The signifigance of the snow in silent hill

Post by **Will** » 25 May 2008

I know there's no snow in SHO. Shit, i mixed things from another videogame or movie, lol.

Post by **Denizen** » 18 Sep 2008

It could be a reference to Dean Koontz's Phantoms, which involved a town called Snowfield where the population mysteriously disappears. That and both Silent Hill and Phantoms involves a giant moth and similar bizarre creatures.

Post by **Xigz** » 18 Sep 2008

I thought it was ash?

EDIT: Nevermind.

Post by **Jonipoon** » 18 Sep 2008

>EDIT: Nevermind.
Too late.

>I thought it was ash?
In the movie, yes. In the game, no.

Raider Man · Post by **Raider Man** » 27 Sep 2008

Harrys_Girl wrote:Well, then perhaps with my symcolbic meaning of white being a cold and painful existance and what you just said the god wanting to save the world from a cold and painful existance... perhaps that is the meaning of the white snow in Silent Hill. Perhaps it is an effect that the Cult is using.

Eureka! We have found iti

To Peachy:
So was my brother. Good thing you guys weren't born in Asia, huh? Besides, it is just a symbolic meaning, like a person's zodiac or blood type.

and whats wrong if they were born is Asia, I born in Lebanon and thats its in Asia?!! I think everything is normal to everyone
And about the snowy thing, I read all the topics, some of you say its fog others say its snow, will, it wasnt a puzzle when this first came out, but now you changed it, its a big puzzle now since we have to know weather the snow things related to the story, if so it maybe fog, or it maybe snow, but I just want to tell you something, At the begnning, when Harry reached Silent Hill, the first time it was snowing (weather its fog or no) Lets say its fog ok? Just lets say, when he followed his daighter Cherly into an Alley and gets in, the town become to change into darker, so that there is no fog now, there is rain, so that rain + fog = Hmmm not related to each other, also in school where when you go to the playground you see its raining, so Snow and Rain are connected to each other, so that Alessa put cold imaginary, as there is something about it, why Cold?! Well then since Alessa died on the fire, so there appears to be fogs, in Origin there is fog, SH3 also and SH 4 also where you go outside from the prison and int he deepest part of Walter, every SH contains fog, so I think also SH2 since I dont know it, but want to go back to SH1 that there were fog and snow, the fog thing we know, but the snowy day we dont know about it, why snowing? Why not heat? She burned? So that she gives the opposite sign, is that where she want to feel it in that way? Is that because she wanted to be cold since she had been burned? Its a big puzzle but I told you in SH1 you were both right, there was fog and it was snowing.

Sorry for my English language, this is not my own language as well! But try your best to understand me.

Post by **Kupomee** » 27 Sep 2008

Yeah pretty hard post to read lol. Got it though

Well, the way I see it, the weather is just one of many customizable features of the town once your in the ghostly version.
So in Silent Hill 1 there's Alessa and Cheryll, both halves of the same person. But Alessa likes her nightmares damp, dark and destructive. Whereas Cheryll reflects in the otherworld as innocent, sad and merely a ghostly echo, hence the snow and white fog.
Most of the stuff you see in Silent Hill 1 comes from the mind of Alessa and her sad echo of an other half, Cheryll.

In Silent Hill 2 it's James' depression and desorientation in life making the world go foggy. That and the fact that that's the way he remembered the town from his earlier visits.

In Silent Hill 3 there's really no reason for the fog that I know of.

In Silent Hill 4 the weather is just one of many parts of the game-world showing how demented Walter's memories and mind are.

In Silent Hill Origins the smoke at the start is just a nice way to break expectations and a prelude to the player actually entering into the story at the very beginning, with the fire that started is all...
Don't know the meaning for the fog, if any there is, in this game...

Raider Man · Post by **Raider Man** » 27 Sep 2008

Well! I dont think that its a fog, its a white thing lookslike a fog that comes with the memory, you see? Just remember when you see any kind of a movie that someone had dreamd about something or someone think about something whats happened in the past and he's walking through his imaginsation and the white substance appears that lookslike exactly the fog, I think this is it, I dont know how to explain this but hope you get what I mean, its a substance, an imagination substance that comes with the imagination story, thats it, because it appears in ALL silent hill since you said that silent hill 2 also contains fogs so I think thats it. but the snow thing is true, it was snowing!! But why? I dont know.
And about the fog thing as I told you I am just giving my opinion so its not answered yet.

Post by **AuraTwilight** » 27 Sep 2008

In Silent Hill 3 there's really no reason for the fog that I know of.

Her memory of her past life is foggy, and as the fog in her mind clears, the horrific, dark nightmares of her mind come to light.

Don't know the meaning for the fog, if any there is, in this game...

Again, foggy, suppressed memories.

Post by **Kupomee** » 28 Sep 2008

Raider Man it is as you say, the way Silent hill looks is all in one's mind and imagination, so the fog would be because people's minds and memories are murky, foggy.

The snow in Silent Hill 1 is because snow is associated with innocence or tranquility, Cheryl is the one making it look like that.

Mine and Aura's posts on this page explain it pretty well I think. And I agree with what you said about the fog.

Post by **StaticRadio** » 20 Jan 2009

I'm going to go parody-Freudian on you all and state what I feel is obvious. The snow stands for Alessa's fear of dandruff. Now that's at least as out there as my interpretation of James' jacket.
Hope it gives you a laugh!

Post by **dagoth_jeff** » 22 Jan 2009

Scarlet wrote:We have discussed this before and I still believe that the snow is not snow at all, but ashes, representing the burning of Alessa's house. I'm not sure where the old topic is...

IIRC Harry says something to the effect of "snow...this time of year?..." Obviously his comment makes the snow very, very real. He sees it, he feels it, he's acknowledging the fact that "hey, look - it's snowing." It's not like he's never seen snow before in his life, so to point out this simple observation should solidify the ongoing weather.

If it were ashes, he certainly wouldn't call it snow. It's not cold, it's not wet, and I'm sure the accumulation after 20 minutes on your clothing would further convince anyone that it isn't snow.

The only thing that would let his "incorrect" observation fly is if he never encountered (or read/heard about) what snow is really like, or if he never heard of/observed falling ashes before, and confused the two. But the fact that he knew that it was the wrong time of year for snow to happen indicates he knows a thing or two about observing snow falling.

Post by **silentpyramid0023** » 07 Mar 2009

well in origins in the beginning there is a fire which allesa gillesphe was burned and its not snow its ashes as it states in the movie and origins is the prequel of number 1 so basically there's always ashes because of that one fire that burned allesa that's my theory though so I don't know what the real explanation is for the mysterious snow

Post by **EileenGalvin** » 07 Mar 2009

I think there was nothing much to the snow. It was just there to emphasize that something weird is going on here.

Post by **AuraTwilight** » 08 Mar 2009

well in origins in the beginning there is a fire which allesa gillesphe was burned and its not snow its ashes as it states in the movie and origins is the prequel of number 1 so basically there's always ashes because of that one fire that burned allesa that's my theory though so I don't know what the real explanation is for the mysterious snow

The games and movie are different universes, and in the game, they call it snow. Not to mention Ash isn't white and it doesn't melt when it hits the ground.

Post by **Mis Krist.** » 08 Mar 2009

silentpyramid0023 wrote:well in origins in the beginning there is a fire which allesa gillesphe was burned and its not snow its ashes as it states in the movie and origins is the prequel of number 1 so basically there's always ashes because of that one fire that burned allesa that's my theory though so I don't know what the real explanation is for the mysterious snow

No. It's not ashes in SH1. It's snow. Two characters SAY it's snow. The movie canon =/= the game canon, even if Origins tried to make it so.

Post by **EileenGalvin** » 09 Mar 2009

silentpyramid0023 wrote:well in origins in the beginning there is a fire which allesa gillesphe was burned and its not snow its ashes as it states in the movie and origins is the prequel of number 1 so basically there's always ashes because of that one fire that burned allesa that's my theory though so I don't know what the real explanation is for the mysterious snow

Well, but that would also mean that all fog in Silent Hill is actually smoke, and that's bull**it. The makers of Origins weren't the original makers of Silent Hill, and in my opinion - as good as the game is - they didn't know exactly what they were doing.

Post by **StaticRadio** » 09 Mar 2009

EileenGalvin wrote:
silentpyramid0023 wrote:well in origins in the beginning there is a fire which allesa gillesphe was burned and its not snow its ashes as it states in the movie and origins is the prequel of number 1 so basically there's always ashes because of that one fire that burned allesa that's my theory though so I don't know what the real explanation is for the mysterious snow
Well, but that would also mean that all fog in Silent Hill is actually smoke, and that's bull**it. The makers of Origins weren't the original makers of Silent Hill, and in my opinion - as good as the game is - they didn't know exactly what they were doing.

Hmmm...If that IS smoke in Origins it might explain why Travis can't run very far. but as far as i can tell it's still fog.

Post by **SenorKaffee** » 16 Mar 2009

StaticRadio wrote:Hmmm...If that IS smoke in Origins it might explain why Travis can't run very far. but as far as i can tell it's still fog.

Even in SH0 it's only smoke in the beginning - it has a different color than the fog later in the game.

For the meaning of snow I have two theories - one is purity/innocence from a western perspective and winter/death from a more eastern perspective (white = color of death).

Post by **AuraTwilight** » 16 Mar 2009

The two ideas are by no means exclusive from each other. Lots of things in the first game have multiple, equally true symbolism.

Post by **alone in the town** » 16 Mar 2009

Well, any question of the snow's significance has to be tied with another: Why does it rain in the Otherworld? I can't check at the moment and my memory may not be stellar, but I like to think it does not rain when you're in the Lakeside Amusement Park. If anyone can verify that, thx.

I have never really given it much thought except to think of the snow/rain dichotomy as a sort of extra contrast element... letting you know that the Otherworld has manifested, if all the other, more obvious, indicators somehow slip by you.

It does this in Silent Hill 2 the very first time the landscape shifts (in the Brookhaven Garden), but that's it's only occurrence in that game. In Silent Hill 3, it never rains.