Rebecca "Newt" Jorden Biographical information Rank Colonist Physical description Species Human Gender Female Hair color Blonde Eye color Blue Chronological and political information Affiliation Hadley's Hope colony (formerly) Notable Facts Sole surviving colonist from Hadley's Hope Xenomorph infestation[1] Status Deceased[2] as of July 3rd,[3] 2179. Portrayed by Carrie Henn Danielle Edmond
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Rebecca Jorden, known to most people as Newt, was the sole survivor from the Hadley's Hope settlement on LV-426 following a Xenomorph infestation at the colony. The United States Colonial Marine Corps unit which was dispatched to the moon in 2179 discovered her hiding in the colony's ventilation system. She subsequently became close to Ellen Ripley, who later risked her own life to rescue Newt from the Xenomorph Hive.

Newt was one of four people to survive the infestation on LV-426, along with Ripley, Corporal Hicks and the android Bishop (341-B), who was badly damaged. She was later killed when an EEV carrying her crashed on Fiorina 161.

Contents 1 Biography 1.1 Early life 1.2 Living a nightmare 1.3 Survival and rescue 1.4 Captured and freed 1.5 Death 2 Personality and Traits 3 Trivia 4 Appearances 4.1 Non-cannon 5 See also 6 Gallery 7 References

BiographyEdit

Early lifeEdit

Newt was Russ and Anne Jorden's second child, after her older brother Timmy. Given her age, it is entirely possible Newt was conceived and born on LV-426, although it is equally possible her family moved there after she was born. As a child, she enjoyed playing in the ventilation ducts with her brother and the other kids at the colony, despite their mother's attempts at stopping them.^[4]

Living a nightmareEdit

In 2179, Newt's parents were sent to survey a previously unexplored area of the moon's surface, acting on information received from Carter Burke. Newt and her brother went along with their parents for the trip. At the given coordinates, they stumbled across a derelict spacecraft, and Russ and Anne immediately went inside in search of potential salvage that they might lay claim to, leaving Newt and her brother Timothy outside in their Daihotai Tractor. Unbeknownst to the Jorden family, the derelict ship was the same one discovered by the crew of the ill-fated USCSS Nostromo some 75 years previously, and the unprepared prospectors soon stumbled across its cargo of Xenomorph Eggs. After some time alone with her brother, Newt's mother returned, and as she desperately attempted to contact the colony on the radio, Newt noticed her father's body outside with a Facehugger attached to his face.

24 hours later, Newt and her brother Timmy were taken by Timmy's friend Aaron to a spot in the Hadley's Hope ventilation ducts where they could see their father in the medical facility to which he had been quarantined. As they watched in secret, they witnessed Russ' death from the Chestburster inside him.^[5]

Later, with the Xenomorphs kidnapping colonists and multiplying in number, Newt and her remaining family were moved to the sub-levels of the complex where several survivors took up refuge in a storeroom.^[6] Despite attempts to fortify the room, the Xenomorphs eventually breached it and Newt's mother and brother were killed, while Newt herself barely managed to escape through a vent.^[7] While the Xenomorphs continued to attack the colony and take away the few remaining survivors, Newt managed to stay undetected by hiding in the extensive ventilation system, building a den near the operations center.^[1]

Survival and rescueEdit

When a team of Colonial Marines aboard the USS Sulaco arrived at the colony to investigate, they quickly detected Newt on their motion trackers. After Private Drake almost accidentally shot her, Ellen Ripley pursued Newt into the ventilation system and eventually calmed her down. She was later given a check-up by the squad's Hospital Corpsman, Corporal Dietrich, who found Newt was malnourished but otherwise physically fine. The young girls was initially mute, but eventually began talking to Ripley, telling her her name.

When the Marines moved to the colony's Atmosphere Processor in search of the other colonists, Newt and Ripley went with them in their APC. After the creatures ambushed the Marines inside the Hive, Newt and the survivors escaped the area and planned to evacuate, but their dropship was destroyed by Xenomorphs and its crew killed, stranding them on the moon. In the aftermath of the crash, Newt told the survivors that the creatures "mostly" came out at night, and that they should return to the relative safety of the operations building.

Captured and freedEdit

Despite only being a child, Newt assisted the Marines in fortifying the administration building where she could, helping them carry equipment and move supplies. As the survivors bunkered down to wait until Bishop could remotely pilot a second dropship from the Sulaco to the surface, Ripley and Newt slept in the colony's medical facility. While they were sleeping, Carter Burke freed two live Facehuggers being stored in the med lab, intending for them to impregnate Ripley and Newt and thereby obtain Xenomorph specimens for Weyland-Yutani. While the two were trapped in the room with the creatures, Ripley used her lighter to set off the fire alarm to get the Marines' attention. The Marines arrived and took care of the Facehuggers.

Before Burke could be dealt with for his treachery, the Xenomorphs attacked and overran the operations centre. Newt led Ripley and Corporal Hicks, the last surviving Marine, out through the ventilations ducts but was knocked down a shaft into the colony's sewers by an explosion. While Ripley and Hicks attempted to find and rescue her, they arrived too late and Newt was taken back to the Hive.

Newt woke up cocooned inside the Atmosphere Processor. Almost immediately the Egg placed in front of her opened, but as the Facehugger within attempted to pounce it was shot to pieces by Ripley, who had come to save Newt and was drawn by her screams. After freeing Newt from her cocoon, the two were cut off by an explosion and inadvertently strayed into the Queen's chamber. Surrounded, Ripley threatened to incinerate the Queen's Eggs, and in response the Queen called off her Warriors. However, when an Egg began to hatch Ripley set the entire chamber alight and left several grenades to kill the Queen before escaping with Newt.

The Queen survived and set off in pursuit, following Ripley and Newt all the way to the landing platform near the top of the Atmosphere Processor. At the last moment they were rescued by Bishop in the second dropship, escaping just before the Atmosphere Processor exploded and destroyed the colony.

Upon landing back aboard the Sulaco, the Queen revealed herself to have stowed away in the dropship's landing gear, and after tearing Bishop in two she set upon Newt, who attempted to hide beneath the floor grating in the Sulaco's hangar bay. The Queen eventually cornered Newt, but was fought off by Ripley in a Power Loader and ultimately ejected into space to her death. With the Queen dead, the survivors — Newt, Ripely, a wounded Hicks and the damaged Bishop — entered hypersleep for the trip home.

DeathEdit

Although Newt survived the events on Acheron, her hypersleep chamber was later breached by blood from a Facehugger that had stowed away on the Sulaco. When the ship's occupants were ejected due to an electrical fire in the hypersleep chamber (also started by the Facehugger's blood), their damaged EEV crash-landed in the ocean on Fiorina 161; Newt's breached cryo-chamber flooded and she drowned in her sleep.

After her body was recovered, Ripley suspected that Newt may have been carrying a Chestburster and asked the prison colony's resident doctor, Jonathan Clemens, to perform an autopsy, claiming Newt may have had cholera. Clemens, although sceptical, carried out the procedure and found nothing unnatural inside the body, much to Ripley's relief. Newt was later cremated on Fiorina 161.

Personality and TraitsEdit

Even before the harrowing events on LV-426, Newt was a quiet and restrained girl.^[4] Despite her shy nature, she had a good relationship with her parents and was close to her brother, who was the only person who called her by her real name. Newt often joined her brother and his friends in playing in the colony's ventilation shafts, a game at which she would teasingly claim to be the best because she could fit into areas the larger boys could not.^[4]

Following the destruction of the colony by Xenomorphs, Newt showed great resourcefulness in hiding in the vents she knew so well from playing with the other children. She collected basic food and bedding to help her survive alone until help arrived, her only companionship being her favorite doll, Casey, reduced to just a dismembered head by this point. When help did arrive, she quickly developed a strong bond with Ellen Ripley, eventually entering a surrogate mother/daughter relationship with her, both of them having lost their respective families.^[4] Despite her young age, Newt showed courage and maturity above even some of the hardened Marines sent to Hadley's Hope, staying calm when several of the military personnel around her were cracking up and never failing to give what limited assistance she could offer. Of all the Marines, Newt became closest to Hicks, who was the only one to really accept Newt into the group, treating her more as an equal than an abandoned child and showing respect for her survival.

TriviaEdit

• For many of the scenes where Ripley carries Newt around the Hive in Aliens, a simple lightweight dummy was used; as the audience only ever sees the back of the Newt's head, it did not need to be an accurate double.^[8]
• Carrie Henn did not reprise her role as Newt in Alien³ as she was too old to portray the character by that point. Instead Newt was briefly portrayed by Danielle Edmond.
• Billie from the Aliens novel trilogy written by Steve Perry was originally Newt before her death in Alien³ led to the name being changed.
• In the Aliens arcade game from Konami, Newt is a minor non-playable character. In the first level, she can be seen crawling out of the air ducts and walking away as Ripley or Hicks fights the Aliens. Two driving segments also involve driving to rescue Newt. The first driving segment will end with a winged Alien taking her away while trying to reach the player.
• Newt's can be heard in an audio message recorded by her mother found in the ruins of Hadley's Hope in Aliens: Colonial Marines.

AppearancesEdit

• Aliens/novel (First Appearance)
• Aliens: Newt's Tale
• Alien³/novel/comic
• Aliens: Earth Hive (indirect mention)
• Aliens: The Female War (appears in dream)
• Aliens: Colonial Marines (video game) (voice only)

Non-cannonEdit

• Aliens: Book One (as Billie, retconned)
• Aliens: Book Two (as Billie, retconned)
• Aliens: Earth War (as Billie, retconned)

See alsoEdit

• Billie

GalleryEdit

ReferencesEdit

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1} James Cameron (writer and director). Aliens [DVD]. 20th Century Fox.
2. ↑ Alien 3
3. ↑ Alien 3 (Comic) Issue 1
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3} James Cameron (writer and director). Aliens Special Edition [DVD]. 20th Century Fox.
5. ↑ Aliens: Newt's Tale
6. ↑ Aliens: Newt's Tale
7. ↑ Aliens: Newt's Tale
8. ↑ James Cameron, Gale Anne Hurd, Gordon Carroll, David Giler, Walter Hill, Stan Winston. Superior Firepower: The Making of 'Aliens' [DVD]. 20th Century Fox.