(Capcom's primary storyline)
Alfred Ashford, 7th Earl Ashford, otherwise referred to as Lord Ashford, was the seventh head of the Ashford earldom, a prestigious European noble house. Alfred was the unintended consequence of his father Dr. Alexander Ashford, 6th Earl Ashford's research into genetic engineering, the goal of which to create his sister, Alexia. Publicly, they were his children, and thus grandchildren of Dr. Edward Ashford, 5th Earl Ashford, one of the founders of the Umbrella Corporation. He developed a reputation later in life as a brutal dictator.[3][excerpt 1]
Biography
Creation
Alfred was born in 1971 along with his twin sister, Alexia.[1] Both were the result of their father Alexander's genetic experiments, which used the preserved DNA of the ancient Ashford matriarch, Veronica Ashford, 1st Countess Ashford and a modified version of a gene influencing human intelligence in the hopes of creating an heir capable of restoring the once-glorious name of the Ashford family. While Alexia displayed genius-level intelligence, exactly as Alexander had desired, Alfred demonstrated above-average intelligence, though not exceptional.[1] Both children were raised in the first years of their lives in the lavish surroundings of their family manor, between classes unsuitable for children so young, and Alfred grew idolizing Alexia and scorning the rest of the world.
Assisting The Queen
Wandering off around the Antarctic Base's underground mansion at the tender age of ten, he found a secret hall that was to be opened with three family gems that rested within the Ashford family tree: one he kept himself, another was in his sister Alexia's hands, and the final one was in the grasp of his father.[4] Reasoning that something extremely valuable was to be found, he found a way to secure his father's gem, and eventually, wielding all three gems, he opened the secret corridor, finding undeniable evidence of the truth behind his and his sister's birth.[4] Growing insane because of this revelation, he aided his sister in abducting their father and injecting him with the initial strains of the t-Veronica virus, causing Alexander to mutate into the corrupted abomination known as Nosferatu.
Realizing the mistakes Alexia had committed during the experiments, the twins had a secret room added to hold their father. Eventually, Alexia found out how to properly control the viral corruption, but the process involved fifteen years in cryo-stasis. Seeing no other choice to complete her mad dream of goddesshood but to go ahead, she had Alfred seal her in the desired stasis in the underground section of the Antarctic laboratory and feign her death.[4]
Nurturing the Insanity
Without his sister, and left the sole-remaining member of the Ashford dynasty, Alfred's mental stability deteriorated over the years. He became embittered, sadistic, and psychotic, though this did not stop him from journeying to England to graduate from a respectable university in 1993.[5][excerpt 2] It was in 1994 during the overseeing of the construction of his private residence and the prison camp that his psychological trauma from Alexia's departure became clear - his mind shattered, Alfred had formed a second persona.[6][excerpt 3]
In his private time, he retreated into the Alexia persona, living in the private residence built for her and having "conversations" with the Alfred persona. The private residence was so important to him and Alexia's relationship that he had everyone in the construction project eliminated to prevent knowledge of the mansion spreading.[7][8][excerpt 4]"Alexia" wore womanly clothes, being mistaken by Alfred's new secretary, Robert Dawson, for the practically-mythical woman. Alfred's reaction to hearing that someone knew about Alexia was particularly negative.[9]
In his public life, Alfred ran the prison camp as its Commandant, where his increasingly distorted mind became "involved".[6][excerpt 5] Eventually, he would use the camp for great sadism and cruelty, using it as punishment for Robert Dawson, as well as enforcing executions and bizarre forms of torture.[8] Alfred did not act on impulses directly, however, instead using the prison camp's schizophrenic anatomist to perform ritualistic torture on his and the company's enemies, providing him with drugs to use.[10]
1998
The true breakdown started when Rockfort Island was attacked shortly after Claire Redfield was transferred. Relating the two facts, he considered them to be effect and cause. Because of this, clad in his military-style uniform, and wielding a sniper rifle, he attempted to hunt her and Steve Burnside down. This madness came to a climax when, in his Alexia state, he attempted to kill the duo in the twins' old playroom where he caught sight of his reflection in a mirror without his wig, smeared in make-up, and came to the realization the Alexia he had known from after the cryo-stasis was nothing more than a schizophrenic delusion of his own mind. Irrationally blaming Claire and Steve, he continued to attack them, both by releasing an experimental Tyrant to kill them, and by redirecting their escape plane to the Umbrella Corporation Antarctic Labs. There, he once again tried to snipe the two down, but received a fatal wound from Steve, who was merely retaliating in self-defense. He then was thrown down the long elevator shaft and ended in the cryostatic chamber where his sister lay in cryogenic sleep. He was once again reunited with his sister before he died in his sister's arms. Alfred's body was later discovered by Chris Redfield in the cryostatic chamber.
Family tree of the Ashford dynasty
| Unknown parent | Veronica | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Stanley | Alexia (modified clone) | Alfred (modified clone) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Thomas | Arthur | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Edward | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Alexander | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Further Notes
- In an early version of the story, his original name was Hilbert Krueger.[11]
- When cross-dressing in Code: Veronica, Alfred simply reuses his sister's model, minus her choker; in Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles, Alfred dons a unique model when dressing as his sister, featuring masculine features and the addition of a corset to give his body a feminine look.
- During the events in CODE: Veronica, Alfred's voice changed into a feminine voice after he dresses as his twin sister until he changes to his normal voice after he is mortally wounded by Steve. His voice is still voiced by a male voice actor.
- In The Darkside Chronicles, he gains a brown half-breast plated armor as part of his updated primary outfit.
- In The Darkside Chronicles, Alexia strangled him to death with Veronica tentacles, in sharp contrast to CODE: Veronica, in which he died in her arms. Her only remark on this fratricide was an off-handed comment that "he wasn't much fun; he couldn't even wake me up on time!"
- In addition, largely to preserve the twist that he was cross-dressing as Alexia in his split personality of her, he also invented the person Tanya, for an excuse to who he was trying to recover in the cryogenic stasis.
Gallery
Bibliography
- Koichi Hamamura, ed (2001) (in Japanese). BIOHAZARD CODE:Veronica Kanzenban Kaitai Shinsho. Famitsu. ISBN 4-7577-0422-4.
- Sumner, Christian; Shotten, Brian; Owen, Michael, eds (9 November 2005). Resident Evil Archives: Umbrella's Virus Uncovered. Translated by Zpang America, Inc.. BradyGames. ISBN 0744006554.
Sources
- excerpts
- ↑ Excerpt from official website:
"Brutal Dictator" (残忍な独裁者。 Zan'nin'na dokusai-sha.) - ↑ Excerpt from BIOHAZARD CODE: Veronica Kanzenan Kaitaishinsho, page 220:
"1993: "Alfred graduated from an English university." (アルフレッド、 イギリスの大学を卒業。 アルフレッド、 イギリスの大学を卒業。) - ↑ Excerpt from BIOHAZARD CODE: Veronica KANZENBAN KAITAISHINSHO, page 220:
私邸の建設は、このときすでにアルフレッドが、 別人格を形成するまでに病んでいたことを裏付けるものだ。 (Shitei no kensetsu wa, kono toki sudeni Arufureddo ga, betsu jinkaku o keisei suru made ni yande ita koto o uradzukeru monoda.) - ↑ Excerpt from BIOHAZARD CODE: Veronica Kanzenban Kaitai Shinsho, page 10:
"ロックフォート島に置かれたアンブレラ基地の若き司令官｡由緒正しき貴族であるアシュフォード家の直系で､ 父が謎の失踪をとげたのを受け､ まだ少年のときに同家の七化目当主の座に着いた｡祖父はアンブレラ社設立メンバ一として輝かしい功績を残したが､ 父の代で家は没落｡アンブレラの一将校として辺境の地に追いやられることになった｡自分の生まれを過度に誇るあまり､ この現状に不満を抱､ アシュフォード家にかつての栄光を取りもどさんと並々ならぬ意欲を燃やしている｡ 容姿こそ端正だが､ 言動の端々からわかるとおり精神的に破綻したところがあり､ その不安定な心はしばしば囚人への残虐行為といった形で表面化している｡ 一方でアレクシアという名の双子の妹を溺愛し､ 基地から離れた高台の私邸にて彼女とふたりきりで暮らしているというが､ 彼らの私生活を知る者はいない｡" - ↑ Excerpt from BIOHAZARD CODE: Veronica KANZENBAN KAITAISHINSHO, page 220:
また、同時期に進められた刑務所建設にも、 彼の私情がからんでいる。 (また、同時期に進められた刑務所建設にも、 彼の私情がからんでいる。)
- references
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Capcom Production Studio 4. Resident Evil CODE:Veronica. (Capom Co., Ltd.). File: Veronica Report.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Capcom
- ↑ バイオハザード / ダークサイド・クロニクルズ 公式サイト (Japanese). Capcom Co., Ltd.. Retrieved on 2013-09-05.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Resident Evil CODE:Veronica (2000, file: "Alfred's Diary".
- ↑ (in Japanese) BIOHAZARD CODE: Veronica Kanzenban Kaitai Shinsho. Enterbrain. p. 220.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 BIOHAZARD CODE: Veronica KANZENBAN KAITAISHINSHO, page 220
- ↑ Resident Evil CODE:Veronica, "Secret Passage Note"
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 (in Japanese) BIOHAZARD CODE: Veronica Kanzenban Kaitai Shinsho. Enterbrain. p. 10.
- ↑ Resident Evil CODE:Veronica, "Secretary's Note"
- ↑ Resident Evil CODE:Veronica, "Anatomist's Note"
- ↑ Sumner, Shotten, Owen (eds). Archives. p.226
