William Birkin
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| William Birkin | |
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 William Birkin in Resident Evil 0 |
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| Game series | Resident Evil series |
| First game | Resident Evil 2 |
| Created by | Shinji Mikami |
| Voiced by | Diego Matamoros (Resident Evil 2) Unknown (Resident Evil Zero) Unknown (Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles) |
| Information | |
| Occupation | Virologist for Umbrella |
| Relatives | Annette Birkin (wife)(deceased) Sherry Birkin (daughter) |
William Birkin is a fictional character in the Resident Evil series. He is a top virologist working for the Umbrella Corporation and is responsible for the discovery of the G-Virus. He is the husband of Annette Birkin and the father of Sherry Birkin. His involvement in the G-Virus project serves as a catalyst for the events of Resident Evil 2. He also has a supporting role in the prequel, Resident Evil Zero, where he is involved in the events of the game from behind the scenes. His voice was provided by Diego Matamoros in Resident Evil 2 and by an unattributed actor in Resident Evil Zero.
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[edit] Background
Birkin joined the Umbrella Corporation in 1977 at the age of 15. He was placed at the Umbrella Management Training Facility under James Marcus. There, he became a close acquaintance and rival of fellow researcher Albert Wesker, as they were both considered to be Marcus's top apprentices. They were involved in the development of the T-Virus project, until the facility was closed down in 1978.
Afterwards, he and Wesker were transferred to the Arklay Research Facility on July 31, 1978, where they continued their T-Virus research and were made chief researchers of the facility. Birkin was proud of being the youngest researcher ever to work for Umbrella, until the arrival of Alexia Ashford, who was assigned to be chief researcher of Umbrella's Antarctic facility at the age of 10 in 1981. Although she worked in a different facility, Birkin became jealous of her, especially due to all the praise she was receiving from his co-workers. He became completely focused on his work, until the announcement of Alexia's death in 1983. Despite his rivalry with Alexia, his research yielded no results until he created the Hunter Bio-Organic Weapon (B.O.W.) in the mid-1980s.
He was promoted in 1988 to lead the T-Virus project and completed the development of the Tyrant after he and Wesker assassinated their former mentor, Marcus. By this time, Birkin was already married to his assistant, Annette, and the marriage had already produced a daughter named Sherry. When he and Wesker were conducting an experiment with the NE, the prototype of the Nemesis project, they used a female specimen, Lisa Trevor, as a guinea pig. Lisa was the only test subject to fully accept the parasite. Birkin examined her body structure and discovered that the variation of the Progenitor Virus that was injected into her in 1967 had absorbed all the mutagenic organisms that she had been implanted with since then and mutated into a new virus, which Birkin named the G-Virus.
He received approval from Umbrella's president, Ozwell E. Spencer, to initiate the G-Virus project. In 1993, Birkin and his wife were transferred to an underground research facility established specifically for the project. Birkin also bribed the chief of the Raccoon Police Department, Brian Irons, to cover up the project.
He completed development of the G-Virus in September 1998 and planned on using his final research in order to be promoted to Umbrella's executive board. Nevertheless, he began to disagree with his superiors and planned on selling his research to the US government. He requested to have the military intervene and retrieve him; however, the team that was sent never came and the Umbrella Special Forces Unit Alpha Team, led by HUNK, under orders from Christine Henri and Spencer, came to steal his work. He was shot by the soldiers and left for dead. He injected himself with a sample of the G-Virus and turned into the mutated creature known as G.
[edit] G transformation
Resident Evil 2 depicts Birkin injecting himself with the G-Virus and mutating into G, then pursuing the USFU team that stole his samples into the sewers. During the attack, several vials containing the T-Virus broke and were ingested by rats, which eventually caused the spread of infection and the zombie outbreak in Raccoon City. Of the USFU team that Birkin fought, only HUNK survived.
Several days later, Birkin wandered around the RPD precinct and encountered some of the surviving civilians, his daughter among them. Looking for a host to propagate his species, he implanted his embryos in a few victims. Nevertheless, only hosts with the same DNA structure were capable of accepting his embryos.
Leon S. Kennedy and Claire Redfield encountered G during their escape from the RPD precinct. He mutates into five different forms while fighting the characters. During all of these mutations, he chased after Leon and Claire from the sewers to the underground research facility and eventually, to a train, which Leon and Claire were riding. His presence in the train caused a bomb to be activated. Leon, Claire and Sherry managed to stop the train and escape while G was inside. The train was destroyed, taking what was once William Birkin with it. Sometime after they left the site, Ada Wong managed to salvage what was left of Birkin as a specimen.
[edit] Other appearances
- In the first Resident Evil film, William Birkin makes an uncredited cameo appearance as the head of the Nemesis project and is portrayed by actor Jason Isaacs, who was also the film's narrator.
- According to a commentary by Paul W.S. Anderson, Isaacs was planned to reprise this role in the sequel Resident Evil: Apocalypse, but left the project for undisclosed reasons. An original character named Dr. Sam Isaacs (played by Iain Glen and named after the actor who played Birkin in the first film) was created to fulfill Birkin's role in the sequel.
- He also makes an appearance in a cutscene in Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles along with Albert Wesker.[1]
[edit] References
- ^ Damien Waples, "William Birkin's Profile," Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles Prima Official Game Guide (Roseville: Prima Games, 2007), 127.
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