History YMMV / SilentHill

** Common {{fanon}} is restricted to the first three or four games, which were produced by Team Silent and present a more or less consistent idea of what the town is and how it works. Though ''[[VideoGame/SilentHill4 SH4]]'' continues to [[BrokenBase divide the fanbase]] over its experimental nature and the uninvolvement of certain prominent members of Team Silent in its production, fans overwhelmingly refuse to consider the Western-developed games canon. This is primarily because of each's vastly different iteration of the town and its workings or history, in addition to [[ScriptWank conspicuous]] {{fanservice}} in a franchise built on subtlety; the near-complete overhaul of [[WordOfSaintPaul development teams]] from KCET or even the previous game's developers; and Creator/{{Konami}}'s [[TroubledProduction substantial cuts]] to the productions' [[NoBudget budgets]] and development times, starting with ''[[VideoGame/SilentHillOrigins Origins]]''. Since much of these outcomes seem to stem from TheProblemWithLicensedGames (and ''Silent Hill'' is far from their only intellectual property to have suffered them over the past decade or two), Konami has since become a public enemy of many of their franchises' fandoms.

*** Months after the release of the Silent Hill movie came ''Film/TheWickerMan2006'', which similarly involves a motorcycle cop who explores a creepy town outside of their department's jurisdiction to help a mother find her missing child. Like Cybil, Nicholas Cage's police character Edward encounters a superficially friendly religious community that [[spoiler: quickly reveals it's ugly true colours, beats up him up and sets him on fire as part of a ritualised murder]].

* HilariousInHindsight: Creator/AliceKrige portrays the [[TheFundamentalist fanatical]] Christabella, who has a penchant for [[BurnTheWitch burning people she thinks are witches]]. A few years later, Krige would play a witch in ''Film/TheSorcerersApprentice''.

** The town of Silent Hill is based off the real-life town of Centralia... except it isn't. Background and Creature Designer Mashahiro Ito has stated, on multiple occasions, that Silent Hill isn't based on any specific town, and series creator Keiichiro Toyama has stated that "[The game's team] deliberately did not use an actual place, since it might cause inconsistency with the real thing." However, scriptwriter Creator/RogerAvary used the town as inspiration for the script of the [[Film/SilentHill 2006 film]], leading the game and the film's backstory to get conflated.

* ShipsThatPassInTheNight: Harry/James is somewhat popular in certain circles, despite that fact that the two have only ever interacted in the decidedly non-canon UFO endings of 2 and 3. Perhaps it's due to both having wives that died young of illness, and leaving Silent Hill with a child in the "happier" endings of their respective games.

* VillainHasAPoint: For as far as the town can be considered a villain (which many fans do), the overarching mythology of Silent Hill, is that in order for the town itself to send you to it's more disturbing, and supernatural layers, you have to be guilty or feel guilt about ''something that needs atoning for.'' [[note]]Or at least feel personal guilt and inner torment that the town can latch onto, since [[KickTheSonOfABitch what Angela did to her father]] would be considered ethically justifiable by a wide majority of impartial observers, but ''she'' couldn't forgive herself because of the psychological damage inflicted on her by years of abuse[[/note]]

* MemeticMutation: The first bar of the movie's theme song became a reaction shot for "something shocking" in early 2023.

** Pyramid Head had a damn good - and at the time [[ItWasHisSled rather brilliantly symbolic]] - reason for playing the role that he did in ''VideoGame/SilentHill2'', which is what made him so terrifying and memorable. His repeated appearances as an iconic part of the fandom has led to a steadily worsening agitation towards media that features him. Established as a ShadowArchetype, Pyramid Head's motivation has changed to generally suit whatever direction his latest appearance needs, which the fandom tends not to appreciate.

* CatharsisFactor: For a [[TheFundamentalist Fundamentalist]] scumbag like Christabella, it is massively fulfilling when she receives her CruelAndUnusualDeath from Alessa.

* HilariousInHindsight: Creator/AliceKrige portrays the [[BurnTheWitch fanatical]] Christabella. A few years later, she would play a witch in ''Film/TheSorcerersApprentice''.

** Any scene with Christabella in ''Dead/Alive'' is hard to take seriously when it’s a little girl cursing her brains out all over the place.

* AcceptableReligiousTargets: The cult of the games worships several dark gods, and uses the trappings of mainstream religions as a cover. Meanwhile, the cult in the movie is straight-up, puritanical Christian (though in an older script, the cult's members were Manichean, and the symbolism surrounding the cult's god in Midwich Elementary is feminine).
** According to director Christophe Gans, the cult's theology was changed from occultist to fundamental Christian in order to be more [[ViewersAreMorons easily understood by Western audiences.]] That fans of the games understood the cult's nature as a ReligionOfEvil with no difficulty whatsoever somehow got right by him.
** ...Which is changed anyway in the second film when the cult is portrayed closer to the games as a pagan "Order of Valtiel" seeking to rebirth their decidedly non-Christian God. The puritanical cult may be a (still-crazy) front, may be an offshoot or different sect, or maybe [[RetCon we were just supposed to forget about them being that way.]]

* TrappedByMountainLions: One of the main criticisms of ''Among the Damned'' (generally seen as one of the better Ciensen-penned ''Silent Hill'' books) is that Dahlia is an major, yet unnecessary addition. Jason already has a fairly compelling plot as is -- [[ShellShockedVeteran a soldier haunted by his survivor's guilt]] dealing with Silent Hill forcing him to confront his trauma beyond [[DrivenToSuicide the easy way out]] -- but his relationship with Dahlia -- a jaded popstar who turns out to be a monster of Silent Hill [[BoyMeetsGhoul who sincerely falls in love with Jason]] -- doesn't synergize with Jason's flaws or desires, becoming largely irrelevant to [[TheAtoner his desire to forgive himself for what he feels are his own mistakes]]. It's almost as if Ciensin had two separate ideas for "man overcoming his suicidal thoughts" and "man falls in love with monster" and decided to smush them together, [[TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot depriving them of their proper breathing room]].

* TrappedByMountainLions: One of the main criticisms of ''Among the Damned'' (generally seen as one of the better Ciensen-penned ''Silent Hill'' books) is that Dahlia is an major, yet unnecessary addition. Jason already has a fairly compelling plot as is -- [[ShellShockedVeteran a soldier haunted by his survivor's guilt]] dealing with Silent Hill forcing him to confront his trauma beyond [[DrivenToSuicide the easy way out]] -- but his relationship with Dahlia -- a jaded popstar who turns out to be a monster of Silent Hill [[BoyMeetsGhoul who sincerely falls in love with Jason]] -- doesn't synergize with Jason's flaws or desires, which more have to do with [[TheAtoner his desire to forgive himself for his mistakes]] rather than [[LoveRedeems redeeming himself through love]].

* TaintedByThePreview: ''Return to Silent Hill'''s announcement has a lot of fans worried because Christophe Gans is once again in creative control. While it's extraordinarily well-suited to adapting into a film, the plot of ''VideoGame/SilentHill2'' is also built like a house of cards and depends very heavily on the symbolism, events, and characterization all working in tandem with each other, while Gans --despite his impressive fidelity to the source material's visual style-- has shown past form for randomly tossing in iconic imagery and making unnecessary changes without regard for any negative effects it may have on the story.

* TheWoobie: Jason of ''Among the Damned'' not only has to deal with the horrors of Silent Hill, but also his own very mundane [[ShellShockedVeteran PTSD]] and SurvivorsGuilt of watching his old military unit die before him, starting off the story very openly contemplating suicide even before the monsters show up. The fact [[{{Determinator}} he still manages to endure everything]] and remain noble in his attempts to protect others ends up making him likely the most empathetic and sympathetic characters in all the Scott Ciencin comics.

** Jason from ''Among the Damned'' is the most well liked protagonist in the Scott Ciencin written comics for having a good backstory [[note]] he’s a soldier who returned from war and is contemplating suicide [[/note]] and for not being as mindless, selfish or unlikable as past protagonists in the comics.

** The surgeon monster, again from ''Paint It Black'', which has gotten some attention for being one of, if not ''the'' only original Silent Hill monster from the comics only. With many such as [[WebVideo/AtopTheFourthWall Linkara]] praising it for its unique design and by having it be a Pyramid Head-esque figure without feeling like a blatant carbon copy like [[VideoGame/SilentHillOrigins The Butcher]] was.
** Comic wise, ''Sinner’s Reward'' is often looked upon as the best of the IDW written comics for having a better understanding of the games and felt it did a better job translating them into comic form than the past issues. Having a different creative team helps.
* JerkassWoobie: Attempted with Christabella. [[spoiler: She ''was'' killed in a horrific way]], [[TheScrappy but most readers hate her anyway]]. [[spoiler:Sadly, at the end of ''Dead/Alive'', where it's implied that everyone winds up where they belong, she's ''still an evil demoness in Silent Hill'', implying that she is beyond redemption]].

** According to director Christophe Gans, the cult's theology was changed from occultist to fundamental Christian in order to be more [[ViewersAreMorons easily understood by Western audiences.]] That fans of the games understood the cult's nature as a ReligionOfEvil with no issues somehow got right by him.

* VillainHasAPoint: For as far as the town can be considered a villain (which many fans do), the overarching mythology of Silent Hill, is that in order for the town itself to send you to it's more disturbing, and supernatural layers, you have to be guilty or feel guilt about ''something that needs atoning for.''

* TaintedByThePreview: ''Return to Silent Hill'''s announcement has a lot of fans worried because Christophe Gans is once again in creative control. While it's extraordinarily well-suited to adapting into a film, the plot of ''VideoGame/SilentHill2'' is also built like a house of cards and depends very heavily on the symbolism, events, and characterization all working in tandem with each other, while Gans has shown past form for randomly tossing in iconic imagery and making unnecessary changes without regard for any negative effects it may have on the story.

* TaintedByThePreview: ''Return to Silent Hill'''s announcement has a lot of fans worried because Christophe Gans is once again in creative control. While it's extraordinarily well-suited to adapting into a film, the plot of ''VideoGame/SilentHill2'' is also built like a house of cards and depends very heavily on the symbolism, events, and characterization all working in tandem with each other, while Gans has shown past form for randomly tossing in iconic imagery and making unnecessary changes to the story without regard for the negative effects it may have.

* TaintedByThePreview: ''Return to Silent Hill'''s announcement has a lot of fans worried because Christophe Gans is once again in creative control. While it's extraordinarily well-suited to adapting into a film, the plot of ''VideoGame/SilentHill2'' is also built like a house of cards and depends very heavily on the symbolism, events, and characterization all working in tandem with each other, while Gans has shown past form for randomly tossing in iconic imagery and making unnecessary changes to the story seemingly just for the hell of it.

** While ''far'' from VindicatedByHistory, the first ''Silent Hill'' is actually well praised and respected in recent years mainly due to how well and beautiful the special effects are and the small amount of detail certain scenes have, only to be hold down due to changing of the plot.

* TaintedByThePreview: ''Return to Silent Hill'''s announcement has a lot of fans worried because Christophe Gans is once again in creative control. The plot of ''VideoGame/SilentHill2'' is built like a house of cards and depends very heavily on the symbolism, events, and characterization all working in tandem with each other, while Gans has shown past form for randomly tossing in iconic imagery and making unnecessary changes to the story seemingly just for the hell of it.