My hypothesis about a certain character...

[KingCrimson]

I wonder if we're supposed to get the impression that DJ Ricks is the "Ricky" who wrote those letters to his girlfriend that Murphy finds in the Overlook? If I remember correctly, one of them has Ricky using some urban slang ("straight up" or something), which would be consistent with DJ Ricks' style of speaking. This would mean Ricky was a prisoner for a while, got released and then somehow ended up trapped again, doing the bidding of mysterious forces calling the shots.

It's unrelated to my Ricky idea, but another thing I noticed was the garbled, altered voice that comes on when Murphy listens to a radio after DJ Ricks is captured. If Ricks were just a guy doing his job for Silent Hill, there would just be silence on the radio without him. But the same type of music still plays, just introduced by a sort of "otherworld Ricks". It sounds almost like he was permanently absorbed into the town, his consciousness blurred into a random stream of syllables piped directly onto the airwaves. Similar, in a way, to the fate of Dr. Kauffman in the first game, who is also dragged away and never seen again.

[five5sixers]

Oh wow that was something that just hadn't crossed my mind at all but now it seems pretty obvious. If there at least wasn't an intentional parallel (whether Ricky is ACTUALLY Ricks or maybe a conjuration of the Otherworld of certain events/memories in his life) then it seems to me they would have been a bit more careful on naming him. Ie; if they didn't want a connection to be reached between the two they would have just named him something else.

I'm not too sure on the garbled voice theories yet (in general, not just yours) but I did find that whole thing really creeped me out while playing. I made it a habit to turn all of the radios off when they were like that.

[Aerith Gainsborough]

I never thought about it either. If it's true then mind=BLOWN!

About the requests that keep playing, I think they're repeats of the past ones. Some of them sound like old requests we hear in the game, just garbled up.

[AuraTwilight]

It's unrelated to my Ricky idea, but another thing I noticed was the garbled, altered voice that comes on when Murphy listens to a radio after DJ Ricks is captured. If Ricks were just a guy doing his job for Silent Hill, there would just be silence on the radio without him. But the same type of music still plays, just introduced by a sort of "otherworld Ricks". It sounds almost like he was permanently absorbed into the town, his consciousness blurred into a random stream of syllables piped directly onto the airwaves. Similar, in a way, to the fate of Dr. Kauffman in the first game, who is also dragged away and never seen again.

Rick has always been absorbed into the town. He's a shade, a ghost, a memory. He died already, but he's afraid to move on, afraid to complete his journey in the town. So he stays. His story doesn't progress. He builds rules and stories and walls around himself. He makes phonecalls from other names. He makes voices to request music from him. Anything to distract himself.

And he learns of Murphy, as Ernest learned of James. He learns, and he hopes, but that hope dooms him, as it did before. He tries, once. He tries like he had tried before, but fear holds him back. He ends up breaking his rules. He punishes himself. He excuses and justifies himself. He dies. Again. DJ Ricks is here, playing music, waiting for the next Mister Popularity to come along, and make him curious, make him hope, and make him die.

DJ Ricks is a broken record. There's a scratch, and he's repeating the same beat. An eternal encore.

[KingCrimson]

I like that theory, is there any evidence to support him going through the same cycle over and over?

[AuraTwilight]

No, I basically just pulled it out of my ass. It's fanfic, but it's better than the big empty gaping hole of nothing that we got.

[NanayaShiki]

Rick has always been absorbed into the town. He's a shade, a ghost, a memory. He died already, but he's afraid to move on, afraid to complete his journey in the town. So he stays. His story doesn't progress. He builds rules and stories and walls around himself. He makes phonecalls from other names. He makes voices to request music from him. Anything to distract himself.

And he learns of Murphy, as Ernest learned of James. He learns, and he hopes, but that hope dooms him, as it did before. He tries, once. He tries like he had tried before, but fear holds him back. He ends up breaking his rules. He punishes himself. He excuses and justifies himself. He dies. Again. DJ Ricks is here, playing music, waiting for the next Mister Popularity to come along, and make him curious, make him hope, and make him die.

DJ Ricks is a broken record. There's a scratch, and he's repeating the same beat. An eternal encore.

10/10

No, I basically just pulled it out of my ass. It's fanfic, but it's better than the big empty gaping hole of nothing that we got.

Actually, there is a big thing that helps support this theory.

PRIME_BBCODE_SPOILER_SHOW PRIME_BBCODE_SPOILER:

In one of the endings, Murphy fails to reach the resolution he needed to, and wakes up back in the prison again. As he tried to figure out what the hell is going on, he hears flashbacks to Howard saying he has mail to deliver, and DJ Ricks saying that line about the record that keeps on spinning and spinning.

Sure, it's nothing concrete, but it's something.

In addition to all that, I have to say that I don't think DJ Ricks is Ricky. Simply because, as far as I know, we know his full name and Ricks is his last name. It'd be weird to refer to yourself as a variation of your last name to your significant other in letters. Plus, I was pretty sure it was implied that Ricky killed himself to "escape" from prison. At least, that's what I took from things.

Or perhaps that's the point. We know that DJ Ricks lack of courage to act is what led to his demise. And we know that he figured out a way to escape Silent Hill but he couldn't do it alone. If Ricky is DJ Ricks, then there is a solid parallel there with how Ricky found a way to escape prison but didn't do it, and then, as I thought it was implied, killed himself. Perhaps another thing supporting AT's theory? Or, even if AT's theory isn't true, but Ricks=Ricky is, that could help explain his situation in Silent Hill a bit better, at least.

[The Adversary]

I was under the impression Ricky was the prisoner giving shit to Murph on the bus—the guy who died at the claws of a screamer.

[AuraTwilight]

I hope you're still not under that impression.

[KiramidHead]

You mean Danny Trejo? Nah, I don't think he's Ricky. Ricky sounded like he was in prison for relatively small shit, while Trejo was getting transferred to a max security prison.

[Aerith Gainsborough]

Yeah, Ricky and Sanchez come off different to me. Ricky seemed like he was a really passive guy. Sanchez was a hard ass prick.

[EileenGalvin]

I had wondered too about the prisoner being Ricks, and considered the names (Bobby Ricks - Ricky). But there are many people out there that are using their last name as some sort of nick name. Ricky simply sounds funkier than Bobby, maybe that's the reason.

I am not saying that Ricky is DJ Ricks, but I sure would not be surprised. It would fit.

[ww_andi]

another point to show that maybe dj ricks is in a loop is that

PRIME_BBCODE_SPOILER_SHOW PRIME_BBCODE_SPOILER:

in ending c when murphy is in the loop and it starts over you only hear howard talk and then dj ricks and even more he states i been spinning record after record and so on

so maybe he is at least in a loop until he gets it right, dont know about that other stuff tho