“During the time when the star of salvation was shining over Bethlehem, a ferocious demon hath risen in the depths of the underworld.
Emperor of demons he proclaimed himself and commanded all the malevolent creatures in his domain and he also desired to conquer the world of humans.
However, a mighty demon swordsman by the name of Sparda, rebelled against the Demon Emperor and slayed his evil hosts, until he finally defeated and sealed away the emperor.
Although a demon himself, Sparda turned on his brethren for he took pity on humans and their fragile lives.
After many battles, the swordsman left his homeland for our world and married an ordinary woman who bore him a child.
However, take heed disciples of God!
After two millennia, the accursed Demon Emperor shall break from his bonds and the world of humans is fated once again to be invaded by his eldritch power.
When the time comes, the half-demon son of Sparda shall be the one to stand on the dark battlefield to protect mankind.”
Forbidden library of the Vatican.
Excerpt from “History of the Demon World”.
(Devil May Cry 1 game manual)
“However, there were always people fascinated by evil.
They worshiped demons and in their attempt to gain powers like them, men have erected a great tower.
That edifice would join the realms of demons and men, and those who tried to ascend to evil, climbed the tower. It was a transgression beyond belief.
Around the same time, the mighty demon swordsman Sparda, woke up to justice. He did not bear resentment towards his brethren and eventually he defeated the Demon Emperor.
Thereafter, Sparda feared his own wicked power and wanted to seal it away together with his sword in the Demon World and it was the great tower that became the key for that seal.
In the deepest part of the tower, Sparda sacrificed a virgin maiden and her blood along with his own were used to create the seal and thus, he locked away the demons and his power.
The great tower sank to the depths of the earth and time stopped for the demons and their world.”
Forbidden library of the Vatican.
Excerpt from “Record of demonic swords” (date unknown).
(Devil May Cry 3 game manual)
TRANSLATION NOTES
My God these texts were difficult to translate because in Japanese, they are written with classical grammar which makes them sound archaic and I have tried to keep that tone in my translations and I would like to hear your opinions about them.
These texts have been localized in the game manuals for Devil May Cry 1 and 3 and the manga, but they have a few differences, most notably for the first text “Demon World History”, thus, I made my own translations and made comparisons with the localizations.
I didn’t know that the “Demon World History” was actually from a Devil May Cry 1 material, the first time I saw the text was in the Devil May Cry 3 manga and this has provided something quite interesting.
I will also mention that the translation in the DMC3 manga is different from the one in game manual for DMC1, it didn’t copy-paste the version from there, it’s actually a closer translation to the original text in Japanese because the English localization from DMC1’s manual has a few differences.
What makes the text in the DMC1 manual interesting is the fact that it mentions places from the real world: Bethlehem and the Vatican.
Like I mentioned, the first time I saw the text about Demon World History was in the DMC3 manga and I found it weird that it mentioned Bethlehem and the Vatican, but the text originated from Devil May Cry 1.
This could mean that the setting in Devil May Cry 1 takes place in the real world and has some fictional places, similar to Resident Evil because DMC1 was conceived as an early Resident Evil 4.
It’s interesting how in Devil May Cry 4, Fortuna is apparently based on the Vatican.
In the manual of Devil May Cry 1, the localization of the text doesn’t mention Bethlehem and Vatican yet they are mentioned in the one from the DMC3 manga.
It could be possible that at the time it was controversial to mention those places because it has to do with religion and the game is about demons, so maybe the localization could not mention those places, this is my opinion.
This is what is says in the first paragraph from the English manual’s localization:
“According to legend, 2000 years ago while snow was falling on a clear,
freezing night on Earth, a fierce devil prince was born deep in the
darkest pit of the netherworld.”
DMC3 manga translation: “ During the time when the star of Bethlehem bathed the Earth with its radiance, demons and monsters raged deep within the bowels of hell.”
My translation: “During the time when the star of salvation was shining over Bethlehem, a ferocious demon hath risen in the depths of the underworld.”
As you can see, there is no mention of Bethlehem in the DMC1 manual and it doesn’t mention Vatican at the end, it says:
“From Devil World History (age unknown)
housed in the library of Forbidden Books.
The mention of a star in Bethlehem is most likely a reference to the story about the birth of Jesus.
It’s an interesting parallel, Mundus is considered like Satan in Devil May Cry and in a way, Sparda was the savior of mankind.
DMC1 game manual: ”But a powerful devil-knight known as Sparda took pity on humans for their brief, transient lives.”
DMC3 manga: “Although Sparda was himself a demon, his desire to experience the pain and joy of a human soul turned him against the demons.”
My translation: “Although a demon himself, Sparda turned on his brethren for he took pity on humans and their fragile lives.”
I will give credit to the translation from the DMC1 manual which is closer to the original text and I will mention that I like how in Japanese it is worded in a specific way. The word 慈しむ was used which means “to be affectionate towards” but there is also the meaning of “to love (someone weaker than oneself).”
DMC1 game manual: ”Having achieved his victory, Sparda abandoned the Devil Kingdom to live in the human world. He married a human woman and soon fathered a half devil, half man son.
But beware, mankind. After 2000 years, the cursed Devil Emperor will be
released and will return to invade the human world once again.
Sparda's son must be our protector!”
DMC3 manga: “After many bloody battles, he departed hell to reside in the human world. He even married a human woman, who bore his seed. And so, after two thousand years have past, the cursed Demon King is destined to reclaim his powers and return to the human world. Also destined is the battle between the Demon King, and the half-demon son of Sparda.”
My translation: “After many battles, the swordsman left his homeland for our world and married an ordinary woman who bore him a child.
However, take heed disciples of God!
After two millennia, the accursed Demon Emperor shall break from his bonds and the world of humans is fated once again to be invaded by his eldritch power. When the time comes, the half-demon son of Sparda shall be the one to stand on the dark battlefield to protect mankind.”
Unlike the other translations I have used the word “homeland” instead of demon world or underworld, I believed it sounded more poetic, like I mentioned, the texts used a lot of archaic words.
It’s interesting how it was prophesied that Mundus will come back to invade the human world and Dante will be the one to fight him.
The other text which talks about Temen-Ni-Gru is from the Devil May Cry 3 Japanese manual and I have found a localization for it on the Devil May Cry wiki but it doesn’t say where it’s from, maybe some of you can tell me!
This text is also from the library of Vatican which makes it sound like the setting is still in the real world...Even though we have Fortuna in DMC4, it could be that Fortuna was modeled after Vatican which exists in the Devil May Cry world, maybe the Order of the Sword is a branch of the main headquarters which is in Italy.
It’s just a theory, what do you guys think?
Regarding the translation of this text, there is a part which might have two meanings.
魔剣士スパーダ、善なる心に覚め
同胞に恨なし、遂に魔の物を統べる魔帝をも討ち負かせり。
Localization: “In this time of need, Sparda, a Demon Swordsman and hero among heroes, arose and turning on his brethren, finally struck down the demon empire that ruled over all things evil.”
My translation: “Around the same time, the mighty demon swordsman Sparda, woke up to justice. He did not bear resentment towards his brethren and eventually he defeated the Demon Emperor.”
Let’s start with 善なる心に覚め, [ 善 ] means goodness; virtue, but I chose to use the infamous translation “woke up to justice”.
Okay, the part that I mentioned which might have two meanings is this one
同胞に恨なし
Literally this can be translated as “towards brethren there is no grudge/resentment” and I for one believe it’s plausible, because Sparda mainly hated Mundus and he commanded the demons, Sparda had no choice but to fight them.
In the first text there was a similar sentence in Japanese
スパーダが同胞に仇なしたる and 仇なすmeans to do (someone) a wrong and in the context here, this means that it was him who did something wrong to his brethren, because we are given the reason afterwards-he took pity on humans.
It could be possible that 同胞に恨なし might mean that Sparda had resentment towards the demons, the meaning of “turning against his brethren”.
I have written these interpretations because, like I said, the grammar used in these texts is classical which I’m not familiar with and I had to research to make the translations and I have asked someone about this part and they also said that both interpretations are plausible.
Localization: “Then greatly fearing his own accursed power, Sparda sought to seal himself away forever with the demons. The key to that seal was the great tower.”
My translation: “Thereafter, Sparda feared his own wicked power and wanted to seal it away together with his sword in the Demon World and it was the great tower that became the key for that seal.”
The localization says “Sparda sought to seal himself away forever with the demons”, which is a mistranslation, it was his power that he wanted to seal, not himself.
These texts were interesting, although I may not have provided new information because these have been translated before, as you have seen there were some differences and it’s cool that I got to read the original texts in Japanese.