Resident Evil is a franchise filled with mystery, going all the way back to the original game and its mysterious mansion filled with dark secrets. Resident Evil Village, the eighth mainline game in the series, is no different. Questions regarding the village itself, its inhabitants, and how protagonist Ethan Winters and his family fit into the situation are all core to Resident Evil Village's story. Now one of the game's largest lingering mysteries has been solved, but it requires a mod to experience. Fair warning, this features massive spoilers for the end of the game.
Those who have finished Resident Evil Village know that the game ends with a very interesting post-credits sequence, leaving one big mystery in players' laps as the screen fades to black. The post-credits features a young woman, revealed to be Ethan Winters' now-grown daughter Rose, visiting her father's grave. She then gets into a vehicle and is driven away, only to be stopped by a mysterious figure who is never revealed -- until now.
With the help of a photo mode mod, Resident Evil Village players have been able to see for themselves who the mysterious figure is. The Resident Evil Village mod from Otis_Inf allows the player to detach the camera from third-person and float around the scene, both as the scene continues to play or with the scene paused. This way, instead of watching Rose's SUV drive off in the distance, the player can zoom into what's happening and see the mysterious figure for themselves.
The surprise reveal is that the figure is none other than Ethan Winters himself walking down the road. Despite it being well over a decade after Ethan Winters' death, here he is again, unaged, hand still remained, in the same outfit as players left him even after he gave his jacket to baby Rose and Chris Redfield. With one mystery solved, another has clearly risen to take its place.
There is a question to be asked about the validity of this reveal. It's possible that Capcom never intended for the mysterious figure's identity to be revealed, or that Capcom is intentionally out to trick anyone who breaks the game to see the character's face. After all, Ethan from however many years ago showing up isn't just a crazy revelation, it's also pretty silly.
Still, in the logic of Resident Evil Village, Ethan showing up is absolutely possible. Since Ethan's made out of Mold, he could be brought back in any form at any time, so long as the Mold survives. Perhaps the bigger mystery isn't whether Ethan's alive, but what's happened with the Mold. But that's a question for another Resident Evil game to answer.
Resident Evil Village is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.