Theories on the Orphanage (Spoilers, obviously)

Murphy's been a bad boy ...

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Nillin
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Theories on the Orphanage (Spoilers, obviously)

Post by Nillin »

I'm seriously getting the impression that Murphy was actually a child at this orphanage. I'm basing this off of a few things.

First, Murphy seems to be a mechanic, or at the very least he is shown to have an interest in cars. When he arrives at the Devil's Pitstop, he pays particular attention to the classic car parked out front and seems to know quite a bit about it. A picture in the orphanage also shows a little boy and his father (father working on a vehicle, little boy playing in the yard.) Murphy says something to the effect of "Looks like something my son would have drawn."

Second, notes found in the orphanage blank out the names of a child that was under their care. They said he had strange mannerisms and had trouble making eye contact, prefers solitude, isn't good at initiating conversation, and interesting enough, has a "persistent occupation with the parts of objects."

This is where is gets interesting, and also where it starts to dawn on me that this child could very easily be Murphy. If Murphy is a mechanic, think about it, he knows all of the inner workings of a car. Or, the parts of a car.

Also consider the nature of the Otherworld inside of the Centenial Building. It's inside of a giant clock tower, which is shown in the Otherworld to be a vast collection of gears and mechanisms, which seem to be the sort of thing that the child in question would have pre-occupations about.

When the postman first showed the letter to Murphy, I thought it was interesting he first seemed to show trepidation about going to the orphanage. Keep in mind that the child in question in the orphanage also seemed to suffer abuse at the hands of the people working there (they were apparently mean to him and gave him medicine that constantly made him ill.) It is also hinted at in the Otherworld that the orphanage could have possible ties with the Order, which would fit given their tendency for child abuse.

This is sort of a theory in progress, of course. I'm going through the game for a second time and it just sort of dawned on me while going through the orphanage. I'm going to keep my eyes peeled for more evidence. I think it does raise a lot of interesting possibilities though.

I'm also under the impression that the girl in the orphanage is a projection of the female cop (Jesus, I'm bad at names), and that raises questions about the boy in the orphanage who is strangled to death by the Boogeyman. But that's a whole other story. So yeah. I think Murphy went to the orphanage he visits during the course of the game.

EDIT: ALSO. I forgot to mention this, and I was going to make another topic to talk about it, but since it concerns the orphanage, I'm just placing it here.

I believe that the orphanage, which has some sort of ties to the Order, was used by the Order to try to force sort of "psychic" events to happen. I'm of course using the evidence that while in a room with hospital beds, a bed moves while a child is heard begging his parents to take him home. Another bed is raised a few inches off the floor when a girl (or what sounded to be one) was similarly begging, but also talking about how her stomach hurt due to the medicine given to her.

Another note that makes me think that the children are purposefully being hurt is the same note I mentioned above (that the people were mean and they made him take medicine that made his stomach hurt.) The person in charge said that after the contents of the note, she was to be sent all of the letters the children were writing home. Why? Probably to control the flow of information. These children are probably having this done to them without parental knowledge, after all. The Order is very serious shady business

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KiramidHead
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Re: Theories on the Orphanage (Spoilers, obviously)

Post by KiramidHead »

I also thought that Murphy is the boy in the notes. The boy is mentioned as having bad posture, and Murphy tends to slump a bit. Also, it's confirmed that Murphy grew up in an orphanage in the gallery found in the extras menu.
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Re: Theories on the Orphanage (Spoilers, obviously)

Post by Axel_98 »

Are we sure that Charlie isn't adopted?
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Re: Theories on the Orphanage (Spoilers, obviously)

Post by KiramidHead »

There's a brief flashback during the orphanage level where you can see a woman lying in a hospital bed while Murphy cradles a baby. I'm saying Charlie is his biological son.
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Re: Theories on the Orphanage (Spoilers, obviously)

Post by Axel_98 »

Hmmm I don't remember that :/ - I guess that being from the Orphanage gives Murphy the connection to Silent Hill. I don't think Murphy has any other connection to silent hill besides that right? Everybody else that gets entangled in Silent Hill has had some sort of connection to it in some way or another.
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Re: Theories on the Orphanage (Spoilers, obviously)

Post by KiramidHead »

^It was really brief, like a subliminal flash.
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Re: Theories on the Orphanage (Spoilers, obviously)

Post by LastScion »

I think you're right, actually. In another thread, I'm in the middle of trying to figure out Murph's connection to SH (all protagonists have one, it's basically a rule.) and trying to figure out the connection between Brahms and Boston... I think you may have just solved one of my mysteries. At least, I hope so.

See, the impression I took away was that Napier was the child - the child ate paper and keys, which I immediately likened to pica, which is a symptom of trauma and molestation. And, of course, a good chunk of molesters were molested as children.

I'm going to dig back through all the files and see what I come up with.
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Re: Theories on the Orphanage (Spoilers, obviously)

Post by Axel_98 »

LastScion wrote: See, the impression I took away was that Napier was the child - the child ate paper and keys, which I immediately likened to pica, which is a symptom of trauma and molestation. And, of course, a good chunk of molesters were molested as children.
So Murphy, Anne AND Napier all came from the same messed up orphanage? See I think that were looking too deep into this (sadly :/ ) but the more I think about it the more I feel that Murphy didn't drag Anne in nor vice versa. They both would have a connection to SH through the Orphanage and would both probably see similar monsters because of the circumstances of why their there.

On the otherhand though I would think that the whole silent hill experience for her would be to get over her revenge but even if you get the B ending she still gets revenge. In the D ending - still revenge. So it revolves around either forgiving murphy or not. And you don't have to be from silent hill to get dragged in to the fire. Anne has not learned her Silent Hill lesson -.-
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Re: Theories on the Orphanage (Spoilers, obviously)

Post by five5sixers »

Errrr, I think the fact that Anne still had a father present would negate her going to any orphanage so it kinda nips her being the little girl in the butt. IF the little girl has to be anyone for this particular theory to make sense (which I don't think it necessarily does, it's a pretty strong conclusion even though it's still heavily in the works for proof), I'd say she has a higher chance of being a representation of Carol since we know very little about her.

Also I liked how the whole boy dying/being killed by the Boogeyman (represented later by both Murphy and Napier) was a complete and total parallel to Charlie's death and Carol's/Murphy's reaction to it as well as Anne's reaction to her father being brutally injured/hospitalized/killed.

Edit: OR the little girl still could be a representation of Anne as a child, but in reality it's extremely unlikely she ever was at an orphanage so it's probably just Otherworld stuff.
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Re: Theories on the Orphanage (Spoilers, obviously)

Post by Nillin »

xoxsnoof wrote:Edit: OR the little girl still could be a representation of Anne as a child, but in reality it's extremely unlikely she ever was at an orphanage so it's probably just Otherworld stuff.
See, I don't actually think she went to the orphanage, but I think that the little girl does represent her. In fact, in the Centenial building you see the little girl crossing a bridge while going down the slide sequence, and then you see the grown up version of her. And the little girl in the orphanage is the one who tells the little boy that Murphy is the boogeyman. Which wouldn't really make sense unless the little girl had some connection to Anne, after all, Murphy is Anne's boogeyman.
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Re: Theories on the Orphanage (Spoilers, obviously)

Post by LastScion »

Are you talking about the figures running across the ramps? I'm 99.9% sure the first one was Cheryl Mason and the second one was Harry Mason.

Where are people picking up on the idea that Anne was adopted? Or Murphy, even - I'm still only halfway done really digging into the files.
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Re: Theories on the Orphanage (Spoilers, obviously)

Post by Nillin »

LastScion wrote:Are you talking about the figures running across the ramps? I'm 99.9% sure the first one was Cheryl Mason and the second one was Harry Mason.

Where are people picking up on the idea that Anne was adopted? Or Murphy, even - I'm still only halfway done really digging into the files.
It's not. The first one was the child you meet later in the orphanage, and the second is Anne. Someone else on the boards in the easter egg section said the same thing, but it's not.

Murphy's parents are never mentioned. I'm picking up on the fact that he was at the orphanage because the notes in the orphanage seem to pretty explicitly allude to him. Also, apparently there is artwork revealing that he went to an orphanage according to one of the above posts.
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Re: Theories on the Orphanage (Spoilers, obviously)

Post by Axel_98 »

Nillin wrote:
LastScion wrote:Murphy's parents are never mentioned. I'm picking up on the fact that he was at the orphanage because the notes in the orphanage seem to pretty explicitly allude to him. Also, apparently there is artwork revealing that he went to an orphanage according to one of the above posts.
Right, not to mention there has to be a connection to Murphy and Silent Hill - it's like the golden rule. The Orphanage is really the only logical gap since there's no notes that I know of making any other connection.
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Re: Theories on the Orphanage (Spoilers, obviously)

Post by Aerith Gainsborough »

I thought it was Murphy as well, but the memos state that the child has idiosyncratic language (often seen in children with Autism), and the child experienced a lobotomy. I just don't think Murphy had a lobotomy, and if he didn't, he doesn't seem very Autistic, but maybe his case is minor?

The ironic thing about the lobotomy being mentioned in the memos about the child in the orphanage is that lobotomy is often used on prisoners who have psychological issues or are very violent.

I thought perhaps the child was Charlie, but that was proven wrong with the memo apologizing to the parents for the child's death, and gave away that it died due to procedures done to it at the orphanage.
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Re: Theories on the Orphanage (Spoilers, obviously)

Post by NanayaShiki »

Axel_98 wrote:Right, not to mention there has to be a connection to Murphy and Silent Hill - it's like the golden rule.
Since when?
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Re: Theories on the Orphanage (Spoilers, obviously)

Post by Falconv1.0 »

Axel_98 wrote: Right, not to mention there has to be a connection to Murphy and Silent Hill - it's like the golden rule. The Orphanage is really the only logical gap since there's no notes that I know of making any other connection.
You're basing this purely off speculation and not off real fact.

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Re: Theories on the Orphanage (Spoilers, obviously)

Post by Axel_98 »

NanayaShiki wrote:
Axel_98 wrote:Right, not to mention there has to be a connection to Murphy and Silent Hill - it's like the golden rule.
Since when?
Since always, all the silent hill games have connected the main character to silent hill in one way or another.

And yeah I am kinda grasping for straws considering the memos.
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Re: Theories on the Orphanage (Spoilers, obviously)

Post by Falconv1.0 »

Axel_98 wrote:
NanayaShiki wrote:
Axel_98 wrote:Right, not to mention there has to be a connection to Murphy and Silent Hill - it's like the golden rule.
Since when?
Since always, all the silent hill games have connected the main character to silent hill in one way or another.
That doesn't make it some kind of rule, that means it's something they generally followed. There's no reason that there MUST be a connection.
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Re: Theories on the Orphanage (Spoilers, obviously)

Post by Aerith Gainsborough »

I actually find out that Murphy was indeed an orphan. At that orphanage...I don't know. If you go into the Extra Menu you can see (Unless I picked up some extra stuff) where you can look through the characters (I currently have Howard, Anne, The Nun, and Frank in mine). When I read the Nun's little memo, Murphy says something like, "When I lived in the orphanage we were glad to called the Nuns our teachers and even our mothers."
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Re: Theories on the Orphanage (Spoilers, obviously)

Post by Falconv1.0 »

Aerith Gainsborough wrote:I actually find out that Murphy was indeed an orphan. At that orphanage...I don't know. If you go into the Extra Menu you can see (Unless I picked up some extra stuff) where you can look through the characters (I currently have Howard, Anne, The Nun, and Frank in mine). When I read the Nun's little memo, Murphy says something like, "When I lived in the orphanage we were glad to called the Nuns our teachers and even our mothers."
Does he say he was an orphan living at Silent Hill?

Wait, even better, doesn't he seem to not know the town at all when he arrives there? Oh God don't tell me I'm supposed to believe they're pulling that OH DERP AMNESIA plot again.
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