Silent Hill Two is a psychological horror game surrounding the mental trials of James Sunderland

after his wife, Mary Sunderland’s, death. Years following her passing, James is shocked to receive a letter
from Mary instructing him to return to the town of Silent Hill to meet with her once again. In an act of
confusion and desperation, James leaves for Silent Hill and in turn must confront not only the
manifestations of his mental state, but also the repercussions of his feeling and actions leading up to his
late wife’s death.

The player is introduced to James early on and experiences the events of the game through a
third person perspective while controlling his choices and actions, leading to a multiple ending
experience. Throughout the game, the player is immediately shown the duality of emotions that James
experiences as a direct result of his wife’s death. James first shows signs of pain, suffering, and loss due
to grief but when confronted with the town of Silent Hill and the creatures that reside there, it is
revealed that they are manifestations of James’ selfishness, guilt, and repression of these emotions.
Anger, sadness, sexual desire, and his memories are all parts of James internal psyche that influence the
experiences he endures in the town. Because of these factors that he most likely directed towards Mary
before she passed, every single monster and manifestation of horror in Silent Hill is feminine in nature.
The way he responds to these manifestations also affects the way that the story transpires for him in the
end ie. If he chooses to attack or kill the monsters throughout the game when it is not necessary, it can
be seen as an indirect act of aggression towards Mary.

The Lying Figure is the first creature that makes its appearance in Silent Hill and its physical
appearance is described through a tight and constricted form which represents James’ sadness and his
weakness due to his inability to prevent Mary’s death. This weakness is also apparent in his physical
appearance as he enters the town of Silent Hill without any way to defend himself and his stature is
average and non-intimidating. The second creature that is presented to James is the Nurse which takes
on a physically feminine humanoid form with short revealing dresses in order to represent his sexual
desires. Their faces are also covered in order to represent James’ dehumanization of women in the face
of sexuality. The Nurses are commonly found in the hospital and surrounding areas of Silent Hill because
that is where Mary was most of the time leading up to her death and most likely when James
experienced much of his sexual frustration as Mary was no longer desirable to him. Another creature
that represented James’ anger towards women were the mannequins which are encountered
throughout the games map. These creatures are depicted as conjoined mannequin legs without arms,
torsos, or heads. This is due to the underlying sexual nature and a part of James’ mentality which sees
female bodies only as sexual devices. The final and most important Silent Hill creature that is directly
related to James is Pyramid Head. Pyramid Head’s physical form depicts James’ desire to be seen as
dominant, masculine, and violent. He also acts as a mirror into James’ internal psyche throughout the
game and acts as a guide to lead him through his subconscious struggles. At first glance, Pyramid Head
can be seen as an enemy to James specifically, but it is the monster’s nature to be violent even to the
other creatures. In the moments when James must confront him, Pyramid Head gives James the option
to either live or die. Because they are mirrors or each other, any time during the duration of the game in
which James is killed by PH, it is because James wanted to die. If James makes the effort to fight off PH,
he will leave James be and continues to act as a guide, leading him further through the town of Silent Hill
to confront his actions.

Besides James, there are other characters that the town of Silent hill calls to. Angela is first
introduced to James in a cemetery as she came to the town to visit her deceased father. Her relationship
with him is not yet revealed at that point but it is heavily implied upon her first appearance that she is
suicidal, both in her words and demeanor. This is further reinforced during her second appearance
where she is found alone staring into a mirror with a knife. As the story progresses, it is revealed that she
was a victim of childhood sexual assault at the hands of her late father. This trauma visualizes itself with
the way that she acts and looks throughout her appearances in the game as she dresses very modestly
for her age (19) and comes across as very mature due to her having to grow up too quickly. Her clothing
can also represent her possible body dysmorphia. During her confrontation with the town’s
manifestation of her father, it is implied that Angela killed her father in an act of self defense and was
called to Silent Hill not only to atone for her actions, but in order to confront her ongoing feelings of
resentment as she wants to harm her mother and siblings for not interfering with her father’s violence
towards her. While Angela is in Silent Hill to confront her own battles, she and the other minor
characters act as reminders and warnings to James as to why he is there and what will happen to him if
he isn’t able to come to terms with his actions.

Another character that assists James for this purpose is Maria. Maria is most like Mary in
appearance, and it can be inferred that she is James’ internalized desires. She is depicted wearing
revealing clothing and speaks and acts in a sensual way while following James through portions of the
game. This manifestation of Mary can be seen as the town’s way of reminding him of her as well as his
treatment and actions towards her in her final moments. Although Maria can be seen as a manifestation
of James’ mind, she is set apart from the other creatures as she is the only one to intentionally hold
James back from progression mentally. While the other manifestations may attempt to physically harm
James, they all act as ways for him to either overcome or give into his inner most desires. Maria does the
opposite as she is often seen hindering James’ progression through exploring the town and acts as a
distraction in order to keep him oblivious to his goals.

On the contrary, the character of Laura is one that truly exemplifies James’ innermost desires to
change and to repent for his actions in the past, especially regarding his relationship with Mary. Although
her character, depicted as a young girl, did not have as much depth and backstory as some of the other
minor characters, it should be noted that she possessed the most influence over James throughout his
progression in Silent Hill. She acted as a constant reminder of what James did leading up to Mary’s death
as well as what could have been had she recovered from her illness. Laura can also be seen as a means
of hope for James as he is given the option to adopt her if he successfully comes to terms with his past
and chooses to move forward, outside the town of Silent Hill. Beyond her connection to James, Laura
also acts as a representation of Mary’s desires as well. Throughout the game, Mary is only mentioned
through recollections James has of her, but Laura provides a contrasting point of view. She represents
Mary’s desire for peace, understanding, and comfort.

As James progresses through the game and interacts with these characters, his past begins to
come forward as his memories reveal themselves. This is especially true during his final interactions with
another character named Eddy. At first glance, Eddy is defensive and violent towards anyone that
attempts to interact with him. His fragility towards others is due to low self-esteem as a direct result of
years of severe bullying. It is also apparent that Eddy has a poor relationship with food due to a history
of disordered eating which also relates back to his bullying experience. The town of Silent Hill calls to
Eddy because he reveals his homicidal tendencies and actions in response to his trauma. During his final
moments in Silent Hill, he is given the choice to kill James in an act of aggression and desperation, as he
has become dependent on the power that killing has given him, but James kills him first in an act of self-
defense. This moment triggers repressed memories within James as his actions have revealed that this
was not the first time, he had taken a life.

Upon returning to his hotel room in Silent hill, James plays a tape found during his quest for
answers. The tape reveals his final moments with his wife Mary who was hospitalized due to an
unnamed disease. She was given three months left to live and James created a false reality out of
desperation in which Mary had already been deceased for the past three years, in order to lessen the
pain of her oncoming departure. With these delusions set into motion, James, watching the hospital
footage, realizes the truth of his experience in that it was himself that killed Mary through suffocation.