Alfred Ashford, 7th Earl Ashford

Alfred Ashford was the unintended consequence of Sir Alexander Ashford's experimentation, along with his sister, Alexia Ashford. Publicly, they were his children, and thus grandchildren of Edward Ashford, one of the founders of the Umbrella Corporation.

Biography
Alfred was born in the year 1971 as one of a set of twins, the other being his sister Alexia. Both were the result of their father Alexander's genetic experiments, which used the DNA of the ancient Ashford matriarch Veronica and a modified version of the gene controlling human intelligence in the hopes of creating an heir capable of restoring the once-glorious name of the Ashford family. However, while Alexia started displaying high-genius level intelligence, exactly as Alexander had desired, Alfred only showed signs of low-level genius intelligence. Both children were raised in the first years of their lives in the lavish surroundings of their family manor, between classes unsuitable for children so young, and Alfred grew idolizing Alexia and scorning the rest of the world.

Creating a monster
Wandering off around the Antarctic Base's underground mansion at the tender age of ten, he found a secret hall that was to be opened with three family gems that rested within the Ashford family tree: one he kept himself, another was in his sister Alexia's hands, and the final one was in the grasp of his father. Reasoning that something extremely valuable was to be found, he found a way to secure his father's gem, and eventually, wielding all three gems, he opened the secret corridor, finding undeniable evidence of the truth behind his and his sister's birth. Growing insane because of this revelation, he aided his sister in abducting their father and injecting him with the initial strains of the T-Veronica virus, causing Alexander to mutate into the corrupted abomination known as Nosferatu.

Realizing the mistakes Alexia had committed during the experiments, the twins had a secret room added to hold their father. Eventually, Alexia found out how to properly control the viral corruption, but the process involved fifteen years in cryo-stasis. Seeing no other choice to complete her mad dream of goddesshood but to go ahead, she had Alfred seal her in the desired stasis in the underground section of the Antarctic laboratory and feign her death.

Nurturing the Insanity
He then grew more and more demented without the guidance of his sister, who had helped him remain somewhat stable throughout the years. He became embittered, sadistic, and psychotic, though this did not stop him from journeying to England to graduate from a respectable University to complete his education. Over the years, however, due to his already unstable mind and nobody ever expecting him to be as smart as Alexia was, his mind shattered, creating a dual personality: one that remained the insane Alfred Ashford, and another figment that took over Alfred's memories of Alexia and created a new personality closely resembling her. As he remained oblivious as to the truth of Alexia's inexplicable return, he lived alone in his house on Rockfort Island, often allowing the Alexia fragment to take complete control above his body, dressing up like her and speaking in her voice (which wasn't too difficult, due to his effeminate features and somewhat high voice). There, he, or the fraction of his mind that represented Alfred, had long conversations with the Alexia shard, and developed militaristic tendencies and a massive ego as his mind eroded further.

1998
The true breakdown started when Rockfort Island was attacked shortly after Claire Redfield was transferred. Relating the two facts, he considered them to be effect and cause. Because of this, clad in his military-style uniform, and wielding a sniper rifle, he attempted to hunt her and Steve Burnside down. This madness came to a climax when, in his Alexia state, attempted to kill the duo in the twins' old playroom; he caught sight of his reflection in a mirror without his wig, smeared in make-up, and came to the realization the Alexia he had known from after the cryo-stasis was nothing more than a schizophrenic delusion of his own mind. Irrationally blaming Claire and Steve, he continued to attack them, both by releasing an experimental Tyrant to kill them, and by redirecting their escape plane to the Umbrella Corporation Antarctic Labs. There, he once again tried to snipe the two down, but received a fatal wound from Steve, who was merely retaliating in self defense. He then was thrown down the long elevator shaft and ended in the cryostasic chamber where his sister lay in cryogenic sleep. He was once again reunited with his sister before he died in his sister's arms. Alfred's body was later discovered by Chris Redfield in the cryostatic chamber.

Trivia

 * In an early version of the story, his original name was Hilbert Krueger.


 * Coupled with his residence, the fact that he cross-dresses as a female whom he idolizes could be a reference to Norman Bates, from Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho.


 * It is odd that each male member of the Ashford family seems to hold the honorary name of "Sir". Rather than a family with constant knighthoods, the Ashford family may be a family of Baronets, which is a title substituted by "Sir" and "Lady", as well as being hereditary (a title that is passed on down a family).


 * When cross-dressing in Code: Veronica, Alfred simply reuses his sister's model, minus her choker; in Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles, Alfred dons a unique model when dressing as his sister, featuring masculine features and the addition of a corset to give his body a feminine look.


 * In The Darkside Chronicles, Alexia strangled him with her tentacles, in sharp contrast to Code: Veronica, in which he died in her arms. Her only remark on this fratricide was an off-handed comment that "he wasn't much fun; he couldn't even wake me up on time!"