trivard676Fighting alongside Chris Redfield in Resident Evil 5 is Bioterrorism Security Assessment Alliance operative Sheva Alomar. For whatever reason, there’s a lot of unjust hate for Sheva – primarily for…well, we’re really not going to pretend we know why there’s so much hate for Sheva. Whatever the reason for it though, it’s a shame – her character background lets her stand out as a powerful character. It’s just too bad that her character wasn’t allowed to prosper. There’s a lot of backstory that never came to light in Resident Evil 5, unless you wanted to read through pages of text, which isn’t exactly what we play games for.
Option: Press X to shoot, press Circle to read 15 pages of text
Even though she is young, Sheva’s life has been full of turmoil. At the age of 8, an accident shattered her already impoverished yet peaceful life. As sirens pierced the air, an ominous plume of black smoke poured out of a nearby factory where her parents both worked. When she attempted to enter the factory, she was blocked by men in biohazard suits. Only later would she come to discover that the men in the suits worked for Umbrella.
Any of the adults of Sheva’s village who were not killed in the factory explosion were executed by the gunmen in biohazard suits. Fearing the worst but hoping for the best, Sheva waited all night in her home, waiting for her parents to return.
They never did.
Grief-stricken and on the verge of starvation, while living with her impoverished uncle’s family, Sheva convinced herself that her parents were still alive. Much like Chris’ belief that Jill was still alive, these thoughts consumed her until she could take no more and ‘had’ to know the truth. She ran away from her uncle’s home, but on the second night collapsed in the savannah.
Overnight, amidst the cacophony of noises, a man came across the small girl and picked her up. He provided Sheva with food and water, but also with unfortunate news of her parents and who was behind the event, which was no accident at all.
From this point forward, all of the hope of her parents’ survival was replaced with rage towards those responsible for their deaths. The man who had picked her up was part of a guerilla organization, which Sheva joined, doing menial tasks, laundy, cooking meals and taking care of others. After a few years, she was given a gun and taught how to use it.
On one specific occasion, while in town purchasing supplies for the group, she was approached by a man who requested her help. The man explained that Umbrella was going to provide the guerillas with bio-weapons for which they planned to overthrow the local government. Sheva initially suspected that the message was a trap, however due to the man’s accent, of all things, she grew to think differently.
For her cooperation in apprehending the conspirators, at age 15, Sheva was relocated to the United States. Due to her high intelligence and strong drive, she excelled in learning the English language and in her studies from her university. After graduation, the man who had originally requested her help, who had become her legal guardian, suggest she join the newly formed BSAA.
After she completed her basic training, she was assigned to a squad led by Josh Stone. She trained with his unit for 8 months before being handpicked to become a BSAA agent, taking part in operations throughout the world.
At the age of 23, she is assigned to Chris Redfield to aid in his operation in Kijuju. The pair first track down Ricardo Irving, a weapons dealer, who manages to escape their grasp at first, but leaves behind important files tying Irving to Jill Valentine, Chris’ old partner.
Chris confides to Sheva that Jill Valentine was killed while on an operation to arrest Umbrella founder Ozwell E. Spencer – once Sheva learns of Umbrella’s involvement in the whole affair, her resolve to fight with Chris til the end becomes only stronger. Even when Chris directly disobeys an order to fall back, Sheva stands by him.
The two agents make their way to an abandoned research facility, formerly used by the Umbrella Corporation. Working their way through, they discover the pod that Jill was seen to have been stored in in the photographs left behind by Irving, is empty. Believing Jill to be alive now more than ever, the two of them press on – even after being threatened by Excella Gionne, head of pharmaceutical company Tricell’s African Division.
Sheva is outraged to learn that Tricell is connected to Umbrella and part of the horrible experiments performed at the underground facility, and the factory where her parents died. The two BSAA agents track down Excella to some underground ruins where they face off against Albert Wesker, and a mysterious cloaked woman who had previously helped Ricardo Irving give them the slip earlier. Wesker reveals this person to be none other than Jill Valentine, being controlled by some sort of device on her chest.
After Sheva and Chris free Jill of her mind-control restraints, they head off after Wesker, defeating Excella in the process. Their journey leads them, of all places, to the centre of a volcano, where the final battle between Chris, Wesker and Sheva ensues.
Once the battle is over (you know how it ended…right?) as they make their escape in a helicopter, Jill, Chris and Sheva praise their success – the long journey is finally over.
OR IS IT?
Yeah, it probably is. Resident Evil has a history of using sidekicks once, and then moving on.
