One thing I noticed was that Leon's parents were involved in organized crime, and were murdered as a result of that. There was a cop who looked after him and helped him, and I firmly believe that was the start of the idealized view of law enforcement that he held before reality set in after Racoon City.

I also think this incident was the birth of one of his defining characteristics as an adult, his driving need to save people, to help them. Being a small child forced to watch helplessly while his family was gunned down, wanting desperately to save them but being unable to, had to have been horrifying on so many levels. And then the police officer came in, offering comfort and kindness and probably some sense of safety, and so Leon grew up associating those positive things with what he later discovers is a deeply corrupt institution. He wanted to be that sense of comfort and safety for others who have been victimized, that light in the darkness. He still does; that part hasn't changed.

All of this is one reason why I really, really wish the remakes had included some interactions between Leon and Chief Irons, showing that moment of realization, the moment when his idealism began to crack. Leon's horror upon realizing he would have been working for a monster. Questioning himself, wondering how deep that rot in the system went, if it would eventually infect him too.

I do believe he has spent a lot of time asking himself these questions after Racoon City, after being forcibly recruited by the government. He's now a part of that system, after all. Doing its dirty work. A good little killer. A good little toy soldier.

He still clings to some of his ideals. He's doing this to help people. To protect them. Hell, he said yes to the "offer" to protect an innocent child that he had known for a day. His own safety doesn't matter to him as much, his own comfort, his own needs.

Leon S. Kennedy believes he is disposable. He's a weapon, a fighter, a killer, a protector. He hasn't died for his duty, not yet, but he sacrifices his life to it, every single day.

Destroying bioweapons, fighting against the corporate war machines that are sowing chaos and violence into the world, shielding the world as much as he can from the horrors he faces daily-- he tells himself that it must be worth it. Worth it to keep going. Worth it to keep fighting.

He saves somebody, sometimes. That's worth it. It's worth it.