Alexia Ashford
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Alexia Ashford is a fictional character and the main antagonist in the video game, . Along with her younger twin brother, Alfred, she is the granddaughter of Edward Ashford, one of the founders of the Umbrella Corporation and the creator of the T-Veronica virus herself.
Background
Alexia and Alfred were born in 1971 as offspring of Alexander Ashford's (the sixth generation headmaster of the Ashford clan) "Code: Veronica" project, an attempt to clone Veronica Ashford (the first matriarch of the Ashfords and worshipped by her descendants) by implanting her genes into an artificially inseminated ovum. Of the two, Alexia possessed superb intelligence and was considered to be a genius at a young age, in constrast to Alfred, who only had moderately high intelligence. As a result, Alexia had a very dominant relationship with her twin brother and treated him as a mere servant. She attended a prestigious university at a young age and by the time she was 10 (in 1981), she had already graduated valedictorian.Afterwards, she was hired by the Umbrella Corporation and appointed as head researcher of their Antarctic Facility. This earned the jealousy of William Birkin, the head researcher of the Arklay Research Facility, who was the youngest researcher employed by Umbrella until the arrival of Alexia and considered her to be his greatest rival. Within the facility, she developed the T-Veronica after her research on the behavioural pattern of ant queens and their servants, as well as her research on the T-Virus.
She had no suitable test subject to experiment with after completing the virus, so she decided to use her father as guinea pig for the experiment in 1983. However, Alexander was mutated into a mindless creature and the experiment was considered a failure. Alexia learned that in order for a host to form a symbiotic relationship with the T-Veronica, the host must be kept in cryogenic sleep for at least 15 years. And thus, Alexia implanted herself with T-Veronica and decided to remain asleep in a cryogenic chamber in the Antarctic Facility, while her brother, Alfred, watched out for her. During her sleep, Alfred developed a second personality after suffering a withdrawal syndrome from her absence.
During Albert Wesker's raid of Rockfort Island, prisoners Claire Redfield and Steve Burnside encountered a disguised Alfred posing as Alexia. However, it wasn't until their escape plane was taken to the Antarctic Facility (following preprogrammed instructions) and they confronted Alfred there, in which the real Alexia would appear. After Alfred was seriously injured from his confrontation with the pair, Alexia awoke from her cryogenic sleep in front of a dying Alfred and decided to go after Claire and Steve, who were trying to escape via a snowcat, by controlling a tentacle creature. During their captivity, she implanted the T-Veronica virus into Steve himself. Some time later, Claire's brother, Chris, went into the facility in search of her. Alexia fought against the reunited siblings, as well as Wesker himself (who was after Alexia for his employer). At this point, Alexia begins mutation from the T-Veronica strain in her body.
The T-Veronica Transformation
Alexia's mutation with the T-Veronica is comprised of three phases. In her first mutation, Alexia retains her humanoid shape, but her skin turns grey, with tentacles covering her hair and body. It is not known, however, whether her changes are consciously brought on or simply uncontrolled mutations. In each change, she is shown grinning maniacally. She gains the ability to make her blood turn into flames once it makes contact with oxygen, allowing her to throw walls of fire at her enemies. In addition, she has the ability to make her prey combust into flames with a mere touch of her hand. It was in this form that she bested Albert Wesker in a rather embarrassing "fight" possessing superior strength, agility and endurance, as well as a greater ability to regenerate.
Because of the influence of the Ant Queen DNA, Alexia can seemingly control any creature infected with a variant of the viruses featured in the series, possibly since they all share the same origins. This can be seen as she commands the giant plant-like tentacles throughout the Antarctic Facility and a giant spider B.O.W.
Alexia's second form, however, displays the signature T-Virus' (and its relatives') characteristic inability to adapt to significant amounts of damage, with Alexia's body undergoing radical physical transformation. Although she retains her impressive intellect, Alexia's body degenerates into the primary components used in the creation of the T-Veronica Virus, thereafter taking on the appearance and characteristics of a sort of twisted ant queen, complete with a giant lower abdomen producing partially-formed larvae.
In her third and final phase, she loses the oviduct, allowing her to fly freely into the air. Like in her first form, she attacks by spitting vomit that turns into flames and is invulnerable to all sorts of firearms, with the exception of a specialized anti-B.O.W. Linear Launcher, making her the second-most powerful B.O.W. created by Umbrella.
Chris fights against her first form within in a hall resembling the one from the Arklay Research Facility. He leaves for her dead, only to show up outside the control room of the facility. In this encounter, she transforms into her second and third phases before ultimately being destroyed by Chris.
Trivia
- Early in the game's development, Alexia's name was Hilda Krueger.
- Alexia's final form and destruction mimics her and Alfred's torture of the dragonfly, as shown in the filmstrip in Alfred's trophy room early in the game. Alexia refers to the mass of humanity as "ants" in her journal, and Chris must reassemble a dragonfly to form the key to the Antarctic facility's reactor room. Thus, the dragonfly regains its wings; Alexia's final form resembles a dragonfly; and Alexia is slain by Chris, an "ant."
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