Characters of Dante's Inferno

This list features the characters in the Dante's Inferno video game, very loosely based on the Inferno of Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy.

Dante Alighieri
The game's primary protagonist, a far cry from the actual figure, Dante is depicted as a Templar knight of the Third Crusade. Swearing a vow of faith to Beatrice, Dante broke it before slaughtering Muslim prisoners of war, seeing them as subhuman. After Francisco gave his life up to save him from the king's retribution, Dante is killed during the siege on Acre where he confronts Death and learns that he was not on a holy mission. Taking Death's Scythe as his own, enabling him to return to the land of the living, a disilusioned Dante left for Florence while he had sewn a red tapestry detailing the events of his sins into his chest. After finding his father and Beatrice dead, Dante purses the latter to Hell with the cross she gave him long ago where he faces his horrific past and manages to redeem himself before ending up on Purgatory where he rips the tapestry off of him and discards it as he begins a new journey. He is voiced by Graham McTavish.

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 Dante's father and servants, were killed prior to Dante's return to Florence after being stabbed to death by the assassin. Furthermore, betting her soul on Dante's faithfulness to her, Beatrice is kidnapped by Lucifer who later tempts her into giving herself to him after revealing how her brother died. Though she despised Dante for his actions against her, she is restored to normal after seeing that he kept her cross before being spirited off into Heaven. She is voiced by Vanessa Branch.

Publius Vergilius Maro (Virgil)
One of Rome's greatest poets, now long deceased, Virgil acts as a guide to Dante (similar to his role in the original poem), explaining each of the circles of Hell and their purposes. As such, all of his dialogue comes from the 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. He is voiced by Bart McCarthy in the game and by Peter Jessop in the animated movie.

Charon
The ferryman of the dead who appears as an anthropomorphic boat with a giant ship for a body due to his services in Hell. 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. He is voiced by Bart McCarthy.

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, a necklace made of corpses, and a serpentine body from the waist down. Though blind, his enhanced sense of smell enables him to determine the circle a condemned soul will be placed in, stabbing the soul onto a torture device that sends the damned to their just punishments. He is killed after Dante uses the torture device to split his face in half, opening the path to the Second Circle. He is voiced by Richard Moll in the game and by Kevin Michael Richardson in the animated movie.

Cleopatra VII Philopator
A former Egyptian queen now turned into a succubus 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. Promised her love Mark Antony in exchange, Cleopatra fights Dante as a giant during his ascent of the Carnal Tower before summoning Mark Antony to aid her until he is defeated. Shrinking back to human size, enraged that she is denied her love, Cleopatra tries to seductively kill Dante herself, but to no avail as he runs her through with the Scythe. She is voiced by Alison Lees-Taylor.

Marc Antony
The Roman politician and supporter of Caesar who commited suicide as Cleopatra's lover, he is fought as a boss, fighting as the Egyptian queen's champion as part of Lucifer's deal with her. Corrupted by the powers of Hell, he is a towering humanoid armed with a great sword and a massive scutum, with a hideously disfigured and oversized torso and a half-skinned, statuesque head, covered with groping-hand like wooden patterns on his body. He is defeated by Dante, and dies while a mourning Cleopatra watches over him. He is voiced by Lewis Macleod in the game and by Tom Tate in the animated movie.

Cerberus
A three-headed hellhound who guards the third circle of Hell, Gluttony. Cerberus appears as a mass of worm-like stomach 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.

Alighiero
Dante's sinful father, Alighiero, lived a life of 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 Dante's assassin; his golden cross pendant impaled through his right eye. Lucifer has warped Alighiero into a obese monster and promised him 1000 years free of torment and a horde of gold if he does one thing; murder his own son. Confronting his son as he enters the Fourth Circle, Alighiero is later defeated by Dante who then absolves him. He is voiced by JB Blanc in the game and by Mark Hamill in the animated movie.

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 those residing within the Fourth Circle. Not a boss, he is instead used to solve the Wheel of Fortune puzzle that hinders Dante's path. While he does not move, he utters the phrase "Pape Satàn, pape Satàn aleppe."

Phlegyas
A former demigod who fell from grace after being killed by Apollo for burning down the Apollonian Temple of Delphi. Condemned to the fifth circle of Hell, Phlegyas confronts Dante when he 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. When Dante reaches the circle of Heresy, Phlegyas breaks the ground he's standing on. Dante manages to jump off in time but Phlegyas breaks through the floor and plummets into the abyss. Though limited to roars in the game, Phelgyas is voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson in the animated movie.

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 was executed by King Richard's men after he took blame for the deaths of Muslim prisoners by Dante. Ending up in Hell, Francesco is deformed into a disfigured parody of his human form with half of his face warped into a plantlike appearance. 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. After Dante manages to remove a sword from his heart, Francesco dies but is then absolved by Dante. He is voiced by Tom Tate.

The Malebranche
A group of demons lead by Malacoda who guard the eighth circle of Hell, Fraud. Malacoda, the leader, is the only demon Dante confronts in battle. The other Malebranche are merely set-pieces illustrating the torment that goes on below the arenas in which Dante must pass.

Lucifer
The central antagonist of the game, Lucifer was God's most beloved angel, but he became envious over having to bow down to humanity and rebelled out of concern for his fellow angels, resulting in his fall from grace. Lucifer captured Beatrice moments after her death as part of a plan to escape the prison he was placed in as punishment for his rebellion by wedding a soul destined for Heaven. He makes several appearances as a dark, spectral shadow before Dante faces him in person and is capable of capturing the souls of deceased humans in that state. His giant body is trapped in Cocytus, a frozen lake made of his own tears. When Dante finally confronts him, he manages to greatly injure Lucifer, only for the demon to split his own stomach open and reveal his true form, a demonic vision of his former self with torn wings who reveals the soul he needed was actually Dante's. His intention to marry Beatrice was a planned-out deception to have Dante's blackened soul release him before taking his leave to Purgatory to enact his vengeance on God. However, Dante manages to trap Lucifer back into his prison as the souls he had saved binds his giant body in the ice to completely imobilize it. He is voiced by John Vickery in the game and by Steve Blum in the animated movie.

Damned Souls

 * Pontius Pilate: The judge at the trial of Jesus Christ. He deceived the Pharisees into allowing Jesus to be crucified. His cowardice contributed to the suffering of one for the sins of many, and he was damned to the first circle of Hell, Limbo.


 * Orpheus: The legendary Greek musician who failed to rescue his beloved, Eurydice, from the underworld. Denounced for attempting to impede the fulfillment of God's will, he was damned to the first circle after he died.


 * Electra: A Greek princess who killed her wicked mother to avenge her father's wrongful death. She suffers her punishment in the first circle, which is to finally know the wrath of God.


 * Francesca da Polenta: An Italian noblewoman who fell in love with Paolo Malatesta, the younger brother of her old and deformed husband, Giovanni. When Giovanni discovered her adultery, he had them killed, and they were both damned to the second circle of Hell, Lust.


 * Paolo Malatesta: The Italian nobleman who committed adultery with Francesca, his brother's wife. He now spends eternity yearning for his beloved in the second circle.


 * Semiramis: An Assyrian queen who was so given to lust, she made legal those sensual vices which she was often accused of. Now she suffers in the second circle.


 * Ciacco: An anonymous Italian citizen who lived a life full of gluttony is damned to the third circle. When first encountered, he is shown cursing himself for his actions in the previous life as a human. In the anime, Ciacco is shown trapped in the stomach of Cerberus with his punishment being to starve for an eternity and convinces Dante to absolve him, which the latter does. He is voiced by J. Grant Albrecht in the movie.


 * Clodia: A soul filled with grime and smut. This notorious gambler, seducer and drunkard of Rome, left a repulsive trail of rot in her wake.


 * Tarpeia: Insoucrant with those around her, the Vestal Virgin of Rome opened the city gates to allow the Sabines to attack Rome, in exchange for gold.


 * Gessius Florus: Roman Procurator of Judea, infamous for his public greed, splitting and paring innocent men for his own personal gain.


 * Fulvia: One-time wife of Marc Antony, possessed by an unbearable greed. Called the Greediest Woman in all of Rome, she pursued any opportunity to seize power.


 * Boudica: After she was flogged and her children raped, the Vengeful Queen of the Iceni Tribe tried to set fire to the City of Rome with a bloody revolt.


 * Hecuba: Queen of Troy who watched as her city fell in battle. Her hapless wretched soul lies in the darkness of hell, besieged by the condemned who flog her at every turn.


 * Filippo Argenti: Angry politician who opposed Dante's return to Florence. Their families were bitter rivals and Argenti stole from Dante's family after he left Florence.


 * Emperor Frederick II: King of the Romans with a never-ending thirst for war. His soul dwells in the Circle of Heresy as punishment for his constant war with the Pope and Church.


 * Cavalcante de Cavalcanti: Merchant Banker of Florence who was denounced as a heretic for his atheist beliefs. He resides with the other Heretics among the fiery tombs.


 * Farinata: Tuscan aristocrat and military leader who believed that the soul dies with the body, denying life after death. He was condemned as a Heretic for his beliefs.


 * Atilla: The violent warlord of the Huns, damned to the seventh circle of Hell. While he is imprisoned, Atilla brags about how he is considered the "Scourge of God." Interestingly, he will provoke Dante to punish him when the player is given the option of either punishing or absolving Atilla.

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. She is voiced by Pollyana McIntosh in the game and by Victoria Tennant in the movie.

The Avenger
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. His connection to Dante is revealed to be that he is the husband of a Muslim woman who offered herself to Dante for his freedom, lying about her relation to him. Because of his wife's actions and Dante accepting her offer, the Avenger swore a vendatta against Dante and his family. He is voiced by Daniel Curshen in the game and by John Paul Karliak in the movie.

The Bishop of Florence
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 learned too late of 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. He is voiced by Peter Egan.

Death
The Grim Reaper himself. He appears moments after Dante is assassinated during the Crusades with the intention of taking Dante to Hell after revealing that he fought under false pretenses and that his family will suffer the price for his acts. He is killed by Dante after he takes the angel of death's scythe from him. He is voiced by Richard Moll in the game with Dee Bradley Baker providing vocal effects.

King Richard I
Also known as the Lionheart, the English king led his men during the Third Crusade. Prior to the siege of Acre, he kept 3,000 Muslim prisoners hostage as a way to negotiate with Saladin. But Dante, in his fanatic-driven bloodlust, slaughters them all by the time King Richard returned to be horrified at the aftermath of the massacre which Francesco took the blame for on Dante's behalf. Enraged, the King ordered Beatrice's brother to be executed before declaring a siege on Acre in fear of Saladin's retaliation for the horrific act. He is voiced by Peter Egan.

Angel
An angel who appears to collect Beatrice's soul for Heaven once Dante rescues her. Whether or not he is an archangel or just a mere angel is up for debate. The only angel mentioned by name, by Virgil, is Michael. In the Animated Epic, the angel is depicted as having two faces, four wings and no arms; while this could just be an artistic liberty, it could also hint the angel is a Cherubim.