SPOILERS Photos

[MistahJ]

SPOILERS ahead for a type of collectible/item in the game and story/lore speculation



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In the remake, there's a new sort of collectible in the form of polaroid photographs. There are 26 Strange Photos in total, each of them with a number on the back and some words on the front. The first one you're most likely to find is #1, titled "So many people here!" with what looks like a shot of the apartment buildings. My first thought when picking this up was Silent Hill 4: The Room. With Henry's love of photography, an apartment building reminiscent of South Ashfield Heights, and a certain ARG on my mind, I couldn't help but try to connect it to SH4. But with each new photo I found, I threw that idea out the window. They seemed more likely to be related to James' and Mary's life together. But some of the photos were rather eerie. And then I found #12 with the caption "Ready to kill it!" and a shot of the stage at Heaven's Night. Well, this can't possibly be just about James and Mary, can it? This seems more like something Maria would say along with photo #8 "Best flavor!" showing some brightly colored lipstick Maria would likely wear. And then in my second playthrough when I finally collected all the photos, I tried putting them into their actual numerical order. This still confused me, but I think I may have a vague idea of the story they're trying to tell. Obviously some story SPOILERS ahead for all of SH2:

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I think the photos show how James killed his wife and brought her to Silent Hill - at least some of them. The first one, "So many people here!" I think is him acknowledging how many potential witnesses there are in their apartment building or maybe at the hospital. The second one, "No one knows" is really hard to make out for me what the actual photo is of, but the caption at least could be James thinking he got away with it. The third one, "Your best buddy!" you actually get rather late in the game, so I was intrigued when I noticed it's considered #3. To me, it looks like an elevator - could this be how James snuck Mary's body out of the building? I'm not going to go into every single photo in this post, but there are many that seem to depict travel or different locations. Then there are those like #4 "Valentine's Day" and #6 "I've been happy" that seem to depict what James and Mary's life was like together. Others seem like they could be about the various endings: #5 "Church entrance" could be for Rebirth (or maybe even just their wedding day), the Maria related ones could be for the Maria ending, #8 "Her Drawings" could be for Leave, and so on. With how messy the chronology of these photos are, I wonder if it's meant to depict James' mental state or perhaps be even more evidence for the loop theory. But I'm still not sure.

What do you all think? I'd love to hear some more speculation!

[The Adversary]

This was going to be next project: Figure out the story the photos are telling. My first inclination was that they were Mary's but the handwriting looks more masculine.

The text on the photos are also written in ALL CAPS, as are James' notes on the maps, with some subtle similarities.

Take the E, for example. Both are written in 3 strokes: The first makes a sort of rounded L; then the top cross line begins slightly before the L-line; and finally the middle stroke.

The Ks on both photo "#2 No One Knows" and "KEYPAD" written during the Jukebox puzzle are identical. The S written on the map for "SAFE" is considerably different than the S in "#2 No One Knows"; however, it's awfully similar to photo "#4 Valentine's Day."

I'm working on a theory.

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Here's a list and brief description of the 26 photos.

1. SO MANY PEOPLE HERE
— It appears to be the exterior of Wood Side Apartments or Blue Creek Apartments. Some of the windows are open — 6 of them, specifically.

2. NO ONE KNOWS
— I honestly can't tell. It looks like a damaged portion of a ceiling.

3. YOUR BEST BUDDY!
— A doorway. Not sure which, though, or in what location.

4. VALENTINE'S DAY
— The shadow cast by a bouquet of flowers. These are the same flowers found in what I believe is the Sunderlands' home as seen in the Labyrinth.

5. CHURCH ENTRANCE
— This is the Rose Window depicted on the church on the island. Six (6) birds are superimposed over it, as well, and there are scratches in the top right corner.

6. I'VE BEEN HAPPY
— It looks like an apartment room — a television and chair can be made out. It also has several (4) burn holes in it.

7. CAREER'S HUMBLE BEGINNINGS
— This photograph portrays several (4) crumpled upon pieces of paper next to a trash can and desk. This is the same desk James finds in the Labyrinth: his work desk.

8. BEST FLAVOUR!
— Red and lilac lipstick.

9. HER DRAWINGS
— This is of a white wall with 9 bullet holes.

10. THEY'RE HERE
— This photograph is nearly identical to photo #1, though it seems to have been taken at night. Interestingly, the same 6 windows that were open in #1 have either been boarded up or the lights are on in #10.

11. HOW TIME FLIES
— The photograph is of the recurring television found throughout the game. The screen is mostly displaying static, though the number 6 is on it.

12. READY TO KILL IT!
— The stage at Heaven's Night.

13. THEY MUSTN'T KNOW
— It almost looks like the inside of a coffin. There are 3 (blood) stains.

14. SO FAR FROM HOME
— A wooden chair at a rounded table. There are 3 smudges in the dust on the table.

15. FOUR MONTHS TO GO
— A hospital bed. This is not the same bed found later in the Labyrinth.

16. FOREVER TOGETHER
— A door marked "208." Room 208 is the room in the Labyrinth in which Maria is found dead. In the original game, the room number was on the inside of the cell, while in the remake the room number is on the outside and only visible when James enters the room.

Note. The angle of this photograph indicates that whoever shot it extended their arms to shoot downward.

17. THE NEW CLOCK
— A clock.

18. AT LEAST SHE WAS THERE
— I honestly can't tell what this is. It's almost all white with maybe 12 stains on it.

19. WHOLE WORLD AHEAD OF US
— The photo is all black except for 3 thin scratches. This may just be a blank photo.

20. MADE IT!
— Again, not sure.

21. AFTERMATH . . .
— Pieces of broken glass. They don't exactly appear to be from the same item.

22. STILL CAN'T GET IT RIGHT
— This is a reversed image, so likely taken through a mirror. The graffiti is part of the same from the overlook restroom: "Thy hands fashioned and made me / and now thou dost turn about and destroy me." —Job 10:8

Note. The graffiti is incomplete on the photograph, or looks as though it's been partially painted over.

23. OLD MAN'S ALWAYS PREPARED
— This shows 8 footsteps with wheel tracks in the snow — presumably from someone pushing a wheelbarrow. Probably with something heavy in it.

24. ROAD TRIP!
— This is a photo of Toluca Lake with a light in the background.

25. BETTER LEAVE . . .
— A white flower. This could be White Claudia, the flower from which the White Chrism is made, one of the key items needed for the Ritual of Rebirth.

26. SHAPE FORCES THE MIND
— A red square; or, The save point.

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I'm starting to believe the 26 photographs pertain to the "Loop theory," as mentioned, and, more specifically, that it specifically relates to the Rebirth ending and further empathizes it as the "true" ending — that James continues to bring Mary back, again and again, only to kill her, over and over.

[MistahJ]

Apologies, but by quoting The Adversary's already long post, you're making this unduly long, too, so it's been deleted.

I thought the handwriting looked a lot like James' too but didn't notice the differences; I know some people were also pointing out how the "1"s on the back of some of the photos kind of look like arrows too, but maybe that's just how they're styled.

Wow, thanks so much for the compiled list, that really helps! Interesting observation with the counting of windows and etc. To me, #18 looks like
ending SPOILER

the car door window in the "In Water" ending.

I agree #25 is probably White Claudia, and could be related to the Rebirth ending but also ending SPOILER

the new "Bliss" ending.

Overall, I agree the only way I can make sense of all these photos is with the loop theory in mind, though I'm not sure if it's just him doing the Rebirth ending over and over or if it's him going through all the endings, etc. Great theory!

Edit: Does where you find each photo have any significance? I can't remember anything standing out to me, but maybe it could give us more clues.

[The Adversary]

I know some people were also pointing out how the "1"s on the back of some of the photos kind of look like arrows too

Last night as I was playing, that stood out to me, as well. A note from the deranged doctor shows that they write 1s the same way as on the backs of the photographs, leading me to believe these were all taken by the them and not James. I'm still working on a grand-scheme-theory, though, and need to look more into that.

>Does where you find each photo have any significance? I can't remember anything standing out to me, but maybe it could give us more clues.<
I'm compiling that data, too. Some of them — notably the daytime photo of Wood Side Apartments — are found at the same location they've been taken — almost as if whoever took the Polaroid let the film itself drop out of the camera onto the ground, rather than being deliberately placed there.

[leftshoe18]

YOU'VE BEEN HERE FOR TWO DECADES: https://www.reddit.com/r/silenthill/com ... ource=link

Thoughts? Bloober seems to have really leaned into the loop theory with this remake.

[MistahJ]

YOU'VE BEEN HERE FOR TWO DECADES: https://www.reddit.com/r/silenthill/com ... ource=link

Thoughts? Bloober seems to have really leaned into the loop theory with this remake.

Holy shit. That's insane, I would have never figured that out. I figured the photos were connected to the loop theory in some way, but this is way more explicit evidence than I thought there would be!

[The Adversary]

I discussed this with Liam weeks ago, even mentioned it in here — that the objects might be a clue to the puzzle — just didn't piece it together. Better luck next time.

[Jonipoon]

It's a rather significant find - Perhaps the most significant one to come out of this remake so far.

I wouldn't say that it changes everything, because it might just be the "final Easter egg" to fans as mentioned in the thread itself; IOW a reference to us having played the game for two decades. I like that it's quite ambiguous though

[TerryRed]

Mateusz Lenart (director of sh2-r) just confirmed it. https://x.com/Mateusz_Lenart_/status/18 ... 3745730675

I like that it both confirms that our theories are not completely off-base, but leaves it open for us to think about. I am glad he came out and confirmed the puzzle. That kind of thing is fun to ponder about at first... but it is an actual puzzle to be solved in the game, and I would hate for that to have gone unanswered for another 23 years.

[AuraTwilight]

I think it's a meta reference to how we've been mentally fixated on SH2 for two decades, as a fanbase. After all, James didn't solve the puzzle, we did.

[Utherworld]

I think it's a meta reference to how we've been mentally fixated on SH2 for two decades, as a fanbase. After all, James didn't solve the puzzle, we did.

I agree.

It would be extremely difficult to tie all of this to James.

I was really wondering what these photos were for. Glad someone figured it out.

[302Angel]

I think the time loop theory is super neat, but I still hope they don’t try to make it canon.

[Utherworld]

To be clear, this is not a time loop. Time loops have hard resets and there more than enough evidence to suggest there are residual effects that ar left around town including bodies, notes etc that debunk this theory.

Plus the OG had James' dead body in several different places so this is nothing new. If you get the Maria or Rebirth ending it is heavily implied that James will have to suffer through another journey in Silent Hill.

But.

The real reason I wanted to post here is that I have been subscribed to "Thegamingmnuse" youtube channel for some time and this video is fantastic and ties James directly to the photos and also proved to me what I was really thinking about posting but did not have enough time to gather evidence, that in Woodside we are shown way more than what we are lead to believe.

See below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMYd9NF2X90