Resident Evil 6 10th Anniversary Special Week - Day 1
Who is Helena Harper? Meet Our Heroine from Resident Evil 6!
Helena Harper is one of the protagonists of Resident Evil 6. Along with her now partner and franchise veteran, Leon S. Kennedy, she must destroy the cruel Derek C. Simmons, the national security advisor, and prove her innocence in relation to the incident in Tall Oaks.
Little is known about her past, her only known family member was her sister, Deborah Harper, who was kidnapped and infected with C-Virus by Simmons, which unfortunately resulted in her death. Helena is an agent of the American government.
As an agent, she is described as impulsive and emotional, but with strong moral convictions and sympathy for others. She almost became a DSO agent, but had her transfer suspended and was sent to work in the United States Secret Service, because of her CIA’s infractions.
Her first infraction as a CIA agent was to use full force against a murderer who was threatening his victim’s family. The second was shooting her sister’s ex-boyfriend for being abusive with her.
Knowing Helena's potential as an agent and knowing she had a sister, Derek Simmons saw in her an opportunity to put his plans and those of the bioterrorist organization "The Family" into action.
Helena was assigned to guard the President during an event at Ivy University in Tall Oaks. In this event, the president would reveal the truth about the government's involvement with the Raccoon City incident.
So Simmons kidnapped her and her sister. He forced her to open a breach in the president’s security, promising to return her sister. This breach was all he needed to accomplish a part of his plans: to prevent the president from telling the whole truth.
On the night of the incident, Helena used a radio to communicate with other agents on campus and falsely reported that a suspicious group had invaded the campus with the intention of killing the president.
Some agents left their posts and went looking for the group of suspects, it was the perfect breach in the president's security.
Helena could not live with the weight of guilt for everything that could happen and still be complicit, even against her will, of a sociopath like Simmons. She tried her best to keep Simmons from getting what he wanted, even if it meant putting her own sister’s life at risk.
She tried to warn and ask for help from the other agents who were on the Ivy University campus, but because of her history at the ClA, no one listened to her. The result? A tragedy of gigantic proportions!
Simmons got what he wanted and ended up infecting not only the president but the entire city of Tall Oaks, which resulted in the deaths of over 70,000 people. Helena tried on her own to save the president, but it was too late.
When she arrived at his office, she found him the way Simmons wanted, infected by the C-Virus. The president turned into a zombie and tried to kill her, but was killed by his longtime friend, Leon S. Kennedy, who was also in the office.
Later, on a video call, Simmons confronts and blames them for the president's death, putting them at the top of the suspect list. Now, Leon and Helena team up to destroy Simmons and make him pay for all the harm he has caused and could cause, as well as proving their innocence.
1 - Her only known family member was her sister, Deborah Harper, who was only 3 years younger than Helena;
2 - She was born in 1989, meaning during the events of the game, she is 24 years old, which implies her birthday is between January 1st and June 28th;
3 - Unlike other characters in the franchise, nothing is known about her parents, only that they were already dead when she became an adult, or about her motivations to become what she is today: an American government agent;
4 - Because of her infractions, she received the nickname "The CIA’s Problem Child" from her USSS colleagues;
5 - Leon describes her as a "bossy" person (in chapter 5), but a good agent (in the prelude);
6 - The first person infected that Helena actually killed with her own hands was college girl Liz, after she tried to attack her partner, Leon;
7 - She has 2 unique weapons, the 9mm Picador Pistol and the 3-shot Hydra Shotgun;
8 - Helena has an exclusive achievement in Resident Evil 6, the achievement "Stuntman". In it, the player must eliminate 20 enemies with the Hydra Shotgun using the Quick Shot action;
9 - There is a memo left by Deborah for Helena in the underground laboratory of Tall Oaks Cathedral. In it, Deborah asks Helena for forgiveness for not being a “good sister” and hopes she finds someone she loves. Helena never had access to this memo;
10 - Helena has 2 extra costumes in Mercenaries mode. The first being a R.P.D. Cop Costume (available in blue and green colors). And the second, a variation of her costume from China, but with the retro graphics, in the style of 1998.
Unfortunately, it is only possible to play with these costumes in the main campaign on the Nintendo Switch version;
11 - Helena Harper owns 1 official Hot Toy Action Figure produced by Square Enix's Play Art, just like the other protagonists of Resident Evil 6;
12 - Helena has already met 3 of the 5 classic Resident Evil protagonists, in only 1 game. The only protagonists she hasn’t met so far are Claire Redfield and Jill Valentine.