Ethan Winters

Ethan Winters is a playable character in the Resident Evil series, serving as the protagonist of Resident Evil 7 Biohazard and Resident Evil Village. Unlike the other heroes of the series, Ethan has no military or law enforcement background; he was a civil engineer who found himself drawn into the horrific world of bioterror quite by accident. He found himself facing unimaginable horrors when he attempted to rescue his wife Mia from the homicidal Baker family in 2017, and again in 2021 when he tried to save is kidnapped daughter Rosemary.

The Dulvey Incident
In 2014, unknown to Ethan, his wife Mia was working with the international crime syndicate known as The Connections. She was aboard a ship transporting an experimental bioweapon to a facility in Louisiana when a storm hit, causing severe damage. As a result, the weapon - Eveline - escaped from containment and killed most of the ship's crew, but she and Mia were thrown overboard and were washed up in the bayou near the parish of Dulvey. Prior to being thrown overboard, Mia had attempted to send an email to Ethan, warning him not to try and find her.

In 2017, Ethan received a message from Mia (who sent it under the manipulation of Eveline) that she was alive in Dulvey. Ethan drove out to the area and arrived at the Baker Ranch where, sure enough, he found his wife being held prisoner in the family's guest house. After she was freed, however, Mia suddenly went berserk and attacked Ethan, severing his hand with a chainsaw. While Ethan did find a handgun and fought back when Mia attacked him again, he was then ambushed by Jack Baker who punched him out. Between Jack's beating and the blood loss, Ethan died.

Like the Bakers and so many other victims, Eveline infected Ethan's body with the Mold, a fungal contagion with mutagenic and mind-altering properties. For whatever reason, Ethan did not succumb to Eveline's mental control, nor did he transform into a Molded. He later awoke to find himself sitting at the Bakers' dinner table, having no idea what had actually happened to him. While the Bakers were forced to leave the table to tend to a snooping police officer, Ethan was able to free himself. From there and then, he began investigating the Baker estate in search of a way out, arming himself with whatever weapons he could find.

Throughout his struggle, Ethan was assisted by Zoe, Jack and Marguerite's daughter, who was also free of Eveline's influence. With her help, Ethan learned about what had happened to the Bakers and found that Mia was still alive. Battling against hordes of Molded, killing Jack and Marguerite, and navigating through the deranged Lucas' maze of death-traps, Ethan was able to solve the mystery behind Eveline and rescue Mia. After injecting Eveline with a necrotoxin, Ethan battled the rogue bioweapon and destroyed her.

A new life
After surviving the Baker incident, Ethan and Mia were taken into protective custody by the Bioterrorism Security Assessment Alliance and were both treated for their Mold infection. While Ethan was merely a victim in the incident, Mia's link to the Connections was undeniable, and so she agreed to assist the BSAA with their investigation. Ethan and Mia were placed in witness protection for their own safety and were relocated to a small rural community in Eastern Europe. When the BSAA were treated Ethan and Mia following the Baker incident, they removed large clumps of Mold from each of them. It is possible that Ethan was withheld knowledge of his mutant nature as part of Mia's agreement with the BSAA.

During their time in witness protection, the Winters were under constant surveillance from the BSAA. Contact with the outside world was limited, with letters and internet access being restricted to the point of being banned. In their second year of protection Mia fell pregnant, and gave birth to Rosemary in August 2020.

Abduction of Rosemary
In February 2021, Chris Redfield and his Hound Wolf Squad broke into the Winters' home, killing Mia -or so it appeared- and taking Ethan and Rose into custody. In reality, Mia had been abducted by a shapeshifting mutant known as Miranda, who had assumed Mia's form in order to fool Ethan and kidnap his daughter for her own ends. While in Mia's form, Miranda was shot, but this didn't kill her. While Ethan and Rose were being taken by Chris and his men, Miranda attacked and killed most of the soldiers before fleeing with Rose. Ethan had been left to die in the snow, but he would awake and make his way to an isolated mountain village.

Ethan arrived to find the village in a state of ruin, most of the buildings having been partially torn down and the villagers either dead or in hiding. Soon, Ethan found himself under attack by mutant creatures who very nearly killed him, but were called away at the last minute. Wondering why they suddenly left, Ethan investigated the village further, making his way to a large house where the few surviving inhabitants were taking refuge. However, one of the villagers inside had been infected and began turning into a Lycan, becoming violent and killing the others while also starting a fire. Ethan managed to escape, but the others inside the house were all killed and the building would later burn down.

Ethan headed back into the village where he encountered a strange, obese man known as the Duke. The Duke provided Ethan with tidbits of information and even offered him weapons and supplies in exchange for whatever wealth and treasures he happened to find while searching for Rose. Ethan then headed for Castle Dimitrescu, but before he could enter the imposing fortress, he was confronted by a man in a trenchcoat, wielding a large, steel hammer. The stranger possessed a bizarre ability to control metal and covered Ethan in metallic scraps, immobilizing him.

When Ethan came to, he found himself surrounded a group of strange individuals: the trenchcoated man, a deformed hunchback, a tall woman in a white dress and another woman wearing a black veil. Among them was another woman wearing ceremonial robes whom the others addressed as "Mother Miranda". Miranda ordered the trenchcoated man, Heisenberg, to dispose of Ethan. Heisenberg had Ethan dropped into a maze beneath the chamber and was forced to run for his life from the countless Lycans pursuing him. He ended up falling into a pit where he was almost killed by a large grinding machine, but Ethan was able to survive by crouching into a small divet, narrowly avoiding the grinder and breaking the shackles on his arms.

When the grinder was raised again, Ethan made his way out of the cavern and found his way back to the castle. Shortly after entering, he was confronted by the daughters of Countess Dimitrescu. He tried to shoot them, but the young women's bodies came apart as swarms of flies, making it impossible for him to hurt them. The girls brought Ethan before their "mother" who had him pinned to the wall of her chambers while she went to make preparations for Miranda's upcoming ceremony. When the Dimitrescus left, Ethan painstakingly pulled himself away from the sharp blades holding him to the wall.

Despite his injuries, Ethan was determined to find Rose and searched throughout the castle. As he explored, he encountered terrible creatures and was hounded by Lady Dimitrescu and her daughters, Bela, Daniela and Cassandra. When confronted by Bela, Ethan discovered that she was vulnerable to the cold after shattering a window. The cold air forced Bela's body to remain coherent, allowing Ethan to kill her with his weapons. Ethan would confront and kill Cassandra and Daniela in a similar fashion, much to Alcina's outrage.

After opening a door leading to the castle's crypt, Ethan discovered the Dagger of Death's Flowers, a poison-coated blade. When he was next attacked by Alcina, he stabbed her with the blade, the toxin negating her regenerative abilities. Infuriated, Alcina transformed into a horrific, dragon-like form and did battle with Ethan atop the castle's main tower. Despite Alcina's intimidating size and strength, Ethan managed to kill her and obtained a strange flask from her corpse.

After leaving the castle, Ethan took the flask to the Duke to find out more and was shocked when the Duke revealed that the flask contained part of Rose's body, crystallized and suspended in fluid. Though Ethan began to despair, the Duke assured him that Rose could still be saved, telling him that the other Lords possessed the rest of the child's body parts. His purpose reaffirmed, Ethan set out to obtain the other flasks.

Ethan's next destination was House Beneviento where he fell victim to a toxin that caused him to experience terrible hallucinations. In spite of this handicap, he managed to endure and overcome the challenges set by Donna Beneviento, killing her after destroying her doll Angie. Ethan then travelled to the reservoir where he confronted Salvatore Moreau. After draining the reservoir and slaying the abominable mutant, all that was left was to confront the trenchcoated man, Karl Heisenberg.

Heisenberg had his own plans in mind for Rose, hoping to use her as a weapon against Mother Miranda. After Ethan obtained the final flask from the stronghold, Heisenberg invited him to his factory on the outskirts of the village. There, he attempted to make a deal, but Ethan refused to have anything to do with Heisenberg's plan. Disappointed, Heisenberg cast Ethan down into the factory depths where he had to contend with an army of cybernetic monsters. Before confronting Heisenberg, Ethan also ran into Chris Redfield once again. This time, Chris revealed the truth behind his apparent abduction of Rose and the murder of Mia. It turned out that Mia had been replaced by the shapeshifting Miranda, who feigned death after being shot before attacking Chris' squad whilst they were in transit and making off with Rose.

Chris had secured a lightweight combat vehicle built by Heisenberg, offering it to Ethan so that he could fight the deranged mutant. Ethan took the rig and battled a transformed Heisenberg, finally killing him. After the battle, however, Ethan was ambushed by Miranda, who ripped out his heart and took Rose's parts, intent on turning the child into a superhuman vessel for the consciousness of her own daughter Eva, who's essence had been assimilated by the Megamycete decades ago. Ethan watched helplessly as Miranda walked away, soon losing consciousness.

However, Ethan was still not dead. He found himself in a dream-like state, talking to an apparition of Eveline, whom he had killed years ago back in Dulvey. Eveline revealed the truth, that Ethan had died back in Dulvey and was infected with the Mold, which had assimilated his entire body and revived him, explaining how he was always able to carry on fighting no matter how badly he got hurt. Ethan then woke up to find himself inside the Duke's wagon, which was taking him to the site where Miranda was conducting the ceremony to revive her daughter. By this point, the Megamycete had extended Mold growths all around the village and the BSAA were in the process of trying to destroy all of the creatures spawned from the Mold.

Despite his Mold-based body beginning to deteriorate, Ethan endured and made his way to the ceremony site where he confronted Miranda. A grueling battle ensued, but despite Miranda's power and murderous intent, Ethan was determined to take Rose back and resisted everything Miranda threw at him. In the end, Miranda was killed and Rose was restored, but Ethan was so badly injured and exhausted that there was no way he was going to survive long enough to get Rose to safety. As he staggered away from the ceremony site, Ethan met with Chris once again. Knowing he didn't have much time left, he handed Rose to Chris and told him to get her to safety. Reluctantly, Chris agreed, taking Rose and giving Ethan the detonator to a high-explosive device that he had planted on the Megamycete earlier.

Grasping the detonator, Ethan watched as a BSAA aircraft took to the air with Chris, Rose and Mia onboard. At that moment, the Megamycete emerged from its underground cavern, extending a branch of Mold towards the aircraft. Ethan then triggered the explosives, destroying the Megamycete, himself and the entire village.