Silent Hill 2 / Characters

open/close all folders

Main Characters

James Sunderland

Voiced by: Guy Cihi (original), Troy Baker (HD, Book of Memories), Tomm Hulett (cameo, Shattered Memories), Luke Roberts (Remake)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/1a25d315a6c31c607d29742b3b9851d0.jpg

Mary... could you really be in this town?

The main protagonist, a store clerk who comes to Silent Hill after getting a letter from his deceased wife, Mary. The plot kicks off when he arrives at the town to solve the mystery behind said letter.

Accent Relapse: When James yells at the twin Pyramid Heads near the end of the game, his voice sounds very English. Sunderland is an English name, so…
Accent Slip-Up: He's possibly part English, judging by the name, and he relapses into it when he reaches his most stressful zenith point.
Action Survivor: He's a store clerk. He survived Silent Hill. 'Nuff said. Unless you count the In Water ending. Even then, however, the town plays no role in killing him. At least, not directly.
- It's pretty telling that when he first encounters a Lying Figure for real, instead of running away or being terrified, he rips off a wooden plank from a nearby safety barricade and uses it to defend himself.
And Then What?: Maria asks him what happens if James doesn't find Mary. James can only answer that he doesn't know.
Age Lift: In the remake he has been lifted to being older compared to being in his twenties in the original to show he’s suffered longer in life. This is reflected in his appearance as he looks like a man in his early to mid forties instead of a fresher faced man in his twenties or thirties.
The Alcoholic: He started to “drink a fair bit” during Mary’s illness and after her death.
Ambiguously Absent Parent: His father is present in the fourth game but his mother is not mentioned.
Anti-Villain: He killed his wife, partially to relieve her of suffering, and partly because he was tired of the burden that her illness put on his life, and spends the entire game going through purgatory to come to terms with what he's done.
The Cameo: In the UFO Ending of Silent Hill: Shattered Memories as Dr. Kaufmann's other patient. He and Mary also appear in the joke ending of Book of Memories. He's also inexplicably in Harry and Heather's apartment in Silent Hill 3's UFO ending too.
Classical Anti-Hero: He's a sweet man, but also nervous, unconfident, and emotionally tormented.
Cloud Cuckoo Lander: Has his moments, which is something fans often joke about. As the most famous example of this, even if it's to get a key item, he thinks reaching into a clogged, old, dirtied toilet with his BARE HAND is a perfectly reasonable course of action instead of, at the very least, considering using another item to reach in first.
Covert Pervert: Quite a few of the monsters are themed around sex and lust. The town is using this side of James against him by combining it with his guilt. He also tries to look at Maria as she takes a key out of her bra.
Crusading Widower: His reason for coming to Silent Hill, though his single-minded fixation on his wife's death makes more sense after the player finds out he killed her.
Dark and Troubled Past: James can't move on from Mary's death. Mostly because he's responsible for it.
Determinator: He will find where his wife's letter came from, monsters and common sense be damned.
Despair Event Horizon: The video tape. It is both the core motive for what he did in it and quite possibly what sends him careening over the edge in the "In Water" ending. More specifically, seeing Mary (or at least an image of her) die all over again mid-conversation is what really dooms James' chances of coming to terms with his actions and brings his suicidal tendencies back to the forefront should the player follow this route.
Domestic Abuse: The game's ending reveals that he's both a victim and a perpetrator; Mary subjected him to constant verbal assaults in the final stages of her illness, and James eventually killed her. The "Maria" ending paints James as more consistently abusive; he admits that he murdered Mary for mainly selfish reasons, and subtly threatens Maria when she starts coughing, which implies that the cycle will repeat itself.
Driven to Suicide: The real reason James came to Toluca Lake in the first place was to end his own life out of guilt for having killed Mary, but the town's influence intervened. He eventually follows through with this in the "In Water" ending. Even so, there are many indicators throughout the game that highlight James's lack of regard for his own well-being, including but not limited to: leaving his car unlocked with the door open, disregarding warnings that Silent Hill is dangerous, continuing to venture through the town after discovering monsters, sticking his hand into a hole in the wall after something pricks him, asking a mentally unstable Eddie if he's gone nuts, and jumping down several seemingly bottomless holes.
Driven to Madness: Implied in the "Maria" ending. He kills a monster representing Mary and escapes Silent Hill to live with Maria, who isn't real, being an idealized doppelganger of Mary made by the town.
Drowning My Sorrows: When examining a crate of liquor bottles, James goes off on a tangent, during which he admits that he "drinks a fair bit. To get away from the pain, the loneliness..."
Dull Surprise: From time to time, though he mostly manages the right reactions.
Establishing Character Moment: We open the game to him mentally preparing himself before asking, "Mary, could you really be in this town?" This highlights how he's off to Silent Hill for the sole purpose of a person close to him. The second part comes from him monologuing about Mary's letter and how she died of a "damned disease" from three years ago, which signifies how he's still going on his quest despite how unbelievable it is that she's still alive.
The Everyman: James is just an ordinary office clerk thrust upon the horrors of Silent Hill. While on the outward he seems like an everyman, internally...
Heroic BSoD: He slumps to the ground in grief after Maria dies (for the first time), has a smaller BSOD after killing Eddie in self-defense, and later has a much more severe one after remembering that he killed Mary.
Hidden Heart of Gold: Dealing internally with his guilt, he declares in the "Leave" ending that he euthanized Mary purely because he hated her and how she consumed his life and simply wanted her gone. Mary tells him, if this was really true, if this is what he really thought and wanted, then why did he look so sad?
History Repeats: The "Maria" ending is a route where James essentially embraces his own delusions so fervently that he utterly demonizes Mary and willingly chooses to accept Maria as her replacement, despite the fact she's a manifestation of his own selfish desires. And as this ending shows, Maria starting to cough as they leave town - indicating she's possibly going to suffer from the same disease as Mary - ellicts a threatening undertone from James, implying he's going to kill Maria too if she does fall ill.
Idiot Ball: To say that James at times make questionable decisions and ignores or outright defies common sense would be a gross understatement. Probably the most noteworthy example is James's final encounter with Eddie in the meat locker. Eddie, now armed and fully off his rocker, declares his intent to kill anyone who so much as makes fun of him. He goes to leave... and James asks Eddie if he's gone nuts. To James's credit, he immediately realizes what a bad idea this was and tries to take it back, but Eddie naturally interprets it as an insult and tries to kill him, forcing James to kill him in self-defense.
Inferred Survival:
- Downplayed in regards to Mary. James is certain that Mary is dead and remains so for the entire game but her letter gives him hope that she is somehow waiting for him in Silent Hill (even if only spiritually). She's not.
- James himself. It's mentioned in Silent Hill 4 that his father hadn't heard from him after he went to Silent Hill, but that can be supported by all endings in this game, since James would have plenty of good reasons to not want to return to his old life if he had found redemption, from a desire to start anew as an adoptive dad to Laura, to avoiding the possibility of legal consequences if his euthanasia of Mary were ever discovered by authorities.
The Killer in Me: He's on the search for what happened to his wife. He doesn't realize until late in the game that he killed her.
Living Emotional Crutch: His character in a nutshell. He can't go on without Mary. It's up to you to interpret these confessions as either love... or lust.
Love Makes You Crazy: He comes off as more than a little unhinged; his desperation to find Mary leads him to believe that she might somehow miraculously be waiting in Silent Hill (she's not), and his fear of losing her and inability to see her suffer (or perhaps his resentment of her) before that was so extreme that he killed her.
Mercy Kill: Whether or not the town (or you, the player) accept this as his motivation for killing Mary depends on your actions throughout the game; in most endings, his desire to end Mary's suffering seems to be genuine and his primary motive, but in the "Maria" ending it seems more like an excuse he uses to cover up the fact that his primary motive was frustration. It is strongly implied that James himself struggles with severe doubt about whether or not he was in the right to take his wife's life, and whether he did it as an altruistic act of love to put her out of her misery or for a selfish reason like anger over the all-consuming burden her illness had put on his life, and that it is this feeling that made him susceptible to Silent Hill's influence.
Murder-Suicide: Has a delayed version of this in the "In Water" ending, as he kills Mary three days before committing suicide in Silent Hill. The reveal that he drove to Silent Hill with Mary's corpse in the backseat of his car strongly implies that that this was in fact his intial motivation for coming to Silent Hill in the first place, before the town managed to work its influence on him.
Mysterious Past: What his life was like before meeting Mary is anyone's guess.
Nice Guy: Downplayed due to his dark side. That said, James is polite and courteous to the people he encounters throughout his time in Silent Hill and genuinely tries to help them as best he can.
Only Sane Man: While the supporting cast appears mostly-there at first glance, James is the one who manages to keep a grip on himself for the longest (albeit through rampant self-delusion).
Papa Wolf: While he can’t compare to Harry Mason in terms of fatherhood, he expresses concern for Laura frequently and even adopts her in one ending, fulfilling Mary's own dream of adopting her. Subverted, however, as Laura was in no danger from Silent Hill.
Parental Substitute: The "Leave" ending seems to imply that he may become one for Laura.
Redemption Earns Life: Implied in the "Leave" ending, with him and Laura leaving Silent Hill together, meaning that he'll honor Mary's last wish to adopt her as his daughter.
Suddenly Bilingual: In the joke "Dog" ending, he speaks Japanese for no explained reason.
Sympathetic Murderer: After spending three years caring for his ill wife and enduring emotional abuse almost daily because of her mood swings, James smothered her to death. However, at the same time, James considered it a Mercy Kill because he couldn't bear to watch the woman he loved suffer anymore. Rather than lean in one direction or the other, the game presents James as a murderer who did what he did out of selfishness and love for his wife. That being said, how sympathetic he ultimately winds up being in the end depends on the player's interpretation and actions; the "Maria" ending casts him in a much less sympathetic light than others.
These Hands Have Killed: He briefly goes through this after killing Eddie in self defense, falling to his knees in shock over killing a human being. Turns out this isn't the first time he's done it.
Too Dumb to Live: Depending on how you're playing James' story, James asking Eddie "...have you gone nuts?" can be seen as this if you're playing to achieve an ending where James escapes the town. This is particularly dumb as the person in question is armed and ready for an excuse to shoot.
Tragic Hero: James is a heartbreaking example of this trope, since he starts his quest understanding full well how absurd it is but carries a small hope that he will succeed. Out of love for his departed wife and blatant disregard for his own life and well-being, James is willing to journey to the depths of hell simply because a letter from Mary said she would be waiting for him. Not only is Mary still dead, but James killed her out of mercy as well as resentment. His entire quest was born from delusion and it is implied in supplemental material that James was at Silent Hill for another reason before the town affected him. Namely, he was planning to kill himself.
Tragic Villain: Moreso in the "Maria" ending than the others, where he admits that he murdered Mary for selfish reasons, but denies his guilt in order to start over with Maria (even though it's heavily implied that he won't treat her any better). Still, given everything that James has been through, plus the fact that he feels at least some remorse for his actions, it's hard not to feel sympathy for him.
Unreliable Narrator: His wife didn't actually die three years earlier like his narration says. He murdered her and deluded himself into believing she died three years ago (based on a doctor's report stating Mary only had "three years to live") when, in fact, she'd only been dead for a few days.
Villain Protagonist: We eventually learn that he killed his wife. His motivation for such varies on the ending you get, with the "Maria" ending placing him closest to this trope.
Walking Spoiler: It's impossible to discuss James at length without delving into the game's reveal that changes everything we know about him.

Angela Orosco

Voiced by: Donna Burke (original), Laura Bailey (HD)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ed7447072fe891008593f332a9cb1bde.jpg

I'm looking for my Mama... I mean my mother. It's been so long since I've seen her.

A young woman James meet on the graveyard just outside of Silent Hill during his walk to the town. She's mentally disturbed and has suicidal tendencies for reasons unknown to James and the player at first.

Abusive Parents: Her father sexually assaulted her on a regular basis, while her mother knew about it and did nothing to stop it, going so far as to tell Angela she deserved to be abused.
Apologises a Lot: She frequently says "I'm sorry" to James whenever he encounters her, even though she's rarely saying or doing anything that would warrant an apology. It's an early sign that she's been a victim of very severe abuse.
The Bad Guy Wins: She killed her rapist father, but due to the intense Victim Blaming she got from her mother, she feels she deserves to suffer, and Silent Hill torments her accordingly. It culminates her walking into flames, seemingly to her death, all because she blamed herself for something that was solely her parents' fault.
Broken Bird: Pretty obvious by her second appearance, if the iconic scene of her contemplating a large knife on her hands is any indication.
Curtains Match the Window: She has brown eyes to match her brown hair.
Death Seeker:
Angela: Thank you for saving me. But, I wish you hadn't.
Despair Event Horizon: Crossed it long before she met James.
Does Not Like Men: Due to being sexually abused by her father, and, in the novelization, her own brother as well. Not that she's especially fond of women, either.
Don't You Dare Pity Me!: She bristles at James' attempts to comfort her, believing that he can't possibly mean any of it.
Driven to Suicide: James's final meeting with her in her Otherworld features her ascending a fiery staircase, with the implication she burned herself alive to escape the pain and anxiety lingering from her childhood.
Easy Road to Hell: She killed her wickedly depraved father after years of sexual abuse from him, yet in a case of Your Mind Makes It Real and her terrible mother's neglect, she's the one suffering in Hell.
Establishing Character Moment: First seen in the cemetery looking for someone, calling them their "Mama" before correcting themselves and saying "Mom" immediately apologizes to James and insists that she's "not lying". All of this revealing how she is a victim of abuse.
Evil Is Burning Hot: This is Angela's Otherworld — everything consumed by fire (and extremely disturbing pictures on the walls). Her dialogue suggests she believes she "deserves" hell and thus the town shapes itself to what she imagines hell to be.
Harmful to Minors: Her past, dripping with the fact that her own parents conspired to rape and neglect her.
Hates Being Touched: Flips out when James even starts to get close to her, even threatening him with a knife at one point. The sexual abuse she suffered might have something to do with that.
Manslaughter Provocation: She killed her father in self-defense after years of being sexually and physically abused by him.
Latino Is Brown: Seemingly averted, as noted in the Book of Lost Memories document that provides some background information for the characters of Silent Hill 2, her name is meant to imply "immigrant" (Angela is a name of Spanish descent, though there are of course Hispanics who are not Latino) while being an Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette; though it's unclear what exactly the author means by "immigrant", as it could also just be a translation oddity.
Mood-Swinger: Calm, almost ethereal and timid at some points, and then hysterically frightened and angry at the drop of a dime.
Pummeling the Corpse: After James kills the Abstract Daddy, a monstrous form of Angela's father who sexually abused his own daughter, Angela snaps out of her stupor and decides to kick the monster several times and throw a nearby TV monitor at it in a fit of rage.
Rape as Backstory: Basically her entire childhood was this, with a helping of victim-blaming from her mother.
Right for the Wrong Reasons: At one point, in a fit of anger, she mocks James' devotion to Mary, accusing him of "getting rid of her" because he got tired of her and found someone else. While James did kill Mary out of frustration, Angela had no way of knowing this, and was simply lashing out based on her own trauma. Furthermore, he actually does forget about Mary for someone else in the "Maria" ending.
Self-Inflicted Hell: A particularly tragic one, as she's unambiguously the victim in her life story, but due to Victim Blaming inflicted on her by her mother, she believes she deserves to suffer, and the town is more than happy to accommodate.
Sympathetic Murderer: She killed her father after being sexually abused by him for years.
Ungrateful Bastard: Subverted. She is initially hostile to James after he saves her from the monstrous manifestion of her father, but given that she was raped and abused all her life, you can hardly blame her. And she does later thank him, although she also adds that she wishes he hadn't.
Womanchild: She exhibits plenty of childish behavior, her abusive childhood having severely stunted her maturity.
Younger Than They Look: She's actually 19 years old, but her facial features, especially her worn-out, tired eyes, makes her look like she’s in her mid to late thirties.

Laura

Voiced by: Jacquelyn Breckenridge (original), Kate Higgins (HD)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ba4196ca9ef6e876e7264a8e27247f5b.jpg

Did I scare you?

A little girl who also came to Silent Hill to find Mary, seemingly all by herself, and seems to have developed a special hatred for James, acting antagonistically towards him at first.

All for Nothing: She enters Silent Hill in an attempt to find Mary thanks to a letter. She learns in the worst way possible that she's dead by James' hand. And if you don't get the "Leave" ending, she has to make the trek all the way home with no one to adopt her.
Ambiguous Situation: If you don't get the "Leave" ending, what happens after Laura runs away from James is unknown. Whether she learns that James either stayed in Silent Hill, drowned, or ran away with Maria, whether she'll make it back to the orphanage safely, or whether she'll even be adopted is up to the player. And even if you get the "Leave" ending, it's still up in the air whether she'll actually stay with James or she'll return to the orphanage.
Big Stupid Doo Doo Head: Her only insult to James before she locks him in the room with the Flesh Lips is to call him a "fartface" and she calls Eddie a "gutless fatso".
Big "WHY?!": While beating James up in her grief, she asks why Mary always waited for him, even though James ended up killing her.
Bratty Half-Pint: She acts rudely to both James and Eddie, the former in particular due to her knowledge of Mary and her relationship with him. Subverted when it comes to Mary herself, however; she refers to her very fondly.
Break the Cutie: She doesn't take the revelation of Mary's death well, especially when she finds out that James was the one who killed her. Should the player get the "Leave" ending, however, it's possible she does manage to forgive him for it and helps keep Mary's promise to be with James in his darkest time.
Children Are Innocent: It's implied she's the only one in town who doesn't see it as a nightmarish hellscape, as she's never committed any sins. She also assumes that the "quiet, beautiful place" in Mary's letter is Silent Hill and not Heaven.
Contrasting Sequel Main Character: She's a polar opposite to Cheryl Mason, as little girls who traverse throughout Silent Hill. Main difference is that Cheryl is a key player to what's really going on in the machinations of the town, whereas Laura is only there just to search for Mary and has no dark secret for the town to prey upon. Furthermore, while Cheryl loved Harry as her father, Laura openly detests James with the "Leave" ending showing that she'll move forward for Mary's sake at best.
Conveniently an Orphan: The game never mentions what happened to her parents with the manual stating that she's from an orphanage.
Determinator: Say what you like about her attitude, but Laura is an eight-year-old child who was so determined to be with Mary that she set off on her own to travel to Silent Hill to meet up with her. It's unclear how far she has to travel, but supplementary materials reveal she hitchhiked at part of the way, so it was presumably a bit of a trek and the only person by her side was Eddie.
Enfante Terrible: She appears to be this way, especially when she does things like lock James in a room full of deadly creatures. Subverted when it becomes clear she's the only purely innocent person in Silent Hill and is thus completely oblivious to all of the dangers and monsters, rendering her actions merely those of a Bratty Half-Pint.
Establishing Character Moment: First appears kicking an important key away from James, stomping on his hand, then running away with a taunting "Ha ha!", reflecting her immaturity and wanting to annoy James as much as she can. When they next meet, upon James asking what's the letter she has, she swiftly becomes defensive and stating how he "didn't love Mary anyway", revealing that she's associated with James, and his wife, in some way.
Five Stages of Grief: Upon learning that Mary is dead thanks to James, she goes through the first four phases in short order. Should you get the "Leave" ending, it's implied she gets to the Acceptance phase. Notably, she's not upset that Mary is dead, but more in the belief that she was right that James "didn't" love Mary if he went as far as to kill her.
Foil: With James. Both of them obtained a letter from Mary and are on their own quests to find her. The biggest difference is that she has no idea what happened to Mary, whereas James does (albeit he suppressed it) and while Laura's letter was real, James' was only fake. Not to mention in that James went to Silent Hill because there's a personal attachment to him, while Laura only goes because it's personal to Mary and assumed the "quiet gentle place" Mary was going to was said town, not heaven.
Foreshadowing: Unlike Angela and Eddie appearing in only four cutscenes, she appears in at least six or seven. This references how she doesn't have any sins on hand and the only one whom Silent Hill can't tempt.
Forgotten First Meeting: With James, at least; it's later implied she knows him from the hospital visits (even if he doesn't remember her), and that there was some preexisting animosity there.
Girls Love Stuffed Animals: When James sees her in the hospital, she's giggling and playing around with a few teddy-bears. In Born From a Wish, one comment has Maria note that Laura would love playing with some similar teddies in the Baldwin residence.
Green-Eyed Monster: Implied; after she learns how James killed Mary, she questions why it was always him whom Mary waited for.
Happily Adopted: A possible interpretation of the "Leave" ending, where she's seen with James leaving the town.
Ignorance Is Bliss: Blissfully unaware that Silent Hill can prey on your inner darkness and that James killed Eddie (who underwent a major Sanity Slippage). And for her sake, let's hope it stays that way.
Irony: She questions James if he's blind when he asks why she's even in Silent Hill in the first place. In truth, it's she who is blind to the monsters and terrors of Silent Hill, including Maria, since she has no sin on her conscience.
Invisible to Normals: She's the only one who doesn't see Silent Hill as a monster-infested hellhole, likely because due to being too young to commit any sins. This also means she never learns of Maria's existence.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Despite her initially obnoxious attitude, one might note that as soon as she finds Mary's letter asking her to show kindness to James, she immediately stops acting like a brat and begins to bond with him.
Kid Has a Point:
- When she learns that Eddie ran away from the police, she pointedly asks him to just confess to his crimes. Given how James is the only one who survives his hell by confronting his sins, she ends up figuring out the key to leaving Silent Hill for good. She also calls him a "gutless fatso", which is also accurate due to him only confronting his bully through the use of a shotgun and also shot an innocent dog as well.
- If you're going for the "Maria" ending, then Laura makes a valid point that James didn't love Mary in the first place. Not only is he escaping into another fantasy, but it's heavily implied that Maria will also succumb to disease and James will kill her in the future.
Leitmotif: "Theme of Laura"... except it isn't, despite the name. It's the theme for the entire game.
Littlest Cancer Patient: Implied to be her backstory — she met Mary while they were hospitalised together — though quite unlike Mary, she appears to have made a full recovery from whatever illness she was suffering from by the time the game takes place (and is actually a bit of a brat now). She still fulfills other specific aspects of this trope, however, such as being untouchable by the game's supernatural threats.
Mirror Character: To Maria, both are blond haired girls who wear pink in their outfits (Maria's outfit is entirely pink and Laura has a pink scrunchie) with contrasting attitudes towards James. Laura hates James while Maria is a Mood-Swinger towards him. Laura has no problem traversing Silent Hill while Maria constantly suffers while in the town. Laura is an orphan trying to find Mary, whereas Maria is a construct of Silent Hill, desperately trying to cling to James and be his.
Mouthy Kid: Occasionally acts like this toward James and Eddie.
Odd Friendship: Kind of implied with Eddie. If the opening movie is to be believed, she tagged along with him when coming to Silent Hill, even though they have nothing in common. It's confirmed in the Book of Memories that they crossed paths and she hitched a ride with him. Notably, Eddie never shows any signs of attacking Laura despite her endless stream of insults towards him.
Only One Name: Of the four who entered Silent Hill, she doesn't have a last name. Justified in that she's an orphan, so she presumably doesn't know if she has a last name.
Only Sane Man: She might be an immature eight year old, but she is the only character in the game who has no psychological baggage, which ends up protecting her from Silent Hill itself as she doesn’t see or deal with any of the monsters like the rest of the cast. She's also the one who figures out the hint on how to escape — confront your issues.
Pink Is Feminine: She wears a bright pink hair scrunchie.
Skip of Innocence: When she's not bolting away from James, she tends to skip around without a care in the world.
Stating the Simple Solution: In a bit of foreshadowing, she asks Eddie why he doesn't just go to the police and tell them what he did. Confessing for your crimes is what has James be able to move on and fight the twin Pyramid Heads.
This Cannot Be!: Her reaction to learning James killed Mary.
Unwitting Instigator of Doom: She does at least two things that inconvenience or endanger the player^note, but she really has no idea how badly her actions are affecting them because she doesn't seem to see the monsters that the others see.
Wham Line: It's a subtle one, but when James marvels at how Laura has made it so far through the town without having so much as a scratch on her to show for it, she responds with a confused "Why should I?" It's the only significant in-story clue that Laura has never been in any danger all along because, as a little kid, she has no skeletons in the closet for the town to torment her with.
What Happened to the Mouse?: Aside from the "Leave" ending, and even that's ambiguous as to whether or not James adopts her, her fate is left unknown except that she'll have to return to the orphanage she came from all by herself. Seeing that she isn't a victim of Silent Hill's influence, she would've presumably left the town unharmed in the other endings, too.
What the Hell, Hero?: Her opinion on James wasn't exactly great to begin with, so when she finally learns he directly caused Mary's death, she inevitably lashes out at him in anger and sadness.

Maria

Voiced by: Monica Horgan (original), Mary Elizabeth McGlynn (HD), Salóme Gunnarsdóttir (remake)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/db02354e4b1901badb7624516e8d94c7.jpg

Do I look like your girlfriend?

A beautiful woman who bears a striking resemblance to James's late wife. He meets her at Rosewater Park as he continues his search for Mary, and occasionally he'll have to escort her around town as she chooses to help him, if only to have some company.

Action Girl: In her campaign Born from a Wish she’s armed with a revolver and is a competent shot with her gun. Retroactively speaking she undergoes Chickification in the main game, relying on James for protection, which is heavily implied to be a result of the town’s machinations.
Alas, Poor Villain: The "Born From a Wish" sidestory, plus quite a few lines in the main game, imply that she knows she's just a product of the town's power made to get James to remember what he did to Mary, but she hates it and wants to actively defy her fate. But even if she succeeds through the "Maria" ending, the fact that James reacts with underlying hostility when she starts coughing (indicating he hasn't learned his lesson at all and is clinging to his delusions) indicates that she'll likely get killed too if she ends up sick like Mary.
Ambiguous Situation: Background elements suggest there is - or was - another stripper with many similarities to Maria. Whether Maria was patterned after that stripper, whether she IS that stripper, transformed for Silent Hill's purposes, or whether it's merely a coincidence are never clarified.
Anti-Villain: All she really wants is for James to love her. And, in fact, it's all she lives for.
The Bad Guy Wins: In the Maria ending, James accepts Maria as Mary's replacement and chooses to leave Silent Hill with her. It immediately becomes a Meaningless Villain Victory, since Maria still isn't free of the town and James hasn't learned his lesson, and she starts coughing, implying she'll suffer the same illness as Mary. James' threatening undertone implies he'll kill her if she falls ill, rendering her fate the same either way.
Be Careful What You Wish For: She really just wants to escape the town with James. In the Maria ending, that happens, and it appears Silent Hill is punishing James for running away by striking her with Mary's illness - and strongly hinting that she'll meet the same fate Mary did at James' hands.
Big Bad: For Silent Hill 2. She's the physical manifestation of James' delusion that prevents him from accepting the truth about Mary. She tries to lead him astray from his goal and be everything he wanted out of Mary before she fell ill, providing the core conflict of the story. In most endings, Maria is the final boss James must defeat to complete his journey in Silent Hill.
Butterfly of Death and Rebirth: She has one tattooed on her hip. Possibly a symbol of her being Mary's "replacement".
Contrasting Sequel Antagonist: To Dahlia Gillespie. Both are initially presented as allies to the protagonists who are revealed to be manipulating them for their own ends, but that's about where their similarities end. While Dahlia was an old woman in church attire with a fanatical devotion to the Order, Maria is a scantily-clad young woman with a sultry attitude. Dahlia was a normal human who nonetheless played a vital role in making the town what it is, while Maria is a creation of the town itself and has very little agency of her own. While Dahlia was a cold-hearted woman who subjected her daughter to a disastrous ritual in an attempt to summon the Order's God, Maria worries for Laura's well being and wants nothing more than to be with James. Finally, in terms of relation to the protagonists, Dahlia didn't care about Harry as anything more than a pawn in her schemes, while Maria's entire existence revolves around James.
A Day in the Limelight: The later editions of Silent Hill 2 have an extra side-story, the "Born From a Wish" scenario, which features her as the playable main character.
Death Is Cheap: She dies three times throughout the game, but later reappears quite alive and usually without so much as a Hand Wave as to how she's back. This is, of course, exactly what she is intended to do.
Despair Event Horizon: Upon discovering her true purpose at the end of "Born From a Wish", she seriously considers suicide for a long moment. Of course, she decides against it (and given how many times she's brought back during the course of the main game, pulling the trigger likely wouldn't have worked anyway).
Dye Hard: According to her character designer, Maria is a brunette who her dyed her hair blond with pink tips.
Establishing Character Moment: Her first line of dialogue in the main game is sultry asking James if she looks like his girlfriend [Mary]. While he continues to note the similarities, she interrupts him to introduce herself as Maria and quipping that she doesn't look like a "ghost". These three sentences establishes her flirty personality and her desires to be her own person, not something for James to project onto.
Fate Worse than Death: Her very existence.
Final Boss: She can be this in three out of four endings.
History Repeats: In the Maria ending, it's strongly implied that she's starting to come down with the very same illness Mary had, and since this ending means James didn't confront his guilt or learn anything...
Late-Arrival Spoiler: Certain editions of the game let the player access "Born From a Wish" from the very start, which can spoil the main story's twist that Maria is not a real person but rather a manifestation made by Silent Hill.
Mood-Swinger: She frequently switches moods between nice, mean, or clingy and fearful, mirroring Mary's behaviour after being diagnosed with a terminal illness.
Morton's Fork: There is no happy ending for Maria. If James embraces her and chooses to escape the town with her, thus showing that he hasn't learned his lesson and is running from his guilt, it's implied that Silent Hill will punish him by striking her with the same illness Mary had, and that History Repeats. If James rejects her for any of the other 3 endings, she's (questionably-voluntarily) turned One-Winged Angel to serve as his final obstacle and is killed - permanently this time - in the process. No matter what James does, Maria won't have a good time.
Ms. Fanservice: She acts extremely flirty and sultry towards James and dresses in a low-cut skirt and a top that slightly bares her midriff. And this is practically enforced, too, because she is the incarnation of James' sexual frustration while Mary was bedridden.
Neutral Female: While following James, she makes no effort to defend herself or even avoid enemy attacks, and the only way to get her away from enemies is to have James move away so she'll follow him. Averted during Born From A Wish, where she makes a decent showing of defending herself.
One-Winged Angel: In three of the four possible endings where the final boss is faced, Maria will be the one to transform into said final boss.
Only One Name: Only goes by Maria without a hint of a surname. Justified since she's not a human, but rather a manifestatin of James' desires.
Only Sane Man: Other than Laura (who's nonetheless a bratty kid), she definitely comes across as the most relatively "normal" person in Silent Hill that James meets. Angela, Eddie and James himself are all "off" to a degree while Maria is a little inappropriately flirty (though this can be chalked up to her occupation as a stripper) and sometimes acts odd in a way that seems designed specifically to guilt trip James, but otherwise her mannerisms and behavior are by far the most normal of the cast. Which is especially ironic, as she is by far the LEAST "normal" of any of them.
Pink Is Erotic: She wears lots of pink, has pink highlights in her hair, and her background reveals she's a stripper. The "erotic" part is justified since she's a personification of James' sexual desires of a healthy Mary.
Replacement Goldfish: Is very much one for Mary, and she's not happy with this fact. Fully becomes one in the "Maria" Ending, complete with Incurable Cough of Death.
Revolvers Are Just Better: Her main weapon in the "Born From a Wish" Scenario is a custom 10-shot Smith & Wesson Model 617. And considering she had one round in the cylinder, it seemed like she was pondering suicide from the start of the scenario.
Satellite Love Interest: Deconstructed. Outside of "Born from a Wish" (which is set before she meets him), Maria displays little personality beyond being an attractive woman who wants James to love her. Because she was literally made that way, as a manifestation of James' subconscious desire for a healthy, more attractive version of Mary. Someone he could love with none of her baggage.
Tragic Monster: The "Born From a Wish" bonus prequel scenario reveals that when she was first "created", Maria was actually a pretty nice person, just like Mary. However, her experiences in Silent Hill eventually turned her into a willing minion of the town's forces, with the goal of seducing and tormenting James.
Tulpa: She's James's guilt incarnated.
Victoria's Secret Compartment: She keeps a key there, along with one in her boot and one in her skirt.

Eddie Dombrowski

Voiced by: David Schaufele (original), Liam O'Brien (HD)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/c3d34762a60bebc87022620423d3b9d9.jpg

I didn't do it... I swear I didn't kill anybody.

A seemingly harmless young man whose many, many issues only serve to remind the player that James isn't exactly the epitome of sainthood, either. As the game progresses, Eddie becomes increasingly unhinged, and it's hinted that it stems from his own issues with repeated abuse.

Achievements in Ignorance: He tells a worried James that Laura will be fine traveling around Silent Hill. Given how Silent Hill can't prey on her due to her innocence, he was right all along.
All Are Equal in Death: A big part of the reason he takes to shooting everyone who gets in his way. In his warped view, it doesn't matter what qualities a person has when they all end up the same way in death.
Eddie: Well, maybe he was right. Maybe I am nothin' but a fat disgusting piece of shit! But ya know what? It doesn't matter if you're smart... dumb... ugly... pretty... It's all the same once yer dead! And a corpse can't laugh.
All There in the Manual: The game's never entirely clear about Eddie's crimes, but the Book of Lost Memories reveals that the "he" who "had it coming" was a bully whose dog Eddie shot and killed a fit of rage. He then shot the bully in the leg before fleeing to Silent Hill.
Alas, Poor Villain: Despite trying to kill James for a perceived slight, James is absolutely guilt-stricken upon killing him in self-defense. His guilt is so great, it's speculated to have formed the second Pyramid Head in the climax of the game.
Ambiguous Innocence: It's subtle, given what happens to him later on, but Eddie's boyish clothes, slow mental faculties, (initially) friendly demeanor, and close relationship with Laura symbolize his own unique innocence. While he does bad things before coming to Silent Hill, he's not solely at fault for his situation, nor is there any indication that he was irredeemably evil from the start. It's just that his childishness makes him that much more of a threat when he's given the freedom to act out his destructive fantasies.
Anti-Villain: He's by far the most dangerous of the characters James encounters in Silent Hill, and his death is well-deserved, but his rage at being bullied all his life is fully justified even if his actions aren't. If he'd resisted the temptation to give in to his anger, he could've turned his life around.
Ax-Crazy: He's completely off his rock in his final encounter with James, ranting about how he'll shoot anyone who so much as makes fun of him, laughing about how easy it is to kill.
Being Evil Sucks: As much as Eddie claims to enjoy being able to kill anyone he thinks has harmed him, it's pretty obvious that embracing his vengeful fantasies makes his life worse, not better. He goes from a reasonably kind and well-meaning young man to a furious paranoiac who sees enemies around every corner, interprets innocuous actions in the worst possible light, and dies a senseless death.
Berserk Button: The core of his issue that the town manifests is the fact he's been bullied and laughed at his whole life. At the depths of the Labyrinth, he finally snaps and declares he'll just flat-out kill anyone who makes fun of him.
Beware the Nice Ones: Eddie starts as the friendliest character in the game. By the end, however, the mounting frustration and self loathing caused by his tormentors causes him to snap and go around shooting whoever makes fun of him. This also happened before the game even started, but, like James and Angela, he didn't remember it at first.
Boss Room: A meat locker at the very end of the Labyrinth. This, as it turns out, is Eddie's own personal hell made manifest.
Climax Boss: His boss fight accompanies The Reveal of Silent Hill as a Genius Loci, his death is an emotional turning point for James, and immediately after is the Lakeview Hotel.
Death by Irony: When James defeats him in the novelization, instead of him killing Eddie directly, constructs of the dog Eddie killed appear and tear him to pieces. And we know it's the same dog because Eddie himself identifies the dogs as such.
Disproportionate Retribution: Eddie's final solution to anyone making fun of him is to kill them, and he'll interpret just about anything in the worst possible light to register it as such. He attacks James simply for asking if he's lost it, which, while a severe lapse of common sense on his part, isn't worthy of death.
Driven to Madness: The anxiety and obsession with the murders he possibly committed, along with Silent Hill likely throwing it at him, ends up driving Eddie completely off the rails, as he even tries to kill James later in the game.
Dumb Is Good: Tragically averted. Eddie's slowness and immaturity are what exacerbated his problems, by leaving him unable to deal with his inner torment in any kind of constructive way.
Evil Is Deathly Cold: His Otherworld, a meat freezer with hanging slabs of beef on hooks, all of which wear Eddie's shorts as a horrible reminder of his self-esteem issues and the bullying he suffered.
Expy: The creators have confirmed him to be based on Private Pyle from Full Metal Jacket, being an overweight, somewhat slow young man who was constantly bullied for his weight until he snaps and goes on a rampage with a gun.
Fatal Flaw: Wrath. All of Eddie's misfortune can be traced to his poor handle on his temper. His frustrations, while understandable, lead to him shooting the dog of one of his bullies, then shooting its owner in the knee when confronted before fleeing to Silent Hill. Freed of societal inhibitions, Eddie begins to act out his destructive fantasies, eventually devolving into a rageful paranoiac who will gleefully murder anyone who so much as insults him or even looks at him funny. This drives him to attack James for a perceived slight and ultimately die a senseless death.
Four Is Death: James encounters Eddie a total of four times throughout the game. The first is in the Wood Side Apartments, vomiting in the toilet; the second is in Pete's Bowl-O-Rama alongside Laura; the third in Toluca Prison, where his mental state is gradually fraying; the fourth and final encounter is at the end of the Labyrinth, where he's gone completely off the deep end and James must kill him in self-defense.
Implausible Deniability: His typical knee-jerk response when James encounters him is to deny any wrongdoing, even when he's surrounded by bullet-riddled corpses, the only other person besides James with a gun, and gloating about how easy is to shoot somebody. By their last encounter, he's finally given up this flimsy pretense of innocence. According to Masahiro Ito, however, Eddie only ever killed a dog and the corpses that appear alongside him are delusions conjured by the town. This implies he's actually telling the truth, and that his later ownership of the killings are merely a front put up by Eddie to seem tough.
Jumping Off the Slippery Slope: He starts out as a bullying victim who eventually snapped and crippled his tormentor after killing his dog and then ran away to Silent Hill out of guilt and fear of the consequences. He ends up as an unrepentant, trigger-happy murderer who forces James to kill him in self-defense.
Kick the Dog: Or is it Shoot the Dog? Anyway, he did that (and from his remarks, it wasn't a nice death for the dog) before kneecapping the dog's owner (who'd bullied Eddie in the past) and fleeing to Silent Hill.
Made of Iron: For an out-of-shape schlub he's surprisingly durable. In his boss fight, he's got about 75% as much health as the game's final bosses, and takes about 15 or so rifle shots or 80-90 handgun shots to put down.
Manchild: Eddie has a very childlike personality and fashion sense, and he's implied to be somewhat mentally slow. He evolves into a Psychopathic Manchild as the game goes on.
Metaphorically True: He claims he never killed anyone, and technically killing a dog doesn't count as killing a person. It's still messed up, though.
Mirror Boss: He's a human with a gun and some melee moves rather than a mindless monster, and fights fairly similarly to James, even retreating and taking cover as his health starts to get low.
Motive Rant: He gives one to James once he's gone completely over the edge.
Nice Guy: Subverted with a vengeance. Eddie seems like an affable - if slow - young man, but as the game progresses further, James finds out that Eddie isn't quite the nice guy he presents himself as.
Odd Friendship: With Laura, who hitched a ride with him to Silent Hill. Tellingly, he doesn't lash out at her even when she mocks him for being a "gutless fatso," and he also takes Laura at her word when she says that she's fine to explore the town on her own.^note Their amicable relationship underscores Eddie's own childlike personality.
Older Than They Look: He seems younger than his 23 years of age. His strangely juvenile fashion sense doesn't help.
Revolvers Are Just Better: Interestingly enough, he carries around a Single Action Army with him, which according to the novelization, belonged to his father. He used it to kill a dog, kneecap a bully, and tries to kill James with it in his boss fight. On Normal difficulty he can kill James with just 6 shots, while it takes James a good 80-90 handgun shots to kill him.
Sanity Slippage: It happens throughout the game and even before he came to Silent Hill.
Serial Killer: Subverted. James discovers the corpses of lots of people killed by Eddie — although it is implied that these "people" are Eddie's monsters. According to Masahiro Ito, Eddie never actually killed anyone except the bully's dog. His dialogue in-game indicates that he did shoot the bully, though... in the kneecap, crippling him.
Then Let Me Be Evil: What he ultimately decides on after his journey through Silent Hill. He's innocent enough when James first encounters him, and when Laura later suggests that he can redeem himself for doing "something bad" by apologizing, Eddie rejects the idea more out of a sense of despair than a complete lack of remorse ("Nobody will ever forgive me..."). It's not until James runs into him in the prison that he displays the kind of psychotic, anxious anger that later gets him killed; the thrill of being able to punish anyone he thinks has wronged him has overtaken his better nature.
Vomit Discretion Shot: When James first meets him, Eddie is violently vomiting into a toilet.
Wouldn't Hurt a Child: He becomes extremely aggressive at even the implication of someone calling him names, and as revealed, he'll flat-out kill anyone he sees for calling him fat or crazy without thinking twice about it. When Laura calls him a "gutless fatso," however, he's mildly annoyed at worst and even seems kind of amused, not even motioning for his weapon and eating his pizza in peace. Since this happens before he goes full psycho (at this point, he hasn't killed any people outside of Silent Hill, and maybe not even inside of it), it's kind of ambiguous.

Mary Shepherd-Sunderland (Spoilers Unmarked)

Voiced by: Monica Horgan (original), Mary Elizabeth McGlynn (HD, Book of Memories), Salóme Gunnarsdóttir (remake)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/430571703959e24ac95ec8429b60dd16.jpg

James... where are you? I'm waiting... waiting for you.

James' beautiful wife, who tragically died three years ago of a terminal illness. Or did she?

Ailment-Induced Cruelty: She contracted a terminal illness which left her bedridden and caused hair loss and damage to her skin. She suffered from constant pain, frequent mood swings and suicidal depression, and would lash out in anger at James. He eventually smothered her with a pillow, although he repressed the memory of doing so and has delusions that she's still alive which lead him to Silent Hill.
All Take and No Give: She admits in her goodbye letter that her relationship with James had become this by the final stage of her illness, unable to pay him back for all of the time, money, and emotional burden he put into caring for her and instead lashing out at him while begging him to stay.
Ambiguously Related: She shares her maiden name with the Shepherd family from Silent Hill: Homecoming. While some promotional material hints at the possibility of her being a relation, it's unclear whether the intent was that the Shepherds are of relation to her or if it's just a coincidence.
Anti-Villain: In the Maria Ending, where a manifestation of her (and indeed her instead of Maria) angrily attacks James for killing her before.
Curtains Match the Window: Has brown hair and eyes.
Exact Words: James says at the beginning that Mary has been dead for three years due to her terminal disease. Even though he's repressed the memory, the Mary he knew and loved certainly did "die", as she devolved into a mood-swinging mess that James barely recognized as his wife by that point.
Final Boss: The final monster that needs to be killed bears her name regardless if it's really her or Maria who becomes it, although she only does so if the player is going for the "Maria" ending.
Incurable Cough of Death: Though this isn't the only sign of her illness — she also developed a very unpleasant-looking rash and became too weak to even stand up.
I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: The full text of her letter amounts to this, serving as a post-mortem apology for how she treated him and begging him to move on and find happiness without her. In the "Leave" ending, James manages to do so, while in the infamous "In Water" ending, he... doesn't.
The Lost Lenore: James is literally incapable of moving on from her emotionally even in the "Maria" ending, where he chooses to be with a facsimile of her. Only in the "Leave" ending does he seem to be able to truly move on.
Mercy Kill: Like everything surrounding Mary, it's vague and never outright stated, but it's strongly implied that James's killing of her was at least partially motivated by this, and even hinted that Mary herself may have requested it. Of course, the truth of any of this will end up being colored by which ending the player gets, and it's never made explicit.
Mood-Swinger: In some of her flashbacks, though being afraid to die and in constant pain will do that to a person. James later says that, though his killing her at her request was an act of mercy, there was an element of anger in it that he's ashamed of, and that is what the town's feeding on. It's up to the player how much of his explanation leans more towards mercy or resentment.
Mysterious Past: We never learn anything about her history before meeting James.
One-Winged Angel: She becomes the monstrous final boss in the "Maria" ending.
Parental Substitute: To Laura, who used to visit her at the hospital and hoped to one day be adopted by her.
Posthumous Character: She's only ever seen in James' photo of her, and depending on which ending you get, as a vision or a boss.
Same Surname Means Related: Her maiden name, Shepherd, is the same as the protagonist from Homecoming; while promotional material calls attention to this, it's never confirmed whether she was part of the Shepherd family or not.
Soap Opera Disease: Whatever her terminal illness is supposed to be, it is extremely vaguely defined.
Together in Death: What the tragic "In Water" ending suggests; James faces and accepts his guilt for killing her but can't overcome it or move on, and drowns himself in Toluca Lake to be with her again in the afterlife.
Walking Spoiler: You don't get to learn much about her aside from the fact that James killed her, and that fact is the primary twist of the game.
Woman Scorned: If you're on track for the "Maria" ending, an image of her is the final boss you face instead of Maria, angry at James for killing her.

Monsters

Pyramid Head

Pyramid Head/Red Pyramid Thing

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/red_pyramid.png

A strange man-like figure with a giant triangular headpiece that hounds James and Maria, and seems to be pretty much indestructible. It carries a large blade, the Great Knife, that it drags behind itself at nearly all times, the sounds of its scraping along the ground echoing throughout James' journey in the town.

Easily the most iconic monster in the whole franchise, Pyramid Head has become a series staple, featured in several other Silent Hill products, including the movie duology and other games in the main series, as well as spin-offs such as The Arcade.

General tropes

Advancing Boss of Doom: The encounter with him in the basement of the hospital.
Anti-Villain: It's a frightening monstrosity that antagonizes James throughout his journey, as punishing him is his purpose, but it's also the only entity in Silent Hill that helps him discover the truth about Mary, and will even eliminate obstacles in his way to ensure that happens, notably Maria. Whether James accepts the truth or not is up to the player.
BFS: The Great Knife, Pyramid Head's trademark weapon, a blade so massive he's forced to drag it behind him at all times, scraping the ground as he does so. A weapon which, interestingly, can be picked up by James in the Labyrinth.
- Interestingly, his blade is actually one half of a pair of scissors. The developer's intent was for James to obtain the other half of the scissors later in the game, symbolizing Pyramid Head's role as a reflection of his psyche. However Ito did not have enough time to put a second Great Knife in the game.
Being Watched: In a brilliant example of Paranoia Fuel, it's hinted that he's been tailing James since the very beginning of the game, indicated by the occasional sound of scraping metal as he enters the town proper and as he explores certain other areas. You don't even know he's in the game at all until you finally get a glimpse of the creature at the Wood Side Apartments, behind a set of bars in the middle of a hallway. He doesn't move, he doesn't do anything, but he's staring right at James...
Big Bad: Subverted. He initially appears to be just a menacing monster who routinely hounds James, but Pyramid Head, though antagonistic, is actually helping him discover the truth about Mary. When Maria begins to lead him astray, Pyramid Head makes a point to kill her, to keep James on track. It's not until the dual Pyramid Head boss that James realizes this, and the monster has served its purpose, whereupon it kills itself.
Bizarre Alien Senses: When James hides in a closet from him, Pyramid Head fumbles with his helmet briefly, then seems to "scan" the area with an outstretched, fused hand. It's unknown if he is using this to search for James or not, but it's still quite unsettling.
Blindfolded Vision: The helmet does not have eye holes, but he can see just fine (assuming there even are eyes under it.)
Blood Is the New Black: Positively sticky with the blood of the things he's maimed.
- Notice that the original Pyramid Head has blood on him that is a dull rusty color. That's because it's dried blood. When James faces two at once near the end, the second one has a brighter red tone to the blood on his clothes, because it's fresh blood. This is after James killed Eddie, so at this point James has two killings on his conscience, including Mary's death the week before.
Body Horror: Very, very subtle, but it's there. The underside of his helmet is made of flesh, not metal, meaning that Pyramid Heads's head is shaped like his helmet (or possibly the "helmet" really is his head).
- This is only the case for some of the figurines, not in the games. Word of God states the bulge is only at the back of his helmet (to seal it to his body, which still applies as Body Horror), and the inclusion of flesh under his helmet is 'annoying'.
Boss Room: The bottom floor of the Blue Creek Apartments building next to a flooded staircase for the first fight. James and Maria later have to escape it at the basement floor of Brookhaven Hospital, and the two Pyramid Heads are fought together at the Otherworld Lakeview Hotel's lobby.
Breakout Villain: His popularity has made him something of a "mascot" for the franchise, appearing in multiple games and both movies, something the developers never intended.
Buffy Speak: James calls him Red Pyramid Thing.
The Cameo:
- He appears in a painting at the burning Gillespie House in Silent Hill: Origins as Travis is looking for Alessa.
- The joke ending of Silent Hill: Downpour has Pyramid Head be the one who cuts Murphy's birthday cake... by using the Great Knife.
Chained by Fashion: Occasionally seen struggling with his oblong helmet, such as when James unloads his pistol at him in a cutscene, though PH's reaction is more irritation at being thrown off-balance than pain.
Climax Boss: The last encounter with Pyramid Head is the penultimate boss fight of the game, and it's treated as the most climatic boss fight in the game next to the final one with Mary/Maria, as James realizes what the monster represents and gathers the strength to face it directly.
Combat Tentacles: If he manages to grab you, he'll lift you up and stab you with his "tongue" that'll come out from a small hole on his helmet.
Cool Helmet: His pyramid-shaped helmet, although it's not exactly a pyramid per se, since it has 7 sides. In fact, it may not even be a helmet, given how it's fused to him. For all intents and purposes, the pyramid is his face, which makes the name Pyramid Head very fitting.
Driven to Suicide: After James comes to the realization that he no longer needs them to fulfill his desire for punishment, the two Pyramid Heads skewer themselves on their own spears.
Dual Boss: Two of them appear as the penultimate boss fight of the game, after an iconic scene where James finally realizes just what they are to him.
Enemy Without: Subtle, but he shares the same general size and build as James. Whenever Pyramid Head thrusts his spear in the final bout, their grunts are identical, too.
- Fitting, since Pyramid Head is the physical manifestation of James' guilt. However, his appearances in later games seems to embody of all of his victims.
Flanderization: Not so much the "character" as what it represents; his existence in Silent Hill 2 is directly tied to James Sunderland and his character development throughout the story, the executioner background serving as an appropriate manifestation for the town's influence as it kills monsters and Maria repeatedly. That being said, whenever Pyramid Head shows up in later games or adaptations, the relation to James and the symbolism of self-punishment are completely ignored in favor of Pyramid Head's "executioner" aspect, making him just an invincible and important monster that kills people because the town or another "higher" power commands it to.
Guest Fighter: 2020 saw Pyramid Head added to Dead by Daylight as a Killer, under the alias "The Executioner" and as an antagonist to Cheryl Mason. ^note He also tends to represent the Silent Hill franchise in Konami crossover games, such as Krazy Kart Racing, New International Track & Field, and Super Bomberman R.
The Heavy: Drives most of the plot by chasing James around Silent Hill, and seems to be the town's primary avatar.
Hopeless Boss Fight: The first and final encounters with him end when they end, not when you kill him. That said, damaging him does reduce the time it takes for the encounter to end, as the game's speedrunning community will attest.
Humanoid Abomination: Humanoid, certainly - with very human-like arms, legs, torso - but he's an aspect of Silent Hill and James' mind, not an independent being, on top of having fused hands and a head that, for all that is known, might actually be SHAPED like his helmet.
I Have Many Names: The Executioner, Red Pyramid, The Bogeyman... it's a pretty big list.
Iconic Item: Most often his signature weapon, the Great Knife, though he does carry the Great Spear from time to time.
- Especially when you steal the Great Knife from him. You can acquire his weapon in a room of the Labyrinth later in the game. Getting it will make Pyramid Head resort to the Great Spear the next time you meet him, which makes him faster^notenow being unburdened by his previous weapon's incredible weight and gain a longer attack reach. Oops. Still, he does use the spear at times even before you can take the Great Knife, such as the hospital basement chase sequence with Maria.
  - At least if you steal the knife, you won't have to worry about getting killed by its instant kill death slash of doom, though he does have other methods of killing you with one blow.
Immune to Bullets: The helmet gets in the way — as well as James's inability to aim at his exposed body or legs instead. Expect to hear a lot of ricochets before this thing is done fighting you. In fact, you never actually "beat" Pyramid Head, you either run from him or wait for the encounter with him to end on its own. That said, bullets do slow him down (something vital to keep in mind on harder difficulties during the hospital chase) and, during his boss fights, damaging him reduces the time you have to wait for the encounter to end.
Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: A favored attack when he uses a spear. Also a favorite method of suicide.
Institutional Apparel: Wears a grimy white smock. In later incarnations, he's often shown shirtless with a robe tied around his waist.
Judge, Jury, and Executioner: Implied to be one by artwork in the museum, and the game's creature designers have stated on record that he's constructed from the image of executioners who once inhabited the territory of Silent Hill, as well as the town proper. And he follows through with this by executing Maria and tormenting James. A second one appears after James kills Eddie in the meat locker.
The Juggernaut: Win, lose, or draw, it's because he wishes it.
Jump Scare: He's prone to popping up at unexpected times, making him one of the very few sources of this trope in the game. A particularly notable example is when you are on the Brookhaven Hospital roof; it seems like there's nothing there you can do, so you head back... and then the stairwell door locks up. Pyramid Head shows up as soon as you discover this in order to give you a shove off the roof. It's very startling, to say the least.
Lean and Mean: Despite later installments portraying him as imposingly muscular, the one here is surprisingly scrawny. Rather like James...
Lightning Bruiser: Though he's usually a Mighty Glacier, he can be startlingly fast when he wants to be, most notably in the hospital basement chase. He's also a lot faster than you expect in your final fight with him, able to close the distance to you surprisingly quickly despite the relatively large size of the room you fight him in (it helps that both times he's using a much lighter weapon than his Great Knife). On the harder difficulties, you can and should stock up plenty of ammunition to slow his advances, especially in the hospital chase.
Malevolent Masked Man: Well, helmet, but still fits it to a T. Except he's not a man.
Monster Lord: He emits louder radio static than most other monsters, and they appear to hold him in esteem. He has a lot in common with SH3's Valtiel, and the "original" Pyramid Heads (hood-wearing members of the Circle) were members of the Valtiel sect. While not quite in the same league, they're near the top of Silent Hill's hierarchy.
The One Guy: He's the only overtly masculine presence amongst this game's otherwise superficially feminine monsters.
One-Hit Kill: He has a number of moves that can kill you in one hit. The most prominent is his overhead slash using his Great Knife.
- The player can do the overhead slash as well when James acquires the weapon. It does massive damage to anything it hits, but it won't always guarantee a death blow, especially towards bosses. Hitting Pyramid Head with his own weapon would only stun him for a while.
Pre-Final Boss: You end up fighting him (or rather, two of him) one last time before you face off against the last boss of the game. Suffice to say, it's very climatic after everything James has dealt with throughout the game.
Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil: A personification of the concept — not rape, but rape as a crime with no possible absolution and deserving of specific and extremely harsh punishment.
Recurring Boss: Pyramid Head attacks you in gameplay a total of 5 times throughout the game, although only your first and last encounters with him are actual boss fights. Besides these, he also chases you and Maria in the hospital basement and patrols two different areas of the underground Labyrinth, as well as attacking James in cutscenes in both the apartments and hospital roof.
Recurring Character: Pyramid Head is easily among the most prominent villains in the franchise. He's appeared in several Silent Hill games (including his debut) and has also appeared in a number of other outside games, two movies, and five comics.
Rule of Symbolism: Pyramid Head is an amalgam of several different symbols and emotions, all of which tie back to James Sunderland, his guilt and repressed memories of his deed, as well as the theme of sexuality and the duality of crime and punishment. The monster is directly referenced in pictures across Silent Hill as an "executioner", deriving from the town's dark past of harboring several people of this profession as well as their relatives, reflected in how its iconic helmet is based off members of both the Order and the prison personnel in charge of facilities such as the Toluca Prison.
- For James, Pyramid Head is a reflection of his past, his sexual frustration regarding Mary's ill state and his killing of her. The creature is distinguishably male, wearing a butcher's smock that exposes its male-like body, contrasting itself to the other monsters in the game, most of which have female shapes and motifs. This is done so James is always reminded of Mary's death, especially in how the monster is often seen assaulting other creatures in ways that are perceived to be almost erotic in nature, tying back to his sexual frustration and need for contact from his wife, which was denied to him when Mary became ill. The Great Knife, its trademark weapon, only appears when James takes Angela's knife for himself, helping to show his need to punish himself just as Angela seeks her own death, but in a sense of punishment for a crime he committed. The monster's repeated killing of Maria also ties back to this, showing James what he's trying to run away from.
Series Mascot: He has become the franchise's mascot alongside Robbie the Rabbit, appearing in many game installments, spin-offs, and cameos, having guest appearances in other games and even from other source materials like comics and the movies. He also has a number of knockoffs like Origins' Butcher and Downpour's Bogeyman. Notably, his creator is not happy with this overexposure of the character.
Shear Menace: His Great Knife is actually one half of a pair of scissors, representing the duality between him and James.
Sinister Geometry: Hence the name. From the front, he resembles some kind of hooded executioner or Grand Wizard of the KKK.
Sinister Scraping Sound: The sound of the Great Knife scraping across the Otherworld's rusty metal floors is a sign that Pyramid Head is coming for James. Although you will also sometimes hear it in the Fog World as well.
Sleeves Are for Wimps: Gloves aren't, though.
Small Role, Big Impact: His appearance in Homecoming is minor, but it's significant, as Adam is punishing himself, and in one of the endings, he turns Alex into one of him.
Sword Drag: Pyramid Head often drags his Great Knife behind him when he walks, since the damn thing is so huge and heavy.
Threshold Guardians: It's the job of the Pyramid Heads to lead James toward the truth.
The Voiceless: He never speaks. He only makes muffled noises.

Tropes applying to Silent Hill: The Arcade

Attack Its Weak Point: Takes the most "damage" when shot at the very bottom of its helmet.
Boss Room: The first floor of Brookhaven Hospital, chasing Eric, Tina and their friend Jessie down the hallways. It later reappears before the Spiral Staircase segment, fought at what seems to be the remains of the Wish House Orphanage.
Composite Character: His design is similar to his original appearance from Silent Hill 2 with a few tweaks, added to the movie's depiction of him having control over the Creepers and chasing the protagonists down a hospital hallway in the Otherworld.
Giant Space Flea from Nowhere: Has absolutely no connection with the plot or the tragedy of the Little Baroness' sinking, appearing specifically to be the biggest recognizable figure in a Silent Hill game.
Immune to Bullets: While it does get pushed back by Eric and Tina's firearms, it doesn't actually die or show any damage from it otherwise. All it does is stop pursuing and vanish.
Pest Controller: Commands the Creeper enemies just like in the movie, using them to swarm Jessie and stop her from running. Saving her requires shooting off the swarm and then Pyramid Head itself when he tries grabbing her.
Shot-for-Shot Remake: Downplayed, but it pierces through a barred door using the Great Knife almost exactly as it did in The Movie.

Tropes applying to Silent Hill: Homecoming (as the Bogeyman)

And Your Reward Is Clothes: If the player achieves the Judgement ending, where Alex is transformed into another Bogeyman, they will unlock the iconic helmet for Alex to wear on a new playthrough.
BFS: Once again carries the Great Knife as his signature weapon, except here it has been retooled to look like an enlarged combat knife, the type often used by soldiers.
Composite Character: Basically the movie's version of Pyramid Head adapted into one of the mainline games, controlling the Swarm as it did the Creepers.
Foreshadowing: The first time we see it, it guts and bisects the doctor that wheeled Alex into the operating theater at Alchemilla Hospital just outside the door. The doctor is actually Alex's father Adam, and he gets the same fate in reality later at the Church of the Holy Way.
Ironic Nursery Rhyme: Collecting the Child's Drawings scattered throughout the game eventually reveals a series of them detailing a naughty kid's encounter with the Bogeyman, and a poem about the kid's mother talking about how the creature punishes naughty children with all manner of torture. Paying close attention to it reveals that several passages hint at events that happen in the game to the people Alex meets, but it also acted as a way to keep the children of Shepherd's Glen in the dark about how the founding families' parents would sacrifice them to appease the Order's god.
Rule of Symbolism: Pyramid Head is fully divorced from his relationship to James Sunderland in this game, but there's an argument to be made about how the Bogeyman now ties into Alex. Essentially, the myth of the Bogeyman in Shepherd's Glen is about a force of punishment that executes and tortures naughty children in horrific ways, with a mom telling her child about how his friends are being taken and punished somewhere far away. Alex' "friends" really are gone, either sacrificed to the Order's demands or, if one takes the other townspeople into account, trapped by the Order in their Lair until they comply with the cult's brainwashing or die if they refuse ("lying little children"). Replace the Bogeyman with Alex and he really is the one who brings punishment to the "naughty", including both of his parents and the masterminds behind the cult, namely Judge Holloway and Curtis as her enforcer. This all means the Bogeyman is given shape by the Otherworld to be an alternate version of Alex who punishes the people responsible for Shepherd's Glen's downfall, at the cost of his compassion and humanity towards the unrelated parties (such as leaving Wheeler to die).
The Unfought: Despite showing up plenty of times, Alex never faces the Bogeyman in direct combat. It doesn't ever show up outside of cutscenes, and the one time it appears in-game is offscreen at the very beginning to kill off a character and then disappear.
Video Game Cruelty Punishment: It shows up as the key figure of the Judgement ending, considered the Bad Ending of Homecoming due to its requirements (don't Mercy Kill Lillian, don't forgive Adam at the church and actively leave Wheeler to die in the Lair). Two Bogeymen appear and place the halves of another helmet on Alex, transforming him into another one of their own, which invokes this trope to a degree.
You Don't Look Like You: Uses the movie's design wholesale along with looking far more muscular and trading the butcher's smock for a ceremonial cloth wrapped around his waist. He also lacks the original version's gloved, webbed hands.

Lying Figure

Bizarre, feminine figures whose arms are trapped inside a straight jacket made of skin. The most common enemy in the game, they can spit acid at James if he gets too close.

Armless Biped: More or less a case of this, thanks to its straight jacket.
The Blank: Like many other monsters in the game, they have no visible facial features.
Body Horror: They're faceless, meaty, twitching things with a fleshy straight jacket and what appear to be platform shoes encased in skin.
Fan Disservice: Their legs are long and shapely, and they appear to wear a thong exposing feminine buttocks... Said thong is made of diseased-looking skin that encases the entire upper half of the creature.
The Goomba: While they can be dangerous in bigger numbers, they also have very little health due to being the first enemy the game introduces, and therefore the most common.
Hollywood Acid: They emit a brown mist from slits in their chests that causes a fair amount of damage.
Humanoid Abomination: It vaguely looks humanoid, having feminine and shapely legs. But it has what seems to be a straight jacket made from human skin wrapped around it and can spit out bile through a slit in its torso.
Marionette Motion: They twitch and stumble onto themselves as they walk, showing unnatural motion that only barely resembles something human.
Rule of Symbolism: Their restrained appearance and penchant for spitting bile reflects the game's theme of disease and suffocation of an emotional and literal kind. This alludes to both Mary and James feeling "trapped", Mary by her disease and James for his internal suffering over killing Mary. The restrained arms could also be alluding to James being unable to touch Mary during her sickness.
- Also one can interpret it spitting bile as Mary spitting harsh words at James.
Turns Red: If you knock them down but fail to finish them off, they'll start slithering around on the ground at high speed, dealing damage if they collide with you. In this form they can be a lot more dangerous than their normal slow, shambling stance.

Mannequin

Unnerving creatures resembling store mannequins... But with a second pair of legs where arms and a head would go.

Body Horror: They're walking mannequins with only legs on both halves of their bodies, with no heads or arms in sight, the buttocks of the upper half resembling breasts. While their skin is also glistening and shiny like plastic, these creatures can and will bleed when you hit them.
Fan Disservice: Like the Lying Figures, the creature's body is sexually suggestive, but is arranged in a completely alien way, having two pairs of long, feminine legs and no arms or head, nor anywhere for arms or a head to go.
Humanoid Abomination: The barest possible definition of "humanoid", since the only "human-like" feature it possesses are legs.
Marionette Motion: Despite being actual mannequins, they move as uncannily as any other monster in the game.
Nothing Is Scarier: You can often find them posing deathly still in dark hallways. The radio static doesn't even pick up on their presence until they "activate" when you approach them.
Rule of Symbolism: They're creatures born from James' sexual repression and frustration, being literal "walking pairs of legs" and nothing else. Pyramid Head also seems to favor these monsters for sexual abuse, mirroring James' negated sexual desires towards Mary.

Bubble Head Nurse

Shambling, twitchy female figures wearing sexy nurse outfits that lurk in the dark hallways of Brookhaven Hospital. Like with Pyramid Head, they're one of the most iconic monsters in the franchise, with most of the games afterwards including a nurse-like monster like these.

Adaptational Modesty: Screenshots show that the remake gives them a pair of dark stockings with garters, partially covering their legs. This may be unintentionally downplayed or even subverted, since Zettai Ryouiki and Stocking Filler are both very common fanservice tropes and, if anything, it makes their design seem even more fetishistic than it was before, especially when combined with their considerably healthier-looking, more humanlike skintone.
And I Must Scream: According to notes from Masahiro Ito, their bubble-like head is actually a thin sac filled with fluid that covers the actual head and face, and their occasional twitching and jerking is from them suffocating and trying to shake it off. Symbolically, this mirrors Mary's death by being smothered with a pillow.
The Blank: Subverted; while their heads are bulbous and bone-white, they have small mouths full of dirty, bloodied teeth.
Butter Face: Close to it, at least.
Combat Stilettos: The remake gives them shiny white heels.
Elite Mooks: They can take more hits and dish out more damage than the Lying Figures or Mannequins, and their faster, more frenzied attack pattern is also somewhat harder to fight against with melee without getting hit. In the hospital, they also tend to attack in groups of 2 or 3, whereas the Lying Figures and Mannequins in the apartment tend to be more spaced apart. They start showing up in the streets after you go through the hospital, though they vanish from the game once you reach the Silent Hill Historical Society, with the Lying Figures becoming the most common enemy again in the prison and labyrinth.
Fan Disservice: Their faces and jerky movements remove anything remotely sexy about them.
Humanoid Abomination: They have a humanoid body wearing a sexy nurse outfit. Their movements and those faces, however...
Marionette Motion: With arms fallen to each side and erratic twitching.
Naughty Nurse Outfit: Quite possibly the least sexy example of this trope ever.
Rule of Symbolism: They're some of the most blatantly sexual monsters in the game, to the point where every "Silent Hill" game after this one uses this design as immediate coding for a male protagonist suffering from sexual frustration.
- In-game, their sexually-oriented outfits represent James' own urges during Mary's sickness, and their disfigured heads could be an allusion to Mary's own superficial deformities caused by her terminal disease.

Flesh Lip

Abstract creatures resembling masses of flesh inside box-like bed frames suspended from the ceiling. They first attack James when Laura locks James inside a hospital room in Brookhaven.

Body Horror: Their flesh is uneven and tumorous, and their skin is sac-like, hooked to the frame around them.
Murderous Thighs: Of a sort. They mainly attack by wrapping their burnt-looking legs around James' neck to strangle him.
Our Monsters Are Weird: Even by the standards of the game, the Flesh Lips are particularly surreal, with their bed frames and yonic lips perhaps resembling an abstraction of Mary in her sickbed and James' sexual urges during her disease.
Rule of Symbolism: Their name alludes to vaginal "lips" and their metal frames are meant to resemble Mary's sickbed.
Visual Innuendo: Their name comes from the perfectly circular opening between their legs from which a pair of lips protrude.
Wolfpack Boss: There are three of them, with the third one emerging after the first two are defeated, being slightly faster than the first two.

Mandarin

Long-armed, brachiating monsters that swing beneath the metal gratings opening into yawning darkness.

Combat Tentacles: They can shoot out sharp, tongue-like organs from their arms to stab James' feet.
Creepily Long Arms: They hang below the floor by their apelike arms, which make up most of their body mass.
Mind Screw: Their very environment. They live beneath rusty grating floors where there would normally be grass or concrete.
Rule of Symbolism: They hang onto grates over looming, bottomless darkness, forever trapped beneath the ground and unable to leave. Like James' own mental state, they're hanging by a thread over certain doom and, should they lose their grip, will fall to their possible deaths.
- The novelization adds a description that implies their tongues are also invocative of whispering or speaking, as if they're desperately trying to tell James something.

Abstract Daddy

Abstract Daddy/Ideal Father

A repulsive creature resembling two squirming figures atop a bed, covered in a taut layer of rancid skin. Unlike the other horrors present in the town, this creature comes not from James' subconscious specifically, but Angela Orosco's.

Abusive Parents: Implied to be a distorted manifestation of Angela Orosco's sexually abusive father.
Anti-Escape Mechanism: Abstract Daddy is pretty slow and his only attack is a close range grab move, but the room you fight it in is extremely small, with almost no room to maneuver around him. Staggering him with powerful attacks is almost essential to beating him without taking too much damage.
Belly Mouth: It can cover James' face with the large, vertical slit along the length of its underbelly.
Body Horror: The creature appears as though its skin stretches and melds onto a bed frame or table, while the two figures underneath are fused together. There's also the massive mouth at the bottom of its body.
Degraded Boss: Smaller, weaker versions of it are found later in the Lakeview Hotel. There are only about 4 or so of them and they go down after only a couple shotgun blasts, but they're basically impossible to melee without getting hit (unless you use the Great Knife and have perfect timing with it).
Giant Mook: The Degraded Boss version is larger than regular enemies and can take up to twice as much damage as Lying Figures or Mannequins.
Harmful to Minors: Its very nature is this, as a reminder of Angela's horrible past.
Limp and Livid: It has a stance vaguely similar to this, with two bodies strewn across a flat surface all fused into each other.
No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: On the receiving end of this from Angela, who kicks it repeatedly before throwing a TV on it after James defeats it.
Through the Eyes of Madness: The events of the narrative and the monsters themselves are all seen from James' perspective, but this is one of the few times the player is made aware that the creature represents something else for someone else. Angela reacts to this creature with visceral hatred, kicking it furiously and smashing a TV set on it after James' battle, with her scolding soon afterwards and accusatory dialogue towards James all but stating the Abstract Daddy to her eyes is a representation of her father's incessant raping of herself when she was little. While we never get to see what Angela perceives the monster to be, her desperate cries of "Daddy, please, no!" right before James enters the room should be enough of a clue.
Trick Boss: At first, it looks like Abstract Daddy is the boss of the Historical Society/Prison/Labyrinth, just like Pyramid Head was the boss of the Apartments and the Flesh Lips were the boss of the hospital. However, he turns out to be just the warm up for the real Climax Boss fight against Eddie.
Visual Innuendo: The thing is obscene; the two figures making up its body look to be mid-intercourse, with a larger, more muscular one dominating a smaller one. The room it is encountered in is also suspect, being fleshy and lined with holes in the walls through which pistons thrust in and out.

The Final Boss (UNMARKED SPOILERS)

Mary/Maria

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sh2_mary.png

"James... James..."

The game's final boss, the last obstacle in James' way towards the end of the road, whichever that will be for him. This is the monstrous form assumed by either Maria or Mary, formed by their respective reasons to hate James depending on the player's actions throughout the story.

Butterfly of Death and Rebirth: One of her attacks is to spew out a cloud of black moths from her mouth that will follow James and deal damage for a while until it dissipates. This ties back to Maria's own butterfly tattoo, with moths representing the "death" part of the cycle (see below).
Combat Tentacles: She has a long, black, pointed tongue that can wrap around James' neck to strangle him while pulling him up.
Coup de Grâce: When her health is fully depleted, the monster will fall to the ground and endlessly repeat James' name until he delivers one final hit from any weapon to end the battle and get to the respective ending.
Final Boss: The last obstacle in James' journey through Silent Hill. Depending on the ending, it's either Mary or Maria.
Macabre Moth Motif: Fitting with Maria's butterfly tattoo, the monster releases swarms of black, biting moths to distract James while she moves in to attack directly. Moths tend to symbolize death and decay, which can apply to several things regarding Mary and her illness. Particularly, this can be tied back to James attempting to gift Mary flowers at the hospital only for her to reject them, and moths eat flowers by the dozen, so it can symbolize Mary's rejection of James' attempts at kindness, as well as representing the disease eating away at her very self.
Madness Mantra: She can only endlessly repeat "James" before the final blow is struck. Given that her very existence revolves around James, this can also mean a number of things regarding both Maria's desire to be loved and accepted or Mary's need to be remembered.
- With Maria, it also adds a profound, deeply saddening idea of this being possibly her final moment of anything resembling clarity, while also having fully devolved into what Silent Hill essentially made her out to be: another monster to remind James of his crime.
Meaningful Name: Even if Maria is the one to transform into the boss, the monster's name will continue to be "Mary" regardless, as stated in the "Book of Lost Memories". Several theories exist as to why this is, ranging from representing James' repeated confusion at Maria resembling his wife, Maria's own desire to replace Mary as James' loved one, among others. Note that Maria will also take on Mary's original appearance in the scene prior to the battle, so for all intents and purposes, she becomes Mary even before the transformation.
One-Winged Angel: Being the monstrous and more powerful form of a supposedly human woman.
Post-Final Boss: She's considerably less difficult than the dual Pyramid Head boss fight; she's slow-moving, easy to avoid, and the worst she can do is set swarms of moths upon James. If the player runs out of ammo or shows up to the boss fight with no ammunition at all, she'll up and die after running a special script, highlighting that this was more to wrap up the story than offer any challenge.
Tragic Monster: As Maria, she never wanted to be James' mental tormentor. She was constructed by the town to fulfill that purpose, but (at least initially) had some amount of autonomy and feeling.

Other

Walter Sullivan

A nightmarish murderer whose story is told through collectibles and backdrops of the game. In this game proper, what we know is that he brutally murdered two kids, Billy and Miriam Locane, before being incarcerated and supposedly committing suicide. For much more pertaining to this character, see Silent Hill 4.

Ernest Baldwin

Voiced by: Ward E. Sexton (original), Travis Willingham (HD)

"Some things we forget, and some things we can never forget. It's funny... I'm not sure which one is sadder."

An enigmatic shut-in that Maria encounters in the "Born From a Wish" scenario. He refuses to see her directly, only communicating through doorways.

Dead All Along: Ernest finally agrees to let Maria into his study, but when she opens the door, the room turns out to be empty.
The Ghost: We really don't get to see him in any shape or form. Just his voice. Fittingly, he actually is a ghost.
Never Heard That One Before: When Maria guesses that his surname is "Hemingway", he gets annoyed.
Outliving One's Offspring: The reason he's a shut-in, having lost his 7-year-old daughter, Amy, ten years prior to the events of the game after she fell off the attic window of the manor.
The Shut-In: He's kept in house and Maria never even sees him face to face, with all of their conversations happening through a door.
The Voice: During the course of the game, we never see his face but Maria can talk to him regularly once he finally opens up to her.
Voice with an Internet Connection: Well, more like "Voice With Demonic-Forces-Controlling-The-Town Connection." After she helps him, he reveals he knows Maria's purpose and gives her the info to nudge her toward meeting James. (With genuinely helpful intent, so she won't be lost and alone anymore.)

Thomas Orosco

The father of Angela Orosco. Noted to have a long history with violence and alcohol abuse, he physically and sexually abused Angela all her life, causing her to snap and murder him with a knife. He is represented by the Abstract Daddy monster in the game, although the form he takes to James is noted to be based on his own subconscious.

Abusive Parents: A raging alcoholic that sexually, physically, and psychologically abused his own daughter her entire life.
The Alcoholic: His abuse of alcohol mostly likely didn’t help his temper.
Asshole Victim: He really had it coming, to say the least.
Hate Sink: The only fully unsympathetic character in the game, even if he's never seen, due to being a heinous rapist who abused Angela and possibly her mother for years.
Hair-Trigger Temper: Described as a violent and brutal man in life.

Mira (UNMARKED SPOILERS)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/img_e1987.JPG

A very smart Shiba Inu, and the force behind the town's numerous monsters. She only appears in the extremely silly "Dog ending".

Anti-Villain: Similar to Pyramid Head, she's present largely to allow James to come to terms with what he's done. UNLIKE Pyramid Head, Mira's approach is entirely Played for Laughs.
Back from the Dead: A common fan theory is that she's the dog that Eddie shot, mostly due to how she growls whenever Eddie's image appears in the Dog Ending's credits.
Intellectual Animal: She's shown operating a complex computer system, implying she falls under this.
Obliviously Evil: If she's interpreted as a completely normal dog, she falls under this, accidentally releasing supernatural forces against the town's citizens.
Precious Puppy: Even if it's the one responsible for the trauma James and possibly all the other characters go through in Silent Hill... You can't really be mad at her cuz she's so gosh dang adorable!
Running Gag: A series-wide one at that. Most of the games afterward that include a funny ending will usually feature Mira in some way. Especially because she seems to be friends with the aliens.
The Dog Was the Mastermind: Not just a dog and a mastermind; The dog and mastermind, the one the trope is named after.
Walking Spoiler: The fact she is the mastermind in the Dog Ending is a major spoiler for that route.
Well-Intentioned Extremist: She wants to help the people who came to Silent Hill by tormenting them with their demons.

Characters / Silent Hill 2

Main Characters

Voiced by: Guy Cihi (original), Troy Baker (HD, Book of Memories), Tomm Hulett (cameo, Shattered Memories), Luke Roberts (Remake)

Voiced by: Donna Burke (original), Laura Bailey (HD)

Voiced by: Jacquelyn Breckenridge (original), Kate Higgins (HD)

Voiced by: Monica Horgan (original), Mary Elizabeth McGlynn (HD), Salóme Gunnarsdóttir (remake)

Voiced by: David Schaufele (original), Liam O'Brien (HD)

Voiced by: Monica Horgan (original), Mary Elizabeth McGlynn (HD, Book of Memories), Salóme Gunnarsdóttir (remake)

Monsters

Pyramid Head/Red Pyramid Thing

General tropes

Tropes applying to Silent Hill: The Arcade

Tropes applying to Silent Hill: Homecoming (as the Bogeyman)

Abstract Daddy/Ideal Father

Mary/Maria

Other

Voiced by: Ward E. Sexton (original), Travis Willingham (HD)

Previous

Index

Next

Characters / Silent Hill 2

Edit Locked

Main Characters

Voiced by: Guy Cihi (original), Troy Baker (HD, Book of Memories), Tomm Hulett (cameo, Shattered Memories), Luke Roberts (Remake)

Voiced by: Donna Burke (original), Laura Bailey (HD)

Voiced by: Jacquelyn Breckenridge (original), Kate Higgins (HD)

Voiced by: Monica Horgan (original), Mary Elizabeth McGlynn (HD), Salóme Gunnarsdóttir (remake)

Voiced by: David Schaufele (original), Liam O'Brien (HD)

Voiced by: Monica Horgan (original), Mary Elizabeth McGlynn (HD, Book of Memories), Salóme Gunnarsdóttir (remake)

Monsters

Pyramid Head/Red Pyramid Thing

General tropes

Tropes applying to Silent Hill: The Arcade

Tropes applying to Silent Hill: Homecoming (as the Bogeyman)

Abstract Daddy/Ideal Father

Mary/Maria

Other

Voiced by: Ward E. Sexton (original), Travis Willingham (HD)

Previous

Index

Next