A good Butchter-Theory

[John_Doe]

I just finished the game (about an hour ago), so my memory is still filled with all this stuff. However, after reading some of the discussions here about the Butcher (e.g. him being a "Pyramid Head rip-off" or a "representation of Travis guilt"), I wondered why no one mentioned the help Travis is getting from him. Ever since your first encounter with him

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in the Butchery

, all you see him doing is killing monster, slowly fighting its way through Silent Hill towards

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the Motel

. Then comes the final confrontation

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in the Kitchen

- and it's over.

Well, I haven't seen the bad ending yet (the wikipedia-article claims it

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involves the butcher

), so this might be not entirely true - but am I the only one thinking of him not as an enemy or boss, but as a "driving force", an aspect of Travis smashing his way through this hell (not solving puzzles, using breakable weapons and talking with people, but disembody things and smashing holes into walls to proceed). Note that both you and him are heading for the same destination - and the final catch up happens just a few metres away from

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Room 500

.

When you think of him this way, you can imagine im being a third aspect of Travis - next to present day Travis and the young boy.

Or, and this gives him a more sinister touch - what if he's really heading for

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room 500

? His straightforward attitude may stand for the urge of denial in Travis mind - erasing memories, so to say. If you think of it this way, the whole journey through Silent Hill seems like a race between him and Travis.

What do you think? Could this be valid?

[Adrasteia]

Or they're the same person. Just different manifestations. They're both going in the same direction and have the same end goal because they are both Travis. Just two sides of him. Only a thought. I have no real proof to support this theory, but I'm at work and bored, so I thought I'd toss that out there.

[sh#1fan]

Hmm~

ive thought about that too, why was he giving you keys and clues on where to go next? My theory was that its actually travis from the other side of the mirror, but no one liked that theory

[nur_ein_tier]

Hmm~

ive thought about that too, why was he giving you keys and clues on where to go next? My theory was that its actually travis from the other side of the mirror, but no one liked that theory

but they're on the same side of the mirror. =0P

I think it's a possibility that they are the same person, and that it is suggested by the Bad Ending (i.e., "you have made Travis come to a disturbing realization" or whatever). If they are indeed the same person, I don't think it's confusing that the Butcher helps Travis, after a fashion. As for evidence, I still point to all of the Bad Ending.

[AuraTwilight]

I don't see why the Butcher can't be Travis's "mirror self." If he can travel between worlds, so should his reflection.

[King Crimson]

In the bad ending the butcher helps Travis realize what he has done. So it makes perfect sence that the butcher is his murderous mirror self. In the bad ending the butcher comes back to life so to speak and reaveals the truth to Travis. In the good ending he gets past his problems and goes on with life after major spoilers

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killing his mother, then breaking into the motel that is closed for the season and killing the demon that is the memory of his father hanging.

[David01]

Makes good sense to me also. To me the Butcher represents Travis's dark half. And in Silent Hill, the mind tends to play tricks on a person. Which in turn causes manifestations of the mind, to appear on the streets of the town. Travis probably felt a very deep guilt about his mothers sickness, which caused all the repressed anger and grief to manifest on the streets of Silent hill right infront of Travis.

[game_over]

One interesting thing about the Butcher is that:
1) he can read and write

2) He gives you clues

3) He may be you. Either you're following him or he's following you to the destination.

Being a lonely truck driver, I can clearly see why the Butcher is there. It's still a fight of consience just like James or Macbeth, but he finally kills it, leaving him with the choice of either turning into THE butcher or getting on with his life and start all over again after gettin over the nightmares.

One other theory is that maybe this image came from his fear of butchers and butcher stores. I know a lot of parents who scare their kids for punishment by saying "the butcher is gonna cut your wee-wee" or "Here comes the BUTCHER. HAHAHAH". No wonder why there is a butcher there.

The reason why I think the Butcher was

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defeated and killed by Travis

was probably because Travis was not only physically, but also mentally stronger than James. Travis doesn't lose himself when he meets a girl, he also deosn't immediantly go to hide in a hole when he sees a monster. Te fact that he uses his fists in a fight shows that he is pretty much fear less.

PS: Richard Grady is currently my facourite minor character.

[livingdeadgirl]

One thing that I found strange about the Butcher fight is that it's the only boss fight in which you don't receive a bit of the Flauros.

Or they're the same person. Just different manifestations. They're both going in the same direction and have the same end goal because they are both Travis

Yeah, that's the impression I got.

[game_over]

One thing that I found strange about the Butcher fight is that it's the only boss fight in which you don't receive a bit of the Flauros.
.

I think the reason is because Alessa does not know about the butcher and also the Butcher is constantly moving around the town, unlike the other bosses who were in a certain place, waiting for Travis to show up. She knew about Travis's mom and dad, she also added her own version of the Caliban. But she probably didn't know about the butcher.

[AuraTwilight]

I don't know how she wouldn't know about the Butcher, since Alessa has demonstrated to be practically omniscient. It probably just doesn't matter, since there's only four Flauros pieces, and more than four bosses.

[game_over]

We all have somehow came to the conclusion that the Butcher is somehow part of Travis. So, what makes him so unique of not having a flarous? Would that be because Alessa can't see her?

[D90]

The Butcher being a mirror version of Travis is a perfectly good explanation, I reckon.

I still think the real (and more cynical) explanation is it was totally supposed to be the Pyramid Head's equivalent in the game. The designers clearly made a very conscious choice to make it that way.

Anyway, whether or not the creators had any real deeper meaning behind the Butcher, the theory raised here is definitely the best 'in-universe' reasoning for its presence, especially with a major game mechanic centering around using mirrors.

[AuraTwilight]

We all have somehow came to the conclusion that the Butcher is somehow part of Travis. So, what makes him so unique of not having a flarous? Would that be because Alessa can't see her?

Well, for one thing, Alessa doesn't control the Butcher like the other monsters. It has nothing to do with Alessa being able to see him, which she does. The Butcher exists for a different reason than the other boss monsters.

I still think the real (and more cynical) explanation is it was totally supposed to be the Pyramid Head's equivalent in the game. The designers clearly made a very conscious choice to make it that way.

Well, both Pyramid Head and the Butcher are representations of the Shadow Archetype.

[D90]

Well, both Pyramid Head and the Butcher are representations of the Shadow Archetype.

...Thanks for that?
Flex that knowledge.

[Slow White]

Yeah "Shadow Archetype" sums it up well I think. I like when they add stuff like this so that people can always have theories about them whether right or wrong.

[AuraTwilight]

...Thanks for that?
Flex that knowledge.

That was kind've rude.

I didn't make the comment just to seem smart, it's a legitimate analysis. Both Travis and James enter the Otherworld to confront their psyches, and naturally, they fight the Shadow Archetype, a manifestation of everything about themselves they don't want to admit. Both the Pyramid Head and the Butcher are manifestations of this concept, and it can be reasoned that Angela's "Daddy" figure has a similar sort of existence. Ergo, because the Shadow is a common element in ALL human minds, it shouldn't be something to whine about when Butcher/Pyramid Head-like figures appear.

It could even be possible that other characters, such as Eddie, Alessa, Walter, Claudia, etc., see their own Shadows, but since a Shadow is a personal construct, someone who's only visiting their Otherworld wouldn't be able to see it.

[D90]

That was kind've rude.

Ha, don't take it personally.
I just thought the statement was a little unnecessary - if something is based off of something else, they're bound to be of the same Archetype.
I just didn't see the need to point out what that archetype was.

[DemonZer0]

maybe the butcher it's just another person passing in the nightmare of silent hill..., and travis see it like a monster....

but it's a theory without fundaments,

[AuraTwilight]

Ha, don't take it personally.
I just thought the statement was a little unnecessary - if something is based off of something else, they're bound to be of the same Archetype.
I just didn't see the need to point out what that archetype was.

Well I was talking about Jungian Archetypes, not literary ones. Jungian Archetypes aren't exactly apparent or obvious as literary ones such as "Damsel in Distress" or "Villain."

maybe the butcher it's just another person passing in the nightmare of silent hill..., and travis see it like a monster....

but it's a theory without fundaments,

It's also a theory that's wrong. The Butcher doesn't behave like a human does, and it has way too much in common with Travis to be something he didn't conjure.