The most unfortunate Resident Evil characters

Important takeaways

• Salazar fails to slow down Leon despite many traps and schemes in Resident Evil.
• Chris Redfield loses teammates consistently in various games, with tragic results.
• Ethan Winters faces cruel twists of fate in Resident Evil 7 and Village, and experiences heartbreaking losses.

Living in a world where zombie and BOW outbreaks are a weekly occurrence, a little luck can go a long way in surviving the nightmare many characters face in Resident Evil series. The likes of Leon and Jill have certainly been lucky in their many adventures, but not all characters have shared this trait.

In fact, several individuals within Resident Evil The games have had pure rotten luck, making their lives more difficult than they already would be when faced with bloodthirsty zombies and mutants. These characters really should have been looking for some kind of good fortune before appearing in their respective games.

7 Ramón Salazar

None of Salazar's traps or schemes succeed in slowing Leon down

• Game Appearances: Resident Evil 4 / Resident Evil 4 Remake

When Leon first steps into Salazar's castle about midway through Resident Evil 4the noble comes across as extremely cocky and arrogant, believing that the special agent will have no chance of making it out alive. Despite the entire castle being filled with an incredible number of traps, including a walking statue, collapsing ceiling, and even a lava room, Leon manages to take down every single one of them single-handedly.

It is clear through Salazar's radio calls in the original game that his bad luck is clearly starting to test his patience, as Leon trumps every single card up his sleeve. Even in his final transformation, Salazar doesn't stand a chance against the wisecracking special agent; if only he had another protagonist to face instead.

6 Chris Redfield

It's hard to remember how many teammates Chris has lost in his many adventures

• Game Appearances: Resident Evil / Resident Evil: Code Veronica / Resident Evil 5 / Resident Evil 6 / Resident Evil 7 / Resident Evil: Village

Chris Redfield just can't catch a break. It's almost become a running meme in the community at this point that every time Chris tries to get back on his feet and get a team together, he'll inevitably lose almost all of them to some sort of accident. Nowhere is this clearer than in Resident Evil 6 where, one by one, each of his team members is taken away from him, causing Chris to lash out and question why this particular thing keeps happening to him.

As fans see Chris return Villagehe's a worn-down, solemn shadow of his former self who's still desperately trying to do what's right, even knowing that those around him tend to be the ones biting the dust. He even fails to save Ethan at the end of that game, and while this was no fault of his own, it's bizarre that Chris has such bad luck so often.

5 Steve Burnside

Steve's father's sins ultimately destroy the young man's life

• Game appearance: Resident Evil: Code Veronica

It's hard to find many long ones Resident Evil fans out there who harbor any amount of admiration for Steve; Claire is an unlikely ally for much of Code Veronica's story. But no matter how much some people dislike him, seeing him face setback after setback can honestly make him somewhat easy to sympathize with, because luck really doesn't seem to be on his side at all.

Thrown into Rockfort prison after his father was caught selling Umbrella's data, Steve is then forced to shoot down his zombified father and is constantly taunted by Claire, who it is implied he has feelings for. But unlucky for Steve, he can't even live out his dreams of being with Claire because he mutates late in the story and ends up losing his life, all because of his father's misdeeds.

4 Ricardo Irving

Turning into a hoop is always a gamble, but Irving may have gotten the worst draw of them all

• Game appearance: Resident Evil 5

Ricardo Irving is an arms dealer who makes a few brief appearances throughout the story Resident Evil 5. While he is constantly taunted and taunted by a mysterious figure who would later be revealed to be Jill, where Irving's luck really runs out is during his transformation sequence.

Becoming a large aquatic creature can be quite dangerous for a protagonist to handle, and Del Lago i Resident Evil 4 is an excellent example of this. But Irving happens to get a form that has large exposed sacs on its surface, and also swims right next to a cruiser that has multiple Gatling guns, making it an easy target. If Resident Evil gods had been a little more fair to this guy, maybe he could have had a fighting chance, but not in this reality.

3 Sherry Birkin

Ever since the Raccoon City Incident, Sherry has been plagued by bad luck

• Game Appearances: Resident Evil 2 / Resident Evil 2 Remake / Resident Evil 6

Sherry experienced some truly horrific events as a child. As soon as Raccoon City became infested with zombies, both of her parents basically abandoned her, leaving her to fend for herself until Claire arrived. Although she barely made it out of that scenario in one piece, Sherry's life didn't get any easier as an adult where she was hunted for her rare genetic abilities.

As a result, Sherry constantly has a target on her back and has had pretty abysmal luck throughout her life. Even when she finally seems to have found her purpose as a federal agent, she will then learn that her guardian, Simmons, was an evil mastermind all along; as if it couldn't get any worse.

2 Bitores Mendez

Mendez's dreams were shattered due to an unfortunate encounter

• Game Appearances: Resident Evil 4 / Resident Evil 4 Remake

At first glance, Mendez may seem like little more than a villain whose only attribute is being a mean and stern boss for Leon to overcome. However, documents are scattered Resident Evil 4 Remake which reveals this villain's tragic backstory and reveals how everything went wrong for him over the course of just a few days.

After becoming head of the village, things looked promising for Mendez as he reported how the village was flourishing. Singing and dancing were a common sight, and education was introduced in the area to benefit the children. Soon after, however, a mysterious group of hooded figures entered the village and eventually turned everyone, including Mendez, into mindless Ganado. Just when everything looked hopeful, Mendez's dreams were tarnished by a simple unlucky encounter.

1 Ethan Winters

It's almost like Capcom just enjoys playing cruel and twisted jokes on Ethan

• Game Appearances: Resident Evil 7 / Resident Evil: Village

Ethan may honestly be one of the most unlucky horror protagonists ever seen in a game. This random civilian is first thrown into the horrific Baker Mansion where he is beaten, injected and thrown into an unforgettable nightmare. Just as he manages to escape with his wife Mia, she is then taken from him again after being revealed as nothing more than a clone of Mother Miranda.

On his turn, Ethan wanders into a creepy lycan-infested village to save his daughter, Rose. However, just moments before reuniting with her, Ethan learns the horrible reality that he is actually dead. The mold that infected his body had kept him going all along, but whenever Ethan managed to come close to finally being at peace and seeing his family again, everything was torn from him time and time again, completely out of his control.