The internet loves Lady Dimitrescu, Resident Evil Village’s principal villain. At this point, the world’s thirst for the extremely tall vampire woman has morphed into a nigh-inescapable meme, like a much hotter, more prolific version of ‘Mr. X Gon Give It to Ya‘ – and it seems Capcom couldn’t be happier that everybody’s talking about the new Resident Evil. Now the developers are breaking down the inspirations that brought Lady Dimitrescu to life.
The initial idea was to create a “bewitching vampire” whose depiction wouldn’t be “constrained by how vampires have been portrayed in various forms of popular entertainment,” art director Tomonori Takano tells IGN. Takano cites three specific sources of inspiration: a serial killer, a Japanese urban legend, and Morticia Addams.
Fans have already suspected the urban legend bit, at least, and yes, Lady Dimitrescu was inspired in part by Hasshaku-sama, a ghost story which originated on Japanese forum 2chan. The Hasshaku-sama is usually depicted as an extremely tall woman in a wide-brimmed hat and a white dress, just like our Lady D.
Then there’s Elizabeth Báthory, a 16th-century Hungarian noble who has somewhat grimly been awarded the Guinness World Record of ‘most prolific female murderer’. Her murders are very real and well-documented, but stories eventually grew to suggest that she bathed in the blood of virgins to maintain her youth. (That PS5-exclusive Maiden demo seems to lean into this idea.)
And there’s Anjelica Huston’s take on Morticia Addams. What more needs to be said? What an icon.
“I don’t think anyone [on the team] could have predicted how wonderfully fans have reacted to Lady Dimitrescu,” Takano says. “Personally, I was particularly struck by comments like, ‘I want to be chased by her.'”
Give the full interview a read, it’s a delight.
A short interview with Capcom's Tomonori Takano, art director of Village and creator of Lady Dimitrescu (one of the inspirations: Angelica Huston's Morticia Addams)
“Personally, I was particularly struck by comments like, ‘I want to be chased by her.”https://t.co/N8rQry3K5E pic.twitter.com/qPIo7QZARM
— Nibel (@Nibellion) February 10, 2021
The Resident Evil 8 PC release date is set for May 7. You can follow that link for a whole lot more on what we know so far, beyond Lady D.