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Bitores Mendez is a fictional character in the video game, Resident Evil 4. He is the village chief whom Leon S. Kennedy confronts near the beginning of the story. A giant man of imposing stature and great strength, he has a long beard and wears a black trenchcoat. His appearance is strikingly similar to that of Grigori Rasputin.

Background

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Chief Mendez is one of Osmund Saddler's primary underlings, working as a priest for Saddler's cult, Los Illuminados, in addition to his position as village chief. It is unknown whether he was the village chief prior to joining Saddler's cult or simply became corrupt and took over when Saddler came to the village. Like most of Saddler's men, he has been implanted with a Plaga parasite, although his Plaga seems to have matured ahead of the Ganados', as it has taken over his entire body, including his spine. Mendez has one blue eye and one red eye, which is listed as his 'fake eye', although it activates a retinal scanner, and is the same colour as the other ganados' eyes.

He takes Leon captive (along with Luis Sera) after an initial confrontation, which allowed Saddler to implant a parasite into Leon's neck while he was unconscious. Leon is ambushed by Mendez a second time in his house. Although Mendez decides to spare Leon at first after seeing that he also bears a Plaga, Leon (in an optional scene) decides to go back into Mendez's bedroom and fight him. Mendez nearly crushes Leon, until Ada Wong intervenes. He jumps out the window and chases her, until one of his followers takes her down with a tranquillizer gun.

Mendez spares Leon at first because he is infected with the parasite and Saddler has instructed him to keep him alive. When he decides that Leon is too much of a risk to leave alone, he traps him in an old barn and tries to kill him by transforming into a centipede-like monster with razor sharp claws. His body does not die even when his legs are removed. However, Leon eventually emerged the victor from the battle and takes the false eye from the corpse of the deceased Mendez, which he then uses to get past the retinal scanner on the gate to Salazar's castle. Mendez possess super human strength and can bend metal with ease, and shrug off blows and bullets with ease. He is also seen to be unnaturally stealthy and possesses speed so great all the human eye can see is a vague blur, despite his size.

Trivia

• Due to his height, his trenchcoat, skintone, bald head, superhuman strength, and resistance to bullets in his "human" form, Mendez is considered a small nod to Mr. X, an enemy in Resident Evil 2 whom Leon and Claire fought.

• In the early stages of the game, Luis and Leon refer to him as "the big cheese;" in reference to the fact that he is 'the big cheese of the village,' its chief.

• After the player defeats Mendez in a boss battle, he will lose his false eye. Interestingly enough, if the player looks at his face through the rifle scope, it is clear that he still has both of his eyes.

• Resident Evil characters
• Spanish computer and video game characters
• Computer and video game villains