Resident Evil 7's Ending Explained
By Dalton Cooper 27 January 2017
We dissect Resident Evil 7‘s ending, explaining the twists and turns, while also speculating about what it means for the future of the survival-horror franchise.
Resident Evil 7 has been out for a few days now, and since the game can be beaten in less than 10 hours, many gamers have already seen one, or both, of its endings. However, Resident Evil 7‘s endings may have left some players scratching their heads, especially those that are entering the world of survival-horror for the first time with the latest entry in Capcom’s long-running series.
While it is mostly unrelated to the events of previous games in the series, Resident Evil 7‘s ending has serious implications for the franchise’s lore, and sets up the sequel in a big way. Anyone that would like to better understand what exactly happened at the end of Resident Evil 7 or anyone that is simply looking for some interesting theories about the game’s finale should read on, but others should be weary of major spoilers.
Alternate Paths
To understand Resident Evil 7‘s ending, the fact that there are actually two possible endings in the game needs to be addressed. At a key point in the story, protagonist Ethan Winters is faced with a choice that splits the story into two separate paths. He has to choose between giving a serum to his wife Mia or Baker family member Zoe, with consequences for both choices.
The “good” ending, or Ending 1, is when Ethan gives the serum to Mia. If players choose this ending, Mia survives the nightmare and receives medical treatment aboard the helicopter that shows up at the end of the game. The alternate ending, or Ending 2, sees Mia stabbed through the chest with a crowbar, and Ethan escaping the Baker family plantation on the helicopter alone.
While these alternate paths are distinctly different from one another in a few key ways, there are some consistent elements between Resident Evil 7‘s two endings, including the revelations about Eveline and the surprise appearance of a returning character.
Eveline
One of the biggest twists in Resident Evil 7‘s story involves Eveline, the creepy little girl that players encounter numerous times over the course of the game. Anyone that bothers to read through the information files hidden throughout the plantation will learn that Eveline is actually an “E-Series” bio-weapon in the vein of the Umbrella Corporation’s experiments, who is meant to go undercover in strategic locations as a little girl.
Eveline is driven to create her own family unit to help with her cover (one scientist speculates that it could be a desire for parental love instead), which is why she has brought the Baker family under her control, turning them into murderous, invincible cannibals. Eveline’s unlucky victims find it impossible to shake her influence, as they are constantly bombarded with hallucinations of her that command them to carry out unspeakable horrors.
When Mia Winters disappeared three years before the start of Resident Evil 7, she was busy transporting Eveline on a freighter ship for the company she worked for, but things went awry as Eveline became uncontrollable. Eveline started spawning the Molded monsters on the ship, which are not failed Baker family experiments as Capcom previously claimed, but rather unique beings born from Eveline’s black, gooey “vomit.” Between the monsters and Eveline’s wrath, the ship wrecked in Louisiana, leaving Eveline and Mia to be discovered by the ill-fated Jack Baker.
The twist comes when it’s revealed that Eveline isn’t actually a little girl, but the old woman that is found sitting quietly in a rocking chair at numerous points in the game. Apparently a side effect to being an E-Series bio-weapon is rapid aging, though even in her elderly state, Eveline shouldn’t be taken lightly.
Like Jack Baker and other enemies in the game, Eveline has another form besides the old woman she appears to be on the surface. After injecting Eveline with a special toxin, she reveals her true form, a massive beast of black tentacles that would have surely killed Ethan if it weren’t for the intervention of a returning fan favorite character.
Redfield
At the end of the boss fight with Eveline, a helicopter appears over Ethan’s head. As a throwback to past Resident Evil games, a special weapon is tossed from the helicopter, but instead of a rocket launcher like some may have expected, it’s a special handgun called the Albert-o1R. This weapon is used to finally defeat Eveline, and shortly after, players are introduced to the man that tossed Ethan the weapon.
A man in special forces gear approaches Ethan and removes a gas mask that was hiding his face. Even for veterans of the franchise, this person shouldn’t be recognizable, but his last name should set off a few alarms. According to this mysterious savior, his name is “Redfield,” which seems to imply that he is series hero Chris Redfield.
Even though the end-game credits list this character as Chris Redfield, though, it hasn’t stopped some fans from speculating that he may be someone else entirely. After all, he omitted his first name when introducing himself to Ethan, and he doesn’t look like Chris did in previous entries.
However, it’s worth noting that Chris Redfield’s appearance has changed drastically over the course of the series, so another makeover and voice actor change wouldn’t be much of a stretch. In the original Resident Evil and Code: Veronica, Chris was depicted as an average sized police officer, only to put on Gears of War-levels of muscle mass in Resident Evil 5 and 6, capable of moving massive boulders by punching them. Another Chris Redfield redesign may be off-putting to some fans, but it would also be consistent with how the series has treated the character so far.
Luckily, fans won’t have to wait until the sequel for answers about this “Redfield” character. As part of Resident Evil 7‘s post-launch DLC support, Capcom is releasing a free expansion for the game this spring called Not A Hero, which will put Chris Redfield in the starring role instead of Ethan.
Is Umbrella Back?
Perhaps an even bigger bombshell than Chris Redfield’s surprise appearance at the end of the game was the revelation that he arrived on an Umbrella Corporation helicopter. Umbrella went under between the events of Resident Evil 3 and 4, prompting a number of copycat bio-weapon corporations to spring up and cause the chaos seen in the latest entries in the series. Its return would be huge for the Resident Evil universe, but if Umbrella is back, is it the same evil corporation as before?
The evidence seems to suggest that Umbrella Corporation is no longer the ethically bankrupt pharmaceutical company that created the T-Virus and caused the zombie outbreak in Raccoon City. If Umbrella Corporation was still creating bio-weapons, it seems unlikely that Chris Redfield would align himself with the organization, especially considering his history with Umbrella.
Furthermore, Umbrella’s logo has also gotten a facelift, trading the blood red colors for blue, and adding a cross of sorts that invokes the Red Cross logo. Perhaps Umbrella has been recreated as a force to fight against bio-weapons instead of creating them.
For now, all fans can do is speculate about Umbrella’s new role, but hopefully more information comes to light in the Not A Hero story expansion that’s on the way for the game.
Fans will likely be talking about Resident Evil 7‘s ending for a long time to come, theorizing what it all means for the franchise as a whole. As it stands, there are plenty of unanswered questions. Is “Redfield” truly the Chris Redfield fans know from past games, or is he a new character entirely? Why is Chris working with Umbrella? And for that matter, who brought Umbrella back and what is its purpose in the post-Raccoon City world?
Some of the answers to these questions should come with Resident Evil 7‘s slate of post-launch DLC, but others may remain a mystery until the CG movie Resident Evil: Vendetta becomes available or Resident Evil 8 is announced.
Resident Evil 7 is available now for PC, PS4, PlayStation VR, and Xbox One.
