Harry's last name, uncited reference to actor James Mason?

[Cyrus Hanley]

The Book of Lost Memories pretty much revealed a lot of subtle references to various actors through the names of the main characters.

Lisa Garland's name is a reference to an actor named Lisa who portrayed a nurse in a movie and to Judy Garland, who most notably portrayed Dorothy Gale in The Wizard of Oz.

Cheryl's name is derived from actor Sheryl Lee, who played Laura Palmer in Twin Peaks.

etc. etc. etc.

Anyway, I think that Harry's last name (Mason) was a reference to actor James Mason, but it went uncited.

James Mason starred as Professor Humbert Humbert in Lolita, the 1962 film adaption of Vladimir Nabokov's novel of the same name.

It should be noted that during production, Harry and Cheryl's original names were "Humbert" and "Dolores" in reference to the book's main characters and their relationship but this was changed as it went through translation because they felt that they should opt for more common names (with "Harry" coming from the nickname of the man who created the character, apparently).

[LittleRed]

I always wondered why they considered naming Cheryl and Harry after the characters in "Lolita". Maybe it would have been a very different game if they'd kept the original names.

Creepy

[paladin181]

I always found it a reference to his mystery solving ways in Silent Hill, as a similar sound to the investigative prosecutor, Perry Mason, portrayed on television by Raymond Burr.

[Ryoshockwave]

^Perry Mason is mentioned in Jacob's Ladder, too. I found that to be interesting.

[Cyrus Hanley]

I always wondered why they considered naming Cheryl and Harry after the characters in "Lolita". Maybe it would have been a very different game if they'd kept the original names.

Creepy

It was meant to represent Harry's strong fatherly instincts in his search for Cheryl, mirroring Humbert's similar undying love (or lust) for Lolita.

I very much like how Climax referenced this in Shattered Memories by hinting at Cheryl having symptoms of the Electra complex (seeing as how a lot of what we knew previously was turned upside down and inside out).

I always found it a reference to his mystery solving ways in Silent Hill, as a similar sound to the investigative prosecutor, Perry Mason, portrayed on television by Raymond Burr.

Very nice.

Reminds me of one of L0rdVega's Let's Play Silent Hill videos.

Vega: Who can we call on the case? We need Haaaaaarry Mason!