Silent Hill series puzzle guide - a work in progress
Posted: 12 Mar 2009
I Am Comically Unprepared For This Series:
A Silent Hill Series Puzzle Guide (with gratuitous swearing)
by Thomas H. (a.k.a. MMY, the Adversary, ERROR, &c.)
Introduction
I will not give you the answers—well, I probably will at times because there will be no other way to explain how to solve the puzzle without giving you the answer. I probably won’t proffer solutions to every puzzle, either.
Here, then, is a list of How do I do thises for the Silent Hill games, Silent Hill, Silent Hill 2, Silent Hill 3, and Silent Hill 4: The Room°.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Silent Hill, 1999
"Who the fuck do I look like—Beethoven?" — The piano
The key to solving this puzzle is the poem’s title, “A Tale of Birds Without a Voice.†Upon viewing the piano, Harry will focus on an octave, demarcated by blood. He’s given the option to play the keys, and 5 of them are broken—they produce a dead sound: a clunk. Additionally, the poem itself alludes to 5 birds: 3 white, 2 black. A piano’s keys are, of course, white & black. These 5 notes, then, are the 5 birds.
First flew the greedy Pelican, / Eager for the reward, / White wings flailing.
Then came a silent Dove, / Flying beyond the Pelican, / As far as he could.
A Raven flies in, / Flying higher than the Dove, / Just to show that he can.
A Swan glides in, / To find a peaceful spot, / Next to another bird.
Finally out comes a Crow, / Coming quickly to a stop, / Yawning and then napping.
Who will show the way, / Who will be the key, / Who will lead to / The silver reward.
· The poem’s first stanza indicates the first key is white and corresponds to a white bird—“the greedy Pelican.†The second line states the Pelican is “eager for the reward.†Eager implies the bird stopped quickly.
· The second stanza refers also to a white bird—“a silent Dove.†The Dove flies beyond the Pelican, “as far as he could.†The second key, then, is the furthest white key possible.
· The Raven is next—black bird, black key. There are only 2 black birds alluded to in the poem, and the Raven flies “higher than the Dove,†so we know the third key is the furthest black key to the right.
· Fourth is the Swan, the final white bird. It stops “next to another birdâ€â€”there’s only one dead key still unused and next to another.
· The lazy Raven comes “quickly to a stop,†as opposed to the distance the Raven flies. So the final key is the first dead black key.
For the musically inclined, play this: D A Bb G C#
There. Simple. Right?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Alice In Wonderland is stupid. What’s with these bitch-ass plates?" — Alchemilla Hospital plates
First off, this puzzle indicates 2 things: Alessa is a fan of Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland, and Alessa is suicidal.
Clouds flowing over a hill. / Sky on a sunny day. / Tangerines that are bitter. / Lucky four-leaf-clover. / Violets in the garden. / Dandelions along a path. / Unavoidable sleeping time. / Liquid flowing from a slashed wrist.
Each line of the poem refers to a color: White, blue, orange, green, violet, yellow, black, red. Harry has in his possession 4 tablets—the other 4 are already inputted.
So, what to do? Collate the colors of Harry’s tablets with the 4 open spaces.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"The Zodiac Killer would kill himself." — Nowhere’s Zodiac
In the Silent Hill series, the player is not solving a puzzle unless there’s a) a poem, b) a keypad, c) a key, or d) all of the above. The Zodiac "puzzle," then, is not a puzzle—it’s a pain in the ass for first-time players.
How do you solve it, then? The months corresponding to each astrological symbol are irrelevant. There is no connection. The numbers, too, are not related to the months. The pictures, however. . . .
While arguably the most complicated "puzzle," it’s also easiest.
Just count the stupid appendages: Cancer (the crab) has 10; Libra, 2 scales; Pisces (the fish), Ø; &c. . . .
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"DANGER DANGER DANGER" — Push buttons at random
Names engraved on a lithograph. / The Grim Reaper's List.
Yes, the headcount is set / Young and old lined up / In order of age.
Then, the pathway opens / Awaiting them, the frenzied / Uproar, the feast of death!
This one’s all easy & shit, too. The plate at the end of the hall explicitly states what to do: “Young and old lined up in order of age.†Go do that. There are only 5 names—this won’t take long.
35 Lydia Findly
60 Trevor F. White
18 Albert Lords
45 Roberta T. Morgan
38 Edward C. Briggs
I’ve always hoped these names would appear in later entries in the series. They haven’t. Lame.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Light the path of darkness blah blah blah." — Two paintings
"The light to the future."
"The light illuminating the darkness."
Yep, that’s what they do. They both allude to light, and they both allude to progression. Harry has a camera. Click that bitch. Fatal Frame those fuckas.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Silent Hill 2, 2001
"I heard, read, saw, verb’d somewhere the blue blocks in notes are removable. True or false?" — Why strategy guides are obsolete.
False.
The origin of this information is the Silent Hill 2 Official Strategy Guide published by BradyGames, in which the author Dan Birlew (a.k.a. President Evil) claimed that upon receiving all 5 endings the blurred notes would be made clear.
This was true in the beta version of the game, from which Birlew's guide was written. In the final release of the game, however, the developers removed the intended inclusion, after the strategy guide had already been completed and ready for publication.
Thus, there is no way to reveal the blued and blurred notes, save via camera hacks.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Footnotes.
°: I don't have access to, nor do I clearly remember, Silent Hill: Origins and Silent Hill: Homecoming, thus my exclusion of both thus far. I may add them in at a later date.
A Silent Hill Series Puzzle Guide (with gratuitous swearing)
by Thomas H. (a.k.a. MMY, the Adversary, ERROR, &c.)
Introduction
I will not give you the answers—well, I probably will at times because there will be no other way to explain how to solve the puzzle without giving you the answer. I probably won’t proffer solutions to every puzzle, either.
Here, then, is a list of How do I do thises for the Silent Hill games, Silent Hill, Silent Hill 2, Silent Hill 3, and Silent Hill 4: The Room°.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Silent Hill, 1999
"Who the fuck do I look like—Beethoven?" — The piano
The key to solving this puzzle is the poem’s title, “A Tale of Birds Without a Voice.†Upon viewing the piano, Harry will focus on an octave, demarcated by blood. He’s given the option to play the keys, and 5 of them are broken—they produce a dead sound: a clunk. Additionally, the poem itself alludes to 5 birds: 3 white, 2 black. A piano’s keys are, of course, white & black. These 5 notes, then, are the 5 birds.
First flew the greedy Pelican, / Eager for the reward, / White wings flailing.
Then came a silent Dove, / Flying beyond the Pelican, / As far as he could.
A Raven flies in, / Flying higher than the Dove, / Just to show that he can.
A Swan glides in, / To find a peaceful spot, / Next to another bird.
Finally out comes a Crow, / Coming quickly to a stop, / Yawning and then napping.
Who will show the way, / Who will be the key, / Who will lead to / The silver reward.
· The poem’s first stanza indicates the first key is white and corresponds to a white bird—“the greedy Pelican.†The second line states the Pelican is “eager for the reward.†Eager implies the bird stopped quickly.
· The second stanza refers also to a white bird—“a silent Dove.†The Dove flies beyond the Pelican, “as far as he could.†The second key, then, is the furthest white key possible.
· The Raven is next—black bird, black key. There are only 2 black birds alluded to in the poem, and the Raven flies “higher than the Dove,†so we know the third key is the furthest black key to the right.
· Fourth is the Swan, the final white bird. It stops “next to another birdâ€â€”there’s only one dead key still unused and next to another.
· The lazy Raven comes “quickly to a stop,†as opposed to the distance the Raven flies. So the final key is the first dead black key.
For the musically inclined, play this: D A Bb G C#
There. Simple. Right?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Alice In Wonderland is stupid. What’s with these bitch-ass plates?" — Alchemilla Hospital plates
First off, this puzzle indicates 2 things: Alessa is a fan of Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland, and Alessa is suicidal.
Clouds flowing over a hill. / Sky on a sunny day. / Tangerines that are bitter. / Lucky four-leaf-clover. / Violets in the garden. / Dandelions along a path. / Unavoidable sleeping time. / Liquid flowing from a slashed wrist.
Each line of the poem refers to a color: White, blue, orange, green, violet, yellow, black, red. Harry has in his possession 4 tablets—the other 4 are already inputted.
So, what to do? Collate the colors of Harry’s tablets with the 4 open spaces.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"The Zodiac Killer would kill himself." — Nowhere’s Zodiac
In the Silent Hill series, the player is not solving a puzzle unless there’s a) a poem, b) a keypad, c) a key, or d) all of the above. The Zodiac "puzzle," then, is not a puzzle—it’s a pain in the ass for first-time players.
How do you solve it, then? The months corresponding to each astrological symbol are irrelevant. There is no connection. The numbers, too, are not related to the months. The pictures, however. . . .
While arguably the most complicated "puzzle," it’s also easiest.
Just count the stupid appendages: Cancer (the crab) has 10; Libra, 2 scales; Pisces (the fish), Ø; &c. . . .
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"DANGER DANGER DANGER" — Push buttons at random
Names engraved on a lithograph. / The Grim Reaper's List.
Yes, the headcount is set / Young and old lined up / In order of age.
Then, the pathway opens / Awaiting them, the frenzied / Uproar, the feast of death!
This one’s all easy & shit, too. The plate at the end of the hall explicitly states what to do: “Young and old lined up in order of age.†Go do that. There are only 5 names—this won’t take long.
35 Lydia Findly
60 Trevor F. White
18 Albert Lords
45 Roberta T. Morgan
38 Edward C. Briggs
I’ve always hoped these names would appear in later entries in the series. They haven’t. Lame.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Light the path of darkness blah blah blah." — Two paintings
"The light to the future."
"The light illuminating the darkness."
Yep, that’s what they do. They both allude to light, and they both allude to progression. Harry has a camera. Click that bitch. Fatal Frame those fuckas.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Silent Hill 2, 2001
"I heard, read, saw, verb’d somewhere the blue blocks in notes are removable. True or false?" — Why strategy guides are obsolete.
False.
The origin of this information is the Silent Hill 2 Official Strategy Guide published by BradyGames, in which the author Dan Birlew (a.k.a. President Evil) claimed that upon receiving all 5 endings the blurred notes would be made clear.
This was true in the beta version of the game, from which Birlew's guide was written. In the final release of the game, however, the developers removed the intended inclusion, after the strategy guide had already been completed and ready for publication.
Thus, there is no way to reveal the blued and blurred notes, save via camera hacks.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Footnotes.
°: I don't have access to, nor do I clearly remember, Silent Hill: Origins and Silent Hill: Homecoming, thus my exclusion of both thus far. I may add them in at a later date.