Wesker's Virus and the Umbrella Chronicles Connection

[Archelon]

I don't believe I've seen anyone mention this before, but I've been mulling over the plot device that proved to be pretty much nothing at all in RE5, and that is the serum that Wesker has to take to stabilize his miracle virus. Long before RE5 was released, or even a blip on the radar, I had considered that the only real way anyone would be able to defeat Wesker was if they first injected him with some sort of antivirus or something that would either outright kill him, or at the very least strip him of his powers so he and Chris could battle on more equal footing.

When I learned of the serum while playing through RE5 for the first, I figured that was exactly what it was going to be. Then we found out that the serum was necessary to keep the virus in check, because said virus was unstable. It seemed like a pretty lame retcon at the time (and I'm still not entirely sold on it even now), but I was willing to let it slide if it actually did something.

Which it didn't.

We inject Wesker with the serum, he gets angry and yells for a few minutes, but that's it. He hasn't lost his powers (he's still so fast he looks like he's teleporting, and he can still leap tall buildings in a single bound), and he isn't even noticeably weaker than he was before he OD'ed. The serum is, ultimately, just kind of there. It doesn't really serve any purpose in the end.

This brings me to the subject of this discussion.

Not too long ago I started reading through the files from Umbrella Chronicles again just for the heck of it, and I re-read the file where Wesker is musing about the effects of a person's psyche on whatever virus he/she has been injected with:

I have a theory on Sergei's unique
course of evolution.

I had always assumed that the variety of
effects the virus brings about on its
host were mere random mutations.

However, witnessing first-hand the
effects on Sergei combined with what
I know of Marcus's transformation
points to a common threat between
their outcomes.

The host's mindset appears to influence
the evolution of the virus.

Sergei mutated into a monster whose
very body is the picture of suffering
as he was ripped apart from the
inside by thorns. I can only imagine
that his transformation represents
the true mindset of the person he
was inside.

While I have no proof, my intuition
tells me that his must be the case.
If the personality of the host can truly
affect the course of the virus
manifestation, were does that leave me?

I began to wonder why this wasn't addressed in any manner in RE5, but then I thought, maybe it was, but indirectly.

We're supposed to believe that Wesker snapped after his meeting with Spencer, and that is why he suddenly hates the human race after showing no such inklings in his many appearances prior to now (yet another lame character "development" in a long list of them from RE5, but that is neither here nor there). Anyway, here is where the connection to his virus comes in.

Obviously the serum was a retcon created solely for the purposes of RE5, but if we try to fit it into the overall story as we must with so many things in this series, perhaps the serum was not something he had to take initially. If we accept for the sake of argument that in the RE world, a person's mindset can affect the course of a virus' mutation, then maybe the instability exhibited by the virus by the events of RE5 is a direct result of the instability of Wesker's fractured mind after his meeting with Spencer.

Throughout the course of RE5, it's clear that Wesker is not the same calm, cool, collected, always in control individual that he was presented as in previous games (perhaps most notably in Umbrella Chronicles). He makes many downright stupid decisions and oversights, and even his master plan is little more than a recycling of Spencer's (and if you want to look at other games in the series, Morpheus Duvall's and Osmund Saddler's), and the plan itself doesn't even really make sense when you consider the nature of the Uroboros Virus.

So, in short, my hypothesis, using the file from UC as a guide, is that Wesker did not have to take the serum from the time he was resurrected in 1998 until his meeting with Spencer in 2006. After that, his unstable psyche caused the virus in turn to become unstable, and that is why he was forced to take the serum.

Any thoughts?

[xfactor]

Wesker looks pretty out of breath on the airplane though. The serum overdose obviously works but it doesn't work instantly.

His plan is similar to Spencer, but not quite with Morpheus and Saddler. Morpheus and Saddler just plain terrorist who wants to gain power by threatening to release the virus/parasite. Spencer/Wesker wants to cleanse the world by killing the weaks.

I lean to the side where he has been injecting himself regularly ever since he took the virus though. No offense, but I think it will be ridiculous if after the meeting with Spencer, Wesker, for some unknown reason, realizes that not only he needs to take regular dosage to maintain his virus from that moment onwards, but he also know how much the dosage is needed and the time interval. Even if so, it'll take time for the tests on how much quantity is needed, the side effects etc. By that time he have the result, he'll have died already. I prefer to think that these tests were already done by Spencer long before it was administered to the Weskers. It sounds more natural imo

still you raise a very good point there though.

[Archelon]

His plan is similar to Spencer, but not quite with Morpheus and Saddler. Morpheus and Saddler just plain terrorist who wants to gain power by threatening to release the virus/parasite. Spencer/Wesker wants to cleanse the world by killing the weaks.

Morpheus and Saddler wanted to "cleanse" the world, too, though. Morpheus was going to create his perfect kingdom in Africa for only the most "beautiful," and Saddler wanted a "world without sin" by placing the entire population under his control. They were essentially removing the "unworthy" so that the "worthy" would be able to inherit the world.

The execution may have been different, but the goals were thematically the same. Though even Wesker's execution of his plan was very similar to Morpheus'.

[Bertha]

Well in the real world, a person's mindset would not mutate a virus. Of course...this is a video game where trained professionals get killed in seconds while rookies and civilians go on to survive and become heroes.

I've actually had the same discussion with several different people about Wesker and the serum. It does little more than seemingly give him a headache. All his powers are still practically there. And Xfactor, depending on how you decided to weaken Wesker to inject him, he can survive 2 rockets blowing up in his hands right at his face, so small wonder after that and an injection he'd be a little bit winded.

I really think the serum was just used as a plot device, as a sort of way to say "This is how you're going to weaken him" even though it really doesn't work out that way. Wesker still has his super powers and manages to survive a jet crashing into a volcano (let's disregard that the entire volcano scene is completely impossible though).

I don't think Wesker was shaken up by his run in with Spencer...if anything it served to further motivate him to go beyond what normal humans couldn't. And I don't think Wesker was recycling Spencer's plan either. Yes...both are initially the same...but if you had powers well beyond that of a normal human, wouldn't you want to assert that power in becoming a "god"? We never really knew what Wesker's goals were in the previous games. Having all the virus samples that he did, one would only think that Wesker would eventually want to use them against humanity.


One thing to think about though is what would have happened if Wesker missed his serum booster shot. If too much acted as a poison, would too little cause him to mutate? Would he simply lose his powers, or would the virus become dormant (kinda like Jill's) before the serum was finally given to him? The serum must have taken a while to create, especially in the large doses Wesker seemed to have.

[padamibr]

That was a nice topic. It make a lot of sense to me!
.
But I think that Wesker got very weaker after the injection of the serum, Chris could shot and hit him and Sheva could actually hit him with a knife, when Jill tryed to do something like that she was thrown 10 meters away... and Wsker could baraly strangle Sheva...
.
After the second shot he was finished and needed the Uroboros.

[Bertha]

But I think that Wesker got very weaker after the injection of the serum, Chris could shot and hit him and Sheva could actually hit him with a knife, when Jill tryed to do something like that she was thrown 10 meters away... and Wsker could baraly strangle Sheva...
.
After the second shot he was finished and needed the Uroboros.

Well to be fair...Chris and Jill fought Wesker in a large, open room when he was fully focused and in control. Chris and Sheva fought Wesker in a more enclosed space, leaving him without too much room to teleport.

And where exactly did the serum Chris get come from? He was never shown to pick up a syringe, and the one you use on Wesker during the fight gets thrown off by him, and Chris and Sheva immediately dash off to catch up with the jet. I'm thinking Chris probably grabbed one off camera and that's how Capcom would explain it.

[I_Am_Nemesis]

id think it would have been better if chris and sheve had stopped wesker from taking the serum causing the virus to go crazy triggering a mutation. i think that wesker was using the serum from the begining because as xfactor said he would have died by then, or mutated either one. i do agree that wesker seemed to copy spencers idea. i always thought that wesker prefered to be the leader and would rather rule lesser people than cleanse the world with Uroborus (yea the Uroborus virus doesnt seem like the best thing top use to make the perfect world because only a very small amount, if any, can control it). i felt that the serum didnt do much as i was lead to believe because i thought the poison would kill him but really it just slightly weakened him

[Archelon]

Having all the virus samples that he did, one would only think that Wesker would eventually want to use them against humanity.

But according to his file in RE5, that's not why he was collecting all those samples. He was only collecting them so he could sell them and make enough money and establish the connections he needed to find Spencer.

[padamibr]

Well to be fair...Chris and Jill fought Wesker in a large, open room when he was fully focused and in control. Chris and Sheva fought Wesker in a more enclosed space, leaving him without too much room to teleport.

And where exactly did the serum Chris get come from? He was never shown to pick up a syringe, and the one you use on Wesker during the fight gets thrown off by him, and Chris and Sheva immediately dash off to catch up with the jet. I'm thinking Chris probably grabbed one off camera and that's how Capcom would explain it.

.
Well, that didn't stop Wesker from dodging all Chris's shoots before pointing the gun in his head (why didn't he shoot?), he don't need space to do that. And it's not only the "teleport", Wesker was weaker. He could hold up Chris in 2006 1 meter from the ground easily, and Sheva was able to put him to the ground with the weight of her body.
.
And yes, Chris should have taken the serum off-camera when they found Excella. But I really don't care.

[Bertha]

But according to his file in RE5, that's not why he was collecting all those samples. He was only collecting them so he could sell them and make enough money and establish the connections he needed to find Spencer.

Before RE5 though, we didn't know he was only using them for money. And if he had one sample, it would have been easy for him to create more. So in theory, he could have been making and selling them, but still kept whatever he needed to use against the populace.

[Vector]

Rosetta's thoughts about the serum echo my own. What the hell did Chris injecting him with the serum do besides piss him off really bad? What would've happened if he didn't get his serum? Would he have mutated or lost his powers? That's what it's really all about. No one knows. I chalk this up to Capcom being lazy and using the serum as an excuse to kill off Wesker.

Nice topic though, Archelon. A breath of fresh air.

Oh, and...

[Archelon]

Before RE5 though, we didn't know he was only using them for money. And if he had one sample, it would have been easy for him to create more. So in theory, he could have been making and selling them, but still kept whatever he needed to use against the populace.

Obviously anything is possible, but all we have to go on is what is presented in the games. Perhaps I should clarify my comment from earlier.

I didn't mean to imply that I thought Wesker had no intention of using any of the samples he collected. Rather, it was his motivation that I was questioning. In RE5, he wants to "purify" the human race, because he thinks that it "requires judgment" and the weak have survived far too long for the race's own good. However, we never get a sense of this sentiment in any of the previous incarnations of Wesker, whether they be in game or out (the Wesker Reports, for instance).

At most, Wesker was just someone who wanted power. He didn't have the same delusions of grandeur that he did in RE5, that he was somehow humanity's savior or something.

Oh, and...

My thoughts exactly.

[Bertha]

Obviously anything is possible, but all we have to go on is what is presented in the games. Perhaps I should clarify my comment from earlier.

I didn't mean to imply that I thought Wesker had no intention of using any of the samples he collected. Rather, it was his motivation that I was questioning. In RE5, he wants to "purify" the human race, because he thinks that it "requires judgment" and the weak have survived far too long for the race's own good. However, we never get a sense of this sentiment in any of the previous incarnations of Wesker, whether they be in game or out (the Wesker Reports, for instance).

At most, Wesker was just someone who wanted power. He didn't have the same delusions of grandeur that he did in RE5, that he was somehow humanity's savior or something.



My thoughts exactly.

No don't worry...I understood what you were getting at. RE5 Wesker feels completely different from his previous game appearances. In the very first game he wanted to do it for the money (I think...I need to play the original and not the remake), and in the other games he was collecting samples with no mention of why. Even in 4 we were still to believe that he was trying to revive Umbrella (or at least that's what he seemingly told Krauser), and if that was the case, it would still seem like he was doing it for money.

Oh, and...

[padamibr]

I don't get the picture.
.
I know it's from MGS though.

[Mr_Zombie]

I don't get the picture.
.
I know it's from MGS though.

In MGS2 Vamp had vampire-like abilities (immortal, very fast, can "defy" gravity, walk on water etc). In MGS4 they explained that most of his abilities came from technology (him running on water or vertical surfaces) and nano-machines (increasing his natural health regenerating abilities). In order to kill Vamp you must first inject him with a virus that would shut his nano-machines down so he would be mortal again.

Spoiler:

show spoiler

Bastards . They've ruined the character... and killed him.

It's a similar situation as in Wesker's case.