Silent Hill Heaven

^But why would James being somewhat emotionless mean that he would off himself?
He was handling everything rather well, considering the emotional exhaustion he displayed in the opening bathroom scene.
I didn't think 2 HAD a canon ending.

SilentWren wrote:^But why would James being somewhat emotionless mean that he would off himself?
He was handling everything rather well, considering the emotional exhaustion he displayed in the opening bathroom scene.
I didn't think 2 HAD a canon ending.

No one ending has been confirmed by Konami as being canon. If I remember correctly, someone from Konami said that all have an equal chance of being canon. It depends on the players interpretation of events or something. In Water could very easily be canon if someone wants to think of it as canon. Also, James was delusional in the bathroom at the start, so he clearly wasn't handling the truth well at all. Just because he seemed to be alright then doesn't mean he was handling things well between defeating Maria and the In Water scene (just thought I'd add, I don't like the In Water ending, but I can understand how someone might think of it as canon).

To be technically accurate, anyone can like whichever ending they consider most appropriate, but canon is canon. Either something is, or is not. Silent Hill 2 does not have a canon ending.

That being said, adherents of the In Water ending have the peculiar tendency to ignore this fact and insist that this ending is canon.

^We can rule out "leave" entirely though, because it implied that he, um 'left' and 4 broke that. So, that makes one of the endings even LESS canon.
Why the fuck do people think 2 has a canon ending? What? "Rebith" was too psychological for them?

Im going to mention James with the chainsaw again today. You cant deny the emotion of James when you make him stand for a few minutes.

Seriously, I thought his character displayed a perfect void. He seems to be missing something which is his mind at the time: that can make one strangely callous and at first glance apathetic, listless. You can hear the sadness.

SilentWren wrote:^We can rule out "leave" entirely though, because it implied that he, um 'left' and 4 broke that. So, that makes one of the endings even LESS canon.
Why the fuck do people think 2 has a canon ending? What? "Rebith" was too psychological for them?

How did 4 Break the Leave ending? Because he is still missing? Maybe he took a different name or traveled overseas or something. After what he did that isn't a stretch. Also I doubt Frank and James had the best of relationships for some reason, so even if James waltzed on home he might not even call his dad.

Yeah, to be honest I don't think there's anything 4 could've done to break any of my opinions or ideas on 2.

I like the Leave ending the best. I do agree that the idea of Laura forgiving James seems a little too perfect perhaps after she screamed at him, but the way Mary forgives James is done perfectly in my opinion.

James is a very emotional character, the way he forgets about his own safety just to find Mary, no matter what is already one huge emotion.

Gotta say, Issac from dead space lacked emotion.. He really lacked a voice actor..
I still love dead space though.

Ok, fine.

But you still have to explain WHY the leave ending IS canon.
We haven't heard anything at all about Laura in any of the future games.

Jesus, this is like that Cybil thing all over again.

No, it isn't, because nobody's insisting that it is canon.

Using that infamous line about James and Mary disappearing to justify or rule out any ending in Silent Hill 2 is something often tried (as usual, In Water adherents are the most common offenders), but it only states that they disappeared, and disappeared ≠ dead.

^I agree with you, but I think you're taking things too literally.
It's not real life, it's a game. They put little nods in there for a reason, not to confuse us further.

How am I taking things too literally? All four scenarios can reasonably result in James disappearing. The Leave ending is not an exemption.

I had always assumed that things like that in games were there for a reason, in this case, to imply that he left Silent Hill.
I supposed chances are equally good that he had to lead a sketchy life to avoid the whole going to prison for murder thing, but I never thought it out that far before.

It's not like it's even going to matter-I doubt they'd include Laura or James in any future games. *is sad*

I wouldn't want them to appear in future games. Nor do I ever want any endings confirmed or denied for certain--even if it meant that the ending I like best was made out to be the canon ending. Part of what makes Silent Hill 2 special is the complete ambiguity of its outcome.

An ending will probably be chosen and announced as canon only if and when some sort of spin-off or sequel goes into development. Until then it's untouched and I think it's best that way.

Imagine coming up with an amazing concept and setting for a sequel (I mean a direct sequel that is, not SH3 or anything) which can't be used because an incompatible ending was declared canon.

Keeping more on topic however, I think James' detachment from a lot of physically horrific things is due to straight up depression. When you're depressed, some things get to you and some don't, it's different with different people and situations.

I seriously doubt any future Silent Hill game will ever canonize any single ending from the second game. Imagine the uproar from the fanbase--especially since "Team Silent" would not be involved.

Personally I think they've already shit all over the fanbase and Team Silent by including 'Silent Hill' in the title of Homecoming.

Nonetheless, I think that a spin off could canonize an ending, but said spin off so very unlikely it wasn't really necessary for me to even suggest it.

The thing is, it's easy to ignore Homecoming. It's not really tied tightly to other games.

btw: we're all adults here, and we can fucking curse here without penalty.

Fair enough! Sick of forums acting like they're a public library with shit like that.

I think being in Silent Hill puts one in a dreamlike state, to where they're scared, but not running around screaming like Nicolas Cage in The Wicker Man remake

I mean we don't know how a real human being would realistically react in a situation like this, perhaps a part of the mind "shuts down" so that they can deal with the task at hand (surviving and finding Mary for example) and they wouldn't dwell on the creepiness around them