Jill Valentine

}} Jill Valentine is a video game character in the Resident Evil survival horror series. She is one of the main characters in the original Resident Evil and the main heroine in Nemesis. She also appears in the second Resident Evil movie, Apocalypse.

Background

A member of the Special Tactics And Rescue Service (S.T.A.R.S.) Alpha team in Raccoon City, Jill was a former member of Delta Force. This would imply enlistment in one of the armed forces, specifically the Army. Therefore, she would most likely have been an Army Ranger or a Green Beret. She also must have been a very talented soldier to get noticed so quickly. Supposedly, Jill was already acquainted with her fellow S.T.A.R.S. member, Chris Redfield, prior to joining the squad; we, however, are never told how they knew each other.

Mansion incident

On July 23 1998, S.T.A.R.S. Bravo team was deployed to the outskirts of Raccoon City located in the Arklay Mountains after evidence of grisly, cannibalistic murders. A day later, after contact with Bravo team was lost, the Alpha team was sent to find out what happened to their comrades. Soon after their arrival, the team found the destroyed remains of Bravo team's helicopter and were quickly attacked by vicious Cerberus, canines infected with the T-Virus. After witnessing the death of fellow Alpha team member Joseph Frost, the team was abandoned by their helicopter pilot, Brad Vickers and the remaining members fled to a nearby mansion, the Arklay Research Facility.

Jill, along with fellow survivors Chris Redfield, Barry Burton, and Albert Wesker, assumed the mansion to be deserted. They would quickly discover the various beasts and monsters inhabiting the mansion, as well as the remains of their fallen Bravo Team compatriots. Through her cooperation with Barry, Jill was able to discover that the mansion was actually a front for a top-secret research facility owned by the Umbrella Corporation. They also came to find that Wesker was a double agent working for Umbrella and had planned the whole operation as an experiment to test out Umbrella's T-Virus B.O.W.s and to destroy the S.T.A.R.S. team. However, after Wesker was seemingly killed by one of his own creations, Jill and Barry escaped, along with Chris Redfield and surviving Bravo Team member Rebecca Chambers, leaving behind the ruins of the secret lab known as Spencer Mansion.

Raccoon City incident

After their return to Raccoon City, S.T.A.R.S. request for a full-scale investigation of Umbrella's activities was denied by their superior, Chief Brian Irons of the Raccoon Police Department (RPD). With no support from the American government, Chris, Barry, Jill, and Rebecca decided to travel to Europe and investigate Umbrella's main headquarters themselves. Chris went ahead and traveled to Europe by himself by the end of August, while Barry went to Canada to relocate his family first. Jill decided to stay in Raccoon City in order to investigate the whereabouts of Umbrella's Underground Facility before joining her comrades.

However, two months after the mansion incident (on September 28), her investigation was ruined when Raccoon City was infected with the T-Virus. During her escape, she witnessed the death of Alpha Team's pilot, Brad Vickers, at the hands of "Nemesis", a B.O.W. sent by Umbrella to assassinate the remaining S.T.A.R.S. members. Jill managed to thwart Nemesis temporarily and met with Carlos Oliveira, a surviving member of the Umbrella Biohazard Countermeasure Service (UBCS) along with Nicholai Ginovaef and Mikhail Victor. However, Mikhail gave his life protecting Jill and Carlos from Nemesis while Nicholai was presumed dead after an accident. Jill and Carlos ended up in a nearby clock tower after their cable car collided off-course. During the following battle with Nemesis, Jill was infected with the T-Virus and was taken to the clock tower's church by Carlos, where she lay there in a semi-coma.

Two days later (on the night of September 30), Jill recovered after being administered with a serum by Carlos, and continued her search for escape. Soon afterwards, she discovered another one of Umbrella's secret research facilities hidden behind a park. In this lab, she confronted Nicholai for the last time (it seemed that she had a bounty on her head that he wished to collect), and fought with Nemesis once again. Jill successfully destroyed Nemesis with a top-secret weapon that was transported to the facility a few days earlier and managed to escape from the city with Carlos via a helicopter piloted by Barry Burton. As they flew away, Jill witnessed the annihilation of Raccoon City by nuclear weapons on order of the U.S. government.

Jill, Barry and Carlos would go on to become involved in various anti-Umbrella groups and activities until Umbrella's closure.

Appearances

Jill was one of the two main playable characters in the original Resident Evil. In Jill's version of the game, the player is given a higher item capacity, along with additional equipment such as a lockpick and a Grenade Launcher. This luxury made the game easier for those inexperienced with the Resident Evil series. Jill was later given the starring role in Resident Evil 3: Nemesis. She is one of the more popular Resident Evil characters within Capcom's internal staff, making cameo appearances in Pocket Fighter, SNK vs. Capcom: Card Fighters Clash and Marvel vs. Capcom 2. Jill also makes a rather humorous appearance in the off beat Under the Skin along with a comedic representation of the Resident Evil 3 setting. She was portrayed by Sienna Guillory in the live-action movie Apocalypse, which was loosely based on the events of Nemesis.

In the live-action sequences of the first game, were played by an actress/model known only as Inezh and voiced by Lisa Faye, who was uncredited for her performance. Then, Jill was played by Canadian B-list voice actor Catherine Disher in Resident Evil 3: Nemesis and by Heidi Anderson in the 2002 remake of the original Resident Evil.

Wardrobe

Jill's standard and most well-known outfit is a pair of blue assault pants with a light blue formfitting shirt and body armor, completed with a blue beret on her head. In addition to her S.T.A.R.S. uniform in the first game, Jill wore a casual outfit consisting of jeans and a black midriff. In Resident Evil: Director's Cut, she wore a sleeveless blouse with jeans and boots as a default outfit in the game's Arranged Mode. The Saturn version of the first game also featured Jill in an alternate version of her S.T.A.R.S. uniform.

In Resident Evil 3, she wears a blue tube top, black mini-skirt and a white sweater wrapped around her waist as her default outfit. This is also a well-known outfit and is the outfit worn by Sienna Guillory in the second film. She has a total of five alternate outfits (eight in later versions), including her original S.T.A.R.S. uniform, an outfit that makes her resemble Regina, the heroine of the Dino Crisis series, a police mini-skirt, a biker outfit, and a disco outfit. The Dreamcast and PC versions of Nemesis also featured two additional costumes not seen in the other versions. The Resident Evil remake for the Gamecube featured her standard Resident Evil 3 outfit and a new military outfit modeled after Sarah Connor's outfit from Judgment Day.

In Deadly Silence (the Nintendo DS port of the original), Jill gets to wear her original casual outfit, as well as a revealing policewoman uniform in the game's "Rebirth" mode.

During the original games' conception, Jill is notorious for going through more changes in her appearance than any other character.

Trivia

Jill is generally considered by fans as the most competent female protagonist of the series. She's more calm and collected than the emotional Claire. She is more experienced, mature and athletic than Rebecca. She also single-handedly defeated the Nemesis, Umbrella's third-deadliest bioweapon to date, which is not an easy feat.

Jill is noted as one of the earliest well-rounded female video game characters. This is possibly because Survival Horror games tend to have a larger female fanbase than more straightforward action ones, possibly owing to the vast popularity of horror among Japanese women in the 1990s. Female video game characters are often accused of being designed to be "eyecandy", superficial fantasy figures tailored to appeal to the traditionally male gaming market. Lara Croft, the most famous video game heroine of all, has recently been redesigned in response to such criticism. While Jill is frequently in danger, she is never portrayed as a victim or "damsel in distress". Although she is tough, she is not unbelievably skilled, more often than not, she relies on her ingenuity and training to survive rather than her physical prowess. Jill is resourceful and strong, without seeming unrealistically powerful. Many of the game's fans in turn were unhappy that Milla Jovovich's Alice character's superhuman abilities were unfaithful to the precedent of smart, down-to-earth heroines set by the games. Because of Jill's strong character, and because of its iconic status, her blue and black costume is a popular subject for cosplay.

In order to have joined Delta Force, Jill must have been an Army Ranger or a Green Beret, neither of which is ordinarily possible for a woman. The alternative is that Jill joined the "Funny Platoon," an organization dedicated to intelligence services within Delta, or that the prohibition against women Rangers or Berets does not exist in the Resident Evil universe.

In Resident Evil 2, one can search Jill's desk in the S.T.A.R.S. office of the RPD. On her desk is a picture which, when examined, is described as her being with a young man, possibly her boyfriend. This is one of the biggest mysteries in the series to date, as no mention has been made of her having any kind of romantic relationship so far.

Gamespy.com recently rated Jill the seventh greatest video game babe of all time, and made remarks on how they await her return.

Jill's favorite hobby is shopping.

Heidi Anderson's facial design and expressions were mimicked for Jill's in the remake of Resident Evil.

Jill appears in Marvel vs. Capcom 2 as a playable character. She comes equipped with all her trademark weaponry from Resident Evil. As "special moves," Jill can dodge out of the way of incoming monsters, such as zombies, dogs, crows, and even the Tyrant, leaving her opponent to deal with them.

Jill gets a Character Card in Card Fighters' Clash. In Card Fighters' Clash 2, the design on her card was changed to reflect her RE3 outfit.

In other media

Movies

Resident Evil: Apocalypse

In the movie Apocalypse, Jill is portrayed by Sienna Guillory. Early in the film, a newspaper article in her apartment hints at her dismissal from the S.T.A.R.S. unit and her involvement with Nemesis. Both add to similarities between the movie and the game Resident Evil 3: Nemesis. Although, due to the vastly different conclusion, as well as the role of Alice, the game and movie are officially considered alternate universes.

In Apocalypse, Jill had been a rising star in the S.T.A.R.S. organization, before her reputation was ruined after a botched mission known as "The Arklay Mountains Incident". Information from the movie's website indicates that she gained insight into a "classified bioweapon weakness", which was said to be a "cranial flaw". Initially the Umbrella Corporation intended to bribe her, so their bioweapons wouldn't lose market value. Had that failed, they planned to have her "neutralized". In the film, Jill maintains a strong friendship with S.T.A.R.S. officer Peyton Wells. During a t-virus outbreak in Raccoon City, Jill attempted to leave the city through a quarantine screening set up by Umbrella at Ravens Gate Bridge. When the infection reached the Gates, Umbrella sealed off the sector and urged that all citizens return to their homes.

Upon heading back to the city, Jill stumbled upon news reporter Terri Morales, who managed to video tape Umbrella's actions at the Bridge. When Jill decides to hold up at Ravens Gate Church, her group is attacked by Lickers, Alice manages to locate Jill and her compansions whom are hiding out. It is notable that Jill is far less self-sufficient in the movie, and likely would have died if not for the help of Alice. When Umbrella intervenes Dr. Ashford's plan to use Alice to get his daughter Angela out of the city in exchange for a safe departure out of the city. Jill is taken hostage by Umbrella soldiers and is later released by Carlos during a gunfight (with Umbrella agents) against Alice at Raccoon City Hall. Before the destruction of Raccoon City, Jill manages to get the survivors out. Upon departure the helicopter is hit by the blast wave and crashes into the Arklay Mountains. All except Alice survive the crash; the remaining survivors flee the scene.

At the end of Apocalypse, Carlos and Jill are both wanted criminals by Umbrella for allegedly posting a hoax video to cover up a nuclear meltdown that occurred at Raccoon City. Both "infiltrate" Umbrella's Chicago Facility to recover Alice, who was resurrected using a new viral agent. It is shown at the end that they were "allowed" to infiltrate Umbrella and rescue Alice.

Resident Evil: Apocalypse Extended Version

Jill appears in four new scenes in this version, two are conversations with Terri and the other scene is Jill listening to the discussion of the priest. The final scene is a conversation with Alice, because Jill asked her why she decided to work for them.

= Differences From The Game

Nemesis was not destroyed by Jill, he was first defeated in close combat by Alice, and then was crushed from debris of a falling helicopter.
In Resident Evil 3: Nemesis comrade Carlos Oliveira seemed to have an interest in the heroine, while in Apocalypse Carlos had his eye on the more powerful Alice.
Jill smokes in the movie whereas Jill in the game doesn't.
In the games, Jill comes off as having a self rightous, sympathic and caring personality with a sense of justice. In the film, Jill is a lot more cold and emotionless in character.
Jill in the games is more in control of the situation around her and resourceful. In the movie, Jill is a lot less self sufficent and notably less skilled compared to Carlos and Alice, though out of all the S.T.A.R.S., she is the only one to actually kill a zombie in the movie. Payton misses with every shot and the group of S.T.A.R.S. taking refuge in the city is killed by Nemesis.

Resident Evil: Extinction

Sienna Guillory will reprise her role as Jill in the 2007 film Extinction.

Novels

In S.D. Perry's novelizations of the games, it is stated that Jill is the daughter of a professional thief (Dick Valentine), and was his accomplice prior to her career in law enforcement, explaining her unrivaled infiltration skills and expertise at lockpicking. However, this back-story is not supported by any of the games and is considered non-canonical.

Actresses

Heidi Anderson is the current voice of Jill Valentine as seen in the GameCube version of Resident Evil
Her voice actresses in the past include Canadian B-list voice actor Catherine Disher in Nemesis and New Age of Heroes, and Lisa Faye who was uncredited in the original Resident Evil.
The actress seen in the live action sequences in the original Resident Evil was known only as "Inezh".

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