SPOILERS AHEADAt the end of Resident Evil Village, protagonist Ethan Winters sacrifices himself to destroy Mother Miranda and the Megamycete – the root cause of the events of the game and its predecessor, Resident Evil 7. Before his sacrifice, Capcom reveals that Ethan is a creation of the Mold, through vision interactions with Evelyn and Jack Baker after Mother Miranda rips his heart out from him. He discovers his regenerative Mold powers and heads off to save the day, leaving behind his wife Mia and daughter Rose.
The credits of Resident Evil Village deemed that 'The father's story is done,' which seems to suggest that fans have seen the last of Ethan, and the explosion in the unnamed Eastern European village setting of the eighth game seems to confirm this. But, Ethan Winters' story may not be over just yet, which could be explored in Resident Evil Village DLC or RE9.
Ethan Winters May Return in the Next Resident Evil
Although Ethan's regenerative powers seemed to have weakened before he blew himself and the European horror village up, he has survived death before – his heart was ripped out from his chest by Mother Miranda before fans discovered that he had a relationship with the Mold. Plus, if fan theories and investigations are to be believed, the approaching body at the end of the final cutscene with Rose Winters could actually be her very father rather than just Ethan's character model. The fact that the black van Rose was in seemed to have suddenly stopped seemingly supports this.
While it seems highly unlikely that Capcom will bring Ethan back to act as Resident Evil 9's protagonist, it won't be surprising if Ethan's story is not truly over. Although fans may not hear of a new Resident Evil game for a while, fans are more than happy to speculate of what may come next. The likelier candidate for a protagonist in Resident Evil 9 would be either Rose Winters or Chris Redfield, but there are a few ways that Capcom could approach the return of Ethan.
Resident Evil 9 should avoid making big mistakes with his return. Perhaps the most easily explainable solution would be that Ethan miraculously survived the explosion and was only able to fully recover his body over a long period of time – hitting home the fact that his Mold regeneration powers had weakened. By the time he fully regenerates, Rose has grown into a teenager and is under the protection of some agency. In this timeline, Rose will be the protagonist, but Ethan may be some sort of partner.
Another way Ethan can be reinserted into the series is by acting as a guide to Rose. In Resident Evil Village, Evelyn and Jack Baker explains that the Megamycete will store the DNA and memories of those it infects, so Ethan's imprint within the Mold could create a connection through Rose's Mold-related powers. The figure walking towards the van at the end of her cutscene in Village would be the start of Rose 'seeing' Ethan, and he would act as a guide to Rose, communicating to her in the same way as Evelyn.
But, this is Resident Evil, and Capcom could instead take a dark twist to Ethan's story – in a similar situation to Jill Valentine. The now-evil BSAA could wind of who exactly caused the explosion in the Village, and since the Mold keeps a person's memories and DNA, the organization could find a morsel of remains and figure out how to manipulate it to piece Ethan back together. Ethan, who wouldn't know how Rose looks like, acts as the pawn of the BSAA to get to the powerful Winters daughter – or maybe he could become the new embodiment of the Megamycete and is a final boss.
Either way, the story of Ethan Winters may not be over. While Resident Evil 9 has some mysteries to solve, it would also most likely have a different protagonist for players to play, and there are a few ways that Capcom could bring the Winters father back into the fold.
Resident Evil Village is available now for PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.