(Game Boy Color)
Leon Scott Kennedy (レオン・S・ケネディ Reon Esu Kenedi ) was a member of an underground anti-Umbrella organization. He was formerly a member of the Raccoon City Police Department.
Biography[]
Raccoon City[]
"Hey! It's up to us to take out Umbrella!" |
At the age of 21, Leon requested assignment to work for the Raccoon City Police Department upon graduating from the police academy. His reason of choice was because of the widely publicised murders taking place in and around the Arklay Mountains.[1] He arrived at Raccoon City on September 29, 1998, a day later than he was scheduled to. Due to the events in Raccoon City, this would be his first and only day as a police officer.
On September 29, 1998, Leon arrived in Raccoon City for his assigned police department. Having overslept, the sun had long since set when he reached the city limits via a highway. Seemingly abandoned as a blockade by the U.S. military earlier, he was unaware of the t-Virus outbreak.
Upon reaching the city's business district, Leon stopped his car to inspect a body on the ground. Being unaware of the outbreak, he was caught by surprise when several zombies (and the body he thought dead) started to attack him. Backing in to an alleyway, Leon stumbled onto another survivor named Claire Redfield, who had arrived to the city in search of her missing brother, Chris. Together, Leon and Claire decided to seek refuge within the R.P.D.'s headquarters, but before arriving there, they get separated when the police car Leon jumps in gets destroyed after a close encounter with a zombie inside the police cruiser he was driving. Both of them barely got out of the vehicle alive before a truck driven by an infected driver crashed into it.
During his probe of the Raccoon City Police Station, Leon meets another survivor named Ada Wong, a woman who claimed she was looking for her missing boyfriend, John Clemens. They soon developed a bond, and Leon even took a bullet for her, fired by Annette Birkin. Leon and Ada managed to fight against most of the enemies, but soon, Ada is wounded by a mutated William Birkin's claw. During that time, Leon found out from Annette Birkin that Ada was actually a spy, and only came to steal the G-Virus. However, Leon doesn't believe this until Ada tells him herself. Some time later, Ada saves Leon's life when he is cornered by T-00. She shoots the Tyrant on its back to get its attention, successfully doing so. She is then attacked, grabbed and raised up by the tyrant, in which she then retaliates by shooting three gunshots into its face, making the Tyrant fall into an Iron smelting pit. However, Ada was severely wounded in the process. She then told Leon the truth about everything. Ada shortly falls unconscious, which Leon mistakes for death. However, at the near end, Ada helps Leon by giving him a rocket launcher to help him defeat the now mutated T-00. Leon is reunited with Claire, and the two (along with William and Annette Birkin's daughter, Sherry Birkin) make their escape through a secret railway and then escape via the train, leaving the mutated William to be destroyed in the self-destruct sequence.
Starlight incident[]
In the weeks or months following the Raccoon City Incident, Kennedy was recruited into an underground organisation determined to shutting down Umbrella. As the organisation consisted of both US government workers and former Umbrella employees it had access to reliable insider information regarding Umbrella's illegal activities which it could exploit. In one such instance, information was intercepted indicating a shapeshifting B.O.W. was being smuggled on the passenger liner, the Starlight, with data suggesting it was posing as one of the passengers. When Kennedy arrived, the ship was already in a state of panic following the rampage of a Tyrant and the spread of t-Virus among the passengers and crew. In an attempt to rally uninfected survivors to shelter, Kennedy was ironically complicit in protecting the B.O.W., unaware it was in fact parasitically living on a teenager named Lucia, who he quickly discovered had unusual abilities. Although he soon became aware of her strange abilities, the lack of further information on the B.O.W. at the time and the presence of the Tyrant convinced Kennedy it was a coincidence.[2] Intent on finding more survivors to rescue, Kennedy left her in a safe place and went out looking for others. During the search he was wounded and fell unconscious. After twenty-four hours of no radio contact, the organization sent over Barry Burton to assist.

Leon and Barry encounter the BOW.
When he was rescued by Burton, the situation had completely deteriorated. Much of Starlight was destroyed by the Tyrant's rampage, and with the exception of Lucia everyone else was dead or had become Zombies. Although he explicitly trusted Lucia, Burton did not share his unwavering beliefs and was deeply suspicious of her. When Lucia demonstrated her ability to sense the Tyrant's presence; Burton's interrogations created a distraction that allowed the Tyrant to abduct her, and the two agents were forced to hunt the Tyrant to rescue her, tracking her to the Upper Decks.[3][4][5] In a bid to complete the mission and escape the ship, now guaranteed to sink, Burton deceived Kennedy by pretending to betray him and Lucia to Umbrella, and arranged to hand her over to the crew of an Umbrella submarine that had been shadowing the Starlight the whole time; there it was revealed that Lucia was an unknowing host to the shapeshifter, not the shapeshifter itself, and the Tyrant had been sent to recover her. While Barry and Lucia left on the submarine, Kennedy was forced to flee from a U.S.S. detachment opening fire on him.
While Kennedy was below decks, the parasite was able to escape the submarine onto Starlight. Encountering Kennedy, it took his form with the intention of being rescued by Burton and Lucia.[6][7] The deception was uncovered by Lucia's dwindling ability to sense the parasite's presence, and Kennedy was correctly identified. Not known to the others, the parasite was able to reproduce while on board ship; exactly how this was accomplished is uncertain, whether by infecting and altering Kennedy or by asexually reproducing. One of the parasites made a bid to escape when it saw Lucia fall into the water, making sure to be rescued by Burton. When the real Lucia made her own way back on deck, this deception was again foiled, with Lucia cutting her arm to demonstrate her human biology.[8] Following its death, Lucia's ability to sense the parasite was lost for good. Assuming the former, Kennedy became a shapeshifter as they evacuated, but assuming the latter the second parasite was narrowly able to switch places with Kennedy as Starlight sank beneath the waves.
Gameplay[]
Leon S. Kennedy is a playable character and the deuteragonist of Resident Evil Gaiden.
Further notes[]
- The English manual of the game incorrectly describes Leon as being a member of S.T.A.R.S.
Gallery[]
Sources[]
- ↑ Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles (2007), file: "Leon S. Kennedy Profile"
- ↑ Resident Evil Gaiden (2001), file: "Security room cutscene 2".
- ↑ Resident Evil Gaiden (2001), file: "Lobby balcony cutscene 3".
- ↑ Resident Evil Gaiden (2001), scene: "1st class cabins cutscene B".
- ↑ Resident Evil Gaiden (2001), scene: "Security room cutscene 2".
- ↑ Resident Evil Gaiden (2001), scene: "Boiler room cutscene".
- ↑ Resident Evil Gaiden (2001), scene: "Engine room cutscene 3".
- ↑ Resident Evil Gaiden (2001), scene: "Sun deck cutscene 3".
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