Within the opening chapter of Resident Evil Village, there are subtle hints that something is not right with Mia. These may not be wholly apparent at first. However, on closer inspection, there were actually several warning signs that Mia is hiding something big from her husband, Ethan.
(Warning: Major Spoilers for Resident Evil Village ahead)
When players are first reintroduced to the Winters family in Resident Evil Village, they are living a seemingly average life. Since the events of Resident Evil 7: Biohazard, Ethan and Mia have relocated to Europe with the help of Chris Redfield and the BSAA. In the years that have passed since the Baker incident, Ethan has undergone military training and the couple have a new-born daughter, Rose. While things are still slightly in limbo for the married couple, as they are shown to be awaiting results from some tests that have been carried out on their daughter, things seem to be relatively “normal.”
As Resident Evil Village progresses however, it transpires that this normal life has not been, in fact, at all normal for an unknown period of time. When Ethan finally catches up to Chris Redfield within the main body of the game and demands to know what is going on, Chris reveals that the woman he shot in the introduction was in fact Mother Miranda impersonating Mia. And, in retrospect, there are actually multiple hints at the start of RE Village that alluded to this startling revelation.
RE Village: Ethan Should Have Been More Suspicious Of Mia
The very first lines of Resident Evil Village are spoken by Mia. She is reading Rose a haunting local fairy tale, called Village of Shadows (which in itself foreshadows the whole game). Ethan is concerned by this book choice of Mia’s, telling her that it will scare their daughter. Mia however, coos almost hungrily that Rose “doesn’t seem to mind.” This story is a stark difference to the other books of Rose’s found within the house, which are based around a colorful ABC theme. Even the cartoon that plays on the Winters’ television is a much more typical child-friendly affair, really making Village of Shadows stand out as a particularly odd choice for bedtime reading.
When Ethan goes to take Rose to bed in Resident Evil Village’s introduction, Mia sets herself to work in the kitchen. She is preparing the couple a meal of ciorbe de legume, which she tells Ethan is a local recipe. She is serving this meal with local wine, too. This instance of domesticity causes Ethan to remark that Mia has gone “full native,” little knowing that this Mia is in fact even more native than he realized.
Finally, there is Mia’s reaction to anything that causes Ethan to question her memory within Resident Evil Village. Mother Miranda has no knowledge of Mia’s memories prior to her impersonation, as revealed by Chris later on in the game. This causes Miranda’s Mia to get defensive and snappy each time Ethan brings up the past. On his computer, Ethan has written about Mia getting angry when he brought up the events that happened in Resident Evil 7 three years ago, rhetorically asking “, … Can we really just forget everything and pretend it didn’t happen?” Ethan even makes a passing comment that Mia is “scary when she is angry,” much like players find out Mother Miranda is.
While not obvious at first, as players know little about the real Mia Winters at the start of Resident Evil Village, when the truth is revealed these little points in the introduction do make one question if Ethan missed some telling signs that his wife was not all that she seemed. Perhaps if he had suspected something sooner, Miranda could have been caught before events escalated to the point of “Mia” being shot and Rose being taken away. As always, things are (rather unfortunately for Ethan) always a lot clearer with hindsight.
Resident Evil Village is out now for Google Stadia, PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S