Resident evil village was able to immediately bewitch the public, both thanks to its wonderful and evocative settings, and thanks to the presence of Lady Dimitrescu, the new enemy of the famous franchise that, since its first appearance, has captured the attention of players. Fanarts, memes and cosplay began to spread visibly, much to the delight of Capcom and the developers of Resident Evil Village. In an interview granted to IGN, Tomonori takano, Art Director of Resident Evil Village, talked about what inspired the creation of this new and seductive enemy.
In the interview, Takano said that from the early stages of planning the intent of the development team was to use a castle full of vampires, but at the same time they didn't want to be bound by the way vampires were. represented in various forms of popular entertainment. To be able to create the design that proved to be extremely effective, the artist decided to explore the concept of "bewitching vampire“, Drawing inspiration from characters such as the famous XNUMXth century Hungarian noblewoman and serial killer Elizabeth Báthory, the Japanese urban legend Hashaku-sama and Anjelica Huston's Morticia Addams. Precisely for this reason, although she retains some typical characteristics of vampires, such as pale complexion and bright yellow eyes, Lady Dimitrescu definitely does not seem to represent a traditional vampire. Furthermore, Takano focused on one of the most appreciated factors of the woman by the public, its colossal height. Capcom has previously clarified this, pointing out that Lady Dimitrescu is almost three meters high.
The first real piece of concept art I drew was the trailer scene where Lady Dimitrescu bends down to walk through the door. From that moment on, I knew I had to do that scene.
Another aspect not to be underestimated is its elegance, an element that greatly distinguishes it from all the other enemies that we have got to know within the famous Capcom horror franchise. Even compared to previous female enemies in the Resident Evil series, Lady Dimitrescu stands out. It is not an overly monstrous creature like Lisa Trevor or someone conventionally attractive who turns into a monster like Alexia Ashford. Lady Dimitrescu is perfectly halfway between these two examples and shows herself, in all her beauty, as something completely unique and original for Capcom. According to Takano, this choice follows the path already started with Resident Evil 7: Biohazard and who sees a completely different approach to enemies and how they are to be represented. This was also made clear by the producer of the series Jun Takeuchi, who to explain why there is a need to revise the concept of what can frighten viewers said:
If we want people to be afraid, we need to think beyond the classic stereotypical zombies.
