Resident Evil Village breathes new life into Capcom's survival horror series, with tons of tantalizing twists, turns, and new characters for players to try and wrap their mind around amidst battling hordes of lycans and mutated beasts. At the top of that list of sits Rose, the daughter of Ethan Winters who players spend the majority of the game trying to save from the clutches of Mother Miranda and her "family."
[WARNING: Spoilers for Resident Evil Village below]
The entire game revolves around Rose, including Resident Evil Village's ending. But that doesn't mean everything is spelled out for players. There are lot of mysteries Resident Evil Village leaves unsolved, but perhaps the biggest is the one at the end of its epilogue, in a scene which likely has many players scratching their heads.
Players and modders have been doing their best to try and figure out what Resident Evil Village's cliffhanger ending could truly mean for the series going forward. Here's what they've come up with so far, and what it might mean for the future of the series.
The Identity Of The Lone Figure At The End Of Resident Evil Village
After Resident Evil Village's credits, an epilogue begins. Players see a now teenage Rose, wearing her father's jacket, bringing flowers to Ethan's grave. Ethan, despite his regenerative powers thanks to being infected by the Mold, presumably dies blowing up the megamycete. It's clear Rose is under surveillance or being closely monitored by some organization, possibly Blue Umbrella, of which Chris Redfield is now a part of.
Chris has served as the Winters' family guardian of sorts following the events of Resident Evil 7, so it's likely he's still involved with keeping an eye on a grown-up Rose. After making a remark about her powers to her security detail, she gets inside a black SUV and rides into the sunset. For players who paid attention and squinted in the scene's final moments before it fades to black, they'll notice a lone figure seems to be walking on the side of the road towards the SUV. Rose's vehicle even seems to slow down as it nears the mysterious stranger. So who is this character glimpsed in Resident Evil Village's very final moments?
Well, it's none other than Ethan Winters, but what exactly that means is still up for debate. In the actual cutscene, it's impossible to determine who the character could be. But thanks to resourceful modders who have unleashed Resident Evil Village's photo mode to its full potential, it becomes clear the character model that approaches Rose's vehicle is in fact Ethan. Specifically, it's Ethan's character model from the end of the game, when he removes his jacket and gives it to Chris before blowing up the megamycete. Check out the video from IGN below:
Is Ethan actually alive then? It's hard to say. It's possible Capcom simply used Ethan's character model as a placeholder, assuming nobody would actually be able to get a good look at the character far in the distance. But considering how Rose herself survived being chopped into four pieces and glued back together again as a baby, it doesn't seem impossible Ethan could have survived the explosion during the game's finale.
After all, the scene cuts away just as Ethan is about to press the detonator, cutting to Chris and Mia in a helicopter above Resident Evil 8's village witnessing the massive explosion. Unless Rose ages abnormally fast (which is possible), this scene takes place more than a decade after the events of Resident Evil Village, which, unless Ethan is now immune to aging thanks to the Mold, would make him much older-looking in appearance. The fact that it's instead the exact same Ethan character model from the game's final moments is strange. Did he come to get his jacket back?
For now, the mystery behind the lone figure approaching Rose's vehicle at the end of Resident Evil Village remains a mystery, one with possible answers but nothing concrete. Fans will likely have to wait until an eventual Resident Evil 9 to learn more, which considering how many copies Resident Evil Village has already sold, seems inevitable.