Resident Evil Village came out earlier this month and for those of you grinding you’re probably done right now and have a bunch of questions. I know I do. While the game isn’t that long compared to its predecessors it is packed with a lot of plot twists, turns and flips. I mean what the hell happened at the end?? I’m still processing it. So for those of you that are done and want to jump down this rabbit hole with me then please continue reading. For those who aren’t done or prefer to suffer in silence, please close this page.
– – – – – MAJOR SPOILERS – – – – –
Story Recap
It’s three years after the horiffic events of Resident Evil 7: Biohazard. Ethan and Mia are living in a remote village in Romania with their new daughter Rose.
One day Ethan’s family is visited by Chris Redfield who shoots Mia dead and abducts a bewildered Ethan and Rose. What the hell Chris?! During the transport, something happens and the van that they’re in is crashed leaving Ethan in a mysterious village.
The village is guarded by the mysterious Mother Miranda and her family. That includes the Lady Dimitrescu, Donna Beneviento, Salvatore Moreau and Karl Heisenberg. They are the guardians and the Village is on the outside a peaceful one with a den of monsters under the surface.
Mother Miranda and her lords have kidnapped Rose and divided her among themselves. Urgh. After defeating all them and collecting pieces of his daughter Mother Miranda kills Ethan. And you’re given control of Chris Redfield.
Is Ethan Dead?
Getting your heart removed Mortal Kombat fatality style isn’t going to keep Ethan down! Why not?? Because he’s been dead this whole time. DUM DUM DUMMMM.
In death, Ethan sees a vision of Eveline aka E-001 the bioweapons he killed from the previous game. She’s a genetically modified human, designed to eliminate enemies without the need for combat. She has the ability to control the minds of people who come in contact with her.
Eveline shows Ethan a flashback from the start of Resident Evil 7, where Jack Baker actually kills him with his “Welcome to the family, son” punch and stomp to the head. However, thanks to Eveline’s ‘Mold’ (that fungul superorganism Mother Miranda discovered), Ethan essentially becomes a “super” being with the ability to heal himself. Which explains why he could attach torn-off limbs quite easily with healing items in RE7.
After Eveline’s revelation, Ethan comes back to life and defeats Miranda. And sacrifices himself to destory the Megamycete. Is there any coming back from that? No. Resident Evil futher punctuates his death with his grownup daughter Rose visiting his grave. As well as the final message “The father’s story is now done.”
Who Is Mother Miranda?
So first of all the Mia that Chris Redfield kills at the beginning of the game was actually Mother Miranda in disguise. She kidnapped the real Mia to use her for experiments, eventually taking her place in order to snatch their daughter Rose. Mother Miranda wants Rose to use as a vessel to channel her lost daughter Eva who died way back during the Spanish Flu.
Back when Miranda was less crazy she was a research scientist who discoverd the Megamycete in the Village. Realising that the Megamycete was capable of transforming humans, Miranda decided to perform experiments with the organism in hopes that it would allow her to bring back her deceased daughter back to life. Rose being a child of parents who have both been affected by the Mold was apparently the ideal vessel for Eva’s return.
Miranda began experimenting with the Megamycete in the Village, implanting villagers with mold from the organism in order which allowed her to control them. While most of the villagers turned into werewolves there were her four Lords that seemed to be able to take some of the Mold’s powers. Heisenberg, Lady Dimistreceu, Moreau and Donna were the four.
According to Miranda’s notes, she was approached by an “organisation”, which offered to help with her research. Miranda gave the organization some mold and some of Eva’s DNA. Which led to the events of Resident Evil 7
The Connections
That shady organisation we learn of from Mother Miranda’s notes is known as ‘The Connections’. A crime syndicate founded by Brandon Bailey from the Umbrella Africa Research Center.
As Chief Researcher he worked together with Dr. James Marcus to develop the Progenior Virus. But after 30 years of research and the Raccoon City incident that was all shut down. Well, it turns out all was not for naught he put in his efforts towards this new venture – ‘The Connections’.
The Connections were the ones to first offer Miranda their help in finding a means to resurrect her daughter. Miranda, in turn, gave them some of the Mold and Eva’s DNA. Which eventually led to the creation of the bioweapon in Resident Evil 7 with the use of the Mold.
The Connections built Eveline with the plan of creating a bioweapon that could infect soldiers in the field, and turn them into allies through mold-induced pheramonic mind control. Unfortunately, Eveline was psychotic, and used her bioweapon powers to spread the Mold, creating “family members” from the corpses of the dead. Miranda bailed on The Connections at that point, resolving to find another way to revive Eva.
It’s ‘The Connections’ who inform Mother Miranda of Rose Winter’s existance which begins the plot of Resident Evil Village.
We definitely haven’t seen the last of ‘The Connections’ considering Rose’s close ties with the Mold. Expect them to be the big band in RE9.
Mia Is Alive
So now we know that the Mia that Chris killed was actually Mother Miranda in her Mold costume. So where is Mia? Well good thing is that Mother Miranda kept her alive to experiment on. Bad thing is that when Chris breaks her out he has to tell her that Ethan is dead-ish.
After Ethan’s heartless resurrection and murder of Mother Miranda he sacrifices himself to destroy the Megamycete. Chris, Mia and baby Rose escape, though it turns out that a BSAA agent had been turned into a bioweapon too. In the final scene, Chris vows revenge on The Connections, the crime syndicate that creates and sells bioweapons.
For this part of the BSAA story I’m expecting Capcom to release a DLC to Resident Evil Village. Chris has to find out what’s going on at BSAA, is someone in league with ‘The Connections’? Hopefully we get to see a cameo of our other series regulars like Jill and Claire. It’s unlikely that they’ll wait until Resident Evil 9 to continue this section of the story. As the post-credit scene looks to be skipping about 15 years into the future.
What’s Going To Happen To Rose?
After the events of Resident Evil Village Rose appears to have grown up under BSAA and Chris’ supervision. Whether she’s a fully trained super soldier is unknown but while visiting her father’s grave an agent was sent telling her she was needed. Hinting that she probably is but is not a full-time one. Since the agent said “he found her”. There’s also an allusion to her mutated super powers being things “even Chris was unaware of”.
Could Rose be the new protagonist of Resident Evil 9? It’s most likely this is the setup that Capcom is heading towards. The Mold is still very much an issue for the world of Resident Evil and you know our boy Chris isn’t just going to drop that. But we’ve been surprised before.
There is a line of thought that Capcom could go with. Since we know the megamycete seems to hold the cognitive essence of the people it infected with the mold strain, there’s certainly a chance that that “hive mind” of consciousness still exists within Rose. Rose remarks during the epilogue that “she knows” she’s like her father, despite having never met him. Does Rose’s metamycete hivemind still exist within her? What could this mean if she is? There is a strong potential of her becoming evil in the future. The fact the secret agent types had a sniper rifle pointing at Rose certainly suggests they are afraid of her, at the very least.
Resident Evil Village is out now on the PlayStation 4 /5, Xbox Series X / S, Xbox One and PC.