Despite his best efforts, Chris Redfield isn’t quite able to give the Winters family the happy ending they deserve at the conclusion of Resident Evil Village.
Ethan, battered, bruised and quite literally falling apart following his battle to save Rose from Mother Miranda, chooses to sacrifice himself so that his daughter and Chris can escape the Megamycete and the ensuing explosion intended to kill it off for good. While players are naturally led to believe that Ethan perished in the blast (it levelled the entire village), a secret post-credits scene presumed to be set in the future suggests that Capcom might not be done with the character after all.
In the cutscene, Rose, now a teenager, is shown briefly visiting her father’s grave before a vehicle pulls up on the road behind her. An unnamed agent steps out to request her services, to which she complies.
Rather than end the sequence there, Capcom opts to let the shot linger as Rose and her driver move into the distance. Just before the camera cuts to black, a lone figure can be seen walking up to the car, the identity of whom has seemingly been sussed. Utilizing Village‘s in-built photo mode and game files associated with the model, though, fans have discovered that the mystery individual is in fact Ethan Winters, but how is that possible?
Whether the studio intended for this to be a sneaky Easter egg isn’t clear, but assuming it didn’t, this could simply be a case of the developer using Ethan’s in-game model as a placeholder for the scene. Likewise, it may be a hint that Rose, as a child of the Megamycete, has access to the entity’s entire memory bank and the people it assimilated, making it possible that Ethan’s presence here is a result of her power.
Fascinating theories, then, but what you think? Let us know how you expect Resident Evil Village‘s conclusion to pave the way for a sequel in the usual place below!