Nerd Mentality

End Boss 2006, Day 14: Osmund Saddler (Resident Evil 4)

Posted June 13th 2006 by Curtis Brunet.

Resident Evil 4 was the most highly anticipated game for the 2004 holiday season, and to celebrate with us, Capcom delayed the title into early 2005. Merry Christmas to you too, Capcom. Regardless of this blunder on their part, Resident Evil 4 has gone on to be one of the Nintendo GameCube's greatest achievements, winning awards, selling through the roof, and being ranked the second best GameCube game on average according to GameRankings.com. Not only did Resident Evil 4 boast some of the best levels, the most beautiful graphics, amazing sound, and incredible control (especially for a Resident Evil title), the title also boasted some of the best boss battles ever seen. Fighting El Gigante is surreal, and the fight against Del Lago is so well done. The battle with Salazar's "right hand" Verdugo is scary, and when Salazar himself merges with his "left hand" Verdugo, only a backpack full of heavy explosives can save you. However, it's the end-boss fight that shows off what the game has to offer, as the fight with Osmund Saddler is a battle to save yourself, and save the world.

Saddler himself is a powerful religious figure, leader of the European cult known as "Los Illuminados" (meaning "The Illuminated", obviously a reference to the Enlightenment secret society the Illuminati), he unleashed "Las Plagas" parasites into a small Spanish village after brainwashing the 8th caretaker of the Salazar family, Roman Salazar, who was supposed to protect the world from them. Saddler created an army of Los Ganados (literally meaning "cattle" but referring to the non-zombie damned villagers) using Las Plagas, and eventually set out on his ultimate goal, total overthrow of the U.S. Government. Once infected with Las Plagas, beings would come under Saddler's ultimate control, and it was this power that he was going to use to overthrow the Government.

With the help of Jack Krauser, Saddler kidnaps the American President's daughter, and under the guise of holding her hostage, infects her with Las Plagas parasites. From there, upon returning home, she would give Saddler control of the entire U.S. Government.

Once Leon Kennedy catches up to Saddler in the final battle, the end-battle, Saddler transforms into a giant spider life form and tries, as you might guess, to kill Leon. After an intense battle overtop the island, Leon stabs Saddler several times in his final giant eye and after a helpful assist by the lovely Ada Wong, Leon is able to destroy the monstrosity and save the world. The Los Illuminados destroyed, Ada steals the final sample of the virus, and blows up the island below Leon's feet. A mad dash ensues on a Seadoo to safety while a massive blast engulfs the island.

Saddler, sadly destroyed, will never see the light of day in the Resident Evil series, but perhaps his legacy, and the Los Illuminados, can continue to wreak havok for iterations to come.

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