Alighiero Alighieri

Alighiero Alighieri was a villain in the video game Dante's Inferno, serving as the boss of the Circle of Greed, as well as the father of Dante.

Life
Throughout Dante's childhood, Alighiero proved to be a sinful, leacherous, and cruel glutton that often stole money from the poor to fund wild parties with his friends. He frequently had sex with women, excluding his wife Bella, and constantly badmouthed his son and his wife. Alighiero was also extremely abusive towards Bella, even driving her to commit suicide, though he told Dante she died of a fever. While his son was away at the Crusades, his fiance, Beatrice, stayed with Alighiero while she waited for him to return. Soon before he died, Alighiero attempted to seduce Beatrice, stating that he was sure Dante was dead, but seconds later, an assassin burst into his house. Alighiero engaged him in a sword fight and was close to overpowering him, but as he pushed the assassin to the ground, he was stabbed in the eye with the golden cross he always wore, killing him.

Descent into the Inferno
Alighiero was sent to Hell upon his death, where he was condemned to the Fourth Circle, Greed, and transformed into a grotesque and obese demon. After Dante arrived in the fourth circle during his descent into the Inferno, Alighiero taunted him about his failures and how he had made nothing of himself. He said that Dante was nothing like him and asked if the crusader was afraid that he wasn't a man like his father. However Dante said that he was afraid he was too much like his father and they finally battled, with the crusader emerging the victor. Alighiero then told Dante to go ahead and blame him for how he turned out, but the crusader only said that he pitied his father for being so full of greed and hate. Dante said that he refused to be damned like Alighiero and absolved him. Later his soul aided the crusader, along with all the other souls he absolved on his journey, in imprisoning Lucifer once more, redeeming himself similar to his son.

Powers
Due to his transformation into a demon, Alighiero had great strength and wielded an enormous cross, similar to the one he wore in life, as a weapon. He was able to send out small cross projectiles that continually bounced off the target to strike again and again, as well as placing a cross on the ground that could send out energy pulses.

Trivia

 * The real life Alighiero Alighieri was a respected Florentine moneylender.
 * His voice actor in the games was JB Blanc, who also voiced Enrico Maxwell, an antagonistic archbishop character from the anime Hellsing.
 * Alighiero's voice actor in the movie was Mark Hamill, who voiced the Watcher in the video game, Darksiders, a game that bore many similarities to Dante's Inferno.
 * His Japanese voice actor was Chikao Ohtsuka.
 * In the movie, Alighiero wanted to kill Dante since Lucifer offered him endless gold and 1000 years free of torture if he succeeded. However he was defeated by his son, who kicked him into a vat of molten gold.