What really happened in the opening sequence?

Have you seen Harry's daughter anywhere? Short, dark hair?

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What really happened in the opening sequence?

Post by Anonymous »

Ok, first question from me. I've searched and searched, so forgive me if this was asked and answered at some point.

I've played through about half of SH1 and plan to start over. It's been awhile, but I always wondered what was going on in the opening. Not the crash, etc. I undestand all that. But when you first trail Cheryl in town and enter the alley, and are attacked... one of the most unnerving things I found was the fact that Harry ends up in the bar, and the previous events simply don't register. I'm left going: HARRY! WTF?! So what was that all about? Did it happen? Did Harry lose his memory, but then how is he alright? If the SH experience is all in someone else's mind, what happened to Harry's body in the opening? Is he dead?

Again, please forgive me if this is too obvious.

Must replay to be sure, but does the cop say that she found him unconscious in the alley? Are the children/creatures that attack Harry insubstantial, so that he is not in fact injured? I find the fact that neither Harry nor the cop talk about this after he awakens to be very strange (that plus the cop giving him her gun -- hard to swallow, but ok).



Edited by Krist. Please don't double post - use the Edit button next time.
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Post by Alessa »

I've always seen it as a way to get used to the controls, but thats just me. I also think that he is just dreaming it, just like Heather was in SH3. I dont think Cybil says anything about finding Harry unconscious, but then i haven't played it for a while either so correct me if im wrong. I couldn't imagine her carrying a grown man anyways...
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Post by safcftm33 »

its exactly the same as what happens in the movie but he ends up furthere away so i have a feeling cybil did find him and took him to the bar
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Post by AnneMarie »

The beginning is the hook. Prove to first time players of the game that it is a horror by scaring the s**t out of them at the very beginning! Of course after the tenth time of Harry passing out in the alley way, you don't give a damn... it's all just a dream!
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Re: What really happened in the opening sequence?

Post by Mis Krist. »

Uriel wrote:Ok, first question from me. I've searched and searched, so forgive me if this was asked and answered at some point.

I've played through about half of SH1 and plan to start over. It's been awhile, but I always wondered what was going on in the opening. Not the crash, etc. I undestand all that. But when you first trail Cheryl in town and enter the alley, and are attacked... one of the most unnerving things I found was the fact that Harry ends up in the bar, and the previous events simply don't register. I'm left going: HARRY! WTF?! So what was that all about? Did it happen? Did Harry lose his memory, but then how is he alright? If the SH experience is all in someone else's mind, what happened to Harry's body in the opening? Is he dead?

Again, please forgive me if this is too obvious.

Must replay to be sure, but does the cop say that she found him unconscious in the alley? Are the children/creatures that attack Harry insubstantial, so that he is not in fact injured? I find the fact that neither Harry nor the cop talk about this after he awakens to be very strange (that plus the cop giving him her gun -- hard to swallow, but ok).



Edited by Krist. Please don't double post - use the Edit button next time.
Harry goes on to say "Was I dreaming?" and takes the events of following Cheryl into the alley as nothing but that - a dream he had after the crash. Cybil doesn't say she found him anywhere, unfortunately, but one can assume that he was unconscious in his truck, Cybil found him and (perhaps) dragged.. or somehow transported him to the cafe.

And yes, it's weird for her to give him her gun. Especially because she was so rude about it.
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Post by KageReneko »

that's the same that happens at the "Other Church"; Harry starts chase Cheryl in the foggy town, after enter the alley he enters to the alternate world and when he is attacked by the demon children he is trasported again to the foggy town... Maybe by Dahlia, maybe by Cheryl or maybe by Alessa (Cza<use I think thaey aren't fusioned yet)... In the Other Church Harry is in the foggy town, the altar getrs lighted and then Harry is transported again to the alternate hospital for finally wake in the alternate antique shop...

I think he was transported to the Cafe and Cybil just found him there...
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Post by Anonymous »

Ok, cool. Thanks guys. That makes a bit more sense. All the symbolism from various sources, especially considering one of them being Jacob's Ladder, had me wondering if this was all somehow Harry's dying thoughts. The idea that it was a post-crash dream is actually pretty freaky, since he dreams things which make appearances later. Wish that had been more clear from the game.

I'd read over a plot analysis/theory here http://db.gamefaqs.com/console/psx/file ... plot_b.txt (beware spoilers) which suggested that Harry got pulled into the nightmare SH because he was hot on the trail of Cheryl, but that it was too momentary to keep ahold of him, and it faded around him almost as fast
PRIME_BBCODE_SPOILER_SHOW PRIME_BBCODE_SPOILER:
due to lack of an anchor point there
, and the cop finds him there, in a normal looking alley. This takes all kinds of additional explanation though -- why in his initial wanderings there are no monsters on the street, etc. Makes entirely more sense as a semi-prophetic dream. And yes, scary scary opening. Especially the inevitability of it, followed by a complete absence of explanation. Horror-full foreshadowing. I spend the next third of the game dreading meeting those creatures again.

Edited by Krist. Please don't double post - use the Edit button next time.

Understood. Thanks for the tip.
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Post by Mis Krist. »

If the ending with Harry in the jeep were the cannon ending, then I'd be all for the Jacob's Ladder idea, but since cannon went with the Good ending (him leaving with the baby) I'm a bit hard-pressed to find an explanation of why he can shift between realities without any rhyme or reason behind it. I remember reading a theory that he was being used and pulled between the worlds by Dahlia and Alessa, but I don't believe Dahlia has that kind of power to manipulate anything in such a way - she's, in all likelihood, a Seer, whose gifts are limited to Sight and Premonition. Pulling a man between worlds doesn't seem to be something she's capable of doing. Which leaves us with Alessa being the one pulling the strings.

I do think that the dream sequence is kind of like Heather's forewarning dream in SH3, sort of like a taste for the player, and Harry, of what's to come throughout the game: Harry searching for his daughter, strange monsters and frightening images, the world turning dark, and being unexpectedly ambushed. If you remember, Heather also bites the dust in her dream, but wakes up just fine in a Happy Burger. I can't fully explain why Harry would have the dream, though, since he's just an ordinary guy and has no powers of his own. Perhaps, again, it's the work of Alessa? I'm aware that I'm going out on a lot of limbs and speculating at this point, but I'm trying to find something that makes sense and fits nicely.
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Post by jthomp1286 »

I'm inclined to think, he was indeed very much alive and very much awake when he was attacked in the beginning. The same sort of thing happens throughout the game. Maybe when he passes out, the children go away, just like in the movie. And is it so hard to believe that Cybil happened to find him in the alley? She just carried him to a safe place, the Cafe, and watched over him until he awoke.

But all things considered, I think it was just a way for the designers to say to you, "Hey, the whole game is going to be like this, if you can't handle it, turn the game off now."
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Harry spoiler

Post by Anonymous »

According to one ending, Harry is dead and the whole thing never happened
Last edited by Anonymous on 25 Apr 2006, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by Homestarrunner »

either it was a dream, or he revived there.
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Post by Anonymous »

Nope, he was dead
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Post by Anonymous »

For anyone whose seen the movie and gotten the " Good + " ending in the game, the " being with many names " ( in the movie ) who approaches Alessa in her bed - ridden state ( after almost being burnt alive ) is Samael ??
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Post by Anonymous »

Samael isn't named personally, but game players may assume it was. That's how I saw it, anyway, and I did listen carefully to see if I could hear His name being bandied about
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Post by The Red Devil »

I always thought that beginning scene was Alessa trying to kill harry, and then failling cause the darkness went away...idk i played it a while ago once..i actually plan on replaying it tomorrow
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Post by B5160-R »

Harry isn't dreaming. It's a shift from the nightmare otherside to the foggy otherside; just like the switch from then antiquity store [the other church] to the hospital with Lisa.
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Re: What really happened in the opening sequence?

Post by TREX89 »

I always thought that beginning scene was Alessa trying to kill harry, and then failling cause the darkness went away...idk i played it a while ago once..i actually plan on replaying it tomorrow
What if Alessa was just trying to frighten Harry enough to leave town? But thinking about the game... This nightmare world just goes away after about a minute or two. Later in the game, each nightmare world keeps up more and more time.

What we learn in Silent Hill?

Alessa = Cheryl

Throughout the game, Harry is attacked by monsters summoned by his own daughter. But who is Alessa? She is Cheryl. But yet they are different part of the same soul.

It means, Alessa DOESN'T know Harry at all.

Conclusion: Alessa Gillespie wasn't strong enough in the beginning of the game to kill Harry Mason by her nightmare as it slips away fast.
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Re: What really happened in the opening sequence?

Post by Silent Fantasy »

Alessa wasn't trying to kill Harry. I can't even remember how much control she actually has over Otherworld shifts and such in the first game (considering I am pretty sure the shifts follow her sleep cycles. It has been awhile and I am sure someone will clarify if I am mis-remembering or forgetting something), and I highly doubt she had any control over creatures that are spawned mostly her worst fears.
I also tend to believe Harry did just teleport to the Cafe much the same way he ended up in the Hospital after entering the alter behind the Antique Shop, but it can be seen as just a dream.
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Re: What really happened in the opening sequence?

Post by Tillerman »

Well, Alessa is trying to use the crest of annihilation to kill herself and wipe away the town, which would kill Harry... so you could say she was indirectly trying to kill him. But it was more about killing herself. The otherworld shifts are said to be like sleep cycles, yes. I don't think Alessa was controlling the monsters, I think the town was manifesting them based on her drawings, so probably no one was 'controlling' them.
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Re: What really happened in the opening sequence?

Post by Silent Fantasy »

Tillerman wrote:Well, Alessa is trying to use the crest of annihilation to kill herself and wipe away the town, which would kill Harry... so you could say she was indirectly trying to kill him. But it was more about killing herself.
Well yeah, I wasn't saying she was actively trying NOT to kill him, was just pointing out she had no hand in the danger he faced directly. :P
The otherworld shifts are said to be like sleep cycles, yes.
That must be waht I was remembering, I just remembered it a bit too literal I guess.
I don't think Alessa was controlling the monsters, I think the town was manifesting them based on her drawings, so probably no one was 'controlling' them.
I wouldn't say anyone is controlling the monsters in any sense in any of the games. And considering that one of the bosses is from a storybook Alessa most likely read, the nurses and doctors seem as if they are possessed by some type of parasite, the giant moth, the children, and others are literally things she was afraid of, I would say it's more than her drawings or her fears (though her fears and/or things she disliked greatly seem to be the biggest thoughts manifested).
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