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river-of-wine · 6 months

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I know I’ve mentioned this plenty of times before but I’m still kind of annoyed by how the fanbase just kind of completely declawed the four lords and placed the entirety of the responsibility for their wrongdoings on Mother Miranda.

The Baker family are great, I love them, they’re an incredible unit of antagonists who are intended to be very sympathetic, at least for the most part. Jack and Marguerite in particular have lost all control over their minds and their bodies, turning into extremely violent murderers and cannibals who threaten and attack their own family, kill anyone unfortunate enough to come across them and, especially in Marguerite’s case, lose complete autonomy over their own bodies. Marguerite turns into a walking bug hive who’s only purpose is to feed her family and birth her new children. Jack is an unstoppable murderous force of patriarchal violence who has so much fun chasing down and harming his victims, which in the Daughters DLC includes even his own daughter. The exception to this is obviously Lucas, who has been cured of his infection and his acting of his own free will. All of this is caused by Eveline, everything Jack and Marguerite do controlled by her, and yet Eveline is just as sympathetic as the rest of them. She’s a ten year old girl. Even Jack, who has watched his family and their victims suffer because of her infection, doesn’t seem to hold any of it against her. She just wants a family of her own, after all. It’s a complex and tragic situation.

The four lords, while I suppose being similar in structure, are not the Baker family. Not in dynamic, not in character, not in the kind of tragedy that they embody. I could talk for a while about just how completely different they are, but I don’t know if I really need to.

The Baker family are so tragic because they were just innocent bystanders trying to help a woman and a little girl they found in a shipwreck out in a storm. That’s the only reason they ended up in the situation that they were in. While the lords have similar origins, being victims of Mother Miranda’s experiments to bring her daughter Eva back, an important distinction between them is that in the case of the lords, all four of them are still acting of their own free will. Yes, Mother Miranda has undeniable power over them. She leads the cult they are part of, she has control over the village, she is their superior. However, I really dislike when every negative action by the lords is pushed onto her, as if the lords are not all grown adults who are for the most part acting independently of her.

With Alcina, she is the head of her own extremely brutal crimes. I think a lot of people have forgotten quite how horrifying the situations of the maidens are, possibly due to the prevalence shipping between Alcina and the maidens, and though we have minimal information what we do know is very frightening. Alcina uses her work force like livestock, draining them for their blood in a cellar full of horrific torture devices, and leaves their corpses to shamble around, armed and ready to attack any unwanted guests that have slipped out of the daughter’s clutches so that Alcina still doesn’t have to do her own dirty work, given how highly above everyone but Mother Miranda she appears to view herself as. While yes, Alcina does need human blood to survive, her methods are brutal, and none of this has been enforced upon her by Mother Miranda. Similarly to Jack on occasion, she takes a great deal of pleasure in hurting and attacking Ethan as he runs from her. Additionally, everything she does to Ethan is against Mother Miranda’s request. While yes, it is retaliation after he killed Bela, the part I often see people leave out is that Alcina is equally as upset that he entered her property and was attempting to steal from her, and she isn’t just after him to kill him.

Alcina has also been an active participant in aiding Mother Miranda with at least one experiment, considering that I’d how she got her daughters. While I’m sure her strong admiration for Mother Miranda and Mother Miranda’s power over her has absolutely had an affect in this, that’s not something I’ll deny, Alcina is still a grown woman and in her written entries about this shows no qualms about her participation in this. Her general attitude towards others, using young women as a good source and turning men into scarecrows, also leads me to believe that she does not exactly care who gets hurt or taken advantage of when it comes to her and Mother Miranda’s personal endeavours.

Donna and Moreau are the two more sympathetic people within the four lords, but they are not innocent. To start with Moreau, he’s desperate for Mother Miranda’s approval, as well as the other lords. He’s insecure and lonely, and he’s doing what he has been instructed by Mother Miranda when it comes to protecting the flask. However, he does also take quite a bit of joy in trapping Ethan in the reservoir and swimming after him with the intention to eat and kill him. Moreau though, given his conditions and circumstances, is the one I think is the least to blame for what he does.

Donna is hard to discuss because we know so little about her. Her parents are dead, as well as whoever Claudia was to her, she communicates through Angie and she can cause those who enter her house to hallucinate. According to Mother Miranda, Donna is severely mentally ill and that is what has made her an unfit vessel. I think a lot of people took this to mean that Donna is unaware of what she is doing, that the hallucinations she is showing Ethan are frightening, but after having been a fan of this game for years I just can’t agree with that anymore. Donna intentionally lures Ethan into her house with visions of his supposedly dead wife. Donna is going after fears she likely knows Ethan has, making him relive Mia’s death, take apart a mannequin of her, listen to her voice panic over something being horribly wrong with Rose, all building towards the horrifying baby that chases him through the house. There is no way Donna doesn’t understand how what she is showing Ethan is distressing, especially when you consider that, given how she can make herself appear and disappear at will within Ethan’s vision and that Angie is sitting in the hallways stationary and unspeaking, Donna was likely close by Ethan at all times and could see and hear his frightened reactions to what she was intentionally showing him.

Donna’s death is upsetting, but Ethan was not just chasing her down and killing her. Donna was attacking him, or at least she was controlling her dolls to do so. It’s still a hallucination, but Ethan doesn’t know that. When faced with a threat that is keeping you trapped and trying to end your life, you will likely try to get away or try to fight back, as Donna is doing to Ethan after he starts to attack her and Ethan is doing to Donna when he thinks his life is still in danger. I would also like to remind everybody that Donna communicates through Angie. What Angie is saying, that’s Donna. Angie doesn’t talk or move once she’s dead, it is Donna who controls her.

Lastly, Heisenberg. I think Heisenberg is the one of the four most entrenched in headcanons. Headcanons are fine, I am never in this post trying to suggest they aren’t, but my issue comes in when people use them to try and change the canon of the game. For example, it’s fine to believe that Heisenberg was experimented on by Mother Miranda as a child, but that isn’t canon. It’s fine to believe that Heisenberg mourned the deaths of his siblings, but that isn’t canon. The opposite is, with Heisenberg not viewing the cult as an actual family and being very openly mean to all three other lords, even Donna and Moreau who seemingly haven’t done anything to slight him. While his goal of killing another Miranda is a very understandable and sympathetic one given what she has done to him, using a six month old baby as a weapon and trying to bring her father into the mix only to try to get him killed when he denies him is not. I cannot overstate quite how little Heisenberg actually cared for Ethan and Rose’s safety when it came to his goal, and given that we are playing as Ethan, Rose is the priority.

Heisenberg has built an army of corpses he has presumably stolen and desecrated. This is kind of fucked up actually, and done completely independently of Mother Miranda. He also puts Ethan through a very dangerous lycan gauntlet before he even reaches the factory, which makes it even stranger to me that people seem to interpret Heisenberg’s deal as something that would have benefitted both him and Ethan and as if he ever had Ethan’s safety in mind.

All four of the lords have tragic aspects to them and there are definitely reasons to sympathise with all four. They’re victims of Mother Miranda, who knows they will all be killed. She wants them to be, giving her less to deal with by the time she has Eva back. They never meant anything to her. Not Alcina or Moreau, who were desperate for her attention. Not Donna, suffering from her unspecified but apparently severe mental illness. Not Heisenberg, who was seemingly her favourite creation. However, all of them are grown adults who do their own bad things independently of her.

And it’s fine to still like them. It’s fine for them to be your favourite character. It’s fine to have happy or nice headcanons about them or want to kiss them or be their friend or to want them to have survived. It’s fine to like characters who do shitty things. It’s to be expected in a game series like Resident Evil. It’s a horror game series. People are going to do bad things.

I just find it so boring when people take away all their bite. What makes a character like Lady Dimitrescu so fun it’s that she’s completely over the top. She’s campy and ridiculous, her castle layout makes no sense, she’s got three kids made of swarms of flies dressed like a set of goth triplets, she’s a lesbian who’s castle is full of naked statues of women, she turns into a big dragon and laughs maniacally while flying around and trying to eat you. She’s evil and it’s fun. It’s the same with Heisenberg. He’s a campy show off with a fun voice and a massive hammer he never actually uses. He can control metal. He looks like a cowboy. He pronounced Miranda in a funny way. He talks to you over an intercom while trying to get you killed. They’re fun and evil and they fight over who gets to kill Ethan like they’re two little kids. It’s absurd.

What makes a character like Donna so scary is that she’s silently working in the shadows, unassuming at a first glance and unseen for most of the time in her house. She is the least threatening of the four upon first glance, and yet she has undeniably the most frightening part of the game. Pretending as if Donna is completely unaware of what she is doing and babying her like she is an incapable child waters her down completely and takes away from the effectiveness of her character.

Villain characters are great! They’re very often the highlight of the story they are in, and they aren’t real! The four lords especially are often so completely exaggerated in what they do as well. It’s fine to like villains! It doesn’t make you bad! Characters can be bad people and you can still like them!

It’s just frustrating seeing a group of very fun and exciting villains, all designed with different aspects of horror, all over the top and campy and stupid and fun, all doing their own set of fucked up things, watered down to a set of poor innocent victims who have never done any wrong ever. If you want Jack and Marguerite, take Jack and Marguerite. Lady Dimitrescu loves killing and eating women and Karl Heisenberg turns corpses into soldiers. They’re bad people and they do comically exaggerated bad things. If you can’t stomach liking a character like that, horror is probably not the genre for you. Unless it’s Resident Evil 7, I suppose, but apparently tall women aren’t hot when it’s Marguerite Baker crawling on the walls.

#I just wanted to ramble abouts the four lords they’re fun as villains and I’m really bored of how their edges keep getting rounded off #resident evil 8 #re8 #lady dimitrescu #donna beneviento #salvatore moreau #karl heisenberg #resident evil 7 #re7 #jack baker #marguerite baker #eveline baker

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carolairdscigarette · 9 months

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Ten Dark Days

Summary: Mother Miranda stricken with grief after her daughter Eva's death, wanders inside a cave in hopes to put an end to her despair, only to find the glorious megamycete.

Warnings: Mentions of su1c1d3, child loss, and grief/mourning. Do not read if sensible to these topics.

Tags: Angst.

A/N: This piece is very special to me. I really wanted to see this scene in the game but sadly it did not happened so I decided to write my own imagine of it. I truly hope I captured her grief correctly. I hope those who read enjoy it (:

Ten Days After Eva’s Death

I walk through the Village in the early morning, I had not slept at all today. I have not slept properly in ten days. Ten days. Ten dark days. Ten days since I lost you. I am wearing the same white gown I had that day. The dress that held you in your last breaths. I don’t even have shoes on, I am just walking barefoot on the dirty ground. I feel pebbles on the soles of my feet but ignore the slight pain they inflict, my pain will end soon why even care?

My eyes feel swollen from endless crying, tears currently fall slightly on my cheeks. The villagers are asleep my only company some crows observing me from Potters Field. It is filled with dead corpses that need to be buried, there are at least two deaths daily. I stop on your grave. It is lonely, only I visit it.

My Eva, my sweet Eva oh how did I fail you? I promised to always protect you when you were first born and I have failed immensely. I remember when I carried you inside me, how excited I felt when you would kick inside me to let me know that you were there and safe. I remember seeing with excitement how my stomach grew more and more each time letting me know how you were getting ready to see me. When I gave birth to you, it was the most painful yet most beautiful moment in my life. I ignored the pain because it was all worth it since that pain meant you were going to be in my arms. Each contraction let me know you were excited to see me the same way I was excited to see you. I remember your first cries and how when I held you for the first time you immediately calmed down in my arms. I remember the first time I fed you, that's when I knew the connection between a mother and her child was unbreakable. You grew to become such a lovely girl who would play around the village and brought a smile to everyone's face, especially mine. You were all I had. Everyone had left me when I found out I was expecting you but I never minded because you were and will always be all that matters to me. I was the happiest seeing you grow and be a happy child. Then that flu took you away from me. I tried to remain hopeful when the doctor informed me that you had cached the flu but your condition only worsened until you died in my arms ten days ago. I have cried every single minute ever since I lost you, Eva. All I have left is this grave of yours. The only way I can speak to you is through my head.

The ground beneath me is cold due to the early morning breeze, interrupting my conversation with my sweet Eva. It began to sting but I don’t wish to move, Eva is there. She is there. Last night two women picked me up because I had stayed here observing her grave and just talking to her in my mind. I tried to fight them off but I have weakened ever since she's been gone, probably due to the lack of eating.

Eva, do you hear me? Does she hear me? She’s still there. She has to be there she can’t be gone. Is she in heaven watching me? Eva, are you watching me? Please talk to me, you have not spoken to me in ten days. I am sorry for failing you as a mother. Please do not punish me any longer, speak to me. I miss your voice, Eva. I feel like I have gone mad ever since she’s been gone. I look down and read her tombstone.

Eva

June 1909-August 1919

May you slumber for only a short while

The tears began to fall uncontrollably down my cheeks. I had been seeing her tomb the past ten days but only now had I gained the courage to read that. She really is gone. I won’t see her run around the village anymore while I buy groceries, I won’t see her sing to her dolls, I won’t hear her tell me jokes while I cook for us, I won’t see her play anymore, I won’t read to her bedtime stories anymore. My daughter is really gone, God took her from me.

“MY EVA!” I cry out in pain while I sob. I held onto my stomach that once was her home for nine beautiful months. I can’t do this. I can’t live without her. How am I supposed to do so? How am I supposed to live without my daughter? I placed the tips of my fingers on her name engraved on the tombstone. The tears began to burn my cheeks as if it were fire. How am I supposed to live this way? I have nobody I only had her. I turn and see how everyone is still asleep. I caressed the tombstone and observed her beautiful name the roughness of the tombstone felt through my fingertips. She was all I had. I felt as if knives were piercing my heart. It was becoming hard to breathe. I stare and just think of her laugh. I was supposed to be the one to die first not her, she was just a child. A child can survive without their parents but parents can’t survive without their children.

A crow landed on top of her tomb but I paid no mind to it, it was of no importance. I just sat there observing my daughter's tomb feeling immense pain coarse through my body. How am I meant to survive this? She was what kept me living, what made my days special. Everyone dies but she was so young. She was supposed to grow and become someone but that was taken away from her. It should have been me, not her. I look down and see how my tears have begun to wet the soil beneath me. I observe my dirtied gown that I have not bothered to change, it has the last remains of her essence. It is all I have left of her. I again remembered how her first kicks felt, her first signs that she was alive. I grasp my abdomen that once carried her and sob in agony. I’ve been doing this for the past ten days. Ten days. What is the point of existing without my sweet daughter? What is the point?

I observe her tomb and realize how lonely it must be for her, there’s no one by her side. No one by her side. No, no that cannot be. She needs company. Oh no! She’s scared of sleeping alone! She needs someone to keep her company while she sleeps. I’m scared of sleeping alone. And if I join her? I turn around and see the village. These people do not even care about me so why even stay? I could see her again if I join her. I so want to be with her again. I do not see happiness in a life without my daughter.

I began to get up and I kissed her tombstone. I’ll be back Eva, I will join you. I walk again through the village. I knew a perfect place to join my daughter in. Tears keep streaming down my face but my despair will soon end. I walk and I walk pebbles once more hurting the delicate skin of my soles. I could care less, I will join Eva, that’s what matters. Memories of her are once more on my mind. She loved my bedtime stories. She would beg for one every night and I would read to her until she would fall fast asleep. I would always plant a soft kiss on her forehead and tuck her in to make sure she was nice and warm and slept by her side since sleeping alone scared her. More tears fall down my face remembering this.

I am trying my best to walk fast but my body is weakened. I just want to see her again. I feel desperate I just wish to be by her side. I began to quicken my pace. I felt something cut my foot but it does not matter I must reach that cave. Eva, I’m so close to seeing you again, Mom is close.

I reach the dark cave and enter without thinking twice while I hug my stomach. The cave is somewhat cold but I could care less what matters is seeing my daughter once more. Eva I’m on my way you won’t sleep alone anymore. The tears won’t stop but that is fine, I will be by her side once more. The cave's rocky surface hurts my feet but it is fine. There must be something sharp in this cave, something sharp. I begin to walk further inside in search of a sharp object so I can see my daughter once more. I search and search but I can’t seem to find any. The desperation is getting the best out of me and more tears flow.

Eva, please wait, please wait for me I’m on my way!

I need to find it! I need to be by her side once more! There has to be one something sharp this can’t be. I keep on searching and I cannot find anything sharp that will help reunite with my sweet daughter. Sobs escape my lips due to desperation. I walk further into the cave and stop in my tracks, my eyes widening in surprise. A huge organism made out of flesh and black ooze was before me. I held my stomach and took a deep breath. I have never seen such a thing before. I begin to walk towards it, it is as if it were speaking to me, luring me in.

I stop once I was mere centimeters away from it. I take some deep breaths and simply observed its black substance. My mother used to tell me as a child that curiosity killed the cat. I came here to end my life so I see no importance in being precautious. I lift my hand and reach toward the organism. I slowly begin to place the tip of my fingers on its black ooze. I feel its coldness pass through my body and without a second thought, I place my whole hand…

I see a bright light flash before me. I feel my breath hitch and my body freezes. I hear… voices. Yes, voices! Many of them. Some I recognize, some I don’t. They are so loud and I cannot understand what they are saying. The white light faded and I see what appears to be the village. I see Alexandru now? He passed three years ago this cannot be. I must be hallucinating because he seems to be a teenager and he passed in his late 40s. I then turn and see Luminita as a child. She is playing with her long passed father. They both passed in fact years ago due to a fire, I was a teenager when it happened. I turn and see people I do not know but appear to be from the village. It is as if I were observing memories. Different voices invade my head.

“Father throw the ball at me!” “No dear I would never lie to you” “So in order to be able to fish properly you must…” “So this book I was reading has a perfect recipe for…” “So the other day I was…”.

Many voices, it is hard to concentrate on them. But one voice stood out from all the voices.

“Mother please would you read a bedtime story for me, please!”

It is her! It is her!

“Yes, my dear, I’ll read you a bedtime story”

“I love you, mother”

“I love you, Eva”

It is her! She is in this organism somehow. She is in here. My daughter is in here. I begin to feel this power course through my body and part of the ooze entering my body but I paid no mind, Eva is here. She lives here.

Vessel, a vessel

I hear my own voice saying that. Vessel? A vessel for what? I notice my body feels different. I feel somewhat stronger. I look down at my hands and I see how they absorbed some of the black substance. The weakness is long gone from my body.

A vessel to bring her back

My voice once more spoke. I do not understand how a vessel could help. The different voices suddenly become louder and I see all sorts of people. Suddenly knowledge overcomes me. The memories of all of these deceased have opened my eyes.

A vessel, a vessel for my Eva.

A vessel, I need a vessel for my Eva. One that will be strong enough to support her consciousness and that way I can be by her side once more. I need to find a suitable vessel for my Eva.

I separate from the organism and I look at it with gratitude for the knowledge it has granted me. Is this God saving me? This has to be God and it has chosen me to be its disciple clearly, there is no other reason to have been granted this second chance in life. This majestic Dark God has saved me!

Your body can change

Its voice spoke. I just nodded in response understanding immediately what it said. I must obey whatever it says, I owe it everything. This God has changed my perspective in life. That other God I used to worship must be replaced by this precious Dark God. The Dark God has clearly chosen me and will help me reunite with my sweet precious daughter.

Oh, Eva, you’ll be home soon. I will make sure to find you the perfect vessel to bring you back to life. I can’t wait to see you once more running around the village. This glorious Dark God will help us, my sweet Eva. Please wait my precious daughter, I will find a perfect vessel soon, I must begin my search for a suitable vessel for you.

I look at the Dark God once more awaiting for an answer.

The villagers

Yes! The villagers! I can begin to search for a vessel through them, I must! I begin to head out of the cave and I look once more at the Dark God. This God must be worshipped by all and I will make sure of it.

As I walk out of the cave, I see a crow standing on the ground eyeing me. It appears to be the same crow that observed me at Eva’s tomb. I remember the Black God’s words, that I can change my body. This crow was my only company while I sobbed for Eva when nobody made sure to keep me company.

I can change my body it said, hmmm.

I thought of forming crow wings from my back and they effortlessly sprout out, tearing open my dirtied white gown. Ten crow wings majestically coming out of my back. The crow and I locked eyes, both of us understanding each other and communicating simply with our eyes. It is the least it deserves for keeping me company in my grief.

I no longer am the weak woman I was moments ago, I am now powerful and unstoppable. I am the prophet of the Black God. It has clearly chosen me to be its prophet and it gave me this infinite knowledge and power to bring my daughter back to life. I must search through all of these villagers and find the perfect vessel for my Eva and nothing shall stop me in my search for this vessel.

Eva, this is my promise to you, I will find the perfect vessel for you. I will bring you back to my side, I shall not rest until I find you the perfect vessel. With the Black God by my side, nothing is impossible, you shall be by my side soon. I will read you your favorite bedtime stories soon, you will see. I will find you a perfect vessel in no time.

I look up and see how the sun has fully risen, the roosters crowning announcing the start of a new day, and it certainly is a new day for me. This day marks my search for the perfect vessel to bring my daughter back to life and I am positive I will succeed in my efforts. Thanks to the Black God this shall be possible. I see the villagers get out of their homes ready for their day. One of them will be the precious vessel that will carry my sweet Eva. Oh how lucky that vessel will be to carry my sweet daughter. The crow and I lock eyes once more. I turn back to see the village, hearing coughs and people calling for help for the sick.

Cure them with me…

The Dark God spoke to me and I shall listen. I shall cure them with the Black God’s dark substance. I see the sun and how it shines bright on me. If someone were to see me and see how the sun is hitting my wings, they would believe I am an angel. I look back at the village feeling a confidence I had not felt in ten days. I feel something deep within me. Hope. I feel hope once more after ten days. Ten days dark days since my Eva has passed. Ten dark days of despair that have come to an end thanks to the Black God. I smile to myself. I will find the perfect vessel for my Eva, I will do whatever it takes to do so!

I look back at the crow and then I turn once more towards the village with a cold stare. I wrap my wings around me and I turn into a flock of crows and leave in search for the perfect vessel for my Eva…

#resident evil village #resident evil #mother miranda #re8 village #re8 #fanfic #angst #angst/hurt #hurt #crows #villain #writing #video games #capcom

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