Claire Redfield

Claire Redfield is a character in Resident Evil (Biohazard in Japan), a survival horror video game series created by the Japanese company Capcom. She was first introduced as one of two player characters in Resident Evil 2 (1998), alongside Leon S. Kennedy. During the events of Resident Evil 2, Claire arrives in the Midwestern United States town of Raccoon City to find her missing brother, Chris Redfield, but has been overrun by zombies.

Claire is the protagonist of several Resident Evil games, novelizations, and films and has also appeared in other franchises, including Dead by Daylight and Monster Hunter. Several actresses have portrayed Claire. In her initial video game appearance, she is voiced by Canadian actress Alyson Court, whose features were also later used for the character. In the 2019 remake of Resident Evil 2, she is voiced by Stephanie Panisello and modeled after Canadian model Jordan McEwen. In the live-action Resident Evil films, Claire has been portrayed by Ali Larter and Kaya Scodelario.

The character was formerly known as "Elza Walker", a motorcycle racer in the original version of Resident Evil 2, which was canceled at approximately two-thirds completion as series creator Shinji Mikami decided it was inadequate. In the final version of the game, Elza was renamed Claire by the game's screenwriter, Noboru Sugimura, as the sibling of Chris Redfield, in order to introduce a connection to the plot of the first game. Claire has received mostly positive reviews from video game publications, with particular commendation for being a strong, non-sexualized female lead.

Concept and design
Claire's appearance was designed by Capcom artist Isao Ohishi. She was developed out of an earlier character named Elza Walker. Elza Walker was the original female lead of Resident Evil 2. A blonde college student and motorcycle racer, her reason for coming to Raccoon City was to try to recruit fans at Raccoon City University to form a racing team back in her hometown. However, after the development of the game was scrapped and restarted in 1997, the character was retooled into the sister of Chris Redfield, named Claire. This was done at the suggestion of new story writer Noboru Sugimura in order to connect Resident Evil 2 to the first game. Accordingly, Claire's relation to Chris was emphasized, which provided an explanation for her skills with firearms and other weapons and gave her a new reason for coming to Raccoon City: searching for Chris. Her physical features were redesigned to more closely resemble her brother, and her outfit was changed to include a sheath for a standard-issue S.T.A.R.S. knife and a jacket with "Made in Heaven" printed on the back (which Chris had as an alternate costume). Since producer Shinji Mikami disliked weak and sexually objectified women in video games, Claire was written to be independent and strong-willed. Mikami explained: "I don't know if I've put more emphasis on women characters, but when I do introduce them, it is never as objects[.] In [other] games, they will be peripheral characters with ridiculous breast physics. I avoid that sort of obvious eroticism."

On her return in Resident Evil – Code: Veronica, Mikami said, "Claire became a lot tougher than I imagined. I thought she should look the same, but the game director made her that way because she had such an experience in Resident Evil 2, she could handle any situation now!" For Resident Evil: Revelations 2, Claire was written as hardened and aggressive in order to contrast with her partner, the young, immature, and easily scared Moira Burton. Michiteru Okabe, the game's producer, stated that they only later realized, 'Oh, I guess they are both girls'. He believes this is a good thing since it shows that they are considering them as entire personalities rather than simply their gender. They landed on the idea that you play multiple roles; "it isn't two against the world, it's one against the world with a helper". In addition, Okabe hinted that Claire's experience would be a little more traumatizing than that of other protagonists in earlier games, who frequently seemed to ignore the fact that they were frequently attacked by unusual monsters. Even though Claire has been through a lot, Okabe continued, "She's not really prepared for it. I think you'll see a little more vulnerability, you'll see less of a kind of blasé attitude. She really is going to have to struggle through this situation, because it's new and uncharted territory." According to Okabe, director Morimasa Sato is a big fan of Claire, which is why he felt obligated to bring her back into the game. They were excited to do so because they really prefer Claire, and she is a favorite among the audience.

For the 2019 remake of Resident Evil 2, Claire was redesigned and modeled after Canadian model Jordan McEwen. Her hair style is different, and her hair is no longer brownish red; instead, she is a brunette. Her wardrobe was also changed, with her original hotpants and bike shorts replaced by jeans and her jacket now long-sleeved.

Voice-over and live-action actresses


Alyson Court voiced Claire Redfield in her initial appearance in Resident Evil 2 and reprised the role in Resident Evil – Code: Veronica, Resident Evil: Degeneration, Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles, Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D, and Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City. The character was voiced by James Baker in Resident Evil: Revelations 2 and Stephanie Panisello in the remake of Resident Evil 2, Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness, and Resident Evil: Death Island. Yūko Kaida voiced Claire in the animated film and games' Japanese versions.

Lori Rom provided the voice and the motion capture of Claire in Resident Evil: Degeneration. Ananda Jacobs performed Claire's motion capture in Resident Evil: Revelations 2, while Stephanie Panisello voiced her in the remake of Resident Evil 2, Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness, and Resident Evil: Death Island.

In the original Resident Evil, which uses live-action cinematics, Claire is played by Adrienne Frantz. Ali Larter played Claire in Resident Evil: Extinction, Resident Evil: Afterlife, and Resident Evil: The Final Chapter in the live-action Resident Evil films, while Kaya Scodelario portrayed her in Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City.

In the Resident Evil series
Every game in the series is set in the fictional American metropolitan area of Raccoon City until its destruction at the end of Resident Evil 3: Nemesis. Claire Redfield first appears in Resident Evil 2 (1998), which revolves around her search for her missing brother Chris, an officer in the local police special force Special Tactics and Rescue Service (S.T.A.R.S.). Claire arrives in the Midwestern United States town of Raccoon City to find it overrun by zombies. She soon meets up with rookie cop Leon S. Kennedy, but along the way she is separated from him. The rest of the game focuses on Claire's struggle to escape from the city alive. She maintains radio contact with Leon and teams up with a young girl named Sherry Birkin while fighting against the various undead creatures infesting the Raccoon Police Department building, including the mutated scientist William Birkin. Claire eventually escapes from the city through the Umbrella Corporation's underground research complex, along with Leon and Sherry, after the three of them manage to destroy Birkin. In the game's epilogue, Claire leaves to continue her search for Chris, while Leon and Sherry are rescued by the U.S. military.

She returned as the sole protagonist in Resident Evil – Code: Veronica (2000). Mikami – the lead producer of both Resident Evil 3: Nemesis and the concurrently-produced Code: Veronica – wanted each game to highlight a female character who had previously appeared in the series; Jill Valentine is the protagonist in Nemesis, while Claire is the lead character in Code: Veronica. Commentators suggested these decisions were made as a result of the success of the Tomb Raider series, which featured Lara Croft as the protagonist.

Code: Veronica is set three months after the events of Resident Evil 2. After an unsuccessful infiltration of Umbrella's medical branch in Paris, Claire finds herself imprisoned on Umbrella-owned Rockfort Island. Claire manages to discover the whereabouts of her brother and send a message to Leon. Claire, Steve Burnside, and the arriving Chris escape from the island, only to find themselves in another of Umbrella's secret labs, this time in Antarctica, before they are taken captive by the antagonist, Alexia Ashford. The second half of the game follows Chris trying to save his captured sister from Umbrella. Chris finds his way into the Antarctic lab and rescues her before their final battle with Alexia, which costs Steve's life, and the siblings escape from the facility via the transport airplane he used to get there. During the game's ending, they vow to put an end to the Umbrella Corporation. In the PlayStation 2 version, Veronica X, Claire also has a brief encounter with the series' main villain, Albert Wesker, that would have resulted in her death had Wesker not been called away by his associates.

She appears again in Resident Evil Survivor 2 – Code: Veronica (2001), the entire plot of which is actually just her nightmare dream after the escape from Antarctica in the original Code: Veronica, and in Resident Evil: Uprising, a mobile game version of Resident Evil 2. Claire returns as a playable character in Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles (2009), which retells the events of Resident Evil 2 and Resident Evil - Code: Veronica.

Claire returned as a protagonist in the episodic game Resident Evil: Revelations 2 (2015), set between the events of Resident Evil 5 and Resident Evil 6. Claire is now a member of TerraSave, a non-profit humanitarian aid and protest activism organization. The game follows her and Barry Burton's daughter Moira as they get kidnapped and find themselves trapped on a mysterious abandoned prison island. There they fight Alex Wesker and the "Afflicted" creatures. In the end, both of them survive the events, along with Barry, who arrived to look for them, and a little girl named Natalia Korda.

Other appearances
Paul W. S. Anderson, who wrote the screenplays for the six non-canonical live-action Resident Evil film series (2002–2016), did not include Claire in the first two films. He did not include her in the early drafts of the third film, Resident Evil: Extinction (2007), as the character of Jill Valentine was supposed to reappear from her debut in the second film, Resident Evil: Apocalypse (2004). Later, Anderson and producer Jeremy Bolt decided to have a different game character, Claire, appear alongside series lead protagonist Alice: "We thought, rather than bring Jill back, put her with another game heroine." In Resident Evil: Extinction (2007), Claire is the leader of a convoy of zombie apocalypse survivors who, at the end of the film, go to Alaska in search of a safe haven. The Extinction version of Claire has no connection to the video game character, and her look was redesigned. She reprised her role in Resident Evil: Afterlife (2010). She did not appear in the fifth film, Resident Evil: Retribution (2012), where she is presumed dead. She returned to the role a third time, in the sixth and final film of the original film series, Resident Evil: The Final Chapter (2016). Claire teams up with Alice and the Red Queen to save the remnants of humanity. She appears in the reboot film Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City (2021).

Claire also appears in the adult animated Resident Evil films. She plays a major role in the adult animated film Resident Evil: Degeneration (2008), reuniting her with Leon. The film is set seven years after the events of the game Resident Evil 2, and Claire has become a prominent TerraSave member. Claire has also appeared in the Netflix series Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness (2021), alongside Leon. She returned in the sequel, Resident Evil: Death Island. Claire's youthful appearance in the film was said to be a result of the T-virus slowing her aging.

Claire is a playable character in several non-canonical Resident Evil games. Claire appears as an unlockable bonus character in the sports game Trick'N Snowboarder (1999), and in 2013, she was added to the browser-based social game Onimusha Soul, for which she was redesigned to fit the feudal Japan theme. She also made a cameo appearance in the asymmetrical survival horror game Dead by Daylight (2016), Fortnite Battle Royale (2017), Monster Hunter: World (2018), Teppen (2019), and Puzzle & Survival (2023).

Claire features in novelizations of the films and games. A romantic comedy retelling of the story of Resident Evil 2, centered on Claire, Leon, and Ada, was released by Chingwin Publishing in the two-issue Taiwanese comic Èlíng Gǔbǎo II in 1999. In 2000, a 1,800-unit special "Claire Redfield red" limited edition series of the Dreamcast game console was released in Japan. Several comic books based on the games were released, and she is one of the main characters in Naoki Serizawa's manga Biohazard: heavenly island, serialized in Weekly Shōnen Champion magazine in 2015, in which she is a TerraSave investigator on an isolated South American island. In printed trading card media, she appears as a card in Bandai's Resident Evil Deck Building Card Game (2011). The character was featured in a Resident Evil-themed attraction at Universal Studios Japan's Halloween Horror Nights. Merchandise featuring Claire includes figurines, dioramas, plushies, keychains, vests, and standees.

Reception
Game publications have described Claire Redfield as one of the best video game characters. Critics have also described her as the most likable Resident Evil character. Edge described Claire as one of those "strong, non-exploitative female leads" who are "undeniably attractive, but they don't ponce about in leather cat suits." It was also further stated that Biohazard's Claire is "practical and resourceful" and "[t]his is an area where videogames really have the lead on films – in the horror film genre, women are often little more than pouting, screaming conduits for male aggression." Brittany Vincent of SyFy described her as a "good-looking video game heroine," claiming that she is a "strong-willed young woman who's tough as nails and ready to take on any challenge", while IGN's Mitch Dyer particularly praised her return in Resident Evil: Revelations 2: "The Resident Evil series places women in prominent, powerful, playable roles. [...] Still, they're often opposite a male lead. This is the first time a Resident Evil game has revolved around the story of two women. It's fun to get to play as Claire again." According to Matthew Elliott of Computer and Video Games preview of Revelations 2, "She's older, calmer and more capable, but she still retains everything that made her compelling in the first place. Where Rachael from the first Revelations was part centrefold, part melted-ice cream, Claire feels distinct from many women in the Resi universe in that there's more to her than lady-lumps and lycra. She's the perfect choice for the game's brand of isolated horror." IGN staff described Claire as one of the best playable Resident Evil characters, saying, "Her close relationships and empathy for those around her make her one of the most human characters in Resident Evil – which for a franchise that's packed with conniving manipulators like Wesker, conniving killers like Ada, and creatures with spiked, pulsating-flesh-holes instead of faces, is rather welcome indeed." Kimberley Wallace of Game Informer has claimed that Claire is her favorite Resident Evil character. She said, "She's caring, strong-willed, and a total badass. She's everything you'd expect from a good hero, and when we met Claire back in 1998's Resident Evil 2, she was simply that, only defined by a few characteristics." Michael McWhertor of Polygon has praised Claire in the remake of Resident Evil 2 and said that the character feels like a human being and moves like a contemporary video game action hero.

Critics commented that Claire was not oversexualized in her initial appearances. She was used as an illustration of a female character from the series who was not evaluated exclusively on the basis of her gender. Gita Jackson of Paste wrote an article about Claire's wardrobe and said that it "shows us that femininity, emotionality and practicality aren't exclusive from each other." The book Level Up!: The Guide to Great Video Game Design called Claire a perfect example of the theme "opposites attracts", as she and her fellow Raccoon City survivor Sherry (a little girl dressed in a Japanese school uniform in RE2) "couldn't be more different".

Claire also received some negative reactions from reviewers. In Tropes vs. Women in Video Games, feminist media critic Anita Sarkeesian criticized Claire's alternate costumes as too revealing, particularly the motorsport umbrella costume. Meanwhile, Ravi Sinha of GamingBolt considered the character's design in the remake of Resident Evil 2 among the worst in video games, noting that the developers should have kept her original design. One of the essays in Nadine Farghaly's Unraveling Resident Evil also criticized and compared Claire to the "typical trope" of "a virgin or tomboy".