😎A Possible Origin for Zeno.
It has been long enough since the release of Resident Evil Requiem for a good number of people to have played it and had their fill of debating its story. Now that the emotions and chatter have settled somewhat, we would like to put forward our take on Zeno's origins, because we genuinely believe the game actually left some subtle hints pointing in this direction.
☝️First, let us get this out of the way: it is highly unlikely that Zeno is a clone of Albert Wesker. His face is drastically different from what we saw in RE:4, and in the Japanese version, where voice casting is usually kept strictly consistent, he is not voiced by Jōji Nakata, who has been Wesker's voice for years without exception. Even if we allow for a redesign and a recast, neither Leon nor Sherry, both of whom know exactly who Albert Wesker is, ever recognize Zeno as Wesker. Not even the database they run his footage through to identify him flags Albert Wesker. So, visually and narratively, Zeno simply does not read as Wesker.
"But hold on," someone might say, "Gideon called him an imitation." And that person would be right! Zeno is an "imitation" of Wesker, but likely not for the reason one might think.
💅You see, the slicked-back hair, the sunglasses worn even indoors, and the way he uses his t-Virus-modified body in a particular manner, none of that has anything to do with DNA. What it does have to do with is learned skills and memory. In other words, somehow, Zeno acquired the traits and quirks that Wesker developed during his lifetime.
Next, one of his most defining traits is his marble-white hair, completely devoid of pigment. Even after treatment via Elpis, those colorless hairs remain intact, meaning they weren't some kind of viral mutation result. Why does that matter? Just file that away for now—we will come back to it.
🦠Last but not least, there are those pitch-black, bruise-like marks. Zeno is sick, and he is sick with the same illness that afflicts Leon, Sherry, and others who were in Raccoon City nearly three decades ago. That illness stems from a strain of the t-Virus developed by Dr. Birkin, which entered the systems of those involved in the incident and, after adapting to their antibodies over the years, evolved into an incurable infection.
But how is Zeno infected with the exact same virus? Was he in Raccoon City?
🏠With those three points in mind, we can recall the fact that Raccoon City also housed an orphanage. An orphanage where Spencer's synthetic children lived, children whose most notable feature was their marble-white, pigmentless hair. And the reason Lord Spencer was breeding these children? Experiments in memory transfer. He believed that, just as a mother fruit fly can pass on acquired traits to its offspring via molecules, a virus could somewhat similarly mediate the transfer of experience and memories between individuals.
Skill transfer, colorless hair, viral infection. That sounds awfully familiar and suspicious, does it not?
📸And here is the most intriguing part: in a group photo of Spencer with his children, among that sea of girls, we can spot exactly one boy, also with colorless hair, also wearing a black shirt, just like Zeno.
Few people know this, but the name Zeno comes from greek and means "belonging to Zeus." And in this story, Spencer is synonymous with Zeus, since he left Elpis for us.
A continuity polaroid from 'Aliens' (1986) showing one of the stunt performers in an Alien suit. Original design by H.R. Giger, partial redesign and effects by Stan Winston Studio.