Claire Redfield

Investigation into Penamstan and The Mad Dogs (Resident Evil Infinite Darkness)

In 2006, six years after their civil war ended, the fictional Central Asian country of Penamstan was still in ruins. UN and TerraSave aid were indispensable to scrape by.

Claire was there as a relief worker. A handicapped little boy showed her his drawing of people eating each other, strengthening her suspicions that BOWs had been active in Penamstan.

Claire was scheduled to meet with White House Press Secretary Spacer to plead for funds. This engagement was suddenly cancelled. Ms. Redfield would later learn that Spacer had been killed by zombies in the White House.

Not a public inquiry

Claire’s investigation into the civil war brought up two main points:

Claire travelled to New York to interview a Mad Dogs veteran. But she was too late – this man too had taken his own life. Through her police contacts, she could read his suicide note. Her conclusion was that the entire unit had been infected while deployed.

She then sought to interview Defense Secretary Wilson in Washington, D.C.. But Claire was kidnapped by the Secret Service in her hotel. They took her to a secret research facility underneath Andrews Air Force Base  .

Claire in RE Infinite Darkness.

Wilson

Wilson was running this facility, which used the virus to create super-soldiers. He thought that Redfield knew much more about this than she actually did.

In grandiose villain fashion he revealed his scheme to her.

Back in Penmastan, the Mad Dogs had defied orders to rescue trapped soldiers. This operation had meant bad casualties, only one trooper could be rescued, and all survivors were infected in the process.

For Wilson, that was a unique opportunity to test virus-suppression drugs. Since the alternative was to become zombies, the surviving Mad Dogs went along.

However, the drug only suppressed the mutation for a limited time. Wilson could thus force them to do any of the dirty jobs he needed killers for, in return for continued doses. Which led to the suicides.

Jason

By that point the last remaining Mad Dog, their commander Jason, was through with Wilson’s deranged plots. He had stopped taking the suppression drug. Though that meant he would mutate, he had been infected long enough to retain some control.

Jason’s plan was thus to interrupt a Presidential press conference, reveal himself and Wilson’s plot to the world, then slaughter Wilson. Priorities, am I right?

However, the secret facility’s failsafe system identified Jason as a BOW. It started dumping test subjects into a vat of potent acid in the lab’s lowest level. Which was where Claire was. And the failsafe protocol wouldn’t stop until it determined that the BOW had been neutralized.

Claire at the airport in RE: Degeneration.

Leon returns

Leon Kennedy came in in time. He and Claire had been in contact about her investigation. Kennedy also had already had several run ins with Jason, and sought to prevent Wilson and his ilk from starting a world war.

The grotesquely mutated Jason attempted to dig his way to the surface. Leon then procured some heavy duty firepower, while Claire commandeered the control room. From there she could drop containers near or onto Jason, to injure and impede him. This made it possible for Leon to stop the BOW.

With the crisis averted the pair left the facility. Leon then went on to stop Wilson’s scheme in mainland China.

All the President’s men

Months later, Claire confronted Leon outside the White House. She asked for a chip he had found in China, so she could expose what Wilson’s mad plot had been.

Leon refused. He thought that he could do more good against this sort of corruption from the inside. Kennedy also didn’t want to sow further terror and distrust of the US government.

Claire yelled at him that he was being foolish and short-sighted, then stormed off.

But apparently, they later reconciled off-camera.

The Death of Albert Wesker and Counter Bioterrorism Expansion (Resident Evil 5)

In 2009 Chris was sent to Africa, along with new partner Sheva Alomar.

After another sprawling horror show they tracked down and killed long-running antagonist Albert Wesker.

This had many consequences – including exposing pharma giant corporation Tricell as dealing in BOWs on the black market. One personal repercussion was that Claire’s friend Sherry Birkin — now a young adult — could be released from witness protection.

Against Claire’s strong advice, Sherry became a government agent. She sought to prevent others from suffering from bioterror as she had.

Despite this contention point the two remained close. They do hang out whenever their very busy schedules permit it.

Claire and Sherry back in 1998.

The Sejm Island Incident (Resident Evil Revelations 2)

In 2011 Claire and other members of TerraSave, Moira Burton and Gina Foley, were abruptly captured. A previously unknown paramilitary organization raided their HQ and kidnapped them.

They were taken to Sejm Island, in the Baltic Sea. Their captor was Alex Wesker – Albert’s long lost daughter. The captives also learned that TerraSave’s director, Neil Fisher, had betrayed them in return for a sample of the Ouroboros Virus. He sought to derive a vaccine from it.

Lastly, all were infected with the T-Phobos virus strain.

Jailbreak

The activists were held in a Brezhnev-era prison. Alex Wesker had turned it into a torture chamber, and set loose a score of failed BOW experiments.

Claire and Moira escaped, but Gina was killed.

They made their way to a nearby village where they found two other infected TerraSave members, Pedro Fernandez and Gabriel Chavez. But Fernandez was beginning to mutate.

When Pedro attacked, the women were separated from Gabriel – who had been repairing a helicopter to escape. They fought Fernandez for a while, until Chavez could rescue them with his repaired helicopter. However, Gabriel started mutating and crashed.

Ms. Redfield in 2011, wearing TerraSave fatigues.

Natalia

Claire and Moira sifted through the crash site, hoping to find something useful. Which is when they ran into a young girl named Natalia Korda, who also was with TerraSave.

Natalia seemed unbothered by all the mutated monstrosities running around. But Neil Fisher, hell-bent on getting his sample from Alex Wesker, abducted her to serve as a test subject.

Moira and Claire then entered a factory. Wesker had rigged it to catch fire once they were inside. But the pair managed to escape into the sewers.

Counterstrike

Since they were now believed dead, Claire and Moira were free to attack. They stormed a huge tower held by Wesker’s forces.

While advancing to the top they learned that Fisher had been betrayed by Alex (shocker). He was now infected with the Ouroboros virus and turning into a powerful monster. Moira was then forced to slay him in a “I told you so” kind of death.

Atop the tower, they witnessed the insane Wesker shoot herself. She now saw Korda as her successor – and felt that she was no longer necessary. Of course her death triggered the tower’s self-destruct mechanism.

Claire got lucky and was able to jump through a hole in the wall, then fall into the sea. Burton and Korda were still in the tower when it blew up and their fate was as yet unknown.

Escape from Sejm

Claire was found shortly after floating in the sea and barely conscious.

She was visited at the hospital by Barry Burton, Moira’s father and now a BSAA (Bioterrorism Security Assessment Alliance) agent. Claire told him everything she could so he could prepare a rescue mission.

It took six months to secure authorisations. Desperate to save his daughter, Barry ignored orders and went in on his own. He rescued both Moira and Natalia. On the following day, Claire was allowed to visit. She arranged for her helicopter to rendezvous with Barry.

Just as they were about to leave they were suddenly attacked by Alex. She had survived her suicide attempt when it triggered her latent mutations.

In true RE fashion the group banded together for the last big boss battle of the game. They were able to slay her in the end.

They then left and the BSAA blew the island up.

The Lanshiang Incident (Resident Evil 6 – 2013)

Claire had but a brief cameo in this installment.

She was seen driving an SUV down a country road – on her way to the Burton residence with a gift. She then received a phone call from a BSAA agent informing her that her brother was now in China on yet another dangerous assignment.

Claire asked that Piers Nivans, his partner, take care of Chris.

Claire and Moira in 2011.

The Sonido de Tortuga Incident (Resident Evil: Heavenly Island (manga))

In 2014, Claire and other members of TerraSave were sent to Zanahoria Island. They were to investigate the possibility of mutated animals in the area.

In Conejo, she found a heavily mutated fish. It suddenly sprung back to life while she was examining it, forcing her to kill it with her combat knife.

She sent pictures of it to her partner Inéz Diaco, who was investigating on the neighboring Sonido de Tortuga Island.

Among Umbrella’s legacies

This prompted Claire to investigate further. She discovered that a nearby military base had been purchased in the 1990s by the late Oswald E. Spencer, founder of Umbrella.

Claire desperately tried to get ahold of her partner Inéz, but to no avail. She turned to Chris, but he was on another mission. However, Chris could send agent Parker Luciani and some BSAA troops.

On the island they ran into the cast of “reality” show Idol Survival – plus TerraSave members Marilou and Mabou. These were fleeing new biological horrors:

The back of the period version of the 1998 “Made In Heaven” jacket.

Beware millers

The facility they took refuge in turned out to have been one of a Alex Wesker’s labs. She had used it early during her revival of Spencer’s research into immortality. It was, of course, BOWs-infested.

Claire found Inéz just in time to watch her die at the hands of a Hunter BOW.

She later encountered Dirk Miller, one of Alex’s closest allies and the man responsible for the Kodoku Project.

Claire attempted to apprehend him. But one of the reality show cast members, Zǐlì, secretly work for the Shén Yà pharma corporation. She sought to procure Kodoku research documents.

Zǐlì got the drop on Claire and knocked her out. She planned to torture her when she’d awaken. But Zǐlì was bitten by a zombified cast member.

The rocket’s red Claire

Claire came to and helped the survivors out. However, Zǐlì used a Kodoku virus to mutate herself into a BOW. She attacked the boat that the survivors were escaping on.

After a pitched battle Claire was able to clinch victory by, in true RE tradition, blasting her with a rocket launcher. She was gravely wounded in so doing, but the others could evacuate her.

After a few weeks in the hospital, Claire contacted her brother. She hoped that he and his team could bring some sort of closure to the island.

Where is she now?

Claire hasn’t been seen for quite a while in canon material.

So the best guess is that she’s still working as a TerraSave activist.

Ms. Redfield during the 2000s.

Description

Claire’s a white American woman. She usually wears her shoulder length brown hair in a ponytail. She’s generally drawn/rendered with a wiry physique.

In her very first appearance she wore a red jean jacket with an angel on the back, matching red Daisy Dukes, and a tight black T-shirt and tights underneath.

In later games she wore a similar top, but started wearing ripped blue jeans for bottoms.

In more recent games she’s generally stayed with a pattern of having either a red jacket and a white shirt underneath or vice versa on the colors. She still wears jeans for bottoms.

Most her outfits look pretty normal for the times. Think sensible and reasonable casual wear.

Claire on Sejm Island.

Personality

Claire’s obviously a survivor through and through. But she is also extremely compassionate and will always do her best to ensure that others survive.

Ms. Redfield developed a strong — almost surrogate motherly — bond with Sherry Berkin. Even when Sherry had become an adult, an overprotective Claire loudly protested her exit from witness protection.

Claire remains close to her brother, and to Leon Kennedy. But though she and Leon repeatedly survived terrible odds together, they bicker often. Claire is more sensible and humanitarian about things, whereas Leon is a brash adrenaline junkie.

Claire and Leon’s friendship is Platonic. However, recent remakes of the older games retconMaking changes to a character or story after the fact. in Claire having a crush on him. But if she’d been crushing on him for this long you’d think that something would’ve happened.

Quotes

“Looks like you’ve got two choices – kill or be killed.”

(After slaying the hideously deformed final boss at the end of RE2) “You see my God has protected you.” (takes back her jacket from Sherry Birkin)

“I have to find my brother.”

“Bastard ! That little girl will probably have nightmares for the rest of her life thanks to you !”

“Oh, ‘nurture hope,’ huh ? And what kind of future is that ? One where you do whatever you want to whoever you want ? Sounds more like hell.”

“Time to meet the cause of our misery.”

DC Universe Adaptation

(This section proposes ways of using this character in DC Universe stories).

As is in RE she presumably survived some zombie outbreaks, and became an anti-BOW activist.

But Claire would presumably be more of a background or support character. She doesn’t gel with the DCU, since in her universe BOW threats are practically all consuming.

So…perhaps she’s an activist against entities like LexCorp and Project Cadmus that tinker with genetics for biological warfare purposes.

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