The Resident Evil Lore Reason Jill Valentine’s Hair Turned Blonde

Resident Evil has given characters new appearances when they appear in other games or remakes. This usually shows how they’ve changed over time, since RE games tend to take place during specific periods, and as with life, characters age. As for remakes, the characters receive new looks that make them appear more modern. Among these changes, one character received a more dramatic shift in her appearance with seemingly no reason for it. However, Resident Evil 5—the first and only game that includes this new version of Jill Valentine—actually provides a lore-based reason for the change.

Most of Jill’s role in Resident Evil 5 is told through flashbacks and documents, unless you have the Gold Edition or Untold Stories Bundle that let you play through Lost in Nightmares — of course, once you reach a certain point in the main game, that is. It gives players the chance to experience the night that Jill allegedly died saving Chris. Of course, you know by then that Jill isn’t actually dead. You also get to see that she looked rather different during that night than she does when you encounter her in the main game.

What Happened to Jill’s Hair

If you spend your time exploring areas and reading the various documents scattered throughout Resident Evil 5, you’ll find a document called “Test Subject Data.” Inside this file, it describes Jill as having been in medically induced stasis for an extended period of time. While her vitals are all normal, there’s a note about abnormal pigmentation that’s limited to her hair, hence her hair going from brown to blonde. It also notes that her skin has become paler, but that’s more difficult to notice unless you’re looking at both versions of Jill side-by-side.

Essentially, Wesker made Jill into a test subject, and it seems like those tests caused a pigmentation abnormality. During these experiments, Jill unexpectedly became a necessary resource for Wesker that allowed him to improve his Uroboros virus. This is because he tried infecting her with a previous strain, but the dormant t-Virus antibodies in her body from the events of Resident Evil 3 protected her from the virus. Naturally, Wesker used this to improve Uroboros before he would then turn Jill into his lackey with the help of a drug that kept her under his control, knowing that it would hurt Chris to fight against his old partner, whom he believed to be dead. She also acts as a great distraction since Wesker only has seven minutes he can spare to play with Chris.

How Jill Became a Test Subject

The event is shown in Lost in Nightmares, and they are set between Resident Evil: Revelations and Resident Evil 5. Chris and Jill return to Spencer Mansion, having picked up a lead that Wesker would be there. Wanting to finally end their boss-turned-nemesis, Chris and Jill follow this lead and enter the building where their biohazardous journey first began. As the DLC’s name suggests, this mission turns into a nightmare.

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Chris and Jill find and confront Wesker, whose experiments have left him inhumanly strong and fast. As a result, Chris and Jill struggle to even wound Wesker, but are thrown around by him easily, showing how much of an advantage he has over them despite the fact that they outnumber him. The fight reaches its climax when Wesker has Chris by the throat, looking like he’s going to finish off at least one of them. However, Jill intervenes by making a desperate move, and she tackles Wesker through the window, freeing Chris and presumably falling to her death with Wesker.

Chris later recounts part of this event when talking to Sheva during the main game, including the important detail that neither Jill’s nor Wesker’s bodies were found despite searching for them. What happened was Wesker’s inhuman abilities allowed him to survive the fall relatively okay, considering the height and rocky ground beneath. Jill was in a much worse state, and she likely would’ve died there if Wesker hadn’t decided to take her with him to make her into a test subject, which saved her life and unexpectedly helped with his plan regarding Uroboros. Meanwhile, Chris held out hope that Jill was still alive, having received possible images of her that led to him taking the BSAA West Africa case.

With all this in mind, why this event was used to make Jill’s hair blonde is still rather confusing. There doesn’t seem to be a real reason aside from the developers wanting to make her a blonde, as the pigment abnormality could’ve been skipped completely without impacting the game at all. At most, it might’ve simply been a way to shock you when Jill’s hood is finally pulled back in Resident Evil 5, showing you a character that’s both familiar and different.

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