alex 302'd date: possible spoilers here!

Post by **DistantJ** » 12 Mar 2010

If you notice, when he gets stabbed by Pyramid Head/Bogeyman he wakes up with a gasp in Travis' truck, Travis is all "Bad dream?"

Post by **SHF** » 13 Mar 2010

are there other parts in which dreams?

Post by **DistantJ** » 13 Mar 2010

That depends which ending you get.

Post by **SHF** » 13 Mar 2010

i mean throughout the game, not the endings

Post by **DistantJ** » 13 Mar 2010

Refer to my previous post. Certain endings may imply that the entire game didn't happen at all.

Post by **KiramidHead** » 14 Mar 2010

I myself am fuzzy on whether the whole trip to the Grand Hotel was a dream or bizarre teleportation thingy. If it's a dream, how the hell did Alex keep the axe?

Post by **DistantJ** » 14 Mar 2010

He keeps the health items you pick up in the hospital dream too, though his health is refilled. You gotta remember the nature of Silent Hill as well, remember even in the first game how many times Harry would wake up somewhere completely different (usually on the hospital bed by Lisa), even though he had made progress and kept items?

Post by **KiramidHead** » 14 Mar 2010

At least in SH1, you have Alessa to blame for that sort of thing. In SHH, it seems as if it just happens.

Post by **SHF** » 14 Mar 2010

yeah, ya blame silent hill and the order/ religion for that.

Post by **DistantJ** » 14 Mar 2010

Also happens in SH2, 3, 4(constantly) and Shattered Memories, Alessa not causing it in any of those.

Post by **AuraTwilight** » 14 Mar 2010

He clearly teleported to the Grand Hotel, considering that the events he experienced objectively happened, and he wakes up in a totally different place.

Post by **DistantJ** » 15 Mar 2010

He also wakes up in Scarlet's room after being like a good few miles underground in the otherworld. Silent Hill has it's own set of laws/logic in that way.

Post by **SHF** » 15 Mar 2010

so, if im right here, its when alex dreams is when hes in all those places like hell descent, and fighting bosses? or is it just when the rust wrld appears that its only a dream?

Post by **DistantJ** » 15 Mar 2010

It's supposed to be ambiguous really, like a lot of the SH games. They often wake up out of stuff which is or isn't really happening, and it's supposed to be quite difficult to get a grasp of what was real or what else. Not necessarily dreams in the later cases, but rather the character's real-world body 'wakes up' somewhere else etc. Silent Hill isn't supposed to make sense really

Post by **Catch22** » 15 Mar 2010

It boils down to Alex's psychological profile. Since we're playing as Alex, and he's a catatonic schizophrenic, it makes sense that there are chunks of story missing or that don't make sense. We don't know what's really happening, what's a dream, or what isn't happening at all and is just in Alex's head. It's like reading a book written by an unreliable narrator. Nothing is spelled out for you--and if it is, often it will be a red herring there to fool you.

Post by **SHF** » 15 Mar 2010

how do we know he's a catatonic schizophrenic? I mean his mother was kinda catatonic, but I would label him more normal, but with that fact he denied/repressed josh's death.

Post by **Catch22** » 15 Mar 2010

helldescent wrote:how do we know he's a catatonic schizophrenic? I mean his mother was kinda catatonic, but I would label him more normal, but with that fact he denied/repressed josh's death.

The notes left around the hospital level are (supposedly) about Alex. They mention a patient who goes into a non-responsive state, a symptom of catatonic schizophrenia. He also experiences delusions and hallucinations, symptoms of schizophrenia. So, it's implied that he is a catatonic schizophrenic.

And he would have gone through episodes of catatonia, much like a schizophrenic may go through episodes of schizophrenia. There are moments of normalcy and clarity coupled with moments of psychosis or, in Alex's case, non-responsiveness.

This could explain the gaps in the storyline, granted he's still experiencing the catatonia, which I doubt.

EDIT: And he really didn't just "repress" the memory of Josh's death. He replaced it with an entirely fictional storyline... one which he believed to be real. Repression is when you just black out certain events. Alex went batshit crazy.

Post by **wonderland kitten** » 15 Mar 2010

actually that pushes quite a bit into light and gives more meaning to the schism. If he is catatonic schizophrenic that would show to others though.
i don't know if you ever known someone with even minor schizophrenia but you can point out that theres something wrong on sight so why would ellie trust him so?

Post by **AuraTwilight** » 15 Mar 2010

Because she's known him all his life and she doesn't know where he went or what happened to him.

And not all schizophrenics are "obviously messed up", thanks for generalizing.

Post by **wonderland kitten** » 15 Mar 2010

sorry Aura but everyone is obviously messed up. look closely at people on the street: step count, breath timing, posture, expression, eye movement you'll notice things from even the most sane of people... now those of us who have mental illness (depression, schizophrenia, mania, OCD, ect.) are easier to spot.

To be so deep into your head that you physically experience it would be the equivalent of a lighthouse