Why Resident Evil’s Most Painfully Awkward Hero Is Actually Its Best

If there’s one thing Resident Evil is known for, outside of zombies, it’s action heroes with impeccable hair and impressive catalogs of one-liners. Who could ever forget fending off hordes of crazed villagers in Resident Evil 4, only to have Leon say, “Where’s everyone going, bingo?” There’s an edge of “cool” that has become integral to Resident Evil over the decades, but after the debacle of Resident Evil 6, Capcom knew it had to do something different.

Ethan Winters is not cool. He’s more the absence of cool than anything--a dad joke dressed up as an action hero. But perhaps what’s most amazing is how all that invariably turns him into one of the most compelling protagonists of the series’ history. Ethan is likable in spite of himself, and a surprisingly meaningful piece of the puzzle in how Resident Evil 7 and Village redefined the franchise’s tone while still keeping its heart alive. Sometimes, horror games don’t need an action hero; they just need a dude.

Ethan isn’t a highly trained specialist, he’s not a member of an anti-terrorist organization, or even a cop--he’s a systems engineer. Oh, you didn’t know he’s a systems engineer? That’s because the game itself never tells you that. Perhaps the most apt way to define Ethan Winters is as Resident Evil’s “wife guy.” What I mean by that is that Ethan’s entire identity is tied to his relationships, along with the driving force behind all of his actions. For all intents and purposes, Ethan really is just some guy--a milquetoast middle-of-the-road average dude who just happened to fall in love with and marry a woman who worked on horrific bioweapons. But in a world where zombie apocalypses happen every few years, maybe that’s not so weird. Mia is the one wrapped up in the ongoing soap opera about freakish creatures; Ethan’s just along for the ride.