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"If I catch either of you playing in those air ducts again I'll tan your hides!"
Anne Jorden (from Aliens Special Edition)

Anne Jorden (born Anne Ridley)[3] was a colonist and prospector living at Hadley's Hope on Acheron. She was the wife of Russ Jorden and mother to Timmy and Rebecca Jorden. In 2179 Anne, along with her family, was one of the first people to rediscover the derelict ship on the planet and was caught up in the subsequent Xenomorph infestation that overran the colony.

Anne and her children were with the small group of survivors that holed up in the colony's operations center. She perished when the Xenomorphs overran the room.

Biography[]

Anne and her husband were dispatched by Al Simpson to survey a set of coordinates on the moon's surface on Weyland-Yutani orders, taking their children Timmy and Newt with them. After gaining some reassurance from Simpson that anything they found would be theirs to salvage, the prospectors came across the crashed Engineer spacecraft discovered 57 years previously by the crew of the USCSS Nostromo. Anne immediately wanted to report the discovery, but her husband insisted they should investigate first to ascertain what it was they had discovered.

Leaving their two children inside their tractor, Anne and Russ entered the derelict through a crack in its side. When her husband was subdued by a Facehugger within the ship, Anne dragged his body back to the tractor to radio for help. Russ was taken back to Hadley's Hope and placed in the medical lab for monitoring, and was quarantined there after he woke up. Despite outwardly appearing healthy, Anne confessed in a message to her mother the she was worried something was still wrong with her husband.[4] 24 hours after he was attacked in the derelict, Anne's fears were confirmed when she witnessed Russ' horrible death when the Chestburster within him hatched, moments after learning a second team sent to investigate the ship had also been attacked by Facehuggers.[5]

As the Xenomorphs began to increase in number and capture more and more colonists to use as hosts, Anne, Timmy and Newt retreated with several other survivors to the storage areas in the sub-levels of the operations building, the men there fortifying their position by welding the doors shut. Anne obtained a firearm from one of the men, intending to use it on her own children should the Xenomorphs come to take them.[5] Despite their attempts at sealing the room, the Xenomorphs eventually breached the area and set upon the survivors now trapped within. In the chaos, Anne was killed by a Drone as she tried to buy Timmy and Newt time to escape through the ventilation ducts.[5]

Behind the Scenes[]

Original comic book appearance[]

Following Aliens, the character of Anne went on to appear (in flashback) in the first Aliens comic series published from 1988-1989 by Dark Horse Comics, which continued the story of her daughter Newt as she and Hicks traveled to the Xenomorph home world in order to combat an infestation that has taken over the entire Earth.

However, following the release of Alien3 in 1992, in which Newt perished, the identities of several characters in the comics were altered to keep the stories congruous with the film franchise. Anne therefore became Sarah, with the change first appearing in the novel Aliens: Earth Hive, an adaptation of the first Aliens comic series, released several months after Alien3. Subsequent reprints of the early comics have also used these altered names. Despite these changes, the characters' back stories were not altered (beyond the names of people and places), and so Anne and Sarah both share remarkably similar experiences — both were deep-space colonists, both stumbled upon a derelict alien spacecraft containing Xenomorph Eggs with their family, and the subsequent Xenomorph infestation they unwittingly unleashed claimed the lives of every inhabitant at the colony with the exception of their daughter.

Trivia[]

  • Anne Jorden and the rest of her family (excluding Newt) were cut from the theatrical release of Aliens when the studio complained that the film was too long. The scene featuring her was later reinstated for the extended Special Edition.
  • In the video game Aliens: Colonial Marines, Anne can be heard in an audio message found in the ruins of Hadley's Hope, along with the voice of Newt.
  • Anne's maiden name, Ridley, revealed in the novel Alien: River of Pain, is likely an homage to director Ridley Scott.
  • The character of Anne Cregar in the comic Aliens: Dust to Dust shares some similarities with Jorden. Aside from possessing the same first name (serving as a possible reference) but the two are both mothers to young children who are suddenly subject to a Xenomorph outbreak on their home-colony.

Appearances[]

Retconned appearances[]

References[]

  1. 1.0 1.1 James Cameron (writer and director). Aliens Special Edition (1991), 20th Century Fox [LaserDisc].
  2. Christopher Golden. Alien: River of Pain, p. 305 (2014), Titan Books.
  3. Christopher Golden. Alien: River of Pain, p. 46 (2014), Titan Books.
  4. Aliens: Colonial Marines, Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 version, Gearbox Software, 2013.
  5. 5.0 5.1 5.2 Aliens: Newt's Tale, Issue 1



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