The Women of Parasite Eve

The following is essentially a rambling about Parasite Eve and the unique connections between the characters. Spoilers from more than one game are sure to follow.

Square's Parasite Eve and Parasite Eve II for the Playstation revolve around a phenomenon of destruction and mutating creatures as the result of a mitochondrial awakening (mitochondria being organelles which live symbiotically within cells). At the beginning of Parasite Eve, Aya Brea, a New York City police officer, is attending an Opera with a date. During the performance, the audience and actors burst into flames- except for Aya and one female opera singer, Melissa Pierce, who then flees. The first game chronicles Aya's search for Melissa, Melissa's connection to the ensuing chaos, and the connection between Melissa and Aya. The second game follows Aya out west as she leaves the New York City Police Department for the FBI and the team known as MIST (Mitochondrial Investigation and Suppression Team). She then discovers the depths of the reemerging mitochondrial threat.

Let's take a step back and examine the dynamics of the mitochondrial threat. In short, mitochondria are organelles which live inside cells and produce the majority of ATP, a source of chemical energy. It is believed that mitochondria are descended from bacteria (as they have a separate genome from cell DNA which is closely related to bacteria) and that they were absorbed into cells at some point along the road between primordial ooze and human life, oh some billion years ago. Mitochondrial DNA is also passed on solely through the mother to the child, therefore the theory is that in the early stages of homo sapien development, some female carried a strain of mitochondrial DNA which is the source of all mtDNA that exists in humans now. She is considered, then, the most recent matrilinial common ancestor to all human life. This female has been code-named Eve, and in Parasite Eve she is the consciousness which all mitochondria (who are considered dormant in their current symbiotic state within cells) share.

Now let's conclude the biology lesson and get back to the games (from now on, the science will be much less solid): During the first game, Eve (this ancestrial mitochondrial consciousness) takes over the weakened body of Melissa Peirce and begins the mitochondrial awakening which then transforms the inhabitants of New York City and begins a wave of events meant to bring about the extinction of the human race and the birth of an ultimate being which will inherit the earth. Aya, however, is immune to the effects of Eve- Eve's power or consciousness was held inside the tissue of a girl who's donated organs and tissue made their way into Aya and Melissa. Melissa became sick from the effects of Eve and, in combination with the immunosuppressants she was told to take and subsequently overdosed on, she caved in to Eve's influence and Eve took over her body. Aya, sharing the same tissue with Melissa in her body, is immune to the effects of the new Eve because she herself is part of Eve and is able to suppress it within her own body. The girl who's tissue is shared by Melissa and Aya is Aya's own sister, Maya, who died as a child. Therefore, Aya and Maya share a biological link which aides Aya against Eve- Aya's own body is genetically programmed to simultaneously wield and suppress Eve.

The three main female roles of the first game belong to Aya, Melissa, and Eve who play the parts of protector, vessel, and catalyst respectively. I would argue that the roles of vessel and catalyst are traditional roles for women based on centuries of myth, literature, social institutions and cultural practices- women are traditionally the catalyst for action and vessels for production. The Biblical Eve herself was a catalyst and a vessel as she was involved in the events which lead to the expulsion from paradise and also became the bearer of the children from whom the rest of humanity descended. Throughout history the stories and records have been filled with male heroes, hunters, and conquerors- categories which included few women. Women were instead something to be won, conquered, controlled, etc.

That is what is perhaps most interesting about Parasite Eve: Aya is a woman who is facing essentially female foes. What's more, Aya can be seen as embodying traits of both Melissa and Eve while simultaneously rising above their roles to become the protector and vanquisher. Juxtapose this against the role of Harry in Silent Hill 1: Harry is a male character with no physical, biological or psychological connection with Alyssa or the Mother of God that she becomes, but the stories are greatly parallel otherwise in that he eventually destroys the Mother and the God. Aya does essentially the same task by destroying Eve and the Ultimate Being she birthed, but Aya is part Eve and part Melissa on a social and even genetic level which Harry could never share with Alyssa or the divine being she became. Aya is Melissa and Eve. A male hero in that same situation cannot have the same connections to the antagonist(s).

Any thoughts?