Donovan

Donovan, with Anita

Donovan is a video game character from the Darkstalkers (Series) of games. First seen in Night Warriors: Darkstalkers' Revenge, he is a stoic and intimidating dark hunter who fights using extremely exotic weapons and moves often deeply rooted in Buddhist and Hindu mythology, making him quite a unique character. He is sometimes seen as the series' main protagonist, although this changes from perspective to perspective.

Story

Donovan is a Dhampir, the offspring of an affair between a vampire male and a human female. His true origin is unknown, however it is known that he was shunned as a child for his tainted blood. One day, a terrible event occurred in his hometown which had something to do with him. The end result was the death of everyone in the town, including his mother. Donovan wandered the world for a long time, following the teachings of Buddhism in an attempt to control his massive power as well as inner turmoil. Donovan is a man who seeks an answer to his cursed existence. Along his journeys as a wandering monk, he learned many things, and eventually came into possession of a gigantic magical sword known as Dhylec. This sword had the unique ability to channel the spirits of various elementals and gods for use of their power. Combined with his powerful telekinetic abilities, his strength, his mental discipline as well as the power of Dhylec and his spirit beads worn around his body, Donovan became a force of justice to be feared by all evil. The Darkstalkers' arrogance may have been their undoing with the creation of Donovan.

One day on one of his many journeys, Donovan came across a young girl named Anita. She was an orphan, who was almost completely emotionless. Shunned by her orphanage as a witch, she exhibited a strange and unexplained power. As Donovan came onto the scene, Anita was threatened by a hideous monster. Coming in and easily dispatching the monster, he too is feared by Anita's cowardly guardians. As Donovan turned to leave, Anita began to motion towards Donovan without any words. The people explained that Anita had never exhibited any kind of emotion or word ever since her family was slaughtered by an unknown Darkstalker. Nonchalantly taking his sword Dhylec and slicing off the head of Anita's doll, he proved to the people that Anita's heart wasn't lost as she showed anger at Donovan decapitating her doll by responding with a violent psychic force. Donovan easily subdued the attack and told Anita that anger was the quickest and most easily summoned emotion, and that her anger was proof that she could still heal her own heart. With no where else to go, Donovan welcomed Anita to acompany him to not only find herself, but to help Donovan fight off the evil Darkstalkers as Anita had the unique ability to find them as well. Donovan would help Anita have her revenge and not follow the same troubled path as he.

Donovan couldn't figure it out, but he felt that Anita was special, and that she had to be protected. Thus, Donovan became Anita's guardian, and the "bane" of evil everywhere. He felt the presence of an oncoming evil on the horizon and knew Anita felt the same. Anita also has kept that headless Doll ever since.

Fate

Donovan's ultimate fate is a sketchy subject. In his ending in Vampire Hunter, Donovan sacrificed his humanity in order to protect Anita. This tragic turn of events causes her to cry, and is symbolic in showing that Anita is finally whole again and can feel emotion. Years later, a grown Anita wonders what became of Donovan, and she hopes that he is well. Sadly, we find Donovan sitting on a throne, beside the many bodies of his victims. He is fighting a neverending struggle with himself as he yearns for inner peace. However, the epilogue then hints that Donovan may be slowly winning his fight. Regardless of any speculation, Donovan was meant to be a character exclusive to Vampire Hunter (with him being the Vampire Hunter). With his ending, it made a lot of sense for him to be absent in the follow-up, Vampire Savior, but due to him being a crowd favorite, he was put back in later versions of the game.

In the Japan only Vampire: Darkstalkers Collection, a collection of all three Darkstalkers games, a brand new secret character is unlocked in the "Arranged Versions" of Vampire Savior. This character is named Dee (ディー, Dī?), and he is essentially Donovan with more powerful moves and a mix of Demitri's moves and even a new laser projectile. While his sprite is the subject of much ridicule (it has Donovan's head put onto Demitri's red-colored body, with Dhylec floating behind), he brings up a very interesting point. Vampire Savior takes place in a separate dimension, and it is hinted in Dee's ending that Anita has mentally projected herself younger and beside Donovan's earlier incarnation. Dee confronts her, she shows her true form, and he begins to fight an older Anita. The outcome of this fight isn't shown, but during the credits various pictures are shown of the older Anita visiting a grave.