The Resident Evil series has had its fair shares of ups and downs, but since the release of Resident Evil 7 back in 2017 the long-running survival horror franchise has found a second wind. The latest installment, Resident Evil Village, has now been out for a week and it’s time for us to delve into the insane plot twist that comes at the end of the game and its implications for Resident Evil 9. Before we continue, let this be your spoiler warning. Anything past this point will be spoiler territory.
Village picks up after the events of Resident Evil 7, with Ethan and Mia Winters who are now parents of a little girl named Rosemary. Their happiness comes to an abrupt end at the start of the game when Chris Redfield and his team kill Mia, subdue Ethan, and take the daughter. When Ethan wakes up again, the van that was transporting him has crashed, and he’s in the middle of nowhere, his wife and daughter nowhere in sight. Ethan stumbles into the titular village, under the shadow of the massive Castle Dimitrescu. From there Ethan starts on his journey to find all the pieces of his daughter, bringing down the four Lords in the process.
With the setup out of the way, let’s talk about the plot twist. After seeing Mother Miranda rip Ethan’s heart out, we play through an extended sequence as Chris Redfield. At the end of that sequence, Chris finds the real Mia, who knows the truth about Ethan. It is then that we find out that the real Ethan Winters died at the start of Resident Evil 7. After the opening hour of that game, Ethan had been knocked out by Jack and then woke up at a dining table surrounded by the game’s crazy family. But the truth was that Jack killed Ethan. The character we play as after that point is an infected Ethan that’s made up of the same mold that many of the Resident Evil universe monsters are. As Eveline explains in the cutscene at the end of Village, that is why Ethan can keep going even when he’s hurt beyond normal human capacity. And that also explains why he was magically able to just reattach his severed hand after an altercation with Lady Dimitrescu at the start of the game.
Now let’s talk about Mother Miranda and why she wants Rosemary. Mother Miranda has been alive for over 100 years. Her real child, Eva, passed away during the Spanish flu. Overcome with grief over the loss of her daughter, Miranda went to a cave in Eastern Europe to die. However, in that cave, Miranda found The Megamycete, a black substance that gave her a wealth of knowledge. As Miranda writes: The Megamycete breaks down and absorbs the consciousness of those who have perished.
Believing that Eva was in there somewhere, Miranda set out to find a vessel suitable for her daughter. The four Lords around the Village are byproducts of this search for the vessel, which is why they all call her Mother Miranda, and the Lycans seen roaming around are merely failed experiments in her pursuit of a host body for Eva. The Megamycete gave Miranda incredible powers including near-immortality, mind control over those infected by the mold, and the ability to shapeshift.
On the note of shapeshifting, that is how Miranda was able to get to Rosemary in the first place. To Miranda, Rose was the perfect vessel, the daughter of Ethan, a man composed of the mold, and Mia, a woman infected by the mold. At some point after Ethan and Mia had Rose, Miranda kidnapped the real Mia, shapeshifted into her, and took her place in their life. That is why Chris comes in at the start of the game to kill her because he has discovered that is actually Miranda, not Mia. Though he doesn’t actually end up killing her, as we know from the boss fight at the end of the game. That is also why Mia is found in a dungeon cell at the end of Village because she had been kidnapped by Miranda at some point after giving birth to Rose and before Chris broke into the cabin to try to save Ethan and Rose.
Finally, let’s talk about how Resident Evil Village connects with the Resident Evil Universe as a whole. In the same room that we find out about Miranda’s child, we also find out that she mentored Oswell E. Spencer. Fans of the RE series will recognize that name as the founder of Umbrella Corporation. Before he would go on to start Umbrella in 1968, Oswell E. Spencer was a student of Miranda’s. This is where he learns about viruses and parasites and how to infect and evolve the human form. He says in a letter to Miranda that he has found the “key to evolution” and that it’s a virus found in Africa. He also goes on to say that he’s starting a company with friends and colleagues and that he will call it Umbrella, after the symbol in the cave.
Miranda worked with The Connections, the company Mia Winters previously worked for before the events of RE7, to try to bring back Eva. In turn, Miranda provided them with some of The Megamycete mold and her DNA. The result of The Connection’s experiment was Eveline, the little girl who was pulling all the strings in Resident Evil 7. As we find out in RE7, Eveline was not perfect, however, her creation worked out for Miranda as the little girl was the one who infected Ethan and Mia, which resulted in Rose.
Fast-forwarding to the end, after Ethan finds out the truth about himself and defeats Mother Miranda, he realizes that the end of The Megamycete, being the core of all things mold, would mean the end of him as well. In one final act of love, he tells Chris to leave and to keep his daughter safe. He then triggers the explosion which blows up The Megamycete and the village around it. While on the extraction aircraft, Chris finds out that BSAA, the organization he worked for before he went rouge, sent in a team of their own. And that that team had a Bio Organic Weapon, or B.O.W., in it. This means the BSAA, who up until now have been the good guys, are not as clean as they seemed.
There is a post-credits scene in Resident Evil Village that shows Rosemary as a teenager visiting her father’s grave. We find out that she has been working with Chris Redfield’s team against Umbrella. In a quick line to an agent that called her Eva, Rose says that she can do things that even Chris doesn’t know about. The scene doesn’t show much else, but if you stay until the very end, you will see someone walking towards the car as it drives away and the car stopping. A few clever Reddit users discovered that when you activate Photo Mode during that cut scene, you can actually see a closeup of the character model. And it’s none other, than Ethan Winters.
This is undoubtedly where Resident Evil 9 will pick up. And there are still more unanswered questions in the game. Mainly who is Ethan Winters and why will they not show his face? Also, who is The Duke? Hopefully, those questions will be answered or addressed in the next game. But for now, I can happily say that Resident Evil Village has huge implications for the series and while not entirely horror, is one of the strongest entries we have seen yet.
