The Growth of Chris Redfield

Chris Redfield is the batman of resident evil, and that’s why he’s my favorite. He’s smart, was in the Air Force, got kicked out for wanting things done his way, literally went out of his way to investigate and help humanity by himself for years. Started BSAA. Got YOKED after being defeated by weaker multiple times and makes saving people his priority. Dude is a renegade and even criticizes the new BSAA, helped Blue Umbrella by himself. Cant tell me he’s not batman

Chris has always been one of my favorites and I love his new angry and just another day in the office persona

The fact that Chris in RE 1 is just a baby version of his older self is so cute to me I love that you can tell who he is even if he changes a bit.

I feel like Chris is the main character of the whole franchise

Chris has been incredibly consistent probably because the series seems to see him as the true protagonist of sorts. He was the first voice we ever hear narrate in the series and the first introduced in re1 1996’s intro Also I hear a lot of criticism levied at re6 Chris but tbh Chris’s darkness was hinted at in resident evil 5 when he was willing to let the world die to stay with Jill for another few moments, he cares for his friends that much. But what happens if you take everything from a man and he has a target with nothing left to lose?

The way I see it, Chris’s development comes in 3 phases. Re 1/Code Veronica Chris: Chris is still in his formative years during this time and has a bit of a rebellious edge to him that ended up in him getting kicked out of the Air Force. Despite this, he still is principled when it comes to protecting others, especially those he cares about. This no doubt stems from him and Claire losing both of their parents and Chris probably assuming an unofficial role as guardian of his younger sister. This combined with his training that led him to become a S.T.A.R.S operative was enough to help him overcome the odds he faced, yet he hadn’t fully matured or realized his full potential yet, as evidenced by Wesker bodying him in Code Veronica. Re 5/Revelations/6 Chris: Chris is basically in his prime during this time period. He’s gotten a lot stronger to the point of being a borderline super soldier. This time period is also where Chris’s greatest feats are shown, punching the boulder is one thing, but this was also where Chris arguably fought the highest caliber of BOW’s or monsters. During this time he helped defeat Jack Norman and Haos, the latter of whom was considered a doomsday level threat. And of course he helped destroy Uroburos and Albert Wesker, who’s basically the strongest character in the entire RE universe. However, one thing to also note is that this is also the time where Chris faces what he feels to be his greatest failure, which is failing to protect those he cares for. In this time he goes on believing he lost Jill until he’s able to make up for that when he finds out she’s still alive and frees her from Wesker’s mind control. Then he actually loses his whole BSAA squad including Piers by the end. The loss of Piers also clearly left a permanent mark on Chris since Piers basically helped Chris overcome much of his trauma from seeing his team die, and Chris felt he could even pass the torch to Piers before he ended up dying as well. Re 7/8 Chris: Chris is in his grizzled veteran years during this time. Despite him maintaining much of his strength, he’s a lot more weary from his years of combat. His consistent desire to protect those he cares for has even led to him becoming a bit paranoid, which can be seen in how he mishandled dealing with Miranda and keeping Ethan in the dark out of the hope of keeping him, Mia, and Rose safe. The combined issues of dealing with the Connections as well as seeing the BSAA devolve into something similar to Umbrella also doesn’t help in reaffirming any idea Chris may have that he’s making any kind of positive difference with his efforts. A subtle detail is that Chris even picks up smoking as a habit during this time, something he hadn’t been portrayed doing since the first game. He’s hardened a lot in his older years but the tragedy he’s faced has made him regress a bit. Even to the point where his pathologies get in the way of him fulfilling his desire to protect people. Like how despite all his efforts to keep Ethan out of the way, his actions played a part in what led to Ethan dying, even if Rose and Mia ended up getting saved. Chris probably has the best character arc in the entire series. It’ll be interesting to see how it concludes whether it’ll happen in RE 9 or some other title since canonically he has to be pushing 60 years old by this point.

An interesting thing to note is that in the Japanese version of Village, instead of “boulder-punching asshole”, Heisenberg refers to Chris as a gorilla! Which was the affectionate term for Chris from around 5 onwards by the Japanese fanbase (in no small part due to his enhanced physique)! I love how in both languages it’s still a loving nod to the fandom!!

Speaking of consistency, I find it interesting how Leon's most popular incarnation, his OG RE4 self, seems to be the odd one out among his character portrayals. I'd argue RE4 Remake Leon is more consistent to how he is portrayed in RE6 and beyond. Tired, wary, with a biting humor that feels more like a coping mechanism than the cool and casual wit OG RE4 Leon exuded. As iconic as that version of Leon is, when compared alongside all his portrayals, OG RE4 Leon feels like another person. He feels more like Dante than Leon.

Chris Redfield is the Captain America of RE. Despite his own moments of weakness, he’s the one who continues the fight against bioterrorism, and the one even characters like Jill and Leon would rally behind.

in order, we have: Vanilla Chris Hurt Chris Swole Chris The refreshing taste of Chris Lite Punished Chris.

I was lucky enough to meet Chris's RE 5 VA Roger Craig Smith, dude is incredibly wholesome.

I know it's naive for me to want it, but damn I really want them to get Roger Craig Smith back as Chris for RE5 Remake. He really is (at least in my eyes) the definitive Chris Redfield. None of the voice actors that played him after have managed to surpass him.

Chris went from hard MF to harder MF to hardest MF to just plain tired of Umbrella's shit 💀

Chris Redfield is the Resident of Good

Chris Redfield is the Guts of Resident Evil, with Albert Wesker being Griffith and Jill being Casca.

I always thought of Chris as the main protagonist of the resident evil lore. He has the most interactions with BBEGs, most appearances, even features as the focus for the cover of the first game; re2 and 3 were expanding what happened in Raccoon City, re4 was about Leon's future, then back to the main action. Think like these are stepping stones explaining why these people ended up as they do, but Chris saved Jill, Chris was the one that had to lose people he swore to protect more times than he would ever admit and that flaw, that's what drives him, and that growth is why he is the de-facto protag of this series

Chris Redfield is true HERO is resident evil. The complexity that he has as a character is incredible.

I'm really happy to see I'm not the only one who sees that Chris is actually really consistent from game to game, but that his physical evolution makes sense. He feels like a character who is ageing and getting buffer/more experienced. You explained perfectly how Chris is actually super consistent in character too! Two examples I like to give is how in RE8 they showed Chris smoking which is a cool nod to RE1, and also his tendency to disagree with the hierarchy (back when he was in the air force, and now with the BSAA). You are addressing some really interesting subjects and I think this has some great potential for your channel. I hope we get to see more RE videos soon!

RE6 Chris was the perfect turn around for this character , it was at a point where he was in between his two different personalities his super do good by everyone and for everyone personality from 5-1 and his new angry jaded and everything being more personal personality in 9 . You gotta understand that out of all RE characters Chris had probably lost the most . And has experienced the worst . From losing multiple conflicts to wesker to losing Jill to losing his squad and Finn to losing his memory and then his major turn around when he lost Piers . And I think him being angry after years of fighting the good fight just for nothing to change just makes sense .

My favourite version of Chris is definitely the RE5 version. I mean, it's arguably the turning point of his life, and you could definitely see how the experiences he had in 5 also shaped him up to become what he is now. A renegade stricken with grief over the loss of his comrades. If anyone of you haven't played it, then I would very highly recommend checking out the RE5 DLC "Lost in Nightmares". It's one of the best DLCs in the series.