Avoiding In Water is the entire point of Silent Hill 2.
I frequently refer to it as the Glorified Game Over, and after years of consideration from all angles, I’m convinced that I’m right. I propose that it is the worst ending to be attained in this game, analogous to the "Bad" ending in Silent Hill. Note that this is not the same thing as saying that the ending cannot happen. I know, and fully support, the fact that all four endings are threads in the tapestry that is this story. This theory accepts that In Water is a legitimate outcome of the game. It merely proposes that the whole point of Silent Hill 2, from James' perspective at least, is to avoid suicide. This means that his real goal is to find any alternative. Arriving at In Water signifies that James’ adventure ends in failure.
Part 1: Why James is in Silent Hill
We can infer from this, and the context offered from the game’s final few minutes, that James killed Mary, stored her body in his car, and drove to Silent Hill intending to commit suicide. However, this is by no means obvious from the start of the game. The very first line James utters in the game is a question. “Mary . . . can you really be in this town?â€[i]Lost Memories: Silent Hill Chronicle[/i], p. 98 wrote:The real reason James came to Silent Hill was to take his own life in a place of memories. If this is the case, could Mary's body be in the car!?
This indicates that his memory loss occurred prior to the point where we come in as the observers. It also means that he has already begun constructing the delusion which serves as the focus of the game. However, we know (now, anyway) that the only reason he’s even here is to end his own life. This means that the memory loss and subsequent delusions must be very new when the game begins.
When you exit the bathroom, James delivers a monologue explaining a very different reason for being in town, the delusion of the letter. He tells us a story which we understand to be impossible in a world of logic and rationality. James himself expresses awareness that his story doesn’t make a lot of sense, but he seems intent on following the letter’s vague instructions anyway. This, of course, is a profound statement about James: he is an extremely desperate man. No external information or foreknowledge is required to figure this out.
But, we have external information and foreknowledge which tell us that at some point after departing for Silent Hill, James‘ priorities changed entirely. Given what we know of the situation, we can pinpoint this event rather precisely: it happens within moments of the game's beginning--possibly at the moment of the game's beginning.
So, what is going on? If James came to town to kill himself, there shouldn't even be a game to play. What happened?
Part 2: Why James enters the Otherworld
Three factors are responsible for James being in the Otherworld. The first, and most important, is Silent Hill itself. It’s simply the best place in the world for something like this to happen. He was drawn here by the darkness in his heart--perhaps, it is the darkness which drove him to choose Silent Hill as the stage for his life's final act. The second is that James clearly expresses unfavorable opinions of suicide. The third is the natural survival instinct, which will cause a person to gasp for air even if they are deliberately attempting to strangle themselves. In short, James enters the Otherworld because his mind is caught up in a civil war between his desire to die and his desire to live, and it’s being fought on a very special battlefield.
This, therefore, is the real genesis of the 'letter'. It isn't enough to simply wipe his memory of killing Mary. It's not even enough to wipe out the last three years and pretend that she died of illness back when the illness was actually just getting started. If he merely deleted all that from his memory, the lack of memories themselves would reveal the self-deception right away as soon as circumstances maneuvered him into thinking about them. Thus, what is needed is a distraction, something to focus his mind forward so that he cannot cast it backwards. He therefore creates the fantasy of the letter. With it, he now has a goal: to find out if Mary is still here and still alive. Obviously, he has doubts from the first, but also obvious is the fact that they are not strong enough to stop him. As long as he keeps his eyes on the prize, he won't have to remember that he came here to kill himself, or the reasons why he felt like doing it.
James is faced with suicidal situations on two occasions, both involving Angela. The first time, he attempts to talk Angela out of it, and on the second, he denies that he is thinking about it himself. On both occasions, James expresses a dislike for the concept of suicide.
The result is that he is now in a plane of existence where much is dictated by his subconscious. He came to Silent Hill with the desire to die, and entered the Otherworld because he has a powerful desire to continue living. But, living has its own consequences, too, and thus, much of what James experiences while in Silent Hill is unpleasant and harshly punitive. His memories and his guilt manifest in many forms, such as Pyramid Head, Maria, the monsters, and oodles of other, less animated examples of symbolism. These are almost all negative in nature, and they can’t be avoided.
Part 3: Why James wants to kill himself
James wants to commit suicide because he believes is the only way to ensure that reality, in the form of memories, cannot hurt him. He is convinced that there is no hope of closure, that there is literally nowhere to go but down, and no way for him to change this basic situation. Even if he can do something as extreme as inducing amnesia willfully, there will always be external factors which will remind him of what’s really going on. This happens to him anyway, a result of his desire to live scoring a huge win against his desire to die. He forgets not only the deed of killing his wife, but of the last three years. However, as mentioned, this would only work temporarily, because his amnesia isn’t total. He still remembers that Mary is dead, and that a terminal illness was involved. Eventually, reality would sink back in, and most likely, James would become suicidal again.
This is what most people assume to be the point of In Water and, in fact, its proponents will read the previous paragraph thinking that I have described perfectly why it is appropriate as an ending to Silent Hill 2.
However, Silent Hill and the Otherworld are a third factor in this equation. Because of the Otherworld, James has two opportunities he would not normally have, and these have the potential to change everything for him.
Part 4: Why James probably doesn’t kill himself
There are three endings alternate to In Water, which represent, ultimately, two alternatives to suicide for James. The Leave ending is the easiest to understand. This depicts a James who has remembered what he forgot, but the experience has had such a profound effect on him that he is no longer willing to end his life. This is the basic example of James’ natural desire to live winning the aforementioned mental civil war, a fact represented quite openly by the gameplay mechanic which tilts the scales in one direction or the other: the level of self-preservation the player exhibits.
This outcome doesn’t just indicate that James has come to favorable terms with reality, however. It also means that he has successfully resisted a third option, which manifests itself in two endings: Maria and Rebirth. In these endings, James has chosen to neither continue his natural life nor end it. Rather, he convinces himself that solace can only be found by embracing the Otherworld and its illusions. In this manner, by either resurrecting Mary or replacing her with Maria, James can (pretend?) to regain the loss of companionship and happiness which drove him to the edge in the first place. In these endings, he is not required to succumb to or overcome the consequences of his actions, because the Otherworld allows him to abrogate them. When it comes to the pain of reality, in addition to surrender and acceptance, James now has the option of escape, thanks to Silent Hill.
It should prove no surprise, then, that the extra scenario is entitled Born From a Wish, and that symbolism of the Rebirth and Maria endings is extremely predominant within it. It isn’t just Maria who is born from a wish, but the apparent possibility of James actually reviving Mary herself.
Part 5: So, what is the point?
The point of Silent Hill 2, as it pertains to James, is for him to get any ending but In Water.
He enters the Otherworld out of mental desperation for some kind of alternative to death, because while death will free James from the pain of existence, it also ensures that there will never be any hope for improvement. Even if one wants to believe that there's an afterlife, the codicil found on the wall of Neely's Bar strongly implies that, if there is an afterlife, James probably isn't going to find it very pleasant.
I am an proponent of the Leave ending, so my belief is that it is the ideal outcome for James’ adventure. As there is not specifically an intended ending, it is not that. Neither is it the happy ending In Water adherents tend to believe. In it, he has the chance to be happy, to pick up the pieces and try to make something out of them. It would likely be a very difficult life, and there's no guarantee it will turn out well for him. The point is, he's trying.
However, the two Born From a Wish endings are acceptable as well. I believe this is one of the lessons to be learned from the Doctor’s Memo found in Brookhaven Hospital. If he can’t face reality in the form of either coping with reality or surrendering to nullify reality's consequences, he has the option of potential happiness in the Otherworld. The patient mentioned in the memo can only find happiness in this fashion, and while the doctor considers this condition a nominal illness, he also concedes that he does not enjoy the prospect of exposing the patient to pain in the name of rescuing him from a delusion which appears to make him happy. Either in the delusion of Maria, or the (possible) delusion of a revived Mary, he may spend a subjective eternity with the woman he loves (or a very reasonable facsimile), although both sides of this coin carry warnings of their own that happiness is still, by no means, assured for James.
In any of these cases, James comes to Silent Hill intending to kill himself, enters the Otherworld, has experience, and something changes as a result. This is the point. This is why Silent Hill 2 happens.
This is also why In Water is the Silent Hill 2 equivalent of the Bad ending in the first game: If James experiences everything and still kills himself, what was the point? The entire series of events and all of its lessons, essentially falls on blind eyes and deaf ears. His initial desire to die has overcome, and as a result, his entire experience amounts to nothing more than a vivid and interesting distraction. It has no real effect on him and changes nothing, except to put himself through a little bit of mental masochism before doing what he set out to do in the first place. The end result would have been exactly the same had he just driven into the lake as soon as he arrived. He might as well not have bothered.
This is highly analogous to the first game's Bad ending. In it, all the events of the game turn out to be a dying man's fever dream. They don't really happen and are thus are robbed of any possible significance. It's all just a strange little mind drama.
Part 6: How Self-Preservation Plays a Role
The very basis of this long theory is that self-preservation is the catalyst responsible for everything happening the way it does. Nowhere is this more obvious than in the endings. Notably, the In Water ending requires the player to neglect James' well-being, and keep his health sub-optimal for long stretches. Keeping a close eye on James' health and maxing it out whenever possible will lead players away from this ending and towards any of the others.
Part 7: Symbolism?
But what about the In Water-related symbolism, you ask? Doesn’t it foreshadow the In Water ending?
Actually, no.
Such proponents point to the general presence of water as such, and more particular examples like the body found in front of the TV set in Woodside Apartments, as indications that James will eventually kill himself. This ignores two very important facts.
1: James had suicide on his mind from the beginning. This means that all of the In Water symbolism can just as easily be considered not foreshadowing, but memory, a subtle, symbolic reminder of a fact he has made himself forget. Memories of his killing of Mary manifest in exactly the same manner. Suicidal thoughts are in no small part responsible for this happening in the first place. Given that James' suicidal thoughts before the game are certain, but the In Water ending is only one possible ending in four, the symbolism people believe portends the future is almost certain to actually be a reflection of the recent past.
2: The two biggest In Water symbols are averted. All of the water is supposed to symbolize Toluca Lake, which is to serve as his allegedly inevitable grave. However, James does eventually encounter Toluca Lake directly, and it does not serve as the terminus of his adventure. It does not even prove to be impassible. Toluca Lake is a mere obstacle, and when James encounters it, he crosses it and moves on, not even so much as making a comment about the lake, or any plans he might have had to enter it by turning his Chevy Nova into a submarine.
What about the guy in front of the TV? The one with his brains pasted all over the set? The man in the chair is obviously James. The model is identical. The chair and the TV are almost identical to those which appear in Room 312 of the Lakeview Hotel. The TV broadcasts snow, as if a videotape played to its end and nobody did anything about it. It is clearly supposed to serve as a premonition . . .
When James really does reach that room in the hotel, he finally breaks down his delusion and is exposed to the truth all over again. He is, once more, in the same mental situation he was in when he came to Silent Hill: he knows everything and remembers everything. His speech to Laura and his body language strongly suggest that James has given up, that his adventure really was for nothing. He has a gun in his pocket, and there really is nothing else to do except use it on himself. All of the other elements are present, and once he pulls the trigger, his brains will exit most gloriously from his skull and the premonition will come true . . .
. . . except, it does not.
The radio comes to life again, the radio which has served as a tool of life preservation throughout the entire game, does so again. James gets up and goes on, with a 75% chance of ending up with an outcome not resulting in his own death. The ‘premonition’ is averted.
Another common belief of the In Water Adherent is that, by means none can ever really articulate, the ending 'just seems to fit'. Silent Hill 2 is a depressing tale, they say, and suicide is the only appropriate outcome for such a tale. The fact that most of the endings don't result in suicide disproves this nonsense, but more than that, this opinion shows a narrow viewpoint, which ignores a great deal of what this game is trying to say. Suicide might be the easiest way for James to solve his worldly problems, but there are other ways, and all of them potentially more rewarding. As he says himself, there's always another way. The whole reason this game happens is to encourage James to do just that: find another way. You can't change your mind, or anything else, once you're dead.
Conclusion
All four endings are viable and possible. All have equal weight within canon. In Water is a possible outcome, and I am not attempting to argue that it is not canon, or even less canon than the others. I am, however, trying to argue that In Water is not the ‘best’ ending. It is not the ‘most appropriate’. It is the ending you should not get. It is the ending in which nothing changes, nothing is learned, and nothing really matters. There is no satisfaction to be found for anyone who isn’t naturally fatalistic. It is the ending which renders the whole thing unimportant. James comes to town with no weapons. If he never encountered the Otherworld, he would have gotten the In Water ending right from the start. Silent Hill 2 is James attempting to avert this outcome. Three of the four endings reflect this. The fourth ending, therefore, is nothing more than GAME OVER.
Press start to try again.
