Resident Evil Village's Maiden demo helps fans piece together the tall vampire lady's backstory
Thirst for blood.
This week, Capcom surprise launched a PlayStation 5-exclusive Resident Evil Village demo called Maiden. While Maiden is primarily designed to offer a visual guide to the upcoming horror game, it does offer snippets of lore that give us an idea of what the main game is about - and the tall vampire lady's backstory.
THERE MAY BE SPOILERS AHEAD.
(Before we get started, be sure to watch our Aoife's video running through her Resident Evil Village theories, below. There's some really interesting stuff in there I didn't pick up on!)
The tall vampire lady is of course the internet's current obsession, with fan art, cosplay and... other things already online. But Resident Evil lore fans want to know what she's all about, the nature of her relationship to the overall Resident Evil story, and, just what is she?
Alongside the release of Maiden and the latest Resident Evil Village trailer, Capcom updated the game's official website to confirm the tall vampire lady's name: Alcina Dimitrescu.
"The mistress of the castle that overlooks the village," reads the official description. "A towering woman with bewitching looks."
That's not much to go on but thankfully, via Maiden, we learn a little more. In the demo is a note, dated 1958 and written by someone who begins work at the castle. The note mentions a "mistress" and her three daughters. At one point, a Miss Daniela (one of the daughters?) slashes the author's face with a knife. Then, an interesting line: the author opens a window and the daughters shriek "shut it!" in unison. Are they vampires? Or vampiric in some way?
Given the note, which is dated over 60 years ago, mentions the Mistress and her daughters, and in the present (Resident Evil Village is set a few years after the events of Resident Evil 7) they appear pretty spritely, there's definitely some anti-ageing magic going on. Again, sounds quite vampiric.
Another note adds even more backstory. This one discusses the winemaking technique of Castle Dimitrescu, which can be traced back as far as the 15th century. We're told Alcina Dimitrescu uses this "legendary, yet peculiar" technique to "enrich the wine's flavour intensity" and "bestow it with a thick bouquet".
Her best vintage is Sanguis Virginis, which means "maiden's blood". It is kept in a special ornate bottled decorated with intricate silver flowers.
Another letter includes a list of names divided up into candidates and rejects. There's a cup you can interact with and, if you twist it one way, you see clearly someone drank blood from it. What appears to be the case is staff are hired to work at the castle, then chucked in the dungeon - Maiden's starting area - to be killed and potentially used in the making of Sanguis Virginis. In this sense you, the player, aka Maiden, provide the "maiden's blood".
Yum! So, we know a bit more about Resident Evil Village's tall vampire lady, but there are loads of unanswered questions. In the gameplay trailer we hear her talk over the phone to the mysterious Mother Miranda:
"Mother Miranda, I regret to inform you that Ethan Winters has escaped that fool Heisenberg.
"... because he is in my castle and has already proven too much for my daughters to handle.
"When I find him... No... Yes, of course. I understand the importance of the ceremony."
Who is Mother Miranda? And what is the ceremony?
An image in the castle subsection of the Resident Evil Village website shows four houses: House Dimitrescu, House Heisenberg, House Beneviento and House Moreau. We know about House Dimitrescu, and we've heard reference to Heisenberg. What are the other two houses? How are they all connected? Is Mother Miranda the ultimate boss of the lot? And is that the Umbrella logo in the middle? If so, what does that signify?
What, exactly, is Alcina Dimitrescu? The internet has decided she's a vampire of some sort - at least, that's what she's been dubbed - but there's a debate about whether this is the case. For a start, we see her reflection in her mirror as she's speaking to Mother Miranda on the phone. Anyone who's seen any vampire movie knows the things don't have reflections.
I've seen quite a few fans suggest Alcina Dimitrescu is a tyrant of some sort. There's not a lot of evidence to back this theory up, but she does wear a flower where a tyrant's heart would appear. Oh, and she is extremely tall. And, at the end of the Maiden demo when she turns up, her fingers turn into long, deadly blades. Classic tyrant behaviour.
Resident Evil fans' thirst for Lady Dimitrescu lore is an ongoing effort, and I expect more elaborate theories will emerge as Maiden's secrets are unveiled. If you want to know more about the demo, we've got a fantastic Maiden walkthrough that goes into even more detail.