(Spoilers for RE9 under the cut, tw for discussion of sexual assault and rape)
I've had a post like this in my drafts for over a week now, ever since I saw the scene for the first time, but I've had to rewrite this post numerous times to try to reign in a lot of my feelings. And I want to make it clear before I get into all of this that this post is not intended to shame or scold anyone, rather it's intended to be an analysis of the scene.
Admittedly, I was taken by surprise by a lot of the reactions to this scene. From the moment the scene leaked, it made me immediately uncomfortable, because that is what the scene was intended to do. RE is a survival horror series, so seeing Leon get taken out so quickly and then assaulted by the villain had my skin crawling. That said, it seems this did not have the same effect for a number of people and I've seen a variety of reactions to this scene ranging from people saying they wish they were Viktor to people arguing Leon "must've liked it" because he "didn't immediately fight back," which was a bit unsettling to me, because although I think anyone with eyes can agree Leon's a very attractive character, I don't find pleasure in watching him be assaulted. I don't wish I was the one doing that assault.
But I also don't think that people are saying this with malicious intent, rather I think a lot of people's understanding of what sexual assault is is limited to rape and other more "obvious," forms. Sexual assault is an umbrella term for a variety of non-consensual encounters, but all of it hinges on the non-consensual sexualized contact or behavior meant to assert power through bodily violation, which is what happened in this scene. But I think a lot of the confusion here is because it isn't as blatantly obvious as it's often portrayed in media-- Viktor wasn't groping Leon's ass, he wasn't talking about wanting to have sex with Leon, he didn't fully undress Leon, but the way he touches Leon communicates a possesive and somewhat sexual intent.
You have to understand some background info about Viktor to fully understand why this scene was as creepy as it is. Viktor's a doctor who's been working with Umbrella, and he's been essentially trafficking people at that Care Center and doing illegal and unethical experiments on them. He is, for lack of a better term, a very sick and twisted individual. But he's also a stalker, and he has an obsession with watching people. Right off the bat we're made aware of this in the game, as he decides to toy with Grace in the Wrenwood Hotel by luring her to a room where pictures of her-- including her as a minor-- are spread out on the bed. Viktor had been stalking Grace (and Alyssa), taking pictures of her and as we later learn, collecting her DNA for years.
And similarly, he seems to have some sort of vested interest in Leon even outside of Leon potentially interfering with his plan for Grace. Viktor's still a freak with the cameras, and he's been watching Leon through the camera from the moment Leon arrived. And as soon as he's able to, he immediately separates Leon from Grace and moves in on Leon. He corners Leon in the hall and tells him it's "so nice to finally meet him," before he grabs Leon by the throat and proceeds to choke Leon unconscious while whispering in Leon's ear, before mockingly telling Leon to shush.
While Leon is unconscious (for several hours, mind you) Viktor searches Leon for weapons and takes off Leon's coat. And we don't know the exact details of what happened since it obviously isn't shown, but a stalker who already has some fucked up fascination with Leon knocking him out and then taking some of his clothes off to strip him of his weapons is creepy as hell. He also goes through the effort of setting up a nice neat little torture center for Leon-- note the staged light, the plastic tarp in the background, all the tools set up on the cart, etc.
When Leon first comes too, he's a little snarky. He's staring Viktor down and makes a smart-ass comment about hoping it's the silent treatment, and Viktor seems to revel in that because Leon isn't outwardly displaying any sort of fear towards him, and that's what Viktor wants, he wants to "put Leon in his place," and make him afraid. But I also find it quite telling the way he asks if Leon came here for him or for Grace-- the voice actor did an amazing job here because the way the line is deliveried implies that Viktor feels a little... jealous at the prospect that Leon wasn't here for him and him specifically-- so again, its highlighting his weird fascination and fixation on Leon. He also continues that theme of the faux-concern or faux-care, talking gently to Leon like they're lovers having a conversation rather than him being about to assault Leon.
But I also want to highlight the change in Leon's demeanor throughout their interactions. Even when Viktor corners Leon in the hallway, Leon's quite confident. And once Leon comes to and Viktor starts on his creepy ass speech, Leon's glaring Viktor down-- he's not afraid (at least not outwardly expressing that) and he's staring Viktor down with confidence. And Viktor's "...right..." indicates he's frusterated by Leon's lack of fear and the fact that Leon isn't talking to him. He wants to provoke Leon, he wants to make Leon scared, he wants to get a reaction out of Leon and rial him up. But he also knows Leon's a trained agent, so he turns up the creepy factor to get under Leon's skin-- both literally and figuratively.
But as soon as Viktor picks up that scalpel and starts walking where Leon can't see him, shit gets serious, and Leon seems to know at that point that he's in trouble. Its not the first time Leon's been knocked out, tied up, and woken up without his jacket or his weapons (4R), but this isn't just a standard torture and interrogation scene either. Leon grimaces and then lets out a breath, straightening his posture and trying to keep himself still. As a trained agnet, Leon's undoubtely been through "what to do if the enemy tries to torture you for information" training so it's clear he's trying not to give Viktor the reaction he wants, but as we see, Leon's only human.
And that brings us to the most talked about part of this whole sequence: when Viktor brushes Leon’s bangs back and caresses his cheek. That gesture is intimate. It is slow, deliberate, and entirely unnecessary for torture. The combination of a blade in hand, Leon being tied up, and tender mimicry creates a dynamic that mirrors coercive sexual aggression-- he's letting Leon know that he can do whatever he wants to Leon. It's clear that even though Leon's not outwardly freaking out, the gesture still unsettles him. He holds very still, his jaw tightens and he stares off into the distance, refuses to even look at Viktor like he did before.
But I think the most striking part about all this touching is just how unecessary it is and the way Viktor does it. If he wanted to kill Leon, he had more than enough oppertunities to do so, but he doesn't because he wants to fuck with Leon on a psychological level-- the same reason he plants the 'Welcome Leon' sign and the 'you can't save anyone' card later on. He clearly knows Leon and is playing on Leon's percieved weakness or insecurities. So he's not touching Leon rough, he's not just messing with Leon's hair or touching him, he's petting Leon and whispering too him "sweetly" and every gesture is slow and intimate because it makes it that much more unsettling-- especially the way he moves his fingers when he's touching Leon's neck.
And Leon managed to sit through all of this and stay outwardly calm until the creepy ass neck fondle and the way Viktor bent down and put his face near Leon's to whisper in his ear again, because that is when Leon snaps and comments on Viktor's breathe... which pisses Viktor off so he slices the part of Leon's neck he was just fondling.
And once Leon frees himself, he gets to kick Viktor in the balls and in the face, but interestingly enough, Leon seems to kinda flounder here, and I think he was a bit more worked up than he portrayed himself to be. In other words, I think he was scared, but he was hiding it well. Because Leon didn't take Viktor down-- even with the strong kicks, it stunned Viktor, but if Viktor wanted to, he could've easily grabbed Leon again because Leon stumbles backward with his hand over his neck and crashes into the card, leaning over it trying to grab the gun. And at first I just thought this was because of the cut since he did cut Leon's neck, but upon closer examination, that cut was pretty shallow.
Viktor didn't hit a vein or an artery or cause any sort of major damage where Leon would be stumbling around woozy from blood loss. And we know its not 'cause of the infection since we see Leon stumble around delirious because of that later in the game when it progresses to stage 3. So that leaves either Leon still being a little out of it because he'd been recently choked out or it was more psychological, and I'm leaning toward a bit of both. Having only been conscious for a few moments probably impacted his movements, but blindly turning away from the guy who was just torturing you while he's still conscious and in the room with you is leaving yourself wide open for an attack-- that's a mistake. And I think part of the freak-out was because Leon didn't have any weapons, and he knew he couldn't physically beat Viktor because Viktor is signficiantly taller and stronger than him, so when Leon spots that gun, he desperately lunges for it and crashes into the cart clumsily in the process with his back turned on Viktor. It takes Leon a hot second to turn around again, in which Viktor would've had amble oppertunities to grab him and do whatever.
But it also begs the question, had Leon not gotten away when he did, what else was Viktor planning on doing? He goes from choking Leon out while whispering in his ear to playing with Leon's hair to rubbing Leon's neck and his shoulder, getting more and more bold as he went. So had Leon not freed himself and very pointedly kicked Viktor in the balls, it's quite possible things could've escalated further because the previous details suggest that was probably the direction this was going. If he's willing to play with Leon's hair and touch his cheek and pet his neck and rub Leon's shoulder while smiling and whispering in Leon's ear, I don't think he'd have any qualms about groping Leon or raping him either. It seems like Leon suspected as much too, or at least that feels implied based on his comment about how he's glad Grace got away.
Subtle Hallowise/Deadshine inspired tattoo doodle!! The curved lines are Penns makeup, and the sharp things on the side are teeth, plus Dickys shine and the deadlights
Some people haven’t been blaming Ingrid and the racist white men in Derry enough for me. I’ve been seeing posts where people have been expressing their dislike for Hank, Will and Ronnie, even going as far as to blame them for the tragedy at The Black Spot. How are they to blame and not the racist assholes that locked innocent people, including children, in the building, then proceeded to shoot at and throw Molotov cocktails through the windows of said building? Pennywise came and killed people but not everyone that died was killed by him. Innocent men and women, including Halloranns friends were killed by humans. Rich ‘Knight in Shining Armor’ Santos was killed by humans. Even the argument that Rich wouldn’t have died if Ronnie wasn’t being “stubborn” is bs. He and everyone else would be alive if those men didn’t come to The Black Spot to kill and they always planned to kill everyone because they had those chains and Molotov cocktails ready and told that white girl to leave. Even if they let them take Hank, the massacre would’ve still happened because they wanted to “punish” them for hiding Hank.
And how did they know that Hank was at The Black Spot? Because Ingrid told them. She knew that those men would respond with violence and that the chaos and fear that ensued would lure Pennywise. Yeah, the same Ingrid that literally fed children to a monster. Thinking that her father was possessed is no excuse for the children she sacrificed. I see people getting on Ronnie and calling her annoying because her main concern is her father, which yeah no shit she’s scared. Her father was accused of a crime he didn’t commit. She and her father are black in America in the 1960s. Hell if they were living in 2025 she’d still have the right to be scared for her dad. People are constantly posting about hoping Ronnie dies but where is that energy for Ingrid? Like many white women in her time and even now, she weaponized white mens racism for her own benefit.
And to the people saying that others are “making it a race thing”, in the words of Dick Hallorann “GET THE FUCK OUTTA HERE WITH THAT!” Racism has been a major topic in the show since that soldier didn’t want to salute to Major Hanlon in the first episode. There wouldn’t have been a need for The Black Spot if Hallorann and his friends weren’t made to feel unwelcome at the only bar in town. The Galloo wouldn’t have gotten stronger if the colonizers never came, stole land, obviously committed violent acts against the indigenous people and ignored their warnings not to hunt in the Western Wood. Like be so fucking for real 😒 I’m all for enjoying media until people ignore the obvious problems that the creators of said media are trying to show you.
With all the love and fun times the IT community has given, I’d like to give something back in my own twisted way, so here’s some fanart of Pennywise <3
turnnoffyourmind
origamiaround
pixelskylines
stormborns
gummygunk
titsay
areudirty
