How does Silent Hill choose?

James got a letter. From a dead person. Oh dear.

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*Phoenix*
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How does Silent Hill choose?

Post by *Phoenix* »

I beat this game 2 days ago and I've been wondering how Silent Hill chooses to take into the foggy plane? I've been able to find links between but not one that fits all 4 characters (James, Eddie, Angela and Lauren) The link I made are Angela James and Eddie all killed someone (or in Eddie's case killed a dog and shot a dude) But this wouldn't explain Lauren. Plus a flaw with that theory is that if murder was the link between the character then why not bring Walter Sullivan to fog Silent Hill after all he killed multiple people (I have NOT played silent hill 4). Another link is that Lauren, James and Angela are all looking for someone special but this would exclude Eddie. The last connection I came up with was that they have been to Silent Hill before but as far as I know Eddie has no prior connection to Silent Hill (agian that only as much as I know). So could anyone help me out? Whats the defining thing that they all had in common that would cause them to enter the foggy plane of Silent Hill?
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Mis Krist.
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Post by Mis Krist. »

It's Laura, not Lauren.

Murder isn't the only thing Angela, Eddie, and James have in common - trauma, guilt, darkness in their hearts are also a common bond. Laura also has trauma - she's an eight year old girl orphaned and friendless, and while she's too young to commit any great sin she still has "darkness" in her because of her childhood.
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Post by *Phoenix* »

Krist. wrote:It's Laura, not Lauren.
Sorry that was stupidity on my part.

Personally I felt that Eddie felt no guilt. He seemed pretty fine with killing anyone who gave him a hard time. Also to me it seems that James isn't really traumatized so much as he is guilt ridden.
My only problem is that everyone has darkness in there heart and everyone has had some traumatizing event. Why are these 4 people so special? Oh and were more people in foggy Silent Hill or are the corpses just manifestations. I like your explanation Krist and it did make things clearer, but I just have trouble connecting Eddie to the rest convincinly.
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Mis Krist.
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Post by Mis Krist. »

James isn't traumatised? The poor man not only blocked out the past three years, the letter his wife wrote to him as her final goodbye, but willed a delusion into life. I guess I have a hard time looking at all that has happened prior to and during the game and not seeing the trauma James has been through. Losing someone you love isn't mentally damaging? I'd certainly say it is considering the nightmare James finds himself wrapped up in when he gets to Silent Hill.

As for the matter of Eddie and guilt, may I get back to you on that? I believe there has been one or two discussions on the matter of his character, and until I go back and re-read them I don't think I could do the ideas any justice in the meantime.

There's nothing terribly remarkable about these four people - James and Laura have the tie to Mary, but they're not connected to the other characters besides what happens inside the town. The quartet are merely the dramatis personae: the cast of the story.

The corpses and notes that James finds certainly suggests that there were other travelers in the town at some point, who've all met a ghastly end before James comes to town. Any other information is speculation, though; I'd say the only people who are in the foggy version of the town at the time of James's journey are the ones listed and shown in the game.
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Post by The Adversary »

There've been plenty of people to've come through Silent Hill. Walter Sullivan included. Just look at the Catacombs of the Abyss.

I should re-type my theory on the Minotaur.
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Post by *Phoenix* »

Krist. wrote:James isn't traumatised? The poor man not only blocked out the past three years, the letter his wife wrote to him as her final goodbye, but willed a delusion into life. I guess I have a hard time looking at all that has happened prior to and during the game and not seeing the trauma James has been through. Losing someone you love isn't mentally damaging? I'd certainly say it is considering the nightmare James finds himself wrapped up in when he gets to Silent Hill..
Well when explained like that yes it seems that James is alot more traumitised then he appears in the game.
Thanks alot for clearing up the matter of some of the corpses. That was bugging the hell out of me.
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Post by Anonymous »

I always figured alot of people with problems are constantly attracted to Silent Hill in some sort of manner, it's just that they arnt featured in their own games and usually meet the punishment that you keep eluding in the game.

Figure Pyramid Head has gotten quite a few kills in his time.
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Post by alone in the town »

I completely believe that Silent Hill doesn't choose people.
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Post by Dunkel_Teufel »

Silent Hill can´t choose, it is a town.
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Post by PHOENIXinFLAMES »

I just think people who are fucked up in some way or have that "darkness in the hearts" thing are drawn to the town. Simple as that...But as for James...Didn't he and his wife go vacationing there all the time? So...Well, I guess that drawn to the town thing doesn't work for James. Damn it, I'll let the smart people take over!!!

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Post by Dunkel_Teufel »

Let´s just remember that SH is a resort town. The SH we all see in the games, its not the real SH it is just a distorted version of it.
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Post by Anonymous »

The way I see it:

Silent Hill is a rather normal resort town, but it's built on a very bad land and has a dark past.

All normal people go to the normal town, maybe with a few weird feelings, but nothing really happens to them.

When the dark souls come there, they enter into the corrupted version of Silent Hill.

The area draws all sorts of people to it, it doesnt actually pick.
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Post by Anonymous »

Laura never saw the darkness. She was pure, which is why she was never attacked by monsters or harmed by the town. She had ties with Mary, which was why she was there. I look at Laura as some sort of messenger. She was never sucked into the dark realm of Silent Hill.
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Post by Mis Krist. »

But she was still in the foggy, isolated version of the town.
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Post by Anonymous »

it is the regret
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Post by Spirit »

alone in the town wrote:I completely believe that Silent Hill doesn't choose people.
I agree. There are millions of people in this world with blackness in their hearts. I don't think Silent Hill will be setting a schedule for it's "patients". I would have to think that Silent Hill is like a Venus Fly Trap... It like... draws you in someway, maybe just people at random, or everyone, but not everyone listens. It like... shows you something you've been hoping for, and it snaps it's jaws on you - and then it devourers you slowly, letting you bathe in your own sins and pain till you die, or leave, or whatever you end up donig.

I'd say there all just mindless travelers... All there for their own reasons. I think the town has a mind of it's own some how... I dunno. I'm just crawling in the dark, here.
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Post by alone in the town »

Well, the reason I believe Silent Hill doesn't choose people is:

1: I don't believe that the town has a mind of its own, or any sort of master, omnipresent consciousness.

2: I don't think that only bad or troubled people feel its draw.

I think Silent Hill is a town that sits upon a wellspring of unusual energy that allows people to create realities outside of this one. Most people are only able to do this unconsciously, affecting only themselves (James and co.). Some people, who are more strongly attuned to this power and have the correct knowledge, can actually consciously manipulate this power and even draw others into it (such as Alessa, Dahlia, Claudia and Walter).

Laura saw a town that was empty and lonely, but also lacking monsters and any real trace of darkness or evil. The Doctor's Note memo in Brookhaven Hospital refers to a mental patient who experiences these Otherside realities and actually finds them pleasant, moreso than the 'prime' reality.

It is for this reason that I believe it is a strong emotional mindset that triggers Silent Hill's power, and I mean emotions of any kind, good or bad, as long as they are strong, focused, and a large presence in a particular person's mind. It's why I believe there is no mind behind what happens in Silent Hill. I think this power and energy are a blank canvas to certain people, a canvas upon which they paint usually without even knowing it. Sometimes this painting can be nice, sometimes it isn't. Sometimes it reveals something to the painter, something important and life-altering. Sometimes it merely leads to a complete unraveling.
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Post by Monobrow »

Just for reference:

http://www.silenthillforum.com/viewtopi ... sc&start=0

This thread was very interesting, involving aiit, Inverted Pyramid, myself, Sparta, and a few others, anyway, I enjoyed the discussion very much, and I think it ties very well to this question...So have a read if you want...
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Post by Anonymous »

Pyramid_Headv2.0 wrote:it is the regret
hey i think how the town pics the ppl is how much darkness is in there hearts and well Laura is becaues she know mary but mostly i think eddie was just there for the ride and well he had the most darkness of all them and james just had lots of guilt i think the reson he came to silent hill to find mary was becaues he wanted to get ride of that guilt but mostly the town was just screwing with his mind. also Laura was pure and well she was the innecent and the light maybe a little batty but she was wat alessa liked to have to reimind herself that there is still good in the world. i think it is all very hmm i dont know the words for it but it is sad and well it has a point that there is good and evil in this world. :cry:
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