Silent Hill 2 Thoughts and speculation

You dont half put a lot of effort into this

Well I try to make it interesting for everyone, even if they have never played it or heard of it before- hopefully they can still read along as if its an illustrated story and still contribute any thoughts or ideas. That's the aim anyway.

recap- when we left James he had just made his way through the Wood Side Apartment block in an attempt to get to the far side of town and to Rosewater Park, which James hopes will be the 'special place' where Mary his wife is waiting for him, even though she is dead.
James also met Angela for the second time, the first being in the graveyard, who is still searching for her lost family, and Eddie, throwing up in a toilet, a little bratty girl who stood on his hand, and a Pyramid Headed monstrosity that may be a Demon.
Nevertheless in his bloodymindedness James has managed to escape the apartments and now finds himself ready to go to Rosewater Park and see what awaits him there.

Chapter Four- I didn't come here to bowl!

Heading on down the street from the apartments James soon spots the little girl perched atop a wall-





So what can we glean here?- well the wall she sits on has drawings of a cat and a bear on it and may have been drawn by the little girl as they seem childish drawings. She knew Mary somehow, and when James questions her on what a little girl is doing here her reply indicates that she thinks that should be self evident.
What is the letter she carries with her? Also why does she accuse James of not having loved Mary in the first place? After all he has come to this place and endured rather a lot of horrors so far just to try to find her.

Still with no answers and just more puzzles James keeps going until finally he reaches the entrance to the Rosewater Park on Tuluca Lake-



The park however proves to be abandoned, empty and fog enshrined. James eventually makes his way right through it and to the Lake side where he and Mary used to sit and stare at the water together-



And that's when he spots a figure whose immediate familiarity sets his heart racing-



So what can you say about Maria? Well the first question to arise is the same as that for all the other characters James meets- is she a real person or a manifestation of the town?
She looks and sounds almost exactly like James' late wife, save that she seems to dress differently- more sexual and more provocative.
She is a brunette who has bleached her hair blonde and died the tips pink, and she has a butterfly tattoo on her stomach, butterflies symbolising rebirth.
She also hints or implies that she knows something about Mary or at least James' relationship with her. She is also just very off, very odd in a hard to define exactly how way.
Remember also the posters on the bathroom wall when James set out?



It seems rather than being posters featuring James dead wife, rather they feature Maria.
Its also the second time in quick succession someone has called into question James' feelings for Mary, first Laura accused him if not really loving her and now Maria has suggested he really hated her.

Also whatever the flashback James had it occurred as a result of Maria reminding James of his and Mary's other special place- prompting him to remember the Lakeview Hotel. Making the hotel, on the far side of the Lake, James immediate next choice of destination.



So with Maria in tow he leaves the park and makes for the man road heading out of town and around the lake to the hotel. But along the way they pass the local bowling alley whose exterior lights are still on and functioning prompting James to investigate closer-



Inside the bowling alley James here a familiar voice, that of Eddie talking to the little girl-



Hurrying to the voices James finds Eddie, but seemingly alone-



So it seems Laura already knows Eddie in some fashion. And Eddie had told her he was running from the police, but is now retracting that claiming he really just ran away. But which if any is true? He also shows very little concern for Laura's welfare, seeming to believe she will do fine on her own, as if the monsters and horrors which plague James will not be a danger to Laura. It may also be of note when trying to work out who may be real and who not that Eddie and Laura can clearly see and interact with each other as well as James.
Rushing back outside in pursuit of Laura James finds Maria is gone, but soon she comes running up out of breath-



They follow Laura, round the side of the building and down an alleyway, but find they can follow her no further this way-



Following Maria's directing brings James to a door, but it is locked, but Maria has the solution-



The building they have entered appears to be a nightclub-



And not just any night club but Heavens Night- the nightclub advertised on the posters with Maria's picture on them. Did Maria work here? And given she features so prominently as the face of this club on the posters what was she? A performer? The owner? She does have her own keys it seems.



But James and Maria have no time to wait, they are still in pursuit of Laura and so they leave Heavens Night to continue their pursuit-



Maria spots Laura, a little further down the street-



Alerting James to Laura's whereabouts just as the little girl slips through the doors of the Brookhaven Hospital-





Having no other choice but to go after her James and Mary follow into the dark corridors of the hospital to see what awaits them......



Thoughts and speculations welcome- especially on what or who you think Maria might be? Real or manifestation? Coincidence she happens to look like his dead wife or something else?

So no one got a single thought or bit of speculation? Anyone even still reading along?  

Ho hum, ah well you don't get an embarrassingly silly amount of posts by being put off by a lack of response!!  

Chapter  Five
This must be the American Health Care System

James and his new mysterious companion Maria have entered the not altogether very hygienic looking Brookhaven Hospital in pursuit of a little girl, Laura.



And it is not long before they encounter Silent Hills famous deadly nurses-



The nurses are oddly sexual; they display a lot of cleavage, their skirts are a lot shorter than regulation, they have shapely toned legs but their faces are mutilated and they move in a odd almost clockwork like manner.
Like the other monsters James has encountered they are drawn from his own psyche- so what do these nurses tell us about James? Seemingly that he sexualised woman, but did he do so to nurses in particular, or even particular nurses, say the nurses in the hospital where he was visiting his sick and dying wife? Is their violence towards him his own sense of guilt?

Seemingly tired out by the encounters in the halls with the nursing staff, upon entering a room, Maria seems to take a turn for the worse-



Leaving Maria to rest James continues on the hunt for Laura, along the way he discovers some notes, left seemingly by one of the hospital Doctors:

'The potential for this illness exists in all people and, under the right circumstances, any man or woman would be driven, like him, to the "other side".
The "other side" perhaps may not be the best way to phrase it. After all there is no wall between here and there. It lies on the borders where reality and unreality intersect. It is a place both close and distant.'

Who is the patient- what is the 'other side'? And is James there?
Whatever the puzzle of the notes his search for Laura proves fruitless and finally he finds himself making his way up to the roof to check there for her.



The roof however is empty save for a diary with only a few pages remaining, it reads;

May 9
Rain.
Stared out the window all day. Peaceful here- nothing to do.
Still not allowed to go outside.

May 10
Still raining.
Talked with the doctor a little. Would they have saved me if I didn't have a family to feed? I know I'm pathetic, weak. Not everyone can be strong.

May 11
Rain again.
The meds made me feel sick today.
If I'm only better when I'm drugged, then who am I anyway?

May 12
Rain as usual.
I don't want to cause any more trouble for anyone, but I'm a bother either way.
Can it really be such a sin to run instead instead of fight?
Some people may say so, but they don't have to live in my shoes.
It may be selfish but it's what I want.
It's too hard like this. Just too hard...

May 13
It's clear outside.
The doctors told me I've been released- That I've got to go home.
I--------'


But no sooner has James begun to digest these words when he hears the sound of something metal and heavy being dragged across the roof and turns to be confronted by the Pyramid Head creature, who with a swing of his huge blade knocks James backwards...



through the fencing and clean off the roof where he falls through the roof of the building below-



Its worth noting that three times so far James has encountered this creature the first time it retreated, the second time it attacked James, but in such a cumbersome manner it was no threat before again retreating and in doing so allowing James to progress, and this third time despite having James at its mercy it choose instead to knock him off the roof- hurting him yes, but not fatally, and once more James finds himself progressing.
The new part of the hospital he has landed in contains a shower room, and James notices something stuck in the plug hole, using a length of hair and a bent pin he manages to hook the obstruction and pull it out-



Accessing the elevator takes him to the other floors to continue his search for Laura, with a bit more luck this time it seems-



James, having no other choice grabs a shotgun and starts blasting at the foul creatures-





But eventually he is grabbed by the rotting decaying feet of one of the horrors and is choked until he passes out.



When he comes too he finds he is starring straight up as the ceiling goes past, as if he were being pushed along on a hospital trolley. A siren, like an air raid siren sounds as he goes rattling along.



Finally the siren fades and James finds himself in a room with only one door.
So what can we discern about Laura from this encounter? Did she deliberately put James in a room full of monstrosities, or was she just getting back at him by playing a prank on him for shouting at her?
When we first see her she is playing quite happily, as if the corridors are not filled with walking horrors. And when James is amazed she does not have even a scratch her reply seems to indicate that she is not seeing the same monsters James is seeing, or any at all. Is this because as a child she is innocent?
But is she real anyway or just a manifestation of the town drawn from James. And how could she have known Mary one year earlier if Mary died three years ago? Is one or other of them wrong about when she died? Or even lying about it?

Going through the only door available James finds he is back in the hospital proper, but it has changed, and not for the better-



Returning to the room which should be the room Maria lay down to rest in he finds it empty, but by the bedside are medicine bottles.



Does this mean Maria is also ill, as James wife Mary was?

Heading back out to continue his search for Laura James find its not just the hospital which looks a lot worse, the staff have also got worse-



Escaping the nurses in the corridors James retreats into a side room-



Why is Maria seemingly drawn to protecting Laura? And why doesn't she mention that since she went to sleep the hospital has entirely changed its appearance?

Continuing on their search James and Maria come upon a Specialist Treatment Room and find the following message scrawled there-

'I took the direckters's key- the one to the mooseum. I hid it behind the preying woman when I went out for the day trip. I picked it up but I did not steal it. I'm not a krimminal.'

More mystery, who is the praying woman? What mooseum?

Continuing on James and Maria eventually eliminate every other floor bar the basement, which is down a long dark flight of stairs into darkness-



The bottom of which leads to a winding passage, but they have not gone far down it when the Pyramid Headed creature comes up behind them giving chase.
It is no longer carrying the Great Knife, but instead is armed with a spear and is much quicker and more mobile for it.



With the creature closing James and Mary run for the elevator at the far end of the corridor with death on their heels-



Pulling himself together after the death of Maria James finds that he is back once more in the lobby of the hospital. A door to an office is open and he goes in to find a map of the town lying on a table by a window.



Examining the map he notices that two places have been marked on it, a location in the Park



and the Silent Hill Historical Society.



Could this have anything to do with the message about the praying woman and the 'Mooseum'?
As he is thinking this over a figure goes past the window-



James calls after her but Laura either does not hear him or ignores him.
Hurrying out of the office James exits the hospital and once more finds himself on the deserted streets of Silent Hill, blaming himself for what has happened-










James never completes that final thought, but what was it, what did he think Mary was taking? And what prompted him to begin that thought now, the death of Maria? Is it reminding James of something to do with Mary in her final days?

But now the fog is gone, Silent Hill has changed its character, now the world is one of impenetrable darkness through which James must continue on in his search for Mary and their 'special place'.

The pseudo-Freudian psychology of it all is quite obvious when presented in this way, I feel.

Funnily enough, it's reminding me quite a lot of the film Shutter Island. Have you seen that Petty?

Glad someone is still hanging in there and reading along- thanks Forest!

I haven't seen Shutter Island, but I just went and read a spoiler free synopsis and I do like the sund of it- sounds like my sort of film- I will have to ive it a go.

Jacobs Ladder is a big influence on SH2. Its great too if you haven't seen it, but not a comfortable watch. Avoid spoilers though, its plot relies on twists and you have them spoiled it will ruin the whole thing.

Hah! You thought I'd forgotten about this (or wished I had) but no we are getting to the meat of the matter so on we shall plod!

Quick recap of the last chapter- in pursuit of the little girl Laura who claims to have known Mary in hospital, James and Maria enter Brookhaven Hospital. Maria seems to become ill, similar to James' dead wife Mary. And Laura tricks James by locking him in a room with monstrosities whilst she runs off.
James discovers that a mental patient in the hospital has hidden something in the Silent Hill Park and that a Director of the hospital, a Doctor of some sort was conducting experiments into altered states.
James, reunited with Maria, then continues to try to find Laura but instead encounters the Pyramid Headed Demon once more, this time armed with a spear, which it uses to skewer and kill Maria as James escapes the hospital.
Emerging from the hospital James finds that the town is no longer shrouded in fog but is instead utterly dark.

Chapter Six
Night at the Museum

Folloeing the marks on the map from the hospital James finds hmself once more running through the town and passing Neeley's Bar, now shrouded in darkness -



Entering in James discovers that a new message has appeared alongside the one on the window, this one scrawled on the wall-



"If yOu waNt to sEE Mary you should just DIE. But you might be hEading to A diffErEnt place than MARY, James."

Is the only way to see Mary to die because she is dead? And why would James be going to a different place if that is the case?
Not much heartened by all this James leaves the bar and continues to follow the map.
It leads him to the door of a house seemingly owned by the Director from the hospital, whose mental patient hid something in the park. A letter is lying upon the doorstep-



The letter reads:

"Or perhaps you are a fool. The truth usually betrays people. A part of that abyss is in the old society.
The key to the society is in the park. At the foot of the praying woman, inside of the ground, inside of a box.
My patient buried it there. I knew, but did nothing.
It made me uneasy to have such a thing near.
I wasn't looking for the truth, I was looking for tranquility.
I also saw that thing. I fled, but the museum was sealed as well.
Now no one dares to approach that place.
If you do not wish to stop, James, I pray to the Lord to have mercy on your eternal soul."

Now there is a lot to ponder here. First James now knows where in the Park to look, under the statue of the praying woman.
But what is the abyss, and what does it mean that the Society is a part of it?
Why does whatever is buried make the Doctor uneasy? And what does he mean that he was not looking for the truth? The truth about the Society? And was his experiments on his patient what he believed would lead him to tranquilty, and instead led him to this Silent Hill?
What was the thing he saw? The Pyramid Headed Demon? Why is the museum sealed? Is it the Society referred to?
And finally and most inexplicably, why is the letter seemingly written to James?
And if James does have the ability to 'stop' he shows no signs of it as he gathers up the letter and sets off again for the Park and the statue.

However once more he is thwarted by roads being blocked or cut off, leaving him only one option, to enter a familiar door-



Well its dark now- but 'opening onto nightmares'? Undeterred James enters, passes through a tunnel and emerges on the other side of town where he makes his way to the park and the statue-



The statue is of Jennifer Carroll, who was one of the founding members of the Order, a religious cult that flourished in Silent Hill and were responsible for the activities in the first game. Jennifer was accused of witchcraft in the 17th century and burnt at the stake.
Considered a saint by the cult she helped to establish, the aforementioned statue was erected in the park so she would never be forgotten. A plaque on the pedestal reads-

"Victim of persecution by the Christians. Jennifer Carroll lived with pride and honor.
What happened here shall never be forgotten."

Digging beneath the statue James uncovers a small metal box which he opens-



Puzzled as to why this key would bring so much concen to the Doctor James decides to set aside the mysterious and continue his search for Mary.
Which means going to the one 'special place' he has not yet been too- the Lakeview Hotel on the far side of the Lake.
Only one road leads round the Lakeside, through the pitch black countryside filled with monsters-



And worse James soon discovers that the road has collapsed and he can go no further that way, returning he notices a roadside sign-



"The Silent Hill Historical Society"

Consulting his map James notes that not only is the Museum close, but beyond it on the shore side is a pier and boat launch which will take him across the Lake to the hotel, and hopefully to Mary.

Doubling back James finds himself standing outside the Historical Society-



Entering in, he finds the reception area is hung with paintings, some bearing familar images-



The painting is labelled- 'Misty Day. Remains of the judgement."

Are the Pyramid Head figures associated with judgement then? I the misty day a reference to the fog that covered the town before?

A second curious painting also catches James eye, it appears to show a room with a pit in it-



Continuing on James finds much of the museums displays are made up of pictures of the town and important people in it, one portrayed catches James attention, it hangs next to a painting of the Brookhaven hospital-




The label for the portrait reads- 'The Director of the Brookhaven Hospital.'

Is this the same Director who left the letter, whose patient stole the key to this place?

The label beneath the hospital painting reveals that it was built to deal with a plague which followed a large influx of immigrants to the area.

Continuing on further into the museum James comes across a wall which has been knocked through to reveal a stone lined passage beyond. The passage goes steeply downwards, and judging for size of the museum and the map James carries it must go down under the Lake itself.



Undeterred James plunges down into it to see what awaits him next-

Chapter Seven
A Night in the Cells

The tunnel takes James steadily downwards, ever deeper until eventually it brings him to a door. Passing though James finds himself in what appears to be the reception area of a prison-



A further examination of the nearby offices turns up some more paintings on the walls. They are tagged as the ones in the Museum above were implying that this prison is part of the Museum now. One rather gruesome image catches James' eye, it appears to show a circle of figures, their faces melted and distorted like the creatures which roam the town, but with their bodies skewered through under the chin.



The label beneath the painting reads-

'Death by Skewering- An Execution at the prison.
Death by skewering or strangulation. To choose his death is the prisoners last taste of freedom.'

Another picture close by appears to depict the prison as being on an island in the Lake-



The label reads-

'Toluca Prison Camp- Built during the civil war. Later became Toluca Prison.'

Entering the prison proper James soon fins himself at the cell he first saw in the painting, a cell with a hole in it-



James chooses to leap blindly in-



And comes too at the foot of an old dried out well, seemingly with no exit. But a close examinatin of the wall uncovers some loose brickwork which James sets about-



Behind which their is a door which opens onto yet another hole in an Escher like cell-



Once more James takes the plunge going ever further downwards-



When he comes too he appears to be in a large room, the prison cafeteria area.



A check of the cafeteria turns up a tourist pamphlet about the lake which has a lead article about the Lakes ghostly past-

'Toluca Lake, the town's main tourist attraction. This clear, beautiful lake has another side as well.
It may seem like just a typical ghost story that you might find in any number of old towns across the country.
But in this case, the legend is true.
On a fog-bound November day in 1918, the Little Baroness, a ship filled with tourists, failed to return to port.
Despite an extensive police search not a single fragment of the ship or any of the 14 bodies of passengers or crew has ever been recovered to this day.
In 1939, an even stranger incident occurred...."

At this point there are many pages torn out before the article continues-

"Many corpses rest at the bottom of this lake. Their bony hands reach up towards the boats that pass overhead. Perhaps they reach for their comrades."

A dead body is also sits slumped at a nearby table, its brains seemingly blown out by Eddie-




Its worth noting that the first time James met Eddie there was likewise a suspicious dead body but Eddie denied any knowledge of it, this time he is claiming the kill.

Leaving the cafeteria James enters a block of prison cells-



In one of the cells James finds an illustration that appears to depict the prison having burned down-



Eventually James come to a dead end save for a trapdoor, and yet another hole which he again willingly leaps into-



This time when James comes too it is to find himself in a rather disgusting morgue of some sort-



And yet another, even larger seemingly deeper hole-



This time leaping in James finds himself in a tunnel which leads to a door, behind which is another hole-





This time James finds himself before the open doors of an elevator, which he enters and is taken even deeper beneath the town and Toluca Lake-




This is an interesting section. If James ever was in the physical world he would appear to leave it in his Alice like descent under the Lake through a variety of holes.
Its clear the depth of the leaps should at the very least have badly injured him, yet after each leap he remains intact.
Remember also the message in the window of Neely's Bar- "There was a hole here once, its gone now."
Are these the sort of holes it meant, and where do they take you?
We are also delving duther into James and its worth lookng again at what we know about James from what the town has reflected back about him.

We know he came here to find his dead wife, but is often accused by those he meets of either not loving her or of hating her. And two fo those he meets, Maria through her looks, words and actions, Laura through an alleged letter she has form Mary, hint at knowing more about Mary than James understands, or at the least is willing to consciously admit to himself.
The towns monsters are sexualised, but faceless.
The first main location- the apartments are domestic, right down to a room seemingly mimicking James and Mary's home, complete with her dress on a mannequin and a dead 'James' slumped in front of the TV.
The hospital itself served via Mary as a reminder of Mary's illness as well as James sexual frustrations which resulted in his sexualising the nurses caring for his wife.
The town itself began as a fog enshrouded mysterious haunted place, then after James was tricked by Laura in the hospital, the town lost its fog and became a place of darkness and metal and rust. A place of decay, just as Mary's body was decaying in the hospital.
The Museum/Prison on the other hand has a focus on punishment and retribution indicated by the painting of the 'Judgement' featuring a Pyramid Head Demon in the Museum entrance lobby. James passage and descent through Silent Hill bears some similarities to Dantes progression through the circles of hell.
Confronting hard truths in the fog version- accusations about his true feelings towards his wife- then into the Dark World in the hospital with Maria death and acceptance of his own part in it and failure to prevent it or Mary's death, and now punishment.