Walter, A Sympathetic Monster?

[Nikkolas]

So I was reading through the Eileen in the Forest World topic and the last bit of discussion intrigued me. i was just going through SH4 again and wanted to continue the little argument started at the end there.

First, I never found Walter attractive... He's actually kinda ugly with his weird clothes and scruffy appearance.

Second, I don't think anyone excuses Walter for his actions. I at least have never met anyone who thinks he's the Good Guy.

So, my question is, why were some posters hating on him in there? Was what he did selfish and cruel? Absolutely. But that's how he was raised and the game's clear intent was to show you this was what drove him to what he's doing.

Childhood is a fundamental developmental phase for everyone; what happens then will obviously influence who you will grow to be. If you suffer nothing but neglect and lies and brainwashing by a fanatical cult, it's highly unlikely you'll turn out to be a stable young man. Indeed, it was my impression Walter was driven psychotic by his childhood and I can't really blame him. Many real life serial killers suffered abuse as children.

So yeah...I just don't see why people were treating Walter like he's the Devil in there. He's just a victim of The Order.
Sadly, Henry killing him was the best thing for him after the life and un-life he had.

[Thanatos]

We are all influenced by our surroundings. Even pedophile child rapers don`t become pedophile child rapers because they willingly decide to become pedophile child rapers. They`re still humans, not monsters, what many people still fail to see. But that doesn`t mean that they don`t have to take responsibility for their actions in front of society.

[pistukas]

Usually such neglected people hate society itself. They say: why no one notices that I'm in a crysis? Why no one helps me? Step by step... and we have a serial killer, child molester, or psycho. The thing is that the fight between "I have to take responsibility" and "Why should I, if no one cares about me" occurs.

[Nikkolas]

Well accountability is not universal in and of itself. isn't it part of criminal law that people suffering severe mental illness can't be held to the same standard as a perfectly healthy individual?

That's not to excuse Walter for his actions. It's true many people have hard childhoods and don't grow up to be killers. But Walter was raised by one of the most stereotypically evil groups in fiction. I know some believe his recordings to be exaggerations but the fact remains he lived in an orphanage that was a front for cult activity, was locked in a prison often and beaten for no real reason.

The lies told to him by Dahlia probably didn't help either.

[Spikeyroxas]

Yeah but this is silent hill...
So even if he wasnt a monster, silent hills twisted world would make him seem like one

[SHF]

He's the one in control of the world he created.
In a sense, he's a god/demigod.
he doesnt need to appear as anything else, but himself.

[AuraTwilight]

Well, he's a King. A God has implications Walter doesn't satisfy.

[Arsonist]

The thing is, killing is a choice. Regardless of how fucked up your life was. Sure he was conditioned into becoming a sociopath, but that doesn't mean he HAD to become a killer. That was his choice.

I feel sorry for him, as I do for Eddie and Claudia, but you can't just call him a "victim of the Order".

Serial killers are a minority in the abuse victims. That is to say, while a lot of serial killers turn out to have been abused as children, not a lot of abused children grow up to be serial killers.

So unless there is something seriously wrong with them (delusions and such), they made their conscious choice to break the law and compromise lives and happiness of others. And after they have crossed that line, we no longer owe them our empathy, nor do they deserve it.

[Goodnight]

The thing is, killing is a choice. Regardless of how fucked up your life was. Sure he was conditioned into becoming a sociopath, but that doesn't mean he HAD to become a killer. That was his choice.

Exactly why I have no sympathy for him. About 10% of the population is sociopathic and the vast majority aren't even violent, let alone homicidal.

[Miette]

The main thing that really set him off was Cynthia kind of... blowing him off. She didn't really blow him off, however. She was just freaked out by the fact that some guy had known her name and had been watching her for so many years.

Of course Walter didn't mean anything bad by it. His social skills were just so messed up by his upbringing and how he had been treated his whole life. In his mind, all he was doing was getting up the courage to approach a girl that he had liked for a while.

But after Cynthia insulted him, he became very bitter at the world. That was the major turning point in his life. He displayed kindness, even though it wasn't exactly normal, and he got shot down and made fun of, so he kind of gave up on being happy after that day.

I'm not saying that he deserves any sympathy, but I do feel sorry for him in a sick, twisted way. He was going to school to be a surgeon - to help people. Whether or not that was his real motive for going, or just a way to be more savvy in the art of killing is up for debate, but it was obvious that he was an intelligent person, but any hope for that was squandered once The Order started pumping him full of all of that nonsense.

[AuraTwilight]

I like the idea of basically saying it's all Cynthia's fault.

[Miette]

I didn't say that it's all Cynthia's fault. She had every right to say those things to him. I said that she was what mainly made him so bitter.

[Uyrikeustek]

Walter is fucked up. That's it. Not sympathetic. Just fucked up.

[Miette]

Hehe, I'd have to agree with ya. Sure, it's not completely Walter's fault that he turned out that way, but he still was in control on how he ultimately turned out and what he did.

[Soulless-Shadow]

I agree with Arsonist. Walter didn't have to kill anyone. He could've gone on with his life and put his traumatic childhood behind him. A lot of people do just that. Instead he decided to kill. Once he did that he lost any right for sympathy. I have to admit though, I do feel sorry for little Walter. Poor little guy just wants him mum.

[AuraTwilight]

Just because someone is a ruthless killer doesn't mean they're not sympathetic. We don't have to condone his actions in order to empathize with him.

[SilentWren]

Having been the pen pal of the serial killer who murdered my friend, I have this to say: They are just like us in every way except for the part of your brain that say "killing is wrong."

Ok, not every way, but many of them are quite sympathetic themselves. Just not to their victims.

Man, it's weird how stuff in Silent Hill makes you think of stuff in real life, eh?

[Miette]

Yeah, I know what you mean. The topic of Ted Bundy was brought up on a Deviant Art group I'm a part of. They talked of how Bundy constantly got marriage proposals and stuff, even though the women knew that he was a murderer. The people in the group wondered if the same thing would happen if Walter were a real person.

[SHF]

Well, he's a King. A God has implications Walter doesn't satisfy.

Kings cannot create there own otherworlds.
Walter is God in his own world.

[The Adversary]

>Well, he's a King. A God has implications Walter doesn't satisfy.<
Gods were created with the idea of kings in mind. They're the same thing.