Here's What We Know About Resident Evil 8's Vampire Lady

The Resident Evil franchise is full of iconic monsters, and audiences remember plenty of them for a variety of reasons. Many gamers like Regeneradors because they are extremely freaky and tough to deal with, and quite a few players love to hate Albert Wesker because he evolved with the franchise and maintained a delicious god complex — and is a walking library of memeable quotes. Audiences might have already decided their favorite monster from Resident Evil: Village (or Resident Evil 8 – either title works), and the game isn't even out yet.

Ever since the game was first announced, gamers have flocked to sit under the shadow of the woman colloquially known as "the giant vampire lady." She appears in every trailer and lumbers into the end of the game's Maiden demo, but what do we truly know about her? She wears a white dress and big black hat, has chalk-white skin, and towers over everyone else in the game, but that's where most common knowledge ends. Just who is she? Why is she so important? And is she really a vampire?

We did some digging, and here's everything we found.

The first and most important fact about the vampire lady is that she has a name: Alcina Dimitrescu. And yes, much of Resident Evil Village is supposed to take place in Castle Dimitrescu, which means she owns the place. According to the Maiden demo, the castle has been in her family since the 15th century, which means Alcina probably inherited it — along with its legendary winemaking technique that might involve the blood of innocent villagers. Moreover, Alcina has lived in the castle since at least 1958, along with her "daughters."

Alcina and her daughters have exhibited vampiric tendencies since the '50s. They teased maids that they "wouldn't bite," and they shrieked when a window was opened during dinner. Not normal human behavior.

While Alcina Dimitrescu technically owns the castle, she isn't necessarily in charge of the operation. In the most recent trailer, she phones an unidentified person called "Mother Miranda" (presumably the same Mother Miranda some villagers prayed to in the second trailer) and talks in a decidedly subservient manner. Alcina is obviously furious, but her word choice indicates that she doesn't wear the biggest hat in this relationship.

While it's somewhat obvious who Alcina Dimitrescu is, nobody's quite sure what she is. She has three "daughters" who can turn into swarms of stinging insects and a "little brother" who may or may not be called Heisenberg, or the man with the round glasses and giant hammer. But when gamers examine the facts, two potential theories crop up. GamesRadar postulates that Alcina and her daughters are insect hybrids, sort of like the Chimera or Verdugo. The site hypothesizes Alcina might wear that long dress to hide some gnarly insect legs.

Several Redditors believe Alcina is an Umbrella B.O.W.-brand Tyrant, or something akin to one. While this theory is debatable because Tyrants are almost exclusively part of a supersoldier breeding/cloning program and Alcina isn't, she still sports the telltale signs of a Tyrant, including pale skin, prodigious height, and claws on her right hand. She's far more intelligent, loquacious, and voluptuous than the average Tyrant, but she'd hardly be the first feminine (or eloquent) Tyrant, either.

Whatever Alcina Dimitrescu is, she'll probably end up a barely recognizable mound of teeth and claws before Resident Evil: Village is finished, per Resident Evil tradition.