Resident Evil Village's wild ending, explained

A lot happens in Resident Evil Village. The horror game may be relatively short at 8-10 hours, but it’s loaded with plot developments. There’s a lot to process between everything that happens in Castle Dimitrescu, House Beneviento, and beyond.

That’s especially true of the game’s ending. Village doesn’t end with a simple boss fight and a “happily ever after” scene to cap it off. Instead, we get a deep, time-spanning conclusion that reveals the fate of the entire Winters family. Let’s break down exactly what happened, including what became of Ethan Winters.

Oh, and naturally there’s a big spoiler warning here. We are explaining the end of the game, after all.

Resident Evil Village ending explained

Where to begin?

For starters, we learn that the villainous Mother Miranda has the power to shapeshift. The reason Chris Redfield gunned down Ethan’s wife at the start of the game is because it wasn’t Mia at all. It was Miranda. She showed up at Ethan’s house to kidnap his baby, Rose, because she has special powers from the “Mold.” Miranda was hoping to use Rose’s body as a vessel for her own dead daughter, Eva.

We also learn that Ethan was killed in Resident Evil 7 by Jack Baker. Were you wondering why he was able to survive literally everything thrown at him? That’s because he’s basically made of the Mold, which bears his consciousness now. That allows his body to regenerate (though it doesn’t explain why he can reattach his full hand, but not a few severed fingers).

After a battle with Mother Miranda, Ethan blows himself up to destroy her once and for all. Since his regeneration powers appear to be on the fritz after the battle, it’s a suicide mission. He gives Rose to Chris, who safely escapes via helicopter with her and the real Mia.

It doesn’t end there, though. Chris quickly learns that the BSAA soldiers who helped ambush the village were actually living bioweapons. Chris orders his team to fly out to BSAA headquarters to get answers and avenge Ethan.

Then there’s the post-credits scene. We flash-forward a number of years to see Rose all grown up and visiting her father’s grave. We learn that she’s now a sort of super-soldier working with Redfield’s team. Her handler calls her Eveline (the overarching Mold villain of the past two games) and she flips out, implying that she has powers “even Chris doesn’t know about.”

So we’re left with a few teases.

Presumably, we’ll get to see Chris Redfield’s mission to BSAA headquarters at some point. But it certainly seems like the next game will jump forward in time and focus on Rose. Perhaps we’re heading towards a franchise split between the current day and the future. Either way, it seems like both Rose and Chris’ adventures will continue in some form considering the fact that the Mold isn’t fully gone.

Is Ethan Winters dead?

We saw Ethan Winters explode at the end of Resident Evil Village, but is he actually dead? After all, we know that he has regenerative powers. We saw the man come back to life after his heart was ripped out of his chest.

Some bad news for the few Ethan Winters fans out there: Ethan does appear to be dead for good. With his regenerative powers shut down during the Mother Miranda fight, it seems like he was indeed killed for good. The game even ends with a title card that says, “The father’s story is done.” You can’t get much more final than that!

Keep in mind, however, that this is Resident Evil after all. It’s literally a series built on things coming back from the dead. We don’t actually see Ethan die, just the explosion itself. For all we know, his body parts are scattered around the village crawling back together. Don’t expect to see him again anytime soon, but it’s at least possible that he’ll return to the franchise ... eventually.