Devoted to my ramblings, projects and love of weird horror books and psychological horror games. Occasional posts about current events, ecology and animals
Chris sees himself in Piers, but also sees himself beginning to become Wesker at the same time.
Let me explain.
It's no secret that Resident Evil 6 spent a lot of time giving us plenty of throwbacks to the events of Raccoon City from Jake and Sherry's campaign showing these two make amends for the mistakes of their parents and prove they're more than the reputations of their fathers. To Leon's campaign where Tall Oaks is a painful reminder of the hell he had to endure in Raccoon City all over again.
Then we get to Chris' campaign. Seemingly unrelated at first but then when you look at it from a slightly different angle, not so much. Chris' struggle throughout RE6 is reminiscent of Albert Wesker and the Spencer Mansion incident. Captain Chris Redfield of Alpha team was indirectly responsible for the loss of his first team due to unfortunate circumstances beyond his control. (RE0 with Albert unaware but standing by regardless as Bravo team gets ambushed and most members are killed).
He then abandons his organization (not intentionally, due to his traumatic amnesia) only to be drawn back into the same fight with a new team. Now blinded by an entirely new and selfish goal. He is dismissive towards his new team's struggles at first, often leaving them to handle the brunt of the fight on their own (like Wesker did to Alpha team in the Mansion) while he obsesses selfishly over his goal for vengeance against Ada.
Just like in Leon's campaign, it's not an exactly alignment to what happened back in 1998, but it does carry notes of similarities in how the events are played out and the roles they carry now. With Leon, he sort of becomes a more successful version of Lieutenant Marvin Branagh, as he comes to the aid of a rookie cop struggling to defend civilians on his first day. He gives the group some guidance and directs them on the best course of action to ensure their survival only for it to end in an inevitable failure. Just as it did in Raccoon City.
For Chris, it's only when his team has dwindled down to three (him, Piers and Marco) that he starts to really unravel like Wesker did towards the end, even confronting Piers with an ultimatum after Marco's death. He's steadfast in this mentality that his revenge, that HIS goal takes precedence over any of the lives he's already lost to this cause. Justifying their sacrifices as a means for the end. Just as Wesker did.
Piers is stubborn and loyal to Chris, just as Chris once was with Wesker. He loved him and respected him, hoping to find some way to shake this insanity out of the broken man in front of him. Just as Chris lunged forward in an attempt to save Wesker from the tyrant he unleashed himself, Piers lunged forward to save the man he believed could still be better than who he was before.
Chris had been betrayed and used by the man he once loved and admired, a man he considered a good friend.
Piers watched painfully as the man he loved and admired became someone entirely foreign right before his eyes, making senseless sacrifices for selfish reasons and he STILL believed Chris could change. That he could become better. That he could overcome this.
Chris watched Piers do for him, what he himself couldn't do for Wesker all those years ago. He watched himself begin to become the monster he swore he would never be.
He changed his fate, but he lost everything to do it. Piers' sacrifice, and Chris' own selfish goals had brought him back to the brink of that hellish place he had escaped fifteen years ago. Only instead of being a young promising soldier looking up to his beloved Captain, he had become the man he hated most.
His campaign in RE6 sort of became a "what if" possibility to some extent. Reminiscent enough of those traumatic events he (and Leon) had escaped all those years ago, only now they had to face the complexities of these scenarios from the roles of their former mentors. For Leon, it was seeing things from Marvin's side, and for Chris, it was walking in Wesker's shoes.
All info about why Wesker is not dead is now compiled in one place with new info.
Each chapter is important to the overall meaning, so don't skip a chapter.
1. Body
2. Cutscene detailing
3. End credits re5
4. Umbrella Corps
5. Suspicious mentions
6. Photo on the wall
7. Weapons
8. Conclusion
I think we should start with the most important fact on which all theories hold - his body. So first we will talk about the properties of Wesker's body.
Chapter 1. Body
Let's start with the infection. The virus in Wesker's body is a single virus called Prototype, which he got from Birkin. According to Birkin's note (Virus Memo from Umbrella Chronicles), Prototype must be injected a few minutes before the "envisioned contingency". This is an obvious hint that the virus only activates after an "envisioned contingency", i.e. after stress (physical). But let's answer the question, what is stress, scientifically speaking? That's right, stress is hormones. When a person is injured, their body releases cortisol, the stress hormone, adrenaline, and a host of others. It's these substances that activate the Prototype virus in the body.
When Wesker injected himself with this virus, he needed to receive any conditions of increased stress, in simple words - to cause the very "envisioned contingency", to increase the influence of the virus, helping the body to initiate synthesis. When Tyrant wounded him, Wesker went into anabiosis (according to Virus Memo), and the virus was instantly activated because the wounding caused a huge amount of hormones to be released into the bloodstream. Because of Wesker's original compatibility with the Prototype, he is the perfect host for the virus and the effect he got is the maximum of what the Prototype is capable of.
During his anabiosis, the virus regenerated tissues in Wesker's body, repairing his fatal injury, and continued to slowly alter his body, fusing and invading RNA into his. When Wesker woke up, he didn't have any special abilities at first, though his eyes could glow for a brief moment. The glow in his eyes is closely related to emotion (also hormones), but I'll talk about that later. He felt the lightness of his movements, felt that he could move faster than before (Umbrella Chronicles), because he didn't know what he was really capable of yet, and the virus hadn't had time to change his body completely (we can tell that from his eyes, which were still blue).
Three months after this event, Wesker was able to mutate permanently. His eyes are the only external evidence that the mutation is complete and the virus has changed his body (Code: Veronica).
He has gained a number of abilities: his speed, thanks to the improved structure of his body tissues, can now rival that of a bullet. When he moves quickly, it looks like teleportation to normal people, because the human eye can't keep track of such fast movement. His body is solid, making it painful to damage him in melee combat (in re5, Chris's fists hurt and his face contorts into a grimace after he punches Wesker in the face). His regeneration is capable of healing injuries of any severity. He also has increased strength, but its limits are unknown because Wesker hasn't used it on anything significant. However, he can punch through dense metal with his hand, as well as lift a heavy rocket.
And all of these abilities are closely related to hormones.
Remember how his eyes is glowing in Umbrella Chronicles when he got mad at the RED QUEEN? Now remember every battle against him in re5, as well as the Spencer death scene. Every time, before using the abilities, Wesker's eyes would glow. His eyes are the truest indicator of his emotions. If his eyes are glowing - he is annoyed about something, angry, and all these emotions are the result of hormones.
Hormones are not only the element that activated the virus inside Wesker in re1, but also the tool he uses to control his abilities.
Wesker, provoking his emotions, unconsciously causes bioluminescence in his eyes. By experiencing emotions and making his eyes glow because of it, he can change the density of his body, increase his speed, strength.
Further evidence of this is the scene where Excella pierces his skin with a needle and injects the serum without obstruction. Wesker is calm, his eyes are not glowing, his body density is normal. If he were angry - the needle would break against his skin.
And now we come to the most interesting part of this chapter... What happens if you piss him off to the max? Can he become even stronger than he was in re5? I won't keep you in suspense, the answer to these questions already exists officially - Lost in Nightmares (re5 DLC).
During the events of re5, Wesker's powers are restrained by two factors at once - he wants to test what Chris can do, so he deliberately restrains his powers, and he's also not angry, just annoyed. Because of these two factors, all the fights with him in re5 are only a fraction of what he is capable of.
But in Lost in Nightmares nothing holds him back, for here he is truly angry, he is enraged. He has learned the humiliating truth about himself and his life. And feeling unthinkable irritation that some decrepit old man has the nerve to do this to him and then proclaim his old body as God, Wesker can't contain his emotions. For 10 whole years of living with this power, he kept emotions under control and learned to control them so that his abilities were as effective as possible, which is why such a big shock removed all restrictions from his consciousness and everything that was being held back came out.
In a fight with him he would spare no one, any blow he threw could prove fatal. One simple push with his hand is a long stun. Missed a qte? You're dead. Even in a normal comparison, he's much stronger here than in re5. And that's thanks to the fact that his power is fueled by his anger and frustration, which is a huge amount of hormones.
In the final battle re5 (volcano), Wesker is very angry, but there's a factor that keeps him from using his powers the same way he did in Lost in Nightmares - it's the serum (PG67A/W). But what did this serum do to him? Did it take away his powers? No.
PG67A/W does not take away Wesker's powers, but instead stabilizes them (if administered under the right conditions, when the virus inside him destabilizes over time). If an excessive dose of PG67A/W is administered and causes an overdose, his body becomes severely stressed, as hinted by his headache. After an overdose of PG67A/W, his body tries to cope with the strain and his strength increases even more, making it hard to control. When Chris injected him with another extra dose of PG67A/W, his strength became impossible to control and he gave up speed altogether. This can be seen in the airplane fight: Wesker gradually loses the "grace" of his attacks, they become chaotic, and he loses the ability to move quickly, and with each "teleportation" his jerks become shorter and shorter, and eventually he loses control of this ability altogether.
However, his strength and regeneration aren't something need special control over, nor are they something can "just not use" like high speed. Those are his passive skills, if I may say so, but they too are made more effective by his emotions.
When Wesker impaled the rocket with his hand, he proved that he still had his strength. But strength alone is not enough to stab a rocket. Even the strongest man risks breaking his fingers if he tries to do the same. Wesker's body density is off the charts in this situation. He's so durable that this is the only battle where he can't be stunned (even with a rocket launcher).
He's incredibly angry, and he's also overdosed on Uroboros and all his previous powers are aggravated due to PG67A/W. In that situation, he's invulnerable. And if such a creature falls into the lava, its body density and regeneration won't allow the volcano's temperature to critically harm it.
At the end of re5, Wesker has all the conditions to survive.
Sorry for the lack of gifs with all the moments when Wesker's eyes start to glow… I felt lazy.
Chapter 2. Cutscene detailing
The cutscenes in re5 are incredibly dynamic and directed. The detailing is also their key element, which gives such an aesthetic effect to the overall picture. The game had enough budget to make the cutscenes top-notch, and the developers were up to the task. Or not?
Wesker is a character that is no small part of RE. Not only did he appear in re1, Code: Veronica, and re4, but he was also a major character in Umbrella Chronicles. He had a big impact on lore, other characters, and perhaps even helped boost the popularity of the franchise. If such an important character is destined to die at the end of re5, shouldn't he have a detailed cutscene showing his death? Nemesis had a death animation shown in re3 (1999), even Saddler had a death animation in re4 (2005). Even Sergei Vladimir had a death cutscene in Umbrella Chronicles (2007), but not Wesker in the 2009 game.
In the scene where his death, the final act of his life, is supposed to be shown, all the attention was given to rocket launchers. Don't you find that strange? And then the main characters fly away without even checking (at least from afar) if there will be any activity in the volcano after their shot or not. Isn't Chris used to the fact that after taking critical damage, his enemies can mutate a lot? Flying away like that right away is stupid.
I find the "understatement" in his "death" a brilliant decision - it's a bridge to the future that will serve as an excuse for "why he's alive" if they bring him back, or an excuse for "why he's dead" if Capcom doesn't want to use him again.
Now let's turn our attention to the death of Alex Wesker in Revelations 2:
Her death is final, which is why it has such a detailed cutscene. Her current consciousness is now in a new body (Natalia), so it's necessary to show that the old Alex is finished.
Chapter 3. End credits re5
Toward the end of the song in the credits, you can see a dark object appear below the surface of the water, slowly floating to the left. It's hard to see, so I brightened the video so everyone can see it.
This object appears to be shrouded in tentacles, and also floats from the side of the volcano where Wesker "died". There are no other creatures created with Uroboros in the vicinity. So it can't be anyone else but him.
It could be considered an official hint that he's alive.
Chapter 4. Umbrella Corps
The 2015 game (Umbrella Corps) contains straightforward hints that Wesker is alive. This game is officially declared canon, so ignore its poor ratings. Despite being a bad game, there is some good information in it, but not much at all. So...
The plot: the main character is an unnamed mercenary nicknamed 3A-7. He is part of the Umbrella Corps, a secret corps that belongs to Blue Umbrella, an organization that "reformed and got on the right path". Didn't it seem like a lie back in re7, right? The purpose of this corps is to search for bioweapon samples in quarantined areas that the BSAA has failed to sterilize well. The main character is involved in an operation called "The Experiment" but survives every step of the way due to his combat experience. The plot glimpses an unknown Corps Leader (Executive) who even his subordinates know nothing about. One man who sent 3A-7 on missions once wondered why this Executive was so feared, why he was so intimidating, and why he knew so much about the events in re4, as if he had been to that island himself. But only two men survived the events in re4 - Leon and Wesker. A male subordinate attempted to get the Executive's DNA, but disappeared in the process. He was killed for wanting to know the truth and was replaced by a woman who also knew nothing about her boss. At the end of the story, the main character survives even after the most difficult challenge and is contacted by this mysterious Executive and told that he has plans for 3A-7. The main character is voiced by D.C. Douglas, just like the Executive, whose voice can be heard in co-op mode at the end of the missions.
His phrases: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pe7LEaA7em8.
Wesker is also voiced by Douglas. So why would Capcom use such a recognizable voice on a random character? Why voice two characters at the same time with that voice? It can only make sense if the Leader turns out to be Wesker, who survived the volcano.
It's all very suspicious and ambiguous.
Chapter 5. Suspicious mentions
In re6, everyone suddenly learned that all this time Wesker had a son he didn't even know about - Jake Muller.
The note Jake's mother left him before she died reads:
"My beloved son, Jake. Please forgive your mother for leaving you alone so soon. And please don't hate your father. Your father surely still loves you from the bottom of his heart. Stay strong and know that you will meet him one day."
Don't you find Ms. Muller's certainty that Jake will one day meet Wesker suspicious? It certainly could have been a dramatic element, telling the viewer that Jake will not meet him because his father has died and he is now all alone. However, now, knowing all the facts telling us otherwise, Jake's mother's words sound different. They sound like a prophecy. Why was she sure that Jake and Wesker would meet? How deep is this iceberg?
Chapter 6. Photo on the wall
On Karl Heisenberg's (re8) wall are many pictures that are intertwined with red line - it's his board for investigating Miranda and everyone involved in the Village. Chris is one of those involved, Karl is aware that he is here. However, if you use the free camera to get closer to Chris' photo... you can see that there is a red line running from him to some small gray photo that is hard to see from a distance.
At first it appears to be a photo of Karl, however the person in the photo is older than him. I believe this character is intentionally made to look like Karl to confuse the players and not give too direct hints. The other people from the photo are easily recognizable, even references to re1 are present. However, this person from the photo is unknown. The only thing that is known is that he is somehow related to Chris.
If you superimpose Wesker's face from re4r over this photo, you get a perfect match of facial features. If you doubt it's him, just look closely at the shape of the nose, the distance between the nose and mouth, and then look at the shape of the face and chin. They are identical. Considering that the rumors of re4r development came out in 2021 (the year re8 was released), it's not surprising if Wesker's new face could have been used here as a reference... or a hint.
When comparing, it's obvious that this is an aged version of Wesker's new appearance from re4r. In 2021, at the time of the re8 storyline, he is 61 years old. Judging by the fact that Chris's photo is recent, that means Wesker's photo is fresh too. What is unusual is that he now has long hair. However, this could be a very logical outcome, as he chose to go into hiding after re5.
Here's my little edit where I only added different clothes and long hair.
Chapter 7. Weapons
In re7 that it is revealed that the Blue Umbrella are using Wesker's designs to create weapons effective against biological threats. Various firearms signed as "Albert W." are now being used by BSAA soldiers. Isn't that strange? No matter how good these weapons are, naming them after a bioterrorist and enemy of humanity is a strange move, isn't it? Someone secretly respects him.
Chapter 8: Conclusion
Keeping all the previous points in mind, it's hard to seriously argue that Wesker is dead. There are too many hints that he can't be killed. There are also hints that he has a clone (two different characters with Wesker's voice in Umbrella Corps).
Once again, the "understatement" in his "death" is a brilliant decision, it's a bridge to the future that will serve as an excuse for "why he's alive" if they bring him back, or an excuse for "why he's dead" if Capcom don't want to use him again. But considering how often we see mentions of him and hints of being alive, Capcom really want back him as soon as possible.
Chris and Zeno's concept art having similarities; the glowing left eye, the wolf face and Zeno's infection being on the same side (other similarities include having their hairstyles; sidecuts with Chris's hair brushed forward and Zeno's beinf brushed back in typical Wesker fashion, and both being smokers)
Also this guy saying "wolves" referring to Chris and his squad. The objective possibly being Zeno's body and head; The Connections know Chris is after them and was involved what was happening in RC, so they wouldn't want to leave any traces for them to take advantage of, this being Zeno's remains since he was working for them. Additionally if Zeno was in fact a clone of Wesker, they wouldn't just leave it for others to find, they'd want to collect data and/or dispose of the body themselves. And if Wesker is still alive, they'd want to keep that knowledge from Chris and the BSAA.
If it's not Zeno, then it's Victor, since he wasn't cured like Zeno was, they could still collect data on his remains, but Victor had mutated into something much like Nemesis's final form and was MASSIVE, there's no way they would have been able to get every piece of him by the time Chris and his squad got there. Taking Zeno's remains would have been done more quickly and easily.
“The occurrence of an event is not the same thing as knowing what one has lived through. Most people had not lived—nor could it, for that matter, be said that they had died—through any of their terrible events. They had simply been stunned by the hammer. They passed their lives thereafter in a kind of limbo of denied and unexamined pain.”
It's such a disappointment that tearing someone's throat out with your teeth kills them. Sex would be so much more fun if we could maul each other and come back from it.
media: we have an anti-authoritarian story for you!
me: sweet hit me with the good stuff
media: so there's this marginalized underclass of people, right?
me: okay
media: and they're like, stigmatized for something that's mostly an aspect of how they are born, or where they're from, or they're badly misunderstood, right?
me: yup, got it, I'm with ya
media: so these people are rebelling against the current social order, because it's the instrument of their suffering
me: oh good great sure
media: but also they're violent and deranged and need to be stopped
me: ...what
media: yeah they're going too far, they're trying to overthrow the system and assassinate the nice cop trying to help them and also they burned down an orphanage
me: ...why? would they burn down an orphanage??
media: extremism is bad
me: still not seeing what this has to do with their fight though???
media: also now they've shot a dog. oops they shot another dog
me: what?! why? I though their motive was to overthrow oppression??
media: yes but their suffering has also made them evil
me: ...???
media: don't worry though, the good guys will defeat them and restore the status quo
me: the status quo that's been killing people?
media: well it turns out it was only killing the kinds of awful people who burn down orphanages and shoot dogs :)
me: oh. this is actually a pro-authoritarian story, isn't it?
media: nooo of course not don't be sillyyyyyy we're super progressive look one of the cops is a black lady don't be sillyyyyyy
The Green Shelled Semi-Slug: the scientists who discovered this species originally wanted to name it "Ibycus felis," because it rests with its tail curled around its body, just like a sleeping cat
The scientific name of this gastropod is Ibycus rachelae, but it's also known as the green-shelled semi-slug or long-tailed semi-slug. The species was first described in 2008, and it can be found only in the montane forests of Sabah (Borneo) and Peninsular Malaysia.
The term "semi-slug" refers to an intermediate stage of evolution that occurs when a snail is gradually evolving into a slug. These gastropods still have shells that are at least partially visible, but their shells have been reduced to the point where they can no longer accommodate the snail's whole body.
There are many different species of semi-slug; their features often vary, but most of them have a noticeably reduced, receding, and/or transparent shell that is partially concealed beneath a flap of tissue known as the mantle.
This article describes another interesting characteristic of semi-slugs (including Ibycus rachelae):
... semi-slugs don’t just look weird, they act weird, too. They employ sharp projectiles called love darts in their courtship rituals, by shooting several of them at a prospective mate. The mate, in turn, shoots several love darts right back.
Researchers have found that if semi-slugs are able to lodge love darts into one another, the subsequent copulation tends to be much more successful. It’s thought that the mucus distributed by the love dart ensures greater survivability of the sperm
This is what the "love darts" look like (when magnified under SEM):
The tiny, harpoon-like structures are made of calcium carbonate, and they transmit certain hormones (via mucus) that help to increase the likelihood of reproductive success. Semi-slugs are not the only gastropods that use "love darts," however; they are also used by some other land snails and slugs.
Sources & More Info:
World Wildlife Fund: Borneo's New World (PDF)
Basteria (Journal): The Slugs and Semislugs of Sabah, Malaysian Borneo (PDF)
Forest Research Institute Malaysia: Introduction to the Land Snails and Slugs of Malaysia (PDF)
origamiaround
annaxmalina
vaporwave
kianamaiart
discoholicmusic
andulkaphoto
janainaart
romaincrisis
