In the hospital, I remember reading the memo saying 'Ill take care of you four ever. It's my destiny!'.

What is the significance of this?

*Delves into crap memory*

Isn't it referring to the box with the four locks? Y'know, the one that
[spoiler]Has the hairs inside[/spoiler]
?

...Please tell me you're joking.

I've spent ages trying to work this out, and it's only that? OK, shoot me now.

Nope. He's not joking. Its connexion is with the double-locked box with the hair inside, which you use to help fish out that key in the drain.

Not everything in SH is completely soaked in ulterior meaning... some things are simple.

Wow- I think we've all learned a lot here. A whole lot.

A guy treasuring a strand of hair - keeping it locked in a box with four locks.
Talk about obsessive...

Could be a cult members? Or another important figure of SH.

>Could be a cult members?
No, it's Joseph Barkin, who feels responsible for his daughter's death--thus the importance Ernest Baldwin put on him & James.

Are you saying Joseph and James are the same person?

Heh heh, oh shit..

First time I was shocked too, but those hears are important, if you want that key.

Adversary has put it well.
He's not saying James and Joseph are the same people, but they are both responsible for sins of a similar nature (although Joseph may not have been responsible for his daughters Death, he is still mourning, remeniscent of anyone else?), Joseph's guilt has led him to keeping any memory of his daughter alive that he can, even a strand of hair is painfully important to him, this in turn helps James out, it helps to remind him that he's not entirely innocent (was that strand blonde by chance? hmmm) and also by manipulating this peice of hair he can continue on his way. it works by reminding him and by aiding him.

M.

>Are you saying Joseph and James are the same person?
As a matter of fact... James & Joseph were the same person, in a manner of speaking, in the original script for Silent Hill 2 before a massive overhaul.

In the actual game, no, they're not, but they are representative of one another--just as Jack Davis is of Angela, and Joshua Lewis is of Eddie.

You implying that Laura was his daughter? That's interesting, but highly doubtful.

No actually I got a bit mixed up there, the colour of the strand could have been symbolic to the crime James had commited.

I think Mary's hair was brown, so if the strand had been brown it could have been a obscure bit of symbolism.

I think i'm reading too far into things actually, but it could be linked in more ways than just names and crimes commited.

and by Blonde I meant Brown

Much like James keeps a photo of Mary, Joseph kept strands of Louise's hair.

Thanks Matthew and the Adversary for your explanations.

I never knew about the "overhaul" at the production stage. I'm still in the middle of my reading the whole huge forum here.

I guess if they had manifested James and Joseph are the same guy, that could have revealed too much truth to the player in the very middle of the game. I would have liked either way though.
That actually would have made me easy to swallow why Ernest knew about James.

Maybe that change of the cource produced a kink (that I'm feeling) of the consistency explaing the relationship between Ernest and James.

Ernest Baldwin-was he the "ghost" in the house that Maria was in and she had to get some item for him? The guy whose daughter had some kind of accident?
The reason I am asking is because I don't remember anybody by the name Barkin and his daughter: what happened to them?
I haven't played the game in a while, so I know I might be wrong.

Joseph Barkin was a patient at Brookhaven. From the "Patient Records" memo:


Also, handwritten at the end of the "Doctor's Journal" memo: