ErebosBlue

I understand that the remake really wanted to emphasize the change that happens with Leon going into 2 and coming out of it. which was present in the original, but less so and at times much more subtle.

so, I understand why the Remake put a spotlight on Leon trusting Ada. he trusted her in the original and that's a natural spot to add nativity. and largely those two have the same impacts on each other in both the original and the remake.

however, the Remake's scene with Ben is just... an odd choice to me.

in just the original game, no outside sources or adaptations, Leon shows zero opinion on Irons. when Ben calls Irons scum Leon doesn't say anything positive or negative. the only way you can see Irons physically as Leon in the original, that I can think of, is backtracking through a part of the sewers Claire goes through to see Irons' dead body. (Leon B exclusive.)

but there are plenty of files scattered throughout the game that paint a picture of him being a Bad Guy. so if Leon has been finding everything the player has, then yeah he probably already knows Irons is, at the very least, not someone to trust. so yeah Leon doesn't say anything verbally, but no he's probably not surprised to read the emails he gets once Ben dies. so he's not gonna say that Irons "probably had a good reason" after reading his diary which I'm pretty sure you can read before meeting Ben. (I really need to playthrough RE2 again, my one playthrough was not enough.) even if you can't read the diary, there's definitely signs before then that would give someone at least a little suspicion even if it's not as blunt.

this isn't to say that Leon is all chill with Ben, he's actually more aggressive in the original lol. but more in a "you're not listening to me, get the fuck out of the cell or at least tell us what the fuck is happening" kinda way. he does try to help Ben when he's bleeding out, though there's not saving that.

I would say Leon's main problem with Ben (and everyone tbh) in the original is just the gatekeeping of information. which is present in the remake to be fair! but OG RE2 Leon is also much more insistent about Ben leaving with him, as it's the only way Ben would make it out alive. but Ben doesn't want to because there's "bigger things than zombies" roaming around. which is fine dialogue for the A route, but in the canon B route Leon's literally already seen Mr. X. (though also it's Birkin that kills Ben in the original, not the tyrant, which Leon sees for the first time right after Ben's death.)

it's just... odd to me that they would make RE2R Leon so set on the law? even in the apocalypse? when OG RE2 Leon points out he's the only officer alive in the building, implying the choice about prisoners then falls to him.

the choice doesn't focus on the change in his character because it's always been the other way around. where Leon would do whatever he thought was right, but with his position with the government he has to learn how to balance doing what he believes is right and following orders. that's like... a key contrast between him and Chris as characters.

Chris has never had to re-evaluate doing what he believes is right, regardless of orders or laws or anything whereas Leon was forced to grapple with that almost immediately after RE2. we've hardly, if ever, seen a Leon that feels free. because in RE2 he was also constantly blindsided with information and wasn't able to fully make informed decisions.

there are plenty of files scattered throughout the game that paint a picture of him being a Bad Guy. so if Leon has been finding everything the player has, then yeah he probably already knows Irons is, at the very least, not someone to trust.

Now these files exist, but crucially Leon does not get to read them. Claire does! The emails from Birkin, proof of Irons' corruption, are at the Chief's desk in his office - behind the Heart key, which Claire gets but Leon doesn't. The same goes for the Taxidermy Log. And, of course, only Claire enters the orphanage, where you find all the evidence that he was deeply involved in Umbrella's experiments on children.

In Leon's section, however, the only documents related to Chief Irons are neutral to positive: the letter he received welcoming him to the force, some scattered newspaper reports praising the Chief's charity work, and a plaque honouring his "Outstanding Dedication, Commitment and Service" to the community.

(In the West Storage Room on 3F, outside the cage with the plastic explosives on the door, you find "Some Guy's Scribblings", the ravings of a maniac planning the murder of several police officers, and on your second playthrough there are enough clues to deduce that Irons wrote it... but Leon probably would not have made the leap.)

Backtrack a bit. Leon gets to the RPD and finds everybody dead except for Marvin Branagh, the Lieutenant he would have worked under. It must have been such a relief to find someone else to shoulder the burden and tell him what to do. By the time he opens the escape passage, though, Marvin is dying and forces Leon to leave him behind.

So when Leon gets to the cells, he finds this one man who is suddenly telling him that his boss is alive (yay!) but also is a corrupt bastard (!) who locked Ben up (?!). With no other supporting evidence, who should he believe - the well-respected and beloved authority figure, or some rando in a jail cell? Let him wait there - it's not like the zombies can get through the bars - and I can sort this out by talking to my boss, who will surely give me an honest answer :)

With a little time to talk and think it over, it's possible Leon might have been convinced. Unfortunately they have all of one minute (I timed it!) before Mr X puts an abrupt end to negotiations.

Leon obviously made the wrong decision, but it's also strong, consistent characterisation. The game does a pretty good job of establishing Leon's trust in authority: his responses to Marvin (even when leaving, he says "I won't let you down" like he's been given a mission), taking Ada at her word after she flashes her FBI badge... he wants someone else in charge. Someone wrote a really good essay about that, I've been meaning to reblog/respond to it.

Over the course of RE2r, he's rapidly confronted with the death, sometimes literal, of all his authority figures: Marvin (dead), Irons (a corrupt monster), Ada (lied from the start). The law means nothing, because his country's military wanted to buy bioweapons from William Birkin. And to put the final cherry on the shit cake, he's detained by the US government, which just bombed RC to hide the evidence, and which presses him into service by threatening the life of a little girl*.

*assuming that the Remakes keep this part of the OG canon

Leon in RE2r is a good person, but far from perfect... which is much more interesting to me than if Leon was initially a maverick. He followed orders in the sincere belief that Lawful meant Good: now he's trapped within a system he knows to be corrupt, trying to do good regardless.

Is there any wonder he changed so much in RE4r? ≖`_´≖

I don’t think they should’ve done that.

I understand that RE2R Leon was not given the information OG RE2 Leon was and I think that was a poor choice, in my opinion.

I think RE2R focused on the wrong aspects of Leon’s naivety. focusing on appeals to authority instead of how Leon puts someone’s status as a human above anything else.

even if Leon at this point thinks the law is right and just, I personally cannot see him ignoring someone’s desperate pleas for him just because they are in a cell. going into the city under the pretense of helping, of then deciding to help whoever is alive, and then not immediately jumping to help said person who is alive, is also a contradiction of characterization.

obviously characters can make bad choices that don’t necessarily align with their morals, but they did not have to set up the scene that way.

and yes I’m aware the scene is extremely short in the remake and I also disagree with that choice. I don’t think they should’ve made it so short just for the shock value. it is shocking, especially as someone who played the original first, but I can’t help but think of how more impactful it could’ve been with the original.

because OG RE2 Leon wanted to help Ben. he wanted to see someone make it out. and having to leave, knowing Ben’s not safe, but having to continue on anyway would be a tough emotional decision only made worse when he returns to the cells and Ben is well beyond saving, no matter how much Leon wants to try and stop the bleeding.

I understand that RE2make changed the scene to focus on what they thought was more important to establish to Leon’s character, but I disagree. changing Leon to trust Irons, which in my opinion has no real pay out considering they don’t interact, just to focus on establishing this Leon as lawful is a misstep for me personally.

and I understand they were trying to go for realism with having Irons be two faced with a public facing persona and be an awful person in reality. I don’t think OG RE2’s almost comically evil Irons is that unrealistic, but I do understand the idea behind the change.

I’m not even saying the new setup for the scene with Ben is inherently bad, but I do think it’s flawed and I wish they took more elements from the original.

I think we fundamentally disagree with how Leon viewed being a cop and that’s fine.

but yes I should’ve made it more clear in the post that I am going over the events in game from the original in detail because I know a lot of people haven’t played it (fair enough) and saying from an out of world perspective that I do not think capcom should’ve made as many changes to that scene as they did.

I think there were more important aspects of Leon’s character to focus on and I think it goes against the fundamental change that happened with Leon after being picked up by the government. because things pre RE2R tell me that Leon is not lawful by nature, but that he is forced to be by said government. which is why I bring up Chris in the post. because he and Leon are foils in that way which has been actively talked about in interviews. I’m not going to focus too heavily on this but I will put this here:

I’m not saying the remakes are bad, I think RE4make in general handled Leon’s transition from wannabe cop to forced government agent better than OG RE4 did in a lot of ways, but I am saying that capcom is actively choosing what scenes to change and how and the change with Ben is one that does lower my personal enjoyment of RE2make.

RE2R Leon is not my favorite in terms of characterization, but it’s fine if that’s just something we disagree on. his character has obviously had a lot of years to grow and change. it’s not like I think OG RE2 is perfect, I think RE2R Ada feels much more like a person and not just a plot device. (okay OG Ada is not just a plot device, that is an exaggeration, but her writing as a lot more obvious misogynistic overtones.)