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Alcina Dimitrescu (;
Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...
: , Hepburn: ), better known as Lady Dimitrescu, is a character in the ''
Resident Evil ''Resident Evil'', known as in Japan, is a Japanese horror game series and media franchise created by Capcom. It consists of survival horror, third-person shooter and first-person shooter games, with players typically surviving in environments ...
''
survival horror Survival horror is a Video game genre, subgenre of horror games. Although combat can be part of the gameplay, the player is made to feel less in control than in typical action games through limited ammunition or weapons, health, speed, and visio ...
video game series created by the Japanese company
Capcom is a Japanese video game company. It has created a number of critically acclaimed and List of best-selling video game franchises, multi-million-selling game franchises, with its most commercially successful being ''Resident Evil'', ''Monster ...
. One of the major antagonistic figures of 2021's ''
Resident Evil Village ''Resident Evil Village'' is a 2021 survival horror game developed and published by Capcom. It is the sequel to ''Resident Evil 7: Biohazard'' (2017) and the eighth numbered mainline game of the ''Resident Evil'' series. Players control Ethan Wi ...
'', she is presented as a gigantic noblewoman with
vampire A vampire is a mythical creature that subsists by feeding on the Vitalism, vital essence (generally in the form of blood) of the living. In European folklore, vampires are undead, undead humanoid creatures that often visited loved ones and c ...
-like traits who resides with her three daughters in Castle Dimitrescu. Dimitrescu governs the village alongside three mutant lords under the oversight of a supreme leader known as Mother Miranda. Lady Dimitrescu's physical design was based on Polish model Helena Mankowska, while her voice acting and motion capture were performed by American theatre actress Maggie Robertson. Following initial previews of ''Village'', Lady Dimitrescu rose in popularity and has become the subject of a significant number of
fan works Fan labor, also called fan works, are the creative activities engaged in by fans, primarily those of various media properties or musical groups. These activities can include creation of written works (fiction, fan fiction and review literature) ...
, including
fan art Fan art or fanart is artwork created by Fan (person), fans of a work of fiction or celebrity depicting events, Character (arts), character, or other aspect of the work. As fan labor, fan art refers to artworks that are not created, commissione ...
,
cosplay Cosplay, a blend word of "costume play", is an activity and performance art in which participants called cosplayers wear costumes and Fashion accessory, fashion accessories to represent a specific Character (arts), character. Cosplayers often i ...
,
memes A meme (; ) is an idea, behavior, or style that spreads by means of imitation from person to person within a culture and often carries symbolic meaning representing a particular phenomenon or theme. A meme acts as a unit for carrying cultural ...
, and
erotica Erotica is art, literature or photography that deals substantively with subject matter that is erotic, sexually stimulating or sexually arousing. Some critics regard pornography as a type of erotica, but many consider it to be different. Erot ...
. Journalists and commentators took note of the trend, which began before the release of ''Village'' in May 2021, attributing the rapid surge of fan interest in the character to aspects of her appearance and her
sex appeal Sexual attraction is attraction on the basis of sexual desire or the quality of arousing such interest. Sexual attractiveness or sex appeal is an individual's ability to attract other people sexually, and is a factor in sexual selection or m ...
. Robertson's performance was positively received, and has won her several awards.


Concept and creation

Created by Capcom for the 2021 video game ''
Resident Evil Village ''Resident Evil Village'' is a 2021 survival horror game developed and published by Capcom. It is the sequel to ''Resident Evil 7: Biohazard'' (2017) and the eighth numbered mainline game of the ''Resident Evil'' series. Players control Ethan Wi ...
'', Lady Dimitrescu was born from the desire to create a charismatic
femme fatale A ( , ; ), sometimes called a maneater, Mata Hari, or vamp, is a stock character of a mysterious, beautiful, and Seduction, seductive woman whose charms ensnare her lovers, often leading them into compromising, deadly traps. She is an archetype ...
character. She was designed as a vampire-like character. Her character design was inspired by the 16th-century Hungarian
noblewoman A noblewoman is a female member of the nobility. Noblewomen form a disparate group, which has evolved over time. Ennoblement of women has traditionally been a rare occurrence; the majority of noblewomen were linked to the nobility by either their ...
Elizabeth Báthory Countess Elizabeth Báthory of Ecsed (, ; ; 7 August 1560 – 21 August 1614) was a Hungarian noblewoman and alleged serial killer from the powerful House of Báthory, who owned land in the Kingdom of Hungary (now Slovakia). Báthory and fo ...
, the Japanese urban legend and internet ghost story of ''Hasshaku-sama'' (or ''Hachishaku-sama''), and
Anjelica Huston Anjelica Huston ( ; born July 8, 1951) is an American actress, director and model. She is best known for playing Morticia Addams in the ''The Addams Family'' and '' The Addams Family Values'', as well as often portraying eccentric and distincti ...
's portrayal of the character
Morticia Addams Morticia Addams (née Frump) is a fictional character from the '' Addams Family'' multimedia franchise created by American Charles Addams in 1933. She plays the role of the family's reserved matriarch. Morticia Addams has been portrayed by se ...
in ''
The Addams Family The Addams Family is a fictional family created by American cartoonist Charles Addams. They originally appeared in a series of 150 standalone single-panel comics, about half of which were originally published in ''The New Yorker'' between 193 ...
''. Aspects of Dimitrescu's characterization also reference Ramon Salazar from ''
Resident Evil 4 ''Resident Evil 4'' is a 2005 survival horror game developed and published by Capcom for the GameCube. Players control the special agent Leon S. Kennedy on a mission to rescue the US president's daughter, Ashley Graham (Resident Evil), Ashley ...
'', a diminutive villain said to have resonated with many players as a memorable antagonist. Dimitrescu has been incorrectly pronounced as ''Dimitreesk'' in English, with the final "u" letter being silent. This pronunciation has been criticized by
Romanian-language Romanian (obsolete spelling: Roumanian; , or , ) is the official and main language of Romania and Moldova. Romanian is part of the Eastern Romance languages, Eastern Romance sub-branch of Romance languages, a linguistic group that evolved fr ...
speakers, who have said that the correct pronunciation is "dimi-tres-ku", as it is a
Romanian name A name in Romanian tradition consists of a given name (''prenume'') and a family name (surname) (''nume'' or ''nume de familie''). In official documents, surnames usually appear before given names. Given names Romanians have one, two, or more ...
. According to Tomonori Takano, the art director for ''Resident Evil Village'', the development team intended to move away from using simplistic elements like
zombies A zombie (Haitian French: ; ; Kikongo: ''zumbi'') is a mythological undead corporeal revenant created through the reanimation of a corpse. In modern popular culture, zombies appear in horror genre works. The term comes from Haitian folklore ...
to scare players and instead focus on creating unique situations and memorable characters who would create fear in new ways, continuing a trend that began in '' Resident Evil 7: Biohazard'', the predecessor to ''Village''. The
boss character In video games, a boss is a significantly powerful non-player character and computer-controlled enemy created as an opponent to players. A fight with a boss character is referred to as a boss battle or boss fight. Bosses are generally far stro ...
of the Castle Dimitrescu area, Lady Dimitrescu is presented as a nearly invulnerable enemy with long, retractable sharp claws. Dimitrescu is programmed to stalk the player-controlled Ethan Winters throughout her castle; she is meant to be constantly evaded by the player, much like Mr. X from the 2019 remake of ''
Resident Evil 2 ''Resident Evil 2'' is a 1998 survival horror video game developed and published by Capcom for the PlayStation (console), PlayStation. The player controls rookie cop Leon S. Kennedy and college student Claire Redfield, who must escape Raccoon ...
'' or members of the Baker family from ''Resident Evil 7''. Dimitrescu commands her "daughters", Bela, Cassandra, and Daniela, as her subordinates. They are products of her experiments with the Cadou parasite whose bodies are composed of imitation flies that aggregate into the forms of the corpses they devour and can thrive only within the castle's walls. They were heavily influenced by the
Brides of Dracula The Brides of Dracula are fictional characters in Bram Stoker's 1897 novel ''Dracula''. They are three seductive vampire "sisters" who reside with Count Dracula in his castle in Transylvania, where they entice men with their beauty and charm, a ...
. Castle Dimitrescu, inspired by
Peleș Castle Peleș Castle ( ) is a Neo-Renaissance palace in the Royal Domain of Sinaia in the Carpathian Mountains, near Sinaia, in Prahova County, Romania, on an existing medieval route linking Transylvania and Wallachia, built between 1873 and 1914 ...
in
Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...
, was originally conceived as being inhabited by "dozens upon dozens" of Dimitrescu's daughters, but the family was ultimately reduced to Alcina Dimitrescu and her three daughters following trial and error and testing of the game's pacing. Dimitrescu and her daughters, who compete with each other for their mother's attention and approval, feed on human blood to sustain themselves, with the remains of their male victims discarded and left in a crucified state outside of Castle Dimitrescu. Dimitrescu is said to be highly protective of her daughters in a maternal fashion, which the developers approached by presenting her story as paralleling that of Ethan's own family, whom he is also trying to protect. Dimitrescu stands at , including her hat and high heels. Takano wanted to avoid typical gothic imagery associated with past ''Resident Evil'' games as well as the horror genre as a whole, so the Dimitrescu women's visual design referenced fashion trends from the 1930s era instead, and the sisters' clothing are finely embroidered with floral patterns of the Dimitrescu family crest. Lady Dimitrescu's appearance first developed in an early prototype that used the model of Ethan's wife,
Mia Winters ''Resident Evil'' is a horror game media franchise created by Capcom. The series' success has led to a live-action film series, animated films, television series, comic books, novels, audiobooks, and merchandise. The franchise features an exten ...
, from ''Resident Evil 7'', but with a hat and a dress, which gave the character a ghost-like appearance, but not one that came across as scary. The team scaled-up the model in the game and discovered that the additional accessories provided the necessary element of fear. Based on this prototype, one of the first pieces of concept art Takano drew of Lady Dimitrescu involved her imposing visage leaning down to step through a doorway, demonstrating her height, which he recognized needed to be a scene in the final game and in the game's first trailer. Dimitrescu's character model was based on Polish model Helena Mankowska, while her voice and
motion capture Motion capture (sometimes referred as mocap or mo-cap, for short) is the process of recording high-resolution motion (physics), movement of objects or people into a computer system. It is used in Military science, military, entertainment, sports ...
were performed by American theatrical actress Maggie Robertson. Robertson had auditioned for the role on a whim, having recently moved from the
Eastern United States The Eastern United States, often abbreviated as simply the East, is a macroregion of the United States located to the east of the Mississippi River. It includes 17–26 states and Washington, D.C., the national capital. As of 2011, the Eastern ...
to
Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
, and was surprised when she was given the role, her first in video games. She considered adopting animal techniques while preparing for the part and considered the character to be "catlike"; she used feline movement as the inspiration for her own motions. When asked, after the character went viral, Robertson said, "I'm incredibly grateful for it. It's given me a platform to create a safe space for lots of different communities, like the LGBT+ community."


Character story and game appearances

Alcina was born into the noble Dimitrescu family sometime before
World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
. Although her family traced their origins to Cesare, one of the four founders of an isolated mountain village in Europe, Alcina lived elsewhere. In the aftermath of
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
and the abolition of the nobility, Dimitrescu returned to her family's former lands, which had fallen under the control of a neopagan cult worshipping the Black God. Dimitrescu suffered a hereditary blood disease prior to meeting Miranda, who infected her with the Cadou parasite to see if she was compatible with her plans to revive her daughter. Although the Cadou parasite bestowed her with profound regenerative capabilities, eternal life, and retractable claws, Alcina's preexisting blood disease only worsened, and the mutated noblewoman now required large quantities of human blood and flesh to ingest on a regular basis to maintain her condition, causing her to gradually grow to enormous heights. Upon inhabiting the estate, she took over her family's vineyard and wine-distribution business as a means of supporting herself. As the Dimitrescu family was closely associated with the noble Beneviento, Moreau, and Heisenberg families, Alcina maintained an alliance with them to control the region, serving under Miranda. She came to view herself as Miranda's favorite due to the great gifts she had received, and developed an intense rivalry with fellow lord Karl Heisenberg. This control allowed Dimitrescu's family to rule her castle with barbarous cruelty, regularly taking in new staff to replace those who were taken to the dungeon to be killed; their blood was used to create an enriched red wine called Sanguis Virginis, meaning "maiden's blood". Later, while performing experiments for Miranda, Lady Dimitrescu implanted a form of Cadou within three young women which laid eggs containing carnivorous flies weak to the temperature. Said flies eventually consumed the women and mimicked their forms, creating similarly vampiric beings able to disassemble into a swarm of flies and reassemble at will. Dimitrescu grew attached, and took the women as her daughters, naming them Daniela, Bela, and Cassandra. In the game, Ethan Winters initially encounters Dimitrescu at a meeting of the four lords, where Miranda leaves Ethan's fate to Karl Heisenberg, much to Dimitrescu's dismay. After escaping Heisenberg, Ethan goes to the castle and is chased by Dimitrescu and her daughters. On one circumstance, he is captured by Dimitrescu's daughters and strung up on a wall to be drained of blood, but manages to free himself and kill the daughters one at a time. This infuriates her; she ignores Miranda's orders to personally kill Ethan, and chases after him. After Ethan stabs her with an ancient dagger, Dimitrescu is forced into mutating into her true dragon-like form while confronting Ethan within her estate's family crypt, and ultimately dies at his hand. In the downloadable content expansion "The Mercenaries: Additional Orders" for ''Resident Evil Village'' released in October 2022, Lady Dimitrescu is one of the playable characters. To give players smoother gameplay, director Kento Kinoshita decided to reduce her height. Her gameplay consists of using her talons as weapons, gaining speed and attack damage bonuses after each kill.


Promotion and reception

To promote ''Resident Evil Village'', Capcom distributed life-size
standee A standee is a large self-standing display promoting a movie, product or event, or Point of sale display, point-of-sale advertising, often in the form of a life-size cut-out figure. They are typically made of Paperboard, foam-board, and may ran ...
s of Lady Dimitrescu in video game stores. In
Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...
, promotional material featuring the character was displayed on public transportation in early 2021. Notable merchandise featuring the character included life-size towels offered as prizes to Japanese participants in a competition held on
Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...
.
Cosplay Cosplay, a blend word of "costume play", is an activity and performance art in which participants called cosplayers wear costumes and Fashion accessory, fashion accessories to represent a specific Character (arts), character. Cosplayers often i ...
er
Yaya Han Yaya Han is a Chinese–American cosplayer, model and costume designer based in the United States. She is a regular judge at cosplay competitions. Han was featured on the Syfy channel's ''Heroes of Cosplay'', and has appeared as a guest judge on ...
uploaded a video sponsored by Capcom on her
YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...
channel, documenting the process behind her cosplay activities as the character, in April 2021. On April 30, 2021, a puppet show miniseries featuring Dimitrescu alongside her peers was released on Capcom's official YouTube channel for the series. A three-foot-tall statue of Lady Dimitrescu made by PureArts in collaboration with Capcom was released in the second quarter of 2023. Her likeness has been co-opted by third-party brands such as Domino's Pizza Malaysia to promote their products. In 2023, Capcom released car signs and car stickers depicting her. A US$1,649, 26-inch, deluxe Lady Dimitrescu figure has also been made. Lady Dimitrescu received very positive reception from critics and players following her initial reveal in a 2020 promotional trailer for ''Resident Evil Village'' and her appearance in the 2021
PlayStation 5 The PlayStation 5 (PS5) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. It was announced as the successor to the PlayStation 4 in April 2019, was launched on November 12, 2020, in Australia, Japan, New Zealand, North ...
–exclusive demo ''Maiden''. By February 2021, Takano had publicly acknowledged what he later described as an unexpectedly enthusiastic response to the character. Even though ''Village'' was scheduled for launch on May 7, 2021, Dimitrescu's surge in popularity in early 2021 led to a significant proliferation of fan exploration of the character through
fan art Fan art or fanart is artwork created by Fan (person), fans of a work of fiction or celebrity depicting events, Character (arts), character, or other aspect of the work. As fan labor, fan art refers to artworks that are not created, commissione ...
, including a fan-made action-figure commercial, cosplay activities by notable individuals including Han and Olympic bronze medalist Yekaterina Lisina, and
internet meme An Internet meme, or meme (, Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''MEEM''), is a cultural item (such as an idea, behavior, or style) that spreads across the Internet, primarily through Social media, social media platforms. Internet memes manif ...
s, which sometimes involved participation by other video game developers on
social media Social media are interactive technologies that facilitate the Content creation, creation, information exchange, sharing and news aggregator, aggregation of Content (media), content (such as ideas, interests, and other forms of expression) amongs ...
. Dimitrescu has been the subject of fan mods for video games; examples include a mod for ''
Fallout 4 ''Fallout 4'' is a 2015 action role-playing game developed by Bethesda Game Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks. It is the fourth main game in the ''Fallout'' series and was released worldwide on November 10, 2015, for Microsoft Windo ...
'' that allows her long-sleeved ivory gown to be worn by the player character, and a mod for ''Village'' that replaces Dimitrescu's face with that of
Thomas the Tank Engine Thomas the Tank Engine is a fictional, anthropomorphised tank locomotive who originated from the British children's books ''The Railway Series'', created and written by Wilbert Awdry with his son Christopher Awdry, Christopher, first publish ...
, which ''
Eurogamer ''Eurogamer'' is a British video game journalism website launched in 1999 alongside parent company Gamer Network. In 2008, it started in the formerly eponymous trade fair EGX (Eurogamer Expo until 2013) organised by its parent company. Fr ...
'' described as the "headline act" in the game's "burgeoning
mod Mod, MOD or mods may refer to: Places * Modesto City–County Airport, Stanislaus County, California, US Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Mods (band), a Norwegian rock band * M.O.D. (Method of Destruction), a band from New York City, US * ...
scene". In March 2021,
Epic Games Epic Games, Inc. is an American Video game developer, video game and software development, software developer and video game publisher, publisher based in Cary, North Carolina. The company was founded by Tim Sweeney (game developer), Tim Sween ...
distributed a survey to ''
Fortnite ''Fortnite'' is an online video game and game platform developed by Epic Games and released in 2017. It is available in seven distinct game mode versions that otherwise share the same general gameplay and game engine: '' Fortnite Battle Roy ...
'' players in order to gauge interest in future
crossover Crossover may refer to: Entertainment Music Albums * ''Cross Over'' (album), a 1987 album by Dan Peek, or the title song * ''Crossover'' (Dirty Rotten Imbeciles album), 1987 * ''Crossover'', an album by Intrigue * ''Crossover'', an album by ...
promotions; the list of potential characters and brands included Lady Dimitrescu,
Jill Valentine is a character in ''Resident Evil'' (''Biohazard'' in Japan), a survival horror series created by the Japanese company Capcom. She was introduced as one of two player characters in the original ''Resident Evil (1996 video game), Resident Ev ...
, and Ethan Winters. She was also included in ''
Teppen (stylized as ''TEPPƎN'') is a free-to-play digital collectible card game developed by GungHo Online Entertainment and Capcom. It released in North America and Europe on July 4, 2019 and in Asia on August 8 for Android, and iOS. The game was ...
'' and ''State of Survival'' expansion. Several commentators discussed at length the reasons behind the character's popularity, with many identifying her unusually tall height as a key element drawing fan interest. Leon Hurley of ''
GamesRadar+ ''GamesRadar+'' (formerly ''GamesRadar'') is an entertainment website for video game-related news, previews, and reviews. It is owned by Future plc. In late 2014, Future Publishing-owned sites ''Total Film'', '' SFX'', '' Edge'' and '' Compute ...
'' observed that Dimitrescu was not the main villain of ''Village'' or its most important character, but nevertheless had become more prominent, popular, discussed, and imitated than was originally intended or expected. In light of the character's positive reception, Jess Kinghorn of ''GamesRadar'' suggested that the video game industry should be less fixated on youthfulness and feature older female characters with nuanced characterization. In December 2021, Ed Nightingale of ''Eurogamer'' described her as the "most memorable character of the year", saying that "Lady Dimitrescu embodies all of this, straddling the line between horror, sex, and camp." Conversely, she has received criticism for "overshadowing" the horror aspect of ''Village'' while having briefer screen time than many players may have anticipated. Commentators have suggested that some of the fan interest is erotic or sexual in nature, specifically feminine dominance. The character's popularity has indeed inspired a substantial amount of fan-made pornography and expressions of desire to participate in sexual or erotic fetishism. The character is said to have generated some interest in
trampling Trampling is the act of walking on something repeatedly by humans or animals. Trampling on open ground can destroy the above ground parts of many plants and can compact the soil, thereby creating a distinct microenvironment that specific species ...
, the act of being stepped on by a partner playing a sexually dominant role, in particular. Professional erotica writer Gemma Glitter attributed interest in the character to macrophilia, in this case a fascination with giant-sized women. Steven T. Wright from ''Input Mag'' reported that Lady Dimitrescu's sex appeal represents the fetishization of their body height for several real-life tall women, as she is considered to be "simultaneously a beacon of their own power and allure, and a painful reminder of the complex social stigmas society attaches to femme body shape". Maggie Robertson earned multiple awards for her performance as Lady Dimitrescu. She won Best Performer at the 2021
Golden Joystick Awards The Golden Joystick Awards, also known as the People's Gaming Awards, is a video game award ceremony; it awards the best video games of the year, as voted for originally by the British general public, but is now a global event that can be voted ...
, Best Performance at
The Game Awards 2021 The Game Awards 2021 was an award show that honored the best video games of 2021. The event was hosted by Geoff Keighley, creator and producer of The Game Awards, and was held to an invited audience at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles on D ...
, the Great White Way Award for Best Acting in a Game at the 11th Annual New York Game Awards, and the Outstanding Performance in a Drama, Supporting, award at the 21st annual NAVGTR Awards. At the
25th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards The ''25th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards'' was the 25th edition of the D.I.C.E. Awards ("Design Innovate Communicate Entertain"), an annual awards event that honored the best games in the video game industry during 2021 in video games, 2021. The awards ...
, Robertson accepted the award for Outstanding Achievement in Character on behalf of the ''Village'' development team in recognition for their collective work with Lady Dimitrescu.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dimitrescu, Lady Female characters in video games Monster characters in video games Fictional cannibals Fictional cult leaders Fictional characters with gigantism Fictional female serial killers Fictional lords and ladies People from fictional European countries Internet memes introduced in 2021 Resident Evil characters Vampire characters in video games Vampire supervillains Video game bosses Video game characters based on real people Video game characters introduced in 2021 Video game characters with accelerated healing Video game characters with superhuman durability or invulnerability Video game characters with superhuman strength Video game memes Nobility characters in video games