Lisa Trevor

Lisa Trevor
Resident Evil character
Lisa Trevor in Resident Evil (2002)
First appearance	Resident Evil (2002)
Created by	Shinji Mikami
Portrayed by	Marina Mazepa (Welcome to Raccoon City)

Lisa Trevor is a character in the Resident Evil video game series. She is an addition to the 2002 remake of the original Resident Evil game. She is depicted in a monstrous form wearing a sewed mask of different faces and being largely invulnerable to damage due to experimentation done by injecting a virus into her. She is mentally unstable due in part to the death of her mother, who was also experimented on.

Lisa was created by Shinji Mikami, who hoped to make people feel sympathetic and guilty once they discover her backstory. Lisa was positively received by critics, considered one of the most frightening and tragic characters in the Resident Evil series.

Concept and design

Lisa Trevor is a human who was transformed into a monstrous form after being injected with a recently discovered virus called "Progenitor". This caused her to develop superhuman strength, though she experienced deterioration over time in part due to the loss of her mother. When Lisa's mental state deteriorated, she reacted aggressively against her captors and even killed a Spencer employee who tried to pass for her mother. In an attempt to give the face back to her mother, who had passed away as a result of the Progenitor trials, Lisa responded by ripping off the employee's face. Lisa has a collection of faces that she sews together and wears because she developed the habit of collecting and wearing them.^[1] When designing the remake of the original Resident Evil, director Shinji Mikami wanted to make players feel sympathetic to Lisa by reading thefiles on her backstory. Accompanying this, he ensured that the player could choose not to engage in combat with her in the final encounter. Mikami stated that he preferred that players not kill her, saying he wanted people to feel guilty for attacking an "innocent victim."^[2]

When making the film Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City, writer and director Johannes Roberts wanted to make her a three-dimensional character rather than "some creepy specter." He said that he was always fascinated by her character, describing her as "disturbing and ... strangely haunting."^[3] In the film, she is portrayed by Marina Mazepa.^[3]

Appearances

Lisa Trevor first appears in the 2002 remake of the original Resident Evil game, with her story spanning multiple decades. She is the daughter of George Trevor, the architect of the Spencer Mansion, the setting of the game, and his wife Jessica. Before the events of the game, while a teenage girl, she and her mother were abducted and experimented on, each injected with a different virus. Whereas her mother did not adapt to the virus and was executed, Lisa was able to survive. She became anguished and mentally unwell due to her mother's death, and ended up taking the face of a caretaker who she believed to be a copy of her mother. Her captors were unable to properly execute her, so they dumped her body in the neighbouring Arklay mountains, where she survived in the wild. For years, Lisa wandered the woods and the tunnels beneath the Spencer estate, the Arklay Laboratory, desperate to find her mother.^[1] During the game, the player encounters her multiple times, unable to kill her. During the final encounter with Lisa, the player can either kill her by causing her to fall into a chasm, or cause Jessica's coffin to be opened and revealed to Lisa, at which point she takes her mother's skull and falls into the chasm.^[4]

Lisa appears in the non-canon live-action film Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City (2021). Compared to the game continuity, she is depicted as a helpful, compassionate being rather than a menace.^[1] Lisa also makes a cameo appearance in the live-action Resident Evil (2022) series.^[5]

Reception

Lisa Trevor has received generally positive reception, her story identified by Rock Paper Shotgun writer Adam Smith as the highlight of the game's story.^[6] Bloody Disgusting writer Trace Thurman identified her as their favorite thing about the series, stating that she edged out other elements due to how tragic and detailed her backstory was.^[7] PCGamesN writer Nic Reuben and Marshall Lemon of The Escapist also found her story tragic, with Reuben stating that the yearn to be reunited with her mother made her and her "shambling, feral appearance" so tragic. He believed that the tragedy of her story recontextualized the game's story by adding an "undeniably human current" to the game's "high camp."^[8][9] According to Nintendo Life staff Philip Reed, Lisa is one of the most memorable characters from Resident Evil that still "haunts" him.^[10] Matthew Bryd of Den of Geek gave Lisa's storyline and boss battle credit, while her boss battle in the remake received praise. He stated that when you discover that she was a young child subjected for terrible experiments inside the Spencer Mansion, it presents a "lumbering monster" that is both "horrifying and tragic". She talks about the remake's capacity to communicate a message far more profound than improved graphics by utilising increased technologies.^[11]

Several journalists described Lisa as a terrifying and disturbing villain,^{[12][13][14][15]} with GamesRadar+ writer Andy Kelly stating that her backstory was "pitiful" and, combined with the battle with Lisa, these aspects made for one of the most disturbing moments in the game.^[15] She was also praised by several critics as one of the greatest bosses and villains in Resident Evil'',^{[16][17][18][19][20][21]} with Aaron Potter of Den of Geek stating that she was more than a "ho-hum boss fight", but instead, a "fully-formed character" due to her backstory.^[19] Author Federico Alvarez Igarzábal discussed how Lisa served as a subversion of the concept of "Chekhov's BFG"; a "Chekhov's BGF" is a modification of the Chekhov's gun concept and posits that receiving a powerful weapon in a video game portends ominous things to come. Alvarez Igarzábal highlights that, despite players receiving a powerful weapon, the game soon pits them up against Lisa, who would be a waste of ammunition to fire upon given her inability to die. In doing so, Resident Evil tricks players into using valuable ammo against her.^[22]

References

1. Michael McWhertor (November 4, 2021). "Who is Lisa Trevor from the new Resident Evil movie?". Polygon. Archived from the original on May 3, 2025. Retrieved October 30, 2025.
2. Aniel, Alex (April 15, 2021). Itchy, Tasty: An Unofficial History of Resident Evil. Unbound. ISBN 9781783529490. Retrieved October 30, 2025.
3. Vejvoda, Jim (August 30, 2021). "Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City Director on Casting, Creatures and Capcom". IGN. Retrieved October 29, 2025.
4. Capcom (March 22, 2002). Resident Evil (2002) (GameCube).
5. Navarro, Megan (July 15, 2022). ""Resident Evil" Star Ella Balinska on Lickers, Action, and Getting Drenched in Blood [Interview]". Bloody Disgusting. Archived from the original on July 21, 2022. Retrieved October 31, 2025.
6. Smith, Adam (January 19, 2015). "Wot I Think: Resident Evil HD Remaster". Rock Paper Shotgun. Archived from the original on February 15, 2025. Retrieved October 29, 2025.
7. Thurman, Trace (March 22, 2021). "The Games. The Movies. The Monsters. Bloody Disgusting's Writers Share Their Favorite Things About 'Resident Evil'". Bloody Disgusting. Retrieved October 29, 2025.
8. Reuben, Nic (September 15, 2020). "Capcom's Resident Evil games are about human tragedy, not zombies". PCGamesN. Archived from the original on August 9, 2024. Retrieved October 29, 2025.
9. Lemon, Marshall (March 22, 2016). "8 Unforgettable Resident Evil Monsters". The Escapist. Archived from the original on February 24, 2024. Retrieved October 30, 2025.
10. "Feature: Staff Memories of the Resident Evil Series". Nintendo Life. October 16, 2011. Archived from the original on January 14, 2025. Retrieved October 30, 2025.
11. Matthew Byrd (April 1, 2020). "How Resident Evil Set the Standard for Video Game Remakes". Den of Geek. Archived from the original on March 26, 2025. Retrieved October 30, 2025.
12. Bonnie Roberg (November 1, 2005). "Women Monsters and Monstrous Women". The Escapist. Archived from the original on December 15, 2024. Retrieved October 30, 2025.
13. Zachary Miller (March 17, 2011). "Welcome to the Survival Horror Many Ways to Play". Nintendo World Report. Archived from the original on August 31, 2023. Retrieved October 30, 2025.
14. Roxana Hadadi (November 24, 2021). "Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City is a shockingly entertaining reboot". Inverse. Archived from the original on August 10, 2025. Retrieved October 30, 2025.
15. Andy Kelly (January 18, 2017). "The 15 scariest Xbox moments". GamesRadar+. Archived from the original on November 9, 2024. Retrieved October 30, 2025.
16. Jesse Schedeen (February 26, 2016). "Readers' Choice: Resident Evil's Best Villains". IGN. Archived from the original on January 23, 2025. Retrieved October 30, 2025.
17. Jesse Schedeen (February 26, 2016). "Best Resident Evil Bosses". IGN. Archived from the original on April 7, 2020. Retrieved October 30, 2025.
18. "The Best Resident Evil Bosses of All Time". IGN. March 14, 2020. Retrieved October 30, 2025.
19. Aaron Potter (May 6, 2021). "15 Best Resident Evil Bosses and Monsters Ranked". Den of Geek. Archived from the original on July 1, 2022. Retrieved October 30, 2025.
20. Kenn Leandre (September 13, 2012). "Resident Evil's Best Bosses". IGN. Retrieved October 30, 2025.
21. Alex Santa Maria (January 25, 2019). "10 Scariest Resident Evil villains". Game Revolution. Archived from the original on October 25, 2022. Retrieved October 30, 2025.
22. Alvarez Igarzábal, Federico (June 22, 2023). Time and Space in Video Games: A Cognitive-Formalist Approach. Transcript Verlag. pp. 200, 202. ISBN 9783839447130. Retrieved October 30, 2025.