Romier S
Senior HTF Member
- Joined
- Sep 2, 1999
- Messages
- 3,525
After finally beating the game I must say I am not dissapointed by the ending. I will say there is allot of ambiguity at the end. You wont get all the answers you are looking for..but you do get the good ones 
This game leaves allot of room for discussion. Which is what I intend to do so get ready cause here I go..........
I obtained the "Leave" ending in my game. I'm still trying to sort things out but this is what I gathered.....James killed his wife (James seems to have gone pretty much crazy after that). She did not die of the disease. From the video you see in the hotel room it looks like he smothers her when he comes to visit. James seems to have supressed this memory for awhile as it seems like a total shock and revelation to him. Another revelation in the ending of the game is that the letter James received from his wife is actually a piece of a full letter his wife wrote to him before he killed her. It was to be her goodbye letter to him because she knew she was going to die. That comes into play with the Laura character.
Laura seems to play a big role in James' dementia. She says she met Mary almost a year ago in the Hospital that she was being cared for (which I believe that she did and is actually in Silent Hill to find Mary and James) but suppossedly she died 3 years ago. Laura is also carrying the remainder of the letter that James received from his wife (which leaves the question of who sent the first part of the letter to James? Was it Laura?). In the "leave" ending the letter is a very hearfelt apology from Mary for treating James horribly throughout her illness (you get a taste of this in the hall before the final boss) and a very sentimental Mary telling James that she loves him and he should go on with his life without her. She is also very understanding of that fact that James hates her for this which he admits to her in the final scene.
I believe Mary did not die 3 years ago, I believe James killed her a week to 2 weeks ago (around the time of Laura's birthday) and seems to have created his own little fantasy land to live in so that he believes his wife died of the disease. This is further supported by the presence of Maria who is basically the perfect embodiment of James wife. The dialogue I obtained at the end of the game was Mary (Maria) telling James to "learn" to stop making the mistake of calling her Mary. She says that she is everything James could want. She wont scream at him or be cruel to him ( like mary did) but she will love him. James realizes that he no longer needs the fantasy of Maria which is where James dementia really kicks in as Mary (Maria)transforms into the final nightmare creature.
The Pyramid head character is explained earlier when the 2 pyramid heads bosses are killed. They are basically there to punish James for the sins he has committed. For killing his wife. They are kind of torture demons, there to remind James about the things he's done. He tries to suppress the memories of killing his wife but if you notice allot of the times that the pyramid head appears it kills Maria over and over again. That is reminder that James is receiving. He has to witness his wife (his fantasy embodiment of his wife)dying repeatedly. It begs the question of why was there a picture of the pyramid head in the Historical Society? He seems to part of the past of Silent Hill. Pyramid head seems to be part of the history of Toluca prison and other historical pieces of Silent Hill. It appears that Pyramid head was the executioner at Toluca prison and caused the blood bath massacre you read about on that first stone in town...back to that in a little bit as that seems to be part of the Angela story...
Heres the next question...how do Eddie and Angela fit into this? How does the town of Silent Hill fit into this?
My take is that Mary is dead...her essence however lives on in Silent Hill. I think Mary is in her own form of dementia. She wants to tell James she is sorry. She wants to be free of the guilt of what she did to him. I think she sent the first part of the letter. She beckoned for James and she knew he would comeI think she also beckoned for Laura. Silent Hill is sort of haven for insanity in the game. I think the insanity of all the characters created the Silent Hill we see in the game.
Lets take Eddie for instance. Throughout the game the name of a murder named Walter Sullivan is mentioned several times. You first see his name in the garbage bag outside in the incinerator at the apartment building of Silent Hill. His name is on a grave at the end of the labyrinth and he is also partof the "Trick or Treat game". He seems to be the projection of Eddies insanity. Eddie is a murderer plain and simple and I think he was actually a denizen of Silent hill but went looney and actually intermingled his insanity with that of James and Mary.
Angela also added to the lunacay. You come across a newspaper in the labryinth right outside the door of the room you here Angela screaming at her Father. When you enter the room you must save her from the Doorman monster (one of her insane projections of her father). In the newspaper it basically states that a man with the last name of Oro... (the rest is blanked out in the paper) was brutally murdered with what appeared to be a knife. The police concluded that the murder was a crime of passion. Angelas last name is Orosco. After further conversation with Angela towards the end of the game you have to conclude that her father was molesting her and beating her and therefore she murdered him....Now here is where it gets interesting. From the family picture being torn and the later conversations, Angelas father has been having his way with her. You see pyramid head raping those mannequin demons in the apartment building...hint hint. That is Angela doing what all these characters do best...projecting their insanity and making it a reality! (Pyramid head seems to be a second projection of her father while also being the executioners of toluca prison) Silent Hill is real but these people have turned it into a twisted vision of their lunacy. The game is all about the projection of this group of peoples insanity thereby making it a reality and turning Silent Hill into the absolute mad house hamlet we have all come to love.
In the end James kills Eddie because Eddie (William)couldn't conrol his bloodlust. Angela kills herself because she could not deal with the hell that is her life and the memory of what her father did to her. James and Mary both regain their sanity at the end. Mary can finally rest and James can go on with his life. Maria never existed in the first place. Pyramid head was also Silent Hills punishment to James for killing her so that he would have to witness her die continuously.
The only person who I think was actually normal and sane the whole time was Laura. The "Leave" ending shows Laura and James leaving Silent Hill together and Silent Hill seems to have returned to normal.
Everyones Luncay intermingled into what you see in the game. They cant make heads or tails of it because they are seeing bits and pieces of each others insanity. The thing is you have to notice that these characters dont see Silent Hill in the same way. James sees the Mannequin demons and the other ghouls. Eddie sees people making fun of him so he murders them. You see what Angela sees at the end of the game. All that poor Angela sees is fire. Laura can't see any of it which is why she is confused when James asks her how she can be alright with all the monsters.
Thats my interpretation of what happened in Silent Hill 2 given the info that was provided throughout the game and with the ending that I received. Please post what ending you received and feel free to discuss what you thought it meant. By the way I think this is one of the best games released in years and the story is light years better than the first one IMHO.
Now onto a couple of other things (and then I'll shut up!! I promise). I unlocked the noise filter option in the secret menu of the game....WOW! For any person out there that doubts the graphical prowess of this game or the power of the PS2....you need to see this! You need to see this game without the noise filter on. It is absolutely beautiful!!! The high resolution graphics give Metal Gear Solid 2 a run for its money!! That is where the problem lies though. The graphics are too pretty. I dont think I can play through the game without the noise filter on. You lose allot of atmosphere playing it without. It will on the other hand make those that dont like th noise filter very very happy.
**********GAME SECRECTS BELOW (TURN BACK)*****************
Spoiler:The next thing I did was start a new game....and what do I find but a nice new chainsaw! It is a very fun weapon to use as it totally makes a bloody mess of the enemy and also if you let James stand over the enemy for a minute he does a very Bruce Campbell, evil dead yell while flailing the chainsaw over his head! (Its very humorous).
****************END SECRETS********************************
This game leaves allot of room for discussion. Which is what I intend to do so get ready cause here I go.......... I obtained the "Leave" ending in my game. I'm still trying to sort things out but this is what I gathered.....James killed his wife (James seems to have gone pretty much crazy after that). She did not die of the disease. From the video you see in the hotel room it looks like he smothers her when he comes to visit. James seems to have supressed this memory for awhile as it seems like a total shock and revelation to him. Another revelation in the ending of the game is that the letter James received from his wife is actually a piece of a full letter his wife wrote to him before he killed her. It was to be her goodbye letter to him because she knew she was going to die. That comes into play with the Laura character.
Laura seems to play a big role in James' dementia. She says she met Mary almost a year ago in the Hospital that she was being cared for (which I believe that she did and is actually in Silent Hill to find Mary and James) but suppossedly she died 3 years ago. Laura is also carrying the remainder of the letter that James received from his wife (which leaves the question of who sent the first part of the letter to James? Was it Laura?). In the "leave" ending the letter is a very hearfelt apology from Mary for treating James horribly throughout her illness (you get a taste of this in the hall before the final boss) and a very sentimental Mary telling James that she loves him and he should go on with his life without her. She is also very understanding of that fact that James hates her for this which he admits to her in the final scene.
I believe Mary did not die 3 years ago, I believe James killed her a week to 2 weeks ago (around the time of Laura's birthday) and seems to have created his own little fantasy land to live in so that he believes his wife died of the disease. This is further supported by the presence of Maria who is basically the perfect embodiment of James wife. The dialogue I obtained at the end of the game was Mary (Maria) telling James to "learn" to stop making the mistake of calling her Mary. She says that she is everything James could want. She wont scream at him or be cruel to him ( like mary did) but she will love him. James realizes that he no longer needs the fantasy of Maria which is where James dementia really kicks in as Mary (Maria)transforms into the final nightmare creature.
The Pyramid head character is explained earlier when the 2 pyramid heads bosses are killed. They are basically there to punish James for the sins he has committed. For killing his wife. They are kind of torture demons, there to remind James about the things he's done. He tries to suppress the memories of killing his wife but if you notice allot of the times that the pyramid head appears it kills Maria over and over again. That is reminder that James is receiving. He has to witness his wife (his fantasy embodiment of his wife)dying repeatedly. It begs the question of why was there a picture of the pyramid head in the Historical Society? He seems to part of the past of Silent Hill. Pyramid head seems to be part of the history of Toluca prison and other historical pieces of Silent Hill. It appears that Pyramid head was the executioner at Toluca prison and caused the blood bath massacre you read about on that first stone in town...back to that in a little bit as that seems to be part of the Angela story...
Heres the next question...how do Eddie and Angela fit into this? How does the town of Silent Hill fit into this?
My take is that Mary is dead...her essence however lives on in Silent Hill. I think Mary is in her own form of dementia. She wants to tell James she is sorry. She wants to be free of the guilt of what she did to him. I think she sent the first part of the letter. She beckoned for James and she knew he would comeI think she also beckoned for Laura. Silent Hill is sort of haven for insanity in the game. I think the insanity of all the characters created the Silent Hill we see in the game.
Lets take Eddie for instance. Throughout the game the name of a murder named Walter Sullivan is mentioned several times. You first see his name in the garbage bag outside in the incinerator at the apartment building of Silent Hill. His name is on a grave at the end of the labyrinth and he is also partof the "Trick or Treat game". He seems to be the projection of Eddies insanity. Eddie is a murderer plain and simple and I think he was actually a denizen of Silent hill but went looney and actually intermingled his insanity with that of James and Mary.
Angela also added to the lunacay. You come across a newspaper in the labryinth right outside the door of the room you here Angela screaming at her Father. When you enter the room you must save her from the Doorman monster (one of her insane projections of her father). In the newspaper it basically states that a man with the last name of Oro... (the rest is blanked out in the paper) was brutally murdered with what appeared to be a knife. The police concluded that the murder was a crime of passion. Angelas last name is Orosco. After further conversation with Angela towards the end of the game you have to conclude that her father was molesting her and beating her and therefore she murdered him....Now here is where it gets interesting. From the family picture being torn and the later conversations, Angelas father has been having his way with her. You see pyramid head raping those mannequin demons in the apartment building...hint hint
. That is Angela doing what all these characters do best...projecting their insanity and making it a reality! (Pyramid head seems to be a second projection of her father while also being the executioners of toluca prison) Silent Hill is real but these people have turned it into a twisted vision of their lunacy. The game is all about the projection of this group of peoples insanity thereby making it a reality and turning Silent Hill into the absolute mad house hamlet we have all come to love. In the end James kills Eddie because Eddie (William)couldn't conrol his bloodlust. Angela kills herself because she could not deal with the hell that is her life and the memory of what her father did to her. James and Mary both regain their sanity at the end. Mary can finally rest and James can go on with his life. Maria never existed in the first place. Pyramid head was also Silent Hills punishment to James for killing her so that he would have to witness her die continuously.
The only person who I think was actually normal and sane the whole time was Laura. The "Leave" ending shows Laura and James leaving Silent Hill together and Silent Hill seems to have returned to normal.
Everyones Luncay intermingled into what you see in the game. They cant make heads or tails of it because they are seeing bits and pieces of each others insanity. The thing is you have to notice that these characters dont see Silent Hill in the same way. James sees the Mannequin demons and the other ghouls. Eddie sees people making fun of him so he murders them. You see what Angela sees at the end of the game. All that poor Angela sees is fire. Laura can't see any of it which is why she is confused when James asks her how she can be alright with all the monsters.
Thats my interpretation of what happened in Silent Hill 2 given the info that was provided throughout the game and with the ending that I received. Please post what ending you received and feel free to discuss what you thought it meant. By the way I think this is one of the best games released in years and the story is light years better than the first one IMHO.
Now onto a couple of other things (and then I'll shut up!!
I promise). I unlocked the noise filter option in the secret menu of the game....WOW! For any person out there that doubts the graphical prowess of this game or the power of the PS2....you need to see this! You need to see this game without the noise filter on. It is absolutely beautiful!!! The high resolution graphics give Metal Gear Solid 2 a run for its money!! That is where the problem lies though. The graphics are too pretty. I dont think I can play through the game without the noise filter on. You lose allot of atmosphere playing it without. It will on the other hand make those that dont like th noise filter very very happy. **********GAME SECRECTS BELOW (TURN BACK)*****************
Spoiler:The next thing I did was start a new game....and what do I find but a nice new chainsaw! It is a very fun weapon to use as it totally makes a bloody mess of the enemy and also if you let James stand over the enemy for a minute he does a very Bruce Campbell, evil dead yell while flailing the chainsaw over his head! (Its very humorous).
****************END SECRETS********************************
