The Garrador is a type of B.O.W. that appears in the 2005 original release and 2023 remake of Resident Evil 4. It is a human Plaga host that has undergone physical enhancement and has been rendered animalistic and hyper-aggressive, making it a ferocious killing machine of the Los Illuminados.
History[]
Not to be confused with a typical Ganado, the Garrador is the result of Los Illuminados conducting torturous experiments on former servants of the Salazar family. These individuals were locked away within the dungeons beneath Castle Salazar and subjected to medieval forms of torture before being implanted with Plaga parasites. Between the torture sessions and the invasive method by which the Plagas were implanted, the subjects were driven completely insane and homicidal.
The Garradors were granted superhuman levels of strength and endurance due to Plaga assimilation, but their crazed, ultra-violent natures made them impossible to control, even via a dominant-strain Plaga. As such, they were confined to the castle and only used to kill trespassers. The Garradors were equipped with medieval-style helmets and gauntlets fitted with three long steel claws. Their eyes were also sewn shut and so they had to rely on sound to track prey.
Gameplay[]
Being blind, Garradors use their hearing to track their prey, so it is necessary for the player to use stealth when combating them. Running and/or shooting will alert a Garrador to the player's presence, causing them to charge towards the source of the noise and begin slashing wildly with their steel claws. Anything standing directly in a Garrador's path will also be slashed up, so if there are other enemies present, it is possible for the player to save ammunition on them by luring them into a Garrador's path and have the Garrador cut them down. Garradors will immediately be drawn to the sound of gunfire, but there are brass bells present in each of the locations they are found. Shooting these bells will distract the Garradors, leaving them open to an attack from behind.
The Garrador's Plaga sticks out of its back. This is its weak point and attacks to any other part of its body will not faze it. It will take many handgun shots to destroy the parasite, but shotgun blasts and higher-caliber weapons will bring it down quicker. In the RE4 remake, a Garrador can be killed with 4-5 knife strikes to its back.