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“ | I must obtain the power of Argosax... or I cannot transcend all living things! | „ |
~ Arius to Dante. |
“ | The king once ruled most of the demon world and subdued all the demons, but was defeated by Sparda. | „ |
~ The Enemy File on Argosax the Chaos. |
Argosax the Chaos (in Japanese: アーゴザックス ス チャオス, Aagozakkusu su Chaosu), also known as The Despair Embodied, is the overarching antagonist of the 2003 action-adventure game Devil May Cry 2 and one of the overarching antagonists of the 2019 prequel novel, Devil May Cry 5: Before the Nightmare.
He was voiced by Sherman Howard.
Biography[]
Past[]
Two thousand years ago, Argosax waged war against another demon king Mundus, who had eaten the Qliphoth fruit. Their battle ended up splitting the Demon World in two, one ruled by Argosax and other ruled by Mundus. After Sparda rebel and defeated Mundus and his armies, Argosax took control the rest of the Demon World and labeled himself was the ruler by force, as well as and subdued all the devils who would dared to oppose his will. A fire demon named Balrog served as Argosax's right-hand man with the demon knight Bolverk was his most powerful soldier.
The King of Darkness (in Japanese: キング オフ ダークネス Kingu ofu Daakunesu) himself was worshiped by a secret tribe with cultic devotion among the people of Dumary Island, where Devil May Cry 2 took place. Eventually they, except his followers, recognized him as pure evil and a vile demon, and he was defeated by the Dark Knight Sparda and the Vie di Marli, an ancient group of demon hunters that used demon powers.
Devil May Cry 2[]
A businessman named Arius, who had knowledge in demonic magic, sought to claim Argosax's power. He then had his industrial empire Uroboros begin searching for the 4 Arcanas, mystical items which were used to seal Argosax away. Dante managed to interfere with Arius's ritual by replacing the Arcana Medagalia with a coin of his own. However the gateway to the demon world was still partially opened and part of Argosax's power flowed into Arius. Dante and Lucia debated who should go through the portal since because it is unstable, it is unlikely that anyone who entered it will be able to return. Dante left it to a coin toss, which he won because of his two sided coin, and entered the demon world.
Upon arriving, he was confronted by Argosax in his first form, Argosax the Chaos, an enormous fleshy blob with parts from the bosses in Devil May Cry and Devil May Cry 2. Upon defeating this form, a large egg sprouted from the blob and out of it came Argosax's true form, the Despair Embodied: an androgynous, horned, angelic being composed of fire. They fought again and despite his great power, Dante defeated the demon lord.
Devil May Cry 5: Before the Nightmare[]
Once Dante returns to Vie de Marli, Matier informs him that Argosax's right-hand Balrog, a fire demon that appeared on the island and is too powerful for Lucia to fight against. Upon confronting the flame demon, Dante notices he has a shard of Yamato in his hand and speculates he used it to escape from the Demon World to the Human World. Dante destroys the fragment of Yamato in Balrog's arm, who realizes that the Devil Hunter was the son of Sparda and was the one who defeated Mundus and Argosax, he surrenders and offers himself as a Devil Arm to Dante, until he becomes powerful enough for a rematch.
TEPPEN[]
Argosax appears in the third expansion titled "The Force Seekers".
Powers and Abilities[]
In his Chaos form, Argosax can use the attacks of the bosses that comprise him, such as mouth blasts from the head of Nefasturris and lightning waves from the wing of Griffon.
After entering his Despair Embodied form, he can teleport around the battlefield, fly, and rain down waves of fiery feathers. During his battle with Dante, Argosax changes between a more male form that fought with a sword and a more female form that wields whips.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- The four Arcanas that freed Argosax are a coin, a cup, a sword, and a staff, a reference to the European suits of Tarot cards, which were also known as Arcana.
- The final secret room of Dante's scenario includes a simultaneous boss fight against two The Despair Embodieds.
- Argosax's appearance might be a reference to the biblical Legion, an entity that was composed of multiple demons possessing a single man in the Gospel of Luke. Jesus Christ encounters the man in his possessed state and when asked of his name, the demon responds, "My name is Legion; for we are many." The demons begged Jesus to spare them the tortures of Hell and he banished the demons into a group of pigs, which proceeded to drown themselves in the Sea of Galilee. Both Argosax and Legion are composed of multiple demons and both Argosax and Legion possessed a man and drove him insane (The victim in Devil May Cry 2 being Arius).
- Argosax, particularly, his Despair Embodied form, apparently seems to draw on certain Gnostic and alchemy themes. Some Gnostic interpretations of the account of creation in Genesis believed that the human Adam was a hermaphroditic creature until a new being (his wife Eve) was made from him by the creator God. Thus Argosax's Despair Embodied form switching between a masculine and feminine form maybe a vague reference to that. In regard to alchemy, a common goal for some alchemists in their effort to achieve the Magnum Opus ("Great Work") was to achieve a "Union of Opposites" of which traits of opposing elements would sometimes be cast in terms ascribing male and female characteristics. The ceremonial chamber inside the Skyscraper Sanctum's pyramidal diamond block for Dante's second battle against Arius in his 17th mission includes the images of a man and a woman with one shared pair of fiery wings closely to each other on each of the throne-like pillars possibly alluding to this concept from alchemy itself, granted Arius's goal for his personal Magnum Opus is a selfish one of achieving godhood rather than any sort of spiritual growth.
- It is widely speculated that Argosax was the demon king that was dethroned by another powerful devil Mundus.
- The name Argosax may be based on "Argos", another name for the Greek Argus. Argos also means "bright, shining" from Proto-Indo-European dialect.
- Argosax was added to the 2019 free-to-play card mobile video game TEPPEN via the expansion titled "The Force Seekers". The card Argosax is featured was mistranslated, while the Japanese version names it "アルゴサクス・ザ・ケイオス" (Arugosakusu za keiosu "Argosax the Chaos"?), the localization changed the name of the card to "Arius-Argosax".
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Mallet Island Vie de Marli Temen-ni-gru Fortuna Qliphoth DMC: Devil May Cry |