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Reposted because of spoilers issue with previous titles.
RE9 MAJOR SPOILERS!!!
A quick disclaimer: Someone already mentioned this correlation, which inspired me to dive into this rabbit hole. I don't know if I can tag them or how to do it properly to give credit, so if anyone knows, please let me know! Also, I’m still figuring out how flairs and formatting work here; if something is wrong, please tell me and I’ll be happy to fix it.
I dont remember perfectly all the scenes from the game, since I only watched once the gameplay from someone on youtube, so i might confuse the order of some scenes. But basically the correlation is between Elpis, Grace, Spencer and the Pandora's jar myth.
I'll explain the myth before showing you the analogies.
Pandora, the first woman, was sent on earth from Zeus after Prometeus stole the fire from the gods to gift it to the human race. She was given a jar (pithos in ancient Greek; the 'box' translation is actually a Renaissance error. A pithos was a massive storage jar, often used for both food and burial, symbolizing a womb-like container of life and death) and she was told to not open it, ever. But she was extremely curious (some think curiosity was implemented voluntarily into her by the Olympians), to the point she eventually gave up and opened the jar. By doing so, all the evils of the world we live in escaped the jar, leaving Hope inside (it was meant to escape too, but Pandora closed the jar back immediately).
Hope in ancient greek is written ἐλπίς (elpis).
Starting with the analogies, Spencer can be seen as Zeus: the same way Zeus created Pandora to punish human race, Spencer created the virus to "punish" humans' weakness.
Pandora's jar can be associated with Raccoon city, the place where the evil escaped and the place where Elpis is being kept.
What a lot of people don't seem to understand is why Grace was chosen among all people. In the final part of the game, Grace discovers an hidden interview between her mother and Spencer. Here we see Spencer on his final years, on a wheelchair, holding a baby. Quoting his exact words:
Alyssa: Why did you accept my request for an interview? Who is th—? Is that one of your subjects?
Spencer: Of course not. She was alone in the world. I took her in to make amends.
Alyssa: Is she…?
Spencer: Perfectly normal. Just an average child needing a home. She… is my hope. Aren’t you beautiful? Would you like to hold her?
Alyssa: Oh! Um… OK. She’s adorable. What’s her name?
Spencer: Grace.
Alyssa: Grace. Is there anything else you’d like to tell me?
Spencer: I’ve said my piece. I only hope it serves as a requiem for those who have passed.
But how did Grace end up living with Alyssa if she's not her natural child? This whole section might be stretched, but it makes sense in my head: Alyssa and both Spencer knew that Grace in Spencer's hands could've been used as a "lab rat", since he (as much as I know, might be wrong tho) wasn't appreciated in the Umbrella company, making this adoption suspicious. Spencer might've told his true intentions to Alyssa off camera, explaining how Grace was the last hope to release Elpis, how she was supposed to find the truth later in life and release Elpis at the first given opportunity. At this point Alyssa took her under her protection, keeping her unaware of everything until that night at the hotel. We see the escaping scene in the game, and we also see Alyssa placing her notebook behind the painting (in which we'll find the disk with the interview).
Basically Umbrella thought that Grace was some kind of key for immortality, leading to clones' creation (like Emily) with no success (because she was not the key they thought she was).
Fast forwarding to the final decision, Grace has two options: destroy Elpis, as Leon requested, or release it, not knowing what it could lead to. Now we all know what happens in the first case. In the canon end, Grace realises what Elpis actually is: the final hope for Spencer to make amends with his past, leading to the password being "Hope" (translation for elpis, as I said before). She now has chosen to open Pandora's jar one last time, letting hope finally come out. She then has the confirm of it being a cure after Zeno's injection (His name is likely a nod to Zeno of Elea and his paradoxes. Just as in Zeno's paradoxes where a goal can never be reached despite getting closer and closer, the villain's obsession with reaching 'divinity' leads him to a state of perpetual decay. He is also the embodiment of Hybris: he's the man who tried to open "Pandora's Jar" for power, only to be consumed by the very evils he thought he could control).
To close the circle, I'll also explain why Grace was named Grace.
I found three possible reasons:
The Theological perspective:
In philosophy and religion, Grace is a divine gift bestowed upon those who cannot save themselves. In RE9, humanity is tainted by Spencer’s 'original sin' - the virus. Grace acts as Spencer’s final attempt at atonement; she is the 'unmerited gift' to a world he corrupted. She is the only one capable of releasing Elpis because she represents a form of purity that transcends the violence and the biological horror of the Umbrella legacy.
The Charites: Aglaia, Euphrosyne and Thalia.
Their name comes from the greek verb chairo ('to rejoice'), which will later lead to the latin term gratia ('grace', 'kindness'). These three goddesses represent each an aspect of beauty: Aglaia is related to Radiance, Euphrosyne to Joy and Thalia to Abundance. Together they're the spreaders of joy for life. Grace here symbolises exactly this: she brings back Charis ('rebirth') to the world after the darkness and sorrow were spread by Spencer's creation.
Charisma also shares its root with this greek term: in the ancient world charisma was a divine gift. Grace is charismatic (gifted) in a non conventional way: she didn't need heavy weapons to defeat the virus, since her gift is being able to interact with Hope itself.
Grace vs Power symbolism:
Grace represents the Strength of Spirit, while characters like Leon represent Pure Power. For decades, we've been shown that by using brutal force, nothing can be solved.
As a matter of fact, Leon spent years fighting Umbrella in brutal ways with no success. Before approaching the vault, he also asks Grace to destroy Elpis, showing all his humanity, hope and trust are far gone. But Grace is capable of all three, proving that humanity is saved not by those who can 'kill' the virus, but by those who have the moral strength to release hope.
While I spent years thinking Capcom was only making trash-like zombie games purely for the love of the game and success, they were trying to teach us that Power is a cage and Grace is the only key. Spencer spent years building a cage for himself and humanity (the virus), but he eventually realised only 'Grace' could open it to let 'Hope' come out. Leon guarded this cage for years, eaten inside by the fear of another disaster like Raccoon City, but Grace still dared to open the door.
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TL;DR: RE9 is a retelling of the Pandora Myth. Spencer (Zeus) created the Virus (the Evils) and Grace (Pandora/Grace) to eventually release Elpis (Hope/The Cure). The password "Hope" and the naming of Grace are clues to Spencer's final attempt at atonement. Power is the cage, but Grace is the key.
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I'm going to share this analysis on other subreddits, to see what the community thinks. I'd love to hear your thoughts, theories and also critiques! If any of you have found other parallels, please share!
Thank you for your attention :)