Mother Miranda is a particularly terrifying character in Resident Evil: Village. The biologist-turned-cult leader had gone to extreme lengths to be reunited with her late daughter Eva, including unleashing Lycans on her own community and kidnapping Rose Winters.
The Story of Mother Miranda’s Umbrella and Its Connections
Miranda was not always a bloodthirsty Pagan cult leader with winged wings. Her family was a small mountainous Eastern European village, and she was just like any other woman. However, Miranda’s life was turned upside down when her daughter, Eva, tragically passed away from the Spanish Flu.
Miranda, suffering from endless anguish and despair after the death of her only child, descended into a cave deep below the hamlet to commit suicide, and there she discovered the megabyte.
Being the mother of all mothers
Amorphous black masses appeared to vibrate in the darkness. As Miranda reached out to touch it, she allowed the mold to connect her to the thoughts and memories of the many souls the mold had swallowed and assimilated into its hive consciousness. Her dedication to serving the strange thing began when she used it to revive Eva.
She proceeded to use its talents to persuade her fellow villagers that she had a magical connection to the dead, accomplishing alleged miracles to the point where she was revered as a sort of deity across the hamlet. It was now known to the world that Mother Miranda was both the giver and the taker of life itself.
Her goal was to gain the trust of her captives by appeasing them by performing magical favors for them, including tying them into the mold’s web of memories and allowing them to communicate with their dead relatives.
But she was keeping them pleasant to distract them while covertly carrying out horrifying experiments with the mold – experiments she named ‘Cadou,’ or ‘gifts.’ The severe mold killed most of the inhabitants, but the truly unlucky were changed into vicious animals known as Lycans.
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Is that Oswell Spencer?
Miranda met future Umbrella Corporation CEO Oswell Spencer after he got stranded in the wilderness while performing the scientific study. Spencer and Miranda became close, and Spencer expressed an interest in her research into the hallucinogenic and regenerating effects of the megamycete. Despite the fact that he returned to America alone to pursue his profession, the two remained in regular contact.
Connect The Reductions
The Cadou continued to fail over time. During Miranda’s imprisonment for the abuse of the villagers with brutal experiments, Miranda was approached by the crime syndicate The Connections, who collaborated with Umbrella’s rival company. They had an idea that immediately attracted Miranda’s attention.
Miranda and the Lords
Miranda won four partial triumphs when she implanted a Cadou within each of the Four Lords and effectively formed herself a new, adopted family.
Alcina Dimitrescu, Lady
It was Lady Dimitrescu, a descendant of aristocracy and the most likely candidate for the Cadou – and her selection was one of Miranda’s greatest missteps.
Benevento, Donna
The Cadou, the last remaining child of the Beneviento family, left Donna with terrible facial deformities. Since childhood, she had been afflicted by enormous anxiety disorders, which led to an obsession with dolls. She made dolls at the workshop at House Beneviento, a remote and tranquil home perched on the edge of a raging waterfall.
Mr. Salvatore Moreau
Moreau, the deformed scientist-turned-fishman, dwelt alone in his reservoir, a clear allusion to author Lovecraft’s brand of aquatic horror. Miranda found little use for him after his Cadou implant turned him into a disfigured, melancholy creature that transforms into a huge fish when the experiment fails. However, she kept him on the local Council because he was the last surviving descendent of House Moreau, one of the four families who once ruled the village.
Heisenberg, Karl
Miranda’s secret favorite kid is Heisenberg, the only one of the Four Lords actively working against her. He holds Miranda responsible for his awful upbringing, having been abducted from his family at a young age and compelled to work alongside Miranda as both a Lord and the commander of the Lycans.
Women Are Typically Depicted In One Of Three Ways In Traditional Gothic Narratives:
- The femme fatale, the evil who murders and deceives by using sexuality as a weapon
- The damsel in distress, who needs rescue and protection from a male character
- The purposefully and significantly absent mother who rejects the family unit in favor of self-serving behaviors such as divorce, remarriage, or single-parenthood
Mother Miranda, Rest In Peace
Ethan is hot on Miranda’s tail when he sacrifices himself to destroy the mega mycete. On the other hand, the concluding scenes of Resident Evil: Village leave a lot to be desired; was it Ethan standing on the road behind teenage Rose Winters’ car? And, if Ethan survives, will Mother Miranda be able to claw her way back out?
Aside from the lingering questions, Gothic fiction teaches us one important lesson: the dead don’t stay dead, especially when you’re part of a sinister Gothic duo.