Annette Birkin

"I'm sorry William, but I've got to put an end to G."

- Annette confronting her mutated husband

Dr. Annette Birkin was a scientist and wife of Umbrella Corporation Chief Scientist William Birkin, and the mother of his child - Sherry Birkin. Annette appeared in Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles, where she, as opposed to her representation in Resident Evil 2, bears a strong obligation in stopping her mutated husband.

Early life
Not known is much about Annette's history or early life, though she eventually became a scientist in biology. In the mid-80s, Annette eventually gained employment with the Umbrella Corporation, and was assigned to the Arklay Laboratory as the assistant to one of Umbrella's most promising scientists; William Birkin. Eventually, Annette fell in love and married the brilliant scientist, becoming his research partner (even in in the G-virus Project few years later). While William did not like to be distracted from his research, he gladly sacrificed research time to be with his wife, and in 1986 Annette gave birth to their daughter: Sherry. While William and Annette had busy work schedules, they enjoyed a loving relationship with each other and their daughter, spending whatever time they could together and were fairly happy.

Arklay laboratory Incident
The happiness Annette and her family enjoyed was shattered when James Marcus, one of Umbrella's three founders and creator of the t-Virus, resurfaced many years following his assassination by his former protégés, William Birkin and Albert Wesker on orders from Marcus’s long time friend and Umbrella Corporation’s President, Lord Oswell E. Spencer. In revenge for the betrayal bestowed upon him by Spencer, Marcus leaked the virus into the Umbrella Research Center, the Arklay laboratory, and the Ecliptic Express. William narrowly avoided death during this incident, and the experience made him increasingly paranoid, and as such devoted almost all of his time in the lab working on the G-virus, which had now become his life's work, dragging Annette with him. Annette, while nervous and not understanding the reasons behind her husband's recent change of behavior, remained unwaveringly loyal and loving to William and worked alongside him, spending more and more time in the Raccoon City Underground Laboratory, and as a result spent less time caring for her daughter, though, similar to William, remained unwaveringly loyal and loving to her.

Raccoon City Incident
"That's impossible! I told her to stay at the police station. What is she doing here? William will be after her!"

William eventually planned to betray Umbrella upon completion of the G-virus, and deliver it to the U.S. Government for a bigger reward than what Umbrella promised him (a place on the Executive Board). Annette, fearing the plan would be exposed, retained one of the samples and placed it in a locket and entrusting it to Sherry, claiming it was for good luck. Sherry did not know that the sample was inside the locket.

Annette's fears were tragically well-founded, as a few weeks later, the Umbrella Special Forces Alpha team After learning about the G-virus, an Umbrella Unit was dispatched to retrieve the virus. Alpha Team broke into the Subterranean Laboratory, and confronted William. The team stole a case containing samples of both variants of "G" and "t" viruses, and fatally injured William in a hailstorm of bullets. Annette arrived shortly after the team's departure, and was horrified to find her husband lying in a pool of blood on the ground. Annette desperately tried to save him, and left him alone for a few seconds to get help. Annette was unaware that, in his final attempt to save himself, William, using his sole-remaining G-Sample, injected himself with the G-virus. He was able to survive his injuries but he soon mutated out of control and became a monstrosity named "G", who quickly hunted down and massacred Alpha Team (except for HUNK) and destroyed the contents of the sample case which accidentally leaked into the Raccoon Sewer System, where the rats carried the t-Virus and led it into Raccoon City.

The virus was spread throughout the city and soon chaos ensued when the population was converted into legions of the undead. The carnage spread to the laboratory, and B.O.W.s escaped while it's research staff were wiped out. Annette survived, hiding in the bowels of the facility. Annette contacted her daughter Sherry at home merely an hour before the outbreak occurred and implored her to seek sanctuary at the Raccoon City Police Department, hoping the cops would protect her and transport her to safety in the event of Annette's death. Annette remained unaware that, while Sherry did as she was told, by this time the station was soon to be overrun by Zombies and B.O.W's with almost all its personnel killed.

Sometime later, Annette met Claire Redfield, thinking that she was a spy for Umbrella until she mentioned Sherry. Learning that Sherry is in the sewers, she realizes now that William is after her to implant embryos into her body as Sherry is a close family member to William. Annette tells Claire how everything started until they heard Sherry screaming. Annette and Claire split up to find Sherry. As Annette was trying to find Sherry, she encountered Leon and Ada. She runs away only to be chased by Ada. As she tries to kill Ada, Leon saved Ada by taking a bullet for her. Ada runs off to find Annette until they finally confronted with each other. Annette tells Ada about the G-virus and that the monster that was lurking in the Police Department was William. Then, Annette tries to shoot Ada but was knocked into the pool.

Death
"Please... Help Sherry. Tell her... That even though I failed as a mother... I have always loved her."

Annette made her way back into the underground lab and confronted Leon. She informed Leon of Ada's role as a spy sent to retrieve the G-virus. She concluded that she was only trying to be John's girlfriend so that she could get information on Umbrella's research; this, Leon refused to believe. As she was about to kill Leon, the Tyrant that had been stalking him attacked them. Annette left him with the B.O.W., under the belief that Leon had no hope of surviving.

Annette then found Claire and began to shout at her, under the impression that Claire had killed William. She also revealed that she made another sample of the G-virus to fulfill her husband's legacy. Claire warned Annette that William had already implanted a G-embryo into Sherry. Before Annette could respond, William made his way through the ceiling. Running to and confronting him in the hope that he would remember her, she was fatally slashed by William's talons before he escaped back up through the hole. Before Annette died, she gave Claire instructions on how to create the "Code: DEVIL" G-vaccine for Sherry. She told Claire to apologize to Sherry for her over not spending more time with her.

Alternate death
In the non-canon Leon A, Claire B storyline, after suffering severe cranial damage from falling debris, Annette falls unconscious on the Main Shaft shortly after shooting Ada Wong. She, however, does not succumb to her injuries until after reuniting and apologizing to her daughter for neglecting her. This ending is used in the Resident Evil book, City of the Dead.

In The Darkside Chronicles, she dies the same way as she did in Resident Evil 2; however, this time she was trying to stop William only to be killed after she shot a bullet into him. She tells both Leon and Claire how to make the vaccine and dies.

Personality
In Resident Evil 2, Annette was a paranoid woman who was obsessed with her husband's research. She protected the G-virus from being stolen by anyone who dared trying to steal it, like Ada. She did come to the realization that she was being a less caring mother to Sherry when she learned that the embryos were soon to hatch inside Sherry's body. She helped Claire create the vaccine, before she died.

In The Darkside Chronicles however, Annette's personality and motives were altered significantly. Rather than being a paranoid wife obsessed with protecting her husband's research, Annette was portrayed as a very sympathetic and tragic character in that while she allowed her and William's research to take priority over Sherry's welfare she nevertheless loved her daughter deeply and took it upon herself to personally stop the mutated William ; even at the cost of her own life.

Gallery
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