I Just Realized Something (Mary, END GAME SPOILRS)

[Starwight/ttv]

Major, MAJOR spoilers ahead, do NOT read this unless you have beaten the game at least once.

So, back in the original PS2 days of the game, we didn't have the context of Mary's body being in the back seat of James' car to really narrow down when she died. Now that we do, I just realized that we can really narrow down a plausible timeline of when Mary died.

In Lakeview Hotel, Laura's letter wishes her a happy 8th birthday. When James asks how old Laura is, she explicitly states she turned 8 "last week."

Being that Mary had to have been alive to write the letter, this means she had to have died within the week. But we can extrapolate she died even closer to the start of the game--possibly within a few hours. We KNOW her body is in the back of James' car. We also know she was hospitalized and bedridden--and not in Silent Hill, since she never got a chance to go back after her and James went there on vacation (her statement "you promised to take me there someday...but you never did" backs this up).

Now we don't know how far where she was bedridden is from Silent Hill, but I highly doubt it was that far. Silent Hill is a resort town, so I'd guess they live a few hours or so away. So it is VERY likely, I think, that the game takes place within a few hours of James killing Mary!

I say this, because I highly doubt James was just cruising for days with a dead body in his car. No, I think he was trying to fulfill his last promise to her, by way of taking her body to Silent Hill. This really shows how terrible the state of Jame's mental health really was, if within a matter of hours, he completely dissociated and suppressed the memories of what he did.

What do you think; could James have killed Mary within just a handful of hours prior to the start of this game?

[pythonfp]

I agree.
The irony is that he probably wanted to somewhat respect Mary's wish to return to Silent Hill and was about to commit suicide meaning when you get the "In Water" and, even worse, "Stillness" ending, you're doing what he was originally commited to do. Oo

So what's the point of the story ?
The letter, he never got Mary's letter which was in a nurse's locker and fortunately got stolen by Laura.
The "Leaving" ending is the only one where James read the letter and goes on with his life, respecting Mary's final wish.

[Starwight/ttv]

Originally posted by pythonfp:

I agree.
The irony is that he probably wanted to somewhat respect Mary's wish to return to Silent Hill and was about to commit suicide meaning when you get the "In Water" and, even worse, "Stillness" ending, you're doing what he was originally commited to do. Oo

So what's the point of the story ?
The letter, he never got Mary's letter which was in a nurse's locker and fortunately got stolen by Laura.
The "Leaving" ending is the only one where James read the letter and goes on with his life, respecting Mary's final wish.

Indeed. I think the leave ending is most akin to what Mary would want. Personally, I prefer the In Water or Stillness endings, because I think it's more befitting to the type of story it is.

Fun fact if you did not notice it, btw. The letter from Mary that you have--as time goes on, the words will disappear. And eventually the letter itself will to! It was like that in the OG too, and I'm so glad Blooper kept that in.

[pythonfp]

Originally posted by Starwight/ttv:

Fun fact if you did not notice it, btw. The letter from Mary that you have--as time goes on, the words will disappear. And eventually the letter itself will to! It was like that in the OG too, and I'm so glad Blooper kept that in.

It's one of the things I checked while playing the remake. ;)

Another point that puzzled me in the original game was the "ritual" ending : you see James with Mary's corpse in a boat.
I wondered how he could so conveniently fetch the body considering she didn't die in Silent Hill... :P

[Starwight/ttv]

Originally posted by pythonfp:

Originally posted by Starwight/ttv:

Fun fact if you did not notice it, btw. The letter from Mary that you have--as time goes on, the words will disappear. And eventually the letter itself will to! It was like that in the OG too, and I'm so glad Blooper kept that in.

It's one of the things I checked while playing the remake. ;)

Another point that puzzled me in the original game was the "ritual" ending : you see James with Mary's corpse in a boat.
I wondered how he could so conveniently fetch the body considering she didn't die in Silent Hill... :P

That is one ending I've never actively achieved. Same with the, apparently famous, dog ending. I only ever got the 3 main endings in the OG. But if he had her body during the ritual ending, that is awesome--that implies even back in the OG days, they had intended her to be there; the ps2 just couldn't render it. That's pretty damn cool, it's almost like the devs full vision finally being realized!

[pythonfp]

Originally posted by Starwight/ttv:

that implies even back in the OG days, they had intended her to be there; the ps2 just couldn't render it. That's pretty damn cool, it's almost like the devs full vision finally being realized!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYCRABCDEv4&ab_channel=SilentHillMemories

In fact the body was properly rendered. Unfortunalely I couldn't find a video with better quality.
The developers used the 3d model of sick mary on her bed during her post-mortem exchange with James following the fight with Maria.

[Starwight/ttv]

Originally posted by pythonfp:

Originally posted by Starwight/ttv:

that implies even back in the OG days, they had intended her to be there; the ps2 just couldn't render it. That's pretty damn cool, it's almost like the devs full vision finally being realized!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYCRABCDEv4&ab_channel=SilentHillMemories

In fact the body was properly rendered. Unfortunalely I couldn't find a video with better quality.
The developers used the 3d model of sick mary on her bed during her post-mortem exchange with James following the fight with Maria.

Oh, I meant the PS2 probably just couldn't render it proper in the back seat of the car, with the windows. They couldn't really hint at it with the vehicle like they could in the remake.

That is quite the chilling ending though; feels very The Order Culty to me.

[pythonfp]

Originally posted by Starwight/ttv:

Oh, I meant the PS2 probably just couldn't render it proper in the back seat of the car, with the windows. They couldn't really hint at it with the vehicle like they could in the remake.

That is quite the chilling ending though; feels very The Order Culty to me.

I see your point now.
True, every vehicle in the game had opaque windows since it would have been a bother to make a render of their interiors and add nothing to the gameplay.
Had the developers done a special treatment for James car with see-through windows on the back, no doubt lore seekers would have sniffed the hint in record time. :o

[Philippe(4s)🔥]

Id like to think he and Laura reads the letter in all the endings. Also I like Laura's gesture after she hands James her letter, its sorta apologetic and tryna make up for what happened even onwards.

[BlissDefiler]

NO. THEY NEED TO MAKE SPOILER POSTS NOT SHOW THE TEXT WHEN YOU SCROLL OVER IT.

[BlissDefiler]

James is also the son of the apartment owner in Silent Hill 4. His dad points out how him and his wife went missing in Silent Hill. This was all worked out years ago though, that James killed mary like 0-3 days earlier.

[hahaisfunny]

you need to play the game 8 times and you will know the truth....
they are in the cycle of James struggle mind. there's fake letter and real letter, one for James from James himself, and one for Laura from Mary. and your theory is....obviously...not quiet correct. even James body enter silent hill or not, he did enter silent hill with his conscious to find his answers which covered in his heart deeply.
and remake one is..... kind of making by the fans...
So... enjoy anyway