in the first volume of the manga, he mentions getting so drunk that he proposed to a mop.
Abilities
Main article: Devil Trigger
Main article: List of Weapons in the Devil May Cry series
Dante possesses power that surpasses that of most demons. He has enough physical strength to punch through stone with little difficulty, and often overpowers demons much larger than himself. Dante is extremely agile, able to jump to great heights or even to balance on a flying rocket. He is able to channel his power into various physical objects, ranging from his guns to the air itself, and exhibits mastery of any weapon he picks up. Dante can instantly heal from nearly any wound; even the Hell Prides were surprised when he mostly ignored their attack on him at the beginning of Devil May Cry 3. Dante has been shown to survive wounds that would kill a normal human, such as being impaled through the chest with his own sword or being shot point-blank in the head. However, this ability can be worn down with continuing damage.
Thanks to his half-demon nature, Dante can release his demon power through his Devil Trigger. The appearance of this form varies throughout the games — in Devil May Cry and Devil May Cry 3, the form is influenced by which Devil Arm he carries, while in Devil May Cry 2[3] and Devil May Cry 4[4] he has a pair of Devil Forms believed to be his "true" Devil form. These forms usually increase his speed and give him slow regeneration, and sometimes grant him new abilities, like flying.
In Devil May Cry 4, it is implied that Dante's strength is not due to his father, but from his will to protect others. After Dante defeats Agnus, Dante tells him that the reason he's inferior is because Agnus surrendered his humanity. It is suggested that any demon who possesses the will to protect and love others rather than to simply destroy will gain the full might of their demonic power, though Dante, Vergil, and Nero may simply be exceptions due to possessing both human souls and demonic power.
Dante's trademark weapons are the Rebellion, Sparda (Force Edge), and Ebony & Ivory. He has also used a shotgun in every title in the series, though its exact form changes throughout the games. Over the course of the past four games, Dante has collected a wide variety of weapons in addition to his regular arsenal, ranging from a curious electric guitar and several pairs of gauntlets to twin submachine guns and a demonic briefcase able to transform into 666 powerful forms. He keeps many weapons and trophies displayed within his office, so it is likely that he keeps old weapons there as well.
