Merchannedy

Merchannedy is the slash ship between the Merchant and Leon Kennedy from the Resident Evil fandom.

Resident Evil 4 (2005)
The Merchant first appears at a window, speaking in a pseudo-Australian accent. He encourages Leon to follow him behind the building where Leon will find him standing near a flaming sconce. Once approached, the Merchant will open one side of his long coat to reveal a vast assortment of ammunition and firearms, further encouraging Leon to purchase from him with phrases such as, “Whaddya buyin’?”. No one knows how he gets his weapons, but his selection is enough to impress Leon. Afterward, the Merchant will re-appear at various points throughout the game, the locations marked by similar sconces. He sells weapons and items and purchases valuable antiques and gems that Leon discovers for pesetas. He also rewards Leon prizes for good marksmanship using his shooting range as well as shooting blue medallions scattered throughout the game’s levels.

The Merchant is last seen before Leon fights Osmund Saddler.

Resident Evil 4 (2023)
The Merchant first appears behind the door and says, “Over here, stranger,” to encourage Leon to follow him. Leon arrives to the building, where the Merchant has set up a small shop stand and stands near a purple sconce. He tells Leon, “Let’s do some business then, ey,” He opens one side of his long coat to reveal some weapons and ammunition, encouraging Leon to buy from him with phrases such as, “Got something new for ya,” Afterward, the Merchant will re-appear at various points throughout the game, the locations marked by the same purple sconce. He sells his weapons and items, moreover, he also trades and purchases valuable stuff such as gems, fishes, etc. He also rewards Leon prizes for good marksmanship using his shooting range and making his requests such as shooting blue medallions, hunting rats, etc. throughout the game’s levels.

Same as Resident Evil 4 (2005), The Merchant is last seen before Leon fights Saddler.

Quotes
"Welcome back, stranger. Looks like we’re finally making it out of here."

- Leon, quoting the Merchant’s famous “stranger” line, Resident Evil 6.

Fanon
is a small ship within the Resident Evil fandom. This can be partly due to how Leon and the Merchant have only appeared in two games together, both the RE4 games. At the time of the release of Resident Evil 4 (2005), Leon and the Merchant were on a slow rise in popularity. Afterward, their ship was forgotten about for years until the 2023 remake of Resident Evil 4. Since the release of that game new life has been breathed into the ship. During its rise in popularity all over again, the animator/streamer NeoCranium posted a Leon/Merchant animation, earning appreciation from fans. However, never reached the heights of other ships of the fandom, despite being one of the oldest.

On AO3, has 40+ works in its romantic/slash tag, and 10+ in its platonic/general tag. It is the most written ship for the Merchant, however, for Leon, it is not anywhere close to his top ships.

Fandom
FAN FICTION
 * Leon x Merchant on FanFiction.net
 * Leon/Merchant on FanFiction.net
 * Leon x Merchant on FanFiction.net
 * Leon/Merchant on FanFiction.net

ART

TUMBLR

TWITTER

Trivia

 * In RE4 (2005), the Merchant and Leon are both voiced by Paul Mercier.
 * In RE4 (2023), the Merchant can now no longer be harmed or killed by Leon. Any attempts by the player to aim at him will cause Leon to lower his gun.
 * In the Resident Evil 6 Artworks book, there is a piece of concept art for unused EX Costumes that shows the Merchant on Leon’s back.