Symbolism of the Grey Children

[emptimass]

Rose stuck around because she died when Christabella stabbed her. She would never return to the land of the living.

[AuraTwilight]

Are we sure she died when she was stabbed. The wound could've been fatal, but it certainly healed before any deadly damage was done. It's not that Rose died and then rose again. She was in the process of dying and was rescued.

[Video Gamer]

Are we sure she died when she was stabbed. The wound could've been fatal, but it certainly healed before any deadly damage was done. It's not that Rose died and then rose again. She was in the process of dying and was rescued.

Sorry, couldn't resist.
Anyway, I agree with Aura, I think all three "Alessas" merged into one.

[jthomp1286]

For further evidence to support that she's not dead after being stabbed:

The stab wound was merely the, for lack of a better word, "doorway" for the Demon to enter the church. Rose did not die, she does not even seem to lose consciousness. She is clearly alive as the church begins to darken because she can be seen holding herself up with her arms. Then we see her convulsing as she "bleeds" out the Demon.

[JKristine35]

To get back to the topic:
I always saw the Grey Children as being monsters drawn up By Dark Alessa (who *IS* Alessa) that represented what was done to her. It actually makes alot of sense when you think of how Alessa
A) was burned alive (as the children burn over and over again)
B) only wanted someone to love her (as evidence by the Grey Children holding out their arms and running to Rose as though they need a hug), and
C) felt like everyone she loved was destroyed by the cult (the fire burning within the Grey Children would have destroyed Rose)
I highly doubt that they are actually Alessa's classmates put into a twisted form. I do, however, believe that Alessa killed all of her classmates sometime in the past thirty years. Considering that she was so full of hate, it only makes sense that she would drag the children who bullied her and beat her up on a daily basis into her world. These kids hurt Alessa for 9 years. That psychological suffering over that long a span would easily equal the pain of the rape. And, considering that Dark Alessa is Alessa's dark side split off and made into its own entity, at least one part of Alessa was pure evil with no goodness anywhere within her.

[Markdriscoll]

It was mentioned in a thread that eyes might mean that a creature in Silent Hill has a soul, or a lack of one. The grey children have thier eyes twisted off to the sides of thier faces - indicating a twisted soul. And Gans said somewhere that the children represented Rose's (and in SH1 Harry Mason's) anxiety about her own missing daughter. Perhaps the grey children (I'll call them "mumblers" from now on like in SH1 - easier to type ^^) chase down Rose so ferociously because they desire a mother (as does Alessa)? The first one to appear on screen reached out like it was trying to hug Rose like a child. The others claw at her in a similar fashion, and cry the worst when she leaves them and escapes out of the door at the end of the scene.
Also, Cybil said "Mother is God in the eyes of a child." Maybe the mumblers (having twisted/wounded/incomplete souls) seek Rose as a mother and a god to seek repair or closure for thier souls. The cry like children too (although a thousand times freakier), and babies cry when they need something. Older children often cry when in physical or emotional pain (which they are - Gans also said "Everyone one in Silent Hill is suffering....") and they seek a mother to heal thier wounds (take note of the flaming holes covering thier bodies).
The crucified miner might be somehow intended as a kind of father-figure, but that's a big maybe.
So whadya think? Grey children as a metaphor for parenthood? Or are they just supposed to be scary as hell?

I only think you are thinking to much... let's only think its a monster and end of the story.



No, I think you can be right, congrats for the DEEP thinking.