Leon S. Kennedy

**Leon Scott Kennedy** is one of the main protagonists of the *Resident Evil* franchise. He was a former police officer of the Raccoon City Police Department for a single day. The actions in the city led to his successful recruitment as a member of US-STRATCOM after the Raccoon City Incident.

## History

### Background

Leon S. Kennedy burns a strong desire to protect and serve, and life as a cadet was an eye-opening experience. At the age of 21 years old, Leon requested assignment to work for the Raccoon City Police Department upon graduating from the police academy. His reason of choice was because of the widely-publicized murders taking place in and around the Arklay Mountains. He arrived in Raccoon City on September 29 1998, a day later he was scheduled to. Due to the events in Raccoon City, this would be the first and only day of Leon as a police officer.

### Resident Evil 2

Upon reaching Raccoon City's business district, Leon stopped his car to inspect a body on the ground. Being unaware of the T-Virus outbreak in the city, he was caught by surprise when several Zombies started to attack him. Backing in to an alleyway, Leon stumbled onto another survivor named Claire Redfield, who had arrived in the city in search for her old brother, Chris Redfield. Together, Leon and Claire decided to seek refuge within the R.P.D.'s Headquarters, but before arriving there, they got separated when the police car Leon jumps in and gets destroyed after a close encounter with a Zombie inside the police cruiser he was driving. Both of them barely got out of the vehicle alive before a truck driven by an infected driver crashed into it.

During his probe of the R.P.D. precinct, Leon meets another survivor named Ada Wong, a woman who claimed she was looking for her missing boyfriend, John Clemens. They soon developed a bond, and Leon even took a bullet for her from Annette Birkin. Leon and Ada managed to fight off most of the enemies but soon Ada is wounded by a mutated William Birkin's claw. During that time, Leon found out from Annette that Ada was actually a spy and only came to steal the G-Virus. However, Leon doesn't believe this until Ada tells him herself. Some time later, Ada saved Leon's life when he is cornered by T-00. She shoots the Tyrant on it's back to gain the monster's attention, successfully doing so. She is then attacked, grabbed and raised up by T-00, in which she retaliates by landing three gunshots into it's face, making it fall into an iron smelting pit. However, Ada was severely wounded in the process. She then told Leon the truth about everything and Ada shortly falls unconsious, which Leon mistakes for death. However at the near end, Ada helps Leon by giving him a rocket launcher to help him defeat the now mutated T-00. Leon reunites with Claire, and the two along with Sherry Birkin, Annette and William's daughter, and William make their escape through a secret railway and then escape via train, leaving the mutated William to be destroyed in the self-destruct sequence.

### After Resident Evil 2

Following the Raccoon City Incident, Leon and Claire split up, and she continued her search for Chris, while Leon continued to look after Sherry. Leon and Sherry were soon apprehended by the U.S. Military; Sherry was taken away and placed in protective custody while Leon was interrogated. Apparently, Leon never mentioned Claire or Ada, but the government was interested in recruiting him, since he now possessed the experience they were looking for; Leon accepted.

His subsequent training as a government agent turned him from a simple police rookie into an expert special agent. He became much more competent in terms of weapons handling and unarmed combat, specifically knife combat. In November 1998, Leon sent a friend of his, detective Ark Thompson out to investigate Umbrella's facilities on Sheena Island. The following month, Claire set out for Europe to continue her search for Chris. She was captured by Umbrella after being caught trespassing in the Umbrella facility in Paris. While on the island prison of Rockfort Island, Claire sent Leon an e-mail asking him to inform Chris of her location so that he could come and rescue her. Leon managed to track down Chris personally and told him of Claire's situation, and Chris headed for Rockfort Island after her.

### Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles

In 2002, before the destruction of the Russian branch of Umbrella, Leon was sent to a small South American country as part of a secret military detachment after the headquarters were informed that a former researcher from Umbrella contacted a man named Javier Hidalgo. Due to the difficult nature of the operation, Jack Krauser, a seasoned operative with a history of brave service, was selected to be Leon's partner.

Leon and Krauser were sent on a mission by the U.S. Government to infiltrate this small South American country. Finding Javier was their objective since he was a drug lord who has taken de facto control over a large area of the jungle. He ruled the entire area absolutely and the small government was unable to do anything about Javier's control of the drug trade, so Leon and Krauser had been called in. The U.S. Government had received information that a former Umbrella researcher had somewhat entered the region. Sources indicated that something strange was going on, but no accurate information could be obtained. Unwilling to risk a bio-hazardous outbreak, a secret military agency paired Leon and Krauser and sent them to this volatile region to determine what, if anything, was going on.

They later found themselves having to cooperate as a two-man cell in the T-Virus outbreak. Leon met a mysterious girl named Manuela Hidalgo, who seemed to be the only survivor of the village, though it was unknown why she didn't escape. Manuela turned out to be Javier's daughter; she contracted a rare disease, and was kept alive by her father through the T-Veronica Virus. While exploring Javier's compound, Leon opened up to Krauser about his hellish night in Raccoon City, as well as Claire's encounter with the T-Veronica Virus to explain how Umbrella's B.O.W.'s worked.

Eventually, Leon and Krauser fought Javier after he combined himself with the plant infected with the T-Veronica Virus. Manuela assisted by unleashing the effects of the virus on her father and Javier was killed, and Manuela was taken into government custody. Leon lost his partnership with Krauser after the latter is discharged from an injury during the mission. Sometime later that year, Leon learned that his former partner died in an accident.

### Resident Evil 4

In 2004, Leon was assigned to guard the newly elected President Graham's family. When the President's daughter, Ashley Graham, was kidnapped, Leon's first mission under the new President was to track her down. Information gathered pointed to the kidnappers being located in a remote area of Europe. Leon was sent to investigate on his own, along with two members of the local police. Unfortunately, it seemed something bizarre happened to the local villagers, and after the two officers disappeared and were killed, Leon found himself relying on his survival skills in a deadly fight for his life.

Leon learned from Ingrid Hannigan, his only government contact, that the perpetrators were a group called the Los Illuminados, a religious cult led by a man named Osmund Saddler. The cult used a mysterious parasitic organism known as the Plaga to take control of the local townsfolk, as well as many others around the area, such as a group of mercenaries. Although a seemingly hopeless situation, the fanatical cult found the formidable Leon to be more than they bargained for, as he foiled all of their attempts to kill him.

During the course of his mission, Leon is helped by Luis Sera, a man that was later revealed to be a researcher who used to work for Saddler but betrayed him. Leon once again has his chance to encounter Ada, who involved in this incident. She provides assistance to Leon, but has a fight of her own to battle out as well. Leon is also assisted by Hannigan, an information analyst and fellow government official via a communicator. As Leon progressed however, he finds the transmission is hijacked by the cult, and he is forced to fend for himself.

Leon eventually finds Ashley in a church, and he becomes responsible for her safety, as the two make their way around the Los Illuminados-controlled area. It is revealed however, the two are injected with the Plaga parasites and are now in a race against time to find a cure for this before they are forever turned into Saddler's slaves. Acquiring weapons from a mysterious Merchant, Leon manages to fight his way through many harrowing perils within the local village and a mysterious castle run by the cult. He eventually fights against two of Saddler's lieutenants, village chief Bitores Mendez and the castle's eighth castellan, Ramon Salazar. Leon also encounters his former comrade, Krauser, who was now working as a double agent for a mysterious party and Saddler. It is revealed that this mysterious third player in the conflict is none other than Albert Wesker, whom Ada is also working for. Eventually, Ashley is abducted, and Leon must race against time before her Plaga fully develops, not to mention his own. With continued support from Ada, Leon fights his way through a local military base, where Saddler and the cult have taken refuge. Fighting against both, a deadly enemy and the enemy within, this battle tests all of Leon's strengths and skills. Leon fights against Krauser one last time and eventually saves Ashley and himself after removing the Plaga from within them by using a special radiation machine, developed by Luis late during his mission. Afterwards, Leon battles Saddler in his mutated, inhuman form, and with Ada's help is able to put an end to him and his plot.