The survival horror game Resident Evil Village, released earlier this year as the latest entry in the franchise, features the return of Ethan Winters’ wife Mia. Her role in both games is surprisingly similar – and because of this, some are starting to speculate that her name is actually meant to be a joke hinting towards the story of both RE7 and RE8. There will be spoilers for both titles up ahead.
Resident Evil Village functions as a sequel to the events of Resident Evil 7: Biohazard, featuring returning characters from the previous game and a few familiar mechanics, though RE8‘s gameplay has been widely considered more action-oriented than the previous title. In both RE7 and RE8, players control Ethan Winters through a first-person perspective. Additionally, both titles were generally well-received, and many players quickly grew attached to their main characters.
Although Mia doesn’t function as a protagonist in either release, she’s a focal point of both Resident Evil Village as well as RE7. That being said, her impact on the story is relatively indirect. Mia is missing for a good portion of both games – to such an extent that it’s even lead to theories among RE7 and RE8 players that she was never really in them to begin with. Others, though, have a more lighthearted theory about her, and propose that Mia’s name is actually meant to be a humorous reference to her role in the story.
The Secret Reference Behind Mia Winters’ Name
“Missing in action” is a military term, a casualty classification assigned to personnel who are reported missing and consequently presumed dead during either wartime or ceasefire. Traditionally, this is shortened to “MIA” – so it didn’t take long for attentive Resident Evil players to put two and two together and associate the term with Mia Winters, the often-missing wife of protagonist Ethan. Some have theorized that her name could be a fourth-wall-leaning reference to the plot of the games – particularly her role within them – added as a joke from the developers. At various points throughout both games, Mia is assumed to be dead, and her disappearance serves as a point of mystery for players to solve. The descriptor of “missing in action” fits her suspiciously well.
The plot of Resident Evil 7 is kicked off when Ethan begins pursuing a lead towards Mia’s disappearance a few years earlier. Although Resident Evil 8 doesn’t quite follow the same progression – players are meant to assume Mia is killed at the beginning of the game, and only learn that she’s actually missing again later on – her absence is a significant part of that game, as well. It seems that the developers were fully aware that Mia is inconveniently missing more often than she’s present within the series, and her name may be their way of winking at the players in that regard. That being said, there isn’t necessarily official confirmation regarding the inspiration behind Mia’s name, so at the moment it just remains yet another Mia-related theory among Resident Evil fans.