trivard676
It’s not that I don’t like Resident Evil‘s leading lady, Jill Valentine. On the contrary. I actually find her to be a strong female protagonist, particularly in an industry oversaturated with bros with big arms and chicks with big breasts and little else…save for maybe a huge ass. And jiggle physics. I have a lot of respect for Capcom for not turning Jill Valentine into yet another women in gaming trope and actually keeping her a strong, competent character that could get the job done just as well as a male lead could. However as much as I like Jill Valentine as a character, as much as I respect Capcom for keeping her a strong female lead…I can’t help but think that things would have turned out better if Jill would have died in Resident Evil 5.
Before you throw my corpse into the river, please allow me to explain. I’d touched on this briefly in a previous article on building strong video game protagonists. One of the ideas that I had was to make survival horror protagonists more relatable, more human. They can stomp on zombie heads and fly around shooting from helicopters all well and fine, but what would make them a little more deep and realistic is if they were subject to the same things you and I are. One of those things being death.
I for one didn’t exactly enjoy the whole brainwashing thing in Resident Evil 5. It was a weak plot device used to drive a pretty weak story arc between Jill and Wesker, not to mention an obnoxious battle overall. The fact that Jill was captured, her hair dyed (I know there are other reasons behind it), tested upon and then suddenly placed under mind control to serve Wesker in his evil deeds just seems…weak, even for some Resident Evil story arcs. Forget the fact that we learn about this through a few small cutscenes, and that it was probably the worst kept secret the game had to offer, that Jill was still alive.
So when we finally learn what actually happened to Jill to put her in this position, it seemed pretty damned epic, that she would sacrifice herself to save Chris, her “partner,” her “friend,” and take down Wesker at the same time. I mean sacrificing your own life for the sake of another is a pretty big one. Especially given the circumstances. Wesker was about to choke Chris out and all of a sudden Jill comes flying towards him and they both topple out the window. If Jill would have died in that effort, her sacrifice would have been all the more meaningful. Since she didn’t die, it felt as if there was nothing gained, nothing lost. Sure, Chris didn’t see her in a few years, but…honestly? Who cares? There were no games set during that period before RE5 where Jill was MIA. No period of mourning except for brief instances in RE5 where Chris was struggling with grief. There was, as Rourke had put it in a conversation, an illusion of change, but no real change.
Even if Wesker ended up surviving and Jill had still died, it would have been pretty deep. Her efforts were in vain, because the son-of-a-bitch lived anyway. She would have still actually died a hero. If we got through the sequences of Resident Evil 5 and Chris discovered that Jill was actually dead it would have encapsulated that whole moving on point that Capcom tried to portray with RE5 perfectly. That Jill was really gone – Chris was simply chasing a ghost, Wesker was gone, and it was time to move forward.
However, it also could have played out another way, too. Let’s say the story remains the same, that Jill and Wesker flew out the window and Wesker saved Jill’s life, brainwashed her and used her for testing purposes. With that brainwashing…device, how long until her mind had no ability to think for herself. After all, how long was she actually being controlled? How long until her thought processes were completely taken over by this device attached to her chest? If it was removed the way it was, it could have left her a hollow shell of what she once was. Or worse yet, she might not have ever gone back to her old BOW-fighting ways.
What if she remained evil forever?
Would Chris have let old emotions cloud his judgment and let her live?
Would she have taken the throne of series antagonist?
In my humble opinion, Jill as series main bad-guy, having been brainwashed by Wesker would be a far more…awesome conclusion to Resident Evil 5. Revelations would still have its place, as could thousands of other BSAA mission style games, if they took place before Jill’s disappearance. Hell, I think it would be interesting to play a couple of BSAA missions with some simple stories and old survival horror game play. That’d be great! So…if you’re looking for any ideas, Capcom…
