User blog:Red Chevalier/PE Proposal: Oswell E. Spencer

Been playing through Resident Evil 7, and that made me think of this man. I'm surprised he's flown under the radar for so long considering how many atrocities he's caused within the games.

What is the work?
Resident Evil is a series of survival horror games where you fight zombies. For those who don't know the plot, basically, the evil Umbrella Corporation causes a virus outbreak that turns people into zombies for profit and you have to stop them by killing as many zombies as you can.

Who is the villain?
Oswell E. Spencer, president of the Umbrella Corporation and pretty much the true main villain of the entire series. Spencer originally co-founded the Umbrella Corporation with his associates James Marcus and Edward Ashford as a front for his ambitions, to create a superior race and rule over the world as a God.

What does he do?
Oswell E. Spencer was originally one of the three scientists that discovered the Progenitor Virus, alongside James Marcus and his student, Brandon Bailey, on December 4, 1968. After experimenting with the virus, Spencer began seeking to use the virus to remake humanity to his liking and with his colleagues Marcus and Edward Ashford established "Umbrella Pharmaceuticals" to further their research of the virus and guise their sinister motives. This company would eventually evolve into the mega-corporation known as the Umbrella Corporation, which would be responsible for many zombie outbreaks throughout the games.

Around this time, Spencer hired the architect George Trevor to design a mansion in the Arklay Mountain, meant to be a camouflage for a secret research laboratory in its basement. However, Spencer believed that George may reveal of the secrets of the mansion in the future, Spencer had George's wife Jessica and daughter Lisa kidnapped and used as test-subjects for the Progenitor virus, and also had George imprisoned within the walls of the mansion.

Spencer also began a plan he kept secret even from the Umbrella archives, a eugenics project titled Project W where Spencer and his forces mass abducted children born to parents with high intellect and raised them to be conditioned to hold his own personal beliefs and moral views, giving each the last name of "Wesker". One of the surviving subjects of this project would later become a pivotal antagonist in the Resident Evil series, Albert Wesker, who would be responsible for many atrocities in his own right.

After Marcus successfully created the Tyrant Virus by introducing the Progenitor virus to a Leech, Spencer began to grow wary of Marcus' growing reputation. Seeing Marcus as a rival for pwoer, Spencer ordered Marcus' apprentices Albert Wesker and William Birkin, to assassinate him so he could claim all the power in the company for himself. With Marcus dead, Spencer appointed Birkin to take over the Tyrant virus project.

Birkin would later cause a zombie outbreak in Raccoon City, which would later lead to the city being nuked by the government to contain the outbreak. Following this, the Umbrella Corporation was brought to the Supreme Court to be tried for their responsibility in the outbreak, but Spencer used his top lawyers, connections within the U.S. government and false witnesses to pin the blame for the incident in Raccoon City on the Government, allowing Umbrella to stay afloat.

However, Spencer would find himself betrayed by Albert Wesker, who gave up all of Umbrella's secret information to the Government and testified against Spencer in court, leading to Umbrella being shut down and Spencer going into hiding, triggering a manhunt for his location. Wesker took all of Umbrella's infrastructure he had recovered and planned to remake the company as his own empire, with which to lead the world into a new era.

Spencer would eventually be tracked down to estate in Europe by Wesker. Confronted by his old employee, Spencer revealed his ambition to engineer a superior race. Spencer then calmly accepts his fate as he is finished off by Wesker stabbing him through the chest.

Mitigating Factors
Spencer's motivation is kind of understandable in that doesn't want to die. However, Spencer's goals go way beyond that. He could have used his research to further medical science and even possibly achieve a form of immortality, but instead Spencer cast all that aside to pursue his selfish desire of becoming a god and remaking the world in his image, going to needlessly cruel and destructive methods to see them come to fruition.

He does show some of level of kindness towards one person though, his head butler Patrick. Moments before his own death Spencer relieves Patrick of his duties and sends him away, an act that stands in contrast to Spencer's treatment of many of his other associates, whom he's back-stabbed and killed. However, this could easily be chalked up to pragmatic villainy as there wasn't really a reason for him to have Patrick killed, and choosing not to have someone killed isn't something I think most people would call a generous act. Ultimately, Spencer is out for himself and willing to employ whatever methods necessary, including mass murder and betrayal, to accomplish his goals.

Heinous Standard
Spencer is behind pretty much every antagonist in the Resident Evil series. He founded the Umbrella Corporation, developed the Progenitor Virus and played a role in most of the zombie outbreaks we see. Nearly every antagonist in the games has some connection to Umbrella and Spencer is the man behind Umbrella. Spencer's crimes have directly fueled the actions and ambitions of several antagonists, including James Marcus, William Birkin, and of course, Albert Wesker. (It's worth noting that two of those three are also pure evil). Despite not doing much himself, in the villain pyramid of Resident Evil, Spencer sits at the very top.