resident evil: dead aim

Project Umbrella presents...
RESIDENT EVIL: DEAD AIM
THEORISTS NEVER DIE
An in-depth analysis by El Bastardo
www.projectumbrella.net
Version 1.1 – January 26, 2009
Project Umbrella is an unofficial fan site, and is in no way affiliated with Capcom or Resident Evil. Capcom, the Capcom Logo and the Resident Evil series of games are
registered trademarks of Capcom Co., Ltd. Nintendo 64, Game Boy Color, Nintendo GameCube, and the “N” Logo are trademarks of Nintendo of America, Inc. PlayStation,
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other marks are the property of their respective owners.
“Establishing a kingdom where beauty has absolute authority is the dream
which I must make a reality.”
Morpheus D. Duvall
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RESIDENT EVIL DEAD AIM
THEORISTS NEVER DIE
CONTENTS
PREFACE.............................................................................................................................................................................Page 3
PART 1 – CANONICITY.......................................................................................................................................................Page 4
PART 2 – A FOLDING UMBRELLA.......................................................................................................................................Page 5
PART 3 – T & G, WHAT’S IN A NAME?...............................................................................................................................Page 7
PART 4 – THE RISE AND FALL OF MORPHEUS D. DUVALL..............................................................................................Page 16
PART 5 – THERE’S SOMETHING SINISTER GOING DOWN ON BENTHIC ISLAND............................................................Page 30
PART 6 – “ALL THE WORLD’S A STAGE, AND ALL THE MEN AND WOMEN MERELY PLAYERS.”....................................Page 40
PART 7 – CHRONOLOGY..................................................................................................................................................Page 47
PART 8 – CONCLUSIONS..................................................................................................................................................Page 52
ENDNOTES AND OBSERVATIONS....................................................................................................................................Page 54
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PREFACE
Released in 2003, Resident Evil: Dead Aim, known in Japan as Biohazard Gun Survivor 4: Heroes
Never Die, has always been a source of division in the Resident Evil fan community. With The Umbrella
Chronicles introducing several major new layers to the story of Umbrella’s rise and fall not to mention
Project Umbrella’s acquiring translations of the original Japanese Dead Aim texts, I decided it was the
perfect time to review and rewrite some ideas on the game’s build up, events, and overall place in the
chronology. This piece isn’t intended to introduce any overly startling revelations or to dramatically
exaggerate Dead Aim’s role, merely to review it in light of information released and/or revealed since it
came out and to explore what extra context this offers, if any. Certain ideas which many of us once held
about the game have recently come to be challenged, whilst long running inconsistencies still need to be
ironed out.
Whilst certain pieces of evidence unearthed by Project Umbrella make indisputable changes to
what we know about Dead Aim, other pieces serve to hint at bigger things. Based on research, evidence,
other sources and my own opinions, I will utilize this information throughout the article to formulate
several theories surrounding what we are shown in the game, and how it all slots into the overall
Resident Evil canon. In doing so I hope to demonstrate just how deep Dead Aim can really go with a little
creative thinking and to show that the game is, without any overstatement, an absolutely vital chapter in
the Resident Evil story. Of course whilst some outright facts are to be laid down during this analysis, many
of the aforementioned theories are just that, theories; so make of them what you will. Each of the ideas
dreamt up in these pages is explained and justified to the fullest extent however, enabling impartial
judgement throughout.
For ease of description, the island featured in Dead Aim will be referred to as “Benthic Island” for
the duration of this piece. Whilst the name may not be strictly canon, it at least makes some sense (ala
“Arklay Mansion”). In western versions of the game, the seabed biosphere is referred to as the “Benthic
Laboratories” whilst in the original Japanese versions it is simply the “seabed laboratory”. Since “Benthic”
literally refers to the flora and fauna of the sea bottom, we can assume this to be a slightly dodgy
translation. However, since we don’t have anything to call the island (apart from “that-place-somewherein-the-Atlantic”) “Benthic Island” seems as good a name as any.
This article was formed around ideas originally developed by Neptune, contains some theories
from Project Omega, incorporates translations and source material provided by Welsh, and was made a
hell of a lot easier due to cutscene rips from CiarenDevlin. Extra special thanks go to them. Cheers guys!
Alright then, looks like we’re ready to begin. . .
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PART 1 – CANONICITY
A little bit of housekeeping first. As if there were ever any doubt about it, Dead Aim is indeed a
canon episode in the Resident Evil saga. There was never any evidence to challenge its status to begin
with of course, however certain parties who felt a personal dislike of the game long tried to play down its
place in the storyline, hoping to eliminate its credibility altogether. Many feel that the game is actually
one of the series’ higher points, introducing an interesting scenario whilst at the time bringing in many
“fresh” gameplay elements two years before Resident Evil 4 was widely praised for similar mechanics;
whilst others see the game as too farfetched and distant from other RE instalments despite the fact that
its themes are no more incredible that Marcus in Zero, Alexia in CODE: Veronica, or pretty much the
entirety of RE4.
This has led to many seeing Dead Aim as something of an “Expanded Universe” title, with no real
bearing or relation to any other Resident Evil episodes past, present, or future. This is something I
disagree with, a myth I hope to dispel by the end of this piece. To me, Dead Aim has as much “right” to be
included in the main storyline as something like, say, CODE: Veronica. Sure it’s nowhere near as polished,
but neither of these games are “numbered”, yet one is considered a core game whilst the other is not.
Perhaps due to its status as one of the Gun Survivor games, many fans have been willing to write Dead
Aim off all too quickly. In my view this is very unfair, and hopefully by the end of this article readers will,
or will at least be beginning to, agree with me on this.
Regardless of how people feel on the matter of the game’s importance, Wesker’s Extra Report,
released with the Japanese Umbrella Chronicles “Zapper Package”, directly alludes to the events of Dead
Aim whilst its place in the pre-Russian facility assault timeframe leaves little question. The game itself is
100% canon. Obviously bringing this up is largely unnecessary as by now everyone is aware, nevertheless
it’s best to remove any lingering doubts before going on.
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PART 2 – A FOLDING UMBRELLA
The Spencer Rain incident couldn’t have come at a worse time for Umbrella. Let’s face it, in the
aftermath of the Raccoon City disaster they were hardly on top form, and over the next four years things
had only gotten worse with loss of customers, loss of facilities and loss of key projects such as the T-103
mass produced Tyrant line. With a suspension of business decree presented to them in 1999 by the
United States government, the company was effectively forced to pull out of North America entirely and
instead to rely on bases in other nations. However even with such measures in place, they still weren’t
safe. Perhaps nudged on by the U.S, many other countries were beginning their own investigations into
the activities of the nefarious corporation, looking for proof of their dastardly deeds in the hope of
shutting them down for good. The price of the company’s stock began to plummet.
Umbrella quickly found themselves under assault from all angles. With pressure and rivalry from
various anti-Umbrella movements, some government-backed; as well as inquiries from more established
bodies such as the U.S Government and The Organization (of course, they may be one and the same), as
well the loss of many key facilities around the world, Umbrella could only watch as parts of their world
spanning “empire” crumbled. Whilst they were able to retain some of their land-based facilities such as
the Paris Lab and the clandestine research facility tucked away in the Caucasus region of south-western
Russia (no doubt they were far too vital to be simply shut down), they were left with little choice but to
pull out of many nations to prevent the International Criminal Court catching up with them.
The “Prelude to The Fall” official manga (also known by the rather more poetic name “Overture to
the Collapse”), sold in Japan as part of the Umbrella Chronicles build up (available in English on Project
Umbrella) tells us that in order to salvage the remnants of their B.O.W programme, the Umbrella
Corporation set up a network of hidden “hangars” all around the world designed to disperse and conceal
their various assets in approximately the year 2000 [1]. Often kept in seemingly innocent settings to mask
their presence, these hangars housed a variety of sensitive materials ranging from viral samples,
antibodies and B.O.Ws and were so secret that even residents who lived nearby were unaware of them,
save for a few undercover Umbrella employees. It is unknown if the intention was to keep these
properties in cold storage for research purposes, or if the company simply intended to keep them locked
away until such a time as their situation had improved, but the real plan was likely a combination of the
two.
Again, one could be forgiven for thinking that Umbrella were again in the clear, but
unfortunately for them it was still not to be. In Prelude to the Fall, Wesker reveals that The Organization
had spies working in at least one of Umbrella’s hangars, a hint which suggests there were likely
informants at many, if not all of the others [2]. Perhaps The Organization offered financial incentives to
these agents, or promised them protection from Umbrella or the world’s governments in the hope of
getting them to talk. However they did it one thing is certain – despite their best efforts Umbrella had
again been found. Whether they knew this or not is a different matter.
So where are we now? Umbrella has been chased to the four corners of the Earth and lost much
of what they once held dear. Although they’re able to retain some land-based outposts, they are
essentially on the run. International pressure and investigations into their business forces the company’s
hand in devising a rather unique, albeit temporary, solution to their dilemma. They build more facilities
on remote islands, and buy many large cruisers and seafaring vessels with the remainder of their funds.
By doing this, Umbrella are able to work outside of national water borders, and can therefore research
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The Spencer Rain.
without breaking many laws, saving them
a lot of international "pressure". This fleet
of ships likely has multiple purposes, some
are mobile labs whilst others such as the
Spencer Rain serve as floating auction
houses designed to house B.O.Ws which
can then be presented to prospective
buyers. Yet this is still not enough to stop
the investigations concerning their
activities. For the immediate future
however, the corporation is able to
endure.
So it’s under this set-up that research is able to continue. Although it’s at nowhere near the rate
or scale it once was Umbrella’s B.O.W programme still sees some developments. At the Caucasus facility,
research on the T-A.L.O.S project goes on unimpeded whilst elsewhere Umbrella scientists make further
developments. A review of their existing Hunter range presents an opportunity for improvements which
lead to the development of the “Elite” Hunter type, and at the Paris Lab Facility researchers are able to
create a new product – the “T+G-Virus”.
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PART 3 – T & G, WHAT’S IN A NAME?
Alright, before we get started on this part of the analysis I feel I should again stop to make a
point, this time even more obvious than the last one, but better safe than sorry right? Real world virology
and Resident Evil are not friends; in fact they really don’t get along at all. Sure, some very basic scientific
aphorisms can be applied to the RE mythos on certain appropriate occasions, in fact I intend to do so
shortly, but as general rule of thumb Umbrella’s viruses are created through rather silly techniques. As
my good friend Chimera once pointed out, Capcom’s ideas on how lethal mutagenic toxins are developed
appear to be based on a similar method to baking a cake. Take the T-Virus – a chunk of Progenitor
sprinkled with Leech DNA and bingo, Doc Marcus got himself a virus. In the real world something like the
T-Virus would be more or less impossible to make thanks to all manner of scientific complexities, as I’m
sure you all know. So for the purposes of our own sanity as well as the fact that ultimately they’re just
games, what we’re going to discuss here should be taken with a little fictional embellishment and a hell
of a lot of salt.
One of Dead Aim’s more exclusive elements is its new virus. Often lambasted by fans as being
ridiculous and unnecessary in both concept and execution, we are of course talking about the “tG-Virus”.
Even though as mentioned above real scientific laws aren’t really applicable to RE in any substantial way,
many still felt that Dead Aim’s idea that Umbrella somehow managed to fuse the T-Virus and the G-Virus
together to create one super virus was a bridge too far. And you know what? They may just have been
right...
You see, there is actually quite a bit of evidence to support that Umbrella were able to do such a
thing, but there’s also a lot of stuff to contradict it. Let’s deal with the former stuff – the “tG-Virus” many
of us are familiar with. Firstly we know that Morpheus broke into the Paris Lab facility and stole viral
samples from Umbrella. We also know that four years prior Dr. Christine Henri of the Corporation’s
European Division, based in France no less, authorized and successfully managed to have Dr. William
Birkin’s G-Virus stolen. It doesn’t take a genius to realize it probably ended up in Paris. Now we all
remember what the G-Virus did to Birkin: we all know the virus’ unique properties forced him to
continually mutate without rule or restriction, we all saw that it couldn’t be transmitted through any
viable means unless you introduced it to a rather large family whose similar DNA would respond to
infection or wanted hundreds of substandard G-Types roaming around, and we’re all aware that as a
marketable bio-weapon, the G-Virus was pretty useless. [3] Think about it: Birkin loved it, sure, but it was
his life’s work – the man was obsessed. To Umbrella however it was just destructive and incontrollable,
no use whatsoever as a marketable product. No doubt there were a few red faces in Paris when they
found that one out. So what better way to make it more “commercial” than by fusing it with T and
allowing for more control, and also introducing a bio-electric defence against bullets and explosives? It’s
positively perfect!
Well no, actually. It isn’t. Because the T-Virus wasn’t exactly ultra reliable either.
Fear not though, because in truth, it didn’t quite happen that way.
According to Dead Aim’s file named “Research report #220329”, included in all western copies of
the game, the Umbrella Corporation was successful in fusing the T and G-Viruses. It states –
“[WARNING]
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STRICT SECURITY: ACCESS RESTRICTED.
We have succeeded in fusing the "T-Virus" and the "G-Virus" so that it has electrical properties.
However, after observing the prototype known as [T-091], we have to concede that there is much room
for improvement.
In this newest version (ver.0.9.2), we have finally been able to achieve a high voltage current, which was
our initial goal. Its electromagnetic barrier should make it near invulnerable.
Now we require a human test subject that matches the conditions to experiment on and observe.”
There you have it, seems like pretty solid evidence right? Logically speaking that would be a yes,
undeniable proof that T & G were combined. However, consider this –
The original Japanese versions of the Dead Aim files and information found on the official
Biohazard: Heroes Never Die website, both translated by Project Umbrella affiliate Welsh, make
numerous references to the G-Virus being fused with the “T-Virus Antibody”, and NOT the regular TVirus. Also whilst Dead Aim calls it the “tG-Virus”, the Japanese version labels it as the “T+G-Virus” (“T+G”
can also be seen written in English on the background of “Research report #220329” and during the
game’s opening movie), no doubt it’s all a small oversight on the part of Capcom’s localization team, but
it’s a relatively pivotal one.
So since the T+G-Virus was in fact a fusing of the T-Virus antibody and the G-Virus, rather than
just regular T fused with G, the question now is why? The only logical assumption is that the T-Antibody
could seriously counteract the mutative effects of Umbrella’s flagship virus, thus “curing” the victim. If
that’s the case though, why would Umbrella fuse it with G?
I believe I have the answer to this, and I’m sure some of you have already got it too: Ms. Lisa
Trevor. Now, this is only theory based on my own personal conjecture, but I offer it up for your
consideration.
Lisa sure had a miserable life. At age thirteen she, along with her parents fell afoul of Ozwell
Spencer, and he had her injected with “Type-B” of the Progenitor Virus on Friday, November 10, 1967.
For almost 28 years she was held within the Arklay Research Facility and subjected to all manner of
viruses, chemicals and test procedures. Written off as a failure and a worthless test subject, she was
administered the Nemesis parasite in the hope that her uncanny knack for survival would allow her to live
through the parasite’s absorption of her mind, and surprised everyone when she absorbed it instead.
New examinations were undertaken, and after extensive study Dr. William Birkin discovered the G-Virus
within Lisa’s body: a concoction of viruses and toxins catalysed by her own blood. Over the next few
years he worked non-stop to synthesise the purest and most enhanced version of it he could.
So that’s the G-Virus, let’s compare it to the T-Virus. Developed in secret by Dr. James Marcus in
the outskirts of Raccoon City, T was successfully created in 1977 through the fusion of Leech DNA with
the Progenitor Virus. Eventually it fell into Spencer’s hands and became one of the Umbrella
Corporation’s most top-secret and highly valued projects. With this shift, research teams all over the
world worked on enhancing and improving upon the virus to whatever extent they could.
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So, the T-Virus was derived from the Progenitor Virus, and the G-Virus was derived from Lisa
Trevor’s blood, which also contained the Progenitor Virus. It stands to reason then that Progenitor is the
common thread between the two. It is possible that Lisa was at some point given the T-Virus as well,
making that the real link between them, but we have no confirmation of this, whilst we know for sure
that both viruses contained the mother virus.
With that in mind, we can look at why Umbrella scientists fused the T-Virus antibody and the GVirus to create the “T+G-Virus”. The G-Virus was incredibly mutative and wildly incontrollable, traits
unsuitable for a mass produced weapon. In order to stand any chance of marketing it as a product, let
alone using it as one, Umbrella had to find some way to counter this. Hence the antibody. Although there
is little doubt it was tailored to suit the T-Virus, the “T-Virus Antibody” by its very nature must also have
combated and/or altered the mutative features of the Progenitor Virus as well, making it well suited to
inhibit the dangerous effects of the G-Virus since it too contained Progenitor. Based on “Research report
#220329”, as well as observing infected T+G B.O.Ws in action, we can only assume that these changes
were a limitation on G’s mutational properties, as well as the creation of a bio-electrical field within a
host’s body (the “electrical current” seen in T+G is perhaps its most ludicrous element, it may well be that
it is the result of something produced in the fusion process rather than the actual combination of the
viruses, but we don’t know). Of course the G-Virus vaccine – DEVIL – also existed, but it’s likely it wasn’t
used in this process since it was designed to halt cellular growth of the G-Virus found in infected hosts,
not fundamentally alter the nature of the virus. Also, DEVIL may very well have rendered G completely
inert if introduced directly to the virus outside of a host. Because of this, the T-Virus Antibody could have
been used as a means of limiting the Progenitor Virus within the G-Virus, thus drastically reducing the
effects of any potential mutations whilst still granting the host a virally enhanced state.
So that’s my theory. We don’t know for sure of course, but since the original Japanese versions
of the games are naturally closer to what the developers intended, the T+G-Virus, a fusion of the G-Virus
with the T-Virus Antibody, must be taken as canon. It’s the reasoning behind this that’s up for debate,
and although there’s no way to prove what I’ve written in the paragraph above I do feel that it works
rather nicely. In order to better weaponize the G-Virus and make it more presentable as a product
(something they desperately needed to do if the company was to regain lost profits), Umbrella
researchers used the T-Virus Antibody to combat the Progenitor Virus found within the G-Virus, thus
somehow imbibing it with unique properties allowing hosts to generate powerful electrical fields, whilst
at the same time limiting the virus’ mutative effects and granting a much greater degree of control. We
know for certain that the goal was to give infected creatures a bio-electrical field, but I propose that the
plan was also to limit the mutational aspects of the G-Virus, essentially guaranteeing a powerful, Tyrantstyle B.O.W every time. You may disagree with my idea or you may love it, I dunno, but it’s there for your
deliberation. It is however supported somewhat if we take it a step further. If T+G is in fact the
combination of G and the T Antibody, we should revaluate its effects in the context of what we now know
to be the truth. What did the virus actually do?
So far as we know, there were only ever two beings infected by the T+G-Virus, the Tyrant-091
and Morpheus Duvall. We know that T+G creatures were intended to have an electrical field, but what
about limiting T+G’s mutative aspects to virtually guarantee a Tyrant? Let’s take a look.
Here’s what we know about Tyrant 091 – According to the Japanese “Research report #220329”:
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“*[TYRANT]*
The test subject was developed using a new experimental virus. It uses enormous arms to attack objects.
Its agility and attack power are superior, but the body is imperfect since half of it has deteriorated.
As a result of this deterioration, a fatal flaw has been reported by vital organs being exposed on the back
side. We expect to correct this as future physical improvements are made.
*[VIRUS REPORT]*
[CONFIDENTAL]
Limited to research staff only.
We were successful in fusing the "T-Virus" antibody with "G-Virus" on a genetic level to yield electrical
properties.
However, progress on the "091" prototype is inadequate and we must admit that we can still improve
it.”
Obviously the experimental virus used to create this new Tyrant was indeed the T+G-Virus, and
the “test subject” and the “091 prototype” are one and the same, hence the name T-091. The Tyrant
subject had a minor electrical field but nothing substantial and was thus deemed to be a failure. However
there’s something much more interesting about 091, obscured in its blatancy – the fact that it was a
Tyrant. I’ll go into this shortly, but first we’ll look at the other T+G organisms.
Further analysis reveals some
more details about T-091 and the T+G
Virus. The screenshot on the right is
from the introductory movie to the
game and shows us a little bit about
Version 0.9.1 of the virus. In the top left
corner of the image, we see some
notations on it. Apparently it was
created in Area 3-b of floor B2f of the
Paris Lab Facility. Not a startling
addition to the RE canon, but one of
those little details I absolutely love to
discover.
“Area 3-b – T+G-Virus 0.9.1 – B2F”
With the T-091 suffering from some serious problems, namely the classic exposed organs as well
as a severely weak electrical current, Umbrella researchers in Paris attempted to synthesize a more
powerful variant of T+G, the “0.9.2” version. The western version of “Research report #220329”
discusses this, telling us:
“In this newest version (ver.0.9.2), we have finally been able to achieve a high voltage current, which was
our initial goal. Its electromagnetic barrier should make it near invulnerable.”
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Similarly, the Japanese text informs us:
“Our initial goal was to create a high-voltage electrical current, and with the new "v.0.9.2" we were
successful. This version of the guinea pig produced an electromagnetic barrier that repels physical attacks,
which make it invulnerable
We can achieve these conditions as soon as we find a suitable human test subject.”
So, v.0.9.2 was produced and investigated, though probably not on an actual organism (“guinea
pig” is likely used in the proverbial sense), with tests proving the new iteration was capable of causing
hosts to generate a powerful field of bio-electricity, both an offensive and defensive trait which could
even deflect bullets. Whilst this detail is crucial to the T+G Project, the note moves on to say something
else – “We can achieve these conditions as soon as we find a suitable human test subject”. This is
important too, again for reasons I’ll explain in a minute, but first let’s examine the man who actually
became infected with v.0.9.2 of T+G – Morpheus.
When Morpheus injected himself with the
T+G-Virus, it was an act of sheer
desperation. He’d been mortally wounded
and was bearing witness to the complete
destruction of his carefully laid plans at the
hands of two secret agents. Vowing that
he’d never die, he administered the virus
to himself and injected it into his left arm in
a bid to transform into something greater
than a mere human. The results of this
decision were shocking, quite literally, as a
Morpheus injects himself with the T+G-Virus. Shocking.
surge of electricity shot out of his body and he transformed into a female Tyrant (exactly why the T+GVirus morphed him into a female Tyrant will be discussed in Part 4) which could utilize electricity as a
weapon whilst at the same time retaining all of his original intelligence, including the ability to speak.
Let’s just break that down. Morpheus, a man who didn’t work on the T+G Project and who
probably had very little working knowledge, if any, of the T-Virus or the G-Virus injects himself with
Umbrella’s latest creation and just happens to mutate into a super-agile, fully sapient Tyrant? To most
hardened RE fans this one seems very doubtful, and for good reason. Wesker’s Report II told us that the
odds for humans infected with the T-Virus to transform into Tyrants was approximately one in ten
million. Over the years Umbrella found increasingly cunning ways around this, firstly by producing ten
clones of Colonel Sergei Vladimir, and later by injecting Beta Hereto Nonserotonin into the brains of
hosts, causing them to survive the infection process and retain some substantial brain power allowing for
the mass production of T-103 Tyrants on Sheena Island. However, Sheena Island was destroyed in
November 1998, and Umbrella lost a massive part of its B.O.W research program (further reinforcing just
how crucial a role the events of Survivor played in Umbrella’s downfall), rendered as they were unable to
continue mass producing Tyrants. With international pressure mounting and their funds declining, its
improbable that the corporation was able to construct another Tyrant factory like the Sheena facility and
so we must conclude that Umbrella were again left without a viable means of mass producing their
“flagship” B.O.Ws. This means that aside from a few surviving T-103s and Sergei clones (T-078, Ivan, W
11
Ivan, T-A.L.O.S) all of the other Tyrants we saw, specifically in Dead Aim, must have been genetic matches
to the T-Virus variant which could turn one in every ten million individuals into Tyrants, including the T091 and Morpheus.
So that makes sense, Umbrella found some unlucky sod who was a perfect match and
transformed him into the T-091, and Morpheus was an incredible genius who somehow knew that his
genes would match the T+G-Virus perfectly and make him turn into a Tyrant.
Well no, of course it doesn’t make sense – it’s stupid. Aside from the obvious statistical
improbability of Morpheus being a genetic match, not to mention his willingness to take the risk, there’s
also the simple fact which no doubt you’ve figured out for yourself that the T+G-Virus didn’t actually
contain the T-Virus. So the whole one in ten million issue is a moot point anyway since it doesn’t factor in
at all. Instead, what Morpheus took into his bloodstream was effectively a modified form of the G-Virus.
Yes, there’s a possibility that the traces of Progenitor and the NE-T-Virus within G may have had some
slight potential for creating a Tyrant-esque being, but if an extensively modified variant of the T-Virus
crafted by the corporation’s finest minds could only produce results from one in ten million subjects, how
low would the odds be for these minute viral traces doing the same? Must be in the billions, or more
likely a big fat zero.
So we now know that the T-091 and Morpheus actually being Tyrants has nothing to do with the
odds of transformation, since the T-Virus plays no role here. Ergo it must be something to do with the GVirus, the virus which was actually used, right? Well, although that’s sort of true, at a fundamental level
it’s again wrong. After all anyone who’s played RE2 knows the mutative effects of the G-Virus are
uncontrollable, and totally incapable of leading to something as stable as a Tyrant.
So how then were these two monstrosities created? There’s only one explanation, and it brings
us back to the points I was making earlier. If Morpheus didn’t play the one in ten million odds when he
injected himself, the only conclusion is that he knew T+G would transform him into a Tyrant.
Consequently, simple deduction means that the T+G-Virus was not only meant to give hosts an electrical
charge, but also to turn every human injected with it into a Tyrant. Think about it, the T-091 was a T+G
infected human who turned into a Tyrant – what are the odds of Umbrella being able to find a suitable
candidate when they were in such a bad state by the turn of the millennium? When version 0.9.2 of the
virus was developed, it was tested and proved to yield a powerful electrical current, but the corporation
still wanted a suitable human test subject. If the goal was merely to invent a virus capable of giving hosts
an electrical charge, why bother with human testing if you already knew it would work? Going with the
above theory it’s no stretch at all to think that they wanted to see if T+G v.0.9.2 was also capable of
creating Tyrants via direct injection (the phrase “once we find a suitable human test subject” may
admittedly seem out-of-place in this context, however Umbrella’s glory days of kidnapping whoever the
hell they wanted were long gone. They were being watched from all angles, meaning it was probably
much harder for them to secure disposable humans by 2002).
Hopefully with the above reasoning I’ve brought you round to my line of thinking, that in the
wake of Sheena Island’s destruction and with their financial clout rapidly deteriorating the Umbrella
Corporation sought a new means of mass producing Tyrants in order to start selling them and regain their
lost wealth. Without the funds to build another T-103 factory, using the T-Virus would mean reverting
back to cloning hosts who matched the one in ten million odds, a laborious, difficult and highly expensive
process which the company would definitely not find cost effective or feasible in the slightest. Knowing
12
this the European branch instead looked at using the G-Virus to create third generation B.O.Ws, but in
doing so had to find some way to inhibit its highly mutational effects – a feat which was ultimately
achieved by fusing T-Virus Antibody cells with the G-Virus. The T-Antibody combated the traces of
Progenitor found within the G-Virus, and so significantly reduced its mutative powers, allowing for 100%
of injected hosts to be transformed into fully functional Tyrants able to retain essentially all of their
original intelligence. At the same time the infected individuals were also given bio-electrical capabilities,
either through some result of the fusion process between G and the T-Antibody, or some bizarre side
effect of the T+G-Virus itself.
Now, you may well be cursing out loud. “Tyrants created without using the T-Virus? What
nonsense is this?” you could be saying. Sure it seems a little odd that Tyrants could be named thus
without the use of the actual “Tyrant”-Virus, however no source has ever claimed that the virus used
dictates the name of the creature. Wesker’s Report II tells us:
“A highly sophisticated 'Fighting Biological Weapon' - with intelligence, which would obey programmed
orders and act as a soldier. That was the monster we tried to create and we called it 'The Tyrant'.”
So the virus used has nothing to do with it. All “Tyrant” means is a B.O.W capable of possessing
extreme combat abilities whilst still being highly intelligent and able to follow complex orders. In this
context, the T+G-Virus could certainly be used for the development of such a beast.
Works rather nicely doesn’t it? As I mentioned a while back, whilst “T+G-Virus” is without doubt
canon in the Resident Evil storyline, as is the revelation that it was actually a fusion of the G-Virus with TVirus Antibody cells and not the regular T-Virus, the ideas I’ve described above are not. They are just a
humble theory, one which I hope you now agree with, but also one which you are more than welcome to
refute and disregard. Draw your own conclusions and do with it what you will, however personally in the
context of mass production of Tyrants, as well as the events which would come later in The Umbrella
Chronicles, I feel it fits extremely well. I leave approval to you, dear reader.
Of course there’s also the issue of “if T+G research was so great, why did Umbrella discontinue
it?” Obviously we’ll probably never know exactly what factors were involved, but simple extrapolation
can draw some reasonable answers. Firstly, the virus was still very much in the experimental phase,
v.0.9.2 had only just been synthesized and Umbrella scientists still weren’t sure if it was what they were
after or not. Before they could find out Morpheus burst in and swiped the sample, which for all we know
may have been the only one in existence. Following this, in the wake of the Spencer Rain incident the
company’s already dwindling customer base shrunk even further as potential buyers who would once
have boarded Umbrella’s sailing “zoos” to review products were likely scared off. With very little money
compared to the amounts they once enjoyed Umbrella probably couldn’t get research going again at a
quick enough pace, and instead the company were forced to try to sell their B.O.Ws to developing
militant nations and to pin all of their hopes for getting back to the top on their last ace in the hole – the
T-A.L.O.S project.
Before we move on to Part 4, there was another Umbrella development we must discuss, one
which is thankfully much easier to explain. Deciding that prudence is actually quite a good idea, Umbrella
for once tried to secure themselves against an outbreak of their own creations. To combat T-Virus
infected creatures, weapons developers at the Paris Lab created the “Charged Particle Rifle” (also known
as “T Hunter” as readable on the background of the file “Charged Particle Rifle User’s Manual”), a gun
13
which utilized particle accelerator technology to “induce physical destruction on a molecular level”. Nasty
stuff indeed, and they were also confident it could injure T+G infected creatures as well. Considering the
nature of the weapon, my guess is the CPR was a continuation of the research which originally led to the
creation of the Linear Launcher we saw in CODE: Veronica. We don’t know for sure though.
Bruce finds the CPR in the underwater biosphere on Benthic Island, tucked away in a specialized
charging station. Considering that the note which accompanies it makes mention of the T+G-Virus, we
can only assume it was created at the same place as the virus itself, the Paris Laboratory.
So how did all of this stuff make its way onto the Spencer Rain and Benthic Island? From the file
named “Emergency FAX from Paris Branch” we know that Morpheus and his men stole “three T-Virus
samples” from the Paris Branch:
“Date: Sep. 18, 2002
To: Int'l Sales Division
ATTN: Roberto
Today three "T-Virus" samples have been stolen from this Paris lab. Our prime suspect is Morpheus D.
Duvall, who belonged to the R&D division of HQ.
His motivation appears to be based upon retaliation against our company. Therefore, we are sending out
this general warning to all divisions. Anyone who obtains any information regarding this matter should
contact HQ immediately.
Regards,
Umbrella Corporation, Paris.”
T+G is not mentioned, nor is the Charged Particle Rifle. Considering how important the T+G
research was to Umbrella, it’s likely they’d have specified if something other than the regular T-Virus was
taken. Consequently it’s safe to assume that these items were instead aboard the Spencer Rain, since
Morpheus seemingly went straight to the ship from Paris and had no way of taking them from anywhere
else. We know that the T-091, a T+G B.O.W was aboard the ship for “review”, so it’s probable the CPR
was as well to safeguard against an outbreak. V.0.9.2 must also have been aboard, perhaps intended as a
part of the same presentation but was instead taken by Morpheus for his own personal use when he
boarded the cruiser. Consequently, we can deduce that the Charged Particle Rifle was taken off the ship
and onto Benthic Island by Morpheus when it crashed, and then stashed away in the seabed complex (a
large amount of time passes between the ship’s destruction and Bruce’s entry into the island facility, so it
is possible within this timeframe). He probably didn’t think Bruce would make it far enough to find it.
The stolen T-Virus vials were apparently used by Morpheus to kill everyone on the Spencer Rain
(the only viral samples he had with him), including his own men (how he himself went unaffected remains
unknown); so it’s likely the seabed missiles were loaded with T-Virus samples which were already in the
deserted disposal facility, it was abundant in there after all. The actual act of stealing samples appears to
have been a bid to simply grab the attention of the world’s governments so that he could threaten them,
not use them in his missiles.
14
So in early September 2002, Duvall prepared to make his move. He loaded his secretly built
missiles with T-Virus samples taken from the derelict Benthic Island disposal facility and then spread the
virus throughout the base to kill any of his men within the complex, no longer having any requirement for
them once his missiles were ready (during this time the seabed facility and the old disposal site above are
likely switched to emergency power mode, as seen in Dead Aim). He then possibly made contact with
some more of his followers, with whom he headed to France. Three vials of the T-Virus were
subsequently stolen from the Paris Lab Facility by Morpheus and his band of supporters on Wednesday,
September 18, 2002. They boarded the Spencer Rain on Friday, September 20, and shortly after
Morpheus released the samples onto the cruiser, killing everyone aboard save for himself. The next day,
once Bruce and Fongling had started ruining his plans Morpheus injected himself with v.0.9.2 of the T+GVirus and crashed the Spencer Rain, taking the Charged Particle Rifle with him as he abandoned the
doomed cruiser. Once aboard Benthic Island, he set the CPR down in his base and headed below to make
the final launch preparations.
For a more detailed analysis of the Dead Aim chronology, head to Part 7. In the meantime
though, we’re going to take a look at the man who made all of this possible.
15
PART 4 – THE RISE AND FALL OF MORPHEUS D. DUVALL.
Morpheus was an interesting one; I’ll give him that. A narcissist to the point of obsession, a pistol
wielding transvestite, an international terrorist and a disgruntled redundant who at some point in his life
developed more than just a common interest in beauty and instead became consumed by it. His mind
somehow spiralled into a fantasy of a world ruled by beauty and beautiful things, and when it returned
from that fantasy, Morpheus knew what he had to do:
“Establishing a kingdom where beauty has absolute authority is the dream which I must make a reality.”
Exactly how he came to think like this is unknown, suffice it to
say he was a mentally unstable individual. Very little is really known
about him, yet this portion of the article will draw on all of the
pertinent source material we have in order to paint at least a basic
picture of the man who could have brought the world to its knees.
Aside from his year of birth in 1970, next to nothing is known
about Morpheus’ childhood or indeed where he came from, however
with some good old deductive reasoning he can be quite justifiably
linked to France. Assuming “Morpheus D. Duvall” was his real name
(you never know with him, he could have had it changed), then it offers
us some clues. “Duvall” is a variation on the French name “Duval”,
which translates as “from/of the valley”. Of course a surname is not
Morpheus D. Duvall.
much of an indication for a person’s home; however it is certainly
reasonable to suggest that Morpheus was of French descent. [4] This is supported by the fact that he was
employed by the Umbrella Corporation’s European Branch, which had its headquarters in Paris. Putting
these two together, I’d imagine that Morpheus could at least speak French.
On the subject of voices, you may remember Morpheus speaking in an accent sounding rather
like British Received Pronunciation. This he did, the character being voiced by Angus Waycott. Now using
a character’s voiceover to pin down where they come from is sometimes an exercise in futility, however
in Resident Evil accents do usually tend to correspond to a character’s origin, take the Russian members
of the U.B.C.S for example, or the Spanish villains of RE4. Wesker’s evil take on faux-Britishness may be
the exception to that rule though (however so far as I know his nationality has never been confirmed).
With this in mind we can again suggest that Morpheus may have been raised in Britain. Of French
descent, with a British upbringing.
So how did he come by his extraordinary appearance? Was he born with it? Or was there more
to it than that? In the file “Regular Report No. 1162”, the ambiguously named “P.T”, an agent Umbrella
placed into Morpheus’ entourage, has this to say about his mark:
“[Morpheus’] obsession with "The beauty" keeps escalating. And just recently he has undergone plastic
surgery to retain his youthful looks.
Considering that this report was meant to be sent to Umbrella on the 21st or 22nd of September
2002 (but never made it out due to its author being dead) we know that this “plastic surgery” must have
16
been done just prior to the events of Dead Aim itself. However, was the operation only done to make
Morpheus look younger (and assumedly in his mind “more beautiful”)? Or was there more to it than that?
Project Umbrella affiliate Welsh underwent the arduous task of translating the Dead Aim
scenario summary found on the official Japanese Heroes Never Die website. Whilst doing so, he
unearthed an interesting passage which described Mr. Duvall as “oddly disproportioned”. What exactly
does this mean? Well, we all know women are of course the more beautiful of the two sexes and it seems
that Morpheus, being a man, was well aware of this too. If he was to rule a kingdom governed by beauty,
I guess by his logic he’d have to borrow from the female form. Take a look at this...
Morpheus holds Bruce at gunpoint on the aft deck of the Spencer Rain.
Notice anything strange? Here it is again:
There it is folks, the weirdest diagram in the history of Resident Evil.
Do you see it? Watch the FMV itself if you’re able to since what I’m pointing out is much easier
to see in the actual cutscene, but it is there in screenshot too – ol’ Morpheus had breasts. See it? Looks
like his “plastic surgery” was more than just a face lift, he had a partial, hell maybe even a full-blown sex
change. I guess that explains why he wore that long black trench coat. It also gives us some insight into
17
exactly why he transformed into a female Tyrant as well. For a long time no-one really knew why this
change took place, attributing it to some bizarre side-effect of the T+G-Virus in addition to the fact that
the developers wanted to use a female Tyrant late in the making of the game. In the wake of The
Umbrella Chronicles general consensus has been to go with what Wesker tells us following his climactic
confrontation with the mutated Sergei Vladimir, when he writes “Wesker’s Notes on Differing
Mutations”:
“I have a theory on Sergei's unique course of evolution.
I had always assumed that the variety of effects the virus brings about on its host were mere random
mutations.
However, witnessing first-hand the effects on Sergei combined with what I know of Marcus's
transformation points to a common thread between their outcomes.
The host's mindset appears to influence the evolution of the virus.
Sergei mutated into a monster whose very body was the picture of suffering as he was ripped apart from
the inside by thorns. I can only imagine that his transformation represents the true mindset of the person
he was inside.
While I have no proof, my intuition tells me that his must be the case. If the personality of the host can
truly affect the course of the virus manifestation, were does that leave me?”
Morpheus in his/her/its
primary mutated form.
If viral mutations are guided by the host’s subconscious (when Wesker
said “the virus”, we know of course that he was referring to multiple viruses.
Unless he’s implying he and Sergei carried the same thing, but that’s highly
doubtful) Morpheus’ mindset may well have steered his alteration in some way,
his preconceptions of beauty filling his thoughts to such an extent that the T+GVirus responded to them. Although Wesker is only theorizing above he is widely
regarded to have been correct (real world virology and RE = separate,
remember), though it would seem to be only in cases of extreme viral
mutations in a host with a lot of willpower. Whilst this may have been partially
true in Morpheus’ case, explaining how he grew high heels for example, we
can’t ignore the fact that he had surgically implanted breasts. They must have
been a crucial factor in how his first mutation turned out. Of course after his
body had sustained massive molecular damage at the hands of Bruce and his
Charged Particle Rifle then it may have become less of a factor. The shots from
the weapon may have neutralized the T-Antibody within the T+G-Virus,
effectively allowing the G-Virus to revert to its good old, super-mutative state.
However the Heroes Never Die official site stated that when Morpheus entered
his final form, he was driven purely by hatred. Was his metamorphosis a
manifestation of his thoughts even then? We’ll probably never know.
Since he threatened the world with viral annihilation to see his own demented dreams come to
fruition, I think the fact that Mr. Duvall wasn’t the sanest of characters has been firmly established.
However malignant narcissist megalomaniac or not, prior to beginning his master plan he was an
ordinary(ish) guy who stall had bills to pay, and in order to do so he took a job with everyone’s most
trusted pharmaceutical manufacturer, Umbrella Chemical Incorporated.
18
Again specifics are hard to come by concerning his rise through the Umbrella hierarchy, but by at
least age 28 (and likely younger, depending on both his date of birth and when he started his job) he’d
ascended the ranks to take a position in the Research and Development department of Umbrella’s
European Division. He was given the role of supervisor over a remote “Waste Treatment Plant” operating
out on an island somewhere in the Atlantic, the Benthic Laboratory. This complex will be covered in more
depth in Part 5, but files pertaining to Morpheus’ time there give us an idea of his personality. The
“Operator’s Notebook” claims:
June 16th, 1997
One month has passed since I was dispatched here. I am astounded at the sloppy supervision of this
Umbrella waste disposal facility. It's not surprising that this accident happened.
I know that if I must die, I want to die as a human...
June 24th, 1997
The supervisor here called Morpheus is so annoying. He drives me nuts.
Evidently Morpheus wasn’t good on his people management skills, and during his time at Benthic
Island he quickly earned a bad reputation for his sloppy supervision, lack of interest and general disregard
for the day-to-day goings on at the facility. The “accident” the operator refers to is the escape of Alpha,
the Benthic test subject better known as Pluto, which broke free and wreaked havoc on the base, killing a
minimum of five researchers as it tore through the compound. Supposedly this breakout also occurred as
a result of Morpheus’ lackadaisical attitude and doomed the men and women who worked on the island
to T-Viral infection. As a result of this, Umbrella chose to terminate Morpheus’ contract and fire him from
the company, however they chose not to do so immediately and instead opted to wait until the
opportune moment (partial reasoning for this is explained in the next part) to remove him from his post.
This chance presented itself in late summer almost two years after Pluto’s escape; and Morpheus
received his “Dismissal Notice” on Thursday, August 20, 1998:
Date: August 20, 1998
To: R&D Division
ATTN: Mr. Morpheus D. Duvall
Upon investigation, we have concluded that you are responsible for the incident in Raccoon City on May
11, 1998. Your services with this company are hereby terminated.
However, your nondisclosure agreement shall remain in effect. Finally, your final paycheck will be fulfilled
in accordance with the "Dismissal Procedure" portion of your agreement.
Regards,
Umbrella Corporation.
Personnel Division
19
The basis for Morpheus’ ejection from the company was his poor handling of the Benthic Island
Disposal Facility; however that was not the explanation Umbrella gave when they removed him. Officially
Morpheus was found responsible and fired for causing the T-Virus outbreak at the Arklay Research
Facility on Monday, May 11, 1998; an incident which in reality he had nothing to do with. Duvall is widely
viewed by RE fans as being the unfortunate man the corporation selected as its scapegoat for the
disaster, placing the blame on him and absolving themselves of the responsibility. The fact that he
worked in a facility which was likely thousands of kilometres away, and the lack of any discernable
evidence to tie him to the incident make this almost certainly true. Umbrella had been planning to fire
him anyway, but rather than simply dismissing him they waited, knowing he’d come in handy as a fall-guy
for something. Regrettably for Duvall, this “something” happened to be one of the biggest catastrophes
in Umbrella’s history.
Over the years, numerous RE fans have developed theories attempting to explain how and why
Morpheus was made a scapegoat for Dr. James Marcus’ “unfortunate outburst”. These range from simple
ties to Raccoon City to accusations of long running deep conspiracies. Some of them are presented here
for consideration:
-
-
-
-
Theory 1:
One of the more direct ideas advocates that perhaps viral samples or sensitive materials were
shipped from Benthic Island to the Arklay Laboratory, which were improperly safeguarded and
subsequently leaked during Dr. Marcus’ vengeful return. A possibility, but since Benthic was a “disposal”
facility and a small-scale B.O.W research lab, it’s unlikely they’d have anything worth sending to Arklay
anyway, leaving no real evidence to support this idea, but none to eliminate it either.
Theory 2:
Another theory, devised by Welsh, is that Dr. William Birkin may have played some part in
Morpheus’ downfall. We all know of course that the true culprit behind the May 11 outbreak was the
resurrected Dr. James Marcus. With the reclamation project of Thursday, July 23, 1998 Albert Wesker and
William Birkin were put in charge of the operation to tackle the outbreak, salvage the facilities and
possibly neutralize the source of the disaster. Logically then in the weeks following the disaster, any
Umbrella investigation would be directed at these two individuals, and since Wesker was long gone it
would be left to Birkin to explain what happened during the Arklay mountain outbreak. As you’ve
probably figured out this would be a nightmare for Birkin, if the truth about Dr. Marcus were revealed
firstly the old conspiracy would be unearthed, effectively ending Birkin’s and perhaps Spencer’s careers;
whilst secondly Birkin would be found directly responsible due to his failure to dispose of Marcus’ body
after his assassination, a decision which effectively led to the May 11 debacle.
Consequently when quizzed about who was responsible, Dr. Birkin may have sought out a valid
scapegoat in order to avoid revealing the truth about Marcus. We know from Resident Evil Zero and The
Umbrella Chronicles that security cameras were recording footage from the training facility, footage
20
which caught brief glimpses of Dr. Marcus. No doubt internal investigators demanded to know exactly
who this man was and sought out Birkin to get some answers.
In order to secure his own future and
protect himself, Welsh has theorized that
perhaps Birkin found someone else to place the
blame on – Morpheus D. Duvall. Morpheus does
after all look like the young James Marcus, and
since almost everyone at Umbrella would have
no idea what the young Marcus looked like
(Wesker and Birkin didn’t even know it was him
until he identified himself), and considering the
poor quality of the security feed, it’s possible
that with enough persuasion from Birkin, the
two could be passed off as one and the same.
To the untrained eye, Morpheus and young Marcus look alike.
For obvious reasons, I’m guessing it wouldn’t have been all that hard for Morpheus to disprove
this one. But when you consider that Umbrella were looking to fire him anyway and were seeking a way
to dispose of him “usefully”, any protests he made may have been stonewalled by the company. Then we
can bring in the extra dimension of Spencer, who would have wanted to mask Marcus’ return and so
would have done what he could to support a scenario which omitted his existence. With these factors in
mind, there is not much to discredit the idea that Morpheus was set up and identified as Marcus to
shoulder the blame for the May 11 outbreak. Maybe one of the more elaborate theories certainly, but for
those who agree with this idea, it’s quite difficult to counter.
Theory 3:
Another theory is that Morpheus, in addition to being to the manager of Benthic Island was also
the manager of the “Dead Factory” waste disposal facility seen towards the end of Resident Evil 3:
Nemesis, and that the “poor supervision” he was infamous for was actually taking place in Raccoon City,
and not Benthic Island. Thus, the files seen on the island by Bruce and Fongling had somehow been
shifted across the world and somehow wound up on the island five years after they were written.
Morpheus’ poor supervision thus allowed the Dead Factory disposal site to become completely overrun
with waste from William Birkin’s laboratory, thus somehow triggering an outbreak. Many readers will
already be shaking their heads at this idea, and I would join them in doing so. It is a nice theory, and an
admirable attempt to further weave the events of Dead Aim into the overall story arch of the Resident
Evil saga, but sadly there are numerous flaws and inconsistencies in this version of events which not only
render it highly improbable, but completely impossible.
For example, if Morpheus was the manager of the Dead Factory facility, it clashes with what RE3
tells us. The game makes it clear that there was a manager already in charge of the treatment plant at the
times concerned. He arrived at the facility on Saturday, April 25, 1998, meaning he was in charge during
the May 11 incident, and still there on August 20 when Morpheus was fired. How could Duvall be fired
from a job he didn’t have? Well, to answer this some have suggested that the “manager” in the RE3 file
and Morpheus were the same person. However, consider this – the “Manager’s Diary” in RE3 informs us:
21
“April 25th
Today is my 30th birthday. I was transferred to this facility today. I am very happy because the work
environment is very different from life in the university.”
So firstly the manager was a former university lecturer, or perhaps a mature student. Doesn’t
exactly sound like Morpheus to me. Then there’s the fact that his thirtieth birthday is April 25, 1998. The
official Dead Aim manual claims Morpheus was 32. [5] Since the booklet is designed to accompany the
game, we know then that he must have born in 1970, making him 28 in 1998 (obviously), and not 30.
The next entry in the diary states:
“May 14th
The disposal system has been completed. Using a special kind of gas, it can decompose the cells of the
guinea pigs. We have to try this out before beginning practical usage of the system, since it is not 100%
stable yet.”
So the actual disposal system the plant was using wasn’t completed until three days after the
incident for which Morpheus was blamed. How could his failure to dispose waste have anything to do
with it if the waste wasn’t even being processed at that time?
The next few entries are largely irrelevant, so we’ll move on to the final one:
“July 29th
Though the function of the system decreases, the number of the bodies we have to dispose doesn't. The
infection level has increased and the anti-bodies we are using are no match for the new mutation of the
virus. Some of the workers have been infected by the disease. I have continued to work, but I always keep
a gun with me. I must remember to save one bullet for me. I want to weep. I don't want to die here. I
swear that I'll lose my mind if I imagine how painful the death will be...”
Based on that, it seems pretty clear that the manager of the Dead Factory ended up, well, dead.
If he didn’t die at work then he would almost certainly have been dead by October 1 along with everyone
else in the city. Since Morpheus was alive and well in 2002, it’s clear these two weren’t the same person.
In order to defend this theory, some may claim that we never see any proof regarding what year this
diary was written, allowing for a chance that it was done in 1997, allowing for Morpheus to replace this
man. Whilst that is technically true, when we consider that everything the manager tells us only works in
the context of building up to the Raccoon City outbreak (otherwise, how would the virus have not spread
out of the Dead Factory for over a year?), only the desperate would seriously believe that this file was not
written in 1998.
As if that wasn’t enough to disprove this theory, we then have the claim that the files on Benthic
Island were actually from the Dead Factory, but somehow survived being destroyed along with
everything else and instead ended up on an isolated island in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. I don’t
22
have to point out how silly this is, not to mention there isn’t a shred of evidence or logical reasoning to
support it. Furthermore there’s the fact that Morpheus was employed by the European Division of
Umbrella and not the American one. Consequently he had no business being employed at a facility
owned and operated by Umbrella USA, especially since he was a supervisor at a different complex
already. Finally, the Heroes Never Die official site had this to say about Benthic Island:
“The island is an Umbrella Waste Treatment Plant. The former director is Morpheus.”
I guess that settles that one then. For all of the reasons above, I think most readers will agree
that Morpheus couldn’t have been the Dead Factory manager.
Theory 4:
Some have suggested that Morpheus’ poor management of the Benthic Facility caused the island
to exceed capacity, meaning waste had to be shipped to Raccoon City to be disposed of, forcing the Dead
Factory to in turn exceed capacity and suffer a T-Virus leak. However this theory too is very flawed.
Primarily there’s little chance Umbrella would bother to ship waste back and forth across the globe just
to be destroyed. Some may claim that that is exactly what was happening with Benthic Island, but for
reasons explored in Part 5 the island complex was much more than just a disposal facility. Shipping
hazardous waste over oceans was a sure-fire way to disaster, and I doubt Umbrella were that stupid.
We then have the fact that the Dead Factory did not start exceeding capacity until June 7, 1998:
June 7th
The guinea pigs we have to dispose of are increasing. The system is not working smoothly. The laboratory
staff doesn't listen to my opinions and I am getting extremely frustrated.
Since this was after May 11, Morpheus couldn’t really be responsible for causing the outbreak by
interfering with the Dead Factory.
Next is the matter of correspondence. As mentioned earlier Benthic Island was headed up by
Umbrella Europe, whilst the Dead Factory was managed by Umbrella USA. The two divisions were
separate, and although they co-operated, if we assume Umbrella operated like most pan-global
enterprises it’s unlikely they’d bounce rubbish between branches of the company.
Lastly, there’s the rather simple fact that the Dead Factory’s T-Virus leak had absolutely nothing
to do with the Arklay Research Facility outbreak of May 11, 1998. So even had Benthic exceeded capacity
and forced the Dead Factory to do the same, it wouldn’t have had any effect whatsoever on goings on at
the mansion.
Theory 5:
One of the more interesting theories ties Morpheus’ firing to one Dr. Christine Henri. Turning out
yet another great idea, Welsh has speculated that perhaps Morpheus Duvall’s role as “supervisor”
23
extended beyond Benthic Island and across the whole of Research and Development for Umbrella’s
European Division; we do know he worked in R&D after all. At 28 he could have been a little young for
the job, but this is Resident Evil, the same series in which a 23 year old has already served and been
honourably discharged from both Delta Squad and the U.S Army Bomb Squad, a 10 year old can graduate
from a prestigious university, a 16 and an 18 year old can be made heads of a major research laboratory,
or a... well you get the picture. Child prodigies are everywhere in this series. Anyway, Morpheus could
have overseen the whole of the European division, only to be supplanted by Christine Henri.
We know in September 1998 she was the head of Umbrella’s entire French Division (another
name for the European Division since its headquarters was in Paris), meaning she was probably a direct
subordinate of the company’s board of directors including Spencer himself. In this instance, I’d imagine
Spencer had some say in who was chosen as the head of Research and Development for a whole section
of his company. The following portion of the theory could tie into theory 2, listed above. If Morpheus had
been the previous head of R&D for Umbrella Europe, his sacking would come at a heavy cost to the
company. If Birkin purposefully misidentified Duvall as Marcus, he would be fired and paid off, thus
covering up the truth behind the Arklay outbreak. However at the same time a new problem emerges –
Dr. William Birkin. As he resists Umbrella’s demands to turn over the G-Virus, he begins to consider
abandoning the company altogether and according to Resident Evil Archives even contacted the United
States Government. [6] Knowing that Birkin is the only other person in the company who knows the truth
about Marcus, Spencer decides to have him dealt with. At the same time, perhaps Christine Henri
pledged her allegiance, vowing to take care of Spencer’s “loose-ends” if he gives her the job of Head of
European R&D. Spencer agrees, Duvall is fired on August 20, 1998 thus covering up the reality of the
mansion outbreak, and Henri replaces him. Then, in September she makes good on her word and
dispatches a squad of U.S.S agents led by HUNK to assassinate Birkin and retrieve the G-Virus in one fell
swoop. This is done, completely removing anyone who could expose Spencer’s assassination of Dr.
Marcus, whilst resolving the mansion incident and at the same time retrieving the G-Virus. Of course the
price for doing this was high due to what subsequently transpired in Raccoon City, but at the time Henri
sent out the “Operation Instructions” she probably had no idea how bad the fallout would be:
“Orders for Special Agent HUNK are as follows:
Penetrate Umbrella research facility located outside of Raccoon City.
Recover G-virus sample from Mr. William Birkin. You are authorized to use any means necessary to secure
this sample.
Upon recovery, sample is to be delivered to Loire Village. Failure on this mission is not an option.
French Division
R&D Facility Head Manager
Christine Henri”
When she sent out the orders, she may have just been fulfilling obligations to Spencer. Of course
there’s a strong chance Spencer wanted the mission to go as it did, as based on Wesker’s Report II, he
could have been planning to expose Raccoon City to the T-Virus all along... At the time of writing, we
don’t know.
24
-
-
-
-
Now remember, each of the above theories is nowhere near canon, and although some of them
work quite well it is purely down to reader preference whether to take them on board or not, I merely
included them to give some more perspective on what Morpheus may have been a part of. In case you’re
wondering, of all of them I prefer theories 2 and 5 the most (as if you hadn’t guessed already!) simply
because though rather farfetched both are the most interesting; however they’re still just playful
ramblings more than they are serious attempts at rewriting the Resident Evil story. We have no real idea
exactly what the circumstances surrounding Morpheus’ departure from Umbrella were. All we know is
that according to canon, Morpheus D. Duvall was chosen as the corporation’s scapegoat for the May 11
T-Virus outbreak in 1998.
A beauty obsessed lunatic, Morpheus devoted his time into making his dream of a kingdom ruled
by it a reality. Free from Umbrella he could pour even more effort into his plans, though as we’ll see in
the next part of the article he was probably working on it long before the company fired him. He came up
with the idea of using T-Virus loaded missiles to threaten the governments of the world and went about
planning how they would be built. When finished, he would use the missiles to hold the world’s most
powerful nations to ransom, forcing them to pay him huge sums of money. Once he acquired his funds,
Duvall would, according to his plan, use the cash to build his kingdom deep in the hinterlands of Africa. A
slightly haphazard plan to be sure, but why did he choose Africa?
Here’s what he has to say about it in “Morpheus’ Journal (Thoughts on My Kingdom)”:
The symbol of power is in Africa...
The symbol of knowledge is here in the Bio-Sphere...
The symbol of beauty is mine...
The beauty controls everything and I shall dominate it...
Establishing a kingdom where beauty has absolute authority is the dream, which I must make a reality. I
was disappointed by Umbrella's betrayal, but that's fine, I'll just use them in return. If I secure enough
funds, I will materialize the construction of my kingdom deep in Africa.
Morpheus D. Duvall
So a “symbol of power” was in Africa? Interesting stuff, but what exactly was Morpheus trying to
say here? What do we know about Africa in the context of Resident Evil? Let’s check out the connections.
Of course we know Africa was the cradle of mankind where Homo sapiens took their first steps,
but was there a more significant reason Morpheus wanted his beautiful kingdom to be built in deep
Africa? Within the Resident Evil saga Africa is perhaps better known amongst fans as the land where Sir.
Edward Ashford, Dr. James Marcus and Lord Ozwell E. Spencer made a discovery which would change
their lives, and ultimately those of thousands, forever – the Progenitor Virus. We know this from an
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interview conducted in June 2008 by GameVideos.com with Jun Takeuchi, chief producer of Resident Evil
5 during which he said:
“The main reason that we chose Africa as the setting for Resident Evil 5 is actually from a clue that came
up in Resident Evil: CODE Veronica, where it was revealed that Africa was the origin of the Progenitor
Virus, which is the origin of all the viruses that appear in the series.” [7]
Almost a decade of suspicions were thankfully confirmed by Takeuchi’s words; as many had
suspected due to occasional hints throughout the series, the Progenitor Virus was indeed discovered in
Africa. Meanwhile, according to UK-based publication Xbox World 360 the country seen in Resident Evil 5
apparently is a “nameless African country near a line of active volcanoes that stretch across Eritrea,
Ethiopia, and Kenya.” [8] Contrary to this some have found evidence suggesting the game may actually
take place in Nigeria. Until the game’s release, we probably won’t know exactly where, but for now at
least we know with certainty that Africa was the home of the Progenitor Virus.
So what was this “clue” found in CODE: Veronica? Many fans recall no such hints, and
translations of the Japanese texts reveal nothing either, leaving many puzzled by Takeuchi’s words. It is
possible that perhaps being a Capcom employee he is privy to conceptual art and details from CODE:
Veronica which the fans are not, however this is unknown. What we do know is that so far as can be seen
there are a total of three references to Africa in the entire Resident Evil story arch – one in Wesker’s
Report II, one in Resident Evil Zero, and one in Dead Aim itself.
The first of these is very much a throwaway comment made by Wesker discussing the discovery
of the Ebolavirus genus in Yambuku, a town in northern Zaïre (known today as the Democratic Republic of
the Congo), in central Africa in 1976. Here’s what he had to say:
“Birkin was concentrating on the papers, which contained detailed reports on Ebola, a Filovirius, which
had been discovered in Africa two years ago.
Even now, many people across the world are still studying Ebola. But there are two distinct reasons why.
Some are studying the virus in order to save lives, while others have more sinister reasons.
90% of those infected with the Ebola virus will die. Once infected, body tissue is destroyed within ten days.
There is no vaccination and no cure. If used as a weapon it is incredibly frightening. Of course the treaty
on Prohibition of Use of Biological Weapons had been in effect long before that so it was illegal to conduct
research on the potential use of the virus as a weapon. However, it's perfectly legal to conduct research
on it to prevent its spreading if it was used by someone else as a weapon.
It is only a thin line between the two researches - in fact there is practically no difference between the
two. As you must investigate how it can be used as a weapon in order to know how it can be stopped.
This means it is possible to pretend that research is for the purpose of prevention and cure while your true
aim is the opposite.
However, Birkin was interested in neither of these routes as the virus had too many imperfections.
26
Firstly, it dies easily when in contact with direct sunlight and can only survive outside the body for a few
days.
Secondly, the virus does not have enough time to move onto the next host as it kills its initial host too
quickly.
Lastly, the virus is transmitted in body fluids and secretions, which can easily be prevented.
However, consider this:
What if the person infected with the virus, could stand up and walk? And if, subconsciously they sought
direct physical contact with uninfected people?
The Ebola gene is an RNA gene. RNA genes can mutate a human's genes and that mutation would allow
the human to have monster-like semi immortality?
This creature would be a 'Human Biological Weapon' -- to all intents and purposes dead as a human being
but still infecting other humans as long as it is alive.
It was lucky for us that Ebola did not exhibit such characteristics. We could keep the Ebola with that
particular capacity just for ourselves.
The organization, which was established around Spencer, was for the manufacture of this 'living weapon'.
Officially, it was a pharmaceutical company specialising in a cure for the virus, but in reality it was a
factory producing biological weapons.
The discovery of the 'Founder Virus' which can modify genes seemed to be the genesis of this whole
business.
In order to manufacture the 'Human Biological Weapon' from the 'Founder Virus', it was necessary to
develop a variant with that particular peculiarity enhanced.
That was the T-Virus project.
The 'Founder virus' is an RNA virus. RNA viruses are known to have a tendency to mutate. That tendency
enables us to manipulate them, strengthening their certain peculiarities.
Birkin wondered if he could combine the Ebola gene with the mutated 'Founder Virus' to enhance its
peculiarity. The sample of the Ebola virus had already arrived to this laboratory.”
Some have come to believe that Ebola was thus hinted at being the origin of the Progenitor
Virus. This is incorrect. Primarily Wesker’s states quite explicitly in the report that Ebola and Progenitor
were separate viruses. Secondly Progenitor was first tested on humans on November 10, 1967, making a
connection to Ebola unfeasible since it was not discovered until nine years later. Some have also
suggested that Ebola has a connection the T-Virus; however this was disproved with the release of
Resident Evil Zero which revealed that T was created when Dr. Marcus fused Progenitor with Leech DNA.
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Add to this that Umbrella likely aborted Ebola research shortly after studying it since the T-Virus was a
vastly superior weapon, and its inclusion in Wesker’s Report II seems to be only for giving some context to
the corporation’s activities.
Zero’s Africa reference comes in the form of Billy Coen’s flashback, during which he reveals he
was part of a United States Marine Corps team sent in to take out a “guerrilla encampment” in an African
village. The USMC set about their mission in summer 1997, but many of them died on their way to the
target. Ultimately only four made it to their destination alive, including Coen. Confusion still reigns over
what happened next, except that the villagers were allegedly innocent civilians, and that twenty-three of
them were killed. Coen was blamed (perhaps unfairly) for the incident and court martialled for his
offence, a crime for which he would later be sentenced to death. Could there actually be a Progenitor
clue here and Takeuchi was in fact referring to Zero? It’s possible, perhaps the villagers were infected and
the U.S moved in to purge the area and end the crisis before it could grow out of hand. We don’t know,
it’s just another little theory of mine.
The third and final Africa reference in Resident Evil is of course the one found in Dead Aim Morpheus’ ramblings about his wonderful kingdom. “So what?” you may say, “It doesn’t mean there’s
any link between Morpheus and the Progenitor Virus, does it?” Technically no, the evidence I’ve given
does not, but there is something else that’s making me connect Dead Aim to Progenitor, again drawn
from translations taken from the official Heroes Never Die website. The site’s scenario summary for the
game reveals something interesting about Duvall and his band of followers with whom he broke into the
Paris Lab:
"To obtain 10 billion dollars from around the world, Morpheus gathered mercenaries in Africa's
countryside in a military state and stole the T-Virus from Umbrella to use as a threat."
Fascinating stuff eh? Morpheus’ men, or at least some of them, were actually African
mercenaries from a “military state”. This little tidbit leads into another theory I have about Dead Aim,
one which is naturally pending since it relies on the motives of the infected individuals we’re seeing in the
trailers for Resident Evil 5. If some of the people we are seeing in RE5 actually want the Progenitor Virus
leaked into their village (similar to Los
Illuminados in RE4) then is it not possible that
some of these same villagers could have
originally sided with Morpheus? If Duvall’s plan
was successful and he constructed his kingdom
in Africa, was he actually planning to build it on
Kijuju, the town to be featured in RE5? Was the
“symbol of power” actually the dormant
Progenitor Virus, and his “African mercenaries”
people from Kijuju who hoped for some reason Could Kijuju, the village featured in RE5, be tied to Dead Aim?
he would release it for them when he came to build his new realm? Of course this is only another one of
my “oh no, he’s reading into things way too much again” theories, and I’m just playing around with ideas
here, but if RE5’s plot is anything like RE4’s and the villagers, or at least some of them, actually want the
Progenitor Virus to be brought out, perhaps they got involved with Morpheus as their primary way of
achieving this; and with his failure have essentially resorted to a plan B, details of which could be
revealed in RE5? If that is the case and they did want Progenitor to be released then wouldn’t it make
sense for them to help Morpheus so he’d help them in return? Of course such carefully laid plans would
28
have hit a serious snag when Duvall turned on his followers and then got blown up a few days later. But
still, ten out of ten for effort.
Now I was only theorising around there, and I’m certain when RE5 hits shelves the whole idea
won’t work at all; so for now just consider it yet another attempt to show how Dead Aim can tie in if
some evidence is there and we try to make good use of it, as well as an experiment to see if Morpheus
could have a more prominent place in Resident Evil lore than a lot of fans realize. I may revisit this section
of the article after RE5‘s release when it will all require some serious reworking, or probably deletion,
however such things can be dealt with as and when necessary. Simply another theory.
As we know from Part 3, Morpheus and his men stormed the Paris Lab Facility on Wednesday
September 18, 2002 and stole three vials containing T-Virus samples. He planned to use these only as a
distraction to hook the attention of the world’s major governments so he could carry out his true goals of
holding them to ransom. His plot was certainly an elaborate one, and wouldn’t have been possible
without one key factor: The place he spent some time running as a supervisor for Umbrella, and the same
place he would later use as a planned staging point for his insurrection against the world - a small island,
somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean.
29
PART 5 – THERE’S SOMETHING SINISTER GOING DOWN ON BENTHIC ISLAND...
Benthic Island is actually quite an enigma. Despite a plentiful supply of relevant written sources,
it’s still a location that we know very little about. For example whilst some of Umbrella’s other “island
facilities” are quite well explained, i.e. the Tyrant factory on Sheena Island or the Military Training Facility
and Prison on Rockfort Island, the purpose of Benthic has only ever been briefly alluded to, and even
then in quite a contradictory manner.
Here’s what we do know, based on files and other evidence seen in the game.
The island was owned by the Umbrella Corporation’s European Division and was apparently one
of their B.O.W disposal facilities, wherein a large amount of failed organisms were sent. It was opened in
at least mid-1996 and placed under the supervision of a man from the Research and Development
department - Morpheus Duvall. The station was made up of two parts, a “Waste Disposal Facility” on the
island proper and a seabed biosphere down below used for experiments (at first it was believed the
Biosphere was built later on by Morpheus’ men, however a translation of the original Japanese
“Architect’s Memo” states “the seabed laboratory was abandoned earlier by headquarters”; confirming it
was there all along). We can deduce some of this from the “Operator’s Notebook”:
“June 16th, 1997
One month has passed since I was dispatched here. I am astounded at the sloppy supervision of this
Umbrella waste disposal facility. It's not surprising that this accident happened.
I know that if I must die, I want to die as a human...
June 24th, 1997
The supervisor here called Morpheus is so annoying. He drives me nuts.”
Meanwhile, the “Experiment Alpha Log” gives the earliest date for the island’s use (late-August
1996, possibly the 26th) and then later informs us that Benthic Island also doubled up as a laboratory of
sorts for the development and testing of potential new B.O.W types, as seen with the unfortunate soul
who eventually became Pluto:
“Sep. 26th, 1996
Today we will begin the experiment. The subject is a condemned criminal called "Alpha". It has been one
month since the subject was transported to this facility. He is not exactly aware of what is going to
happen to him.
However, he seems to be very frightened...”
Perhaps the experiments done on Benthic were in some way similar to the testing done on
Sheena Island, a convict/kidnapee is sent there and injected with all sorts of unpleasant substances in the
hope of finding something interesting concerning chemicals in the brain. In Benthic’s case, it was how
30
infected brains could “respond to external stimuli after loss of vision” according to the official Japanese
site. Sheena Island produced amazing results, but perhaps it was just one of many facilities around the
globe researching similar things, Sheena simply happened to succeed first. Just a thought.
Benthic Island is also apparently the first place the T-Virus ever escapes from. This is documented
well by the Operator who complains about the lack of security and maintenance by Morpheus, and then
is infected in 1997, as seen in the “Operator’s Notebook”:
“June 24th, 1997
The supervisor here called Morpheus is so annoying. He drives me nuts.
He must pay more attention to worker health management and biological weapons than anyone I have
ever met. This facility belongs to Umbrella, but he obviously doesn't think so...
I have no idea how long I've been here. I don't wanna stay in this facility,
But I can't move.
My body won't move...” [9]
This is one source describing an outbreak. Another comes in the shape of Pluto - he escapes
from his prison and roams the waste facility from Wednesday, November 6, 1996 onwards, presumably
spreading the virus as well, as shown in the “Alpha Experiment Log”:
“Day 41: Experiment Suspended
The experiment has been suspended due to the fact that the subject has escaped. Even without its vision,
the subject is quite dangerous.
We should use extreme care not to make sounds when we try to capture it.”
So it looks like Pluto escapes, and from then on the T-Virus spreads across the island, killing
everyone as a result of Morpheus’ sloppy supervision. This is the commonly held wisdom on Dead Aim,
however since there are numerous defects in the above logic, we are forced to challenge it.
There are multiple flaws in the idea of the T-Virus escaping in late 1996 and spreading across
Benthic Island. Firstly, re-read the above quote from the “Alpha Experiment Log”. Notice the tone of the
file? “The subject has escaped, it’s quite dangerous. We... uh... we’d better go get it back.” The scientists
don’t seem overly concerned about a 600-pound abomination walking around as it sees fit, in fact
compared to the usual T-Virus outbreak files (“The virus is out! We’re doomed!”), the conclusion of the
“Alpha Experiment Log” seems quite nonchalant. If it was an outbreak that seriously threatened the
facility, surely there’d have been a little more urgency?
Then there’s the fact that if the T-Virus escaped and killed almost everyone on Benthic Island,
why did it just stop there? We all know how easily it can spread, so how is it that left unchecked for
almost six years the virus never spread into the Atlantic Ocean and then out into the world at large? The
31
only explanation is that there was a constant human presence on the base – a “controlled outbreak”, if
you will.
Some will see this as obvious since some of Dead Aim’s files confirm people were alive on the
island after the B.O.Ws were apparently freed. However, the very nature of these documents leads us
into the third problem with the idea of a total island-wide outbreak in November 1996 – work was still
going on after Pluto escaped.
The file “Research Report 220120” shows a study of infected insects which inhabited the
Biosphere (compare the file name to “Research Report 220329”, which concerns the T+G-Virus, correctly
implying that 220120 was written at a much earlier date. Well done Capcom!). Also, the files “Biological
Report 1” and “Biological Report 2” both detail the exploits of an employee at the disposal site who
observed the behaviour of apparently escaped B.O.Ws such as the Glimmers and the Torpedo Kids in the
wake of the outbreak . What’s interesting about this is the opening line of each:
“This is a survey report on the changes to the B.O.Ws which have been considered failures and have been
disposed of in this facility.”
So wait, they are “disposed of” but then allowed to wander freely around portions of the facility
to be studied? Well yes, actually. That’s exactly it. It may seem strange, but that single statement
essentially solves everything.
You see, the B.O.Ws on Benthic Island were not disposed of in the “traditional” sense of killing
and incinerating/corroding them, instead Umbrella chose to be their usual resourceful selves. Rather
than simply killing off the failed experiments, my good friend Neptune has theorized that Umbrella
actually put them into confined observation. They were supposed to be free, with large parts of the
Benthic Island Disposal Facility serving as a “B.O.W Zoo” of sorts. Umbrella didn’t actually destroy the
B.O.Ws and have done with them, but instead allowed them to grow and adapt to their surroundings and
be monitored, essentially allowing the company to survey B.O.Ws “in the wild” on Benthic Island,
something they were later able to do to much greater effect in Raccoon City. It’s a completely different
form of disposal.
Think about it, why have a run-of-the-mill disposal facility out in the middle of the Atlantic? That
would mean having to ship wasted B.O.Ws across the world just to be destroyed. Raccoon City’s “Dead
Factory” demonstrated that standard Umbrella practice was apparently to build disposal sites close by to
major B.O.W laboratories for ease of transport and maximum discretion. Having an everyday disposal
complex out in the middle of nowhere makes no sense whatsoever. Conversely, in the context of a B.O.W
“zoo”, the isolated and out-of-the-way location of Benthic Island makes perfect sense. Failed experiments
could be shipped to a secluded environment and then observed on the chance that something interesting
could be seen and recorded. Yes, files do refer to Benthic as just a “disposal facility”, and perhaps some
things were destroyed on the island. However the fact that “disposed of” B.O.Ws were under study
suggests rather strongly that the aforementioned disposal actually meant placing into confinement for
behavioural study. It’s still “disposal” since the B.O.Ws are no longer taking up space in Umbrella’s other
labs, it’s just not disposal as we’ve all come to know it.
So who the hell would want to work there? The risk of infection has to be 90% or so, and surely it
would only be a matter of time before some savage monstrosity skewered you on its talons? How were
32
the employees supposed to protect themselves? Granted, Morpheus does appear to have been
somewhat lax about the situation, and it was only after Umbrella caught wind of this that rather than
continuing operations at the now overrun “zoo” they decided instead to terminate his contract and shut
the facility down. Pluto’s escape, although controllable, was not meant to happen and probably triggered
their decision to fire Morpheus, but they instead waited to use him as a scapegoat for any problems the
company could have. This would ultimately be his alleged “involvement” with the Raccoon City Incident
(as discussed in Part 4) for which Umbrella ultimately fired him. But prior to the complex being closed,
Umbrella had to find staff to work there. If B.O.Ws were roaming much of the complex, how could they
get people to take a job there? Umbrella being the nefarious lot that they were, it’s not hard to imagine
them simply forcing people into employment on the island, threatening them with severe punishments in
the event of their refusal. Failing this, they could have offered one hell of a pay-packet for anyone on the
island, or simply not told them the details of the base until it was too late. This aside though, whilst there
were no doubt “safe” portions of the complex, and workers therein would probably have been able to
protect themselves once actually on Benthic Island, researchers must still have been dropping like flies as
they were killed in one accident after another. The Benthic Laboratory must have been a recruitment
nightmare for Umbrella, a point we will revisit later.
So if the outbreak of 1996 was, in part at least, controlled, then how and when did the zombies
encountered by Bruce and Fongling come to be? There is a clue to this in the form of Crimson Heads. Or
rather, the lack thereof.
On the subject of Crimson Heads, REmake divulges some information in the “V-ACT” file:
“There is now evidence that when the host loses consciousness, the body goes into a dormant state.
During this time the virus becomes active and rapidly transforms and reconstructs the basic composition
of the body.
The host eventually mutated into a humanoid creature. (We call them V- ACTs)
Its speed and amazing muscular development are particularly noteworthy. After transformation, it
becomes more agile and aggressive.
Already four of our researchers have died from trying to feed it, turning the place into an instant blood
bath. (Ever since this tragic and barbaric accident, we have decided to call its kind "Crimson Heads")”
My esteemed friend Project Omega once theorized that, since the file concludes these creatures
are to be dubbed Crimson Heads, then “V-ACT” must be the actual process by which the transformation
takes place i the conversion of cells within an infected host to a more powerful state. I agree with this
100%, and it is essentially confirmed on page 147 of Resident Evil Archives:
“In order for a zombie to become a Crimson Head, it must first be incapacitated by some external source.
Eventually, the process called V-ACT will occur. Afterwards, the creature’s body tissue is reconstructed on
a cellular level, and it resumes activity.” [10]
Further to this Omega suggested that perhaps V-ACT is an acronym for “Virus Activated Cellular
Transformation”, a definite possibility since this is essentially what occurs.
33
The above quotes, in addition to the fact that no Crimson Heads were encountered in Raccoon
City (and other outbreaks) have led the Resident Evil fan community by-and-large to adopt the idea that
V-ACT only takes place when zombies are incapacitated after having had the virus inside them for an
undefined, but relatively long, period of time. Perhaps a few weeks. This creates a problem with the
zombies on Benthic Island. Some of the undead Bruce and Fongling encounter would have been infected
since 1996, and so when struck down should later have come back as Crimson Heads. There have been a
few attempts to explain this inconsistency, the simplest being that Dead Aim was developed separately
from REmake. However, if we consider that REmake was released in 2002, whilst Dead Aim hit stores in
summer 2003, this reasoning seems flawed. It’s likely the developers were aware of the content of
REmake, ergo the lack of Crimson Heads seems to be an omission by choice. Failing that, it may simply
have been an oversight, a lack of communication between different branches of Capcom which caused
mistakes to be made. Less obsessed individuals could probably settle for the latter rationalization;
however this being Project Umbrella, we always try to come up with as good an “in-universe” explanation
as we can.
To this end, a discussion was held on the old Project Umbrella forums, during which it was
excellently theorized that there in fact were Crimson Heads on Benthic Island, but the player never gets
the chance to see them. If they have to be incapacitated, and then left alone for a while before V-ACT
can occur, then Bruce would be long gone before they rose back up. Dead Aims a relatively linear game
with very little time spent backtracking or exploring, especially during the island segments. The player is
always moving forward, meaning that any potential Crimson Heads would be left far behind before Bruce
could see them rise.
Bruce stumbles upon the fire in the Benthic Island Facility.
However even this is still fairly flawed. As Bruce
heads deeper into the catacombs of Benthic Island,
astute players will notice that some sections of the
complex are on fire. If the initial outbreak occurred
in 1996, it’s a long shot to assume that the flames
had been going for six years. This also contradicts
the idea that the zombies on the island were
roaming around all that time as well, as someone
must have been around to start the inferno no more
than a few days before Bruce’s arrival. The presence
of the fire coupled with the lack of Crimson Heads in
Dead Aim can only lead us to one conclusion – those
zombies hadn’t been there very long.
The “Experiment Alpha Log” tells us that Pluto escaped from confinement on Wednesday,
November 6, 1996. Information from the official Heroes Never Die website translated by Welsh also
states that Pluto killed five researchers during his getaway. So whilst yes, there was an outbreak, the lack
of Crimson Heads and the presence of the underground fire in Dead Aim mean that the disaster could not
have been enough to infect and consume the whole island. The idea of Benthic Island being a “zoo”,
paired with the reasoning given above means that the break-out was to an extent, contained. No doubt
there was chaos on the island, but it couldn’t have been enough to infect everyone. Perhaps for instance,
if a researcher was infected, they were either shot or simply absorbed into the Benthic Island “zoo”, thus
keeping the outbreak temporarily enclosed.
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Even then though there are two problems; 1 - Surely, even with a “contained” outbreak on the
island, it could not be maintained for long with researchers and personnel constantly being killed off, not
to mention the likely recruitment problems mentioned earlier that the company had concerning Benthic
Island. 2 - If the zombies Bruce finds on the island were not the original researchers, then who the hell
were they? Let’s take a look.
The response to point 1 comes in the form of how the Umbrella Corporation dealt with
Morpheus and the Benthic Disposal Facility. Although the place was a zoo within which certain B.O.Ws
were intended to roam fee, Pluto’s escape and the subsequent outbreak of the T-Virus amongst the staff
who work there was certainly not intended to happen. The outbreak occurred as a result of Morpheus’
poor supervision over the island, and as a consequence, in late 1996 or early 1997 Umbrella decided they
were going to have him fired and the facility shut down. However, they chose to be rather resourceful in
their actions, as always. Knowing that the facility was facing severe recruitment problems, and that the
experiments taking place there were rather unique, Umbrella decided to wait as long as they could,
keeping Morpheus in their employment and the experiments on Benthic going for as long as feasibly
possible. Ultimately, the island was deemed unsalvageable, and a perfect opportunity to get rid of
Morpheus presented itself. Even though he was actually being fired for his poor job as Benthic’s
supervisor, Umbrella instead made him a scapegoat for the Arklay Research Facility outbreak and relieved
him of duty in August 1998 (for speculation on the circumstances surrounding Morpheus’ expulsion from
the company, see Part 4). Shortly thereafter, the Benthic Island Facility was due to be shut down but the
closure was delayed a while due to the Raccoon City outbreak, meaning the lab was probably shut in
October 1998 (for reasons pertaining to this see Part 7). So essentially point 1 is correct, the “zoo” on
Benthic Island wasn’t sustainable. Umbrella just didn’t care that much. They were intending to close it
down anyway and be rid or Morpheus, but kept it going for as long they could.
Regarding point 2, the identity of the zombies Bruce finds on Benthic Island is at first quite a
puzzler. The fact that they don’t turn into Crimson Heads means that they were not people infected with
the T-Virus in 1996/1997 and left to roam the halls, meaning they must have been alive and well until not
long before Dead Aim takes place. Instead these poor people were infected recently enough to not
become Crimson Heads when shot down, and recently enough to start a fire during whatever mishap
befell them which could still be burning when Bruce arrived. So who were they?
There’s only one explanation. They were Morpheus’ men.
We know that Morpheus was using Benthic Island as a base in 2002, and as explored in Part 4 he
had a band of fanatical supporters, some of whom were African mercenaries. As Duvall made his plans
and had his missile silo built on the ocean floor, there’s no doubt he’d have needed as much help as he
could get. So, as he amassed more support, Benthic Island would secretly and steadily have been
repopulated with all manner of individuals. Builders, workers, caterers, guards, Bruce even finds some
zombies in Lab Coats, scientists employed by Morpheus to oversee the construction of the T-Virus
missiles, not to mention the liquid fuels and viral contagions held within them (as covered in Part 3,
Morpheus was likely using T-Virus samples found on Benthic Island in his missiles, rather than the ones he
stole from Paris). These people likely stayed on the island until very shortly before the events of Dead
Aim. Then something nasty befell them...
There is something to contradict this on the official Biohazard Gun Survivor 4 website, a passage
which claims:
35
"The island is an Umbrella waste treatment plant. The former director is Morpheus. Due to sloppy
management, about one month ago the T-Virus was leaked and many staff have died."
This claims that the outbreak occurred about a month before Dead Aim. This however is easy to
disprove. Firstly, we know that the “outbreak” was Morpheus’ responsibility. Secondly we know that he
was not the director by the time it was “one month” before the outbreak, and that his sloppy
management was not a factor since Umbrella had long since fired him. More likely this passage is
referring to the Pluto escape and the subsequent outbreak, and its writers merely misjudged the
timeline. In addition to this, the site does come with a disclaimer informing us that the scenario was
“written before the game was complete, so the final product may differ”.
With the completion of the missile silo, everything was set. Ready to move his plan into its next,
most risky phase, Morpheus no longer had any need for his followers on the island. Seeking to remove
them (let’s not forget Mr. Duvall was quite a madman) he released the T-Virus into his base and killed off
pretty much everyone who was there in late-August/mid-September 2002. As carnage ensued, most of
the men and women who had given so much for Morpheus were infected due to his betrayal and during
the panic a fire even broke out in the underground tunnel systems in the old Disposal facility.
Consequently these poor folks are shambling around when Bruce McGivern and Fongling enter the
compound on the morning of September 22nd.
Incidentally, it is important to note that some of the zombies/corpses/B.O.Ws seen in the
Disposal Facility and the Biosphere may well have been there since 1996/’97. We know for example that
Pluto had been wandering the halls all along, and Fongling finds the corpse of the old facility
administrator as well. The Glimmers and Torpedo Kids were leftovers as well, or perhaps the offspring of
those which were around when the facility was active and a few zombiefied “stragglers” are possible too.
Of course the lack of Crimson Heads means that the majority of the infected were recently exposed
followers of Morpheus, but it’s possible that one of two of the zombies had been there longer than that.
In such instances, the “no backtracking” argument would have to suffice.
The last Benthic conundrum lies with the Missile Silo, Morpheus's ICBM launcher etched into the
bedrock of the Atlantic Ocean. Exactly when was this constructed? One would be inclined to suggest after
the Benthic Island facility was shut down circa October 1998, for the obvious reason that nobody would
be in the area any longer to report it. However, a review of the available evidence suggests work may
actually have begun slightly earlier.
Now I’m no architect, but I do know that building a fully functional missile silo is difficult, I know
that undersea construction is difficult, and I sure as hell know that putting them together makes things
nigh on impossible. Doable certainly, but seriously hard. First off, actually building a silo is a technical
nightmare due to all the components, but putting it on the ocean floor would have made things ten times
worse. Most Inter-Continental Ballistic Missiles go through three primary “flight-phases” – firstly the
“boost phase”, in which the missile blasts off from the ground and reaches its optimum trajectory in the
sky, guided by internal computer systems; they then enter what’s known as a “burn/midcourse phase”,
where the remainder of the fuel is spent as the missile speeds through the atmosphere, or in some case
beyond it, heading in the direction of the chosen target; after this comes the “re-entry phase” during
which rather obviously the missile re-enters the atmosphere and coasts towards its destination, burning
up what little fuel remains before simply falling to the unfortunate point it was aimed at. [11] Now, most
36
missiles launched from the water are done so via submarine (“Submarine Launched Ballistic Missiles” or
“SLBM”s for short) and not from silos for an obvious reason, not only are seabed silos really tough to
build, the rockets themselves have to be put through a fourth phase, during which a huge quantity of fuel
is consumed just to get the missiles to the surface. Even after that, the rockets would need to be
equipped with enough fuel to make it to their targets.
So in order to have his missiles hidden, Morpheus wanted them built on the ocean floor. As
explained above though this was a very tough thing to accomplish, so Duvall would have needed one hell
of a specialist brought in. We know from a file entitled “Architect’s Memo” that such a person was
involved – an architect, obviously:
“We have completed construction on the missile base. I assume that HQ doesn't know that this facility is
operating and is under Morpheus's control.
Furthermore, even though I am only an architect, I'm concerned about how this facility will be used.
Morpheus tends to go too far after the Raccoon incident.”
So who was this individual? Given the manner in which he refers to Morpheus, we can safely
assume that he wasn’t one of his fanatical followers, meaning he must have been getting paid. Now, he
refers to Umbrella as “HQ”, implying also that he was probably an employee or former employee of the
company. Still though that doesn’t really account for his technical know-how and ability, so how did he
come by that?
Anyone with an interest in military technology can tell you that after the liquidation of the Soviet
Union in late 1991, there was a tremendous “brain drain” in the east as military technicians suddenly
found themselves out of employment and so offered their services to the highest foreign bidders; be they
powerful national governments or affluent terrorist organizations. We know that Umbrella recruited
many former military operatives from the U.S.S.R into the company, Sergei Vladimir and Nicholai
Ginovaef being just two of no doubt hundreds, indeed a large chunk of the U.B.C.S was made up of exSoviet soldiers. It’s not hard to imagine Umbrella also recruiting military engineers, scientists, builders
and architects into their ranks during this time as well. Ergo I propose that the architect we see was most
likely a former Soviet military engineer who eventually found work building labs for Umbrella. Obviously
he was probably not the only such person brought into Morpheus’ sordid little plan, the architect likely
headed up a team of builders and missile scientists.
But if this architect worked from Umbrella, then why did he side with Morpheus? Based on his
comments he doesn’t seem to have been overtly loyal to the man. The best explanation I can therefore
think of is that Duvall simply offered to pay him more. It’s not hard to assume he could afford to in the
wake of his firing, here’s what his “Dismissal Notice” has to say:
“Date: August 20, 1998
To: R&D Division
ATTN: Mr. Morpheus D. Duvall
Upon investigation, we have concluded that you are responsible for the incident in Raccoon City on May
11, 1998. Your services with this company are hereby terminated.
37
However, your nondisclosure agreement shall remain in effect. Finally, your final paycheck will be
fulfilled in accordance with the "Dismissal Procedure" portion of your agreement.
Regards,
Umbrella Corporation.
Personnel Division”
Considering that Morpheus was probably privy to some of Umbrella’s “darker” secrets, one can
imagine this redundancy package was fairly hefty. It’s with this money I believe that Morpheus paid the
architect and other specialists to work for him and build the silo. Now, for reasons to be covered in Part
7, we know that Morpheus was fired from his position in August 1998, but that the Benthic Island
Disposal Facility stayed open for another two months until around October 1998. It is during these
months that I believe work began on the missile silo, probably in late September/early October. Let’s
review again what the architect has to say concerning the completion of the silo in the “Architect’s
Memo”:
“We have completed construction on the missile base. I assume that HQ doesn't know that this facility is
operating and is under Morpheus's control.
Furthermore, even though I am only an architect, I'm concerned about how this facility will be used.
Morpheus tends to go too far after the Raccoon incident.”
So if our friend the architect could compare Morpheus’ behaviour to how it used to be, he must
have known Morpheus before the Raccoon City outbreak, meaning he was there prior to late September
1998. This can logically mean one thing; he had started building, or at least designing the silo whilst
Morpheus was still in command. This actually works rather well. Here is what Duvall writes in the file
“Orders from Morpheus” once his scheme gets underway:
“I have arrived and have begun the plan.”
The fact that he makes no mention of what “the plan” actually is means whoever received the
note already knew. Since this document was likely written in late September/early October of 1998 then
we can assume “the plan” had been worked on before this. That means that Morpheus never really
wanted any “revenge” on Umbrella for firing him, it couldn’t have been one of his motives since he was
working on his insane scheme before he was sacked. All he ever says on the subject is that he “was
disappointed by Umbrella’s betrayal”, not that he seeks vengeance. He might well have hated them for it,
but didn’t really care too much about getting even. Thinking about it, this actually fits very snugly. Why
was Morpheus such a poor supervisor? Because he spent all of his time working on his master plan,
leaving the Benthic facility to essentially run itself in the hands of others such as the “Facility
Administrator” and the “Operator”. He was planning to use Benthic as a staging ground all along! My
guess is that he completed his designs just prior to be being fired, and the cash he subsequently received
actually helped him as he could begin putting them into effect.
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Since the architect knew Morpheus before the Raccoon City incident, we can also deduce that he
was probably employed at Benthic whilst Duvall was in charge, and was brought into the scheme just
after he was sacked in late August. He then spent the next several weeks vigorously designing the silo
Morpheus wanted, and sometime in October construction began.
So when did the building work end? My guess is
2002, September to be precise. Exactly the same
week, perhaps even day, that Morpheus
infected his own followers on Benthic Island.
The completion of the silo would be the catalyst
for him to take such measures, and decide the
time had come to hold the world’s governments
to ransom. Taking almost four years to build the
silo might seem a little long, but remember the
reasons I gave earlier. To construct something
The Benthic Island Biosphere and Silo Complex.
like that, especially on the ocean floor is a
mammoth task, and on top that Morpheus had nowhere near the monetary or personnel resources that
governmental bodies would have. He was on a strict budget, and the silo was a huge facility. Under these
circumstances a four year timeframe for the completion of the silo seems very plausible.
So with the base finished, Morpheus Duvall was ready to make his final move. It may even have
worked had two of the world’s governments not dispatched a pair of brave agents to intervene.
39
PART 6 – “ALL THE WORLD’S A STAGE, AND ALL THE MEN AND WOMEN MERELY PLAYERS.”
The events of Resident Evil Dead Aim were markedly different to those of its predecessors in
several areas. One the more intriguing story elements of the game was its depiction of some of the most
powerful governments in the world directly involving themselves in Umbrella affairs. Sure, there had
been small hints of the U.S government’s interest in the past, from the “Federal Police Department” of
Resident Evil 2 through to the U.S soldiers found slain during the climax of Resident Evil 3. However, Dead
Aim marked the first time we were fully aware of the political games at play in the background. Both the
United States of America and the People’s Republic of China were contacted by Morpheus on September
21, 2002 and told to pay him the sum of $5,000,000,000 USD or be faced
with total annihilation as he launched ICBMs loaded with the T-Virus at
their major cities, with the deadline being midnight on the 23rd. In
response to this the two nations began deliberating over whether or not
to negotiate and bow to the terrorist’s demands, and in the meantime
covertly dispatched respective agents to take out Morpheus and quash his
plans in the hope that the situation could be resolved without paying.
Bruce McGivern was sent from a special anti-Umbrella task force owned The emblem of Fongling’s unit.
and operated by United States Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM), whilst
Fongling was sent from the “Chinese Safety Department” (likely a part of the Second Department within
the Ministry of State Security, itself a subdivision of the People’s Liberation Army). [12]
The two spies worked their way aboard the Spencer Rain to confront Duvall, and later off it and
onto Benthic Island in pursuit of him. Meanwhile with no news of Fongling’s progress the Chinese
Government opted to pay Morpheus the money he was demanding, thus giving him half of the money he
sought. There were probably several factors in their decision to do so, but I think the choice can be
narrowed down to two primary ones. Considering that China is home to almost 20% of the Earth’s
population, even a single T-Virus missile fired into one of its cities would wreak untold devastation upon
not just the nation, but the entire world and would by comparison make the horror of Raccoon City look
more like a few cases of the common cold. Knowing this the Chinese couldn’t risk such a disaster and
submitted to Morpheus, then sought to eliminate Fongling to remove evidence of their involvement.
Also, we know that the Chinese government were watching the mission’s progress via satellite. It’s
possible that after the Spencer Rain ploughed into the side of Benthic Island they believed for a brief time
that Fongling had perished, leaving them little choice but to pay. Later they may have relocated Fong (as
she stepped into the open chamber on the island’s surface) and having previously concluded she was
dead and having paid Duvall’s demands tried to eliminate her via an orbital beam weapon to remove
evidence of their involvement.
What happened next probably shocked most of the parties involved, it sure as hell shocked
Bruce and Fong. Although he’d made implicit that he would fire his missiles at 00:00 on Monday,
September 23, Morpheus broke this deadline and began the launch sequence sometime in the early
morning of September 22. Much like the Chinese willingness to pay the ransom we don’t know for sure
what prompted this decision to be made, however common sense can offer some insight nevertheless.
By the time the launch countdown begun, Morpheus’ plan had taken some severe blows. He’d been
mortally wounded and forced to inject himself with the T+G-Virus in order to survive, the two agents
responsible were still alive and heading inexorably in his direction. To deal with them, he captured
Fongling and attempted to use her as bait to lure Bruce into a trap. During this time he activated the
launch protocol. Since his plans were being unravelled seemingly by the minute it’s possible that
40
Morpheus was simply trying to salvage whatever he could. The Chinese had already paid him five billion
dollars, a handsome sum by anyone’s reckoning, and he may have concluded that the US was not going
to bow to his demands. Thus, with the chance that Bruce could potentially destroy the silo and stop the
launch and at least five billion dollars to his name, Morpheus likely triggered the launch countdown and
then hoped to settle his score with Bruce and Fongling before fleeing the island as the missiles blasted
off. Once safely away, he probably planned to either begin work on his kingdom with the money he had,
or find some way to raise the remaining five billion. Of course he never got the chance to execute any of
this anyway.
As we know the United States and China were both crucial elements of Morpheus’ plan, it was
with their funds that he hoped he would go on to build his glorious dominion in the heartlands of Africa.
This is widely regarded to be the full scope of his scheme, to contact two of the world’s most powerful
nations and barter for money. However anecdotal, not to mention conspicuously missing evidence
demonstrates that Duvall’s plot may have been much bigger and more carefully laid out than it first
appears on the surface. Here’s what Umbrella’s spy was able to learn of Morpheus’ designs:
We need to take action against him before it becomes too late, since he's currently in negotiations with
several countries including the United States.
The term “several countries” seems a little strange, doesn’t it? China and the U.S is two, not
“several”, hinting that Morpheus may have contacted more nations than we first realize. The scenario
description on the Gun Survivor 4 official site confirms that the total sum he demanded was ten billion
dollars, five from the U.S and five from China. This apparently means that he only contacted two
governments and not several, thus contradicting “Regular Report No. 1162” and the game itself.
However, who’s to say that Morpheus demanded funds from these other nations? He may for instance
have contacted multiple nations around the world and rather than demanding money requested
concessions, equipment, permission to travel through certain territories, etc. All of these things would
have been necessary components of Duvall’s plan if he hoped to succeed, so his contacting “several”
governments is actually quite plausible, he just demanded the most from the superpowers of China and
the United States.
However this set-up still has one glaring omission. Find the closest person to you. Go on, anyone
you can. Go ahead and ask them who the major superpowers in the world are, see what they say. I bet
they’ll almost certainly reply with “Easy. America, China and Russia”. They’ll be right too – the three
principal powers in the world are by far the United States of America, the People’s Republic of China and
the Russian Federation. If Morpheus was demanding money from superpowers, why didn’t he approach
the Russians? If he could hit the Chinese with missiles, he could certainly hit Moscow as well. It may be
that he did contact them with a different request, or felt that he didn’t need a total of $15,000,000,000.
However, there may be another reason. He could have been afraid.
As their situation got gradually worse the Umbrella Corporation were forced to withdraw further
and further from the global stage and into select labs and outposts across the world as they tried to
survive. They had a few hangars, possibly some island facilities and their fleet of ships (including the
Spencer Rain) in addition to the company’s corporate headquarters in Paris. However The Umbrella
Chronicles revealed that during this time the majority of Umbrella’s presence was shifted and relocated
into a different part of the world - Russia. As the corporation went on trial in 1999, Ozwell Spencer was
forced to go underground, rarely surfacing and slowly but surely cutting back his company’s expenditure.
41
During this time he entrusted official command of Umbrella to his loyal follower, Colonel Sergei Vladimir,
a man who was happy to undertake this duty in service to the man who had rekindled his warrior’s flame
and given him a new purpose in life, all the while unaware he was being fitted up to be the classic fallguy. As Vladimir carried out his duties, he pushed forward on research into the T-A.L.O.S programme in
the hope that it would put the company back on top, constantly wary of potential enemies interfering in
his designs. When Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine launch their assault on the Caucasus Facility, it is
revealed that they are probably in contact with the Russian Government (though are attacking the base
without their consent). Meanwhile in his conversations with the Red Queen Artificial Intelligence system,
Sergei inadvertently shows us that he knows the Russian government is on their way to attack the
complex, thus implying Umbrella had spies within its ranks. If this is indeed the case then it has
interesting connotations for Dead Aim.
Had Morpheus contacted the Russian Government it is possible that through informants within it
news of his plans may have reached Sergei, and consequently Lord Spencer himself. Knowing that these
two men would move against him without remorse and ceaselessly hunt him down for what he was
doing, there is a strong possibility that Duvall opted to keep away from the Russians. This would go a long
way to explaining why he chose to contact and threaten just two of the world’s three financial
superpowers and essentially limit his chances of acquiring the money he sought. Hell, I’d take the
combined wrath of the U.S and China over the wrath of Ozwell E. Spencer any day of the week, and
perhaps Morpheus felt the same.
Before we move on to the next portion of the article, I also
want to examine another aspect of the governmental
involvement shown in Dead Aim, this time focussing directly on
that of the United States. After Morpheus contacts them, they
dispatch agent Bruce McGivern from an anti-Umbrella Task
Force within United States Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM),
to investigate and undermine Duvall’s plot to whatever extent
he can. We know how his mission turned out, but I want to
focus on USSTRATCOM itself.
Here’s what we know about USSTRATCOM, it was
founded on June 1, 1992 by then-President George H. Bush as
The USSTRATCOM emblem.
one of ten unified command sectors which combined to form
the United States Department of Defense. Over the following years it would come to integrate itself into
all manner of strategic planning and command across a whole range of US military affairs. It would take
on many tasks, including but not limited to:
“To deter attacks on U.S. vital interests, to ensure U.S. freedom of action in space and cyberspace, to
deliver integrated kinetic and non-kinetic effects to include nuclear and information operations in support
of U.S. Joint Force Commander operations, to synchronize global missile defense plans and operations, to
synchronize regional combating of weapons of mass destruction plans, to provide integrated surveillance
and reconnaissance allocation recommendations to the SECDEF [Secretary of Defense], and to advocate
for capabilities as assigned.” [13]
A diverse role and a pivotal one to US foreign affairs. With a little of Capcom’s embellishment we
can deduce that in the wake of the Raccoon City tragedy a new task force was formed within
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USSTRATCOM aimed at investigating and bringing to an end any of the Umbrella Corporation’s nefarious
activities. Why a department intended to manage the US’ strategic map of the world and its nuclear
arsenal was chosen to house such a unit actually makes an eerie amount of sense when we review what
Bruce’s mission entailed. One of USSTRATCOM’s internal bodies is the “Center for Combating Weapons of
Mass Destruction” (SCC-WMD), a group which:
“Provides the Defense Department with expertise in contingency and crisis planning to interdict and
eliminate the proliferation or use of Weapons of Mass Destruction.” [14]
Interdicting and eliminating the proliferation or use of WMD and associated technology sounds
bizarrely similar to what Bruce was doing during Dead Aim. Of course as an anti-Umbrella taskforce its
likely much of Bruce’s co-workers didn’t know much about WMD or their use, however at least we now
know where some of his mission support was coming from. Capcom’s choice for using USSTRATCOM as
the basis of their anti-Umbrella task force for the game actually works extremely well in light of such
information. But was USSTRATCOM’s influence limited to just Dead Aim, or do things go even further?
Anti-Umbrella organizations seem to have proliferated widely throughout the Resident Evil
storyline over the years. We have USSTRATCOM, the movement Leon S. Kennedy and Ark Thompson
worked with, the cloak-and-dagger groups Albert Wesker has used throughout his schemes, the
“activists” who were interviewed in a file in The Umbrella Chronicles, Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine’s
“Regional Biohazard Containment Unit”, and RE5’s Bioterrorism Security Assessment Alliance. Each of
these groups have been working towards either taking over or ending secret B.O.W research; however
most of them share the common goal of bringing the Umbrella Corporation down and/or to justice. It can
get quite confusing at times. However, in the interest of sewing things together a little more tightly, not
to mention as the follow up to some serious research, I believe that two of these groups may well have
been the same - USSTRATCOM and Leon’s agency. We’ve been over the history of STRATCOM, so now
let’s look at Kennedy and Thompson’s unit to give you some idea what I’m talking about.
Before his career took him into presidential security, Leon S. Kennedy was once a rookie cop, a
regular guy ready to start his first day on the force. Unfortunately things didn’t stay that way for long as
he was thrust into a nightmare of viruses, zombies, insane police chiefs, femme-fatales and giant
eyeballs; all of which conspired to make one hell of night to remember. After surviving the horrors of
Raccoon City, an exhausted Leon parted ways with Claire Redfield and took twelve year old Sherry Birkin
towards the closest contingent of the US military he could find. The two were taken into custody and
received extensive medical attention (no doubt Sherry’s blood cells were regarded as top-priority), after
which Leon was given a unique proposition. He was offered a place in a government backed antiUmbrella taskforce, within which he could hone and utilize his skills to help bring the corporation down.
Kennedy agreed on the condition Sherry be kept safe, but largely left alone; a side of the bargain we still
don’t know was upheld or not. Regardless, Kennedy was taken into the group in circa October 1998, just
after the Raccoon City disaster, the exact same month that the US government’s full scale investigation of
Umbrella began and ergo, the month the anti-Umbrella wing of USSTRATCOM was formed. Starting to
come together?
The similarities in the timeline do not necessarily indicate that these groups were the same,
however when added to the matching descriptions of “government supported anti-Umbrella groups”,
things do seem suspect. It doesn’t stop there though, there’s more. Even a passing glance at the
43
character models for Bruce McGivern in Dead Aim and Leon S. Kennedy in RE4 will register similarities in
the minds of most readers. Take a look at this:
Bruce’s and Leon’s equipment
and costumes are very close in
both layout and overall design.
Here we can match:
EQUIPMENT HARNESS
FLASHLIGHT
AMMUNITION POUCHES
ADDITIONAL TOOL PACK
Bruce McGivern in Resident Evil Dead Aim.
There are also some strong
similarities in footwear, pants,
shirt and utility belt. The only
real deviation between the
two is Leon’s use of a leg
holster and a knife-sheath, and
both of these items appear to
be personal customizations
(the knife for example is taped
to his harness) on his part.
Leon S. Kennedy in Resident Evil 4.
These common traits are too blatant to be mere coincidence, and indeed it appears they are not.
In an interview with Electronic Gaming Monthly in 2000 it was allegedly stated that one of the original
settings for Resident Evil 4 was onboard a ship, but the concept was later aborted in favour of the build
which would eventually become Devil May Cry. However, some of this early idea may have survived in
the form of Dead Aim. It features for example many of the gameplay mechanics which would later star in
RE4, and Bruce and Fongling may well be reworked versions of Leon and Ada. At the time of writing, we
do not know whether or not this is the case. Regardless, being Project Umbrella such an “out-ofuniverse” explanation would simply not be good enough anyway. We can do better than that!
Consequently from an “inside” perspective the similarities between their uniforms may demonstrate a
binding thread between the two operatives.
Now, no doubt some of you are bowing your heads and thinking “well, he’s made a mistake
there. Leon wasn’t even in the anti-Umbrella group by RE4 anyway! What an idiot!” It’s a fair line of
thought I suppose, but also an irrelevant one. The “binding thread” between Bruce and Leon’s field
outfits may not necessarily mean that in RE4 Leon was in the exact same unit as Bruce; rather it suggests
that by 2004 he was somewhere in the same overarching organization. Let’s look at what we know about
Leon’s job by the time he goes on his fateful mission to Spain. He says:
“I received special training via a secret organization working under the direct control of the President. I
was to assume the responsibility of protecting the new President’s family.”
A pretty big job for an inexperienced cop turned anti-Umbrella activist. How could someone with
such a background be transferred to such a crucial position in government security? The only logical
explanation is that it was either a transfer or promotion from another department already set up within
44
the government - i.e. USSTRATCOM. Now then if a transfer took place, it must have been within the same
part of the US forces as STRATCOM, one of the other nine unified commands within the Department of
Defense, an organization which functions, yup, under the direct control of the President. Looking through
the other Unified Command sectors, given Leon’s job in RE4 it’s most likely this transfer was to the DoD’s
most famous component, United States Special Operations Command, or USSOCOM for short.
SOCOM are an interesting bunch, they conduct all sorts of operations, from conventional warfare
to counter-terror ops to anti drug raids to VIP security. Essentially any sort special or clandestine
operation of the highest priority could go to through them, sounds like the sort of thing Kennedy was up
to, huh? Now it’s likely that Leon’s group is only meant to be a fictional organization, but if it did exist, it
would likely be a small cell within SOCOM which liaised directly with the President for security purposes.
But when exactly did Leon join this unit? We can place a rough estimate for this based on the
words of Jack Krauser during his infamous knife duel with Leon in RE4:
“I died in the crash two years ago, is that what they told you?”
Leon’s attitude tells us that the two had once been friends before Krauser’s “death” two years
earlier. Since RE4 takes place in the ambiguous “autumn, 2004”, his transfer must have been around
early autumn, 2002, say late September/early October? That’s funny, around the time of... Dead Aim.
Now then, if Leon’s anti-Umbrella government-backed unit was the same one as Bruce’s STRATCOM
sector, this reveals an interesting correlation. USSTRATCOM’s official site tells us that on October 1, 2002
U.S Space Command was absorbed into STRATCOM. [15] Just over a week after Dead Aim, Bruce’s
organization took on the role of mapping and managing the U.S’ entire strategic map. The same time as
Leon left his own group and took on a presidential security role.
Here’s my theory. The anti-Umbrella group that Leon Kennedy and Ark Thompson were in was
the same group that Bruce McGivern was in – a specialist counter-Umbrella sector of USSTRATCOM
formed in the aftermath of the Raccoon City incident. Kennedy appears to have had a position of some
authority in this group; he requested that Ark went to Sheena Island, for example. Ark Thompson appears
to have been a field agent, whilst Bruce McGivern is described as an engineer, but considering he was
dispatched to the Spencer Rain he was likely a bit of both. The events of Dead Aim meant that this group
had been involved in a chain of events which could have destroyed the world as we know it, no doubt
that’s an awful lot of secrets for a government department to keep. Just over a week after this mission,
STRATCOM absorbed SPACECOM on October 1, 2002 and was forced to divert a huge amount of its
budget into this new component. Ergo, less high priority departments were shutdown to accommodate
this. With Umbrella being severely weakened by this point, not to mention a great many secrets floating
around concerning just how close Morpheus was to success, my guess is that the anti-Umbrella wing of
STRATCOM was seen as a liability and was selected as one of the one’s to go. This forced Leon Kennedy to
change the direction of his career and his was transferred to a different part of the Department of
Defense – USSOCOM, within which he was assigned to a unit concerned with protecting the new
President and his family. He befriends Jack Krauser whilst there, but Krauser “dies” shortly thereafter.
Again, it does actually work rather nicely, but is just another theory. Leon’s presence in Resident
Evil Degeneration suggests a further connection to a SOCOM-type department. After all, why would a
Presidential security aide be sent to deal with a T-Virus outbreak in an airport? Regardless, whether you
want to agree with my above theory or not is entirely your choice, dear reader.
45
There is another theory about Bruce’s STRATCOM unit. It’s possible that if “The Organization”
which Wesker once worked for is actually a top-secret branch of the U.S government, then it may have
been pulling the strings behind Bruce’s unit too. Just before Bruce first encounters Fongling, his CO
informs him that he has to “retrieve the virus from Morpheus”. Of course McGivern never manages this,
but it’s possible that this “virus” was not the T-Virus, but the T+G-Virus, and that if returned to
STRATCOM it would have ended up in the hands of The Organization. It’s just another theory, and of
course the whole issue of whether or not The Organization is the U.S Government (a theory I fully
support, incidentally) is a topic for another time, one I plan to revisit in a future article.
Another possibility is that U.S and Chinese reps were actually aboard the Spencer Rain all along.
Officially of course the Americans were cracking down on Umbrella whenever and wherever they could.
However we know that “VIPs” from many of the world’s governments were aboard the ship when
Morpheus and his team arrived, perhaps they were representatives of these two countries who were still
interested in making a few military purchases. “Off the record”, naturally. There’s nothing to prove or
disprove this one, and even if the Americans weren’t on the Spencer Rain perhaps the Chinese were. This
may have been a factor which forced these two nations to send their agents in.
So that was a look at how the world’s governments may have been dragged into Morpheus’
scheme; now let’s examine the timeframe in which Dead Aim took place
46
PART 7 – CHRONOLOGY
This section is intended to revise what we know about how the events of Dead Aim gel into the
overall Resident Evil timeline in light of the evidence presented in this article. Some of the more solid
theories presented elsewhere in this piece will be incorporated as well, however they will be marked in
blue for ease of identification.
-
-
-
-
In mid-1996, Umbrella’s European Branch builds a facility on the remote “Benthic Island”
somewhere in the Atlantic. Officially the base is a Waste Disposal Facility, however in reality it has
another purpose and serves as a “B.O.W Zoo”. Umbrella develop and ship failed B.O.Ws to the island but
instead of destroying them outright they allow them to grow and adapt to their surroundings and be
monitored, essentially allowing the company to survey B.O.Ws “in the wild” within specific sections of the
complex. Its supervisor is a man called Morpheus D. Duvall, an all-out narcissist with an odd obsession for
beauty and total disregard for everything else. Consequently he becomes an extremely inadequate
supervisor, paying very little attention the running of the facility, the experiments taking place there or
the plight of those under his command.
This is because Morpheus is actually devoting his time towards his “master plan” of setting up a
kingdom ruled only by beauty deep within central Africa, where he believes a “symbol of power”
(possibly the Progenitor Virus) is. His plan is to set up missile silos on Benthic Island, concealed from the
world at large by being constructed on the ocean floor around the island’s deep-water biosphere, which
he will use to house ICBMs loaded with the T-Virus. Once completed, he will use these to threaten the
major governments of the world into giving him the funds he needs for his kingdom. Although his plans
go widely unknown to those on the Benthic base, he slowly amasses followers.
As part of Benthic Island’s research programme, an imprisoned criminal codenamed “Alpha” by
the corporation is shipped to Benthic Island in late August. On Thursday, September 26, 1996 the man is
administered the T-Virus as part of an experiment to see how infected brains can “respond to external
stimuli after loss of vision”. Over the next 41 days he is transformed into the gargantuan monstrosity
known as “Pluto” and is able to escape confinement on Wednesday, November 6, 1996 as a result of
Morpheus Duvall’s failure to install proper safety measures. Five researchers are killed and the T-Virus
leaks out of the designated “zoo” zones on the island.
Into 1997, work continues on Benthic Island, however more and more researchers are killed as
conditions steadily worsen following Pluto’s escape due to Morpheus’ failure to tackle the problem.
Investigations are done on the B.O.Ws roaming the complex; however the task becomes increasingly
difficult as numbers dwindle. Receiving news of this, the Umbrella Corporation place the blame on
Morpheus and decide to terminate his contract. However, since Benthic Island, a facility in which workers
are assigned to be in direct contact with “free” B.O.Ws, is a recruitment nightmare, the company decide
to keep the island running for as long as they can until such a time as the situation is untenable.
Morpheus has a similar fate, as the corporation do not fire him straight away. Instead they leave him in
his job as Benthic supervisor, keeping a watchful eye on him and waiting until they can use him for
something, perhaps as a scapegoat. . .
47
At the same time, far across the Atlantic Ocean in Raccoon City, Umbrella technicians are able to
make some real progress on the “Red Queen” artificial intelligence system, which is housed inside the
thirteenth generation super-computer - Umbrella Mainframe-013. The queen will, once activated, be
able to interface with all of Umbrella’s most prized facilities and data networks. In time it is hoped that
she will link and have access to every facility and building owned by the corporation, but for now only the
most important ones are set up to be connected. Labs such as the Arklay Research Facility and William
Birkin’s underground complex have technology installed in them which will allow the queen to access
everything in their databanks once she is activated. However due to the cost of such endeavours, lowpriority facilities are not given such data links. The backwater military training facility and prison on
Rockfort Island, as well as the “supply base” owned by the Ashford family in the South Pole are two such
insignificant places, as is Benthic Island. Since the lab is to be closed down in the near future, Umbrella
surmises, why bother linking it to the Red Queen?
1998. On May 11, the Queen Leech specimen developed by Dr. James Marcus launches an attack
on Umbrella’s facilities in the Arklay Mountains around Raccoon City, convinced it actually is its long-dead
creator. The T-Virus leaks into the area and slowly consumes the mountains and surrounding forest in an
outbreak which culminates with the “Mansion Incident” of July 24/25, 1998. Reeling from the
catastrophe, Umbrella’s board of directors are keen to find a sufficient scapegoat. Re-enter Morpheus D.
Duvall.
Deciding they can finally be rid of him whilst utilizing him for a worthy purpose, the corporation
frame Morpheus and place the blame for the May 11 outbreak squarely on his shoulders. His contract is
terminated and he is expelled from the company on Thursday, August 20, 1998 with a handsome
redundancy payout. With this money, a slightly disgruntled Duvall pays an architect on Benthic Island to
design his missile silos for him. The Benthic facility itself meanwhile keeps running, as Umbrella feel they
may be able to squeeze a few last results out of the lab as they begin the closure process. This is severely
delayed however as Umbrella’s attention is abruptly shifted to another part of the world in late
September 1998 - Raccoon City. The T-Virus consumes the once-peaceful mountainside community and
swiftly transforms it into a twisted necropolis. The town’s fate is ultimately decided on October 1, 1998,
as the U.S government opts to sterilize it with a direct hit from a nuclear missile.
In the aftermath of the disaster all of Umbrella’s facilities around the world are steadily briefed
on the truth behind the Raccoon City outbreak, or least the company’s official version of it. These
complexes are placed on strict alert as the U.S government and other bodies begin to question exactly
how much of a part Umbrella played in the annihilation of the Midwestern American town. During this
time Morpheus Duvall returns to Benthic Island in secret, makes contact with his followers on the base
including the architect who once worked there, and orders them to begin work on building the missile
silos and to make sure that all of the instrument panels in the complex are working. We can deduce all of
this from the file “Orders from Morpheus”:
I have arrived and have begun the plan.
I need you to make sure all the instrument panels work properly. The facility is on strict alert and you will
need to input my voice to the voice recognition panel at the entrance of the clean room in order to
enter the Research Area and check the instrument panels.
48
I've sent an e-mail containing my voice. You can receive it on a terminal in the residence area. Be sure to
delete the e-mail after your work is complete and remember to keep this confidential.
Morpheus
If Morpheus was in charge of the facility, then it being on strict alert wouldn’t matter, since he
was running things; nor would discretion be needed around the e-mail (incidentally, looks like whoever
got this email was an insubordinate sod, since they never deleted it). Thus the facility being on alert must
have been Umbrella’s doing. Since Duvall claims he’s “returned”, it must be after he was fired. Also based
on files in Survivor we know how on-edge Umbrella were in the wake of the Raccoon City disaster,
meaning the only thing the “strict alert” could be about would be the Raccoon City outbreak. All of this
places Morpheus’ return to the island in October, 1998.
As his missile silos are slowly but surely built, Morpheus gains ever more followers. He recruits
several mercenaries from a militant African nation into his ranks, using them as soldiers, guards and
heavies.
Also in October 1998, the U.S government commences its own full-scale investigation of the
Umbrella Corporation’s activities. To this end, a new branch of United States Strategic Command is
formed aimed specifically at uncovering and halting the corporation’s insidious operations. Agents from
many backgrounds are brought into this unit; Ark Thompson is recruited as a field agent whilst Bruce
McGivern is at some point assigned to the unit as a field engineer. Others within the new group have
personal reasons for wanting to fight Umbrella, such as Raccoon City survivor Leon S. Kennedy. With the
new task force in place, the U.S government begins seeking out evidence of the company’s misdeeds all
over the world, sending agents on multiple special assignments across the globe.
With pressure from groups all over the planet and the loss of many of its key facilities, Umbrella
is forced to salvage what it can as its empire crumbles in the years following the destruction of Raccoon
City. Whilst they are able to keep a tenuous grip on a few of their primary land-based facilities such as the
Paris Lab and the base in the Caucasus region of south western Russia, they are left with little choice but
to pull out of many nations to prevent the International Criminal Court catching up with them.
In order to salvage the remnants of their B.O.W programme, the Umbrella Corporation set up a
network of hidden “hangars” all around the world intended to hide the results of their experiments circa
the year 2000. Tucked away in apparently innocent settings to mask their presence, these depots hide a
plethora of secrets ranging from viruses, weapons and B.O.Ws and are so well hidden that even residents
who live nearby are unaware of them, save for a few undercover Umbrella employees.
To continue tests and B.O.W development, Umbrella come up with a unique, though temporary
solution to their predicament. They build more facilities on remote islands, and buy many large luxury
liners and seafaring vessels with the remainder of their funds. In doing so Umbrella are able to operate
beyond dangerous national water borders, and can research without a lot of international "pressure".
This fleet of ships has multiple functions: some serve as mobile research labs whilst others, such as the
Spencer Rain serve as floating auction houses designed to display B.O.Ws which can be offered to
potential buyers. Even under these dire circumstances Umbrella’s B.O.W program still sees some
developments. At the Caucasus facility, research on the T-A.L.O.S project continues. Whilst at the Paris
49
Lab Facility researchers are able to create a new mutagen – the “T+G-Virus”, which is designed to
transform every injected host into a Tyrant B.O.W equipped with bio-electric capabilities.
With the T+G-Virus, Umbrella scientists on floor B2 of the Paris Facility test their new product on
a human specimen. The result is the T-091, a powerful but extremely unstable Tyrant. Its bio-electric
powers are weak and it suffers from the classic Tyrant symptom of an exposed heart, leading the
researchers to try and improve upon T+G. They are successful in doing this, and synthesize version 0.9.2
of the T+G-Virus sometime later. They are able to determine that it will definitely give infected hosts
strong bio-electric capabilities but do not have a human test subject to try their virus on. Also during this
time, the Charged Particle Rifle is created to combat T-Viral B.O.Ws in the event of an outbreak.
On Tuesday, May 21, 2002 one of Umbrella’s luxury liners, the Spencer Rain leaves its port and
commences its voyage. Whilst the ship functions as a getaway for Umbrella’s richer employees and
various celebrities, it also has another purpose. The ship is essentially a covert “zoo” for Umbrella, where
deep within the vessel they display their latest creations to various scientists, other Umbrella personnel,
and potential customers for testing, documenting, and auctioning. Amongst these products are some of
the company’s new “Elite” Hunter B.O.Ws, as well as the T-091, the Charged Particle Rifle and a vial
containing a test sample of Version 0.9.2 of the T+G-Virus.
At the same time, Umbrella learns that Morpheus D. Duvall is still active, and though they don’t
know what he’s up to, they know he’s planning something. In the hope of determining what his plot is
they send a spy to infiltrate his entourage - an agent known as “P.T”. P.T’s contact within Umbrella is a
man named O’Neil. Considering that Umbrella never move against Morpheus, we can assume that he
suspects P.T and keeps the spy at arm’s length, never revealing much of his plan to anyone but his closest
confidents. In the months after this Duvall undergoes extensive surgery - he has facial adjustments to
make himself look younger as well as breast implants and possibly... even more. Ouch.
In September 2002, construction on Morpheus’ ocean-floor missile silos is completed, and Duvall
loads the rockets with huge quantities of the T-Virus taken from the derelict Benthic Disposal Facility on
the island above. With no need for his loyal followers, Morpheus then unleashes the virus upon his own
supporters and allows everyone on the island to turn into a zombie. During the ensuing carnage the
biosphere is switched over to emergency power and a fire breaks out in the underground passages of the
Benthic Island disposal facility. Hoping to move his plan forward, Duvall leaves the island and rendezvous
with some more of his supporters elsewhere - a band of African mercenaries.
On Wednesday, September 18, 2002 Morpheus leads the mercenaries in a raid on the Paris Lab
Facility. They break in and seize three samples of the T-Virus before making a swift exit. Since Duvall has
an abundance of T-Virus samples on Benthic Island, the Paris heist is merely meant as a gesture, a
statement designed to attract the attention and concerns of the world’s major governments.
On the 20th, Duvall and his team intercept and board the Spencer Rain in the middle of the
Atlantic. Morpheus tells his henchmen that he is planning to auction the three stolen T-Virus samples off
on the ship. Instead he releases them and kills everyone on board, including his own mercenaries.
Knowing he must move quickly, he alters the ship’s course and sets it on a heading for Benthic Island
before contacting governments around world, in particular the United States of America and the People’s
Republic of China, from whom he demands payment of five billion dollars each, or else he will launch TVirus loaded missiles at cities across the globe at midnight on the morning of September 23. Knowing
50
that Umbrella may have spies within the Russian government Duvall does not contact them, fearing that
Umbrella and therefore Spencer would learn of his location and swiftly eliminate him.
On the 21st, the U.S and China dispatch agents to put a stop to Morpheus’ plan and if possible
procure the T+G-Virus. The events of Dead Aim begin; Duvall is mortally wounded from a grenade blast
and is forced to inject himself with T+G to prolong his life. Morphing into a Tyrant, he confronts Bruce
before abandoning the ship altogether. He sets the Spencer Rain on a collision course with the nearby
Benthic Island, takes the Charged Particle Rifle and its loading station off the ship and takes it with him as
he makes his exit. Arriving on Benthic, he heads into the bowels of the facility and sets the Rifle down,
then heads back to the surface to take down the two meddling agents.
Early morning on September 22, as the Spencer Rain crashes into the side of the island, the
Chinese, watching via satellite, conclude that Fongling has died and their counter-op has failed. Knowing
they cannot risk a T-Virus missile hitting one of their heavily populated urban centres, they pay Morpheus
the sum of five billion dollars. Meanwhile Morpheus is consistently failing to stop Bruce and Fongling’s
progress, and so as an act of desperation, and with half of the money he hoped for, he breaks his
deadline and activates the countdown for the missile launch. The Chinese meanwhile realize that
Fongling is still alive, and take measures to kill her in order to erase evidence of their involvement. She is
saved by Bruce.
Later that morning as dawn begins to break, thanks to the efforts of Bruce McGivern and
Fongling, Morpheus Duvall is slain and the Benthic missile silo is blown up. The crisis is averted, and the
world is blissfully unaware of how close it came to catastrophe yet again.
Just over a week later on Tuesday, October 1, 2002, USSTRATCOM absorbs USSPACECOM. Due to
the massive budgetary demands of the new obligations this brings with it, several other parts of
STRATCOM are shut down. Because of the huge amount of secrets its anti-Umbrella wing is now housing
surrounding the events of September 21/22, not to mention the financial burdens it is presented with
and the fact that Umbrella is now close to breaking point, this branch of STRATCOM is one of those which
is closed down. Its agents go their separate ways; the fates of Bruce McGivern and Ark Thompson are
unknown, whilst Leon S. Kennedy is transferred to USSOCOM, an organization within which he gets a job
working in an elite presidential security unit.
-
-
-
-
There it is. For more information on how and where Dead Aim goes into the overall RE timeline
see Resident Evil: The Complete Chronology (Coming soon! ;-)). In the meantime, we’re going to take a
look at the ramifications of the Spencer Rain incident before wrapping this whole thing up.
51
PART 8 – CONCLUSIONS
Even in its final moments, Dead Aim throws up some questions. Anyone who saw the ending
knows that whole Benthic Facility, silos included, was blown to smithereens in a gigantic explosion. The
exact cause of this explosion is unknown, as the game just suddenly cuts to a wide shot of the water and
shows it happening without any indication it is coming. There are several potential reasons for this
explosion, listed here for edification:

Whatever you do, don’t touch that. In the final scene, after Bruce has fought the
gigantic blob form of the by-then furious Duvall, Morpheus begins to wildly and
uncontrollably mutate, filling the whole underground complex with his own body mass.
It’s possible that he expanded so much, he crushed some vital piece of equipment and
blew the whole place sky high.

Electricity + Missile = Boom. As he mutated, Morpheus gave off huge quantities of
electricity which spread out across the entire base. The T+G-Virus was out of control and
this powerful discharge could easily have overloaded a crucial technological component
of the rockets, causing them to detonate.

Get out of the way you damn idiot! A simple one. Duvall may have mutated to such
huge and uncontrollable proportions that when he filled the silo, there was no room for
anything else. Thus when the missiles blasted off and fired away from their launchers,
they smacked right into him and blew up within a matter of seconds.

“I’m telling all of ya’ll, it’s sabotage!” Maybe Fongling and Bruce placed explosive
charges or triggered some kind of self-destruct mechanism in between the final fight
and the ending; we’re never shown the circumstances of their escape so it’s possible
they did this on the way out.

You get what you pay for. A personal favourite of mine. Remember in Part 5 when I
detailed just how hard building an underwater missile silo would be, and that Morpheus’
base was probably something of a botch-job done with limited funds and personnel?
Well, maybe that came back to haunt him. Perhaps it had something to do with the
rocket fuel, or maybe the launch mechanism, but whatever it was there’s a chance
Morpheus’ silos were not properly constructed and exploded as a consequence. Duvall’s
scheme could have been condemned to failure from the beginning (Interestingly,
Chimera has found further evidence that Morpheus’ plan was doomed from its inception.
Apparently the delivery of viral agents via explosives is seen as a very poor military
option, since there is a strong likelihood that the payload will be destroyed when the
rocket blows up upon contact with its target. Had Morpheus’ T-Virus missiles been
launched, the toxin within them may have been destroyed on impact anyway).
Considering that those missiles were loaded to the top with huge amounts of the T-Virus this
inevitably raises the question of how didn’t the T-Virus contaminate the entire Atlantic Ocean and then
the whole world? Hell, if even one infected fish got out it’d be the end of life as we know it. The most
logical reason is that all traces of the virus were simply incinerated, we know that this is a possibility since
no traces of the T-Virus survived the destruction of Raccoon City. In real life, even a nuke wouldn’t
52
contain something like that - it’d get into the plants, the insects, the birds, it’d be impossible to contain.
Further evidence for T-Viral incineration comes from CODE: Veronica. Remember the T-078 Claire fought
in the Seahawk? Surely his body would have landed in the sea somewhere and leaked the virus unless
something stopped him from getting there. Consequently the logical explanation is that the explosion
from the container Miss Redfield hit him with completely burnt up his body and the virus within. Failing
this line of reasoning, perhaps the outward spread of the virus is just one of Capcom’s things we’re “not
really meant to think about”.
So what was the impact of the disaster we see in Dead Aim? Well with many of its facilities and
operations destroyed, its stock continually dwindling and a loss of faith from many of its investors due to
the Spencer Rain catastrophe, The Umbrella Corporation pins all of its hopes on the T-A.L.O.S project.
Designed to be the perfect B.O.W, a synthesis of living organism and machinery, they hope the venture
will generate sufficient funds for the Corporation to regain its recent losses. Within the research facility in
the Caucasus region of Russia, scientists begin working to complete and perfect both T-A.L.O.S and the
Red Queen AI as soon as possible. The facility also doubles up as a “factory” of sorts, designed to produce
the majority of Umbrella’s B.O.Ws in massive quantities. Once created, the creatures undergo rigorous
testing to determine if they are fit for deployment. Those that fail the examinations are incinerated in the
plant’s own in-house disposal facility.
In a bid to re-establish a consumer base, having lost their principle customers in the form of the
U.S government and various other world powers, Umbrella prepares to arm developing nations and socalled rogue states around the world with their bio-weaponry. If these developing nations come to rely
on Umbrella, the nefarious corporation hopes it can again find some stability. At the weakest they have
ever been Umbrella are left extremely vulnerable to the forces working against them as a direct
consequence of Morpheus D. Duvall’s maniacal scheme. February 2003... These “forces” emerge from
the darkness to deliver the coup de grâce to the Umbrella Corporation once and for all.
So there you have it, I think I’ve just about said everything I wanted to. At the outset of this
article (if you can remember that far back) I mentioned how Dead Aim has a reputation as a sort of
“Expanded Universe” title, which doesn’t deserve to be included in the main Resident Evil storyline and
has little to no bearing on any of it. This was something I vehemently disagreed with. With this article,
thanks to the new source material we have acquired and with some solid reasoning and strong theories, I
have attempted to vindicate Dead Aim in the eyes of the RE fan base at large. I intended to show that
Dead Aim, for all its flaws, is actually a crucial chapter in Umbrella’s downfall and one worthy of the
attention of every serious Resident Evil fan out there, and that with some simple investigation the game
can actually go a lot deeper than most people care to realize. It is my humble hope that perhaps some of
your minds have at least been changed regarding the relevance of the game, and that possibly some of
you even agree with me on some of my ideas. Of course you may not, and that’s entirely your choice, but
in my opinion, the events of Dead Aim had direct implications for what would transpire in The Umbrella
Chronicles, Resident Evil 4, and Degeneration, and maybe, just maybe, for what will take place in Resident
Evil 5. Time will tell, my friends. Time will tell. . .
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ENDNOTES AND OBSERVATIONS
[1] Miyazaki, M., Weekly Shōnen Champion Magazine - November 15, 2007 Issue: Resident Evil: Prelude
the Fall Part 2. Akita Shoten. Pg. 154.
[2] Miyazaki, M., Weekly Shōnen Champion Magazine - November 15, 2007 Issue: Resident Evil: Prelude
the Fall Part 2. Akita Shoten. Pg. 155.
[3] I wonder if, had G-Virus research continued, Umbrella or at least Birkin would have resorted to
cloning hosts of the virus. After all, if you could only create a “G” through embryonic implants from the
original host into their own direct blood relatives, wouldn’t cloning this host allow for as many G’s as
you’d need thanks to the shared DNA? That’s assuming of course that you’d want an army of
uncontrollable abominations wandering around in the first place. Admittedly they probably wouldn’t
have bothered doing it due to all the problems with the G-Virus’ prospects as a weapon, but still, food for
thought, eh?
[4] Curiously, in ancient Greek mythology Morpheus was the god of dreams, the son of Hypnos and
daughter of Nyx. I doubt Capcom were implying a tangible connection between Mr. Duvall and the two
B.O.Ws bearing the above names, but it’s always interesting to see yet another Greek mythology
reference in Resident Evil.
[5] Resident Evil Dead Aim – Instruction Booklet (PAL version). (Capcom). Pg. 07.
[6] Otoma, J., (ed). Resident Evil Archives: Umbrella’s Virus Uncovered. (Bradygames/Capcom) Pg. 127.
[7] <http://gamevideos.1up.com/video/id/19302> Retrieved 26.01.2009 (dd.mm.yyyy).
[8] <http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3167929> Retrieved 26.01.2009 (dd.mm.yyyy).
[9] If his body wouldn’t move, how the hell did he write that note?
[10] Otoma, J., (ed). Resident Evil Archives: Umbrella’s Virus Uncovered. (Bradygames/Capcom) Pg. 147.
[11] Holmes, R., (2001). The Oxford Companion to Military History. New York: Oxford University Press. Pg.
591 - A damn fine book, highly recommended to anyone with even a passing interest in military
affairs.
[12] <http://www.globalsecurity.org/intell/world/china/mss.htm> Retrieved 26.01.2009 (dd.mm.yyyy).
[13] <http://www.stratcom.mil/default.asp?page=factsheets&factsheet=snapshot> Retrieved 26.01.2009
(dd.mm.yyyy).
[14] <http://www.stratcom.mil/default.asp?page=factsheets&factsheet=snapshot> Retrieved 26.01.2009
(dd.mm.yyyy).
[15] <http://www.stratcom.mil/default.asp?page=factsheets&factsheet=snapshot> Retrieved 26.01.2009
(dd.mm.yyyy).
54