Top 10 Unresolved Resident Evil Mysteries

Throughout both versions of Resident Evil 3, players have to deal with minor human antagonist Nicholai Ginovaef: a treacherous member of the Umbrella Biohazard Countermeasure Service (U.B.C.S.) mercenary group who’s actually gathering data on the monsters infesting Raccoon City to sell for an immense payout. However, Nicholai’s fate is extremely varied and unclear – in the original RE3, in-game choices have him die or escape before Raccoon City’s bombardment; in the remake, he’s seemingly left to die with no escape…but who’s to say that he still didn’t make it out somehow?

9. Billy Coen’s Whereabouts (RE0, 2002)

In another case of a long-absent character from the Resident Evil series (which I’ve already discussed before), RE0‘s “costar” Billy Coen – an escaped convict sentenced to execution after reportedly killing 23 civilians while serving in the Marines (itself an open mystery) – becomes embroiled alongside S.T.A.R.S. member Rebecca Chambers in a bizarre, decade-long act of revenge against the Umbrella Corporation. Yet, at the end of the storyline (which sees Rebecca letting Billy go free and heading out to find her teammates), Coen has, as of this writing, never been directly featured or even offhandedly mentioned again within the larger franchise, leading many fans to wonder if he’ll ever resurface.

8. The T-Abyss Legacy (RE: Revelations, 2012)

During the post-credits “stinger” of Resident Evil: Revelations, it’s shown that double agents Raymond Vester and Jessica Sherawat (the former having faked his death) are having a conversation at a café in an undisclosed location, with Raymond handing over a sample of the game’s central “T-Abyss” viral strain to Jessica. Not only is this alarming due to T-Abyss being potentially given to – and weaponized by – other in-universe insurgency groups, but it is also compounded by how the aquatic organisms created by the virus are shown to have escaped to and thrived in the Earth’s oceans.

7. Two Down, Two to Go (RE3, 1999 / 2020)

Following information shared in supplemental Resident Evil lore regarding Umbrella’s development of primary RE3 antagonist Nemesis, it has come to light that the nigh-unstoppable monster was actually only one of four similar bioweapons. Prior to RE3‘s story, another specimen was terminated after gaining sentience and attempting to escape its captivity, with the one pursuing Jill Valentine also being destroyed at the end of RE3…if you’re keeping count, that leaves two more out in the wild.

6. Who (or What) Is the Duke? (RE: Village, 2021)

As one of the weirdest elements in what’s arguably one of the weirdest entries in the franchise, the bizarre travelling merchant known as “the Duke” seen throughout RE: Village is an inhumanly massive – yet somehow incredibly mobile – individual who seems to overrule the authority of the game’s central antagonists: the Four Lords. Even though the Duke is ostensibly trying to help out the protagonist (and engage in open business), his exact identity – and even his questionable “humanity” – is never really addressed, with in-game lore even implying a possible supernatural origin for him.

5. The H.C.F. (RE: Code -Veronica-, 2000)

Figuring into the overarching plot of Code -Veronica- (albeit, primarily from behind-the-scenes), the H.C.F. – allegedly short for “Host/Hive Capture Force” – was a special operations unit led by the then-newly resurrected Albert Wesker to retrieve samples of the “T-Veronica” viral strain. However, following the events of CV, the H.C.F. (and the unnamed “rival” pharmaceutical company that privately owned them) would lay dormant for 17 years until a file in RE7 briefly mentioned that they were assisting the shadowy “Connections” in the development of mutamycete-based bioweaponry.

4. Family Lives On (Resident Evil 6, 2012)

Speaking of clandestine factions like the Connections, another potentially relevant (and highly dangerous) group is the obscenely powerful and Illuminati-esque “Family” organization backing the “Neo Umbrella” bioterrorism attacks in Resident Evil 6. While the Family’s leader, Derek C. Simmons, is disposed of by the end of RE6 after being mutated by the game’s “C-Virus” strain, ancillary media shows that they’re still pulling strings despite losing significant power within the U.S. government.

3. Outbreak: Is It Canon? (RE: Outbreak, 2004)

The online multiplayer game Resident Evil: Outbreak (as well as its 2005 expansion, File #2) ostensibly takes place during a period overlapping with RE2 (1998) and RE3 (1999), with main characters later referenced in RE7 (2017) and the remakes of RE2 (2019) and RE3 (2020). However, outside of these (and other) minor references, the canonicity of Outbreak and File #2 in the larger RE franchise is still an open point of discussion, with no definitive answer being offered to this day.

2. Alex Wesker’s Return (RE: Revelations 2, 2015)

At the end of Revelations 2, the main antagonist “Alex” (presumably Alexandra) Wesker – one of Albert Wesker’s “siblings” in Project W – perishes in a heavily mutated form, but not before having a copied version of her mind imprinted into a young girl named Natalia Korda. While Natalia initially appears to be unaffected in the game’s “good” ending, the post-credits scene shows her having newspapers detailing events from RE6 and smiling ominously while reading The Zürau Aphorisms (with Kafka‘s works being adored by Alex)…begging the question of when and how the “other mind” will resurface.

1. The Meaning of the Symbol (RE: Village, 2021)

The most recent – and currently most intriguing – unresolved mystery in the Resident Evil franchise is the appearance of an ancient mural (as well as multiple altars) in RE: Village brandishing the familiar symbol of the Umbrella Corporation – with old letters explaining that a younger Oswell E. Spencer saw and adopted the icon for his own use. Even though I’m not a big fan of this retroactive detail regarding Spencer, the potential ramifications for the series’ mythos are still very interesting.