Annette Birkin

William...it's time to finish this.

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

Early History
Much of Annette's history remains unknown, though she eventually became a scientist in biology. In the mid-80's, Annette eventually gained employment with the Umbrella Corporation ,and was assigned to the Arklay Research Facility as the assistant to one of Umbrella's most promising scientists; William Birkin. Eventually, Annette and William fell in love and married, with Annette becoming his research partner in the G-Virus Project. 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.

Mansion Incident
The happiness Annette and her family enjoyed was shattered when James Marcus, one of Umbrella's three co-founders and creator of the original variant of t-Virus and was subsequently assassinated for it by Umbrella President/Lord Ozwell E. Spencer, resurfaced many years following his assassination (by William and his old colleague and accomplice in his quests for power; Albert Wesker) and unleashed the virus on Raccoon Forest, and by extension the Ecliptic Express and the Management Training Facility and Spencer estate, where the Arklay laboratory was secretly located. 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 behaviour, remained unwaveringly loyal and loving to William and worked alongside him, spending more and more time in the Raccoon City Underground Research Facility, and as a result spent less and less time caring for her daughter, though, similar to William, remained unwaveringly loyal and loving to her.

Raccoon City Outbreak
Tell her [Sherry], that even though I failed as a mother... I have always loved 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 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, 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 witch accidently leaked into the Raccoon Sewer System.

The virus was carried by rats and quickly 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 Sherry at home merely an hour before the outbreak occured and implored her to seek sanctuary at the Raccoon City Police Department Police Station, 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 of its personnel killed.

Later, Annette discovered; upon her daughter's arrival at the facility, that Sherry was infected with the G-Virus. She and survivor Claire Redfield prepared the DEVIL-antigen to cure her. Annette did not survive to see it however, as William found and killed her.

In the Darkside Chronicles, Annette's personality and motives were altered significantly. Rather than being a paranoid delusional obsessed with protecting her husband's research, Annette Birkin 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. In the events leading to her death she is chased by William throughout the facility, and when she was finally cornered she yelled out to the remaining humanity that William held within G. She called o him, "William! Don't you remeber me? I'm your wife, Annette." The creature pauses and looks at Williams left hand witch still contained their wedding ring. She continued with, "I'm sorry, but I have to put an end to G!" After the creature heard this is was enraged! It charged at Annette. She stood there bravely and in a split second before G hit her she fired a single shot. G fled the scene possibly as an act of William's last remnants of his will. Leon and Claire soon after came to Annette's side where she lay mortaly wounded. Leon and Claire converse with Annette about the DEVIL serum. Annette tells them the serum is located in the P-4 lab on the bottom floor. As Annette's last words, she pleads to Leon, "Tell Sherry that even though I failed as a mother, I have always lovered her..." Annette sheds a tear witch streeks accross her face. Taking Annette's advice Leon and Claire rush to the lab as seconds to the timer for the self destruct sequence slipped by...



Alternate Death
In the non-canon Leon A, Claire B Scenario, 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.