Resident Evil is a very successful series, being Capcom’s top-selling franchise, and a household name in the gaming industry. Even if you never had played any Resident Evil game, you likely have heard of it. Being a long-running series, Resident Evil has many amazing characters throughout the games. We will look at the top 15 best characters from the Resident Evil series.

15. Sheva Alomar

She appeared as a protagonist in Resident Evil 5. Sheva was born in a town where most of the population, including Sheva’s family, worked at an Umbrella plant for a living. Thanks to an American government official, she moved to America to start a new life. 

She became a member of BSAA, an organization that fights bioterrorism. Working as Chris Redfield’s partner, she found her life at risk when a parasitic outbreak occurred in Africa. She would go on to confront the great villain Albert Wesker along with Chris.  

Interesting facts about Sheva

·         She has seen danger since childhood as she survived a massacre perpetrated by Umbrella soldiers in a town she used to live in. 

·       When she joined the BSAA, she had to undergo eight months of training. 

14. Nemesis

This monster appeared as the antagonist in Resident Evil 3. Nemesis was sent by Umbrella to kill the remaining STARS members during the T-virus outbreak in Raccoon City. Throughout the game, it pursues Jill Valentine no matter where in the city. 

Interesting facts about Nemesis

·         It was created by injecting a T-103 tyrant model (the type that Leon and Claire had to deal with in Resident Evil 2) with a parasite called the NE-a. The reason was to prevent the intellectual and mental degradation that the T-virus causes. 

·         In Japan, the monster was called the “pursuer.” 

·         Although it was on the hunt for Jill, it wouldn’t always attack. At times, it would watch her from afar before deciding to attack at the right time; this is due to the intelligence it was able to maintain due to the parasite.

13. Billy Coen

A former Marine Lieutenant who only appeared in Resident Evil 0. He refused to kill villagers during a mission and was knocked out by fellow marines; the other marines killed the villagers, and then blamed him for it. He helped Rebecca Chambers, and survive the T-virus outbreak in the Arklay area; the two parted ways.

Interesting facts about Billy

·         While in Africa during a mission, he was with a squad. Due to a sickness spreading among the squad, and dealing with guerillas, he was one of the only four survivors by the time they reached the village. 

·         Upon being blamed for killing the villagers, he was to be sentenced to death, but escaped after the vehicle was attacked by monsters.

12. Sherry Birkin

First appearing in Resident Evil 2, she was a 12-year-old girl who met Claire Redfield during the Raccoon City outbreak. Her G-virus infected father was going after her, and eventually, put an embryo in her. She was treated with a vaccine by Claire and escaped Raccoon City with Claire and Leon.

She appeared in Resident Evil 6 where she helped Jake Muller during the C-virus outbreak that took place in multiple locations throughout the world.

Interesting facts about Sherry

·         Being born to William and Annette Birkin, both were researchers, she was often neglected by them. 

·         Despite being treated with a vaccine, Sherry still had the G-virus inside of her. As a result, she gained regenerative abilities. 

11. Ethan Winters

The main protagonist of Resident Evil 7 Biohazard. He is an engineer who goes to find his wife but ends up in a house with a family infected with a virus; Ethan was infected as well. Being a character to not have a military or police background, surviving was extremely difficult for him. 

However, against all odds, he was cured and survived the incident. He will be making an appearance as a protagonist, if not the main protagonist, in Resident Evil Village.

Interesting facts about him

·         He works as a systems engineer suggesting that, during university days, he studied computer science, computer engineering, or software engineering. 

·         He believed his wife, Mia, was dead for years after Mia sent him a message warning him to stay away. 

10. Barry Burton

First appeared in the first Resident Evil, he was a STARS member who helped Jill throughout the game while also working with Wesker in exchange for his family’s safety. After the events of the first game, he went on to be a member of the BSAA. He appeared in the side game Resident Evil Revelations 2, where he went to an island searching for his daughter Moira and helped a girl named Natalia.

Interesting facts about Barry

·         Being a family, he has two daughters named Moira and Polly. He eventually adopted Natalia after the events of Revelations 2. 

·         He was the one who made the popular and funny “Jill Sandwich” joke. Furthermore, in a mobile non-canon game that is a reimagining of Resident Evil 2 called Resident Evil: Uprising, Barry has a list of ingredients for a Jill Sandwich. 

·         Barry used to be a pilot in the Air Force, and he met Chris Redfield while in the Air Force.

9. Rebecca Chambers

Introduced in the first Resident Evil, she was in STARS working as a medic. She appeared in Chris’s story and aided him throughout the game. She was the main protagonist in the prequel Resident Evil 0. Not appearing in the story of any of the main games, after Resident Evil 1 and 0, she did appear in a CGI film called Resident Evil Vendetta where it's revealed that she works as a professor.

Interesting facts about Rebecca

·         She is a child prodigy and joined STARS after graduating with a bachelor’s in chemistry at 18 years old. 

·         Rebecca used to be on a basketball team in college. Speaking of which, in both the original Resident Evil 2 and its remake, you can find a picture of Rebecca wearing an RPD basketball uniform. 

·         Resident Evil 0, the game in which Rebecca is the main protagonist, originally was going to be on the N64. However, Resident Evil 0 was then redeveloped for the GameCube. 

8. Carlos Oliveira

Carlos Oliveira was a soldier working for Umbrella in Resident Evil 3. Similar to Sheva, he experienced conflict in his childhood. He was a member of a guerilla organization in South America. Once government troops defeated the organization, Carlos was sentenced to death, but Umbrella scouted him; he joined Umbrella and thus avoided his death sentence. 

Throughout Resident Evil 3, both original and the remake, he would flirt with Jill. Despite working for Umbrella, he eventually found out the truth about Umbrella regarding the outbreak. He helped Jill and escaped Raccoon City. 

Interesting facts about Carlos

·         He was the youngest member in his unit in Resident Evil 3. 

·         Given his childhood background of being in a guerilla organization, he is good with weaponry, especially heavy weaponry. 

·         After the events of Resident Evil 3, he moved back to South America. 

7. Hunk

A soldier who has worked for Umbrella. Not much is known about this character, but he has completed every one of his missions and is often the only survivor. 

This character hasn’t made many appearances; he was introduced in Resident Evil 2 during a minigame called “The 4th survivor” where he had to go get picked up by a helicopter at the Police Station. Since then he has appeared in minigames of other Resident Evil games, particularly the mercenaries mode.

Interesting facts about Hunk

·         Going back to his mysterious background, Hunk is his codename thus his real name isn’t known. Furthermore, he is sometimes called the “Grim Reaper” due to him being the only survivor in many of his missions. 

·         Survival comes first to him, if that means leaving others to die, then he would go along with it. He applies this philosophy to others; in the Resident Evil 2 remake, when it seemed that Hunk was going to be too late to be rescued by a pilot called Night Hawk, Hunk told Night Hawk to leave without him stating that survival was his responsibility. Night Hawk did return to the police station to rescue him. 

6. Ada Wong

She is generally a spy who does missions as ordered by whoever she works for. She learned to be a spy for a crime syndicate in China. Eventually, she got involved with an organization that was a rival to Umbrella. This eventually led her to go to Raccoon City to get a sample of the G-virus. 

First appearing in Resident Evil 2, she aided Leon in surviving Raccoon City while trying to get her hands on the G-virus sample. Even after Leon found out about Ada working as a spy, Ada still helped Leon in Resident Evil 4 and Resident Evil 6.

Interesting facts about Ada

·         Her background is a mystery, and her name may not be real. 

·         She dated someone named John Clemens, an Umbrella researcher, who used her name as a password in the first Resident Evil game. 

·         She has worked for clients and has often betrayed them. 

5. Albert Wesker

Albert Wesker has been the main antagonist of the series until Resident Evil 5. He was introduced in the first Resident Evil as the leader of STARS, although he was a traitor as he was working with Umbrella and was told to lure the STARS to the mansion. 

Before being impaled by the Tyrant, the final boss in the first game, he injected himself with a virus. After the Tyrant killed him, he came back as someone with powers and escaped the mansion before it blew up. 

He reappeared in Resident Evil Code Veronica and had confrontations with Chris and Claire Redfield. His final appearance was in Resident Evil 5 where he served as the main antagonist as he was working with a company called Tricell. 

Interesting facts about Wesker

·         He has a son named Jake Muller who is one of the protagonists in Resident Evil 6. 

·         Similar to Ada and Hunk, his childhood is a mystery. Wesker isn’t even his real name but got it after being taken in by Dr. Spencer, one of the founders of Umbrella. 

·         Wesker’s powers include increased strength, regenerative abilities, and speed. 

·         Before the events of the first Resident Evil, Wesker, along with Birkin, was planning on leaving Umbrella as he had motives of his own.

4. Claire Redfield

The younger sister of Chris Redfield who first appeared in Resident Evil 2. With her parents dying when she was young, Chris had to take care of her. In 1998, she was a college student who went to Raccoon City to find Chris only to be caught up in the middle of the Raccoon City T-virus outbreak. 

She appeared as the female protagonist in Resident Evil Code Veronica where she continued to search for Chris, but got captured and sent to Rockfort Island where another T-virus outbreak occurred. 

Although she hasn’t appeared in any main Resident Evil since, except for the remake of Resident Evil 2, she has appeared as one of the protagonists in Resident Evil Revelations 2 where she is a member of TerraSave.

Interesting facts about Claire

·         In the beta version of Resident Evil 2, called Resident Evil 1.5, Claire was going to be someone named Elza Walker. Similar to Claire, Elza was going to be a college student. But unlike Claire, Elza wasn’t related to Chris Redfield. 

·         Claire’s jackets from Resident Evil 2 and Code Veronica have designs that reference songs from the band Queen. The Resident Evil 2 jacket’s design says “Made in Heaven and the Code Veronica jacket’s design says “Let Me Live’’; Made in Heaven and Let Me Live are both songs from Queen. 

3. Chris Redfield

Born in 1973, Chris had it difficult in his youth. His parents died when he was young thus leaving him to take care of his younger sister Claire. He then went on to join the Air Force as a pilot, but eventually left and joined STARS. 

Being the male protagonist of the first Resident Evil, he, and other STARS members,  had to survive a mansion filled with zombies and other monsters due to a virus created by a company called Umbrella. He then appeared in Resident Evil Code Veronica as one of the main characters where he reunited with Claire. 

He joined the BSAA, a group focused on fighting bioterrorism, and he was the main character in Resident Evil 5 where he had to deal with a parasitic outbreak taking place in Africa. He went on to appear in Resident Evil 7 and will appear in the upcoming Resident Evil Village.

Throughout the series, he has had a rivalry with Albert Wesker, the main antagonist in the series until Resident Evil 5. This rivalry ended in Resident Evil 5 where Chris faced off against Wesker, with Sheva, for the final time. 

Interesting facts about Chris

·         Like Claire, Chris has a jacket that says “Made in Heaven” in the back; this jacket was his alternate costume in the first Resident Evil game. 

·         While in the Air Force, he was recognized for his expertise in hand-to-hand combat, and especially his marksmanship, so much so that he won a contest for marksmanship. 

·         Chris had trained Claire on how to use a knife and a gun. He even gave her a knife as a gift.

2. Jill Valentine

Jill Valentine was introduced as the female protagonist in the first Resident Evil. She was a STARS member, alongside Chris, who had to find a way out of a mansion infested with zombies and other monsters. After escaping, she went on to investigate Umbrella in Raccoon City but was placed on house arrest due to the chief of the RPD named Brian Irons being paid by Umbrella. 

Being the main protagonist in Resident Evil 3, she found herself caught amid the T-virus outbreak in Raccoon City and was being hunted down by a monster called Nemesis. With the help of Carlos, she escaped Raccoon City as the city was being nuked.

After the Raccoon City incident, she joined the BSAA to fight against bioterrorism along with Chris and other former STARS members. She appeared in Resident Evil 5 as being controlled by Albert Wesker, but Chris and Sheva freed her from Wesker’s control.

Interesting facts about Jill

·         Her expertise in STARS was lock picking, and bomb disposal. The former would show itself in the gameplay of Resident Evil 1 and 3 as she unlocks doors using a lockpick. 

·         In Resident Evil 3, Nemesis infected her with the T-virus but was treated with a vaccine thanks to Carlos. However, some particles of the virus survived, remaining in a dormant state. 

·         She is half French and half Japanese. 

1. Leon S. Kennedy

Leon was introduced in Resident Evil 2 as a rookie police officer who just arrived in Raccoon City completely unaware of the T-virus outbreak going on. After the events of Resident Evil 2, he gets recruited into being a government agent due to his experience fighting BOWs in Raccoon City.

Although he already had a sizable fanbase from Resident Evil 2, it was Resident Evil 4 that made his character extremely popular. In Resident Evil 4, he goes to Spain to save the president’s daughter Ashley while fighting against those who are infected with a parasite called the Las Plagas. He would go on to be one of the main protagonists in Resident Evil 6 to deal with the C-virus outbreak.

Interesting facts about Leon

·         Leon has had many female allies in the series. Although characters like Ashley may have had feelings for him, Ada is the only character that Leon has shown feelings for; it is suggested that Ada may have feelings for him in return.

·         In Resident Evil 1.5, what Resident Evil 2 was originally going to be, he was still a rookie police officer. However, he was already working for the RPD when the outbreak occurred in Raccoon City. 

·     His default handgun, the Matilda, seems to be based on the VP70 handgun created by a German manufacturing company called Heckler & Koch. 

·         During the events of Resident Evil 2, in the police station, Leon thought about killing himself due to the horrifying situation he was in. This changed when he met Sherry; he decided to carry on so that he could help Sherry and Claire escape Raccoon City.

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