Osmund Saddler was a Bio-Organic Weapon (B.O.W.) researcher who lived in an unknown region of Spain. He had unspecified wealth to fund his research. He discovered the fossilised remains of an ancient parasite known as
Plaga and studied the organism and was able to create new living specimens, realising that it had enormous potential to create valuable B.O.W.s which he could manufacture and sell across the world. To get assistance with this, he set up a cult named
Los Illuminados and gradually converted the mostly Catholic inhabitants of the region to the cult, and implanted them with
Plaga - creating what was known as
Ganado.
His goal was to eventually infect everybody on earth with a parasite which he could then control, thus giving him free reign to every government in the world. The first stage of this plan was to kidnap the then-US Presidents daughter
Ashley Graham. He hired
Jack Krauser to kidnap her from her university and bring her to Spain to be implanted with a
Plaga egg and then returned to the US in order to pass the infection on to others.
Saddler had lieutenants working under him, namely
Ramon Salazar and
Bitores Mendez - together they helped create a mythos around
Los Illuminados and the
Plaga which in turn drew others to it. He eventually became known as a religious figure with locals calling him Prophet Saddler, and the process of implanting a
Plaga itself was seen as a way to cleanse an individual of sin.
He himself was implanted with a Dominant Species
Plaga allowing him control over the
Ganado and other lesser creatures. If his ultimate plan was executed successfully he could have controlled the entire US government, and then progressively take over all other countries. His
Plaga gave him minor mutations such as a tentacle arm - but eventually when
Leon S. Kennedy and
Ada Wong confronted him in battle, his parasite began to take over the rest of his body and when it was defeated, Saddler died along with it.
Interestingly, Osmund Saddler is not a name of Spanish origin. "Osmund" means "God's Protection" and is of Germanic origin. "Saddler" is a common American surname. It's likely he is of American origin, but this is not confirmed.
Saddler re-appears in the
Resident Evil 4 Remake with what appears to be an expanded role. He is featured more prominently in trailers for the game and his appearance has been updated so that his human design looks more 'mutated'. His design could be a reference to Dennis Hopper's portrayal of King Koopa from the ill-fated Super Mario Bros. movie - as his head and his hair appear to be a single feature.
