A SH2 theory: Post-humor me please (SPOILERS)

[moraismeep]

I think the problem with these suggestions for new movies or new games featuring James and where he went onto next...there's one theory that James is actually dead and that he committed suicide before you finished the game. Which means that he can't leave Silent Hill. I'll prove this in the following details both physically visible and gently stretched interpretations (we can debate them later):

If you look at the pose of the "dead man" in the Woodside apartments (the guy supposedly modeled after both Harry and James) in front of the television, it's the exact same chair and nearly the same pose as when you watch the video-tape in your room in the Toluca Lake-view Hotel.

-The surreal trip through the jail in which it is obviously stated that you are taking a trip deeper and deeper into James' mind (a crumbling, decaying place).

-The death of Eddy -an also blond character- whose only purpose was to displace blame onto others for his own inability to cope with the harshness of his reality, (similar to James facing the inevitability of his wife dying) could easily be a representation to how James was slowly coming to terms with the fact he murdered his wife. May also be a very subtle hint to James having been in the military at one point and having to take orders or some form of child abuse/parental neglect and throwing off all authority figures.

-Laura fleeing from James when he tells her that Mary is dead, that he killed her, is another example. Laura, also being a blond character, like James, could be a representation of his naivete. Perhaps his denial and his innocence, created to repress the memories. We can see this relationship in how she treats Eddy (the side of James that murdered Maria), it's one of disgust, he is weak for having succumbed to killing and denying the reality of the situation. She also never sticks around in one place very long and James is chasing her around (trying to recapture that feeling of denial/innocence and repress the memory of murdering Mary). There's no proof that she even really existed other than her telling James that she was a girl Mary meant to adopt. Yet in all the time he visits Mary he never once noticed Laura with his wife?

-Facing the two judges (pyramid heads) in the hotel+the speech proceeding it. This directly confirms that they aren't real, that none of monsters are real. After this fight, in fact, most of the monsters just seem to disappear...

-Maria is another example of James' spiraling psyche and reasons why he could have easily killed himself. Her very presence was created to fill the void James had in his heart for Mary. Her hair is also blond (instead of brown like Mary's) like the other two "people". Going back to the previous theory that Eddy is a figment, branched off of James' negative denial, he never meets Maria, even though they're within shouting distance of one another at one point, in the bowling alley. This could be a forced separation because James' killer instincts shouldn't be mixing with the entity filling the void in his mind/heart he has for Mary. She is also not a real person, but hardcore fans that have seen this just from the "Born from a Wish" special side-game or any obvious notes in the game...even the hint that it was just a stripper's name in the SH3.

-Angela Orsco going up the burning staircase. This woman is a metaphor for suicide and child abuse if I've ever seen it. The closer you look though...she seems to be a dead-ringer for Alessa. Dark brown hair, only seems to be interested in finding her "mama" (which was the only family figure that Alessa is evidenced in having), and the burning staircase (supposed method in how she was sacrificed for the "God"). There's a chance...maybe James and Heather have already seen one another in some eerie way.

-And finally, if we look at the arrival of the dead body that inspired this theory and when it appears...it's not until after Pyramid head first appears...staring you down from the other side of those iron bars. It's like he's saying..."I'm watching you James, I know what you've done. I've come to judge you." And...the final time you see him isn't until after you watch the tape in the hotel. Full circle.

[The Adversary]

So . . . what does any of this suggest? and how exactly does it prove what it is you're suggesting?

[AuraTwilight]

How does any of this prove James was dead?

If he was dead, why does he have different capabilities and awareness than Ernest or Amy, two ghosts that Maria runs into?

If he was dead, how can he commit suicide again?

If he was dead, how can the living characters of Eddie, Angela, and Laura interact with him like a person, including touching and SHOOTING him?

If he was dead, how can he leave Silent Hill with Laura?

What the fuck is your deal with blondes?

[moraismeep]

@ AuraTwilight: Working backwards to reply.

1) I am a blond irl, a natural blond, that's actually a slightly rarer trait to see around me than say, brunettes or people with black hair. Most of my friends and most of the people I've seen in classes or at work are brunettes, have black hair, or have dyed blond hair, hell I see more red-heads than blondes these days. So my thought pattern for "everyone in Silent Hill except Angela being blond" raises a red-flag in my mind.

2) Because this game is dripping with symbolism more than any other video-game I've ever seen and Team Silent actually ADMITS to it, I'm thinking "okay, well what if the entire game is composed of mostly symbolism?" What if this is like the film Jacob's Ladder? Where the protagonist builds a giant world around him? What if the different "leaving" scenes are metaphors for how he inevitably comes to terms in his final moments? Plus, it's evidenced in 3 and 4 that James never "really" left Silent Hill and went home with Laura. Douglas is looking for him, Harry and his father haven't seen him.

3) And the interactions with the "living" I previously explained (unless you'd like to admit a TL;DR) they're pre-cursory to him committing suicide (wouldn't be until the Toluca Lake-view Hotel) in this delusion. Also, what bearing does someone interacting with a "delusional" entity have anything to do with reality? From what I just described...there were no living people left for James to interact with. If you've studied psychology or anything in regards to schizophrenia, post-traumatic stress disorder, or dissociative disorder in a highly stressful state a person can easily see things, interact with them, or cause self-inflicted harm and believe another person did it. Or you can think that the town, since it usually tests the people that go through it with a ring of hell-fire and tetanus, that he actually made these monsters and people real with his desires to feel love and break his loneliness.

4) Again, not dead from the beginning if you read.

5) Well, Maria seemed to be an entirely different entity, created by Silent Hill versus Ernest and Amy who don't seem to have any relation to James at all. So...it being Silent Hill and all...you might be able to just write them off as just ghosts since we see such entities through out the other games in small doses.

6) It doesn't 100% without a doubt prove he's dead, but the strong possibility that these unstable mental conditions are what inevitably lead up to his death.

I hope you understand, this is all a theory, it's for fun, it's a game, so don't get your knickers in a twist. After all we both love the same thing. It's just meant to create a little stir in people's heads because to me...the most interesting part about playing the game over for the nth time? Each time you get a different perspective on James and company. So if you're truly bothered by this theory you could even just jot it down to a "what if" scenario.

@ The Adversary: Please see above.

*Mod Edit*
Do not double post. Please edit your previous post instead of making another one, unless someone posts after your last post.
-AG

I didn't double post. I was replying to the previous poster's posts o-o;

[AuraTwilight]

1) I am a blond irl, a natural blond, that's actually a slightly rarer trait to see around me than say, brunettes or people with black hair. Most of my friends and most of the people I've seen in classes or at work are brunettes, have black hair, or have dyed blond hair, hell I see more red-heads than blondes these days. So my thought pattern for "everyone in Silent Hill except Angela being blond" raises a red-flag in my mind.

It's also a video game set in America made by Japanese people. They're gonna go by what looks best for character designs without any proper knowledge of hair color statistics.

And Japanese people really like blonde people due to it's exoticness to them.

2) Because this game is dripping with symbolism more than any other video-game I've ever seen and Team Silent actually ADMITS to it, I'm thinking "okay, well what if the entire game is composed of mostly symbolism?" What if this is like the film Jacob's Ladder? Where the protagonist builds a giant world around him? What if the different "leaving" scenes are metaphors for how he inevitably comes to terms in his final moments? Plus, it's evidenced in 3 and 4 that James never "really" left Silent Hill and went home with Laura. Douglas is looking for him, Harry and his father haven't seen him.

Silent Hill isn't THAT abstract. What you see on screen is actually happening regardless of what it means. Therefore if James is leaving town with Laura...he's leaving town with Laura. And even if it were the true ending, well, who knows? He did KILL A WOMAN, he could've changed his name and gone into hiding without telling anyone.

3) And the interactions with the "living" I previously explained (unless you'd like to admit a TL;DR) they're pre-cursory to him committing suicide (wouldn't be until the Toluca Lake-view Hotel) in this delusion. Also, what bearing does someone interacting with a "delusional" entity have anything to do with reality? From what I just described...there were no living people left for James to interact with. If you've studied psychology or anything in regards to schizophrenia, post-traumatic stress disorder, or dissociative disorder in a highly stressful state a person can easily see things, interact with them, or cause self-inflicted harm and believe another person did it. Or you can think that the town, since it usually tests the people that go through it with a ring of hell-fire and tetanus, that he actually made these monsters and people real with his desires to feel love and break his loneliness.

No. Eddie, James, and Laura are all real people. You're going to have to do better than that.

4) Again, not dead from the beginning if you read.

I did read it. Technically at no point did you ever say that, so that's YOUR boo-boo. When did James die, according to you?

Why would he even do so, if one of the endings involves suicide? Having James commit suicide earlier in the game completely removes the player's ability to decide James' fate and makes every ending completely meaningless.

5) Well, Maria seemed to be an entirely different entity, created by Silent Hill versus Ernest and Amy who don't seem to have any relation to James at all. So...it being Silent Hill and all...you might be able to just write them off as just ghosts since we see such entities through out the other games in small doses.

And...you didn't answer my question at all.

Ghosts in Silent Hill have been treated pretty uniformly. Rather, there hasn't been a single ghost in the series that can pass themselves off as a normal living human. What the hell makes James so special? Infact, why does he become a ghost at all? He committed SUICIDE, according to you; it's not like he has unfinished business.

6) It doesn't 100% without a doubt prove he's dead, but the strong possibility that these unstable mental conditions are what inevitably lead up to his death.

No it doesn't. All it suggests is that he's incredibly depressed and clinging to this hope of finding Mary is his only hope of deciding to live, until he changes his mind (Moves on without her/decides to go to her in the afterlife/becomes satisfied with Maria/spits in God's eye and uses black magic to bring Mary back/DOGS).

I hope you understand, this is all a theory, it's for fun, it's a game, so don't get your knickers in a twist.

And there is nothing supporting or even suggesting your theory. So what is there to talk about?

My knickers aren't in a twist, but you put your idea out into the public, so it's our job to criticize and analyze it. If the idea is stable, it'll stand on it's own merits. If it crumbles, it wasn't a very good idea. That's how discussion of ideas WORKS.

I didn't double post. I was replying to the previous poster's posts o-o;

A double post is when you make two posts in a row. Just make one bigger post at a time.