Who is Ethan?
Ethan Winters serves as the main protagonist of Resident Evil 7. At the start of the game, we’re led to believe that he’s simply an ordinary working man looking for his missing wife. However, as we all know, Mia turned out to be a caretaker for a bioweapon, and was actually working for some sort of scientific organization. It’s definitely possible that Ethan had no idea what Mia really did for a living, but if we look closer at his interactions with her in the game, there may be more to him than meets the eye.
When Ethan first encounters Mia in Resident Evil 7, he doesn’t seem to express much joy or elation at seeing his wife again after three years. In fact, one of the first things he does is ask for an explanation of what’s going on and what she’s been doing. Later on in the game, he continues this odd behavior by asking Mia for answers and telling her to cut the lies.
An interesting thing to note: in Resident Evil 5, players can read a file that mentions an Ethan W. This Ethan was an Umbrella scientist with level 9 security clearance, and was one of the few individuals who knew the location of the Stairway of the Sun – the flower that birthed the Progenitor virus that was later weaponized by Tricell. Oswell Spencer gave the order to have this scientist killed, and as far as we know, Ethan W is deceased. While this could all just be a big coincidence, it’s also entirely possible that this Ethan could very well be our protagonist in Resident Evil 7. Perhaps Ethan had somehow managed to escape Umbrella’s clutches, and it would also explain why he isn’t entirely fazed by the idea of combating BOWs in the Baker residence.
From a gameplay perspective, it would also certainly explain why Ethan has so much scientific knowledge about using chemical fluids to craft handgun ammo out of gunpowder.
Does Lucas have a bigger part to play?
By the end of Resident Evil 7, the entire Baker family is wiped out, with one exception: Lucas. Now, we know that all of the Bakers were infected with the E-Virus, and this allowed them to be mind controlled by Eveline. However, we later find out that Lucas was the only one not under Eveline’s mind control powers. Towards the end of the game, the player finds several files and notes that suggest that Lucas was working with whatever organization had created Eveline in the first place, and that they had given him some sort of vaccine to resist the mind control.
This means that Lucas had essentially become Eveline’s second caretaker after Mia, as we see him communicating with the organization and giving them regular reports about how Eveline was doing. After getting away from Lucas’ escape room, we never see him again, and Ethan ends things by defeating Eveline. This means that Lucas is still at large. Now the question is: was he evacuated by Umbrella Corp as well? Or did he manage to escape Dulvey altogether?
“Redfield”: The living legend or an impostor?
This is by far the biggest question left unanswered in Resident Evil 7. At the end of the game, Ethan is rescued by a few men in a chopper. One of the men, who’s very clearly wearing Umbrella Corps gear, takes off the helmet and introduces himself as “Redfield.” However, this raises a few suspicions. We know that Chris Redfield has essentially been fighting BOWs his whole life, so why would he suddenly be aligned with Umbrella, an evil corporation that manufactures viruses and bioweapons for the sake of profit?
One of the more popular theories is that this isn’t Chris at all, and he could very well be a Redfield or Wesker clone. Hey, cloning is a known thing that happens in the Resident Evil games, and we know that Wesker clones have been created, so this is definitely a plausible idea. The fact that Chris hands over the Albert-01R, a modified version of the S.T.A.R.S. Samurai Edge that happens to be named after Wesker himself, is also very suspect. After all, why would the main good guy of the series give us a gun that basically represents the main bad guy of the series?
The second, and less exciting theory, is that maybe this is Chris, and he just looks different because Capcom had to redesign his character to make him fit with the game’s new engine and art direction. It’s entirely possible that the Umbrella helicopter they were in was hijacked by the BSAA, and they were just using it to launch their rescue operations. Considering that we’ll likely be taking control of “Redfield” in the upcoming “Not A Hero” DLC, these questions surrounding his identity will probably be answered then.
What other questions do you have about the series after beating Resident Evil 7? Feel free to let us know in the comments down below.
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