The Red Queen (played by Michaela Dicker) and White Queen (played by Madeline Carroll) are characters of the Resident Evil film series. They are both state-of-the-art holographic representations of supercomputers which serve to protect different facilities of the Umbrella Corporation. The Red Queen was created by Paul Anderson as an homage to 2001: A Space Odyssey 's HAL 9000.[1]
The Red Queen's name itself is a reference to the Red Queen principle[2] while her holographic avatar was modeled after Angela Ashford, daughter of Dr. Charles Ashford, the head programmer. She was designed to monitor the Hive's activities, employees, experiments, and the T-virus. Her system also expands through the Spencer Mansion. The Red Queen had not appeared in the Resident Evil video games previously, but in 2007, the character had her first role in the video game series. She appeared in Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles voiced by Tara Platt.[3] Her character appears as a database computer which provides information relating to the Arklay Incident and T-Virus development.
The White Queen is also modeled after a young girl, but it is never mentioned if the appearance is based on another character. The White Queen is a later version of the Red Queen that holds a counterpart position for the Umbrella facility in Las Vegas, Nevada. Unlike The Red Queen, The White Queen has further advanced holographic technology and has a more convincing appearance of a child in comparison to the semi-translucent Red Queen hologram.
Both AI names are referencing major characters from the novel Through the Looking-Glass, with the decidedly more deadly Hive AI representing the antagonistic Red Queen,[4] and the more helpful AI that appears in Resident Evil: Extinction representing the protagonistic White Queen.
Appearances[ | ]
Resident Evil[ | ]
| Red Queen | |
|---|---|
| Resident Evil film character | |
| File:Red Queen.jpg | |
| First appearance |
Resident Evil (film) |
| Last appearance |
Resident Evil (film) |
| Portrayed by |
Michaela Dicker |
| Information | |
| Species | Supercomputer |
| Gender | Not applicable (Superficially female) |
| Relatives | White Queen |
| Age |
Superficially 8[1] |
In Resident Evil, the Red Queen activated her primary and secondary defenses when she detected a sudden leak of the T-Virus. She responds to this leak by sealing the Hive entrances and locking in all of the Umbrella researchers. Once the lab is sealed, she then proceeds to eradicate all of the Umbrella employees inside, and in the mansion above the labs, releases a gas that leaves one of the occupants, Alice, unconscious and without memory.
When a U.B.C.S. commando team sent by Umbrella arrives at the Hive to investigate, the Red Queen detects their approach. Once they approach the hallway leading to her central chamber, Red Queen's defense systems go online once again, locking in most of the team members inside the hallway and subsequently killing them. When Alice and Kaplan enter the chamber, they disable her main circuit breakers in order to prevent her from rebooting. After being threatened by the team, the Red Queen is forced to show the team a way out of the Hive; if the Red Queen refused to help, for any reason, the team would 'pull the trigger' and permanently 'fry' the Red Queen.
The Red Queen isn't heard from again until later in the film when Alice, Matt, and Rain are the only remaining survivors, trapped in a locked laboratory. She explains she would release them once Rain has been killed, since Rain had been infected with the T-Virus. Alice refuses, knowing of an Anti-Virus on the train, but the Red Queen in reply claims that the risk is too large. The Red Queen is then disabled by Kaplan when she refuses to open the door and let Alice, Matt and Rain out.
The lines that the Red Queen spoke when Kaplan tried to disable her were played in "Kill Yourself", a rap song made by rapper Timbaland.
Resident Evil: Extinction[ | ]
| White Queen | |
|---|---|
| Resident Evil film character | |
| File:White Queen.jpg | |
| First appearance |
Resident Evil: Extinction |
| Portrayed by |
Madeline Carroll |
| Information | |
| Species | Supercomputer |
| Gender | Not applicable (Superficially female) |
| Relatives | Red Queen |
| Age |
Superficially 10[citation needed] |
In Resident Evil: Extinction, Alice encounters another holographic artificial intelligence computer called the White Queen. The White Queen helps Alice, saying that, like the original Red Queen, her purpose is to protect human life. She proceeds to defend the actions of the Red Queen, citing that the Red Queen had done what was necessary at the time. The White Queen reveals to Alice the cure for the T-Virus and offers to help her create it, but Alice must first kill Dr. Isaacs.
The White Queen was originally planned to appear in Resident Evil, however, she was cut from the final screenplay.[5] In the screenplay, her character was brought online by Umbrella to shut down the Red Queen after residents of the Hive were gassed to death.
Note: The Infobox picture for The White Queen is a pre-production and non edited shot from Resident Evil: Extinction, showing a shadow on the actress. In the film version, she is edited to appear like a hologram.
Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles[ | ]
In Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles, Chapter: The Umbrella's End, the T-A.L.O.S. (Tyrant Armored Lethal Organic System) was monitored and controlled by the Red Queen, which "is the code name for the AI defense system developed by Umbrella. The AI is contained with U.M.F.-013; however, the AI has unrestricted access to the entire Umbrella network for administration, monitoring, and carrying out certain procedures. This additional functionality is a security fail-safe, but in most circumstances, Red Queen is in the background performing only its primary monitoring function. In emergencies, it will serve a more active role and protect sensitive systems and data from intrusion along with cleaning up hostiles. It is self-aware and can take these measures based on its own judgment."[6]
References[ | ]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Resident Evil. Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved on 2007-11-26
- ↑ "I could kiss you, you bitch." Race, gender and sexuality in Resident Evil and Resident Evil 2: Apocalypse. Ejumpcut.org. Retrieved on 2008-01-01
- ↑ Role Credits. taraplatt.com. Retrieved on 2007-12-02
- ↑ Rikke Schubart, Super bitches and action babes: the female hero in popular cinema, 1970-2006 (McFarland & Co., 2007), 340.
- ↑ White Queen Emitted. Horror Lair. Retrieved on 2007-10-08
- ↑ Damien Waples, "Red Queen Notes," Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles Prima Official Game Guide (Roseville: Prima Games, 2007), 138.
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