Balkan Church?

[Odile]

Does anybody know why it's called Balkan Church? Nearly everything in Silent Hill has a symbolic/meaningful name, but I'm not seeing what the Balkan Peninsula has to do with a little church. Wikipedia says 'Balkan' means 'a chain of wooded mountains' in Old Turkish, but again, I'm not sure if this has any particular meaning or significance.

[Mis Krist.]

I don't see why it has to have any significance at all, personally. Just because several things have beneath the surface meanings in Silent Hill doesn't mean everything has to. Sometimes a church is just a church, a name is just a name, and a weirdass split headed monster is a Freudian wet dream of analysis...

[FatalFrame]

Isn't Silent Hill pretty "woodsy"?

[JuriDawn]

I don't think you need to look into the meaning of the word itself so much as the region known as the Balkans. If the church were called "Greek Orthodox" would you be trying to figure out the meaning of the word "Greek?"

"Balkan church" probably refers to a specific denomination, not a chosen name.

[Odile]

I don't think you need to look into the meaning of the word itself so much as the region known as the Balkans. If the church were called "Greek Orthodox" would you be trying to figure out the meaning of the word "Greek?"

"Balkan church" probably refers to a specific denomination, not a chosen name.

Holy shit, duh. I can't believe I didn't realize that. I suppose the name would refer to denomination of Christianity most commonly followed in the Balkans then . . .

Sorry, guys.

[The Adversary]

If I remember correctly, the interior of the church indicates Lutheranism.

The 1999 film The Ninth Gate has a character named Boris Balkan. I always liken the church's name to him.

[Droo]

The 1999 film The Ninth Gate has a character named Boris Balkan. I always liken the church's name to him.

Except that The Ninth Gate came out in August 1999, seven months AFTER SH1's release.

[The Adversary]

Awesome. I never said "This is where the church's name originates." I only said that I liken the names to one another, regardless of chronology.

[Droo]

Just wanting to make sure people don't go off thinking that it is actually a Ninth Gate reference, though.

[stopped_clock]

It could still be a Ninth Gate reference, the film is after all an adaptation of the 1993 book El Club Dumas. The book contains the same characters. I'm not saying it is a reference, just that the character dates from before SH1.

EDIT: However, it's probably worth mentioning the concept of crypto-chrisitanity practiced in the Balkans during the ottoman rule. Members of the Balkan Church felt forced to convert to Islam, and so publicly they did so, however privately they still prayed and worshipped as Christians. Therefore it could be suggested that the name of the church in Silent Hill references this duality of religion, one religion in public, and another (in this case the Order) practiced in private, whether for fear of persecution or just the wish for privacy.

[jthomp1286]

>Therefore it could be suggested that the name of the church in Silent Hill references this duality of religion, one religion in public, and another (in this case the Order) practiced in private, whether for fear of persecution or just the wish for privacy.

Persecution from who? Silent Hill is in America. While they didn't exactly do everything in public, they could practice without fear of persecution.

[stopped_clock]

Yeah, you're right, I totally forgot that it was the land of the free. There's never been any kind of religious persecution in America, and nobody could ever get the wrong idea about a cult. I mean, everyone there is free to do what they want without any persecution.

*cough*Salem*cough*Waco*cough*

[jthomp1286]

If the authorities got wind they were burning little girls, then yes something would have been done about it. Why practice 2 religions just to cover your tracks?

In any case, not everyone in Silent Hill was part of The Order. If the Balkan Church resembles Lutheran churches, then it may very well be just that: A church for practicing Lutherans.

Oh and *cough*Occam's Razor*cough*

[stopped_clock]

Occam's razor is fine, I admit that it's probably just called Balkan because it's based on churches of that style. I just thought that the dual religion angle was quite interesting in the fact that it does, at least to me, seem to fit with the idea of a hidden cult. It was your suugestion of America=no persecution that kind of amused me.

And anyway, occam's razor takes all of the fun out of wildly irrelevant conjecture!

[jthomp1286]

I meant in the sense that there is no state sponsored religion and people are forced to be a part of it.

In any case, I'm sure there are many cults in the US that go unnoticed. Mostly because they aren't burning little girls and trying to birth gods. At least not in public . . . most of the time.

[alone in the town]

>Therefore it could be suggested that the name of the church in Silent Hill references this duality of religion, one religion in public, and another (in this case the Order) practiced in private, whether for fear of persecution or just the wish for privacy.

Persecution from who? Silent Hill is in America. While they didn't exactly do everything in public, they could practice without fear of persecution.

One of the memorials in Rosewater Park insinuates that Christians perpetrated a little persecution 'round these parts. It isn't strictly stated that members of the Order are the victims, but two plus two does equal five minus one and all that.

[Bloch Street]

Dahila looks very European so she'd be likely to go to a Balkan (Orthodox) church on Sundays. That area of Europe is famous for gypsies, so my guess is that the Balkan church is a vague reference to magic ( like the name 'Mason.')

[Magnolia]

Maybe a reference to TENSION? There's lots of TENSION in the Balkans. Most TENSE region in the West (second only to Israel/Palestine). Silent Hill is all about TENSION so maybe that's it. I seriously don't know.

[SHF]

Maybe its located on balkan street. If not, then where the name originated from is in silent hill's history ( possibly)

[Harrys_Girl]

In SH1, no. It isn't located on Balkan Rd. It is located on Bloch St. There is no Balkan Rd. in any of the SH games.