The Homeowners

Post by **Koshercrackers** » 29 Dec 2009

So I've looked around, and I have yet to find anyone comment on this: what, in the context of Cheryl's delusion, do the homeowners represent?

The best idea that I can come up with is that they are the family that Cheryl could have had if her parents had never divorced. They live in her old house, they love each other, they even look like her parents (well, sorta, anyways.). What are your thoughts?

Post by **simeonalo** » 29 Dec 2009

I was about to post a topic about this

.
I don't really know what they represent (maybe a perfect family with the husband and wife still together?) but if you look around (especially at the billboard above the bar) there are randomized ads and most of them feature either the girl or Mike.

Post by **soam108** » 29 Dec 2009

It reminded me of Flight of the Navigator where the kid comes home and ten years has passed and another family lives in his house, Back to the Future 2 also has a scene like this.

I really think it's a just a hint that Harry has been dead all this time and another family lives there now. Maybe not everything has to be so deep in SH, not that the "ideal family" idea is deep.

Post by **Droo** » 29 Dec 2009

I personally believe every character in the game minus Young Dahlia is real. The couple is quite simply the couple living in Harry's former residence.

Post by **TMALIVE** » 29 Dec 2009

I think they represent what Cheryl thinks the perfect family is supposed to be, which is happy and caring.

Also, if you play the game differently, notice how Cybil says they're both teachers, while in another play through she says the husband is a doctor. So not only do their colors change, but also their jobs.

Post by **Touch Coma** » 29 Dec 2009

They resemble the couple on the drawing right before that scene, so its very possible they too are constructs. The ladies hair is a give away.

Post by **AuraTwilight** » 29 Dec 2009

They're probably cookie-cutters of the family that moved into the house after the Masons left it. I can easily imagine Cheryl trying to get into her old bedroom or something, and being stopped by Lucy and Mike Stewart.

I personally believe every character in the game minus Young Dahlia is real. The couple is quite simply the couple living in Harry's former residence.

...I...seriously cannot imagine how that would work. :l

Post by **simeonalo** » 29 Dec 2009

Droo wrote:I personally believe every character in the game minus Young Dahlia is real. The couple is quite simply the couple living in Harry's former residence.

Doesn't that support the idea that Harry is actually a ghost, or some sort of entity in the game, like a living Maria?

Post by **EngulfedInFog** » 29 Dec 2009

What I found interesting about the couple in the house was that they (at least from the two variations I've seen) are either sort of sterile and oblivious to this crazy guy at their doorstep, or they're fairly typical of what you'd probably do if the same thing happened to you.

When they are sort of the sweet couple who just want to help Harry, one thing that struck me was the music that added context to the situation. It sounded like a leave-it to beaver, picturesque theme. So maybe that's a clue that they are this manifestation of Cheryl's perfect outcome.

I think maybe what Droo is getting at though is that these people are in fact real, but what we see is influenced by Cheryl's wishes. I like the idea of everyone being real, but warped from our perspective and as a result of our actions in the game.

So I could go either way on this one.

Post by **vanbakura** » 30 Dec 2009

The great thing about this game is that everything is based on your perspective. You can see what you need to see in people, places and creatures.

I saw Cheryl as the creator of Harry and the unwilling controller. Dr.K gave her the exercises on purpose to push her mind in that direction, and thus she unconsciously moved Harry toward the house. In my mind Harry was just like Maria, and could interact with the real world but never truly existed, born from a wish if you will.

Post by pj » 30 Dec 2009

Since I interpreted the story as sort of Delusion-Harry's adventures through Cheryl's subconscious, I just figured that the couple was Cheryl's memory (or imagination, since its quite possible that she never actually met these people) of the family that moved into the Mason house after the family broke apart and Dahlia and Cheryl moved out.

In my interpretation they serve a couple functions: they do, in fact, represent a kind of ideal family that Cheryl never had (they have a daughter that they obviously love, even forgiving her when she's mischievous, they put their arms around each other, the husband stands up for and protects his wife), but they're also important in that they've "invaded" Harry's house, displacing, confusing and angering him.

I think in this way, they pretty clearly embody the pain, confusion, embarrassment and anger a child would associate with the family that moved into their home after their parents broke up.

Post by **Shattered** » 30 Dec 2009

simeonalo wrote:
Droo wrote:I personally believe every character in the game minus Young Dahlia is real. The couple is quite simply the couple living in Harry's former residence.
Doesn't that support the idea that Harry is actually a ghost, or some sort of entity in the game, like a living Maria?

Harry certainly IS NOT a ghost. In fact, he even says, "I'm not even a ghost" in one of the endings.

With that said, I mostly agree with Droo - I think that a lot of what is happening in the game is actually happening in the Silent Hill world. But, I don't think that is in any way mutually-exclusive with what is happening being in Cheryl's subconscious. If she has supernatural powers, then she could be changing the world to reflect her subconscious. That it has always been going on like this, but that it wasn't until Harry was created that there was a manipulation that anyone noticed. I also wouldn't be surprised if Dr. K was using Cheryl, and was going to brainwash her into doing his own bidding.

Post by **TMALIVE** » 30 Dec 2009

Shattered wrote:I also wouldn't be surprised if Dr. K was using Cheryl, and was going to brainwash her into doing his own bidding.

I think that might be stretching it a bit, since he is trying to help her in the end, and in one ending succeeds... Then again, he really is a creep.

Post by **simeonalo** » 30 Dec 2009

Shattered wrote:
simeonalo wrote:
Droo wrote:I personally believe every character in the game minus Young Dahlia is real. The couple is quite simply the couple living in Harry's former residence.
Doesn't that support the idea that Harry is actually a ghost, or some sort of entity in the game, like a living Maria?
Harry certainly IS NOT a ghost. In fact, he even says, "I'm not even a ghost" in one of the endings.

With that said, I mostly agree with Droo - I think that a lot of what is happening in the game is actually happening in the Silent Hill world. But, I don't think that is in any way mutually-exclusive with what is happening being in Cheryl's subconscious. If she has supernatural powers, then she could be changing the world to reflect her subconscious. That it has always been going on like this, but that it wasn't until Harry was created that there was a manipulation that anyone noticed. I also wouldn't be surprised if Dr. K was using Cheryl, and was going to brainwash her into doing his own bidding.

On other threads, other people have a theory that harry is a manifestation interacting with real people, like Maria in SH2.

Post by pj » 30 Dec 2009

This may be in another thread, so feel free to just point me to the discussion if its already come up, but where's a single indication in Shattered Memories that Cheryl has any sort of supernatural ability?

I'm talking about solely in SM, not any evidence or conclusion you can draw from any of the other games. Yes, I know Silent Hill is subjective and ambiguous and you can come up with whatever interpretation you like, but one constant in every game is that there have been clues that lead to and support whatever theory you might have. I either missed any clues that indicate Cheryl has supernatural powers, or there aren't any.

Post by **Shattered** » 30 Dec 2009

TMALIVE wrote:
Shattered wrote:I also wouldn't be surprised if Dr. K was using Cheryl, and was going to brainwash her into doing his own bidding.
I think that might be stretching it a bit, since he is trying to help her in the end, and in one ending succeeds... Then again, he really is a creep.

I don't really understand.

I agree that he is trying to help her, but why would that suggest that he isn't trying to brainwash or exploit her? It was creepy when he was talking about she wasn't having enough sex... :/

Post by **TMALIVE** » 30 Dec 2009

pj wrote:This may be in another thread, so feel free to just point me to the discussion if its already come up, but where's a single indication in Shattered Memories that Cheryl has any sort of supernatural ability?

I'm talking about solely in SM, not any evidence or conclusion you can draw from any of the other games. Yes, I know Silent Hill is subjective and ambiguous and you can come up with whatever interpretation you like, but one constant in every game is that there have been clues that lead to and support whatever theory you might have. I either missed any clues that indicate Cheryl has supernatural powers, or there aren't any.

Well, when in the police car, Harry does say that the weather seems to be happening as if the whole town is being punished. This might imply that the session with Dr. K is making Cheryl control the weather based off her feelings of depression and loneliness (also, a nod to the first game, with Cheryl representing the snow and fog, and Alessa being the dark, hellish Otherworld. And since the focus is on Cheryl for this game, we just have snow). But that's if you go with the theory that everything is somewhat actually happening in the real world.

Post by **Droo** » 30 Dec 2009

The problem with supposing Cheryl has supernatural abilities, or that Kaufmann has ulterior motives, seems to me to spring from the preconceptions we have about those characters from SH1.

There's really nothing to suppose Cheryl has any special powers or that Kaufmann is a villain in this game.

Also, we can't know for sure the nature of the town or its abilities anymore, either.

Post by **AuraTwilight** » 30 Dec 2009

I also wouldn't be surprised if Dr. K was using Cheryl, and was going to brainwash her into doing his own bidding.

And then you would turn Silent Hill into a stupid saturday morning cartoon.

This may be in another thread, so feel free to just point me to the discussion if its already come up, but where's a single indication in Shattered Memories that Cheryl has any sort of supernatural ability?

Well, personally, I think the presence of ghosts and echoes that Cheryl has no realistic way of knowing about suggests that some ESP is going on, either on Cheryl's part, or the mystical power of the town. Otherwise, you're going to have a hard time explaining to me how the two hunter's sons have anything to do with Cheryl, and how she knows about text messages and recordings between strangers she has no business knowing about. Did she easedrop on the mallcop? Did she hack the phones of her classmates?

I agree that he is trying to help her, but why would that suggest that he isn't trying to brainwash or exploit her? It was creepy when he was talking about she wasn't having enough sex... :/

He's a cynical, jaded therapist, not an evil witch doctor.

Post by pj » 30 Dec 2009

AuraTwilight wrote: Well, personally, I think the presence of ghosts and echoes that Cheryl has no realistic way of knowing about suggests that some ESP is going on, either on Cheryl's part, or the mystical power of the town. Otherwise, you're going to have a hard time explaining to me how the two hunter's sons have anything to do with Cheryl, and how she knows about text messages and recordings between strangers she has no business knowing about. Did she easedrop on the mallcop? Did she hack the phones of her classmates?

My guess is that she didn't know about the text messages, or recordings between strangers, or phone calls, or anything like that. The way I interpreted it, the things Delusion Harry experiences aren't necessarily factual records of actual conversations or events, they're products of Cheryl's mind, her subconscious sort of "filling in the blanks" on events that affected her in one way or another. Did Cheryl shop lift? Sure, but does that mean the voicemails and text messages Harry discovers about the situation are 100% accurate or factual? I mean, hell, can you remember conversations from your own day-to-day life with 100% accuracy?

As to why things like the hunters' sons, or the boy who choked himself to death in the school, or other events that happened to other people are even IN Cheryl's subconscious, I figured these were all just things that happened that Cheryl knew about and that stuck with her for one reason or another. I know I can think of several news stories that I've heard of that had nothing to do with me at all, but which have stuck with me for years, that I think about from time to time. That, in a way, "haunted" me.