STRANGE PHOTOS MYSTERY SOLVED

[avestruzrock]

If you count things within each photo (example, the open windows in photo 1 = 6), then count that number across the writing on each one, you will get a letter. It spells out:

"YOU'VE BEEN HERE FOR TWO DECADES"

Obviously is a message to the fans and does not have anything to do with the story.

This is what I found:

1= Y (6 windows = 6th letter of 'SO MANY PEOPLE HERE!'

2= O (2 bedposts = 2nd letter of 'NO ONE KNOWS')

3= U (3 light spots = 3rd letter of 'YOUR BEST BUDDY!'

4= V (1 vase = 1st letter of 'VALENTINE'S DAY'

5= E (7 birds = 7th letter of 'CHURCH ENTRANCE')

6= B (4 holes = 4th letter of 'I'VE BEEN HAPPY')

7= E (4 pieces of paper = 4th letter of 'CAREERS HUMBLE BEGINNINGS')

8= E (2 lipsticks = 2nd letter of ''BEST FLAVOUR!')

9= N (9 bullet holes = 9th letter of 'HER DRAWINGS')

10=H (7 lit up windows = 7th letter of 'THEY'RE HERE')

11=E (6 is on the TV = 6th letter of 'HOW THE TIME FLIES')

12=R (1 pole = 1st letter of 'READY TO KILL IT!)

13=E (3 water stains = 3rd letter of 'THEY MUSTN'T KNOW')

14=F (3 lines on the floor = 3rd letter of 'SO FAR FROM HOME')

15=O (2 boxes on wall = 2nd letter of 'FOUR MONTHS TO GO')

16=R (3 numbers = 3rd letter of 'FOREVER TOGETHER')

17=T (1 drop/1 IV = 1st letter of 'THE NEW CLOCK')

18=W (11 tear stains = 11th letter of 'AT LEAST SHE WAS THERE')

19=O (3 scratches = 3rd letter of 'WHOLE WORLD AHEAD OF US')

20=D (3 marks in the bottom left, like scratches = 3rd letter of 'MADE IT!')

21=E (4 pieces of glass = 4th letter of 'AFTERMATH')

22=C (Hidden '6' in the photo = 6th letter of 'STILL CAN'T GET IT RIGHT')

23=A (8 bloody footprints = 8th letter of 'OLD MAN'S ALWAYS PREPARED')

24=D (4 lights, including the reflections of the moon = 4th letter of 'ROAD TRIP!')

25=E (2 flowers = 2nd letter of 'BETTER LEAVE')

26=S (1 square = 1st letter of 'SHAPE FORCES THE MIND')

Credit: DaleRobinson from Reddit

[Vagrant]

My investigation was in vain. I wasn't using the correct approach. I was more focused on what was inside the pictures and how it related to James' story.

This discovery opens the door to new dark theories, the main one being "Stuck in a loop".

Other have said in the thread that it may be a message for us the players from the devs, poking fun at us.

[avestruzrock]

Originally posted by Vagrant:

My investigation was in vain. I wasn't using the correct approach. I was more focused on what was inside the pictures and how it related to James' story.

Remember that Ito wanted to make James look older cause we are two decades older than when we played the OG, I believe is just that.

[Vagrant]

Originally posted by avestruzrock:

Originally posted by Vagrant:

My investigation was in vain. I wasn't using the correct approach. I was more focused on what was inside the pictures and how it related to James' story.

Remember that Ito wanted to make James look older cause we are two decades older than when we played the OG, I believe is just that.

I'm actually inclined to say it's both for James and us. They haven't said anything beyond that, so our imagination will have to fill the gap.

[avestruzrock]

Originally posted by Vagrant:

I'm actually inclined to say it's both for James and us. They haven't said anything beyond that, so our imagination will have to fill the gap.

Like it always did...

[avestruzrock]

Originally posted by Mu:

Related to that loop theory?

Maybe but I guess more related to us the players being playing for more than two decades.

[The Fountaineer 🖋]

Oh, so that photo thing wasnt in the original? Thats really cool. Sadly, I didnt collect all the photos on my first playthru and expected them to be relevant during the locked safe puzzle lol. Im dumb.

[avestruzrock]

Originally posted by The Fountaineer 🖋:

Oh, so that photo thing wasnt in the original? Thats really cool. Sadly, I didnt collect all the photos on my first playthru and expected them to be relevant during the locked safe puzzle lol. Im dumb.

I didn't get them all either but what locked safe are you talking about?

[Noobie]

Oooooo in game meta commentary. It has been 2 decades since the og came out.
God im old

[The Fountaineer 🖋]

Originally posted by avestruzrock:

Originally posted by The Fountaineer 🖋:

Oh, so that photo thing wasnt in the original? Thats really cool. Sadly, I didnt collect all the photos on my first playthru and expected them to be relevant during the locked safe puzzle lol. Im dumb.

I didn't get them all either but what locked safe are you talking about?

It was unrelated to the photos. Its in the Southvale Apartments, its an isolated puzzle room hidden behind a walk in closet.

[avestruzrock]

Originally posted by The Fountaineer 🖋:

Originally posted by avestruzrock:

I didn't get them all either but what locked safe are you talking about?

It was unrelated to the photos. Its in the Southvale Apartments, its an isolated puzzle room hidden behind a walk in closet.

You mean the one with the golden apple? Yes you only have to pay attention to the walls

[Vagrant]

Originally posted by avestruzrock:

Originally posted by The Fountaineer 🖋:

It was unrelated to the photos. Its in the Southvale Apartments, its an isolated puzzle room hidden behind a walk in closet.

You mean the one with the golden apple? Yes you only have to pay attention to the walls

"You must think I'm cruel
But this prison is of your own making

The choice was yours
I watched you make it
over and over and over again

This time's not gonna be any different

And I'll be here
Watching"

[Kurobon]

Originally posted by Vagrant:

My investigation was in vain. I wasn't using the correct approach. I was more focused on what was inside the pictures and how it related to James' story.

This discovery opens the door to new dark theories, the main one being "Stuck in a loop".

Other have said in the thread that it may be a message for us the players from the devs, poking fun at us.

PS: It's spelled "mystery" btw.

This is not "new" or a "theory."

If a character is stuck in space, it's also stuck on time, but this is more of a supernatural entrapment than a traditional timeloop. In SH2 Remake, what is now new. it's that James has been trapped in Silent Hill for about 20 years.

The town itself exists in three versions, though players only experience two. fog and Otherworld versions, which are “cut out of space.” It makes sense that also merges together past and present for about 20 years.

Silent Hill 1 clearly shows Harry to “reset” back to the same coffee shop, much like James in SH2 who starts with a mirror scene, showing their entrapment in SH. They are always reverted to the fog town. The movie, while not canon, shows that people in the real town cannot interact with those lost in the fog version of Silent Hill.

I am not sure it opens the door to dark theories, but this gives more context to overt contradictions and loopholes in the original story that are also presented in SH2RE. It now makes a bit more sense that Mary is María but not really, and Mary apparently living in an assisting living home facility for a year after she died, and Laura's apparent gift child of discerning fog town from the real town (same as Cheryl and Heather).

A big lore element can be stitched together now. In original SH2, James, Angela, and Eddy are the three mental hospital patients. In *SH4, James is an apartment complex manager of a neighboring town. When James did kill Mary or got institutionalized exactly? SH2RE does not elaborate on this, but they made clear that the mental hospital has been operating for 120 years or so; there were three unique patients that had unexplained mental illnesses that might be more supernatural than psychological; and that townspeople hated the hospital's symbolism on the resort town. Of note, SH2 Remake also imply Harry was suffering this illness, as he would wake up in the coffee shop disoriented.

This checks out with the overall lore of Silent Hill as presented in SH1. SH is an ancestral place that has been secretly controlled by a cult for more than a century and they use those damned / holy grounds to literally birth Satan (Samael). To make their rituals, they need to access the alternate version of the town, and the manner in which they access this different plane of existence was by altering the mind with drugs by processing a local plant into a drug (White Dahlia). Perhaps these mental illness were caused by White Dahlia or harnessed by the cult by using hospitals and jails.

Other than this, I honestly do not think this new clarification adds much more to the game lore.

[Vagrant]

Originally posted by Kurobon:

Originally posted by Vagrant:

My investigation was in vain. I wasn't using the correct approach. I was more focused on what was inside the pictures and how it related to James' story.

This discovery opens the door to new dark theories, the main one being "Stuck in a loop".

Other have said in the thread that it may be a message for us the players from the devs, poking fun at us.

PS: It's spelled "mystery" btw.

This is not "new" or a "theory." SH1 overtly shows that Harry is stuck in SH. that is the device they used for NG+. Harry always wakes at the same coffee shop to relive the story again, and in SH2 Remake this is referenced.

In James case, the equivalent for "waking up" would be the mirror stare at the beginning.

It's always been know there's about three versions of the town; and the player only experiences two versions of the town that are literally cut out of space, hence, trapping players out of space. SH1 movie is not cannon but they got that right; the movie actually show the "real town" and the main character stuck in place in an alternate version of it.

Now, If someone is stuck in space, they are also stuck on time. This is not necessarily a "time loop" but it would be how being stuck "in place" would be. In this case, apparently for 20 years.

Because Silent Hill 3 exist, The Good ending in SH1 is canon. Harry escapes the town alive. Wether it's Good+ or not, we'll never know.

James' corpses in the original SH2 was lazy move by the devs which turned into a dark theory. There aren't any clues about James being stuck in a loop in the original, but not in the remake tho. That's what feels new to me.

[Kurobon]

Originally posted by Vagrant:

Originally posted by Kurobon:

This is not "new" or a "theory." SH1 overtly shows that Harry is stuck in SH. that is the device they used for NG+. Harry always wakes at the same coffee shop to relive the story again, and in SH2 Remake this is referenced.

In James case, the equivalent for "waking up" would be the mirror stare at the beginning.

It's always been know there's about three versions of the town; and the player only experiences two versions of the town that are literally cut out of space, hence, trapping players out of space. SH1 movie is not cannon but they got that right; the movie actually show the "real town" and the main character stuck in place in an alternate version of it.

Now, If someone is stuck in space, they are also stuck on time. This is not necessarily a "time loop" but it would be how being stuck "in place" would be. In this case, apparently for 20 years.

Because Silent Hill 3 exist, The Good ending in SH1 is canon. Harry escapes the town alive. Wether it's Good+ or not, we'll never know.

James' corpses in the original SH2 was lazy move by the devs which turned into a dark theory. There aren't any clues about James being stuck in a loop in the original, but not in the remake tho. That's what feels new to me.

.
James corpses are definitively not a lazy move.

The fact that Harry goes to adopt Cheryl, to kill her, see her rebirth, and adopt her again, literally shows that they are both trapped and bound to Silent Hill. Until he ends it. Harry is an unreliable narrator as well. Again, you're thinking of a "time loop" when this is a spatial loop.

James is 100% shown trapped in SH2. If the mirror scenes does not hint to it, of the fact that he is or was an institutionalized patient of a psych hospital there so he is literally trapped; all ritual endings and even joke endings require James to have a prior knowledge of the events and town history beforehand, which occurs after one run.

[The Fountaineer 🖋]

Originally posted by Kurobon:

Originally posted by Vagrant:

Because Silent Hill 3 exist, The Good ending in SH1 is canon. Harry escapes the town alive. Wether it's Good+ or not, we'll never know.

James' corpses in the original SH2 was lazy move by the devs which turned into a dark theory. There aren't any clues about James being stuck in a loop in the original, but not in the remake tho. That's what feels new to me.

.
James corpses are definitively not a lazy move.

The fact that Harry goes to adopt Cheryl, to kill her, see her rebirth, and adopt her again, literally shows that they are both trapped and bound to Silent Hill. Until he ends it. Harry is an unreliable narrator as well. Again, you're thinking of a "time loop" when this is a spatial loop.

James is 100% shown trapped in SH2. If the mirror scenes does not hint to it, of the fact that he is literally an institutionalized patient of a psych hospital there so he is literally trapped; all ritual endings and even joke endings require James to have a prior knowledge of the events and town history beforehand, which occurs after one run.

Spicy take. Personally, I’m a fan that nothing is true, all is permitted in Silent Hill. After all, the occult is all about harnessing the power of subjectivity, is it not?