The Connections, a crime syndicate that has largely been operating out of the shadows throughout the Resident Evil franchise, has now been dragged into the light courtesy of Requiem’s explosive story. It’s going to have to adapt, with the eyes of every anti-bioterror agency now trained on it.
And while Victor Gideon might have demonstrated that the organization was nothing more than a means to an end in his book, we think that Zeno, the game’s secondary antagonist, deserves a second look. Yes, we know he seems like nothing more than a Wesker wannabe who made some truly baffling decisions that have drawn the ire of many of you, but we do think that his presence in Requiem goes deeper than being an unwilling source of laughs (or derision, depending on where you stand).
There are a number of lingering, unresolved narrative threads that are now going to carry the franchise forward, like Chris Redfield’s mission to uncover the truth behind BOWs being used among the BSAA’s ranks, Blue Umbrella’s true motives, the government’s involvement in the Raccoon City Incident and the subsequent cover-up, and so much more.
We believe Zeno might just be what connects them all, and that perhaps his grisly end at Gideon’s hands is only the beginning of his story.
A Story Left Half-Finished
Beginning with what we know of this mystery man, we’re going to have to concede that he does come off as weird at first glance. He seemed arrogant, brash, and so overly confident in his own abilities that he failed to acknowledge the tenacity of the people he was fighting against. But we think that under the facade of his blind, deluded faith in his own intelligence and power is a flawed man whose antics may not entirely be his fault.
Let’s start with how he handled Grace. He preferred to remain in the background, leaving Gideon to be Leon’s target only until Grace severed ties with the latter. Once he appeared, he was suave and almost impressive, whisking her away to Raccoon City. He knew Leon was in pursuit, but was confident that the dogged DSO agent wasn’t going to be a problem owing to his government connections calling off the investigation into Gideon and Rhodes Hill.
After encountering Leon, whose single-minded determination to uncover the truth about Elpis and Grace’s connection to it brought him to Raccoon City anyway, he was quite dismissive of him, secure in the knowledge that there was an army of operatives between Leon and himself, courtesy of The Connections.
Once Leon got to him, his ruthless nature made itself known (although the video of him slaughtering BSAA agents was quite the tell on that front). But that facet of his personality gave us pause when we realized he might be a Wesker clone after all, more on that in a bit. Knowing how clones were treated, Emily being a good example, we’re arguing that it was a kill-or-be-killed situation that shaped Zeno’s callous nature.
His intention to use Elpis as a tool for mind control, more effective than even the Megamycete from Village, showcased a need to be in control over any given situation, and the subsequent revelation that it was an antiviral showcased an inability to respond effectively enough when things didn’t go his way. The loss of his powers and his own death were because he couldn’t process the truth about Elpis and adapt fast enough before he got skewered by Gideon, after all.
Ultimately, everything that he once believed was his strength turned out to be his biggest weakness, bringing harsh truths for him to confront. That he was unable to do so turned out to be his undoing. That could be seen as a fitting end for a fairly one-dimensional character, and we were inclined to agree until we gave it a little more thought.
We think everything that happened with Zeno in Requiem felt too.. convenient. Why would he take Grace to the RPD to show off a hint of empathy towards the clones? And why oh why would he just talk about how the ARK facility could be accessed through the ruins of the abandoned orphanage? It’s too easy to attribute that to sloppy writing, but we’d like to dig deeper than that.
We did, and that led us down a rabbit hole of questions that we’re now bringing to you. It’s too easy to write him off as a Wesker wannabe. But what if there’s more? What purpose did he serve beyond that?
Nothing But An Imitation?
Our first burning question about Zeno’s characterization is why he was made to look and sound like Wesker. The two men even shared the same voice actor, for crying out loud. Was it just a way to look back at an iconic antagonist, a cheeky way to nod to one of Leon and Chris’s greatest adversaries through the lens of a man who seemed grossly incompetent in comparison?
We don’t think so. For starters, he ties Wesker to The Connections more effectively than any of the other members of Requiem’s cast and beyond ever could. Gideon did say he was “nothing more than an imitation”, but of what? Was he actually a Wesker clone, an attempt by The Connections to bring back a man who was most likely working with them from the very beginning? We never did get to find out who had Wesker’s loyalty, after all.
Wesker aside, he also served as a fine link between The Connections and Elpis. We believe he’s among the most viable catalysts for the stories about Elpis that are yet to come. He’s literally the one who has caused his organization and Elpis to be discovered by the world. He could be the one who leads Chris to more answers about the presence of mind-controlled BOWs in the BSAA, even in death, or perhaps through an earlier meeting before the events of Requiem. Who knows?
We strongly suspect that his intentions for Elpis are a valuable insight into The Connections’ plans for what they believed to be Spencer’s final masterpiece. After all, the bio-terrorism community would be happy to have living weapons that were directly under their control, and who better to supply them than a shady cabal of criminals with a vast network and strong infrastructure?
Gideon’s wish for a chaotic world where bioterrorists were forced to deal with the presence of a viable cure to the T-virus clashed with Zeno’s emphasis on an orderly one, the breakdown of their working relationship showcasing a potential chain of events where things within The Connection’s ranks are not all that they seem. Could we be looking at the rise of more rogue members, with Gideon and Zeno’s ultimately adversarial roles being some clever foreshadowing from the developer?
The fact that the BSAA, DSO, and other agencies are now aware of their role in Raccoon City’s destruction is bound to put a strain on potentially tenacious alliances, after all. But these are all questions that focus on the bigger picture, and could take years and perhaps multiple new games to answer.
It’s time to think about what role Zeno himself could play in those games. We keep wondering if what we witnessed in Requiem was truly the end of his character arc, and Gideon’s assertion that he was an imitation is what we keep coming back to.
Could We See Zeno Again?
Perhaps not the one we know. But he was “just an imitation”, right? A clone, presumably of Wesker, who we now have good reason to believe was working with The Connections from the very beginning. We couldn’t help but ask: what if there were more clones? What if a more powerful version of Zeno exists, or is perhaps going to be brought to life by The Connections, the Mold being used to restore his memories at least partially?
We’re considering the possibility that Zeno was actually the main antagonist of Requiem all along, and that we, as players, just don’t know it yet. Was his disastrous handling of the entire situation with Grace and Leon just a red herring that leads to a more sinister, calculating version of the character later down the line?
It’s really hard to believe that Resident Evil would introduce a character so obviously connected to an iconic presence in its best games only to take him off the board as easily as it did. If Zeno were to return, would he be the rallying point for The Connections, his powers making him a threat formidable enough to give even Leon and Chris a reason to stop and reassess their options?
He hasn’t demonstrated an aptitude for tactics and strategic thinking so far, but his physical prowess was more than a threat until he used Elpis on himself. Do The Connections have the means to craft more intelligent clones? Was the version of Zeno we’ve seen a crappy first draft of a villain whose self-actualization is only beginning?
You’ve probably noticed that there have been a lot of questions on this one. But that was the point of it all, considering we’re discussing a character who has failed to make a good first impression. It’s given us the feeling that the joke’s on us, and that would be a prank we’re more than willing to be the victims of. We have that sneaking suspicion that we haven’t seen the last of Zeno. But are we happy about that?
That’s quite a challenging question to answer, even among all the hard ones we’ve been asking, and the jury’s still out on that one. Bringing him back to life in a franchise where anything is possible wouldn’t be too difficult, but he’s got to come back stronger, faster, and definitely more intelligent than his first outing.
After all, nothing motivates our cast of capable heroes more than a menacing antagonist, and this is a man who could be the franchise’s best one yet, topping even Gideon if he manages to do a better job of being the bad guy the next time around. Of course, all of this is speculation at this point, and there’s probably going to be a whole lot of that as we begin the long wait for the next big addition to Resident Evil.
But it might just be worth it if there’s a better version of this rather unsavory character waiting for us at the end of it.
Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.
