Silent Hill, according to Angela:

James got a letter. From a dead person. Oh dear.

Moderator: Moderators

User avatar
JuriDawn
SHH Cult Subscriber
SHH Cult Subscriber
Posts: 4060
Joined: 08 Jan 2006
Gender: Female
Location: Carrollton, TX

Post by JuriDawn »

The white house, with white siding, that Angela is seen running through in the introduction; the white house with the off-white doors—shall I bring up chastity, and virginity, or can you figure that one out on your own?
Clearly, but do you think the Eastern symbolism of the color white had any influence as well?
F

Post by F »

You've brought a good point. I'd wager that it's something implied on the scene. I've always though about the eastern connotation of the color rather than the western. In my opinion, it's even more about death than chastity itself, but it sure doesn't hurt to bring up another apodosis such as the said ones in Tom's sentence.
Last edited by F on 05 Sep 2006, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar
Silent Vamphyri
Cafe5to2 Waitress
Posts: 281
Joined: 04 May 2006
Gender: Female
Location: Philly, Pa.
Contact:

Post by Silent Vamphyri »

Wow, I didn't even realize this theory & its all so clear; especially the way you explained, St. Thomas. I thank you for this. :)
Manhattan_Pyramid
Just Passing Through
Posts: 7
Joined: 16 Apr 2008

Post by Manhattan_Pyramid »

Anonymous wrote:About Laura: Angela and Eddie are both persons that came to SH like james, but Laura is not. She is a vision of the past, you migth say. She was a girl that liked Mary, and hated James. She visited Mary at the hospital very often. She see's Silent hill as it looked in the past, just a normal nice town. She is there to torment James like Maria and Pyramid-head.

Please, correct me if im wrong.
There are two problems that I have with this, although it is a theory I have not considered before. First, is the assumption that Silent Hill is no longer a "normal" town, a fact that (I believed) a majority of people recognised that Silent Hill is a normal functioning town, but certain people can "slip" into alternate SH, which in itself acts as a conduit into 'otherworld' SH.

Laura is not a figment of anyones imagination, nor is she a "vision of the past," she is as normal as James, Angela, or Eddie. She IS, however, in an the alternate SH -- which means she does not see a bustling town filled with people and tourists. However, since she has no (for lack of a better term) 'inner-demons,' her alternate SH probably just resembles nice, sunny 'normal' SH -- just minus all the people.
Lovely Party.
Pity I wasn't invited.
SapphireSerpent
Just Passing Through
Posts: 44
Joined: 15 Apr 2008

Post by SapphireSerpent »

This was very articulately assembled. I often pondered what exactly Angela saw for her variation of Silent Hill. Your theory has more logic to it in the sense that it intertwines with her past to form the altered course Silent Hill provides for every person who enters.
delusion
My Bestsellers Clerk
Posts: 374
Joined: 08 Apr 2008

Post by delusion »

Wow this is new to me. Very nice theory indeed. I always wondered those white doors too and the scene in the opening. Now it all makes sense.
Oddish
Rosewater Park Attendant
Posts: 1299
Joined: 12 Jan 2008

Post by Oddish »

My only questions about that theory involve the graveyard scene and the labyrinth scene. The general assumption is that when James is in close proximity to another character, he sees the town the way they do (so with Eddie, he sees dead people, with Laura, he sees no monsters, etc.) But, the first time he sees Angela is in a graveyard (you don't see too many of those inside people's houses), and the second time is in that weird room with all those pistons in it (not too many of those in houses, either). Not saying you're wrong, just a comment.
User avatar
Sionnan
Gravedigger
Posts: 490
Joined: 04 Mar 2007

Post by Sionnan »

I think that's all dependent on the mental state of the other person and the state of the town. If the person's significantly disturbed (or at least more so than James), their reality influences his own. They're also in the Otherworld or Abyss by the time they start influencing James's relaity.
Video Gamer
Rosewater Park Attendant
Posts: 1323
Joined: 12 Jan 2008
Location: Minnesota

Post by Video Gamer »

Oddish wrote:My only questions about that theory involve the graveyard scene and the labyrinth scene. The general assumption is that when James is in close proximity to another character, he sees the town the way they do (so with Eddie, he sees dead people, with Laura, he sees no monsters, etc.) But, the first time he sees Angela is in a graveyard (you don't see too many of those inside people's houses), and the second time is in that weird room with all those pistons in it (not too many of those in houses, either). Not saying you're wrong, just a comment.
The person writing this noted that Angela was in the graveyard only because she wasn't in the limits of Silent Hill yet; she wasn't in her "house" yet.

And I'm guessing the piston room was part of her Otherworld.
User avatar
The Adversary
RESPECT
Posts: 20086
Joined: 19 Jul 2003
Location: #lfk
Contact:

Post by The Adversary »

Video Gamer = correct
This post is the property of its author and is not to be used elsewhere without explicit permission from the author.

. . . AND THAT'S THAT.
Ertai
Just Passing Through
Posts: 4
Joined: 05 Jul 2008
Location: Estonia

Post by Ertai »

[Hi I'm new one here and just finished SH2 (played SH1 when it came out, SH4 a year ago, SH3 waitin for me;)]

Just was finding answers to my questions on forum - this one was quite the main one: (do characters see SH differently and the most important) -may- their 'worlds' mix up/collide.
That's a nice theory I think - even the truth I think :roll:

I wondered why Angela (at stairs) first thought and called James mother, now I know, thanks;)
P.S. made me think, same theory - that's why James saw Maria as Mary also?
(of course, there's many other facts that Maria was/is/ ment to look like Mary..)
User avatar
Karuvitomsk
Just Passing Through
Posts: 38
Joined: 04 Jul 2007

Post by Karuvitomsk »

This is a very interesting concept, and it seems extremely plausable.

One giant House.. reminds me of a certain Danielewski.
User avatar
Doo-glas
Brookhaven Receptionist
Posts: 946
Joined: 25 Sep 2007

Post by Doo-glas »

did Eddie wander through Silent Hill or something else?
User avatar
AuraTwilight
Historical Society Historian
Posts: 11390
Joined: 01 Aug 2006
Location: I'm here, and waiting for you
Contact:

Post by AuraTwilight »

A new thread was made about that question, go look there: http://silenthillforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=15721
[quote="BlackFire2"]I thought he meant the special powers of her vagina.[/quote]
User avatar
PrescitedEntity
Brookhaven Receptionist
Posts: 775
Joined: 29 Oct 2008

Post by PrescitedEntity »

Question, MMY. I like the theory and all, but this bit doesn't sit well with me.
James: It’s okay... Did you find your mother?
Angela: Not yet... She’s not anywhere.
James: Did she live in this apartment building?
Angela: I don’t know...
I know Angela's pretty loopy, but if she was in her own house, why would she respond with "I don't know..." rather than mentioning that it wasn't an apartment at all? I could see her not asking questions if she just thought James randomly ambled in her house because she's obviously pretty mentally addled, but this seems a bit much.

In fact, that whole scene doesn't make sense as being in Angela's house, from her perspective.
James: So why did you come to this town anyway?
Angela: ...I, I’m sorry. Did you find... the person you’re looking for?
Here, why wouldn't she wonder why he's asking that if she's sitting in her own home? Like, "Well, duh. This is my home."
Angela: I’ve gotta find my mama...
James: Should I go with you? This town’s dangerous. Now I know what you meant back there in the cemetery.
Angela: I’ll be okay by myself. Besides, I’d just slow you down.
And again - here, she directly answers the question of going out to town, so she must've had the intention of going to look for her mother somewhere else.

I suppose I could understand this as her intending to head out from her house, but it doesn't resolve her response to James asking if her mom lived in the apartment. And if she had the intent of searching for her mother in the town itself, shouldn't she have been perplexed as to why she couldn't actually leave her "home"?

And one could attribute the apartment thing to her parents possibly being separated, but James specifically asks "this apartment", and it requires a piece of information being invented for the express purpose of making that argument...

The other two scenes past this one still fit the theory, though I guess it could be argued that there's no concrete support for it, so doesn't Occam's Razor (I think I'm using that right) favor the easier explanation that she's wandering through her own version of Silent Hill?
User avatar
Delirious
Just Passing Through
Posts: 94
Joined: 29 May 2008
Gender: Female

Post by Delirious »

I like this theory. Plus, it reads nicely.

Anyhow-- PrescitedEntity, while it does seem odd that Angela never questions James during the conversation about her mother and the apartment, you also have to consider this: Angela mistook James for her "mama" at one point. She clearly isn't in the right state of mind.

Plus, to me, it seems like she's trying to change the subject. Instead of answering all his questions straight on, she seemingly side steps them and talks about something else.

James: So why did you come to this town anyway?
Angela: ...I, I’m sorry. Did you find... the person you’re looking for?
I think she's just confused and doesn't really know how to answer the question. Either that, or she doesn't care enough to try to figure out why James is asking questions in the first place. After all, she is in Silent Hill for a reason and all James seems to do is upset her.
How strange the moon seems! One might fancy she's looking for dead things.
User avatar
PrescitedEntity
Brookhaven Receptionist
Posts: 775
Joined: 29 Oct 2008

Post by PrescitedEntity »

I considered all of this. That's why I brought up that last quote - she obviously directly answered James there, and there's no way she was assuming he was her mother then - he asked specifically where her mother was. You brought up the only quote in which she sounded evasive - for the rest of the conversation, her responses are a little strange, but not as suspicious up until the bit with the knife.

And like I said, I know Angela can be very loopy, but she is responding to James' questions in a reasonably logical fashion. I see no reason to think that she's so mentally addled that none of her dialogue is to be trusted.
User avatar
AlessaChevalier
Just Passing Through
Posts: 59
Joined: 05 Nov 2008
Location: Louisiana

Re: Silent Hill, according to Angela:

Post by AlessaChevalier »

MMY wrote:Why then are there two doors leading into the same room?, one of which that cannot be opened; one of which that does not lead into a room at all.
The two doors go into the same room? On my map it shows two different rooms, one door going into one room and the other door into the other room.
When I become the voice of reason, you know reason is in deep $%*#ing trouble.
User avatar
Jonipoon
Subway Guard
Posts: 1718
Joined: 06 Mar 2008
Location: Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium
Contact:

Post by Jonipoon »

The only thing this theory doesn't explain is this;

If Angela's Silent Hill and James' Silent Hill are two colliding realities, how come Angelas reality is the one always present when they both meet? Why can James enter Angelas reality, while she can't enter his?

I assume this explains it; James is such a introvert person, since he holds back and doesn't want any help with his troubling problems. At the same time he suffers inside for what he has done --- Therefore, escaping into others realities seems quite relaxing. This, however, is nothing he controls or whatever. The reason why their meetings end up in Angelas reality is because Angela is more open and shows emotions --- her psyche is therefore much easier to enter than James. Whatever force or power of the town which controls these type of "reality collisions", Angela's was the predominantly choice in this case.
I EAT GALAXIES FOR BREAKFAST.
User avatar
AuraTwilight
Historical Society Historian
Posts: 11390
Joined: 01 Aug 2006
Location: I'm here, and waiting for you
Contact:

Post by AuraTwilight »

If Angela's Silent Hill and James' Silent Hill are two colliding realities, how come Angelas reality is the one always present when they both meet? Why can James enter Angelas reality, while she can't enter his?
Because whenever they're meeting, it's usually because the other person's emotions, and thus Otherworld, is more powerful at the moment, drawing in others.
[quote="BlackFire2"]I thought he meant the special powers of her vagina.[/quote]
Post Reply