Silent Hill Heaven

...What does that have to do with anything?

Again, what Typo said. There's nothing hamfisted about foreshadowing the ending of your story in basically everything under a symbolic context. That's just...good writing, basically. Almost every thriller story that's stood the test of time has done it. Also, there was really no other place for the ...

What Typo said. The puzzles were an afterthought, and really they should've been allowed to forgo them if they thought they weren't necessary. They're pretty much there for symbolism. And frankly, I never did like puzzles distracting me from story progression; I just put up with it. And Shattered Me...

Another factor is that the Conjurer of the 21 Sacraments might need to be gifted with special powers, like the Mother of God. Walter is specifically compared to her in a text file somewhere in the forest area.

Doesn't the implication that he doesn't think he has to justify his opinion make it mean that much less, though? It implies he doesn't think he has to think about things before he runs his mouth.

The manifestation thing is canon. As for where the word comes from, it's a term deriving from it's usage in the term "Biblical canon", where the Bible was fully compiled out of an anthology of books considered to be divinely inspired and thus "canonical". You can thus expand the ...

Yea, that more or less seems to be what the 'Mother Rock' is for.

"Wha...Harry Mason?"

"Honestly, Claudia, I'm just as surprised as you."

The difference is: First, in Silent Hill, one does not need to die in order to have these feelings and thoughts echoed. Such as Alessa, in the first game, specially in Nowhere. We even see her child self in the place the ritual occurred. Second, Silent Hill can absorb these, er... things... and ech...

The ritual specifically resurrects God by conjuring it's spirit into a non-human vessel such as a rock. Walter chose Room 302. And since the God of Silent Hill takes on the perceptions and desires of it's summoner/mother, it seems to be playing a Mother role and giving heart attacks to anyone too cl...

That's the thing: I don't believe in ghosts. I believe Ernest in BFAW is just a bunch of echos of intense feelings "emanated" by the Ernest guy during years of seclusion in his manor. He's sorrow with his daughter, his obsession with the White Oil, etc... What's the difference? There's en...

I think a major hangup on HeartlessBastard's part is the idea that one must be physically in Silent Hill to effect it. This is pretty explicitly not the case, as Silent Hill can call people. It can call forth the living, why not the dead? Ghosts exist, as Ernest proves. Why can Mary not be drawn to ...

After all, in the 21 sacraments ending, we find out the ritual is bullshit

How do you mean? Walter got exactly what he wanted.

Pretty much what I think. But I don't think Mary herself had anything to do with the creation of Maria. Mary's dead, and she died far from Silent Hill. There's no way her thoughts or spirit could influence anything in James' journey. Even though Silent Hill is 'a place where you can meet the spirit...

Maria is in all senses but literally, Mary with amnesia, a new outfit, and a new set of emotions programmed into her. I always found it interesting hwo she could remember snippets of things James couldn't possibly know, or how before realizing her purpose she's basically an unfailingly kind Good Sam...

Again, doesn't really work; Walter got all those results because he was performing a mass murder ritual.

I'm with JamesInWater on this. Maria is pretty much the best part of the game for me and really wraps all the parts of the storyline together. Maria's important because she allows us to learn things about James he would never volunteer without the proper prompt.

I always liked the idea that he just gets Mary as a baby straight up. If it was possible to bring back an ordinary person pregnant with God, Dahlia would've done it; the mother needs to have special powers.

All endings are equally valid to the creators. There's suicidal symbolism throughout the game, but also ones of acceptance and moving on, along with delusion and escape with reality. James drove to town with plans of suicide, but his experiences in Silent Hill can be interpreted as his final doubts ...

I think you're overthinking it. In my opinion the protagonist of PT is the father being talked about. He succumbed to the stress in his dead-end life and killed his family. Unfortunately, he lives in Silent Hill, so he was trapped in his own house, forced to face the consequences of his actions. PT'...