A DETAILED PLOT ANALYSIS OF THE
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---- RESIDENT EVIL ----
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VIDEOGAME SERIES BY CAPCOM ENTERTAINMENT
Begun by Dan Birlew, 1998
Updated by Thomas Wilde with permission, 2000
****************************CONTAINS SPOILERS************************
This thesis contains spoilers. If you have not already played the games,
the author strongly suggests that you do so before reading the document.
The best introduction to the games is to play them.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Introduction and Legal Stuff
2. The Realm of the Dead: RESIDENT EVIL
3. Things To Do In Raccoon When You're Dead: RESIDENT EVIL 2
i. The Plot Thickens
ii. Events Between RE and RE2/RE3
iii. A Summary of the Basic Plot of RESIDENT EVIL 2
iv. A Summary of the Conclusion of RESIDENT EVIL 2
v. Differences Between Claire A/Leon B and Leon A/Claire B
vi. The 4th Survivor Minigame
vii. Conclusions About The Conclusion
4. The Last Woman Standing: RESIDENT EVIL 3: NEMESIS
i. The Death of Raccoon City
ii. A Summary of the Basic Plot of RESIDENT EVIL 3: NEMESIS
iii. A Summary of the Conclusion of RESIDENT EVIL 3: NEMESIS
iv. Different Paths
v. Different Endings
vi. The Epilogue Files
vii. Conclusions About The Conclusion
viii. Random Musings
5. RESIDENT EVIL: SURVIVOR
i. Coming Soon
6. The Undead World Tour: RESIDENT EVIL: CODE VERONICA
i. The Great Escape: CODE VERONICA, Part One
ii. The Return of Chris Redfield: CODE VERONICA, Part Two
iii. A Summary of the Conclusion of RESIDENT EVIL: CODE
VERONICA
iv. Conclusions About The Conclusion
v. Random Musings
vi. The Ashford Family Diaries
7. Unanswered Questions
i. RESIDENT EVIL 2
ii. RESIDENT EVIL 3: NEMESIS
iii. RESIDENT EVIL: CODE VERONICA
iv. The Resurrection of Ada Wong
8. Frequently Asked Questions
9. Conclusion
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1. Introduction and Legal Stuff
===============================
"Should I unleash the zombies?"
"Look, man, that's just... very unrealistic."
-- Moltar and Zorak, _Space Ghost: Coast to Coast_
Dan Birlew wrote this thesis in 1998. I lucked across it in
1999, just when I was starting to get good and obsessed with
Resident Evil, and found it to be a useful resource.
After the release of Resident Evil 2 for the N64, I wrote a
list of the EX Files from that game, combined with some
notes on the RE storyline for the sake of the N64 crowd.
That FAQ is currently hosted by gameFAQs.com, and has
resulted in a small but steady amount of e-mail sent to me
asking about various plot elements of the Resident Evil
series.
After about the twelfth e-mail I got, I went back to look
at Birlew's analysis for help, and wound up deciding that it
needed an update; rather than answering a flood tide of
e-mail, I could just point at this document and say, "Look!
I have come down from the mount with answers!" (Does Kinko's
let you print stuff off on marble tablets?)
Birlew had already told me earlier that he wasn't planning on
updating this document and, in fact, was legally prohibited
from doing so. I asked him if I could do it. Please note the
following, which was not extracted under duress of any sort:
> Thomas Wilde has my full permission to continue the
> Resident Evil Thesis in my place. He has full permission
> from me to use any materials from my former versions that he
> sees fit. I relinquish these materials to him, since I am unable
> to continue or update the Thesis due to certain agreements I have
> made with certain companies.
>
> Sincerely,
> Dan Birlew
> formerly known as "President Evil"
Every time I say "me" or "I" in this document, it's Thomas
talking; every time I say "we", I refer to the audience of RE as a
whole. This document is copyright 2000, Thomas Wilde, except for
those parts that are copyright 1998, Dan Birlew. All rights reserved;
violators will be punished, once again, with JR Kerr's "powerful
Internet voodoo" (tm).
Before we begin, I'd like to issue a general disclaimer. I don't
mind people e-mailing me to ask questions that aren't covered in
this FAQ, but I'm not interested in "theories". This document
deals in actual, documented, in-game plotline information. Don't
send me your dissertation on why Rebecca is a spy, don't tell me
anything that you got out of one of S.D. Perry's novels, don't
e-mail me naked pictures of your sister because "she looks just
like Jill" (wait... on the other hand, go ahead and send those).
I don't mind fielding questions, but I do mind having my time
wasted.
=======================================
2. The Realm of the Dead: RESIDENT EVIL
=======================================
In 1996, Capcom Entertainment released a video game for the
Sony Playstation game console entitled Resident Evil. The game
was received by the growing console gaming community with
seemingly mixed reviews and marginal opening sales. However, the
game quickly caught on with game players of all ages. Soon named
"Videogame of the Year" by the Consumer Choice Awards, Resident
Evil's sales soared.
Players were cast as either Jill Valentine or Chris
Redfield, two members of a special division of the local
Raccoon City Police Department's Special Tactics And Rescue
Squad (S.T.A.R.S.). The game took place in an eerie mansion
full of zombies, undead dogs, creepy gigantic spiders, and
various kinds of nasty mutant creatures. As the game
progressed, the player learned that these terrifying enemies
were all results of the experiments of a corporate
subsidiary named Umbrella, Inc. The purpose mysterious
place. Depending upon which character is chosen, the player
will experience a different adventure depending on how the
game is played, what decisions are made, and which
characters survive with the player-character. Chris contacts
Rebecca Chambers, the medic of the Bravo Team, while Jill is
aided in her quest by the overwrought Alpha Team leader,
Barry Burton. Each rescues and is saved by their partner.
The character soon finds the residents of the mansion. The
place is infested with flesh-hungry zombies, more undead dogs,
and a vicious giant snake. One bullet is never enough for these
hideous creatures, but with some cunning the character can locate
weapons of greater power and more ammunition.
One by one, the player-character finds the unfortunate
members of the Bravo Team. Unfortunately most of them are dead,
half-eaten. Some of them come back to life and attack the
player-character, and others live just long enough to reveal
the mansion's secrets. Documents uncovered along the way also
inform the hero of what is going on.
A government-funded agency called Umbrella has been
conducting secret experiments in a lab somewhere on the
property. An accident occurred, a mutating virus escaped,
and the researchers and guards have all become the living
dead. The hero must find any survivors and escape as quickly
as possible to avoid contracting the virus and becoming one
of...them.
Each room of the mysterious mansion contains a mysterious
puzzle to be solved. Each puzzle equips the character with
one of the keys needed to escape. After facing the fearsome
giant snake, the final key is gained, but escape is not yet
found.
The game proceeds to a guardhouse at the rear of the
property, where new creatures rear their ugly heads. The
hero must survive encounters with a mutant shark and a fauna
experiment grown wildly out of control. Wesker makes another
appearance, ordering the character back to the mansion to
uncover more secrets.
However, the residence of evil is a more dangerous place
than ever. A horde of strange and deadly frog mutants with
sharp claws have overrun the main house, and the character
must now fight to save the other survivors still left there.
New areas of the house can now be accessed with items
previously found, and a battle-scarred giant snake is back
for revenge. New horrors await in the basement, but hope is
regained when the player spots a helicopter landing pad on
the premises. Perhaps "Chickenheart" can be convinced to
make an emergency landing.
Gaining access to a cavernous underground, the player finds
Bravo Team leader Enrico Marini, wounded and half dead. He
insinuates treachery from within the STARS, but is killed by
an unknown assassin's bullet before he can reveal the
traitor's identity.
Avoiding rolling boulder traps and tangling with a gigantic
spider, the exhausted player makes it to the secret
underground lab. The hero fights through yet another
frightening species of experimental bioweapons generated
here, searching for a way to unlock the emergency exit
leading up to the helipad.
On the bottom level of the hellish laboratory, the traitor
reveals himself. Albert Wesker has manipulated Barry into
aiding him, and used the STARS Team as test subjects in
combat situations against the bioweapons he himself
developed for Umbrella. He has made arrangements to destroy
the lab, the monsters, the heroes, and all the evidence so
that he may abscond with the "T-Virus" and sell it to the
highest bidder. But first, he invites the player to witness
the birth of his greatest creation, the ultimate bioweapon.
Named for the virus that created it, the "Tyrant" is a
monstrous undead giant. Upon its release, the horror turns
on its own creator. Wesker is impaled and held aloft on its
oversized claw. Now the abomination slowly turns on the
hero. The player blasts away at the creature, which is
easily killed. The ultimate bioweapon is the ultimate
failure, it seems.
Wesker's destruct system activates, and the player must race
to the helicopter landing pad to escape. Pursued by all the
lab's horrible creatures, one player must rescue the other
playable character, and then it's a free-for-all fight to
the exit.
Near the end, the monsters catch up to the survivors. The
two rescued characters repay their debt to the player by
making a stand against the onslaught. Now it's up to the
lone player to ascend to the helipad and signal the circling
pilot, in the hopes that Brad will regain his courage and
make an emergency landing.
After signaling with a handy flare, the character waits for
a response from Brad for an unbearably suspenseful moment.
The chopper finally swoops in and hovers overhead. In the
biggest surprise of the game, the Tyrant bursts out of the
ground and charges at the player. The player has to avoid
the monstrosity until Brad drops a rocket launcher onto the
battlefield. Quickly scooping up the weapon and turning on
the advancing enemy, the player blasts the thing into a
hundred squirming pieces.
In the ending movie sequence, Brad lands and quickly lifts
off with the survivors. The player watches as explosions
rock the Umbrella compound. Safely away, the exhausted team
members catch up on some much needed rest, commiserate on
the fate of the missing, or reload their weapons in
preparation ... for the next encounter.
============================================================
3. Things To Do In Raccoon When You're Dead: RESIDENT EVIL 2
============================================================
=====================
3i. The Plot Thickens
=====================
The original Resident Evil is a relatively straightforward
horror game. Its sequels have been entirely different,
mixing horror with equal parts of action, mystery, and
conspiracy. Each RE game since the second has had an
involving series of subplots, as well as at least a few
independent mysteries to untangle. Furthermore, each game
has left a lot of questions unanswered at the end. In other
words, things get a lot more complicated from here on out.
One of the stranger wrinkles in the RE storyline is the
weird way that RE2 and RE3 relate to each other. I have the
two games listed separately here for the sake of maintaining
some kind of order, but in actuality, half of RE3 takes
place before RE2, and the other half takes place well
afterwards. This is noted in RE3's plot summary, below.
==================================
3ii. Events Between RE and RE2/RE3
==================================
After the "mansion incident" in July of 1998, Chris Redfield
attempts to start an official police investigation of
Umbrella, but Brian Irons sabotages it. Suspecting that
Irons might be on the take, Chris requests an investigation
of Irons' background, but with typical government
efficiency, the FBI doesn't respond to Chris's request until
the night of September 29th.
Chris begins investigating Umbrella alone. He manages to
uncover a great deal about Umbrella's operations inside
Raccoon City, including the work on the G-Virus and the
location of the labs underneath the city. He's apparently so
intent upon his work that, to his sister Claire, it looks
like he's dropped off of the face of the Earth.
In August of 1998, he finally tells Jill Valentine about
what he's been doing. In early September, without telling
his sister Claire, he leaves town with Barry Burton, headed
for Europe to further investigate Umbrella. Jill elects to
stay in Raccoon City for a while, intending to investigate
Umbrella's underground labs. Chris and Barry leave town in
mid-September.
At some point, Jill resigns from the STARS and the Raccoon
City police department.
====================================================
3iii. A Summary of the Basic Plot of RESIDENT EVIL 2
====================================================
On the night of September 29th, 1998, Claire Redfield
motorbikes into Raccoon City. She is a college student, and
is searching for clues in the disappearance of her older
brother Chris. On the other side of town, Raccoon Police
Department recruit Leon Kennedy is making his way to the
Precinct for his first day of duty. Stopping to investigate
a mysterious corpse in the middle of the street, he fails to
notice the figures closing in behind him. Claire pulls up to
a diner for a late meal, but finds that she is intended to
be the next course.
Both characters are surrounded by zombies. They collide in
the alley behind the diner, where Leon saves Claire. Finding
an abandoned police cruiser, they make a run for it.
In the car they get acquainted, while Claire finds a gun in
the glove compartment. But they are not alone. In an amazing sequence,
a zombie leaps out of the backseat and struggles with Leon. The
rookie loses control of the vehicle and they crash into a wall. The
zombie flies through the windshield. Before they can catch a breath, a
dying trucker bears down on them in a massive gas tanker. The two
leap out of the wreck as the tanker collides and flips over,
exploding in a huge ball of flame. The characters are separated by the
blaze, and each must make their individual way through the game.
This is the point at which the player begins, choosing which character
to assume based on which of the 2 game disks are loaded. When the
player finishes with one character's adventure, the save file enables
the player to approach the same game from the other character's
perspective, in a reverse game. Thus the scenarios progress
as either Claire A & Leon B, or Leon A & Claire B. There are
differences in each game, and there are differences in each combination.
In addition, whatever the first character does in their scenario affects
the second character's game.
For the purpose of brevity, this synopsis will follow the
plot as it occurs in the Claire A & Leon B combination, by
far the more structurally sound of the two scenario
combinations.
Claire begins on the Raccoon City streets, now overrun bythe
zombies who have come out due to the crash. By baiting them
in a certain direction, she figures out that she can create
openings in their ranks and slip past them. She ducks into a
gun shop, hoping to find ammo for her weapon.
Inside, the clerk points a crossbow at her. After she
convinces him that she's not a zombie, he locks his door.
With a slightly sexist attitude, he admits he doesn't know
what is happening in Raccoon City or where the zombies have
come from. Claire finds some ammunition for her gun and
starts to move on just as the undead lay siege to the store.
Crashing through the display window, they tackle the shop's
employee and chew him to pieces on the floor. Unable to save
the poor man, Claire's only hope is to get out the back door
quickly.
Weaving her way through the slow moving ghouls, she makes
her way to the police station. STARS helicopter pilot Brad
Vickers is encountered near the Precinct, recently deceased
and come back by diabolic means. Executing this former hero,
Claire enters the Raccoon Police Department. She finds that
the place has been electronically locked and barricaded
against an apparent siege by the undead.
Leon finds himself directly behind the Police Department. He
has a shorter run than Claire, but must find the key to get
into the maintenance shed at the back of the Precinct. All
the while,flesheaters converge on him. He gets lucky and
finds a back stairway to the roof of the station, but he
witnesses a rescue attempt fail.
A helicopter appears overhead. There is a lone
precinctsurvivor on the roof, signaling to it. Zombies attack
the unfortunate wretch. He sprays random machine gun fire
everywhere, accidentally killing the pilot overhead. The
helicopter crashes into the station and explodes into
flames. There's a water tank near the wreckage that can be
opened, but only if Leon can find the valve handle.
Claire finds a cop laying on the floor of an
office,seriously wounded and dying. (In RE3, we learn that
the cop's name is Marvin Branagh.) In a brief speech,
he tells Claire that her brother Chris disappeared a month
ago during an investigation into the incident at the mansion
lab. He gives her the card key that will open the electronic
locks in the Precinct. He tells her to rescue the other
survivors in the police station and get out. When she starts
to protest, the half-disemboweled officer sticks a gun in
herface and rudely orders her out. He locks the door behind
her. Claire accesses the computer in the main hall, unlocks
the doors and continues on.
In the zombie-infested office on the first floor, Leon finds
the necessary tool to put out the fire. When he opens the
water tank and douses the blaze, another helicopter appears
overhead. This one is towing a rack of huge cylinders. One
of them detaches and drops. The bomb-like container blows
apart, revealing a huge humanoid creature.The giant crashes
through the roof of the precinct. The trenchcoated menace
heads right for Leon, who empties his weapon into the
stalking monstrosity before it falls. When Leon leaves the
room, the sinister intruder rises... and follows. Little
does Leon know, but anyone who had survived the mansion
incident might recognize this creature as a new and improved
version of the Tyrant.
At the same time on different sides of the station, Claire
and Leon both encounter a new and deadly lifeform.
Amphibious and spider-like,these creatures look like
crawling people turned inside out with razor-sharp claws.
They lash out with an incredibly long and sharp tongue.
Police documents refer to these creatures as "lickers",
andtheir origin is unknown.
On the second floor of the west wing of the precinct house,
Clairefinds the STARS office and the log kept by her big
brother Chris. This document explains that he and the other
STARS members had no luck investigating the involvement of the
Umbrella Corporation inthemansion lab incident. They
departed for Europe to search for Umbrella's main
headquarters. Suddenly a fax comes in, addressed to Chris. A
federal investigation on Umbrella has yielded naught for
clues, but an inquiry posted to the internal affairs
division by Chris regarding Raccoon Police Chief Brian Irons
has been answered. By his record, the Chief would appear to
be a deranged genius and former rapist.
Back outside the office, Claire catches sight of a young
girl being pursued by a zombie. While Claire dispatches this
thing, the fleeing little girl bumps into Leon. Frightened
out of her mind, she ducks into a small opening in a broken
door before he can stop her. Leon and Claire reunite. Leon
admits that this place is dangerous, and Claire suggests
that they split up and look for the girl and a safe exit. The
rookie cop gives her a radio so they can keep in contact.
Leon finds the two parts of a police operation report,
detailing the events of the past few days. The courageous
citizens ofRaccoon made a grim standoff in the precinct
house against the flesh-eating undead. But some escaped the
precinct through the exit to the basement in the east wing.
He also finds a note addressed to him from the RPD, and the
party favors for a surprise welcome party they were planning
to throw for him. It seems his party has been cancelled.
He heads for the basement while Claire is startled by a
woman's screaming on the second floor. In order to save
whoever's introuble,she needs a bomb to clear the helicopter
wreckage. Nearby,she finds the key to unlock the door
downstairs and save the wounded cop. When she returns to
him, he has been fighting off zombies unsuccessfully. Claire
now learns why he rudely forced her to leave him. He
rises,transforms into a zombie, and attacks her. With a
quick reaction, Claire incinerates him. She locates the
parts of a timer bomb and heads back upstairs.
In the basement, Leon is fired upon by a beautiful woman
named Ada Wong. She's looking for a reporter named Ben
Bertolucci in one of the basement jail cells. After Leon
graciously helps her clear some wreckage out of the way, she
ditches him. He tries to catch up to her, but instead finds
the incarcerated reporter in one of the jail cells. Ada
catches up to them now, but where she went first is a
mystery. Questioning Ben, Ada reveals that she's looking for
her boyfriend John, who works out of an Umbrella branch
office in Chicago. He disappeared in this area some months
ago. Ben refuses to tell her what he knows about what's
happening in Raccoon City. Just then, a monstrous roar fills
the air. Ben has locked himself in his cell for protection
and refuses to leave, but directs the others how to get out
of the Precinct. Ada takes off, and Leon runs after her.
Claire detonates the plastique near the helicopter wreckage
upstairs. She finds an office full of stuffed trophy
animals... and a more gruesome trophy on the desk. The
Mayor's daughter lies sprawled out, a medium-sized wound at
her abdomen. Behind the desk sits Police Chief Brian Irons.
He has completely lost his mind. Although the girl's wound
looks like a bullet hole, he claims that she was attacked by
a zombie, and that she will resurrect within an hour. The
only way to stop the zombification is to decapitate the
victim or put a bullet through the brain. He admits that
taxidermy used to be his hobby (which links him to the
Umbrella mansion, because of all the stuffed trophies found
by the STARS team there). Saddened, he wishes to be left
alone.
Leon has found the sewer system that runs under the city. In
the processing plant, he comes across what appears to be the
exit door but doesn't have all the necessary keys to get
through. Going back, he finds Ada also investigating the
sewage plant. She has found an open vent shaft that she can
get through with a boost. She hits the ground on the other
side, startling the same little girl Leon and Claire
encountered previously. As she runs off, Ada notices that
the little girl dropped her pendant. Amused, she decides to
keep it in case they meet again. After a quick search, she
finds a precinct key and returns to where Leon waits. She
throws the key back through the vent, but she can't get back
herself because the vent is too high. Once again, Ada runs
off on her own against Leon's orders.
In room next to the Chief's, Claire hears the quick
footsteps of someone fleeing from her. She finds the little
girl crouched in the dark. She radios Leon to let him know
that she cleared the helicopter wreckage and found the
little girl. The little girl says her name is Sherry Birkin,
and her parents work at the Umbrella plant. Her mother
called her during the T-virus outbreak and instructed her to
go to the police station for safety. She has heard her
father's voice in the station, but can't find him. Also, a
creature is stalking her. A mighty roar emanates from
nearby. Sherry runs off, and Claire tries to pursue her. In
the office, the Chief and the dead woman's body have
disappeared. However, he has left behind his diary detailing
the extents of his depravity.
Leon is back in the precinct house, searching for the keys
he needs to get out. While looking for clues on the first
floor, the horrible Tyrant bursts through the wall. Only
when shot several times does the creature fall. Leon races
upstairs and finds more items he needs. The Tyrant follows.
Again, Leon is forced to shoot it out with this brute. The
thing is finally subdued, even if only for the moment.
After gathering several keys of her own, Claire finally
catches up to Sherry in the Chief's office. Behind the desk
is a secret door, and Claire makes Sherry stay behind while
she goes to investigate. An elevator lowers her into some
kind of custom dungeon beneath the precinct. She hears the
Chief scream.
In his private chamber, Chief Irons is backed into a corner
by a hideous mutating creature. Something shoots out of this
thing's hand and down Iron's throat.
In a hideous torture room, Claire finds the Chief, ranting,
raving, and armed. He explains to Claire that his town has
been torn apart by the experimental monsters of the Umbrella
corporation. He tells her that a man named William Birkin is
to blame. Claire recognizes the name. Irons states that
Sherry is Birkin's daughter. Completely paranoid, the Chief
is ready to kill Claire with a Magnum handgun. But before he
can execute her, something bursts through his upper torso
from within. A small creature leaps out of Irons and falls
down an open chute nearby. Claire follows this thing, only
to see it quickly grow into some kind of horrible infant.
The thing attacks her, but she destroys it fairly easily.
She runs back up to the second floor to check on Sherry.
Leon makes his way to the precinct's clock tower where he
finds the final piece in the Chief's bizarre architectural
puzzle. Now able to exit the police station, he finds an
open dust chute and slides back down to the basement. Upon
landing, he hears Ben screaming in the jail cell nearby.
Leon runs to the reporter's aid, but is too late. The same
thing that impregnated Irons has gutted Ben. The dying
reporter gives Leon a document which entangles the Raccoon
City Chief of Police in a government conspiracy. In terrible
pain, Ben dies. Ada finally catches up to Leon, and they
read this document together. It is a series of letters from
William Birkin to The Police Chief, describing in detail how
Umbrella was bribing the Chief to keep secret their actions
in the town. Birkin had learned that Umbrella sent spies to
steal his research. Ada then rushes off, explaining only
that she has to find John. She thinks he's in the chemical
plant. Leon is prevented from following by another call from
Claire. She has found a different exit from the precinct and
will join him in the sewers.
Leon runs after Ada. But in the sewage plant, he is
confronted by the mutating Dr. Birkin. The scientist attacks
him with incredible strength, takes a full clip full of
Magnum bullets at point blank range, and dives into the
muck. Leon opens the exit door.
In the sewer beneath the station, Sherry is separated from
Claire when a drainage chute opens and sucks her into a
lower level. Sherry runs for safety, finding herself in a
garbage room. Just when she finds a nice shiny trinket, the
floor springs open and dumps her into the garbage hold.
Knocked unconscious, she fails to see the approaching hulk.
Birkin has found his daughter at last.
Ada abruptly rejoins Leon, and he admonishes her out for
running off. She agrees to stick with him from here on.
Searching everywhere to find Sherry, Claire runs into her
mother, Annette. The suspicious woman worked with her
husband William on a bioweapon called the G-Virus, a
mutagenic substance that turns anything that ingests it into
a giant monster. Birkin injected himself with the virus when
armed Umbrella agents seized the virus from him. When Birkin
was accidentally shot, he used the virus to keep himself
alive. The G-Virus rejuvenates dead cells, but it also
mutates them. He became a monster, a "G-Type", and hunted
his killers down. The T-Virus leaked from his laboratory
after the attack, and was carried into Raccoon City by the
rats in the sewers.
The G-Virus seeks to spread by finding other host bodies.
When Annette learns that Sherry is in the chemical plant,
she becomes upset. The virus can only be spread through a
complimentary genetic host. Birkin will try to find and
impregnate Sherry with a virus embryo. From somewhere close,
they hear the little girl scream. Claire sends Annette
searching in the opposite direction and continues on.
Leon and Ada search the chemical plant for weapons and
ammunition. They bump into the frantic Annette. Ada chases
the armed scientist. Annette turns and fires on her pursuer,
but Leon jumps in front of Ada and takes the bullet. While
Leon lays unconscious and seriously wounded, Ada chooses to
run after Annette.
Claire finds the garbage dump and spots Sherry, lying
unconscious on a heap of rubble. She calls out to the little
girl, but a gigantic alligator hears her and attacks. Claire
runs back down the corridor and finds a switch to release a
gas canister. When the alligator grabs the canister in its
huge maw, Claire shoots the cylinder. The resulting
explosion flings chunks of the sewer beast's head
everywhere. Moving to Sherry, Claire spots some sort of red
worm slithering away; one of William's embryos. Stirring,
Sherry complains of stomach pains. Claire assures her that
everything will be all right. She leads Sherry out of the
spider-infested sewers, past the bodies of several soldiers
wearing gas masks...
Ada hounds the scientist through the sewers to the central
control area. Annette blasts Ada's gun out of her hand, an
adept shot for a scientist. She advances on Ada,
interrogating her. Learning that Ada is looking for her
boyfriend John, Annette realizes that she's talking about
one of the researchers at the mansion lab. She knows that
John turned into a zombie, and then died when the lab was
destroyed. She makes it seem that William was working at the
mansion as well, that he developed the G-Virus at that site.
Annette starts to explain the new G-Virus to Ada when she
spots her daughter's pendant around the woman's neck. In a
suddenly aggressive manner, she demands to have it. A cat
fight ensues, ending with Ada punching Annette and sending
her flying over the rail. Checking inside Sherry's pendant,
Ada finds a secret compartment containing a sample of the
G-Virus.
Claire and Sherry discover an underground tramcar. After
powering up, they ride for some distance to an unknown dock.
Apparently they aren't out of danger yet, the grunts of the
undead are heard nearby. Claire blasts through corridors
full of zombies. They arrive at a train turntable platform.
Inside the engine car, Claire finds the key to the control
panel outside. An alarm sounds upon activation, and the
girls run back inside the car. The entire platform
disengages and drops. It seems they have found some sort of
large secret elevator. Sherry is overcome by her stomach
pains and passes out. Her monstrous father shows up,
threatening to smash the traincar to pieces. Claire runs
outside and ducks a steel rod flung at her by William. The
screaming madman mutates, growing a new head and a
vicious-looking claw. Claire quickly pelts the thing with
enough flame grenades to burn down a forest. When the G-Type
is finally face down in a pool of its own blood, Claire runs
back into the train car. The elevator finishes its descent,
and she carries the unconscious girl into an Umbrella
loading dock. It would seem she has discovered a large
underground laboratory.
A slightly delirious Leon awakens and hunts for Ada. He
finds her in the subterranean garbage dump. After bandaging
his bullet wound, she lets him know that John is dead. She
doesn't seem terribly upset though, and insists they get out
of the sewage plant. At the tram platform, Leon recalls the
car. They board and head for the train elevator. On route,
they are attacked by the G-Type, which isn't dead yet. It
stabs one gigantic claw through the ceiling over and over,
seeking the passengers. Ada fires at the hand, blowing off
one of the fingers. The monster retreats. The two slip out
of the tram and make for the train platform.
Claire sets Sherry on a cot in the security office. She
gives Sherry her vest to keep her warm. The girl stirs, and
lets Claire know that she trusts her and depends on her like
no else. Claire assures her that she will find something to
cure her.
Leon has to recall the train elevator platform. Leaving Ada
in the control room, he descends to a secret security room
and there finds the necessary key. When he flips on the
surveillance camera aimed at the door he just entered, he
sees Umbrella's ugliest and most fearsome agent hot on his
trail. After one more battle with this 'Mr. X', Leon returns
to the upper control room to find Ada unharmed. He recalls
the elevator from there and they descend to the lab. But
their moment alone is not to be enjoyed. William is back,
and he exacts a terrible revenge against Ada. His claw
shoots through the wall, stabbing her in the back. She
passes out, and Leon goes out to fight William. The
G-Virulent has grown two new arms and doubled in size. Leon
pumps the thing full of shotgun blasts before it does any
good. Bleeding heavily, William leaps onto the elevator
shaft wall and leaves the two alone.
In the lab, Claire figures out that the main power conduit
has been shut down. She finds a fuse for power connection,
and then she is free to explore the lab. Umbrella has
conducted further experiments with plant vegetation, as a
titanic vine grows up from the bottom of one shaft. Its
offspring slide along the ground, spitting acid at her. And
there is an even stronger variety of the "lickers" here than
those encountered before.
The elevator platform's engine overheats, and it stops on an
upper floor of the lab. Leon leaves the wounded Ada in the
train car while he goes searching for something to patch her
wound. He crawls through a vent duct and drops into a
corridor. The elevator platform restarts and continues to
descend. Leon has lost Ada again. He finds an emergency
elevator that will take him down to where Ada has gone, but
it needs power. He finds a door to a "Power Room", but it is
locked. In a room with a huge smelting pit, he fights his
way through the tougher new breed of "lickers". He connects
the emergency elevator's power and goes up to the lab. In
what is obviously William Birkin's former experiment room,
he finds the power room key and goes back up to the first
level.
Leon runs off the elevator, but not very far. Now Annette is
shooting at him. She calls him a fool for believing Ada,
saying that the woman he is falling in love with is a spy
working for Umbrella, using him only to help her steal the
G-Virus. Leon refuses to believe it. Annette doesn't care
and prepares to shoot him. Mr. X suddenly crashes through
the ceiling behind Leon. Annette flees. Evading the powerful
giant, Leon gets to the power room and unlocks it. The
monster has followed him, and now the rookie cop is
cornered. Shots ring out. Ada is back, blasting away at the
unholy behemoth. But unfortunately she runs out of bullets.
Just as she reloads, the Tyrant seizes her and lifts her
high. Ada fires several rounds point blank into his face.
Temporarily blinded, the giant smashes a control panel with
Ada, probably breaking every bone in her body. Blood gushing
from his face, Mr. X falls off the platform into the
smelting pit. Leon runs to Ada's side. In her last moments,
she wishes she could stay with him. Leon kisses her
passionately. Ada goes limp and dies. Leon screams in grief.
Near Ada's body, Leon finds a key that the monster dropped
before falling into the pit.
After Claire finds a keycard in the research room, Annette
pops up again. She's still armed and dangerous, and somehow
knows that Claire tried to kill William. After Claire tells
Annette that Sherry has been infected by the G-Type, the
monster growls nearby. Excited, Annette runs after him.
William crashes out of the ceiling, still alive. More
monster than human now, he cuts his own wife down with one
terrible claw swipe. When Claire rounds the corner he leaps
back up into the ceiling. A dying Annette begs Claire to
save her daughter, giving her detailed instructions on how
to create an antidote to the G-Virus, using materials that
can be found somewhere in the lab.
The damaged central unit in the power room is wracked by
explosions. Lightning bolts course up and down the huge
column. A computer voice indicates that the self-destruct
sequence has been activated, and all personnel should
evacuate to the cargo train platform at the bottom of the
lab.
At the edge of the iron smelting pit, a gigantic clawed hand
emerges from the red hot pool. Mr. X isn't down for good
yet, and he may be more dangerous than ever.
Claire runs out to the monitor room. A motion detector
alerts her that someone else is in the lab. Leon is
onscreen, emerging from the power room. Claire tells him to
go back to the security office to rescue Sherry while she
creates the G-virus antidote.
Leon rides the elevator back down into the lab, retrieves
the barely conscious girl and uses the master key in the
elevator to take the emergency access tube to the cargo
train platform.
Following the instructions for the G-Virus vaccine, Claire
rushes to the VAM room on the Lab's 4th floor. Killing
several last zombies, she finds a vaccine cartridge. Reading
the instructions for the "Devil" vaccine, she inserts the
cartridge into the machine and starts it up, allowing the
base vaccine to be synthesized. She takes the cartridge and
heads back down to Birkin's lab.
Leon finds the train without power. Laying Sherry on the cot
inside, he finds a platform key at the back of the train and
hurries to power up their escape transport.
Claire inserts the base vaccine into the virus antidote
synthesizer in Birkin's lab, and the machine creates the
"Devil" automatically. On her way back out, she accesses a
corridor to the experimental containment room, where she
finds a huge cargo elevator that will take her down to the
train platform.
An explosion rocks the entire lab. The computer announces
that the self-destruct sequence has begun. There are only 5
minutes remaining until total detonation.
Leon races across a bridge over the train to the opposite
platform. There he unlocks the containment chamber for the
power plugs for the train's generator. He takes the plugs
into the next room and inserts them into the power grid. The
computer warns him that the power will be completely shut
down momentarily in order to power up the train. In the
blackout, a huge creature lands behind him. A transformed
Mr. X is ablaze from his dip in the molten vat. With two
huge claws, he charges at Leon, knocking the poor guy from
one end of the room to the other. Suddenly another familiar
shape appears, at the top of the gantry over them. Still
wearing Sherry's pendant, Ada drops Leon a rocket launcher.
The cop recognizes her, but doesn't have a moment to spare.
He dives for the launcher, scoops it up, and fires at his
vicious adversary. The creature explodes into a dozen body
parts. The power comes back on and so do the lights. With
about two minutes until detonation, Leon runs back to the
train.
Waiting patiently for the elevator to reach her floor,
Claire's thoughts are suddenly interrupted as something
smashes through the ceiling right above her. She backs up
just in time to avoid being squashed as the G-Type drops
into the room. She fires several grenades into the genetic
monstrosity, but then suddenly it transforms into a
misshapen four-legged beast, and it's stronger than ever.
Claire runs around the room, playing matador as it charges
at her. Finally, her weapons have an impact on the thing,
and it dissolves into a puddle of genetic jelly. Claire's
elevator arrives, right on cue, and she descends to the
train loading platform.
Leon finds the train platform crawling with naked zombies.
Blowing their heads off left and right, he gets to the
switch that opens the gate blocking the train's path. He
runs back onto the train, slips into the cockpit and starts
her up.
Claire gets to the platform just as the train is taking off.
She sees Leon, leaning out an open door, yelling for her to
get on. She misses that opportunity, but luckily there is
another open door.
Once she's inside, the Umbrella lab completes its detonation
sequence in a huge explosion. The train is severely rocked,
throwing a still- unconscious Sherry to the floor. Claire
quickly administers the vaccine to her and they wait.
Finally, little Sherry comes to and thanks Claire for saving
her. Leon thinks that the danger is over, but Claire
disagrees. She still has to find her brother. Talking to
Sherry, Claire indicates that she will always be there for
the little girl. Leon moves up into the cockpit. Still
upset, he says goodbye to Ada.
The train suddenly lurches. Leon moves back into the cabin
with the girls. No one can figure out what the disturbance
was. Leon runs toward the back of the train. The train is
equipped with the same computer system as the lab. The
computer warns them that a bio- hazardous material has been
detected on board. The train will detonate in just two
minutes. The cabin is locked, and Leon is unable to get back
to Sherry and Claire. He runs to the back of the train to
search the cargo compartments.
At the rear, giant tentacles smash through the ceiling. Leon
races back to the front as the G-Type makes an encore.
Birkin is now nothing more that a gigantic black blob,
pulling itself forward with four huge tentacles. Leon blasts
the thing until it loses solidity once more. Then he heads
back toward the cabin.
===================================================
3iv. A Summary of the Conclusion of RESIDENT EVIL 2
===================================================
The G-Type has reformed, and attempts to smash into the
cabin. Claire, not knowing where Leon is, tells Sherry to
hide. Sherry opens a vent to the cockpit and crawls through.
She promises Claire that she can stop the train.
Leon is on top of the engine car, climbing up to the
cockpit. He looks behind him to see the G-Type's tentacles
searching for him.
The main body of the G-Type smashes into the cabin. In order
to hide, Claire climbs down through a hatch and hangs onto
the bottom of the train while it's still moving.
Leon rips open an escape hatch on the roof of the cockpit.
Sherry hasn't had so much luck figuring out which button to
push. Leon spots the emergency stop switch immediately and
points it out to her. Sherry slams her fist on the button.
The train brakes. Sparks shoot out from behind the wheels as
the transport slows, dousing Claire in a shower of yellow
fire. She fights to hold on.
The train stops. The computer warns that the train will
detonate in thirty seconds. Claire crawls out of her hiding
spot and with a sigh of relief, spots daylight at the exit
of the train tunnel. Leon and Sherry are out, looking for
Claire at the front of the train. She joins them just as the
G-Type smashes into the cockpit. The heroes dash for the
mouth of the tunnel, through which they can see the rising
sun. They've lived to see the morning of September 30th.
The monster's tentacles smash through the cockpit
windshield, searching for its enemies. The computer counts
down, 5, 4, 3, 2...
At the last second, the G-Type realizes what is about to
happen.
The heroes leap clear of the tunnel.
The transport train detonates quickly car by car, from the
rear to the front. A vicious geyser of fire blasts out of
the tunnel.
Claire and Sherry get up, commenting that each of them look
pretty awful. Leon rises, but is already moving off, saying
they don't have time to waste. Claire wonders why. Leon
turns and tells them, "Hey, it's up to us to stop Umbrella."
Blackout. Heavy metal theme music and the credits roll.
===========================================================
3v. Differences Between Claire A/Leon B and Leon A/Claire B
===========================================================
If you play the game in the opposite order, starting with
Leon first, the plot is different in several respects:
1. Sherry keeps her pendant throughout the game. This means
that Ada never obtains the pendant or the G-Virus sample it
contains. Also, Mr. X wants the G-Virus, so he goes after
Sherry and Claire and not Leon and Ada.
2. Sherry is never impregnated with a G-Type embryo, so
Claire doesn't have to create a G-Virus antidote. Thus, no
mention of an antidote is heard.
3. Ben Bertolucci is impregnated by Birkin with a G-Type
embryo that later bursts out of him. But the reasons why
Birkin would implant him with this are never discussed or
explained.
4. Chief Irons is ripped in half by Birkin instead of
implanted.
5. Annette is fatally wounded when the G-Type pounds on the
ceiling in the lab and drops a pipe on her head. Leon takes
the G-Virus sample that she is holding.
6. Leon confronts Ada about being a spy. Annette, barely
alive, shoots Ada. Leon's love falls over the rail into a
deep chasm. Enraged, Leon tosses the G-Virus into the abyss.
7. In the game finales, Leon confronts the G-Type while
Claire battles Mr. X.
8. In Claire's final confrontations with Mr. X, she lures
him into the smelt pool by tossing Sherry's pendant with the
G-Virus over the side. On the trainpower platform, Claire is
aided in her battle against the mutated Mr. X by Ada. This
provides a larger mystery than the previously explored
scenario. How did Ada survive such a fall?
9. At the end of the closing movie, it is Claire instead of
Leon who leads them off, stating "We have to find my
brother."
Perhaps the reasons why the previous plot summary focused on
Claire A/ Leon B are now clear. The focus scenario is much
richer in plot and explanations. There is not as great a
leap of faith required to believe that Ada still lives. An
exploration of how Ada might have survived her brutal death
in order to aid in the final battle with Mr. X are explored
in "The Resurrection of Ada Wong", below.
Resident Evil 2 is a game far more rich in story than its
predecessor, as is evidenced by the number of pages needed
to summarize the plot versus that of the original Resident
Evil. In this newer chapter of the story, questions are
raised and some are answered while others may never be
solved.
==============================
3vi. The 4th Survivor Minigame
==============================
A couple of secret games are available to the most capable
of Resident Evil survivors. With the right timing, skill,
and stamina, players will receive an A ranking in Resident
Evil 2. While the secret weapons gained make for a fun
replay, the most interesting aspect of this ranking is a new
playable character named "Hunk". The players are asked to
create a new save file for a minigame called The 4th
Survivor, the special mission suitable only for this
seasoned Umbrella agent. The 4th Survivor is a "battle
game." The player is given a limited amount of ammunition, a
simple goal, and an enormous army of evil monsters to outwit
in order to survive. This side-adventure is a true test of a
player's survival skills.
Whether it is his real name or a codename is uncertain, but
Hunk is certainly a buff character. Dressed in militaristic
biohazard containment gear, Hunk's eyes glow with the power
of his infrared goggles. He runs quite faster than the usual
Resident Evil playable character, even when seriously
wounded.
Playing as Hunk requires a good amount of quick thinking and
strategy on the part of the player. While some strategies
can be useful every time, the game's enemies sometimes react
differently to Hunk. This means that The 4th Survivor is
always a challenge, even to seasoned Resident Evil veterans.
==========================================
3vii. A Brief Summary of The 4th Survivor
==========================================
The game begins in a total blackout. Someone is thinking,
"G-...G-Virus... I have to deliver it to Umbrella..." The
scene opens at the end of the sewer station, sometime after
Ada and Leon have made their way to the Lab, but before the
end of the regular game. A body floats face down in the
muck, one of the Umbrella infiltrators sent to steal the
G-Virus from renegade scientist William Birkin. The body
stirs, shifts, and shows signs of life. Slowly, Hunk regains
consciousness and rises.
After a quick look around, Hunk pulls out his radio. "Alpha
team here," he says through his gas mask, "Mission
accomplished." "Roger," confirms another agent on the radio.
"We'll meet at the rendezvous point."
A map cuts in and a blinking beacon light shows Hunk that he
has to get to the second floor roof of the RPD precinct
house in order to be airlifted out. Hunk takes off up the
stairs.
Between this stealthy agent and his goal is a small army of
the evil dead. Zombies plague his flight, along with giant
spiders, killer dogs, and slithering botanical experiments.
He has only a limited amount of ammunition, and must
determine how best to save the big guns for future
emergencies while trying not to die at the present. Luckily
he has some herbs to heal himself and prevent against
poisoning, but it's not a lot. More ammunition is
nowhere to be found.
After several close calls, Hunk tops a staircase to the
second floor of the RPD. He's halfway home, but the
nightmare is not yet over. Stomping toward him is a
monstrosity he has only heard rumors about at his agency. At
long last, Umbrella has perfected the Tyrant, and they've
sent it after the G-Virus. Somehow able to sense that Hunk
possesses a sample, the monster attacks him. Reasoning with
the beast would be no use, so Hunk evades the slowly
advancing thing and moves on.
The zombies have retaken the Precinct in greater numbers
than ever before, and have laid several traps for the
unfortunate Umbrella agent. With some skill, he just barely
avoids these. But as he nears his goal, the insanity grows.
Each room bears an ever-greater horde of ghouls, quickly
converging on the lone survivalist. Shaking off his
attackers, he clears a pathway out with the barrel of his
gore-splattered gun.
In the final hallway, Hunk meets the Tyrant once again. How
it got over here so quickly is a real mystery, one Hunk
doesn't have time to solve. Evading the hulk yet again, the
agent reaches the roof and lights his last flare to signal
for a rescue.
The pick-up chopper swoops overhead immediately, as if
though it has only been a block away this entire time. It
hovers over the precinct for an unbearably long
moning of
another.
=======================================
3viii. Conclusions About the Conclusion
=======================================
Resident Evil 2 leaves us with the following resolutions:
1. William Birkin's laboratory and research have been
destroyed.
2. Somehow Umbrella has almost perfected a Tyrant, and has
more at their disposal. Their research continues elsewhere.
3. Leon, Claire, and Sherry have all survived.
4. Ada may have also survived.
5. Raccoon City is in ruins.
6. Leon has a new mission in life, while Claire continues
hers.
7. The rest of the STARS team may be somewhere in Europe.
===================
3iv. Random Musings
===================
1. As pointed out by Dan Birlew in the original version of
this document, Tofu, another hidden character, is also
accessible in RE2. However, his scenario is so incredibly
silly that it doesn't really apply to the storyline. He is,
after all, a block of bean curd with a knife.
====================================================
4. The Last Woman Standing: RESIDENT EVIL 3: NEMESIS
====================================================
RE3 has more replay value than any other RE game to date,
with three endings and plenty of secrets to unlock, as well
as the incredibly fun (read: addictive and frustrating)
Mercenaries minigame. It also introduced the Dodge feature,
which let players duck or roll out of the way of incoming
attacks with the push of a button, and featured the return
of RE's Hunters.
=============================
4i. The Death of Raccoon City
=============================
After Umbrella's attack on William Birkin, as shown in RE2,
sewer rats carry the T-Virus into Raccoon City. Hundreds, if
not thousands, are killed as the T-Virus creates swarms of
zombies and homicidal mutants. Martial law is declared, and
the Raccoon police force tries to fight back the zombie
invasion. They last less than a day before the survivors are
forced to pull back to the RPD building.
As the police fight the zombies, two helicopters marked with
Umbrella logos land in the city and drop off two teams of
armed men, also wearing Umbrella logos. These men lose
several comrades in their first encounter with the zombies,
and are soon on the run.
By September 28th, Raccoon City is a ghost town, populated
mostly by zombies and other creatures created by the
T-Virus. A military blockade has been put into place around
the town to enforce a quarantine. Thousands are dead.
Jill Valentine is not one of them.
=======================================================
4iii. A Summary of the Plot of RESIDENT EVIL 3: NEMESIS
=======================================================
On the morning of September 28th, Jill Valentine makes her
last escape. Literally blowing her way out of her apartment
building, Jill takes shelter inside a nearby warehouse and
meets another survivor. She tries to get him to come with
her, but he refuses to leave the warehouse, as he's just
lost his daughter to the zombies. Jill tells him that they
have to get out of there if they want to live, but he shuts
himself inside a nearby trailer rather than listen to her.
Alone, Jill leaves the warehouse. The streets are suddenly
quiet, with only the occasional zombie wandering around. On
her way through a back alley, Jill is surprised when a man
suddenly bursts forth from a nearby alleyway, pursued by a
mob of zombies. She's doubly surprised when she recognizes
him as Brad Vickers. After disposing of Brad's fan club, she
follows him.
After a merry chase through the streets and back alleys of
Raccoon, Jill finds Brad inside a local bar. They briefly
talk about what's happened to the city. Brad, although he's
wounded, gets up, telling Jill that "he's comin' for us.
We're all gonna die! He's after STARS members. There's no
escape!" With that, he leaves the bar.
Outside, Brad's nowhere to be found, so Jill sets out on her
own. She emerges onto the street in front of the RPD building.
Both ends of the street are blocked by car crashes, but a nearby
alleyway leads further uptown. The door to it is locked, but Jill
left a set of lockpicks in her desk at the RPD, so she heads there.
In front of the RPD building, Brad Vickers finds Jill again.
He looks like someone dropped a truck on him. He starts to
say something, but is cut off by the arrival of a new monster,
a humanoid creature, dressed in black. Its face is
permanently stuck in a lipless grimace. (Two days from now,
Leon will meet Mr. X, who looks a lot like this thing.) Jill
is frozen in horror as the creature grabs Brad by the face
and lifts him into the air. It kills Brad by shoving a
tentacle through his head, throws away his body, and
advances on Jill, muttering a single word: "...STARS..."
Jill's weapons seem to have no effect on the creature. She
ducks inside the RPD building and slams the doors behind
her. Although the doors buckle under the creature's attack,
they don't give. Safe for the moment, Jill searches the
building. More than half the building has been sealed off
by the surviving police, but fortunately, she can still get
to her old office. In the operations room on the
first floor, she finds her old STARS ID card and takes it,
as well as a gemstone she finds in the evidence room.
The STARS office is wrecked. Someone has deliberately broken
the radio, and the desks have been ransacked. As Jill leaves
with her lockpicks, the radio plays an incoming transmission
from a man named Carlos. His unit has been cut off and no
survivors have been found. He asks for anyone who can
hear him to respond, but the broken radio can only receive
transmissions. All Jill can do is wish him luck as she
leaves.
The only warning Jill gets before the creature returns is
the sound of shattering glass. It ambushes her at the bottom
of the stairs, jumping through one of the windows. Worse, it
has a rocket launcher in one hand. Dodging a barrage of missiles,
Jill barely manages to get out of the RPD building alive. Picking
the lock on the alleyway door, Jill keeps running.
As Jill makes her way uptown, she finds a dead man wearing
the Umbrella logo. According to his diary, the dead man was
a member of the Umbrella Biohazard Countermeasures Service,
an in-house paramilitary unit maintained by Umbrella. For
some reason, Umbrella's hired and sent mercenaries into the
city.
More dead UBCS soldiers turn up elsewhere. One is lying in
front of a nearby parking garage, killed by a pack of zombie
dogs, and another has fallen victim to a new creature, some
kind of giant, mutated insect. These "Stingers" attack Jill
as she passes through a construction site, and they don't
live long enough to regret it.
Jill steps back onto the street outside the construction
site, and sees a man run into a restaurant. Jill follows him
inside, and the man introduces himself as Carlos Oliviera, a
corporal in the UBCS. His squad was told to rescue Raccoon's
civilians, but the mission went wrong the moment they landed.
Before he can continue, the creature stalking Jill appears
again, entering through the restaurant's back door.
As the creature charges, Jill notices a gas leak in the
restaurant's kitchen. She and Carlos hide behind the
restaurant counter. As the creature stops next to the
leaking pipes, Jill throws a lit oil lamp at it. The ensuing
explosion nearly kills both Jill and Carlos, but also knocks
the creature unconscious.
As they leave the restaurant, Jill asks Carlos why his squad
was sent to Raccoon. Carlos' answer -- that they're rescuing
civilians -- isn't good enough for Jill, since the
destruction of Raccoon is largely Umbrella's fault.
Carlos replies that he and his fellow mercenaries are just
hired hands, and if Umbrella had some kind of ulterior
motive for sending them in, he doesn't know what it is. If
Jill wants answers, she's asking the wrong guy. A sudden
sound of shattering glass inside the restaurant cuts him
off. Carlos invites Jill to join his squad, and runs off.
After losing the creature in Raccoon's back alleys, Jill
hides inside the Raccoon Press offices. Inside, she finds
another gemstone, much like the one that she found in the
RPD building. They turn out to be missing parts to a time
lock on the gates to Raccoon's city hall. Jill repairs the
lock and opens the gates.
The city hall is boarded up, and looks as though it's been
undergoing the same kind of seige as the RPD. Past it is a
trainyard, where one of Raccoon City's cable cars is parked.
Inside the cable car, Jill meets a gray-haired man wearing
the same logos as Carlos. Jill greets him, assuming he's one
of Carlos's teammates. The man asks her insultingly how she
managed to survive. Jill replies that she's a STARS member,
which seems to satisfy him. He walks into the next car,
leaving Jill alone with a badly wounded and delirious UBCS
officer. Jill tends the man's wounds as best she can, then
follows the grey-haired man.
Carlos is in the next cable car, and renews his invitation
from earlier. The man, who is apparently Carlos' commander,
says that they can't trust Jill. Before Jill can respond,
Carlos says that they need her help, as their unit is down
to Carlos, the gray-haired man, and Lieutenant Mikhail, the
injured man in the last cable car. His commander, Nicholai,
grudgingly agrees, and lays out his plan.
An extraction helicopter is waiting for a signal from their
team. The designated landing zone is by the St. Michael Clock
Tower, a Raccoon City landmark. Nicholai intends to use the
cable car to get through the city to the clock tower, although
the car will require repairs first. Carlos and Jill agree to
this plan, and the three of them split up to look for parts
for the cable car.
Jill heads to a nearby gas station first, to get motor oil.
Carlos enters the station behind her, but a mob of zombies
sniffs them out. As Carlos keeps watch, Jill finds a locked
cabinet with oil in it. Carlos steps outside to fight off the
zombies. Jill hurriedly opens the lock and grabs the oil.
Before she can get outside, a live wire falls into a pool of
motor oil in the gas station's garage, starting a fire. Jill
runs outside before the place burns down.
Outside, Jill finds Carlos slumped against the wall, next to
a pile of dead zombies. Jill thinks he's dead, but Carlos
unsteadily gets to his feet. The fire suddenly spreads
outside, to the pools of gasoline created by crashed cars,
and then to the gas station pumps. Jill and Carlos barely
escape an explosion that completely destroys both the gas
station and most of the block that it's on. As they pull
themselves to their feet, Carlos tells Jill that he's going
to look for extra equipment, and leaves.
Jill manages to find some engine parts and returns to the
cable car to see if she can fix it. Outside the cable car,
Mikhail, despite his wounds, massacres a horde of zombies
and collapses. Jill runs up to him and demands to know if he
has a death wish. Mikhail insists that he cannot stop
fighting just because he's wounded. Even though the zombies
are innocent victims as well, as Jill says, there's no
reason for him to take responsibility for anything that's
happened to Raccoon. After all, none of the UBCS soldiers
are really involved with the company. Jill agrees, saying
that that's the only reason she's trusting the surviving
UBCS members.
Jill helps Mikhail back into the cable car and tells him to
rest. Jill tries to repair the cable car's engine.
While the power cable and fuse she's found will work, she
needs a special additive for the motor oil. She heads back
into Raccoon, towards an Umbrella-owned sales office and
chemical warehouse.
Before going to the office, Jill stops by the warehouse in
downtown Raccoon where she left the survivor earlier.
Inside, she finds a group of zombies greedily devouring his
dead body. In the trailer that the man was hiding in, Jill
finds a book where the man has written his final words. His
name was Dario Rosso, and he had always meant to be a novelist.
(This file is probably one of the more tragic elements in
RE3.)
When Jill reaches the office, Nicholai is already there. He
has just killed another UBCS trooper who was infected with
the T-Virus. As if it's obvious, Nicholai explains to Jill
that it took fewer bullets to kill the man now, before he
became a zombie. Jill lets herself into the office's storage
locker, where she finds the additive she needs. At the same
time, though, another horde of zombies finds the sales
office. Jill hears Nicholai scream in agony, and when she
fights her way back into the office, both Nicholai and the
UBCS mercenary that he killed are gone.
On her way back to the cable car, Jill has another encounter
with the creature outside City Hall. Once again, Jill runs
for her life. The creature doesn't follow her to the next
street, and before Jill can wonder why, the ground crumbles
under her feet. She's dumped into part of the Raccoon sewer
system, which a large, mutated worm has claimed as its own.
After giving it a faceful of acid, Jill escapes via a
conveniently located emergency ladder.
Jill finishes her repair work on the cable car. Carlos walks
in, and Jill tells him that Nicholai won't be joining them.
Carlos grimly accepts the news, and offers to drive the
cable car. The car begins to glide smoothly away from the
station, but suddenly, it shakes with a tremendous impact.
Jill cautiously checks it out, to find that the creature
stalking her has somehow broken in. With nowhere to run,
Jill knocks it to the ground with a barrage of grenades. The
creature gets right back up again, seemingly unhurt, after
an attack that would have killed anything else.
Suddenly, Mikhail opens fire on the creature with his
assault rifle, commanding Jill to get out of the cable car.
The creature advances on Mikhail, whose rifle jams at
exactly the wrong moment. The creature backhands him against
the wall, then throws him across the cable car. A tentacle
emerges from the creature's hand, coiling around its wrist
like a striking snake, and it walks towards Mikhail to
finish the job. Just before it reaches him, Mikhail rolls
over, pulls a grenade from his vest, and pulls the pin. The
resulting explosion knocks the creature out of the back of
the cable car, kills Mikhail, and knocks the cable car's
brakes out. Desperately, Jill pulls the emergency brake, but
the car still doesn't stop until it hits a wall. Jill blacks
out.
Jill regains consciousness alone in the courtyard of the St.
Michael Clock Tower. Inside, she finds Carlos, who is now
convinced for some reason that Umbrella isn't going to let
the two of them out of town. Before he can get hysterical,
Jill slaps him, asking him if he's just going to give up.
Carlos says that he just can't handle what's happening, and
runs off.
The clock tower is nearly deserted, except, as usual, by the
occasional zombie or giant spider. Jill finds several more
dead mercenaries within it, one of whom is carrying the
UBCS's mission plan; sure enough, they were here to rescue
civilians, but were specifically after Umbrella's employees.
The UBCS's extraction chopper is in the suburbs of Raccoon,
waiting for someone to signal it by ringing the clock tower's
bell. Jill runs up to the bell tower, to find the bell's
mechanical ringer has been dismantled. Solving another of the
puzzles that seem to be everywhere in Raccoon City, she finds
a key to unlock a storeroom downstairs.
On the balcony of the clock tower, the creature returns,
seemingly unhurt. Jill rips the wiring out of one of the
clock tower's searchlights and electrocutes the creature. As
it lies twitching, Jill makes her escape, but once again, it
gets up and gives chase. For some reason, though, it doesn't
follow her downstairs.
In the storeroom, Jill finds an ornate gear that'll fit in
the bell's ringer. She runs back upstairs and installs it.
The bell starts to ring, and as Jill rushes outside, the
extraction chopper comes flying in. Jill waves it down, and
for a moment, thinks that she's finally safe.
She is, of course, wrong.
A missile is fired at the helicopter. As it explodes, the
helicopter plows into the clock tower. Burning wreckage
showers the clock tower courtyard. Jill looks up to see the
creature, its missile launcher in its hand, standing on top
of the clock tower. It jumps down in front of her, intent
upon finishing her off once and for all. Before Jill can
react, the creature stabs her with one of its tentacles, and
Jill immediately begins to feel shaky and ill. She's been
injected with the T-Virus.
Suddenly, Carlos arrives and opens fire on the creature with
his assault rifle. The creature, more annoyed than hurt,
returns fire. Carlos is knocked silly by a near-hit, but
manages to blow up the missile launcher. As he passes out,
Jill opens fire on the creature, hitting it with everything
she has. The creature, after taking enough damage to kill an
army, finally staggers, then falls face-down into the flames
from the burning helicopter. Jill limps over to Carlos and
passes out. When Carlos wakes up, he cradles Jill in his
arms, desperately trying to get her to wake up.
Jill is unconscious for two days, during which Leon Kennedy
and Claire Redfield make their own escape from Raccoon City.
She wakes up in the chapel of the clock tower on October
1st. Carlos has been watching over her. She doesn't feel any
pain from her infection, but that in itself worries her.
Jill makes Carlos promise that if she turns into a zombie,
he'll kill her. Carlos replies that he'll find something to
help her, and that she'll be safe in the chapel until he
returns.
Carlos leaves the clock tower through a door in the
storeroom, and discovers that he's right next to a hospital.
He goes there, hoping to find something to combat the
T-Virus infection.
The hospital lobby is strewn with dead men and partially
locked down with a steel shutter. As Carlos enters, a zombie
slowly shuffles towards him from the back of the room.
Before Carlos can shoot it, something decapitates the zombie
from behind. A new creature, some kind of viciously clawed
reptile, screams at Carlos. Jill would recognize it as a
Hunter, one of the more vicious things she fought in the
Spencer mansion. After a vicious, albeit brief fight, Carlos
kills the thing and enters the head doctor's office.
Carlos takes the head doctor's private elevator to the
fourth floor. There, in the hospital's file room, he finds
Nicholai, who is holding a smoking gun and standing over the
body of another UBCS member. Carlos has a lot of questions
for Nicholai, but the only answer Nicholai has is that he --
Nicholai -- is "one of the supervisors". That's all Carlos
needs to know. Nicholai points his gun at Carlos, but before
he can fire, the man he just shot pulls the pin on a grenade.
Both Carlos and Nicholai duck for cover, and Nicholai winds
up going out the fourth-floor window.
Carlos is confused about what just happened, but he
continues looking for a cure for Jill. To his surprise, he
finds another of Umbrella's laboratories in the hospital's
basement, where two creatures are floating in incubation
tanks. They look like Hunters, but where the Hunters Carlos
has been fighting are sort of generically reptilian, these
appear to be deliberately patterned after frogs. (These are
probably the MA-121 Hunters mentioned in one of RE2's EX
Files.)
After a quick search of the lab, Carlos finds a set of
instructions. Using the machines in the lab, he creates a
vaccine that'll be effective against the T-Virus. Running
back to the clock tower, he finds a surprise waiting for him
in the hospital lobby. Someone has set explosives to demolish
the hospital. Carlos leaves the hospital at a dead run, taking
cover from the explosion inside the alley leading to the clock
tower. The hospital is completely destroyed, crumbling inward
on itself.
In the clock tower, the ceilings are buckling and groaning,
as if the tower is planning on following the hospital's
lead. As Carlos crosses the clock tower's front hall, the
creaking intensifies into a pounding. With a sudden
crash, the creature that has chased Jill throughout Raccoon
City breaks through the wall. The creature's heavy coat has
burned away, revealing that it's covered in writhing tentacles.
Either the fire has forced it to mutate, or it just burned
off its clothes and this is how it's looked all along.
Carlos tries to fight the thing, but it's only interested in
getting to Jill. Fortunately, Carlos beats it to the chapel.
Carlos gives Jill the vaccine. The drug takes effect almost
immediately, and Jill wakes up. She asks Carlos what
happened to him, and Carlos says that he just had another
fight with the monster. Jill starts to wonder aloud whether
the creature can be stopped at all, and Carlos says that
he's sure it can; he doesn't sound real convincing, and
sounds less convincing when the creature roars at them from
outside the room. Jill realizes that the creature is toying
with them. Carlos then tells her about Nicholai's survival,
and warns her that although he doesn't know what Nicholai
has planned, he's sure that Nicholai is their enemy.
Claiming that he has to "take care of some things", he
leaves.
Jill runs into the creature as she leaves the chapel. She
leads it a merry chase through the clock tower, losing it
along the way, and ducks into Raccoon's city park.
The park is infested with monsters, but Jill easily takes
care of them. Inside the park's tool shed, Jill breaks through
a bricked-up doorway and discovers an abandoned Umbrella command
center. Several documents are scattered throughout the room.
One of them, a report from one of the supervisors, finally
gives her a name for the creature that's been chasing her;
Umbrella calls it "Nemesis".
Nicholai is waiting for Jill when she leaves the command
center. He's impressed at her survival, but refuses to help
Jill in any way. When Jill asks him, he admits that the true
mission of the UBCS was to gather data on Umbrella's
bioweapons in a combat situation, but no one ever expected
the UBCS units to be completely wiped out. After a sudden
tremor shakes the ground, Nicholai runs off.
As Jill follows Nicholai, the earth falls out from under
her. The giant worm that Jill fought in the Raccoon sewer
system is back. Jill blasts it with her grenade launcher
every time it rears up to attack. When Jill climbs out of the
wreckage of the graveyard, she leaves the worm dead on the
ground behind her.
The park has been overrun by a fresh wave of zombies while
Jill fought the worm, but they're little more than
annoyances at this point. On one of the park's isolated
footpaths, Jill finds two more dead UBCS soldiers, one of
whom is clutching a set of orders from Umbrella. The orders
confirm what Nicholai said earlier. The supervisors were
also instructed to destroy the hospital and all the data
stored inside it. Umbrella is covering its tracks.
The footpath leads to a rickety bridge, which in turn leads
to an abandoned factory. As Jill walks across the bridge
towards it, the Nemesis jumps onto the bridge in front of
her. Jill throws herself off of the bridge and into the
river below it. The Nemesis, after she's gone, turns and
walks towards the factory.
Underneath the bridge, Jill finds an entrance to an old
sewer duct, and from there finds her way into the factory. A
quintet of zombies spring a crude ambush on her, but Carlos
arrives and saves Jill a second time. As Jill thanks him, he
tells her that a nuclear missile is going to be launched
into the center of the city at dawn, which isn't far away.
The two of them have to split up and find some way to
escape, or they'll be caught in the blast. Carlos puts a
hand on Jill's cheek and tells her to watch out for Nicholai
before leaving.
The factory is obviously nowhere near as abandoned as it was
supposed to be. Umbrella has been conducting experiments
with the T-Virus here and using the facility to dispose of
toxic waste; as a direct result, the factory is crawling
with Stingers, Hunters, and powerful, mutated zombies. As Jill
explores, a sudden barrage of gunfire sends her running for
cover. Chortling, Nicholai walks through a door and seals it
shut behind him with a keycard.
Jill accidentally stumbles into the facility's trash
room. Not only does the door lock behind her, but the room's
automated systems come online; in five minutes, the room
will automatically dump everything in it into the factory's
waste area. Given what's *in* the waste area, that might be
a fate worse than death. Just as Jill thinks things can't
get any worse, the trash room's lights come on, revealing an
old friend. The Nemesis has been waiting for her.
For the first time in four days, Jill gets lucky. She ducks
underneath one of the Nemesis's wild swings, and it tears
open a pipe on the wall. Whatever is flowing through the
pipe, it's corrosive enough to melt off half of the Nemesis's
tentacles almost instantly. As the Nemesis recovers, Jill
shoots out another pipe, drenching it in acid a second time,
and then a third. The Nemesis screams, covered in horrible
burns. As it falls dead for a second time, Jill notices
the body of an Umbrella scientist in one of the trash heaps.
Searching his pockets, she finds a keycard which unlocks the
trash room doors. As she gets out, the Nemesis's body is
dumped into the factory's waste area.
The factory's speakers crackle to life, and a woman's voice
reports that a missile attack has been detected.
Jill runs towards the door Nicholai went through and unlocks
it with her new keycard. The door leads to a communications
tower. As Jill picks up a portable radar receiver, the radio
suddenly comes to life. Nicholai taunts Jill from his
helicopter, raking the tower with machine-gun fire.
Apparently, now that he's killed all the other supervisors,
Nicholai can demand a bigger bonus from Umbrella. He had
also intended to collect the bounty that Umbrella has placed
on Jill's head, but he decides to escape while he still can.
Carlos runs in. He hasn't had any luck in finding an escape
route, but he refuses to give up. He frantically uses the radio
to scan all frequencies. A familiar voice comes over the
radio. Someone else is coming in a helicopter, specifically
for Jill. All the two of them have to do is meet it at the
factory's helipad. The factory's systems alert Jill and
Carlos that the missile has actually been launched, and
unlock the helipad door to help the evacuation procedure.
Carlos runs back into the factory, as Jill heads down to the
helipad.
Apparently, the factory used a scrapyard as their landing
zone. Jill runs through a maze of crushed and stripped cars,
to find that a small war was fought here recently. Several
dead U.S. Special Forces soldiers are lying outside of the
factory's power room, as well as the burning corpse of a
mutant (actually a Mr. X unit, like the one that attacked
Leon the day before). An official report is on the ground
near one of them, accompanied by a photograph of an
experimental new weapon code-named "Paracelsus' Sword". The
report specifically mentions using it to fight Umbrella's
bioweapons. The Sword is an enormous rail cannon, and looks
like just the thing to take out a Tyrant, but it's far too
big to sneak it onto hostile territory. That aside, the U.S.
government has attacked Umbrella, and it's uncertain why.
Does the U.S. want to destroy Umbrella's bioweapons, or take
them for their own purposes?
Jill enters the power room, and an explosion from outside
seals the door shut behind her. If outside was the scene of
a small war, World War III was fought in here, and there
were no survivors. Dead soldiers and bioweapons are
everywhere, including at least one Tyrant. On the other side
of the room, Jill finds the Paracelsus' Sword cannon, still
hooked up to the factory's power plant, aimed directly at
the dead Tyrant. Jill tries to turn it on. The cannon's
computer tells her to hook up several oversized batteries
strewn around the room.
As Jill shoves the first battery into place, she hears the
sound of dripping water behind her. Chemicals begin to
slowly leak into the room as Jill turns around, followed
immediately by the Nemesis' "corpse". All the bath in the
factory's waste pool did was mutate it enough for it to
survive. Jill draws back in horror as the Nemesis twists
into a new four-legged shape, growing a tail and a set of
vicious spikes along its back. The Nemesis is now saturated
with biohazards, and sprays them from its body with every
step it takes.
Jill frantically hooks up the last two batteries to the rail
cannon. As the Nemesis showers the room with lethal toxins,
Paracelsus' Sword begins to charge up. Left with no other
choice, Jill has to turn and fight back. The Nemesis is
still a vicious opponent, but it's nowhere near as durable
as it was in the past, and Jill's assault drives it away.
The Nemesis limps to the other side of the room and begins
to chew on the Tyrant's corpse. Why it's doing that isn't
clear, and is soon made a moot point, as Paracelsus' Sword
fires.
The rail cannon's blast shakes the room, tears through a
four-foot block of scrap metal, vaporizes the Tyrant's
corpse, and doesn't really look like it hurts the Nemesis
much at all. A second blast finally sends the Nemesis
screaming to the ground. Jill checks the radar receiver, and
finds that she has less than five minutes before the nuclear
strike hits. Before she can leave, the Nemesis gets back up
for one last attempt to kill her. Jill dodges a blast of
venom and grabs a Magnum from one of the dead soldiers. Jill
stands over the the Nemesis, emptying the gun into its head,
until it finally stops moving.
Jill leaves the power room and takes an elevator up to the
helipad. Carlos comes up the elevator just after she does
and runs forward, lighting a signal flare. A blue-and-white
helicopter slowly descends to the ground in front of Carlos,
and both he and Jill climb aboard with only a few minutes to
spare.
=============================================================
4iii. A Summary of the Conclusion of RESIDENT EVIL 3:
NEMESIS
=============================================================
Jill thanks the pilot, who says that he couldn't just let
her die. Jill seems to recognize him and leans forward. The
pilot turns to her and asks her, "Are you ready to finish
this?" (The pilot's apparently supposed to be Barry Burton,
although it's never said out loud.)
A flash of light outside the window draws Jill's attention.
The nuclear missile flies past the helicopter and hits the
center of Raccoon City. The surviving zombies look up at
confusion at the bright light, just before they're
destroyed. A wave of fire rolls across the entire city,
utterly destroying it. All that remains is a smoking crater.
As the helicopter flies east, Jill, looking out the window
at what used to be Raccoon, vows that Umbrella is going
down.
We're then treated to a news broadcast. The morning's top
news story is, of course, the nuclear strike on Raccoon. The
President and Congress planned and executed the destruction
of Raccoon City, which has been "literally wiped off the
map". More than a hundred thousand casualties are expected.
"Our hearts go out to the citizens... of Raccoon City."
====================
4iv. Different Paths
====================
The game's basic plotline can vary each time you play
through it. However, while the details change, the
fundamental events are always the same, and they always wind
up the same in the end, so they aren't worth listing in full
here. For most of the choices, I've just kinda picked the
one that I liked more and used it for the summary.
The exception is that I deliberately placed Carlos in the
gas station. Nicholai is a huge badass, but I'm not willing
to believe that he's enough of a badass to live through an
explosion that levels a city block and survive without a
scratch. My willing suspension of disbelief can only go so
far.
=====================
4v. Different Endings
=====================
The ending I've used for the summary is apparently the
official one, as one of the files in Resident Evil: Survivor
is written by Nicholai on October 5th. The other two
possible endings are detailed below.
Ending #2:
Instead of negotiating with Nicholai, Jill blows him out of
the sky. Aside from that small, yet satisfying, detail, this
is the same as Ending #1.
Ending #3:
Instead of jumping off the bridge, Jill shoves the Nemesis
off and walks into the abandoned factory via the front door.
She and Carlos meet up in the second-floor break room, where
a visibly exhausted Carlos tells her about the incoming
missiles. Things proceed as above after that, but when Jill
reaches the trash room, she's ambushed by Nicholai. Taking
cover in front of the trash room, Nicholai explains that
there's a "modest" bonus offered by Umbrella for whoever
kills Jill, and he intends to collect it. Jill replies that
she has no intention of letting Nicholai collect that bonus.
Nicholai replies by firing a couple more shots at Jill.
Something, probably the Nemesis, grabs Nicholai from behind.
Jill hears him scream, followed by some wet crunching
sounds. When she rounds the corner, she finds Nicholai's
dead body, hanging off of the pipes in the ceiling.
When Jill reaches the communications tower, she hears an
incoming transmission from Carlos. Carlos tells her to take
the nearby radar receiver and meet him elsewhere; he's found
a helicopter.
After Jill's showdown with the Nemesis, she rides the
elevator up to find Carlos waiting for her in Nicholai's
helicopter. Jill watches Raccoon explode as they fly off,
saying that this time, "they've gone too far."
=======================
4vi. The Epilogue Files
=======================
Every time the game is beaten on Normal Mode, an Epilogue is
shown after the credits and ranking screen. There are eight
Epilogues, each dealing with a major character from RE; in
order, the files are about Jill, Chris, Barry, Leon, Claire,
Sherry, Ada, and Hunk. Each file is about a paragraph long,
and is accompanied by original character art.
>From the Epilogue Files, we know the following:
-- after escaping Raccoon, Jill Valentine found one of
Chris's hideouts. It was trashed, but Chris wasn't there.
She plans to keep looking for Chris so the two of them can
finally take down Umbrella. Carlos and Barry may or may not
be with her.
-- Barry's family is in hiding. Barry doesn't intend to
return to them until he's paid his friends back for
betraying them at the Spencer mansion.
-- after the events of RE2, Claire Redfield left Leon and
Sherry and walked off into the woods, intending to continue
her search for Chris. Leon and Sherry were subsequently
taken into custody by the U.S. government.
-- Leon has been made some kind of unspecified offer by
either the U.S. government or someone claiming to represent
them. We do not know what his answer was.
-- both Ada and Hunk survived Raccoon City. The woman who
called herself Ada is leaving that identity behind, as she
prepares for another mission.
-- Hunk is apparently crazy, and has a tendency to be the
only one to survive the missions he's sent on.
======================================
4vii. Conclusions About the Conclusion
======================================
Resident Evil 3 leaves us with the following information:
1. Raccoon City has been completely destroyed. Thousands are
dead.
2. Jill and Carlos have survived, thanks to Barry Burton.
3. Nicholai Ginovaef has also survived.
4. A vaccine exists for the T-Virus, and it's been given to
Jill. In theory, she's now immune to it.
4. Ada and Hunk are both still alive and still loyal to
Umbrella. This brings the known total of Raccoon survivors
to eight, out of more than a hundred thousand. Hoo boy.
5. Jill is newly dedicated to the destruction of Umbrella.
She's looking for Chris. Barry and Carlos are probably with
her.
6. Umbrella is actively seeking the deaths of the remaining
members of STARS. They have a "modest" price on Jill's head.
7. Claire Redfield is somewhere in America, continuing her
search for her brother.
8. Leon Kennedy and Sherry Birkin are in government
custody.
9. Leon has gotten an "offer" from someone claiming to be a
government agent. What that offer is and whether he accepted
it are unknown.
10. The U.S. government has attacked at least one Umbrella
facility with very little, if any, success.
11. Umbrella actually tried to *stop* the government from
nuking Raccoon. Apparently, there's something else going on
here that we don't know about.
12. Hunk survived. Umbrella has a sample of the G-Virus.
13. Someone on the Capcom development team *really* hated
Brad Vickers' guts.
=====================
4viii. Random Musings
=====================
1. There are several shattered transport capsules in the power
room, just like the ones carried by the helicopter that dropped
off Mr. X in RE2. If anyone was wondering where that helicopter
went, it's a pretty fair bet that it came here.
2. As I've mentioned below under Unanswered Questions, the
military blockade around Raccoon is apparently manned by spider
monkeys. Neither Leon or Claire so much as *see* a blockade,
and we've seen no fewer than six unmarked helicopters enter
and leave Raccoon's airspace, usually either dropping something
off or picking something up, without any problems. (Count 'em.
You might even come up with a few that I missed.)
3. If I'm not mistaken, Jill kills the Nemesis at the end of
the game by firing seven shots from her Magnum without
reloading. This *is* an action movie!
4. The Mercenaries minigame, while horrifyingly addictive,
doesn't really apply to the storyline. I would've thought
this was obvious, but apparently, it isn't.
==========================
5. RESIDENT EVIL: SURVIVOR
==========================
Half standard Resident Evil and half first-person
gun-in-hand shooting game, this game has gotten mixed
reviews everywhere I've looked. We're still waiting
on it here in the States.
===============
5i. Coming Soon
===============
I've yet to play Survivor. When I do, I'll update this FAQ
accordingly. Please don't take this as an invitation to send
me your own summaries; I really would like to play the game
for myself.
In the meantime, you can read all of Survivor's files,
courtesy of Rob McGregor and his Resident Evil Timeline, at
http://www.new-blood.com. They're creepy as hell.
======================================================
6. The Undead World Tour: RESIDENT EVIL: CODE VERONICA
======================================================
The newest and most elaborate Resident Evil game is for the
Sega Dreamcast. Spanning two discs, it is, as of this
writing, getting a wide selection of rave reviews from every
gaming magazine in existence, and has been called the "best
game for the Dreamcast" more than once. It's easily more
than twice as long as any previous RE game, with a very
elaborate plot for a video game, and as such, is going to
require the Plot Summary From Hell. You might want to go get
a drink or something.
Code Veronica, in brief, follows Claire Redfield as she
continues to look for Chris. She's captured while searching
an Umbrella facility in Paris and sent to an Umbrella-run
prison in South America, where she meets and fights against
Alfred Ashford, the insane descendant of one of the original
founders of Umbrella.
The last half of the game features the long-awaited return
of Chris Redfield, as he arrives on the island to try and
save Claire. Unfortunately, he finds out that he has
problems of his own.
=============================================
6i. The Great Escape: CODE VERONICA, Part One
=============================================
It's been three months since Claire disappeared into the
woods near Raccoon. In that time, she's found an Umbrella
memo that reads: "CONFIDENTIAL: PHASE I -- RACCOON CITY.
TEST COMPLETE. PHASE II -- PARIS FACILITY. FULLY
OPERATIONAL." In December of 1998, she travels to Paris and
infiltrates that facility, hoping to find clues to the
whereabouts of her brother Chris.
She's discovered, and a chase ensues. As she runs from a pair
of armed guards, a bright light at the end of the hallway blinds
her. When she can see again, the first thing Claire sees is an
attack helicopter hovering outside the window. Its chaingun
begins to warm up. Claire doubles back and ducks into the
nearest hallway as the chaingun chews the guards that were
chasing her to ribbons.
The helicopter chases Claire the rest of the way down the
hall she's in. Claire barely stays ahead of its constant
stream of gunfire. As it starts to get too close, Claire
jumps through an open door and down a flight of stairs. She
rolls to her feet and finds herself staring down at least
two dozen more of Umbrella's guards, all of whom are
pointing guns at her. As they walk forward, Claire sees that
they're standing in front of a tank full of flammable
chemicals. In a trick worthy of John Woo, Claire puts her
hands up and drops her gun... then drops with her gun,
catches it before it hits the ground, and puts her last
three bullets into the tank. The resulting explosion sends
the guards flying, killing or knocking all of them out. (You
can download a movie of this sequence from
dreamcast.ign.com, or at least you used to be able to. If
you still can, as of this writing, do so. It's well worth
watching.)
Claire gets to her feet as another guard comes down the
stairs. Both she and the guard catch the other off guard,
shoving their guns in each other's faces, but the guard's
gun has bullets in it. Hers doesn't.
Claire is captured, and, ten days later, is taken by
helicopter to an isolated prison. She spends most of the
ride there with a bag over her head. It's taken off as a
guard tells her what her serial number is, and welcomes her
to her new home. Another guard cracks Claire in the face
with the butt of his rifle.
She wakes up in a dank cell, somewhere underground. Claire
gets to her feet as something rumbles overhead. The lights
in the cell block flicker, then die. Slowly, out of the dark
corridor outside, someone clutching his stomach shambles
into the room and stands outside Claire's cell door. Claire
uses her lighter to see who it is, and is surprised to see
the face of the man who took her prisoner in Paris.
The man unlocks her cell and opens the door. As Claire
hesitantly steps outside her cell, he slumps into a nearby
chair and pulls an empty bottle of medicine out of his
pocket. He throws it against the floor in frustration. Not
looking up, he tells Claire that this place is finished.
They've been attacked by what he thinks is a "special forces
team". Claire's free to leave the prison grounds, but he
warns her that she has no chance of getting off of the
island.
Before leaving the cellblock, Claire picks up a knife, and
notes that the man needs hemostatic medicine. A manifest on
the desk tells her that the man's name is Rodrigo Raval, and
that he's a member of Umbrella's medical division.
It's raining gently when Claire gets outside. The cellblock
opens into a small graveyard. A truck has crashed through
the wall, and is burning merrily. Suddenly, it explodes. A
burning man climbs out of the driver's seat, setting a pool
of gasoline on fire. A briefcase falls into the pool. The
man shambles towards Claire, moaning. One good look confirms
that he's now a zombie. Somehow, the T-Virus has been
released. As Claire backs away from the burning zombie,
another one emerges from one of the graves and grabs her
leg. Claire scrambles to her feet and runs through the
nearest door.
Claire gets about two steps out of the door when someone
opens fire on her from a guard tower. Taking cover behind
the crashed truck, she grabs a handgun off of a dead man and
returns fire, shattering the gunman's spotlight and forcing
him to take cover. The man screams. Claire demands that he
tell her who he is. The man -- a boy, really -- is glad to
see that she's not a zombie like he'd thought, and hops down
off of the tower. He introduces himself as Steve, another
prisoner, and soon runs off. Claire tries to follow him, but
he claims that she'd only slow him down.
The prison is lightly populated with zombies, so Claire
doesn't have much trouble as she searches the place. Inside
a nearby mess hall, she finds a map of the facility, as well
as one of the other prisoners' diaries. He'd figured out
that the island the prison's on is somewhere south of the
equator.
The prison's file room and computer lab is nearby. Claire
runs into Steve playing on one of the computers, who asks
her if she's related to Chris Redfield. When she says she
is, he tells her that Chris is apparently under surveillance
by Umbrella. Claire immediately uses the computer's Internet
connection to forward Chris's location to Leon Kennedy via
e-mail, hoping that Leon can figure out some way to help
her. Steve tells her that the latitude and longitude of the
prison is stored on the computer and, with a snort, suggests
that she have Leon forward that to her brother so he can
come help them out. Claire thinks it's a good idea and does
so, but Steve indignantly claims to have just been kidding;
Chris won't come to help them. Claire angrily retorts that
he will. Other people will just let you down, Steve says,
and storms out of the computer lab. Claire is left by
herself, wondering what Steve's problem is.
Using one of the machines in the file room to forge a key,
Claire lets herself out the prison's front gate. A recent
rockfall has blocked the main exit, so Claire runs up a
nearby staircase instead. To her surprise, she's now
standing in front of a military training facility on one
side, and a mansion on the other. She decides to investigate
the mansion first.
The mansion hasn't escaped damage in the recent assault, but
the interior is more or less intact. Claire finds an ornate,
locked door in a study on the second floor, but instead of
keys, the door is molded so as to accept a pair of guns. In
the same room, she finds a diary kept by one of the servants
that lived here. The servant talks about his master, Alfred,
and how Alfred is incredibly secretive about his
relationship with his sister Alexia. No one is allowed near
her, or has even seen her except at a distance, sitting in
the window of Alfred's house.
A room on the first floor is someone's private war museum.
Antique handguns and models of battleships line the walls.
Claire presses a button near a sculpture of a giant ant, and
an old movie begins to play on the room's screen. In the
movie, two blond-haired, beautiful children, a boy and a
girl, obviously twins, are playing. Slowly, the boy plucks
the wings off of a dragonfly, and sets the helpless insect
in an ant farm to be devoured. As the dragonfly writhes, the
boy turns to the girl, and both share an innocent smile.
The end of the movie coincides with a secret door opening in
the corner of the room. Claire finds a pair of gold-inlaid
Luger handguns inside, but taking them from the wall mount
they're on triggers a deadly trap, closing the secret door
and turning up the heat inside the room. Claire quickly
replaces the guns and tries to leave the mansion, but as she
puts her hand on the doorknob, she hears Steve scream for
help. In the museum, he's gotten himself trapped, and
refuses to put the Lugers back on the wall. Claire quickly
figures out the room's computer systems and releases the
secret door, letting Steve stumble in. Steve, happy with his
new guns, shows off for Claire. Claire recognizes the guns
as the ones she needs to open the door in the study, but
Steve refuses to give them to her unless she gives him
something fully automatic in return. Once again, Steve runs
off.
In the front hall of the mansion, Claire notices a laser
sight as it focuses on her head. She dives to the side and
hides behind a pillar. The gunman, a blond man dressed in a
blend of preppy fashion and military gear, demands that she
tell him who her friends are. He's convinced that Claire
deliberately let herself be captured so she could lead her
allies to his base to destroy it. Claire says that she
doesn't know what he's talking about, but he doesn't believe
her. His name is Alfred Ashford, he says, commander of the
base. Claire retorts that he must be one of Umbrella's
low-ranking employees if he's in command of a small,
isolated facility like this one. Alfred angrily tells her
that his family, the Ashfords, is one of the oldest and
greatest in the world. His grandfather was one of the
original founders of Umbrella Incorporated. He leaves,
telling Claire that she's just a rat in a cage.
A strange setup outside the palace, when Claire plays with
it, brings a submarine to the surface. She takes it down,
hoping to use it to escape, but instead, winds up in an
underwater port for seaplanes. A cargo plane is docked
inside. She could use it to escape, and, even better, she's
already found one of the three keys she'll need to unlock
its hatch. Claire finds a keycard inside an abandoned cargo
bay, and heads back to the military training facility to see
what it unlocks.
The training yard is guarded by an enormous worm, which
tunnels under the ground and attempts to devour Claire. She
dodges it and runs into the facility, which is almost eerily
quiet.
Stairs just inside the entrance lead to a lab on the second
floor. The lab's experiment area is locked down due to
environmental pollution. As Claire walks by the lab's
observation window, a man in a biohazard suit desperately
beats against it, trying to get her to open the door. Claire
can't, and helplessly watches as something in the room with
the man grabs him by the head and crushes his skull against
the glass. As he sinks to the floor, a recording on the
overhead speakers alerts Claire that the area has been
contaminated, and will be locked down for ventilation.
Claire barely makes it to the bottom of the stairs, rolling
underneath the steel gate that seals the area as it shuts.
Claire finds extra ammunition in the facility's locker room,
then sets out to explore the rest of the first floor. As she
walks down a hallway, another steel gate silently shuts
behind her. In the next room, she is nearly killed by Alfred
Ashford, who is waiting in ambush. She runs up to the
balcony where he's aiming from, but Alfred is already gone.
She chases him in the only direction he could've gone, but
he seals every door behind her from somewhere else in the
complex. As the final door locks, he jeers at her from a
hidden speaker, telling her that he's prepared a special
surprise for her. He hopes that she won't die too quickly.
The only door that Alfred's left unlocked leads to a
storeroom. A discarded pair of Uzi submachine guns lies on
the balcony with Claire. She picks them up, just in time to
watch a door on the other side of the room open. A new
creature makes it way in; it resembles a zombie, except it
only has one long arm. Its upper body is bulging with
muscle. As Claire watches in horror, the creature's arm
stretches to an impossible length, grabbing a pipe in the
ceiling and using it to swing over to her. Claire barely
manages to kill the creature.
Alfred herds Claire down a nearby staircase, towards an open
door. Claire tries to walk through it, but another rubber
man drops from the ceiling and seizes her head with its arm.
Claire struggles vainly against it as it hoists her into the
air, threatening to either crush her skull or suffocate her.
Suddenly, a window above the creature shatters, and Steve
jumps through it, blasting at the rubber man with the
Lugers. Roaring in pain, the rubber man drops Claire. Steve
drives it backward with a flurry of gunfire, kicks it into
the corner, and finishes it off with a final gunshot wound
to the head. He walks over and greets Claire, claiming to be
her "knight in shining armor". Claire denies that he's any
such thing, but offers him the Uzis she found as a trade for
his Lugers. Steve accepts the trade. Suddenly, the floor
they're on begins to descend.
When the floor stops moving, Steve runs ahead of Claire
through the nearest door, anxious for an opportunity to try
out his "new toys". Claire catches back up to him on a
bridge overlooking the facility's sewer system, probably by
following the long trail of spent shells and dead zombies
he's left behind him. Steve claims that this is why Claire
needs him around; he'll watch her back. He then contradicts
himself, saying that the Uzis he's been using are more
reliable than any person. Claire, who's still confused by
him, asks him why he's on this island, and where his family
is. Steve's response is to yell that he doesn't want to talk
about it and to shoot at the wall. He runs into a nearby
elevator, and Claire follows.
The path Alfred has them running seems to dead-end on a
balcony overlooking a motor pool. As Claire runs up to
Steve, the balcony collapses underneath them. Steve falls
free of the balcony, but Claire drops her gun and is pinned
underneath a chunk of rubble. A zombie shambles towards
Steve, who raises his Uzis, but doesn't fire. Claire yells
at him to shoot it, but Steve is seemingly frozen in place.
The zombie turns towards Claire. Claire yells for Steve to
help her as the zombie bends down to attack. Steve hesitates
for a single long moment, then levels both Uzis at the
zombie and yells, "FATHER!" He empties both guns into the
zombie, and and only stops shooting because the Uzis run
dry. Slowly, Steve sinks to his knees, sobbing.
Steve explains to Claire that his father used to work for
Umbrella, but had begun stealing information and auctioning
it off to the highest bidder. Umbrella caught him. Steve's
mother was killed, and he and his father were sent to this
prison. He despises his father for being so reckless and
stupid. Claire comforts him, telling him to rest, and leaves
him alone to mourn.
Alfred has apparently given up on his "deathtrap". The only
problems Claire encounters in the military facility are
zombies and the odd mutated dog. In a storeroom, she finds a
copy of the Ashford family crest, an eagle clutching a
halberd in its claws. The crest is forged of some kind of
blue metal, while the halberd seems to be inlaid gold.
Elsewhere in the facility, the crest opens a compartment
containing a copy of Alfred's personal keycard. Using that
and the keycard she found earlier, Claire is able to unlock
most of the doors inside the base. Among other things, she
finds a grenade launcher and a vial of the kind of medicine
that Rodrigo needs.
Claire unlocks another door to find a monitor room. The
screens are still lit up. Inside, she finds the second key
to the cargo plane's door, as well as data on a creature
called an "Albanoid", the result of injecting the T-Virus
into a salamander. The creature is capable of generating
powerful electric shocks, and reaches adulthood within *ten
hours* of being "born". One of the monitors tells her what
the password to the lab she had to escape from earlier is,
as well as letting her know that the lab's systems have
finished ventilating it. Claire heads back there.
Inside the lab, Claire finds the dead body of the man from
earlier, apparently killed by a rubber man. She takes a
painting off of the wall of the lab on impulse, but as she
does so, an infant Albanoid breaks out of one of the nearby
storage vats. Before Claire can do anything, the insanely
quick creature disappears into one of the ventilation
shafts. Claire is forced to escape from the lab a second
time, as the automated systems declare the lab contaminated
and permanently seal the area.
In the storeroom where Claire found the Ashfords' crest, she
uses the painting to solve a puzzle. The wall of the
storeroom slides back, revealing an elaborate diorama of the
facility and a key to one of the doors in the mansion, which
she takes.
Heading back to the mansion, Claire uses the Lugers to
unlock the door in the study. The door leads to what looks
like Alfred's private office. Using his computer, Claire
discovers yet another secret passage, leading through an
abandoned aqueduct to an enormous house, sitting high up the
side of a mountain. Claire heads towards it as lightning and
thunder crash in the distance, and a woman's mocking
laughter echoes over the island...
The house has been hit fairly hard by the earlier assault.
It's guarded by rubber men, but Claire easily avoids them
and gets inside. The interior of the house is like a twisted
parody of childhood; either dolls or books cover every
available surface. A larger-than-life doll dangles from the
chandelier hook in the ceiling; it has been eviscerated.
Most of the furniture is sized for children, or for dolls.
On the house's second floor, Claire walks in on a
conversation between Alfred and his until-now-absent sister,
Alexia. As Claire lurks outside her bedroom window, Alexia
asks an unseen Alfred what's taking so long, when his
opponent is only a little girl. Alfred's success is
necessary, Alexia continues, to restore the honor of the
Ashford family. Alfred insists that he doesn't need
reminding. He intends to raise Alexia to the position of
leader of the once again glorious Ashford family. Alexia
nearly sees Claire, but chalks it up to her own imagination.
The twins, having finished their conversation, leave.
Cautiously, Claire enters the twins' bedrooms, but no one is
in either of them, and she didn't see either of them leave.
A locked secret door above the bed in Alexia's room tells
her why. Both rooms have an ornate, locked music box, both
of which require yet another unique key. Claire finds a key
in Alexia's room and heads back to the mansion.
Claire uses the keys she's found to unlock several doors
inside the palace. One door leads to a boardroom, where,
after a frantic battle with a pair of rubber men, she finds
another copy of the Ashfords' crest, as well as a report
from an Umbrella agent named Hunk. Hunk has recently
delivered a frozen bioweapon to the island, and fondly
recalls the days he spent being trained here. Another room
is apparently where Alfred goes for recreation, containing
several slot machines, a roulette table, and a grand piano.
The last and largest room in the palace is a shrine to the
past leaders of the Ashford family. An oil painting of a
twelve-year-old Alfred is in the place of highest honor. An
inscription tells the onlooker to find the family's real
master, with a history of the Ashfords lying underneath it.
When Claire solves the puzzle, the picture of Alfred
rotates, revealing a painting of an adult Alexia. Underneath
her picture, Claire finds an ant-shaped key that will fit
the music box in Alexia's bedroom.
With nowhere to go for now, Claire takes the crest back to
the prison, where it unlocks a door she saw earlier. A mob
of zombies is waiting for her on the other side, but Claire
blasts her way through them to the prison's medical
facility. Inside, she finds a stack of full body bags, a
dissected corpse lying on a table, and the private journal
of the facility's doctor. The doctor is apparently a sadist
and torturer in his spare time, and Alfred lets him use the
base's prisoners to pursue this hobby. If the base hadn't
been attacked, Claire might have been turned over to this
man herself.
Claire investigates the prison's crematorium, which has
little of interest besides a small chair in the corner,
sized for a child. When she comes back, one of the body bags
is empty, and a zombie in a lab coat is feeding desperately
on the dissected corpse. The doctor has apparently returned.
Claire disposes of the creature, and finds a glass eye
clutched in its dead hand. The eye fits in the doctor's
anatomical dummy, which opens a secret passage to the
doctor's private torture chamber, filled with antique but
well-used torture devices. Blood cakes the floor. Worse,
there's a comfortable chair in the middle of the room with a
bottle of wine nearby, where someone could sit and watch.
Claire finds a roll of piano music in this hellish place,
and leaves as soon as she can.
Rodrigo is still in the dark cellblock when Claire gets back
there. Using her lighter to see by, she gives him the vial
of medicine. Rodrigo, surprised, thanks her, but refuses any
further help. Claire lets him keep her lighter, and mentions
that it was a gift from her brother. In gratitude, Rodrigo
gives her a set of lockpicks, and urges her to leave while
she still can.
The piano roll from the torture chamber fits in the piano in
Alfred's recreation room. As the piano plays the same song
that Alfred's music box did, a secret panel in one of the
slot machines swings open. Inside, Claire finds the key to
Alfred's music box.
The music boxes are the disguised keys to a secret door in
Alfred's bedroom. Claire goes through to find herself
standing on a full-sized merry-go-round with only two
horses. The room is filled with toys and keepsakes of the
twins' childhood. A golden dragonfly sits on a child's
chair, across the room from a painting of an ant. The ant's
mouth is a concealed keyhole. Remembering the movie in
Alfred's museum, Claire plucks the dragonfly's wings off and
puts it in the ant's "mouth". Behind her, the merry-go-round
starts up again and turns, orienting itself so Claire can
climb up to yet another level in the room.
The final tier of Alfred's hideaway is a well-cared-for
study. Thick, well-thumbed books on biology, chemistry, and
genetics fill the bookcases on the walls. A newspaper
clipping on a stool is about a 10-year-old girl, maybe
Alexia, who apparently graduated from a university with top
honors, and was offered a job as a head researcher by
Umbrella Incorporated. On top of one of the bookcases,
Claire finds Alfred's private diary. He has written of his
unwholesome obsession with his sister; he regards Alexia as
his queen, and a woman who the entire world must bow to.
Claire takes the diary, and finds that it hides the final
key to the cargo plane. She can finally escape.
As she climbs down into Alexia's bedroom, Alexia herself
somehow sneaks up on Claire. Holding Alfred's rifle, Alexia
tells Claire that for the glory of the Ashfords, Claire must
die. Claire manages to dodge the first shot, but Alexia
won't miss a second time.
Suddenly, Steve kicks in the bedroom door. He sees Alexia at
the same time she sees him, and both point their weapon at
each other. Alexia fires first, wounding Steve. As Steve
falls to the floor, he returns the favor, wounding Alexia
with a wild burst from one of his Uzis. Alexia retreats into
Alfred's bedroom through a secret door as Claire tends to
Steve.
Steve and Claire cautiously follow Alexia, searching for
her. Following a trail of blood, Claire finds a blond wig on
Alfred's music box. As she picks it up, Alfred suddenly
jumps from above his bed, meaning to crush Claire's skull
with the butt of his rifle. Claire dodges, and as Alfred
takes a second swing, Steve kicks him across the room and
holds him at gunpoint.
Alfred drags himself shakily to his feet, and accidentally
catches a glimpse of himself in the mirror. His hair is
slicked back, and he's wearing the same makeup that Alexia
was. Screaming insanely, Alfred runs from the room.
Steve, confused, asks what just happened. Claire, realizing
that she never did see Alfred during the "conversation" she
saw earlier, says that there must never have really been an
Alexia. Alfred went to such extremes to hide both Alexia and
the nature of his relationship with her because he *was*
Alexia.
This weirds Steve out, who decides that now they *really*
have to get out of this place. No sooner does he say that
than alarm klaxons start ringing all over the factory.
Alfred has activated the base's self-destruct system by
remote control.
Several cargo planes fly overhead as Claire and Steve leave
the mansion, containing the facility's other survivors.
Claire and Steve get to the airport, where Claire unlocks
the cargo plane's hatch. Inside, Steve starts to prep the
plane for takeoff, but the airport's hydraulic bridge is in
their way. Claire tells him that she'll take care of it and
leaves him to start up the plane.
Outside, Claire raises the bridge. This forces her to take
the long way around to get back to the plane, using the
airport's cargo elevator to take her back up to the
courtyard outside the military training facility. A
maddening female voice tells her, as she boards the
elevator, that she has five minutes left until the base
explodes.
As Claire rides the elevator up, Alfred has reached the
monitor room inside the facility. He swears revenge on
Claire in Alexia's voice. Triumphantly, he types a series of
passwords into a computer and opens the hatch on a red
button. He titters, still using Alexia's voice (as he will
for most of the rest of the game), and punches the button.
A lab elsewhere in the facility suddenly powers up.
Automated systems defrost the storage tank, marked T-038,
that Hunk transported to the island. It swings open, and a
new creature steps out. It looks nearly human, save for its
chalk-white skin and lack of gender. Both arms terminate in
clublike, spiked protrusions. Once again, the Tyrant has
been unleashed.
Claire's elevator arrives after what seems like forever.
She's running the moment the door opens, trying to get to
the airport before the base explodes. As she crosses the
walkway that leads to the palace, the Tyrant, with sickening
ease, destroys a fence and steps into her path. As the thing
walks towards her, Claire blasts at it with her remaining
explosive crossbow bolts. It staggers and finally falls,
inches away from her. With only a couple of minutes left
until detonation, Claire takes the submarine back down to
the airport.
Steve is anxiously waiting for her when Claire gets back to
the plane. He takes off, just as the base begins to rock
with scattered explosions. They get into the air without a
hitch, and for a moment, Claire dares to think that their
ordeal is over. Steve tells her that he hopes she finds her
brother, because he now knows what it's like to be alone in
the world. After an uncomfortable silence, he changes the
subject, asking her where she wants to go. Claire suggests
Hawaii, and Steve sets a course.
Back on the island, Alfred runs to the antique tank he keeps
outside the military training facility. He opens a hatch on
its back and moves the tank forward, revealing yet another
secret passage. Using a special key, a minature gold halberd
like the one on his family crest, Alfred opens the door at
the passage's end. He maintains a hangar here. As Alfred
climbs into a Harrier jet marked with the Ashfords' crest,
he promises Claire that he will show her what real terror is
all about.
A sudden impact shakes the cargo plane. Steve looks at the
plane's instruments, and somehow, the cargo bay's door has
come open. Claire volunteers to go check it out.
In the cargo bay, Claire finds that the Tyrant has stowed
away. The creature roars in anger, and one of the spikes on
its right arm lengthens into a vicious claw. As it comes for
her, Claire notices that the plane's cargo catapult is
loaded and ready to fire. Desperately, she leads the Tyrant
near the open cargo bay door, attacking it with volleys of
grenades that don't even seem to slow it down. The Tyrant
rushes her. Claire dodges and hits the switch on the
catapult, throwing a heavy crate at the Tyrant as it stands
in the open doorway. The Tyrant reaches up to try to stop
the crate, and it does slow it down, but it's knocked out of
the plane. As it and the crate fall towards the ocean, the
crate explodes.
As she walks into the cockpit, Steve asks Claire what was
wrong. Claire nonchalantly tells him that it was nothing. As
Steve grins, the plane's autopilot suddenly turns on. Steve
tries to turn manual control back on, with no luck. Alfred's
face appears on a screen above the pilot's seat. Sneeringly,
he tells Claire and Steve that he's decided on a new
destination for them.
Several hours pass. Steve is slumped against the side of the
cockpit, with Claire asleep on his shoulder. He turns to
look at her, and slowly lowers his face to hers. Just before
he kisses her, Claire starts to wake up, and Steve jerks
away. Standing up, he looks out the plane's window and
realizes that the plane is descending. Steve tells Claire
that, according to the plane's instrumentation, they're in
the Antarctic.
As the plane heads towards the ground, Claire sees a small
facility on the ground. Parked outside it are the cargo
planes that they saw leave the island. Apparently, Umbrella
owns this base as well. The plane lands on the base's
runway, but the landing gear breaks off. The plane skids
uncontrollably across the runway, and the plane slams
nose-first into Umbrella's base. Both Steve and Claire are
knocked unconscious.
More time passes. Claire wakes up on the floor of the
plane's cockpit and shakes Steve. As he comes to, Steve is
surprised to be alive.
Umbrella's base is apparently constructed around a deep
chasm of some sort. Steve kicks the plane's door out and
jumps down onto the base's balcony. As Claire jumps out, he
catches her, but accidentally falls down with her. After the
two of them stay like that for a long moment, Claire gets to
her feet and offers Steve her hand. Steve ignores her and
gets up, saying that the plane is trashed. He suggests that
they split up and try to find a way out of the Antarctic.
Claire agrees.
Alone, Claire explores the base. In a barracks for
Umbrella's employees, she's caught in a crude ambush by a
quartet of zombies. The base may look deserted, but it's
still inhabited by its share of monsters. One of the miners
has left his diary behind. In it, he has written about both
Alfred's tyranny as a supervisor, and the creature that's
rumored to haunt the base. The miners call him "Nosferatu",
and say that late at night, you can hear him roar.
The base appears to be both a mine, although Claire never
finds out what it mines for, and a warehouse for Umbrella's
chemical shipments. A richly furnished office on the base's
second floor belongs to Alfred, and inside, Claire finds a
note written to Alfred from his family's butler, offering
Alfred condolences on his sister's death. There *was* an
Alexia Ashford, but according to the letter, she died in an
unspecified accident fifteen years ago, soon after Alfred's
father died. Alfred was forced to assume the
responsibilities of an adult at a young age, and lost his
beloved sister soon afterward. His insanity starts to make a
little more sense.
A second folder contains a report/confession by Alexander
Ashford, the twins' father and the original architect of
this base. His report concerns the founding of Umbrella, the
creation of the T-Virus, the death of his own father, and
the Ashfords' fall from grace. The most interesting
revelation in the file, though, is the fact that there's a
great deal of competition in the field of T-Virus research.
Umbrella isn't the only company in the world that deals in
monsters.
After dealing with the base's meager population of zombies,
dogs, and the odd giant spider, Claire reactivates the
base's generator. Now that the lights are back on, Claire
goes back to Alfred's office and finds a hidden switch.
Pushing it slides a door back, revealing a room with a mesh
floor. Underneath the room, a man is blindfolded, gagged,
and shackled to the wall. An ornate battle axe is embedded
in the wall with its haft across his chest. As if he notices
Claire, he screams, a completely inhuman, bonechilling
sound. This must be the "Nosferatu" that the miner was
writing about. Claire hastily leaves the room, but not
before she finds the key to the base's machine room in it.
The base's mining drill can be controlled from the machine
room. Claire meets back up with Steve, who tells her that
there's an Australian outpost seven miles from the base. If
they can use the drill to break out of the base, they might
be able to reach the outpost. Steve takes control of the
drill and starts to guide it towards the wall, but at a
crucial moment, is staring dreamily at Claire instead of
watching what he's doing. He winds up smashing open a pipe
filled with toxic gas, which fills the mining and machine
rooms. Claire grabs him by the scruff of the neck and yanks
him out of the room.
Steve gets outside and immediately commences beating himself
up over being so stupid. Claire tells him to not blame
himself. (Not right *now*, anyway.) Whatever happens,
they'll escape, and they'll do it together. Steve is cheered
up by this fact, and runs off to find a way to fix what he's
done. Claire, using a gas mask and a reshaped valve handle,
proceeds to do it for him by shutting off the flow of gas
through the pipes.
The air clears in the mining room. Claire takes off the gas
mask and is immediately ambushed by a freshly arrived Alfred
Ashford. Before Alfred can shoot Claire, Steve arrives, once
again just in time. Alfred fires at Steve, who's too fast
for Alfred to hit. Steve flips forward, and comes to rest in
front of Alfred while the latter is reloading his rifle.
Steve shoots Alfred in the chest. Mortally wounded, Alfred
falls over the railing of the machine room to the floor of
the mining room, next to one of the yawning pits that the
base was built on top of. He staggers to his feet, but the
edge of the pit crumbles underneath him. Alfred falls out of
sight, screaming. After he disappears, something at the
bottom of the pit roars in rage.
Claire picks up Alfred's sniper rifle and gets into the
mining drill with Steve. Steve throws the drill into gear
and drives forward through the wall. The heat produced by
the drill in operation melts away the ice, which in turn
floods most of the base.
In his prison below Alfred's office, Nosferatu roars. His
chest splits open with a sickening crack, revealing his
oversized heart. With casual ease, he pulls himself away
from the wall, snapping steel shackles like spider webs. The
axe across his chest is thrown across the room and sticks in
the floor. Nosferatu staggers forward, still roaring...
Steve and Claire get out of the drill. They climb up to the
top of a nearby helipad, and find a staircase on the other
side. Claire is about to go down the stairs when she sees
Nosferatu at their bottom, coming up. Steve steps in front
of her and points his Uzis at Nosferatu, yelling for the man
to back off. Suddenly, an enormous mandible, like that of a
praying mantis, sprouts from the Nosferatu's back and swats
Steve, sending him tumbling off of the edge of the helipad.
Claire runs to where Steve fell, to find him clinging by one
hand to one of the helipad's support struts. Steve begs
Claire to run and save herself. Claire replies that she'll
help him up as soon as she, and I directly paraphrase here,
whacks the monster.
Nosferatu steps onto the helipad, swinging his mandible. A
purple, corrosive gas surrounds him every time he swings his
new limb. Using Alfred's rifle, Claire calmly shoots out
Nosferatu's exposed heart. Silently, Nosferatu falls dead.
Claire helps Steve up. Steve apologizes; despite having
saved her life at least three times in the last day, he
feels that he failed her against Nosferatu. Claire claps him
on the shoulder and tells him to forget it. Steve stands up,
clutching the bullet wound Claire just accidentally hit, and
quietly promises that next time, he will protect her.
At the bottom of the stairs, Claire and Steve find a
snowmobile. Claire gets into the driver's seat and starts it
up. It'll easily reach the Australian outpost. They drive
away.
Somewhere in the base, Alfred Ashford drags himself down a
long hallway. He is mortally wounded. In his own voice, he
promises Claire that things aren't over between them.
Alfred collapses inside a laboratory, on a set of stairs
leading to a raised platform. In a faint voice, he says
Alexia's name. Suddenly, a quiet, dark bank of computers and
monitors flares to life. A cylinder rises in front of Alfred
and defrosts. Fluid drains out of it, revealing the form of
a naked, blonde woman.
"Alexia... you're finally awake. Alexia..." Alfred says.
They are his last words. He dies.
The woman's eyes widen in anger.
Claire and Steve talk and joke as they drive towards
freedom.
Something shatters the roof of Umbrella's Antarctic base. In
a blur, moving so fast that it's unidentifiable, it races
towards Claire and Steve's snowmobile. Steve sees it in the
rearview mirror just before it reaches them. Whatever it is,
it hits the snowmobile with stunning force. The snowmobile
is knocked onto its side. The thing that hit it suddenly
lashes around the snowmobile like a boa constrictor,
slamming it again and again into the ground.
The naked woman sits on the stairs where Alfred died,
cradling her brother's head. She hums to herself quietly as
she strokes his hair.
On one of the nearby monitors, she is watching the
snowmobile burn.
==========================================================
6ii. The Return of Chris Redfield: CODE VERONICA, Part Two
==========================================================
At the same time as Claire and Steve's snowmobile is
destroyed, a small boat lets off a passenger on Umbrella's
island.
Slowly, Chris Redfield climbs hand-over-hand up a sheer
cliff, burdened by a heavy bag filled with equipment. Leon
managed to contact him, and he's come to rescue Claire. As
he hauls himself up, one of his handholds breaks away, and
Chris accidentally drops his bag into the ocean. Grimly, he
continues onward, finding a cave on the side of the cliff.
The cave has been turned into a mausoleum. Chris has been in
it for a few seconds when the ground shakes. Something
nearby roars, and Chris's entrance collapses.
A man is slumped against the wall of the mausoleum. Rodrigo,
whose wounds haven't gotten any better, has made his way
here from the cellblock. He says that he had thought he was
the only man on the island who was still alive. Chris
responds that he's looking for a girl named Claire Redfield.
Rodrigo recognizes the name and tells Chris that he's
wasting his time; Rodrigo helped her escape, and he's sure
that she was on one of the planes that left the island.
Chris thanks him for helping out.
Suddenly, the worm Claire encountered returns. Chris is able
to get out of its way, but Rodrigo cannot. The worm swallows
him whole and disappears into the soft earth of the
mausoleum.
Chris catches up to the worm in a large cave nearby. If he
hadn't dropped his bag, he'd have something more appropriate
to the job, but all he has is his Glock handgun. The worm is
soft-bodied, though, and the handgun proves to be enough.
After Chris shoots it three dozen times or so, the worm
spasms and dies, spitting Rodrigo out onto the cave floor.
Rodrigo is dying. With Chris at his side, he tells him to
save his sister, and gives him the lighter that Claire gave
Rodrigo earlier. Glad that he'll get to see his family
again, Rodrigo dies.
An elevator has been cut into the cave wall. Sadly, Chris
leaves Rodrigo's body behind and takes the elevator down,
winding up in the military training facility's motor pool.
The military training facility has weathered the base's
self-destruct sequence surprisingly well. Chris finds his
way outside, to the courtyard where Alfred kept his tank.
The secret passage Alfred used to escape is painfully
obvious, but he's puzzle-locked the door at the end with an
incomplete version of the Ashfords' crest.
Chris hooks up a battery to a lift system in the motor pool,
which takes him up to the balcony. He finds a document and a
key on a shelf at the top, where they've apparently been
discarded; the document is a report on the properties of a
new metal alloy called Duploid. While Duploid is remarkably
durable, a combination of two common chemicals will dissolve
it. This metal is what the Ashford crests were made out of.
A door on the balcony leads to the hall outside the facility
control room. Inside, someone is singing. Chris runs in. The
main screen of the control room shows a woman in an evening
gown, cradling a dead man in her lap. (Alexia is dressed
exactly how Alfred dressed, when he was pretending to be
her.) Chris watches her sing, unsure as to how to react,
until the screen goes dark.
In the airport, near where Claire boarded the cargo plane, a
man in black curses as he watches Alexia sing. She's not
supposed to be fully conscious yet, the man says. Another
monitor comes on, showing him Chris. The man in black is
surprised to see Chris, but immediately arranges a surprise
for him. He activates a small hovercraft by remote control
and opens a large white storage device. Slowly, a reptilian
creature climbs out; although it looks different, it is
unmistakably a Hunter. As the hovercraft flies away, the man
in black laughs.
In the room where Alfred ambushed Claire, one of the Ashford
crests is lying in plain sight, but no sooner has Chris seen
it than it falls through a hole in the floor. Chris realizes
that if he dissolves the crest, he'll be left with a golden
halberd which'll unlock the door underneath the tank.
Unfortunately, that means he has to figure out some way to
find it, somewhere in the base's underground waterway.
He takes the elevator to the basement. Most of the basement
has been flooded with toxic gas after the failure of the
ventilation system, but a staircase that was raised when
Claire was here has now fallen. At its bottom, Chris
appropriates a shotgun and walks through a storage room,
right by the cylinder that Alfred released the Tyrant from.
Chris finds one of the chemicals he needs to dissolve
Duploid in a chemical locker. In a pile of wrecked transport
crates on the facility's cargo elevator, he also finds a
doorknob, which he can use to open a door on the second
floor. He kneels to pick it up, and a beam of red light
shines on his back. Chris looks up in surprise, to see a
small hovercraft, equipped with a spotlight. An alarm klaxon
sounds.
In response to the alarm, a pair of Hunters leap down on
Chris from the top of the elevator shaft. Chris runs, barely
making it to the door before they're on him.
The hovercrafts are suddenly everywhere in the base. If they
detect Chris, an alarm sounds, and a Hunter arrives almost
immediately. Chris carefully avoids the hovercrafts' motion
detectors, as well as a new infestation of zombies. These
zombies are dressed in black military gear and wearing
night-vision goggles; obviously, the people who invaded the
facility, whoever they are, are having their own problems.
On the second floor, Chris finds a small model of a tank.
Earlier, Chris has seen the diorama of the facility, so he
heads back there.
The tank model fits into an empty space on the diorama. A
secret panel hisses open behind Chris, revealing a lever
guarded by laser beams, a trio of keyholes, a book, and a
key to the cargo elevator. The book is one of Alfred's
diaries, where he has written about his plans to build a new
bridge from the facility to his mansion, using the labor of
his prisoners. The entrance he uses now, which takes him to
his mansion via the facility's underground waterway, is
apparently sealed by the "diorama trick".
On his way back to the cargo elevator, Chris is walking
through the storage room when he hears chuckling behind him.
He turns to find the man in black... Albert Wesker. Somehow,
despite seeming to die at the mansion near Raccoon, Wesker
is still alive. Chris realizes that it must've been Wesker
who attacked the facility, which means Wesker attacked his
sister.
Chris raises his gun to shoot Wesker. Suddenly, Wesker is a
blur. He covers the space between him and Chris in a
fraction of a second and knocks Chris across the room. With
superhuman speed and strength, Wesker races over to where
Chris landed and picks him up by the throat. As Chris
struggles to breathe, Wesker tells him that since Chris
spoiled his plans, Wesker has been forced to "sell his soul
to a new employer". Furthermore, Wesker's figured out that
Claire isn't on the island any more; she's with Alexia, in
the Antarctic. Wesker slowly begins to strangle Chris. Chris
punches Wesker in the face, knocking off his sunglasses.
This reveals Wesker's eyes, which are yellow, and slitted
like a cat's.
A screen by the storage cylinders lights up, showing Alexia
Ashford. She laughs, and the screen goes blank. Wesker,
surprised, throws Chris across the room, fracturing one of
the cylinders, and disappears. Chris catches his breath, but
is immediately attacked by a rubber man from inside the
broken cylinder. Chris dispatches it with his shotgun.
Chris takes the cargo elevator up to the first floor of the
facility. The side of the elevator shaft has been breached,
which leads to the partially collapsed front hall. Scattered
fires are still burning fitfully. Chris navigates through
what's left of the first floor and finds the controls to the
ventilation system. He turns it back on, clearing the toxic
gas from the basement. In the basement, by someone's work
desk, Chris finds the other chemical he needs. Mixing them
together, he creates a compound that'll dissolve Duploid.
The front door of the facility is unlocked and undamaged.
Chris walks outside, and while the door to the palace has
been blocked by rubble, the airport elevator still works.
Chris rides it down.
The airport is just about untouched, although it's now
populated by Hunters and a few zombies. Chris fights his way
to the bridge controls and lowers the bridge that Claire
raised. On the airport's control platform, Chris finds the
three keys that Claire used to open the cargo plane; they'll
also fit in the keyholes by Alfred's diorama.
When Chris uses the three keys, the diorama slides back into
the wall to reveal an escape hatch in the floor. The tunnel
to Alfred's mansion has partially collapsed, making access
to the mansion impossible, but the Ashfords' family crest is
lying in a pool of water. It's guarded by an enormous
creature, which as Chris watches, generates a series of
powerful electrical shocks; the baby Albanoid that Claire
saw earlier has reached adulthood. Chris jumps into the
water, grabs the crest, and scrambles back out before the
creature can electrocute him.
The crest dissolves when Chris uses the chemical mixture on
it, leaving him with a golden halberd. Finally, Chris can
see what's at the end of Alfred's secret passage. The "key"
lets him into Alfred's private hangar. One of Alfred's
private Harrier jets is brought to Chris by automated
machinery. Chris smiles and climbs in.
Chris flies to Antarctica, and lands in an underground
hangar by Umbrella's base. He takes the elevator up to the
base's balcony. Claire and Steve's plane is still sticking
out of the wall, but to Chris's surprise, a pair of
tentacles are lying across the balcony, preventing him from
going further. After he shoots them a few times, the
tentacles withdraw in a spray of green blood.
Most of the base's second floor has frozen into a solid
block of ice. Alfred's office is still untouched. Inside,
Chris uses the halberd key to open a locked bookcase that
Claire couldn't open. Inside, he finds an old diary of
Alfred Ashford's and an oddly labelled paperweight. Alfred
has written about, among other things, the "secret" of his
and Alexia's birth, an experiment that turned his father
Alexander into a monster, and Alexia's decision to
experiment on her own body. Alexia Ashford, after faking her
own death, has been in cryogenic storage for the last
fifteen years. Alfred also writes that there's a secret
passage in the base, and he needs the three jewels each
member of the Ashford family wears to open it. Chris makes a
note of this before he leaves.
Earlier, when Claire was here, part of the walkway above the
sorter had collapsed, keeping her from going through the
doors on the other side of the room. Now, Chris can just
jump off of the walkway and run across the ice to the other
half of the catwalk. A crane hook is submerged in the ice,
but Chris needs a key to work the hook's controls. He leaves
through the nearest door, but as he does, he doesn't see a
massive shape move beneath the ice.
In a hallway, Chris finds two more of Wesker's hovercraft
waiting for him. Apparently, Wesker has come to Antarctica
as well. He adroitly dodges the hovercrafts' searchlights
and ducks into a nearby elevator. On the next floor down, he
finds a switchboard and turns the base's power back on,
reactivating a series of elevators.
The fifth floor of the base has a strange room that's
familiar to Chris; it's a near-exact replica of one in the
mansion outside Raccoon where he first fought Umbrella's
creations. A hall leading out of it, lined with biohazard
suits, has a statue of a tiger near it that resembles one in
that other mansion's basement.
Chris steps out of the elevator onto the base's sixth floor,
and stops. An enormous anthill has been built here, towering
dozens of feet above the ground and surrounded by a new
species of mutated ant. Chris forges through the ants,
crushing dozens, to the laboratories on either side of the
anthill.
One lab is dusty and little-used. Chris lights an alcohol
lamp to read by, and finds Alexia Ashford's research notes.
The girl somehow fused the remnants of a virus from the body
of a queen ant with the T-Virus, creating a new virus that
she refers to as "T-Veronica", after her ancestor. This
virus is what she used to turn her father into a monster,
and what she apparently used in her experiment on herself.
The other lab is high-tech and has been recently used. A
trail of old blood leads straight to it. The inside of the
room is lined with supercomputers, each one hooked up to a
strange mechanism at the far corner of the room. Chris
activates it by solving another of Alfred's puzzles, and a
cryogenic tube shoots up behind Chris. Alfred's corpse falls
out of the tube. Chris takes a ring from his finger,
realizing it's one of the three keys to Alexander's secret
passageway.
Back on the second floor, Chris finds the key to the crane
in an aquarium, of all places. He starts up the crane. It
breaks through the ice. Alexander Ashford's dead body is
impaled on the crane's hook. Chris recoils in shock and
disgust, and realizes Alexia Ashford is standing on the
other side of the room. She laughs at him, and asks him how
he wants to die.
A spider, bigger than any Chris has yet seen, bursts forth
from the ice. Chris throws himself out of the crane's
control room as the spider crushes it. Alexia has
disappeared. Fortunately, while her spider is huge, it isn't
smart or fast, and Chris can run circles around it. Before
he leaves, Chris finds an earring on the ice near
Alexander's body and pockets it.
There's still one place Chris hasn't gone. He heads to the
fifth floor, and as he walks down the hall, he hears...
calliope music. A merry-go-round, sized for children and
with two horses, is spinning in the middle of a carefully
built playground.
The room next to the playground is a rude shock. Alexander's
sanctuary looks very much like the front hall of the mansion
outside Raccoon. At the top of the stairs, Chris finds a
painting of the Ashfords, with hollows at Alexander's ear,
Alfred's finger, and Alexia's throat. The jewels from
Alfred's ring and Alexander's earring fit perfectly, but
that leaves the problem of how to get Alexia's jewel away
from her.
Behind the staircase, Chris finally finds Claire,
unconscious inside a coccoon. He cuts the coccoon off of
her, and waits until she wakes up. She hugs him, and tells
him that she can't leave until they find Steve. She explains
that she and Steve escaped from the island together, and
were separated. She's sure he's somewhere in the base.
>From the balcony, Alexia laughs at Claire and Chris. Holding
Alfred's rifle, she promises to destroy the "genetically
inferior siblings" before disappearing through a nearby
door. Chris and Claire give chase, Claire in the lead. As
Chris ascends the stairs, a tentacle bursts through the wall
and crushes them beneath his feet. Chris falls to the floor,
and both he and Claire are both knocked unconscious. The
tentacle, which looks like a snake, complete with a mouth,
descends to the floor and examines Chris before disappearing
back through the hole in the wall.
Claire is the first to wake up. She leans over the edge of
the destroyed balcony to look at Chris, who is awake and
clutching at an injured leg. From behind the door Alexia
went through, she can hear Steve scream. Chris tells her to
save him, and that he'll be fine. With a final look at
Chris, Claire runs.
Two more tentacles try to ambush Claire as she runs after
Alexia, but she cuts them down with bursts of rifle fire.
She emerges into a cellblock, with Alexia nowhere in sight.
One of the cells has been renovated into storage for antique
weapons, and underneath a cannon, Claire finds a blue
binder. A note inside, written by Alexander, tells the
reader how to arm the base's self-destruct system. The
password, of course, is "Veronica". Inside the cannon is a
keycard, suspended in a glass sphere. Claire shatters the
glass and takes the keycard.
The closest place where Alexia could've gone is an empty
room with a lowered gate. Claire opens the gate with the
keycard, but as she does so, the door to the cellblock
audibly locks. Beyond the gate is a hallway lined with suits
of armor. At its end is the room that once imprisoned
Alexander Ashford. It now imprisons Steve Burnside.
Claire hits a switch on the wall, and Steve's shackles open.
The battle axe across his chest refuses to budge, even with
both of them pushing it. Steve tells Claire that the crazy
woman, Alexia, said she was going to perform the same
experiment on him that she did on her father.
Suddenly, Steve's voice distorts. He clutches at his chest,
and screams for Claire to help him. Blood bursts from his
neck, cutting him off. He rumbles, deep and guttural, and
Claire backs away from him in horror. Steve's body begins to
expand and change, growing bone spurs and vicious claws. His
skin turns green and scaly, and he easily triples in size.
His head, grotesquely, is nearly unchanged. With no effort
whatsoever, he wrenches the battle axe from the wall and
stands up. Steve, or the creature that Steve has become,
roars, and swings the axe at Claire... and at the same time,
the gate at the end of the hall begins to lower.
Claire's weapons don't hurt Steve in the slightest. She
turns and runs, barely staying alive as Steve gives chase.
Claire rolls underneath the gate as it closes, but she can
already tell that it won't hold against Steve, and the door
to the cellblock is locked. He begins to hack at it with the
axe. The gate bends and buckles.
A tentacle bursts through the wall next to Claire. With
impossible speed, it wraps around her and pulls her into the
air. Claire struggles helplessly, but the tentacle won't
budge.
Steve finally destroys the gate. He steps through the
wreckage and pulls his axe back. He swings it at Claire's
head... and stops. In a deep, guttural voice, he says
Claire's name. With a furious roar, he swings the axe again
at the tentacle holding Claire, severing it. Claire falls to
the floor.
The tentacle thrashes, like a thing in pain. It lashes out
with its bloody stump. Steve is hit with bonecrushing force.
As the tentacle withdraws, Steve slowly becomes human once
more. Claire runs over to him, to find that he's been
mortally wounded. Claire begs him to hold on, and tells him
that her brother's come to save them. Steve says that he
can't keep the promise he made earlier, to escape with her.
He tells Claire that he's glad to have met her, and that he
loves her. Steve dies. Claire, cradling his body, bursts
into tears.
Back in the ruins of the mansion's front hall, Chris is
hiding amidst the rubble. Alexia stands regally at the top
of the staircase, while Wesker is at the bottom. Wesker, who
still isn't wearing his sunglasses, says that he has been
sent to obtain the T-Veronica virus, the only sample of
which is now inside Alexia's body. He demands that Alexia
come with him.
Alexia says that Wesker isn't worthy of the virus's power.
She descends the stairs towards him, and suddenly bursts
into flames. Her clothing burns away. In the middle of the
fire, Alexia changes. Her skin turns slate-gray, and parts
begin to look like the chitinous exoskeleton of an insect.
At the top of the stairs, she was human; when she reaches
Wesker, she is anything but. Wesker stares wide-eyed at her,
right up until she carelessly backhands him.
Wesker, despite his own superhuman strength, goes tumbling
backwards. He shakily hauls himself to his feet. Alexia
gently hops off of the stairs, across the twenty feet that
now separate her from Wesker, and hits him again. Wesker
goes tumbling into the corner of the room. Alexia turns to
smile at Chris, as if she's known where he was all along.
Seeing that Alexia's distracted, Wesker runs for the
mansion's front door. Alexia gestures, and suddenly, a wall
of flame springs up in front of the door. She's not fast
enough to stop him. Chris makes his own move as she attacks
Wesker, dashing towards and up the main stairs. Alexia makes
another gesture, and Chris is nearly incinerated by another
wall of fire. He tumbles down the stairs, and Alexia steps
in front of him.
Chris runs from Alexia, whose every casual gesture sprays
some kind of ichor or blood across the floor. Where it
lands, it burns, creating a short-lived burst of fire. She
pursues Chris relentlessly, but slowly, right up until Chris
pulls out his Magnum and shoots her. Alexia Ashford falls to
the floor and lies still. Chris grabs her choker from the
ashes of her clothing and removes the jewel, using it to
open Alexander Ashford's secret passage at the top of the
stairs. As the door shuts behind him, Alexia climbs
laboriously to her feet.
Alfred has remodeled Alexander's hideaway into a set of
bedrooms, more suited for a child, or a set of twins, than
an adult. Chris finds little of interest in them besides
another pair of locked music boxes with jewels missing from
the lids. Chris inserts two jewels he has found, and a
secret passage opens, just as it did for Claire in the
prison's mansion. Above the bedrooms, Chris finds an
abandoned dining room, lined with portraits of the Ashfords.
An ant farm is on the table, in which sits a golden
dragonfly. Chris pockets it. Although he has no way of
knowing it, he's standing in the room where, long ago,
Alfred and Alexia killed a dragonfly, while someone made a
movie of the event.
Fighting his way through a fresh swarm of zombies, Chris
finds an abandoned lab where Alexander Ashford must once
have pursued his research. A journal on the countertop tells
the secret that made Alfred and Alexia destroy their father;
they were never his real children. They were the result of
Alexander's experiments in genetically determining
intelligence. If the twins are Ashfords at all, it's because
Alexander used a genetic sample from Veronica Ashford when
he began the experiment.
Alexander's lab has a back door which leads to the cellblock
Claire visited earlier. Chris hears Claire sobbing on the
other side of a locked door, and tries to open it. The door
is electronically locked, and Chris can't break it down.
Claire tells Chris that Steve is dead, and pushes a binder
under the door with a keycard in it. She's read in the
binder that, once the self-destruct system to the base is
engaged, all the locks in the base automatically disengage.
Once she's free, the emergency elevator to the base's hangar
is in the cellblock; they can easily get out of the base
before it explodes.
The control room is locked, but the golden dragonfly serves
as a key. Discordantly, the floor leading up to the control
room is made of mesh, and if Chris looks down, he can see
the top of Alexia's anthill. Chris uses the keycard to gain
access to the control room's computers and inputs the
password: the final code Veronica. The base's nuclear
reactors all decouple and prepare for detonation, and the
automatic locks are all released. A five-minute countdown
begins.
Outside the control room, Claire runs up to Chris and hugs
him. Before they can get to the emergency elevator, a
tentacle bursts through the floor. Its mouth opens wide, and
it regurgitates the naked body of Alexia Ashford. The
tentacle begins to lose cohesion, flowing onto Alexia's body
and hardening into armor.
Claire asks what they're going to do now. Chris notices an
emergency locker containing an anti-BOW weapon. He and
Claire open the locker. The weapon, called a linear
launcher, begins to charge up.
Alexia turns to smile at the Redfields, and if anything, she
looks less human than she did before. Chris tells Claire to
get to the elevator while he keeps her busy. Claire tells
Chris not to die on her, and breaks into a run. Alexia
throws a wall of fire in front of the stairs, and advances
towards Claire. Before Alexia can kill Claire, Chris shoots
her in the chest. Alexia crumples, her fires die, and Claire
runs down the stairs.
Alexia begins to undergo a terrible transformation. Her
features shift like wax as her body expands like Steve's.
Chris looks up to see Claire, watching Alexia change from
the glass wall of the emergency elevator. Chris smiles
reassuringly at Claire before the elevator descends, taking
her out of sight. Chris is alone.
The latest form of Alexia Ashford is a sickeningly pregnant
blend between an ant and a woman. As she finishes her
transformation, her face, the only part of her that's still
recognizably human, contemptously smiles at Chris. She
attacks him with small "soldier ants" and her ubiquitous
tentacles, both of which spring forth from her bloated
torso. Chris replies with Claire's grenade launcher,
bombarding Alexia with explosive rounds. Alexia screams in
pain as Chris's assault destroys her lower body.
Suddenly, swarms of winged mutant ants burst forth from the
anthill beneath Chris's feet, covering Alexia's body. As her
lower body dissolves into nothing, Alexia's upper body
undergoes another transformation. Her arms become delicate
wings, like the ants in her hill. As Alexia takes flight,
the linear launcher finishes charging.
====================================================
6iii. The Conclusion of RESIDENT EVIL: CODE VERONICA
====================================================
Chris grabs the linear launcher from its housing and blasts
Alexia out of the air. "Linear launcher" is apparently
Umbrella-speak for "plasma rifle". Alexia screams and
explodes into a thousand pieces, showering Chris and the
platform with gore. Chris drops the launcher and heads for
the emergency elevator. The base begins to rock with small
explosions, leading up to the last big one that will destroy
it. Chris hits the button, and the elevator car slowly
begins to rise.
Underneath the platform where Alexia died, her anthill
crumbles. The mutated ants that tended it burst into flame
one by one. None outlive their queen by more than a few
seconds. The resulting firestorm explodes up through the
floor outside the control room to fill every corridor in the
base.
Finally, the elevator car arrives. Chris jumps into it. The
elevator's doors close on a floor that's now consumed in
fire. As Chris's elevator descends to the base's hangar,
flame chases it down the elevator shaft.
Claire is waiting for Chris in the jet he stole from the
prison. The elevator opens. Chris gets one step out of it
before the car explodes, propelling him off of the balcony
and to an undignified landing on the nosecone of the jet.
Chris says, with a smile, that she knows that he always
keeps his promises.
The jet rises out of the base's hangar in a cloud of flame.
Claire puts her hand on Chris's shoulder, asking him to
never leave her alone again. Chris replies that he's sorry,
but they have a job to do. It's payback time. They've got to
destroy Umbrella once and for all.
As Chris and Claire fly away, Umbrella's Antarctic base, and
the Ashford family's legacy, are obliterated in a tremendous
explosion.
======================================
6v. Conclusions About the Conclusion
======================================
1. Claire and Chris Redfield have both survived; as usual,
it was through the creative employ of self-destruct
mechanisms.
2. Albert Wesker has also survived. (According to the hidden
Diary of D.I.J. file, he escaped Antarctica via submarine.)
3. Steve Burnside did *not* survive. I have rarely seen a
character who survived less than Steve. Neither did Rodrigo
Raval, unfortunately; I was rooting for him.
4. Alexander, Alexia, and Alfred Ashford are dead. Unless a
distant relative shows up in a future game, the "proud
Ashford family" has died out.
5. Alexia Ashford's T-Veronica virus has been destroyed,
along with all the notes and equipment that led to and aided
its creation.
6. Albert Wesker has a new employer. That employer is
apparently a competitor of Umbrella's in the field of
biological research and warfare, and is not above ordering
covert military raids on Umbrella's facilities.
7. Umbrella is not the only company that possesses the
T-Virus. As a matter of fact, they have vicious competition
in that particular field. If Chris and company *do* destroy
Umbrella, their problems may just be beginning.
8. Edward Ashford and "Lord" Ozwell Spencer founded Umbrella.
We don't know exactly how old this makes Umbrella, but it places
its founding within the twentieth century, as Edward was Alexia
and Alfred's grandfather.
9. Ashford and Spencer also discovered the T-Virus. The T-Virus
has actually been around slightly longer than Umbrella itself
has.
10. Umbrella is still making Tyrants, and seems to have
ironed most of the kinks out of them.
11. Umbrella is far more powerful than we were led to
believe. We knew it virtually owned Raccoon, and that it was
a nationwide corporation, but apparently, it's also powerful
enough to maintain a standing private militia armed with
military-level hardware on foreign soil. If you need me, I'll
be over here counting how many laws that breaks. It could take
a while.
==============================
vi. The Ashford Family Diaries
==============================
The Ashford family is intricately linked with the history of
Umbrella, and, in turn, with the history of the Resident
Evil series. CV delves into the history of both, but it does
so sort of haphazardly; the files that tell the story are
scattered throughout the game, and at least one of them is
"hidden in plain sight", as it were; it's very easy to miss.
Therefore, in this section, I've assembled the known facts
about the Ashford family, and assembled them in
chronological order.
The Ashford family was founded by Veronica Ashford, about
five generations ago or so. They're constantly referred to
as "glorious" throughout the game, but we're never told
exactly why that is. (Maybe it's the power of positive
thinking. They said assertively that they were glorious for
six generations, and suddenly -- bam! -- glory.)
A nobleman named Lord Spencer and Edward Ashford, Alfred and
Alexia's grandfather, discovered the "mother virus", which
eventually derived the T-Virus from it. They studied the
T-Virus's military applications, and founded "Umbrella"
Chemical to serve as a "cover" for their research. By the
time RE begins, it's an enormously successful international
corporation, dealing in the sale of various pharmaceuticals.
(We see in RE3 that Umbrella sells, among other things,
painkillers, cold relievers, and whatever the hell Aquacure
was supposed to be. When a product has a tagline like "Escape
to Ecstasy", I'm not sure I want to know what it does.)
Edward had a son, Alexander, who got a degree in biogenetics
and assisted his father with his research. At some point, in
an unspecified accident, Edward died and Alexander was directly
to blame for it. Spencer, or his descendants, rapidly gained more
more power within the company, and Umbrella lost ground to its
competitors in the field of T-Virus research. The next (and last)
generation of Ashfords, and Alexander himself, trace the Ashfords'
fall from grace directly to the accident that killed Edward, and to
Alexander.
(In RE2's Mother Virus Report EX File, which is available in a
FAQ I wrote elsewhere on this site, it's noteworthy that Edward
Ashford's name isn't even mentioned. We have no idea what
Alexander did, but we can guess that it must have been a mistake
the likes of which you and I will hopefully never see.)
In an attempt to gain back some respect, Alexander commissioned
the construction of a research facility in the Antarctic,
making it out of a transport terminal. Inside the facility,
he had a series of rooms built, patterned after the mansion
built by "the late Trevor", presumably another Ashford,
where Alexander could cherish his memories in peace. Trevor
Ashford's mansion was where RE took place. Finally, inside
this replicated mansion, Alexander constructed a private lab
that only he had access to. He codenamed this project
"Veronica", after the legendary founder of the Ashford
family.
Later, Alexander isolated the gene that controlled
intelligence within the human genome, and developed a way to
deliberately manipulate it. To test it, he impregnated a
surrogate mother with an embryo that he created, using a
sample of the genes of Veronica Ashford. To his surprise,
the woman gave birth to fraternal twins, who he named Alfred
and Alexia and raised in his Antarctic hideaway. Alfred was
a smart kid, but Alexia was a complete genius; Alexander
regarded her as the literal reincarnation of Veronica. After
she graduated from college at the age of ten, Alexia soon
had a job as a head researcher for Umbrella Incorporated.
Early in their lives, the twins became fascinated by ants.
The events depicted in the movie in Alfred's war museum seem
to have permanently left their mark on him, as the
motif of dragonflies and ants is repeated endlessly inside
his private chambers. Alexia was fascinated by the society
of the ants, and how they were hopelessly dependent upon
their queen to survive.
(Lemme English-major at you for a second here. I don't believe
for a second that this is intentional on Capcom's part, but it's
interesting to note how the dragonfly-ant theme plays out over
the course of the game. Claire uses a key shaped like a dragonfly
to unlock the hatchway to Alfred's study, but she has to pluck
off the wings first, and insert it into an ant's mouth. Later on,
Chris has to put the wings back on a dragonfly to open a room
where he sets into motion the events that will destroy Alexia, who
has since become a kind of super-ant. Chris also finds that dragonfly
in the same ant farm where Alfred placed the living dragonfly, as
shown in the movie in his museum. In short, Chris winds up symbolically
undoing Alfred's torture of the dragonfly, by putting a dragonfly
back together and "devouring" one of its torturers, an ant, with
an explosion.)
(...I just scared myself half to death.)
(Moving on, quickly...)
Alexia conducted private experiments on ants, assisted by
Alfred, who she refers to in her private diaries as a
"loyal but inept soldier ant". (Alfred, as an adult, seems
to have taken that comment to heart; he dresses like a toy
soldier, is obviously fascinated by war, and the man can't
shoot straight. He has a laser sight and a starlight scope and
he *still* misses everything he shoots at.) Inside the body of
a queen ant, perhaps the same queen ant that Chris finds dead
in the Antarctic base, she found traces of an ancient virus.
Mixing this with the T-Virus her "grandfather" discovered,
she created what she named the T-Veronica virus.
The twins grew to hate their "father". Alfred eventually
figured out how to get into Alexander's private lab, where
he learned the truth about his and Alexia's birth. Soon
afterward, Alexia deliberately infected Alexander with the
T-Veronica virus as an experiment, transforming him into the
creature that would become known as "Nosferatu". The twins
somehow managed to imprison Alexander, who had become a
homicidal mutant, underneath the base in the Antarctic. As
far as anyone else was concerned, Alexander Ashford simply
disappeared. (It's also worth mentioning that, at this
point, Alexia and Alfred were probably only twelve or
thirteen, and, as such, were above suspicion. When you're
as big a screwup as Alexander is and you're the son of the
co-founder of an incredibly successful corporation, people
who'd want to make you disappear are probably lined up around
the block.)
Alexia continued her research, and decided to conduct
further experiments on herself. She theorized that cryogenic
storage would slow down the infection, allowing an infected
organism to peacefully coexist with the virus, although it
would take at least fifteen years to do so. Over Alfred's
objections, she infected and froze herself in a secret lab
underneath Antarctica. Either Alfred or Alexia came up with
a cover story for this, saying that Alexia had died in an
unspecified "accident". (Of course, she would eventually
reappear, but she'd be rich, an adult, and theoretically
omnipotent. It didn't have to be a *good* cover story.)
Alfred was forced to assume Alexander's responsibilities at
a young age, and the problem was compounded by his sister's
"death". Because of the decline of the Ashfords (read:
Alexander's legacy), Umbrella gave him a relatively meaningless
position as the commander of an isolated prison in South America.
Alfred became obsessed with regaining the Ashfords' former glory.
Speaking of obsession, Alfred became insane in a number of
other ways. The most obvious is, of course, how he coped
with Alexia's "death"; unable to live without her, he simply
constructed a delusion inside his own mind where Alexia was
still around. The extent to which he went to maintain that
delusion is one of the more frightening things in CV. Even
if you ignore how he pretended to be Alexia, and consciously
forgot that he was doing it, it looks like he consulted her
on the decoration of the island mansion (would a
ten-year-old girl genius and professional biochemist *ever*
be that obsessed with dolls?).
The rest of the story, naturally, is part of the game.
=====================================
6vi. Random Musings on CODE: VERONICA
=====================================
1. If CV begins exactly three months after RE2, then Claire
is let out of prison on the night of December 30th. Chris
and Claire escape Antarctica on New Year's Eve, 1998.
2. As was pointed out on the Evil-Online message boards,
Claire looks *very* different than she did in RE2, and it's
not just the better graphics. She looks a lot thinner, and
she's become a lot tougher. Moreso than any other character,
I'd really like to know what happened to her between RE2 and
RE:CV.
3. It's an interesting touch, characterwise, that Chris
still wears gear with RPD and STARS insignias on it.
4. People were excited that CV would return to RE's
tradition of lousy voice actors, and they weren't
disappointed. Claire, Chris, and Wesker get off all right,
and Rodrigo's voice actor is actually very good, but the
rest...
5. Alfred Ashford could change clothes faster than any man
alive. Somehow, he managed to change from an evening gown
and long gloves into his preppy-soldier outfit in about
twenty seconds while he had a bullet in his arm.
6. Steve is annoying at first, but he does have his moments.
It's interesting to watch his character develop; at first,
he balances his anger at his father with his need to show
off for Claire, who's the only pretty girl around. After he
kills his father, he becomes so attached to Claire that he
becomes incredibly protective of her. Claire, of course, is
totally oblivious. Some thought went into the dynamic
between Steve and Claire, and it's a shame that a lot of it
was shot down by Steve's mediocre voice actor. (In his
defense, though, Steve's voice acting gets better the
further you get into the game.)
7. Is it just me, or does the prison's crematorium look like
it could've been taken straight from Silent Hill? For that
matter, do you think Alexia and Parasite Eve's Melissa
Pearce know each other?
8. The Resident Evil tradition of characters being far too
young to have the skills they're supposed to possess
continues. Chris is ex-Air Force *and* an ex-cop at 25, Jill
is supposed to be ex-Delta Force at 23, Claire is familiar
with most small arms at 19 (which, admittedly, is sort of
plausible for an American who hangs out with cops), Steve is
a crack pilot, deadly gunman, and truck driver at 17...
9. If I could get a biker jacket with the same design on the
back as Claire's vest, it'd be very cool. (You finally get
to see what it says across her shoulders just before the
last fight with Alexia: "Let Me Live".)
10. Claire apparently spent some of the time between RE2 and
RE:CV learning how to dodge bullets.
11. CV is the only Resident Evil game so far that hasn't
taken place at night and ended at sunrise. It's full morning
when Chris arrives in the Antarctic, and it looks like high
noon when he flies out with Claire.
=======================
7. Unanswered Questions
=======================
This section is a list of the storyline questions that still
remain for each of the last three Resident Evil games, when
all has been said and done. This deliberately does not
include small plot holes; this is only for plotline elements
that Capcom has deliberately left unsolved, or for plot
holes that could easily *be* plotline elements.
Note that there's no entry here for RE. RE didn't really
leave anything unsolved, aside from the issue of which
scenario is the "official" one. That's dealt with in
Frequently Asked Questions, below.
===================
7i. RESIDENT EVIL 2
===================
1. How did Ada survive? (This is explored further in Dan
Birlew's essay, "The Resurrection of Ada Wong", below.)
2. What escaped from the holding tank in the double-locked
room in the Umbrella lab? (Don't e-mail me to tell me what
it was, because no one really knows.)
=============================
7ii. RESIDENT EVIL 3: NEMESIS
=============================
1. Why did the U.S. government attack Umbrella's factory on
October 1st?
2. Why did the President order a nuclear strike on Raccoon
City, and why did Congress support that decision? If it
wasn't Umbrella's idea, then whose idea was it?
3. How did the Nemesis keep finding Jill?
4. If there was a military blockade in place around Raccoon
City, how did both Claire and Leon manage to drive right
into town? (It's entirely possible that the quarantine was
lifted on the 29th due to the imminent nuclear strike, but
even then, there should have been police, military, and
press stacked three deep in every direction around Raccoon.)
5. What was the offer made to Leon?
==================================
7iii. RESIDENT EVIL: CODE VERONICA
==================================
1. How did Wesker survive the "mansion incident"?
2. Who are Wesker's new employers, and exactly what are they
up to?
3. How (and when) did Wesker become so powerful? What was
done to him?
4. If Alexia Ashford destroyed all her notes on the
T-Veronica virus prior to going into cold-sleep, how did
Wesker's employers find out about it?
5. Where did Alfred get the idea that if he killed Claire,
it'd restore the glory of the Ashford family? Does Umbrella
really consider Claire that much of a threat? (I'd
understand it if Alfred was after Chris, because Chris is
apparently Umbrella Enemy #1, but Claire?)
6. What was Alexia capable of? She was pyrokinetic, she
controlled all those enormous tentacles that came seemingly
out of nowhere, she apparently managed to spawn and/or
control a legion of mutant ants, she changed shape every so
often, she was stronger and faster than Wesker, and she was
still fairly intelligent and logical. More to the point, she
apparently brings *herself* out of cold storage, she
activates the computers in her storage room without touching
them, and when she sends the tentacle to smack the crap out
of Claire and Steve, she has no way of knowing that they're
responsible for what happened...
8. What has Chris been doing for the last three months? For
that matter, what has *everyone* been doing for the last
three months, besides sitting around being prequel bait?
9. What the hell is the "mother virus"?
=========================================
7iv. The Resurrection of Ada Wong
by Dan Birlew, with notes by Thomas Wilde
=========================================
In Resident Evil 2, Ada appears at the end of the Leon B
game to aid him in his fight against the evil Tyrant.
Although she stands in the shadows, Sherry's pendant is
illuminated hanging around her neck. Quite presumably, she
still has the G-Virus sample.
How did she survive her 'death'? There has been much debate
between fans over the Internet regarding this touchy
subject. Some have pointed out that if the player accesses
her item menu while playing as Ada, she has a First-Aid
Spray, which instantly and completely restores health. The
suggestion is that perhaps Ada was only unconscious
following her battle with Mr. X, and revived briefly enough
to administer the spray. But if the player uses the spray to
recover health while controlling Ada, she still returns
after her 'death', proving this theory inconclusive.
Some speculation indicates that maybe Ada is one of many
clones developed by Umbrella. Backing up this theory is her
unexplained appearances and disappearances throughout the
game. Perhaps Ada is running off to join her "sisters", so
that they might combine what they have all learned in their
separate searches. This would explain how she appears during
the Mr. X power room encounter, standing and ready to fight
even though she was previously badly wounded. This would
also explain how she appears again during the final battle
on the train platform. But this theory is highly subjective,
and more concrete proof within the plot is needed. There is
no mention of Umbrella conducting cloning experiments in
either game, but that doesn't mean it won't be brought up in
future episodes.
Notice that Annette explains to Ada in their encounter how
her husband William used the G-Virus to revitalize himself.
The dramatic cinema cut-scene shows that he gave himself a
full injection. If Ada woke from unconsciousness in the
power room and took a smaller dose of the G-Virus, it would
revive her. She does not appear during the final battle
fully lit, because we would glimpse the first stages of her
genetic mutation. After Leon defeats the Tyrant, Ada does
not rejoin him. Surely she wouldn't want the handsome young
rookie to see her rapidly transforming.
[Note: in Ada's Epilogue file in RE3, the art depicts her
looking much the same as she does in RE2, except for a nasty
scar across her back where William clawed her. If she *did*
use the G-Virus to survive, she managed to escape the
virus's mutagenic effect.]
In the Leon A game, after Ada falls from the catwalk, Leon
tosses the G-virus into the same chasm. This allows the
G-Virus to land in the same place as Ada. This would
certainly allow the dying woman to reach over and swallow a
bit. Ada taking the G-Virus to revive herself proves
conclusive in either case.
Also listed as a theory is that perhaps Ada is a different
kind of creature created by Umbrella, an impervious
shape-shifter similar to the T-1000 in James Cameron's
Terminator 2: Judgement Day. Although unsupported by the
story, this theory would explain how Ada is able to take
much more punishment than Claire or Leon. When playing as
her, note that she can sustain several zombie bites or
spider acid attacks before actually showing damage. She can
slip through a T-virus swarm of cockroaches without a
scratch. This theory would explain how she appears in the
infested precinct house unscathed, and how she recovered
from a fatal wound to save Leon's neck. When Mr. X smashes
Ada into the steel control panel, the control panel comes
out a lot worse than she does. Ada would seem to be tougher
than steel...
[Note: The appearance of the augmented Wesker in RE:CV would
seem to add another theory to the mix. If Wesker has been
made superhuman, the reasoning goes, Ada could have been as
well.]
Whatever mysterious force may have provided for the return
of Ada Wong, her survival definitely allows the game
planners to return her to the Resident Evil series in the
future.
=============================
8. Frequently Asked Questions
=============================
Before you fire off an e-mail, asking me questions that
might wind up in this section, I have two very simple points
to make:
One: The Resident Evil series is, when you take all the trimmings
off of it, a series of B-movies.
B-movies don't have to make much sense, don't sweat the
small details, and frequently have an interesting selection
of plot holes. Resident Evil has all of those
characteristics, and oh-so-much more. Therefore, it'll be
easier on all of us if those of you who are fairly obsessed
with RE keep that in mind. I don't want to hear anything
about the various conspiracy theories that fans of the game
seem to have come up with out of whole cloth to explain away
what they perceive as errors.
Two: I am a smartass.
I am an *incredible* smartass.
Now, on with the questions. I've taken these from
debates on the Evil-Online message boards, as well as from
e-mail I've received regarding my FAQ on the Resident Evil 2
EX files.
======
Q. Why'd you write this?
A. I'm an English major, an old-time horror buff, a video game
addict, and a freelance writer. Resident Evil's plotline fascinates
me, because it appeals to three of those character flaws. This document
is my attempt to solidify, consolidate, and clarify that plotline (as
well as an attempt to bring that fourth character flaw in out of
the cold) so it's easier for everyone to understand. Hopefully, I
didn't ramble on too much about esoteric character stuff that only
I care about.
Just be grateful I didn't go off in here about the literary
Gothic and its obvious influence on Code Veronica. The moment I saw
that mansion full of dolls...
Q. Why does Claire have a *combat* knife when she enters
Raccoon City? Why is Jill making her "last escape" in a tube
top and miniskirt? Where did Leon get his RPD uniform if it
was his first day on the job? Why don't Claire and Leon use
the fax machine in the STARS office to send for help? How
come Claire and Steve don't freeze to death in Antarctica?
Why why why why why why why why why why why...?!
A. Stop. Breathe. Okay. You're putting too much thought into
this. They're video games. Don't you have homework to do or
something?
Q. Why is it that the main characters in RE games never have
to worry about getting infected with the T-Virus?
A. Because the game wouldn't be any fun if you turned into a
zombie halfway through it. If I had to give a good logical
reason that fit with the storyline, I'd say that unless you
get a really good dose of T-Virus straight from the test
tube, you won't become a zombie until after you die in some
other way. As an example, see Marvin Branagh in RE2.
Q. Why don't any RE games ever take place in daylight?
A. The first half of RE3 *does* take place in daylight. It
just doesn't look like it because half the damn city's on
fire.
Q. What happened to Rebecca Chambers after RE?
A. Yeah, Becky just sorta dropped off the face of the Earth,
didn't she? I'm guessing we'll find out in the upcoming
Resident Evil Zero, for the N64. Theories that she was an
Umbrella spy, killed "offstage" by Nemesis, or strangled
because of her annoying voice are largely unfounded.
Q. What's the official ending of RE?
A. That's something that's been confounding the hell out of
fans of the series since RE2 came out. Apparently, all five
characters who could survive RE did so, even though in both
possible RE scenarios, there are at most four survivors.
Wesker being alive only complicates matters. Hopefully, RE0
will clear this up. In the meantime, fans assume that the
"official" ending is some kind of blend of both scenarios,
like S.D. Perry's novel _The Umbrella Conspiracy_.
Q. Novel?
A. Novels, actually. There are four of them as of this
writing, all written by Perry and published by Pocket Books.
_Conspiracy_ is a novelization of Resident Evil, while _City
of the Dead_ is a novelization of Resident Evil 2 (and
specifically of Leon A/Claire B). There are also two
original novels, _Caliban Cove_ and _Underworld_; the former
stars Rebecca Chambers and a bunch of original characters,
while the latter stars Claire, Leon, Rebecca, and the two
original characters who survived _Caliban_. They're decent
enough books in a pulp-fiction sort of way, and they're in
surprisingly wide circulation, but Perry's storyline doesn't
match the games' at all. She's rumored to be working on a
novelization of RE3 entitled "Nemesis".
Q. What about the comic books?
A. Avoid the comic books if you have to chew off your own
leg to do it.
Q. What is Resident Evil 1.5?
A. I quote Dan Birlew, from the first version of this
thesis:
When the original Resident Evil topped the videogame sales
charts, Capcom realized two things. They needed a sequel,
and they should have put more quality into the first game.
Reprogramming it, they re-released it as Resident Evil:
Director's Cut in 1997. The package contained a second disk
this time, a demo version of Resident Evil 2. The demo was
met with extreme confusion, however. Capcom had previously
released to the press screenshots of a prototype for the
sequel. The demo, although definitely not the finished
version, was nothing like what had been previously
advertised.
Internet Resident Evil fans have taken to calling this
scrapped prototype game Resident Evil 1.5. Leon appeared in
the game, but the earlier version of Claire was an unrelated
college girl named Elza. With blond hair and red biking
gear, she was similar to Claire only in her love of riding
Harleys.
[Thomas adds: the version of Leon in RE1.5 doesn't look much
like the one we know either. I've got a picture of him
around here somewhere, from Game Informer magazine, and he's
a brown-haired guy who looks like he answered a casting call
for a "cocky rebel".]
The game was developed with the same map as the game that
was eventually released, but the graphics were steeped in
atmospheric blues and neon lighting. Evidence of widespread
chaos in Raccoon City was far more plentiful and severe in
this game's scenery than in the final version. The Birkins,
Chief Irons, and Ada Wong were all missing from the
ambivalent plotline of this game. Resident Evil 2 in this
version threatened to be too much like the original. The
planners wanted something that would take the storyline
further. What the fans had been shown and told to expect
from the sequel was not what they got.
Q. Hey, my friend says he has a copy of Resident Evil 1.5.
A. Your friend lies. Destroy him.
Q. Will Resident Evil 1.5 ever be released?
A. Probably not, since it'd be, by now, a pale shadow of
RE2. That doesn't stop the occasional fan from starting
a petition to have it released, though. That said, I wouldn't
be all that surprised if Elza Walker showed up in a future RE
game.
Q. What's the official ending of RE2?
A. Judging from the Epilogues in RE3, it's Claire A/Leon B,
as Sherry needs medical attention. In Leon A/Claire B,
Sherry was just fine when the dust settled.
Both the novels and the comic books, however, used Leon A/Claire B
for their adaptations of RE2.
Q. How did Chief Irons survive the helicopter crashing on
his head on the roof of the RPD building?
A. I can't believe I've gotten this question more than once.
The cop on the roof isn't Irons. It's a fat guy with a
handlebar mustache who looks slightly like Irons. Come on,
kids. I'm using my head right now, so you'll have to use
yours.
Q. Who threw the rocket launcher in RE2?
A. Most fans, and this analysis, will tell you that it was
Ada Wong, somehow returning from the dead to save Leon. The
pendant the mysterious figure is wearing at the end of Leon
B would seem to prove that. However, there is a small but
vocal group among RE fans who believe that it was Annette
Birkin, making one last attempt to save Sherry.
Q. It couldn't've been Ada. Ada died onscreen.
A. So did Wesker, the Tyrant, William Birkin, Nicholai, and
Alexia. When you work for Umbrella, getting killed is a minor
inconvenience. See "The Resurrection of Ada Wong", above.
Q. If Ada threw the rocket launcher, how did she escape the
base before it exploded?
A. No one knows that yet. Just assume there was more than
one way to escape from the base, or some kind of blast
shelter where she could've waited out the explosion, and
leave it at that. Some people claim to have noticed a second
train on the same track as the one Leon and Claire used to
escape, but I've never seen it myself.
Q. Why aren't there any bathrooms in Raccoon City?
A. Because video game characters don't need bathrooms. Shut up.
Q. What happens to all the construction equipment in the
courtyard and boarded-up doors in the RPD building between
RE3 and RE2?
A. They were whisked away by elfin magic.
Q. What?
A. By "elfin magic", I mean, of course, dramatic necessity.
Capcom didn't want to put the whole RPD building into what
was theoretically a sequel, so they put in a subtle visual
cue that parts of the building were off-limits. Relax, kid.
It ain't nohow permanent.
Q. Where are all of these dynamite charges and barrels full
of explosives coming from?
A. In the Resident Evil universe, John Woo is an architect.
Things that blow up if shot at are a common feature of his
innovative designs.
Q. Why is Marvin Branagh dead in RE3, when he's in RE2 a day
later?
A. He isn't dead in RE3. He's wounded and unconscious. Next
time you play the game, look at the office he's in as you
come back through that room with the lockpick. He's gone,
off to seek medical attention offstage or something. (It's
really obvious that he's gone if you don't take his file.)
Q. Why did Umbrella send Nemesis after Jill, when all they
did was keep Chris under surveillance?
A. Jill was still in Raccoon City and Chris wasn't. It's one
thing to attack someone with a vicious bioweapon when
they're stuck in a town that's full of them, but it's quite
another to attack someone with a vicious bioweapon when the
bioweapon would be seen coming from a mile away.
Also, with RE's "true" ending still up in the air, Jill may
actually have seen more than Chris did. In Jill's storyline,
Chris spent the entire game in a jail cell in the basement
of the mansion, never even setting foot inside the house.
Finally, for all we know, Umbrella *did* send a Nemesis after
Chris. Jill does find that trashed hideout of Chris's in her
Epilogue.
Q. How come Jill can't climb things in RE3?
A. For one thing, most of those things are usually on fire.
For another, *you* try climbing in a miniskirt.
Q. How do *you* know?
A. Hey, I told you to shut up.
Q. Who was Nemesis?
A. A snappy dresser, a hit with the ladies, and a good
friend. We mourn his passing.
Q. No, really, who was Nemesis?
A. Okay, from the top: the way I heard it, this question
started because someone at Capcom, probably Shinji Mikami,
said that Nemesis was actually someone we knew from the past
or something. I figure that he was quoted out of context,
mistranslated, or was screwing with people's heads. Ever
since that quote made it across the Atlantic, literal-minded
RE fans have been wracking their brains, trying to figure
out who Nemesis could have been. The debate has largely been
abandoned, as of this writing, and Nemesis is considered to
have been no one other than the meanest bioweapon to ever
walk the Earth. ("Y'know, I heard that Nemmy was one bad
mutha..." "Shut yo' mouth!")
However, a few die-hard fans have concluded that Nemesis was
Wesker, and some can argue the point quite articulately.
Now, after Wesker's return in Code Veronica, they have to
explain how Wesker could've (deep breath now) survived RE,
gotten turned into Nemesis, survived a good long nap in a
gasoline fire, mutated into Tentacle Nemesis, survived Jill
kicking his ass around Raccoon City like a hacky-sack, gotten
to a minimum safe distance from Raccoon City in less than five
minutes despite being *dead*, gotten turned back into Wesker,
quit his job at Umbrella, joined whatever organization he's
working for in CV, gotten turned into Super Wesker,
decisively lost a slap fight with Alexia, and still managed to
find the time to get that *great* haircut. The answer is, of
course, that he couldn't and that he wasn't Nemesis, but
some people just refuse to give up on something once they've
spent that much time on it. Hell, after writing this
paragraph, *I* want him to be Nemesis.
Q. What is it with RE's women always saying "It's over" just
before something bad happens to them?
A. Both Jill and Claire suffer from a horrible birth defect
that left them without a sense of irony.
Q. If the T-Virus was accidentally spilled at the island
prison, why wasn't Claire infected?
A. We don't know how long Claire was unconscious, how bad
the spill was, or just how long the T-Virus stays "hot". For
all we know, the helicopter carrying Claire landed right in
the middle of Wesker's attack, and Claire slept through most
of the festivities.
Q. Why are there zombies and monsters all over the place in
the Antarctic base in CV?
A. To learn the answer to this question, we must consult the
"Diary of D.I.J.", a secret file hidden within CV's Battle
Game. According to it, the T-Virus was deliberately spilled
inside the base, and most of the workers were evacuated via
cargo plane. One can guess that the zombies and corpses in
the base were crew members that didn't get to the plane fast
enough. D.I.J. also tells us that Wesker escaped the Antarctic
via submarine, and that D.I.J. went with him.
Q. How do I find this secret file?
A. It's one of the random items you can find inside the slot
machine in the Battle Game. Once you've found it, it'll be
in your file list whenever you start a new game.
Q. Who's D.I.J.?
A. A mouse. Specifically, he's the mouse that runs under the
closing blast shutter when Alfred traps Claire in the
military training facility. He also shows up again in
Antarctica, when Claire lets him out of the locker in
Alfred's office.
Q. How the hell can a mouse keep a diary?
A. He's a very smart mouse.
Q. Weren't those two mice different colors? How could it be
the same mouse?
A. He's a *very* smart mouse.
Q. Is Code Veronica coming out for the PSX2?
A. Don't bet on it. As I understand things, a fair amount of
the game was actually done in-house by Sega. Unless Sega fires
up the same crack pipe they were smoking when they were marketing
the Saturn, you probably won't see CV on any other system.
Q. What's in the future for Resident Evil?
A. Resident Evil Zero, packed with Rebecca goodness, is
coming out for the N64 sometime in 2000. Check the videogaming
website of your choice for details, and rest assured that when
I get a crack at the game, its plot will be added to this
document. Also, the last time I checked, Americans are still
waiting on RE: Survivor, the last RE game for the PSX.
Resident Evil 4 is reportedly in production for the PSX2,
and will be the first RE game where the story's told from an
Umbrella agent's perspective. Hunk is rumored to be a
playable character, as are two new characters named Anne
and Mark. Personally, I'd like to see RE4 reunite Leon and
Ada, and explain exactly how she survived, but that's me.
==========
Conclusion
==========
Thanks to Dan Birlew, for starting this document. You can
check out his home on the web at:
http://members.xoom.com/prezevil
Those who are interested in further information on the
Resident Evil storyline are encouraged to check out Rob
MacGregor's Timeline FAQ, available at:
http://www.new-blood.com
People interested in Resident Evil 1.5 can check out a site
dedicated to it at:
http://www.geocities.com/bioflames
To discuss Resident Evil, check out Evil-Online's boards at:
http://boards.evil-online.com/Ultimate.cgi
I can be reached at storyteller@msc.net with comments, questions,
and job offers from Capcom (hire me to write Resident Evil 5! hire
me to write the novelization of Resident Evil 3! I'm not picky!
I don't eat much! I'm clairvoyant, and I invented wool!). Please be
civil, and remember: just because I wrote this does not mean I am
willing to alleviate your boredom.
Thomas Wilde
a.k.a. Wanderer
a.k.a. Storyteller on Evil Online
storyteller@msc.net
http://www.dimfuture.net/elsewhere/
