Placement of characters and importance in the series (spoilers)

[Smiley]

I wanted to touch upon the order of characters and speculate why such characters return, introduced or discarded as the games progress. This doesn't include the stories re-told through the chronicle games, but I'll use specific original stories from them which expand on certain characters. Nor does it include any form of mercenaries or battle mode. I'm also not including spin offs separate from the main series. I'll use Outbreak in the instance of one character. The only non-numbered titles I will count are Code Veronica and Revelations. As far as movies go I can only bring up Degeneration at this time.

Most of the returning characters stem from the first two games. When a main character from those two star in a sequel of their own we see a new "partner" character show up. Those partner roles (again not counting the chronicle summaries) never show up again in later sequels.

RE1: Chris, Jill, Barry, Rebecca and Wesker.
RE2: Leon, Claire, Sherry, Ada and Birkin.

Of the two games we know some were relevant in returning for a prequel to the first game. Rebecca's previous adventure had played out with Birkin and Wesker behind the scenes. The Bravo team are background characters with Enrico showing up now and again as a minor supporting role. New characters introduced were Billy Coen and James Marcus. Both of which have not appeared in a sequel since. Marcus is dead. Billy is in hiding. Rebecca has an original piece set between Zero and the first game where her and Richard explore the mansion.

RE3 brought Jill back in the spotlight. She travels with Carlos, a partner character who doesn't appear in any future sequel. Barry returns for a cameo role in one ending. Brad returns, but essentially dies. We're introduced to Nicholai. While he doesn't appear in any direct sequel he ties into RE: Outbreak.

Ada has a original piece in Umbrella Chronicles where she escapes the city with assistance from Wesker.

Code Veronica gives Claire center stage. Her story brings Chris and Wesker into the mix with their confrontation set up for a future sequel. A partner character shows up as Steve Burnside who is "killed off" and then taken by Wesker in the extended scenes of CVX. The idea that Steve would be revived through experimentation has declined over the years so the possibility of him returning is minimal. The other set of villains in the form of the Ashfords have been killed off.

An original story set in Russia delves into Chris, Jill and Wesker going against Umbrella.

RE4 stars Leon. Ada returns and sets the stage for her own story connecting with Wesker which is expanded in Separate Ways. Ashley is the partner character in Leon's campaign. She never returns. The main threat which is Saddler is killed off. Leon and Ada tie into another character. Krauser connects to them both as someone who switched sides yet confronts them both and is killed off. An original prequel story set within the Darkside Chronicles pins Leon and Krauser on their first mission together. Hunnigan returns in later adventures featuring Leon.

Degeneration reunites Claire and Leon. Introduces and kills off some of the new cast. Partner character Angela doesn't appear again. Hunnigan from RE4 makes a cameo.

RE5 concludes the conflict between Chris and Wesker. Jill is placed in the middle of their rivalry as Chris former partner manipulated into Wesker's servant until rescued. New villains introduced such as Excella are promptly killed off. Main partner characters such as Sheva (Chris) and Josh (Jill) do not appear. Wesker is seemingly killed for the last time. His longstanding place as the main antagonist with the most appearances has come to an end. The only other character from 5 to show up in another game is Kirk sporting a minor role in Revelations.

Revelations gives us Jill and Chris with an array of new characters. Parker and Jessica are partner characters. Kirk shows up. As of now no word yet on if they'll appear or not. The only characters who have any hint at coming back based on the scene after the credits are Jessica and Raymond who were triple crossing spies. But again, no word yet on if they'll come back in another game at this time.

Another movie starring Leon is coming out later this year. No word yet on if the movie has any other returning characters.

Which bring us to RE6. As of now based on the trailers we have Leon, Chris, Sherry and Hunnigan as confirmed returning cast members. Hunnigan appears to have minor role just as she did in RE4 and Degeneration providing Leon with information and helping out from the sidelines. There's a strong indication that Ada is involved with a character that looks and sounds like her playing the female antagonist and pinning Leona and Chris against each other. Each returning character comes with a new character making their first appearance in the game series. Chris is partnered with Piers who previously was introduced in a manga. Leon is joined by Helena Harper, an agent who may have a connection to the antagonist. Sherry is looking out for Jake Muller who as of now we know to be Albert Wesker son. This will be the first game where the children of Birkin and Wesker use the powers they acquired from their parents to go against the B.O.W. threats.

That was a long recap of events to make. As far as the main games go I sense a pattern. The connections to the first two games remain in tact. You have original partner characters that are shelved for their own story with a returning character. We could place Carlos, Steve, Ashley and Sheva into this category. You have supporting characters from the first two games that make some impact on later sequels/prequel. We can place Rebecca, Ada and Sherry into this branch. There's minor cameos from returning non-player characters. Brad, Barry, Kirk are examples.

From the main stories Leon and Chris are making more appearances than Jill and Claire. With these characters growing older in the time line we've seen "new blood" come into play when characters are introduced. Characters like Carlos, Jake, Jessica and Sheva are younger than some of the returning cast at the time of their appearance and while they don't show up in future sequels they reach a certain demographic to appeal to a new generation of fans. It's hard to believe Leon and Chris are now in their late thirties, early forties. So Jake being the new guy for the next generation had to be someone younger than them.

Their partner characters for RE6 do look like a young bunch. Piers certainly comes across as a younger version of Chris. Helena comes across as the next girl that gets Leon into some trouble. Between Jake and Sherry it is Sherry that was in a previous game yet it is Jake who is considered the third main character next to Chris and Leon. So while she is supporting Jake she takes her place as the young tag-a-long for your main character. And while she's grown up from the last time we saw her, Capcom spared no expense to make her as attractive and appealing as they have with the other girls of this series. No doubt the next generation of fans will find her as a sexy protagonist as the last ones did for Claire and Jill before her.

As to why we see Leon and Chris in more stories than Jill and Claire I cannot say for certain. I speculate that despite being older they have a hardened appeal in the action genre than older women. I would still thoroughly enjoy new adventures with Claire and Jill despite being in their thirties. We've seen a lot of good female action heroes from Ripley to Sarah Conner to know that a horror/sci-fi genre can make due in that department. But alas we can only look at these characters having stories made for them taking place before the next sequel. Case in point is the last time we saw Claire and Jill in new adventures were stories taking place before RE5 in Degeneration and Revelations.

So here's what I'd like to ask THIA: Are we prepared for more new characters? Of the cast that we already have who should come back and more importantly who should star in later games? Do we need more side adventures or main numbered titles?

I'll let you decide. As for me, RE6 is proving to be a giant game in terms of global scale and the list of player characters that we have. It'll be hard to sort them all out and give them enough time to shine. I'd like to see them scale back to three player characters at most as seen with RE1 and Code Veronica. Another Jill game post RE5 would be great given the ties to Revelations with Raymond and Jessica. There was talk about making another Revelations. I wouldn't mind following up on that given how great the T-Abyss virus was. As said earlier I'm also not against Claire starring in her own game again. Sure Sherry is fine, but if she does well in RE6 then to see them reunite would be something amazing.

[Darkmoon]

Frankly, I want characters to die. How many characters appear more than once and die? I think Wesker's it. It makes you not worry about the characters - not only will they win, they'll do so without any of that pesky PTSD that they should suffer from at this point. It really feels like Capcom just aren't brave enough to kill off anyone - even Wesker, who should be dead as dead can be, can come back via cloning tricks and the like. And they pretty quickly replaced him. With another Wesker.

[Smiley]

I'm not against that. I found more horror from the first game and its remake because of the fact that your actions dictated whether someone lived or died. Your survival came first, but if you didn't act efficient enough then the people around you would fall. And any one of them could die including the other characters you could play as. The more effort you put in the better the ending.

But sadly the series is more reliant on having a constructed plot now so in terms of canon it does feel diminished when any character that could die (Barry, Rebecca, Nicholai, Manuella) all turn out to be alive and well. Their attempts to kill Leon have been altered, scrapped or made non-canon. When we thought they killed Jill we find that it is not the case. Even if I didn't want Jill to die I was always open to the possibility.

There's even been cases where I've found the plot would be better and not interfere with anything thus far if other supporting characters had died. If Billy and Parker died nothing would be out of place with the rest of the series. As it stands Steve is the one exception to that rule when it comes to protagonists, but because of CVX there's always going to be people who speculate his return in some form. Before Jake was confirmed as the new guy's name there were people that thought it was Steve.

Killing Wesker was the one bold thing that RE5 did. If he stays dead that is. There's still a bunch of drooling fans who want him to come back so soon; even more now that he has a son involved in the games.

RE6 has a chance to kill off characters. It is the current game to date, and they've set up a new bunch of young characters to make their stamp on this franchise. Unfortunately I don't have much faith in Capcom to make this happen, and I don't think it benefits to kill off Chris to simply make way for a younger replacement such as Piers. We've seen this with RE5. Sheva was Chris' new partner and the mirror reflection of Chris' partnership to Jill. Yet in the end even through those parallels Jill was more popular in that game than Sheva. At least enough to focus two DLC chapters and have a DLC spot in MvC3. For RE6 they pin Leon against Chris to be a pivotal scene, but I don't think it's going to play out as anything special. Neither one is going to shoot the other down.

[Darkmoon]

Assuming that Leon and Chris in that scene are both real, and that Ada/Carla isn't killing people because they're clones designed as walking biological time bombs or something, and the needle grenade simply triggered the transformation early, then no, they won't kill each other. Capcom hasn't got the balls to let a villain kill a hero, let alone another hero. A hero kill an evil clone, however...

But yes, having Billy die wouldn't have mattered. Hell having most of the cast die wouldn't matter much - they seem to change characteristics with each game anyway. It might actually make you feel a bit more for some characters. when they suffer survivors guilt (and not Leon's screams for people he's spoken to for five minutes over a radio).

[AsteroidBlues]

Assuming that Leon and Chris in that scene are both real, and that Ada/Carla isn't killing people because they're clones designed as walking biological time bombs or something, and the needle grenade simply triggered the transformation early, then no, they won't kill each other. Capcom hasn't got the balls to let a villain kill a hero, let alone another hero. A hero kill an evil clone, however...

But yes, having Billy die wouldn't have mattered. Hell having most of the cast die wouldn't matter much - they seem to change characteristics with each game anyway. It might actually make you feel a bit more for some characters. when they suffer survivors guilt (and not Leon's screams for people he's spoken to for five minutes over a radio).

Hey.... Humans' lives don't compare to insects' lives. You [probably] didn't complain when Leon fell in love with Ada Wong after spending around five minutes with her. XD

The way I see it, I think Capcom is finally going to do something drastic this time around. I seriously get the feeling that Chris is going to bite the big one in this title, or has some form of brain injury that will cause him to die in the near future (from that gnarly head trauma seen in the trailer). Of course, if this does end up being the case and Capcom finally "got the balls" to do such a thing, five hours after the game hits store shelves people will start bitching about that too. I hate to say it, but most RE fans are inconsolable whining bitches that will never be happy with what Capcom does. Ever. Even if it's what they wanted to happen. XD

[Smiley]

Exactly. Expendable characters will never get much merit from actual supporting cast. The ones that do die are generally introduced in the game they come out on, and in some cases are looking for redemption/putting their lives on the line to save others. Like Luis and Mikhail.

[Det. Beauregard]

And while [Sherry's] grown up from the last time we saw her, Capcom spared no expense to make her as attractive and appealing as they have with the other girls of this series. No doubt the next generation of fans will find her as a sexy protagonist as the last ones did for Claire and Jill before her.

Why wouldn't they make her attractive? Main female characters are rarely unattractive in games, as it is simply bad marketing. This goes for male characters, too, but there's a bit more leeway there since the demographic these kinds of games are marketed towards are generally younger males.

As to why we see Leon and Chris in more stories than Jill and Claire I cannot say for certain. I speculate that despite being older they have a hardened appeal in the action genre than older women. I would still thoroughly enjoy new adventures with Claire and Jill despite being in their thirties. We've seen a lot of good female action heroes from Ripley to Sarah Conner to know that a horror/sci-fi genre can make due in that department. But alas we can only look at these characters having stories made for them taking place before the next sequel. Case in point is the last time we saw Claire and Jill in new adventures were stories taking place before RE5 in Degeneration and Revelations.

In the older games they used the female leads just as much as the males. But as Resident Evil has headed more in the action direction and subtracted much of the horror, it seems that many younger gamers (mostly males) have been attracted to the series for its visual effects, constant gun play, explosions, and "epic stories, bro." These younger male gamers want to see young (early 20s) attractive females in their games, not "old" women like Jill and Claire. Even though these two are in their 30s, that's far older than what the demographic Capcom is catering to want to see. It also probably has to do with how much the Japanese culture values youthfulness (even more so than the West, it would seem).

I'm willing to bet that this is why Jill's face has changed a ridiculous amount of times since RE5; Capcom probably thought that she looked too old. So in Revelations you have a completely different looking Jill, who, while around 31 at the time, looked like she was in her early-to-mid 20s. And don't forget M3D Jill, who looked like a clown whose plastic surgery went awry.

If the rumors about this Claire game are true, I fully expect to see a Claire that none of us would recognize (as opposed to her excellent Darkside Chronicles model aged to around 33).

So here's what I'd like to ask THIA: Are we prepared for more new characters? Of the cast that we already have who should come back and more importantly who should star in later games? Do we need more side adventures or main numbered titles?

I don't mind new characters as long as they are presented well. Helena and Piers, for example, seem quite interesting, even though we know next to nothing about them. Jake, on the other hand, is designed to look like a generic shaved-head "don't give a shit" protagonist, so right off the bat I don't like him. The gaming world needs less of these bro-types and more unique characters.

The new characters in RE4 were okay, since much of the game had a light, comedic atmosphere to it. I liked Luis a lot, for example, and even annoying villains like Salazar had their place. But in RE5, none of the new characters captured my attention at all (aside from Josh, who, while average compared to characters from the past, was kind of cool). They were bland, uninteresting, and completely out of place (Irving and Excella, anyone?)

I love seeing people bitch about how [insert character here] hasn't returned since [insert game here]. Most of the side characters fulfilled their roles and should never be seen again, as it wouldn't make any sense. They most likely went on to live normal lives, and tried to put all the horrible shit that happened to them behind them. From the late 90s/early 2000s, it became quite evident that the main characters of this series were Chris, Jill, Leon, Claire, Ada, and Wesker. Some may argue that Rebecca is a main character, but she was really just a means to explain the pre-mansion incident and to flesh out the S.T.A.R.S. team a little bit more (she became irrelevant after the incident).

However, the problem with using the same characters over and over again is that it sets the games up to be less horror-based and more action-packed. Aside from Claire, these characters aren't going to be caught off-guard anymore; they're too experienced with their BSAA toys and whatnot. I suppose it would be possible to have a situation where the main character doesn't have access to boatloads of powerful weapons or ridiculous melee moves, but we all know that Capcom isn't going to let that happen with their current "chase the COD crowd" mindset.

I don't like the way the series has gone since RE5 with the BSAA storyline. I do think it was inevitable that an anti-biohazard task force was assembled, but it has given the games a much more militaristic vibe which I don't care for. They've become more about completing missions and objectives than simply being stuck in a bad situation and trying to escape. Where's the sense of horror when you're being inserted as part of a heavily-armed team? It also focuses much more heavily on Chris and Jill, who I have always considered inferior to Leon and Claire.

Finally, I would rather see more side adventures at this point, since it's clear that the main series has become nothing more than a linear shooting gallery.

[Smiley]

I explain the answer to your first question after I followed the sentence you highlighted.

And on the subject of main characters I feel mixed. Sure, as far as leads go Chris and Jill have their campaign, and Claire and Leon have their scenarios. But the series is generated with a mostly male list of characters. There's a good portion of women, but not as many. In the earlier games there seemed to be more prominent female "player" characters than actual male ones. Whether this was designed to make the situation scarier or not I can't say. But RE1 also made Rebecca playable where as Barry was not. In RE2 Leon was the male player character in the campaigns while Claire, Ada and Sherry were the other three. In RE3 you played as Jill more than Carlos. In Code Veronica you played as Claire more than Steve and Chris.

Recently, they've taken a close enough approach with Revelations, but unlike the former examples Jill is the only playable female in her campaign while the other three are male characters. Chris, Keith and Parker.

[Darkmoon]

Hey.... Humans' lives don't compare to insects' lives. You [probably] didn't complain when Leon fell in love with Ada Wong after spending around five minutes with her. XD

No, I really, really do. RE2 is my favorite Resident Evil, but that was still a stupid sub-plot.

The way I see it, I think Capcom is finally going to do something drastic this time around. I seriously get the feeling that Chris is going to bite the big one in this title, or has some form of brain injury that will cause him to die in the near future (from that gnarly head trauma seen in the trailer). Of course, if this does end up being the case and Capcom finally "got the balls" to do such a thing, five hours after the game hits store shelves people will start bitching about that too. I hate to say it, but most RE fans are inconsolable whining bitches that will never be happy with what Capcom does. Ever. Even if it's what they wanted to happen. XD

True, some people won't be happy. But frankly, I'd like to see anything go wrong for a main character. I was quite disappointed that RE5's live action trailers were non-canon, since it showed what should be happening to someone whose gone through the crap Chris has. At this point the main cast are pretty much super human. Kill hundreds of creatures that were once innocent humans, rescue old friend whose been held prisoner for two years and hideously abused after seeing the state she (and her suit) are in, have a love interest betray, get infected and cure yourself, go home and have some waffles, head out to next mission.

[Grem]

RE2 is my favorite Resident Evil, but that was still a stupid sub-plot

I liked that sub-plot. I don't get why so many people find this stupid. Leon and Ada are in an extraordinary situation and that's probably why their feelings are increased. Also, even if in the game per say they spend some minutes together, they are meant to spend several hours in reality.

I seriously get the feeling that Chris is going to bite the big one in this title, or has some form of brain injury that will cause him to die in the near future

It's possible, but I don't think so. I think that Capcom wants us to believe that Chris could die, but he will probably find a way to escape death towards the end of the game (perhaps thanks to Jake). But I get the feeling that it's Chris' last mission, anyway. They clearly hinted at Piers eventually replacing Chris as leader of the BSAA on their official profiles.

[Mrox2]

I liked that sub-plot. I don't get why so many people find this stupid. Leon and Ada are in an extraordinary situation and that's probably why their feelings are increased. Also, even if in the game per say they spend some minutes together, they are meant to spend several hours in reality.

I loved that , one of the things that made me love RE2 , is the Romantic Drama between Leon and Ada <3 Very Well done.
Why hate it ? This is life in reality , Leon found his love woman and so Ada did ....

[CrimsonElder]

I was sort of up for Chris dying until I realised this could be his last mission. I would kind of feel bad for the guy if he died now, its abit late he should be allowed to retire. Poor guy deserves some peace. Think I'd rather see Leon go tbh. Definatley dont want Jake sticking around. If Leon and Chris die then RE7 could be just Jake and that means a pure beat em up game.

[Mr. Spencer]

I'm afraid I fall in with the 'Chris should die' crowd. But it must be a heroic death, an act of self-sacrifice for which he will be always remembered.

Meanwhile, Leon must shuffle through life as a shameful coward.

[Darkmoon]

I liked that sub-plot. I don't get why so many people find this stupid. Leon and Ada are in an extraordinary situation and that's probably why their feelings are increased. Also, even if in the game per say they spend some minutes together, they are meant to spend several hours in reality.

Because how many people fall in love in hours? It's true, people in high stress situations have a desire to be intimate but, and this is important, they wanna fuck like bunnies; they aren't in love. Being attracted is one thing, but that was silly. Not to mention Ada was lying to him the whole time about...well, everything most likely.

[News Bot]

Because how many people fall in love in hours? It's true, people in high stress situations have a desire to be intimate but, and this is important, they wanna fuck like bunnies; they aren't in love. Being attracted is one thing, but that was silly. Not to mention Ada was lying to him the whole time about...well, everything most likely.

To be fair, it happens for two reasons officially:

1) Leon is a sucker for pussy.
2) Ada is attracted to his single-minded devotion to putting himself in harm's way for others (she is later attracted to Luis Sera's "humanity").

After the game, they both shrug off their feelings. It's difficult to tell where they both stand on it now, but they don't love each other.