Of all the Resident Evil characters, my favourite will always be Jill Valentine. However, given the opportunity to tell the story of any character in the Resident Evil franchise, I would without a doubt choose Sherry Birkin. And this is in spite of the fact that I haven’t known Sherry for very long. I only finished playing Resident Evil 6 late last year and, more recently, I’ve been having fun with the Resident Evil 2 remake, both of which feature Sherry at different stages of her life. Before reading further, please note that this post contains some information that could be considered spoilers.
In Resident Evil 2, we see that young Sherry did not have a close relationship with her parents, William and Annette Birkin. Both William and Annette were scientists working for Umbrella, the super evil pharmaceutical corporation in the Resident Evil universe. Though they were not overtly evil themselves, they were partly responsible for the disaster that befalls Raccoon City, as they were the ones who developed the zombie virus. Ironically, though, this virus also brings about their own demise.

Thanks to Claire Redfield and Leon S. Kennedy, Sherry was able to escape Raccoon City, but of course she had been left an orphan. To make matters worse, in Resident Evil 6, we learn that after Raccoon City, she ended up a guinea pig for a government agency that was keen to study the effects of her parents’ virus, due to the fact she had been exposed to it. This sounds like the perfect recipe for creating an angry, resentful super villain, but not in Sherry‘s case. Instead, after becoming an adult, she decided to join the aforementioned agency (which, incidentally, Leon had also joined many years earlier), in order to combat bioterrorism.

For me, Sherry is a perfect example of what I refer to as a Sara Crewe character; that is, a character who suffers a great deal of hardship, but despite that remains a truly goodhearted person. I love this type of character; they always seem to find their way into my heart. On a side note, in Resident Evil 6 there are strong hints that Sherry and Jake Muller (the person who Sherry was assigned to locate and protect) will end up as a couple. If that were ever to happen, it will certainly give Sherry the happy ending that I think she deserves.😊

Sherry is a peripheral character in Resident Evil, so perhaps it is not surprising that there is not a lot of merchandise for her. As far as I can tell, there has only been one licensed figure of her produced, by the now defunct ToyBiz,. It was released as part of a figure twin-pack, way back in 1998, the year the original Resident Evil 2 came out. So, in lieu of a picture of any Sherry merchandise, I decided to include a sexy picture of Sherry from Resident Evil 6 instead.😋

As for fan art, last year I did draw a picture of Sherry in a hospital gown, which she wears at one point in Resident Evil 6. You can see that picture HERE, but I definitely want to draw her again in the future. That’s all for this edition of Featured Heroine. I hope you found it interesting. Till next time, au revoir, arrivederci and may the force be with you!