Resident Evil

One of the things that I loved about playing Resident Evil Remake was finding the various in-game files that detailed the recent history of the Spencer Mansion and its hidden laboratory, exposing the numerous crimes conducted by the pharmaceutical giant, Umbrella, and revealing how everyone in the facility was turned into zombies. One researcher, for example, gets infected by the t-Virus early on, and his journal detailing his physical and mental decay can be found. By the end, his speech had devolved into fragments and gibberish.

But there are a few files that detail the origin of the Spencer Mansion itself – namely, who built it, why, and what happened to him. The architect of the mansion was a man named George Trevor, and he and his family spent some time there shortly after construction finished in 1967. As the files reveal, they had a horrible time of it. Interestingly, these files were not included in the original 1996 Resident Evil game – at least not in the retail version. They were initially intended to be included as a series of letters that would be found in various locations as the player explored the mansion; they would reveal more of the mansion’s background, help players get past some of the more challenging puzzles in the game, and also provide an explanation as to why the mansion was full of traps. However, these files were removed from the game shortly before its release.

The original text of these files was featured in the Japanese-only book, BIO HAZARD The True Story Behind BIO HAZARD, which was released as a pre-order bonus for the Sega Saturn version of Resident Evil. Some of the original letters were rewritten and included in the 2002 remake as a single file called ‘Trevor’s Diary.’ I will use these different sources to explain what happened to George Trevor and his family – and in particular, his daughter, Lisa.

George Trevor was a brilliant architect from New York, famous for his ingenuity and intelligence in his designs, utilising gimmicks such as secret rooms and anti-intruder traps. This attracted the attention of the aristocrat Oswell E. Spencer, who contracted him in 1962 to build a private mansion in the Arklay Mountains, deep within Raccoon Forest. Lured with the prospect of unlimited funding, Trevor allowed his imagination to run wild. He constructed a manor that was both beautiful and mysterious, featuring many of his trademark traps and secrets, as requested by his client.

In late 1967, after Spencer had lived in the finished mansion for a few months, he invited George Trevor and his family to visit the estate and spend a few nights there. George accepted, but since the proposed visit would clash with important work commitments in New York, he arranged for his wife, Jessica, and daughter, Lisa, to go on ahead, with George following a few days later.

On November 10, Jessica and Lisa arrived at the Spencer Mansion and were warmly received by Oswell Spencer himself. Later that night, however, on the orders of Spencer, mother and daughter were taken by force to an underground cavern beneath the estate. They would be valuable test subjects for Spencer’s viral research, and both were injected with different strains of the Progenitor Virus.

Lisa and Jessica reacted very differently. The Type A administered to Jessica initially stimulated dormant cells, but it quickly became apparent that the variant had failed to bond with her DNA. However, the Type B virus given to Lisa showed more promise. Although cell activation was delayed, the decelerated process gave the variant more time to fuse with the host and successfully adapt to her DNA. The virus began to degrade Lisa’s intelligence levels and caused clear signs of physical disfigurement.

When George finally arrived at the Spencer estate on November 13, his family was nowhere to be seen. Lord Spencer told him that his wife and daughter were no longer there – that they had already left to visit a sick aunt. This, of course, was a lie – Jessica and Lisa were still trapped in the bowels of the mansion, being monitored.

The next day, Spencer gave Trevor an official tour of the mansion. He told his guest about his intention to start a pharmaceutical company and that he would use the mansion as a private hotel for his employees. This surprised Trevor, as he had expected the estate to be a private retreat for Lord Spencer alone, as evidenced by the total secrecy of the building’s construction.

Over the next few days, George became increasingly worried about his family. He also started to notice things that were either out of place or not supposed to exist as he wandered around the mansion, including a deep hole behind the artificial waterfall in the courtyard, which was not part of his original design. Unbeknownst to him, these were the foundations of the laboratory being built beneath the mansion.

Eventually, after notifying Spencer of his intention to leave the mansion, George was knocked unconscious and locked up in an underground cell. After several days of captivity, however, George realised the truth, far too late. ‘There are only two people that know the secret of this mansion,’ we read in his journal. ‘If they kill me, Sir Spencer will be the only person that knows the secret.’ To Spencer, George Trevor was simply a loose end that needed clearing up.

George managed to get out of his prison room by remembering the mechanism for the door, but he knew that escaping the mansion wouldn’t be easy. He searched the complex, trying to remember how to get past all the booby traps. It seems very likely that George was allowed to escape, with his progress being secretly monitored. This was probably to test out the estate’s various security measures and traps.

By November 29, George had tried every possible way to escape. He had been down into the laboratory with its large glass tubes filled with formaldehyde and into the dark, wet, eerie mining tunnels beneath the mansion, all to no avail. He started to accept that he would never escape or see his family again.

By the next day, having not had anything to eat or drink for some time now, George had become severely weakened. In a hidden corridor, he jumped down into a pit that led to a dark, damp underground tunnel. It proved to be a dead end, with his path blocked by a heavy stone that he couldn’t move. Lighting his last match, he discovered that it was a tombstone, with his own name inscribed on the plaque. Realising that it was his ultimate fate to die in the mansion, he collapsed. Trapped in the pit with no hope of escape, and tortured by the knowledge that he had dragged his family into this nightmare, George Trevor accepted death in that inescapable corridor¹.

But now we must rewind the clock to November 14, the day after George Trevor first arrived on the estate. This is when Jessica Trevor died, still incarcerated, four days after exposure to the Type A variant of the Progenitor Virus. The exact cause of her death varies depending on the source. Some indicate that the virus itself killed her; others say that the researchers, deeming her a failed experiment with no further use, disposed of her. In any case, her body was later buried in a stone crypt beneath the main hall of the mansion.

The researchers focused on Lisa Trevor, whose body had accepted the virus, but they became worried about the impact Jessica’s death might have on her. Her mental deterioration had worsened, and she had become aggressive and violent. Her mother seemed to be her only calming presence, so without her, the scientists were concerned about her state of mind.

To keep Lisa calm enough to monitor the progress of the virus incubating within her, the researchers sent in a female scientist posing as Jessica to sit with her. Although initially successful, Lisa soon saw through the deception and became enraged, brutally murdering the woman. She tore the woman’s face off, believing it to be her mother’s that had been stolen. She then started wearing the face, hoping to give it back to her real mother when she found her.

I found Mom. We ate together. I was very happy.

But she was a fake. Not my real Mom. Same face but different inside. Have to find Mom. Have to give face back to mother.

I got Mom’s face back. Nobody can have my Mom except me. I attach her face to me so she doesn’t go away. Because Mom sad when I meet her without her face.

• Family Picture & Notes, Resident Evil Remake

Shortly afterwards, Lisa managed to escape from her cell to search for her mother. She was left to wander around by herself, possibly because she was too dangerous to approach. Instead, she was placed under surveillance. She managed to locate the place where her mother had been buried, but she couldn’t work out the mechanism to open it. Perhaps unable to comprehend her mother’s death in her deranged state, Lisa believed that she was still alive and trapped inside.

The disappearance of the Trevor family was reported as a tragic yachting accident in the Atlantic Ocean. An investigation lasted several days before the search was called off.

But Lisa Trevor was still alive. She was eventually recaptured and, as the years passed, she remained locked away beneath the Spencer Mansion, continuously subjected to different viral strains. Somehow, she survived all of these experiments, though they wreaked havoc upon her genetic structure and her psyche until she had degenerated into an animalistic state. No longer recognised as a human being, merely a tool for Umbrella’s flourishing viral research, Lisa was kept chained to a bed for years and fed through intravenous therapy. Whilst other test subjects died after repeated injection, Lisa’s body withstood them all, making her a biological melting pot of Umbrella’s research. Her existence was kept a company secret, with none of the researchers at the facility knowing her name, and few even aware of her existence at all. 

Her incredible survivability attracted the attention of Umbrella researcher William Birkin, who attempted to infuse Lisa with the newly developed Nemesis parasite to see how her body reacted. Until that point, the parasite had killed every one of its hosts within five minutes of implantation. But Lisa overcame the parasite and even ingested it, incorporating its genes into her own. Following this event, Umbrella discovered that Lisa’s consumption of the parasite resulted in the cultivation of a new viral strain within her body: the G-Virus.

When she absorbed the prototype Nemesis parasite, Lisa seemed to regain some intelligence and became more active, though no less unstable. She attacked multiple female researchers and removed their faces to wear over her own. To prevent further incidents, it was decided that Lisa needed to be disposed of. Since the G-Virus had already been extracted from her body, she had lost her status as a valuable specimen, so Umbrella saw little reason to continue keeping her alive.

Umbrella executed and disposed of Lisa Trevor… or so they thought. Unfortunately for them – and Lisa – the multiple experiments conducted on her had mutated her body to such a degree that she had become virtually immune to any form of physical harm and now exhibited unworldly regenerative properties. Umbrella monitored her body for vital signs over three days and finally confirmed her death, dumping her body in an unknown location. But Lisa eventually revived. For the next three years, it seems that she made her home somewhere in the Arklay Mountains, surviving on her own means. Following the t-Virus outbreak at the Arklay Laboratory in May 1998, her territory expanded to encompass the Spencer estate and the surrounding land as she continued her endless search for her mother.

When S.T.A.R.S. arrive at the Spencer Mansion in Resident Evil Remake, Lisa Trevor is still there. You can hear her moaning behind an early locked door (later revealed to be her mother’s tomb), but you won’t encounter her until much later. You find a dilapidated cabin in the woods outside the mansion. Inside, the fireplace burns. Someone has clearly been here, and recently. But there’s no one around. You go out the back of the cabin and find a typewriter and an item box. Perhaps this is actually a safe spot, a place to relax and regain your composure? But then you go back inside the cabin – and you see her.

Lisa Trevor is a terrifying sight. Clothed only in a rotting hospital gown, she is bony and hunched over, clearly showcasing years of captivity and medical abuse. She shuffles rather than walks, howling with agony as she does so. She’s covered in hideous mutations: an enormous eyeball can be seen on her back, which is a typical trait of G-Virus infection, and tentacles sometimes flail from her face and body when she feels threatened – a sign of the Nemesis parasite doing its work. Crude wooden stocks permanently bind her wrists; her feet are manacled, broken chains clanking. Most distressingly, her face is hidden behind a mask of baggy flesh, a patchwork cloak of withered human skin, some of which may have come from the Umbrella researchers she has killed over the years.

There’s no point trying to defeat Lisa Trevor. Her body has been rendered almost immortal by the many viruses to which she has been exposed. Gunfire has no effect on her whatsoever. Even anti-tank ammunition will only knock her down temporarily. Don’t even bother wasting bullets on her. The only option is to run. Run and avoid being horribly clobbered with her heavy shackles.

Lisa Trevor may want to kill you, but it is obvious that she has suffered a great deal – and continues to suffer. She has lived in torturous conditions for over 30 years. Having survived multiple strains of mutagenic viruses and even absorbed an experimental brain parasite into her body, Lisa’s humanity and grip on reality have all been shattered. But even today, she dimly believes she is still the harmless little girl she was before Umbrella began to experiment on her.

You encounter Lisa twice more in the game: once in the twisting tunnels beneath the estate, and again in the underground crypt where her mother was buried. When the player solves the puzzle of the crypt and opens the sarcophagus, the skeleton of Jessica Trevor is revealed. Lisa seems to recognise her and takes her mother’s skull from the coffin. Then, she willingly casts herself into the dark abyss beneath the crypt and is not seen again².

Lisa Trevor was conceived during the development of the original Resident Evil, but it wasn’t until the 2002 remake that she finally made her first appearance. In my opinion, she is one of the best additions to the game. She is living proof of how inhumane Umbrella’s experiments really are, and her story is among the most disturbing and horrifying in the whole franchise. She may be supernaturally strong and resilient, but she’s also helpless. And try as you might, you cannot kill her, even to free her from her own misery. Unlike her parents, the embrace of death was robbed of her. Immortality is her curse.

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1. George Trevor’s diary entries state that he found the tombstone with his name on it on November 31. However, November doesn’t have 31 days. This error can be chalked up to George Trevor’s deteriorated mental state. Presumably, this actually occurs on November 30, because the ‘Family Picture and Notes’ file lists George having been ‘Terminated’ on ‘Nov 30, 1967’. ↩︎
2. Canonically, Lisa Trevor survives this fall. In the on-rails shooter game, Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles, you (as Albert Wesker) encounter Lisa Trevor moments before the Spencer Mansion self-destructs. She is finally killed when the mansion explodes, ending her decades of unimaginable suffering. ↩︎