Jill Valentine

Jill Valentine
Jill Valentine in Resident Evil 5
Series	Resident Evil
First game	Resident Evil (1996)
Designed by	Isao Ohishi
Voiced by (English)	Catherine Disher (RE3, MvC2) Heidi Anderson (REmake) Patricia Ja Lee (TUC, RE5, Mercs 3D, RE:R) Kari Wahlgren (MvC3)
Voiced by (Japanese)	Atsuko Yuya and Okamoto Maya (Apocalypse)
Motion capture	Julia Voth (REmake) Patricia Ja Lee (TUC, RE5, RE:R) Jade Quon (RE5 stunts)
Portrayed by	Inezh (Resident Evil 1996) Sienna Guillory (Apocalypse, Afterlife, Retribution)

Jill Valentine (ジル・バレンタイン, Jiru Barentain) is a fictional character in the Resident Evil survival horror series by Capcom.

Jill is one of the two protagonists of the original Resident Evil game, where she was introduced as a member of the Raccoon Police Department's Special Tactics And Rescue Service (STARS), trapped in a secret research complex of the sinister Umbrella Corporation. She returned as the protagonist in Resident Evil 3: Nemesis, where she escapes Raccoon City following the zombie outbreak; in Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles, in which she and Chris Redfield raid Umbrella's Russian base; and in Resident Evil 5, as a founding member of the UN-funded paramilitary group Bioterrorism Security Assessment Alliance (BSAA).

The film version of Jill appears in Resident Evil: Apocalypse and Resident Evil: Afterlife, where she is played by Sienna Guillory, who confirmed recently that she will reprise her role as Jill in the next installment, Resident Evil: Retribution.

Character design

A comparison of Jill's controversial design in Nemesis and Sienna Guillory as Jill in Apocalypse

During development of the original Resident Evil game, Jill was conceived as the physically weaker than the male protagonist Chris Redfield, but she was given more skills and weapons to compensate for this. The development team for Resident Evil 3: Nemesis commented that Jill was deliberately designed to make her "beautiful for everybody" and appeal to both male and female gamers, as males would find her physically attractive and females would see her as a tough role model.

In the remake of Resident Evil, producer Hiroyuki Kobayashi said the team wanted Jill to be "a little cuter" so that "her action and atmosphere has charm". Her facial and physical appearance from the remake onwards is based on Canadian model Julia Voth, and her body was scanned into computers to make her look as much like Voth as possible. Character designer Kenichiro Yoshimura said that he "made Jill's face as much similar as I could to the model actress face." However, so that she remains a tough character, her body is designed to be "not skinny, more like muscular".

On the change of appearance for Jill (who was turned blonde) and Chris Redfield in Resident Evil 5, production director Yasuhiro Anpo said that he tried "to preserve their image and imagined how they would have changed over the passage of time" and so they "made a new design that retained their signature color — green for Chris, blue for Jill — to carry over the same look from the past. The facial structures are mainly based on the visuals of the Nintendo GameCube version [of Resident Evil], and we added various details to these in order to develop a realistic structure." Producer Jun Takeuchi said Jill's unlockable "classic look" STARS uniform from the first Resident Evil is his favorite extra costume in the game.

Portrayal

Jill was voiced by Catherine Disher in Resident Evil 3 and Marvel vs. Capcom 2. Heidi Anderson voiced her in the 2002 GameCube remake of the first game, in which Julia Voth was Jill's motion capture actress. Patricia Ja Lee provided the voice and motion capture in The Umbrella Chronicles, Resident Evil 5 (including all of its later released downloadable content) and Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D. She will also be returning to the role yet again for Resident Evil Revelations. Kari Wahlgren assumes the role in Marvel vs. Capcom 3 and Sienna Guillory portrays Jill in the films. In the Japanese versions of Apocalypse, she was dubbed by Okamoto Maya for the TV version and by Atsuko Yuya (who also returned as Jill's Japanese voice actress in Marvel vs. Capcom 3) for the Blu-ray release.

In video games

Jill Valentine first appears as one of two playable protagonists of the original Resident Evil game (1996), in which she is an explosives expert of STARS Alpha team and a partner to Chris Redfield. Jill's family background is half-French, half-Japanese, and she is a former operative of the U.S. Army's secretive special unit known as Delta Force. Before the game begins, the Alpha team is deployed to investigate a series of bizarre murders in the Arklay Mountains, where they discover and enter the Umbrella Corporation's Arklay Research Facility. Inside, with Chris missing, Jill initially works with Barry Burton, another Alpha team member, as they inspect the mansion and battle its undead residents. Eventually, she and Chris discover that STARS leader Albert Wesker had betrayed them. After defeating the Tyrant released by Wesker, Jill escaped the self-destructing mansion with Chris, Barry, Bravo team member Rebecca Chambers, and Alpha team pilot Brad Vickers. She is also the sole protagonist in Resident Evil: Genesis (2008), an alternative-story version of this game.

Jill returns as the sole protagonist of Resident Evil 3: Nemesis (1999), where she fights alongside Carlos Oliveira, a mercenary for the Umbrella Corporation. Jill and Carlos cooperate to escape from the now-dead Raccoon City before a nuclear strike by the U.S. government. Along the way, she encounters Nemesis, a Tyrant super soldier sent by Umbrella to dispose of the remaining STARS members. After several encounters with the creature, she is infected by the T-virus, though Carlos is able to procure a vaccine from the nearby hospital. Finally, Jill defeats Nemesis and Barry Burton returns to Raccoon City to bring her and Carlos to safety moments before the city's destruction.

Jill re-appears in Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles (2007), where she works with Chris Redfield to expose and destroy the Umbrella Corporation by attacking their Russian research facility. She and Chris defeat Umbrella's newest BOW (Bio-Organic Weapon), T-ALOS, and survive the ordeal.

Before the events of Resident Evil 5 (2009), Jill apparently dies while saving Chris during a confrontation with Wesker. During the game, however, Chris finds information suggesting that she may still be alive, and discovers she is under Wesker's control, Wesker having used Jill's DNA and the remnants of the T-virus within her body to perfect his new Uroboros virus. Chris and his new partner Sheva Alomar manage to subdue Jill and free her from Wesker's influence. Jill then worked with fellow BSAA agent Josh Stone, Sheva's mentor, to assist Chris and Sheva in defeating Wesker.

She is also one of the playable characters in Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D (2011), an action game based on RE5. Jill and Chris are set to return in the latest main installment of the main series, Resident Evil Revelations.

Jill appears as a player character in the crossover fighting game Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes (2000), wearing her STARS uniform. She returns as a playable character in Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds and Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 (2011), where her design is based on her appearance in Resident Evil 5, available as downloadable content. In addition, she also makes a guest appearance in Under the Skin (alongside Carlos and Nemesis) and has a character card in the SNK vs. Capcom: Card Fighters Clash series.

Gameplay

Jill using her taser counter-attack against a zombie enemy in Umbrella Chronicles

Jill was one of the first two player characters in the Resident Evil series. In the original game, Jill plays differently to Chris as she runs slower and can take less damage, but has access to stronger weapons as well as a lockpick. In Resident Evil 3: Nemesis, Jill will enter the "Live Selection Mode" during certain sections of the game, in which the player is prompted to quickly choose between one of two possible actions (the choice of action affects the direction of the game and story, including which ending the player receives). It was also during this game that Jill became the first character to be able to perform a quick 180-degree turn, which has since become a staple of the series. In Resident Evil 5, Jill now actually runs faster than Chris. While the majority of Jill's melee moves (kicks and acrobatic leg attacks) are the weakest of the four playable Mercenaries mode characters in RE5, they are also the fastest, and her exclusive Px4 handgun has the best chance of a critical hit of all the characters (meaning that almost all of her shots to the head guarantee an instant kill). Jill also knows how to play piano.

In the Marvel vs. Capcom fighting games, Jill is able to summon monsters to attack her opponent and she can also heal the player's active character if she is summoned as a supporting character.

In other media

Jill first appears in Resident Evil: Apocalypse (2004), the second film in the live-action series. In this version of the series she is a STARS member and foil to the main character, Alice. Jill tries to escape Raccoon City along with a group of survivors and is one of the few to make it out. She was set to appear in the sequel, Resident Evil: Extinction, but Sienna Guillory had commitments to other work. Later, producers Paul W.S. Anderson and Jeremy Bolt decided to have a separate game character (Claire Redfield) appear alongside the previous film's lead Alice: "We thought, rather than bring Jill back, put her with another game heroine."

Jill returns in a costume based on her Resident Evil 5 suit at the end of the film Resident Evil: Afterlife (2010). She is under the control of Umbrella Corporation, leading an attack against Alice, Claire, and Chris and the remaining human survivors. Guillory confirmed that she will be returning to the role of Jill in the fifth film, Resident Evil: Retribution.

Jill appears in several novels based on the Resident Evil series, particularly in those by S. D. Perry. In the 1998 novel Resident Evil: The Umbrella Conspiracy, Jill is said to be the daughter of professional thief Dick Valentine and to having been his accomplice prior to her career in law enforcement (in apparent conflict with her supposed Delta Force background), explaining her unrivaled infiltration skills and "mastery of unlocking".

She also appears in Lee Chung Hing's manhua adaptation of Nemesis, titled Biohazard 3: Last Escape (1999), as well as in the Marvel's comic series Resident Evil (1996–1998) and the comic book Marvel Vs. Capcom: Fate of Two Worlds (2011).

In merchandise

Jill has been featured in various merchandise, including a range of RE3 Jill action figures released by Moby Dick Toys in 2001, official promotional figures licensed by Capcom to promote The Umbrella Chronicles, and replicas of her beret and STARS badge from the original Resident Evil game.

In 2006, a Jill statuette was released by NECA in 2006 for the 10th anniversary of Resident Evil. In 2010, Hot Toys have released two detailed 1/6 scale figures of Jill based on her appearance in Resident Evil 5 (one in her BSAA uniform and one in her RE5 'Battle Suit' outfit) with over 30 points of articulation, commissioned by Capcom to commemorate the 15th anniversary of Resident Evil.

Cultural impact

Critical reception

Jill Valentine has been received very positively as the Resident Evil series' main female protagonist and remains one of its most recognisable characters. In 2002, Jill was described by Duluth News Tribune as the "best super heroine this side of Lara Croft". (In the 2011 GameZone poll that asked "who would you rather?", Jill was pitted against Lara and won.) In 2008, NEWS.com.au named her as the number one sexiest video game character of all time, noting her popularity with both male and female gamers for different reasons. In the Guinness World Records Gamer's Edition of 2011, she was voted the 43rd best video game character of all time.

In 2003, GameSpy ranked her as the seventh top "babe in games", adding "even those of us who weren't big fans of the games" will remember Jill. In 2007, she was listed by Tom's Hardware among the 50 greatest female characters in video game history, describing her as "a true survivor and an elite fighting machine, not to mention a drop-dead gorgeous brunette". In 2008, both Spike TV (ranked ninth) and Virgin Media (ranked seventh) included her among the most attractive female characters in video games and GamesRadar placed her among the top 20 overlooked "game babes". In 2009, GamesRadar also included her among the 11 "heroines [that] embody the best of videogame girls". In 2010, she was included in Videogamer.com's list of top video game crushes and Complex ranked her as 43rd "hottest woman in video games". In 2011, UGO.com featured her on an all-media list of the 50 "imaginary women that really need to be brought to life by science somehow".

Jill was featured in several articles by GameDaily in 2008-2009, including being listed among the gaming's finest brunettes and ranked as their tenth most favorite Capcom characters of all time. GameDaily also listed Jill among the 10 "babes who should meet your mom", as she was described as both noble and confident even as having a questionable fashion sense, and used her as an example for the archetype "smart and sexy heroine". UGO.com also included Jill in their lists of top 50 "videogame hotties" and top 11 "videogame heroine hotties", noting her as a core character of the Resident Evil series and citing her high popularity. The Times of India included her among the nine "sexiest babes of action games".

According to GamesRadar, Jill has "emerged as perhaps the most sensible design of the period [of mid-to-late '90s], being both tough and sexy without shedding her clothes at the first sign of trouble". In 2009, IGN listed her as one of the characters in all media "who deserve better" due to her treatment in the films and lack of appearances since Resident Evil 3 until a small role in Resident Evil 5, her roles being "stolen" by Alice and Sheva. One point of the sometimes negative criticism was the character's famous outfit from Resident Evil 3, which has been criticized by some for being unsuitable for the series' theme and appearing to be designed specifically for male gamers (1UP.com calling this look a "'slutty cop' Halloween costume" and GamesRadar ridiculing it as "douche bag's girlfriend").

Memes

A cheesy "Jill sandwich" scene in the first RE game sparked a popular Internet meme of the same name. Another Jill and Barry-related meme is "master of unlocking". In 2011, UGO featured both of these "hilariously dumb" scenes on their list of the 25 worst cutscenes in gaming history.

Both memes were referenced by Capcom in the video game Dead Rising, which features a location called "Jill Sandwiches", its description stating "Jill is the master of sandwich making". In Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D one of the achievements is called "Master of Unlocking".

External links

• Jill Valentine - The Resident Evil Wiki
• Jill Valentine - Capcom Database Wiki
• IGN: Jill Valentine
• Jill Valentine at the Internet Movie Database