This article's content is marked as Mature The page contains mature content that may include coarse language, sexual references, and/or graphic violent images which may be disturbing to some. Mature pages are recommended for those who are 18 years of age and older. If you are 18 years or older or are comfortable with graphic material, you are free to view this page. Otherwise, you should close this page and view another page. |
“ | She implants her prey with a part of herself, manipulating their consciousness and trapping them in a waking nightmare. They are bent to her will, no matter how far they try to flee. | „ |
~ Isidro on Pesanta. |
Pesanta, also known as the Black Robe, is a minor antagonist in the 2023 remake of Resident Evil 4 and one of the two main antagonists (alongside Osmund Saddler) of its story DLC Seperate Ways.
Once the loyal housekeeper of the Salazar family, painful experiments by Isidro Uriarte Talavera turned Pesanta into one of the two half-insect bodyguards of Ramón Salazar. Pesanta made it her mission to kill Ada Wong so that she cannot interfere with the plans of her masters, infecting Ada with a parasite to weaken and track her down.
Appearance[]
Like Isidro, what the housekeeper's human form looked like is completely unknown, as all that remains of her is the vintage hair pin she still carries with her. While Pesanta's appearance is initially identical to the other bodyguard, with the exception of wearing a black robe with red gradient compared to Isidro's crimson one, significant differences become evident when Pesanta's robe is destroyed and she reveals her true form.
While Isidro's body is covered in a black carapace, Pesanta's insectoid features only extend to her mouth, arms and feet. The rest of her body is pale and fleshy, her brain exposed under what appears to be a ribcage on her skull. Extending from her back is a large abdomen, upon which an even larger parasitic tail with a functional mouth has grown or was attached. When Pesanta's main body takes near-fatal damage, the parasitic tail takes over and becomes even larger, growing small legs with which it moves around like a centipede.
Personality[]
Unlike Isidro, almost nothing of the housekeeper's former personality has survived her transformation into Pesanta. Originally, the housekeeper lamented her failure to keep Master Ramón from being consumed by his own sadistic nature, cursing Los Iluminados for manipulating him into unleashing Las Plagas. After being infected with the parasite, she became as fanatical as all the others, eagerly volunteering for Isidro's experiment.
The transformation has left no trace of who she once was. While she retains enough intelligence to strategize her ambushes and know when to retreat, she's almost single-minded in her pursuit.
Biography[]
Background[]
Before Los Iluminados returned and took control of the castle, Pesanta was the housekeeper serving under Lord Diego Salazar, the 7th Count of Valdelobos. When Diego died, his final commandment to the housekeeper was to watch over his son Ramón and ensure that he does not follow the path of wickedness. Unable to keep the young master's sadism in check, the housekeeper watched in horror when Ramón doused a servant's face in acid for insulting him behind his back, his twisted grin haunting her for years afterwards. When Osmund Saddler arrived with his cult and easily convinced Ramón to unseal the parasite that the Salazar family has protected the world from for generations, the housekeeper considered him well and truly lost.
However, even with all that has happened, the housekeeper still remained loyal to the Salazar family and was intent on watching over Ramón no matter what happens, as she was raised to be a faithful servant since birth. Not long afterwards, she and the other servants were injected with Las Plagas and her discontent with her master vanished without a trace. She anticipated Isidro's experiment to turn her into a monster with excitement, believing it to be another holy miracle brought by Las Plagas.
The procedure was immeasurably painful. At one point, Isidro admitted that her screams of anguish caused his hair to stand on end, as well as frustration that the fusion was not coming along as smoothly as he had hoped. Three months into the process, Isidro hit a roadblock that completely halted progress while the housekeeper continued to suffer. He found the answer in adding another, completely different organism. After six months of torturous experiments, the housekeeper's pain was no more. A new lifeform had been created, which Isidro named "U-III", his dear hound "Pesanta".
Shortly afterwards, Pesanta was chosen to be Ramón's right hand.
Resident Evil 4[]
Pesanta only appears once in Leon's mission to rescue Ashley Graham, the US president's daughter. During their first meeting with Ramón in the entrance hall of the castle, Pesanta and Verdugo could be seen standing at Ramón's side, leaving the hall alongside their master when he summons some minions to kill Leon and recapture Ashley. They do not meet Pesanta again after this.
Separate Ways[]
Shortly before Leon's arrival in Valdelobos, Pesanta walked in on Ada Wong's attempt to save Luis Serra from the castle dungeon. Seeing that Luis was imprisoned for betraying Los Iluminados, Pesanta did not take kindly to this act of sabotaging her masters' plans and made Ada her target. Pesanta detonated a biological grenade near Ada and infected her with specialized parasite cells during their initial battle, which allowed Pesanta to track Ada wherever she goes and induce strange hallucinations.
These hallucinations caused Ada to see several copies of Pesanta attacking her, needing to discern which is the real one to fight her off. While Ada managed to make Pesanta retreat and escape the castle, their newfound parasitic link made it easy for Pesanta to follow her. Their next confrontation took place in the village square of Valdelobos, shortly after Ada diverted the attention of several Ganado away from Leon using the church bell. Instead of trying to overwhelm Ada with an abundance of weak illusions, this time Pesanta conjured only two while attacking Ada much more aggressively, but Ada once again fought her off.
They would meet for a third time on the castle walls, just after Ada collected the final ingredient Luis needed to create a suppressant medicine for Las Plagas infection. Luis injected her with the medicine right before Pesanta arrived, separating the two and preventing Luis from handing over the Amber, a dormant dominant species plaga that can rival even Lord Saddler's power. Pesanta pursued Ada down into the wall's chambers, but the medicine took effect just in time, allowing Ada to go undetected. Nevertheless, the infection continued to be a threat unless Ada can kill Pesanta, as the parasitic cells cannot survive without her.
Their final encounter took place in the excavation site underneath the castle, where Las Plagas were sealed and then unearthed again. Determined to put an end to their cat and mouse game, Ada lured Pesanta to a small underground cliffside and collapsed a walkway on top of her. This barely injured Pesanta however, who pushed the walkway aside and revealed her true monstrous form. Partway through their battle, Pesanta collapsed seemingly dead and dropped her hair pin, but as soon as Ada picked it up the parasite tail reanimated and pushed Ada into another area. Pesanta burrowed around to ambush Ada, summoned Novistadors as support and spewed organic bombs around the arena, but eventually the damage she received proved too much and she finally succumbed to her wounds.
With Pesanta dead, Ada started to convulse on the ground and vomited up the parasite, freeing her from its painful grasp and stepped on it for good measure before continuing with her mission.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Pesanta's role in the remake differs significantly from her version in the original. In the 2005 game, the black-robed Verdugo and U3 were entirely unrelated characters, the former being Salazar's bodyguard while the latter is a random monstrous experiment fought in the island section. Their fates also differed significantly. The original black-robed Verdugo always stayed by Ramón's side and fused with him for his boss fight, while U3 was killed in combat with Leon instead of Ada.
- The Pesanta is a dog-like creature from Catalan folklore, known for black fur, steel paws and its connection with the sleep paralysis phenomenon. This is referenced in this Pesanta being called "my hound" by Isidro, who also describes its hallucinations as like being trapped "in a waking nightmare".
- Pesanta has multiple abilities that originate from the RE4 betas, most notably the Black Fog, the Hallucination Realm, and the Hooked Man enemy.