SPOILERS. Richard and Travis: What may have happened?

Truck drivin' Travis detours into Silent Hill. Tree Top Tall & Wall-to-Wall, Good Buddy.

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Nillin
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SPOILERS. Richard and Travis: What may have happened?

Post by Nillin »

To my absent wife,

I know that whatever hell I am
enduring, yours is worse. But
dammit, this is so hard. It's like
you're dead but you're not. The
Helen I loved is gone, but your
body is still here! I have slept
alone for the last two years. I've
become so bitter, so sleazy! I'm no
father to Travis. I can't even look
at him some days. What is it going
to take to bring you back?

Yours forever, Richard
All right, here we go. I can't figure out if I'm being a serious pervert, or if the game is expecting me to pick up on some sort of pedophilic nature on Richard's part. First, that note. On my first read-through I thought it had something to do with him not paying attention to Travis, and turning all of his attention on his crazy wife. Or maybe that he was ashamed of Travis because he felt that Travis pulled the family apart. But I re-read it, and something doesn't seem right. At all...

"I have slept
alone for the last two years. I've
become so bitter, so sleazy! I'm no
father to Travis."

... :shock:

Okay, so, after the initial shock faded away, I figured it just had to be me. Then I realized that one of the creatures, the two-backs, resembles two humanoid figures, one on the bottom, one on the top and behind. As in anal sex. D:

Am I over analyzing this note? Or is there something else going on? Something that could potentially fuck up Travis almost as bad as when his mother tried to kill him, if not worse?
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Harrys_Girl
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Post by Harrys_Girl »

Wow, somehow, I skipped right over that part of the note. The, "I have become so bitter, so sleazy." part.

I just thought that he had become bitter toward the fact that he had to ake care of the very thing that he feels, drove his beloved wife, crazy. So, of course there would be a mix of emotions between father and son.

But this "...so sleazy." part has my attention. Perhaps the two-backs are more than just methaphoric allusion to Othello...?
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Post by Video Gamer »

...Oh god...oh god oh god oh god oh god.
I got the same thing, to be honest, but I thought I was just being a perv, too...
...Oh god.
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FiliusMartis
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Post by FiliusMartis »

Honestly, I didn't get that at all...

I figured they were using the word sleazy in the sense of low character... not necessarily in a sexual way. He seemed sort of cold to how Travis must have felt about things sometimes. He also pairs it with the word bitter, which makes me think it would mean something like bitter and of a disgusting character... even dishonorable.

He could be going to strip shows or having sex with other women, and that's one he means. That would also explain why he feels he's no father to Travis, he's being a bad role model.

I suppose it's possible, but normally Silent Hill digs up people's secrets and makes them confront them. Travis never acknowledges it, and the dynamic between father and son doesn't seem like the typical case. I think it's probably just a bad choice of words...
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Cold_Ethyl
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Post by Cold_Ethyl »

If you wanted to make that connection you probably could find more evidence. http://youtube.com/watch?v=KJPr6a6qn_w here's the room 500 boss battle. There are a lot of phalic references that weren't there in any of the other bosses. It could as well explain Travis' inability to form relationships that the two backs are officially meant to represent. Though I am dubious that it's the meaning of the letter personally.
Nice 'N' sleazy does it every time!
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Mis Krist.
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Post by Mis Krist. »

I don't see that as a revelation that daddy is touching Travis' wee-wee. I see that as an ashamed confession by a man who would take just about any crackwhore in bed, as long as it had a vagina, because he's lonely.

And I'm dead serious.

The last thing I'd want Travis to be is the male version of Angela (she was heartbreaking enough) or some Silent Hill revision of Jonathan Davis. Spare us, please.
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Post by Rob Matter »

That Richard was sexually abusing Travis seems to me a farfetched interpretation of the note. I believe he was merely expressing that he had become a poor role model. To put a fine point on it, if he was "sleeping alone," he was not sleeping with Travis.

The lack of any direct evidence throughout the game makes it a very weak case.
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Post by AuraTwilight »

I think it'd have had a lot more significant presence in Travis's flashbacks, monsters, etc. if his dad was having sex with him. Richard was just upset over his wife, and he couldn't look at Travis because he looked like his mother.
[quote="BlackFire2"]I thought he meant the special powers of her vagina.[/quote]
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Post by MisterGrey »

You know, I actually thought that it was Helen who was molesting Travis, not out of sexual desire but as an aspect of her mental illness. Why else drop the Jocasta reference?

As far as Richard's "sleazy" comment, I took it, like Krist, to mean that he was cheating on Helen during her time in the mental institution.
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Post by Breaka »

Yeah I think Travis's popa was getting down with the hoes in that motel. As little Travis would have had very little to do I think it's possible that he may have witness this going on.

If you look at a twoback, it looks like two people going at it. And when you approach the male component on the bottom roars at you. If Travis as a kid would have burst in on his dad, I imagine this would have been the kind of reception he'd of received. Also as a kid Travis wouldn't have understood what he had seen, which would explain the overall malformation of this creature.

The exact same thing is discussed here also http://www.silenthillforum.com/viewtopi ... highlight=
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Post by FiliusMartis »

I thought the Jocasta reference was not at all about sex, but rather because the mythological lady was told her child would kill his father and marry his mother so she left him to die on a mountainside. You know, kind of like Helen was saying "Kill the demon child."

As for the boss video... I suppose you could see phallic imagery if you were looking for it, but that doesn't always mean sex. Phallic imagery is often used to convey other sorts of masculine powerful energy.
PRIME_BBCODE_SPOILER_SHOW PRIME_BBCODE_SPOILER:
I see a lot of symbolism for someone who hung himself... considering that's what the boss tried to do to Travis after all.
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Post by David01 »

Yes tried to hang and strangle Travis with those tenticles.. I do not see any sign really of molestation, but rather trauma. I mean afterall, Travis was very young, and his mother was trying to kill him. And then he saw his father hang himself right infront of him, I mean that would be traumatic to a child, or even an adult for that matter.


And I also see that, possibly Richard was sleeping with the whores in that same hotel.. a nd being that he felt such guilt over doing this, with his young son just down the hall. Is to me the main reasoning for him hanging himself, he just could not live with his conscious of doing such a thing. He had such love for Helen, yet here he was sleeping with other women in the hotel room.

I think they should make Richard a Protagonist in the series, it would probably be more interesting than Travis story. :wink:
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Post by Video Gamer »

David01 wrote:
I think they should make Richard a Protagonist in the series, it would probably be more interesting than Travis story. :wink:
*is suddenly inspired*
You know, that might actually work...
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Post by DavidGarland »

Oh god...I didn't even think about it like that.

I sure hope that didn't happen. Travis is messed up enough as it is.
Lisa is not a whore.

-_-
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Post by KageReneko »

Hmmm... In both sides of transfrmed Richard you van see 2 bottom halves of bodies, one looks like a feminine body without genitals although the shape isn't feminine (lack of feminine hips I mean), the other body is facing the whole, you can see it ass and also is upwards...

I mean this can be overANALyze (Sorry, I couldn't resist) but this theory could be plausible and explain...
PRIME_BBCODE_SPOILER_SHOW PRIME_BBCODE_SPOILER:
That Travis did anything to Richard although this isn't clear yet
Silent Hill can be so sick...
TheRedOne

Post by TheRedOne »

I always thought the two-back was just a reference to Travis's sexual repression, after watching his mother slowly spiral downward he must've had trouble even thinking of being with any woman. The conversation between Travis and his trucker friend in the beginning sort of backs this up in a way. Or Travis just isn't that type of person...
Travis may be a virgin for all we know...
Unless of course, he WAS molested by his father(which I doubt), then he...
Well, you get the picture.
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Post by Breaka »

I don't even know where to start. Like you are more then welcome to believe that, and I aint saying you are wrong. I'm no arogant SHH dork*. But the whole sexual repression thing? Come on.

Personally I don't think it applies even for SH2, which is debatable. But there's nothing in SH0 to suggest Travis is sexually repressed. In SH2 James acting was awful so who knows, but Travis' acting is much better so we get a much clearer impression of his personality. That conversation at the start says to me that he's a friendly and sociable guy that just happens to drive a truck. But I'm sure he'd know how to deal with the occasional chick. I mean it's not like he was shy around Lisa was he?

And just cause his mother was messed up means nothing. I mean who thinks about there mother when there scoring with babes anyway? And his dad just plain didn't molest him either.

So, fair enough, but I disagree. This game just aint a simple copy of SH2.


* = Mod edit = don't be a passive aggressive asshole and stop making comments like this.
TheRedOne

Post by TheRedOne »

I wasn't implying it was a copy. Silent Hill 2's sexual elements were caused by guilt of being with another women, in James' mind, he couldn't be with anyone else but Mary, thus the monsters with long slender legs and vagina-like openings. Travis is a different person so you may be right, I was only guessing, giving my theory on the whole matter. And no, I'm not some stuck up fan and I don't think I know everything, but James wasn't poorly acted in my opinion. His voice wasn't perfect, but he was always a quiet man, even in Mary's letter (the 2nd?)she mentions that. It is possible however, that Travis could've been messed up because his mom DID try to kill him and said he was a devil child. Isn't it possible that because of this he had issues having relationships with women in general? Not to say he was with men, he just wasn't active from what I could tell. As for the whole father molesting him deal, it probably did not happen, but an interesting theory.
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Post by WickedQu33n »

There's a flashback memory when richard says to travis" about this afternoon..." travis says " forget it, I just wanna play pinball" hmmm
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Post by Video Gamer »

WickedQu33n wrote:There's a flashback memory when richard says to travis" about this afternoon..." travis says " forget it, I just wanna play pinball" hmmm
That was probably right after Travis snuck into the Sanitarium to look at his mom.
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