Whatever Happened to the Fan Favorite Resident Evil 4 Merchant?

The Resident Evil series has a truly massive cast of characters, from the bombastic heroes to the nefarious villains and all the oddballs, victims, and monsters in between. Still, even with thirty years of lore and breakout characters, few have captured fan imagination quite like the Merchant. The NPC appeared in Resident Evil 4 as one of the few figures on Leon Kennedy’s adventure who never actively tries to kill the agent and instead offers him supplies for a price.

The Merchant’s strangely charming demeanor and unusual qualities helped him stand out from the rest of the setting in some pretty dramatic ways, quickly elevating him as a fan favorite. Despite this, the Merchant really hasn’t gotten a return appearance — although the franchise still recognizes his popularity, given the easter eggs and allusions to him in games. The Merchant has an unavoidable impact on whichever game he’s in, but he can bring a lot of fun to the more action-driven entries in the series and will hopefully get a chance to remind us of that sooner than later.

How The Merchant Became A Fan Favorite

The Merchant served as the store within Resident Evil 4, a rare friendly NPC who would offer supplies for the right price. His mysterious persona — his identity is never fully revealed, and there are hints that he’s supernatural in some way — raised plenty of questions for players who were left intrigued by the character. His surprisingly charming personality only makes him more intriguing as a character, and his gameplay serves as a brief respite from the chaos that otherwise could be explored around any corner in Resident Evil 4, which quickly made the character a fan favorite.

The Merchant naturally served as an avatar for the developers, a chance to slip in a bit of self-aware comedy into the game (further amplifying the somewhat campy approach to the horror genre). The character was more than popular enough to return for Resident Evil 4‘s remake in 2023, be referenced in Resident Evil Village, and appear in mobile game spin-offs like Resident Evil Survival Unit. Despite all these appearances, however, the Merchant hasn’t properly appeared outside of Resident Evil 4, with the rest of his appearances largely relegated to cameos or references.

Resident Evil Should Bring Back The Merchant — But They Need To Be Careful How

The Merchant is a character who, by his very nature, breaks a lot of the tension in his appearances. He shatters the tense elements of the narrative by design, offering players a chance to catch their breath and resupply as needed. The Merchant is someone who wouldn’t naturally fit into some of the more tense Resident Evil games, like Resident Evil: Biohazard. While characters like the Duke in Resident Evil Village lent the game a bit of necessary levity, his kookiness came with just a dash of potential malice that made him quietly dangerous. The Merchant worked as a weirdo contrast to Leon. He fit naturally into the over-the-top action touches of Resident Evil 4, perfectly positioned alongside Leon’s bombastic approach to action.

The Merchant leaned into the slightly comedic touches that played into the game’s style, his mysterious qualities hinting at a broader world and interiority that are often missing from the somewhat minor Resident Evil NPC characters. It seems likely that, especially as the series increased the action stakes in Resident Evil 5 and 6 before shunting back more heavily into survival-horror for subsequent games, the developers didn’t think the Merchant would fit the more serious tone. Featuring him too much would risk removing some of that mystery. The lack of the Merchant makes sense on a broader narrative level and tonally, but his enduring popularity with fans makes it more surprising that he hasn’t had a formal return.

How Could The Merchant Return In Resident Evil

The Merchant deserves a return, especially given his popularity with fans. Beyond references in other mainline titles or appearances in mobile games, the Merchant’s return could be a fun chance to bounce the character off other characters besides Leon. An easy place to slide the character could be in one of the Resident Evil remakes rumored to be in development. He could easily be justified as traveling aboard the train that serves as the setting for Resident Evil 0 or at the prison complex explored by Claire Redfield in Resident Evil: Code Veronica.

If a new entry in the series were to embrace the kind of over-the-top action that usually defines Leon Kennedy’s storylines, the Merchant could easily return as a fun means of breaking the tension. If the game is relying too heavily on the horror tone, he might not fit — but in a game that had fun with the over-the-top qualities of the series, the Merchant would make for a great returning character. Resident Evil Requiem proved that the series can go big and action-packed without losing sight of the horror-survival inherent to the franchise