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SILENT HILL PLOT ANALYSIS
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A plot analysis for the "Silent Hill" series.
Originally written by SilentPyramid
Translated into english by Darth_Blade, kl3r1k, MadRushn and 401st Stalker.
VERSION 3.1
May, 20, 2006
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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 (the movie)
Silent Hill Dying Inside
Silent Hill Among the Damned
Silent Hill Paint it Black
Silent Hill OST
Silent Hill 2 OST
Silent Hill 3 OST
Silent Hill 4 OST
Lost Memories
Victims List
Another 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!



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CONTENTS.
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ABOUT US/CONTACT US
UPDATE HISTORY\WHAT'S NEW
PREFACE
PART 1: MECHANICS, BASE STRUCTURE
1. The Concept.
1-1. Power of the Mind
1-2. Accumulation
1-3. The Inner (subconscious) world
1-4. Laws and limitations of the inner world
1-5. Comparison of the subconscious world and reality
1-6. Endless circuit. Theory of immortality
1-7. Worlds mixing
1-8. Influence
1-9. Who is vulnerable to the influence of such "powers"?
1-10. Reality, illusion and hallucination.
1-11. Subjective perception.
1-12. Descent.
1-13. What really happens to a person, who is in subconscious?
1-14. Death in reality and in the "otherworld".
1-15. Spirits.
1-16. Possessed
1-17. The spiral of reincarnation.
1-18. Monsters. Could they be?...
1-19. God of the inner world.
1-20. Reality of the "otherworld".
2. The Power of Silent Hill.
2-1. The Silent Call.
2-2. Alteration.
2-3. Otherworld outside of Silent Hill.


PART 2: RELIGION OF SILENT HILL
1. Mythology Analysis
1-1. Origin
1-2. Birth
1-3. Salvation
1-4. Creation
1-5. Promise
1-6. Faith
1-7. Morals of a myth
1-8. Date of the first Coming described in a myth
1-9. Factological analysis of mythology
2. The God
2-1. The true name of God
3. Other deities
3-1. Holy Mother
3-2. Valtiel
3-3. Xuchilbara and Lobsel Vith
4. Saint people of a cult
4-1. St. Nicolas
4-2. St. Jennifer
4-3. Holy Alessa
4-4. St. Stephen
5. Pyramid Head's religious origins
6. The Order
6-1. History of the Cult (19-th century - the middle of 20-th century)
6-2. Development of "the Order"
6-3. Collapse of Claudia's ideals, new chapter in the history of the cult
6-4. Cult's church
6-5. Wish House
7. Paradise
7-1. Theoretical and practical ideas of absolute Paradise
7-2. The treatise about aprioristic imperfection of the concept of Paradise
7-3. Reflections about pain and martyrs
7-4. Salvation of the chosen ones
7-5. "Everyone will be released, from pain and suffering!"
7-6. "Salvation of all Mankind"
7-7. "Mom! Let me in!" (Walter's vision of Paradise)
8. SECTS
8-1. Saint Ladies sect
8-2. Holy Mother sect
8-3. Common things in sects
8-4. Sect of the Lord
8-5. Religious Chaos
8-6. Valtiel sect
8-7. The unity of sects
9.   White Claudia and the religion of Silent Hill.
9-1. What is White Claudia?
9-2. PTV, hallucinogenic properties.
9-3. Distribution.
9-4. White Claudia in SH2.
9-5. The role of White Claudia in the events of SH. White Claudia and the fog
9-6. The meaning of the name. Herbs in SH.
10.   Rituals.
10-1. The origin of SH rituals
10-2  "21 Sacraments for the Descent of the Holy Mother\Holy Assumption" (FAQ)
10-3. The ritual of burning
10-4. Ritual execution in Toluca prison
11. Metatron
11-1. Metatron and Samael, religious sources
11-2. the Seal of Metatron and the Mark of Samael
11-3. Functions and conditions of the Seal of Metatron\the Mark of Samael
11-4. Is the Seal of Metatron\Mark of Samael have a REAL power?
11-5. Why does the Seal of Metatron didn't worked in SH3?
12. Magical objects and books of Silent Hill
12-1. Flauros
12-2. (Aglaophotis)
12-3. The "Lost Memories" book
12-4. Artifacts for the ritual of Holy Assumption
12-5. The Book of Crimson Ceremony
12-6. The Crimson Tome
12-7. Otherworld Laws
12-8. The Seal of Metatron\Samael
12-9. The book " Silent Hill's Ancient Gods: A Study of Their Etymology
and Evolution " (About Syncretic Religions)
12-10. Sword of Obedience
12-11. The Holy Candle and the Saint Medallion
12-12. Spears of Holy Mother
12-13. The Scriptus of the cult\21 Sacraments
12-14. The Book of Praise
12-15. Channeling Stone
13. Halo of the Sun
13-1. Religious meaning of the "Halo of the Sun"
13-2. Signs on external circle of Halo of the Sun?
13-3. What is written on the Halo of the Sun?
13-4. The history of formating Halo of the Sun

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

PART 4: CHARACTER ANALYSIS
1.    SH1 Characters
1-1.  Harry (Harold) Mason
1-2.  Cheryl Mason
1-3.  Cybil Bennet
1-4.  Michael Kaufmann
1-5.  Lisa Garland
1-6.  Dahlia Gillespie
1-7.  Alessa Gillespie
1-8.  Character rationality pattern in SH1 (compositional analysis)
1-9.  Andy
2.    SH2 Characters
2-1.  James Sunderland
2-2.  Angela Orosco
2-3.  Eddie Dombrowski
2-4.  Laura
2-5.  Mary Sunderland
2-6.  Maria. Part 1.
2-7.  Maria. Part 2.
2-8.  Ernest Baldwin
2-9.  Amy Baldwin
2-10. Walter Sullivan in the context of SH2.
2-11. Joseph Barkin
2-12. Jack Davis
2-13. Joshua Lewis
2-14. Director of Brookhaven Hospital
2-15. Jennifer Carroll
2-16. The Orosco family.
2-17. The DOG (Mira)
2-18. Other SH2 characters
3.    SH3 Characters
3-1. Harry Mason
3-2. Heather (cheryl) Mason
3-3.  Douglas Cartland
3-4.  Claudia Wolf
3-5.  Vincent
3-6. Leonard Wolf
3-7.  Stanley Coleman
3-8.  Tattooed Guy
3-9.  The subway incident victim
3-10. Joe, Jaime and their friend
3-11. Christie
3-12. Woman in the confession booth
3-13. The UFO guys
3-14. James Sunderland?
3-15. Other characters
4.    SH4 Characters
4-1.  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 Braintree
4-10. South Ashfield Heights apartments residents.
5.    SHDI Characters [to be translated]
6.    SHAtD Characters.
6-1.  Jason
6-2.  Aaron
6-3.  Dahlia
6-4.  The soldiers
7.    SH Paint it Black Characters [to be translated]
8.    SH Grinnig Man Characters [to be translated]
9.    SH Dead\Alive Characters [to be translated]

PART 5: CREATURE ANALYSIS [to be translated]

PART 6: SH the MOVIE PLOT ANALYSIS
1.    Chronology
2.    Characters
3.    Creatures
4.    Symbolism and References

COPYRIGHT
CREDITS
CONCLUSION

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ABOUT US/CONTACT US
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Team Listing
SilentPyramid - the author, who singlehandedly started this whole thing and
wrote the original text. All comments, questions and suggestions regarding the
plot analysis are to be sent to him ( silentpyramid@mail.ru ), but bear in mind
that his English skills are far from perfect, so some questions may be left
unanswered until the release of the translated FAQ section. By the way, you
can find original version of SilentPyramid's SH Plot Analysis in the
archive at "silenthillpa.nm.ru" (by the way, you can also find
other SilentPyramid's guides and FAQs there).

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

kl3r1k - translator of Part 2 and Part 6. Yes, he's the one who translated all
this amount of text to bring "religion" and "movie analysis" sections to you.

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

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

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UPDATE HISTORY
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21.05.05 - Initial release of the translated version
of Silent Hill Plot Analysis by SilentPyramid.

16.07.06 - release of the second version.
What's new in Version 2.0:
-Part 1 completely rewritten.
-Added subsection 3 of Part 4.

20.10.06 - release of the third version.
What's new in Version 3.0:
- Added translations of Part 2 (Religion of Silent Hill)
- Added translations of Part 6 (Silent Hill the Movie analysis)

20.05.07 - release of the version 3.1
Updates:
- Finally added translations for the missing sections 11-13 of Part 2
(Religion of Silent Hill). Also previous sections "12" and "14" of Part 2
were renamed to "9" and "10" respectively to match the numeration of the
sections in the original (untranslated) version of the guide.
Well, the translation process is quite tough and goes pretty slow,
but we're still trying to translate this guide into English for you ^__^

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

This mighty tome of mysteries was written by me and my fellow observers, based
mostly 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 is
the place, where the closer and the lying figure, the puppet nurse and the
sniffer 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 in
mysterious ways". No longer shall Silent Hill be deemed a town taken over by
demons. Yes, demons they are. Demons of the human soul...
The tome was first written in a mysterious eastern language and posted on the
forum, which consisted solely of the speakers of said tongue on the 20th of
the sixth month of the year two thousand and four. Still, mysteries popped up
one after another, as if mocking the author. But, having joined forces with
other like-minded individuals, the team was able to defeat most of the
secrets. Then, a movement appeared for the translation of the tome into
English, so that even those tainted by the profane could read it and atone
their sins. As we speak, minds and fingers from all over the land are working
hard to present it. Enjoy the honor, dear reader. Enjoy the honor and fear,
for Silent Hill never lets its victims away... unchanged.




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PART 1: MECHANICS
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Silent Hill - a town, where strange events happen more often than anywhere
else… Other worlds… Eternal memories… Birthing of Gods and mysterious
disappearances… 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 the supernatural events, basing all conclusions on official info from the
games or other sources. But remember, that everything here is THEORIES, so you
are not supposed to see it as the one and only true explanation. I hope these
explanations help you to understand the plot of the series better.

1. The Concept.

1-1. Power of the Mind.
The main ideas of the Silent Hill series are closely connected with
parapsychological and philosophical theories in the real world. It is
considered, that every human thought and emotion possesses a certain
amount of force, which can be characterized as "psychic energy". And the
stronger this thought or emotion is, the greater it's psychoenergetic
potential. In a nutshell, this energy allows the feeling to affect the
world around the person in general and other people in particular. In
other words, the products of one's psychic activities are not limited to
their own inner self, but can have outside effects.
That is exactly what the book in the school library of SH1 was supposed
to relay: "...Poltergeists are among these. Negative emotions, like fear,
worry, or stress manifest Into external energy with physical effects" -
thus, inner psychic activity can have outside effects of physical nature
and can even create such phenomena as poltergeists. That is a good
example of psychic energy. According to the mentioned book, negative
emotions (like fear, worry, pain or hatred) experienced by teenage girls
have the highest psychoenergetic potential. Nevertheless, we have seen
strong manifestations of this energy in various people in the games - be
it a middle-aged clerk, mourning the loss of his wife, a desperate and
suicidal girl, who murdered her father, or an orphan boy, who wants to
find his mother more than anything else in the world.
Another good example would be a particular girl, whose psychic energy was
so strong, that an entire town called Silent Hill was devoured by the
darkness of her inner world ("Due to the power of Alessa's thoughts, the
town is transfigured into the otherworld" - the role of *thoughts* is
noted in Lost Memories). We can also recall the negative feelings of the
prisoners of the Toluca Prison and the victims of the plague. These have
twisted the "power of the town" ("because of the unforeseen deaths of the
town's population, as well as the thoughts and feelings of the prisoners,
the original power that the town held was gradually distorted" - LM), but
that we'll discuss a bit later on.

1-2. Accumulation.
The psychic energy of thoughts and feelings has the ability to
concentrate in a particular location, which is somehow connected to the
source of the energy. Usually, such locations are places where strong
feelings have been experienced, possibly more than once. We could
theorize that this is the reason, why the natives believed, that spirits
inhabited the trees, water and earth.
And if a place comes to "store" the thoughts and feelings of a several
people, this place will eventually develop a "power" of it's own.
According to Lost Memories, the town of Silent Hill can be described as a
"spiritual sponge", which absorbs the energies of people's thoughts and
feelings in great quantities. Let us look at some of the most prominent
examples in the SH series (believe me, even the guy who wrote this whole
PA can't list ALL of them):
a) SH3: The negative thoughts of a particular suicidal girl are connected
to the merry-go-round in Lakeside Amusement Park and continue to exist
even after her death ("At the merry-go-round in the amusement park, the
"memory of Alessa (Alessa's obsession)" appears. In accordance with her
name, she is not Alessa herself but her profoundly dark emotion that
clings to this place" - LM).
b) SH2: The thoughts of a girl, who was burned alive by her mother as a
sacrifice to God still exist in the cult's church ("Alessa's thoughts
from her childhood linger in the church" - LM).
c) SH3: Bloody notes on the walls of the tunnel leading from the
amusement park to the church. According to Lost Memories, this is "The
voice of a believer that suggests self-sacrifice" - the thoughts of the
person, who sacrificed themselves to God became energy, which still
lingers in that tunnel.
d) SH2: The notes and letters of the director in SH2, Stanley Coleman's
diaries in SH3 and the notes and letters from Joseph Schreiber in SH4 -
all these are the memories and thoughts of dead people, which the
characters perceive as writings.
e) SH4: The psychic energy of the thoughts and feelings of a religious
fanatic, who sacrificed himself, was connected to an apartment and
continued to exist there after it's "owner"'s death, affecting all the
tenants of the building and even other people.

The basic concept of thoughts and feelings having some sort of mystic
power and connection to places derives from traditional Japanese beliefs.
Apart from SH, such influences can be found in many Japanese horror
stories:
a) The Ring - Sadako Yamamura's negative psychic energy continued to
exist in the well after her death and even affected a videotape and TV.
b) Dark Water - same here - the negative emotions of a drowned girl
lingers in the building, the girl searching for her mother.
c) Ju-On: The Grudge - the curse of a person, who died with hatred in
their heart continues to exist in places visited by that person. Those
who come in contact with this curse die and create a new curse.

1-3. The Inner (subconscious) world.
Some philosophers say that "Every man is a whole world", emphasizing the
depth and diversity of each person's spiritual world. According to the
ideas of the SH-series, an inner world exists subconsciously in every
single one of us. This world is made up of memories and concepts about
the real world mixed with various thoughts, fantasies, feelings and the
like. The inner world can very well reflect the fears, hopes and beliefs
of its "maker".
Understandably, some people (especially those with a strong imagination)
have far bigger and drawn-out inner worlds, filled with the strangest of
imagest. Others have a less developed inner world (which doesn't mean
it's not there). If you're having trouble understanding what such a world
would like, try to imagine, that you've just found yourself inside a
person's subconscious. There we have a country of foggy memories, there -
the state of delirious fantasies, inhabited by our greatest fears, there
- a village of images stuck in the subconscious and together it's all a
whole world, which you can travel and enjoy the... sights. And the "God"
of such would be that very person. The composition and contents of the
inner world are completely dependent on the personality and psychic
condition of its "maker" (each person's world is completely unique) - it
could become Paradise, but it has all the potential to be a Hell. It all
depends on the persons system values, world view, desires etc.
It's only reasonable to say that if separate thoughts and feelings have
"power" and "psychic energy", an inner world must also must have such
power, being able to affect the real world and other people. Accordingly,
after the death of its owner, the inner world should be able to continue
to exist as resident psychic energy in a particular place (for example,
Silent Hill), being something like a parallel world (although that's not
a very good analogy, I admit) on the border, where reality and unreality
intersect ("After all, there is no wall between here and there. It lies
on the borders where reality and unreality intersect. It is a place both
close and distant" - an explanation of a subconscious world given by a
doctor in Brookhaven hospital). The fact that such a world can actually
constitute a different reality of sorts leads us adopt the term used in
Lost Memories - "Otherworld".
To try and make understanding the concept a little easier, here's a
practical example from SH4: the inner world of a serial killer,
consisting of his memories, stereotypes and twisted fantasies continues
to exist in an apartment, influencing and drawing in the other tenants.
The mental instability of the world's creator leads to the chaotic and
confusing nature of the world ("If the subject's mind is in a state of
turmoil, the state of the otherworld will be chaotic as well" - LM).

1-4. Laws and limitations of the inner world.
The subconscious world also bows to certain laws and is subjects to some
limitations. What defines them? "His universe is different than ours --
it has limits. And in the limits of that universe, he rules as a king...
It is a world in extreme flux. Unexpected doors or walls, moving floors,
odd creatures, a world only he can control..." - the Crimson Tome tells
us of the seemingly chaotic inner world of a man. Only the "maker" of
this world can control it and establish the laws, which govern the
world's existance. It is not a conscious action (just as the very
creation of this world isn't). The laws form around the preconceptions
followed by the maker of the world (these preconceptions are manifested
in the inner world as these laws). Let's take a look at the games:
a) SH1: A little girl, influenced by the religious teachings of her
mother, truly believed in God and in her world this God existed.
b) SH1: A little girl believed that a certain liquid called "Aglaophtis"
can banish demons and this liquid (being just some sort of herbal mixture
in the real world) really does work in her world.
c) SH1: The same girl believed that a magical sign called "The Seal of
Metatron" possessed great power to destroy magic and "otherworlds" and
the drawing, *useless in the real world*, becomes a an artifact of great
importance in hers.
d) SH3: The Seal of Metatron loses its power, because the "maker" no
longer believes in its power (her belief in that the symbol is just a
piece of junk destroys its power).
e) SH4: A religious fanatic's beliefs in sacred swords, holy candles,
silver bullets that can kill ghosts etc. are reflected in his inner world.

1-5. Comparison of the subconscious world and reality.
After reading the above, we can distinguish two separate types of worlds:
a) Reality, objective world.
The outer world, that exists independent of the person psychic state.
This world is cruel and crushes anyone who opposes it. It is possible
that the cruelty of this world comes from the people that inhabit it -
tainted by sin, incapable of compassion, caring only about their personal
goals. "Why do they cling to this corrupt world?" But what happens if a
person can't bear to live in such a world?
b) Subconscious (subjective, inner) world.
What to do if a person can't accept the cruel reality the way it is? If
they can't exist in it? Heather gives us the answer to that question:
"Suffering is a fact of life. Either you learn to deal with that or you
go under. You can stay in your little dream world...". And that's just
it: You can stay in your little dream world. And when reality brings
nothing but suffering, when it surrounds the person with darkness, the
mind struggles to create a new reality to exist in. One, where it may be
possible to find happiness. "For him there is simply no other reality,
furthemore, he is happy there" - this is how a doctor in Brookhaven
hospital describes a patient, who has found happiness in denying the real
world and running away into the world of his own fantasies and delusions.
But what is this world? It is created by the subconscious and can make
any wish come true. Or rather, this world IS the subconscious - a mixture
of a person's memories, desires, hopes, a reflection of the true nature
of a person... It is like a perfect mirror, or a lake surface, reflecting
the one looking in, combining the subtlety of the image with the depth of
thought... But how does one get into that world? How does one climb into
the rabbit hole? To fully transfer into the subconscious world, one must
first sever all connections to reality. In part, this resembles autism -
a condition when the afflicted has problems making outside contacts and
prefers to dwell in the world of their personal thoughts.

1-6. Endless circuit. Theory of immortality.
It is obvious, that consciousness is inseparable from the body (in
particular, the brain), but does the death of the brain mean death of
consciousness, oblivion? That is a question many philosophers have tried
to answer throughtout the ages. Of course, consciousness is connected
with matter and cannot exist in total nothingness, but consciousness also
has the ablility to reflect matter in the subconsciousness (memory),
creating its own world of reflected matter (in this case the
consciousness is the mirror and subjective perceptions are flaws in the
mirror's surface). But if a consciousness somehow goes into this world
and is reflected in it, this world become the only reality for it. What
do we get then? The consciousness is locked in an eternal existance, an
endless circuit. It become completely autonomous. The whole thing is
reminiscent of the Circle of Ourobouros (used in SH1, by the way). Its
existance is continually fueled by the world it exists in ("nurtured by
that nightmare"). In such a case, the death of the body means little - it
just severs the last tie to reality, closing the way back. The
consciousness will not even realize this death, continuing its life in
the subconscious world. This is confirmed by Crimson Tome: "Anyone
swallowed up by that world will live there for eternity, undying".
The most prominent example of that would be SH4, where Walter Sullivan's
consciousness transferred to the subconscious world before the death of
the body. Thus, Walter, not realizing his own death in reality, went on
to live in its own world for 10 years.

1-7. Worlds mixing.
We know that a place can "absorb" the power of thoughts and feeling of
people. It can absorb the powers of several people's inner worlds. What
happens in that case? In that case, the world begin to "invade" each
other, the borders between them are blurred and in the end they merge
("Other worlds began to force their way into his universe and it began to
swell horribly"). For example, the town of Silent Hill contains the
worlds of a great number of people, which together create a communal
"otherworld". It would be logical to assume, that this world would be
governed by a rounded sum the laws governing its component worlds.

1-8. Influence.
I have already mentioned that the thoughts and feelings of people possess
a certain power. Let us now look at the effect this power has on people.
Judging by the events of the games, we can specify to particular types of
influence:
--The power of an inner world can drag other people into the world,
twisting their perception of reality and making them perceive the inner
world instead. A person under this kind of influence could find
themselves in another person's inner world. In other words, the maker of
the inner world is not the only being capable of coming in contact with.
--The power of thoughts and feelings can affect the personality, making a
person "possessed".
--Finally, the power of the mind can be used to take a life.
Further in the analysis we will closely research each type of influence,
providing examples from the games.

1-9. Who is vulnerable to the influence of such "powers"?
It's obvious, that the most susceptible would be people who have a
well-developed "sixth sense", that allows them to perceive the otherwise
invisible mystical power in some way. But what condition must the mind
attain to be the most open to psychic influence and easily drawn inside a
subconscious world? The games make it clear, that contacts with
"otherworlds" become more probable the farther one is removed from
reality. For example:
a) In a state of sleep (Richard Braintree, Frank Sunderland)
b) In a state of intoxication (Cynthia Velasquez), especially with
heavier drug substances (Peter Walsh)
c) In a low-visibility environment - like fog or darkness. According to
Lost Memories "Mist and darkness obstruct the horizon by creating a
condition in which visibility is limited. In other words, the boundary
between heaven and earth is obscured, which suggests a blurring of the
line between dream and reality".
d) We know that a person unhappy with life tends to withdraw from reality
more and more. Thus, the minds of people who have endured much suffering
in their lives are especially vulnerable to the influence of subconscious
worlds. This is confirmed by Lost Memories: "people with afflicted minds
are easily drawn to the otherworld". And that is why Silent Hill, when it
becomes a concentration point for numerous people's psychic energies,
starts to "attract" other sufferers with darkness in their hearts, akin
to a magnet.

1-10. Reality, illusion and hallucination.
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 is
required 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 that object’s image in human consciousness. If it’s easier for
you I shall rephrase: the true (objective) object=subjective perception
of that object.
Still don’t get it, do you? Hmm…Tough luck… Let’s cook up an example from
life: on the table there is a bottle of healthdrink, the dear reader
wakes up from heavily celebrating Christmas last night, stares at the
bottle of healthdrink and SEES (i.e. perceives) just a bottle of
healthdrink. Did that make things clearer :)?
b) Hallucinations - This really shouldn’t happen to “normal” people, i.e.
the false 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 Lost Memories (the one about Red Devil and Walter
Sullivan): “Sullivan says that he saw a “red devil”. What was it that he
saw? - No one besides Sullivan himself can really know what he saw.” -
this is quite relevant, isn’t it ;)?? And do these “false images”, that
are seen only by the psycho, actually look like?
These are elements of human subconsciousness (images from the
subconsciousness), that had “floated” to the surface and overlapped with
reality. Why doesn’t anyone else see them? As they exist only in the
subconsciousness of a single person and do not in fact exist in reality,
so no one else can perceive them.
Example: my dear reader, having had a gulp from the bottle described in
part a), is running around the Christmas tree, waving his hands around and
screaming: “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 about
illusion is that a a person perceives a real object somehow differently,
in his own way, too subjective. It often happens because of the increasing
expectation (a “premonition”) or an emotional pressure along with such
factors as sight defects (i.e. visual perception), hazy visibility (at
night, for example). The principle is that a person sees something not
completely, but partially (for example an object is hard to see) - then
the consciousness automatically “finishes off” the object’s image,
according to that person’s mood and to the information from that person’s
subconsciousness. It’s a bit hard to describe, so let me draw you an
example: “Evening time, my dear reader wanders down the road. It’s
getting darker, misty too it seems, he cannot see much and my dear reader
has been playing Silent Hill for half a day just before going for this
here walk. - so now obviously he’s scared shi…sufficiently scared - he
makes his way trough the mist, leaping from every shadow, turning to
follow every sound and being uneasy from the sound of his very own
footsteps etc. - anyway a complete suspense. A bit further down the road
comes another man, but my dear reader cannot quite see him (mist and
darkness, 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 the game) is actually ready to see a monster in front of
him. He squints at the silhouette - and voila! He actually starts seeing
a monster. Of cause, my dear reader 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:
“A man comes back from the Church (after listening a sermon on the coming
of Christ) through the mist, he is a religious fanatic - then he in the
looming shape of a bystander (or of a dog\bush\post) he shall see an
angel or something like that :)”

1-11. Subjective perception.
Hiroyuki Owaku, the writer of SH2 and SH3, once said that the concept of
the series is based around philosophical theories of subjective
perception of reality. The gist of it all is that every person sees the
world differently, depending on their personality and world-view. After
all, we really CAN'T perceive the world objectively, because we only have
what our senses are able to relay to us - thus, one object can be
perceived differently be two people: a normal person would see a green
object, while a color-blind person would see it as gray. An objective
element of reality can be perceived as evil by one person and as good by
another. A "normal" person perceives reality as it is generally thought
to be, while a psychically unstable person has a nightmarish world full
of monsters. And with that comes an interesting mechanism: the mind tends
to avoid anything that brings it suffering, allowing people to perceive
the world the way the want it to be. And that is how numerous subjective
views of the world are constructed. In a sense, we can never see the
absolute objective truth and only see what we want to see.
In the SH series, these theories are represented by a "balanced" state
between reality and subconscious worlds. While under the influence of a
inner world's power, a person is balancing between two opposed realities,
which twists their perception and makes them see a mixture of reality and
the inner world. The ground may seem to be a lattice, the walls -
pulsating hunks of flesh. But that doesn't mean that the ground and walls
are REALLY that way. Others may see it as normal ground or just see a
bottomless pit (depending on the world they are influenced by and the
degree of that influence). "In the otherworld , the world is seen
differently depending on the person" - LM.
As always, here are some examples from the games to make understanding
the concept simpler:
a) SH2: The conversations between James and Laura ("What a little girl
like you doing here anyway? - Are you blind or something??" or "You don't
even have a scratch on you! - Why should I?") make it clear that the two
are seeing different worlds. James sees an abandoned town full of
horrible monsters, while Laura sees a small resort town. "To her the town
appears to be normal; she does not see any monsters, nor does she see
Maria" - LM. But which one of them sees the REAL Silent Hill? It could be
that both of them only see what they want to see.
b) SH2: Angela lives in a world full of flames, that brings constant
pain. "For me it's always like this...", she says when James's world
touches hers for a little while. Eddie sees a world of cold-blooded
murders, resembling a huge meat factory.
c) SH2: The scene in the maze. James sees a horrible monster attack
Angela. Angela, in turn, adresses the monster as her father ("No daddy!
Please! Don’t!"). Apparently, the two see the monster differently - one
as a monster, the other - as a the image of her father from her memories.
d) SH2: Near the end of the game, Angela sees James as her mother for a
short time and even calls out to him as if he was her ("Mama! Mama, I was
looking for you. Now you’re the only one left. Maybe then.... Maybe then
I can rest. Mama, why are you running away? You’re not Mama. It’s you...
I, I’m sorry.."). It may be that she wanted to meet her deceased mother
so much, that her mind was eager to perceive any appropriate object as
her. Thus, not only the world can be perceived subjectively, but other
people too.
e) SH3: According to Lost Memories, the Missionary is a member of the
cult, whom Heather sees as a monster ("Cult member transfigured by
Claudia's power, to Heather's eyes the appearance it takes is that of a
monster" - LM), which again shows us an example of subjective perception.

1-12. Descent.
I have already mentioned, that the "otherworld" that exists as a form of
psychic energy can be explained as kind of alternate reality. And this
reality can affect other people, drawing them inside itself. Initially, a
person is affected only by one world (reality) is put into a position
between two worlds and sees somewhat of an average of the two. In a
sense, it is a transitive state, with one half of the consciousness being
inside the subconscious world and the other being in reality. And that
balance is not static - as we have seen in the games, at times the mind
can go deeper into unreality, at other times - retreat back to reality.
We have all seen the game world change suddenly in the games. For
example, the "misty Silent Hill" and the "night Silent Hill" are closer
to reality, while the "nightmarish Silent Hill" and the "Nowhere" are
closer to the otherworld.
But when the influence of a subconscious world becomes sufficiently
strong, whatever links the mind to reality become weak and the
consciousness fully descends into the alternate reality, perceiving only
it (which is more akin to hallucinations or dreams, than illusion). There
are numerous examples of that in the games, but I'll only point out some
of the more general:
a) SH1: Because of the influence of an "otherworld" the main character
and a group of other people slowly descend deeper and deeper in the world
of nightmares created by a small girl - and the more power this world
gains, the more horrible it appears to the characters.
b) SH4: Under the influence of dead maniac's thoughts, people start to
get drawn into his subconscious world.

1-13. What really happens to a person, who is in subconscious?
What happens to the physical body while the consciousness wanders the
subconscious world? There are three basic opinions on that, and each of
them is supported by several facts in the games, but none of them is the
the one and only truth. Most probably, the truth is a combination of all
three:
a) The characters are sleeping.
First of all, a small note: not only is the world perceived by the
protagonist the way it really is, but their own body may not be so. In
some instances, we can be almost sure that it is not the body, but a
representation of the self in the inner world. Just like when you're
experiencing all kinds of misadventures during nightmares, your body is
sleeping soundly in bed (see "Nightmare on Elm Street" and "Cell"). Let's
take a look at the games:
-- SH4. During your first visit to the Building World, return to the
apartment and look out of the window. You will see, that while Richard
Braintree is trapped in the "otherworld" of Walter's subconscious, his
body is lying in his apartment - he's sleeping.
-- SH4. Similarly, when Eileen Galvin is wandering the "otherworld" with
Henry, her physical body is in St.Jerome Hospital.
-- SH1. After one of the numerous transitions Harry finds himself in an
alternate version of the "Green Lion" and says an interesting line: "I
don't know what's real anymore... I could have had a car accident and now
I'm lying unconscious in a hospital bed... but maybe this is all just
going on in my head". And one of the Bad endings implies that all the
time Harry was in the "Otherworld" his body was in the car, bleeding out
after the crash.

b) The characters wander the town, incorrectly perceiving it.
The sleep theory, while good, can't explain all the events of the series.
For example, if Heather was sleeping her head off in some gutter, how did
she manage to get home after all? The same goes for James, the idea of
whom sleeping in the toilet during all the events of the game is... a
little dubious.
It would be logical to assume that the link between the consciousness and
the physical body during alteration of perception is akin to the
transition from normal perception to illusion and then - hallucination.
The deeper the mind goes into the subconscious, the weaker that link is
(accordingly, the extreme would be a complete separation from the
physical body, resulting in death). In the cases, where the consciousness
is still strongly in touch with reality, alteration of perception
manifests itself as a distorted perception of the real - the person walks
around the town (mall, subway, etc.) and almost all of their actions
happen in the real world too. But as the influence of the "otherworld"
grows, the affected person approaches a state of catatonia or delirious
sleep.
Here's an example from SH3: Heather "switches" to the nightmare
perception on the second floor of Brookhaven Hospital. In that state, she
goes downstairs to room C4. There she finds a ladder, which wasn't there
before. She uses it to climb down a strange HOLE and ends up in a
nightmarish sewer. But when she return to normal perception, she comes to
in room C4. From this we can try and rebuild the events as they happened
in the real world: Heather goes into nightmare mode on the second floor,
went downstairs, entered room C4 and then lost consciousness (the ladder
and the sewer were just a delusion) and woke up after some time there.
That way b) doesn't really contradict a).

c) People vanish from the real world!?
Some moments in the series could lead one to believe, that in certain
circumastances people who are drawn into an "otherworld" simply vanish
from the real world without a trace. This would seem to be a load of
bull... but still... we know that during the transition from a
subconscious world to reality the character simply vanishes from the
former.
Example from SH4: When Cynthia's consciousness returns to reality for a
short time, she vanishes from the Subway World. The same happens to Henry
in the Hospital World ("You just disappeared all of a sudden!").
But can that mechanism work in the opposite direction? If we assume that
"absolute reality" doesn't exist and that matter is relative, the "real"
and "subconscious" worlds become equal, with the former simply having
more minds enclosed in it. In this case, a person vanishing from the
"real" world at transition to another is no big deal.
SH4 note: The story of Peter Walsh, who hasn't been seen since climbing
the stairs in front of his friends (to become trapped in a subconscious
world of a maniac and find his death there) support the "vanishing"
theory. But Richard's body lying in the real world says that the body
doesn't vanish. What determines the chances of a body vanishing is
another mystery left by the authors for fans to crack their heads on.

1-14. Death in reality and in the "otherworld".
Let's look now at how the death of the body affects the mind's presence
in the "otherworld" and death in the "otherworld" affects the body.
a) The influence of a subconscious world can lead to death in the real
world.
The deeper the mind descends into an "otherworld", the weaker its link to
the physical body becomes. But what happens when that link is finally
severed? The answer can be found in Joseph Schreiber's notes: "You've
seen that world as well... But if you get sucked into it, it's not just a
nightmare. Don't get lost in there. If you get pulled in, you'll be
killed". If the consciousness separates from the body completely,
physical death occurs. But what does this death look like?
SH4: Under the influence of Walter's world, Joseph Schreiber slowly dies.
"My head hurts... My eyes are starting to go blind... The pain... I can
feel my body starting to die...". We can assume that such a death is
preceded by a strong headache.
SH1: According to the SH1 plot commentary, one officer Gucci, who was
investigating the cult's drug operations, died because of Alessa's
"power" (basically, the power of her thoughts and feelings). "Officer
Gucci unlikely to be murdered. He apparently died naturally. But medical
records show Officer Gucci Had no prior symptoms of Heart disease". Thus
we can also assume that a death caused by the influence of an
"otherworld" resembles a heart attack.
SH4: If you get the "21 Sacraments" ending, Walter's subconscious world
accumulates immense power and begins to affect all residents of the South
Ashfield Heights Apartment Building. "All other residents of South
Ashfield Heights have been rushed to St. Jerome's Hospital, many
complaining of severe chest pains". Can this be somehow connected with
officer Gucci's death?
By the way, the aforementioned "Ring" reference comes to mind - in the
book, Sadako Yamamura could use her telekinetic abilities to kill people.
Her victims died of heart failure.

b) The power of thoughts can kill people.
Yes, in the context of the SH-series, it's quite true. "She could make
things happen with her mind. She could kill people just by wishing for
it" - a description of girl, whose psychic energy was strong enough to
affect people in lethal ways (and as we learn in SH4, there were many
such children). If you ever wish somebody to die, be careful. Who knows,
maybe it'll come true?

c) How does death in the "otherworld" affect the body.
There are several possible variants present in the games. Let's look at
them:
SH1: Harry dies in the very beginning of the game, but wakes up in the
cafe. The good endings imply that this death did not result in the body's
death. Like in a dream - if you die in the dream, you'll still wake up,
knowing that this was just a dream.
SH3: There are several instances in the game, where Heather can die in
the "otherworld", but be alright in reality (for example, the dream at
the start of the game). But if she, while wandering the town with altered
perception, falls from a REAL roof or under a REAL train, she will die.
SH4: For some reason, people's deaths in the "otherworld" affects their
bodies. "I do know that if you get killed here... Then you die in the
real world too". Recall "Nightmare on Elm Street".
Conclusion: as we can see, the mechanics of the "otherworld" vary with
the installments of the series. We can theorize, that the strength of the
world's influence determines its effects on reality, along with the laws
established by the maker of that world. Finally, the location can also
play some role here - particularly, IN Silent Hill, or OUTSIDE Silent
Hill.

d) Are wounds received in the "otherworld" reflected on the real body?
Judging by what we've seen so far, no, they don't. But SH4 hints that
they MAY appear on the body if the person dies in the "otherworld"
(Walter's victims are the best example).
SH1-3: There is nothing to point out that injuries inflicted by the
monsters are reflected on the real body.
SH4: Eileen was injured in the "otherworld" (Walter broke her arm,
damaged her eye and gave her an overall heavy beating) but in the
endings, where she doesn't die we can see her in the real world - her eye
and arm are fine and she doesn't even have a bruise! Makes me wonder...
SH4: But if Eileen dies in the "otherworld", we get a news report on the
radio, which tells us, that "The woman was immediately rushed to St.
Jerome’s Hospital, but died a short time later of her INJURIES". In
addition, according to the police reports, the bodies of Walter's victims
were found with wounds identical to those received in the "otherworld"
(Jasper Gein's corpse is burned, for example). We can only assume that
the injuries are only reflected if the victim dies.

e) Death in the "otherworld" is not final.
While in an "otherworld", one (or, rather, one's consciousness)
practically can't REALLY die. It is doomed to exist in the world (at
least until the world itself is somehow destroyed). See 1-6 for details.
SH4: No matter how many times you kill the "man in blue coat", he will
still come back, because the laws of his world make him immortal.
SH4: Despite the fact that death in Walter's world leads to death of the
physical body, the victims continue to exist in the "otherworld" as
ghosts.

1-15. Spirits.
So, what happens to those swallowed up by an "otherworld"? The Crimson
Tome has something to say about that: "Anyone swallowed up by that world
will live there for eternity, undying. They will haunt that realm as a
spirit". Such spirits become trapped in the world, forced to exist
according only to its laws. Such laws may, for example, turn people into
monsters or ghosts.
SH1-3: A nurse, who used to work in the Alchemilla Hospital was devoured
by the "otherworld" and continued her existance there even after her
death, doomed to eternal suffering. The laws of the world transformed her
into a horrible monster nurse.
SH4: Walter's victims, after dying in his world, take the form of
invincible, undying, restless ghosts.

1-16. Possessed.
One form of psychoenergetic influence is described in the occult magazine
in SH3: "The souls of those who had died suddenly by suicide or accident
don't realize they're dead. Sometimes they stay put and haunt the
particular place. These spirits have lost their human senses and memories
and can only keep replaying the pain and sadness of the moment they died.
The pain can get so bad that they turn to humans for salvation - or they
begrudge humans they lives. At such times they can posess humans. Places,
known as 'famous suicide spots' or 'high accident areas' are allways to
blame".
In other words, people's souls (and a soul in our case is also an entity
of psychoenergetic potential) can also be absorbed into locations and
continue to exist as ghosts. Usually, they lose all recollection of their
lives and simply repeat the moments of their death. When the pain gets
especially bad, the influence increases and can affect other people by
means of POSSESSION, affecting the behavior and personality of the
victim. You should be careful if you find yourself in a place, that has
accumulated the souls of dead people. You could easily get under their
influence.
But a person can be possessed not only by a soul of a dead man, but also
by other kinds of psychic energy - such as thoughts and feelings. Let's
get started on the examples:
SH1: Falling under the influence of Alessa Gillespie's power, Cybil
Bennet becomes possessed by the girl's overwhelming feeling of hatred and
loses all control of herself, attacking Harry.
SH3: As she regains her lost memories, Heather becomes more and more
possessed by a different person.
SH4: The resident of 302 receives the memories of the previous tenant,
changing their memories.
SH4: Eileen Galvin slowly becomes possessed by Walter's childhood
memories and loses control of her actions.

1-17. The spiral of reincarnation.
After the physical body's death, the soul of the deceased may transfer
itself into another person (see Occult Magazine), possessed by the
psychic energy. And in some cases this soul can overpower the intial
personality and thus be "reborn", gain a new life in a new body. But it
can also be in a dormant state, not showing its presence most of the time.
An obvious example is SH3: the soul of a dead girl, dormant in Heather
for a long time (in her subconscious, actually) begins to slowly wake up
and replace Heather's personality.

1-18. Monsters. Could they be?...
An "otherworld" can be filled with strange creatures, born from the
mind's subconscious - most of them are bloodthirsty monsters, attacking
the characters on sight. But what is the nature of the monsters? Are they
real, illusion or hallucination?

a) Are the monsters real?
Just like the inner world, the monsters can't really be called real (they
certainly aren't evil mutants actually living in the town) - they're only
real to those who can perceive them. Other people may not see the
monsters at all, or see them differently.
SH2: If PyramidHead and his Great Knife were actual matter, I think James
would look more like a mass of bloody meat... And can REAL wounds
inflicted by REAL monsters be so easily healed by drinking some potion?
SH2: The notes found near a corpse read: "I saw those demons. They were
there, I'm certain. But my friend says he didn't see anything. If that's
true, does that mean that what I saw was an illusion?". Not everyone can
see monsters, which deals another heavy blow to their "reality".
SH2: Eddie says that he didn't see any "red pyramid things" ("James: You’
re not friends with that red, pyramid thing, are you?  Eddie: Red pyramid
thing? I don’t know what yer talkin’ about. Honest"). Apparently, he
doesn't see James' monsters.
SH2: Laura doesn't see any monsters, which once again proves that they
are not objectively real. She doesn't perceive James' world, so she
doesn't perceive the monsters in it.
SH3: After the mall level Douglas says "And that monster, what the hell
was that?". Obviously, if two or more people are under the influence of
one world, they can see the same monsters and these monsters are real to
them.
SH1: When Kaufmann first meets Harry, he says: "Something's gone
seriously wrong. Did you see those monsters?". Since both are in the same
"otherworld", they both see its monsters.

b) "Monsters? They look like  monsters to you?"
In one of his interviews, Hiroyuki Owaku, emphasizing the idea of
subjective perception in Silent Hill, said this about monsters: "Maybe
they are human beings just like you, maybe even your neighbors.  What you
see might be true or false". So the monsters are... people? Normal
people, living in the town? Proof of this can be found throughout the
games:
SH2: The key to the Woodside Apartment Building is held by a monster (a
Lying Figure dressed in a jacket and pants). Also near the monster is a
map, where the entrance to Woodside is marked. So, the monster drew the
map, took the key and died before reaching WSA. That's one strange
monster...
SH2: Another dead Lying Figure dressed in jacket and pants can be found
in the streets. There are several notes on the ground around it. "I'm
going to write everything that I've learned so far. Maybe that will help
you out somehow. If you're reading this, it probably means I'm already
dead" - could this have been written by a monster? But it WAS written by
that monster - only, it's James who sees a monster in what is a simple
dead man.
SH2: The same notes describe monsters: "It seems that they're attracted
to light; They also react strongly to sound;  those creatures can be
killed". They can see, they can hear (and in SH3 they can smell also) and
can be killed. Just like humans.
SH2: In the south-western part of town, on the bridge (destroyed in
James' world) there is another dead Lying Figure with a map next to it.
The parking lot and bowling are marked on the map. So, monsters have cars
and like to play bowling?
SH2: Remember the place, where you kill your first monster? Visit it
later (after the hospital) and you'll find the gate closed and sealed
with a police line. Why is the police investigating the murder of a
monster? Is Sunderland a suspect?
SH2: During their last meeting, Angela sees James as her mother. If
Angela can see James (a living human) as her dead mother, then James can
probably see other people as monsters.
SHPB: When Cybil sees a monster dog for the first time, it is far in the
distance. If you look closely, you'll see that it's an ordinary dog, fur
and all - but in the next frame we see a Groaner. Now, did Cybil mistake
a monster for a dog or a dog for a monster?
SH3: Info taken from Lost Memories: "'Missionary'. Cult member
transfigured by Claudia's power, to Heather's eyes the appearance it
takes is that of a monster" - now it's an official source that clearly
states that the monster is a cult member, whom Heather perceives as a
monster. Harry was right when he wrote "I mean, appearances can be
deceiving".
SH3: For a number of reasons, Heather only sees Leonard as a monster.
SH3: Let's look at LM again: "Even now I get lots of questions about the
true nature of creatures. What Vincent says in the library room is
something that was provided as an answer to this question". So no, it
wasn't some crazy joke, unlike what many fans like to believe. Let us
recall that episode:

Vincent: "You’re the worst person in this room.  You come here and enjoy
spilling their blood and listening to them cry out. You feel excited when
you step on them, snuffing out their lives."
Heather: "Are you talking about the monsters?"
Vincent: "Monsters...??? They look like monsters to you?"
(Heather is shocked. Horrified by the momentary understanding of what she
has done, she only says "oh no...", it looks like she's about to vomit)
Vincent: "Don’t worry, it’s just a joke. ;) "

There are more examples, but I think the above, coupled with one of the
authors' comments is enough to prove, that oftentimes, when killing
monsters, we were killing normal people, who the characters saw as
twisted creatures, symbolizing their fear, hatred etc. As Cybil said,
"before you pull the trigger, know who you're shooting". But how can a
deluded person tell who they're shooting at if they believe they're
shooting a monster? Never arm a psycho.
Most people have trouble killing others of their kind. It invokes a sense
of guilt, psychological pain (remember James in the meat factory: "I... I
killed a... a HUMAN being... A HUMAN being..."), but I've already
mentioned that the mind tends to avoid pain if possible. And killing a
monster isn't that much of a moral problem: "Well I guess you’re not a
person anyway" - Heather says with a wry smile and kills him. It may very
well be, that alteration of perception is a result of the mind's desire
to escape reality. The "monster-human" parallel is one of the most
interesting ideas in the series: it makes the player reflect on their
actions to compare the protagonist's perception with possible reality, it
increases immersiveness and fear factor and also is a very prominent
representation of the theme of guilt, present in the series. Lastly, it
is a good way to fend off moralists.
Real-world analogy: at this point we can refer to existing criminological
theories, which state that some mentally unstable assaulters attack their
victims not because of some sort of personal resentment, but only because
they see them as representations of their fears, memories, etc. For
example, attacks on children are often identified to have subconscious
motives when they are committed as a way of releasing frustration caused
by childhood experiences of emotional unacceptance by parents, or heavy
feelings of guilt incited by them. In such cases, the victim is perceived
as a symbol of one's unhappy childhood and the assaulter attempts to
destroy this symbol to free themselves from the frustration.

c) Are all monsters real people?
Despite Owaku's commentary, I still have my doubts about *ALL* monsters
being real people. There are cases where monsters CAN'T be people. Some
of them have to be either souls of the dead trapped in the "otherworld"
or the characters' hallucinations.
SH1: It must be obvious to anyone that the flying mothlike monsters are
an element of Alessa's world, not flying residents of Silent Hill.
SH4: It's quite hard to imagine that the dogs that walked out of the
men's toilet in the beginning of the game are somehow connected to the
real world.

1-19. God of the inner world.
One thing that is present in all installments is a strange creature,
living in the deepest corners of the subconscious world - God. Of course,
the nature of this God changes each time. It possesses the greatest power
in the subconscious world, but its role should not be overestimated -
it's origin is the same as all the other creatures: a manifestation of
the person's delusions ("'God' is the result of someone's delusions just
like the other creatures" - LM).
Let's take a look at God in the games:
a) Silent Hill 1: Alessa's God\Samael. The product of Alessa's hatred and
religious beliefs. Her pain, hate and the desire to die were manifested
in the form of an angel of death, which, appropriately, is supposed to
bring death to all people (whom Alessa hates) and free Alessa from the
pain of life. Thus, God reflects the destructive part of the girl's
personality, her strongest feelings and subconscious desires, which
served as catalyst at the creation of her own world. But the point
remains that God is simply a construct, created by a human mind.
b) Silent Hill 2: There is no particular God here per se (which can
partly be blamed on James' seemingly nonreligious nature). But the
functions of such a God a perfectly well served by PyramidHead. As we
know, James suffers from an overwhelming feeling of guilt desired to be
punished ("That’s why I needed you.... Needed someone to punish me for my
sins") and PyramidHead is the perfect manifestation of this subconscious
guilt. In James' subconscious world, he attacks him, kills Maria and
sticks the painful truth in James' face. In a nutshell, the God of James'
world is James himself, particularly, the destructive part of his
personality.
Another creation that could be named a God is "Mary" - the final boss. A
reflection of James' confused feelings towards Mary's death, taking the
twisted form of an upturned victim of a skewering.
c) Silent Hill 3: Alessa's\Claudia's God. Due to the power of Alessa's
beliefs the nature of God remains the same, but its image changes,
because of the merging between Alessa's subconscious feelings and
Claudia's delusions, desires and memories. The God is now something like
a cross between the original SH1 Demon and Alessa. It bears the latter's
face (because Claudia believed that God should look like her) but if you
take a closer look at her body, you'll notice that it is that of Samael
(because Claudia implanted Alessa's soul in herself and the God was a
creation of Alessa's mind).
d) Silent Hill 4: The Room: The fetus. An orphan named Walter Sullivan
couldn't bear with the surrounding reality. He needed support, care and
love that he did not receive in his childhood. He wanted someone to love
him, to hide from the terrible world. And so he created her - the Mother.
His subconscious world reflects that - the outer world is represented as
something horrible (the subway world, the water prison, you name it), it
is filled with fear and loathing ("he was still filled with bitterness
and resentment towards the rest of the world" - Joseph Schreiber) and the
center of that world is South Ashfield Heights (seen as an enormous
living organism) and especially room 302 as his Mother (and at the same
time her womb), where God (the fetus) resides. Basically, it is a
representation of Walter's desire to be in the safety of a loving
mother's womb.

As we can see, "God" is the manifestation of a person's strongest desires
in their own subconscious world. Being the representation of the
strongest feeling there is, it gets only stronger if that feeling grows
(that is why Dahlia Gillespie and Claudia Wolf nurtured their respective
Gods by feeding the "mothers'" feelings of hatred and suffering). And as
it gets stronger, the world it resides in also gains a stronger
influence, affecting more and more people. Dying Inside has an
interesting phrase - "God is Good, YOU are Evil" - i.e. it is possible to
create a paradise using an inner God, but only if the inner world is the
perfect image of that paradise. Only, people are never perfect. "YOU are
Evil". When Heather asks Vincent "'God'? Are you sure you don’t mean
'Devil'?" he doesn't answer "Whichever YOU like" just to freak her out.
While God is the product of the same power in every installment, it is
strictly subjective. It can be God or Devil, because it only reflects the
nature of the person who created it.

1-20. Reality of the "otherworld".
The "otherworld" can't be called reality in the full sense of the word,
because it can only be perceived by a minority of people, effects in an
"otherworld" rarely translate to reality. But we also know that "reality"
is only that, which is thought to be real. Thus, if an inner world gains
enough power, it can swallow up all people and can easily become reality.
Would that be the dawn of a new world? Would that world be hell or
paradise? That is question yet unanswered.

2. The Power of Silent Hill.
Silent Hill. A sacred place where the deepest feelings and memories live
forever. What is the mysterious power of the town... what are its origins?

2-1. The Silent Call.
Pain... Suffering... Hatred... these feelings have always been associated
with the town of Silent Hill. Times went on - from sacrifices, to the
Civil War, to religious conflicts and sadistic executions. The minds of
the victims of these times refused to take in the cruel reality and
descended into their own subconscious worlds. But even their all of their
pain and hatred lived and they continued their existance in the town,
merging, slowly creating a single horrible "otherworld" filled with
terror and bloodthirsty monstrosities, born of sick and wounded minds.
With time, the concentration of this negative energy in Silent Hill
became so great, that the town itself gained a tremendous "power" and
became a sort of a magnet, attracting all such energy, calling to people
with darkness in their hearts. "This Town called you too, James".

2-2. Alteration.
Under certain conditions, a person who comes to Silent Hill can fall
under the influence of the "otherworld" (more so for those with "darkness
in their hearts"). What will the town look like to that person?

a) Communication
Under the influence of the town's power, people begin to perceive
elements of other people's worlds, feelings, thoughts. That is because in
an otherworld the limitations of reality disappear and people's thoughts
can contact without concern of time ("It would seem that in the
otherworld, time and physical limitations are transcended and peoples'
thoughts are communicated" - LM). That is why in the otherworld we can
find notes and diaries, which are reflections of other's thoughts or even
meet the souls of long dead people.
SH2: the director's notes and the patients' diaries are all reflections
of people's thoughts, that take written form in the otherworld. The
ability to meet and speak with Ernest Baldwin is evidence of contact with
the dead being possible. The fact that at some point James can perceive
the inner worlds of Angela and Eddie can also be interpreted as contact
of thoughts.
SH3: 17 years later the Harry's notes still remain in the otherworld - it
would appear that time isn't a factor here... The woman in the church is
proof of communication with the dead and Stanley's diaries are
reflections of his thoughts.

b) Manifestation of one's subconsciousness.
Of course, people under the influence of Silent Hill's power do not only
perceive other's worlds. They also see manifestations of their own world!
The thoughts and feelings of a person inside Silent Hill are merged with
the bigger "otherworld" (you could say that the town feeds on them) and
is manifested in the form of strange images born in the subconscious.
SHDI: The town feeds on the nightmares and demons, created by the mind of
Troy Abernati, whose heart is filled with darkness.
SH2: The town absorbs the fears and delusions of a clerk, who come there
in search of his dead wife. They are manifested in the form of horrible
monsters, labyriths, formed of memories, etc.
SH2: Different people perceive the world differently, depending on which
world's influence is stronger in them and also on the contents of their
own worlds (which are reflected in the "otherworld" and slowly merge into
it).

The "otherworld" of Silent Hill is not just another, dark side of the
town. It is also a reflection of the collective unconscious, the average
of all subconscious worlds and psychic energy in it.

2-3. Otherworld outside of Silent Hill.
SH3 and SH4 show us that the influence of inner worlds is not limited to
Silent Hill. Of course, Silent Hill did accumulate a great power over the
course o history, but the source of that power is the human mind,
people's thoughts and feelings ("the human mind is where the otherworld
dwells and holds power" - LM). Therefore, the psychic energy phenomenon
doesn't have to be connected to Silent Hill in any way. It can manifest
itself anywhere, provided the feelings are sincere and truly strong. And
this means that any location (not just SH) can accumulate "otherworld"
energies. It could even be a simple apartment...




_______________________________________________________________________________

PART 2: RELIGION OF SILENT HILL
_______________________________________________________________________________

PART 2
RELIGION OF SILENT HILL
From immemorial time there is the special religion in the city, started in
the ancient Indian stories. Religion of pain and suffers, of
self-sacrifice for rescue. It is considered, that the belief supports the
person in a life, gives a Hope... But what the religion of Pain can give
to the person? Whether it is able to clear the person's from suffering of
a sin, from the nasty of a material world and to make him better, to open
the Gates to Paradise?
Let's closely look on the religion of the Silent Hill, to understand
events of game better, psychology of characters and, probably even, to
answer the philosophical questions above.

1. MYTHOLOGY ANALYSIS
Doctrine of a cult "the Order" is an ancient myth about the Birth of the
God, and was passing from father to son ("a myth that has passed down over
the years") and then it was written down as six pictures. My opinion is,
for the high-grade analysis of religion of SH it is necessary to begin
with the careful analysis of its mythological side since here we can
establish bases of religious beliefs and beliefs of the cultists, and also
to learn more about a history of a cult. But I want to warn you - since it
is a religious MYTH (besides edited by "leaders" of a cult) there is a lot
of symbolical elements, a mix of real historical events with religious
fiction - and so I recommend to approach to myths kind an abstract.

1-1. Origin
The text: "In the beginning people had nothing. They bodies ached and they
hearts held nothing but hatred. They fought endlessly, but death never
came. They despaired, stuck in the eternal quagmire".
Meaning: According to beliefs of the cult, for a long time ago there was not
any human world, how we understand this word. There were only immortal
people who hadn't anything except hatred and darkness in their hearts...
Not even people, probably only incorporeal souls (they did not have
physical body and there was no death), forever closed in infinite vacuum,
absolute Emptiness. During the eternity, these "people" filled with hatred
were at war among themselves caused a pain to everybody - and could not
escape from this never-ending vicious circle of aggression and sufferings
as they did not know about death. Anyhow, everyone is the enemy of
everyone, - and a choice of human's soul was to make the violence over
colleagues. And the other people make, they do not have Hope, there is no
overall goal, they would like to reach - people would like only to be
pleased, even using the most severe methods and, thus, all of them are
stuck in a bog of despair.

1-2. Birth
The text: "A man offered a serpent to the Sun and prayed for salvation, a
woman offered a reed to the Sun and asked for joy. Feeling pity for the
sadness that had overrun the earth, God was born from this two people".
Meaning: Once there are two persons appeared among all the madness in world
around (the man and the woman - by analogy with "Adam" and "Eve") who have
seen the Observing Eye in the sky - the Sun. And the hope and compassion
arises in their souls. "Adam" and "Eve" believed in the power of the Sun
(as there wasn't anything they can trust) and, wishing to release other
people from the suffering of infinite existence, they asked the Sun by
means of ritual to help them. These people have presented a victim to the
Sun: the man, praying for rescue, has presented the Snake to the Sun, and
the woman, asking the Sun for  pleasure, has presented the Reed (probably,
this mythical "ritual" metaphorically describes the process of conception
of the child-god by two people? For example, in culture of some South
American Indian people tribes there were similar ceremonies of "give the
snake and fruit to the Sun and the Sky", consisting in copulation of the
man and the woman who are taking part in this ritual and conception of the
child in glory to deities). But whence people could know for certain, that
ritual will work? They could not know, - people have simply believed all
soul... And the human's belief possesses wonder-working force. And as a
result of these mystical rituals the miracle happened - the God has been
given birth from "Adam" and "Eve".
Pay attention to an interesting formulation " Feeling pity for the
sadness, that had overrun the earth, God was born from this two people ",
hinting that the God was because he felt humans' pity and sadness - thus
we can tell, that cult trusted, that the God can be given birth only if he
will feel humans' sadness, will feel, that this world requires him - here
we can find obvious connection with ideas of the power\energy of the
feelings.
Probably, you have already felt that this part of a myth is penetrated
with bible motives of Adam and Eve. It would be desirable to pay your
attention to the basic distinction - as against the Christian doctrine, in
doctrines of a cult it's known that the God hasn't created people (their
immortal souls), but people have given birth to the God. Have given birth
by their suffering and belief in rescue... Rather symbolically, "the Bible
on the contrary".

1-3. Salvation
The text: "God made time and divided it into day and night. God outlined
the road to salvation and gave people joy and God took endless time away
from the people".
Meaning: So, the God has come to the Earth - but he/she is not so
that God that grants "democracy" and freedom. On the contrary, he has
created the new world full of various laws and rigid restrictions (I'll
remind lines from SH4 of the world created from human ideas and feelings
through ritual: "But his universe is different than ours - it has limits.
And in the limits of that universe, he rules as a king") - but people were
happy to be with these restrictions bringing the Order in their existence.
Let's consider the sense of all changes of the world brought by the God:
a) The god has taken away eternal time and immortality from people.
When the God has created the new world, each of immortal souls has been
allocated a "physical" body in this new world - but the life of this body
has been limited, let's consider the reasons of restriction of time:
First, the person who has not limit in time starts to ignore time and
delays some things- but when the merciful God has limited time allowed to
the person, and then people began to value time - it initiated human
activity and thirst of self-development.
Second, now fear of death limited human anarchy - the "Christian" morals,
now people stopped to cause pain to each other (even because of fear to be
killed either).
Thirdly, now there was an exit for these people - they could get rid of
the sufferings by means of death at any moment.
b) Divine Time has been created and divided per day and night.
Immortal people did not need to know time because they did not depend on
it in any way. But now, when people have realized fragility of the stay in
this world, time began to play a huge role in their world.
As we understand, dream was not required for immortal people - they could
not see any dreams. But having created Day and Night, the God gave to the
suffering people an ability to enjoy not only the real world, but also
dreams (where people could realize any dreams, not causing any harm to
each other), thus as though having drawn a distinction between a reality
and illusion.
ñ) About to road to Paradise and pleasure. The god has given people Hope.
Now their life has got sense and also people had an overall target uniting
their efforts - now the individual purposes have given up the place of the
common - and people have stopped to be at war among them - humans' pain
began to cease, giving the place to happiness.

1-4. Creation
The text: "God created beings to lead people to obedience to Her. The red
god - Xuchilbara; the yellow god - Lobsel Vith; many gods and angels.
Finally, God set out to create Paradise, where people would be happy just
by being there ".
Meaning: the God by means of his force has created a lot of wonderful
creatures - gods and angels who actually supervised over undertakings of
people and, probably, were something like examples for imitation for
humans (for example, Valtiel, we'll talk about him later). Also it is
possible to assume, that gods were responsible for functions of change of
day and night, death of people, etc. - but it is not so important. Gods'
colors are rather interesting (I think, Walter Sullivan, known by SH2 saw
something suspiciously reminding Xuchilbara). Look at the right side of a
picture. What we can see here? A red Pyramid... Now, make some conclusions
of red god's shape, named Xuchilbara.
By the way, if people should admire to the gods, and there were a plenty
of gods (and they were a bit different) - that quite probably, that people
could not admire to every god. It means that there could be groups of
admirers (see. SECTS) of Xuchilbara, Lobsel Vith, etc. - everyone was
admired to the favourite one - could it lead to the disagreements between
believing people?
Other originality of the above-stated part of a myth consists that the
mythical God is mentioned in a feminine gender... In SH1 the God was
mentioned exclusively in a masculine gender ("HE has been nurtured by that
nightmare" - Dahlia Gillespie said about the summoned God in the last
meeting). Here it is necessary to mention, that, for example, many of the
Satan deities has no gender - for example, the Devil is mentioned both as
"he" and as "she" - the same happened with Silent Hill religion - and the
shape of the God periodically made various changes at numerous editing
religion of Silent Hill and some imported elements of other religions. In
any case, for me "God" is more habitually ("SHE" or "Goddess" sounds
somehow clumsily) - and farther I'll name him like this so persistently.
And to you, my dear reader - is NECESSARY to reconcile to my habits. :)
Comments to shape of the God from a myth: In the picture we can see God's
shape - is white, long-haired woman in a red dress. Because of such
strange clothes, we can think, that the long bright red dress symbolizes
blood (reminds a bloody trace, flowing for the God), or fire (as we can
see the God in this dress, it seems like She is grasped by a bright
flame). As we can understand, the shape of a deity esteemed in the
religious organization repeatedly changed, since times of this myth.

1-5. Promise
The text: "But there God's strength ran out and She collapsed. The entire
world's people grieved for this unfortunate event. Yet God breathed Her
last, She returned to the dust, promising to come again".
Meaning: Soon after creation of the world and some wonderful creatures,
God's powers have run low, and She has suddenly died, and she had no time
to complete the "Paradise". Certainly, all people regretted for that event
(at least as the myth says) - but even the best doctors (even who had the
"wonder-working hands"), could not make anything to help the dying God.
Before her death she has promised, that she will return and will complete
the Paradise (under the doctrine of belief of a cult it turns out, that
our world is the unfinished Paradise from the first Coming).
Why the God has died? I'll answer: according to religion, the God should
come to people the heaviest minutes when their PAIN is great. And when the
purpose and Hope has appeared, people have felt happiness again - and the
pain began to pass, and the powers have left the God. In a myth the reason
of death of the God is unrevealed - but, we also can think, that something
happened with those who "has created" this God from the power of their
thoughts\feelings.

1-6. Faith
The text: "So God has not been lost. We must offer our prayers and not
forget our faith. We wait in hope for the day, when the path to Paradise
will be opened".
Meaning: And even after death of the God people have not lost hope for
coming of Paradise. They have based a cult which task was to approach the
Second Coming. Believers continued to pray and wait for the time when
gates of Paradise will be opened again...
Pay attention to an illustration of a myth - there we can see two members
of the religious organization (the man and the woman - as we'll find out
later, they were called Nicolas and Jennifer), praying at "a maternity
hole" (which we can see in a cellar of church in SH3) together with the
girl in a white cassock (holy Alessa? - but we'll return to this question
further) - REMEMBER this picture - later you will understand, why do I pay
your precious attention to this picture.

1-7. Morals of a myth
Any religious myth contains a deep sense inside. What the morals will
contain a cult's myth? Let's take a look at the events of a myth: if
people do not have belief and hope in hearts they will be doomed for
mutual hatred and eternal suffering. But the belief in human's souls can
make a miracle, change the world to the better side, give happiness - and
if the hope and belief of approaching of Paradise in the hearts of people
this best world will come eventually. As we can understand, that force of
the human's belief can change a life to the better side (to give birth to
the God and to create Paradise), there is nothing reprehensible. But in
practice light ideals are frequently deformed up to unrecognizable - it is
necessary to remember as the doctrine of a cult became so perverted
because of importing some elements of sadism and devil's followers...
Light doctrines at their practical realization as it is usual, have turned
into a bloody nightmare...

1-8. Date of the first Coming described in a myth
As we can understand, this myth represents an artful design of real events
and fiction. Let's try to separate the truth from a lie, to find out the
true essence of the events described in a myth and, probably, even to
define the date of these events in a myth.
For the beginning it would be desirable, that you have remembered a bell
tower in the cult's church in SH3 where the portraits of three basic
sacred religious organizations "the Order" were held (from left to right):
Saint Jennifer, the Mother of god - holy Alessa with the child on her
hands and the divine doctor Saint Nicolas. Especially pay attention on
Saint Jennifer. "Unwavering faith under death's blade" - says an
inscription in a picture, remember it.
Further it is meaningful to remember clearly the statues in Rosewater Park
- according to Lost Memories, these statues were in park after the civil
war in the USA 1861-1865. And there is a monument for Jenni *** Carroll
(Jennifer, Jennifer!!), who was a victim (victim of persecution by t
********* ans) and an inscription - "that here has taken place should be
never forgotten". So what is t ********* ans? If you will open the text
files of the game, you will see, that it actually means "the christians",
- then everything became clearly (we'll remember a picture of Saint
Jennifer - "Unwavering faith under death's blade") and the picture of
these events which have occurred in those far times becomes clearly: local
christians, having found out, that Jennifer consists in the occult
organization have simply killed her near to the Toluca lake (therefore
rosewater - because of blood) for religious beliefs of this girl (but even
before death Jennifer's faith was unwavering). We know that Saint Jennifer
has been killed after the civil war of 1861-1865 and approximately at the
same time her monument has been built. So, Jennifer lived with Saint
Nicolas for some time (that the picture of a myth ¹6 confirms, where both
are represented together. And also LM: "The three saints were probably
established fairly recently, sometime after the Civil War" - and so
Jennifer and Nicolas has been attributed the Saint status after 1865), and
St. Nicolas as we know looking on a picture, was a doctor of God
("Miraculous hands, a doctor of God" - a doctor was treating God). And now
we'll look on logic chain: " Saint Jennifer has been killed during the
middle of 19-th century-> Saint Jennifer and Nicolas lived approximately
at the same time -> Saint Nicolas was a doctor of God and consequently
lived during the first Coming-> So, the first Coming described in a myth
has come to pass approximately in the middle of 19-th century, during
Civil War in USA ". And so, the God has been given birth between 1861 and
1865 - and, most likely, died fast enough.
By the way, this is the first Birth according to cult myths only... maybe
it is not the first time? It is known, that in the beginning of 17-th
century Indians did something too... But, since this is the earliest Birth
known in a cult and described in a myth, it means, the god "has been given
birth" at this time, "the Order" cult was worshipping to.

1-9. Factological analysis of mythology
The analysis of the facts from a myth will help to find out the truth
about events of the middle of 19-th century metaphorically described in a
myth.
According to the myth, before the first Birth people were at war among
themselves - there is one more confirmation, that all events occurred
during civil war (origin), which means that misunderstanding with
immortality of people - is mythological fiction. Somehow it has turned
out, that two people (birth), were able to summon the God on our guilty
Earth by means of religious practices. In a myth, each of them has
sacrificed something to the Sun can be interpreted as a metaphor
symbolizing process of conception of a saint child, or that "Adam" and
"Eve" have brought THEMSELVES (or someone else) as a victim to the Sun for
the sake of a birth of the long-awaited deity.
So, further Salvation follows - it turns out, that the newborn God
appeared to the citizens at once, but also mysterious changes have started
to occur to the world around.
Creation - some strange events began to occur in the city, inhabitants
have started to see the strange creatures similar to angels and ancient
Indian gods Xuchilbara and Lobsel Vith... One of these creatures had a red
pyramid on his head... In the middle of these mystical events there was
the mysterious creature reminding the woman in long red attire, and
witnesses of that "miracle" have named it God.
Promise - here God has suddenly died (probably it happened in 1865 - the
general happiness in the myth most likely symbolizes the ending of civil
war, and so God has been given birth in 1865 and something happened to
him, that has prevented an coming of Paradise).
Faith - those who wanted continuation of construction of Paradise have
created a cult for these purposes (the cult has appeared after the civil
war as it was confirmed in LM). Founders of the cult were Jennifer,
Nicolas and... the girl in white attire. No, it wasn't Alessa - it was the
other tortured girl whom the cult wanted to sacrifice for the Second
Coming.
Soon the most devoted religious fanatics (Jennifer, Nicolas, maybe someone
else) have been attributed to a saint rank ("The three saints were
probably established fairly recently, sometime after the Civil War"),
other people should accept them as ideal and aspire to be similar to them,
to become closer to the God.

2. THE GOD
In religion of Silent Hill the special place occupies an image of the God
- creature who being born from a womb of Holy Mother brings absolutely new
world with its own rules and strange creatures. But, in spite of the fact
that the role of the God usually remains constant, his image often changes
with change of SH religion - this religion's editing was found, for
example, in the book "Silent Hill God Ethymology". God had an image of the
long-haired woman in red attire, and also the demon with horns and wings,
sometimes the suffering dark-haired woman, suspiciously reminding the girl
who has burned down once at a fire in SH...

2-1. The true name of God
It is necessary to understand that the names of God will allow avoid mess
further.
Taking into account philosophical ideas of SH, we can understand that God
is subjective, he can be both the God, and the Devil - depending on our
will. ("God? Are you sure you do not mean Devil? "- "Whichever you like")
But this subjectivity also was reflected in SH religion - everyone
represented God as it likes more, everyone aspired to attribute to God any
other properties, other names - for these reasons the religion was
repeatedly edited, and an image, a name and essence of a deity constantly
changed.
SH God has a lot of names, everyone names him as wants, - let's list all
God's names:

à) Lord of Serpents and Reeds (further - simply "Lord") - the name is
based on a myth about the Birth, where "Adam" and "Eve" sacrifice the
Serpent and the Reed to give birth to the God. The fact, that the name
"Lord" is mentioned even in the texts written in Old English language (for
example, Crimson Tome where alongside with a name "Lord" out-of-date
English words like "thou" are actively used) testifies that "Lord" is one
of the oldest designations of the God. It is necessary to note, that Lord
also "Christ" in Christianity but, certainly it doesn't means the
traditional "Jesus Christ" in SH religion.
b)  Creator of Paradise - According to the book: "Silent Hill God
Ethymology", the God also was called as "the Founder of Paradise" in a
cult. This similar name is closely connected to the Creation myth.
c)  She - it is difficult to name it. It is known, that up to heading the
cult by Claudia Wolf, her predecessors attributed a male gender to the
God. We can think that the God has changed in a feminine gender after the
ordering of the doctrines which have been lead by Vincent and Claudia.
This change of gender is connected to Claudia's vision of God and her
quivering relation to her elder "sister" - Alessa. Also in the book from
SH3 we can see, that Claudia so idealized the sister that has attributed
appearance of Alessa to a religious deity (see Silent Hill God Ethymology,
About Syncretic Religions)
d)  God - definition of a deity.
e)  Incubus - the mythical demon coming to women during dream; "a demon of
dreams". This name is traced on a mystical symbol of a cult "Halo of the
Sun", and also Alessa's god is mentioned with this name in LM.
f)  Sammael (in Silent Hill Dead\Alive he is mentioned as "Sammael") - to
the God, in whom Dahlia trusted, mach people attributed a name of a demon.
g)  Hades - on a t-shirt of Jasper Gain we can see the image of Alessa's
god with an inscription "HADES". In Greek mythology Hades is the master of
the underworld, the sun will never penetrate into his world...This place
is full of ghosts and monsters, and the Cerberus as the keeper... It is
not surprising, that to Alessa's god (which should bring death to all
people) people have attributed a name of the master of the underworld.
It's unknown WHO has renamed the God again - also its unknown WHO has
guessed to release t-shirts with his image... Probably, someone of Jasper
Gain's devil followers... Maybe there are all the intrigues of Konami???
h)  Succubus - so, Incubus already was - now Succubus (actually, it is a
female variant of incubus)... On "Succubus Card" in SH4 we can see the
real imago of Alessa's God - probably, Walter thought, that his name is
"Succubus"... Would you think that it is time to stop changing names of
this deity!?
i)  Devil - is the name of the God who has been given birth by the human
through rituals 21 Sacraments and Holy Assumption in the book "Crimson
Tome".
It is necessary to note the Holy Mother - in spite of the fact that
cultists were worshipping the Holy Mother, in sacred writing concepts the
"Holy Mother" and "God" are strictly differentiated - Holy Mother it that
comprises the God and the God it that contains inside of a Holy Mother.
Also, you should not be mislead by "the Crimson One" (Dark red), mentioned
in the "Book of Crimson Ceremony" - is not that God you could think. It is
the red god Xuchilbara/Xuchilpaba (it will be explained below about
Xuchilbara).

3. OTHER DEITIES
Except the God, religious doctrines of SH include also a plenty of other
deities and angels, which will be examined now.

3-1. Holy Mother
According to belief of a cult, originally the God is in a womb of Holy
Mother (as in original "incubator"), and it's known by the myth, that God
has been given birth from people. It is easy to guess, that the person who
has believed in the God and given birth to him with the force of the
belief, can be named the Holy Mother. For example, in SH1 Alessa was as
Holy Mother (in record of the dialog in SH3 Alessa was named Holy Mother),
and the Holy Mother in SH4 was Walter Sullivan, the maniac, who has given
birth to his own world and his own God.
Cultists trusted, that the Holy Mother, who contains God, cannot die and
will be reborned unlimited amount of times ("the Mother shall be reborn"
as like Alessa's soul reborned into Cheryl) due to force of the angel -
keeper named Valtiel. She will continue her existence in Paradise (as
Alessa and Walter continued their existence in their worlds even after
their death) and will descent into our world at the same time with arrival
of Paradise and the God on our Earth ("Descent of the Holy Mother").

3-2. Valtiel
Angel from religious doctrines of a cult, for the certain reason strongly
reminding one cultist, who was especially close to the God, subsequently
ranked as a Saint... The name "Valtiel" is formed from English "valet"
("servant") with addition of a suffix "-el" - angel status. Generally,
"Valtiel" means "servant - angel", and in Lost Memories founders
characterize him as "agent of God".
Cultists thought that this deity observes of the Birth of the God. Also
Valtiel persistently follows the Saint Mother, keeps up her safety (and,
hence, the life of the God) and, according to doctrines of a cult, even
able to Revive Holy Mother if something happen with her. Actually, he is
the keeper of an eternal cycle of regeneration, guaranteeing an
opportunity of unlimited attempts to give Birth to the God (and in context
SH3 - unlimited saves ^ __ ^). Valtiel personifies affinity to the God
among the cultists, a so the executioners in Toluca prison will borrow
Valt's appearance soon, "to be closer to the God" (Valtiel partly became
the prototype of SH executioners).
Since Alessa Gillespie deeply convinced in the existence of this angel -
his image was showed in the inner world of the girl - everytime, when
Heather dies in her world - Valtiel takes away a body of the God's Mother
to revive her in this world and to give to the God (and to the gamer at
the same time) the second chance.
Valtiel's image: the angel wears a traditional ritual uniform, and his
body is covered with burns, as if after the ritual of self-burning - even
his face would not be disassembled any more... Whether it means, that
affinity to the God is caused by self-sacrifice? Constanlty, Valtiel
twists the red gate. This gate personifies a circle of reincarnations
"Halo of the Sun" and symbolizes, that the God can be given birth
unlimited amount of times - and as much as Holy Mother wants - she will
be. On Valtiel's shoulder it is possible to notice a tattoo as the Seal of
the Metathrone. It is interesting, that the Metathrone also (as well as
Valtiel in LM) is mentioned as "agent of God" in the book "Otherworld
Laws". Some people can think, that here there is some connection...

3-3. Xuchilbara and Lobsel Vith
The Indians, which were living in territory SH worshipped to the Sun,
before colonizers arrived, but also they had two gods - the red god of
revival named Xuchilpaba (eventually his name will be deformed in
"Xuchilbara"), which had a bloody pyramid instead of his head (in
formation of a god's image the great value was given to pyramidal forms,
which had place in Indians culture), and the yellow god named Lobsel Vith,
presumably carrying yellow attire. Accordingly, also there were also two
rituals of sacrifices - a "red" ceremony of blood and a "yellow" ceremony
of burning. It is easy to guess, that these victims intended to Xuchilbara
and Lobsel Vith accordingly, and each of the gods was the original patron
of the kind of ritual.
Subsequently Indian rituals have strongly affected on the rituals of a
cult (in fact actually "Adam" è "Eve" from a myth have made INDIAN ritual
of sacrifice to the Sun to give birth to the God!), and images of the gods
of America's aboriginals had some influence on an image of Valtiel and on
a ritual attire of executioners.
Simply keep in mind it for a while, and I promise to tell about culture of
Indians, their rituals and Gods later.
Meaning of names: According to recognitions of developers in Lost Memories,
names of deities have Indian motives. "Xuchilbara" can represent a little
bit modified word "Xibalba", in language of Indians Maya designating "the
other world" or "the underworld". It is known, that Indians from this
tribe actually had rituals of bloody sacrifices, considering, that they
can open gates to "the underworld" - Xibalba. "Lobsel Vith" can be
translated from language of Indians Maya approximately as "a bad cycle of
flesh" ("Lob" - "bad", "sel" - circle\cycle and "vith" - flesh). The name
of this deity can be related to belief in regenerations.

4. CULT'S SAINTS
For the certain merits for a cult these mortals were ranked as Saint their
portraits were held in a belltower of cult church. Let's find out at last
something about Saints and their role in SH religion SH. We shall try to
reproduce a situation happened during civil war through the analysis of a
Saint more precisely.

4-1. St. Nicolas
"Miraculous hands, a doctor of God" - that's how describes his inscription
under a picture in a church belltower. It is obvious, that after the first
Coming Holy Nicolas started to be one of the main confidants of God, and
he also was one of the founders of the religious cult "the Order". Now
let's examine a picture (ATTENTION! It is extremely desirable that you
have started SH3, have carefully examined pictures once again in a church
belltower - and AFTER THAT have continued reading).
The skull on a table - from immemorial time the skull was a symbol of
doctors (that's also mean, that Nicolas worked not as the doctor in
traditional meaning of this word, he was pathologist). It is necessary to
note, that the image of human parts on a table of *holy* creates not
pleasant impression about this "holy". YELLOW outfit on the doctor -
whether can symbolize it, that Nicolas was one of the followers of the
YELLOW god - Lobsel Vith?
Let's examine the next picture... At the Nicolas's table we can see
"doctor's" clothes (it's more similar to the pathologist clothes, not the
normal doctor) - and here is the most interesting thing - familiar
clothes, is not that so? Such outfit Valtiel carried in SH3, and also
executioners in Silent Hill Prison wears this outfit, when they are making
ritual executions... But when Nicolas could be the doctor of God (in
1865), there were no ritual executions in prison Toluca yet, also there
was no cult and Valtiel too (since there was no cult).
This implies, that Valtiel got his surgical coat from St. Nicolas (Nicolas
became a prototype of a cult angel), and to the prison executioners - from
Valtiel. But it is quite possible, that this "doctor's" surgical coat was
something like the traditional ritual dress of Indians borrowed by Nicolas.
Look over here:
- St... Nicolas and Valt were examples for human imitation in the cult
- They carried identical doctor's surgical coats.
- Nicolas - God's doctor, and Valtiel is responsible for the Mother&God
safety, revives them, does not allow them to die (makes "reanimation"),
and also observed the "birth".
- Also Valtiel and St. Nicolas are similar externally...
Members of a cult have created the angel most approached to the God, with
an image of their "doctor of God ".
Now it is meaningful to remember Valtiel's shape- as you could notice, the
angel looks rather scorched; his body is covered with terrible burns. If
St. Nicolas was the real prototype of Valtiel, most likely that Valt's
burns appeared because Nicolas has ended his life with a ritual of
self-burning. We can think, that Nicolas, being the religious fanatic, has
decided to prove his "affinity to God" and has committed suicide, made
ritual of self-burning, such honorable ritual in the cult. But Nicolas's
destiny and appearance were reflected in shape of an angel of the cult.
Subsequently Alessa finds out something about the angel of a cult (or
about St. Nicolas, his picture with image in church), - and his image will
be quite impressive to Alessa, then he be reflected in the inner world of
the girl and will follow the Mother of God.

4-2. St. Jennifer (also known as Jennifer Carroll)
(For details look Part 4, chapter 2-15)
She started to be one of the confidants of God (because she was at the
Birth of God or helped him). That's why she has been in the category of
saint (alongside with Nicolas). After the death of God, Jennifer has based
a cult (according to the myth, together with Nicolas and the woman in
white attire). Then recruiting of christians have begun - and Jennifer
Carroll has fallen one of the victims of this recruiting - according to a
monument in park, she has been killed by Christians near to lake, but even
before the person of death its(her) belief in the God was unshakable.
Jennifer was killed by Christians, and the corpse of the girl has been
dumped in Toluca lake - it is explains the ominous name of park
("Rosewater" - because of blood).

4-3. Holy Alessa (also known as Alessa Gillespie)
(For details look Part 4, chapter 1)
This martyress has been burnt by mother for summoning of God (Dahlia
thought that her daughter is only "incubator" for cultivation of the
deity) - but because of intrigues such "faithless" as Harry Mason, God was
not born properly.
Look at the picture - Alessa holds the child in her hands which is also
Alessa is symbolizes a spiral of reincarnations of the God's Mother
essence. Alessa cannot die - and the God within her also cannot death and
so He can be given birth infinite amount of times. Initially Alessa it has
not been ranked as a Holy - Claudia did it, for her beloved "sister"
(Claudia and Alessa were not biological sisters, it becomes clear because
of congratulation card in Claudia's room in SH3: "To little Claudia. Happy
6th Birthday. I love you as if you were my real sister" - therefore I
write a word "sister" so-called), having made revision and editing of SH
religion for some time before events of SH3.

4-4. St. Stephen
Generally the information on this saint is available only as text files of
SH3 ripped from a disk (or this file is hidden very carefully in the
game), so you may not think about it. "St. Stephen: The Sage Who Spent His
Life Restoring Scripture" - proudly the text file says and we can make a
logical conclusion , that St. Stephen has been ranked as a saint, because
he spent all his life for restoration of the Scriptus of a cult.

5. Pyramid Head and connection of prison executioners' image with religion
of city
As we understand, in SH2 context PH personifies James's sado-masochism,
his desire to punish himself for his sins, poured too much and makes hurt
not only for James, but also people surrounding him (Maria, dummies,
etc.). So James is the executioner of himself (and not only himself?). But
why James's destructive part is expressed in so exotic way?
It is easy to guess, that during stay in SH 3 years prior to SH2 events
James has visited Silent Hill Historical Society (SHHS) - and has seen a
picture with the image of the executioner and his victims under the name
"Misty day, remains of the judgement" - it has made indelible impression
on the clerk, and this image of the executioner left in James's
subconscious.
We know that the image of this executioner with a spear and a red steel
pyramid on his head is drawn on the picture in SHHS, so image of PH is
connected to the history of Silent Hill. "Originally, the pyramid head
outfit was the guise of Silent Hill's executioners" - told us Lost
Memories.
But let's find out, did really prototypes of PH dressed such outfit, as
drawn on the picture with an executer, or they have been dressed kind
different. Basically, the cult has been created after 1865, and I doubt,
that they used so impractical methods + it difficult to execute somebody
with this pyramid, completely closing the view - how would this executer
look like? It would be ridiculous. That means that rally executioners
could not have this heavy pyramid on a head. But how these executioners
really looked like?
To answer this question, it is necessary to remember the picture "White
and Crimson Banquet for Gods" in Toluca prison - look closely at the
executioners in a picture - white attires (hmm... we've seen them
somewhere before...) and with a red triangular loose overalls on their
heads (yeah - yeah,  loose overalls, instead of steel pyramids) with
opening for eyes (that means that executioners can see everything
perfectly) as a cross (it is result of influence of Christian religion on
SH religion). Here, from this picture we have represented a real image of
these executioners. But, as we can see from the picture, pyramidal
executioners had unusual execution, but severe ritual of sacrifice to God
- so they are connected not only to the history of city, but also the dark
religious organization working in Silent Hill.
Now, when we have examined the true image of real executioners and their
connection with a cult, it would be desirable to pay your attention to
some features of image of PH - his body similar to Valtiel's (Valtiel was
an ideal, believers should aspire) - PH wears similar attire as Nicolas.
But PH copies Valtiel (Nicolas) not completely - on PH's head is red (red!
red!) pyramid (real prototypes of the executioner had RED loose overall),
completing that absurd image of the executioner. Why PH is similar to
Valtiel (Nicolas) - it is understandable, but there's a question, what's
the deal with a red pyramid? We know, that Indians had red deity by name
Xuchilpaba\Xuchilbara, wearing a red pyramid (look at the pictures of the
myth), and we know, that the religion of aboriginals of America has
strongly affected religion of SH. It is easy to guess, that during
creating the outfit for the executers, the cult has decided to combine the
images of Valtiel (the standard of affinity to God) and Xuchilbara (the
patron of bloody ritual of summoning the God) with the purpose of giving
an image of the believer to executioners, aspiring to God through bloody
sacrifice (as sets of both ideals of affinity to God) to synthesize these
images with the purpose of creating a new one, absolute example, ideal
saint. And an image of the real executioner the artist drawn on his
picture, embodied some mythical features (so this steel pyramid on the
head of executioner - is fiction, created by the artist)
Also everything compares on chronology: Toluca Prison was designed as camp
for war prisoners in 1862 and has been reconstructed in 1866 - and as we
know (look Part 2, Chapter 1), the cult began its activity after the first
Birth approximately in 1865. Everything compares - in 1866 Toluca prison
opens and the new clothes for executioners are added, which (remember the
influence of this cult to city) was a symbol of reverence of these saints,
and also a metaphor, meaning "Divine Court to the sinner".
Generally, it turns out, that PH has inherited his attire from
Valtiel\Nicolas, and his *head* (actually not thus pyramid, but a red
loose overall) from ancient Indian deity Xuchilbara.

6. THE ORDER
For a long time the mysterious religious cult which the townspeople call
simply "the Order" operates in the city. This cult has been based after
the ending of civil war and its main purpose to revive God and construct
the "Paradise" on the Earth. But religious beliefs of this organization,
and also its role in the city life constantly changed - let's look after
these changes and find out more information about this cult.

6-1. History of the Cult (19-th century - the middle of 20-th century)
The history of the religious organization can be counted from the middle
of XIX century when believers attempted to summon God. In those days the
doctrine of the cult was a mix of Christian doctrines and traditional
beliefs of the Indians, who lived on the territory of Silent Hill (with
cruel ceremonies inherited by them).
But the birth of the cult after the conflict, which has been created after
*political* opposition, has not made anything good and the society of
Silent Hill splitted in two because of *religious* oppositions of the cult
and Christian church. Jennifer Carroll was one of the victims of this
opposition...
Was this cult legal during those period or the government had struggled
with it? The monument of Jennifer Carroll in Rosewater Park explains this
situation - when "the Order" has been formed - Christians of Silent Hill
were angry when a lot of people were after this new religion - and they
tried to punish the leaders of the cult. But, the government was against
this idea - and even (nonsense!) has established the monument in Rosewater
Park to the member of the occult organization! Even when the burning of
witches still were everywhere (for example, in Massachusetts located not
so far from SH). As we can see, the Christianity of SH was serious damaged
by this cult in 19-th century. It is probable, that the city government
included some of the followers of the cult (most likely), or the
government was sold to this cult (that is also possible).
Eventually, the cult gathers huge power, and its religious traditions
start to have serious influence to the life of the city and, particularly,
on the kind of executions in local prison and a uniform of executioners.
The religious organization was the owner of the shelters: Hope House\Wish
House (the official owner was charitable organization Silent Hill Smile
Support Society which was under control of the cult) which subsequently
will be used for *washing brains* to orphans and recruiting them into
cult's religion.
Nevertheless, during the subsequent period cult starts to separate to
sects (see the chapter of "sects") and as a result loses its former
authority, and then changing into the underground organization of the
Satanists - drug-dealers, periodically kidnapped young girls with purpose
to give birth to God, and also secretly imparting to orphans their dark
religious beliefs. According to comments of game authors in SH1OGFAQ,
periodically members of a cult tried to make rituals to summon God, but
for some reasons these rituals failed. Such turn of failures proceeded
till coming of the fanatical woman named Dahlia Gillespie to the religious
organization, which starts to propagandize worship Demons and ideas of
destruction of everything for clearing of suffering...

6-2. Development of "the Order"
à)  SH1:
To learn more about financial position of the cult at the moment of SH1
events, it'll be enough to remember the underground church of the cult -
it is located in a cellar (more precisely, even in the sewers) of the
small shop in the business district named Green Lion ("The other church in
this town" - Dahlia describes this scrap land). It obviously means
shortage of budget in this organization. Now let's compare it to the
Christian church in SH (Balkan Church) - there's everything beautiful:
glamour, shiny, beauty... Amount of benches means quantity of Christians
in the city, and interior - about budget of the Christians. We can
understand, that during SH1 events the cult was not out the law, but also
was not on a pique of popularity and especially was not the registered
religion - since 19-th century cult's position were weak. Probably, all of
the cult's problems were in shortage of believers? (Most likely, it is
connected with domination of satanic tendencies at that moment in the cult)
Not enough believers = not enough money = impossible to buy up the
government...
Though, the cult tried to compensate shortage of donations by the union
with especially talented doctors and free sale of their product - PTV.
*Maybe* the government and police received their percents from its sale,
so everyone were pleased (except for dissatisfied with presence of the
religious competition of Christians), and the city became rot from within.
However, Dahlia worried not about finances of the cult - the woman was
fanatically devoted to the ideas of summoning God-demon and even has
offered her daughter for the sake of this illusive purpose. And her works
were not useless...

b) 17 years between events of SH1 and SH3:
17 years prior to events SH3 was lost (was killed by Caufmann - traitor)
the manager of CULTural affairs of Silent Hill and also - last expert in
occult - Dahlia Gillespie. The cult was actually decapitated, for some
years after death of Dahlia "the Order" was confusion, but soon the cult's
high post was occupied by the friend of Dahlia Gillespie - the sadist
("The memories of his cruelty is forever burned into my mind" - Vincent
speaks about Leonard) Leonard Wolf, and he have set in the Brookhaven
because of killing the person with knife at religious dispute. The
CULTURAL aristocrat named Vincent has taken the advantage, and instead of
that sadist, Claudia Wolf became the head of this cult (Vincent only
pretended, that he shares all the beliefs of Claudia, and she trusted this
liar). Vincent had the position of Father and at the same time the Main
Accountant of the Cult - he has got desired access to a *feeding trough*,
than has even more strongly increased the capitals.
Claudia, having received authority of this cult, first of all (in peak to
her disliked father) has replaced the main rate on more liberal "We'll
rescue entire mankind, comrades!" - and for more effective change of a
rate, has engaged in reformatory activity with the purpose to humanize
(Christianize) religion and since it is impossible to read all the library
literature for acceleration of process she has invited Vincent "who is
sharing her sights" (participation in processing religion of SH gave
Vincent an opportunity to subordinate religion to his own benefit.
Certainly, so practical man could not miss such opportunity). The main
religious changes brought with Claudia are listed below:
a)  Ideological opponents were removed - names of Dahlia Gillespie and
Leonard Wolf are absolutely erased from the history of cult - in the game
we can see the mentions about Dahlia only for 3 times - in the note of the
father and once for game Heather mutters in the car something about her
mother ("A woman named Dahlia, she tried to summon the ancient god of the
town. She offered up her very own daughter"). Vincent uses only fastidious
"crazy old hag" - and there's not any written mentions about Dahlia,
devoted her (and not only her) life to God, or mentions about Leonard (a
note in the madhouse were not used - the question is directly about the
cult)
b)  God has changed his gender and became similar to Alessa - Claudia
always idealized her "sister" and considered that the "correct" God should
be similar to her beloved "sister".
c)  The religious myth is edited - the God brings the Rescue to people,
besides the woman in a white loose overall at the end of a myth,
suspiciously reminding Alessa, probably has been added by Claudia.
d) Now  Alessa (Alessa Gillespie on the picture)  is ranked as Holy of the
cult and her portrait is hung alongside with portraits of such cult heroes
as St. Jennifer and St. Nicolas (which, acquiring to LM, have been ranked
as Holy in 19-th century) in a belltower of cult church.
e)  It is possible to rename gods - I do not exclude, that in new religion
Valtiel and other deities had other names. In the book "About syncretic
religions" (SH3, library) there's written about assignment of new names to
the deities because of the influence of Christian religion. By the way,
now an ideal of affinity to God - Alessa (picture of Alessa with the child
hangs in the center and also it is the biggest picture and also we'
remember Claudia's dreams). So, "You want to be closer to God? Follow
after Holy Alessa, comrades!"
f) Remembering her sufferings in the childhood, Claudia after reading the
books like "Young Slaves: Child Exploitation" cancels mockeries at
children with the purpose that they will give birth to God, according to
Claudia's ideas, no one cannot give Birth to the ideal God except Alessa
(children exult, they will not be tormented, burnt, locked any more in the
Water Prison, etc.) - and "Hunting for the Mother of God" begins. Now
children can live happily and the religion becomes for them as a game (for
example, they are singing songs about God, eating sweets and draw maps of
the church with bunnies. At once occurs "She gives us candy And money to
spend Just be sure you do not get her mad" - sings in UFO-ending about
Claudia Wolf).
g) Earlier (during events of SH1) beliefs of the cult (of Dahlia and
Leonard) had more likely sadistic-satanic character, now Christian ideas
of "General Rescue" (Rescue as usual-habitual posthumous Paradise where
are no wars, illnesses, ageing, etc.) are dominating.
Now the new sense of the advanced religion most briefly can be expressed
as - "it is not necessary to suffer! Let's find Alessa, torture her and we
shall force her to give Birth to the God who will forgive our sins and
will open the Gates to Paradise!" I think Claudia had such point of view
because of Christian religion, where Jesus Christ tortured for entire
humanity. But it would be desirable to note, that the external side of
religion can be changed as much as it’s necessary - but the Divine nature
will not change. Confirmations of this we can see during SH3...

Results of editing the religion with Christian style are simply
tremendous! Now the cult actively gains popularity, donations flow like
water (and self-sacrifices of fanatics too - remember the inscriptions in
the tunnel through which Heather comes into church: "I give to you
unreservedly, my body and my eternal soul") - now the cult really grows.
With such popular religion it is necessary to reckon with - religion of SH
is officially registered and even scientific books are written about her
(for example, scientific work under the bright name "Silent Hill's Ancient
Gods: A Study of Their Etymology and Evolution"). Remember Christian
Balkan Church in SH1? And so, in SH3 there's no even a single word about
it, but we can see, that the cult has got the church as good as Balkan
Church! Look at quantity of the benches, well-made (from the art point of
view) pictures of the myth, the church piano (the cult began to import
some elements of church chanting - for the greater popularity of sermons)
- figures out that there are a lot of parishioners in this church...
Because of what it is possible? Actually, Vincent explains: "... I built
it with my power - the POWER of MONEY... " However, he exaggerates a
little that its HIS force of money (the force of money which are belonging
to Vincent) - from the notes found in church in SH3, (a room with the tape
recorder believers' complaints: " I've also heard rumors that Father
Vincent has been extorting donations from some followers ") it becomes
clear, that Vincent used not his own money, but gathering from
parishioners (most likely, he did not want to speak about these gathering
with idealistically adjusted Claudia).

6-3. Collapse of Claudia's ideals, new chapter in the history of the cult
For some years after SH3:
What happened with the cult after events of SH3? The letter of Joseph
Schreiber gives us the answer to this question (If Henry has driven in
Ashfield Heights Apartment half-year later after disappearance of
Schreiber, *maybe* it was written approximately in 7 years after events of
SH3):
"April 8
Although the cult itself is gone, I'm sure the spirit of it is still alive"
So we can see that after death of Leonard, Claudia, Vincent and other
followers of their religion, the cult of the Silent Hill is ruined again,
and the entire city, according to SHDI, already deserted for long time.
But ideas of the cult have already surpassed the limits of Silent Hill and
they are continued their life in the heads of people. The cult already
destroyed, but there were its followers (perhaps, they will revive the
cult subsequently?) On an image of the follower of "new type" of the cult
- Jasper Gein (look at his stylish T-shirt!) it is possible to think, that
when supporters of importing the Christian ideas in religion of SH
disappeared, the started to revive devil following moods of Dahlia
Gillespie...

6-4. Cult's church
In Silent Hill 3 we can visit cult's church (Claudia Wolf lived in the
small room) which is near to Lake Side Amusement Park. Nevertheless, some
contradictions in statements of characters and comments of game authors
have made a lot of gossips about this church. Let's expose this case.
During the last meeting with Claudia, Vincent approves "Home? This church
is my home. I built it with my power" - but did Vincent really constructed
this church all by himself? We can see refutations of this fact not only
during the game, but also in LM:
a) When Heather examines a stained glass in church, she remembers:
"Somehow i remember this stained glass... I used to come to this chapel
all the time when i was a little girl... But it was not actually me. It
was actually Alessa when she was a little girl" - and so this church was
and at least 24 years prior to events of SH3 - then Vincent was about 2
years old (LM: " name: Vincent age: 24~26 ")
b) LM: "... the map of the church A map that is drawn with a childlike
simplicity. Alessa, whose mother was Dahlia, must have visited this
church" Maybe Alessa spent a lot of time in this church?
c) LM: "Alessa's thoughts from her childhood linger in the church. It may
be that the younger version of Alessa who was teased and called "witch" is
wandering aimlessly about the church" - so this church it is valid more
than 24 years.
d) In Silent Hill: Among the Damned Jason and Dahlia after walking in the
Amusement Park came to this church. If Dahlia from SH comics - REALLY THAT
Dahlia, we've thought, events of SHAtD should occur not less than 31 year
prior to events of SH3 - and church should be more than 30 years old...
e) Let's remember the place where Heather fights with God in the end of
SH3: "the underground area of the church is in fact a ruin where the
town's former residents once conducted rituals" - so the church has been
constructed on a sacred place for rituals. Probably, it is more than a 100
years?
Result: earlier there (western part of SH) were held the rituals of God's
summoning, after 1865 the cult (under leadership of Jennifer and Nicolas)
- the place where rituals took place is sold (the northwest part of city -
In SH3 Vincent describes its position "The church is on the other side of
the lake. Across the lake, on the north side. If you're going you'd better
go through the amusement park. It's probably the only way in now. Go
northwest on Nathan Avenue. It's a bit far but closer than heaven") and
then the church of the cult was built there. It means that church existed
from 1865 (see illustrations to the myth - St. Jennifer and St. Nicolas
stand in a final room of church with "a maternity hole"). Vincent had
built nothing - he only took money from parishioners, made repairs of the
church, and also has given to it a magnificent kind for attraction of
potential believers.

6-5. Wish House
Wish House is a shelter located in the forest near the Silent Hill, nearby
to the place where aboriginals (Indians) worshipped the sacred stone
"Nahkeehona" and had sessions of talking with their dead ancestors.
Officially the shelter belongs to the charitable organization "Silent Hill
Smile Support Society" or "S4", but the religious sect "Holy Mother Sect"
operates here. It is known, that there were practiced some cruel methods -
orphans were forced to read the Scriptus of the cult and periodically they
were locked in the awful Tower - "Panopticon" Prison, which was settled
down in the forest near to this shelter. Walter Sullivan spent his
childhood there. Certainly, citizens heard about some of the events in
that shelter, and even Joseph Schreiber - reporter, once has published the
article in the "Concord" magazine:
Teaching Despair: “Wish House”.
“Wish House,” an orphanage on the outskirts of Silent Hill. But behind
it's false image is a place where children are kidnapped and brainwashed.
Wish House is managed by the “Silent Hill Smile Support Society,” a
charity organization sometimes called "4S." It's true that 4S is a
well-respected charity that “takes in poor children without homes and
raises them with hope.” But at it's heart, it is a heathen organization
that teaches its own warped dogma in lieu of good religious values. Mr.
Smith (temp), who lives near “Wish House,” had this to say: “Sometimes at
night I can hear their weird prayers and the sounds of [children] crying.
I went there to complain one time, but they ran me right out. Since then
it has not changed a bit. ”In fact, this reporter was refused admission
when he attempted to take photographs in the facility. What exactly do the
folks at “Wish House” have to hide? During my investigations, I was able
to discover, however, a suspicious-looking round concrete tower which
appears to be part of their facilities. Unfortunately no one was willing
to tell us what the tower was used for. But it seems unlikely that it has
anything to do with the business of raising orphans. It may in fact be a
prison, or a secret place of worship. The cult religion that operates
“Wish House” is known by the locals simply as “The Order”. It's a religion
that is deeply interwoven with Silent Hill's history. But it's
worshippers' fervent belief that they are among the elite “chosen people”
has a dark and dangerous side. I intend to continue my investigation of
“Wish House” and the cult behind it. I've always believed that “telling
the whole truth” and showing the children the true path, is our most
important duty.
Joseph Schreiber
About parity (ratio) Wish House and Hope House: actually, Schreiber has
published two similar notes about two shelters (Wish House and Hope House)
in two various magazines ("Concord" and "SH Times!") - we've found one in
the asylum of SH3, another - in SH4. We can think, that this is the same
orphanage - but he has two usable names or the shelter was renamed after
release of journalist's article (and Joseph has decided to change the name
in his article to the other one and to publish article again in the other
magazine).
Approximate arrangement of the orphanage: we can define a provisional
arrangement of "Wish House" which is near to the cemetery and a strange
factory:
- SH2 - after Silent Hill Historical Society (a southwest of the city, on 
the other side of the Silent Hill Lake Side Amusement Park) James wanders
on the labyrinths and comes to the cemetery where it is possible to find
the grave of Walter Sullivan.
- SH4 - Walter Sullivan's grave is in the forest near to the Wish House.
- SH2 - After the cemetery Sunderland gets on a meat-packing factory.
- SH4 - Near to the cemetery there is a suspicious factory.
- SH2 - The meat-packing factory and the cemetery are close to the Toluca
lake, in particular, "refrigerator" of this factory is closely to the lake
(for fast delivery of meat)
- SH4 - The cemetery, forest, "factory" and the shelter are near to