The Oldest Resident Evil Characters (& Their Ages)

Summary

• Legacy characters like Chris Redfield and Leon Kennedy still have active roles in the franchise despite their aging.
• Characters like Ethan Winters make unique protagonists with family ties, offering a fresh perspective on the series.
• Villains like Albert Wesker met their demise in dramatic ways, adding depth to the narrative and character development.

The Resident Evil franchise has spanned multiple entries into the franchise, and multiple decades, showing the development of certain characters. Not only their personalities but also their ages transform, as legacy characters always have a way of returning. Characters such as Leon Kennedy and Chris Redfield show no sign of retiring anytime soon, even if they may be getting a little too old to be back-flipping and punching boulders.

As such, for these repeat Resident Evil characters, their most recent appearance in the franchise will be used as an example, as most first appeared as fresh-faced young adults looking forward to a bright future. While fans might not know what the future might hold for these characters, they can only hope it is not their last time gracing this long-running gaming series.

10

Ethan Winters

Devoted Husband and Father, Ethan Serves as the Main Protagonist for 7 and Village

• First Appearance: Resident Evil 7
• Last Appearance: Resident Evil Village
• Age: 37

Ethan was a unique Resident Evil protagonist, as he had a family and wasn’t a soldier or had any formal military training. He first set off in RE7 on the trail of his missing wife, and in Village, he was searching for his infant daughter Rosemary. Ethan had to fight through all Four Lords and cult leader Mother Miranda in order to save her and then made the ultimate sacrifice to ensure her safety.

Though Ethan wasn’t as old as other characters at the time of his demise, he was still closer to 40 than he was 30, though who knows if the mold inside of him would have given him an extended lifespan, which could have made him one of the oldest characters in the game.

9

Ada Wong

The Secret Agent is Always Playing an Angle

• First Appearance: Resident Evil 2
• Last Appearance: Resident Evil 6
• Age: 39

Ada first appeared in RE2 as a mysterious agent with her own motives and angles which she kept closely guarded from Leon, the rookie cop she kept encountering during her time in Raccoon City. Though the two developed a close bond, Ada still operates mostly for herself first, always working an angle. She appears in RE4 in search of the amber, though still makes time to save Leon a few times.

She came back in Resident Evil 6 as a playable character, her campaign eventually leading her back to Leon, and the two teamed up one last time. Surprisingly, Ada is one of the oldest playable characters in the franchise, as her last appearance puts her at 39 years old. Ada was originally proposed to be a character in Village, and though this idea never made it through to the final product, she might appear in future entries in the series.

8

Derek Clifford Simmons

Derek Simmons Betrayed the President in Resident Evil 6

• First Appearance: Resident Evil 6
• Last Appearance: Resident Evil 6
• Age: 46

Resident Evil 6 brought back some franchise-famous characters such as Chris Redfield, Leon Kennedy, Ada Wing, and Sherry Birkin while introducing some new characters for them to partner with, and a new foe in the form of Derek Simmons.

He was an advisor to the President of the United States, which gave him the perfect position to betray the President and unleash a bio-terrorism attack on him after learning the President was going to present the truth behind the Raccoon City incident. Though a formidable opponent, he met his end when he went up against Leon and Helena at the ripe age of 46.

7

Chris Redfield

This Legacy Character Might Have the Most Appearances in the Franchise

• First Appearance: Resident Evil
• Last Appearance: Resident Evil Village
• Age: 48

One of the longest-running and most popular characters in the RE franchise is Chris, who first debuted in the series in the very first game alongside partner Jill Valentine. Since his first inception, Chris has gone through many changes, become even more jaded as the years went on, and graduated from S.T.A.R.S. to the BSAA, continuing his fight against Umbrella and bio-terrorism.

He appears as both an NPC and a playable character in Village, his section is definitely more action-packed. Despite pushing 50, his joints seem in fine form as he continues to fight against enemies at ease and lead the charge against any BOWs in his path. Many are hoping to see his return, but just how many years of service does Chris have left in him?

6

Albert Wesker

The Series Famous Villain Met His Demise in a Volcano

• First Appearance: Resident Evil
• Last Appearance: Resident Evil 5
• Age: 48

Though Wesker has long since departed from the Resident Evil franchise, he is still fondly recalled as the best, with his over-the-top villain monologuing in RE5 instantly landing him in the villain hall of fame. He wasn’t always an outright villain though, as he first worked as a double agent in S.T.A.R.S. alongside Jill and Chris in the first game. He decided to work against them for his own benefit.

He returned in the fifth game to face off against Chris and Sheva, with the goal of releasing Uroboros to the entire world. He puts up an almighty fight against the duo at the end of the game, aided by a brainwashed Jill, but ultimately meets his end in boiling hot lava, his life ending before he reaches half a century.

5

Marguerite Baker

The Baker Matriarch Had Power Over Insects

• First Appearance: Resident Evil 7
• Last Appearance: Resident Evil 7
• Age: 53

As a member of the Baker family, Marguerite ends up with the same unfortunate fate as her husband and son, turning into a mother from hell with hostile intentions for anyone she meets who also isn’t infected. She took pity on Eveline when she washed up close to their residence and was given a gift as thanks. These gifts gave her a gruesome affinity with insects, even able to birth them from her own body.

Like the other dangerous Bakers, she meets her end at the hands of Ethan as he struggles to survive and escape their residence alive, at the age of 53, making her older than almost all of the antagonists in the franchise.

4

Barry Burton

Barry was a Fond Friend and Trusted Ally to Jill

• First Appearance: Resident Evil
• Last Appearance: Resident Evil: Revelations 2
• Age: 53

Barry isn’t a character used as often as others, but he starred in the first game alongside Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine as another member of S.T.A.R.S., often appearing throughout Jill’s campaign and even saving her if players took the shotgun down from the wall without replacing it with the broken shotgun. Though he was blackmailed by Wesker into doing his bidding, Barry at heart was a good guy.

He reappeared in Revelations 2 as one of the playable characters, accompanied by Natalia while searching for his daughter Moira. During the events of the game, he was 51 years old, but by the time the epilogue occurred post-game, he had reached 53 years old, as two years had passed since.

3

Jack Baker

Jack Kept Returning Again and Again Throughout the Course of the Game

• First Appearance: Resident Evil 7
• Last Appearance: Resident Evil 7: End of Zoe
• Age: 55

The terrifying Jack Baker was one of the scariest parts of RE7, as no matter how many times Ethan put him down, Jack would keep coming back for more, bigger and badder than before. He was an ordinary man before the main events of the game who took Eveline in out of the goodness of his heart, only for Eveline to transform the entire family into monsters, all except Zoe.

As the father to young adult children, Jack is middle-aged, 55 to be exact, though he can still move fast and hit hard, as Ethan knows all too well. It is possible that the mold might have granted him slowed aging alongside incredible strength, but this is something players won’t ever find out now that Jack and his family have been successfully eradicated.

2

Joe Baker

The Forgotten Baker Brother Returns at the End of Zoe DLC

• First Appearance: Resident Evil 7
• Last Appearance: Resident Evil 7: End of Zoe
• Age: 58

Though the meat of Resident Evil 7’s storyline revolves around Ethan Baker searching for his presumably missing wife, and surviving the dangerous Baker family who have undergone horrific transformations from Eveline’s gifts. But there were multiple DLCs released for the game, with one being The End of Zoe.

Zoe meets an unfortunate fate even if Ethan injects her with the antidote, but all is not lost. Her Uncle Joe returns, and he is hellbent on punching his way through any and everything in his way in order to get his niece to safety. As the older brother to Jack, he is nearing his 60s but isn’t about to let that slow him down, as he proves he is still more than a match for all the molded. He and Chris would likely find much to bond over.

1

Alcina Dimitrescu (Resident Evil Village)

Though not the Main Antagonist of Village, Alcina was the Most Popular

• First Appearance: Resident Evil Village
• Last Appearance: Resident Evil Village
• Age: 107 (Infected at 44)

Village completely shook up the RE formula by having the virus infect and change its hosts in unseen ways. Rather than become tentacled and gross monstrosities, the infected become lycan-like creatures, or even vampires, injecting folklore horror into the zombie apocalypse series. Dimitrescu and her daughters are like a fresh take on the old Dracula tale, as they reside together in a castle, and feast on the blood of those who wander inside.

Alcina might just be one of the oldest characters in the franchise, as she was born back in the early 1900s, and infected with the Cadou parasite sometime in the 50s, when she was 44 years old, which is when she stopped aging. If the years that passed up until the events of Village are still taken into account, this would make her a total of 107 years old, which no other Resident Evil character could come close to topping.