Part 1: Village, The Parasitic Body, Castle

Chapter 1: Village

Resident Evil 4 (2005) changed video games forever. The game took the horror genre that the franchise was known for, kept that tension and built it into an action game, with a camera system that influenced virtually all third-person shooters to follow. Nearly two decades later, Game Informer said Resident Evil 4 is “the most important third-person shooter ever,” as the game “innovated two genres.”¹ Resident Evil 4 inspired both the survival horror and shooter genres.²

Part of the success of the game was undoubtedly its story. Particularly the game’s narrative use of inverted religious themes. There’s a parasitic body, a Pharaoh, and the plagues. (Given the plot differences between the original 2005 Resident Evil 4 and the 2023 remake, plus the aim of the article, the present writer has arranged the plot as necessary, to best get across the spirit of the game.)

Narratively, the game is set in the early 2000s. It begins with United States special agent Leon S. Kennedy. He’s a somewhat grizzled veteran now, six years after gamers first met him in Resident Evil 2. There, he was a capable but novice policeman. It was during the T-Virus zombie outbreak in Raccoon City.

Due to his heroic efforts there, and the knowledge he gained about Umbrella Corporation’s horrific experiments with viruses — plus the government’s cooperation with Umbrella Corporation — Leon was “asked” to report directly to the President of the United States for covert operations. Leon trained extensively for his new role, with his mentor Major Jack Krauser, a figure who will become important later.

The game opens six years after the events which led to the destruction of Raccoon City. And Resident Evil 4 opens specifically with the following scene, which is taken from the game’s script.³

[In a dark room, lit only by a dozen candles, several black-clad monks perform a ritual. One of them, standing at the altar, holds the girl trying to escape. Another reads a prayer in Spanish.]

[Prayer in English]

Submerged in the purifying waters, shrouded by an immaculate [...] and that we offer to you. Oh, Lord, let your light shine (over her path) to your paradise. Accept this lamb, show your might and take us into your paradise, into your immaculate bosom. Oh, Lord!

[The girl’s mouth is tied and her body is covered with bruises and bloodstains. A monk dressed in an executioner’s mask draws his axe over the girl’s head. The axe falls and the music drowns the rest of their mumblings. The blood flows down to the altar, which bears the symbol of four bound hands against the moon.]

Leon’s new mission is dear to the President, because the President’s daughter Ashley Graham has been kidnapped from the university she attends. The abductors are an evil cult, and U.S. intelligence has determined that Ashley is in rural Spain. So Leon is sent to the Spanish countryside, to the small Spanish village where Ashley was last sighted.

When Leon arrives, he finds that the locals are unexplainably hostile. The villagers are all followers of the Los Iluminados cult, which is the cult that captured Ashley. And the villagers all carry a mind-controlling parasite: Las Plagas.

More than anything, the game inverts the mystical Body of Christ. The game does so through the narrative use of the parasite. There are also inverted elements of the Eucharist, which is another meaning of that phrase the Body of Christ. In essence, Resident Evil 4 shows the opposite of what a community is. The opposite of what a properly functioning religious organism is.⁴

To understand the symbolism of the game, we have to keep in mind that phrase the Body of Christ. It’s “a significant term for the church and a good way to understand the church. It affirms that Jesus is the head of the church. We as believers follow Christ, listen to Christ, and let Christ guide our steps, just as the head of the body does.”⁵ The phrase is important because Resident Evil 4 is about the parasitic body. The inverted body. A body aimed down rather than up. A body which is aimed at evil and control, rather than goodness and obedience.

Saint Paul the Apostle explains the phrase the “Body of Christ,” in 1 Corinthians 12:16–18: “And if the ear should say, ‘Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,’ it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact, God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be.” In Resident Evil 4, the cult is a parasitic and inverted body — the opposite of the Body of Christ.⁶

There are also the Exodus plagues in Resident Evil 4. These plagues are caused by the cult. A smaller example is how there are flies in the villagers’ houses; particularly in their cooking pots: “The fourth plague, flies, was a judgment on Uatchit, the fly god. In this plague, God clearly distinguished between the Israelites and the Egyptians, as no swarms of flies bothered the areas where the Israelites lived (Ex. 8:21–24).”⁷

The villagers’ livestock can also be killed — with a cow even being set on fire to burn the villagers:

The fifth plague, the death of livestock, was a judgment on the goddess Hathor and the god Apis, who were both depicted as cattle. As with the previous plague, God protected His people from the plague, while the cattle of the Egyptians died. God was steadily destroying the economy of Egypt, while showing His ability to protect and provide for those who obeyed Him. Pharaoh even sent investigators (Ex. 9:7) to find out if the Israelites were suffering along with the Egyptians, but the result was a hardening of [Pharaoh’s] heart against the Israelites.⁸

“The sixth plague, boils, was a judgment against several gods over health and disease (Sekhmet, Sunu, and Isis). This time, the Bible says that the magicians ‘could not stand before Moses because of the boils.’”⁹ In the game, those who have the parasite experience physical changes. Not boils, but a blackening of the skin as the veins turn black; most prominently in the person’s face.

The plagues are not Leon’s fault. They are brought on by the cult. In particular, by the “Pharaoh” Lord Saddler. He is revealed to be the real leader of the cult. Saddler sets himself up as a god. Yet Leon ends up using these plagues against the cult. It’s as though God is on the side which opposes the tyrannical Pharaoh.

There are ten plagues in the Old Testament account of Exodus. The Nile turns to blood, there are frogs in the water, lice from the earth, swarms of flies, death of the livestock, ashes turn to boils and sores, locusts in the skies, fire from the sky, three days of darkness, and finally the death of the firstborn. All ten plagues are used in Resident Evil 4. And Leon is attempting to escape the tyranny of Saddler — to return to the freedom which Leon and Ashley had in the United States — as the Americans are akin to the Israelites attempting to leave Pharaoh’s Egypt.

Orthodox thinker Jonathan Pageau explains how the Exodus plagues are an undoing of Creation:

What you’ll see now in the plagues, is you’re going to see something like this, something like death coming from below, and getting higher and higher. So it starts with just the water, which is turned into blood. Now from the water come these frogs. Then later you’ll see from the dust, comes the lice and then the livestock. And it’s going to continue. The undoing of creation, you can understand it that way.

That is, creation is this union of heaven and earth and now there’s going to be an undoing where at first you’re going to see the revolution of the earth from below, and then you’re going to see a kind of oppression and hostility in aerial phenomena. Even during the flood, we tend to think of the flood just as the water, but that’s not what’s going on. There’s the water and the heavens. And it’s the separation of the two, which undoes the world. So we think of the flood just as the water, but you can think of the image of just water and just heaven, and nothing alive in-between.¹⁰

Additionally, as BibleProject says: “[Pharaoh] is not only doing bad things, but he is fundamentally misrepresenting the rule and character of God.” So: 

When God brings the ten acts of de-creation upon Egypt, God says it’s a judgment against Pharaoh and the gods of Egypt. This isn’t run-of-the-mill human stupidity or simply poor decision making. Pharaoh and Egypt represent the height of corruption and rebellion, partnered with spiritual rebellion. Pharaoh represents the snake, the archetypal foe of Yahweh among the nations....

There are times when God deals [in] severe justice with human evil. And you learn something about someone’s character from how they respond to really horrendous evil.

Saddler has a staff made of worms or snakes, as he is “the height of corruption and rebellion, partnered with spiritual rebellion.”¹¹ He’s attempting to control the entire world, as if he is God.

Catholic and Orthodox bishops also carry a staff with snakes. Those staffs are related to the symbolism of medicine, calling back to the bronze serpent in Exodus, where poison is used to make an antidote.¹² Saddler’s staff is not that because he is the opposite of the bishop. The bishop represents faith in God, Saddler represents selfishness or “faith” in oneself. Saddler wants everyone to place their “trust” in him. Rather than place faith and trust in God; Saddler demands his own will be done.

“By not acknowledging Yahweh’s name, Pharaoh is not only denying the basis of his own existence, but setting himself up as an equal rival to Yahweh.” For “Yahweh’s response to evil in the Exodus narrative becomes a defining mark in Yahweh’s revelation of his own name, and consequently, in the identity of the people of Israel and the story of the Bible.”¹³

Chapter 2: The Parasitic Body

Soon the village chief captures Leon, and injects Leon with the parasite. Now Leon is on the path to becoming part of the parasitic body. He wakes up and realizes he is chained to someone else. That person is Luis Sera, who claims only to be a researcher who was looking into Las Plagas. It is later revealed that Luis was assisting the cult with his research.

Leon and Luis are able to escape their captivity, but Luis runs away without giving further information. Then Leon learns that Ashley is locked up in a church, and he rescues her. The church has been repurposed by the cult, complete with rainbow-coloured lighting. In due time, it’s revealed that Ashley was also injected with the parasite, which will eventually make her part of the parasitic body.

Next, the plan of Lord Saddler is revealed. Ashley was injected with the parasite and Saddler intends to have her inject her father the President, with that same mind-controlling parasite. Then Saddler can control the world through the President. Saddler is the Pharaoh who will not let the Israelites leave their bondage; as Leon and Ashley are both literally tied up at different points in the game.

We should also note how God uses Moses to tell Pharaoh: "Let my people go, that they may serve me" (Ex. 7:16). Because Leon does the same. Throughout the game, Leon begins experiencing visions of Saddler because of the parasite. It’s akin to Moses meeting with Pharaoh over and over. Here is the first vision:

[Leon wakes up. His eyes are foggy and he cannot see clearly. A monk in a robe is leaning over him.]

Monk: Sacrificial lamb. You will receive our most sacred body. It begins now.

And there are other times when Leon sees Saddler:

[Leon sleeps, he sees the monk again, wearing a black robe and carrying a staff, the stem of which appears to be alive.]

Saddler: Sacrificial lamb. You will receive our most sacred body. It begins now. When day breaks, you too will join our covenant. To share in my holy blessing … forever.

[Saddler extends his hand to Leon, from which some worms crawl out. Leon’s head begins to hurt badly, and he screams in pain as he wakes up.]

Once, when Leon encounters Saddler, the Pharaoh says: “Cease your pointless struggling. Abandon your body to the will of our God.” And there are other times when Saddler speaks about the body he is to be the head of: “Prostrate yourselves! This is our Holy Body. Our divine providence! And soon … such a profound blessing for all … las plagas! Welcome, my children. I am Osmund Saddler. The speaker for our Lord.” Saddler also says: “I simply wish to share this gift with as many as possible. A humble wish, don’t you think? You see, we are all connected through the Holy Body. And now your flesh and bones, your very thoughts … are already one with us.”

The Latin phrase for the “Body of Christ” is Corpus Christi. Now there’s a lot of confusion, even among devout Catholics, as to what is meant by the idea that the bread and wine transform into the body and blood of Jesus Christ. Many faithful Catholics still hold a scientific worldview, when it comes to what’s happening in the Mass. That’s where much of the interest around Eucharistic miracles originates from — claims that the bread at Mass has human DNA. The Church holds a different idea; even though some of those miracles could be real.

The real idea of transubstantiation entirely transcends the limited — but very useful in certain circumstances (such as medicine or physics) — scientific worldview. Science is only one form of knowledge. A person need only look to the experience of love, to know that the material explanation of oxytocin as a bonding chemical doesn’t fully explain the phenomenon of love.

Even people who would say that such a scientific explanation is sufficient don’t act as it if that explanation is sufficient. They still fall in love and make decisions based on love — not decisions which are scientifically based; not decisions based on the scientific method, about love.

Saint John the Evangelist says God is love (1 John 4:8). Because God, love, transubstantiation — all of these things are outside the bounds of scientific knowledge. Science is not the only way for human beings to know something, even though science is extremely useful and compatible with faith.

Again, the phrase “the body of Christ” can refer to what Christ said about the body and blood, the bread and wine at the Last Supper. Or it can refer to the mystical congregation of all the people in the Church, united in a mystical body with Christ as the head.

The first sense is found in Luke 22:19–20. In reference to the bread, Christ says, “This is my body.” The second sense is found in 1 Corinthians 12:12–14. There, Saint Paul talks about how all those who are in the Church are “in Christ.”

Some Protestant groups consider the words of Jesus at the Last Supper to refer to only a symbol. The bread and wine are only a symbol of Jesus’ body and blood. The Catholics disagree, and hold that at a non-scientific and metaphysical level, there is a transformation of the bread and wine into the actual body and blood of Jesus Christ of Nazareth; the Second Person of the Holy Trinity; the Logos Incarnate; the Word Become Flesh.

The transformation — transubstantiation is the word used by Catholics — means the “essence” has changed. The bread is now the Body of Christ, which is why Catholics kneel in the direction of the bread before sitting down in a pew. It really is the Body of Christ, once the priest speaks the words of consecration. None of that means that a microscope would find human DNA in the bread. Because the claim is about a metaphysical change of essence. It’s held to be a miracle.

To the human eye and the tools of science, nothing has changed about the bread. But at a deeper level of reality, to which science has no access and with which human beings can only interact through faith, there’s been a fundamental change of essence. So the substance has changed, transubstantiation, but in the ancient use of the word “substance”. It originally meant something closer to essence. Now when people hear the word substance, they think of a material and scientific — physical, reality. But that is not what is happening, nor is that what is meant.

The philosopher Aristotle used the terms “substance” and “accident,” then Saint Thomas Aquinas used those terms himself, to write about transubstantiation. One could think of a chair — where the accident is the wood, and the substance is the idea or essence of what makes a chair a chair.

But by the time of the Protestant Reformation — when Aquinas’ view of transubstantiation was being rejected — the meaning of the word “substance” had moved from meaning essence to meaning what it does now: the physical properties observable under a microscope. So in a sense, the word substance had taken on the meaning of the word accident. Which is to say, that Saint Thomas Aquinas would have rejected that new, scientific and physical meaning of transubstantiation too — the meaning which the Reformers were reading back into Aquinas.¹⁴

Often when Catholics hear that the bread is actually, or really, or truly, or literally, the body and blood of Jesus Christ — they think there is a scientific and physical change of the bread. Which goes to show that even many devout Catholics primarily view reality through the lens of scientism — as though science is the only form of knowledge we have.

With Aristotle, the “substance” is the essence and the “accident” is the material reality. The material reality remains, the bread — scientifically observable — but because the substance has changed, the essence is no longer bread, but is now the Body of Christ.

To avoid all the confusion of these terms, it’s often said that the real presence of Christ is in the Eucharist. That’s another way of saying that the essence has changed. It does not mean something scientific or physical has changed. Even though that could possibly happen, as an additional miracle; over and above transubstantiation.

The priest presents the essence to the believer and says “the Body of Christ.” And because of the changed essence, the believer says “Amen.” The believer is not agreeing that the bread has scientifically and physically changed; or that the bread now has human DNA in it. Rather, the believer is agreeing that metaphysically — at a level of reality beyond the physical world — the substance, the essence of the bread, is now the body, blood, soul, and divinity of Jesus Christ.

As the game progresses, Leon goes to a lake and fights a giant sea monster, which is a leviathan, leaving the lake filled with the blood of that “god”: 

The first plague, turning the Nile to blood, was a judgment against Apis, the god of the Nile; Isis, goddess of the Nile; and Khnum, guardian of the Nile. The Nile was also believed to be the bloodstream of Osiris, who was reborn each year when the river flooded. The river, which formed the basis of daily life and the national economy, was devastated, as millions of fish died in the river and the water was unusable. Pharaoh was told, “By this you will know that I am the LORD” (Ex. 7:17).¹⁵

There’s also three times where Leon must fight an El Gigante, a giant. A giant which was created through experiments on humans. In the Bible, giants emerge from demons procreating with the “daughters of men”. These are similar origins, one expressed scientifically and one in spiritual terms. The origin of the giants in Resident Evil 4 is the same as the parasitic body and the plagues, in the sense that the game gives a scientific reasoning for the existence of these spiritual realities.

Near that time, Leon also encounters the village chief once more. Leon kills the village chief, despite the chief transforming into a giant parasitic monster.

Afterwards, Leon and Ashley seek safety in a nearby castle; as the American evacuation helicopter which they are waiting for cannot land due to a thunderstorm. Leon and Ashley find more cult members inside the castle. And they encounter Ramon Salazar, who is the head of the royal family; the family who has lived in the castle for generations. Soon, Salazar is revealed to be working for Lord Saddler. Deep within the castle, Leon and Ashley are separated yet again and Ashley is captured.

Chapter 3: Castle

The castle is roughly the beginning of the last stages of the plague narrative. There is inclement weather which prevents the evacuation. Fire which reigns down from the sky, sent by catapults in the castle towers. And there is darkness for the rest of the game.

Before God sent the last three plagues, Pharaoh was given a special message from God. These plagues would be more severe than the others, and they were designed to convince Pharaoh and all the people “that there is none like me in all the earth” (Ex. 9:14). Pharaoh was even told that he was placed in his position by God, so that God could show His power and declare His name through all the earth (Ex. 9:16).

...The seventh plague, hail, attacked Nut, the sky goddess; Osiris, the crop fertility god; and Set, the storm god. This hail was unlike any that had been seen before. It was accompanied by a fire which ran along the ground, and everything left out in the open was devastated by the hail and fire. Again, the children of Israel were miraculously protected, and no hail damaged anything in their lands.

Before God brought the next plague, He told Moses that the Israelites would be able to tell their children of the things they had seen God do in Egypt and how it showed them God’s power. The eighth plague, locusts, again focused on Nut, Osiris, and Set. The later crops, wheat and rye, which had survived the hail, were now devoured by the swarms of locusts. There would be no harvest in Egypt that year. 

The ninth plague, darkness, was aimed at the sun god, Re, who was symbolized by Pharaoh himself. For three days, the land of Egypt was smothered with an unearthly darkness, but the homes of the Israelites had light.¹⁶

There will be more on the locusts to follow, as Resident Evil 4 places the locusts later in the plague narrative than Exodus does.

Pharaoh was the king of the Egyptians, and was worshiped by his people because the people thought he was the greatest god. It was believed Pharaoh was the son of the Egyptian god Ra — the sun god. Pharaoh was considered an incarnation of divinity.¹⁷

Following the three days of darkness, Pharaoh continued his bargaining with the Lord, offering Moses another compromise. Nearly all Egyptian-owned animals were destroyed in the plagues. So Pharaoh told Moses that the Israelites could leave Egypt, but the Israelites had to leave their animals in Egypt.

That offer was rejected. Because the animals were intended to be offered by the Israelites in the desert, as a sacrifice to God. Then Pharaoh warned Moses:

“Get thee from me, take heed to thyself, see my face no more; for in that day thou seest my face thou shalt die.” And Moses said, “Thus saith the Lord, About midnight will I go out into the midst of Egypt: And all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sitteth upon his throne, even unto the firstborn of the maidservant that is behind the mill; and all the firstborn of beasts. And there shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, such as there was none like it, nor shall be like it any more.”¹⁸

Leon essentially makes the same promise to Saddler, because Saddler will not let Leon or Ashley leave their captivity in Spain.

While Leon and Ashley are in the castle, Luis the researcher is searching for the antigen which will slow the parasitic infection. The antigen will not remove the parasite, but the antigen will delay the mind-controlling effects. Luis is also searching for a sample of the parasite, which he is able to find and Luis brings it to Leon.

Luis reveals that he is helping the Americans because Luis wants to atone for his sin of researching Las Plagas. But Luis is stabbed by Major Jack Krauser, the man who trained Leon. Then Leon fights Krauser and is able to force Krauser to run away, as Luis gives Leon the key to Luis’ lab, right before Luis finally dies.

Eventually, Saddler is able to recover the parasite sample. Leon holds onto the antigen which was given by Luis. During the castle segment, the spy Ada Wong emerges and assists Leon. She was also in Resident Evil 2, assisting Leon in a mysterious way. Leon makes his way alone through the castle, to fight Ramon Salazar. One of the things Ramon Salazar says is the following:

“Mr. Kennedy, Mr. Kennedy. How noble. Nonetheless, you see, the girl must be ours. With that girl as the very source, your United States, and then … the entire world shall overflow with his grace. For that is the iron will of my master, the most holy Lord Saddler! So then, you will comply, yes?” It’s clear that there is an inverted shepherd in the person of Saddler, who aims to make the whole world his body. Ramon Salazar is part of that parasitic and “mystical” body.

Leon reaches the part of the castle where Ashley is being kept hostage. And the following ensues, showing the game’s commitment to the parasitic and inverted body.

[Leon makes his way to the castle on top and enters a room with an altar that we could see in the opening cutscene, but now this room is lit by many candles and a huge chandelier above. Leon notices Ashley lying on the altar.]

Leon: Ashley!

[He tries to touch her, but some unknown force stops his hand. The girl’s face, or rather the veins in her face, have already turned black. Just like the rest of her body.]

Saddler: You have come, my child.

Leon: What ... do you want?

Saddler: I simply wish to share this gift with as many as possible. A humble wish, don’t you think? You see, we are all connected through the Holy Body. And now your flesh and bones, your very thoughts … are already one with us.

Leon: Bull---t.

Saddler: Why do you reject serenity? When you need only accept the sacred gift? Like ... she did.

Leon: Saddler!

Saddler: Ah yes. The time has come … for this lamb to join our covenant! Oh, blessings unto him and the sweet mercy they bring. Exult all — and let it be so!”

Saddler, being the head of the parasitic body — the body aimed down rather than up — wants to exult himself and that body. Which is the opposite of what Christ says in Luke 14:10: “For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” But Saddler’s body is upside down, so Leon is sent down to the bottom of the castle through a trapdoor. He is unable to save Ashley.

In the castle’s watery depths, Leon has to fight amphibious monsters in the water — as one Exodus plague is frogs in the water. And Leon finds the following note:

May, nine years since my awakening —

Upon the release of this valve, black liquid shall, enter my veins and circulate throughout my entire body.

I expect this will be the most painful experience of my life.

I await the trial with great anticipation. It is an honor to suffer through the holy labor of rebirth.

The next time I awaken, it will be as a true servant of Master Ramón.

I, Isidro Uriarte Talavera, make this vow.

I will surpass the limitations of man and become a true servant of God.

I will find the heretics and serve as their executioner. Their Verdugo [Spanish for executioner].

Leon ultimately kills that parasitic monster in the depths, and then Ramon Salazar transforms into a giant parasite, whom Leon also kills. Next, Leon follows Krauser who has now taken Ashley to a nearby island, which has an industrial-looking facility on it. Soon, Leon finds Ashley on the island facility, but Saddler finds them both and uses the parasite to halt Leon’s movement.

Saddler: Foolish lambs. Why do you deny grace?

[He waves his hand and Leon and Ashley fall to their knees.]

Saddler: Now, abandon your body! Obey. Obey the voice of our Lord.

Part 2: Island, Parasites, The Red Sea

Chapter 4: Island

Saint Paul in his letter to the Ephesians, describes three aspects of the Body of Christ. Those “who heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit” (Eph. 1:13); people who “are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit” (2:22); and those who are “joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love” (4:16). Saddler is attempting to make a parasitic body, which is an inversion of all these positive aspects of a body which are described by Paul.

Christ linked himself with the poor, and the poor are also called the Body of Christ. Pope Francis said the following, speaking at the World Day of the Poor: “If we truly wish to encounter Christ, we have to touch his body in the suffering bodies of the poor, as a response to the sacramental communion bestowed in the Eucharist. The Body of Christ, broken in the sacred liturgy, can be seen, through charity and sharing, in the faces and persons of the most vulnerable of our brothers and sisters.”¹⁹ In Resident Evil 4, the parasitic body extends to the whole community of villagers. But it’s an inverted body, which has the evil Saddler as the mind-controlling head of that body.

Leon shoots Saddler during that earlier confrontation on the island. With Saddler saying: “Pray, forgive these wicked sinners. My faithful disciple shall deliver to you, your ... penance. Now child, you need not be afraid. Submit your body and release yourself from fear!”

Saddler is relatively unaffected by the bullet and escapes with Ashley. Leon continues moving across the island facility, searching for Ashley. He learns that Krauser was responsible for the initial kidnapping of Ashley. Krauser did that because of the U.S. government’s cover-up of a mission Krauser was on, where his entire unit was killed but he survived.

Due to Krauser’s resentment over the United States’ handling of that incident, Krauser took Las Plagas, in order to become a mutant who would be more powerful than a normal human. A parasitic and inverted body, Krauser is like the Egyptian magicians. Jonathan Pageau notes how the Egyptian magicians can reproduce the plagues, but that isn’t necessarily a good thing.

It’s interesting to notice that when the magicians are doing the plagues, it’s funny that they just reproduce the plagues, which [are] causing them harm; instead of healing the plagues. They’re not stopping the plagues. They’re just showing that they can do the same. And so they’re actually increasing the plague, through their magic, rather than stopping it. Because you’ll see in the story of Exodus, you’ll see places where the Israelites have issues and God solves their issues; He helps them.

It’s not like — I don’t know the snakes in the desert are biting the Israelites and it’s like “oh this is a sign from God,” so Moses shows that he can make snakes also bite the Israelites. No. It’s like God is healing them. But here, the magicians just repeat the same magic. Ultimately harming their own land at the same time. So it’s very interesting to see that.²⁰ 

Krauser is using Ashley to gain Saddler’s trust, so that Krauser can steal the parasite sample. Ada Wong and Krauser are both working as mercenaries, attempting to retrieve the sample for Albert Wesker, who is the real villain of the Resident Evil series. Wesker is suspicious of the spy Ada Wong’s intentions. Meanwhile, Saddler thinks that either death — Leon or Krauser, will benefit Saddler. So Saddler wants Krauser to kill Leon, but Saddler doesn’t care if Krauser dies in the attempt.

Krauser says the following to Leon about the parasitic body, right before Krauser and Leon fight: “I’m not surprised you made it this far! Not bad, but I didn’t expect anything less. After all, I know your potential better than anyone. It’s a damn shame you can’t see the truth. How long do you plan to fight in that primitive body of yours?” Leon fights Krauser and kills Krauser, although Leon does not want to kill Krauser; given their history in the military. But Leon does reluctantly kill Krauser, with Krauser’s own small knife, the one which Krauser used in training Leon.

And all across the island there are locusts, one of the plagues. These locusts are human-sized flying bugs with camouflage.²¹ Near when they are first encountered, the following note is found. It’s taken from the cult’s holy book; with the last line having echoes of God promising Abraham a lineage: a lineage as numerous as the stars one sees in the daytime — meaning stars not even visible, stars one cannot even begin to count.

Praise be to the holy insects!

We have been promised paradise on earth!

Man, woman, or child!

His love does not discriminate! Beast, fish, or bird!

All creatures shall be equally blessed!

Praise be to the holy insects! We are the humble servants of God!

His wisdom will overcome any mountain!

His omnipotence will cross any ocean!

The light of heaven dwells in all things!

Let our bodies be the seedbed!

Praise be to the holy insects!

We are the flock and the shepherd guides us!

Our prayers will be sung all over the world! They will be heard by all!

At last, we shall exceed the stars in the sky!”

This is how the locust plague was developed:

July, two years since my awakening —

Master Ramón has bestowed upon me a truly righteous undertaking to improve upon the flaws of our human form to seek perfection as observed in our arthropodal siblings.

To this cause I shall willingly devote my life.

January, four years since my awakening —

My efforts to transfuse the black liquid into the body are at the precipice of success.

The womb is the key.

A pure soul proves to be a highly malleable and adaptive subject.

January, six years since my awakening —

I have named these sacred larvae, carried in the wombs of the chosen, U-II after my own. They shall carry the prestige of my family name as if I had spawned them of my own flesh.

The U-II are now close to the size of adult humans, and they continue to feed and multiply. I have successfully created a new species!

Master Ramón has recognized my efforts and blessed me with his praise. He has taken to U-II, calling them Novistador, meaning “The Unseen.”

I’ve been told that his holiness, Lord Saddler himself, has also expressed pleasure with my work.

What an extraordinary honor this is! I can hardly see the tip of my quill through the tears of joy.

His humble servant, Isidro Uriarte Talavera.

Additionally, on the island research facility, there are enemies called Regenerators. If the player shoots off a Regenerator’s body parts, the Regenerator will regenerate those body parts instantly. The only way to kill a Regenerator is to use a thermal scope, so that the player can shoot the different parasites in the Regenerator’s body. All the parasites must be destroyed for the body of the Regenerator to explode.

Here is more writing which the player finds, explaining the Regenerators:

Upon examining the body with a biosensor scope. I was able to confirm that the parasites behave like vital organs for the host, almost as though it has multiple hearts!

This new creation of mine is essentially immortal.

Surely, even Dr. Frankenstein himself would want to shake my hand in admiration!

The Regenerators are clearly another abomination of the body. After reading that note, the following happens: “[And at that moment, a naked body enters the room, but it does not look human at all. The face of the monster has a huge mouth with many sharp teeth. The body of the monster looks like a fat man who has lost a considerable amount of his weight.]” Once Leon starts shooting it: “[The Regenerator instantly rebuilds the upper part of his body.]”

Pressing through the island facility, Leon finds Ashley once more but Saddler shows up and attempts to control Leon through Las Plagas. However, the spy Ada Wong is on a balcony and shoots Saddler — Saddler loses his focus on controlling Leon — and while Saddler is relatively immune to the bullets because of his mutations, there has been enough of a distraction for Leon and Ashley to escape.

Soon after the escape, the effects of Las Plagas have almost entirely taken over Leon. Ashley is not even conscious anymore. But Leon carries Ashley to Luis’ laboratory on the island.

Chapter 5: Parasites

Here are the instructions for eliminating the parasite in the laboratory.

There are two ways to eradicate las plagas: antigen injection and surgery.

If the parasite has not hatched yet. it can be treated by administering antigen directly into the body.

Once it has hatched however, there’s not much that can be done besides slow its growth.

With surgery, the plaga can be targeted and killed using a certain wavelength of radiation.

But this is not without its risks. If the parasite has attached itself to the host’s nervous system, the host will experience excruciating pain. And there is no effective anesthesia for this kind of procedure.

Surgical removal carries considerable risks, even before the parasite has fully developed.

Once fully grown however, it is too late: removing the parasite would kill the host.

But considering what will happen to them, death may be a mercy.

The University of Toronto cognitive scientist John Vervaeke uses the phrase parasitic processing: “Every time you’re exercising your intelligent agency, you’re making yourself vulnerable to self-deceptive, self-destructive processing.”²² One way to understand parasitic processing is through the example of addiction.

The addiction is a demon and also a parasite, which will destroy its host. The parasitic processing, which the addiction is, will make the host submit all goals toward the addiction. An addict will sell their belongings for the substance they are addicted to. The parasite will use the host, for the parasite’s dark aims — even if that destroys the host in the process.²³

Vervaeke explains further, 

It’s like a parasite in that it takes up life within you, and it takes life away from you. It causes you to lose your agency. It causes you to suffer. And here’s what’s important. This capacity for your cognitive brain to be self-organizing, heuristic using [heuristic meaning essentially a mental shortcut], complexify, to create complex systems and functions with emergent abilities, [it] has a downside to it.

...This is a complex, self-organizing, adaptive system. If you try and intervene here the rest of the system reorganizes itself around your attempted intervention. It can adapt and preserve itself as you tried to destroy it. Why? Because it’s making use of the very machinery by which you adapt, and [makes] use of the things that are trying to destroy you. That’s how it works. No matter where I am, this is a perennial threat. No matter what I am doing, [parasitic processing] is always liable to happen.²⁴ 

One is reminded of the Regenerators, where only destroying all of the parasites will work, and one is also reminded of the parasites themselves — which attach to the already existing human nervous system, the host, and use the host for the parasite’s dark aims.

There are many Bible verses about parasites. Acts 12:23 says: “Immediately an angel of the Lord struck him down, because he did not give God the glory, and he was eaten by worms and breathed his last.” Then there is Exodus 15:26: “If you will diligently listen to the voice of the Lord your God, and do that which is right in his eyes, and give ear to his commandments and keep all his statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you that I put on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord, your healer.” Leviticus 11:42 commands that “You are not to eat any creature that moves about on the ground, whether it moves on its belly or walks on all fours or on many feet; it is detestable.” Then Leviticus 11:43 says: “Do not defile yourselves by any of these creatures. Do not make yourselves unclean by means of them or be made unclean by them.”

But, “Christianity has always been opposed to dualistic models devaluing the human body. The human person is created in God’s image to be resurrected on the last day; his or her body is worthy of respect. It is in the body, or more precisely through it, that the human person is called to glorify and reveal the presence of God, manifested in the love between human beings.”²⁵

That is why the theologian Christopher West says, noting the main idea in Theology of the Body by Saint Pope John Paul II: “The body, and it alone, is capable of making visible what is invisible: the spiritual and the divine. It was created to transfer into the visible reality of the world, the mystery hidden since time immemorial in God, and thus to be a sign of it.”²⁶ Saddler is the opposite of that mystery. He doesn’t want to use his body to honour God — Saddler wants to parasitically use other people’s bodies for his own dark aims.

Leon operates on Ashley with the radiotherapeutic equipment. Then Leon collapses and loses consciousness. He awakes to find that Ashley has already operated on him and now both of them have eradicated the parasitic bodies within their own bodies — those parasites being the complete opposite of the Eucharist. Through the eradication of the parasites, Leon and Ashley have also escaped the parasitic “mystical” body of the cult.

In the laboratory, the player finds this note which explains Luis’ motivations.

Do not be fooled into thinking that las plagas are merely tools for creating powerful bioweapons. Their true value lies in their ability to control.

No matter how hostile the subject, a single injection can turn anyone into a faithful servant. Who needs spies when you can turn yesterday’s enemy into today’s ally?

Controlling just one insider can bring an entire organization — an entire country — to its knees.

Mass production of the superior species has made this possible. We have empowered Saddler.

It is clear what he intends to do next.

Can you imagine if Saddler had that much control?

Six billion loyal servants at his sole command. There would be no opposition, no war.

Maybe for the first time in human history, the world would know peace.

But I know how Saddler and the others have oppressed the people of this island for generations. I know how he treats them.

That’s no way to live. And because of that, I won’t let it happen.

Further, this note is also written by Luis — about the parasite sample which Saddler currently has.

This sample, which I’ve come to call “the Amber,” was just sitting in the storeroom collecting dust.

We used to have ample specimens for experimentation in the past, so it makes sense that this one was overlooked.

In fact, the only reason I brought it back to my lab was because of its peculiar shape.

After a basic analysis, I’ve changed my mind.

The Amber possesses a very unique quality. Although small and in a suspended state, it contains the same organ found in the “dominant species”, which we’ve only seen in Saddler himself.

When fully developed, the Amber may rival, or perhaps even surpass, Saddler’s power.

Unfortunately, the Amber was confiscated by Saddler before I could make any further progress in my research. He may be onto me.

I need to get my hands on that sample again and escape in order to continue my research elsewhere. It’s the only way to counter Saddler.

Of course, I don’t think I can trust this outside group either, but I’ve already come this far.

[Much earlier, Luis was working to give the sample to Ada Wong in exchange for evacuation from the region.]

Hopefully I can sweet talk my way out of this one too.

I’ll have to. For the world’s sake.

Inside the Amber’s container is the special parasite sample.²⁷ There are other less powerful parasites samples, which the player encounters, and these lesser samples were dug up from below the castle. The samples look like a tiny bug. Because one of the Exodus plagues is lice from the earth. Which is what these “contagious” samples are.

The Spanish word plagas means pests. Even though the English speaker may assume plague. And the Latin word plaga does mean plague. The parasite is the lice from the earth, which serves as the symbolic and narrative and bridge between the Exodus account, and the game’s core theme of the parasitic body; as is expressed through the cult.²⁸ Because the plaga is both lice from the earth and the cause of the parasitic body.²⁹

And the development of science applies to the character arc of Luis, who is a scientist and responsible in some sense for creating the inverted and parasitic body. But a scientist who has a change of heart and aims to put his newfound ethics on par with his science. Jordan Peterson says, 

[Carl Jung] believed that the scientific endeavor emerged out of the alchemical endeavor. He has his reasons for believing that, and I think it’s a reasonable proposition historically. There’s many roots of the scientific endeavor, but Newton was an alchemist, so there’s one staggeringly important example. And alchemy was a fantasy about the value that might be lurking in the material world.

Jung believed that we needed to fantasize about what value might be held in [the] study of the material world, for thousands of years, before we could organize ourselves psychologically to do something as technically sophisticated as science. But alchemy was still one-tenth science and ninety-percent imagination and religion, in some sense. Then the scientific part of it blew up, massively, over the last 400 years. And it’s put us where we are technologically. But the ethical part, the religious part, didn’t blow up and expand in the same way. But it has to. We have to be as ethical as we are powerful. Or we won’t manage.³⁰

Chapter 6: The Red Sea

After leaving the laboratory, Leon and Ashley attempt to escape the island but find Ada tied up outside. Leon recognizes it’s a trap set by Saddler, but Leon cannot leave Ada to die. So Leon cuts Ada down from the high place. Immediately, Saddler moves to control Leon’s mind through the parasitic body, but Saddler finds that he can’t.

You foul renegade! You have forsaken the Holy Body … the great gift ... to become one with us. You require ABSOLUTION!

[He turns into a monster, a living symbol of his faith. Saddler attacks the heroes but they cleverly evade. The final battle begins!]

Such blasphemous desecration! Such unforgivable heresy! Yet, is it not the sinner who is in most need of salvation?”

Leon fights Saddler with help of Ada Wong. Ada gives Leon a rocket launcher, as Saddler transforms into a second and even more disgusting parasitic monster. Right before Leon finally kills Saddler, Leon says the following:

I’ll give you a holy body!

[Leon takes Saddler’s staff and stabs him with it. Saddler’s body begins to disintegrate and Leon is thrown back. He loses consciousness for a few minutes and when he comes to, he finds the Amber capsule next to him. Ada comes over and picks it up.]

There is the final plague after the death of Saddler, when the head of the parasitic body dies — and cannot resurrect — then all the members of that body convulse on the ground and die. The villagers, the Egyptians, are all literally dying on the ground at the end of the game. It’s the death of the firstborn of the parasite, the firstborn of the parasitic body.

The tenth and last plague, the death of the firstborn males, was a judgment on Isis, the protector of children. In this plague, God was teaching the Israelites a deep spiritual lesson that pointed to Christ. Unlike the other plagues, which the Israelites survived by virtue of their identity as God’s people, this plague required an act of faith by them. God commanded each family to take an unblemished male lamb and kill it. The blood of the lamb was to be smeared on the top and sides of their doorways, and the lamb was to be roasted and eaten that night. Any family that did not follow God’s instructions would suffer in the last plague.³¹

Meaning, Leon and Ashley are passed-over. Commentator Ben Shapiro notes how in the Passover, “The Egyptians supposedly used to worship lambs. So the idea was that you’re going to sacrifice a lamb. Like literally take their god and sacrifice it.”³² That is what Leon and Ashley do in eradicating the parasites in the lab; and what Leon does in killing the parasite Saddler — in both cases, sacrificing the false god.

In better understanding the last plague:

God described how He would send the destroyer through the land of Egypt, with orders to slay the firstborn male in every household, whether human or animal. The only protection was the blood of the lamb on the door. When the destroyer saw the blood, he would pass over that house and leave it untouched (Ex. 12:23). This is where the term Passover comes from.

Passover is a memorial of that night in ancient Egypt when God delivered His people from bondage. First Corinthians 5:7 teaches that Jesus became our Passover [Lamb] when He died to deliver us from the bondage of sin. While the Israelites found God’s protection in their homes, every other home in the land of Egypt experienced God’s wrath as their loved ones died. This grievous event caused Pharaoh to finally release the Israelites.³³

Leon and Ashley are passed-over because they are now not part of the parasitic body of the Pharaoh. Rather than blood on a door, because Saddler’s body is parasitic and inverted, the Americans don’t have the parasitic mark. It’s been removed in Luis’ lab. So Leon and Ashley do not suffer the final plague, which does kill the parasitic body; Pharaoh’s “mystical” body.

Ada Wong steals the parasite sample from Leon at gunpoint. Then Ada escapes in a helicopter while Leon and Ashley attempt to escape the now-exploding island on a jet-ski, moving through watery caves. Onboard the helicopter, Ada decides not to give the sample to the villain Albert Wesker; as Wesker aims to use the parasite to affect the deaths of millions if not billions of people, as he himself readily admits.

Leon and Ashley destroy the parasitic body and find “salvation not only from physical death but from spiritual death as well.”³⁴ The two Americans presumably make it back to the United States, having escaped the tyranny — despite Saddler refusing to let them go — as Saddler and his army die in the waters, but the Americans have escaped through the waters which are opened, out of the exploding cave which they steer the jet-ski through. The game ends with Leon and Ashley in safety on the jet-ski, out in the open waters, and Ada no longer listening to Wesker on the radio.

The parasitic body is gone, the Pharaoh is defeated, the plagues are over, and there is freedom for the Israelites out of Egypt. The sea around the island can now be said to be a red sea, as it contains the blood of the firstborn; due to the island exploding.

Even after the tenth plague, Pharaoh once again hardened his heart and sent his chariots after the Israelites. When God opened a way through the Red Sea for the Israelites, then drowned all of Pharaoh’s armies there, the power of Egypt was crushed, and the fear of God spread through the surrounding nations (Josh. 2:9–11). This was the very purpose that God had declared at the beginning. We can still look back on these events today to confirm our faith in, and our fear of, this true and living God, the Judge of all the earth.³⁵

Leon’s call to let his people go is answered.
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***
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Dan Sherven is the author of four books, including the number-one bestseller Classified: Off the Beat ‘N Path and Uncreated Light. Sherven is also an award-winning journalist, writing for several publications. Find Sherven’s work.

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1.  Javy Gwaltney, “14 Years Later, Resident Evil 4 Remains The Most Important Third-Person Shooter Ever," Game Informer, May 2019.

2.  Ibid.

3.  Capcom, “Resident Evil 4 Remake Full Transcript,” Game Scripts, May 2023. Used throughout the present article, whenever text is taken from the game.

4.  See Lex Fridman, “Bishop Robert Barron: Christianity and the Catholic Church | Lex Fridman Podcast #304,” YouTube, July 20, 2022, at 38:46. The symbol of the cult is also a distorted crucifix, with the body of the lice-like parasite being represented as a cross.

5.  Pamela Palmer, “Why Do We Call the Church the ‘Body of Christ’?,” Bible Study Tools, April 11, 2023.

6.  Saint Paul uses the Greek word for body when talking about the Eucharist, a word which was also used by the early Christian community as “a euphemism to designate the dead body of Christ.” So “In 1 Corinthians 12:13, we find the formula ‘baptism into the body of Christ,’ which is equivalent to ‘baptism into the death of Christ.’” To participate in the Body of Christ is to participate in the death of Christ, and his resurrection. But for the parasitic body in Resident Evil 4, the parasite “baptizes” a person into real death. And a loss of personhood.

There are also “the words of the Last Supper that tradition had carefully preserved as coming from Christ: the ‘body given for men.’” Here, Christ is speaking both of the Eucharist and his own body. In Resident Evil 4, the Pharaoh does not give up his body for the villagers. Instead, the Pharaoh demands that all the villagers give up their bodies for him. It is inverted and parasitic. Christ sacrifices himself for the community. The Pharaoh sacrifices the community for himself.

The theologian Lucien Cerfaux explains further:

The importance of the “body” in Paul’s thought is stressed by the celebration of the Supper, which established in the Christian’s vocabulary the expression “the body of Christ” with new theological applications. The Eucharist unites us to the “body” of Christ, that same body which was delivered up for us, and which underwent the great transformation from a fleshly body to a spiritual body. Thus we become one body with Christ, and the result is that we are one spirit with him (see 1 Corinthians 6:17): from the great crowd of us who are born, we become one body because we share together one bread. The idea of the eucharistic body is thus linked with the notion of the risen body, for we are united in one body which dies in order to rise again. And the idea of death is stressed (1 Corinthians 11:24, 11:26, 11:27) because of the very circumstances in which Christ celebrated the Last Supper with his apostles, “the night on which he was betrayed.” But it is a question especially of the body which played a part in the process of life and resurrection.

These ideas also applied to baptism, the rite by which we pass from the state of sin (or of death) to (new) life. We are baptized into the death of Jesus Christ, buried with him by this baptism into his death, made like to the image of his death, in order that we may be assured of resurrection (which is already realized in principle) and that was may walk “in the newness of life” (Romans 6:3-5). The same idea is taken up again in Colossians 2:12. Baptism into the body of Christ has the same meaning: “In one spirit we are baptized into one body” — that same body to which the Eucharist unites us.

All the quotations in this footnote are taken from Lucien Cerfaux, Christ in the Theology of St. Paul (Herder, 1959), pp. 122, 143, 282, 283.

7.  Got Questions Ministries, “What was the meaning and purpose of the ten plagues of Egypt?,” Got Questions.

8.  Ibid.

9.  Ibid.

10.  Jonathan Pageau - Clips, “The Plagues Are an Undoing of Creation,” YouTube shorts, August 21, 2023.

11.  Exodus Scroll, BibleProject Podcast Series, “Why Are There 10 Plagues?” BibleProject, March 28, 2022.

12.  See Jonathan Pageau, “Universal History: Dragons! - with Richard Rohlin,” YouTube, February 2, 2024, at 54:04.

13.  Exodus Scroll, op. cit.

14.  Some of the ideas which served as background for this section on transubstantiation are indebted to Regina Archdiocesan Theologian Dr. Brett Salkeld’s work. See Brett Salkeld, Transubstantiation: Theology, History, and Christian Unity (Baker Academic, 2019); and Paul VanderKlay, “The Search for the Substance of God, Brett Salkeld on Transubstantiation,” YouTube, February 20, 2020.

15.  Got Questions Ministries, op. cit.

16.  Ibid.

17.  At best, Saddler acts as if he is the pope under the god he worships. But it’s perhaps more accurate to say that Saddler “believes” in a god, which he does not actually believe in at all. Instead, Saddler considers himself to be united to “divinity.” Making Saddler the “son of god,” like Pharaoh, who was supposedly the incarnation of the sun god Re or Ra.

18.  Department of Statistics, “Ten Egyptian Plagues For Ten Egyptian Gods and Goddesses,” Rice University.

19.  Joshua J. McElwee, “Launching World Day of the Poor, Francis says ‘no Christian may disregard’ serving them,” National Catholic Reporter, June 13, 2017.

20.  Jonathan Pageau - Clips, “The Egyptian Magicians Only Make the Plagues Worse,” YouTube shorts, January 23, 2023.

21.  These appear to be the same monsters Leon fights in the water. But now they can fly. Initially, in the water, they appear invisible, and the flying ones are only camouflaged.

22.  John Vervaeke, “Ep. 13 - Awakening from the Meaning Crisis - Buddhism and Parasitic Processing,” Meaning Crisis, April 12, 2019.

23.  See Dan Sherven, “Gollum: Dating Apps, Demons, and Parasitic Processing,” Medium, December 2, 2022.

24.  Vervaeke, op. cit.

25.  Patrick Verspieren, “Place et rôle du corps dans le christianisme,” Soins, January–February 2018, 63(822), pp. 23–24.

26.  Christopher West, Theology of the Body for Beginners (Ascension Press, 2004), p. 5.

27.  This is the same sample which Leon had earlier, from Luis, which Saddler confiscated.

28.  Las Plagas is the plague of the pests, lice — even though there is debate among scholars about whether the plague of pests, which is normally assumed to be lice, was actually lice. Yet “the Peshitta, a collection of Aramaic manuscripts of the Bible, names the pests as lice. Likewise, the Targum refers to the pest as a plague of lice.” For more on the debate about whether the plague was really lice, see Discover the Bible, “The Pest of the Third Plague,” Discover the Bible, September 7, 2021.

29.  Additionally, the villagers who are cult members should be thought of as the Egyptians — as that parasitic body is following Pharaoh instead of God.

30.  Jordan B Peterson, “Talking with Russians | Mikhail Avdeev | EP 217,” YouTube, January 13, 2022, at 20:00.

31.  Got Questions Ministries, op. cit.

32.  Ben Shapiro, “God Judged the Egyptian Gods | @PintsWithAquinas,” YouTube shorts, August 23, 2023.

33.  Got Questions Ministries, op. cit.

34.  Department of Statistics, op. cit.

35.  Got Questions Ministries, op. cit.