Mythological and Religious References in RE9
Inspiration drawn from mythology, folklore, and biblical narrative has always been an integral part of Resident Evil’s subtle storytelling, and RE9 is no exception. This time around, Capcom blended Greek mythology with biblical themes in the final chapter, utilizing Elpis, the ARK laboratory, and Spencer.
Spencer acknowledges that his research opened Pandora's box, dooming the world to war, corruption, and destruction. Therefore, he names his latest development quite symbolically: Elpis. For those familiar with the original myth, this name may already be a fairly obvious hint at Elpis's true nature. However, this proves sufficient to fool the Connections into believing it is a powerful mind-control virus, when in fact, it is a cure for the T-virus.
"Elpis" is the name taken from the myth of Pandora, where all evil escaped into the world, leaving only Hope behind.
At the end of the myth, Epimetheus and Pandora open the box a second time, whereupon Hope flies out, possessing the power to heal certain diseases and sorrows. Even though Pandora released suffering and grief, she also unleashed Hope, and that changed the world forever.
In the game, Grace assumes the role of Pandora. She is meant to come to ARK, open the "box" once more, and release "hope" into the world.
It sounds terribly poetic and beautiful. So, did Spencer truly regret what he had done and want to fix his mistakes?
In my previous post, I mentioned that Spencer's actions hardly look like redemption. I'd like to elaborate on that thought here.
The True Purpose of the ARK Laboratory and Spencer's Grand Design
Didn't it bother you that there were only a handful of Elpis injectors left at the end? If Spencer genuinely wanted to redeem himself and give the world an antivirus, why make so little of it?
Beyond references to Greek mythology, the game features clear biblical motifs—at least in the narrative version that existed before the script was heavily butchered.
So, what do we have? The ARK laboratory, controlled and managed by an artificial intelligence system named N0-AH (Noah). Right...
Also, in Spencer's notes, you can find the following phrase:
The mutated strains of the T-Virus will likely sweep the world, and total eradication will be impossible.
Which is precisely what happens in the game. We are shown that even the 10% of immune individuals are still susceptible to infection. The virus in their bodies eventually activates and manifests as Raccoon City Syndrome. Thus, everyone who previously came into contact with the T-virus will die sooner or later. And as Spencer predicts, the virus will continue to spread uncontrollably until all of humanity dies out.
By the way, one of the game's early titles was "Apocalypse."
So, Spencer feared that the T-virus would spread across the world (like a flood), so he created a vaccine against it. But he produced it in limited quantities. Apparently, only for himself and his inner circle – a handful of chosen individuals meant to survive the "flood" on the "Ark". Because not everyone wants to die in a zombie apocalypse.
But then everything went downhill. But then everything went down the drain, former colleagues and like-minded people turned out to be traitors who started usurping his life's work. So, Spencer acted on the principle of: "If I can't have it, nobody can."
He hid Elpis in the Ark laboratory – not to save humanity, but to deceive and take revenge on The Connections. Being an arrogant god, he wasn't about to let others play around with his creation.
And while we're discussing the biblical references, it would be a sin not to say a few words about Victor.
At first, I didn't get why the guy was a snake if it wasn't even properly used in the game. He was supposed to transform into a snake-like monster during a boss fight, but that was cut. All that's left are the rings, the snake coat, and the forked tongue. It looks cool, but what's the point?
A snake can refer to the Rod of Asclepius, which is tied to medicine and pharmaceuticals. But within the context of biblical references, the reason for so much serpentine symbolism in his character becomes clear.
Victor is the Tempter Snake. He offers both protagonists secret knowledge: "Would you like to see what’s hidden under the hood?" to Grace. And he does something similar with Leon: " Psst-psst-psst, do you want to know about your disease?"
But Leon stoically resists and doesn't give in. Grace, on the other hand, is ultimately tempted (just like Eve) and follows him to Raccoon City.
Furthermore, the biblical serpent is also associated with Lucifer. During the Middle Ages, that name became permanently associated with the fallen angel who, according to theologians, took the form of a serpent in Eden.
Now take a look at this wing:
In his mutated form, he also has a wing with something resembling feathers.
An angel stripped of one wing, cast down from heaven to earth for deeming himself equal to God. Gideon wanted to trigger an apocalyptic reset and rule the world in place of his deceased master. But he flew too close to his dream and plummeted from the height of his ambition straight to the bottom of the Ark, where he met his demise.
origamiaround
areudirty
ellievsbear
amandla
yousharknotpass
2087
