Leon Scott Kennedy: Study Case

[Trent]

I thought I would conduct a study case on the (in)famous character Leon Scott Kennedy. The main reason to this, is that while drinking my coffee at the empty university lab at 8:00AM, the following occurred to me: the Leon character was given the Kennedy family name along with the characteristic red hair that was observed throughout the generations of the American Kennedy family. Now, I find this quite interesting as I have been recently reading up on this family. If this has already been mentioned, which I would be surprised if it had not, then I bring up the questions - if already asked - again; What is the reason for this reference? What were the intentions of the creators of the RE games? A tribute to the Kennedy family?

In any case, Leon is a character that has sparked great interest to many RE fans when he was first introduced in RE2. The very introduction of Leon and the love and sympathies for him is worth discussion. And ultimately, the arguable hate for him after RE4 (where his hair turned sandy blonde, among other things...) that arguably ended all this.

[TheSelfishGene]

I think Leon is a pretty cool dude. He scrubs the virus and doesn't afraid of anything.

One thing I've always found strange is the emphasis on his middle name.
I don't know anyone, fictional or otherwise where such emphasis is placed on a middle name. Salazar even refers to him by it at one point.

Could it be a reference to anyone in the Kennedy family (sorry, I don't know that much about them).

[Mr. Spencer]

Sounds like this belongs on Project Umbrella.

Why not go there? Like now?

[Jill4EverSTARS]

Idk I liked Leon more in RE4 he was much less naive. Also as for a series with returning characters he's the only one that had much of an evolution. Chris got stuck in the whole heroic goodie two shoes persona which I find very bland. So what if Leon cracks jokes and seems confident 1) he survived Raccoon City and 2) he has top government training what is there not to be confident about? The color of his hair changing is just nitpicking at the character times change and Leon along with it.

[Grem]

One interesting thing about Leon is his relation with the US Government. Even though Leon is fighting evil, he's forced to work for an organization which had dealings with Umbrella before the Raccoon City incident. That makes Leon in an ambiguous position because, if suddenly the government decides to say that B.O.W.'s are a good thing, Leon will be forced to run for them. Or, and this is where the relation between Leon and the Kennedy family would be interesting, Leon will decide, regardless of his affiliation with the US government, to go against them. Kinda like John Fitzgerald Kennedy who took position against the interests of his own government concerning some matters.

Another thing I'd like to add on Leon. People generelly think that he changed personnality during RE4. Like he wasn't afraid of anything and began to act in an arrogant way. Well, in fact, he never really changed completely because when I read the Resident Evil 2 profile, they say :

"While reckless and brash, Leon is certainly not as naive as his demeanour would suggest."

So, in the end, Leon showed those traits a lot during RE4. Sure, he seemed to act differently during RE2, but I think this was partly due to his partnership with Ada as well as him being a rookie during the Raccoon City incident.

[Archelon]

This is something I've considered doing for quite some time now. Not so much the focus on any possible inspiration from or tribute to the real Kennedy family, but rather his evolution as a character, looking at not only profiles from guides or other official sources, but things he does and says in the actual games and how they are connected. Perhaps even more so than many people realize or, more likely, even care.

The reason I've never actually started on it is because I figured the overwhelming hate for him on sites like this and others would ultimately prevent any kind of intelligent, rational discussion on the subject.

And just a side note regarding Leon's hair. Capcom has demonstrated a propensity for inconsistency with character designs over the years, and not just Leon, though he may be the most obvious.

For example, in the original Resident Evil, Chris had red hair. Or rather, his artwork had red hair, and in-game, his hair was a darker brownish color, though one could still argue that it was a shade of red. In CODE: Veronica, his hair is a dark brown. Then come REmake, and his hair is black. Finally, in RE5, his hair has returned to the darker shade of brown seen in CV. His eyes have changed color over the years, as well. Going from blue to brown and back again.

Claire has brown hair in RE2, in both cutscenes and gameplay. In CV, her hair is a dark red, while in Degeneration, it's much more vibrant. It returns to a more subdued shade of red in DSC.

Leon's design in RE2, however, is all over the place (perhaps as a result of the switch from RE1.5 to RE2?). In the cutscenes, his hair is red. In game, however, it's a dark brown. In some of the promotional, rendered artwork, his hair is dark brown, while in others it's the same sandy brown/blonde as you see in RE4. Then in Degeneration, depending on the lighting, it can appear to be a dark brown or a dirty blonde. In DSC, his hair is brown, though it looks somewhat reddish in a few of the cutscenes for Operation: Javier.

His cutscene model is also substantially different from his in game model. As I said, this may be a result of reused assets from RE1.5, but I can't be sure. His cutscene model is missing the leg strap on his left leg that both the rendered artwork and his in game model has. Also, you can see that his cutscene model still has the knife sheath/leg strap on his right leg that he had in RE1.5, and he also has a holster for his VP70 clipped to the back of his belt. Neither of these are present on his in game model. His cutscene model sports a grey long sleeve shirt, while it is white in game. His gloves in game are black, but dark blue in cutscenes. He wears black shoes in cutscenes, but grey shoes in game. Finally, his elbow pads have blue pads in cutscenes but are completely black in game. His belt is also different in both models.

[Trent]

Very interesting observations guys! Here are some images that will help our analysis and hopefully provide further information on this character. Observing details is without doubt vital in studying this character or attempting to understand the creation of the latter and the changes made throughout the years.

Artwork model #1 (RE 1.5, from Biohaze)



Artwork model #2 (RE 1.5, from Biohaze)



Artwork model #3 (from the awesome Project Umbrella).



Artwork model #4 (from Resident Evil Costume Resource).



Rendered model #1 (from The Crispy Crew).



Rendered model #2 (from the awesome Porject Umbrella).



The following are cutscene models (all from Resident Evil Costume Resource). See also the two above in the first post.









The following are in-game models.

(From Resident Evil Umrella)


(From Resident Evil Costume Resource)


(From Rechallengers)


(From LevelFortyTwo)


When it comes to Leon's hair, the in-game model is very light dependent. It seems to me that in light areas, you can actually see his red hair, however in the darker areas it is more darker brown. This observation is not unusual in real life, you can very well see this when looking at pictures of former president JFK's hair for instance.

Steven Burnside from CV also has the characteristic red hair, any notable connections?

[Grem]

I was wondering something about Leon. We know that he's a bit tougher in RE4 than in RE2. How much do you think his weight should be in RE4?

Because according to Archives II he's 180cm tall, now. I think he received the same treatment as Chris in RE5, but I don't know how much he gained.

A friend of mine thinks he has more muscles than Chris in REmake, but I don't think so. What do you think?

I would say he weighs no more than 80kg, honestly.

[BeefWellington]

I would say hes about the same as Chris REmake. I remember watching the Making Of RE4 and they said they wanted to make him tougher but not too buffed out

[Mr_Zombie]

His eyes have changed color over the years, as well. Going from blue to brown and back again.

Chris' eyes are blue in Code Veronica (in-game model and artworks), yet in the ending CG cut-scene they are brown.

[Archelon]

Chris' eyes are blue in Code Veronica (in-game model and artworks), yet in the ending CG cut-scene they are brown.

His BSAA ID card says his eyes are brown, too.

[Grem]

In Darkside Chronicles, on the computer Claire is using to find info on Chris, his profile states he has brown eyes, too.

Chris is meant to have brown eyes officially. Yet, Capcom never really gave him brown eyes except for the CG scenes of Code Veronica. Most generally his eyes are grey.

I would say hes about the same as Chris REmake. I remember watching the Making Of RE4 and they said they wanted to make him tougher but not too buffed out

Yeah, I remember that, too.
I would say that he's about the same as Chris REmake, also.

His weight should be in the range 75 ~ 80kg. No more, no less.

If he's 80kg, then Mikami ideal male Resident Evil hero is 180cm tall and 80kg because both Leon and Chris share the same data between RE1 and RE4.

[News Bot]

CODE:Veronica's gameplay was mostly third-party developed, wasn't it? That would probably explain the discrepancy.

[Archelon]

If you go by his tank top alternate costume model in RE2, I'd say Leon is about the same in RE4 as he was in RE2, maybe even a bit smaller. He was pretty buff in RE2. You just couldn't tell unless he was wearing that outfit.

[Grem]

I see what you are talking about. Chris also looked pretty buff in the original, if you remember. When I compare Chris in the original to the Chris in RE5, the change is not as striking as with Chris REmake.

Sometimes, I feel that the personnal data of all the characters are bullshit afterall which makes me sad.

As for Leon, initially I didn't really notice that he buffed up, but then lots of people told me that Leon in RE4 was much bigger. I was like "huh, really?". I made my mind according to this, but I'm not too sure how he is supposed to be really.