Ethan Winters

Lore & Background

In Resident Evil 7: Biohazard (2017), players take Ethan's viewpoint from a first-person perspective. According to Morimasa Sato, who was a writer for Resident Evil 7 and the director of Resident Evil Village (2021), the development team initially thought of Ethan as merely "a camera for the player" and "transparent", while scriptwriter Antony Johnston said "It's a balancing act between giving Ethan his own personality, but also helping the player imagine that it could be them, reacting in the same way." Towards the end of development for Resident Evil 7: Biohazard, its developers began planning for the next mainline Resident Evil game. The developers decided to make it a direct continuation of Resident Evil 7 and Ethan's story arc, having developed an attachment to him and seeing potential in his character. Producer Peter Fabiano stated that the team wanted players to experience Village from Ethan's perspective. Sato described "Village" as the story of Ethan and "the entirety of who he is." Ethan's face is never shown within the gameplay for Resident Evil 7 or Resident Evil Village due to players controlling Ethan from a first-person perspective. However, the team did create facial features for his character model, which can be seen by other artists and modders. An unused version of Ethan's character model, hidden within the game's assets, has fully developed facial features. In the expansion "Shadows of Rose" for Resident Evil Village, Ethan appears in a third-person mode and despite attempts to obscure his face, players could see it by performing certain actions. Ethan was voiced by American actor Todd Soley for Resident Evil 7: Biohazard and Resident Evil Village and by Hidenobu Kiuchi in the Japanese versions of the games. Ethan's appearance was based on Tunisian model Yaya Chamki.

In Their Own Story

Ethan first appears in Resident Evil 7: Biohazard (2017), where he searches in Louisiana for his wife, Mia, after her abduction by the Baker family. After he finds Mia, they attempt to flee, but she abruptly becomes violent and dismembers Ethan's hand with a chainsaw. He is captured by Jack Baker and forced to join a family dinner, after which he escapes and kills Jack and his wife Marguerite. Ethan later discovers that the Baker family has been under the control of the game's main antagonist, Eveline, a powerful genetically engineered bio-weapon. Later, he crafts a necrotoxin then stabs it into Eveline before she mutates into a giant monster. Ethan finally destroys Eveline with assistance from a paramilitary company led by Chris Redfield. Ethan and Mia then escape the plantation. Ethan returns in Resident Evil Village (2021) as its central character. Three years after the events of the previous game, Ethan and Mia are living in Europe with their newborn daughter, Rosemary. Chris Redfield storms the house suddenly and kills Mia while taking Ethan and Rosemary into custody. While Ethan and Rosemary are being transported in a van, a mysterious entity crashes it just outside the village. Ethan ends up in a remote village, where he looks for his daughter. Ethan soon discovers that the person shot was not Mia, but a disguised cult leader known as Mother Miranda. Miranda appears and kills Ethan after he beats the village's four Lords. She tells him that she intends to use Rosemary to bring back her daughter, Eva, who died from the Spanish flu. Later, Ethan discovers that he had died during his initial meeting with Jack Baker in Resident Evil 7, but the mold—a kind of fungus used to create humanoid creatures—had given him the capacity to regenerate. After regaining consciousness, Ethan kills Miranda and saves his daughter. As Ethan's body begins to deteriorate, he sacrifices himself and gives Rosemary to Chris, who makes it to a helicopter before Ethan detonates a bomb to destroy the village. Sixteen years after the events of Resident Evil Village, the DLC expansion Shadows of Rose focuses on Rosemary's teenage experience with her molded powers as the result of the mutated fungus, Megamycete. Ethan, who initially appears to her as golden lettering, helps her on her mission. He takes physical form during Rosemary's battle with Eveline, in a scene filled with swift cuts that hide his face from the player. At the end, Rosemary expresses her gratitude for her father and his sacrifice, and Ethan sees that his daughter has grown up safely. Rose later visits Ethan's grave on his birthday before heading off in a car with an unnamed organization.

Reader's Guide

Ethan Winters is defined by his role as an ordinary civilian who survives against overwhelming odds. In Resident Evil 7: Biohazard, players control Ethan from a first-person perspective as he searches for his missing wife in a ruined Louisiana estate. He faces the Baker family, who are under the control of the bio-weapon Eveline. Key moments include having his hand dismembered by Mia with a chainsaw, being captured by Jack Baker, crafting a necrotoxin to stab into Eveline, and finally destroying Eveline with assistance from Chris Redfield's paramilitary company. In Resident Evil Village, Ethan searches for his kidnapped daughter Rosemary in a mysterious European village. He defeats the village's four Lords before being killed by Mother Miranda. He later discovers he had died during his initial meeting with Jack Baker in Resident Evil 7, but the mold gave him the capacity to regenerate. After regaining consciousness, he kills Miranda and sacrifices himself by detonating a bomb to destroy the village, giving Rosemary to Chris. In the Shadows of Rose DLC, Ethan appears as golden lettering to help his daughter, and later takes physical form during her battle with Eveline, with his face hidden by swift cuts. Ethan's face is never shown within gameplay for either game, though an unused character model with fully developed facial features exists in the game's assets.

Did You Know?

• Ethan's appearance was based on Tunisian model Yaya Chamki.
• Ethan is voiced by Hidenobu Kiuchi in Japanese and Todd Soley in English.
• An unused version of Ethan's character model, hidden within the game's assets, has fully developed facial features.
• Ethan does not die in the car crash at the beginning of Resident Evil 7; he is knocked unconscious and later killed by Jack Baker, then revived by the mold.
• In the Shadows of Rose DLC, Ethan appears as golden lettering to help his daughter Rosemary on her mission.