Do Leon Kennedy and Ada Wong have anything in common?
I admit it. I'm a shipper. A selective shipper but one none the less. One of the few (very few!) ships I go ga-ga for is that of Resident Evil's Leon S Kennedy and Ada Wong. Appart from loving these two as individuals, I also find their relationship (particularly its clear romantic angle) to be great fun to write, read and talk about. However, I've seen many argue that Ada and Leon have nothing in common. He's a straight-laced hero and she's an amoral, manipulative spy. Apparently, Leon would be better off with Claire Redfield or Ashley Graham. To each his/her own, but I disagree. So here's what I have to say about it:
Do Leon and Ada have anything in common?
I recently read a post by a Leon/Claire shipper who asked that same question and argued ‘no they don’t’ and they went on to argue that Leon and Claire have tonnes in common. And this got me thinking. The post was very persuasive but the more I thought about it the more I disagreed. I have no desire to bash Leon/Claire here but I would like to have a closer look at this claim as it’s quite popular in pro Leon/Claire and anti Leon/Ada circles from what I’ve read.
This poster argued that couples need to have things in common with each other to be successful. Now I do agree with this but there are several real life couples out there that seem complete opposites on the surface but actually have very deep and meaningful relationships. They balance out each other’s strengths and weaknesses; they open each other’s eyes to new ways of thinking and challenge each other to be better. An outsider may not be able to understand why they’re together but really why do they have to? What business is it of theirs?
But this idea aside, let’s look at Leon and Ada vs. Leon and Claire in particular. Now I do have a specific reason for asking these questions. I’m planning and writing a new story and one question I want to answer is why Leon and Ada fall in love. I believe that Leon and Ada have plenty in common based on evidence from the game and are highly compatible.
First Leon/Claire: what exactly do they have in common? I’ve seen people state that they have a lot in common but they never give any examples. Are they both orphans? Do they both like kayaking? Are they both allergic to peanuts? What exactly do they have in common?
Now as far as I can see (based on the games) they do have some things in common. They both survived Raccoon City, they’re both altruistic and eager to save others and they’re both quite upstanding citizens. They also have a good working knowledge of self defence, survival skills and weapons. This is a nice list but Leon and Ada share some (though not all) of these aspects too, so do Leon and Jill Valentine as it happens. In fact Leon has more in common with Jill than Claire since both Leon and Jill were part of the anti-Umbrella group and had made it their mission to destroy them; whilst Claire’s number one priority in both RE2 and RECVX is to save her brother. I don’t blame her for that at all, but if Claire had placed destroying Umbrella as an immediate focus then this would bring both her and Leon together on a deeper level. Instead she leaves him very soon after RE2 and we have no proof that they spent much time together after that.
From what I can see this list could be the basis of a close friendship for Leon and Claire, but there really isn’t much evidence to suggest that it goes further than that. We know a lot about the RE characters but RE is a game, not a soap opera so there are many things we don’t know. We don’t know what Leon’s hobbies are, what his favourite movie is, what his family life is like and so on. If he liked motorbikes for example then he’d have something very obvious in common with Claire. But there’s no proof that he does. I wouldn’t argue that Leon and Claire have nothing in common but Capcom haven’t given us any info to suggest that they have more in common with each other than they have with many other RE characters. Absence of proof is not proof of absence, but these are fictional characters. Anything beyond what Capcom give us as canon is simply in our imaginations.
Okay, on to Leon and Ada. I’ll try to stick to canon as much as possible and not let my shipper bias lead me astray. But it’ll be hard! ^_^
Leon and Ada are opposites in many ways. The biggest opposition in RE2 being that Ada is ruthless when it comes to achieving her objective whilst Leon makes it a priority to help others. But by the end of the game they are not the same people as they were at the start. If Leon and Ada had emerged from Raccoon City unchanged from their interactions with each other then you could argue quite plausibly that they are like oil and water and would never work together. However by the end of RE2 Ada falls for Leon and sacrifices her objective to save him. She reveals the emotional and caring side of her personality that even she may not have known was there. Leon is made tougher and less naive by the end of the game partly because of Ada. He makes it his objective to destroy Umbrella whatever the cost. According to the RE Archive published by Capcom, Ada’s death was a strong driving force in his decision. ‘Opposites attract’ doesn’t mean that two very different people just get together but remain mirror opposites throughout their relationship. They’re actually two people who change each other and affect each other. They have chemistry and a power over each other and they are more similar than they realise.
On that note there is no evidence that Leon and Claire are emotionally affected by their relationship with the other. That sort of thing isn’t compulsory for a relationship but there has to be some kind of chemistry IMHO and the characters should reach a point where they are visibly affected by the presence of the other person. But again, based on evidence from the games, I don’t see it here on a scale large enough to argue true love. If Claire had never met Leon (assuming she survived Raccoon City) then she’d still have ended up as the woman we met in CVX. And it’s the same with Leon. With or without Claire he would probably have still decided to bring Umbrella down and later join the government.
On to RE4 and who Leon and Ada are now- I think they have even more in common here than ever. The core of who they are is still there. IMHO Capcom haven’t sacrificed the truth of who Leon and Ada are. Leon is tougher but still a boy scout at heart, Ada shows her feelings for Leon but is still an aloof and elusive spy.
However, they still have a lot in common on several levels. Their interactions are very intense. They care about each other but still keep a certain distance. Neither is eager to show their cards as it were. They’re professionals and highly intelligent. The courtyard bedroom scene in RE4 comes to mind here. Ada even ends up taking Leon’s advice about the use of a knife in close encounters which leads onto another meeting when the Plagas parasite temporarily takes over Leon’s body and Ada follows Leon’s advice concerning knives and close combat.
Separate Ways reveals that Ada is not really working for Wesker. She’s actually working for a group whose aim is to take Wesker down. Now whether ‘The Organisation’ is part of a government or an independent group, it’s clear that Ada’s objective may run in parallel with Leon’s aim now.
There are hints that both lead very lonely lives and are focused entirely on their careers. Ada’s line of work can’t be very good for her chances of having a personal life and from what we learn about her in RE2 I doubt that (outside of what she tells Leon before she dies in both scenarios) this has never been a priority or possibility for her. In RE4 she hangs her head and sighs at least twice and as she stares into the sunset at the end of Separate Ways you get the impression that she leads a very isolated existence with a high degree of pressure.
Similarly Leon’s job is fulltime, is likely to involve crazy hours and it’s a high pressure job. He’s clearly single as he indicates this when he asks Hunnigan for her phone number. When she tells him he’s on duty he replies ‘story of my life’ perhaps subtly revealing that he doesn’t have much of personal life. Much of his work is probably top secret and he’d be unable to share what he does with any civilian partner or friend.
Leon and Ada make a pretty good team. In RE2 they fight zombies side by side in the factory area after the sewers (if a zombie’s coming at you from behind then Ada will react and shoot at it if you’re otherwise occupied. Also, if you stand Leon and Ada side by side they gaze at each other :3 I know Claire and Sherry do that too but I always found it kind of romantic when Leon and Ada do it.) They also save each other’s lives again and again etc. They even seem to have a sort of sixth sense about each other, for example when Leon realises that something’s wrong at the end of RE4 and finds that Ada has been captured by Saddler.
So to summarise:
‘Opposites attract’ does not mean that a couple are unable to interact and affect each other, quite the opposite in fact. Additionally, two people can appear to have things in common but this doesn’t mean they’re going to fall in love. There are plenty of male friends I have things in common with but that doesn’t mean that I’m going to fall for them.
Capcom haven’t gone over board with their character biographies. They tell us what they need us to know in order to understand the characters, their motivations and their place in the story as well as their relationships with each other. They put a great deal of emphasis on Leon/Ada but very little on Leon/Claire. When discussing the games we’ll always bring in our biases, just as I’m sure I have and always will. But there is a clear line between canon (quotes and actions in game) and thinking that things existing in the RE world just because you want them to.
Leon and Ada changed each other during RE2, they brought out a side of the other that was always under the surface (i.e. Ada’s emotional and selfless side and Leon’s tougher and less naive side). They affect each other.
By RE4 Leon and Ada have many things in common. They’re excellent intelligence agents, both highly committed to their jobs and they both thrive under pressure. They exist in a world that few people outside could ever understand. This allows them to understand what the other goes through. Add to this that Ada is more than willing to risk her life and mission for Leon and stares after him longingly at least four times in the game, and that she is a part of Leon that he can’t let go despite how long they’ve been apart and I personally can’t see any reason why they wouldn’t be together if their situations allowed it. They have a lot in common, at least in my opinion :3