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Las Plagas, literally meaning "The Plagues" in Spanish, are major antagonists in the Resident Evil franchise. They are a breed of parasitic superorganisms which originated from a remote valley in the Iberian Peninsula.

Unlike the t-Virus, which turned its victims into mindless zombies, the victims of Las Plagas (such as the Ganados and Majini) become much stronger and highly resistant to pain, while working collectively to pursue their targets. Another side effect is the loss of higher reasoning, except in select subjects (who are still unable to shake off the need to obey higher orders) and the full compliance to the Control Plaga.

History[]

Past[]

Las Plagas were first discovered by a pagan cult in the Iberian Peninsula known as "Los Iluminados" in an unspecified, remote rural valley of Spain and used the Plagas as a means of recruiting new members. However, the first castellan of the Salazar family opposed the cult and lead a radical crusade to destroy the cult and sealed off the leftover parasites in a vault located in the ancient ruins beneath his castle. Deprived of nutrition and hosts, the Plaga died shortly afterwards within their confinement.

However, because of the amber deposits down there, their remains were fossilized and they managed to survive in the form of microscopic spores within the fossils. Centuries later, the eighth Salazar castellan, Ramón Salazar, was manipulated by Osmund Saddler, the new leader of Los Iluminados, to join Los Iluminados and open the seal that concealed the Plagas. The two employed the local villagers to excavate the parasites.

When they unearthed them, the Los Iluminados were disheartened by the fact the Plaga were truly extinct. However, the Plagas spores were still active and these spores were inhaled by the miners hired to extract them, giving birth to the parasites within their bodies. With renewed hope, Saddler later obtained the means to recreate the parasites wholly, injecting them in egg form into potential hosts to turn them into Ganado. 

With the Plagas parasites, Saddler managed to take control of the entire nearby village and its chief, Salazar's castle, and an island that he used to host his private military. While most were injected with regular Las Plagas, Saddler and his top underlings (Ramon Salazar, Bitores Mendez, and Jack Krauser) wielded the Dominant Species Plaga or Control Plaga, allowing them to keep their free will and command the regular infected Ganado. 

2004[]

Albert Wesker, who was leading the remnants of the Umbrella Corporation, sent two of his agents, Ada Wong and Jack Krauser, to retrieve the sample of the Control Plaga. Krauser became a henchman to Saddler himself and was sent to kidnap the U.S. President's daughter, Ashley Graham. Though Krauser succeeded in his mission Saddler didn't give Krauser the sample, prompting Wesker to sent Ada to infiltrate the Ganado-controlled territory and obtain the sample by force. The U.S. Government meanwhile sent in special agent Leon S. Kennedy to rescue Ashley by any means needed. During this mission, Leon was attacked by the Plagas-infected Villagers, but Ada rang the Church's bell which made the Villagers retreat from Leon. 

In the Church, Leon rescued Ashley and encountered Osmund Saddler, who revealed he had the two implanted with Las Plagas. To escape, Leon went to confront Bitores Mendez at the Slaughterhouse to obtain the False Eye, the Village Gates' key, from him. After killing Mendez Leon stole his eye.

Leon later went to Salazar's castle, where he encountered the Zealots, the most fanatical members of Los Iluminados. After fighting them off, Leon and Ashley found themselves faced by Ramon Salazar, who wanted to kill Leon and recapture Ashley Graham. When Ashley fell into one of the traps Leon went to the other side to rescue her. There, Leon met Luis Sera, a non-infected Humans, who attempted to give Leon the vaccines only to be killed by Saddler and have the vaccines stolen from him. Leon then found Ashley, who had been taken by a Novistador and brought to Salazar. Leon confronted Salazar at one of the towers and learned that Ashley was moved to an island Leon then fought and defeated Salazar along with his Verdugo Bodyguard.

Following this Leon traveled to the Island and pursued Ashley's trail. He managed to catch up to her but she was taken by Saddler. Leon is then confronted by Krauser and discovers he was the one who kidnapped Ashley. After dueling Krauser in a knife fight Krauser escapes and IT is unleashed to fight Leon, but Leon kills the beast. Leon then finds Krauser again, killing him and then rescuing Ashley for the final time.

Ada attempted to fight Saddler herself but was captured and tied up. However, Leon then fought Saddler and defeated him with the assistance of Ada, who threw Leon a Special RPG. However, after Saddler was defeated, Ada held Leon at gunpoint to obtain the Control Plaga. Once she had gotten it she escaped via Helicopter to deliver the Plaga to a true organization she served instead of Wesker. Leon and Ashley meanwhile escaped the Island via jet ski before it blew up from the bombs. However, Wesker was able to obtain the Control Plaga from Krauser's body himself, allowing him to control Las Plagas-infected ones.

2009[]

Wesker infects the population of Kijuju, Africa to turn them into puppets for himself and his TRICELL associates, Excella Gionne and Ricardo Irving. BSAA agents Chris Redfield and Sheva Alomar soon showed up to contain the outbreak and were attacked by the Plaga-controlled Majini. However, Chris and Sheva escaped Kijuju with the help of Dave Johnson and arrived at the Wetlands.

Chris and Sheva found Irving in the Oil Fields, guarded by large numbers of Majini. After defeating him on his boat during his escape, the two head towards a Cave where they are faced with the tribal Majini. They later find Excella is a Research Facility and pursue her, leading the team to a confrontation with Wesker and the controlled Jill Valentine. While Wesker and Excella escaped, Jill was restored to normal thanks to the duo who then followed Wesker.

The agents pursued Wesker onto the TRICELL-owned Ship, where they were attacked a large number of Majini Soldiers. They soon were confronted by Excella who transformed into Uroboros to fight them but the agents defeat her. Chris and Sheva then went to fight Wesker and crashed his Bomber ship into a volcano, where Albert used Uroboros to battle the two. With assistance from Jill Valentine and Josh Stone, Chris and Sheva finally defeat Wesker with two RPGs. Following Wesker's demise, the four escaped via Helicopter.

East Slavic Civil War[]

'to be added.

Powers & Abilities[]

• Host Possession: A trait that every Plaga possesses is their ability to infect their hosts and start altering their behaviour by attaching itself to the host's central nervous system. Plaga can also infect non-human hosts such as Wolves and aquatic creatures like Del Lago which Leon encounters during his mission to rescue Ashley from Los Iluminados.
  • Because the central nervous system is between the lungs and heart, the infection is very painful to the human hosts and causes physical side effects. These include haemorrhaging, coughing up blood and the swelling of blood vessels near a host's eyes. It was even noted that bodies of human children were ill-suited to Plaga infestation as the process would kill them outright (Ramon Salazar was only exception of this rule due to his Plaga happened to be dominant species variant).
  • Being possessed by a Plaga can also induce mental problems in the human hosts. For example, Ganados experience fainting and some severe hallucinations. In the case of the Garrador or El Gigante, they became uncontrollably aggressive and indiscriminately attacked anything that caught their eye. Despite their impressive might, their intelligence was greatly reduced and they became nothing more than feral beasts. Hosts of Dominant Species Plaga had no such issue since they mostly retain their sense of self, though remake version of Resident Evil 4 argued them suffering personality corruption as the price of power their Plaga bestowed.
  • Hosts of the Plaga can possess higher reasoning skills and display emotions and possesses a complex personality of their own without their mind being destroyed by the Plaga. In the case of Verdugo, they can taunt their opponents and show a fierce loyalty to Ramon Salazar.
• Power Bestowal: The Plaga begins altering the host's body chemistry from the moment it is hatched from its egg. It causes unspecified mutations in the host that increases their strength and gives them a high threshold for pain. Through further experimentations, it is seen that Plaga infections can be altered through surgical experiments to induce different types of mutations in human hosts.
  • For example in the case of the Garrador and El Gigante, they display impressive physical strength and durability when compared to regular hosts of the Plaga. In the case of El Gigante, they grew in size and became nearly four times as tall as an average human being. This also gave them a higher tolerance for damage, which combined with their low intelligence and increased might, makes them extremely difficult to control.
  • In the case of the Regenerators, they display instantaneous regenerative abilities which allows them to regrow entire limbs and even vital organs within a few seconds. In some extreme cases, it is seen that they can turn into Iron Maidens, although there is no explanation for this phenomenon.
  • When combining human victims of Plaga with more surgical experimentation and genetically infusing them with insect DNA, they become creatures like Novistador or Verdugo. While the Novistador and Verdugo are more insect like than human, the Novistador do not possesses higher reasoning skills and behave more like feral beasts. Whereas the Verdugo can distinguish between violence and self-restraint and possesses higher reasoning skills. This extremely durable exoskeleton makes them almost invulnerable to ballistic trauma.
  • For bearers of Dominant species Plagas, they can assume monstrous combat forms at will which as formidable as Umbrella Corporation's formidable B.O.W.s. As demonstrated by different hosts of such Plaga type, they can turn into powerful beasts outright often with their still intact human form serving as weak point or limited to weaponized limbs as shown in Krauser who manifested an arm blade which complements his fighting style.
• Enhanced Strength: Even without any human hosts, the Plaga possess some limited enhanced strength. An adult Plaga can tear through the head of their human hosts and use their own tentacles in self-defense . Even some Plaga can physically take over hosts from the outside and use their body as puppets to attack others. Some Plaga who inhabit suits of armour also show enormous strength as they can utilize heavy medieval weaponry.
• Plaga Socializing: Just like human beings Plaga are social creatures and have a very pack mentality. They can use their hosts to communicate with other Plaga infected hosts using normal human languages.
  • Luis Serra's research and experimentations also discovered that the Plaga can communicate with each other without a host. This is done though using ultra-high frequency sound waves which are picked up through a special organ that the Plaga possess.
  • Those who possess Dominant species Plagas in their systems can not only command and guide Plaga hosts, but also establish a form of psychic link between them and the latter with aforementioned organ as the medium. Most notably, Saddler can see what they see, telepathically instruct them from afar through their respective Plaga, and induce visions to disorient them.
• Self-Reincarnation: Even if the Plaga are forcibly wiped out, they can still be revived from their supposed extinction. Despite the ancient Plaga being fully wiped out by a Catholic Crusade, orchestrated by the Salazar family, they still manage to reincarnate back to life in the 21st century. This is possible as long as their remains are properly fossilized, which was possible due to the amber deposits in the ancient ruins where they were originally imprisoned.
  • By being preserved in a fossilized state, this gave rise to microscopic spores of the Plaga. When the workers were digging through Amber deposits for Plaga remains, they accidentally inhaled the Plaga spores. These spores bred new Plaga in the worker's bodies which developed into adult Plaga in the span of a few years.

Weaknesses[]

• Dependence on Host: Being a parasite, Las Plagas are highly dependent on a host to survive, meaning that if they are unable to sustain themselves by finding a host, they will become weakened and die.
• Lack of Durability: Despite the fact that host their possess are unusually resilient to damage and have a high threshold for pain, the Plaga themselves do not possesses this high resistance to injury. They can be easily killed with small firearms and melee attacks, although this will kill their hosts as well.
• Ultra Violet Radiation / Photosensitivity: The Plaga are extremely sensitive to ultraviolet radiation or bright light in general and thus avoid daylight. A UV radiation treatment device was developed by Luis Serra's team which allowed them to eradicate a Plaga within human hosts without invasive surgery. However, it is believed that the chances of human hosts surviving an adult Plaga being purged from their bodies wit this treatment is significantly low.
  • Leon S. Kennedy also discovered that a single flashbang can easily kill a large number of Ganados whose Plaga have exposed themselves by bursting out of their host's head.
  • In the 2023 remake, Ashley Graham can shine a lamp she temporarily carries to illuminate the dark parts of the castle directly to an 'Armadura', which causes them to be rendered immobile as long as she shines it in front of them.
• Blue Coloured Flames: For unspecified reasons, Blue Flames seem to act as a paralytic towards the Las Plagas. Ashley was able to utilize a lantern imbued with Blue Flames which allowed her to temporarily paralyze Las Plagas who inhabit suits of armour in the Salazar Castle.
• Antigen Medication: The growth and influence of hatchling Plaga in human beings can be restrained using certain forms of medication. These medication were used by Leon S. Kennedy and Ashley Graham when they were too far from Luis's laboratory to receive the UV treatment they need to eradicate the Plaga in them.
• Neural Shock: As Leon and Ashley discovered in remake version of Resident Evil 4, in the event of the violent or sudden death of every of Dominant species Plaga, the ensuing shock to the hive mind would immediately cripple all Subordinate species Plagas under their command to the point of suffering agonizing seizure which potentially kill their host.

Types[]

Strain from Spain[]

• Desnucado: A mutation caused by Plagas when their host sustained fatal injuries, exclusive to Resident Evil 4 remake. Their name means 'broken neck' in Spanish.
• Guadaña: Plagas with a long tentacle that has sharp blade protruding from it. These are immature Plagas. Their name translates to 'scythe' in Spanish.
• Mandíbula: Young adult Plagas with a large gaping maw. They are also capable of spitting acid for ranged attacks. Their name translates to 'mandible' or 'jaw' in Spanish.
• Araña: Plagas that are mostly assimilated on a Cultist or Combatant. When a Plaga reaches its adult stage, it becomes an Araña which allows itself to detach from its host. Due to its size, it will attempt to find a new host but are unable to. In the remake, this strain can hijack another Plaga host and make them more aggressive and reckless against threats not unlike berserkers to circumvent such shortcoming. Their name translates to 'spider' in Spanish.
• Colmillos: Canines infected with the Plaga. They have abnormally-jagged set of teeth and are far more aggressive. Its name translates to 'fang' in Spanish.
• Del Lago: An infected Salamander with the Plaga in a tentacle form in his mouth. It greatly increases in size and only one was fought and was located in El Pueblo's Lake. Its name translates to 'The Lake' in Spanish.
• El Gigante: A giant human with a large Plaga on its rear. Due to its limited intelligence, their production is reduced. Its name obviously means 'The Giant' in Spanish.
• Armadura: Plagas infesting knightly armor due to their inability to find a new host. Their name obviously translates to 'armor' in Spanish.
• Novistador: Humanoid insects capable of camouflage to ambush their prey. How these creatures bred vary between versions: Original game indicated them to be predecessor of Verdugos as both created via surgical experimentation on human hosts and genetically spliced with insect DNA, whereas remake established at least first generations of these creatures came to being as the result of administering secretions of the Las Plagas injected directly into a woman's womb thus giving rise to Plaga-insect hybrids. Their name translates to 'the unseen' in Spanish.
• Regenerador: Experimental bioweapons created by Los Iluminados. Their advanced regenerative healing makes them impervious to most firearms. However a powerful sensor scope can detect their weak spot. They attack by stretching out their elastic bodies and viciously bite their victim.
  • Iron Maiden: A mutation/subspecies of the Regeneradors, giving them spiny bodies which can extend up to a few feet.

Strain from Kijuju[]

• Cephalo: Type 2 Plaga armed with a long spiky tentacle. Its name is taken from a Kenyan vegetable. They are similar to the Guadaña from Spain.
• Bui Kichwa: Type 2 Plagas that are independent of human hosts. They lunge towards their victim to restrain them. Similarly to Araña which it is based from, its name in Swahili means 'spider'.
• Kipepeo: Plagas with flight capabilities developed by Tricell. They can break out of their host bodies to overwhelm their victims. Their name means 'butterfly' in Swahili.
• Adjule: Kijujuan domestic dogs and wild dogs infected with Type 2 Plagas. They are similar to the Colmillos.
• Popokarimu: A giant bat infected by the Plaga. Its name in Swahili means 'generous bat'.
• Ndesu: A giant B.O.W. based on El Gigante from Spain. Its named is taken from a man-eating monster from Central African folklore.
• Duvalia: Type 3 Plagas that are genetically-modified. Resembling a flower, their powerful mandibles allow them to devour their victim easily. These Plagas are commonly found in Ndipaya tribesmen and Base Majini. They are loosely based from the Mandíbula.

Trivia[]

• Las Plagas might have been a reference to the Pod People from the "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" film, because the Pod People take control of their host's body and socialize with other infected hosts, much like what the Plagas does.
• The design of the Las Plagas are likely based from the Parasites, the titular main antagonists from the 1989 manga series Parasyte.
• At least in their Araña stage, Plagas also similar in appearance to the Facehuggers from Aliens franchise.
• All lower level Ganados are shown to have lost their need for personal hygiene, due to the observations Leon makes in the first few chapters of the game and various water sources throughout the game.
• According to remake version of Resident Evil 4, the sample Luis Sera attempted to smuggle out of Saddler's grasp which called Amber was in fact, dormant naturally-occuring Dominant species Plaga since it shared same special organs as the latter's own. In fact, he theorized it would surpass Saddler's artificially engineered Dominant species Plaga in might.
  • True to this, the naturally-occuring Dominant species Plagas confirmed to possess same powers as their artificial counterparts and a particular quirk unique to them; the ability to empower other Plaga organism, the latter included. As expected, such promising discoveries stressed their importance in Los Illuminados' hands and made Saddler understandably wary of those who would abuse it.

Gallery[]

Exposed

Exposed in Resident Evil 4

Las Plagas in Minna to BIOHAZARD Clan Master.

Plaga Type 4 in Minna to BIOHAZARD Clan Master.

Queen Plaga in Minna to BIOHAZARD Clan Master.

External Links[]

• Las Plagas on the Resident Evil Wiki

Navigation[]

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