Was Heather impersonating Alessa?

Heather finds out why it's true that you shouldn't talk to strangers. Or look in mirrors, quite honestly.

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xxSiobahnxx
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Was Heather impersonating Alessa?

Post by xxSiobahnxx »

Hi,

During the scene where Heather speaks to Claudia at the church, suddenly Heather starts to speak as if she is Alessa, "...But I am Alessa. My little Claudia. My dear, sweet sister..." Is this actually Alessa speaking through Heather, or is Heather just impersonating Alessa, to influence Claudia? Apologies if this has already been asked before, thanks :)
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Re: Was Heather impersonating Alessa?

Post by Mephisto »

I remember Heather's voice was quite strange in this part of her dialogue. Something... "Slow". Like in a trance, you know? But I think she was just impersonating Alessa and since Claudia is crazy she bought into that.
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Re: Was Heather impersonating Alessa?

Post by Soulless-Shadow »

xxSiobahnxx wrote:Hi,

During the scene where Heather speaks to Claudia at the church, suddenly Heather starts to speak as if she is Alessa, "...But I am Alessa. My little Claudia. My dear, sweet sister..." Is this actually Alessa speaking through Heather, or is Heather just impersonating Alessa, to influence Claudia? Apologies if this has already been asked before, thanks :)
I'm with Mephisto. I think she was just pretending in order to try to manipulate Claudia.
Mephisto wrote:I remember Heather's voice was quite strange in this part of her dialogue. Something... "Slow". Like in a trance, you know? But I think she was just impersonating Alessa and since Claudia is crazy she bought into that.
I think the oddness of Heather's voice was just to show that she was pretending to be Alessa.
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Re: Was Heather impersonating Alessa?

Post by phantomess »

I agree that she was impersonating Alessa. So Claudia would listen to her. The tone she used seemed to me like one someone would totally use in that situation, making it seem more obvious to me that she was pretending and kinda surprised me that Claudia didn't pick up on it. It sounded like a pretty corny/cliche/badly done impersonation, to me!
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Re: Was Heather impersonating Alessa?

Post by Soulless-Shadow »

phantomess wrote:I agree that she was impersonating Alessa. So Claudia would listen to her. The tone she used seemed to me like one someone would totally use in that situation, making it seem more obvious to me that she was pretending and kinda surprised me that Claudia didn't pick up on it. It sounded like a pretty corny/cliche/badly done impersonation, to me!
I think it was intentionally bad. After all, Heather's voice actor was good up until that point. Why it was done that badly...I have no idea. Even if it was a bit more subtle I'm sure we could have figured out she was only pretending.
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Re: Was Heather impersonating Alessa?

Post by Mephisto »

You see, we could say that Heather's voice actress did a lame job (perhaps intentionally) with that line but then there's other answers that we can come up with.

With all the shit going on in her childhood years, Alessa grew up with fear and rage. And that affected not only the inside but the outside. That slow and serious tone... I think Alessa spoke just like that.

And then there's the "Claudia is indeed damn crazy" part. That she would believe in anything without questioning.
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Re: Was Heather impersonating Alessa?

Post by Seal of Megatron »

Yep, pretty sure she was just mocking Claudia. With that type of personality and devotion to her beliefs, it would just go straight over her head. Kind of similar as to what happens with Sheldon in the big bang theory when somebody mocks him. Without all the god birthing and eyebrow waxing, obviously.
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Re: Was Heather impersonating Alessa?

Post by phantomess »

Soulless-Shadow wrote:
phantomess wrote:I agree that she was impersonating Alessa. So Claudia would listen to her. The tone she used seemed to me like one someone would totally use in that situation, making it seem more obvious to me that she was pretending and kinda surprised me that Claudia didn't pick up on it. It sounded like a pretty corny/cliche/badly done impersonation, to me!
I think it was intentionally bad. After all, Heather's voice actor was good up until that point. Why it was done that badly...I have no idea. Even if it was a bit more subtle I'm sure we could have figured out she was only pretending.
Oh, I wasn't saying her voice actress did badly. I meant it was Heather doing a very typical, cliche sounding possessed kind of voice. Make sense now?
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Re: Was Heather impersonating Alessa?

Post by punchdrunk »

it sure did seem that way. but if you search the childs room towards the end, heather DOES seem to have alot of specific memories of her and claudia growing up so who knows.
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Re: Was Heather impersonating Alessa?

Post by Robot Ears »

I think when an actor pretends to pretend something, (Like Heather's voice actor was doing in that scene,) it usually comes across a little fake to express the fact that the character is acting. I always found it fun to wonder if Heather was possessed in that moment, or Alessa was really showing through, but I tend to come back to the idea that heather was just trying to trick Claudia by hinting to the fact that she was Alessa too, and therefor has some authority when it comes down to it. I think it worked because it reminded Claudia who she was dealing with and the resistance towards heather that she doesn't have towards Alessa seemed to ease up a bit. But that is just my opinion of it.
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Re: Was Heather impersonating Alessa?

Post by Silent Fantasy »

That's like asking if she was impersonating herself (if you think about it the right way :P ).
I've always thought Heather was trying to manipulate Claudia. I would say manipulation is in her genes considering Alessa and Dahlia. :)

Besides, "Alessa" never seems to come out of Heather in such a way in any other part of the game. Typically, it's just Heather reacting to memories she can barely call her own and the senses and emotions of those memories. Never a personality switch, though.
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Re: Was Heather impersonating Alessa?

Post by snipermike12 »

definitely an interesting topic, while i mostly agree that heather was most likely faking it just to manipulate claudia, it is also possible that it could have been Allesa talking. I think punchdrunk makes a good point that when heather was in her and claudia's child's room she does have a lot of specific memories.
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Re: Was Heather impersonating Alessa?

Post by xxSiobahnxx »

Thank you for all of your answers. So, is it possible that Alessa may have been speaking through Heather? The manner in which she spoke did, in my opinion suggest that something more was occurring.
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Re: Was Heather impersonating Alessa?

Post by Jonipoon »

xxSiobahnxx wrote:Thank you for all of your answers. So, is it possible that Alessa may have been speaking through Heather? The manner in which she spoke did, in my opinion suggest that something more was occurring.
Not likely, since Heather is Alessa. As others have already pointed out, she merely made an improv-performance to lure Claudia.
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Re: Was Heather impersonating Alessa?

Post by snipermike12 »

Jonipoon wrote:
xxSiobahnxx wrote:Thank you for all of your answers. So, is it possible that Alessa may have been speaking through Heather? The manner in which she spoke did, in my opinion suggest that something more was occurring.
Not likely, since Heather is Alessa. As others have already pointed out, she merely made an improv-performance to lure Claudia.

well that brings up an interesting point. So Heather is alessa, so alessa can't necessarily speak through heather since they are the same person, however heather is a reincarnation of alessa. So do they have the same consciousness? We see that Heather obviously has memories of her past life, but does this mean that they are one in the same person, or two different people connected in the form of reincarnation?
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Re: Was Heather impersonating Alessa?

Post by Silent Fantasy »

snipermike12 wrote:
Jonipoon wrote:
xxSiobahnxx wrote:Thank you for all of your answers. So, is it possible that Alessa may have been speaking through Heather? The manner in which she spoke did, in my opinion suggest that something more was occurring.
Not likely, since Heather is Alessa. As others have already pointed out, she merely made an improv-performance to lure Claudia.

well that brings up an interesting point. So Heather is alessa, so alessa can't necessarily speak through heather since they are the same person, however heather is a reincarnation of alessa. So do they have the same consciousness? We see that Heather obviously has memories of her past life, but does this mean that they are one in the same person, or two different people connected in the form of reincarnation?
Same person, but beyond that it becomes nature vs. nurture. Even with Alessa's memories, Heather still has her own that has molded her into her own person separate from the original Alessa. Alessa as she was in the first game doesn't exist beyond memory.
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Re: Was Heather impersonating Alessa?

Post by HeartlessBastard »

snipermike12 wrote:
Jonipoon wrote:
xxSiobahnxx wrote:Thank you for all of your answers. So, is it possible that Alessa may have been speaking through Heather? The manner in which she spoke did, in my opinion suggest that something more was occurring.
Not likely, since Heather is Alessa. As others have already pointed out, she merely made an improv-performance to lure Claudia.

well that brings up an interesting point. So Heather is Alessa, so Alessa can't necessarily speak through heather since they are the same person, however heather is a reincarnation of alessa. So do they have the same consciousness? We see that Heather obviously has memories of her past life, but does this mean that they are one in the same person, or two different people connected in the form of reincarnation?
Well, it seems Heather has some memories of being Alessa and Cheryl, but not much. It's like remembering your childhood, when you can just collect bit and pieces, specific places, etc. Must be kinda hard, since Heather had three different childhoods.

Anyway, to me it always sounded like Heather was thinking "Shit, can't believe I'm talking like this. Everything to make her stop, I guess.". I mean, she hated Claudia more than anything, and had to call her "dear little sister" and all.
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Re: Was Heather impersonating Alessa?

Post by snipermike12 »

well that brings up an interesting point. So Heather is alessa, so alessa can't necessarily speak through heather since they are the same person, however heather is a reincarnation of alessa. So do they have the same consciousness? We see that Heather obviously has memories of her past life, but does this mean that they are one in the same person, or two different people connected in the form of reincarnation?[/quote]
Same person, but beyond that it becomes nature vs. nurture. Even with Alessa's memories, Heather still has her own that has molded her into her own person separate from the original Alessa. Alessa as she was in the first game doesn't exist beyond memory.[/quote]

hmm ok thanks for clearing that up, so I would say that heather wasn't impersonating alessa but was rather responding to claudia as alessa, or at least it was heather responding to claudia having a clear understanding of her memories as alessa, if that makes sense. Sorry I may just be rambling at this point
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Re: Was Heather impersonating Alessa?

Post by Drainage64 »

The way I read it while playing the game was that late in game, Heather had been gaining back more and more memories of "Alessa" until she remembered most of it. In that confrontation scene, It read to me like Heather now had regained her memories, and in a way was coming into her inheritance of being "Alessa" by voicing her feelings as Alessa. Everyone kept saying that Alessa would have wanted this, Alessa would have wanted that, but if she IS Alessa, then the question becomes "What do "I" want?" I felt like Heather was taking the reigns of who she really was at that moment and voicing her mind. No possession or faking involved.

That's just my take on it though. :)
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Re: Was Heather impersonating Alessa?

Post by Bladex454 »

The way I see it is that she had fully inherited her old memories, she ended up saying that as a form of respect. She was Alessa and remembered what happened to her, so she felt like passing on Alessa's thoughts so they wouldn't be forgotten.
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