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    -------------------------------------------------------------------------------A plot analysis for the "Silent Hill" series.Originally written by SilentPyramid.Translated into english by Darth_Blade, MadRushn and 401st Stalker.VERSION 1.0May, 21, 2005-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    This guide contains information about:

    1) "Silent Hill" games by Konami:Silent Hill 1 (PSone)Silent Hill Play Novel (GBA)Silent Hill 2 (PS2)Silent Hill 2 Restless Dreams (PS2, PC, XBOX)Silent Hill 3 (PS2, PC)Silent Hill 4 the Room (PS2, PC, XBOX)

    2) Other "Silent Hill" releases:Silent Hill Dying InsideSilent Hill Among the DamnedSilent Hill Paint it BlackSilent Hill OSTSilent Hill 2 OSTSilent Hill 3 OSTSilent Hill 4 OSTLost MemoriesVictims ListAnother Crimson Tome

    NOTE: This guide (obviously) contains TONNS OF THE EXTREME SPOILERS about the

    plots of the mentioned above games and other "Silent Hill" releases!

    _______________________________________________________________________________

    CONTENTS._______________________________________________________________________________

    ABOUT US/CONTACT USPREFACEPART 1: MECHANICS, BASE STRUCTURE

    1. Alternative world, the first glance, main laws1-1 What we see? (the laws of the alternative)1-2. Nightmare or Paradise. (Ideological and plot analysis)1-3. Is the otherworld real? (Ideological analysis, philosophical meaning)1-4. Does the otherworld materialize the desires of the characters?Are the monsters material?1-5. The difference between reality, illusion hallucination1-6. Can the monsters and the otherworldsimply be a hallucination?1-7. The illusion of perception?

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    1-8. Monsters?! - They look like monsters to you?1-9. "Monsters" strike back!1-10. The material monsters problem. Round two.1-11. Vision in alternate reality, Noise Effectas a way of life (visual analysis).1-12. Dancing in the dark (philosophical + psychological analysis)2. Our worlds.2-1. War of the worlds.2-2. Hung above the ground on a leash of suffering. An essentiallynew way of looking at the alternate2-3. 3 worlds, 3 elements of consciousness2-4. "Was I dreaming?" What happens with our body in reality?2-5. "Even if I die, it's not the end"Death in "Paradise" and in the Otherworld2-6. "They found him dead the very next day"2-7. Gamer's "Paradise" (idea analysis, Konami guys moral)3. Inner God3-1. Incubus3-2. Incubus is inside us all3-3. Incubus development stages, hierarchy3-4. Philosophical meaning of the "Incubus", duality of understanding3-5. Is the Inner God material?3-6. The principle of distribution and overlapping of alternate perceptions3-7. Radio operations principles.

    3-8. "Incubus" and television.3-9. Subconscious projection on TV- and radio receivers3-10. Silent Hill and Otherworld perception, the power of the town4. Ghosts and spirits.4-1. Close circuit4-2. "White Noiz"4-3. The power of thought, the power of emotion, the power of Pain4-4 "Possessed"4-5. Who is susceptible to the influence of psychic energies?4-6. "Lingering thoughts", the remains of consciousness4-7. The cycle of memories4-8. Holy Mother, Mother Reborn, reincarnation spiral4-9. "This is God?" (analysis of God based on all parts)

    5. List of terms.6. The end of part 2

    PART 2: RELIGION OF SILENT HILL12. White Claudia and the religion of Silent Hill.12-1. What is White Claudia?12-2. PTV, hallucinogenic properties.12-3. Distribution.12-4. White Claudia in SH2.12-5. The role of White Claudia in the events of SH. White Claudia and the fog12-6. The meaning of the name. Herbs in SH.14. Rituals.

    14-1. The origin of SH rituals14-2 "21 Sacraments for the Descent of the Holy Mother\Holy Assumption" (FAQ)14-3. The ritual of burning14-4. Ritual execution in Toluca prison

    PART 3: TOWN OF SILENT HILL [coming soon!]

    PART 4: CHARACTER ANALYSIS1. SH1 Characters1-1. Harry (Harold) Mason

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    1-2. Cheryl Mason1-3. Cybil Bennet1-4. Michael Kaufmann1-5. Lisa Garland1-6. Dahlia Gillespie1-7. Alessa Gillespie1-8. Character rationality pattern in SH1 (compositional analysis)1-9. Andy2. SH2 Characters2-1. James Sunderland2-2. Angela Orosco. The events of SH2 through Angela's eyes.2-3. Eddie Dombrowski. The events of SH2 through Eddie's eyes.2-4. Laura. The events of SH2 through Laura's eyes.2-5. Mary Sunderland, Mary's path.2-6. Maria. Part 1.2-7. Maria. Part 2.2-8. Ernest Baldwin2-9. Amy Baldwin2-10. Walter Sullivan in the context of SH2.2-11. Joseph Barkin2-12. Jack Davis2-13. Joshua Lewis2-14. Director of Brookhaven Hospital2-15. Jennifer Carroll (+ analysis of "she is an angel")

    2-16. The Orosco family.2-17. The Great DOG (Mira)2-18. Other SH2 characters3. SH3 Characters4. SH4 Characters4-1. Walter Sullivan. The way of Walter.4-2. Henry Townshend. The way of Henry.4-3. Eileen Galvin. The way of Eileen.4-4. Frank Sunderland. The way of Frank (+a short history of SAHapts)4-5. Joseph Schreiber. The way of Joseph.4-6. Cynthia Velasquez.4-7. Jasper Gein.4-8. Andrew DeSalvo

    4-9. Richard Braintree4-10. South Ashfield Heights apartments residents.5. SHDI Characters6. SHAtD Characters.6-1. Jason6-2. Aaron6-3. Dahlia6-4. The soldiersCOPYRIGHTCREDITSCONCLUSION

    _______________________________________________________________________________

    ABOUT US/CONTACT US_______________________________________________________________________________

    Team ListingSilentPyramid - the author, who singlehandedly started this whole thing andwrote the original text. All comments, questions and suggestions regarding theplot analysis are to be sent to him on [silentpyramid(at)mail(dot)ru], but bearin mind

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    that his English skills are far from perfect, so some questions may be leftunanswered until the release of the translated FAQ section.

    Darth_Blade - the head translator [and the guy who's typing all this up with a38 degree fever %) - translator's note] and at the same time the laziest onthe team. Translated the whole Part 4, corrected other translations and wrotesome misc texts. If you have any comments, questions or suggestions regardingthe translation of the PA, send them to Darth_Blade on [Das.Zlo(at)gmail(dot)com]

    MadRushn - one of the first to sign up for the translation effort. Author ofthe original translation of Part 1.

    401st Stalker - author of the original translations of sections 12 and 14of Part 2.

    BAHEK - author of http://www.silenthillpa.narod.ru - the official webpage ofthe Plot Analysis, where you can find the full version of the guide. Make sureyou visit it! If you have any questions, comments or suggestion regarding thewebsite, send them to BAHEK on [bahek(at)list(dot)ru]

    _______________________________________________________________________________

    PREFACE

    _______________________________________________________________________________

    Welcome, reader. Welcome to Silent Hill. The foggy town, that seems tomanifest people's delusions and fears is about to yield its mysteries to you.I, SilentPyramid, will lead you through the subconscious worlds of numerouspeople, unravel the darkness of the town and let you have a taste of theunknown you so fear...

    This mighty tome of mysteries was written by me and my fellow observers, basedmostly on the info of the dark magisters of Konami with only one goal in mind- to decipher the mysteries of the dark town called Silent Hill. This tome isthe place, where the closer and the lying figure, the puppet nurse and thesniffer dog meet. No longer shall the mysteries of Silent Hill be explain with

    "Thus is the will of Sammael" or the less prominent "Sammael works inmysterious ways". No longer shall Silent Hill be deemed a town taken over bydemons. Yes, demons they are. Demons of the human soul...The tome was first written in a mysterious eastern language and posted on theforum, which consisted solely of the speakers of said tongue on the 20th ofthe sixth month of the year two thousand and four. Still, mysteries popped upone after another, as if mocking the author. But, having joined forces withother like-minded individuals, the team was able to defeat most of thesecrets. Then, a movement appeared for the translation of the tome intoEnglish, so that even those tainted by the profane could read it and atonetheir sins. As we speak, minds and fingers from all over the land are workinghard to present it. Enjoy the honor, dear reader. Enjoy the honor and fear,for Silent Hill never lets its victims away... unchanged.

    _______________________________________________________________________________

    PART 1: MECHANICS, BASE STRUCTURE_______________________________________________________________________________

    Silent Hill - a town, where strange events happen more often than anywhere

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    else Other worlds Eternal memories Birthing of Gods and mysteriousdisappearances Is there any logic to these seemingly unexplainable things?What is the driving force behind them? Are they interconnected?The primary goal of Part 1 is to try and give a logical explanation to all thesupernatural events, basing all conclusions on official info from the games orother sources. But remember, that everything here is my THEORIES, so you arenot supposed to see it as the one and only true explanation. I hope theseTHEORIES help you to understand the plot of the series better.

    1. Alternative world, the first glance, main laws.What do you think is the thing, that the SH series cannot be imagined without?There is always a deep plot, bright characters, but I think that the mainstructural part (if we can say so) of the game is the otherworld, as this ideavisibly deepens the plot, underlines the pscychologism of the characters andreflects nicely the main idea of SH - the conflict between mind and realityand apart from that it is just a great gameplay catch. So, considering therole of the otherworld, we should start with it.

    1-1. What we see? (the laws of the alternative)Let's sort everything out, what do the characters see in the otherworld?Firstly let's point out that for all the characters (almost) the otherworld isseen differently (do you remember Angela "For me it's always like this" - anamazing moment actually), i.e. they see their OWN otherworld ("In theotherworld, the world is seen differently depending on the person." - this

    idea is confirmed by Lost Memories) Secondly, it is necessary to point out anextreme resemblance of the "real world" and the "alternative" one. I thinkthat many of you have noticed that the "maps" stay the same, in fact the onlythings that change are the "wallpaper" and the "mood" of the world. We can seethat on Heather's example: in the otherworld the position of doors andcorridors does not change. We can say that the world has kind of changed itclothes or, more accurately, has been turned inside out. Sometimes Heather'sworld resembles that of Alice's Wonderland - the world upside down, that atfirst seems to be completely insane. But you get involved pretty quickly, youstart getting used to the new order of things. For example, somewhere near theend of the game (SH3, morgue, where you get the Hanged Man Tarot card) Heatheradmits that she is already used to the corpses, blood etc, and doesn't mind itanymore Se also asks herself: "I feel like I'm gonna go crazy myself sooner

    or later. I might even already be crazy. Who knows?" But one cannot help butask: why does the human consciousness get used so quickly to such a world: isthat because of the flexibility of the consciousness or because such a worldgrants a subconscious pleasure, fulfills hidden desires?

    1-2. Nightmare or Paradise. (Ideological and plot analysis)As we can see all the SH characters are OK with their own world (with theexception of Cybil, Lisa, Douglas and SH4 characters who actually see a worldthat is not theirs at all) We should once more take into consideration thatthe image of the otherworld depends on hidden desires of each person. We cansay that in exchange for one's sanity this world fulfills one's desires. Doesinsanity fulfill desires? Well, I think that's one bright metaphor. In the endof SH2 James says: "I was weak, that's why I needed you" (this phrase is

    especially interesting in Japanese: "dakara omae no sonzai o nozonde ita"(lit. "Thus, I wished for your existance")). But does this phrase correspondto a bunch of PyramidHeads? Or to Maria? No. James talks about his own world,in fact the conscientious clerk's desire was to punish himself one way oranother for his sins, and this sadomasochistic desire the world is happy togrant. Almost the same happens with Angela Orosco. The craving of EddieDombrowski was violence, more accurately a bloody punishment of people whohave bullied him (in fact he wanted people to make fun of him, thus makingviolence a righteous revenge from his point of view) - and a crazy world gaveEddie such an opportunity, now he can see as many bullying people as he likes,

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    free to punish them. The desire of Alessa Gillespie was to hide from people -and indeed she hid inside the hellish nightmare where there were no place forpeople, where no sane mad dare venture. And Claudia Wolf has lived all herlife with Hope and Faith. She has always dreamed of those things she had neverhad in real life. She dreams of a perfect place "where people would be happyjust by being there", that's why to her the otherworld is Paradise. But as wecan see on the example of SH2 characters not everyone dreams of ParadiseThat way it's clear that an otherworld can be both a Paradise and a bloodynightmare. The perception of surrounding reality depends on personalqualities, the system of values and personal desires. IMHO this idea is quitesymbolic and is genuine in our time.

    1-3. I the otherworld real? (Ideological analysis, philosophical meaning)Actually this is question is more philosophically subtle than it looks. Thething is, there is no such thing as absolute reality (nether there is noabsolute truth). Thus we can only speak about a subjective reality - the way aperson sees the surrounding world is the ultimate reality for that personThere is, however, a certain trick here: human mind tends to evade everythingthat brings suffering, so it turns out that any person always sees thesurrounding world (or its elements) in a way that is more suitable for himAnd such a way a bunch of subjective perceptions, subjective realities andsubjective worlds is formed. The theories of ancient Greek philosophers springto mind at this point Well, let's end the philosophical introductions hereand answer the questions, asked in 1-3. "For him there is simply no other

    reality, furthermore, he is happy there" says doctor's diary, found in thehospital. It seems to me that this phrase gives the most precise descriptionof the subjective reality of the otherworld and also its meaning. Alternatereality is "real" only for the person who sees\percepts it.

    1-4. Does the otherworld materialize the desires of the characters? Are themonsters material?So, as we know the otherworld is SUBJECTIVELY real. But how can we learnwhether it's an objective reality, whether it is material or not? The only wayto answer this question is to check if all the characters can see the worldthe protagonist sees. Let's sort that one out on some of the brighter examples(I'll just give you some from SH2, 'cause listing ALL of them should take '

    bout the volume of "Romeo and Juliet" :)) :a) If Alessa's (or Alessa + Cheryl + Heather) monsters had been absolutelymaterial, then they should have been in the town in SH2 as well, but Jamesdoesn't see Alessa's monsters Could it be that they had been all busted bythe SWAT teams?? ;)b) The conversation between James and Laura (SH2):"-What a little girl like you doing here anyway?-Are you blind or something ?? "Or this one:"You don't even have a scratch on you!-Why should I ?? "These should make clear that Laura doesn't see any monsters. "To her the townappears to be normal; she does not see any monsters, nor does she see Maria" -

    says Lost Memories. Could it be that Lora had simply "missed" both monstersand Maria? Or does the chitty sod just lie to James?c) Eddie says that he didn't see any PyramidHead (SH2, toilet conversation:"James: You're not friends with that red, pyramid thing, are you? Eddie: Redpyramid thing? I don't know what are yer talkin' about. Honest." ). Could itbe another joke of the merry Dombrowski?? ;)d) During the fight with a monster (SH2 catacombs) Angela sees the monster asher father Could it be that her father had been a double or a twin brother ofthe monstrosity? Or does she see it differently than James? ;)e) In the end of SH2, (on the stairs) Angela at first (first ten-fifteen

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    seconds) sees James as her mother. Is she "blind or something ??", if shemistook Sunderland for her own mother at the distance of 3 feet? Or is Jamesher mother?g) The same place, Angela speaks about her "world in flames" "You see it too?For me it's always like this" For Angela, it's always like that but James seesit only once.h) If fires of Angela's world were real, the whole town should've been burnedto ashes.i) If the holes, that James frequently falls through and Henry crawls aboutare absolutely material, then Ohhh, I can even think of something ironicalenough to say here. I think it's all clear without any jokes.j) If PyramidHead had been material what with that Great Knife of his Well inthat case James should have resembled some kind of bloody meat pastry towardsthe end of the gamek) Here is a note from SH2 (Memo next to corpse #2): "I saw those demons. Theywere there, I'm certain. But my friend says he didn't see anything. If that'strue, does that mean that what I saw was an illusion?" - here's a 100% proofof monsters' immateriality.

    (I cannot quite remember the alphabet further on, so I guess we can stop at"K" lol)

    Anyway it's clear from the aforesaid that not everyone can see the monsters -that means that the monsters themselves are immaterial.

    Although We should point out that in Lost Memories there is a certain phrase:"Silent Hill 2 the materialization of delusions" - what is that supposed tomean? Another joke of the creators? Unlikely, but more of that a bit furtheron At the moment note that the creators use the word "delusion"(illusion(!!), fantasy(!) ) - this is quite important;) BTW, in LM the term"materialization" has a bit "strange" meaning, for example: "In the churchthat is the final stage of the game, a young girl's crying voice and footstepsmaterialize" Hmm :) Sounds suspicious (more of that further on :) - insection "1-10").

    1-5. The difference between reality, illusion hallucination (the youngpsychologist-silenthillist course)To fully analyze the SH plot I had to read through a couple of psychology

    books on the topic of hallucinations - here I shall write a summary, that isrequired for anyone who wants to understand SH.a) Reality - the way the surrounding world is perceived by "normal" people,i.e. the true form and content of an object equal the form and content of thatobject's image in human consciousness. If it's easier for you I shallrephrase: the true (objective) object=subjective perception of that object.Still don't get it, do you? HmmTough luck Let's cook up an example fromlife: on the table there is a bottle of healthdrink, the dear reader wakes upfrom heavily celebrating Christmas last night, stares at the bottle ofhealthdrink and SEES (i.e. perceives) just a bottle of healthdrink. Did thatmake things clearer :)?b) Hallucinations - This really shouldn't happen to "normal" people, i.e. thefalse perception of the surrounding world. What is (or at least supposed to

    be) "false"? - something that only the "insane" can see and no one else - i.e.the hallucinations of one person can never be seen by anyone, except the"psycho" (Here is an interesting and thought-provoking write-out from LostMemories (the one about Red Devil and Walter Sullivan): "Sullivan says that hesaw a "red devil". What was it that he saw? - No one besides Sullivan himselfcan really know what he saw." - this is quite relevant, isn't it ;)?? And dothese "false images", that are seen only by the psycho, actually look like?These are elements of human subconsciousness (images from thesubconsciousness), that had "floated" to the surface and overlapped withreality. Why doesn't anyone else see them? As they exist only in the

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    subconsciousness of a single person and do not in fact exist in reality, so noone else can perceive them.Example: my dear reader, having had a gulp from the bottle described inpart a), is running around the Christmas tree, waving his hands around andscreaming: "Help! He's going to kill me! Santa Claus is after me!"It is therefore clear that hallucinations do not depend on reality.c) Illusion - sometimes it happens to "normal" people/ The thing aboutillusion is that a a person perceives a real object somehow differently, inhis own way, too subjective. It often happens because of the increasingexpectation (a "premonition") or an emotional pressure along with such factorsas sight defects (i.e. visual perception), hazy visibility (at night, forexample). The principle is that a person sees something not completely, butpartially (for example an object is hard to see) - then the consciousnessautomatically "finishes off" the object's image, according to that person'smood and to the information from that person's subconsciousness. It's a bithard to describe, so let me draw you an example: "Evening time, my dear readerwanders down the road. It's getting darker, misty too it seems, he cannot seemuch and my dear reader has been playing Silent Hill for half a day justbefore going for this here walk. - so now obviously he's scaredshisufficiently scared - he makes his way trough the mist, leaping from everyshadow, turning to follow every sound and being uneasy from the sound of hisvery own footsteps etc. - anyway a complete suspense. A bit further down theroad comes another man, but my dear reader cannot quite see him (mist anddarkness, remember?) - so the only thing my dear reader sees is a ghastly

    silhouette, looming in front of him. The reader, as I have already mentioned,has spent some time playing SH and now (thanks to the impressions from thegame) is actually ready to see a monster in front of him. He squints at thesilhouette - and voila! He actually starts seeing a monster. Of cause, my dearreader immediately takes out his UZI and takes a quick burst at the upcoming"monster" (i.e. a person that he sees as a monster.)"Hehehe, does that example remind you of something? Let's change it a bit: "Aman comes back from the Church (after listening a sermon on the coming ofChrist) through the mist, he is a religious fanatic - then he in the loomingshape of a bystander (or of a dog\bush\post) he shall see an angel orsomething like that :)"There can also be an illusion of senses ("implied sense illusion") - forexample, does the name "Rosewater Park" strike you as ominous? If your answer

    is "yes" that means that your consciousness itself looks for associations,corresponding to SH (this is also a form of illusion), and if it so happensthat your answer is "no", that means you just haven't played SH for longenough ("Silent Hill" also sounds kinda gloomy, doesn't it?)So an illusion is a complex interlacing of objective reality and fiction,matter and subconsciousness. This special phenomenon connects in itself theproprieties of both reality and hallucinations. BTW, the same description ofthe otherworld we can find in the notes of a doctor in Brookhaven (SH2): "The 'other side' perhaps may not be the best way to phrase it. After all, there isno wall between here and there. It lies on the borders where reality andunreality intersect." Now, what could that mean ;) ??

    1-6. Can the monsters and the otherworld simply be a hallucination?Now, let's see if all the monsters (as well as the whole of the otherworld)just be a one big hallucination?Actually there are quite a few confirmations of such a theory along the SHseries, for example:a) SH1, the "Bad" ending - it turns out that all of SH1 was a hallucination, aflash in a dying writer's brain. However, SH3 proves this ending to be a"wrong" one.b) SH2 if PyramidHead wasn't a hallucination, what else could it be? (more ofthat later on)

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    c) In SH1 we can find a note, mentioning PTV (White Claudia) as a hallucinogen.d) In SH4 after each "world" Henry wakes up in his own bed - was that just adream?But according to this theory many questions remain unanswered:a) A hallucination can only be seen by a single person, how come Claudia andHeather can both see the Missionary on the roof, if he doesn't exist?? (I'mnot even commenting on him being described as a cult member in LM). And howcome an inexistent Missionary has killed Harry Mason?b) Even if we propose that some characters can somehow see each other'sglitches, then how come Angela sees her father, and James sees a monster inthe same creature? Is it a simple coincidence that doesn't mean much?c) If the otherworld has nothing to do with reality, then why does it resemblethe "normal world" so closely that you can make your way through both of themusing the same maps?d) If this whole world is just a dream, then how could Heather get home? Orwere her home, her father, Claudia just a dream ??e) If the monsters are a hallucination, how can you kill them using the gun,that Cybil gives? Or with Heather's stun gun? Or in extreme cases, usingHeather's own leg? (I do hope that the reality and materiality of her legraises no questions. Or was she disabled =) ?)f) In SH2 in the town (not far away from the traffic-light) we can find amonster who had been run over by a car. An accident? If the monster is James'glitch, then HOW a car could have run him down?

    1-7. The illusion of perception?As we can see not one of the aforesaid theories (i.e. the theory ofhallucination and the theory of material) cannot fully explain the phenomenaof the otherworld and the "monsters" What can we do? Could this be adead-end? Anyway - the hope remains - the theory of illusion of perception,which combines both the previous.According to this theory (let's take Heather as an example) Heather perceivesthe surrounding world as the otherworld - i.e. actually when Heather looks ata normal wall, she just PERCEIVES it as rusty - i.e. during the transfer fromthe real world to the otherworld the walls themselves do not change, also thewalls, the floor and the ceiling are not delusions - they exist in reality andare only perceived differently. This explains the similarity of layouts. It'sonly the "wallpaper" that changes, so to speak.

    In such a case, it would be more correct to say that the character'sperception moves into an alternate world, not the world itself changing. Let'sintroduce a new term - "alteration of perception of surrounding reality". Thetype of alteration depends on the character - James and Angela can see thesame wall differently.

    1-8. Monsters?! - They look like monsters to you? So, if the most part the alternate reality has a real-world prototype (i.e.bloody walls = normal walls), then what are monsters? What is it, that existsin our world and is perceived as a monster in the Otherworld? In the MoSH3,Hiroyuki Owaku, the scenario writer of SH2 and SH3 tells us about the monsters"Maybe they are human beings just like you, maybe even your neighbors. Whatyou see might be true or false". So... Are monsters... people? Ordinary people,

    who surround us on the streets, in the supermarket (SH3), and who are seen asbloody monsters by us because of the dramatical change of our point of view onthe world, that surrounds us.. Facts supporting this Hiroyuki Owaku's line canbe found throughout the games:a) SH2 - The key to the WoodSide apartment building is held by a DemonPatient. A Demon Patient wearing a jacket and trousers, that is. We also finda map with the entrance to WSA marked. So, the monster drew the map, grabbedthe key and died before reaching WSA. A strange monster, indeedb) SH2 - We find another dead Demon Patient dressed in a jacket and jeans.Notes are scattered on the ground around the corpse: "I'm going to write

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    everything that I've learned so far. Maybe that will help you out somehow. Ifyou're reading this, it probably means I'm already dead." This couldn't havepossibly been written by a monster! But it was the "monster" that wrote them.Thing is, it's James who sees a monster, while in reality it is just a humancorpse.c) SH2 - The same notes describe the monsters: " It seems that they'reattracted to light; They also react strongly to sound; those creatures can bekilled" - they see, they hear (and in SH3 they even SMELL) and can be killed -just like humansd) SH2 - "I saw those demons. They were there, I'm certain. But my friend sayshe didn't see anything. If that's true, does that mean that what I saw was anillusion?" - another confirmation, that the alternate reality and the monstersare an illusion (see 1-5)e) SH2 - Why do monsters dress up anyway? They're just monsters, they'resupposed to roam the town and be scary.f) SH2 - The traffic lights in the town are working. Monsters need to regulatetraffic? Just like we dog) SH - In southwestern Silent Hill, on the ruined bridge James finds yetANOTHER dead Demon Patient. It has a map, on which the parking lot and theBowl-o-Rama are marked. What, monsters have cars and play bowling?h) SH2 - Remember that place under the bridge, where you meet your firstmonster? If you visit it after the Brookhaven stage, you'll find the gatesclosed and sealed with a police line. The "monster murder" case is big on thenews! James Sunderland is the main suspect!

    i) Why are the monsters walking around the town? Why don't they stay at home?j) SH2 - During the night the player can spot a Mannequin jumping from a roof.Why would a monster commit suicide?k) SH2 - When James and Angela meet in the catacombs, they perceive THE SAMEOBJECT differently - James sees a monster, Angela sees her father. I wonder,what that object really wasl) SH2 - During the last meeting with Angela, she sees JAMES as her mother ("Mama! Mama, I was looking for you. Now you're the only one left. Maybethen.... Maybe then I can rest. Mama, why are you running away? You're notMama. It's you... I, I'm sorry.. "). If she sees James as her mother, why can't James see others as monsters?m) SHPN - If you look carefully at the dog monster Cybil sees, you'll noticethat it is a normal dog (it has fur) - but in the next scene it is already a

    Groaner. Now wait. Did Cybil mistake a monster for a dog or a dog for amonster? "Now listen to me, before you pull the trigger, know who you'reshooting..."n) Lost Memories - "Missionary. Cult member transfigured by Claudia's power,to Heather's eyes the appearance it takes is that of a monster". There youhave it. The monster is a man, who Heather sees as a monster. Harry was rightwhen he wrote "I mean, appearances can be deceiving". Yes, looks are deceiving(and the subjective perception too!). "Claudia's power" will be explainedlater on.o) SH3 - Leonard. Heather sees him as a monster, even though he is obviouslynot.p) SH1 - Even though there is nothing to point out the nature of the monstersin SH1, I still found something. When I was ripping apart the disc with

    psmplay, I found a VERY INTERESTING sound file:At first I heard usual, peaceful sounds - the chirping of birds, barking of adog - it all makes a nice feeling of harmony, a typical picture for a resorttown. After some time, the barking suddenly turns into squealing and we hear asomething (the dog?) being hit by a hard object (steel pipe?). The squealingstops and we hear drops (of blood?) falling on the ground.As I see it, this is an explanation put in by Team Silent. This is what Harry's encounters with dog monsters really are. Maybe this file is a part of somesecret ending, still not found by anyone (was cut out of the US release?).q) SH1 - Annie's bar. When Kaufmann is attacked by a monster, Harry shoots it

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    with Cybil's gun (you're not going to doubt the reality of her gun, are you?).If the monster was just a hallucination, the bullet would have hit Kaufmann.But it killed the monsterr) SH3 - Brookhaven Hospital, 3rd floor, Special Treatment Room. There is noteposted on the wall: "Punishment for brutality towards patient: 12 hoursconfinement in the Special Treatment Room" -which means someone has beenpunished that way and the punishment became established. Now let's see - oneof the rooms in locked from outside and there is a monster nurse inside! Couldit be that Heather only SEES a monster in a real nurse, who was punished forbrutality?s) Lost Memories - "Even now I get lots of questions about the true nature ofcreatures. What Vincent says in the library room is something that wasprovided as an answer to this question". Vincent's answer is the key. Notjust a joke, as many fans chose to believe. Let's recall the scene in the cultlibrary:Vincent: "You're the worst person in this room. You come here and enjoyspilling their blood and listening to them cry out. You feel excited when youstep on them, snuffing out their lives."Heather: "Are you talking about the monsters?"Vincent: "Monsters...??? They look like monsters to you?"(Heather looks shocked She is horrified by the realization of what she hasbeen doing. It looks like she's sick)Vincent: "Don't worry, it's just a joke. "I can go on and on with examples, but I suppose you got it by now. When you

    think that you are shooting monsters, you are, in fact, shooting dogs, peopleetc. Just as Cybil said - "before you pull the trigger, know who you'reshooting". But how can a deluded character tell a monster from a human being?The moral? Psychos shouldn't be given guns.It is difficult for one human being to kill another - this invokes a sense ofguilt, which is painful (! I... I killed a... a HUMAN being... A HUMANbeing..."). But the mind tends to escape pain. And killing a monster is not ashard as killing a human. "Well I guess you're not a person anyway" - BANG!Eddie is a similar case - he wants to be made fun of, because it justifies hisviolence and settle his guilt. He takes almost everything as an insult (see1-5 about illusions of meaning and Rosewater Park).Possibly, the alteration is just a way for the mind to avoid the burden ofreality, which is not satisfactory enough, according to this mind's desires.

    So it's not the world, that went insane... "Perhaps, it's we who are insane...hopelessly insane".

    1-9. "Monsters" strike back!Now that we know that every monster you kill can be a real human, dog orsomething else, a question arises - why do the monsters attack the protagonist?a) SH1. A bird flies into the cafe (yes, the Screamers are most probablybirds) and Harry shoots it (you can leave it alive in SHPN).b) SH2. Did the first Demon Patient attack James? Its only attack is spittingout mist. But there's enough mist around, then maybe the spitting is just anillusion? Maybe the monster did not attack him?c) SH3. Did the Closer attack Heather? We know that Closers have the longest

    attack range (apart from the nurses' guns), so it could've just hit her fromafar - it would be enough to kill her on Extreme X, but it just approachedher. And she shot it dead. Hmmmmd) SH4. The Sniffer Dogs came out of the male toilet and started eating eachother. What could that mean?Of course, if when you're killing a monster in the Otherworld, your real bodyis killing a man in the real world, then the protagonist should attract theattention of law enforcers But that way Silent Hill looks like GTA orsomething. Of course, we can always assume that the victims see the characteras a monster too and attack, but not everyone would rush to a fight, if they

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    saw a monster on the street.Actually, everything is like this:Remember the scene in the prison morgue, when James examines a corpse andcomments: "...Did that just move or was it only my imagination?" (it appearsonly once, don't miss it!).When the character SEES the monsters attack him, it does not mean they reallydo. It may be that he\she are so excited, that they see danger in a"monster"'s every movement. Let's try to find out WHY the characters seeattacking monsters. Everyone has their own reasons:a) SH1: Attacking monsters are a product of Alessa's aggressiveness.b) SH2: James WANTS to be hurt - he takes pain as punishment for his sins(("That's why I needed you.... Needed someone to punish me for my sins...").Angela is similar to him. Eddie wants to be attacked, insulted and made fun of- it justifies his acts of violence. And Laura doesn't want any monsters,pain, violence, blood etc. - she just wants to be with Maryc) SH3: Alessa's aggressiveness and her wish to make it "easier" for Heather("It would be better for "myself" to die")d) SH4: Same as Alessa in SH4.Accordingly, wounds, inflicted by unreal attacks are not real also (you can'theal a cut by drinking brown liquid, can you?). A good example is Eileen:Walter injured her, broke her arm, hurt her eye etc. Yet, in any of the goodending we see her in the hospital. Both her eye and arm are alright andthere's not even a bruise on her! Makes you think

    1-10. The material monsters problem. Round two.Thus, if the monsters are an illusion, then the question of their materialityand why not everyone can see them becomes clear. Most of the monsters (MOST,not each and every one, but only a major part of the whole!) have representreal-world prototypes, which are perceived by the people in the normal world,while the IMAGES of monsters exist only in the mind of the "psychotic"characters (Sunderland and co.) and overlap with objects, that correspond (insize, shape etc.) to them, creating a complex and effective illusionary system.I think this whole idea of "monsters and people" is one of the best points ofthe SH series: it makes you think and analyze your actions, trying to look atthe events in the subjective reality from the standpoint of objective reality.It also reinforces the fear factor and touches the topic of guilt. Lastly, itis a great way to protect the game from the Ethics Committee %)

    1-11. Vision in alternate reality, Noise Effect as a way of life (visualanalysis).As I have already mentioned, one is subject to the effects of illusion whenhis or her senses are impaired. For example, in a situation, where vision islimited, or when one is expecting something eagerly. Silent Hill fulfills bothof these examples:a) The town is always covered in fog, blurring the limits of reality.b) It is almost never sunny in the town ("it's almost never sunny in SilentHill..."), which creates a gloomy atmosphere.The weather effects are perfect for illusions, don't you think? But weather isnot enough to see a monster in a passing pedestrian, right? Because of that, Iwant to point out one important thing (it most noticeable in SH3 and SH4):

    The character do NOT see their alternate realities CLEARLY - this is reflectedin the Noise Effect. In the beginning of SH3, when Heather doesn't see thealternate reality, the Noise Effect is all but unnoticeable. But as herperception moves deeper into Alessa's world, NE get stronger. In the case ofSH4 all scenes seen from Henry's eyes in Walter's world are extremely blurred.Obviously, when vision is impaired, the mind has to "complete" the image. Thisis the duality of the Noise Effect - on one hand, it makes the outdatedgraphics look better, on the other hand it symbolizes the "veil" over thecharacter's eyes.

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    1-12. Dancing in the dark (philosophical + psychological analysis)As I have illustrated, even a simple impairment of vision weakens one's linkto reality ("Mist and darkness obstruct the horizon by creating a condition inwhich visibility is limited. In other words, the boundary between heaven andearth is obscured, which suggests a blurring of the line between dream andreality"), but not erasing it entirely - the world is seen accordingly to one's expectations and desires. But what happens if this link disappearscompletely? What if one's eyes are completely enveloped in darkness? Is thedark room empty? Or is it full of black cats? In the dark, subjectiveperception often becomes a substitute for reality. And subjective perceptionis often in conflict with reality But when reality has nothing, to grasp themind with, this perception becomes the only reality for the mind. So, the nexttime you find yourself in the dark, know that darkness is also matter and itreflects your consciousness. Or maybe darkness IS your consciousness?In any case, whenever the link to reality is severed, the mind will surrounditself with its own reality. Just to have a place to exist in.

    2. Our worlds.2-1. War of the worlds.I think that the dear reader should have guessed by now what I have beenhinting on in previous sections is. As we can see there are 2 different worldsin the SH plot:a) Reality.This world is extremely severe and crushes anyone, who dares to disagree with

    it. "Suffering is a fact of life. Either you learn to deal with that or you gounder" - Heather says during her talk with Claudia in the church. Probably theseverance of this world is generated by humans, living in it - sinful, unableto give compassion, caring only about achieving their own happiness? "Why dothey cling to this corrupt world?"b) Subconscious world.But what if a person cannot accept harsh reality? If a person cannot exist init, cannot put up with it? This question is also answered by Heather's retort:"Either you learn to deal with that or you go under. You can stay in yourlittle dream world" That's right "You can stay in your little dream world"and when reality brings a person only suffering, surrounding him withimpenetrable darkness - as I have already mentioned in 1-12, the mind tends to

    surround itself with its own reality simply to exist somewhere. A new reality,in which they might possibly find their happiness. But what does this mentalworld looks like? This question is answered by Claudia: "A place with no pain.No hunger, no sickness, no old age." This world is created by subconsciousnessand can fulfill any desire. More precisely this world is the subconsciousness,a set of one's memories, desires and hopes, a reflection of one's personalityand essenceIt somehow resembles a mirror or more likely the surface of a pondthat reflects the image of someone looking in it. It is a merging of thesubtlety of a reflected image with the depth of thought But how it ispossible to get into that world? Crawl through the rabbit hole? It is onlypossible to completely submerge in it by severing all the links that connectthe mind to reality, by casting away all human senses Certainly, you can getinto the world of subconsciousness in dreams (BTW, a lot of medics call

    dreaming "small death" and in Greek mythology the gods of death and sleep -Thanatos and Hypnos - are twin brothers) - but once awakened the mind alwaysremains in the darkness of reality. Then maybe the only possible exit (anentrance, actually) is the "in Water" ending?

    2-2. Hung above the ground on a leash of suffering. An essentially new way oflooking at the alternate.I think it's clear that reality and subconscious world are always in the stateof conflict - but basically in a "normal" person reality should dominate (moreprecisely the feeling of reality). But when a person cannot accept reality as

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    it is such, things start going wrong - the human mind tries to reject reality,but nevertheless is connected to it with sensual links (hearing, sight etc.)And then the mind goes along an alternative path - it submits to its owndelusions, starts looking at reality in a way that brings less suffering. Thusthe mind paints the reality of its own perception in the colors that areacceptable to it ("Life the game of turning white to black and black towhite" - this idea is symbolically expressed even in riddles) Thus, whilestill being bound to reality, the mind starts remaking it in its own way, sothat it resembles the mind's subconscious world more and brings less pain.I.e. alternative perception (alt. world) is a transitive step for theconsciousness - it stands one leg on the reality territory and the other insubconsciousness. And in SH we can see that it is always trembling (seesection 3-3) - it jumps from trying to cling to reality ("misty SH") tootherwise - coming closer and closer to its own (in SH1 - Alessa's world)"Paradise" ("nightmare SH", "Nowhere").

    2-3. 3 worlds, 3 elements of consciousness.So, as I have already said, there are kind of 2 "extreme" worlds and a"transitional" one:- Reality- The Otherworld (transitional, a kind of "Paradise while still alive")- Subconscious world ("Paradise").Each of these worlds corresponds to a certain element of consciousness, a

    certain type of perception (see section 1-5). I.e. reality = "normalperception", otherworld = illusion, "Paradise" = hallucination, dream. Let'sanalyze this on the example of SH1:a) In my opinion, it is clear that in otherworld with a big part of reality("misty SH") normal perception of reality dominates + illusion (normal town,illusionary monsters).b) "SH by night" is closer to "Paradise", so there the normal perception ofreality remain (the town is still perceived more or less normally) but becausethe darkness impairs vision (see section 1-5, 1-11 and 1-12) the effect ofillusions is augmented here.c) "Nightmarish SH" - even more alternative type of perception, this is asclose as it gets to "Paradise", so what we see here is illusion (for examplethe grates are an illusion) + dream - i.e. many elements from it don't even

    have a prototype in the normal world (for example in "Nightmarish SH" manymonsters are not even an illusion but a hallucination - for example it's not amere coincidence that in SH3 slurpers appear only when Heather switches to"nightmarish" perception).d) And finally the "Nowhere" the extreme form of alt. World, a type ofperception practically disconnected from reality. If other types of perceptionmerely let you see reality in a different light, this one actually resemblesdreaming - i.e. it completely covers reality, in fact it is an endlesshallucination.I hope that the reader understands that not all characters see SH asparticularly "nightly" of "nightmarish" (I gave these names to simplify thenarration) - actually these are stages of APPROCHING the perception of"Paradise", and WHAT a "Paradise" looks like depends on the person.

    2-4. "Was I dreaming?" What happens with our body in reality?At first I would like to make one thing clear - the protagonist's body, whichwe can see in the game, can easily be not his real body - actually it is morelikely a reflection of his personality (i.e. "an ego"), manifested in thesubconscious world (BTW, if there is such a thing as a manifestation of the"ego", there might be an "alter-ego" as well) - that's why, for example, Jamesdoes not fall to his death after jumping in the deep holes (i.e. the holes inSH2 are just a hallucination - did you notice that they appear towards theend, when Sunderland's consciousness is somewhere between the states of

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    "nightmarish perception" and "nowhere", where his mind is already starting tolose connection to reality?) - i.e. when he's THINKING that he is jumping downa hole his real body isn't jumping anywhere.While character's consciousness is off playing with the fairies, what happensto his (her) body in reality?a) In my opinion it is clear that the body doesn't disappear anywhere from the"normal" world while alternativisation of perception goes on and doesn'tappear in it (normal world that is) again once the consciousness is back toits "normal" perception - otherwise people, perceiving different worlds (forexample James and Angela or Heather, Vincent and Claudia) would not be able tosee each other, besides - just imagine how absurd SH plot would become if theidea of "disappearances" were to be acceptedThough, if we assume that our reality is just another subconscious world("What is real? What is real? What is real?" - SH4 OST, Tender Sugar) whichhas consumed all people a long time ago then why cannot they disappear duringa transfer to another world? But the whole "disappearance" theory is based onsome cloudy theoretical assumption Anyhow, hardlyb) Is it possible that all that time the body is just lying unconscioussomewhere? But then ALL of the otherworld is a dream, a hallucination, besidesif Heather, for example, had been actually snoring her head off in a guttersomewhere, then how could she had taken the subway home? So anyway see Part 1,section1-6 - there are stated arguments against the theory that all of SHevents are just a dream. "This is not a dream!" - Harry Mason :)c) Actually the process of "interaction" between consciousness and the

    physical body during the alternativisation of perception is completely similarto the shift of "normal" perception into illusion and after that intohallucination (see section 2-3). I.e. the more threads, connecting a person toreality, are severed, the more of their "Paradise" they see, the more theydescend into it (Accordingly, the extreme stage, when a person completelyloses his grip on reality - the losing of connection with his physical body,i.e. death).It looks something like this:a) during "misty" and "night" perception the link with reality is quite strong- so in reality the character is wandering around the town (or the mall, thesewers etc.) - practically everything he does in the otherworld he does in thereal world too.b) During the "nightmare" perception all actions in the otherworld are

    repeated in reality (for example if Heather has switched on the "nightmare"perception on the second floor of Brookhaven Hospital and in the "nightmarish"world walked to room C4 on the first floor - that that's where she will wakeup after going back to the "misty" one - i.e. she REALLY went down to thefirst floor etc.)c) When a character thinks that he is inside "Nowhere" - he is actually justwandering about the place like a sleepwalker or even simply lying somewherewith his lights out wriggling in his sleep - i.e. the link with reality isextremely weakened. As an example we can take same James's holes: whenSunderland THINKS he falls into the hole (for example before his conversationwith Eddie in the prison canteen) he actually walks (crawls?) in his sleep tothis cafe and comes to there. I.e. the fall never actually occured - it was adream, symbolizing his submersion into subconsciousness ("Falling through

    holes, James dives into his own subconscious"-LM). Another good example isRichrad Braintree. If you look out of the window, you will see that, while hisconsciousness is walking around in the Building World, his body is lying onthe bed - so, the whole time in the Building World Braintree's been snoringoff in his bed and it was actually only his mind in Walter's world) Thus wecan see that the closer one gets to the world of his subconsciousness, his"Paradise" the weaker his grip on his own body becomes.

    I think there are a lot of such ambiguous moments (like with them holes),where, as Alessa has said, "fibs mixed in with truth" - and everyone is

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    world, the weaker its link with its body and reality becomes (see section 2-1,2-3, 2-4). But what happens when the link is completely gone? We find theanswer in Joseph Schreiber's notes: "You've seen that world as well But ifyou get sucked into it, it's not just a nightmare. Don't get lost in there. Ifyou get pulled in, you'll be killed." - i.e. when a person is sucked into aworld of subconsciousness, starts enjoying it (like James or Eddie forexample) - he cannot (or doesn't want to) remain in the "real" world anymore,the link between body and consciousness is torn and the physical body dies.But what does this death looks like? This question is answered by one officerGucci's death report found in the police station: "Officer Gucci unlikely tobe murdered. He apparently died naturally. But medical records show OfficerGucci Had no prior symptoms of heart disease" - i.e. the body dies in a normalnatural way apparently from a heart stop, but considering the events of SH4,we can say that the death is preceded by a splitting headache ("My headache isalready killing me." - Schreiber writes).

    2-7. Gamer's "Paradise" (idea analysis, Konami guys moral)I wanted to point out one pretty interesting detail: did you notice the waythe Konami guys made a very thin parallel between the otherworld andvideogames? Let's take a good look on that parallel:a) Both videogames and the Otherworld distance us from reality one way oranother.b) Death in a videogame doesn't mean death of the physical body - the same iswith "Paradise", which is approached through alternative perception.

    c) Both videogames and the Otherworld are a kind of a crossroads of the realand unreal, they unite the properties of reality (the connection to realityremains), but on the other hand the consciousness is "on the other side",though "The "other side" perhaps may not be the best way to phrase it. Afterall, there is no wall between here and there"4) The same as the otherworld, you should be EXTREMELY careful withvideogames: "If you get pulled in, you'll be killed." - so if you go slashingin Silent Hill for three days in a row and forget completely about reality -you'll kick the bucket from hunger or a heart attack :), and yourconsciousness would forever wander in the Silent Hill game space, "suffering afate worse than death."KONAMI GUYS MORAL. Without doubts, by making such a parallel the creatorswanted to say this: "spend no more then an hour a day at your computer, making

    2 hours rests each half hour (not to defect your vision), do not play horrorand other games that are harmful to your mental health (AND GOD SAVE YOU FROMACCIDENTLY LAUNCHING SILENT HILL!!), do not spend your nights sitting in thenet, never visit any SH-forums, make exercises every day, brush your teeth, dogood at school :) etc."

    3. The Inner God3-1. Incubus.We already know that each person has their own subconscious world, where alltheir memories, thoughts and fears are manifested. In each of these worldsexists a "God" - the strongest feeling coupled with an image (i.e. the feelingof aggression is associated with an image of a demon in Alessa's world). Lost

    Memories names this strongest feeling "Incubus".It's worth noting, that the word "Incubus" was not invented by Team Silent.Basically, the original Incubi are demons, that come to women in the night forall kinds of sexual activities. A nightmare, a feeling of suppression, thesum of one's negative sides."Incubus" is also a derivation from "incubator" and can mean something, thatis inside an incubator. Summing it up, an "Incubus" is an "Inner demon fromthe dreams". All "Gods" in the SH series fit into the term.Now, what exactly IS an "Incubus"? Maybe it is the focal point of thealternate world's energies? We know that the "Incubus" feeds on pain, hatred

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    and suffering ("He has been nurtured by that nightmare" - says DahliaGillespie about Alessa's "Incubus", which will later become the most terriblecreature of her world - her "God", a reflection of her hatred and aggressiontowards people) - all the negative emotions (makes sense - if the "Incubus" isa manifestation of a feeling, then it would grow stronger as the appropriatefeeling does. I.e. if Alessa's "Incubus" reflects her aggression, it will growstronger when she is angry).Accordingly, the "incubator" is a human, a person, which carries this innerGod and nurtures it with emotions. As is show by Heather's example, thealteration process is directly linked to the "Incubus"' power and its growth.The stronger the "Incubus" is (the more emotions it gets), the stronger thealteration effect will be.This may rise one question - why does the growth of the "Incubus" affect one'sperception of reality? That is simple. Imagine this: you wake up in a goodmood and see that the sun is shining, the birds are singing, the world isbeautiful, everyone likes you etc. And if you wake in a bad mood, everythingwill be against you, the world will seem like the worst nightmare, people willbe seen as enemies (monsters?) and their words will sound hostile. We allperceive reality subjectively and our own feelings and emotions affect thisperception. On the other hand, there are other explanations and combinationsof them available (see 2-4).

    3-2. Incubus is inside us all.But as we can see, alternative perception happens not only to Heather, but to

    other people as well - Harry, James, Angela, Brookhaven patients etc. TheDirector of the hospital in his notes also mentions alternative perception asan illness ("Some say it isn't even an illness. I cannot agree with them.")and in certain circumstances a person can get "to the other side" ("Thepotential for this illness exists in all people and, under the rightcircumstances, any man or woman would be driven, like him, to "the otherside.") That means that the "Incubus" is initially present in any human (weshould especially remember SH: Dying Inside on this occasion page 3 - there isan graffiti on the wall "GOD LIVES IN US ALL") and in certain circumstancesstarts developing and influencing that person's perception. These "certaincircumstances", as we are well aware, are experiences of pain. This quiteexplains alteration for James and others - they have experienced enough painin their lives and their "Incubi" have developed and have started affecting

    their consciousness.

    3-3. Incubus development stages, hierarchy.So, since we talk about the growth, development of an incubus in a human andits increasing influence on perception, let's point out the main stages ofincubus development (this will help to simplify the narrative language furtheron).1st stage - a person actually didn't experience much suffering in life - their"Incubus" hasn't developed yet, so alternative perception doesn't happen. Suchpeople see SH as a usual calm resort town where there is no snow in summer, noobstacles and pitfalls, there is no meat hanging from the walls and "monsters"don't hang about.2nd stage - a person has experienced sufferings in life, but not much - the

    town is seen a bit (a bit??) snowy and foggy. There are no "monsters".Alternative perception is expressed by seeing snow, mist and pitfalls (I hopethat it's clear that the snow and pitfalls are just an example. Actually the"incubator" can see something else from himself)3rd stage - have suffered much - alterative perception of living objects -they see people with low-stage "Incubi" as "monsters" (not only people -birds, dogs etc will do just as well) (what exactly do they see depends onsubjective characteristics - monsters, angels, murdered fathers), the fog andthe pitfalls remain but there are no "meaty" walls yet.4th stage - life becomes unbearable - sees people as personal "monsters"

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    (angels, fathers), the reality is completely altered - lattice, rust, flames,meat (depends on personal favorites =)), darkness instead of/with fog,pitfalls etc.5th stage - Absolute Pain (Alessa) - all aforesaid together, "Incubus" reacheslevel 5 and accumulates enough power to influence the surrounding people,making them accept the world of the "incubator" (see section 3-6 and 4-4 fordetails) and gets ready for the Birth (more details in Part 2, section 11).Heather "inherits" a powerful incubus, but it accumulates enough power only 17years later, when all of Alessa's aggression and hatred, hidden deep down inthe subconscious until then, shows up.The transfer between stages happens very gentle, not spontaneously + "Incubi"can be quite unstable and can change between stages.I think that it is clear enough that all aforesaid is an example. A personwouldn't necessary see pitfalls, lattices etc. The "Incubus" developmentinfluences the degree to which the "incubator's" perception resembles theirown world (not always OWN - the stronger "Incubi" can drag others into theirworlds, but more of that a bit later on - in section 3-6 and 4-4).

    3-4. Philosophical meaning of the "Incubus", duality of understanding (takinginto consideration the "religious" and "psychological" aspects of SH).I think that to anyone who had played SH it should be clear that any objectinside the game is symbolic and possess a certain meaning. Naturally, the"Incubus" idea - is not just something mystic but more of a metaphor. Tobetter sort out the sense, which this metaphor brings, let's first of all look

    at the "Incubus" from a "religious" point of view, seeing it as Claudia would:So, according to Silent Hill religion, the Otherworld is Paradise, then (as an"Incubus" grows because of pain) the pain, experienced by a person, is a sortof pathway to Paradise. But why is it pain that brings the believer tosalvation and eternal peace? During the final encounter Claudia said: "is itso hard to believe that sympathy could be born from the pain and suffering?" -i.e. she thinks that suffering improves people, purifies them (the "Flamepurifies all" picture springs to mind). I.e. from religious point of view anincubus is a divine part of a man, his potential of salvation, that is hiddeninside any person, but that is show only in those, purified by pain.Now let's approach the same problem from a "psychological" point of view (itis shown most evidently on Alessa, but also works with James, Angela, Eddieetc. Here is something for you to think about - fill in the name and change

    "the case record" according to the character):Well, if we look from this side, we should look with the eye of reason anddeny beforehand any mysticism - i.e. the "Incubus", God and Paradise - arejust a product of our patient's (Alessa's) mind. All her life her realsurrounding world has brought her nothing but pain and suffering (thanks toMomma). So after some time a desire to save herself from reality and to hidebegan to grow in the patient. And then Alessa had created a world in herimagination, which was suitable for this. And the more unbearable the realitygot the more often the patient crossed over into her own world and after sometime she has become completely insane - her world became the only real one forher. So according to "psychological" point of view the "Incubus" is anabstract image, symbolizing a human mind, the force of the mind. Pain makesthe brain seek a way to salvation and it starts creating its own worlds.

    I think you have noticed that both points of view are one way or another trueand they both lead to the same idea (just by different ways) - it is quite aninteresting feature of the SH plot.

    3-5. Is the Inner God material?I think that an attentive reader should have already guessed what it was Ihave been hinting on in section 3-4 ;). The "God" does not necessarily have tobe material - it is just a projection of a feeling after all. We SEE the "God"only in the alternate reality The Otherwold is interesting in that it cangive unseen (and sometimes unexplainable) things a visual reflection (though

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    these images are completely abstract and subjective, being taken from theperson's subconsciousness).Now, let's recall the final confrontation of SH3. Heather spits out the"Incubus" and Claudia devours it ("Her"). Did all that really happen? Maybe itwas only what the characters saw under the influence of Alessa's world?

    3-6. The principle of distribution and overlapping of alternate perceptions.As we know, the "Incubi" can interact with each other. Very potent ones canoverride the influence of less powerful - this explains how Lisa, who hasalways been near Alessa, can perceive Alessa's vision of the world (pusrunning from the faucet etc.) James also could see with his own eyes the worldof Angela Orosco during their conversation on the staircase. But it seems thatsuch "overlapping" can only be possible if one is very close to an extremelypowerful "Incubus". Besides it is better if there is a strong mental linkbetween the "Incubi" (like for example between Harry and Sheryl, James andAngels, Alessa and Lisa etc). Accordingly when an "Incubus" levels-up to 5 itbegins to actively override the perceptions of other people even on bigdistances - this explains how Alessa could make people see reality thatresembled her inner world. In fact this suggests that "Incubi" are some kindof radio transmitters with a certain range - and they transmit the signals ofalternativisation that influence an "incubator's" mind (as it is within therange of "Incubus's" transmission) As an "Incubus" grows it's transmitionradius becomes larger - and sometimes, under certain circumstances, it canaffect other people's minds.

    3-7. Radio operations principles.So it seems that "Incubi" work as radio transmitters, sending mental signalsto deform perception of an "incubator" and such signals can overlap with thesignals of other "Incubi" (though according to a book from the SH1 library, itwould be more accurate to say not "signals" but "external psychic energyfields", (although I think there is not much of a difference) - more detail insection 4-3) Logically, not only they override the signals of other "Incubi",but other signals as well - for example they can overlap with radio signals,creating static. Here's an example for you - Sunderland is strolling down astreet and there is a bystander nearby - James's "Incubus" starts emittingsignals of alternating the perception of the bystander into a monster - James's external energy field becomes stronger and affects the radio and it (the

    signal) creates static - and that's it! By the way, did you notice that themore "otherworldly" the surroundings are, the louder the static becomes(besides Noise Effect gets stronger - but that's another story :))? (if, beingin the "nightmarish" world with meaty/rusty walls, you turn up the sound a bit- it is possible to hear that the static doesn't stop - that explains a lot).It is also important to point out, that in SH1, when Harry is in the resortarea, just before the alteration (on the bridge) the radio comes aliveseemingly for no apparent reason.

    3-8. "Incubus" and television.A TV is also a receiver of transmitions - and here everything is like theradio effect - an "Incubus's" signals create telestatic (it's also called"snow" - pretty symbolic) - this explains why incubators cannot watch TV in

    SH. In can also be possible that incubus's signals can project something onthe screen.

    3-9. Subconscious projection on TV- and radio receivers or "Cheryl on da box":)Since we have started talking about receivers let's define the way such thingscan reflect certain images. Let's start with listing the examples:a)SH1, mall - Cheryl on TV.b)SH2 - Mary's voice on the radio is the image of James' hope - it is betterto say that it is a "fruit" of hope, Hospital - radio show, Hotel (room 312) -a television replays memories, hidden in James's subconsciousness (well he

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    didn't actually record himself killing his wife, did he? Lol), Hotel (library)- the conversation with the doctor is played in the headphones, Hotel (thelong corridor) - James's and Mary's conversation on the radio.c) SH3 - mall again - Sheryl on TV again - a reflection of Heather's "LostMemories".d) SH4 - the TV "scare" in room 302.In my opinion, fragments of human subconsciousness are not projected directlyon the screen, but on the perception of it (in most cases anyway). I.e. thatmeans that in reality (for example) when James hears Mary's voice on theradio, the radio is actually just hissing (if it is on), while James hearsMary's voice and he just thinks that it comes from the radio, and in fact itis only inside his head. The same is with Cheryl on TV and on the phone (SH1).The main argument for this theory is this - in SH2 before entering room 312 inthe hotel JUST TURN OFF THE RADIO - and Mary's voice (when she "calls" Jamesafter viewing the tape) will still be there (though the power of the radio isoff - i.e. there is practically no receiver). Here an attentive reader mightjump to a conclusion: "if Mary's voice is not real, then maybe the radiostatic too is only inside the character's head" The answer is: if, when youturn the radio off, Mary's voice remains, then the static should also remainwhether you turn the radio on or off, but it doesn't, furthermore, you cancontrol the volume (!!! :) ) That means that the static is real (or it canalways be a bug).As we can see, the phenomenon of projection is present in all four games andis a base structure of the perception of the Otherworld. Of course, you can't

    fully rely on information acquired in such a way, as while projecting theconsciousness, the receiver doesn't necessarily show real events, printed inthe "incubator's" memory - but abstract concepts as well: thoughts, feelings,hopes, wishes etc. Anyway it's a kind of trick question - I wish to point outthat one's desires are also a part of one's memory and can one way or another"cover" the real memories, changing one's memory (this idea is clearlyrepresented in SH2).

    3-10. Silent Hill and Otherworld perception, the power of the town.On one hand it is said in Lost Memories: "The power that absorbs and reflectswhat people hold in their hearts is established as being exclusive to the townof Silent Hill." On the other hand, from SH3 events we can see thatalternative perception is not dependent on the town and in SH4 the main

    character Henry Townsend doesn't spend a single second in the town of SilentHill during the whole game. How can we explain that? Can it be that them badSH creators have simply meanly tricked the poor naive gamers :)? Well, we canalways suggest that this is a bug or a merry Japanese joke, but I think that Ihave got to the bottom of this. The town's particularity is that in SH thereis a concentration of a certain force, energy (details in Part 1, section 4),which causes the "Incubus" of every visitor and resident to "activate". Maybe,they become more vulnerable to its influence? - after that there it does notreally matter where a "martyr-incubator" is granted "Salvation" (in the formof an Otherworld). Besides such an idea explains another line from LM: "Theshift to the otherworld that takes place outside the town depends entirelyupon a unique power." If we combine that with the line "the human mind iswhere the otherworld dwells and holds power" and also with section 3-4, it

    becomes clear that the power of an "incubus" is the very same "unique power".And besides Silent Hill is the place where the outmost secret FEELINGS andmemories live forever, do you know what that means?..

    4. Ghosts and spirits.The problem of "ghosts" shadowed us throughout the SH series and hasespecially sharply risen in the context of Silent Hill 4. Well lets finallysort them out (ghosts and spirits that is)

    4-1. Close circuit

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    Undoubtebly, human consciousness is tightly bound to the physical body(including the brain). But does the death of the brain mean the death of theconsciousness, complete oblivion? That question has been puzzling scientistsfor centuries :) Sure, human consciousness is bound to the matter and cannotexist without it, but consciousness also tend to reflect matter insubconsciousness (memories for example) thus constructing its own world ofreflected matter (then consciousness becomes a mirror and personal perceptionbecomes a curvature of this mirror. But let us suppose that consciousness forsome reason suddenly plunged into that world and manifested itself in it - sothat world became the only real one for the consciousness. So what do we get -did the consciousness close on itself, creating an enclosed self-sufficientsystem? You know the symbol of the Ouroboros (it's in SH1 BTW) ? Well, it'sthe same thing with consciousness - it keeps on being sustained by its ownworld ("nurtured by that nightmare" - as Dahlia puts it), continues to existinside it. Actually, there it can exist eternally - being in a closed circuitit can go on forever. In that case even losing connections with the bodycannot break the circuit, simply sealing it forever, blocking "the way back"into reality, and as for the consciousness, being in another plane ofexistence, it wouldn't even realize the death physical body and consideringits own world the only reality would naturally go on "living" in it. It isreminiscent of "The Reverse Will" from the SH2 OST where Laura repeats (thelyrics are reversed):"Now I lay me down to sleep,I pray the Lord my soul to keep,

    If I should die before I wake,I pray the Lord my soul to take" - I think, those lines reflect the aforesaidas well as possible.

    4-2. "White Noiz"So, even after the death of the physical body the consciousness does notdisappear, but continues to exist in its own world ("Paradise"), thesubconscious world also doesn't disappear anywhere - we can observe that on anexample of Walter Sullivan (SH4). But in that case where is that subconsciousworld located? Before it "inhabited" the brain of the "incubator", but wheredoes it go after death? We can certainly assume that this subconscious worldexists in some sort of "parallel world", but I think that "parallel world" isnot the best expression.

    In fact it continues to exist inside reality, being at the same time "ananother plane" of existence (it is expressed rather clearly in the CrimsonTome: "It exists in a space separate from the world of our Lord. Moreaccurately, it is within, yet without the Lord's world" - I'll explain aboutthe Lord's world a bit further ahead). Anyhow, the world continues to exist,but represents some kind of "White noise" (for the information: White noise isa type of noise that is produced by combining sounds of all differentfrequencies together, completely covering any other sound. BTW if anyone'sinterested - sound is a form of energy too) - a proportional "blending" of allthe different subconscious worlds.Static is also called "White noise". I suppose many of you are familiar withthe "EVP theory" [yeah, especially after that recent movie - Translator'snote], which states that the dead can contact our world through static

    (remember the radio?),BTW it is rather interesting that the Indians, who lived before the colonistsarrived, revered the land, where Silent Hill will have been built as "ThePlace of the Silent Spirits" and believed that the spirits continue theirexistence in stones, trees and so on (also see 4-5) - then maybe thesubconscious world continues to exist inside reality, but it is "bound" tocertain locations (concentrated in them?)The idea of a binding to certain location corresponds to the concept of themost popular modern Japanese horror-films:

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    a) "The Ring" - negative mental energy of Sadako Yamamura had beenconcentrated inside the well, where she had died and even after her death thatenergy continued to exist - it has even influenced and created her image on TV(remember section 2)b) "Dark Waters" - negative mental energy of a drowned girl again inhabits anapartment building, the girl is looking for her mother

    4-3. The power of thought, the power of emotion, the power of Pain.And still in what kind does the subconscious world continue to exist afterdeath? This question is answered by a book from SH1 school library:"Poltergeists are among these. Negative emotions, like fear, worry or stressmanifest into external energy with physical effects." - that is any thought,any emotion possess a certain force, an energy - and the stronger the emotion,the bigger psychokinetic potential it possesses. But what a subconscious worldis is a set (conglomeration more precisely) of memories, feelings and thoughtsof a person. In that case, it's not surprising that this "Paradise", thissubconscious world possesses enormous energy, I think it would be true to saythat after physical death of an "incubator", all that world becomes pureenergy. We can also see that negative emotions (for example pain, hatred andso on) often are the strongest, that is they dominate over "positive" feelings(love and suchlike) in human consciousness and therefore possess the greatestpotential.Now let's think - what is the force making people break their link withreality and descend into their own world? That's right, pain, suffering, which

    real life grants. Let's take Alessa as an example - why did her world becomeso powerful that its force had spread throughout the town? It's as clear asday that this happened because in Alessa's subconscious world vast amounts ofpain, hatred for humanity has collected - this gave her world suchunbelievable power, that (LM) "Her agony is manifested and the entire town isswallowed up by the Otherworld."

    4-4 "Possessed"How does this psychokinetic potential show in reality? We can find the answerto this question in the SH3 subway (Occult Magazine): "The souls of those whohad died suddenly by suicide or accident don't realize they're dead. Sometimesthey stay put and haunt the particular place The pain can get so bad thatthey turn to humans for salvation - or they begrudge humans their lives. At

    such times they can possess humans. Places, known as "famous suicide spots" or"high accident areas" are always to blame" - that means the more power thesubconscious world accumulates, the more it shows in reality - so, once itaccumulates a certain amount of power it begins to influence reality - somepeople can even feel and perceive that world - that way normal people's (inthe town of SH there is some weed which grants normal people the ability tosee "Paradise" but that's further on - Part 2, section 12) perception isaltered, later they can even be sucked into that "Paradise", which causestheir death, but the consciousness and personality of these people willforever remain in the world of another's subconsciousness (that happens toLisa Garland and the characters of SH4). In fact, this is the essence ofinteraction of the "Incubi" and of distribution and overlapping of deformedperceptions, as described in section 3-6. The more power an "Paradise" gains

    the more it influences people's perception of reality - in fact, onceaccumulated enough power, this subconscious world can spread over all people -i.e. everyone will start seeing this subconscious world and it will become theultimate reality.

    4-5. Who is susceptible to the influence of psychic energies?In what situation is the mind most vulnerable to psychic energies and caneasily be drawn into a subconscious world? Obviously, when it is distancedfrom reality:a) Sleep (Richard Braintree, Frank Sunderland)

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    b) Intoxication (Cynthia Velasquez)c) Impaired vision and other sensesd) As one suffers pain in real life, the mind.I.e. the minds of people, who have suffered enough in their lives ("darknessin their hearts") are more open to the influence of subconscious worlds. Justas stated in Lost Memories: "people with afflicted minds are easily drawn tothe otherworld". That is why the town (which houses a huge concentration ofpsychic energies of many people) starts to draw people with "darkness in theirhearts".

    4-6. "Lingering thoughts", the remains of consciousness.Being in the otherworld, it is often possible to see (to sense) the remains ofthoughts and feelings of many people. Probably these feelings were so strongthat they had transformed into mental energy, which forever remains in thetown (usually this energy remains in places where those feelings wereexperienced - maybe that is why Indians believed that the spirits inhabittrees, water and earth?), this energy interacts with protagonist's incubus, sowith alternative perception we can apprehend pieces of another's subconsciousworlds - their thoughts, feelings, etc.Let's explain this on some examples from SH3:a) In the tunnel, leading from the park to the church, we can find bloodyinscriptions. According to Lost Memories this is "The voice of a believer thatsuggests self-sacrifice"- i.e. human thoughts became energy, forever remainingin that tunnel and reflected in Alessa's world (those thoughts are so potent

    that they break through the perception of Alessa's world)b) In the confession chamber Heather hears a voice of a woman, who has killeda child ("The owner of the voice committed a murder in order to get revengefor the murder of her own child"- LM) - Probably the true feelings of thebeliever still remain in the confessional.c) Stanley Coleman's diaries - these are also the consequences of interactionbetween two subconscious worlds.d) Father's notes - not only the negative emotions bear energy, light feelingsof parental love also possess a strong psychokinetic potential.

    These are only a couple of examples from the game - actually there are manymore of them - we will discuss all these phenomena in detail in tome 2.

    4-7. The cycle of memories.As we can see, initially a "Paradise" arises inside a person's brain andconcentrates there in the form of energy, but after the death of the energy'shost - the brain - this energy of the subconscious world is concentrated inplaces, to which one's strongest memories are bound (for example "Alessa'sthoughts from her childhood linger in the church"-LM) - i.e. the energy ofmemories itself finds a new haven, a new host.In that case, this energy can possess another person's mind. But here newdifficulties arise: human consciousness would oppose such a possession. (as itwould cause a synthesis of subconsciousnesses, forming a sort of conglomerate,apart from that it can cause dual (trial, quatroal) personalities, as the newhost is inhabited by all the other personalities, reflected in another'ssubconscious world). Naturally, the consciousness would fight such "guests"

    back (Harry Mason calls that "conscious resistance") , it would start toresist the appearance of another personality in itself.How is it possible then for energy (an "Incubus") to transfer to a new mind?Here are three variants:a) The new host wanted that and didn't resist (Example- Claudia Wolf)b) The new host's personality is weakened (Examples - Heather Mason and EileenGalvin)c) Or when the new host's consciousness is simply insufficiently developed andis not expressed so strongly (i.e. there is nothing that can resist) - i.e. avery small (newborn?) children (examples - Cheryl Mason, Heather Mason).

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    Thus, the personality, the memories and the subconscious world of one, whoplunged into their own subconscious world, can not only float around as "WhiteNoiz", but once it accumulates enough psychokinetic potential, can continueits existence inside another's mind. The sub-subconscious? Well, I think thatis, speaking in SH2 terms, "The basement's basement". Pretty symbolic

    4-8. Holy Mother, Mother Reborn, reincarnation spiral.For a start, let's sort out what is a Holy Mother. I think that it is clearthat a Holy Mother is something, that contains a God inside itself (I thinkthe name is given by analogy to normal mother and child).I should rephrase to make things clearer: the God EXISTS (and forms itself)INSIDE the Holy Mother. But let us see WHAT is called a Holy Mother during thegame:a) In SH3 Alessa (Heather - i.e. a living human) is called a Holly Mother(dialog recorded on the tape: "L.C. : I heard that the Holy Mother has beenfound. Is that true? Vincent: Alessa has been found?")b) The end of SH3 - Claudia absorbs Alessa-Heather's "Incubus" and takes therole of the Holy Mother.c) SH4 - cult followers call the stone in the forest "Motherstone".

    I.e. a Holy Mother can be both a living human and some particular location,also the role of the Holy Mother can be transferred from one person (or place)

    to another. Doesn't it remind you of something? Shall we say section 4-5, 4-6;)? Let's analyze: God is formed in the world of human subconsciousness, i.e.figuratively speaking, the consciousness and the personality of an"incubator", who has created their own world, are the Mother of a "Paradise"and the mother of a "God". Even after death, the "incubator's" personality cancontinue to exist in its own world, that is bound by memories to a particularplace (this is the MotherStone and the Mother-Room 302 -Indians believed thatthe souls ("Incubi"/mental energy) of the dead can remain inside stones andtrees, etc.) Also this world (containing the personality, consciousness andmemory of the initial "incubator") can find a new host - this is the Rebirthof the Holy Mother (Reincarnation is the transfer of a soul to a new body).I.e. Holly Mummy is nothing more than a host for the subconscious world andthe God, reflected inside it. Anyway, the cycle of consciousness of someone

    closed in their own world is endless.

    4-9. "This is God?" (analysis of God based on all series)In all of the Silent Hill series we can see a strange creature, inhabiting inthe depths of one's subconscious world - God, but its image and the raison d'etre change constantly depending on the person. Let's see WHAT is this God ineach part:

    a) Silent Hill 1 - "Samael". The main wish of Alessa (and it was her mind whichgave birth to the world of SH 1) was death. Dahlia has reached her goal:thanks to mother's efforts her daughter had started loathing all people,whishing for their death. But the girl's constant sufferings have developed asuicidal side in her character - "It would be better for "myself" to die.

    After all, it's nothing to be afraid of" - Alessa wanted to release herselffrom pain and suffering, which were caused by the surrounding people, and bylife itself. And who is Samael? - actually it is an angel of death. It alladds up. I.e. Alessa's pain, ha