Resident Evil 4/Fridge

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


Fridge Brilliance

  • Leon knows Spanish. All the letters that are left around are in Spanish, but we as the players simply see Leon translating it in his head. That's why all the Ganado leave letters all around: they assume he's American and won't be able to read them. If you think about it, he is quick to say "Hasta luego" when he thinks he's going to kill Mendez, which suggests that he does know Spanish. Not to mention that the government would hardly send in an agent who had no idea of the local language.
    • That also explains why Mendez, Saddler and everyone else bothers to speak to Leon in a heavily accented English: they thought he wouldn't understand if they spoke Spanish. As for Luis, he knew about the plan to kidnap Ashley, and when he met Leon he just put two and two together ("Americano, si?") and concluded that he was the US agent sent to rescue her. Or probably was just used to speaking with Ada...wait, and what about the two policemen that accompany Leon at the beginning?
  • All the Ganados have red eyes because of the effects of Las Plagas, except for Bitores, who only has one red eye. It turns out one eye didn't turn because it's a glass eye. In a turn of Fridge Logic, however, when you pick up the glass eye, it's red.
  • When Leon firsts encounters Ada, he manages to subdue her by using his knife against her handgun and remarks:

Leon: Bit of advice: try using knives next time. Works better for close encounters.

    • Although good advice for the player in general, this is likely a hint for a very late part in the game where you fight Krauser: he shoots you with a TMP from afar, but when he is close to you, starts using his knife and dodging your bullets. The best way to fight him in this close encounter situation is to use the knife.
    • Ada eventually applies the advice when a possessed Leon starts choking her; rather than shoot Leon and risk killing him, she sticks him in the leg with a stiletto she'd been packing.
  • Regenerator's strained, rapid breath? Hyperventilation. Its Hyperactive Metabolism requires massive amounts of oxygen. This also explains why they try to eat Leon: they need energy. Hell, they may even be sapient, but very, very hungry.
  • The currency you find in the game is pesetas, which was Spain's currency up until 2001, where it switched to euros (the game takes place in 2004). However, it's highly probable that Pueblo and the surrounding areas have had no contact with outside civilization in many years by the time the game starts, explaining why you don't find any euros lying around.
  • Finding live snakes in crates? Fridge Logic. Finding live snakes with uneaten, whole chicken eggs? In normal life, that's Fridge Logic. But in an area rife with mutagenic parasites that can create monsters out of any creature they wish? And with period references to mythological creatures? This troper was constantly on edge at the thought of having to fight a basilisk.
  • Up until the Del Lago fight, you go through Pueblo in the daytime, and none of the villagers ever sprout a Plaga head. Afterwards, things always take place in areas devoid of daylight, and Plaga heads are stupidly abundant. The end-game also reveals that the Plagas are only vulnerable to a certain type of radiation...all of this adds up to a simple conclusion: Las Plagas are lethally vulnerable to UV radiation. The Fridge Brilliance behind this is that it explains why a Plaga-headed enemy can be instantly killed with a Flash Grenade.

Fridge Logic

  • The only ones that could have warned Leon about the effect of the Plaga in his body were Luis and Ada, both of which were already budy enough recovering the Queen Plaga sample.What if Saddler had simply waited until Luis exposed himself to try and steal it to dispose of him (which actually happened) and let an infected Leon escort an infected Ashley back to USA? When Leon got to Ashley, he still knew little enough to dismiss his symptoms as stress and bad dreams, and things like the Plagas and El Gigante as T-Virus mutated wildlife, and Luis was still far from retrieving the Plaga-suppressing drug.If he had just let them go, they would have been thousands of miles away from the only people who knew how to stop the Plaga. And Saddler blew up his whole plan just to get some ransom money.
  • Occasionally, when you bust open a box, there will be a venomous snake inside. These boxes were previously nailed shut, which means that somewhere, somehow, there is a Ganado boxing snakes, presumably just to screw with Leon.
    • Assume that Saddler has at least some knowledge about Kleptomaniac Heroes and the Evil Overlord List and ordered some of the boxes to be filled with snakes on the off chance that they might actually kill Leon. Of course, this only leads to further Fridge Logic when you realize that he has bushels of grenades at his disposal and an overly elaborate and exotic death is completely unnecessary.
      • Then again, his mooks aren't the sharpest tools in the box. They often blow themselves up when using dynamite.
      • There are sometimes eggs inside these crates. The boxes might have holes; the snake crawls in, eats the egg, and then takes a nap inside or finds it comfy or whatever.
      • And you do always get an egg when you kill a snake. So that means you're eating an egg that managed to go unbroken and undigested inside a snake's belly. Wow, that's... kinda nasty.
      • In fact, snakes do swallow eggs whole. Why they can't squash them within their stomachs in-game eludes me. On the other hand, these may be the snake's eggs...
  • Why exactly do the Garradors, who are obviously supposed to be trying to kill you, have their eyes sewn shut?
    • The more obvious answer is that Saddler is fucked up and thought it would look creepy.
    • It's pretty likely their eyes don't work to begin with. Now, why they bother to sew their eyes is another question... but I can't help but think of something gross...
      • Presumably to amplify hearing. If one of your senses fails, the others become better to somehow make up for it. Garradors could then be used in total darkness with no loss of effectiveness. The reason they are chained up is because they lacked the neccesary stealth aspect, by being completely crazy. Probably because someone gouged out their eyeballs.
      • That would make sense, except that in that case, why don't they ever deploy a Garrador in complete darkness? It's kind of a shame, because imagine that double-Garrador fight if they'd also snuffed all the torches; you have your belt light, so it'd still be doable, but it would have been a lot scarier. Also, the Ganados don't seem any less effective in the dark. I'd be willing to bet their glowing red eyes let them see.
  • Why the hell does the stock for the Mauser C96 (or Red 9) take up space in inventory? You already have the gun, the holster shouldn't take additional space, right? Here is the gun holstered. Here is the gun with the stock mounted on. The Holster and the stock are one and the same.
    • If you pay attention, Leon never uses the stock as a holster. Both are in his hammerspace attache case. Why he doesn't do it anyway, to save space in the case, is the question.
      • That, and if Leon had to mount the stock/holster every time he takes out the gun, he might get eaten by a horrible monstrosity. It is just more convenient that way.
  • Wait, what exactly was Salazar planning to do after he killed Leon?
    • Take Over the World, of course.
      • To elaborate, spread Las Plagas throughout the US, either via Ashley (and Leon) once ransomed, or if they escaped or died via his "Plan B" militia forces. Bringing up the question why they bothered to try and kill Luis and Leon when they could have just left them chained up and Plaga infected until they were totally controlled...
      • Think about it. Almost all villagers take several pistol shots to go down. The Don Josè you find at the beginning of the game only takes a couple, and he doesn't fade when "killed". The Ganado that tries to kill Leon and Luis is a bloodied Don Josè. You do the math.
  • A bit meta, but how can the S.T.A.R.S. prosecute you for pirating this game if Raccoon City is nothing more than ash and particulate left behind after the nuclear explosion?