The Ending Of Resident Evil Village Explained
"Resident Evil 8" is full of creepy things, including a whole host of terrifying monsters. Since its release in May 2021, fans have been combing through the smallest details in "Village," looking for clues as to how it relates to the rest of the "Resident Evil" franchise. Even though some characters and elements of the game were left on the cutting room floor, doomed to exist only in concept art form, there's still plenty of plot to sift through in "Village."
The first several acts of "Village" serve to give players information about the world of Mother Miranda and the elaborate family she has created in order to enact her overarching plans. However, by the end of "Resident Evil Village," references to past installments in the series have begun to mingle with the continuation of the plot of "Resident Evil 7." The last act of "Village" throws wave after wave of backstory and action at players, making certain events difficult to untangle.
This look at the ending of "Resident Evil 8" will settle who ends up where, as well as what fans think may happen in the next game, based on hints left in "Village."
Beware of major spoilers ahead for "Resident Evil: Village."
What happened to the four lords?
The four lords, from houses Dimitrescu, Beneviento, Moreau, and Heisenberg, all serve as bosses Ethan must face to make his way to Mother Miranda. As Ethan defeats each lord, he learns that they all seek Mother Miranda's approval in different ways, and react to the potential loss of Mother Miranda accordingly. In some ways, they're afraid to see her plan succeed. When Mother Miranda achieves her goal of reincarnating her daughter into the body of Rose, Ethan's daughter, the lords believe she will have less use for them, as they've acted as her surrogate children for years.
Some fans saw the four lords as analogues for the four horsemen of the apocalypse. In a Reddit post, one fan wrote, "Vampires: famine, could easily be pestilence with the flies too Beneviento: death with all the dolls and coming back to life Moreau: pestilence with all the ooze and transforming stuff Heisenberg war with the building of the machines." Another fan compared the lords and Mother Miranda herself to "The Island of Doctor Moreau," a novel by H.G. Wells about a doctor who creates experimental creatures, much in the same way Mother Miranda does. Considering the fact that one of the lords is literally named Moreau, this comparison seems particularly apt.
By the end of "Village," Ethan has defeated each lord in turn, with the only enemy remaining being Mother Miranda.
What happened to Mia?
When Chris enters Mother Miranda's lab near the end of the "Village," he finds Ethan's wife Mia trapped in a cage, scared and alone. She reveals that Miranda kept her trapped and performed experiments on her. More importantly, Mia shares that Ethan is "special," though she doesn't say why. Instead, players have to discover that on their own.
Before "Village" released, fans speculated that Mia and Ethan hadn't been cured from their Mold exposure in "Resident Evil 7." That would mean that their daughter Rosemary was also infected with the Mold, potentially granting her unnatural abilities. Rosemary's powers haven't necessarily been confirmed or denied, but Mia was clearly of scientific interest to Mother Miranda. Considering that Miranda has dedicated her life to studying the Megamycete, the progenitor of the Mold, it would make sense that her interest in Miranda was also somehow related to her mission to bring back her daughter Eva.
As far as players know, Mia ends up safe at the end of "Resident Evil 8," freed from her prison and able to raise Rosemary. Though the plot of "Village" doesn't necessarily follow Mia after her escape from Mother Miranda's lab, it seems that she exits the game relatively unscathed, but still Mold-infected.
Chris saves the day
Chris Redfield, the hero of many "Resident Evil" games, got an unfair rap leading up to the release of "Village." Promotional materials, like the several trailers Capcom released, portrayed Chris as a villain, apparently shooting Mia without remorse and leaving Ethan confused in his wake.
However, all of that was nothing more than Capcom's effort to misdirect fans into believing Chris had turned evil or was a victim of mind control. Instead, Chris revealed late in the game that he had attempted to assassinate Mother Miranda, who had used her shapeshifting powers in order to infiltrate the Winters' home and steal Rosemary.
Chris is upfront about his mission and sticks to it, no matter the number of casualties he causes along the way. He's also backed by a team of tactical experts that assist him by firing cannons, telling him Mother Miranda's whereabouts, and providing backup in the form of ammo and other resources.
Chris Redfield begins and ends "Resident Evil Village" trying to destroy the massive ball of mold writing underneath the European village. Eventually, Chris plants a bomb on the fetus-shaped wad of black vines, leading up to the climactic explosion that ends the Mold that plagued "Resident Evil 7" and "8." Well, maybe. Only "Resident Evil 9" can answer that for certain.
What was Mother Miranda up to?
Chris investigates Mother Miranda's lab, which serves as a lore dump for many characters in the game, including the four lords. Records and classified documents describe how the lords were made and what their weaknesses were. By this point, Ethan has disposed of Lady Dimitrescu, Donna Beneviento, Salvatore Moreau, and Karl Heisenberg. However, seeing how each of them turned out to be imperfect vessels for Eva highlights just how far Miranda went in order to bring her daughter back. Every lord contained a parasitic Cadou, a small creature that helped Miranda implant the Mold into other vessels. The Cadou had a different effect on each lord, granting them various powers.
Players also discover Miranda's ties to other "Resident Evil" games upon visiting her lab. Documents reveal that Oswell Spencer, one of the founders of the zombie-creating Umbrella Corporation, was a medical student who worked with Miranda years ago. His experiences with Miranda inspired Spencer to continue researching how to infect one living individual with another, thereby forcing them into the next stage of "human evolution."
"Resident Evil 8" connects the plots of "Biohazard" and "Village" to the rest of the series in a way fans didn't see coming. Miranda is, in part, responsible for the Umbrella Corporation's existence, and she inspired an entire cottage industry of bioweapon research.
What happened to Ethan?
First of all, nothing good happened to Ethan Winters in "Resident Evil 8." If you thought he deserved a nice ending or some sort of redemption, you'll need to find a nice fan fiction that rewrites history. Ethan Winters has an absolutely horrible time in "Village," even though he ends the game as a hero.
The first thing that happens when Ethan enters the village is that he gets his hand partially bitten off. Things only get worse from there. Ethan dies at the beginning of the final act of "Village," and players abruptly switch to Chris Redfield's perspective. For a short while, Ethan seems to be truly dead, but of course, Mia eventually reveals that there's something "special" about Ethan.
It turns out that Ethan is special because he's not alive, and he hasn't been for the better part of three years. In fact, Ethan was actually killed by Jack Baker during the events of "Resident Evil 7." Since then, Ethan's body has been puppeted by the Mold, connecting him to it in ways he never asked for.
After Mother Miranda rips his heart out, Ethan wakes up and confronts a hallucination of Eveline Baker, who tells him of his fate. Even though Ethan doesn't want to accept the truth, he continues through and eventually volunteers to detonate Chris' bomb, killing himself in the process.
The fate of the Megamycete
Chris and his team reveal the Mutamycete to be connected to Eveline, the bioweapon responsible for the Dulvey incident in "Resident Evil 7." While the Megamycete growing beneath the village doesn't quite have the same sort of genetic coding Evelene did, it's made out of the same material: a fungus that has miraculous regenerative properties.
Chris plants a bomb on the Megamycete before heading into Miranda's lab, but the explosive doesn't come into play until later in the game. After Chris begins to usher a badly hurt Ethan away from the village, Ethan volunteers to stay behind and see the bomb through. Before he returns to the Megamycete, Ethan gives his jacket and Rosemary to Chris.
The Megamycete does explode, as players see from afar, but as the old saying goes, you shouldn't believe anyone or anything is dead until you see a body. The Megamycete could live on through samples, other bioweapons, or just plain old determination.
What's most interesting about the Megamycete is its connection to both Eveline and the Molded from "Resident Evil 7." What seemed like an isolated phenomenon in the previous game turned out to be part of a bigger, and older issue. The Megamycete is hundreds of years old, extremely resilient, and probably not easily stopped by a little explosive.
Ethan lives?!
When bomb exploded at the end of "Resident Evil Village," it seemed that there was no hope for Ethan Winters. It stands to reason that Ethan's body must have ended up in pieces, scattered across Eastern Europe. However, some astute fans, with the help of a mod, discovered that Ethan actually appears at the end of the game.
As Rosemary rides away in an unmarked car, ready to continue on with whatever job she has working and using her abilities, a man appears in the distance and walks towards the car. Players with a modded photo mode zoomed in on the man and discovered it was the full character model for Ethan, complete with his cut-up left hand.
Fans have speculated that while Ethan might be in future "Resident Evil" games, he probably won't appear as a playable character. After all, the game mentions that "the father's story" has ended — and now it seems that Rosemary gets to take center stage. Still, Ethan might play a role in future games, even if he isn't the same as he was when Rose last saw him.
Could something strange(r) have happened as Ethan endured the bomb's blast? Knowing "Resident Evil," it's entirely possible. Players will have to wait for "Resident Evil 9" to find out anything for sure.
What was going on with the BSAA?
The Bioterrorism Security Assessment Alliance (known as the BSAA for short) plays a small but significant part in the final act of "Resident Evil Village." As Chris and his Blue Umbrella team journey into the heart of the village, they see BSAA operatives descending in the distance, headed towards the same target.
After the Megamycete (along with Ethan) explodes in the distance, one of Chris's agents says, "Captain, you need to see this. BSAA didn't send soldiers...this is a bioweapon." The agent then shows Chris a corpse of a hairless man with mottled gray skin, similar to the kinds of creatures Chris & co. have fought in previous "Resident Evil" games. Since the BSAA is supposed to find and stop bioweapons and all sorts of bioterrorism, their choice to send a bioweapon into the field seems suspect at best.
Fans have thoughts on who this bioweapon is and what the BSAA's reliance on bioweapons might mean for the future. One player suspected that bioweapons were used in lieu of actual soldiers because, well, the BSAA didn't have the manpower to spare. After losing so many operatives in "Resident Evil 6," the BSAA had to continue business somehow. Since Chris' team is a rogue group that split from the BSAA, they're particularly qualified to spot differences in the BSAA's behavior and know when something strange is happening. Needless to say, Chris and his team seemed shocked and a little afraid at their discovery.
What happened to Rosemary?
Thankfully, Ethan's quest to save his daughter Rosemary is successful. Rosemary lives, safely whisked away by Chris, to live and grow into young adulthood. In a post credits scene, the final moments of "Resident Evil Village" show Rosemary visiting her father's grave, bringing flowers to him and reflecting on his sacrifice.
It's important to remember that Rose went through a lot during "Resident Evil Village," too. While she may not have suffered as much as Ethan did, perhaps, she did get split into four pieces and stored in flasks, only to be merged back together in the game's finale. Her survival of that ordeal alone means that Rosemary possesses superhuman abilities.
Some gamers have theories on how Rose will feature in future "Resident Evil" games. It's possible her powers will manifest as part of the next game's mechanics. Rosemary also potentially contains the memories of many individuals, because of her connection to the Mold, which could allow her to obtain information she wouldn't otherwise have. There are nearly limitless possibilities for how Rosemary's powers will manifest in "Resident Evil 9," but fans will probably have to wait quite a while to learn more.