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Silent Hill
Plot Analysis
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Author: Orca782(vejiitassj4)
Version 2.0
11/16/01


Legal Stuff:  First of all, the game is Konami and KCET property, not to 
be copied, used for profit, etc.  This is my guide primarily, but 
CVXFREAK helped me out quite a bit by making the appearances section for 
Silent Hill 1.  So don't take it, post it, sell it, etc., without asking 
me, and I will in turn ask him.  

Contents:
1.	The town itself
2.	History 
3.	Monsters
4.	Characters/Appearances
5.	Timeline
6.	Possible Origins
7.	Conclusion/Credits

Note: (Mature content) This guide is singularly made in order to make 
sense of the tremendous, and deep, plot of Silent Hill 1 and 2.  It goes 
without saying then that this guide is choc full of spoilers.  It will 
try to explain the vast differences in the games, (plot-wise) and it 
will analyze each character, and each and every appearance (or 
encounter, for the main characters) including dialogue.  In this manner, 
we hope to deduce a reason to the madness of this town.  I would like to 
point out that this is a mature game, but that is not being enforced 
anywhere that I know, so I'd like to also point out that this guide 
deals with real life issues that are implied in this game, that may not 
be suitable for anyone of a younger age (i.e. under 17 years of age).  
There will also be a history section, and a prototype timeline of both 
games.  Also, this game is a good game partially because it uses some of 
the darker products of society, such as sexual abuse, insanity, and 
other mental and physical states.  These can be argued by actual 
happenings in real life, but I will not post those here.  If you want to 
discuss criminal, mental, or abuse theory with me, do not start flaming 
me on a message board, just email me at vejiitassj4@hotmail.com.  I will 
be glad to make my viewpoint clear, and to give you actual concrete 
examples of why and what criminals/victims do in any particular 
situation.

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Plot Guide

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1. The town itself

Silent Hill was and is a normal resort town, perfectly similar to any 
other town, except that it is home to a small cult that sells narcotics.  
There are 3 towns, normal Silent Hill, Dark Silent Hill, and Fog Silent 
Hill.  In the original game, it is made clear that the cult, headed by 
Dahlia Gallespie is after raising a demon, one of the old Gods, Samael.  
He is an eagle-winged beast with winged ears and a dog's snout, legs of 
a goat and arms of a strong man.  Members of the cult include Dahlia 
Gallespie, Dr. Kaufman, and two others, one oriental doctor and another 
man.  Dahlia, in charge of the cult, learns that Samael can be raised in 
an unborn infant, and proceeds to do ancient rituals to get her baby, 
conceived with Kaufman, to be that infant.  She fails however, and only 
gets half of the angel, resulting in Alessa.  She then decides that she 
will try again, for the other half, and has Cheryl.  Neither of these 
children is normal, and thus cannot be assumed normal.  Alessa is burned 
alive, in an attempt to raise her power, so that the cult (Dahlia) can 
draw off of it.  She never heals, and in order to tap the power, must be 
kept alive.  Kauffmann does this, but he needs an assistant; enter Lisa.  
Lisa works for the cult for a little while, seven years, then decides 
that it is evil, and puts the new baby, Cheryl on the side of the road.  
Alessa, being angry, and imbued with great power, creates dark Silent 
Hill.  She hides her soul in this world, from her mother, who cannot 
enter this realm.  However, as her power comes from Samael, Samael is 
now introduced into the town, and his presence will never be fully 
erased.  Thus even after Alessa is killed, the town retains the power to 
be black and evil, or foggy, depending upon the person entering the 
town, and their character.  Dahlia also gains her dark power from 
Samael, which she uses to create fog Silent Hill, where she hides from 
society to do her worships.  She summons Cheryl to this town, along with 
Harry, so that she will reach Alessa, and get the other half of the god.  
She believes that Cheryl, the other half of the god, will be drawn to 
her sister's pain, and thus Dahlia will find Alessa, and make the dark 
god whole.  After Dahlia dies, Samael retains this dimension as well.  
Harry eventually comes in contact with Dahlia in her foggy realm, and 
gets the Flauros, an item able to summon the light power of the 
Archangel Metatron.  When Harry finally confronts Alessa, she is matured 
in her dark power more than Cheryl, and so she fights for what Harry 
sees as evil, whereas all Alessa is really trying to do is escape the 
pain she is inflicted with.  Harry uses the Flauros, and Metatron comes 
to counter the evil effects of Samael.  Now that Metatron has entered 
the town, his essence too will never be fully removed.  Dahlia finds 
Alessa thus, and brings her together with Cheryl, whom she has taken.  
(Not truly by force either, because Cheryl is drawn to her sister).  
Then Harry finds Alessa and Dahlia, and he puts an end to Alessa/Samael.  
Samael is evil and thus Alessa is bent on destruction, due to the evil 
his power is used for.  Once his form is destroyed, he is weakened, but 
his essence remains.  Only evil people are allowed to enter this darker 
realm of Silent Hill.  The town is somewhat of a smaller world in 
itself, because it is good and evil.  Once Samael was summoned into the 
child, and Metatron was summoned to do battle, they both retained a 
special place in their hearts for Silent Hill, because it is somewhat of 
a battlefield for good and evil.  In this manner, each person coming 
into the town is either allowed into the normal, almost saintly town of 
Silent Hill, or the darker realms.  The normal town is a resort town, 
and it used to be a sacred area, says Mary.  The normal town is still 
imbued with happiness and light, and this is why Mary wanted to go to 
the town again, and overall it is a wonderful place to be.  It becomes 
even more so when the darker realms are separated from the light, 
leaving almost Heaven on earth.  Neither good nor evil can outdo one 
another, but they can make sure that the other does not overstep their 
bounds.  The history of the town also lends itself to a Jihad, because 
of the evil that had occurred in the past.  Then James enters, having 
left only a week prior, but now he has a sin on his soul.  James gets 
into Silent Hill, and is thus brought to Hell for his wrongdoings.  

2. History

Silent Hill has had some bad occurrences in the past.  There was evil 
all the way back from the Civil War, where a garrison was formed, and 
the town turned into a prison.  Prisoners were all executed, regardless 
of crime, by either hanging or piercing.  The guards and inhabitants who 
allowed this inhuman treatment to go on were evil, and their souls still 
haunt Silent Hill, a sort of purgatory if you will.  They now act as 
minions of Samael.  There have been several accidents in the town as 
well.  A boat on Toluca Lake disappeared, and it is assumed it sank, 
with no survivors.  The lake used to be a swamp, and it is where the 
prisoner's bodies were dumped.  The water would be murky red.  There was 
also persecution even before the war, of a Christian woman, and there 
have been traitors and killers in the town off and on.  There was a 
killing of two small children, and the perpetrator was sentenced to 
life, but committed suicide with a spoon, 2" deep in his jugular vein.  

3. Monsters

Monsters are created in Silent Hill either by Alessa/Dahlia, or by the 
person's mind, because they have entered into the darker town for sins 
on their soul.  James sees enemies reminiscent of Mary's illness, while 
Eddy sees people making fun of him.  Angela sees fire and her father 
trying to subdue her.  None of these manifestations were real, but they 
become real, and each person sees them differently.  These three people 
see them in these ways:  Angela/father, James/monster (human, if Eddie 
killed it), Eddie/Abusive Person.  Laura sees nothing because she is 
without guilt, but she is in the town to guide James, and because she 
was special to Mary, so she is brought into the foggy world of Silent 
Hill just as a sinking ship brings down the objects around it.  She is 
not really in the foggy town, but in the normal/haven town.  She just 
appears in both.  In the first game, Alessa created monsters to stop 
Harry from getting to her, and Dahlia made weaker monsters to emulate 
the worlds, and make Harry somewhat feel like he's at home.  The monster 
Alessa created all have something symbolically that little girls fear.  
Caterpillars, moths, lizards, nurses, doctors, and other frightening 
children.  Small children also fear birds and dogs.  The monsters James 
sees are related to Mary's illness, and what he remembers when he thinks 
of her.  The patient demons, obviously, represent patients, and the 
inability to support ones self, e.g. Mary.  The nurses remind James of 
the hospitals.  The doormen remind him of the pictures he has of Mary, 
which are all that he has now (if one looks closely, one can see that 
the doormen are actually forms moving in a picture frame.  This is 
demonstrated when you see a doorman on the wall in the burning hallway 
with Angela).  The bugs demonstrate decay to James, and the death of his 
wife.  The mannequins represent first of all the doll Mary had become to 
him; something to look at, nothing more.  They also represent the 
inability to move, i.e. the phrase "two left feet."  You know what I 
mean.

4. Characters/Appearances
(this section is devoted to analyzing characters and their role in the 
game, from a slide by slide viewpoint).

Harry

First I'd like to make it clear that Harry is a lowly writer few have 
heard of.  This is stated somewhere in the game or the booklet.  Harry 
is the adopted father of Cheryl, and after finding her raises her 
lovingly with his wife until his wife dies.  He then goes to Silent 
Hill, for a vacation, and crashes into Alessa (who has made it the dark 
world, unbeknownst to him).  Alessa is searching for her sister, and 
Harry is now in Silent Hill.  He becomes Dahlia's servant, finding 
Alessa, because he thinks she has Cheryl, while Dahlia herself really 
does.  He then saves all of humanity however, when he eradicates 
Samael's incarnation in Alessa.  Alessa/Cheryl is pleased with her 
father, knowing he meant well, and aids him to the normal world again.  
He also exits with Cybill, showing that he will probably take her as a 
wife, having had similar experiences that no one else could identify 
with.

Alessa

Alessa is actually in a hospital, or in Dahlia's home at any point in 
time, but she is metaphysically in her realm. She is hurt, and she was 
burned at an early age, so she does not really know what is happening to 
her, she is just hurt and confused.  In Silent Hill 1, there is a text 
in the school that explains poltergeist activity.  Studies (real 
studies) also show that teen-aged girls are the most able to project 
telekinetic energy into real forces.  This explains the crashing of 
windows Harry often heard, and it explains a lot of the weird 
happenings.  If a poltergeist is strong enough, members of the household 
may hallucinate, and see different things than any other given person.  
This is because they live near the teen.  Because Alessa holds in her 
half, or more than half of Samael, her telekinetic powers are enhanced, 
and she is also in pain, which will add power to her telekinesis.  Her 
telekinetic power is once again demonstrated when she pushes Cybill 
backwards at the conclusion of the game.  She is Dahlia's gate to 
eternal power, and a new, darker world.
 
Appearances

Road: Harry is driving into town, and hits Alessa.  She is here, because 
she senses the presence of her sister, and she wants to see her.  It is 
not to complete Samael, but it is partially that, because Samael inside 
of her wants completion.

School Basement: She appears here, after Harry beat the lizard.  Alessa, 
as a child, is pleased that you have killed one of her nightmares, but 
Samael inside of her is angry that you have defeated  his minion.  
Alessa, thus somewhat smiles at you, as she disappears.

Lighthouse: She appears here, knowing that you are after Cheryl, and not 
wanting you to take her.  The symbol on the ground is symbolic of 
Sammael, and thus at this sighting, the darker side of Alessa has sway.

Carnival: Alessa appears here because you are getting too close to her, 
and Cybill, who she has taken control of, failed to stop you.  She has 
to deal with you herself, and this is when Metatron's essence comes in, 
and defeats the evil inside of Alessa momentarily.  However, Dahlia is 
allowed into Alessa's darker realm because of her momentary weakness, 
and recaptures her.  She is then brought away with Dahlia.

Stairs in Nowhere: Alessa is a child at this moment, and it is just a 
view of Alessa right before her mother was going to burn her.  This is 
the last time she is a child.  She yells "no, no, I don't want to," 
because she already is confused, but knows her mother is going to hurt 
her.

Final Room: Here, Alessa is back in her realistic form, her power being 
drained by Dahlia.  Her dark realm remains, but Dahlia is in control of 
it, with Alessa's own power.  She is once again bandaged fully, for the 
puss and blood still leak from her body.  When forced to fight, she 
either does so because of her mother's power over her, or she falls, as 
Sammael is brought into existence before his time.

Lisa

She was the nurse of Alessa, and Cheryl, and she is addicted to the 
drug, White Claudia, which caused hallucinations similar to dark Silent 
Hill, and she did the right thing, bringing Cheryl to the side of the 
road.  She only appears in the dark world of Silent Hill, so one can 
wonder how she got there.  The answer is most likely that Alessa 
remembers her as a kindly caretaker, and has placed her soul into her 
dark realm.  This way, Lisa only remembers what happened when she 
brought Cheryl out of the town, and came back.  She was probably killed 
by Dahlia for her insubordination, and her soul is kept in dark Silent 
Hill, where her soul went immediately after dying.  

Appearances

Hospital: Here, Lisa first appears to Harry.  She is hiding in a room, 
under a table.  She is unsure of how she got to where she is.  She is, 
however, a memory, a soul, brought back by Alessa's will.  This is why 
you will only see her in the darker realm of Silent Hill.

Hospital: After passing out in the antique shop, you wake up here, with 
Lisa.  She has almost a demonic look in her eyes as you come to.  This 
is because she was just about to drink your blood, or suck your power, 
or whatever it is that the other nurses do to you, but then you came to.  
She has to shove back the evil urges within herself, brought on by 
Sammael, and be human again.  She tells you you were having a bad dream, 
because she doesn't know what's happening, and to her, you were asleep 
when you were in the other world, but intangible until you entered that 
realm completely.

Hospital: Here, after having gotten through the dark realm of the town, 
to the hospital again, you find her, in the same room.  She is relieved 
to see you, but cannot leave the room, because of Alessa's control over 
her.  Alessa does not want one of the other monsters hurting her.

Nowhere: Lisa is here, as Sammael's power is weakening, and she has made 
her way here.  She realizes what she is, that she is no different than 
another animated corpse in this realm.  However, she is different, 
because she has a soul, and the other monsters are soulless.  She then 
goes for James, not to attack him, but for security, safety, (a hug).  
She falters, and dies, partially because her physical form is falling 
apart, partially because James is afraid, and can offer no friendship.

Final Room: Depending on your ending, she appears here to drag Kaufman 
to his doom.  This is a double meaning, because Kaufman is more than 
likely the one that killed her.  He has no qualms with using a gun, and 
she became too much of a trouble, as seen in the opening cg where she 
shakes off his hand.  So this is revenge.  Also, Alessa does not want 
Kaufman there, because he caused her much pain, by throwing the 
Aglaophitos at her, and by burning her.

Dahlia

Dahlia is the head of a cult that worships angels, particularly fallen 
ones.  She is the one maintaining the evil.  She wants Samael's evil 
power, and she created the two children.  She created Alessa, but one 
human form was not enough to hold the dark power, and so she had to 
create another child, after getting everything from Alessa that she 
could.  She wants to get to Alessa, and eventually does through Harry 
and Metatron.  She is playing both sides of good/evil, a real schemer.  
Her realm is maintained even though she dies.  She also sells White 
Claudia in order to finance her cult, and to get aid from lesser 
members.  She is the "bad guy" of the first game, and overall she starts 
the whole problem with the town that we know and love, Silent Hill.  She 
gets Cheryl to come to her, by drawing on her as a mother, and then she 
uses Cheryl to bribe Harry to move faster, try harder to get to her, 
thus to get to Alessa.  Dahlia also takes control of the darker realm of 
Silent Hill after Alessa comes under her control again.  

Appearances


Church: This is her preliminary meeting with Harry.  She is here to give 
him the Flauros and the key to continue his mission.  In a bad sort of 
way, she is there to help Harry along, because in the end it means she 
accomplishes what she wants.  Jesus on the cross is symbolic, because it 
represents the suffering of Alessa.

Hospital: Dahlia comes in person, having called Harry from the darker 
Silent Hill, to urge him on, to move faster.  She is getting impatient.

Boat: Once again, Dahlia is impatient, and urges you to move faster.

Carnival: Dahlia has finally succeeded, in that you have found Alessa 
for her.  She takes Alessa, and leaves.  However, she has unwittingly 
released Metatron by giving you the Flauros, and now he is here, to 
counter any excessive evil.

Stairs in Nowhere: Dahlia's essence is trapped in a rendition of her, 
right before she burns Alessa, wanting more power from her.  This is an 
early view of Dahlia.

Nowhere: Dahlia is about to raise Samael, but it is either too early, or 
Kaufman steps in, depending upon your ending.  She has both children, 
and she is planning upon starting the ritual.  Depending upon your 
ending, Cybill is there also, trying to stop whatever is happening.  
Then Kaufman steps in and throws the Aglaophitos at the "Mother," 
(Cybill and Alessa joined) and Samael comes out.  Either way, Harry 
beats the incarnation.  What is not guarenteed is whether Harry gets 
Cheryl as a child from the "Mother." Kaufman shoots Dahlia, or she is 
killed by the "Mother," but either way she dies.  Strangely enough, she 
dies happy, having her goal met.

Kaufmann

He inseminates Dahlia, and sells the drugs to tourists.  Besides being 
in the cult, he is left in the fog Silent Hill, being summoned there by 
Dahlia because he is an important member of her cult.  However, she 
neglects to tell him this, and he sees it as a quick trip to Hell.  He 
is unhappy with his transition from normal Silent Hill to fog Silent 
Hill, and thus uses Agloaphitus to end Dahlia's spree if you save him.  
He is in the hospital trying to find out what happened when you find 
him, and he shoots you in the arm, or another minor location.  Once he 
finds Alessa and Dahlia, Alessa summons Lisa to do away with him, for 
aiding in her torture.

Appearances

Hospital: Kaufman first appears in the hospital, not knowing what is 
happening.  Dahlia has brought him to her fog realm, and he was at work 
when it happened.  Now he is just confused and unhappy.  His stash of 
Aglaophitos has all but been destroyed, and he's angry at Dahlia.

Indian Runner: He is here, nearly dead, attacked by a teddy bear 
creature.  Harry saves him, and he leaves, thankful.  He was there to 
pick up drugs, which he was apparently low on.

Bates Motel: He appears when you find the Aglaophitos in the motorcycle.  
This is his secret stash, and the fact that you are messing with it 
angers him.  He threatens Harry and leaves, to find Dahlia. 

Final Room: Dahlia has control of both dark Silent Hills now, so he can 
make his way to this darker basement, and use the Aglaophitos on 
"Mother," to stop it.  However, Sammael is only birthed prematurely, and 
Harry has to fight him.  Kaufman is then brought to Hell for what he did 
to Alessa, and Lisa.

Cybill

Cybill is in Silent Hill not without purpose.  She was accidentally 
brought into the fog town by Dahlia when she came in at the same time as 
Harry.  Dahlia realizes that there is a use for her, when she draws 
Harry into the town.  She is there to help him along, and when she leads 
Harry to Alessa, Alessa takes matters into her own hands and controls, 
then attempts to kill Cybill.  Overall she is not meant to be where she 
is.  She was working together with the Silent Hill P.D. to investigate 
the drugs, but of course could find no evidence.  

Appearances

Intro: Cybill passes you on the road, on a routine check of Silent Hill 
for drugs.  You later see her bike, which leads you to wonder what 
happened to her.  Having seen the broken road, she got off and walked 
into town.

Diner: She is here, having saved you from the child demons.  She makes 
no mention, so as not to scare you.  She also gives you a gun, and 
advice, telling you to stay near.  She doesn't know what is happening, 
and as an officer, she is only trying to protect you.

Antique Shop: She finds you here, after having followed you.  She 
wanted, once again, to help you.  When you go in, she loses you again, 
and goes off looking on her own.

Boat: She meets you here, trying to help you with Cheryl, and to find 
out what is going on.  She goes somewhere else while you check the 
lighthouse.  When you get back, she's not there.

Carnival: Here, Cybill has been taken over by Alessa, because she is 
helping you to find Alessa.  So Alessa plays you off against each other, 
and you can only save her with the Aglaophitos.  If you save her, she 
and Harry talk about why this is happening.  You are familiars, because 
both Harry and Cybill don't know what is going on in the least.

Final Room: Cybill is here, trying to stop whatever is going on.  She is 
quickly knocked aside by Alessa however.
 
Cheryl

Cheryl was born X-Gallespie-Kaufman.  After Lisa took her from the cult, 
Harry found her and raised her as his own.  She was eventually drawn to 
Silent Hill by Dahlia.  She is also drawn unknowingly to the pain of her 
sister, because she is good still, due to the love Harry gave her, as 
opposed the pain Alessa received.  Cheryl/Alessa is reborn, depending 
upon the ending that you get, and Harry, we assume, takes care of her as 
well, and she is raised as a normal child, most likely named Cheryl.  

Appearances

Jeep: When you start the game, Cheryl is just a happy little girl with 
her sketch book.  She looks like an ordinary child.

Crashed Jeep: You see a shadow of Cheryl in the mist, and go after her.  
She is already being drawn to Dahlia, and Alessa, her mother and sister.  
She is safe in both realms though, due to the realms keepers.

School: Cheryl is calling you from a phone, because Dahlia wants to meet 
with you, and Cheryl is with Dahlia.  Though Cheryl is with Dahlia, 
Dahlia can force her image and voice into this realm via phone or TV.

Town Center: The screens on the wall show Cheryl, asking where her 
father is.  This is once again Dahlia, trying to get Harry to try 
harder, because she relies on him to find Alessa, and he wants to get 
his daughter.

Final Room: This room has Cheryl already in form for the creation of 
Sammael.  She looks like Alessa, because she is actually the other part 
of Sammael.  Alessa is the burned form.

James:

James killed his wife after 3 years of a painful disease.  He then feels 
guilty, and makes up a story of his own in his mind, which he then 
convinces himself of, and goes to Silent Hill after getting a letter in 
the mail from Mary, sent by the nurse at the hospital most likely.  
After Maria died, the nurse sent the letter.  James then drove home, 
having convinced himself of the story he had made up, received the 
letter, and then you find him as he is in the beginning of the game: 
incredulous that a dead wife has written to him.  He did love his wife, 
but when she grew sick, he did not know how to deal with it, and it 
began to anger him that he could do nothing for his wife, and that she 
was helpless herself.  In confusion, he killed her, hoping what he had 
done was right.  Depending upon your ending, he justifies his killing in 
different ways.

Appearances: 


Mary

Mary was James faithful, loving wife.  She grew sick, and she stayed 
alive for the full 3 years expected of a dying person with her disease.  
(There is a statement somewhere in the game of a doctor saying she could 
live anywhere from 6 months to 3 years).  We do not know the disease, 
but we can assume that it had no cure, and that it was a wasting away 
disease (similar to the plague).  When she grew ugly, she felt ashamed, 
and lashed out at James when he tried to act helpful.  They were both 
confused and helpless, and thus she acted ungrateful often, but really 
she was just sad to die, to leave him, and not wanting his or her pain 
to be prolonged.

Appearances

James' Picture: Here is a picture of Mary, and we all know a picture is 
1000 words.  She is not a superstar, but she is attractive, and she has 
the bearing of an average loving female.  She dresses meanly, and her 
smile portrays a lot of love for James.  

James' Letter: Here is the traditional intro that we all know.  "In my 
restless dreams I see that town, Silent Hill...special place."  This is 
only the first half of the actual letter (or the first 1/6 or 1/8, 
considering how long the other half is).

?Conclusion: Depending upon your ending (2 of the normal  3, Water/ 
Leave) you will get to talk to Mary for a short time.  Depending upon 
your ending, James treats her in different ways.  If you got the water 
ending, James is so glad to see her, that when she dies, James is once 
again thrown into darkness, and he commits suicide, by driving into the 
lake.  If you get the leave ending, James is glad to see her, but he is 
a bit cautious of how she will feel about what he did to her.  She 
reassures him that she is happier now that he killed her, and the fact 
that he came after her shows he really cared, and that he is a good 
person.
 
Final Letter: James receives this no matter what ending he gets.  It 
shows that though he may have been inhumane, Mary's intentions were 
always noble.  She explains that she did treat you badly, but that it 
was because of the sickness, and her inability to stop her oncoming 
death.  She loved James, but depending upon your ending, James may not 
have loved her.  Either way, Mary comes out with almost saintly 
proportions.

Angela

She was abused and molested, along with her mother, by her father.  She 
is also schizophrenic because of her need to put the damage done on 
someone else, leaving her other personality harsh and angry.  Though the 
game seems to point to Angela having killed her father, there is no 
concrete fact within the game, so I revert to criminal and sexual abuse 
studies, which point out that in this situation, it is much more likely 
that Angela's mother killed the father, not Angela herself.  Then Angela 
took the knife, having seen her father dead, and holds onto it, thinking 
it is the last she will remember of her father, and also it represents 
safety to her from her father, as well as the last resort to life 
itself.  She says at one point that her mother says she is bad, or 
wrong, or something to that nature.  What her mother is saying is that 
she deserved what her father did to her.  She is not saying that Angela 
killed her father.  The mother too was afraid of the father, and thus 
she had to justify his violent tendencies, and she justified them by 
making Angela into a bad child in her own mind (the mother, this is).  
People often tell me that the gravestone in the second cemetery shows 
that Angela is guilty.  I don't believe this.  I think that it shows 
that similar to "The Matrix," Silent Hill allows the people in it to 
feel exactly how they want to, and if Angela FEELS guilty, then she gets 
to go to the darker Silent Hills, because she THINKS she has done 
something wrong.  Sex crime victims often feel that they are to blame, 
not the offender, especially if the offender is a family member.

Appearances:

Cemetery: Angela is actually the first character we meet in the game.  
She is in a cemetery on the outskirts of town, looking for the grave of 
her Father.  She tells James however that she is looking for her father 
and mother and brother in the town, as if she did not know that her 
father at least was dead.  Angela is still in denial at this point that 
her father is dead.  She has the knife at this point, but it has not yet 
made its appearance, because this is the most sane Angela ever gets.  
She is looking for her father in the town because part of her wants to 
believe that he is not dead, but another part knows that he is dead, and 
is trying to prove the other part of her wrong by finding the 
gravestone.

West Wing Apartment: Angela is in a passive state in this meeting.  She 
is holding the knife, probably having remembered that her father is 
dead, and that she is safe as long as she has the knife.  She is already 
seeing the fires around her now, but there are no monsters in the room, 
so she does not see her father in this room.  The teddy bear outside the 
door shows that Angela is thinking of her childhood.  She is looking in 
the mirror to determine who she really is, because she honestly doesn't 
know.  

Room in the Labyrinth: At this point, Angela sees the thing James sees 
as a monster to be her father.  She is practically catatonic with fear 
in a corner, and she sits still while James kills the creature.  She 
says "No daddy, don't," which is a key clue to realizing that Angela was 
very young when her father abused her, and that he most likely sexually 
abused her, because telling someone who's angry "don't" will get you 
nowhere, but if he is acting friendly towards her, in order to violate 
her, her saying "don't" can be construed as a request of a friend, a 
plea if you will.  After you kill the creature, she drops a TV on the 
creature, which symbolizes her hate of what her father did to her.  
However, she then falls to the floor and retches, which shows that just 
that act of hate is enough to make her queasy.  Then she addresses 
James, and becomes suddenly violent in attitude, in order to defend 
herself from anyone she sees as a danger, I.E. any male figure.  James 
has saved her, so she looks up to him, but the only other male that she 
looked up to was her father, so James reminds her of her father, and she 
gets very defensive.  

Hotel Burning Hallway:  This is the final encounter with Angela, so it 
attempts to sum up her meaningfulness in the game.  She knows that 
whether it was her, or her mother who killed her father, she will never 
live in peace again.  She asks James if he thinks he could protect her, 
of if he would just force her, like "he" did.  She then realizes that 
James cannot help her, and she walks off into the blaze, most likely to 
her death.  

Eddie is not a victim.  He is crazy, and more specifically, he is more 
or less a sociopath.  He killed a dog out of desire to see it die, and 
then his evil mentality led him to the darker realms of Silent Hill.  
After finding that killing made him feel strange (not guilty, because 
sociopaths do not feel guilt), he decided that he needed an excuse.  He 
wanted to see the dog die, and after that he wanted to see people die.  
After that, he makes it clear that he is making people in Silent Hill, 
and then killing them.  He finally attacks James off a single remark, 
because secretly he wanted to attack James too, and James kills him in 
self-defense.  

Appearances: 

Apartment Bathroom: Eddie is found vomiting in a bathroom, in an 
apartment with a dead man.  The man has been shot.  We can assume that 
it was Ed who killed the man in 208 as well, and he who filled the room 
with the carriage in it with shell casings.  He is sick because he feels 
strange about the killing, not bad.  It is just quite a change for him.  
He is excited as well, at the fact that he has completed what he wanted 
to do: kill a person.  Though they were not actually people, they were 
people in his mind, and he killed them in reality, because the town 
manifested the images in his mind into reality.

Bowling Alley: Eddie is here with Laura.  He feels good around others, 
because it makes him feel less strange, like he feels when he is alone.  
He feels different when he is around other living beings than he does 
when he is alone, which is why he feels the need to kill.  He treats 
Laura well because he enjoys smaller children, especially their 
innocence.  

Prison Cafe: Eddie is here, having killed more people, but his glee is 
short lived when James falls into the room.  He suddenly realizes that 
he is not supposed to be doing what he has done, and he makes up 
excuses.  Here he is holding the gun, and we get to see his transition 
as he realizes that what he did is wrong.  He then runs out, not wanting 
to have to face James's questions.  It's also symbolic that Eddie is in 
a prison, a place for convicts, and he is in the cafeteria, which sums 
up his excuses, and maybe he even makes up the excuse here.

James' Grave: Eddie has finally overstepped himself, and has killed a 
lot of people without guilt.  He tells James another excuse when James 
seems unhappy with his explanation.  Then, of course, he realizes that 
he doesn't want to have to deal with James' probing questions, and his 
questions about his own morality, and he attempts to kill James.  Eddie, 
by some sixth sense, knows that James is in this town for his wife, 
which he killed.  He then calls James a hypocrite, and he tells him that 
he's not guiltless either.  However, more than being true, this is just 
more justification of what he is doing, hoping that James will think as 
he does.  Eddie then dies, and James has to think to himself about what 
he has done.

Maria

Maria is a creation of James imagination.  He needs to feel less guilty 
about what he has done, and creates a fantasy women similar to Mary.  
She fawns over him, yet also asks biting questions.  Every time he sees 
her, he pretends to want to see his wife more than her, to make his 
facade even greater (to himself), but he must see in the end that Maria 
is of his own making.  He must let her go in the end, and realize that 
his wife is gone.  Maria says, "I am, if you want me to be," which 
brings up the point that she will do whatever he thinks of.  She has the 
key to the strip club because that is as far as his fantasies go, 
whereas many males today would go much farther. It is important to 
remember that James created Maria, and she does what he subconsciously 
wills her to do.  

Appearances: 

Rosewater Park: This is her first appearance, because this is where 
James expected to meet his wife, but he knows that in reality she is 
dead, so he creates Maria here, to pretend he still does not know that 
his wife is dead.  He pretends to think that Maria is Mary, then be 
unhappy when he finds her not to be.  Silent Hill has turned James' 
desire to see a female in the park into reality, and she bears all the 
things James wants in a woman, which include Mary's looks, though the 
clothing is a bit more riske.  She knows that James is going for the 
hotel, and she knows everything that Mary knew, because she is an 
incarnation of Mary, through James.

Mental Hospital (S3): Here Maria waits, knowing what will happen to 
James when he goes downstairs.  She takes some pills, because she is 
almost the same as Mary in James' mind, so she too has a disease.  

Mental Hospital (C2): After James' battle with the feet, he is wheeled 
out into the outside area on a gurney.  Maria is responsible for this, 
and she calls his name, in order to simulate him dying, and being 
wheeled to an emergency room.  However, she is doing the opposite, 
leaving him outside, to show that he is getting the opposite of help, 
he's getting left behind.  In James' mind, Maria has to fight the image 
of Mary, or else he will be regretful, and remember what he did.  So 
Maria does this in order to show that if Mary were in his position, she 
would hate him too, so what he did was justified, and he deserves to 
have Maria instead of Mary.

Mental Hospital (basement): When James finally finds Maria here, in 
order to keep up his facade of looking for Mary, he has to pretend he is 
sad it is not her when he finds Maria.  Maria however, has to fight for 
James affection, so she acts angry in order to get him to want her more 
than Maria.  She then acts concerned for Laura, because Mary too would 
have acted concerned for a child.  

Mental Hospital (long hall): When James is running, and Maria dies, one 
of the evils of the town, a Pyramid Head, kills Maria.  This is done by 
Samael in order to make James feel even worse about killing his wife, 
because it is like it happening all over again, and he is a bystander 
this time and cannot do anything.  He has to keep up the facade that he 
loved his wife, so this strikes a great emotional blow to him.  He sees 
himself in the past as the Pyramid Head, and it is like watching himself 
kill Mary, so he agonizes over it.  

Labyrinth Cell: Maria is alive again, because James once again has need 
to believe that he is actually searching for his wife, instead of just 
running around on a goose chase.  Maria this time however almost becomes 
Mary, in order to get James to appreciate her more than Mary.  James 
wants to like Maria more than Mary, so he has to have her image do this; 
act as though she is a continuation of Mary, but better.  She also says 
a dead giveaway about her being created of James' imagination here "I 
am, if you want me to be.  I'm here for you James, see? I'm real."  This 
is the real clue that she is made by James, and that she is too good to 
be true, yet she is.  

Labyrinth Cell (2nd time): Now Maria is dead.  She has suffered severe 
trauma to the head, and there is blood on the bed suggesting internal 
bleeding.  She has been killed by Samael in order to drag James back to 
the reality that HE killed his wife.  James smothered his wife, and thus 
she suffocated.  If a person suffocates, their lungs work harder to get 
air, until they burst, causing internal bleeding.  Maria's face is also 
marred, which represents James holding the pillow over Mary's head.  The 
blood would leak out of the mouth, causing a lot of the facial blood.

Dark Hotel: Here, Maria is on a rack, as if sentenced to destruction.  
James' mind has feebly conjured one last vision of Maria to prove his 
innocence, but Samael destroys it, showing him that he is not innocent 
at all.  She will no longer be able to replace Mary in James' mind.  He 
realizes this also however, and realizes that he must live without her*.  
She is then impaled, and she dies.  This is not symbolic of James 
killing his wife, as Maria's last two deaths were, because now he has 
realized the truth.  

Final Room: Depending upon your ending, you will find Maria here.  She 
will either tell James that he will never get Mary back, and that he 
should be happy with her, or that she will not allow him to kill 
himself.  At this point, Maria has ceased to be an incarnation from 
James' mind, and has become quite evil.  When he kills her, and she 
keeps crying out his name, she is once again referring back to Mary 
calling to him from her sickbed.

Rosewater Park (2nd time): If you got the Maria ending, James has 
decided that Maria is worth more than Mary, and he decides to forget 
about Mary altogether and take Maria with him to live with.  She will be 
the perfect wife, and he leaves the town with her.  This is an ending 
showing that the evil of Silent Hill has gotten the better of him, and 
that it's not the last time he will visit Hell.

Laura

Laura is innocence.  She does not see monsters, and thus they cannot 
affect her, even though through her connection with Mary she is brought 
into both the foggy and dark worlds of Silent Hill.  Samael will not 
hurt her, because being innocent, Metatron has full protection over her, 
and she traipses around as she sees fit.  She was a patient at the 
hospital with Mary, and Mary wished her a happy birthday right before 
she died.  She has a letter from Mary for her birthday which she 
eventually gives to James.  One may be lead to believe that she herself 
is dead, but I rather the idea that she is living happily in the real 
Silent Hill.  

Appearances:

Apartment 3rd floor: James is reaching for a key when she kicks him and 
runs off.  Laura knew Mary, and (call it child's intuition) knows that 
James is responsible for Mary's death.  She knew Mary, and thus she was 
around when James would visit, and she would know that he was not really 
acting affectionate.  She thus is angry with James for acting coldly to 
Mary, and she kicks the key away, in order to slow his progress.  
However, she does not act in spite, but in childish play.  She knows 
nothing of real hate.

Wall outside of apartment: She is here singing, or humming.  (She was 
singing "Ring around a Rosie" in the original game, but it was deleted 
due to content).  It is commonly known that "Ring around a Rosie" refers 
to deaths due to the Black Plague.  It is meant to make you think when 
she is singing about death, yet she knows nothing of it.  This is the 
part that clearly shows you that she is innocent, and makes it clear 
that she sees no evil in Silent Hill.  She also has the birthday letter, 
which she has taken from Mary.  She asks James if he's blind, meaning 
that there is no reason for a little girl like her to be in a normal 
American town, but on a symbolic level she is also asking James why he 
is clouding the truth in his own mind.  She then walks away, stating 
what James has only reinforced in her mind; that he does not love Mary.

Bowling Alley: Laura is here, talking to Eddy.  She has to put forth 
that she is tough, and independent, so she asks Eddy if he has killed 
anyone.  Eddie is in a calm state of mind, and he knows that he cannot 
tell a little girl that he did.  All children desire to be self 
dependent and tough.  She has asked him if he has seen Mary, because she 
is looking for her, having not seen her since a week ago in the 
hospital.  When she hears James coming, she runs, not wanting to be with 
someone who was not friendly to her friend.  This is common practice to 
children, running rather than deal with someone they dislike.

Outside Hospital: She is once again playing around outside the hospital, 
but James sees her in the dark Silent Hill, while she is actually 
physically still in the light Silent Hill. 

Hotel Restaurant: She is here, once again playing around, trying to 
scare James, who to her seems always a little too on edge.  (The fact 
that he his holding a weapon does not bother her however).  She is 
beginning to accept James, seeing as he follows her through Silent Hill.  
She tells him that she got a card from Mary a week ago, for her 8th 
birthday.  This is a clue to James, and he instantly knows that 
something is wrong.   

Hotel Rm. 302: Laura has finally found what she is looking for, Mary's 
home in Silent Hill.  Once here, she gives James the her letter, because 
he is now worthy of it, having accepted what he has done.  She has no 
more problems with James, and he tells her that she will in all 
probability never see Mary again.  As a child, she dismisses it with 
little thought to the matter, and leaves.



Pyramid Head

Pyramid Head's are the evil minions of Samael, and they do his bidding 
and physical work.  They are created of evil souls of the past that 
inhabited the town.  They subjugate the weaker creatures, and they chase 
sinners through the town, harassing them and killing them if need be, 
for fun.  They do however follow Samael, and are thus subject to 
Metatron's wrath.  In this manner, when they have overstepped their 
bounds, Metatron controls them into their suicidal state. I would have 
to say that even though they seem the least likely for the job, Pyramid 
Heads seem to me to be the comic relief for the game.  All the other 
characters that seem like they are, are actually underlying messages and 
unhappiness.  Pyramid Head is just like one of those cartoon characters 
who runs up and pokes the sleeping dog, then runs away laughing 
hysterically, though a little more evil.  The evil spirits that compose 
Pyramid Head are limited to lesser evils, because they have died.  
However, if they accidentally kill James in their fun, it matters not to 
them.  However, Pyramid Heads are actual monsters not created by James 
mind, and they are the only such monsters in the town.  There could be 
any number of them, so we could assume that it was the same Pyramid Head 
following James all the way until the end, when he was joined by a 
friend, or we can assume that each and every Pyramid Head James sees is 
a different one.  It doesn't really matter, because they are all the 
same.  They have one of 2 weapons, the giant knife or the spear, and 
when you find a giant's knife in the labyrinth, it is because a Pyramid 
Head just switched to the spear.  


Appearances: 

Apartment Hallway: Pyramid Head is standing out in the hallway, simply 
taunting James, attempting to throw him off.  The main reason Pyramid 
Heads are in Silent Hill is to taunt and hurt James, but not to kill 
him.  They are evil, but a bit of a lesser evil, and they only 
accomplish larger evils, such as killing Maria, at the behest of Samael. 
3rd floor Apartment: Pyramid Head is here, amusing himself, and 
tormenting lesser demons.  He then sees James, and wonders whether to 
continue with his current activity, or to bother James.  He does a 
little of both, gesturing wildly at James, but after James fires at him, 
he figures he's scared James enough, and leaves.  

Article about killings: The killer of the 2 children says he was driven 
to it by a red demon.  This is of course Pyramid Head, but all Pyramid 
Head did was draw him to what he already wanted to do.  He was already 
an evil man, but Pyramid was there when he committed the evil deed, so 
he had something to blame it on.

Hospital Roof: Pyramid Head once again decides to pay James a visit, and 
sneaks up on him, and throws him from the roof, knowing that he has not 
killed him.  Feeling quite satisfied, he leaves.

Long Hall: Pyramid Head has been ordered to really remind James that he 
is in the town because he is looking for his wife, and that he killed 
her.  Pyramid Head stabs Maria, and Samael holds the doors closed to the 
elevator, just allowing James to see the ensuing carnage.  This is 
showing James basically what he himself did, by killing a person.  
However, Samael wants James to feel that what he did is truly evil, so 
he causes Maria to cry out in pain, and the killing to be gruesome, 
rather than a mercy killing, as James would (depending upon your ending) 
have wished it.  

Prison Gallows Plaque/ Picture of "Justice": Here two/one Pyramid 
Head(s) are portrayed as executioner(s).  Since they executioners were 
evil men, for killing possibly innocent people (as illustrated in the 
labyrinth puzzle) their souls stayed in the town, and compose some if 
the population of Pyramid Heads. 

Labyrinth: Pyramid Head appears 2 times in the labyrinth, and the first 
time he has just switched weapons, so you find his knife, the second 
time he is just messing around with the locals.  He attacks James both 
times, but only if he gets in the way.

Dark Hotel: Here 2 Pyramid Head's confront James, after being ordered to 
kill Maria by Samael.  That was James' final* attempt to create a vision 
of Mary, and Samael immediately eradicates it because James knows the 
truth, and cannot go back.  Then, as James is getting near to leaving 
the town, Samael orders him killed.  At this point, however, Metatron 
steps in.

Samael

Also called Sammael, Samael is a dark angel, a fallen angel.  It has 
been said that he is the devil himself, but not for certain.  In any 
case, he is the evil in this town, and it is he that was summoned into 
Alessa's form.  However, after being defeated in his physical form, 
because he was new, and weak, he can only watch now over this town, and 
has power only to suck the sinners into his realm.  He cannot take the 
souls of the innocent, because Metatron also guards the town.  

Metatron.  

Metatron is called upon by the tetrahedral item that Dahlia gave Harry.  
It was the essence of the Archangel Metatron.  Unwittingly, in her quest 
to get dark power, Dahlia overstepped herself, and this item of light 
broke through Samael's hold on Alessa, and through the evil in Silent 
Hill.  It is he who looked out for Harry and James, and in some ways 
makes the darkness of Silent Hill equal in lightness in the real town.  
He comes to the town to battle evil, as an Archangel, not out of 
personal gain for Dahlia.  Though Metatron has been stated as one of the 
greatest, if not the greatest angel, he is the power of good in this 
town, and will battle Samael if need be.

Angels

The cult that Dahlia was the head of worshipped angels, darker ones at 
that.  Older Hebrew rituals were said to have been able to raise angels 
to do commancds, which is where this may have started, and Dahlia's 
obvious ethnicity due to her clothing.  (Not at all a negative statement 
towards any ethnicity or religion, just interpreting the game as I see 
it).  These angels, though not appearing in the game, are referenced 
many times within the game.  The referenced angels are:
Hagith, 
Phaleg,
Ophiel,
Bethor,
Aratron,
Och, 
Phul

These angels are the angels of the planets, and thus they also represent 
some of the Greek Gods.  My info came from the Dictionary of Angels,  by 
Gustav Davidson.  The names, and the symbols are mentioned in his book.  
I believe the original source was The Magus, some older book.  Anyway, 
these angels are of course viewed as wicked, and of the occult, but 
really it is just another branch of a religion.  


++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
++++

Credits
Gustav Davidson: Dictionary of Angels
Gamefaqs: Cool site
Konami: Very ambiguous game.
President Evil: Some material in my guide, and his idea of a plot guide.






