- "G is my creation!"
- ― William Birkin to his wife Annette after injecting himself with the G-virus
Dr. William Birkin (ウィリアム・バーキン, Wiriamu Bākin) was a virologist who worked for Umbrella Pharmaceuticals in the 1970s-1990s. One of the leading scientists behind the t-Virus and discoverer of the Golgotha Virus of which he was head of the research project,[4] he turned against the Umbrella Corporation after failing to achieve a promotion to its executive. The company's attempts to prevent an unauthorised deal with the U.S. military served as a catalyst for the events of the Raccoon City Destruction Incident. He was the husband of Annette Birkin and father of Sherry Birkin.
Biography[]
Early years[]
Birkin was a child prodigy who earned his doctorate as a teenager. In 1977, at the age of fifteen, he was employed by Umbrella Pharmaceuticals, and offered to take the executive training program at a laboratory in Arklay County under the oversight of Dr. James Marcus.[5][6] Birkin and Dr. Albert Wesker developed a friendly rivalry at the school while being conditioned to Umbrella's ethical ideals.[5] Their education was concluded on July 29, 1978 when a decision was made to close the laboratory's school. Birkin and Wesker were offered senior roles at the nearby Arklay Laboratory, and transferred there two days later.[6][6]
Arklay Lab (1978-1991)[]
On their first day as senior researchers, the two were introduced to Lisa Trevor, a young woman who had been a test subject at the lab since 1967.[6] The laboratory's chief researcher approved Birkin's study into the splicing of their experimental Tyrant Virus (or "t-Virus") with genes from recently collected Ebola Virus samples Umbrella had acquired for the purpose of vaccine research.[6] The t-Virus strain at the laboratory had a rapid and high fatality rate, making it useless as a weapon as it was unlikely to spread far. Birkin's study led to a new t-Virus strain which could keep humans alive in an aggressive, brain damaged state.[6]
In July 1981, Umbrella officially employed the child prodigy Dr. Alexia Ashford as a senior virologist.[7][8] Believed at the time to be the granddaughter of the Umbrella co-founder Dr. Edward Ashford, 5th Earl Ashford, the ten-year-old quickly gained an aura of majesty within the company. Birkin was severely affected by this, firstly with it damaging his pride of being a child prodigy, and secondly his fellow researchers' constant discussion of it.[7]
The Birkin family.
With research having stalled since 1978, Birkin was determined to prove himself and took part in constant research to solve the new problem of some 10% of the population being immune to the t-Virus. This, Birkin solved, with the development of Bio Organic Weaponry, and successfully developed Hunter α, a bio-weapon created through bonding reptilian DNA with a fertilised human egg through the t-Virus.[7] In 1983, Dr Ashford's death was announced company-wide, though Birkin continued in his own research even with the imagined rivalry over.[7] During his time at the Arklay Laboratory, Birkin began a relationship with another researcher named Annette. They married sometime in the mid-1980s and had a daughter, Sherry, who was born around 1986.[9] However, while they remained married, it was indicated that both prioritized their research careers more than the marital union they had.[10]
Birkin alongside Wesker during Marcus' assassination.
By 1988, the Arklay Lab hit another dead-end in research when its latest project, "Tyrant", was met with a serious flaw. As advantageous, mutagenic properties of the t-Virus were linked to brain chemistry, a strain that caused brain damage was an obstacle. At some point during the research that gave them the T-001 and T-002, Birkin created a t-Virus strain which lowered the level of brain damage. However, this strain still required the infected to have certain, rare genetic traits that only one in ten million possessed.[9] During this year he gained access to Dr. Marcus' t-Virus research to bolster his own, when Dr. Spencer ordered his assassination. Birkin followed the USS raid party and began confiscating the research, gaining the moniker of "creator" of the t-Virus while the elderly Marcus laid dying of gunshot wounds.[11][12]
As another possible solution to the intelligence problem, Birkin arranged with Dr. Spencer himself to acquire one of Umbrella Europe's NE-α Types, parasitic creatures able to take-over brain functions. However, the parasites were notorious for killing their hosts in their attempts to bond. After exhausting other options, Birkin resorted to using the parasite on the only viable host, Lisa Trevor, who had still survived the years of experimentation.[13] When the parasite was placed within Lisa, her body destroyed the intruder and its DNA was added to her genome, giving her tentacles. An investigation isolated a mutant Progenitor species within her body identified as the cause. Seeing the eugenics potential of a virus capable of mutating humans into a superior subspecies,[14] Birkin sought funding from Umbrella HQ to allow him to work on "Golgotha", known in shorthand as the "G-Virus".[13]
Underground Laboratory research (1991-1998)[]
William monitoring G-Virus progress on NEST.
When Birkin's discovery got Spencer's attention, Umbrella constructed the NEST adjacent to their chemical plant in the city outskirts, completed in 1991.[15] There, Birkin was chief researcher, and directly led research into Golgotha with his wife, Annette and a team of researchers, with unrelated B.O.W. projects also conducted by other teams in the facility. The Raccoon Police Department's chief, Brian Irons, received bribes to keep any investigations away from the laboratory, and was given updates as to the research. Having thus focused on G-Virus research, Birkin passed the t-Virus research to one of his subordinates, Dr. John Clemens. However, though work on Golgotha was promising along the 1990s, Birkin began to suspect Umbrella was disinterested in giving him a position as a corporate executive.
Birkin and Wesker planning to leave Umbrella.
In May–July 1998, the t-Virus broke out across the Arklay Mountains, leading to dozens of deaths and mutations of civilians as well as the investigating S.T.A.R.S. members, the loss of the Arklay Laboratory itself, the recently re-opened training school, and a train transporting staff to it. Birkin had the training school destroyed, though he and Wesker already drew the ire of Umbrella executive Col. Sergei Vladimir, who blamed the pair for losing control of the school in the first place. Wesker made the decision to leave Umbrella and sell secrets to a rival company, though Birkin, adamant on completing Golgotha, officially stayed with the company. Plotting to betray them from the inside, Birkin entered talks with the US military to sell them Golgotha for their own bio-weapons project in exchange for an asylum for him and his family.[16]
In early September 1998, Birkin began sabotaging the facilities. The newly-commissioned P12A facility, designed to process contaminated waste, was rendered useless when Birkin flooded the facility with a radically accelerated supply of failed test subjects. The chemical effectiveness was diluted, allowing the virus to mutate and infect the staff with a strain their antiviral medication could not fight. The t-Virus also made its way around the city, infecting the staff at a water treatment plant near the Raccoon Police Station,[17] and sending dozens to the hospital to be treated for the so-called "Cannibal Disease". Umbrella took notice of Birkin's erratic behavior and, knowing only his lab had samples of Golgotha, grew evermore concerned he would prevent them from receiving the virus.[15]
Mutation and death (1998)[]
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William injects himself with G-Virus.
- "SHERR-RY!"
- ― William Birkin calls out for his daughter following his G-Virus mutation
With Golgotha complete, the U.S. military sent a team out to meet with Birkin. Having moles within the military, Umbrella HQ's suspicions were confirmed and a USS squad was sent out on a race to confiscate the virus first. With advanced warning, the USS operation was disrupted when a police officer spotted them entering the sewers and recovered C-4 explosives. On the night of 22 September, Alpha Team leader "HUNK" arrived at the facility with a subordinate to obtain the virus. In the standoff, Birkin was gunned down with automatic fire after attempting to resist Alpha team. Alpha Team retrieved a duralumin case containing "t" and "G" samples and left for the sewers to their extraction point. The injured Birkin infected himself with a remaining G sample, but the virus didn't properly stabilize onto his body and the scientist himself was unable to become a G-human,[14] and instead transformed into a large and powerful "G" mutant.
Mutated Birkin ambushes and kills the USS Alpha Team.
Intent on vengeance, Birkin followed the U.S.S. into the sewers and they were all either killed or seriously injured. To guarantee no more samples were at risk of theft, Birkin ate the "G" samples.[18][19] In the process, he also destroyed several "t" samples, allowing rats to consume them and spread the virus into the city's water supply. Over the next week the city's population of 100,000 were either killed or infected, and the U.S. military blockaded the city to prevent classified information relating to their dealing from getting out. Driven entirely by basic instincts, Birkin searched for food, whether alive or dead and vessels for reproduction. The sewers fell under the control of rejected "G" embryos, which had made themselves a colony.
Ultimately, Birkin sought out Sherry who, as a blood relation, was a viable carrier for his parasitic larvae. During his search of Raccoon City Orphanage for carriers, he parasitised Chief Irons, who was holding Sherry hostage. He seriously injured the T-00 at an elevator to the Umbrella sewer facility as it tried to attack Sherry and another survivor, Claire Redfield, and later moved into the sewers as well. During his confrontation with the survivors in the sewers it became clear he had successfully parasitised Sherry, either in the orphanage or in the sewers, and when she was rushed to NEST for treatment he followed. While in NEST, Birkin was attacked by Annette with an anti-B.O.W. weapon and suffered serious injury. In his further mutation, he threw Annette at a wall, causing internal hemorrhaging.
Birkin's death.
As the facility began to self-destruct, he followed Claire as she headed down to the lower levels of the facility to activate the emergency train. His fourth defeat would leave him severely wounded, but Birkin was able to continue on and boarded the escape train. Mutating into his fifth and final form, a blob with a huge mouth, multiple limbs, eyes and tentacles, and entered the rear carriages of the train. How Birkin died in his final form had different accounts. In one account, the train had detected him as a biohazardous threat wherein the survivors aboard the train escaped before the train's self-destruct sequence destroyed his final mutated form. In an another account, he was ultimately defeated after a metal pipe was stabbed on his large eye before the carriage he's in was unbuckled where he was engulfed in the explosion from NEST.
Forms[]
Dr. Birkin's transformation saw him go through a number of mutant forms. There were five distinct stages of his evolution, though these included intermediate stages as well. They are dubbed "G1" through "G5".
G1[]
Dr. Birkin's initial mutation kept much of his body unchanged, with the mutations only being seen on the right side of the body, with the arm, torso and face being affected as it was on this side of the body he was shot. In Resident Evil 2 original and The Darkside Chronicles, the mutation made William's right side of his body grotesquely increase in muscle mass, making his skin tear up and take on a turn a sickly reddish hue, while in most of his shoulder arises a large blood-red eyeball beneath a large bone-like protrusion exposed. In the remake version of Resident Evil 2, the mutated musculature on its right side is much more pronounced and there are more protrusions similar to bones near the eyeball. In the three games, the left side of the body is more recognisably human. A side-effect of maintaining a human brain was occasional bouts of dizziness.[20][excerpt 1] The G1 form appeared in two stages, distinguished by the appearance of claws on the mutated right hand, which were used on 23 September to kill a number of USS operators. By the night of 29 September Dr. Birkin had evolved to no longer require them, instead having an enlarged but otherwise human hand capable of handling weapons.
Interestingly, G1's right arm periodically "de-evolves" slightly, becoming smaller as the eye on the shoulder closes and the spikes retract; this seems to represent Birkin attempting to restrain the G-Virus's degenerative effects on his mind, although it's clearly a losing battle. This is taken further in the Resident Evil 2 remake, where Birkin seems to retain a degree of his humanity; when his right arm shrinks, his cries become less monstrous and distorted, he screams "Sherry!", "Help Me!" and "Kill!", and he occasionally pauses to swing at thin air or attempt to pry open the eyeball on his shoulder, leaving him vulnerable. In cutscenes, he also appears to be attempting to protect Sherry by attacking threats to her safety (such as Brian Irons and the T-00) before the G-Virus instincts take over once again.
G2[]
The G2 form experienced the growth of a new head and brain to replace the original, the face of which descended to the torso's left side. The torso in general sees an increase in size, becoming wider as not only the skeleton and muscles are changed but two new arms begin growing asymmetrically under both shoulders. The legs also become thicker, with the tibula and fibia increasing in length. The mutant right arm also went through further changes, regrowing the claws it once had early in the G1 stage while shoulder eyeball grows considerably.[21][excerpt 2] In The Darkside Chronicles, the most of the skin of the G2 has a sickly pale greenish tone. Already the remake version of Resident Evil 2, the mutated musculature remains sickly reddish hue but is even more pronounced, being that its left secondary arm is more functional; the right side of its stomach shows either signs of the other arm developing or part of its rib cage, its claws are longer, and the developing rings of spines on its chest have been removed, besides that the developing secondary cranium has yellow eyes (bloody parts of flesh slightly obscuring the right eye) and a mouth to show its fangs.
Interestingly, this form of G managed to recognize Annette, to some extent at least. When it found her, it hesitated and looked at her for a few moments, but attacked her when she drew a gun on it, recognizing her as a threat.
G3[]
The G3 form saw the increased symetricalisation of the body. The legs became black and dark grey coloured, with the growth of an eye on the left thigh. The two new arms grow further and became the same size, and grew their own shoulders to descend from. The original two arms were pushed backwards and kept their own shoulders, which allowed for the proper use of four arms. The vestigial human face shrunk in size and positioned itself against the front left shoulder. The G3 form also continued the changing movement of the heart; positioned near the shoulder in the G2 form, it moved to the middle of the upper torso. This form has been noted for its demonic appearance.[22][excerpt 3] In The Darkside Chronicles, the most of the skin of the G3 has a black and dark grey coloured tone, while in Resident Evil 2 remake, G3 has a slightly more hunched physique and an elongated neck, giving his head a slight resemblance to his later forms in the original game, being that his skin remains sickly reddish hue but his original left arm gets even bigger than his right. Furthermore, the remnants of Birkin's human face are horribly distorted, barely visible under G's lower-left arm, the eye on its left thigh has become proportionately larger, and the monster has several more bony protrusions on its limbs while the "mouth" on chest is slightly smaller and less toothy; however, it's revealed to contain a cluster of small eyeballs that are exposed when the monster is significantly damaged.
G4[]
Following damage sustained in his G3 form, Dr. Birkin mutated to the G4 form. This form saw a radical change in gait, going from bipedal to quadrupedal as the two largest arms became legs. G4 saw an enhanced mobility surpassing the G3 form in spite of losing its high-jumping skills. A large mouth has formed out from his chest out of ribs that previously protected the heart. The need for such a large mouth was so the creature could satisfy its increasing demands for energy.[23][excerpt 4] Notably the vestigial face has all but disappeared into the shoulder of the smaller pair of arms. In the remake, the G4 shape mutation changes completely, resembling a heavily-degraded version of G3 on its way to mutating into G5. Its secondary arms have vanished, and the "mouth" on its chest now dominates most of its torso, with large tusks and eyes protruding in an almost random fashion. Its flesh has become bloated and almost tumorous - seemingly dissolving into independent tendrils only partially fused together - but the monster maintains a bipedal stance, dropping to all fours to move more quickly and climb up walls. The eyes of its degraded head are green, while the rest dotting its body are their usual yellow-to-red. The second head also became a little more natural and also fused with the torso while the upper jaw has several small teeth.
G5[]
The G5 form was a further degradation of the G4 form. The mouth and digestive system of G4 remained to support the massive nutrient requirements. Whole bodies were consumed by G5, which could eat even Zombies. However, these were digested over time, and partially consumed and recognisably-human biomass covered its surface. The body itself became more mollusk-like in appearance, though propelling by using four tentacles to drag itself along.[24][excerpt 5] In The Darkside Chronicles, the mutated form of the G5 vaguely resembles an arthropod with two large red eyes while in its right tentacle also appears another red eye. In the Resident Evil 2 remake, G5 is larger than previous appearances, it has several tumour-like eyes inside of its mouth, with the largest in its center, and also seems to spread tiny tendrils of biomass ahead of its main mass. The huge eye in its jaw had a blue iris.
This form also has some level of intelligence, since it realized the train car it was on was about to explode and screamed “SHERRY!”
Abilities[]
After injecting himself with G-Virus to survive his critical bullet wounds, Birkin initially retained his human form; however, he rapidly began to mutate and develop inhuman abilities. The mutations in his transformations gave him a very grotesque muscle mass and bony claws, which, in turn, gave him superhuman strength able to easily crush anyone (in Resident Evil 2 remake, he killed the T-00 in a single blow). His increased muscle mass also gave him superhuman endurance that grew with each transformation he underwent. Birkin has also demonstrated the ability to implant G-Virus embryos in other people, with mixed results depending on their biology.
However, Birkin's true power is his resilience; because of the G-Virus in his body, he developed fierce regenerative abilities which make him biologically almost immortal and very difficult to defeat. Even though most of his body is eliminated , the virus forced Birkin to undergo more mutations in response, gaining stronger abilities and a more monstrous appearance. However, this regenerative ability had its limits; after taking catastrophic damage, Birkin was forced to mutate into a shapeless blob to persist. The eye-like growths around his body also proved more vulnerable than the rest of him; even steel pipe could damage them to the point of temporarily incapacitating Birkin. Finally, not even the G-Virus could save Birkin from having his entire body destroyed at once, allowing Claire and Leon to kill him for good when he was engulfed by the explosion and destruction of the NEST.
Bibliography[]
- Tahara, Seiji (田原 誠司), ed. (1998). BIOHAZARD 2 Official Guide Book. Japan: Famitsu.
Sources[]
- Notes
- ↑ Excerpt from Official Guide Book, p.53: "大きく右肩がせり出した左右非対称の姿は、 人間の原型をとどめているだけに、 その異様さが、 よりきわだって映る。 変形の初期段階である現時点でもゾンビとは比較にならない耐久力を有し、 G細胞に浸食された右腕は鉄柵を容易に引きちぎるほどの怪力を誇る。 ときおりめまいに似た不安な動きを見せるが、 これはG生物化によって身体の質量が大幅に増加していることに起因する。"
- ↑ Excerpt from Official Guide Book, p.54: "左腕をのぞいた上半身全域にG細胞の浸食が進み、 ベースとなった人間の頭とは別に脊椎付近から新しい頭部が造り出されている。 それにともない内部の骨格は大きく変貌しており、巨大な右腕のツメも、 手の先の骨が尖鋭化し、出し入れ可能になったものと推測される。 なお、 その姿から判断して、 Gの脳はまったく新しいものが形成されている模様。"
- ↑ Excerpt from Official Guide Book, p.55: "増殖したG細胞が下半身にまで到達し、 眼球状組織が新しく左大腿部にも発生した。 第２形態で生じつつあった補助腕が、 通常の腕と遜色ないまでに発達をとげ、 背中に大きく張り出した本来の腕は、 有翼の悪魔を連想させるシルエットを作り出している。 降起した胸部には巨大な心臓があると考えられ、 循環器系にも異変が起きていることがうかがえる。"
- ↑ Excerpt from Official Guide Book, p.56: "G細胞の増殖もともない進行なるGの形態変化は、生命危機に即応した超回復によっても引き起こされる。この段階では、 ２足歩行をやめ獣型になることで、 人型では実現しえない高い運動性を獲得した。 頭部と一体をなす胸部の大アゴは、 食物摂取をより活発に行なうためのものと考えられ、 体格に比例してエネルギー需要が高まっていることを裏づけといる。"
- ↑ Excerpt from Official Guide Book, p.58: "第４形態で食物を大量摂取したことを反映して、 身体の質量・体積がかつてないほどに増大している。 ４本あった腕は触手に変形し、 せまい場所にも器用に侵入する軟体動物のような身体を得るに至った。 体表を覆う未消化物質には人型の肉塊も見てとれ、 研究所のゾンビたちをエネルギー源として取りこんでいたことがわかる。"
- References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 CAPCOM
- ↑ Evident by his research into the Golgotha Virus.
- ↑ Resident Evil 2 (2019)
- ↑ Capcom. Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles. (Capcom Co., Ltd.).
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Resident Evil 0 (2002), "Assistant Director's Diary".
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 Wesker's Report II, part 1
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 Wesker's Report II, part 2
- ↑ Resident Evil CODE:Veronica (2000), file: "Newspaper Clip".
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Wesker's Report II, part 4: "Enter Nemesis" Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; name "p3" defined multiple times with different content - ↑ Resident Evil 2 (2019), scene: "Annette attacks William (Claire)".
- ↑ Resident Evil 0 (2003), scene: "Confrontation With Marcus".
- ↑ Resident Evil 2
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 Resident Evil (2002), file: "Observation Note".
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 http://www.projectumbrella.net/articles/Yasuhisa-Kawamura-Interview-Project-Umbrella
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 Tahara (ed) Official Guide Book, p.259.
- ↑ Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles (2007), file: "William Birkin Profile".
- ↑ Resident Evil 2 (1998), file: "Watchman's Diary".
- ↑ Tahara (ed.), Official Guide Book, p.260.
- ↑ Capcom. Resident Evil 2 remake. (Capcom Co., Ltd.). Scene: VHS recording 1.
- ↑ Tahara (ed.), Official Guide Book, p.53.
- ↑ Tahara (ed.), Official Guide Book, p.54.
- ↑ Tahara (ed.), Official Guide Book, p.55.
- ↑ Tahara (ed.), Official Guide Book, p.56.
- ↑ Tahara (ed.), Official Guide Book, p.58.
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