Silent Hill 2 Story/Symbolism Explained (MANY MANY MANY SPOILERS)

[Starwight/ttv]

I will say again, in case it's not obvious--HEAVY spoilers ahead. If you have not finished Silent Hill 2, DO NOT READ. You have been warned, and I take no responsibility if you get spoiled

So I have seen a couple posts crop up, from what I think are new players not familiar with Silent Hill--or players who just did not catch some of the symbology or just didn't get some of the story. So, in an attempt to help people understand the game, if there is any confusion afterwards for some people, I have put together a huge synopsis and somewhat deep dive into SH2's story and narrative symbolism. Again, do not read ANY FURTHER if you haven't had at least 1 ending to the game.

What Is Silent Hill?

So one question I've been seeing floating around; is Silent Hill even real? Did James dream all of this up? Is Silent Hill some kind of purgatory? Well the answer is no, but yes. But really, no.

Without spoiling other games, let me say that yes, Silent Hill is a real place in the game's universe. It is not an allegory for purgatory, it is a very real place that people can visit. Due to events that are mentioned in Silent Hill 1, the town of Silent Hill basically has the ability to manifest aspects of a person's psyche. It "calls" to certain people. Those that find themselves involved and embroiled within the town's darker paranormal side, will find themselves facing aspects of their own conscious and subconscious minds. I cannot get into the why without spoiling other games, but leave it at that--Silent Hill is a very real place, and people DO, in fact, live there; but not everyone experiences that paranormal side of Silent Hill and those that DO experience the paranormal side of it, experience the town very differently. More on that later.

So What Happened to James? What IS his story?

So the entire game, James is looking for his dead wife. The first thing to understand, is that James is an unreliable narrator. This only becomes apparent later in the game, towards the end of it.

So the first thing James tells us is that he received a letter from Mary, his wife--but it's impossible because she "died from that damn disease 3 years ago." He then finds himself wandering the town where he meets several other people: Maria, Eddie Dombrowski, Laura, and Angela Orosca. Now of those people, one of them is not a person at all. If you never picked up on it, that is Maria.

So James meets Maria (and I do hope we get the original DLC for the game, Born from a Wish, which goes into her story). She is really a manifestation pulled from James psyche by Silent Hill. We'll come back to Maria later.

James wanders Silent Hill, facing all manners of monsters and he keeps going deeper and deeper into the town; quite literally too, as he frequently jumps down holes. There is some symbology there too, but again, more on the symbology of SH2 later. This is going to be a long af post.

As he journeys, he runs into Pyramid Head--a being he cannot kill, and he is forced to run from him time and time again. He also has to watch Maria die several times over, most of which are from Pyramid Head itself. He also has to deal with Laura throughout, who has a strong negative reaction to him for most of the game until later.

It isn't until the end game when James (and we, the players), learn that his wife did not die of the disease, but he killed her; smothered her with a pillow. This is where a lot of reveals come into play. After this, James runs into the now pyramid head TWINS; he also runs into Maria whom he thinks is Mary. He fights Maria, and depending on how you played the game, he will get one of several endings.


so what really happened to James here? Well, he faced his own inner demons. He faced the lies he told himself, and then he faced the murder he comitted. He faced his mixed feelings and survivor's guilt he had dealt with for 3 years prior to killing Mary. And for those that missed it, Mary did not die 3 years prior to the game. She died fairly recently, as her body is actually in the back seat of his car AND Laura's age also tells us that Mary did not die 3 years before. In James mind she did, because of the disease.

So let's look at James perspective before going into the other characters and the symbology of Silent Hill 2. We see multiple notes, and dialogue that support these, so what I say here, I will try to keep as close to the facts of the game as possible, and try to leave my own theories out of it.

It is shown in the game that Mary, after becoming afflicted with her disease, became very withdrawn. She pushed people away, she argued a lot with James, she had severe mood swings. It became harder and harder for James to take care of her. On top of that, he was sexually frustrated as well. Intimacy in the relationship was all but gone. James would fantasize about the nurses, who's faces he cannot remember, and he had desires he could not meet. Likely this made him feel guilty, but part of him also grew to resent Mary. In his mind, the Mary he knew and loved, was killed by the disease when she first was afflicted 3 years prior to the start of the game. It is shown, with the "Leave" ending, that Mary did ask him to kill her. But James lied to himself and told himself he ONLY did it because she wanted her suffering to end. Of course, he was not facing those other feelings. The resentment, the lack of intimacy, arguably the anger. And of course, guilt for having those feelings in the first place.

All of this plays a significant role in how James views Silent Hill. But Now that we have taken a look at James, we want to briefly examine the other characters.

Laura

Laura was a patient at the same Hospital that Mary was. Mary came to care for her like the daughter that she would never have. The two were very close, and Laura hated the way that James treated Mary. Of course as a child, she wouldn't see or understand the serious mood swings Mary had as well (such as when she screamed at James for bringing her flowers).

Laura was called to Silent Hill, just like James. It was James who planted the idea in her mind that Mary was still alive; she was there to see the place that Mary, a mother figure to her, never got a chance to see again.

Eddie

Eddie was a man who lived a miserable life. Being both physically and mentally abused by other people, bullied and tormented because of his weight. He tells us he killed a dog, and he shot a person (though there's no evidence he actually killed that person). Still, he continues to kill people who look at him a certain way, who make fun of and bully him. You see this in the bodies that riddle the area around him in the final confrontation.

He has become mentally broken and twisted by the time he gets to Silent Hill; and the town takes it's toll on him.

Angela

Probably the most tragic character in the series. When we first meet her, she seems mostly normal, but she periodically switches to a more child-like demeanor, with words like Mama, and the pitch of her voice slightly shifting. You see this happen more and more often as you run into her. There is another moment where she reacts very badly to James touching her. She also is fixated on the knife she carries, and asks James to hold it for her, since she doesn't know what she might do with it if she keeps it.

We find out later that she was sexually abused (I sure hope saying this term doesn't get the mods mad, this is taking a long time to type out) by her father (possibly brother, he is only directly mentioned once afaik), and her own mother tells her she deserved it. She killed her father (and it's theorized her brother as she mentions she was looking for her family early on), but she has been mentally damaged--and unfortunately beyond repair. This took a toll on her, and by the end of the game, she cannot put it behind her (hence her going off into the flaming staircase).

The Symbolism in the Silent Hill 2: JAMES

So now that we have a basic idea that Silent Hill has called these people into the town, and it manifests aspects of people's mind and projects it in a physical way. We see the town from James' perspective, but we can get clues into how each of the characters see the town. But let's start with James.


Pyramid Head

Notice how Pyramid Head cannot be killed? James is left to flee, to run. He has to face him occasionally, but even when he does, he fails. Pyramid Head leaves, or James has to run from him to get to a ladder or elevator, or whatever the case may be. This is because Pyramid Head is a manifestation of James' guilt and his subconscious need to be punished for what he is guilty of. He killed Mary. He had negative thoughts about her as she was sick. It doesn't matter if these are normal feelings for couples to go through when one is terminally ill (there is something called survivor's guilt). He still FEELS guilty; not just for his feelings when Mary was sick, but for killing her as well. He needs Pyramid Head to punish him. Also note that he has to repeatedly watch Maria die over and over and over again; usually to Pyramid Head. This is Pyramid Head taking Mary away again and again, because he doesn't deserve her, or her love.

One more thing to note on Pyramid Head. Notice there was one throughout the entire game--until there's 2. This occurs after James kills Eddie. While he was defending himself, James FEELS guilty; he killed. Again, really. So there are 2 pyramid heads now at the face-off with him.

James backs this idea up when he tells Pyramid Head "I know what you are and why I needed you. But I don't need you anymore." At this point he knows and accepts what he did, and his feelings of guilt. He no longer needs to be punished by him anymore. Depending on your ending, this can be a pretty dark realization at this point.


PART 2 IN NEXT POST

[Starwight/ttv]

CONTINUED FROM PART 1

Maria

Remember earlier, when we said Maria was the only person we meet in the game that isn't real? Well that is because Maria was the idealogical version of Mary. It was Mary re-imagined, from before she fell ill. She embodies all of the things that James missed. She is promiscuous and seductive, because of the loss of intimacy in their marriage after Mary fell ill. She is sweet and kind and understanding, because Mary had pushed him away, she had become argumentative, she lashed out in response to her terminal illness. Maria is the complete opposite of these things.

She makes several comments that justify this idea. She tells James directly "Let me know when you're ready to move on." this had double meaning--yes she meant when leaving Heaven's Night. But she *also* meant when he is ready to move on from Mary. She repeatedly mentions she can be whatever James wants her to be. She is the manifestation of his desires, and of his desire for Mary back as well, hence she looks exactly like Mary. Then there's the fact that, like Mary, Maria dies. And she dies several times. In one scene, we even see her body with splotches insinuating some kind of disease.


The Nursed, the Legs, the Bodybags, and other Bosses

The nurses are faceless, and they are very scantily clad with stockings, their chests very exposed, and they made seductive noises. These represent the urges and desires that James had when Mary was hospitalized.

The legs, you will notice, are also sexualized. They represent similiar things the nurses do; except they are focused on the lust he felt in general.

Bodybag enemies represent, I think, Mary herself. He killed Mary, as I mention, we can see her body in his car, covered up. They are zipped up into some plastic looking material; James smothers Mary, she was unable to breathe much as the bodybags are covered up and bound/helpless (in appearance).

Bed Boss (I don't know the actual names of the monsters and bosses, so hopefully everyone will know exactly what I am referring to). This boss is in the early game, and we see it is in the shape of a bed. It is fairly obvious that this represents Mary, chained to her bed. We even see a feminine hand after we defeat it.

Abstract Daddy: This will be covered in the next section for Angela

Eddie: Also covered in Eddies section, though his is rather short

Maria: Maria turns into a horrific monster strapped to a bed and shooting butterflies at James. The butterflies are obvious to her tattoo. They could also symbolize the metamorphosis of Mary from something James is searching for, to the antagonist of his own mind. Once beaten, she becomes what appears to be a hospital bed, and we hear her call for James repeatedly.

How James Sees the Town

James sees a town full of fog and mist; possibly representing the cloudiness of his mind, the brain fog, the subconscious mind trying to repress the memories of what he did. He sees the town full of the aforementioned monsters, representing his mind. Notice as the game continues later and later, things get more run down, more ruined; just like the decline in the state of James' health; both mental and physical.

Notice there are multiple references to scaffolding covered in large white sheets. This is an obvious nod, once you know what happened, to the hospital bed and hospital curtains that Mary and James had to endure.

This about covers the symbology of James. This was the longest and most in depth part, simply because we see things from James' perspective. The rest will be a lot less, much smaller headings. Also note this is not the be all/end all. There is a LOT of other symbolism for James, but this is the most notable. If I am forgetting anything incredibly important, feel free to mention it in the thread!


Other

Finally, a couple other bits of symbolism I didn't know how to classify elsewhere. Mary's body is in the car; it is also strongly insinuated he never had a letter from her. The letter in James' inventory will be a blank piece of paper by the end of the game, showing how degraded his mind was; he didn't receive a letter at all.

Also we see that, in some way, he tried to honor his last promise to Mary. With her body in the back of his car, we know that he tried to bring Mary to Silent Hill one last time.

The Symbolism in the Silent Hill 2: Angela

This is probably the next longest part, but there's still not much to say here as we only get a glimpse into what she sees. That said, there is a lot we can infer from the game. Let's start with hints to her childhood trauma.

First, there is how she continues to slip into a more and more submissive/child-like demeanor. Then there is her reaction to James. She says things like "You only want ONE thing." She also freaks out when James mentions a little girl in town. Then with her knife, she says she is afraid of what she might do with it if James doesn't take it--and at the end of the game she asks for it back. When James refuses, she asks him if he wants it for himself. We can really see that she has gotten to a point that she does not want to deal with her own mental anguish and pain anymore. She even explicitely tells us she was sexually abused because she tells James "you could always force me like he did." There's no other way to interpret that one; if you didn't pick up what she went through from other dialogue and behavior, you'll pick it up here.

The symbolism of Angela we really only see in two places.

abstract daddy

Now that we know from her dialogue, what she went through, this monster becomes truly horrific. We see two individuals wrapped up in bed-sheets; one clearly dominant over the other. This, of course, represents what her father did to her. What some may have missed, however, is the backdrop of the fight itself. The pistons noisily grinding away, the movement of the pistons as well. I can't get too detailed, or I might get this flagged; but it doesn't take a lot of imagination here to get an idea of what this represents. Then in the last room, we see various things resembling holes in the flesh-like walls. I'll leave that right there.


How Angela Perceives Silent Hill

We don't get a lot here, but we get a couple indications. For one, at the flaming staircase, James states "it's hot as hell in here." Angela, surprised, tells him "You can see it too? It's always like this." Right here, we can see that she likely views the town as constantly burning, like a literal hell. This is probably representative of her inner rage at her family (remember, she at very least killed her father. She may have killed her brother too. Maybe even her mother, we just don't know). It probably also represents the torment and pain she has to live through because of the trauma she had to endure.

We also can assume she does not perceive any monsters. There's never any indication that she sees monsters, as she doesn't carry any sort of weapon and gives James the only thing she could possibly use in self defense. This insinuates she believes herself to be more of a danger than anything else. She is also very evasive when James asks her if the town is dangerous. So very likely, she is walking around in a monsterless town full of fire (maybe ash?).

Now we will get into Eddie. Very little there, but to be thorough I'll cover what little there is next.

The Symbolism in the Silent Hill 2: Eddie

We already went over what Eddie did. He was tormented, made fun of and bullied for his appearance, leading to poor self esteem, and feelings of self worth. He comes to the conclusion he tells James--it doesn't matter if you're pretty or ugly...it's all the same when you're dead. He became murderous; enjoying the feeling of killing a dog and watching it suffer. He also shot someone (didn't kill him), and carries that rage.


Eddie We don't get a boss like Abstract Daddy with Eddie. Instead we face Eddie himself. Before the encounter, we see several bodies that are littering the room and he mentions how he always comes back. The town is manifesting people bullying Eddie, bringing to light all of his self doubts, his weight, his feelings of worthlessness. He kills them every time, and the town keeps manifesting them.

In the boss fight we see hunks of meat in a freezer. It's cold, like Eddie has become. The hunks of meat are vaguely dog shaped, I have noticed; likely him clinging to the memory of having power over something. Watching something suffer like he has.


How Eddie Perceives Silent Hill

We don't get anything as blatant as with Angela. But we do see the backdrop of the fight with Eddie--which is incredibly cold, frozen, desolate. Hunks of meat hanging everywhere. In the theater, you can also see Eddie's breath, as if he is in the cold. Now you might have attributed that to the icecream he is eating. However, that icecream is melted. He is scooping it out with his hands (you see the pink stains as he licks his fingers). So it can't be that icecream making his breath cold--it's room temperature. So with these two clues, we can get an idea that Silent Hill is some sort of cold desolation for him; perhaps a cold and frigid winter, representing how cold he has become to everyone and how isolated he feels from other people. We also find a dead body with almost every meeting with him, save the theater--so more pushing the idea that the town is tormenting him with people bullying him; testing him time and time again, but he keeps failing.


And now the smallest section: Laura.

The Symbolism in the Silent Hill 2: Laura

There is not much to say here. We know she new Mary; was sick in the same hospital. We know she wanted to come to silent hill, likely to honor the wishes of Mary, and see it in her stead.


How Laura Perceives Silent Hill

Laura is an 8 year old girl. She is still innocent. There is not any baggage for the town to manifest. Still, we know she feels lonely without Mary. She is angry at James; she doesn't know James killed Mary, but she does know she's heard them arguing and that she feels James was mean to Mary in the hospital. She is also able to move freely about--something she wouldn't be able to do if the town was dangerous to her.

Laura likely sees Silent Hill much like James does initially--just an abandoned town, representing her sadness and loneliness without Mary. But she doesn't run into monsters or encounter anything dangerous. We know at least Laura doesn't perceive the town as dangerous as she seems genuinely surprised and questions it when James tells her it is dangerous.

Wrapping Up

As you can see, Silent Hill and it's symbolism runs incredibly deep. There's a hell of a lot more to it than I covered here, but I believe I hit on the main points. For those who were posting asking about the story, or struggling to keep up with just what in the hell happened in the story, I hope this helps to explain it.

I would have liked to get into why the town is the way it is, but I don't want to spoil Silent Hill 1 for people who have yet to play it. But go play the game. Seriously, find a way to play the game. There's a lot of room here to expand on points or add to them, so if there's anything else you want to point out with the symbolism or story of Silent Hill, feel free to post it here.

I also didn't cover the endings. There's 8 of them. This post is already long tf enough. ALSO, since this should in theory help you understand the story a bit more, you can easily apply that to the endings.

I will say my favorite ending is the Stillness ending. It has the same vibes as the In Water ending, but there's an added bit I feel James deserved. I won't spoil it, but go for that ending next if you haven't seen it. Someone posted an endings guide already, so peek in the guides section of the community for how to get it.

Hope this helps! Now to rest my hands, before I develop carpel tunnel from typing so much

[FruitBat Man]

Silent Hill as an entity is contradictory at best. The silent Hill 2 seems to be more neutral on a scale of good or evil


Everyone in silent Hill 2 (minus Laura) punished themselves. Maybe the exception is Eddie... He more wanted to punish others by the end but he definitely came there because he felt guilty. I'm not certain Laura was called to silent Hill. I think she's read the note and went there. I think like cybil in silent Hill 1, she got transported to the foggy silent Hill by proximity to someone else who was called in. The reason she doesn't see monsters is because she doesn't have a guilty conscience

while silent Hill 1 and 3 is more evil. Silent Hill 1 and 3 I guess it depends on if you believe the God was a manifestation because they believed he was or it was real and that's why they worshiped it.

I don't think the god was real in order for silent Hill 2 to fit in with the rest of it. The cult was so delusional that they believe the God was real therefore it was. But it's hard to explain Heather in silent Hill 3 outside of silent Hill the town proper. Because we definitely saw manifestations outside of silent Hill. One of the greatest and worst parts about the Lore is that they don't actually tell you anything. Silent Hill 2 just doesn't fit in a neat package compared to the rest

[Starwight/ttv]

Originally posted by FruitBat Man:

Silent Hill as an entity is contradictory at best. The silent Hill 2 seems to be more neutral on a scale of good or evil


Everyone in silent Hill 2 (minus Laura) punished themselves. Maybe the exception is Eddie... He more wanted to punish others by the end but he definitely came there because he felt guilty.

while silent Hill 1 and 3 is more evil. Silent Hill 1 and 3 I guess it depends on if you believe the God was a manifestation because they believed he was or it was real and that's why they worshiped it.

I don't think the god was real in order for silent Hill 2 to fit in with the rest of it. The cult was so delusional that they believe the God was real therefore it was. But it's hard to explain Heather in silent Hill 3 outside of silent Hill the town proper. Because we definitely saw manifestations outside of silent Hill. One of the greatest and worst parts about the Lore is that they don't actually tell you anything. Silent Hill 2 just doesn't fit in a neat package compared to the rest

They don't have to tell us everything, they very strongly imply things. Of course, I do believe that SH1 had some plot holes (although I haven't played that game in like 2 decades so I don't remember much but the overarching plot anyway), but 3 basically wrapped those up.

I don't count any SH outside of 4 relevant to the universe, because those games didn't stick with lore. For example, you can't really use Homecoming for anything lore based because they screwed the lore so hard.

If you look at 1-4, you get a pretty solid and stable set of lore, and you know (to a degree), why Silent Hill is the way it is.

[FruitBat Man]

Originally posted by Starwight/ttv:

Originally posted by FruitBat Man:

Silent Hill as an entity is contradictory at best. The silent Hill 2 seems to be more neutral on a scale of good or evil


Everyone in silent Hill 2 (minus Laura) punished themselves. Maybe the exception is Eddie... He more wanted to punish others by the end but he definitely came there because he felt guilty.

while silent Hill 1 and 3 is more evil. Silent Hill 1 and 3 I guess it depends on if you believe the God was a manifestation because they believed he was or it was real and that's why they worshiped it.

I don't think the god was real in order for silent Hill 2 to fit in with the rest of it. The cult was so delusional that they believe the God was real therefore it was. But it's hard to explain Heather in silent Hill 3 outside of silent Hill the town proper. Because we definitely saw manifestations outside of silent Hill. One of the greatest and worst parts about the Lore is that they don't actually tell you anything. Silent Hill 2 just doesn't fit in a neat package compared to the rest

They don't have to tell us everything, they very strongly imply things. Of course, I do believe that SH1 had some plot holes (although I haven't played that game in like 2 decades so I don't remember much but the overarching plot anyway), but 3 basically wrapped those up.

I don't count any SH outside of 4 relevant to the universe, because those games didn't stick with lore. For example, you can't really use Homecoming for anything lore based because they screwed the lore so hard.

If you look at 1-4, you get a pretty solid and stable set of lore, and you know (to a degree), why Silent Hill is the way it is.

Yes and no. Like I said silent Hill 2 doesn't really fit.

If you believe the God is real then the God was dormant for silent Hill twos iteration. In fact it wasn't even in silent Hill anymore. If you believe that God was a manifestation itself then how could it exist outside of silent Hill?

And if it's real back to the original point it would be dormant and not able to control silent Hill. There's no evidence that Heather was getting hallucinations growing up.

I love these games but there has to be a plot hole there's no way that I can see yet that ties everything up in a neat bow

[Starwight/ttv]

Originally posted by FruitBat Man:

Originally posted by Starwight/ttv:

They don't have to tell us everything, they very strongly imply things. Of course, I do believe that SH1 had some plot holes (although I haven't played that game in like 2 decades so I don't remember much but the overarching plot anyway), but 3 basically wrapped those up.

I don't count any SH outside of 4 relevant to the universe, because those games didn't stick with lore. For example, you can't really use Homecoming for anything lore based because they screwed the lore so hard.

If you look at 1-4, you get a pretty solid and stable set of lore, and you know (to a degree), why Silent Hill is the way it is.

Yes and no. Like I said silent Hill 2 doesn't really fit.

If you believe the God is real then the God was dormant for silent Hill twos iteration. In fact it wasn't even in silent Hill anymore. If you believe that God was a manifestation itself then how could it exist outside of silent Hill?

And if it's real back to the original point it would be dormant and not able to control silent Hill. There's no evidence that Heather was getting hallucinations growing up

"God" neccessarily isn't real in the SH universe, but the rituals they were using absolutely are. And who is to say what their God is? We just don't know. What we DO know (and this is delving further into other SH lore than I'd like for this thread, because we are getting into spoiler territory), is that whatever entity the cult was worshiping and bringing into the world, is going to essentially be a rebirth. The cultists see this as paradise. But given how strong the rituals of SH are, that is a very sketchy idea at best.

One thing we can be absolutely certain of is that Silent Hill is a real place. Silent HIll 2 takes place in the established Silent Hill universe, but it's self contained. It doesn't really relate to the cult, but there is a couple references to it, and we have a new ending that directly relates to the ritual of rebirth.

So yes, Silent Hill is a genuine place. We see multiple people go there in the canon. As far as Heather, we have no evidence of anything of her time growing up. Plus, if you know who she is, there may well be damn good reasons she didn't have visions growing up. But we also don't know that she didn't.

[FruitBat Man]

Originally posted by Starwight/ttv:

Originally posted by FruitBat Man:

Yes and no. Like I said silent Hill 2 doesn't really fit.

If you believe the God is real then the God was dormant for silent Hill twos iteration. In fact it wasn't even in silent Hill anymore. If you believe that God was a manifestation itself then how could it exist outside of silent Hill?

And if it's real back to the original point it would be dormant and not able to control silent Hill. There's no evidence that Heather was getting hallucinations growing up

"God" neccessarily isn't real in the SH universe, but the rituals they were using absolutely are. And who is to say what their God is? We just don't know. What we DO know (and this is delving further into other SH lore than I'd like for this thread, because we are getting into spoiler territory), is that whatever entity the cult was worshiping and bringing into the world, is going to essentially be a rebirth. The cultists see this as paradise. But given how strong the rituals of SH are, that is a very sketchy idea at best.

One thing we can be absolutely certain of is that Silent Hill is a real place. Silent HIll 2 takes place in the established Silent Hill universe, but it's self contained. It doesn't really relate to the cult, but there is a couple references to it, and we have a new ending that directly relates to the ritual of rebirth.

So yes, Silent Hill is a genuine place. We see multiple people go there in the canon. As far as Heather, we have no evidence of anything of her time growing up. Plus, if you know who she is, there may well be damn good reasons she didn't have visions growing up. But we also don't know that she didn't.

That's exactly what I mean silent Hill 2 is the outlier that doesn't fit story-wise with the rest of it.
I'm okay with it I kind of see it as a side story honestly almost self-contained

[Starwight/ttv]

Originally posted by FruitBat Man:

Originally posted by Starwight/ttv:

"God" neccessarily isn't real in the SH universe, but the rituals they were using absolutely are. And who is to say what their God is? We just don't know. What we DO know (and this is delving further into other SH lore than I'd like for this thread, because we are getting into spoiler territory), is that whatever entity the cult was worshiping and bringing into the world, is going to essentially be a rebirth. The cultists see this as paradise. But given how strong the rituals of SH are, that is a very sketchy idea at best.

One thing we can be absolutely certain of is that Silent Hill is a real place. Silent HIll 2 takes place in the established Silent Hill universe, but it's self contained. It doesn't really relate to the cult, but there is a couple references to it, and we have a new ending that directly relates to the ritual of rebirth.

So yes, Silent Hill is a genuine place. We see multiple people go there in the canon. As far as Heather, we have no evidence of anything of her time growing up. Plus, if you know who she is, there may well be damn good reasons she didn't have visions growing up. But we also don't know that she didn't.

That's exactly what I mean silent Hill 2 is the outlier that doesn't fit story-wise with the rest of it.
I'm okay with it I kind of see it as a side story honestly almost self-contained

Oh okay, I think I misunderstood your initial point, my bad.

No it absolutely is self contained. It's based in the same universe as Silent Hill, but it is an outlier in that, none of the cult stuff from the other games matters all that much. At most, they explain why the town is the way it is--something not strictly neccessary for the game, but it does come to importance to show that when people start to ask if what James went through really happened, or if he was really dead going through a limbo (I've seen this elsewhere, so some people without any knowledge of SH actually thought this). And I mean that's a fair conclusion if you don't know that Silent Hill exists in universe, it's just a hub of some major effed up ♥♥♥♥♥, because of these doomsday cultists (and even that statement is an oversimplification).

I just made this write-up because I've seen quite a few comments now, where some folks didn't really understand some aspects of the story. It's undoubtedly not perfect, but I hope it at least covers the gist of things with 2 well enough.