100 Things You Never Knew About Resident Evil
56. Not Just Elza Walker
Okay, but whilst we're on the subject... what if Elza Walker also wasn't the first Resident Evil 1.5 playable character to be scrapped?
Well, again, at least in a naming sense. Originally, Elza Walker's name was down to be Rachel Speyer. If that name is scratching an itch in your head, it's because Speyer is the surname of Forest - the S.T.A.R.S. Bravo Team member who players can discover on the balcony of the Spencer Mansion.
Whether or not Rachel and Forest were related has never been confirmed but it seems pretty likely (unless someone internally really loved that very uncommon surname).
What makes this particularly ironic of course is that the reason that Elza Walker was dropped in favour of Claire Redfield was to have a tie back into the original game by having one of the playable characters be related. They ultimately made the right choice in the end, but they certainly took the long route to get there.