Summary
The final events ofVillagesaw the story ofResident Evilcome full circle as the beginnings of Umbrella were revealed. AfterResident Evil 7andVillagetook new protagonist Ethan Winters on a harrowing journey to find his missing wife Mia and their child Rose, the nextResident Evilgame would make a mistake by dropping these characters completely.
Although Ethan ultimately sacrifices his own life at the end ofVillageto save his wife and child, the series offers a follow-up story with the Shadows of Rose DLC. This DLC follows a now-teenage Rose as she figures out how to live with her superhuman abilities, and provides a little more insight into the Winters family. However, if rumors are to be believed, andthe nextResident Evilgamefocuses more on the series' past characters, it would be a letdown.
Resident Evil 9 Shouldn’t Completely Ditch the Winters Saga
Rose and Her Special Powers
The franchise’s legacy characters definitely need to start making a comeback to the overall series, but that doesn’t mean the franchise’s newest additions toResident Evil’s roster have to be dropped completely. Ethan may be long gone, but there are still plenty of questions surrounding Rose and Mia, especially the former.Rose and her superhuman abilitiescan’t just be swept under the rug, and ifResident Evil 9chooses to avoid giving more answers to her nature, the game already runs the risk of failing to give satisfying closure.
These powers that Rose was born with hold huge implications for the broaderResident Eviluniverse. Furthermore, this also puts Rose in the position to be a compelling character who could teeter on the fine line between hero and villain. Such great power could potentially corrupt her into being the next big villain, or she could use it toassist Chris Redfieldand his unit, especially since it seems like he’s become her caretaker.
Mia’s Shady Past
Ethan’s wife, Mia, is a character who seems to have been completely forgotten in the grand scheme of things. InResident Evil 7, she disappears after things go wrong while she’s on assignment caring for the bioweapon Eveline.Mia is an operative and researcherfor The Connections, a crime organization that is focused on creating various bioweapons. So, technically, Mia is a terrorist, and that’s too compelling of an angle to just completely forget.
Also, Mia is nowhere to be found in theShadows of RoseDLC. There’s no clear answer as to her whereabouts in the DLC, which is a shame since she could have so manyanswers about The Connectionsand their inner workings. As the franchise moves forward, the storyline thatResident Evil 7andVillageestablished has far too much potential to just set aside, and they need to continue with the characters that brought it to life in the first place.
Bringing Original Characters and Newcomers Together
It feels highly likely that one or multiple characters from the originalResident Eviltrilogy will be making their way back into the franchise, but they need to work in tandem with the newcomers. Chris Redfield is the branch that connects both the old games and the new era, so it’s not impossible to have the best of both worlds.Bringing Jill or Leon backwhile also exploring Rose and Mia’s lives doesn’t have to be mutually exclusive. It will be exciting to see which directionResident Evilwill go with its next installment, but the franchise hopefully won’t drop the ball after presenting such a compelling storyline in the past two games.
