(Capcom's primary storyline)
Alfred Ashford, 7th Earl Ashford (アルフレッド・アシュフォード Arufureddo Ashufōdo), otherwise referred to as Lord Ashford, was a British nobleman and governor of Rockfort Island. He was the son of Veronica Ashford, 1st Countess Ashford, born through genetic engineering along with his sister, Alexia. Legally, however, the two were the children of the geneticist Dr. Alexander Ashford, 6th Earl Ashford. Lord Ashford was the final governor of Rockfort Island, having overseen the exodus of the islanders and installation of a prison camp for enemies of the Umbrella Corporation. He died soon after the island fell to a t-Virus outbreak orchestrated by an Umbrella rival group.[3][excerpt 1]
Biography
Early life
Alfred was born in 1971, the result of a three year genetics project to create a child with genes relating to intelligence. The project, led by his cousin, Alexander, aimed to create a surrogate child who would continue the virology research led by his father, Edward, as part of a wider plan to ensure Ashford influence within Umbrella Pharmaceuticals, and deny total control of the company to their rival, Dr. Oswell E. Spencer, Earl Spencer. Though a clone of Alexander's great-great-grandmother, an anomaly during the procedure led to cloned zygote splitting with one of the daughter zygotes developing with an outwardly male appearance. The second twin, Alexia, was unaffected.[4] The project was kept an absolute secret between Alexander and his father.
From birth, Alfred and Alexia were immediately divided based on their intelligence. While Alfred was found to have higher than average intellect, Alexia was determined to be a genius, and thus her education was given the upmost priority, allowing her to graduate university at the age of ten. The two would the live together in the Antarctic Base, where Alexia was to conduct her t-Virus research in a project dubbed "t-Veronica". In early 1983, the two children discovered the truth about their origins after gaining access to Alexander's lab. Disgusted by this fact, the two forced him to take part in a human trial of t-Veronica, and then left him sealed in a hidden compartment beneath the facility director's office. Soon after, Alexia decided to experiment on herself, and entered a cold sleep unit which she believed would help her body to mutate favourably.[5] Alexander and Alexia were officially considered dead by the public, though no bodies were produced, and Alfred legally gained the title of 7th Earl.
Without a family at the age of twelve, the new Lord Ashford was left to continue his family's legacy alone.[6] Driven by this, he overcame his grief and was able to graduate from a respectable English university in 1993,[7][8] Lord Ashford entered employment with the Umbrella Corporation as the other Ashfords had done.
Umbrella career
Through the weight of his family name, Lord Ashford earned a number of jobs within the company which, while senior, were largely irrelevent in the company politics.[6] Alongside the position of Director of the Antarctic Base, he took full advantage of his inherited governorship of Rockfort Island. By the following year, the hispanic settler population was driven out to give space for the construction of a concentration camp for Umbrella enemies,[7] a boot camp for anti-B.O.W. training,[7] and a private residence on the over side of a valley, where he hoped to live with Alexia one day. Having been given full control over these facilities, Lord Ashford chose to ignore the Antarctic Base and built up a dictatorial rule on Rockfort. Still affected by the loss of his sister, Lord Ashford's mental health deteriorated as his career continued, and he developed a second persona as Alexia herself, even wearing makeup and women's clothing, something which confused those who saw him from afar.[6][excerpt 2]
In his time as governor of Rockfort Island and Commander-in-Chief of its base, Lord Ashford enforced harsh measures on the prisoners, and people were violently tortured and executed seemingly at random.[6][9][excerpt 3] He did not act on impulses directly, however, and instead hired the prison camp's schizophrenic anatomist to perform ritualistic torture on, providing him with drugs to use.[10] A bridge was constructed that would allow him to directly cross over from the governor's official residence to his private residence in 1994, and the entire workforce was subsequently executed to silence them.[11] His secretary, Robert Dawson, was sent to the prison camp after spotting him dressed as Alexia.[12]
1998
As Ashford's career continued, his mental state became evermore-so erratic even taking his iron fist into account. His management of the Antarctic Base was of total neglect, and had earned the ire of his workers at the transport terminal, who were repeatedly denied vacation time while perpetually behind in deliveries.[13] These delays led to global shortages of various chemicals in 1998, which were directly blamed on Ashford.[14] From the middle of 1998, Umbrella HQ became aware of an apparent H.C.F. spy ring on Rockfort Island, and determined that the source of research leaks held a prominent role on the island. Believing an attack on the island was imminent, a Tyrant was shipped over with the intent on using it against attackers.[15]
In December 1998, H.C.F. finally attacked Rockfort Island, with their operative within the military training camp detonating an explosive in its lab, leading to the Epsilon strain escaping as an airborne pathogen. As with the Mansion Incident, this t-Virus strain quickly returned to its normal method of transmission after infecting a number of people. Those not killed by the carpet bombing or by H.C.F. found themselves infected or killed by their own men. Ashford escaped the disaster and armed himself with a sniper rifle for protection. He incorrectly determined one of the spies to be Claire Redfield, a prisoners newly transferred to the base, and made several attempts on her life. Switching between his Alfred and Alexia personas, he led Redfield and fellow survivor Steve Burnside to think for a time they were two people. After a confrontation at the private residence, Ashford departed back to the training camp, where he set off the auto-destruct for the island facilities, activated the T-078 to take out survivors, and fled in his personal Harrier jet to the Antarctic Base.
During or just before his arrival at the Antarctic Base, the facility was overcome by Zombies that escaped from the planed which, set to an autopilot system, continued the journey without a crew. Ashford thereby found himself on his own. Finding Redfield and Burnside there, he made another attempt at their lives, but was shot and fell down a pit. Seriously wounded, he made his way to the cryonics lab Alexia was trapped in and finally released her to the world. Seconds after her awakening, he died.
Family tree of the Ashford dynasty
| Unknown parent | Veronica | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Stanley | Alexia (modified clone) | Alfred (modified clone) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Thomas | Arthur | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Edward | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Alexander | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Further Notes
- In an early version of the story, his original name was Hilbert Krueger.[16]
- 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.
- During the events in CODE: Veronica, Alfred's voice changed into a feminine voice after he dresses as his twin sister until he changes to his normal voice after he is mortally wounded by Steve. His voice is still voiced by a male voice actor.
- In The Darkside Chronicles, he gains a brown half-breast plated armor as part of his updated primary outfit.
- In The Darkside Chronicles, Alexia strangled him to death with Veronica 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!"
- In addition, largely to preserve the twist that he was dressing as Alexia in his split personality of her, he also invented the person Tanya, for an excuse to who he was trying to recover in the cryogenic stasis.
Gallery
Bibliography
- Koichi Hamamura, ed (2001) (in Japanese). BIOHAZARD CODE:Veronica Kanzenban Kaitai Shinsho. Famitsu. ISBN 4-7577-0422-4.
- Sumner, Christian; Shotten, Brian; Owen, Michael, eds (9 November 2005). Resident Evil Archives: Umbrella's Virus Uncovered. Translated by Zpang America, Inc.. BradyGames. ISBN 0744006554.
- Ōno, Tetsuya; Masui, Kō, eds (31 March 2005). biohazard archives. Famitsu. ISBN 4-906-582-31-1.
Sources
- excerpts
- ↑ Excerpt from official website:
"Brutal Dictator" (残忍な独裁者。 Zan'nin'na dokusai-sha.) - ↑ Excerpt from BIOHAZARD CODE: Veronica Kanzenban Kaitai Shinsho, page 10:
"ロックフォート島に置かれたアンブレラ基地の若き司令官｡由緒正しき貴族であるアシュフォード家の直系で､ 父が謎の失踪をとげたのを受け､ まだ少年のときに同家の七化目当主の座に着いた｡祖父はアンブレラ社設立メンバ一として輝かしい功績を残したが､ 父の代で家は没落｡アンブレラの一将校として辺境の地に追いやられることになった｡自分の生まれを過度に誇るあまり､ この現状に不満を抱､ アシュフォード家にかつての栄光を取りもどさんと並々ならぬ意欲を燃やしている｡ 容姿こそ端正だが､ 言動の端々からわかるとおり精神的に破綻したところがあり､ その不安定な心はしばしば囚人への残虐行為といった形で表面化している｡ 一方でアレクシアという名の双子の妹を溺愛し､ 基地から離れた高台の私邸にて彼女とふたりきりで暮らしているというが､ 彼らの私生活を知る者はいない｡" - ↑ Excerpt from BIOHAZARD CODE: Veronica KANZENBAN KAITAISHINSHO, page 220:
また、同時期に進められた刑務所建設にも、 彼の私情がからんでいる。 (また、同時期に進められた刑務所建設にも、 彼の私情がからんでいる。)
- references
- ↑ Capcom Production Studio 4. Resident Evil CODE:Veronica. (Capom Co., Ltd.). File: Veronica Report.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Capcom
- ↑ バイオハザード / ダークサイド・クロニクルズ 公式サイト (Japanese). Capcom Co., Ltd.. Retrieved on 2013-09-05.
- ↑ Resident Evil CODE:Veronica (2000), file: "Veronica Report".
- ↑ Resident Evil CODE:Veronica (2000, file: "Alfred's Diary".
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 (in Japanese) BIOHAZARD CODE: Veronica Kanzenban Kaitai Shinsho. Enterbrain. p. 10.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles (2010), file: "Alfred Ashford".
- ↑ (in Japanese) BIOHAZARD CODE: Veronica Kanzenban Kaitai Shinsho. Enterbrain. p. 220.
- ↑ BIOHAZARD CODE: Veronica KANZENBAN KAITAISHINSHO, page 220
- ↑ Resident Evil CODE:Veronica, "Anatomist's Note"
- ↑ Resident Evil CODE:Veronica, "Secret Passage Note"
- ↑ Resident Evil CODE:Veronica, "Secretary's Note"
- ↑ Resident Evil CODE:Veronica (2000), file: "Worker's Diary".
- ↑ Resident Evil 2 (2000), file: "Umbrella Memo".
- ↑ Resident Evil Survivor 2 CODE:Veronica (2000), file: "A letter sent to the commander of the Lock Fort Island from an inspector of Umbrella.".
- ↑ Sumner, Shotten, Owen (eds). Archives. p.226
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