Ethan Winters

Ethan Winters is a civilian who was caught up in the incident at the Dulvey Haunted House.

Biography
In 2017 Ethan received a message from a woman claiming to be Mia Winters, his wife who was reported deceased in 2014. Ethan journeyed out to Dulvey, Louisiana in search of her, taking him to the "Dulvey Haunted House" formerly owned by the Baker family until their own disappearance that same year. He enters the house and watches the "Derelict House Footage" (as seen in the Beginning Hour demo), where he witnesses the Sewer Gators team - cameraman Clancy Javis, producer Andre Stickland and anchorman Pete Walken - infiltrate the house, ending with Clancy discovering Andre's dead body. He travels through an underground shaft, and after discovering Andre's decaying corpse floating in the water, he finally finds Mia, who claims to not know about any message given to him and guides him to escape from the house's occupants. He receives phone calls from a woman named Zoe, who tells him to go to the attic. However, Mia, clearly possessed by infection, attacks him with a knife and later a chainsaw, hacking off Ethan's left hand and forcing him to fight back until Mia is unconscious. As Ethan attempts to escape, Jack Baker appears and knocks him out.

With his left hand stapled (presumably by Zoe) and a codex showing him his health, Ethan awakens in a dining room where he meets the Baker family - Jack, his wife Marguerite, son Lucas, and an unnamed, silent elderly woman - who are eating human parts. He is force-fed their food until a policeman forces them to hide. He manages to escape and meet the police officer, who gives him his knife. The two meet in the garage, where the officer is killed by Jack, who fights Ethan until the latter wears him down and kills him. Ethan then travels around the house in order to escape and meet Zoe.

Gameplay
He does not have the professional fighting skills that most of the previous Resident Evil protagonists displayed. Despite this, Ethan displays proficiency in guns, as evidenced when he shot Jack Baker multiple times during his encounter with him. Ethan also appears to have an extremely high if not superhuman tolerance to pain, able to press on after being thrown through entire walls and doors, stabbed and slashed in the hand, arm and shoulder several times as well as having his own hand cut off as if nothing happened.

Further notes
It was stated by Masachika Kawata that Ethan is not the same person as the protagonist of the KITCHEN and Resident Evil 7 Teaser Demo: Beginning Hour demos.

In the Lantern Demo, it is implied that there is some form of strain on Ethan and Mia's relationship. During the demo, Mia can be heard saying "I know I can't expect anything from you." Further implication is included in the Bakers tape, where she confesses to having lied to him.

The official title song of Resident Evil 7, Go tell aunt Rhody, originated from a opera called the village soothsayer which revolves around two lovers suspecting each other to be unfaithful which also fits with Mias comment as well as stating she lied to him at some point.