| “ | Almost everywhere I go I hear people mention my father. The moment I say that I'm his son they either light up like kids on Christmas morning or would wanna kill me as payback for him beatin' their ass. Be it a human, a monster, a demon, an angel, or even a god they all know about my father. But hey I get it, I'm the son of a demon who turned his back on evil and fought off the legions of Hell by himself and won. Someone like that would definitely be cemented in the history books and remembered for years to come. Especially when he's done things that are even more unbelievable than that. Even if the stories about my father are just myths and fairytales...somehow people would use them as a way to help themselves rise up against the odds and keep on fighting. Guess that's the one thing I might admire and respect my old man for. | „ |
| ~ Dante speaking of his father |
Sparda was a mighty and tremendously powerful demon, the father of Dante and Vergil, and is widely hailed as the 'Legendary Dark Knight'. This is due to him having rebelled against his masters and single-handedly defeated the armies of Hell along with its own generals and ruler.
Overview
Sparda was one of the Knights of Hell and regarded as the strongest and most skilled member of the Knights. In fact Sparda was so powerful that his prowess alone would easily help him reach the rank of a lord of Hell. Before his rebellion against Hell took place, Sparda once resided in the Inferno, and was feared as the most powerful demonic swordsman in all of Hell, having virtually no equal.
After his rebellion, Sparda's journeys and feats have left a huge impact on the world and is revered to and praised by many who know of him and are familiar with his tales, becoming quite legendary throughout the mortal, mystical, and supernatural world.
History
Background
Much of Sparda's origins are unknown, but it is believed that he was either created by Lucifer when he made the Knights of Hell or he was born from a Knight. Sparda would slowly grow among the ranks due to his skills with a sword, and following closely in suit were four other Infernal Knights. These five knights alone are placed well above the standard positions of other knights due to their superior skill and power. They became collectively known as the Vassals of the Morning Star and had a close familial bond together.
During his days as a Knight of Hell, Sparda was mentored by Sargatanas, a Brigadier-Major General of Hell, and passed on insightful pieces of thoughts to his student, resulting in the two developing a great friendship with Sparda being the only individual that Sargatanas put any trust in. Before Sparda's rebellion against Hell and its lords, he had to deal with Cain, the Father of Murder, who wanted so desperately to die that he managed to open a gateway to the Underworld and remain there. However, Cain's rage and depraved willingness to die only served as a nuisance to the demonic inhabitants and attempted to be rid of him, but to no avail as Cain was far too strong. Sparda was called to rid Hell of Cain and the two engaged in a battle that was said to have shook most of the Circles. Sparda, however, emerged victorious and kicked Cain out of Hell.
General of Hell
A few thousand years later, Sparda led the legions of Hell against the Kalmaktama Empire or the Sarkic Empire alongside the Heavenly Host, the beasts of the Earth and other supernaturally enhanced individuals in the Deathless War. The Dead Sea Scrolls regard Sparda as one of the "princes" of the opposing forces and fought alongside Anax, the werewolf king and Michael who lead the Heavenly Host of angels against the high-ranking officers of the Sarkics. Sparda and the alliance gained victory over the Sarkics and aided in wiping out any trace of their depraved and diseased history from the Earth.
Sometime later, during the reign of Mundus, who usurped Lucifer's throne, the demon king Belial could no longer bear being under Mundus' rule and challenged the Dark Emperor. Seeing that his rule was under threat by Belial's power, Mundus had Beelzebub develop a plot to create a revolt against Belial. Beelzebub accepted but only because this would be in accordance to the plan of Lucifer's eventual freeing without Mundus' knowledge. Using his influence and power, Beelzebub's revolt against Belial was successful and the Goetial King was thrown into the Cocytus river in the Ninth Circle of Hell with the aid of Sparda. Seeing the power of the knights, particularly Sparda, Mundus promoted Sparda to be one of his generals whilst also forming a blood-pact together. Sparda, however, would only agree to partake in certain missions if one of his own in the Vassals of the Morningstar join alongside him. Despite this seemingly humble request the constant praising and favoritism of Sparda would slowly spark an envious animosity between him and his fellow knight, Artorias.
Sparda also had to deal with another powerful enemy, one of the Maleficar known as Argosax, who in his arrogance and lust, wanted to take the entirety of the Inferno for himself, forgoing his original mission of dismantling the power structure of Hell in order for the Prime Evils to mount their offensive. Argosax amassed an army with his power alone but was met with resistance by Mundus who had the Vassals of the Morning Star defeat the entirety of Argosax's armies. Mundus fought against Argosax, and was later joined by Sparda, then banished the Great Evil into the void that lay beyond the borders of Hell.
Sparda's Rebellion
Sparda was stationed on Earth for quite some time, observing the humans and relaying information to Mundus regarding their strength and weaknesses. However, the more he was exposed to the humans, the more his viewpoint on them began to change, thinking back to his discussions with Sargatanas on how Hell operates. This was especially prominent via his visits and eventual befriending of Lilandra, a blind mortal priestess belonging to the Church of Fire. Eventually, Sparda's continuous visits to Lilandra and even protecting her from his own soldiers made him change. It then culminated in Sparda beginning to see the tyranny his masters would inflict on the humans and turn away in disgust.
As a result, Sparda rebelled against the lords of Hell, fulfilling Lilandra's prophecy of the soldier with black wings of treachery raising his sword against the darkness. He only realized the true gravity of the situation when Mundus intended to conquer the worlds through the use of the cosmic event known as the Conjunction of the Spheres. The dimensional energy of the Convergence would be channelled through the Seven Gates of Hell that were stationed around the world and harnessing its power to create temporal gateways that granted the demons safe passage into the Infinite Corridor and through material plane. Sparda discovered that Mundus' execution of this plan was terribly flawed as the Devil Emperor did not account for the fact that the gates would be unable to hold the excess energy, growing unstable and would result in the collapse of the realms, including the Underworld.
Sparda targeted the Hell Gate used by Mundus as it was the main focal point, which in the process led to him fighting innumerable hoards of demonic soldiers commissioned by the Hell lords to raid and destroy mankind across the globe. He alone destroyed the hellish host, then defeated their current general the Nosferatu Zodd, before moving on to the Emperor of Darkness himself. Sparda defeated Mundus, sealing him into a marble vault, and what was left of Mundus's armies retreated back into the demon world with Sparda managing to destroy the Gate, thus weakening the link between the Convergence and the Earth.
After their defeat, Sparda used his blood and power, as well as that of Lilandra, to seal away Hell from the mortal realm for all eternity. The spell resulted in the lock splitting into two that were fashioned into amulets by Sparda. However, he realized that victory was not so easily attained as there were six more Gates stationed across the world. And thus, Sparda proclaimed that if he were to completely cut off the connection between Hell and the human world, he would have to destroy the six Gates while also defeating those whom own it; those individuals being none other than the Seven Kings of Hell. Sparda also understood that the other six remaining Demon Kings would not be banished so easily in the same manner as Mundus as they are in an entirely different league than the vanquished Dark Emperor and so had to resort to other methods.
Lordless Knight
Before his reach to the Gates, Sparda crafted an extremely powerful sword, the Yamato, that would be able to separate the mortal plane from the Inferno as a counter to the dimensional energies of the Gates as they siphoned power from the Convergence. The Yamato would be used to effectively destroy the Gateways without catastrophic blowbacks in the process.
Sparda dismantling the Devil Kings' strongholds and destroying the Gates (Art by Pierre Mareschal)
While traversing across the world, Sparda reached and destroyed each of the six gates whilst also defeating the seven kings and slaying their Apostles; the kings were reduced to six since Mundus was a member of the Seven Kings. These six fallen angels, whom established themselves as lords of Hell, were stationed across various parts of the world's continents and due to their influence were corrupting the norms and societal ways of humanity. However, much to his dismay, Sparda also discovered that some of these kings enlisted his fellow Vassals as their lieutenants in their twisted kingdoms on Earth. The first of which was Ornstein himself who had taken another demon by the name of Smough as his apprentice, with Ornstein acting as Mammon's lieutenant and guard. Sparda's killing of Ornstein was perhaps the first crucial blow to his mentality.
As he entered these dark lands, a shell of their former glory because of the Hell Kings, he would come across many interesting and powerful individuals that struck a camaraderie with the Dark Knight, whom centuries later, either by kin or their immortality, met and familiarize themselves with his sons and grandchildren. Some of these characters joined the lone knight in order to defeat the kings as they have retained their hope in spite of their lands being coated in darkness and would retake their kingdom from these demon lords. However, he lost some of these newfound compatriots to either the forces of the demon kings or his former Vassal brethren. This resulted in Sparda refusing to have any sort of bond with a human as it would only ensure their downfall because of his reputation.
Destruction of Pompeii
Sparda made his way to Pompeii and rested there for the night, however, he found himself being set upon by the Marble Hornets, demonic female assassins led by Ciaran though the latter was not among them for some reason. Sparda fought against the Hornets, leading them beneath the catacombs of Pompeii, far from the sights of the humans as well as to have the humans be out of harm's away. Unfortunately, the Hornets' attack on Sparda revealed the latter's location to Mundus who was hungry for revenge against his defeat by the Dark Knight and his betrayal. Against Beelzebub's orders, Mundus learned of an ancient tower that laid within Mount Vesuvius that would aid him in regaining his power to defeat Sparda.
Mundus' summoning of the tower resulted in the eruption of the mountain. While Sparda managed to slay all of the Marble Hornets, it was too late as the volcano began destroying the city of Pompeii and most of the population completely. Sparda discovered that the Destruction of Pompeii was the result of Mundus raising one of the four towers of Babel in a vain attempt to the harness the power that lay within the tower to dominate the Earth after his defeat by Sparda. This was the result of Mundus proclaiming a terrible vengeance against Sparda. However, the action only resulted in Mundus being severely punished by Beelzebub.
Nonetheless, the damage was done, as the volcano's eruption would destroy all that was unfortunate to be caught in its path. People as far away as Misenum fled for their lives as Sparda, in the guise of a human, was rescuing as many as he could from the merciless flames. The flows were rapid-moving, dense, and very hot, wholly or partly knocking down all structures in their path, incinerating or suffocating the remaining population and altering the landscape, including the coastline. These were accompanied by additional light tremors and a mild tsunami in the Bay of Naples. By evening of the second day, the eruption was over, leaving only haze in the atmosphere through which the sun shone weakly. This event affected and traumatized Sparda deeply, as the humans became targets the moment Sparda rose up his sword against his brethren.
Slaying the Dragon
Sparda would engage in a final duel against his former ally and brother, Artorias. The Abysswalker was particularly devastated by Sparda's betrayal and despite his demands to answers on why Sparda turned against them the Dark Knight could give no proper answer for even if he did Artorias would not understand. As such, no more words were shared, and instead and exchange of blades would be the only proper way of communicating. The two fought in a fiercely intense duel, with neither one gaining ground for the longest duration during the battle. Artorias was regarded as Sparda's one true rival and thus was capable of maintaining equal footing with the Dark Knight. However, Sparda would soon gain the upper hand and slew Artorias. The Dark Knight, instead of walking away, mourned the passing of his brother-in-arms.
Sparda confronts the Great Red Dragon (Art by Anato Finnstark)
Fueled by rage and hatred for having used Artorias to break Sparda's will, the Dark Knight made his way to Satan's stronghold where the final Gate of Hell laid waiting. He confronted and engaged against the Dark lord, Satan, and legends dictate that Sparda and Satan fought in a battle that could have quite nearly ravaged a massive section of a continent with eyewitnesses, be it demon or human even, consider it to be among the greatest duels in history. After a long and hard-fought battle, Sparda defeated the King of Hell and banished him back to the Inferno. His banishment consisted of conjuring a powerful binding spell that tied the princes' to their respective circles and prevent them from going any further near the physical world. It is said that Sparda also received aid from the archangel Gabriel to accomplish this.
After his victory over the Great Red Dragon and Artorias, Sparda met and encountered Urxehl, locked in a tower. Urxehl explained to Sparda that he was unable to bring himself to battle his former leader and seeing this as an act of disloyalty, he was promptly imprisoned in a watchtower where he would be a simple sentry, a shame to his status as a knight. Urxehl admitted to Sparda that at her first he found comfort in his current predicament but having been reduced to such a state brought shame and could not bear the thought of being involved in the deaths of his brethren. Sparda offered to free Urxehl and have him join the Dark Knight but Urxehl declined. Instead, Urxehl requested and pleaded to Sparda to give him an honorable death and after much reluctance, Sparda obliged by decapitating him.
Sparda's victory over the Great Dragon and his killing of the three Vassals of the Morning Star cemented his total abandonment of his blood-ties to Hell and all those whom he once called friends and brothers-in-arms. While this has earned him a legendary heroic status amongst the humans and the supernatural societies of Earth, Sparda became an outcast and labeled as a traitor by his own kind and was cursed with the heavy burden of not only fighting but slaying his former demonic cohorts in order to prevent them from further harming the human race. Sparda would place the weapons of his former companions in a makeshift tomb and to his surprise, he found Ciaran alive and well. Ciaran held no ill-will towards Sparda and even if she did she stood no chance against him. She wishes to borrow Sparda's view over humanity in order to better understand his motives. The two would then silently mourn over the graves of Artorias, Ornstein, and Urxehl. Ciaran hid the makeshift tomb from any would-be pillagers and left the Dark Knight, never to be seen or heard from again. After Satan's defeat and the subsequent destruction of the gates, Sparda walked wherever the wind took him.
Banishing Dormammu
As he traveled over the years, he continued to protect the humans from demons that were able to escape the purging and other fearsome beasts. Sparda was also at the time deeply depressed as the weight of having a hand in slaying his former compatriots took a heavy toll on his mentality. He once stated to Shani that the events that transpired only made him confused and enraged, lashing out from emotional turmoil.
Sparda as the "Dark Knight" in the human world (AI art by BlackOnRog)
He also meeting many interesting and colorful characters despite not wanting to do anything with them. Regardless, he at some point was recruited by Galadriel, the elven queen, to join the White Council to aid them in stopping an impending evil that Sparda himself may be familiar with. Various villages were attacked by riders cloaked in shadow, looking for phylacteries. While Sparda aided in strengthening their strategic defenses, he requested to join the search for these phylacteries himself which Galadriel allowed. Later on, he would soon be joined by Erland of Larvik, a mighty Witcher, and several others of whom were drawn by the activities of Sylas and Amara Briarwood, zealots of Dormammu, the mightiest of the Maleficar.
While having large contrasts in personalities, they had a common goal and became the Dark Swordsman Party eventually forming a camaraderie. During their adventure they would come to learn of Dormammu's existence, all while battling the Ringed Wraiths, and would be more alarmed of the methods required to properly bring him over to their world. Moreover, upon seeing and examining the phylacteries the Ring Wraiths had with them, they discovered that the Briarwoods were also attempting to resurrect Drath Mephruhn, a powerful lich who was Dormammu's first zealot. While they managed to defeat and this time properly destroy Drath Mephruhn, the black tainted magic used by the Briarwoods corrupted several of the Fae, and turned kingdoms into desolate wastelands which only grew worse with the coming of the Conjunction of the Spheres and the Briarwoods' tampering with the Natural Order of creation.
Unfortunately, despite their best efforts and them slaying the Briarwoods, the ritual was complete and Dormammu began his descent unto the material plane where his kingdom would begin to assimilate the Earth's lands and his armies would march. The Dark Swordsman Party confronted Dormammu within the Nexus Roots the middle-ground between the conjoining realms of the mythical and mortal. The Party, empowered by the seeds of the Erdtree, battled the Great Evil in a titanic battle. However, they struggled fiercely against his godly might only to discover that Dormammu's power is dependent on his realm and that they must lure him away from Angband which would slowly weaken him overtime. As they did, Dormammu found himself slowly but surely being overwhelmed by the combined might of the Dark Swordsman Party. Keyleth used her magic to graft the seeds unto Sparda's blade, empowering it with the divine magic of the Erdtree before Sparda would leap and deal a massively critical blow to Dormammu with a downward slash. Injuring the Dread Conqueror and banishing him back into Angband.
Defeating Dracula
As the years passed after the battle against Dormammu, most of his allies in the Dark Swordsman Party either died of natural causes or disappeared all together. Moreover, Sparda's battles with the Seven Kings of Hell, Dormammu, and coupled with the methods it required to seal them off took its toll on him, forcing him to go into hibernation to restore his diminished powers. But before this could happen, Sparda caught wind of a prophecy foretold by an Oracle involving a "Hunter, Knight, and a Speaker" though he initially disregarded it and went into dormancy. As time went on, he found himself meeting two individuals that sparked a most prominent relationship; Trevor Belmont, the last descendant of the Belmont Clan and Sypha Belnades of the Cathari. They would be gathered by Ingeras, Dracula's son who survived persecution by the church as they believed that he and his mother were spawn and consort to the Devil. Ingeras, along with Sypha, wanted to bring all of them together to stop his father from destroying the world.
In the beginning, Sparda and Trevor did not have a friendly partnership due to the fact that Trevor only sees Sparda as an infernal demon and Sparda finding Trevor to be uncouth and crass. Sypha and Ingeras would always act as a medium between them and eventually the four would slowly come to regard each other not just as allies but as friends. Sparda also discovered that his partnership with Trevor and Sypha pertains to the prophecy told by the Oracle; Trevor the Hunter, Sypha the Speaker, and of course Sparda as the Knight. During their journey to Dracula's castle, Ingeras informs them that his father's methods of destroying humanity involved the resurrection of a "Blood God" known as Absalom in an act of retribution against humanity for taking away his family. Knowing the scale of the situation, Sparda agreed to help them.
After raiding Dracula's castle and destroying his top generals and most of his armies, they confronted the Vampire King himself. However, in the midst of the fight, they discovered that Dracula had been under the influence of the Vampire God, Absalom. Absalom was able to manipulate Dracula into killing thousands of humans and harvesting their blood in order to perform the ritual of bringing Absalom back to the mortal plane. While they managed to halt the ritual, Absalom forced Dracula to consume the remaining reserves of blood and providing him with more than enough power to defeat the three heroes with a portion of Absalom's power added to his own. After a long and arduous battle, Trevor, Sypha, and Sparda defeated Dracula with Ingeras having to tragically deal the killing blow as Dracula's love for his son still lingered enough for him to subdue Absalom's influence over him and allow his son to destroy him. Sparda then went on his separate way from Sypha and Trevor, not knowing that he would meet them again one day.
Temen-ni-Gru
At some point in the late 1400s, Sparda would reunite with Trevor and Sypha in preventing a cult of corrupted monks from raising the Temen-ni-gru in the village of Lindenfeld. The village was being attacked by a great demon who sensed the lingering presence of the dormant tower beneath Lindenfield only to be sealed away by a troop of soldiers inside the town's priory. However, the demon's influence was so strong it corrupted the monks of the village, causing them to use its blood and alchemy symbols to sacrifice the souls of the villagers of Lindenfeld so the monks could open a gateway for the tower. Fortunately, the Temen-ni-gru's near rise was averted by the combined work of Sparda, Trevor, and Sypha alongside the mage known as Saint Germain and D'arce, a priestess and daughter of Sala the leader of the corrupted monks, but at a great cost.
While the four were able to arduously defeat the tower's demonic gatekeepers, Sparda took the next drastic step to complete the ritual. Jumping into the heart of the tower, he plunged his blade into the centerpoint of the Temen-ni-gru, poured the lionshare of his demonic power into the blade to assimilate and strengthen the magic used to seal off the tower, forcing it to go dormant along with his own accursed power in the blade. Saint Germain had D'arce complete the spell by using her virgin blood to counteract the insidious energies of the portal. As an added level of security, Sparda split the amulets once used to seal off the Hell Gate Mundus used to invade the human realm from his sword to ensure the complete sealment of the tower.
He and his sword would remain in the tower but did so to imprison the Temen-ni-gru's seven gatekeepers after they were bested by him and his allies so as to prevent them from raising the tower on their own. After doing so, Sparda managed to escape using the Yamato but was without his beloved blade, opting him to instead create and use the Rebellion as his default weapon. Sparda appeared much later to aid Sypha and Trevor relocate the people of Danesti to a more safe location while fighting against the lich known as Vulcanoth the Collector and his undead forces. Afterwards, Sparda and the villagers of Danesti helped found what would be currently known as Redgrave City, the birthplace of his future children.
Legacy
Due to his brave heroics, Sparda was revered and praised as a hero, but while he would not see himself as such, he nonetheless accepted his role as a protector and savior of the humans. However, as years passed, Sparda would slowly fade into myth but would continue his missions in secrecy, all while silently reigning over the human race.
Sometime in the twentieth century, Sparda would eventually meet and fall in love with a human woman, and this resulted in her giving birth to twin sons whom possess Sparda's enormous demonic power. After that, Sparda disappeared, never to be seen or heard from again. But his actions would be remembered and influence many for years to come to the point where almost all organizations tasked with destroying the forces of darkness come together a single joined unit and be addressed as the Dark Knight Initiative in his honor.
Personality
In the beginning, Sparda was known to be explicitly cold, ruthless, and calculating in and out of battle; traits which earned the respect of his peers and superiors, and thus appointed him as being the general of legions of the damned. While Sparda was cruel, he did possess great wisdom which has come to even inspire many demons, monsters, and humans; his wisdom also tied into his role as a mentor to several characters as well. It is said that his personality combined both Dante's rebellious nature and Vergil's level headedness. In addition, similarly to his son Dante, Sparda enjoys fighting and revels in the thrill of combat though this has mellowed down over the years but does appreciate a good fight. One interesting aspect of Sparda was that he was also rather popular with women, especially since he was known to be quite handsome in his human appearance, and his gentlemanly and charismatic nature coupled with his codes as a knight made him out to be extremely charming and attractive.
Legends speak fondly of his courage, righteousness and his thankless missions to protect the human world at the expense of being labeled as a traitor by all of his kind. Sparda's former consort Shani along with his later wife, Eva, always described him as being a noble fighter with courage and a righteous heart. Sparda is generally respected and admired by many; even if he does not seek acknowledgment or praise for his deeds showing a humble side to him. He has always had a noble and honest spirit, intolerant towards injustice and abuses of power. He learned on his own and from his allies that true strength is having the courage to fight against abuse, no matter one's power, and having compassion for the innocent. Sparda is not afraid to do what is right for the greater good and make the hardest choices, even if it might be costly to him personally. As both a knight and soldier, Sparda knows full well that wars and battles have their casualties and some of his dearest friends, or even himself, may need to make the ultimate sacrifice. It is also revealed that while Sparda would protect the humans, he is not above killing ones that he finds repulsive and monstrous in their own right, going so far as to say that these sorts of humans are even worse than demons, a statement shared with his son Dante except the latter refuses to kill full blooded humans for any reason. One example was when Sparda barged into a cellar, only to discover the Nilfgaardian soldiers have not only taken the elven women as spoils of war but also subjected them to brutal acts of rape and torture, resulting in Sparda viciously mutilating and slaughtering the soldiers in a fit of pure rage.
When meeting with members that would gather as the Dark Swordsman Party, Sparda was more of a loner and preferred to do things on his own, usually portrayed as being cynical, grim, and aloof which resulted in conflicts of interest with several members. He also would keep to himself when he is asked about his personal life showing an introverted nature like Vergil though was forthcoming when answering questions later on. He was equally inquisitive about humanity as well, so to be sure if his new acquaintances would be up for the task. Centuries later when meeting with Trevor and Sypha, Sparda was more mellow and less distant but still retains a majority of his personality traits. Sparda does not take kindly to Trevor's rude behavior and threats, similarly to Dante's dislike of anyone having a bigger mouth than him, resulting in Sparda issuing a duel to him; it is implied this was more of a test to Trevor than out of anger. When dueling with Trevor, Sparda makes it clear he dislikes fighting dirty, such as blows below the belt, showing a sense of honor. The resulting duel and Sparda's amusement and later admiration towards humans that put their lives on the line in battle suggest that he respects strength, bravery and conviction above all. This is also suggested by his admiration of Sypha after she throws aside her preconceptions of him as "the Dark Knight" if it meant protecting Trevor and the citizens of Wallachia. Seeing the lengths that Trevor and Sypha would go to protect the innocent, Sparda acknowledges the two as his allies. He reveals his full identity and intentions before welcoming the two to be his allies in the battles to come.
Sparda is a demon of intense responsibility. First, he bears the burden of betraying his own kind and then defending the human race in solitude. Sparda is resolute in his purpose to defeat malignant otherworldly forces, in honor of Lilandra's wishes to protect humanity. Although he shows no outward signs of doubt, individuals like Sypha and Keyleth notice an implication that Sparda is actually deeply depressed by this heavy burden and is quite lonely as a result. While showing no doubt, he did admit that at one point he wondered if he was doing the right thing. Throughout his journeys, Sparda has met and lost many companions and was forced to kill two of his fellow knights which eventually resulted in Sparda having an emotional breakdown, feeling the loss of those he cares for such as his comrades, lovers, and the weight of his loneliness. This also resulted in Sparda declaring that he would have no connection with anyone as he fears that anyone who gets close to him will become an emotional target for him. However, this show of affection and care towards his compatriots had Shani proclaim to him that he is "more human" than any monster or demon. Because of this, Sparda no longer allows his burdens and isolation to impede him in his missions.
Powers and Abilities
| “ | Your father was perhaps the mightiest Devil ever to exist. He had no equal. Even dark lords greater than Mundus fell to his might. But Sparda has long since passed. And so, I fear that no one among you can best the Adversary now. | „ |
| ~ Andras |
The exact extent of Sparda's powers remains unknown; but it is shown that his powers surpassed even entities of god-like power, evidenced when Sparda single-handedly defeated Mundus and his demonic armies along with subduing the other six princes of Hell, whom are reputed to be the first and most powerful demons, with perhaps the most impressive feat of them all is him managing to defeat Satan himself who is regarded as being far more powerful than Mundus himself and fought the Devil for many days and nights. Sparda is a demon of monstrously colossal power, reaching godly heights, to the point where many despotic mad men sought to harness his power and gain the powers of a god and has defeated/sealed many demons and other great and mighty supernatural entities away. His tremendous power is due to him embracing his humanity.
Sparda was one of the Knights of Hell, demons of such unparalleled skill and might that they are chosen by the monarchs of Hell to embark on missions that is far too dangerous for any other demon to take, and is said to be the most powerful member of the Knights. Sparda's power was such that the other Knights appointed him of being their leader due to not only his strength but also his wisdom and strategic battle prowess. This also resulted in Sparda being anointed as the general of Hell's armies and has been shown to lead the infernal legions to battle during the Deathless War. The immensity of his power is evident through his bloodline, his very blood bestowing his descendants with great physical prowess and magical abilities. Each of Sparda's legendary accomplishments in life were eventually surpassed by his sons Dante and Vergil.
Sparda was hailed as the most powerful demonic swordsman in the Inferno with virtually no equal other than possibly Lucifer. He has engaged and defeated some of the most powerful beings on Earth and Hell. In fact, many individuals who engaged and were defeated by the Dark Knight have expressed admiration and respect towards Sparda's skill and power, despite them being tremendously skilled and powerful swordsman in their own right. His level of mastery extends to where he can dual wield two swords of different calibur (Sword of Sparda and Yamato) all while fending off attacks from the Marble Hornets with masterful skill of the sword uses. Sparda's aura was noted to be absolutely colossal. This was especially illustrated when Sparda was enraged by Mundus' actions, he exerted his demonic power so much it made Hell itself quake according to Dantalion. Furthermore, his energy is so dense and massive that it would easily crush a human, lesser demons and monsters, and even constructs from the sheer pressure alone.
During the battle between Dante and Satan, Furfur proclaimed that despite Dante and Vergil surpassing Sparda's feats, they still pale in comparison to their father's power, going further on to say that the Dark Knight's might, even for a demon, was so vast that it was held in a fantasy light similar to Lucifer, Satan, and the archangel Michael, stating that no one had come close to matching him ever since his passing; it should be noted however that only four individuals in history were able to rival him with these four consisting of Satan, Artorias, Zodd, and Cain. Even Lucifer acknowledged Sparda's power though the Morning Star has never fought Sparda but he could tell that by defeating the Princes of Hell among many other powerful beings that Sparda was an extremely formidable force. The gods themselves were also highly impressed by Sparda's prowess to the point where Ares, the god of war, eagerly wanted to fight him. Andras, who personally trained with the Dark Knight and witnessed his duels against the lords of Hell, proclaimed that no one within the forces of the Dark Knight Initiative would be able to defeat him.
