Times Resident Evil Characters Narrowly Avoided Death

Key Takeaways

• Jill Valentine’s close encounter with Nemesis in Resident Evil 3 led to her being infected.
• Claire Redfield’s survival in Resident Evil 2 was credited to Dr. Birkin intercepting Mr. X before he could harm her.
• Moira Burton from Resident Evil: Revelations 2 survived due to her choice to defeat Neil and save Natalia in the good ending.

The Resident Evil universe is full of formidable threats lurking around every corner, but the characters themselves can also be reckless and impulsive at times. By combining those two things, multiple scenarios occur where Resident Evil characters narrowly evade death. In almost 30 years of the Resident Evil franchise, there have been more close calls than anyone should be comfortable with, especially for some of the series regulars who have survived B.O.W.s, explosions, superhumans, and even long drops off precarious ledges.

It’s a miracle that some Resident Evil cast members have lasted this long, but no matter how many enemies are thrown at them or how many impossible situations they find themselves in, Capcom just won’t let them go. Here are some of the moments where Resident Evil characters had a brush with death and lived to tell the tale.

8 Jill Valentine Gets Infected By Nemesis (Resident Evil 3)

Carlos Procures An Antidote Just In Time to Save Jill’s Life

Jill Valentine has outlived some truly horrific ordeals. She’s been stalked, punched, blown up, brainwashed, and lived through the Raccoon City Incident. But Jill Valentine met her match in Resident Evil 3 with Umbrella’s towering B.O.W., Nemesis, a grotesque, hulking humanoid creature tasked with eliminating all the remaining S.T.A.R.S. members in Raccoon City. When Nemesis takes out Brad Vickers, one of Alpha Team’s pilots, Jill is all that remains of S.T.A.R.S, and so, Nemesis hunts her relentlessly.

At one point, after Jill takes down Nemesis’ second stage of evolution, she finds herself scrambling beneath a metal gate as Nemesis grabs her leg and pulls her toward it. Jill manages to drop the gate by severing the chain with a clean shot, slicing Nemesis’ arm off. However, it produces a spiky barb that embeds Jill in the upper arm, injecting her with the T-Virus. Resident Evil fans know how that scenario was supposed to end, as Jill would technically “die” if the infection had run its course and turned her into another mindless zombie. However, Carlos carries Jill to the hospital in search of Dr. Bard but procures an antidote himself, thus saving her life.

7 The Spencer Mansion Incident (Resident Evil 5)

Jill Almost Takes Out Herself And Wesker

It shouldn’t be surprising for Jill Valentine to appear twice, not when she’s suffered greatly and survived so much. In Resident Evil 5, post-Racoon City, Jill and Chris infiltrate the Spencer Mansion with the intention of interrogating Oswell E. Spencer, whom they hope will spill the beans on Albert Wesker’s whereabouts. Chris and Jill enter the spacious study to find Spencer dead and Wesker staring out the giant window overlooking the cliffside. A fight ensues that leads to Chris and Jill being incapacitated and unable to compete with Wesker’s superior speed and endurance. Jill is sent flying, presumably out for the count, and Wesker lifts Chris off the ground with ease.

Just as Wesker prepares to deliver the final, crushing blow, Jill sprints toward him at full speed and grapples him, sending the two of them crashing through the window and hurtling down the side of the cliff. As is revealed in Resident Evil 5‘s main story, Jill miraculously survived the drop — presumably using Wesker’s enhanced body to cushion her fall — and Wesker takes her to the nearby Tricell facility where he keeps her in cryostasis (on the verge of death) so that the dormant T-Virus strain inside her bloodstream can mutate, reacting to the P30 serum and giving her Wesker-level strength and agility but effectively bending her to his will.

6 Claire Redfield Meets Mr. X (Resident Evil 2)

Mr. X Almost Wipes Out Claire And Sherry

In the Resident Evil 2 remake, while exploring the Racoon City Police Station, Claire extinguishes the fire raging from the crash site of a helicopter. When she goes inside to progress, however, the helicopter is suddenly lifted aside by the T-00 Tyrant, also known as Mr. X. Although its orders were to retrieve the G-Virus sample from the pendant of Sherry Birkin, it began the pursuit of Claire Redfield and Leon Kennedy as its secondary objective was to eliminate any survivors at the Racoon City Police Station. In Claire’s campaign, Mr. X doesn’t catch up to her until Claire she Sherry reach the underground elevator.

When Claire reunites with Sherry underground, Mr. X suddenly bursts through the door and begins chasing them. Mr. X forced them inside the nearby elevator. It began prying open the elevator door grate but was intercepted by Dr. William Birkin, who had begun mutating into “G.” Birkin drove his monstrous claws through Mr. X’s torso and bisected the Tyrant, allowing Claire and Sherry to escape unscathed, but who knows what would have happened if Birkin hadn’t interfered at the right moment.

5 Moira Burton Survives The Good Ending (Resident Evil: Revelations 2)

Moira Survives The Collapse Of Alex’s Lab If She Kills Neil

There are two distinct endings for Resident Evil: Revelations 2, both of which revolve around Moira Burton, the supportive character to Claire’s campaign and the daughter of the other main protagonist, Barry Burton. During a confrontation with Claire’s ex-boss, Neil, the player has the option to either kill Neil as Claire or switch to Moira, who overcomes her fear of firearms to deal the lethal shot. If Claire kills Neil, Moira will become trapped under rubble in Episode 4 and succumb to her fear, dying as her bracelet flashes red. If Moira kills Neil in Episode 3, she will be rescued by Evgeny (the Russian man they meet in the sewers) and overcome her fear of guns. Then, in Barry’s campaign, Moira will arrive just in time to save the day.

After Alex Wesker mutates and attacks Barry and Natalia, she will incapacitate Barry at the end of the boss fight and grab Natalia. In the bad ending, Alex will crush the life out of Natalia and then transfer her conscience into Natalia’s body. In the good ending, however, Moira survives her brush with death to swoop in and fire off a few shots at Alex before she can kill Natalia. With Natalia safe and sound, Moira makes it off the island with the others when Claire arrives in a helicopter to evacuate them.

4 Ada Wong Sacrifices Herself (Resident Evil 2)

Ada Miraculously Survives The Fall To Her Alleged Death

Claire Redfield isn’t the only one having a hard time of it in Resident Evil 2. In Leon’s campaign, he joins forces with Ada Wong to retrieve the G-Virus sample. What Leon doesn’t know — and later discovers — is that Ada lied about being an FBI agent and is actually a freelance operative who has been hired by The Organization, Umbrella’s rivals, to retrieve the sample. When Leon confronts Ada in the NEST laboratory, she is shot by Annette Birkin, who succumbs to her own injuries shortly after. When the laboratory structure starts to collapse, Ada loses her footing as a piece of the walkway breaks apart. Leon manages to grab hold of her, but without the proper leverage, he can’t safely pull her up.

Ada makes peace with the fact that she likely won’t make it out alive and chooses to sacrifice herself so that Leon can escape. At this point, the G-Virus sample has fallen into the abyss, lost to the soon-to-be remnants of the NEST lab. Ada makes the choice easier on Leon by letting go herself, presumably falling to her death. As revealed in Resident Evil 4, however, Ada survived the fall somehow. It isn’t explicitly stated how, but it can be assumed that her handy grappling hook played a part in her escape.

3 Albert Wesker Falls Prey To The Tyrant (Resident Evil)

Wesker Uses An Experimental Virus To Resurrect Himself

In later Resident Evil games, Albert Wesker becomes the most formidable human enemy across the whole series. Once the Uroboros virus takes hold, Wesker becomes virtually unstoppable (aside from a few rocket launchers) and wreaks havoc on Jill, Chris, Sheva, Claire, and so many others. But Albert Wesker wasn’t always the bloodthirsty dictator that he’s portrayed as in Resident Evil 5 and even the Resident Evil 4 remake, as he was once an average soldier — like Chris and Jill — who defected to Umbrella once they offered him a sizable paycheck for betraying his fellow S.T.A.R.S members.

At the end of the original Resident Evil, it is revealed that Wesker betrayed S.T.A.R.S. and was in cahoots with Umbrella all along. He marvels at a prototype Tyrant, which lies dormant in a containment tank. Wesker underestimates the violent nature of the B.O.W., and the Tyrant attacks him, presumably mortally wounding him. Wesker returns in Resident Evil – Code: Veronica and survives his death thanks to an experimental virus that not only resurrected him and healed his injuries but also endowed him with superhuman abilities. These enhancements are amplified by the Uroboros Virus in Resident Evil 5.

2 Raymond Saves Parker Luciani (Resident Evil: Revelations)

Parker’s Old Friend Spares Him From An Early Grave

Jill Valentine’s partner in Resident Evil: Revelations, Parker Luciani, accompanies her aboard the Queen Zenobia in the search for Chris Redfield and his partner, Jessica Sherawat. Later in the game, when the Queen Zenobia begins sinking and flooding, Parker and Jill find out from Parker’s former cadet and FBC agent Raymond that Jessica is a mole working for the FBC and intends to sabotage the mission by activating the ship’s self-destruct sequence and escaping. As the Queen Zenobia implodes, Chris and Jill aid a wounded Parker in escaping, but not before he finds himself in the same situation as Ada Wong in Resident Evil 2.

Chris tries to hoist Parker to safety, but fails to do so, which forces Parker to make the ultimate sacrifice. He thanks Jill for the “good times” and lets go, presumed to be another casualty of the Queen Zenobia. However, Parker survives and relocates to Malta. Raymond is revealed to have faked his death and saved Parker from the ship’s destruction. In a post-credits scene, as Raymond is delivering a sample of the T-Abyss to Jessica in a cafe, she asks Raymond why he saved Parker, who responds “I have my reasons.” It is thought that Raymond saved Parker’s life to repay a debt during their FBC days.

1 Ethan Winters’ Encounter With The Baker Family (Resident Evil 7: Biohazard)

Ethan Died Prematurely At The Hands Of Jack Baker

Ethan Winters has several near-death experiences throughout Resident Evil 7: Biohazard and Resident Evil Village. If he isn’t being pummeled by Jack Baker, he’s being sliced to ribbons by Lady Dimitrescu. Ethan has lost more hands than any human being ever should, yet he still emerges unscathed every single time. At first, this is thought to have been blind luck. It wasn’t originally planned to be the case, but Capcom gave a retcon for Ethan’s story by declaring that he was actually killed by Jack Baker at the Baker family estate in Resident Evil 7, along with Mia, but his connection to the Mold allowed him to be revived a la Wesker in Resident Evil.

So, Ethan actually perished in Louisiana at the hands of Jack Baker but was resurrected by the Mold and lives out the events of Village as a sort of Mold zombie. That would explain why Ethan can take obscene amounts of damage without dying and even outlasted all of Mother Miranda’s lieutenants before taking on the Big Bad herself. Ethan would have been killed by Jack Baker outright if it weren’t for the Mold, so it was actually incredibly fortunate that he was infected by it. He dies again (for good) in Resident Evil Village and bestows his powers on his daughter, Rosemary, who also has a specific connection to the Mold.