Resident Evil 7: Story and Endings Explained

Resident Evil 7: Biohazard is the latest entry in the long running survival horror series from Capcom. This time around, players find themselves on the Baker estate, a sprawling, plantation-styled mansion full of different puzzles, passageways, and threats. The developers wanted to take the series back to its roots of slow, tense situations where any corner could be deadly, but there wasn’t an overabundance of monsters.

Of course, the lore behind the Resident Evil series has changed a lot over the years, and that’s something that has become part of the DNA of the franchise. Resident Evil 7 keeps up with the creepy science that turns men into monsters, and the horror that can lurk right in your back yard.

Taking place a few years after Resident Evil 6, after the C-virus spread like wildfire and threatened to destroy the world, things are quite different. There is fear in the air, but the world has approached a tentative state of peace. However, strange things are happening in a small town called Dulvey, Louisiana, and things seem to be stirring up again. But nobody knows as it can just be some crazy people doing horrific things.

It turns out that it’s much deeper than that. We’re going to break down the events of Resident Evil 7, including its mysterious ending. Needless to say, there will be spoilers ahead, so turn back if you’d rather experience the narrative for yourself. If you were confused or have questions, however, read on to see what’s really behind the nightmare at the Baker residence.

FINAL WARNING! HEAVY SPOILERS AHEAD!

Important Characters

Ethan Winters – The main protagonist of Resident Evil 7 and who you’ll control through most of the game (as in the demo, you control different people during flashbacks).

Mia Winters – Ethan’s wife who has been missing for three years due to very mysterious circumstances.

Jack Baker – The patriarch of the Baker clan. He’s psychotic and very powerful. Wants you to follow the rules and be a part of the family.

Marguerite Baker – The matriarch, and a lover of insects and keeping people home where they belong.

Lucas Baker – Jack and Marguerite’s son. He’s a bit twisted and loves playing games.

Zoe Baker – Lucas’s sister. She’s the only one who doesn’t seem insane, yet she isn’t harmed by her family members. It’s not clear why, nor or her intentions clear right away.

Grandma – She doesn’t say a word, but you can always see her in a wheelchair when trouble is nearby.

Eveline – A mysterious little girl who you’ll see mentioned quite often. 

The Beginning

The game opens up with a an old video of Mia apologizing to Ethan about lying (though it isn’t clear what she lied about), after which she goes missing during what is seemingly a babysitting job according to her prior video correspondence with Ethan. Years later, Ethan gets an email from Mia telling him to pick her up at the Baker residence in Dulvey, Louisiana. The email is simple, with no details other than a location. Mysterious, yes, and downright creepy in a world that saw a mutant outbreak just a few years prior. But Ethan misses his wife so he heads there, alone.

Entry to the main house is barred by a large, iron gate, so Ethan makes his way through a side passage that leads to the guest house, the very same house where the Beginning Hour demo took place. It’s quiet, but you can hear something moving around, though it’s unclear what. After moving through the house, using the secret passageway to enter the basement and a secret hall. You find Mia locked in a cell, dirty and frightened. She has no idea who sent you that email, but she knows that you must get out of this place before things get worse. She keeps mentioning her family, which is confusing as she isn’t from this area. After trying to escape, the first signs of what’s wrong begin to reveal themselves.

While leading you, she’s taken by someone or something. You don’t get to see it, but you can hear her terrified screams as you make your way after her. When finally returning upstairs, there’s a mysterious phone call from a young woman. While it’s not made clear right away, it turns out that it’s Zoe Baker, the daughter of the family who wants out of this hellhole. She wants to escape, but she needs your help to do it. For some reason, she’s able to resist whatever it is that’s turned her family members into homicidal maniacs and turns to you with clues and assistance. Of course, before heading to help her, you’re reunited with Mia.

Mia transforms. Her skin becomes veiny, her eyes dark, her teeth rotten. She develops immense strength as she chucks you several feet into a wall. Something has infected her, yet it doesn’t seem to have a complete hold as she can return to normal at times. Just long enough to warn you. It’s the first taste of what lies in wait. But the cause isn’t something as simple as a zombie outbreak, and it has everyone in the Baker household under its control.

So What is Actually Wrong With the Bakers?

The Bakers are homicidal, you learn that right at the beginning of the game. After dealing with Mia in the beginning, you’re knocked out and taken to the main residence where you sit down for a disgusting supper and see how uniquely terrifying each member of the family is. But surely, they can’t have always been like this, right?

After your first fight with Jack Baker, it becomes clear that he isn’t simply killable. Guns, explosions, and even a chainsaw destroying 60% of his body don’t stop him. He’s able to regenerate from mortal wounds over time, becoming a vigilant hunter out for you. In the beginning of the game you witness Jack cut of Lucas’ hand, but later it’s returned to normal. The same can be said of Marguerite and even Mia who you you attacked with an axe and a firearm.

It turns out that they’re infected with a new virus that they’re apparently highly compatible with. The virus is spread by contact with an E-Series infected, which turned them into a D-Series. It works as a fungus, slowly replacing cells as it works its way up to the brain. It creates rapid regeneration within subjects as well as drastically improved strength. The downside is that as it reaches the brain, the E-Series is able to exhibit control over you.

The dark effects of the mind control are made clear during a flashback memory that shows Jack and Zoe talking to Ethan normally, presumably while the E-Series controlling them is busy elsewhere. In the beginning of the game, you’ll notice your hand being stapled on by someone saying “don’t die on us yet.” It’s not in the same room where you reawaken to dinner. It’s actually the living room just to the right of you. When trapped later on in the game, you receive the full memory which has Jack pleading with you to free them from this virus, to save his family. He was once a good man (you find out he was a Marine by searching his bedroom), and he doesn’t want to kill anymore.

The E-Series that the Baker family has come into contact with in Resident Evil 7 makes them kill, in order to keep them isolated from the world, as well as test out others to see if they’re compatible with the virus just as they are. Of course there’s more to having them kill than just being test subjects. The extra bodies are wanted for a much deeper reason, which begins to reveal how twisted the creation of this virus really is.

Who Gave the Baker’s the Virus?

You’ll hear mention of a girl named Eveline quite often while playing Resident Evil 7. The family speaks of her usually with disdain, and journal entries scattered around the house and other areas are written by her or written about her. She’s a young girl, around 10-12 years of age, and it’s implied that she’s the youngest member of the Baker family, which she is… by force.

Eveline is the E-Series that has infected everyone in the house in pursuit of a family. She is lonely, so forces the Bakers to do her bidding and stick around. How does murder work into that when she can just make them her family and leave it at that? She wants more family members and friends, which requires more human subjects.

To acquire those, she forces the Baker family to go out and kidnap people, sometimes even killing them to bring them in. This is because her ability, which involves physical contact or the use of a mold that she can vomit up. Ingestion of the mold leads to mutation and psychological changes. But it can also revive the dead, although this leads to a different type of infected based on everything seen in Resident Evil 7. Large, black mutants which are referred to as Molded are humans that the mold has completely taken over, which is the case for all dead subjects. 

Why Does Eveline Exist?

If you guessed she’s a BOW (Bio Organic Weapon), you’d be spot on, yet it isn’t exactly clear who created her. One of the documents you find late in the game provides a brief history of the project. It was started by a company  called NEXBAS (Next-Generation Experimental Battlefield Superiority) for use as a weapon in the year 2000, prior to the events of Resident Evil 6, and not too long after the outbreak in Resident Evil 2’s Raccoon City. For unknown reasons (most likely due to the biological attack in the previous game) NEXBAS was folded and everything was transferred to the company that created Eveline and continued the work of creating a weapon.

They discovered a new fungus after an event which is redacted in their files (but is most likely related to Resident Evil 6) that became the core of this new BOW’s abilities. In order to create a pure specimen, one that they could actually use as a weapon, they injected the fungus, that they refer to as “mutamycete,” into Stage 4 embryos. The form of a young girl was chosen to make it easier to blend in with refugees and other populations.

Upon completing the game, you can see a report stating the purpose of this new “weapon.”

“It takes the form of a child (in this case a girl named Eveline) which can be purchased and raised to suit individual client needs. It’s purpose is mind control – up to and including inducement to violence. Application can vary from political to military to economic destabilization. Method of inducement: Chemical transference of psychotropic compounds via skin to skin contact between Product and Subject inducing a mentally suggestive state in the subject responsive only to Product.”

These little girls were to be sold to governments and other militant forces in order to place enemies under their control. 

Where is Eveline?

One thing you’ll notice is that you always see young Eveline only in weird visions. She’s never actually around, which is odd considering that if the Bakers are able to avoid her at times, she must be either close or aware to exhibit control. It turns out, though, that she was always around.

Remember how we mentioned that the Baker grandmother could always be seen before trouble? It turns out that the grandmother is actually Eveline herself, the one responsible for the nightmare that is Resident Evil 7. Why is she so old? It appears to be a side effect of her mutation. According to a document concerning her she requires a specific injection to keep well and things go south if she doesn’t get it:

“If the injections are skipped for prolonged periods of time the Product will age rapidly – 25 X’s faster than normal. Eventually the Product will become insane and a danger to all around it.”

This explains the old woman’s appearance as well as the fact that she drives people to commit murder. It’s also the reason you see black mold growing everywhere. She gains the ability to mutate plants around her as well as other forms of life, creating a dangerous environment to cocoon her.

How Does Mia Fit Into all This?

You’ll notice that Mia sometimes refers to the Bakers as her family, even though Ethan, as her husband, knows that they aren’t related. This is because she’s been infected as well, but how? Remember that “babysitting” job where she mysteriously disappeared? Turns out that she was more of an escort to a BOW than a babysitter. She is an agent of the company that created Eveline, so she was with her when everything started going wrong.

As part of the program, the weapons are treated like children and given handlers that act as parents. This is to help them blend in and keep everything normal. Mia, along with her partner were with Eveline on a tanker, delivering her to a client. Somehow Eveline became unstable. It’s not entirely clear, but Mia’s partner says that it’s his fault. Eveline takes over the tanker and destroys it, right after mutating Mia so she can stay with her as mommy forever.

Unfortunately, it was the Baker family that discovered the destroyed tanker in the bayous near their home, leading to them becoming part of Eveline and Mia’s extended family.

Mia posed a huge problem to Eveline, though, as she continued to resist, probably due to missing her husband, Ethan. Chances are that it is Eveline who forced Mia to message Ethan, triggering the events of Resident Evil 7. 

Saving the Bakers

Now that we know the background of everything, it makes more sense why saving the Bakers is so unbelievably difficult. There were fail-safes put in place in case Eveline went out of control. Ways to cure any D-Series, as well as a means to take down the E-Series. Eveline was smart, though, and had the pieces to the life-saving serum scattered, although everyone’s aware of its existence. Zoe leads Ethan to the pieces in order create the serum, but he can only create a limited supply.

Meanwhile, the other family members are becoming increasingly violent making survival much more difficult. The first cure is forced to be used against Jack, who has mutated beyond recognition, yet it kills him. This isn’t because the cure didn’t work, though. While creating the serum, you find a file that states that if a subject has had the mold take up too much of their body (which was the case with Jack due to all the times he came back to life), the cure will be fatal. The reason is that the serum kills the black mold, and all cells its contaminated.

Now with one serum left, Ethan must make the choice between saving Mia or Zoe, which leads to two different endings. 

Save Mia – Ending 1

Choosing Mia is what’s most in line with what Ethan wants. After all, it is his wife. After injecting her with the serum and apologizing to Zoe, while also promising to return, you set out on a boat. Eveline, aware of your transgression, sinks the little boat, then takes both of you to the location of the destroyed tanker that brought her to the Bakers.

Resident Evil 7 switches things up here, putting you in control of Mia this time, and not in some flashback tape. As you fight your way through the now mold-filled boat, you confront Eveline who shows you what happened as the boat went down. How you’re infected, how she swore to make a family, and how you lied to her. Continuing on, Ethan is found and rescued.

Since Mia was given the serum, she is able to resist Eveline temporarily, locking herself in a room as you continue on with Resident Evil 7’s story. Making your way through a series of caves, and finding the means to destroy Eveline mysteriously left behind for you (we’ll get to that shortly), Ethan finally faces off against the young mutant where it all began, in the Baker guest house. After she’s injected, revealing that she’s the old lady, you fight a losing battle as her massive, mutated form throws you around. You get a call from a mysterious person who throws down a gun and tells you to use it. It’s an anti-BOW firearm that quickly takes out Eveline.

Ethan lays on the ground as a helicopter appears overhead, out of which comes familiar looking soldiers. One removes his mask and introduces himself as Redfield before saving you. While on the chopper there are a few things that stand out. For one, it looks like your hand, which was completely scarred and stapled before, is completely healed, and Mia is laying on the chopper with you. She was saved. As the chopper flies off into the sunset, a blue Umbrella Corporation logo is shown on the side.

As the credits end your phone buzzes. There’s no telling who’s on the other end of the line, but it’s clear that the story isn’t finished. 

Ending 2 – Save Zoe

The second ending requires that you give the serum to Zoe, but this seems to be the worst option in Resident Evil 7. Saving Zoe allows her to leave on the boat with you, but since she’s not exactly Eveline’s favorite, she is killed once you near the tanker. After this point the story plays the same as if you saved Mia up until the point where Mia saves Ethan.

Since she wasn’t given the cure, she can’t control herself and you’re forced to finally kill Mia before pursuing Eveline. Now, when you go to kill the evil brat, Mia won’t be waiting for you on the chopper. 

What Happened to the Rest of the Bakers

It’s not clear what happens to the rest of the Bakers (Lucas if you save Zoe, Lucas and Zoe if you save Mia). You find out that Lucas was no longer being controlled by Eveline thanks to the help of Redfield. He’s keeping tabs on Eveline and feeding them information. It’s also most likely how Redfield knew to call you while you were fighting Eveline.

Lucas is the only psychotic member of the family you don’t fight. After escaping his trap, he’s seen on camera in a dark room, but that’s the last you hear of him. Zoe is killed if you save her, but there’s no clue as to what happens if you don’t. Hopefully she survived after Eveline was killed, but it’s not mentioned. 

Redfield and Umbrella

Obviously, the biggest reveal during the ending was Redfield and the fact that he’s working for Umbrella, you know, the ones responsible for pretty much all the headaches in previous Resident Evil entries. One thing that’s interesting is that although he’s listed in the credits as Chris Redfield, he introduces himself only as Redfield and looks a bit odd.

He doesn’t look like how fans remember him from previous games, leading some to believe that this may be HUNK, a soldier created by Umbrella. When the credits roll, a teaser image for an expansion titled “Not a Hero,” depicts this Redfield character holding a gun. It’s not clear what will be revealed, but we may learn more about his dealings with Lucas, and what part he played in the events of Resident Evil 7.

For more tips, tricks, and information on Resident Evil 7, be sure to check out our ever-expanding wiki guide.

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