#olive boy

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So with the trailer being dropped the way it was, one key thing a lot of people are talking about is the group of disembodied voices we hear during wide shots of the RPD/Raccoon City ruins. The three voices saying:

“Investigating all these strange deaths, huh?”

“We need to keep our voices down.”

“Have you seen the same shit I’ve seen?”

People have a lot of guesses as to who these voices are; Leon, Jill, Chris, Kevin, maybe even Alyssa herself being the female voice. Some (some in Discord servers I'm in, some right here on Tumblr) also think the third voice might be an older Carlos.

I, not only want this to be true, I think it’s a good move if it is true. It’s a good move, because it would be a really fresh perspective on trauma within RE from a side we’ve rarely–if ever–seen before. Something Capcom would want if they are going in this “new direction” they’ve mentioned before and haven’t stopped mentioning since RE7. Carlos has a VERY interesting vantage point when it comes to the roster of Raccoon City survivors. For full context, his OG backstory (which I’m putting onto remake’s Carlos as well as it makes a lot of sense, as I’ve gone on about in the past) is as follows: Carlos was a young guerrilla soldier in after a childhood of criminal behavior within his family and gang culture of the 1970s and 1980s. 

During his time as a child/very young soldier, he was captured with an execution sentence in his future. In the 1990s, Umbrella swooped in and saved his life, helping him change his name and appearance in the process (allegedly) before having him work for Umbrella’s Biohazard Countermeasure Service–U.B.C.S. for short. According to the Wiki for OG Carlos (which was gathered using in-game documents and outside material):

“During the 1990s, the Umbrella Corporation was expanding its paramilitary forces to contain the threat their bioweapons posed. Led by Col. Sergei Vladimir, it was to comprise of those with military and paramilitary training unwanted by their home nations, whether they were criminals or had been demobilized and saw no place in civilian life. Oliveira's capture piqued Umbrella's interests, and the government was bribed to secure his release as a UBCS mercenary.”

Since Capcom seems to be leaning heavily into remake canon nowadays, I’ll be doing the same and focusing on remake Carlos (but again, keeping this backstory since he doesn’t have one in the remake). Given Carlos’ remake personality, it’s possible that he found himself grateful for Umbrella’s thinly-veiled, double-edged selflessness in saving his life. He was given the chance to reinvent himself, as well as a new opportunity to use his abilities for a purpose, for a good purpose. Or so he thought. 

I’ve talked about this with some folks in the past (and I promise this will be important later), but the scene in the hospital in the remake feels far more poignant to Carlos’ character than I think most let on. After watching Dr. Bard’s final message, the realization hits Carlos that Umbrella really “are the ones who caused all of this,” in Jill’s words.

He realizes that he’s been working dutifully under these monsters wearing the masks of selfless, philanthropic angels who just want to create a more prosperous future (yeah, I gagged saying that, too). He realizes that he was grateful for them. He was given a chance at a real life (so to speak) by the same people who take lives from innocent people all in the name of power and pocket change. By escaping war at their hands, he unknowingly was working in a bulldozer boy scout troop in order to fuel war after war. That anger he felt? That outburst? That wasn’t just, “my God, Jill knew all along, and she trusted me anyway.” That was, “these people saved my life. I served them with everything I had, thinking I was doing something good, FINALLY, and now I learn–after God-knows-how-long–that they’re the ones behind the end of an entire city population? I was grateful to THEM? I felt like I owed THEM MY life? FUCK THAT.”

We don’t know what happens to Carlos after the events of Sept. 28-Oct. 1st, but it’s heavily believed he met with Jill one last time before escaping the US through Mexico to evade Umbrella’s wrath. It’s also thought he went to Chile as he supposedly had family there. Though, none of this has been confirmed.

Despite the uncertainty, we can guess that this trauma weighed heavily on his selfless, persistent conscience. At times, it probably dropped on him like an anvil–perhaps even questioning if he should’ve been saved back in South America in the first place (considering who swooped in and played hero). We can imagine it feels like a stain that he can never remove, no matter how many times he washes himself clean. With someone like Carlos and the personality he has, for nearly THIRTY YEARS, that had to do something similar to what it did to Leon (who, not to mention, was the same age as Carlos at the time of the incident). 

That all being said, to imagine him as the third voice (“Have you seen the same shit I’ve seen?”) makes total and perfect sense; especially in the scope of the “is it Chris or Carlos” question. As opposed to Chris (who was in Europe investigating Umbrella at the time), Carlos was actually IN the city at the time of the incident (something that appears to be highlighted in the events of RE9, especially considering our current main protagonist is the daughter of a well-known and vocal survivor of the Raccoon City Incident).

While the line itself would make sense with Chris, as he’s seen and done so many things during his time in the bioterrorism game, it seems like the line was placed almost purposefully over the footage of Raccoon City’s remains (which makes us want to think that the line itself is in reference to the incident). 

The delivery of the line is also something to notice. Given the context of Carlos’ backstory and time with Umbrella, the anger in it makes sense. If we are to play Devil’s Advocate and say he’s in the game and that IS him, it makes sense. Have you seen the same shit I’ve seen? Have you been in my shoes? Have you played the fool who worked for an evil, corrupt, ruling body? And you want me to go back there and relive the fear, the grief, the GUILT I’ve had for thirty years? THIRTY? 

Shit, I’d be angry too, Carlos. I’d be angry too. 

Carlos, again, has a really interesting vantage point worth exploring. He worked for Umbrella. Even if he realized what they were up to or not, he worked for them, served them, had a hand in cleaning up their mess (even if it didn’t work out in the end).

We’ve seen the officers serving a corrupt department with a corrupt captain and police chief, we’ve seen the outsider’s perspective, the girl who just wanted to know if her brother was safe, we’ve seen the little girl who just wanted her virus-building parents to be home more.

All of that is incredibly interesting, and has worked beautifully to make Resident Evil what it is, but seeing the perspective from the inside? Seeing the perspective of someone who was so close to the monsters behind it all, and who has a conscience? Seeing that someone after thirty years of it eating away at them, especially after not knowing anything of their whereabouts for so long? There is no better time to save us from this cold, cruel, Carlos-less world.

Or maybe it’s Kevin Ryman’s voice, who knows. Maybe it’s the copium talking.