I think a subtle point that separates Mendez from the other villains is the dialogue he has if he actually does kill Leon. Every other villain mocks Leon, or spits down on him - but Mendez just quietly says "May you find peace." Like, for all the corruption that has befallen him, you can still see the glimmer of who he once was.
Legit felt bad for Menedez, he seemed like a really devout village leader who cared for his people. And then his faith ends up keeping him a slave to Saddler.
@the guy behind you I think what make _that_ tragic is he probably didn't have any reason to believe it would turn out like this. Saddler wasn't the first one to bring outside gifts, so why would _his_ offers be any less harmful than the ones before him?
I think his attachment to his hat was also noteworthy, every time it got knocked off of his head he picked it back up and put it back on. Maybe it's a tiny sliver of who he was before the plaga infected him
Just so you know... The same cabin where Luis Serra Navarro was held when meeting Leon is the same cabin that belonged to Luis' grandfather. It's the burnt cabin next to the lake, and Luis was being kept there to wait for his another Las Plagas injection hence why Bitores had a syringe on him with the parasite. He used it in Leon instead though
Yes this game is kinda showing a fanatic of religion in what I assumed black legend 2.0 speaking an outdated inferior language remember Japanese are love Anglosphere and this is a love letter to them
What I love about this iteration of Mendez is that him being killed and then cremated in a fire is something he did himself and would probably have kindly thanked Leon for and apologized for having put Leon through the trouble of it. An individual that deserves respect and pity, just like all the villagers.
I liked that as well. He comes off as more of a tragic villain, same with Krauser, though Krauser is tragic in a different way. Saddler and Salazar are the real evil masterminds behind Las Plagas.
kinda wished he acted like Mr X more at the beginning of the game. Not sure how that would've worked in the more open, yet linear design of the village though.
In Leon's defense for his first encounters with Mendez I don't think he's dumb for not shooting him immediately. I think he's too well trained. Everyone else he kills up to that point was some degree of armed and coming after him or actively participating in a murderous public execution. Mendez snuck up on him, was unarmed and didn't give Leon time to react. If it had been one of the missing hikers or Ashley trapped in the basement and he had turned and fired he'd have had a civilian casualty on his conscience. He was doing the morally correct thing that he learned as a police officer to his own detriment.
Mendez' Remake design really sells the point that he isn't just the village leader, but it's priest too, and hence why it would have been easy to spread the faith of Los Illuminados. And the photos and the camera you can also find show that he had a very human hobby, that he inherited this role from his father and was urged to look after the village. And he wasn't just a priest and leader either: he was a teacher, and was clearly very close to his people in having dinner with a single family each night so he could keep on top of the issues in the village. But now his camera is shoved away in the dusty attic of his home, and he and his people are just reduced to mindless slaves of the cult. Though I really do like that chase sequence before his boss fight, with the dramatic soundtrack as you and Ashley flee from a horde of villagers while Mendez himself just strides after you both.
I like how Méndez's mutated form looks like the emblem of the Los Illuminados. To me, it really sells the fact that he's pretty much become the embodiment of their evil.
Y'know, in a bit of a roundabout way, Mendez did atone for his failure. By letting Leon live when he could've up and murdered him easily twice in a row, he sealed the fate of the man who sealed his. He couldn't have known that Leon was the only thing that could've stopped the cult, but maybe some small part of him tucked away beneath the parasite's control recognized that maybe, just maybe, this outsider could save them all. And not only did Leon destroy the cult and kill Saddler, but as a result he freed all of the villagers, finally allowing them to die and ending their torment. RIP Chief Mendez. You didn't deserve any of this, but at least you're free in death.
While I doubt he recognized the possibility in advance (if he had, the much, MUCH larger plagas-slave part of him would've killed Leon just to be sure), I like to think there was a small part of him that was grateful in the end.
Méndez wasn't a slave like the others were, at last not entirely. He had received one of the superior strands of Las Plagas, so he had much more control over his actions than the Ganados do. If anything, I think it shows that Méndez may have not been that good of a guy himself, that he was hiding a worse part of himself, which the Plaga ended up showing tenfold once he was infected.
@@the_furry_inside_your_walls639 This, a lot of people forget Mendez didn't have a normal or modified superior plaga.(We see no physical examples of superior plaga, only a note or 2 from those who had it in them) Mendez had a dominant plaga(no mind control) like Salazar and Krauser, his actions were very much his own. He willingly converted into the cult for one reason or another.
It made him less showoffy, and made him more detestable. He manipulated and destroyed a town as a small piece of his goals; innocent people who had done nothing but live their lives and were on the way to a better one; industrialization, improvement of living conditions, autonomy over their farms and tasks like fishing, and overall opening up to the wider world. But Saddler was a man stuck in the past- his family was banished for a reason. And he just decides the greatest course of action was world domination.
This highlights the difference between Mendez, Salazar and Krauser. Krauser seems to be fairly the same mentally, but Salazar and Mendez appears as little more than extensions of Saddler.
Krauser was given a higher form of plaga as part of the deal for capturing Ashley, saddler likely saw Krauser as more useful to him as a thinking individual than a slave so he didn’t cheat Krauser on the plaga type
Salazar isn’t under Saddlers parasitic control, but from a very young age he was effectively groomed by Saddler to give in to his worst intentions and allow the spread of Las Plagas. So in that regard he is completely under Saddlers control.
I never noticed what an antithesis of Ramon that Mendez is. I was likely to young when I played the original to notice the nouance, but they are polar opposites in nearly all regards.
Please do a video on "Evil Charisma" with Senator Armstrong from metal Gear Rising. Man straight up tells you he plans on killing a whole bunch of people but people still like him.
It's actually pretty retarded considering the dude went from bitching about first world problems (fuk da manestreem meedeea!) To ranting about starting ANOTHER war with the Middle East to feed the military industrial complex
I guess the point is that his development being only in background notes - ones written in the past - highlights the fact that this parasite took his humanity away from him. No humanity, no development. It’s a unique sort of tragedy that you have to go out of your way to read about.
I actually think Menendez was actually trying to protect Luis. I think after reading that note he was hiding Luis because of the promise he made to his father. That's how his able to find Leon that first scene and why Luis says not this guy again because Mendez was the one who tied him up in this first place but didn't inject him with Los plagues and instead hides him.
@@theguybehindyou4762 Judging from how he tried to convince Leon to give up resisting the Plaga and Mendez had most of his old personality intact, he probably believed he could persuade Luis back into the fold and receive Plaga again willingly. After all, he was Luis' grandpa best friend.
I also feel it's not innocent that Mendez's design is so much closer to Mr.X, but also for Leon's growth as a character. Leon's theme in RE4R is about making a difference and saving people, proving that he has indeed changed (Claire was the only one who actually protected and saved someone back in 2, Leon saved no one despite his best effort). Everyone and everything in this game is all about reminding Leon that he won't make a difference and that he didn't change despite his training, like Krauser, Ada, or even Luis's death. And this extends to Mendez, who stalks Leon and repeatedly overpowers him, like X. The chase sequence is almost more psychological rather than physical, as it's really just a repeat of an unbeatable hulking brute hunting down Leon, and this time, Leon has to protect someone else in the process, but is very limited. It's the embodiment of Leon's trauma chasing after him, with his insecurities and doubt catching up to him. Good video, been watching your whole series on RE4R villains. Keep up the good work.
Headcanon: Menendez is a Mr X who got lost, ended up in that village and decided to live a normal life. Due to his great strength he was useful for the community and welcomed. Eventually, he was beloved and eventually voted the chief. Then came the Las Plagas....
Aaaaaaand the old 'kill crazy' programming kicked in Only THIS TIME he was fighting for something he never had before: a community of people who looked up to him
I love this remake's portrayals of all the characters. They're so much more interesting and nuanced than in the original. Mendez being a good man gives him a tragic fall from grace, making him way more interesting.
Well on his defense, at the time it was also the first time he met another person who's actually sane in the village (Luis). So in that split second Mendez appears he maybe thought "How about you? You're sane too??" and that he can negotiate with Mendez or smth 😂 (Sorry for bad English btw)
@@rinaldisuryawan7139your English here is actually nearly perfect (and nearly perfect because of the "and maybe" doesn't really feel right, granted it's not wrong and I'm pretty sure it's still considered proper grammar)
Bitorez was so freaking awesome. Literally Mr. X 2.0; he does not give a shit how many bullets you put in him, he will grab you and style on your clown ass. When you have to escort Ashley to the castle, Ganados coming out of the woodwork, and you look back to see this unit of a man confidently strutting towards you... I shit bricks in that moment. "Oh shit this is bad-" *looks back* "OH FUCK!"
One thing I noticed about RE4 remake is that when you are at Menedez's house, not only was it much cleaner and more well kept compared to the rest of the village, as the chief, it seems that Menedez actually does maintain some lines of communication and kept up to date with the outside world, in the form of there being a battery operated radio, and even a wired telephone in his living room. With both pieces of consumer electronics being the only pieces of modern technology you find in the village (Not counting the diesel operated fishing boats). I wonder if Menedez got those things before his transformation into the 'Big Cheese'.... Or if they were granted to him by Saddler as reward for being a loyal member of the cult...
The diesel fishing boat and the fish farm alongside with the windmill near the farm were all made during the villages darkest time. With the villagers appraising and being happy with Mendez for his help.
Mendez becoming a brute , a simple tool to enforce the Plaga's will, compared to the self-taught, intelligent and compassionate man he *actually was* feels almost like an intentional slap in the face to what he *used to be* . Its genuenly tragic!
Something I really like about each section of the game is that it progressively gets more and more Evil Village - Just regular villagers who thought they were just taking their faith to another level, not realizing it was dooming them instead Castle - Cultists who were a lot more willing to Lord Saddler, but most probably just following the orders of their Castellan, who was tricked and manipulated by Saddler Island - A straight up army probably made up of either those from the original Cult, or maybe some people that Krauser provided
This made me feel so much sadness and pity for Mendez. I wish he could’ve helped his people and not have been blind (literally bc of the fake eye) to the evil of the cult
Mêndez is my fourth favorite villain in the remake, below Saddler, Salazar, and Krauser. The "Grilled Big Cheese" trophy really makes me like him more. Because I'm not a sucker for the lore, I didnt know Mêndez's backstory until reading some of the comments on this video, and it was sad, NGL. Mêndez seemed like a caring and kind chief before he fell victim to Las Plagas.
Brett I love that you contrasted Mendez to Salazar, I think it's the right way to go about it. Can you do a Leon and Krauser one, and a Leon and Luis one... I never thought about it before this game but Leon and Luis do share a lot, from being orphaned to being entangled with Umbrella during their early adulthood. Still can't believe my boi died, RIP Luis.
What I always found interesting is that his transformation most closely resembles the Los Illuminados insignia, his two mutation arms being the upper part and his original, albeit now clawed hands being the lower half, with the extended spine making up the central vertical line. I think that's a cool parallel given that he's the leader of the villagers and now he's just been reduced to a symbol of Saddler's plaga cult.
The big thing I enjoyed about Mendez in remake is how casually he eats pistol bullets while getting shot. Getting shot up doesn’t even stop him from stopping to pick up his hat. Sure he’s strong, but the punishment this man could actively take and not care was arguably worse.
I understand that it's hard to believe that an American ex-cop would ask first and shoot later, but Leon trying to do that here makes some sense to me. Sure, he saw and fought Ganados, but he also saw Luis, and for all Leon knows, there might be other sentient survivors here. You said it yourself, he was in the village for an hour, and it's a relatively short piece of time. He isn't being dumb, he's willing to take chance in order not to hurt a potentially innocent person, because this is who Leon fundamentally is
17:10 I wonder if Luis knew that his granddad asked Mendez to kill him by burning his house down with him in it to stop the spread of the infection. If not he probably hated him for it.
did mendez not get the dominant strain in the remake? he clearly wasn't totally mindless as hes able to converse with leon and not instantly murder him upon realizing he has the plagas within him
Mendez seems to have been someone who cared for the people under his charge and wanted the village to prosper. Unfortunately, he was impressionable like the others and fell under the Illuminados scheme.
I love everything about re4's story so much, it has so many different subplots you can pay attention to, hidden behind the more simple to the point "save Ashley!" Plot. The tension rises through the story, not only as the atmosphere becomes more and more hostile, but as the parasite spreads through you. It's just a constant from bad to worse. If it was made in like....a week like people say, well....holy shit! The tones also GREAT, its just like evil dead 2 where one minute is just pure dread and then the next is hilarious. (Also, I keep realizing just how much the devs love evil dead. First off the obvious chainsaw, then the fact that the villagers are a LOT like deadites, you're saving a girl named ASHLEY, even deflecting chainsaws is a LOT like that scene in evil dead 2 with linda in the shed. 7 in particular has SO MUCH INFLUENCE, girl named Mia, "Groovy" hand chopped off, double barrel, resurrection, even the black goop spreading through limbs. Did you do one of these for Jack yet? You might enjoy that.
This guys the only person who can talk about something that’s barely a character for half an hour and still keep me interested. He should be an English teacher.
I wonder if his glass eye has any signifigance, like how he once was trying to transform the villiage for the better, and is now trying to do the same thing just in a corrupted way. A false version of what it once was, like the eye. idk lol something like that
One thing I love about this game is that , while in the original , the higher ups in the Illuminados used it as a means to an end for control , but in the remake this isn’t an ends to a mean they truly believe in the religion GLORIA LAS PLAGAS
I know you may be waiting for re5 remake to do this, but I can't wait to see you do a video on Wesker in this series. His sheer ego and obsession with genetic perfection just creates such a bombastic and entertaining character. The perfect resident evil villain
Gonna clarify since dominant plagas exist in the remake as well. Dominant las plagas cannot be controlled by saddler unless the person in question has a weak mental state big cheese must had been in a weak mental state when he finally realized saddler wasn’t helping the village. In the case of ramon he always had a weak mental state to begin with evident by him killing a maid and literally letting saddler dig plagas. So my guess is saddler gave big cheese a dominant las plagas knowing he wouldn’t have the will to resist him
One day. I think covering the Dark Masters from Digimon would be an great insight for how villains are written and constructed in storytelling. Digimon got the villains down to writers perfection with how they were built, executed, and how the heroes beat them. A series of insight and analysis of Digimon hasn’t been done to the levels you presented with your presentations. Would love to see how you approach the concepts of it.
As cool as the Dark Masters were, I feel they've become a bit lackluster, at least when compared to the villains that came before (Devimon, Myotismon, and Etemon) and after (The D-Reaper, Lucemon, and Kurata) For example, the Dark Masters, despite technically being the final villains of the original series, don't really feel much like a threat. Sure, they merged the the Digital World into that massive spire, but once they are properly confronted, they are taken out with relative ease. Both Machinedramon and Metalseadramon were one-shot by Wargreymon, and Puppetmon was so weak that I question why he was even considered a threat in the first place. The only Dark Master who proved himself worthy of the title was Piedmon, who took on and defeated multiple Mega and Ultimate Level Digimon before being sealed away by Magna Angemon.
20:40 it’s the plaga in Leon’s blood that saved his life here. He saw that his blood accepted it so he’s not gonna kill someone who has the “gift” in them
I loved the way he was in the remake, like a Mr X type character until the final boss fight. And that chase scene was great, definitely a butt pucker moment especially through the first play through..
Leon is somewhat gullible. This is an actual improvement on this character. I didn't feel as scared of the original when it came out as I do about this one.
I love the use of catholic imagery in horror. I think one of the best modern examples was midnight mass. Just the idea of vampires and catholicism and town closely they can intersect with each other with just brilliant. The fact that a priest was corrupted by what he a thought was an angel and then started feeding the vampires blood To his congregation Was incredibly ironic. It was also sad in a sense because from a religious perspective. You would look at the vampire's blood as a cure for all the ailments of the town people but in reality it led to their construction. And I love how he used The bible verses to justify his behavior
Something I find particularly interesting about Mendez is his design/biology. Plagas are extremely adaptive creatures, they tend to lodge in the hosts chest to have a direct link to the brain stem, but they can turn into tentacles, giants mouths, small tumour like growths etc. Mendez’s Plaga has seemingly absorbed all of his internal biomass, becoming a giant scorpion squeezed inside of his thin musculature. His has been almost entirely consumed by his Plaga, and chances are if he had continued to live, he’d eventually transform into a giant scorpion creature.
This is random but I’ve seen no one mention that Mendez literally had a telephone in his house next to the dinner table. Seems like he was starting to modernize before things changed
I always wondered if the host of the plaga knows what is happening but can't do anything because the plagas blocks the users will from controlling their own actions. Maybe Mendez concocious is there but the plagas is prohibiting him from doing anything.
The first playthrough of RE4 Remake making a chilling up to my bone especially the dungeon and Ashley part. For Mendez part where I need to to run aways from him, I fail for like 5 times before make it. Panic...
What I find interesting is who Sadler lets keep their original personality. Ramon and Krauser are both loyal, and joined willingly before the infection, but there would have to have been others, but they are no more different than the rest of the cult. In the AU where Sadler wins, would people like Ramon and Krauser still have their personalities, or would they too become mindless?
he dropped the ball just letting his people get the mystery shot like that, I mean everyone is so vigilant and stuffs but then someone wants to inject you with a mystery drug especially a cult and all critical thought goes out the window. xD
I like to think that despite being a slave to the plaga, he is still actively fighting against it and that's why he didn't outright kill Leon. Deep down, he's still the kind man he used to be.
I think a subtle point that separates Mendez from the other villains is the dialogue he has if he actually does kill Leon. Every other villain mocks Leon, or spits down on him - but Mendez just quietly says "May you find peace."
Like, for all the corruption that has befallen him, you can still see the glimmer of who he once was.
Legit felt bad for Menedez, he seemed like a really devout village leader who cared for his people. And then his faith ends up keeping him a slave to Saddler.
It wasn't faith that doomed him, it was blindly accepting the word of strangers bearing gifts.
@the guy behind you I think what make _that_ tragic is he probably didn't have any reason to believe it would turn out like this. Saddler wasn't the first one to bring outside gifts, so why would _his_ offers be any less harmful than the ones before him?
@@calamityknyte Why it helps to vet any alleged "cure" before taking it.
@@theguybehindyou4762 So having faith in strangers.
I bet Bitores would have been a great guy to hang out with prior to his infection.
I think his attachment to his hat was also noteworthy, every time it got knocked off of his head he picked it back up and put it back on. Maybe it's a tiny sliver of who he was before the plaga infected him
It makes sense that he has vestiges of who he once was, like how he kept records on the condtition of the villiagers
Just so you know... The same cabin where Luis Serra Navarro was held when meeting Leon is the same cabin that belonged to Luis' grandfather. It's the burnt cabin next to the lake, and Luis was being kept there to wait for his another Las Plagas injection hence why Bitores had a syringe on him with the parasite. He used it in Leon instead though
Yes this game is kinda showing a fanatic of religion in what I assumed black legend 2.0 speaking an outdated inferior language remember Japanese are love Anglosphere and this is a love letter to them
Ohh, I was wondering why he goes around carrying a syringe
@@xxo-deathshot-oxx2047what?
Mr x : struggling to even touch a rookie leon
Mendez: fucking chokes Leon and leaves him alive because why not
What I love about this iteration of Mendez is that him being killed and then cremated in a fire is something he did himself and would probably have kindly thanked Leon for and apologized for having put Leon through the trouble of it. An individual that deserves respect and pity, just like all the villagers.
I liked that as well. He comes off as more of a tragic villain, same with Krauser, though Krauser is tragic in a different way. Saddler and Salazar are the real evil masterminds behind Las Plagas.
Mendez is literally Mr.X but as an actual character
With more interesting personality
kinda wished he acted like Mr X more at the beginning of the game. Not sure how that would've worked in the more open, yet linear design of the village though.
@@Azrael_Equinox nah, there’s already like 4 resident evil games with pursuer enemies, no more please😂
But Mr X was unkillable Mendez is very killable
@@Azrael_Equinox wouldn't the Chainsaw guy fill the role better?
In Leon's defense for his first encounters with Mendez I don't think he's dumb for not shooting him immediately. I think he's too well trained. Everyone else he kills up to that point was some degree of armed and coming after him or actively participating in a murderous public execution. Mendez snuck up on him, was unarmed and didn't give Leon time to react. If it had been one of the missing hikers or Ashley trapped in the basement and he had turned and fired he'd have had a civilian casualty on his conscience. He was doing the morally correct thing that he learned as a police officer to his own detriment.
Mendez' Remake design really sells the point that he isn't just the village leader, but it's priest too, and hence why it would have been easy to spread the faith of Los Illuminados. And the photos and the camera you can also find show that he had a very human hobby, that he inherited this role from his father and was urged to look after the village. And he wasn't just a priest and leader either: he was a teacher, and was clearly very close to his people in having dinner with a single family each night so he could keep on top of the issues in the village.
But now his camera is shoved away in the dusty attic of his home, and he and his people are just reduced to mindless slaves of the cult. Though I really do like that chase sequence before his boss fight, with the dramatic soundtrack as you and Ashley flee from a horde of villagers while Mendez himself just strides after you both.
I like how Méndez's mutated form looks like the emblem of the Los Illuminados. To me, it really sells the fact that he's pretty much become the embodiment of their evil.
I love the backstory that Mendez is given in the remake. He went from a loving, generous leader to a twisted servant of a madman.
Y'know, in a bit of a roundabout way, Mendez did atone for his failure. By letting Leon live when he could've up and murdered him easily twice in a row, he sealed the fate of the man who sealed his. He couldn't have known that Leon was the only thing that could've stopped the cult, but maybe some small part of him tucked away beneath the parasite's control recognized that maybe, just maybe, this outsider could save them all. And not only did Leon destroy the cult and kill Saddler, but as a result he freed all of the villagers, finally allowing them to die and ending their torment.
RIP Chief Mendez. You didn't deserve any of this, but at least you're free in death.
While I doubt he recognized the possibility in advance (if he had, the much, MUCH larger plagas-slave part of him would've killed Leon just to be sure), I like to think there was a small part of him that was grateful in the end.
Méndez wasn't a slave like the others were, at last not entirely. He had received one of the superior strands of Las Plagas, so he had much more control over his actions than the Ganados do. If anything, I think it shows that Méndez may have not been that good of a guy himself, that he was hiding a worse part of himself, which the Plaga ended up showing tenfold once he was infected.
@@the_furry_inside_your_walls639
This, a lot of people forget Mendez didn't have a normal or modified superior plaga.(We see no physical examples of superior plaga, only a note or 2 from those who had it in them)
Mendez had a dominant plaga(no mind control) like Salazar and Krauser, his actions were very much his own. He willingly converted into the cult for one reason or another.
I love how all the characters in the remake have so much more weight to them. After I read Mendez’s notes I wanted to kill Saddler more.
SADdler: "YoU fOuL rEnEgAdE!!1!"
Me: "Coming from you, I take that as a compliment."
It made him less showoffy, and made him more detestable. He manipulated and destroyed a town as a small piece of his goals; innocent people who had done nothing but live their lives and were on the way to a better one; industrialization, improvement of living conditions, autonomy over their farms and tasks like fishing, and overall opening up to the wider world. But Saddler was a man stuck in the past- his family was banished for a reason. And he just decides the greatest course of action was world domination.
Chief Mendez suffered a fate worse than death. I am glad he is put out of his misery.
I love the guttural roar that Leon makes when he gets chucked into a stack of boxes by Mendez.
Another difference between Mendez and Salazar is that Mendez was a good and kind person where as Salazar was always evil.
This highlights the difference between Mendez, Salazar and Krauser. Krauser seems to be fairly the same mentally, but Salazar and Mendez appears as little more than extensions of Saddler.
Krauser was given a higher form of plaga as part of the deal for capturing Ashley, saddler likely saw Krauser as more useful to him as a thinking individual than a slave so he didn’t cheat Krauser on the plaga type
Salazar isn’t under Saddlers parasitic control, but from a very young age he was effectively groomed by Saddler to give in to his worst intentions and allow the spread of Las Plagas.
So in that regard he is completely under Saddlers control.
I never noticed what an antithesis of Ramon that Mendez is. I was likely to young when I played the original to notice the nouance, but they are polar opposites in nearly all regards.
Please do a video on "Evil Charisma" with Senator Armstrong from metal Gear Rising. Man straight up tells you he plans on killing a whole bunch of people but people still like him.
Senator Armstrong is the ultimate anarcho-capitalist
@@juanmejiagomez5514 It would be a good video then
It's actually pretty retarded considering the dude went from bitching about first world problems (fuk da manestreem meedeea!) To ranting about starting ANOTHER war with the Middle East to feed the military industrial complex
The only guy who can make a 30 minute video analyzing a character that has almost no character lmao
(An interesting video at that)
all his character is in notes that you gotta find and read.
@@alphahunterd yeah but he’s just a scary tall dude essentially
@@thefreshprince310 yup, and in the game itself he doesnt go through any kind of development
I guess the point is that his development being only in background notes - ones written in the past - highlights the fact that this parasite took his humanity away from him. No humanity, no development. It’s a unique sort of tragedy that you have to go out of your way to read about.
I actually think Menendez was actually trying to protect Luis. I think after reading that note he was hiding Luis because of the promise he made to his father. That's how his able to find Leon that first scene and why Luis says not this guy again because Mendez was the one who tied him up in this first place but didn't inject him with Los plagues and instead hides him.
Even if that doesn't change anything, that actually makes sense.
@@theguybehindyou4762 Judging from how he tried to convince Leon to give up resisting the Plaga and Mendez had most of his old personality intact, he probably believed he could persuade Luis back into the fold and receive Plaga again willingly. After all, he was Luis' grandpa best friend.
I think he found Luis, tied him up, and went back for an injection. He finds Leon there, and instead injects him to take a problem out.
He was a lot more fleshed out in this game. Especially his relationship with Luis.
I also feel it's not innocent that Mendez's design is so much closer to Mr.X, but also for Leon's growth as a character. Leon's theme in RE4R is about making a difference and saving people, proving that he has indeed changed (Claire was the only one who actually protected and saved someone back in 2, Leon saved no one despite his best effort). Everyone and everything in this game is all about reminding Leon that he won't make a difference and that he didn't change despite his training, like Krauser, Ada, or even Luis's death. And this extends to Mendez, who stalks Leon and repeatedly overpowers him, like X. The chase sequence is almost more psychological rather than physical, as it's really just a repeat of an unbeatable hulking brute hunting down Leon, and this time, Leon has to protect someone else in the process, but is very limited. It's the embodiment of Leon's trauma chasing after him, with his insecurities and doubt catching up to him.
Good video, been watching your whole series on RE4R villains. Keep up the good work.
Yes! I got that vibe too! You can tell Mendez looked like Mr. X for a second to Leon.
Even Krauzer reminded Leon he couldn't save anyone
Headcanon: Menendez is a Mr X who got lost, ended up in that village and decided to live a normal life. Due to his great strength he was useful for the community and welcomed. Eventually, he was beloved and eventually voted the chief. Then came the Las Plagas....
Aaaaaaand the old 'kill crazy' programming kicked in
Only THIS TIME he was fighting for something he never had before: a community of people who looked up to him
I love this remake's portrayals of all the characters. They're so much more interesting and nuanced than in the original. Mendez being a good man gives him a tragic fall from grace, making him way more interesting.
18:23 One point to the original. In that version, Leon never said a word and just tried to round house kick him.
Yes, but that was incredibly stupid of him
Well on his defense, at the time it was also the first time he met another person who's actually sane in the village (Luis). So in that split second Mendez appears he maybe thought "How about you? You're sane too??" and that he can negotiate with Mendez or smth 😂 (Sorry for bad English btw)
@@rinaldisuryawan7139your English here is actually nearly perfect (and nearly perfect because of the "and maybe" doesn't really feel right, granted it's not wrong and I'm pretty sure it's still considered proper grammar)
=> Enter in a room
=> Crush all the bonnes of Leon
=> Let him alive anyway
=> Refuse to elaburate further
=> Leave.
AlphaOmegaSigma Chad Mendez
Plagamale
@@Gead_Hiver😂
12:07 That file's sad seeing as Mendez opening the village to outsiders led to Saddler and the Los Iluminados coming along.
The quality and speed of which you keep putting out these analysis is amazing!
He's the ultimate specimen
Was literally just watching your videos when this popped up.
Bitorez was so freaking awesome. Literally Mr. X 2.0; he does not give a shit how many bullets you put in him, he will grab you and style on your clown ass.
When you have to escort Ashley to the castle, Ganados coming out of the woodwork, and you look back to see this unit of a man confidently strutting towards you... I shit bricks in that moment.
"Oh shit this is bad-"
*looks back*
"OH FUCK!"
One thing I noticed about RE4 remake is that when you are at Menedez's house, not only was it much cleaner and more well kept compared to the rest of the village, as the chief, it seems that Menedez actually does maintain some lines of communication and kept up to date with the outside world, in the form of there being a battery operated radio, and even a wired telephone in his living room. With both pieces of consumer electronics being the only pieces of modern technology you find in the village (Not counting the diesel operated fishing boats). I wonder if Menedez got those things before his transformation into the 'Big Cheese'.... Or if they were granted to him by Saddler as reward for being a loyal member of the cult...
The diesel fishing boat and the fish farm alongside with the windmill near the farm were all made during the villages darkest time. With the villagers appraising and being happy with Mendez for his help.
There's no way Saddler would have allowed him means of outside communication until after he'd proven his loyalty.
Mendez becoming a brute , a simple tool to enforce the Plaga's will, compared to the self-taught, intelligent and compassionate man he *actually was* feels almost like an intentional slap in the face to what he *used to be* . Its genuenly tragic!
Something I really like about each section of the game is that it progressively gets more and more Evil
Village - Just regular villagers who thought they were just taking their faith to another level, not realizing it was dooming them instead
Castle - Cultists who were a lot more willing to Lord Saddler, but most probably just following the orders of their Castellan, who was tricked and manipulated by Saddler
Island - A straight up army probably made up of either those from the original Cult, or maybe some people that Krauser provided
Increasingly Evil Residences.
Wow these residents sure are evil
This made me feel so much sadness and pity for Mendez. I wish he could’ve helped his people and not have been blind (literally bc of the fake eye) to the evil of the cult
Mêndez is my fourth favorite villain in the remake, below Saddler, Salazar, and Krauser.
The "Grilled Big Cheese" trophy really makes me like him more. Because I'm not a sucker for the lore, I didnt know Mêndez's backstory until reading some of the comments on this video, and it was sad, NGL. Mêndez seemed like a caring and kind chief before he fell victim to Las Plagas.
Don't you mean least favourite?
@@mohdadeeb1829nup
Brett I love that you contrasted Mendez to Salazar, I think it's the right way to go about it. Can you do a Leon and Krauser one, and a Leon and Luis one...
I never thought about it before this game but Leon and Luis do share a lot, from being orphaned to being entangled with Umbrella during their early adulthood. Still can't believe my boi died, RIP Luis.
What I always found interesting is that his transformation most closely resembles the Los Illuminados insignia, his two mutation arms being the upper part and his original, albeit now clawed hands being the lower half, with the extended spine making up the central vertical line. I think that's a cool parallel given that he's the leader of the villagers and now he's just been reduced to a symbol of Saddler's plaga cult.
The big thing I enjoyed about Mendez in remake is how casually he eats pistol bullets while getting shot. Getting shot up doesn’t even stop him from stopping to pick up his hat. Sure he’s strong, but the punishment this man could actively take and not care was arguably worse.
It's kinda ironic that Mendez burned down the house with Luis's grandpa in it, yet decades later he died in a burning meat factory building.
I Thought It Was A Barn Mendez Died In.
@@Erich.C didn't noticed in the OG, but it was a factory.
@@PEN1killer Oh Ok. I Was Thinking About The Remake Here, But I Didn't Know That About The OG Since I Only Played The Remake.
I understand that it's hard to believe that an American ex-cop would ask first and shoot later, but Leon trying to do that here makes some sense to me. Sure, he saw and fought Ganados, but he also saw Luis, and for all Leon knows, there might be other sentient survivors here. You said it yourself, he was in the village for an hour, and it's a relatively short piece of time. He isn't being dumb, he's willing to take chance in order not to hurt a potentially innocent person, because this is who Leon fundamentally is
17:10 I wonder if Luis knew that his granddad asked Mendez to kill him by burning his house down with him in it to stop the spread of the infection. If not he probably hated him for it.
did mendez not get the dominant strain in the remake? he clearly wasn't totally mindless as hes able to converse with leon and not instantly murder him upon realizing he has the plagas within him
He did
Mendez was always one of my favorite parts of this game. The remake did him considerable justice.
Mendez seems to have been someone who cared for the people under his charge and wanted the village to prosper. Unfortunately, he was impressionable like the others and fell under the Illuminados scheme.
I think that sign of compassion to let Leon live may of been Menedez shred of humanity given he may of been merciful once.
The remake added so much nuance to the villains its insane
I love everything about re4's story so much, it has so many different subplots you can pay attention to, hidden behind the more simple to the point "save Ashley!" Plot. The tension rises through the story, not only as the atmosphere becomes more and more hostile, but as the parasite spreads through you. It's just a constant from bad to worse. If it was made in like....a week like people say, well....holy shit!
The tones also GREAT, its just like evil dead 2 where one minute is just pure dread and then the next is hilarious. (Also, I keep realizing just how much the devs love evil dead. First off the obvious chainsaw, then the fact that the villagers are a LOT like deadites, you're saving a girl named ASHLEY, even deflecting chainsaws is a LOT like that scene in evil dead 2 with linda in the shed. 7 in particular has SO MUCH INFLUENCE, girl named Mia, "Groovy" hand chopped off, double barrel, resurrection, even the black goop spreading through limbs.
Did you do one of these for Jack yet? You might enjoy that.
This guys the only person who can talk about something that’s barely a character for half an hour and still keep me interested. He should be an English teacher.
I wonder if his glass eye has any signifigance, like how he once was trying to transform the villiage for the better, and is now trying to do the same thing just in a corrupted way. A false version of what it once was, like the eye. idk lol something like that
One thing I love about this game is that , while in the original , the higher ups in the Illuminados used it as a means to an end for control , but in the remake this isn’t an ends to a mean they truly believe in the religion GLORIA LAS PLAGAS
They really played up the sympathy towards the villagers in this remake, as opposed to the vile aristocrats like Ramon. I love it.
Bro, I love your character synopsis on all the people you do. Idk if you have a degree but it is very accurate
25:40
In the words of Alucard. "Only a man(human) can kill a monster."
I know you may be waiting for re5 remake to do this, but I can't wait to see you do a video on Wesker in this series. His sheer ego and obsession with genetic perfection just creates such a bombastic and entertaining character. The perfect resident evil villain
If Capcom will remake fifth part the same way, it is gonna be something.
Gonna clarify since dominant plagas exist in the remake as well. Dominant las plagas cannot be controlled by saddler unless the person in question has a weak mental state big cheese must had been in a weak mental state when he finally realized saddler wasn’t helping the village. In the case of ramon he always had a weak mental state to begin with evident by him killing a maid and literally letting saddler dig plagas. So my guess is saddler gave big cheese a dominant las plagas knowing he wouldn’t have the will to resist him
One day. I think covering the Dark Masters from Digimon would be an great insight for how villains are written and constructed in storytelling. Digimon got the villains down to writers perfection with how they were built, executed, and how the heroes beat them. A series of insight and analysis of Digimon hasn’t been done to the levels you presented with your presentations. Would love to see how you approach the concepts of it.
As cool as the Dark Masters were, I feel they've become a bit lackluster, at least when compared to the villains that came before (Devimon, Myotismon, and Etemon) and after (The D-Reaper, Lucemon, and Kurata)
For example, the Dark Masters, despite technically being the final villains of the original series, don't really feel much like a threat. Sure, they merged the the Digital World into that massive spire, but once they are properly confronted, they are taken out with relative ease. Both Machinedramon and Metalseadramon were one-shot by Wargreymon, and Puppetmon was so weak that I question why he was even considered a threat in the first place. The only Dark Master who proved himself worthy of the title was Piedmon, who took on and defeated multiple Mega and Ultimate Level Digimon before being sealed away by Magna Angemon.
Digimon is for little kids.
Bravo, was very impressed by this analysis.
This channal will be at 500 000 subs in months.
Won't be stopping there either!
Damn, bro. This video and the Ramon Salazar video are amazing. Subscribed.
I really like this new backstory of his.
20:40 it’s the plaga in Leon’s blood that saved his life here. He saw that his blood accepted it so he’s not gonna kill someone who has the “gift” in them
4:24 who’s definitely gonna give it to ya. XD
the idea of Mendez being 4 stacked fridges and Salazar being a toy oven is a hilarious description I didn't thought I needed to hear.
I loved the way he was in the remake, like a Mr X type character until the final boss fight. And that chase scene was great, definitely a butt pucker moment especially through the first play through..
Leon is somewhat gullible. This is an actual improvement on this character. I didn't feel as scared of the original when it came out as I do about this one.
Bro your Resident Evil analyses are all so good. Keep it up.
Really love your videos the way you analyze the characters backstories, motives, and character. Very enjoyable 😁
"Cmon fight me dwarf. My gun against your tiny hands. Running away? Coward." Logic 😂
I love the use of catholic imagery in horror. I think one of the best modern examples was midnight mass. Just the idea of vampires and catholicism and town closely they can intersect with each other with just brilliant. The fact that a priest was corrupted by what he a thought was an angel and then started feeding the vampires blood To his congregation Was incredibly ironic. It was also sad in a sense because from a religious perspective. You would look at the vampire's blood as a cure for all the ailments of the town people but in reality it led to their construction. And I love how he used The bible verses to justify his behavior
Something I find particularly interesting about Mendez is his design/biology.
Plagas are extremely adaptive creatures, they tend to lodge in the hosts chest to have a direct link to the brain stem, but they can turn into tentacles, giants mouths, small tumour like growths etc.
Mendez’s Plaga has seemingly absorbed all of his internal biomass, becoming a giant scorpion squeezed inside of his thin musculature.
His has been almost entirely consumed by his Plaga, and chances are if he had continued to live, he’d eventually transform into a giant scorpion creature.
It's just more ethical to keep Leon alive and send them both back under the pretense that he rescued her
Class struggle in my vidya? More likely than you think
Great analysis
Nice backstory on Mendez
I very much enjoyed it
The developers added more depth to the game
"Behold, the miracle."
-Bitores Mendez (2004)
14:05 The villagers being so sheltered when Saddler turned up made them too trusting and doomed them.
In my most recent playthrough infound the two outsiders that were sacrificed
I dont know why but Luis' reaction to him showing up behind you gets me every time XD
I was surprised to discover that Mendez is only 6 ft 8 tall. He seemed well over 7 ft, though I guess his intimidating aura makes him seem taller.
This is random but I’ve seen no one mention that Mendez literally had a telephone in his house next to the dinner table. Seems like he was starting to modernize before things changed
Afternoon gentlemen
Leon: *stubs toe*, Ashley: “LEON!!”
I always wondered if the host of the plaga knows what is happening but can't do anything because the plagas blocks the users will from controlling their own actions. Maybe Mendez concocious is there but the plagas is prohibiting him from doing anything.
0:13 Is it safe to assume that Mendez is actually for refrigerators stacked on top of each other wearing a trench coat and a hat?
20:23 it also led to the end of his tapdancing days.
The boss fight with him in the vr port was crazy fucking scary
Babe, FatBrett dropped.
The first playthrough of RE4 Remake making a chilling up to my bone especially the dungeon and Ashley part. For Mendez part where I need to to run aways from him, I fail for like 5 times before make it. Panic...
What I find interesting is who Sadler lets keep their original personality. Ramon and Krauser are both loyal, and joined willingly before the infection, but there would have to have been others, but they are no more different than the rest of the cult. In the AU where Sadler wins, would people like Ramon and Krauser still have their personalities, or would they too become mindless?
I wanna see a mod where Leon is the Punisher and Mendez is the big Russian guy from the movie.
Brett supports the eat the rich movement???👀👀
he dropped the ball just letting his people get the mystery shot like that, I mean everyone is so vigilant and stuffs but then someone wants to inject you with a mystery drug especially a cult and all critical thought goes out the window. xD
This probably makes all kinds of sense when you’re stoned
We’ll definitely get a chase sequence when he goes after Ada in Separate Ways
How does Mendez keep that beard when we blow him up? That always strikes me as odd.
Gracias a las plagas
Traitor to his People and his Faith
A great villain
Its shame that they didn't show his transformation like in original
I like to think that despite being a slave to the plaga, he is still actively fighting against it and that's why he didn't outright kill Leon.
Deep down, he's still the kind man he used to be.
Boss of the village- Mendez
Boss of the castle- Ramon
Boss of the island- Krauser
Final boss- Saddler