Nicholai Ginovaef

Nicholai Ginovaef
Resident Evil series character
File:Nicholai Ginovaef.jpg A render of Nicholai Ginovaef, as he appears in Resident Evil 3
First game	Resident Evil 3
Created by	Shinji Mikami

Sergeant Nicholai Ginovaef (Николай Зино́вьев) is a video game character appearing in the survival horror game, Resident Evil 3: Nemesis played by actor Roger Honeywell. Nicholai also appeared in 2004 film Resident Evil: Apocalypse.

Background

A mercenary who is a Sergeant in the B-Team of the U.B.C.S. Delta Platoon. Originally from Moscow, Russia. A former member of Spetsnaz prior to the collapse of the Soviet Union, he's been involved in various classified missions and special operations.

Template:Spoiler Unlike the other U.B.C.S. members, who are mostly third-world mercenaries or convicted war criminals hired as footsoldiers by Umbrella, Nicholai is a career Umbrella secret agent. Unbeknownst to his U.B.C.S. comrades, Nicholai is one of the "Supervisors" assigned to Operation Watchdog under the codename 'Bravo-16'. Supervisors are Umbrella agents stationed throughout the city assigned to monitor the T-virus outbreak, as well as to gather combat data on the various monsters as the U.B.C.S. soldiers encounter and fight them. However, Umbrella's monsters proved to be even more effective than the company anticipated and the U.B.C.S. teams were utterly wiped out, stranding Nicholai and the other Supervisors within the city limits.

An exceptionally ruthless and crafty individual, not caring about anyone but himself, Nicholai realizes that if all the other Supervisors were to die, he would have a monopoly on the combat data, giving him the ability to bargain for a higher price from Umbrella. Nicholai spends much of his time covertly hunting down the other Supervisors and executing them, but unfortunately for Nicholai, Carlos learns that he is eliminating the rest of the U.B.C.S. and informs Jill that Nicholai is dangerous and will try to eliminate them. Jill Valentine, in her explorations of Raccoon City, often unknowingly encounters his handiwork. Nicholai also plotted to kill Jill in order to collect a bounty Umbrella placed on her life.

Jill eventually confronts Nicholai. Nicholai might have tried to eliminate Jill at that moment if there hadn´t been an intervention by a B.O.W. known as Gravedigger. Unlike Albert Wesker, who had previously also deceived and betrayed Jill, Nicholai does not gloat about his deception. Rather than bearing his enemies and victims any malice, Nicholai seems to take a detached, business-like attitude towards dispatching them through booby traps, which allows us to understand that he is only interested in his career and doesn´t care about the methods he has to use to achieve his goals.

Nicholai's fate

Nicholai's eventual fate in the outcome of the story varies based on Jill's actions (as selected by the player) when she confronts Nemesis on the bridge leading to the Dead Factory. If Jill chooses to push Nemesis out of the way, she confronts Nicholai in the wiring hall, where he reveals his intentions to her, resulting in a standoff between the two. Nemesis takes Nicholai (erroneously believing that Nicholai was aiding Jill) and kills him (off-screen), leaving his corpse hanging from inside the air duct. However, if Jill chooses to jump off the bridge, then, Nicholai manages to take control of the helicopter stationed outside the Factory and confronts Jill at the Control Room. At this point, Jill can choose to shoot down the helicopter (destroying the helicopter and Nicholai with it) or negotiate with Nicholai. If Jill chooses to negotiate or takes too long to defeat Nicholai, he chooses to leave without killing Jill.

There has been some debate as to which outcome is the canonical one. Some have cited a three-part document written by Nicholai titled "Report on Destroyed Raccoon City" (featured in Resident Evil Survivor, a spinoff of the main series), detailing various observations of the T-Virus outbreak in Raccoon City. At first, the document appears to favor Nicholai's survival, due to the fact that the third part of the document is dated October 5, four days after the events of Resident Evil 3. One fact that supports this argument is that Nicholai faked his death once before, so there's no reason why he couldn't have done it again. However, the same document in the original Japanese version only attributes Nicholai as the author of the first two parts (dated August 5th and September 30th), while the third part of the document is authored by the "Umbrella B.O.W. Development Team" (thus, leaving Nicholai's survival in question again). [1] It is unknown whether this was the result of a translation error or a deliberate change in the storyline. However, in the Epilogue of Resident Evil Outbreak, Nicholai can be heard talking with an Umbrella researcher in the outpost left on the remains of Raccoon City; at the same time, confirming his survival. But since the Outbreak series are considered semi-canonical (though not totally non-canonical), Nicholai's fate is still debated to this day. It should be noted that early versions of "Resident Evil Code: Veronica" had Nicholai piloting the helicopter that opens fire on Claire in the opening sequence.

It should also be noted that S.D. Perry's novelization of "Resident Evil 3" favors Nicholai's death in the wiring hall at the hands of the Nemesis.

Gameplay

Nicholai is a playable character in "The Mercenaries", also known as "Operation: Mad Jackal" minigame, along with Carlos and Mikhail. Of the three characters, Nicholai is the hardest, because he's lightly-armed only with a with SIGPRO handgun and a combat knife; he has no reserve ammo (but there's the possiblity to get some), he also has 3 First Aid Sprays and a sole blue herb. He is only meant for expert players of Operation Mad Jackal.

Trivia

• Nicholai's character loosely resembles Everett McGill's character from Under Siege 2: Dark Territory.
• Sometimes is stated that Nicholai and HUNK have a solid rivalry.

Misconceptions

There is varied information within the Resident Evil fan community regarding Nicholai's role in the U.B.C.S. Some fan sites have him listed as the commander of the entire Biohazard force when he is actually just a squad leader with the rank of Sergeant. This misconception may have come about due to references of Nicholai being a Supervisor, or member of Operation Watchdog. His role in the U.B.C.S. is parallel to the role of Albert Wesker and S.T.A.R.S., the difference being that Nicholai was not placed in command of the entire unit since there were already established commanders in place, whereas S.T.A.R.S. was Wesker's idea and was placed by Umbrella as its commander.

In other media

In Resident Evil Survivor, you can see a report that Nicholai filed to Umbrella after he escaped from Raccoon City.

Nicholai also makes a cameo appearance in Resident Evil Outbreak in a scenario titled "Decisions, Decisions" (appearing in a few FMV cutscenes). Nicholai is one of the U.B.C.S. operatives sent to retrieve a blood sample (T-Blood) from the Thanatos Tyrant model in Raccoon University as a pert of Operation: Emperor's Mushroom. In the same scenario, he also assassinates renegade Umbrella employee Greg Mura. It is unknown exactly when these events occurred during Resident Evil 3 timeline. This is one of the various facts that render the Outbreak timeline as "semi-canonical" in the Resident Evil timeline.

Resident Evil: Apocalypse

Template:Spoilers Template:Resident Evil film character Nicholai (played by Zack Ward) appears in the film Resident Evil: Apocalypse (an adaptation of Resident Evil 3) as a Russian member of the U.B.C.S. and a good friend to Carlos Oliveria. Along with Carlos and Yuri Loginova, he was one of several survivors of the U.B.C.S. in Raccoon City and realizing Umbrella had abandoned them, they turned mercenary and agreed to help Dr. Ashford at finding his missing daughter Angela in exchange of a safe escape from the city. Nicholai did not survive the outbreak, after he was killed by Cerberus (mutant dogs) at Raccoon City Elementary School shortly after finding Angela and Jill Valentine trapped in the cafeteria. In the novelization by Keith R.A. DeCandido, Nicholai's surname is given as Sokolov. .