They did lay some groundwork in 7 though. This everyman Average Joe knows how to mix all sorts of chemicals, compared to other characters he's downright unafraid when he sees some BOWs like he knows how to deal with them, he's married to someone who is secretly working for an Umbrella competitor (Umbrella could've known this and had him get with her for secrets and info), he doesn't immediately call the police for help when he finds her after she's gone missing for three years (the less probing and investigation, the better), instead electing to try and find her himself, his rather snarky "What took you so long?" when Blue Umbrella comes to his rescue at the end of the game...
In fairness, it's all baseless conjecture. But with these rumors of "Chris Redfield being the villain" and Ethan going to some random-ass castle in the middle of nowhere for some reason, it just sounds right to me (for now, at least)
I like how you think, but I honestly think it could be from the other direction.
For all we know, Ethan could've been a guy who defected from Umbrella (or a similar party, like The Family or The Organization) a while ago and tried to live a mostly normal life, and it was Mia, from one of these competitors, who was sent to try and get his secrets, but she fell in love, instead of possibly the original "love em and leave em" plan that was put in place.
Fast forward a couple of years, and we got a guy who obviously knows his BOW shit, likely still has some remnants of a BOW's influence in him, and thanks to his SO, knows of the likely loose ends that exist. Whether Chris eventually comes to despise what Ethan represents, he knows he's too invaluable to the cause of undermining bio-organic terrorism.
I just hope it doesn't come out that Ethan was another Wesker kid, Ozwell Spencer's favorite protege or something else hackneyed that ties him to another established series' char. To say the least about Ethan, the current mystery around him is at least somewhat interesting.
