Lore/Story Theory on Grace and the Villains' Plan

TLDR: Grace is a clone. I know that many disagree, but I think that this theory is necessary to avoid major plot holes and to rationalize the conduct of the villains.

The overarching goal of the Connections is to obtain Elpis, which they believe to be a powerful bioweapon. Spencer locked Elpis behind a password at the ARK, only Spencer presumably knew the password, and Spencer is dead. Luckily for the Connections, Spencer ran experiments on orphaned clones with the intention of transferring his memories, using his blood and a mutated strain of t-virus. Based on their limited information, the Connections believed that Grace was the clone who Spencer succeeded in transferring his memories to, and Grace would therefore know the password to unlock Elpis. However, the Connections could not find Grace, and thus sought to replicate Spencer’s experiment on the clones with the help of former Umbrella researcher and Spencer fan-boy, Victor Gideon.

I. Grace as the “Original.” Zeno describes Grace as the “original,” but the original what? I’ve seen several people interpret this statement as Zeno’s assumption that Grace was the original (un-cloned) person who was cloned to produce all of the later clones. This interpretation would either create a major timeline plot hole (which I don’t think anyone subscribes to), or would be a very unreasonable assumption of Zeno. We know that Grace was born around 2004. Grace was a baby during Alyssa’s interview with Spencer, which took place after the 2004 conclusion of the Umbrella Trials. Additionally, Victor Gideon’s Journal details how in 2004, Gideon learned of the “child,” Grace, and that Gideon had obtained her “genetic information,” which could still be of “use” to Gideon in the absence of actually having Grace. Presumably, the Connections were aware of Spencer’s experiments using the clones dating back to the 1980s. As stated, they also knew that Grace was born, or at least knew that Grace was a child, around 2004. Thus, the Connections could not have reasonably thought that Grace, born around 2004, was the “original” person upon whom clones dating back to the 80s were cloned. More reasonably, Zeno thought and meant that Grace was the “original” clone with successful transfer of Spencer’s memories.

II. Grace’s Blood Analysis. Another important piece of the puzzle is Grace’s Blood Analysis Report, which determined that Grace’s blood was a perfect “match.” But what was the comparative sample? I’ve seen those who argue that Grace is not a clone argue that Gideon matched Grace’s blood (obtained after her 2026 kidnapping) with Grace’s “genetic information” that Gideon previously obtained back in 2004. Thus, Gideon was merely confirming Grace’s identity as the special person that they had been looking for. This interpretation creates a huge plot hole in my opinion. We do not know how detailed or complete Grace’s “genetic information” obtained in 2004 was. However, if the “genetic information” was complete enough to match Grace’s genetic identity, why didn’t Gideon/The Connections (during a 20+ year period) think to compare Grace’s genetic information to the genetic information of the clones already in their possession? Put another way, it would have been very easy for the Connections to confirm or disprove whether Grace was in fact genetically identical to the cloned girls, as they assumed was the case. On the other hand, if the 2004 “genetic information” was not complete enough for the Connections to confirm whether Grace was in fact a clone, it would make more sense that Gideon’s blood analysis matched Grace’s blood to Emily’s (or Marie’s) blood, thus confirming that Grace was a clone.

III. Plot Twist. As is revealed at the end of Requiem, Grace was not the successful memory transfer subject that the Connections thought she was, although she did ultimately figure out the password to unlock Elpis naturally. But does this mean that Grace was also never a clone? In his interview with Alyssa, Spencer says that Grace was “not a subject” and was “a normal girl.” I do not think that either of these statements necessarily mean that Grace was also not a clone. Rather, they could just mean that Spencer never experimented on Grace (not a test subject) and that she had never been genetically altered or traumatized through experiments (a normal girl). Instead, Spencer may have just "adopted" Grace around the time that he abandoned the clone blood experiments, because of his guilt over conducting experiments on these children. I’ve also seen ample weight given to Gideon’s end-game statement that Grace and Emily “have no connection.” However, Gideon says this right after acknowledging that Spencer’s “paper was obviously incomplete.” It’s apparent that Spencer abandoned the experiment and never successfully transferred his memories to a clone. As such, Gideon’s statement that Grace and Emily have “no connection” could just mean that the experimental progress they were apparently making with Emily (trying to replicate Grace’s supposed success) was ultimately non-sensical, because Grace was never the success that they thought.