Get To Know Resident Evil Revelations 2's Claire And Moira

The Resident Evil franchise has a lot of well-known characters, many of which have remained mainstays since the original PlayStation era. Jill, Chris, and Leon have been in steady rotation for decades, successfully hanging on for the series' leap to full 3D third-person shooters. Resident Evil left behind one determined lady, Claire Redfield, until now. She finally returns to the main storyline in Revelations 2 (check out our cover story here) alongside the tenacious daughter of S.T.A.R.S. team member Barry Burton - Moira. For those not entirely familiar with Revelations 2's leading women, this is a great place to start.

Claire Redfield

Tragedy oftentimes brings family together, and in this case, the Raccoon City T-virus outbreak nearly reunited the Redfield family. Claire enters the storyline after becoming concerned for her brother, Chris, who survived the infamous Mansion Incident in 1998. She hopped on her motorcycle and drove off to the rural Colorado town, but Chris was nowhere to be seen. What she did find was a full-blown undead infestation in Raccoon City. The young woman teamed up with fellow survivor Leon S. Kennedy, a rookie cop with an unfortunate first day on the job, and the two sought safety in the Raccoon Police Department building.

Claire encounters a young girl named Sherry Birkin amidst the chaos in Raccoon City. It turns out the little girl is the daughter of Umbrella scientist William Birkin, the man who is responsible for synthesizing the terrible zombie viruses. Claire settles quickly into the big sister role and protects Sherry throughout the story, which leads from the RPD building to an underground Umbrella laboratory. The two meet up with Leon just in time to obliterate the facility with a self-destruct sequence and flee to the safety of the city limits. Just before RE2's credits role, Claire vows to go find her brother.

Hardened by her experience in Raccoon City, Claire infiltrates a European Umbrella facility later in 1998 while on the hunt for her brother. The mission at the beginning of RE: Code Veronica goes south and Claire is captured. Umbrella ships her off to an Umbrella Training facility on Rockfort Island. In keeping with series tradition, Claires wakes up in her prison cell just as a full-blown viral outbreak rocks the island. During her escape, she joins up with fellow survivor and Umbrella prisoner, Steve Burnside. The two manage to leave the island via airplane, only to go into another Umbrella facility in Antarctica. The duo fights their way through the abominations, until fate forces them to part ways. Claire eventually reunites with her brother and the two work together to take down the Alfred and Alexia Ashford - Umbrella royalty with demented experiments of their own. After another classic self-destruct system escape, the siblings escape on a jet to fight and live to fight bio-terrorism another day.

The fight picks up for Chris in RE 5 and the first Revelations game, but Claire has been MIA in the main series games since Code Veronica. However, Claire does reunite with Leon in the C.G. film Resident Evil Degeneration, where we discover she's joined an anti-bio terrorism group called Terra Save. Capcom continues her playable story in Revelations 2, where she mysteriously wakes up in a prison cell, similar to her start in Code Veronica. Details about what happened between Code Veronica and Revelations 2 are scant, but it's suggested she was aboard a ship before being kidnapped and shipped off to a prison-turned-torture facility. Now a tough-as-nails survivor of multiple biohazardous incidents must work with a new Terra Save recruit, Moira Burton, as the two attempt to escape island and find some answers.

Moira Burton

To fully tell the origins of Moira, we need to begin with S.T.A.R.S. team member Barry Burton. Barry was the second S.T.A.R.S. team to enter the Mansion in 1998, alongside Jill Valentine, Chris Redfield, and Albert Wesker. Sometime after the S.T.A.R.S. alpha team sought shelter in the mansion, Wesker blackmailed Burton into helping him with his secret, Umbrella-related objective. Wesker needed to pit the terrifying monsters - being designed for warfare - against weapons-trained operatives to obtain battle data. The only way Wesker could convince Barry to betray his longtime compatriots and friends was to threaten his loved ones. Ever the family man, Barry believed Wesker's lies that Umbrella was standing by to execute his family if he didn't comply. Barry eventually discovers that Wesker lied and his family is fine, and quickly runs to Jill and Chris's aid. One of the best endings in Resident Evil involves Jill, Chris, and Barry escaping the mansion before it explodes (via a self-destruct system, naturally).

However, Barry ends up dying in a worse ending. He leaves his dying wish with Jill and Chris, asking them to deliver a photograph to his family. On it, we see Barry, his wife, and two daughters. On the back is a note addressed to "Moira and Poly", which asks the girls to care for their mother and that he'll be watching them from heaven. Barry survives in RE's canonical ending, but this alternate conclusion emphasizes just how important family is to him and also names his daughters. Barry isn't seen again until the end of Resident Evil 3: Nemesis, in which he rescues Jill from Raccoon City via helicopter shortly before it gets nuked. We don't know exactly what happens to Barry and his family between this time and the beginning of Revelations 2, except that one of his daughters is motivated to join up with Claire Redfield - a friend of her father - and Terra Save.

Moira is a resilient young woman who handles her kidnapping with remarkable poise. Sure, she's prone to using some colorful language in moments of distress, but she has impressive resolve given her rookie status. She clearly looks up to Claire, and Revelations 2 is set up to develop their bond further. There are additional hints that Barry may be playable in the game, and while this is entirely speculation, with Capcom's focus on familial ties in this game, we could see Moira and Barry teaming up to bash some monsters (and possible a reunion for Chris and Claire).

Another interesting insight into Moira's past and character occurs when Claire offers her a shotgun for protection. Moira declines, telling Claire she "doesn't do guns". The two briefly discuss what sounds like a tragic personal incident involving a gun. Instead, Moira stuns enemies with a flashlight and finishes them off with a powerful crowbar blow. While this is more speculation, Moira's aversion to firearms could point to some family tragedy. Perhaps something involving her mother or sister, Poly? We'll have to wait to find out for sure, but the opportunity to learn more about fan-favorite Barry Burton's family in Revelations 2 is enticing.

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