Where do Special Infected come from?

[Khajiit]

I have always been wondering where do special infected come from. I mean, ok, zombies are infected humans, but how were the special created? I seriously don't now if there is an official article by Valve, explaining this, but if not, I want to imagine a story :D
All I can say is that they were exposed to radiation or were mutants before the infection and this caused this kind of mutation after the infection. But still, this theory can somehow explain the Hunter, Smoker or even the Witch, but it can't stand for the Tank, the Charger, the Boomer or the Spitter.
That's just my opinion so leave a comment below with yours or just corect me if there's an actual official explanation about them by Valve.

[Nino_Chaosdrache]

引用自 Jeremy Avalon：

The official lore is it's the same infection, and it creates the Special Infected through "unknown circumstances or means".

Which lore? When there is no story from Valve then there can't be a lore.

I could imagine that people turn into special infected, because they may have something in their DNA that is different from other people. As you can see in the No Mercy level of Payday The Heist patient zero is an average guy, who doesn't have too much fat on his body, but even so he's visibly turning into a Boomer during the mission. So I don't think that just fat people turn into Boomer, but everyone with this unknown genetic difference can turn into them. I think it's the same with the other special infected.

[Khajiit]

引用自 Class13 Binary Cheese：

I think, the virus combines with substances in the body of the infected.
Boomer - Fat or a hormone which you produce while eating, I guess
Witch - Antidepressants or parathyroid hormone
Tank - Steroid
The Hunter - Cocaine, Speed, Heroine or an other drug, maybe Coffeine
Smoker - Nicotine
Spitter - I think Spitters were pregnent woman which were infected, so I think HCG-Hormone (Pregnacy-Hormone)
Charger - I can't really find a substance which would explain a mutation like this, maybe proteins or something
Jockey - ?

Charger is considered to be a farmer, so maybe a mutation regarding an animal. Maybe a bull?
Jockey is a dwarf...

[Nino_Chaosdrache]

Maybe it's also just completely random who becomes a special infected and who not ^^ And that there aren't as many special infected as normal infected is just due to game balance. After all, who wants to fight three Tanks at the same time XD

[T-REX-KNIGHT]

引用自 c/RCT Evans 11322：

Well if I had to assume.

Witch - I suppose could come from a previously depressed or socially rejected person. This would explain the odd appearence of the witch in terms of dress and hair style (Before you get on me about that, I'm talking from the "2 weeks after first infection" standpoint)

Tank - I'd easly go with mutation from excessive steroid usage. Combining a virus that mutates the heart rate to superhuman standards and then shoving in steroids could trigger a catalyst with the virus causing the extreme muscle build-up.

Hunter - This is a little harder to comprhend, butI would go with a lazyman excuse of having a bodybuilder. Not necessarily as extreme as the tank (I.E. not taking steroids), but simply in an extreme state of fitness. Whereby the enhanced capabilites of the virus would make his legs work just enough to go flying around.

Boomer - Medical world is full of virus having catalyst effects with fat tissue and excessive body mass. Easily attribute to previous lifestyle. (As an explanation for the Bile attraction, humans are naturally drawn to salty, sweet, and fatty foods. And since the Boomer is a high concentration of all these things, it would make sense for the zombies to go crazy for it.)

Screamer - Not much thought here. Stereotypical psychopath under the effects of intense rage would cause that screaming effect since he can't openly attack you.

Charger - This one took a little bit to type. But i will easily go with the current joke of..... well... how he got 1 arm much bigger.

Spitter - I would assume an alcoholic background. This would attribute to the odd focus on the stomach, and I don't think the "hillbilly" type would be factored into any other extreme amount of drink apart from beer/liqour/whatever.

Smoker - Smoked a lot. What can I say? As for the extreme tongue length, it could be a reaction of the tissue in his mouth from having smoked, thereby making an unkown mutation with the virus.

u forgot jocky
it saids the jocky came from a wheel chair on the l4d wiki
hunter is just really good at parkour

[slottize]

Higher doses of the Green Flu.

[bob]

引用自 RS Zukamime：

Higher doses of the Green Flu.

Thanks for bumping a year old thread with such a vital contribution

[Blaquicat]

After reading about the payday episode i think the boomer could come from people with some kind of stomach issue, becoming massive due to excess bile.
nice topic btw

[Elsa]

引用自 BWC R-M-Evans：

Well if I had to assume.

Witch - I suppose could come from a previously depressed or socially rejected person. This would explain the odd appearence of the witch in terms of dress and hair style (Before you get on me about that, I'm talking from the "2 weeks after first infection" standpoint)

Tank - I'd easly go with mutation from excessive steroid usage. Combining a virus that mutates the heart rate to superhuman standards and then shoving in steroids could trigger a catalyst with the virus causing the extreme muscle build-up.

Hunter - This is a little harder to comprhend, butI would go with a lazyman excuse of having a bodybuilder. Not necessarily as extreme as the tank (I.E. not taking steroids), but simply in an extreme state of fitness. Whereby the enhanced capabilites of the virus would make his legs work just enough to go flying around.

Boomer - Medical world is full of virus having catalyst effects with fat tissue and excessive body mass. Easily attribute to previous lifestyle. (As an explanation for the Bile attraction, humans are naturally drawn to salty, sweet, and fatty foods. And since the Boomer is a high concentration of all these things, it would make sense for the zombies to go crazy for it.)

Screamer - Not much thought here. Stereotypical psychopath under the effects of intense rage would cause that screaming effect since he can't openly attack you.

Charger - This one took a little bit to type. But i will easily go with the current joke of..... well... how he got 1 arm much bigger.

Spitter - I would assume an alcoholic background. This would attribute to the odd focus on the stomach, and I don't think the "hillbilly" type would be factored into any other extreme amount of drink apart from beer/liqour/whatever.

Smoker - Smoked a lot. What can I say? As for the extreme tongue length, it could be a reaction of the tissue in his mouth from having smoked, thereby making an unkown mutation with the virus.

as far as the wiki goes all of the specials come from the insane ward or from rehab

[cheatsy]

I know i'm late, but I also have a theory, here it goes

Tank: abusive use of steroids made him a muscle guy he is, he probably used to drink lots of energy drinks, since he dies of a supposed cardiac arrest if he doesn't kill something at all times (if a tank idles too much, he dies)

Hunter: originally a traceur (a practicer of parkour), what would explain his strong legs and his clothes (common traceur's clothes, they also wrap they arms with tape, as seen in the hunter himself), I don't know why his eyes bleed

Jockey: originally a midget and a raper, that explains why he humps people (he doesn't indeed hump anyone, but ellis calls him a humper, so...), or he was really a jockey, what would explain his height and how he knows how to ride people

Charger: the joke of why one of his arms is bigger would make sense (the same way the virus made the hunter's legs or the tank's muscles and skeleton even stronger), but if that was true, there would be more chargers than regular infected (let's be honest, we all know it's true), then I can assume the charger was born with a bad formation of his left arm, so the virus made his functioning arm much bigger and stronger

Smoker: used to smoke a lot and got a tumor, the virus created several other tumors on his face and on his tongue, making it giant

Witch: a both anorexic and bulimic girl, never being able to reach her goal weight, she fell on depression (why she cries), and even as an infected, her anorexia didn't go away, that's why she doesn't attack the survivors at first, for not wanting to eat, that also explains why there are so many witches on places with the smell of sugar, they want to eat but don't do it for wanting to reach their goal weight

Spitter: just like the witch, a bulimic girl, constantly vomiting to spit out everything she had eaten before, the virus made possible for her to produce a lot of gastric acid and spit it from afar

Boomer: a really fat man (or woman, for female boomer) who had
problems with bile over production

[Dwight]

引用自 cheatsykoopa98：

I know i'm late, but I also have a theory, here it goes

Tank: abusive use of steroids made him a muscle guy he is, he probably used to drink lots of energy drinks, since he dies of a supposed cardiac arrest if he doesn't kill something at all times (if a tank idles too much, he dies)

Hunter: originally a traceur (a practicer of parkour), what would explain his strong legs and his clothes (common traceur's clothes, they also wrap they arms with tape, as seen in the hunter himself), I don't know why his eyes bleed

Jockey: originally a midget and a raper, that explains why he humps people (he doesn't indeed hump anyone, but ellis calls him a humper, so...), or he was really a jockey, what would explain his height and how he knows how to ride people

Charger: the joke of why one of his arms is bigger would make sense (the same way the virus made the hunter's legs or the tank's muscles and skeleton even stronger), but if that was true, there would be more chargers than regular infected (let's be honest, we all know it's true), then I can assume the charger was born with a bad formation of his left arm, so the virus made his functioning arm much bigger and stronger

Smoker: used to smoke a lot and got a tumor, the virus created several other tumors on his face and on his tongue, making it giant

Witch: a both anorexic and bulimic girl, never being able to reach her goal weight, she fell on depression (why she cries), and even as an infected, her anorexia didn't go away, that's why she doesn't attack the survivors at first, for not wanting to eat, that also explains why there are so many witches on places with the smell of sugar, they want to eat but don't do it for wanting to reach their goal weight

Spitter: just like the witch, a bulimic girl, constantly vomiting to spit out everything she had eaten before, the virus made possible for her to produce a lot of gastric acid and spit it from afar

Boomer: a really fat man (or woman, for female boomer) who had
problems with bile over production

Amazing theories!

[Red Eclipse]

If I had to guess, the "green flu" seems to pick and choose admirable traits in it's hosts. It could also be completely random but here is what might cause the mutations.

Boomer: High body fat content.

Hunter: Larger than normal muscular affinity, more so towards the legs, perhaps a person who goes jogging more than most.

Smoker: Honestly I don't know what would cause this mutation, but the large number of tumors coupled with his sickly look would lead me to believe the host had cancer or some other disease.

Charger: Like the hunter, I believe that the virus would have picked this host due to larger muscle mass in the arms, and judging by his outfit, one can assume he would be a farmer or rancher who would be using his arms (even more so, his one good arm) to work. As for the atrophied arm, I believe that would be a birth defect, and not a viral symptom.

Jockey: The jockey appears to suffer from mania, evident of his constant laughing and rapid twitchy movements, his spinal deformaty would also lead me to believe the host was in a wheel chair. Whether the infection caused the mania or if the host had it to begin with is unknown. Also if one looks closely, the jockey's lips appears to be missing, showing that the jockey must have chewed/ tore them off due to the mania.

Spitter: It would seem that the spitter would suffer from an way above average of stomach acid, possibly acid reflux disease. The virus could also be forcing the body to overproduce stomach acid so that could also be a reason.

Witch: The witch appears to be most affected in her brain, the virus seems to have attacked her hypothalamus (part of the brain that controls emotion) causing her to have massive mood swings ranging from hopeless depression to psychotic rage. The hands, I have no explination for but probably just a mutation. Witches also probably like sugar because the sweetness calms her, like many women love chocolate.

Tank: The virus seems to have caused a massive growth spurt in which his muscles grew to a massive size in a short time. This results in tears in the skin and unhuman strength.

[Restless]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g85rD0N4bZ4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57fmw1iL754

[Green]

引用自 Lord Francis：

引用自 WRM Warhawk 141：

Pick a theory for something and I'll give input!

there types of people a charger is a farmer a jockey is a miget a tank is a body builder a hunter is a hunter a spitter (I'm not sure about spitter)

I would assume the spitter is an alcoholic mess and her boobs and the way she dresses would make me think she is a stripper that got knocked up.

[Utsuho 'Okuu' Reiuji]

What about the Leaker, The Leaker Is also a infected meant to be ingame but cut.

although you can be the leaker by using console

[[PG] Daddy Chocolate]

What I have heard from valve is that if the common infected are alive long enough they mutate into the special. Which is why you see the common infected just dying for no reason.