The Otherworld in Silent Hill Origins
Posted: 03 Jan 2008
I haven't found a specific topic on this, so I hope it is never been directly discussed.
Well, worlds and dimensions have always been a big topic for other SH episodes. Who created the otherworld and why, what do characters see, is there a real town behind the otherworld and so on.
We all know Alessa was behind the happenings in the first SH game; that was her otherworld, in which Harry travelled because of his direct relationship with Cheryl, who was called to town. So Harry, Kaufmann, Dahlia, Cybil and Lisa all see what Harry sees: Alessa's nightmares' manifestations. And there's no "reality" at all, to see in the game.
We know things changed in SH2: the "residual power" of the happenings of SH1 helped every character to build his own nightmarish version of the town. Even in this game, everything happens in the otherworld, except of the very beginning on top of the town and the very end.
SH3 and 4 showed us that the otherworld can also arise outside SH, with the right circumstances, but that doesn't touch Origins too much.
So, what about the otherworld in Origins?
I mean, I've been thru the game just once, I might have missed something, but in my opinion this game quite f*cks things up.
I'm trying to summarize:
Alessa somehow called out for help. Travis, who had a dark past related to SH, AND was driving through the town, fell in her "trap" and became her ally against the Cult. The otherworld spawns, and it is definitely Travis' nightmarish memories coming to life; so, what are the reasons behind this nightmarish delusions arising?
It makes no sense that Alessa was controlling them.
It seems to make no sense any sort of "purgatorial" theory, at least in the Good Ending version of the game, since Travis seems to have no violent secrets like the ones of Angela, James and Eddie.
It just spawned out.
Then we have Cedar Grove Sanitarium, related to Travis' past; Travis goes there because of Lisa (??), than he moves to the theater always because of the lures of Lisa - but the theater seems to have nothing to do with Travis' and Alessa's stories. This collides with the first two games, maybe not that much with the third in which some locations (Brookhaven?) didn't have direct sense to character's stories, but in SH3 we have god in our womb so it's just a matter of path: where we go, the otherworld spawns, cause and effect are switched. This is different in Origins.
We finally have the Motel, blatantly related to Travis.
If it was Alessa luring us to these specific places, to collect pieces of the Flauros, that could make sense, but would collide to Travis related locations (coincidence is: the pieces of the Flauros fell exactly in some important locations for Travis); and, well, it doesn't seem to be Alessa guiding us (if so, why would Lisa always be where we come?).
Questions arise: who created the otherworld and why, and why showing Travis his past?
Now about the characters. We know from the other games how characters in the otherworld see themselves, even if they see different worlds.
Since Travis sees his version of the otherworld, we would expect everyone to fu**ing see his version too. We may think that other characters always stay in the real world, and when Travis meets them (for instance: Kaufmann at Alchemilla, Kaufmann and Lisa at the Rose Room) they don't see monsters and other things. But WHY, is the first question. Why does it affect only Travis?
And, well, it's not easy to completely believe this theory: when we meet Lisa at Cedar Grove, she says something like "you know who's in that room, Travis" so she was supposed to be in the fucked up version of the sanitarium.
To me, her role was different in the first thoughts of the authors, to dramatically change when they've written the final part of the game and they didn't have much time to give birth to a strong screenplay involving Lisa's role in Travis story.
In the end, it seems like anybody see a nightmarish world but Travis or, at least, nobody reacts like if they're seeing monsters and blood and rust and demons. This doesn't make sense to me.
Please theorize - as I already stated, I've been through the game only once and I might have missed something.
Well, worlds and dimensions have always been a big topic for other SH episodes. Who created the otherworld and why, what do characters see, is there a real town behind the otherworld and so on.
We all know Alessa was behind the happenings in the first SH game; that was her otherworld, in which Harry travelled because of his direct relationship with Cheryl, who was called to town. So Harry, Kaufmann, Dahlia, Cybil and Lisa all see what Harry sees: Alessa's nightmares' manifestations. And there's no "reality" at all, to see in the game.
We know things changed in SH2: the "residual power" of the happenings of SH1 helped every character to build his own nightmarish version of the town. Even in this game, everything happens in the otherworld, except of the very beginning on top of the town and the very end.
SH3 and 4 showed us that the otherworld can also arise outside SH, with the right circumstances, but that doesn't touch Origins too much.
So, what about the otherworld in Origins?
I mean, I've been thru the game just once, I might have missed something, but in my opinion this game quite f*cks things up.
I'm trying to summarize:
Alessa somehow called out for help. Travis, who had a dark past related to SH, AND was driving through the town, fell in her "trap" and became her ally against the Cult. The otherworld spawns, and it is definitely Travis' nightmarish memories coming to life; so, what are the reasons behind this nightmarish delusions arising?
It makes no sense that Alessa was controlling them.
It seems to make no sense any sort of "purgatorial" theory, at least in the Good Ending version of the game, since Travis seems to have no violent secrets like the ones of Angela, James and Eddie.
It just spawned out.
Then we have Cedar Grove Sanitarium, related to Travis' past; Travis goes there because of Lisa (??), than he moves to the theater always because of the lures of Lisa - but the theater seems to have nothing to do with Travis' and Alessa's stories. This collides with the first two games, maybe not that much with the third in which some locations (Brookhaven?) didn't have direct sense to character's stories, but in SH3 we have god in our womb so it's just a matter of path: where we go, the otherworld spawns, cause and effect are switched. This is different in Origins.
We finally have the Motel, blatantly related to Travis.
If it was Alessa luring us to these specific places, to collect pieces of the Flauros, that could make sense, but would collide to Travis related locations (coincidence is: the pieces of the Flauros fell exactly in some important locations for Travis); and, well, it doesn't seem to be Alessa guiding us (if so, why would Lisa always be where we come?).
Questions arise: who created the otherworld and why, and why showing Travis his past?
Now about the characters. We know from the other games how characters in the otherworld see themselves, even if they see different worlds.
Since Travis sees his version of the otherworld, we would expect everyone to fu**ing see his version too. We may think that other characters always stay in the real world, and when Travis meets them (for instance: Kaufmann at Alchemilla, Kaufmann and Lisa at the Rose Room) they don't see monsters and other things. But WHY, is the first question. Why does it affect only Travis?
And, well, it's not easy to completely believe this theory: when we meet Lisa at Cedar Grove, she says something like "you know who's in that room, Travis" so she was supposed to be in the fucked up version of the sanitarium.
To me, her role was different in the first thoughts of the authors, to dramatically change when they've written the final part of the game and they didn't have much time to give birth to a strong screenplay involving Lisa's role in Travis story.
In the end, it seems like anybody see a nightmarish world but Travis or, at least, nobody reacts like if they're seeing monsters and blood and rust and demons. This doesn't make sense to me.
Please theorize - as I already stated, I've been through the game only once and I might have missed something.