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"Execution" ending theory

Posted: 30 Jul 2012
by Dr. Robotnik
Since the "Execution" ending doesn't do much to tie into the story up to that point, I came up with this Wild Mass Guess on tvtropes about what the whole game says about Murphy in the context of it. It may not technically be a "theory", and it shouldn't be taken too seriously, considering the developers probably didn't work particularly hard on the worst ending and might just have been trying to make it deliberately unsatisfying. But here it is.

Murphy in the context of the Execution ending is a cold-blooded killer who drowned his own son just so his wife couldn't have custody and killed a corrections officer who was never anything but good to him. It's likely he's a psychopath. Psychopaths, from what little I know of them, are very self-centered people who can go to great lengths to justify themselves to others, through lies and manipulation. With that in mind, here's my WMG, copied and pasted.
Going by the "Execution" ending, the game is how Murphy views himself, and/or how he wants others to view him.
As more or less, a helpless victim who's been through a lot of undeserved shit and fought back. "I never killed anyone who didn't deserve it," he tells JP. Charlie's murder, motivated by spite? That was the work of some boogeyman or an evil pedophile, certainly not Murphy himself. How dare one even suggest he killed his son, he tells the kid in the orphanage. Besides, just look at what Charlie's death did to him. Murphy ended up all alone in prison, having to deal with mean inmates and a bitchy ex-wife. Coleridge's death was all Sewell's fault, all his idea. He was framed! Don't you feel sorry for him?
In the context of this ending, Anne is the only one to see Murphy's true nature. Everything he says she believes to be a lie, a Wounded Gazelle Gambit, a set-up for a The Farmer And The Viper scenario.

Re: "Execution" ending theory

Posted: 30 Jul 2012
by Yuki
It's an interesting idea, but I don't see much evidence at all for it in-game. :/

Re: "Execution" ending theory

Posted: 31 Jul 2012
by JuriDawn
It does make sense in context of the Execution ending. There's not really evidence for it written into the main scenario, but once you achieve that ending, in retrospect, this is a fairly reasonable way to look back at it.

Execution ending

Posted: 09 Sep 2012
by SH1000
Muphy could kill Charlie. Why ? Hey did you remember in Silent Hill Homecoming characters like Dr.Fitch or mayor Bartlett. They loved they own children very much, but still sacrifice them.

Lets think that Murphy was the same. Loved Charlie, but capable of killing him.
Murphy killed Charlie because he's going to groun up with his mother Carol and he "Never gonna see his boy again". When Police thinked it was Napier who kill Charlie. Murphy didn't recive punishment for murdering charlie.
Pendelton was too afraid to give up to the police for murdering Charlie. So he sidejack a cop car and get in to prison.

Re: Execution ending

Posted: 09 Sep 2012
by SilentRobert23
inb4 "troll"

Re: Execution ending

Posted: 09 Sep 2012
by PoemOfTheLastMoment
SilentRobert23 wrote:inb4 "troll"

Oh God i needed that! :mrgreen: HAHAHA!

Re: "Execution" ending theory

Posted: 11 Sep 2012
by fudgestix
Merged since we may as well keep all theories under the same topic.

Re: "Execution" ending theory

Posted: 14 Sep 2012
by wonder's boy
The execution ending makes much more sense if I look at it that way, Dr. Robotnik. That's really creative. It's going off some real skewing, for lack of a better word, or viewing the storyline a certain way to justify the theory's take on it. It's still awesome to know that Downpour's story is that flexible for people to have departing perspectives on it like this.

I still hold with the theory that Murphy is really just continuing to indulge his problems in their testing and torturing of him at that point. And both of these theories make more sense to me than anything I've read on the "In Water" one from SH:H.

Re: "Execution" ending theory

Posted: 15 Sep 2012
by Dr. Robotnik
wonder's boy wrote:I still hold with the theory that Murphy is really just continuing to indulge his problems in their testing and torturing of him at that point.
Interesting. Can you expand on that a little bit? Are you saying the events of the game really did happen, and Murphy's just rolling with what going on around him at that point, or something else?

Re: "Execution" ending theory

Posted: 23 Sep 2012
by thy_butcher
I just got the Execution ending.
I actually like it a lot more than I thought...
I figured it was going to be a 10-second video of Murphy being executed in prison, but nope, I got to see Carol, I was able to see Sewell & Murphy exchange more dialogue.
It was just a lot higher quality than I anticipated.

I didn't quite take it the way you all seemed to.

In the ending, it doesn't exactly confirm what Murphy did (Kill Charlie/Frank). I thought it was speculation & Murphy was getting the short-end-of-the-stick.

But I do like your view on the ending Dr. Robotnik. It lets me see Murphy in a very different, & very interesting new light: a psychopath...
With the way Downpour's story is interweaved with the different endings, I think the Execution ending is as viable as any.

Re: "Execution" ending theory

Posted: 24 Sep 2012
by wonder's boy
Dr. Robotnik wrote:
wonder's boy wrote:I still hold with the theory that Murphy is really just continuing to indulge his problems in their testing and torturing of him at that point.
Interesting. Can you expand on that a little bit? Are you saying the events of the game really did happen, and Murphy's just rolling with what going on around him at that point, or something else?
In light of the Execution ending, one theory is that he's still in the town when the execution is happening. It's like a fantasy playing out. Then again, he could really be just nuts and experiencing that ending in the real world. I guess I liked the first one better not so much for its logic but the fact that he could be in the town still trapped in his muck because of the "negative" choices made by the player throughout the game. If that makes any sense at all.

Re: "Execution" ending theory

Posted: 03 Feb 2013
by Flashbulb
Now, I'm not saying I agree with the theory that Murphy killed his own son, but I am saying that it is a possibility.

The whole time I was playing the game, I never made the connection that Murphy felt guilt for the death of his son because he went missing on his watch...for some reason it didn't click in my head. Then, after I got the "Execution" ending, I thought, "Well, hey, maybe he did kill his own son."

Although the main story does not really support the idea that Murphy did, in fact, murder his own son...there are some elements in the game that can support that theory.

Take for instance the messages that pop up on the loading screen:
"They know what you've done," "Was it worth it," "They never really loved you," "You can't ignore it forever," and "Why are you lying?"

Like, Dr. Robotnik mentioned, there's the scene in St.Maria's where you first meet the little boy and he asks you if you killed your son. Why would anyone, let alone a child, ask such a question?

Then there's the book you read in the library titled Psychology Vol. VII: Common Mental Disorders. A passage from it reads "Conduct disorder is also related to psychopathy and sociopathy, marked by a near total lack of empathy for other living things and a warped morality defined by their own needs and desires." This could just be describing Napier in the context of the story or, in accordance with Dr. Robotniks original post, it can hint at Murphy's true nature.

Perhaps Murphy did kill his own son. Maybe he was, indeed, a psychopath. He murdered his own son, and then set out on a quest to kill Napier because his warped sense of justice told him that someone had to be responsible, and it sure as hell wasn't going to be him. He played everyone to make himself the victim.

It makes sense if you look at the little details with this idea in mind. But, like I said, I don't really believe this to be what really went down, I'm just pointing out that it is a definite possibility. A very interesting theory. I'm sure if I replayed the game again, I could find even more little details to support it. Well done, Dr. Robotnik.