Donovan Baine
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Donovan Baine (ドノヴァン・バイン Donovan Bain?) is a video game character from the Darkstalkers series. 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.
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[edit] 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.
In the OVA series, when Pyron used the Huitzil robot to scan the power of Earth, the third strongest living being on Earth was Donovan. Donovan is even willing to sacrifice his life to save someone.
[edit] Anita
One day on one of his many journeys, Donovan came across a young girl named Anita (アニタ 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 decapatating 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 accompany 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.
[edit] Appearance and Style
Donovan is one of the more intriguing and unique characters. A tall and well built man with a slender face and fierce eyes, one of which glows yellow when his power is used. Dressed in a light eastern Indian-styled red and yellow robe and sporting a tied back, long braid and a plethora of Buddhist accessories, there are few characters like Donovan. The most distinguishing characteristic of Donovan are the enormous beads which he wears around his body. These are magical and are often used as a defense, as well as part of the process of summoning the spirits from the sword. They are also used to entangle opponents, and sometimes attack as well. Donovan's weapon is a massive living blade known as Dhylec. Donovan literally wields this with the power of his mind, rarely actually holding it to attack. He uses this blade while attacking with martial arts at the same time. While originally it was thought that the sword itself floated, it has been hinted that Donovan does this on his own, as he also uses floating blades for an EX move he uses as Dee in the recently released Vampire: Darkstalkers Collection. Donovan summons a variety of different elemental based spirits for some of the most visually impressive special moves in the Darkstalkers series.
Donovan is considered a balanced variety character. Donovan's fighting style is unique and complex. He can be used straightforwardly, having an anti-air move, defensive moves, a projectile, and well balanced combo moves as well as a well balanced mix of defense and speed. However, in order to get the full effectiveness of Donovan one must learn the complexities of how to use his sword plant, as well as his summons. Donovan may summon spirits for very impressive and large moves while he has his sword. However, Donovan is unique in that he can actually plant his sword into the ground and fight without it. In this mode, Donovan can only fight using himself and he can use his EX moves as well. However, at any time the blade can be commanded to fly around in a certain pattern depending on the button pressed at the same time. This allows Donovan an unprecedented amount of trap moves and variety, as with the sword he is a well balanced character capable of defensive and offensive play, and without the sword, if one knows the swords flying patterns, Donovan is nearly inescapable.
His complexity makes him a character rarely used in tournaments, as he has a steep learning curve. However, if one is using Donovan to perfection, that player is often feared as Donovan excels in turning opponents strengths against them. Few characters have a particularly strong defense against Donovan at his best. Players specializing in Donovan have been known to do well in tournaments.
[edit] Donovan's Fate
Donovan's fate is a shaky subject. In his ending in Vampire Hunter, Donovan finally loses his humanity as he sacrifices himself somewhat in order to protect Anita as well as awaken her emotion again. Although Donovan is victorious, he succumbed to the dark part of his soul too much in order to do so. This tragic turn of events causes Anita to cry, and is symbolic in showing that Anita is finally whole again. Years later, a grown Anita wonders what became of Donovan, and she hopes he's okay. Sadly however, we find Donovan sitting on a throne, beside many bodies. He is fighting a neverending struggle with himself as he yearns for inner peace. However, the epilogue afterwards hints that Donovan may be slowly winning his fight. Regardless however, Donovan was meant to be a character exclusive to Vampire Hunter (him being the Vampire Hunter itself essentially) . With his ending, it made a lot of sense for him to be absent in the followup, Vampire Savior. However, due to immense demand as he was a crowd favorite, he was put back in later versions of the game. This is ironic, as Capcom had originally planned to make the adult Anita a playable character in Vampire Savior, but cancelled the idea on the assumption that she would not be as popular.
However, this created something of a paradox. How could Donovan and Anita still be travelling together as of Vampire Saviour's time? Most assumed that Donovan's tragic Vampire Hunter ending was no longer canon, as his ending in Vampire Savior points out Donovan acknowledging Anita's increasing importance as something demons like Jedah fear, and vows to protect her.
However, in the Japan only Vampire: Darkstalkers Collection, a collection of all 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 is the true, present day Donovan, somewhat corrupted and a "what if" if his Vampire Hunter ending was indeed canon. In Dee's ending, he confronts Anita, who 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 older Anita visiting a grave. It is assumed that the grave is Donovan's and that she won the fight and killed him, and it is still unknown whether this is a canon event or something of a "what if." Regular Donovan in Vampire Savior may very well be the true Donovan still, it is up to the player to decide what has become of him.
On another note, older Anita has proven to be extremely popular and many fans wish for Capcom to make this character playable in some title in the future.
In all likelihood, Donovan is a homage to Vampire Hunter D (other evidence for this is that Donovan's alternate version in Darkstalker's Collection is called 'Dee'), another dhampir. Like Donovan, D is taciturn, carries a massive blade and constantly struggles with his bestial urges. His company colleague Dante whom Capcom developed later is a similar half-demon devil hunter. As a tragic hero, he also can be found having something in common with Marvel Comics' character Blade, a vampire slayer born to be half-vampire.
[edit] Other appearances
Donovan is a playable character in Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo.
Anita appears as a hidden character in the Japanese version of the game Marvel Super Heroes (arcade game). Her special moves are based on Donovan's, and her Infinity Combo where she throws countless doll heads at her enemy is considered to be extremely overpowered, as it has very little startup and recovery, can practically kill her opponent from full life by itself and does 25-50% damage even if blocked and is extremely hard to avoid completely.
Anita also appears in Marvel vs. Capcom as one of the special support characters. When she is summoned, she walks into the battle and telepathically hurls various items, such as a painting and a large statue covered in spikes (possibly a vampire coffin), at the enemy.
Donovan was featured in the Night Warriors anime OVA, as a wandering bounty hunter, often battling both his human and demon sides. A majority of the story was from Donovan's perspective, relatively making him the main character. Anita accompanies him, just as she does in the games. However, the plot is more compressed for the shorter window of the anime. Donovan cuts off the head of Anita's doll to awaken her anger. At one point, he welcomes a fatal wound, only to be saved by Hsien-Ko and her sister, Mei-Ling. After hearing the sister's sad past and realising their bleak future, Anita starts to cry. Donovan then comments that she is almost complete, all she needs to do is awaken her happiness. Donovan later fought with Pyron, only to be badly beaten and mortally wounded. This served as the catalyst for Anita, who revived Donovan with her power. Donovan then unleashed his own power to destroy Pyron, and awakening Anita's happiness in the process. In this process, he found self-acceptance.
Donovan was also featured in the American cartoon, though unlike his other appearances, he was portrayed as caucasian, was only seen walking alone (because Anita was absent, though she appears in a later episode renamed "Amanda", whom her parents were murdered by Demitri) and despite his mystical weaponry, no mention of his demon side was ever made. He was, in all likelihood, just human. His hatred of the Darkstalkers seemed to be nothing but a stubborn nature, rather than any personal reason. Because of this, this portrayal is scoffed at highly by fans much like the rest of the series in general. He was voiced by Garry Chalk.
[edit] Trivia
- Donovan is 6 ft., 4 inches (194cm) tall and weighs 216 lb. (98kg)
- Neither Donovan's birthdate or birthplace have ever been officially disclosed. It's entirely possible to be Romania. In Darkstalkers Chronicle: The Chaos Tower, the endings for Night Warriors were retranslated. In it, it states that a more monstrous Donovan is seen in a place in the Romanian forest. At the very least, this seems to be where the stage "Unknown" from Night Warriors and Dee's ending in Vampire: Darkstalkers Collection takes place. However his appearance is not that of a Caucasian man, so it could be from south Asia as well
- Prior to his boss fight with Jedah in Vampire Savior, Donovan is thanked by Jedah for bringing "her" to him. This, and the fact that Jedah will set about to destroy the "ruler of the human world" once he recreates Makai (a plot he reveals during his own ending in the game), has led to much speculation about Anita being the destined ruler of the human race.
- A 1995 issue of the now-defunct video game magazine Diehard Gamefan erroneously identified Donovan as the father of the Street Fighter character Dan, possibly because the characters' faces and hairstyles look somewhat similar. The following issue, however, retracted the statement.
- Donovan, as Dee, is speculated to be the most likely one to have killed Jedah at the end of Vampire Savior, though Capcom has never verified who actually won.
- In the crossover game, "SNK vs. Capcom: The Match of the Millennium", Donovan's magic sword, Dhylec, appears quickly in Akari Ichijou's level 2 special attack.
[edit] External links
- Donovan's Darkstalkers entry at StrategyWiki.org
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