Jill Valentine

Jill Valentine
Resident Evil series character
File:Jillvalentine-re3c.png Jill Valentine in Resident Evil
First game	Resident Evil
Created by	Takahiro Arimitsu

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

Jill is a protagonist in the original Resident Evil, where she is introduced as a member of the fictional Raccoon Police Department's Special Tactics And Rescue Service (STARS). She returned as the protagonist in Resident Evil 3: Nemesis, where she was merely a citizen trying to survive the zombie outbreak in Raccoon City, and then in Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles and in Resident Evil 5, where she was a member of the fictional paramilitary group Bioterrorism Security Assessment Alliance (BSAA); she is also the protagonist in Resident Evil: Genesis, the mobile phone adaptation of the series.

The film version of Jill appears in Resident Evil: Apocalypse and Resident Evil: Afterlife, played by Sienna Guillory.

Character design

During development of the original Resident Evil, Jill was conceived as the weaker of the two playable characters (the other one being Chris Redfield). However, she was given more ammunition, two extra item slots, the ability to pick locks, and access to other weapons to compensate for this.

The development team for 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 appearance was based on Canadian model Julia Voth. However, so that she remains a tough character, her body is designed to be "not skinny, more like muscular". Her facial appearance from the remake onwards is based on Julia Voth, as character designer Kenichiro Yoshimura said that he "made Jill's face as much similar as I could to the model actress face."

On the slight change of appearance for Jill 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... we 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 GameCube version [of Resident Evil], and we added various details to these in order to develop a realistic structure."

Appearances

File:Sienna and Jill .jpg

A comparison of Jill Valentine in Nemesis and Sienna Guillory as Jill Valentine

In video games

Jill Valentine first appears as one of two playable protagonists in the original Resident Evil game. Along with Chris Redfield, she is a member of STARS Alpha team, with background in the U.S. Army's Delta Force. Alpha team were deployed to investigate a series of bizarre murders in the Arklay Mountains, where they discover and enter the Umbrella Corporation's Arklay Research Facility. Jill initially works with Barry Burton, as they inspect the mansion and discover its undead residents. She and Chris discovered that STARS leader Albert Wesker had betrayed them, and after defeating the Tyrant released by Wesker, Jill escaped the mansion along with Chris, Barry, Bravo team member Rebecca Chambers, and Alpha team pilot Brad Vickers.

Jill returns as the sole protagonist in Nemesis, where she fights alongside Carlos Oliveira, an Umbrella mercenary soldier who is attempting to escape Raccoon City. Jill encounters Nemesis, a super soldier created by the Umbrella Corporation. After several encounters with the creature, she is able to defeat it and escape Raccoon City before the city is destroyed. Jill then appears in Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles where she works with Chris Redfield to expose and destroy the Umbrella Corporation. She and Chris defeat Umbrella's newest Bio-Organic Weapon, TALOS, and survive the ordeal.

Before the events of Resident Evil 5, Jill had apparently died to save Chris during a confrontation with Wesker. During the game, however, Chris finds out that she had survived, but is now under Wesker's control. Chris and his new partner Sheva Alomar manage to subdue Jill and allow her to regain control and return to her normal self. Jill then worked with fellow BSAA agent Josh Stone to assist Chris and Sheva in defeating Wesker once and for all.

Jill also appears as a character in Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes, where she can summon zombies to attack her opponent and was voiced by her Resident Evil 3 voice actress, and in Under the Skin alongside Carlos and Nemesis.

Jill will return in the latest installment of the main series, Resident Evil: Revelations, alongside Chris Redfield.

In film

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

Sienna Guillory returns as Jill in a costume based on her Resident Evil 5 suit at the end of the film Resident Evil: Afterlife. She is under the control of Umbrella Corporation, leading an attack against Alice, Claire, and Chris and the remaining human survivors.

In print

Jill appears in mulitiple novels based on the Resident Evil series, particularly in those by S. D. Perry. In Perry's novelisation of Nemesis, Nemesis is immediately recognized as a modified Tyrant, which Jill dubs Nemesis after thinking about why it hunts her. It is stated that Jill is the daughter of professional thief Dick Valentine, and was 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 a 1999 Hong Kong manhua adaptation of Nemesis, Biohazard 3: Last Escape by Lee Chung Hing.

Portrayal

Jill was voiced by Catherine Disher in Resident Evil 3: Nemesis and Heidi Anderson in the 2002 GameCube remake of the first game. Patricia Ja Lee provided the voice and motion capture work for her in Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles and Resident Evil 5 - including all of it's later released downloadable content. Lee will be returning to the role yet again for Resident Evil: Revelations.

Actress Sienna Guillory portrays Jill in the films. In the Japanese versions of Apocalypse she was dubbed by Atsuko Yuya (Blu-ray version) and Okamoto Maya (TV).

Merchandising

Jill has been featured as a purchasable figurine numerous times in various collections, including the range of figures released by NECA for the 10th anniversary of Resident Evil and official promotional figures licensed by Capcom to promote The Umbrella Chronicles. Various other merchandise has been produced, including Jill posters and replicas of her beret and STARS badge from the original Resident Evil game.

Reception

Jill has been received positively, described by Duluth News Tribune as the "best super heroine this side of Lara Croft" in 2002. In 2003 GameSpy listed her among their top ten women of gaming at #7, stating that "even those of us who weren't big fans of the games, and their constant ammo shortages, will remember Jill." Several other Top 10 lists have also ranked her as one of the most attractive female characters in video games, such as Spike TV (#9) and Virgin Media (#7), both in 2008. GamesRadar also placed jill among "Top 20 Overlooked Game Babes"; adding in another article: "Jill Valentine 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." The same year she was named as the #1 sexiest game character of all time by News Limited (in the list that included characters of both sexes), which noted her popularity with both male and female gamers for different reasons.

UGO Networks rated her #39 on their list of "Top 50 Videogame Hotties" and as one their top eleven video game heroines, noting her as a core character of the Resident Evil series and citing her high popularity. GameDaily named her one of their favorite Capcom characters of all time, placing her #10 on their "Top 25" list while praising for her Resident Evil 3 attire. She was featured in another GameDaily article, "Babes of the Week: Brunettes", which called her role in Nemesis as her greatest triumph. They also include her in a list of "Ten Babes Who Should and 10 Babes Who Shouldn't Meet Your Mom", stating that while she has questionable fashion sense, she is both noble and confident. In yet another article, they listed the "smart and sexy heroine" as one of their top 25 video game archetypes, using Jill as an example. Mania.com placed her #6 in their list of the "13 Video Game Women That Kick Ass", commenting that she chose Jill as, "You have to give her credit for surviving through the first game, beating Nemesis in RE3, returning in RE5, and being a zombie summoning, rocket launching, 2-D fighter in Marvel vs. Capcom 2."

External links

• Jill Valentine - The Resident Evil Wiki
• IGN: Jill Valentine
• Jill Valentine - Capcom Database Wiki]