History Headscratchers / SilentHill3

*** Hence the operative term "innocent." The popular theory is that Heather is insane and wandering around murdering random bystanders, something which instantly falls apart when even the most basic logic is applied to it.

** Probably another case of Silent Hill playing on people's fears...

** Yup. Look at the fifth paragraph down from this one; monster behavior is "keep shambling towards the puny human bashing in your friend's skull with a pipe," while human behavior is "panic and run away from the fucking lunatic bashing in your friend's skull with a pipe." It's much easier to believe when you look at it that way.

** Maybe because no matter how full of righteous anger you are, the act of killing another human being for the first time is an extremely difficult one? Heather's not a seasoned soldier-- she's only ''seventeen''. Sure, she may have been given marksmanship lessons from her father, but practicing on a dummy and killing an actual living thing are two vastly different things. Just look at the way she reacts when she fires the first shot at the Mandarin at the beginning of the game-- she ''cries out'' when the gun goes off for the first time, and that was against a ''monster''. I have no problem believing that she would blanch at committing cold-blooded murder, no matter how desperate for vengeance she was or how much Claudia deserved it.

** Maybe because no matter how full of righteous anger you are, the act of killing another human being for the first time is an extremely difficult one? Heather's not a seasoned soldier-- she's only <i>seventeen</i>. Sure, she may have been given marksmanship lessons from her father, but practicing on a dummy and killing an actual living thing are two vastly different things. Just look at the way she reacts when she fires the first shot at the Mandarin at the beginning of the game-- she <i>cries out</i> when the gun goes off for the first time, and that was against a <i>monster</i>. I have no problem believing that she would blanch at committing cold-blooded murder, no matter how desperate for vengeance she was or how much Claudia deserved it.

** Yup. Look at the fourth paragraph down from this one; monster behavior is "keep shambling towards the puny human bashing in your friend's skull with a pipe," while human behavior is "panic and run away from the fucking lunatic bashing in your friend's skull with a pipe." It's much easier to believe when you look at it that way.
*** Well then, you just solved your own mystery, didn't you? The monsters don't run away, therefore, they're not human.

** It's possible that, since Heather took the aglaophotis orally, it had an emetic effect on her. It went in one way and took the evil back out the same way. Also, there's the fact that the "god" "completes" its birth after being swallowed by Claudia, which may mean that the "god" doesn't need a womb to be "born".

*** There's no indication that she's not a relatively normal human being, outside of having telekinetic powers. It seems pretty unlikely that she was pregnant with the cult's god in the same way that a person would be literally pregnant with a fetus. All of the graphic symbolism related to birth in the game is really just symbolism, and probably doesn't reflect what would have happened if Heather had actually "birthed" the god. From its birth scenes in both the first ''Silent Hill'' and this one, it seems more likely that the incubation is spiritual.

** Thank you. Thank you so much. There are very few things that annoy me about fandoms, but this is one that always riles me up. Everybody always quotes that line, but never quotes the follow-up line: "Don't worry, it's just a joke." This is like people going "Oh man, the Bible had such a wham line in it where it's all like 'There is no God'. And that's like an actual direct quote and totally isn't out of context." (Psalm 14:1, 'case anyone's wondering)

** In the second game, there's a boss battle where James fights another character's manifestation of their past trauma, indicating people's other worlds can overlap. Later in the game the same creature appears again, a lot smaller and weaker. Even though it was "someone else's" creature, once he encountered it, it seemed to become a permanent fixture for him as wekk. Heather visits the same hospital James visits... Perhaps ''his'' nurses are left behind, and appear slightly different to be more "normal" for Heather?

** It's possible that, since Heather took the aglaophotis orally, it had an emetic effect on her. It went in one way and took the evil back out the same way.

Is Heather the same? Her Silent Hill also has fog, perhaps to represent her clouded memory of her past as Alessa. The two monsters that have eyes are God (after she 'opens her eyes' and realizes who she is,) and the Glutton, who she gets rid of by saying the magic spell "Tu Fui, Ego Eris" (meaning I was you, you will be me), which could be a forshadowing of her dual identity as both [[spoiler:Heather and Alessa.]]

*** This point is probably irrelevant but also bare in mind how the second game showed the Otherworld as differentfor each person, so therefore shouldn't the creatures be? Douglas only definitely sees one monster, and it may not have been anything Heather sees.

** Except for the follow-up line "I never did find ''him''," (emphasis mine) which strongly suggests a male, [[SarcasmMode sure, it could be Cybil or Angela.]] And since ''private'' detectives are typically hired by people of the non-cop persuasion (and kind of pricey... ), you have to consider: who'd care enough about Eddie to send a PI after him?

** Except for the follow-up line "I never did find ''him''," (emphasis mine) which strongly suggests a male, [[SarcasmMode sure, it could be Cybil or Angela.]] And since ''private'' detectives are typically hired by people of the non-cop persuasion, you have to consider: who'd care enough about Eddie to send a PI after him?

** Except for the follow-up line "I never did find ''him''," (emphasis mine) which strongly suggests a male, [[SarcasmMode sure, it could be Cybil or Angela.]]

** Except for the follow-up line "I never did find ''him''," (emphasis mine) which strongly suggests a male, [[SarcasmMode sure, it could be Angela.]]

** Yup. Look at the third paragraph down from this one; monster behavior is "keep shambling towards the puny human bashing in your friend's skull with a pipe," while human behavior is "panic and run away from the fucking lunatic bashing in your friend's skull with a pipe." It's much easier to believe when you look at it that way.

*** The "they're actually innocent people" thing sort of reminds me of the "Ferris Bueller is a figment of Cameron's imagination" theory: people latch onto the mind-blowing aspect of it, but they don't give it any actual ''thought''. When you do, you quickly realize that the "monsters" of Silent Hill really will attack and kill you if you let them, none of the other "monsters" panic or flee for their lives when you bludgeon one of their number to death with a steel pipe, and that a bunch of uniformed "monsters" never show up in police cruisers to put a stop to your murderous rampage at any point. They look like monsters, yes, but they also BEHAVE like monsters. It gets a good shock out of Heather, but it holds very little water as a legitimate answer for what the monsters are and what they're doing in the town. All told, "Vincent's just fucking with her" seems a much more credible theory.