This is no ritual; it's terrorism

the artist formerly known as sapphire-weapon meta analysis and fanfiction writing

[agonycrossbow]

Tags Directory

For anything you might want to find.

Resident Evil

General

#OG RE analysis 

#RE canon reference

#RE development history

#RE shitposts 

#remake RE analysis

#resident evil fandom commentary

#resident evil headcanons 

#resident evil meta  

Characters

#ada characterization

#ashley characterization

#chris headcanons

#leon characterization

#leon headcanons

#leon's hair is fucking brown

Ships

#aeon analysis

#chreon analysis

#cleon headcanons 

#eagleone analysis

#eagleone headcanons

#metaltango analysis

#serrennedy analysis  

#weskada analysis

Screencaps/Fanart/Gifsets

#chreon fanart

#cleon fanart 

#cleon photosets  

#eagleone fanart

#eagleone photosets  

#fairytale mod

#RE art

#RE gifs 

Writing

#character arcs

#story themes

#writing reference

[agonycrossbow]

pokes head in

what if i just subtly started posting to this blog instead for a while

does anyone even remember that i'm here

[corukant]

leon’s never losing the rookie card 😔🤚

[bealuant]

My obsession

[biohazard-4ever]

When did Leon went from: "My mission is to rescue the president's daughter" to "I want to protect Ashley and I will do anything to keep her safe"?

Because, especially in the resident Evil 4 Remake, we can see that their dynamic by the end is of "two people surviving together". They became Partners.

At some point, protecting Ashley became Leon's want -, not just his "job"

Let us admit, most people would just call for Back Up and go like: "Yep, she is beyond our help, sir. Nothing we can do" but, at some point, not giving up on Ashley was Leon's choice. And the president KNOWS that -, he even shows to adore and thanks Leon countless of times during the Infinite Darkness series. Showing genuine gratitude for Leon.

I would love for AshleyxLeon shippers to find out and pin the moment that Leon was not just "doing his job" but was just being Leon, and genuinely caring for Ashley.

[agonycrossbow]

You may not realize it, but this is actually two different questions that have two different answers.

It stopped being about his job as soon as he learned about Ashley's (and his) plaga.

It became about Ashley after the Mendez fight, when she helps him to his feet and he smiles at her for the first time.

Let me explain.

When Luis told Leon and Ashley about las plagas, Leon had a very important decision to make: he could accept Luis's help OR he could turn him down, stand by and wait for extraction, and take his chances with US government and military doctors in hopes that they'll figure out what Luis claims to already know.

By all rights, Leon should've told Luis to piss off and put his faith in the military. Any other agent would have. It only makes sense to trust American military intelligence to know what they're doing -- especially when the alternative is a shady-ass total stranger in a foreign country who was probably involved in some pretty sinister shit in the past and has already left Leon to die once.

In fact, Leon in particular should have made the decision to turn down Luis's offer and just bring Ashley home, considering his history with Umbrella. And, after all, his mission objective was to find Ashley and return her to the US. Nothing more than that.

But that's not what he does. Instead, Leon makes the conscious decision to ignore his mission objective and stay in Valdelobos longer than he rightfully should have in order to place his trust in a man that he has no reason to trust -- except for the fact that Leon knows, from personal experience, that the only people capable of cleaning up Umbrella's messes are Umbrella's own scientists. He saw how hard Annette fought to not let the G-virus spread past Raccoon City, and I'm sure that Claire told him about what happened with Sherry.

So, it stops being about his mission in that moment that Leon decides to disregard his orders and trust Luis. It stops being "just a job" right there, and it starts being about Leon's baggage about Raccoon City. Because not only does he deviate from his mission objective, he also does not report Ashley's infected status to Hunnigan at any point. Because he knows that if he does, he'll be ordered to stand down and await extraction -- to do nothing and wait for US doctors to look at Ashley -- and his hangups about RC can't handle the thought of doing that.

His desire to rid Ashley of las plagas becomes about Ashley herself as a person after the Mendez fight -- after the second time that she, instead of hiding and waiting for him, came back for him and saved his ass (the first time being the cabin). And not only does she come back for him, but she smiles at him and offers him her hand.

The sad reality is that this is probably the nicest that anyone has been to Leon in six years. Ashley shows, through her actions, that her concern for him isn't just born from the fact that he's her rescuer; she genuinely seems to care about him as a person, during a time in Leon's life when no one else does.

And after she extends her hand to him, he smiles at her for the first time. It's actually the first time in the whole game period that he smiles at all. And this is the point in the story where Leon's dialogue to her changes dramatically in tone.

Prior to the Mendez fight:

Ashley: What's... going to happen to me? Leon: Right now, let's just focus on getting out of here.

After the Mendez fight:

Ashley: I'm not going to turn into one of them, right? Leon: I won't let that happen. I promise.

Almost immediately after the Mendez fight, Leon starts playfully teasing Ashley. "Well, I wanted to go home, but Ashley just had to see this castle first." and "No, you can't keep him" re: the garrador and "What are you, my mother?"

And also in the immediate aftermath of the Mendez fight is the "The girl's just fine. With me." moment.

Like, this is really where Leon's focus changes from general anxiety about Umbrella and las plagas to Ashley's personal well-being. Ashley extending her hand to him isn't just an offer to help him up; it's symbolic of her reaching out to him as a person. And when he commits to taking her hand, it's symbolic of him opening his heart to her.

[bealuant]

Look at him like that

[knifefightandchill]

RESIDENT EVIL 4 (2005)

"So maybe you have nine lives. But it doesn't matter now Mr. Kennedy!"

[bleedingivorydraws]

sketch + color practice. He is difficult to draw. I tried.

[eyesofsix-deactivated20240531]

I think about re2 Leon a lot

[sapphire-weapon]

👻 monster symbolism anon here. That course sounds so cool!

That makes sense that they’re more homages. Like I didn’t entirely think the zombies represented anything but also sometimes coding or symbolism happens anyways. Sooo I figured that whether intentional or not, the zombies still end up representing the same fears they usually do.

But the bosses not having symbolism do make sense. I didn’t think there were any but horror is so steeped in it I thought I just must be missing it.

But the homage thing makes so much more sense considering Evelyn’s final form at the end of re7 is literally the final form of the demon in evil dead 2. It wasn’t even a subtle homage. I love that game because it’s basically an evil dead game. How did I forget that fact 😭

But as for eight I should replay that and look into the symbolism. My brain stops at classic horror archetypes.

We got Frankenstein, we got basically a ghost lady and a creepy doll, werewolves, the creature from the black lagoon, and a witch. Personally I like big lady Dracula and the three daughters, because technically speaking the three vampire ladies/the weird sisters, are never listed as his brides in the Dracula story. They’re just kinda there. And some people do actually think they’re his daughters or sisters. And then she gets to turn into a dragon because she lives in a castle and also Dracula kinda means son of the devil but also it can mean son of the dragon so really it all comes together. And then that’s where my brain stops.

Should have found a way to work a mummy and the phantom of the opera in there Capcom.

so i actually want to tag @friedesgreatscythe in this just because she knows a ton of japanese horror folklore, and the monsters in RE8 aren't just classic monsters.

the whole thing with the beneviento house probably was inspired by the history of japanese ghost marriages -- especially considering, you know. the doll is a bride.

i don't know a whole lot about it, but i do know that it is a thing LMAO to the best of my knowledge (and i could be wrong), this became a thing around the WW2 era when a lot of promised men went off to war and died. the marriage was still expected to happen to honor the promise to the family, but a doll would stand in for the bride in order to marry the deceased.

again, i'm not a super expert on this, and i really don't know RE8 well enough to go through a whole rundown of it in context, but. there's stuff at play in RE8 that goes way beyond classic monsters.

[godsfavouredprincess]

while i do think there's def validity to the ghost bride doll idea, the western (specifically victorian gothic) influence of RE8's monsters is just as present with possible japanese inspiration, IMO. it's similar to how fatal frame 4 combined western psychological "care" with japanese culture, predominately the spiritual ways to exorcise or cleanse illnesses (see: sakuya having what i imagine to be some kind of excited catatonia that is treated with a kaguya ritual dance, as well as extreme isolation and one-on-one care in the hospice). note that in fatal frame 4, a doll was also heavily significant to two characters as a way of connecting them (to the point where the doll not only attained spiritual sentience, but corruption/malice due to that same connection).

that being said, lady d's appearance alone is a blatant yokai reference, specifically the taka onna--the tall woman. she exists in fatal frame 5 as well (and also has a jaunty little hat!). taka onna feed off of desire, so it doesn't really surprise me that they'd combine that idea with a vampire, specifically a female vampire.

if you'd like to read more about the aforementioned doll brides and ghost marriage, this site has information on that and on the presence of death in japanese culture in general. also consider the possibility that the doll was inspired by another yokai, the hinnagami.

Hinnagami come with a catch: if a new request is not made as soon as a wish is granted, the hinnagami will demand, “What is next?” As soon as that request is fulfilled, the hinnagami demands another, and another, and another. This pattern never ends. Because their creation comes out of human greed and desire, hinnagami cling to their creators obsessively and never leave their sides.

tired of links yet? well sorry because here's another one: mourning dolls, made to look like a deceased child, were popular during the victorian era.

Families would often display the effigies of their lost infant during their wake and then lay the dolls on their grave, following their burial.  However, in rare circumstances, the family would take the doll home with them following the burial, leaving the mourning doll to rest in the infant's crib, changing it, and caring for it as one might an actual child. 

RE8's victorian horror aesthetic is obvious, but i think it goes beyond just how it looks and feels and enters into conceptual themes. it's like bloodborne: a combination of western horror, japanese folklore and culture, and the way concepts of defilement and blessing are treated in both (see: catholicism's almost vampiric fixation on blood and flesh as a means of transubstantiation and absolution, and shinto beliefs of defilement, corruption, impurity). however, without having looked much into the creative process of RE8, i can't say for certain these ideas are deliberate, yet going off what i studied for my major in college (bachelor's in english lit and japanese studies baybeee), i'd say these could very easily work as inspirations--especially since victorian gothic traditions and japanese folklore dovetail quite nicely when it comes to the sublime horror of death and life.

[inheaven-mad]

Resident Evil 6

[dannyrebib]

[siruerto]

you got this rookie

[bealuant]

2/2

Прикасаться друг к другу с жадностью для них в порядке вещей.

[agonycrossbow]

My bad bestie you're right

<3

[agonycrossbow]

Bc you made it sound like he drops ppl from his past when he meets someone new or they become more important to him, when in reality they all have a bond and the only ppl who disappear from his life are krauser and ashley

I was talking about windows in which I ship Leon romantically with people.

You're talking about friendships.

We're not having the same conversation.

[agonycrossbow]

I think just bc Leon forms a bond with someone, it doesn't in any way diminish his bond with other people in his life. Or don't you have lifelong friendships? Do you stop talking to them or care for them less when you make a new friend?

Why are you asking me this when I just wrote a huge post about this very point last night?