Characters of Dante's Inferno

Dante Alighieri The game's primary protagonist, Dante is depicted as a knight of the Third Crusade who has a red tapestry detailing the events of his life sewn into his chest. Unlike Dante's portrayal of himself in the Divine Comedy as being weak and timid, even being horrified at the sight of demons and evil spirits, this Dante is depicted as being muscular and skilled in weaponry and magic, as well as having a horrific past. His weapons are a scythe obtained from Death himself and a cross he received as a gift from Beatrice before leaving for the Crusades (His weapon during the Crusades was a Halberd, which he lost during the battle with Death).

Lucifer The central antagonist of the game, Lucifer has developed a plan to wed a soul destined for Heaven, in order to escape the prison he was placed in as punishment for his rebellion, which results in Lucifer capturing Beatrice moments after her death. He makes several appearances as a dark, spectral shadow before Dante faces him in person and is capable of projecting a spectral form to capture the souls of deceased humans. His true form is trapped in Cocytus, a frozen lake made of his own tears.

Death The Grim Reaper himself. He appears moments after Dante is assassinated during the Crusades with the intention of punishing Dante for his crimes. He is killed by Dante after his scythe is stolen from him. Dante uses the scythe throughout the game as his primary weapon.

Francesco Portinari A former Crusader and Beatrice's brother. Francesco was a close friend of Dante's during the Crusades. Beatrice wished for Dante to protect him, but Francesco died during the Crusades and was punished in Hell by being turned into a disfigured parody of his human form. Now a demon, he eagerly awaits the opportunity to kill Dante, who he blames for his descent into demonhood. As a demon, he carries several swords stabbed into his back which he uses as melee/projectile weapons and has half of his face warped into a plantlike appearance.

Publius Vergilius Maro (Virgil) The spirit of a long deceased poet, Virgil acts as a guide to Dante (similar to his role in the poem), explaining each one of the circles of Hell and their purposes. As such, all of his dialogue comes from the original poem. He is depicted as a tall, bald man dressed in a toga and having thick veins sticking out of his head where a spiked crown rests on his forehead.

Beatrice Portinari Dante's now deceased fiance, she serves as Dante's primary motivation as he goes deeper into Hell to rescue her from being used by Lucifer as a way for him to escape from Hell. She, along with along with Dante's father and servants, were killed prior to Dante's return to Florence after being stabbed to death by an unknown assailant. She also seems to have some connections to Lucifer and Virgil, but what these connections are, if any, have yet to be explained.

Minos The temperamental, cynical judge of the dead and guardian of Limbo, Minos appears as a half-serpent, half-human demigod with a large crown on his head and a serpent's body from the waist down, which he uses to determine the circle a condemned soul will be placed in. He is also blind, relying on his senses of smell and touch to find his enemies. He is killed after Dante uses a torture device to split his face in half.

Cleopatra VII Philopator A former Egyptian queen now turned into a giant demon after her death. She is the guardian of the second circle of Hell, where the lustful are punished. She is also extremely narcissistic, seeing herself as beautiful while the other shades and demons can see how repulsive she truly is.

Cerberus A three-headed hellhound who guards the third circle of Hell, Gluttony. Cerberus appears as a three-headed worm escaping from a large humanoid maw in the ground and having numerous other worms sticking out of each of its heads. The three heads also constantly fight over their meals and in some cases will vomit out anything that is consumed, even using these as projectiles against its quarry. Despite having front legs, the demon is completely immobile due to being stuck in the ground from the mid section up. Dante succeeds in killing the demon by severing each of its heads before destroying the middle head in an explosion after it tried to unsuccessfully devour him.

Plutus The fallen God of wealth. Plutus appears as a living golden statue with multiple arms and several blue gems in different parts of his body. He is widely worshipped by the ghosts condemned to the fourth Hell, Greed.

Phlegyas A former demigod who fell from grace after being killed by Apollo. In the afterlife, he was turned into a demonic giant and condemned to the fifth circle of Hell, Anger, as punishment for burning down the Apollonian Temple of Delphi. Dante unknowingly rides across the Styx on the wrathful demigod's crown. After a brief confrontation in which Phlegyas sends various demons after Dante and inadvertently killing them in the fight, Dante takes control of Phlegyas and uses him to break into the City of Dis.[10]

Charon The ferryman of the dead who appears as an anthropomorphic boat with a giant ship for a body. Although he is physically incapable of directly attacking people due to his lack of any actual limbs save for the head, Charon is not above sending various demons out against those who he forbids from traveling aboard him. He is later killed after Dante uses a demonic beast to tear his head off. His severed head is later shown near the entrance to King Minos' palace, still repeating the inscription from the Gates of Hell.

The Malebranche A group of demons lead by Malacoda who guard the eighth circle of Hell, Fraud. They retain their roles from the original poem as torturers of those who have deceived others in their days amongst the living. The demons carry around twin swords for use in combat and use their flight to their advantage.

Alighiero Dante's sinful father, Alighiero is guilty of the sins of Gluttony and Greed. Alighiero beat his wife and son often, and it is speculated he forced Beatrice to have a miscarriage and lose Dante's baby, which they had out of wedlock. He lived in his family villa outside of Florence. He was murdered by an unknown assailant; his golden cross pendant impaled through his right eye. Lucifer has warped Alighiero into a monster and promised him 1000 years free of torment and a horde of gold if he does one thing; murder his own son.

Bella Alighieri Dante's pious mother, she was beaten and abused by her husband, and eventually succumbed to a fever. In reality, she committed suicide and is trapped in the Seventh Circle of Hell. She tells Dante that despite being raised by his evil father, he is a better man and can save his soul. Dante uses the cross to free her from her torment.

The Assassin An unknown assailant who assassinated Dante after the massacre in Acre. Finding out Dante survived, he rode ahead to Florence and attacked Dante's father and Beatrice, murdering them in Alighiero's own villa. He has some connection to Dante's sins, but is not the Devil in disguise.

The Bishop A minor character who deceives Dante and the other Crusaders into thinking they will be forgiven for all their sins for taking part in the Crusades. However, both Dante and Francesco immediately began to realize the bishop's false promise of salvation after their encounters with the supernatural and soon realize that their cause was by no means "holy" as he said it was.