It doesn't take long for the action to get going in Resident Evil Village. The beginning of the game picks up roughly three years after the end of Village's preceding title and shows Resident Evil 7 protagonist Ethan happily ever after with Mia and their new baby Rose. At first, it seems like the picture of domestic bliss, with the happy couple preparing a meal and getting ready to have a quiet evening at home. Ethan had just laid Rose down for the night when Chris Redfield and a team of operatives burst into the home and seemingly gun down Mia. In the ensuing struggle, Chris also knocks out Ethan and announces that Ethan, Rose, and Mia's body are going to be transported.
Ethan loses consciousness and wakes up in what appears to be some kind of crash just outside the village where the rest of the game takes place. Those who saw the trailer for Resident Evil Village already knew this particular event was going to happen. Those who did witness the event had plenty of theories as to why Chris apparently killed Mia. The most prevalent one is that she wasn't actually cured of the disease that ravaged her in Resident Evil 7. Taking Rose even seemed to underline that theory, as the baby might have had some kind of variant Chris and his cohorts wanted to examine. The real reason Redfield came gunning for Ethan's love is quite different, actually.
Warning: Spoilers for Resident Evil Village ahead.
Meet Mother Miranda
While Chris first looks like some kind of soldier gone wrong, it turns out that the story of Resident Evil Village eventually explains that he was entirely right to shoot Mia. It turns out, as a matter of fact, that Chris was actually trying to save Ethan and Rose, though not for the reasons prevalent theories attached to his motivations after just viewing that first scene. The real reason he shot Mia has to do with the game's big villain, Mother Miranda.
Mother Miranda is the woman behind most of the evil in Resident Evil Village. As is the case with games like this, the fact that she's the biggest bad of them all means the player, Ethan, does not go face to face with her until near the end of the game. It's this clash that ends up shedding quite a bit of light on just why Chris came in to Ethan's home, guns blazing.
Shape-Shifting Fun in the Village
When the fight between Mother Miranda and Ethan does take place, the real reason Mia was shot at the beginning of Resident Evil Village is revealed. After defeating Heisenberg, Mother Miranda in fact lays it all out. She is someone who is able to take the form of anyone she wants. She did in fact, take on the form of, and replace Mia at the beginning of the game. Somehow Chris knew this happened and it was she he came gunning for, not Ethan's real girlfriend.
There are still some questions left unanswered by this plot point. The biggest of which is "when did Mother Miranda replace Mia?' It later turns out that the real Mia is still alive and stashed away in Mother Miranda's laboratory in the village. Eventually, Chris Redfield ends up being the hero of this particular story beat, when he saves Mia as he fights his way through the village.
Resident Evil Village is available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.