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The "Village" (referred to only by its real name "El Pueblo" as seen in road signs) is a local community located in the mountain region Valdelobos (in Spanish: "Valley of the Wolves") a small, isolated rural area of Spain near a small lake not far away from a vast castle owned by the Salazar family. This town, once a peaceful hamlet, is infested with Ganados and was placed under the control of the religious cult known as Los Iluminados.
Also, the place Valdelobos in its entirety including Village has culturally been remote from the rest of the Spanish country, being the centre of a pre-Roman city state and the home of Los Iluminados during the time of the Reconquista within the Middle Ages.
600 years later, the region was populated by a strict Catholic and feudal society centred around a cluster of hamlets including the Village near the old Salazar Castle, with the economy primarily being assembled around farming and coal mining and maintaining a self-sufficient culture which shunned modern-day technologies when unneeded. Later in the 21st century, the region saw a radical shift in favour of the Los Iluminados and their religion which resulted in not just the hostile takeover of the Village and its locals, but also the wholesale butchering of outsiders and non-believers as well as opposing believers including Catholic ones, travelling through the mountains, with their actions being enough to attract attention from the present-day Spanish government.
Following the 2004 discovery of bioweapons research found at Valdelobos including the now deserted Village, Spanish authorities established a quarantine zone and restricted further travel in and out of the area itself.
Description
Village
The village features homesteads, a farm compound, a church with a cemetery, and a tall bell tower within the community itself. There appear to be several fortified Ganados encampments located near the village while an underground bunker complex has also been occupied and used to store weapons and equipment. Most villagers live in the village, although a few villagers tend to live further away from the main, central area of town. For example, The first house in the game that the first Ganadois in seems to be closer to the border of the village, requiring him to take a path to the village and the outlying areas. An unseen villager also lives in a house next to the lake, when Leon kills the ferocious Del Lago he passes out in this person's house. There is also an abandoned cabin across the bridge near the farm where Leon, Ashley Graham and Luis Sera take refuge in during a villager mob attack.
Western Path
The Western Path to the village begins just after a river crossing against don Jose's isolated premises. It goes downwards into a small valleyside where another river runs through on a dissimilar path. There are two sheds along this route, one of which was where a local villager was killed and left hanging inside. This area was booby-trapped with tipmines and bear traps.
Southern path
The Southern Path leading away from the village leads to the homestead of the Catholic priest Bitores Mendez, the village chief. An exit leading out of his bedroom in the rear leads to an underground corridor at the bottom of a well. The corridor eventually opens out in another valley, which was being used as a prisoner compound for Leon and Luis.
Church/lakeside path
This easterly path is taken by traversing an underground passage from a small building in the village centre. It surfaces in the main "Church" and its cemetery, where a short walk uphill and past the church goes much further. A walkway against a cliffhedge overlooking a large lake leads travellers easterly towards a flat, rocky plain with high wooden fencing blocking off the drop down the cliff. A mine against the upper-cliff was used for hiding away an "El Gigante" until its release was ordered. After this area is a shallow marshland with a raised, wooden walkway going down the rest of the area. After this is the shoreline of a smaller lake that feeds the larger lake below. Going south via the lake and down a cliffedge, a complicated machine for changing the distribution of the river water can be used to reveal an underground passage through the cliffs. This passage leads to another, underground lake where a boat can be taken back to where El Gigante is released.
History
Since ancient times, long before the Village was even built here, the Valdelobos region itself was under the control of a contemporaneously technologically-advanced people who once constructed a subterreanean city in the valley's huge caverns. What became of that very society remains an enigma, though a nascant pagan cult of fanatics now calling themselves as Los Iluminados had emerged in the early DarK Ages and solemnly praised the species of parasitic arthropod now known as Las Plagas and their power to influence the mind of the host. However, during the Spanish Renaissance era, Valdelobos was subject to an intense crusade spearheaded by Salazar, a prominent nobleman who went on to reign over the Village from his castle for years until his passing.
Persecution of Los Iluminados adherents was but extreme; the pursued were known to be formed into a line and executed either to stabbed by the sword, or impaled on stakes before their bodies became immediately torched, all branded as heretics and monsters. The surviving Plaga parasites were sealed within the Valdelobos caverns, while del Lago, a mutated salamander which lived within a lake near the Village centre, was successfully captured when an underground tunnel was enclosed. Surviving followers of the Los Iluminados cult and their horrendous practices remained in the region in secret; having formerly worshipped openly in a church at the Village, a makeshift shrine was fashioned in a cave system to the south of the lake within Valdelobos, to be entered behind a waterfall. At least, one castle, the Salazar family's ancestral abose, was constructed above the ruins of the very ancient kingdom, from where Salazar, and later his descendants, were able to deny the survivors access to the Plagas. A similar fort was built on a nearby island where the cult itself had also existed.
Over the following centuries, the aristocratic Salazar family continued to oversee and enforce matters in the region and over the Village's citizens as feudal lords and castellans. While Spain's political and technological climate changed radically over the course of the next 200 years, the region itself remained a time capsule, being in any case a remnant of the country's "Ancient Regime". Possibly holding isolationist values, successive generations continued as though in a late 18th century mode of living, only using modern technologies such as trucks when it was essential for maintaining their otherwise self-sufficient populace.
Years ago before 2004, El Pueblo housed many peaceful citizens who often carried out farming tasks in peace. Although, the Los Ilumanidoscrushed the peace and planned to release Las Plagas upon the Villagers to turn them into their savage slaves. When Ramon Salazar became the Eighth Castellan, he became a loyal follower to the Los Ilumanidos and gave the power and rights back to the cult, as well as allowing the group's leader and "Prophet", Osmund Saddler, have the Plaga dug up and implanted into people. Saddler had Las Plagas too but was injected with the "Dominant Species Plaga", allowing him to control Las Plagas alongside his top underlines: Ramon Salazar and El Pueblo's Chief, Bitores Mendez.
A Church was built in the Village, a sign to show they were followers of the cult as Ilumanidos Insignias were put in the Church and even around the Village. In the lake nearby the Church, an infected Salamander named "Del Lago" was placed their and known as the master of the lake, as well as a guard for the lake in order to prevent any intruders from crossing it. Even known infected by the parasites, Mendez still ruled the Village and the locals were ordered to kill anyone who infiltrates El Pueblo.
During 2004, U.S. Government Agent Leon S. Kennedy infiltrated the Village and eliminated the attacking locals who attempted to kill him. Leon managed to take Del Lago down and resuce Ashley Graham (the captured U.S. President's daughter) from the Church and planned to return to the United States. The locals were then instructed by Mendez to kill Leon and recapture Ashley to carry out Saddler's plans for world domination. In many attempts to become successful, Leon managed to kill Mendez in combat and then escaped the Village with Ashley. A large number of pursuing Villagers began to pursue them, but the two closed the draw bridge at the Salazar Family's Castle.
Areas
- Barrier
- Cave
- Church
- Deserted Village
- Factory Ruins
- Farm
- Footpath to the Village
- Graveyard
- Hideout of the Arms Merchant
- House of Village Chief Bitores Mendez
- Lake
- Lift
- Quarry
- Road below the Cliff
- Road to the Castle
- Siege Hut
- Slaughterhouse
- Valley
- Village Center
- Waterfall
- Waterway A
- Waterway B
- Wetlands
Residents
- Bitores Mendez: Village chief.
- Don Estaban: One of the many El Pueblo villagers and the first to be killed by Leon S. Kennedy.
- Ganado Villagers: Regular El Pueblo residents.
Gallery
Trivia
- Far more villagers appear in the game than the village can realistically hold, usually upwards of 300-350 enemies. The size of the village shown suggests it supports a population of 50 at best. The larger number of villagers is purely for gameplay purposes.
- The village also still uses Pesetas despite the fact that most places in Spain had swapped to the Euro by 2002. This may indicate the village had stopped trading with the outside world by then.
- In the beginning of Resident Evil 4 on the Gamecube, if Leon goes back to where the bridge leading to the Village was (where the truck crashed down & brought the cops' SUV with it), the text misspells the word "Bridge" with the word "Brigde". In other versions (namely the NTSC), there's no such misspelling.
- There is a police officer being burned at the stake when you first enter the village.
- There is a woman similar to Maria, in one of the buildings with a pitchfork through her head, pinned to the wall. If examined, Leon will comment on the body.
- There are several bear traps scattered along the village; they cannot kill you, but they can inflict pain and bind you for a couple seconds, leaving you open to attacks.
- The white German Sheperd Leon encounters along the way resembles Hewie from another game called Haunting Ground.
- There are no signs of children seen in the village unlike before the whole village infected with plaga. This was due to, when the children infected with Las Plagas, they immediately died as their bodies were too weak to possessed by them.