Sherry Birkin

Sherry Birkin (Japanese: シェリー・バーキン, Hepburn: Shirī Bākin) is a character in Capcom's Resident Evil survival horror series. She was introduced as a child in the 1998 video game Resident Evil 2, in which she is the daughter of Umbrella researchers William and Annette Birkin. She encounters Leon S. Kennedy and Claire Redfield who protect her while trying to escape the city. Sherry is a playable character in some parts of the game but she is completely unarmed and can only avoid monsters. Sherry later returned as an adult and playable protagonist in Resident Evil 6, where she works as an agent of the United States government, and appears in a supporting capacity in Resident Evil Requiem. She has also appeared in adaptations and other media based on the series. Sherry's portrayal has changed substantially across her appearances, from an unarmed and vulnerable child companion to a combat-capable adult operative. Her characterization and visual design were revised for the 2019 remake of Resident Evil 2, whose developers sought a more realistic depiction of a twelve-year-old and expanded her individual characterization. Critical and academic discussion of Sherry has examined her use as an artificial-intelligence companion, her relationships with Claire and her parents, and the series' treatment of gender, vulnerability and player agency. Her later appearances have prompted further commentary on the extent of her narrative independence as an adult character and, following Requiem, on the representation and reduced prominence of older women within the Resident Evil series.