Licker
Lickers are creatures that feature in Resident Evil.
Contents |
History
Lickers (Japanese: リッカー, Hepburn: rikkā) were a BOW which were developed by the Umbrella Corporation. A truly insidious monster created when a human being receives a double dose of the T-Virus (which makes them, essentially, mutated zombies). They came into existence at some point after the Crimson Head Prototype 1's creation, when the V-ACT process was underground research. By 1998, they were undergoing research at the Raccoon City Underground Laboratory as potential bio-weapons.
In September 1998, as Raccoon City succumbed to a viral outbreak, the first recorded activities of the Lickers involved the systematic hunting of survivors within the Raccoon Police Department. These predators initially navigated the high rafters and ventilation ducts of the station, often leaving behind trails of fresh blood that dripped from the ceiling as they stalked prey from above. Upon detecting sound, they would drop from their perches or leap through glass partitions to launch high-speed ambushes. During these encounters, they frequently used their powerful, lance-like tongues to lash out from a distance or relied on their massive talons to attack victims and scale vertical surfaces with predatory agility. When not actively pursuing a target, they were often observed remaining perfectly motionless or consuming the remains of corpses in secluded areas like the police kennels and morgue. As the incident progressed into the city's final days, their activities extended to more fortified locations such as the underground NEST laboratories, where they acted as de facto guard beasts in high-security corridors and subterranean tunnels.
A few were noted to had been encountered in the nearby Apple Inn. More advanced versions of the Licker, which have darker skin and hooks on their hands in lieu of claws and are a lot more difficult to kill than the "normal" Licker, has been encountered in the underground Umbrella Corporation lab in Raccoon, and they have also appeared in Umbrella's facilities on Sheena Island.
Overview
In appearance, the Licker was a B.O.W. that resembled a grotesque, skinless humanoid whose rapid viral mutation had stripped away its epidermis to reveal raw, glistening muscle and complex sinew. Its most striking feature was a massively expanded brain that sat exposed atop its skull, having grown so large that it effectively crowded out or destroyed the creature's ocular cavities, leaving it entirely without eyes. Its skeletal structure had warped into a permanent, bestial quadrupedal form, with elongated limbs ending in three-to-five massive, razor-sharp talons capable of rending through sheet metal or anchoring its weight to ceilings. Within its perpetually open, tooth-filled maw lay a powerful, prehensile tongue that could extend several feet in length. This signature organ was often seen dripping with thick saliva and was strong enough to act as a lance, capable of impaling flesh or decapitating prey with a single whip-like motion. In later stages of the Raccoon City outbreak, some specimens exhibited further cosmetic variations, such as a greenish-grey or blue-tinted pigmentation and even larger, stinger-like claws.
Unlike most other BOWs, the Licker's name is not an Umbrella designation. Rather, the name was given to it by members of the RPD.
Notes
- Lickers were created by Noboru Sugimura where they featured in the setting of the Resident Evil universe.
In other media
Television
Films
- In Resident Evil, Lickers appeared in the setting of the 2002 live-action film. Fierce BOW created by researchers working in the Hive, the Licker was the unstable result of the scientists injecting the T-Virus directly into living human tissue (as opposed to allowing the virus to take the normal course of infection). It was kept inside a stasis tank on life-support in a dormant state until Chad Kaplan (Bart Kaplan) shut down the Red Queen. With the power off and nothing keep its life-support on the Licker awoke and broke free. It roamed the Hive freely until attacking and killing Spence Parks (Percival Parks) on the train platform.It mutated into a much bigger, ferocious creature after consuming Spence's DNA along with his flesh. It then boarded the train while it was in motion, killing Kaplan and severely wounding Matt Addison until Alice managed to finally kill it by first nailing its whip-like tongue to the floor with a sharp iron pipe, then dropping it through a trapdoor in the floor of the train car. Dragged along the tracks underneath the train, the Licker came into contact with the third rail and was electrocuted to death.
- In Resident Evil: Apocalypse, Lickers appeared in the setting of the 2004 live-action film. When the T-Virus escaped from the Hive as a result of the UBCS foolishly opening the sealed facility, the disease wasn't the only thing that escaped into Raccoon City. Three Lickers turned up at the Raven's Gate Church to menace Jill Valentine and fellow survivors Peyton Wells, Terri Morales and Mackenzie (Angus McKenzie). After they'd killed Mackenzie, all three Lickers were themselves done in by Alice when she literally came crashing into the church on a motorcycle; the first was blown up along with the motorcycle when Alice shot the gas tank, the other two were shot (one after it had been pinned to the floor by a cross). Despite the fact that original the Licker is said to be capable of mutating after eating a human being and absorbing their DNA, none of the Lickers that ate Mackenzie changed at all, quite unlike the original monster's reaction to eating Spence.
Video games
Comics
- Identical to the game version in both appearance and physical abilities. It is not known how Lickers are created, although it likely involves the G-Virus. A shipment of these monsters was aboard the Umbrella cargo plane that crashlanded on Isla Bonale, resulting in the Lickers' escape from their stasis tubes. They briefly menaced Stan and Leslie before being chased away by the much bigger mutated moray eel.
Novels
- BOW that was part of Umbrella's "reptile series," created in the labs beneath Raccoon City. Known to the Sherry Birkin as the "inside-out men." Their appearance and abilities are identical to the Lickers in the games.
Appearances
- Resident Evil 2: (1998)
