[CORRECTIONS] - (3:58) In reference to TGM’s video, Team Silent was a real developer group within Konami, but many members changed around per game and were not unified under a singular vision. - (1:03:47) (1:26:40) I dubiously conflated Alessa's innate power with the manifestation of her nightmare in some places. While Alessa's innate power amlified her nightmare invading reality, they are separate phenomena. - (1:27:38) The Midwich map is oriented 90 degrees clockwise, so my compass directions are incorrect. - (1:08:30) Snow is likely not a manifestation, but the temperature change is. Fog is not a manifestation. - Subtitles are fixed. - (1:42:32) It is unclear when Alessa's nightmare began spilling out in full. Whether the nightmare invaded before or after she merged with Cheryl is unknown, but considering Lisa's experience (1:16:28), it is more likely before, but not by much as Lisa and Kaufmann both claim the nightmare invaded very recently (1:07:25). This may account for Cybil's phone call (1:46:12) and subsequent abandonment of her motorcycle occurring before Alessa caused Harry's car to crash. - I forgot to credit the Silent Hill Level Viewer! Fixed in the description. - I am very broke. Maybe help me out on Patreon? patreon.com/themidnightsnow
@@themidnightsnow I finished watching your video and wanted to say thanks. Not only did you explain the crazy story too this game, but you answered other things I didn't understand. Such as alessa killing the cop Gucci I always thought it was dahlia that killed him. Anyway thanks again i will watch more videos of yours.
Thanks, it was a year plus of research and playing this game to death to get here! I actually wouldn’t have put it together either if Heather hadn’t said Alessa “could kill people just by wishing for it.” I looked back at SH1 and it was there the whole time 🤯
Because the god in SH1 is what Alessa believed it to look like based on the image of it at the altar. Her drawing of it makes clear that that is the form she had in mind. It manifested from that image. In SH3, Claudia is primarily the one doing the manifesting. While she is working to birth the god, she mostly just wants her friend Alessa back. Her salvation was in reuniting with Alessa so the god looks like a monstrous, incomplete version of Alessa. (It’s a bit more complicated than that but that’s the basic idea.)
I thought about that same thing, "how dark have I been lately that I keep getting all these amazing silent hill videos from channels I've never seen a video from" @@amcstoner3372
Hahahaha yeah I do the same. I’m old enough that I was 19 when the original came out, so I got to experience the games in real time. I have forgotten so many things over the years, so watching these essays manages to keep the games close to me.
It seems as if the silent hill games really spoke to a specific slice of our generation. We all grieve at some point in life, and have to make sense of events that we don't understand. These games oddly enough sorta gave us a frame of reference for the absolutely trash world we'd be trying to navigate as adults. God love y'all, stay safe out there.
my entry into these games was silent hill 3 demo on a playstation magazine, then i picked up silent hill 2, and wasnt expecting something like this to make me remember childhood trauma that i was burying deep in my subconscious..it helped me grieve too but for my self, my old innocent self.
@@isaiasrico589 it's crazy you bring it up. I played SH1 at my buddy's house down the street and then 2 and 4 at another friend's house on Xbox. And today my son and I found my original Xbox in the basement. I plugged everything into an old VCR/crtv combo I have down here too and it still works and turns on. I'm gonna buy all the original Xbox titles so we can play then together when he gets a little older. But yeah there's a nostalgia here for these games. Like a vacation town we all went to as kids and we are all connected through our time there.
Now that you say it, I think many of us who played through the fogs of the town of Silent Hill while being teenagers surely learned prematurely about the struggles of the human mind. The ones who went through depression and melancholy would also certainly feel super at home while playing Silent Hill. I had a fotolog where I created a fanfiction called "My Torture: Break the Edge of Insanity", super SH inspired. And I remember that in the worst moments of sadness and darkness, the town of Silent Hill was like a home, a place that seemed even better than the real world, and although it is a videogame, it felt more real than life itself, for my perception at least. And to be honest, whenever the city I now live in becomes foggy, I just feel nice and safe again. There is a joy in the silence of an empty street and the fog. I love Silent Hill and it's a beautiful artistic masterpiece that helped me a lot to become the very wizard I am today. Amazing.
@@Haruchemy exactly. With all the crazy weather lately we had a week recently that was extremely foggy, and I would catch myself just staring out sometimes smiling. It's familiar now. Like a cousin you haven't seen in a while
To me Alessa is a saint, she is entirely good, because if she sacrificed herself to stop the ritual from being completed, she gave her life to stop evil from entering this world. Cheryl is half of Alessa, and Cheryl is also entirely good. And even when she is bonded to the evil god, she still protects those she can.
I find Alessa’s powers and reincarnation to have that distinct Japanese flavor. She’s more or less a miko/priestess with innate powers and she reincarnated 2 times without a true death. Elements of Shinto.
I’ve seen a lot of these multi-hour silent hill breakdowns but this one really takes the cake imo. I love the black and white flashbacks you show that tie together all the different parts of the story. They show moments of foreshadowing I’ve never noticed before
This was really, really good. I just wanted to say I appreciate the last thing you said about Alessa; I have always disliked how she was characterized in the post 'Team Silent' works. In the end, she was a child going through things more horrid than anything the adults of the series ever experience. And after all that, she can still show love. It's a remarkable testament to her true strength.
20 something years ago I waxed poetic about this game and its themes in a literature class, only to be laughed out of the discussion by my professor. Careful, thoughtful analyses like this one are a lovely reminder that the study of video games as literature is *this close* to finally being mainstream. Great work ❤
People and culture used to laugh at novels too. And film. And comics/graphic novels. The late 90's and early 00's was such a golden age of meaningful narration in AAA game development. Nowadays it's the odd indie and practically never in mainstream gaming what with costs and risks of development being so unsustainable. One day, video games will get respect. I'm trying to do what I can to get there.
Even though you were laughed out of the discussion, I'm proud you did it anyway. I had an assignment to sing a song in choir and I wanted to sing a song from the Labyrinth, but I got so nervous of people and that the would laugh at me that I pretended I didn't have a song. I think that was very brave and I regret not doing it.
That’s just a bad professor to attempt to make fun of a student for having passion about, well, anything honestly. Teachers are meant to nurture those feelings. Not attempt to squash them. SMH
My wife died, the amount of shit they got right about mourning and the self torture that exists is insane. No one in any medium should get this much correct about any human condition. The sexual confusion and fantasies, the wanton the willingness to occasionally forgive yourself then hate yourself moments later. It all making sense and not really mattering because even if you understand doesnt mean its better. The acceptance is neither a problem or a solution its just knowing that it sucks. Everything is turned down and muted even though you feel overwelmed and on fire all the time.
@@rickdavis32 I think that's the most poetically blunt description I've seen of grieving. I felt a weight lifted off me just reading it, but it's true. Even though it can be many different things for different people, essentially only people who have experienced it know what that language is, and it exists in more than one place, maybe the haunting nothingness of the eyes, maybe the self loathing, maybe the quick short lived forgiveness back to bouts of hatred- maybe all of the above of what you just said- but it definitely exists. And trying to explain it to anyone who hasn't experienced it well, it's a foreign language. And for what its worth, I am sorry for your loss.
You gotta love Harry, such a devoted father who would cross hell itself to get back his daughter and it's even more impressive knowing hes not biologically related to Cheryll, he just loves her so much. He had his doubts when he was raising Heather, who cpuld blame him tho? He went through something no other human can comprehend or even understand and not even sure if the baby he got from Alessa is even 100% human. But what made him so great is that despite it all. He still loved Heather. He loved his daughter(s). A true and very noble father through and through.
@@acgearsandarms1343 Very much true, his death makes Heather renaming herself to be Cheryl that much bittersweet, cause in a way she's living in honor and with the spirit of Harry and his love for Cheryl
17:55 this part never translates to western audiences, but the reason the 4th floor button showing up is supposed to scare you isn't just a random button appearing from nowhere, it's that in japanese the word for 4 sounds similar to the word for death, and there's lots of superstitions surrounding the number and as a result lots of large buildings just don't label their actual fourth floors as being the 4th. it's the japanese equivalent of like if you suddenly had to step on a crack underneath a ladder while holding a black cat to continue
That was a magnificent piece man. SH1 and SH3 hold a special place for me among all the titles, especially because to me, Harry is the epitome of a true father. Alessa's wish all her life was having a parent that would love her, and despite all of her efforts, Dahlia never loved her nor ever saw the error of her ways. Yet, Harry, a slight built man whose only occupation is being a writer fought through hell and back to save his little girl. This willingness to even face a demon god just to save Cheryl, I always thought, is why Alessa decides to reincarnate back into the world as a baby despite knowing nothing but horror and misery; because her other half knew joy and happiness in the embrace of Harry, and she at long last, as you aptly put it at the end, had the one thing Dahlia would not give her: Love.
My thoughts exactly. Each of the first four games, at their core, are about love. Or, in Walter’s case, the lack of it. That’s what makes them so special at their heart.
You know, it’s kinda weird how we have a literal stereotypical evil old witch who acts sussy the whole game and a power hungry grown man who’s also sus, but noooo it’s the traumatized dead kid who is the ultimate villain.
because that traumatized dead kid was the end result of their evil. alessa or anyone else in her situation would have been a completely different person had she not been forced to endure their torture and had experienced actual real unconditional love, both cheryl and heather are shining examples of this. the villain isn't alessa herself, it's what she's been twisted into by the hands of her abusers
Really nice video, when you summed up Harry's relationship with his daughter at the end, hit me hard, "At lest one righteous man in a world of sinners well done," well done. I can see you're doing your best to only use in game knowledge to create connections, but to help build on your thoughts. The idea of Alessa having pyromancers or fire control, links well into Alchemical themes in the story of Silent Hill's and real world Occult links.
Thank you, thank you. If nothing else, I wanted to get a good emotional response :') I'm surprised I've never seen anyone else (to my knowledge) comment on Alessa maybe having pyrokenetic powers. It's not cited as an inspiration, but I know that Team Silent referred to pop culture movies a lot such as the similarites with Alessa and Carrie, but the movie Firestarter was also in that era and genre. May have bled into the idea. All speculation though. But also, yeah, occult pyromancy is a thing to explore too.
I think this is the most coherent, objective, simple, and sensible breakdown of the first Silent Hill game that I've seen on RUclips. Would love to see you cover Origins and 3 next. I'm not a 100% sure that the developers intended Alessa to be a metaphor for a Suffering Servant sacrificing herself to save the world, but I would say as a Christian that even if people don't believe in Jesus and his sacrificial death and resurrection, because it is reality, people can't escape it and the true God (obviously not the demon god of Silent Hill's cult) so ordains that even in our human rebellion, we glorify him and he seeks to turn us back to him and be forgiven.
I do believe that the truest of stories reflect God and His love, done intentionally or not, and the parallels in Alessa are definitely there. I will be doing SH2-4 and Origins, yes :)
Whether Dahlia burned Alessa or it was the result of a boiler explosion. Both situations do not change anything. In both cases, Alessa was burned and ended up admitted to Alchemilla.
Yeah, that’s why I mentioned it doesn’t ultimately matter as far future lore is concerned and the present story in SH1. Though I do think the boiler fire explanation has more supporting evidence and presents a more meaningful version of Alessa’s story as someone who fought back instead of doing nothing when she could have.
I’ve always believed it was the bouiler incident and probably not an accident with Daliah involved for sure. I enjoyed Orgins psp but the changed quite a few things but still enjoyed it
@@themidnightsnowI do find the boiler explotion makes more sence,as as soon Alessa is reunited with Cheryl and turned into the incubator,she gets fully cured,afterall,pain and suffering may nurture the God,but it does need a healty...womb,incubator? So i think setting her on fire and expecting her to give birth to satan won't make much sence,she getting that badly hurt handicapped the ritual.
At 6:47 when he said skip if you know the story all I could think was “ My good sir I know the story by heart but you cant stop me from listening to it again in a 2+hour video” 😂😂
WOW! And just like that, one of the best Silent Hill videos I have ever come across. Thank YOU from the bottom of my heart for putting this much heart and hard work into this analysis, it truly shows. Will be patiently waiting for the next parts, you are creating something amazing here :)
Thank you so much. I spent maybe two years planning this thing out and I’m so happy it paid off and is resonating with you. Good news is, most of the planning and notes has been done for the other games so it **should** be faster. SH2re gonna be a bit distracting though 😅
I am a huge fan of the Silent Hill series, so I have seen many of these analysis videos. After watching this video, I can finally say that I now understand the story of Silent Hill! I really understand it now. This was an absolutely fantastic video, and I beg you to do the other games in this series. Thank you for your hard work.
It really does seem such a complicated narrative when all the pieces are turned in a blender like how the game presents them. I’m glad it all made sense to you in this way. My biggest fear was that it stopped making sense halfway through. And yes, I’m doing at least SH2-4 and Origins.
i've never seen your videos before but this is by far one of the best retrospectives/media analyses i've ever seen. i enjoyed it heavily. you earned a supporter.
I’m glad you played the whole cut scene for Lisa, it’s probably my favorite game cut scene of all time. Sad, beautiful in an odd way, and haunting. It’s amazing that all the cut scenes in the first game were done by one person.
Best thing to hear on the background while doing my programming homework is always a small channel doing a long video on a horror franchise that I played being way too young for comfort! Great video
First off, you have a voice for radio and narration. You in-depth insights into a game that still has me guessing at its true meaning is exciting to listen to. Great job. I seriously appreciate your efforts here.
Man, as an old fan, I saw many video essays about SH series for all these years. Your video so impress me, and some takes are blow my mind, expecially about Flauros ,and words at the end about love. Thanks for hard work! Your storytelling is amazing. Waiting for new essays!
This is the definitive, most thorough and passionately and emotionally driven analysis I’ve ever watched. You literally had me crying with the retelling of Lisa’s tragic story. God, this story, it’s all so tragic. I will be sending this to those who are intrigued with my love of Silent Hill but just aren’t gamers. The first few games are some of the greatest horror stories ever created and videos like this let them reach an even wider audience. I thoroughly enjoyed this, thank you 🙏
Thank you for saying so. I was truly terrified at the response this video would have. Part of it was I was sick when I wrapped, part of it is the fever pitch the fandom has found itself in, but in the end I just hoped I was doing the story justice. I hope after SH2’s remake is old news that the general interest in Silent Hill doesn’t fade away. It never has for me but I want to help keep these great stories alive.
I dont know if youll see this, but i absolutely love this video. I have been a fan of silent hill since the year it came out. I was probably way too young to play it, but i did and was immediately taken by the story. Some 25 years later, i still think about this story (and the sequels). This has, hands down, been the best analysis of any silent hill story I have ever had the privilege of seeing. The depth you have gone in while remaining clear and logical is impressive. Within all of that, the most important thing you have done is provide the best characterization of Alessa. I confess that I have not thought of her more beyond a secondary character of SH1 and the precursor to Heather. This made me realize how deep of a character she is. Her life and story are tragic, but even so the inherent goodness within her allowed her to truly be the light fighting against the darkness. Its inspriational. Thank you again. I cannot wait for the next one
Thanks for a really enjoyable video, you're really a great storyteller. The editing and the SH soundtrack playing in the background really sets the mood and it was a delight listening to your telling of the lore, storyline and more and your speculations are pretty spot on what I'd speculate too. I've learned a lot so thank you for the hard work you've put in. Cheers!
Thank you, thank you. It does a lot for me to hear I can tell stories. I’ve been wanting to do that well and professionally for as long as I can remember, ever moment of my life in service of that goal. Feels like I’m a little closer now.
This is one of the most accurated, well made and totally awesome analysis of the first game. Loved it. Can't wait to do the same analysis of the other games :)
Thank you, thank you. External sources can be so difficult to compile. A worthy effort but it ends up becoming so layered, contradictory, and ever changing with developer commentary happening any day, Sola Scriptura is the only way to go to avoid being “proven wrong” by one of Ito’s tweets a week later.
There you are, Arcane! Don’t worry about not being awake at absurd hours. The premiere was just hype. The video is forever :) (Freakin’ love your avatar btw.)
i've watched a LOT of silent hill retrospectives and analysis videos, and by far, i think this is one of my favorites, if not my top video. this was so delicately and intricately made, i applaud you. keep doing what you're doing
To preface, @themidnightsnow , I'm very grateful for all the time you've put into making this video. The added bonus of knowing how the story related to your personal experiences was a heartwarming and beautiful reminder that we can all be deeply touched and comforted by similar things, not just as a generation, but as humanity in general. But, I digress. I found your video by happenstance because it's my hope to write a detailed and lore-respecting (if not fully lore accurate) fanfiction and I thought another detailed lore-based video would be far better than relying on wiki information for ideas, since I was never allowed to play horror/occultist/magic using games as a child or even have a playstation growing up (religious parents, thankfully not these kind). How I managed to sneak away to play Zelda games, I'll just count my lucky stars there. But, Silent Hill was a game I always wanted to play. Anytime another friend *had* the game and I was allowed to visit their home, I would watch them play, and I wanted to saturate myself in the lore, the heart of the story. It spoke to me, though it took being an adult to be able to watch full-length playthroughs of the game here on youtube. I never knew if parts were omitted or skipped, but I hoped to see the whole game, and the following ones after. To this day I've only seen the playthrough for the first, second, and third Silent Hill games, mostly because life was difficult and I prioritized other things, like my health. So to say I'm excited to see your interpretations and actual evidence hunting of the next few games would be a massive understatement. When you had thoughts that could be contested, I loved how you had a notice on screen under *Speculation*, it really helped me in writing down notes to understand the lore, the tone, and the spirit, of the games. So, I've spent the better part of the last two days worth of my free time writing down almost everything you said. I hope I don't sound obsessively fanatic, there, I just enjoy being thorough and it's kinda relaxing to type things out when I'm working on any kind of project. Even if I don't end up writing my fanfiction or no one really wants to read it, just being able to submerge into the lore and ask thoughtful questions has been a euphoric experience I'm grateful for. I'll have to look you up on twitch! I usually just find folks playing DBD there, haha. I've watched several four hour Silent Hill videos dissecting the lore, and though I found them helpful and lovely, yours had so much more heart and depth into the interpretation than I was prepared for. In the most wonderful way, so thank you. I'm very happy you have love and a supportive family here for you. Please feel free to take as much time as you need for the other videos, years if you need them. We'll all be waiting, I'm sure, but your health is more important than our entertainment and devouring of the lore. If I could give you all hugs and support, I would. Bela.
Heh, I had religious parents that banned me from these kinds of games too. Sorry this took me so long to respond. Yours is among the shorter ones I've had to put off, haha. If you ever want to get help with writing that fan fiction, hit up our Discord! We have channels to share that kind of stuff and a few other fan fictions writers too. Thank you so much for the love and support. I hope the next video lives up to your hopes in me :)
Just finished my first playthrough of Silent Hill 1 not even 24 hours ago, and was recommended this vid soon after. Loved the game, got the bad ending my first playthrough lol This video helped shed SO much light on things I missed my first go around! Probably gonna go through it again sometime, but am excited to start Silent Hill 2 here soon. This video was very informative and well put together. Thank you so much for this! Can't wait to continue the series!
I almost never, ever comment on videos, for the sole reason that I feel it's always flooded by an ocean of messages and lost in time and space. But man, this essay was an absolute masterpiece. I'm 33 now, played Silent Hill when I was much younger and this entire video is just as fascinating as it's passionate. From the montage to the words carefully chosen and used, that has to be a must-watch for anyone who likes the SH games and franchise, and, to be honest, probably even for those who don't even know it. I've spent the quickest two hours of my life. Thank you for spending that much time and effort into making this. It was, and is, amazing.
26:07 I will never forget playing this game in '99 and how cold my blood ran at this part. Resident Evil gave me a good one time jump scare with the dogs jumping through the window a year and a half before, but this scene with Cheryl on the TVs is STILL chilling to me.
I have loved the silent hill series since I was a kid, this deep dive into the lore of silent hill is amazing and a fantastic narrative on the first entry in the series. This is awesome, thanks for making this video.
"In my restless dreams i see that town Silent Hill" - Mary Sunderland. This game series, yes even Downpour and Homecoming, will remain my favorite horror game hands down. I never cried as hard as i did at the end of SH2 or felt as confused as Alex when he found out what happened to his brother. This game series will forever be the greatest horror franchise of all time. *looks over at the new silent hill media that came out* yeah.....those are bad, lets hope "Silent Hill F" (or Forte since it has that musical notation) is good.
Oh, is it Forte? I didn’t realize! Neat! It’s the release I’m looking forward to the most. I appreciate Homecoming. It has a lot of issues but something about it hits that nostalgia element even when I played it at release. That feeling of a home you can’t go back to. Downpour… had a lot of good ideas and I remembered it fondly, but it’s got so many little problems holding it back, imo.
I think I like your theory of Alessa’s past. Mainly the desk part as she either wrote those hurtful words on the desk probably to tell the other students (who might have recently moved to Silent Hill) or the students wrote those hurtful words because they’re new to this town and don’t understand Silent Hill’s culture. Either way, the real reason why Alessa was bullied was because her friends moved away and the new students don’t understand her or Silent Hill at all.
I hadn’t thought about how that would have affected Alessa’s friend group! Yeah, I imagine that even if she had friends either they moved away or her mother wouldn’t have let her be friends with them for not being from Silent Hill. Very good speculation here!
@@themidnightsnow I've got another form of speculation. Why did Kaufman started to work with the Order? Maybe there could be a few reasons, maybe he was indoctrinated into the Order because his family had strong ties with the culture. Or maybe his hospital was going through finical difficulties due to changes in the town and he sided with the Order in the means of gaining money for his hospital. Another form of speculation I've been thinking about is about the citizens of Silent Hill. Maybe they might have turned into monsters due to Alessa's magic powers. Or they all might have died from PTV overdoses, mainly because the victims were tourists and Kaufman was supplying the PTV drugs to them either to prepare them for the ceremony, or just to kill them seeing how they were destroying the Order's traditions. But as for the Boiler Room Controversy, you forgot to mention that Alessa was only 7 years old when she was impregnanted and burned alive, which is sort of controversial and disturbing since a 7 year old girl got pregnant with the Order's god by her mother.
@@samflood5631 We don't really know much else about Kaufmann, but I like your thoughts! I always imagined that he got in deep because of the White Claudia being something the cult needed help refining, but otherwise I have no idea! Fun to think about. I think Alessa's powers/manifestations makes the most sense to me. There was an early theory (like when SH1 was the only game) that the fog **is** PTV and functions like The Ladder from Jacob's Ladder, a commonly cited inspiration for the series. It is white after all. So maybe they did all die from overdoes in a way.
I loved every "hot take" you discussed in this journey of a video and want to congratulate and thank you for making it. I am one of those people, like many others in this comment section, who devours these types of videos and it always makes me happy that yet another creator manages to include even more theories / knowledge / insights or even just "new" ways of looking at things. Also, your voice is very enjoyable, too! Subbed and looking forward for your coverage of the rest of the series!
Awersome Video dude. I really like your thoughts and conclutions. The first Silent Hill has a special place in my hearth. You managed to make me think about it again after 15 years. I personally subscribe to the interpretation that the sirens represent the ones she heard while she was burning alive. It is the point of no return, when the nightmare first began for her and a fitting signal for when it seeps into the real world.
I tend to agree that the sirens are related to the fire engines and it’s even the interpretation Origins seems to go with, the fire engine sirens transitioning into the Otherworld sirens. It’s just odd that they sound more like air ride sirens. They are scarier though.
@@themidnightsnow The sirens sound similar to the ones in my city that would go off if a big, general emergency would happen. So maybe that is why i never made the air raid connection. To me it sounds like "big threatening thing is happening" so sounding that when a big fire is happening makes sense. If the japanese developers thought the same thing, no idea.
Generally those types of sirens were put into use as warnings for air strikes or nuclear bombs during the 1950s (iirc). Since those didn't happen nearly so often, they were repurposed for natural disasters. In Minnesota, for example, they use them for tornados. Japan still regularly has missile testing threats from North Korea that uses a similar warning system but sound very different.
Excellent video, by far the best explanation of the story. I learned two new things through this video, namely the two people that Alessa was forced to kill with her power, and that the ritual involved spears. Both were details that I never noticed before. On the other hand, I found odd how such a big portion of the video had to be dedicated to clear up the boiler misconception. To me it was always obvious since the beginning that Alessa exploded the boiler with her powers as an attempt to stop the ritual, I didn't even know that other people thought differently. Sadly there's a lot of misinformation and muddied waters regarding the story of this game, but this video does a fantastic job at clearing everything up. It's unfortunate how SH2 overshadows this game so much, because I think the first is far, far scarier as a horror game, and the story hit me much harder emotionally than SH2 did (though I know I'm a minority on this).
I agree the boiler issue shouldn’t be as big of a deal as it was. But with the film’s interpretation often confusing people on what actually happened in the game, I wanted to weigh in on exactly what happened for clarity’s sake. It is unfortunate the SH1 gets forgotten. Without it, a lot of the series doesn’t make sense and if you take SH2 by itself, the fan theories start getting wild.
I never thought of Dahlia asking Alessa for a teeny bit of her power like that... but now that you mention it, Claudia managed to do the same. In SH3 Heather is always asking "did she do this?!" And while you could say that the otherworld was manifesting in SH3 due to the god inside Heather, there's a line that Vincent says that people tend to ignore. In the same scene where Vincent says "they look like monsters to you." (which I always read it as a perspective thing, rather than a literal visual thing.) He also says, "I don't have powers like you two." Referring to Heather AND Claudia. I never sat down and analyzed the otherworld transitions in SH3, but this line always gave me the impression that the cult was able to somehow tap into the towns spiritual power, or at the very least, their highest members, like Dahlia. Which explains the theories everyone always had involving Dahlia and Alessa's birth, being under mysterious and suspicious circumstances.
There’s so much the flies under the radar in SH3 that explains a lot of SH1 that I can’t wait to get to. Also note that Vincent attributes the church’s current state to Claudia: “Although I admit this atrocious scenery is all yours.” Meaning he’s aware that Claudia is manifesting and seemingly intentionally.
Thank you so much for creating this incredible video. Im a huge fan of the series but im waiting for a remake before i touch SH1 and this video cleared up SO many questions that I have had over the years. I must have watch this atleast 15 times by now. I hope you continue to produce more content like this, its really stellar stuff.
This video is so dope, it gave me glances of ideas on how to adapt the games’s story into a 12 episodes series/tv show where the first 6 episodes would be how Harry would arrive at nowhere and defeat God/Alessa, and the other six would be a repeat of the nightmare and Harry getting more info on the general situation and story of Alessa, Cybil’s perspective of the nightmare, a flashback to how Cheryl was found and how she convinced Harry to come to Silent hill, and a flashing out Lisa’s and Kaufman’s story. On the second half Harry would understand that the nightmare was sealing into the real world, and It would end with Harry saving the baby and Cybil, the nightmare dissipating but leaving the town forever scared, haunted, and attracting damned souls. Season 2 would be with James. 😉
Wow, that was certainly an amazing voyage back to Silent Hill, thanks for this incredible video, it really helped me to realize of so many details I didn't have in mind. Keep the good work and thanks a lot again!
A lot of it was the direction and the dialogue not sounding like it’s reacting to what the other person is saying in the correct tone. Add in some 3 second PS1 audio lag and the occasional awkward line and it starts being… not great. The VAs did a good job with what they were given. It just wasn’t directed or implemented well.
Thank you for stating that the first game is in no way related to Centralia, PA. I hate people that try to retcon the lore by saying it is ash falling on the town and that fires are burning underneath, because of the movie explanation. The game even explicitly states it is snow! Such a small thing to be irritated about, I know, but is is one of the most widely spread false facts for the game.
It’s not a small thing. So many of the misunderstandings in the series are specifically because of the film. The game is confusing, and the film offers an explanation, but not enough consideration if they are the same story or not. Lots of people started playing SH because of the movie and it’s made a deep schism in the fan base and part of the reason the later game’s writing is so confused. The little things are exactly what build into big issues.
To be honest that doesn’t bother me that much. SH was based aesthetically on a real town and the snow looks ashy so I can understand the mistake. I once thoughtlessly confused it myself one time in a YT comment when I was tired and hadn’t been involved in the fandom for years only to quickly realise I was a dummy. To be fair I only saw the movie one time in 2006 and I confused the actually town that inspired SH with that one, I still realised it was fire and ash and not snow. I was thinking about aesthetics. It bothers much much more seeing PH out of context or people thinking Alessa is evil and Dahlia is good when it comes to movie misconceptions. Hot take but I think it’s a pretty minor misconception relative to the sea of way more detrimental misinformation. The mistake about Centralia is pretty harmless to me compared to actual game lore. Mistaking snow for ash doesn’t really chap hide. I learned 2 decades ago to pick my battles in the fandom lol.
@@RightsForZombies That’s true. The snow/ash debate isn’t really that important. But it’s those little incongruities that grow into very radical misreadings (or misrememberings) when people conflate the film and the game’s internal logic. The only time the snow/ash debate matters is when talking about Homecoming that uses the ash interpretation which, to me, puts it in the film’s canon (or its own.) (btw I know this isn’t a popular take and one I fought against for a while, but SH2 and SH3 supports that Pyramid Head can exist without James. James does have his own-well, two-that can’t exist without him. But the form that manifestation takes predates James’ time in the town.)
@@themidnightsnow I think it matters a lot in homecoming for sure. I guess I just remember my SH forum mod days in 2006 when the movie came out in the help section just constantly correcting really crucial lore confusion so in my mind it’s a lesser issue comparatively speaking. What can you expect when most parts of the current fanbase haven’t played any of the classic games though? They don’t seem to care much for SH1 sadly.
See, as someone who got into Silent Hill because of the movies (I would love to play the games, I just don't own a playstation as my folks were very religious, thankfully not the same cult, lol) I thought the ash falling down thing was really neat. I never knew about Centralia, PA before, so as something that could be tied to the paranormal it's a fascinating idea. However, I agree, I don't think that uniqueness of the movie should be tied to the original games. They're unique and interesting enough as themselves without needing more things retconned into them to be meaningful. Could there be a silent hill with falling ash? Sure, but it isn't this one, and the movie is kinda like watching someone's fanfiction of the original. Interesting, fun to read, but not canon. If that makes sense?
Talk about stumbling onto a total gem. Dude this video rocked! Can't wait to see how the next one Pans out and I hope your channel takes off. I always love seeing someone who has genuine passion speak their mind on a game they love.
Thank you, thank you. I'm really only going to be talking about games (and other stories) with deeper meanings. Hopefully when we eventually--not anytime soon--move on from Silent Hill, that'll still be what you're looking for here :)
This game deserves a remake so badly. My god, after having just finished the SH2 remake, and seeing how much love and care was put into that. A remaster is LONG overdue for SH1, let alone a full-on remake. Please, Blooper, Konami. Hear my pleas🙏
I think SH1 has the most room for straight improvement, yes. But at the same time, nothing will replace that old PS1 jank adding to this specific kind of horror.
One of the best analysis I've ever seen, it was a pleasure to spend these 2 hours watching this 👏👏👏 About Silent Hill's lore, it's clear that Alessa was powerful enough to change the reality in town through her nightmares when she was alive, but what happened after her death? What exactly have caused the events of Silent Hill 2 and how is this tied with Alessa?
Thank you so much! I’ll be getting into it more in the SH2 video, but short answer is the spiritual power of the town that seems to cause the manifestations has been around since ancient times. The incident with Alessa left the town empty and the roads destroyed and was the first time something of that magnitude ever happened, possibly because her power amplified it or it was specifically the god ritual that made it spread. (Trying to simplify for comment text.)
@@themidnightsnow Ooh, now I get it! 😃 at first I thought the powers of the town itself was dormant til the presence of people with psychic powers as catalysts, that's why SH2 left me with so many questions about how the town works exactly... I'll be waiting for your video about SH2 (and the rest of the titles 😉) since you make focus on details of the lore like no one else did...
I'm going to get into it a lot more in the next video on SH2, but the short version is that **something** around the town causes manifestations. Ancient peoples saw these manifestations and thought they were gods. They depicted these manifestations in their art and then other people who saw the art manifested the same or similar creatures. The cult's religion is based entirely off of worshipping the manifestations of their own minds (with some Christianity and sun worship mixed in.) There's A LOT more to that but that'll have to do for a comment.
I watch a lot of videos on the bus without headphones and have to keep the volume off. I HATE it when there’s no subs (or nonsense AI subs.) They may come a bit late, but there will always be subtitles on my videos!
Outstanding video. The level of effort and detail gone into this deserves recognition. You made it easy to follow and understand. Looking forward to future videos
@@themidnightsnow it’s so fun that a franchise can bring so many people from different walks of life together! The power of a good storytelling both in game and in the video 😆
They already had a chosen and maybe willing person to be the mother of God. Alessa wasn't willing and wasn't supposed be chosen. Maybe the ritual backfired.🤔🤔
That’s what seems to have happened. No idea if the original vessel was a willing person or not though. The short graphic novel that Owaku and Ito made in 2006 called “Silent Hill: Cage of Cradle” allegedly seems to say that Lisa was going to be the vessel but since it was released digitally, the content as been mostly lost and most of the plot is heresay and fuzzy memories so no one really knows. (Man, I hope Ito’s got that on a hard drive somewhere!)
Holy hell, or would have never known you were a new youtuber. This video is doo well written and edited. Well be watching your career with great interest
...As there is a continuous theme of duality throughout the game - i.e. dual-headed monster - and rebirth - i.e. moth monster - could it be that Alessa's game the whole time was to birth both a weakened evil God and a powerful good God?
Hm, I'm interested in where you're going with this but at the same time I think that the duality of Alessa and Cheryl is probably the biggest reason. Why do you think she'd want to birth and weakened and a powerful god?
You put a lot of hard work into this, and it shows. Wonderful analysis and storytelling. I will be eagerly awaiting your next video in this series! Well done and godspeed.
6:48 I know the story by heart, and still, with such a thorough, respectful and well thought n developed intro, i know that im gonna binge and enjoy every second of this video. Thank you.
Nothing like finding a new silent hill video I haven’t seen that’s over an hour long. Fucking love it. Edit: you did a really great job on this retrospective man 👏👏👏👏👏 Do you have any plans on making another retrospective on the other games?? Specifically 2-4???
I finally finished this video and i wanted to say, GREAT WORK MAN, this is an amazing analysis, and i can't wait to see the future videos you're planning
Thank you, thank you. Once the remake hype calms down and the streaming schedule chills out, I’ll be doing the original SH2. I already have tons of notes and an outline. It mostly just needs organizing.
I always find it funny how Cybil just outright gives you her handgun, of all the ways you could make Harry find a firearm. Which is even more funny is that the rest of you arsenal you outright pick it up from the floor, the shotgun in the bathroom and the hunting rifle in the outdoors store.
Lots of trust to put in a stranger for sure! Interesting that she has another handgun later. Did she have two or did she find one in a urinal somewhere? 🤔 lol
That’d make a lot of sense. I do still need to go over the Play Novel’s Cybil scenario and see how well it jives with SH1. Different writers and many endings. Might make an interesting (and much shorter!) video.
It just occured to me that Cybil probably think that the town was attacked by extremists or even aliens for everyone to have disappeared. LMAO That's the only logic I have for Cybil handing us a gun out of nowhere. I don't think she can even see the monsters Harry sees possibly right until she gets possesed? Coz she's never mentioned any of the enemies in any of the cutscenes. But this is just my assumption. 🤔
@@nafizhelmi That was my assumption too. Something that wasn't a natural disaster or disease or something like that likely was caused by an attacker. But even though Cybil doesn't see the monsters at the same time as Harry as far as we the players know, it doesn't mean she is incapable of seeing them. I think she just doesn't mention them.
This is a fantastic video, Midnight Snow! I was gripped from the beginning. I really like I'd never really thought of SH as an anthology series, but that's an excellent description of the franchise! I've subscribed and I'm looking forward to your next video when it's ready!
Woah, Rumin! Hello! I watch your SH runs all the time! Especially, the SH2 100% items, no bullet adjust, no saves, Rebirth run. Godlike! I’m planning a “Rumin Run” on my stream one day but I’m not good enough yet lol Respectfully agree to disagree, but I’m honored you watched my video!
@themidnightsnow Honored! Thanks for watching my stuff, i'll be looking forward to your own 10 Stars if you commentate them. Want to hear what I think about the boiler explosion? I'm not sharing to try to argue with your theory, as all views are valid imo and we should all agree to disagree respectfully, I just want to share specifically because I haven't heard it anywhere else: 1:30:42 I always thought the Light to the Future paintings depicted the ritual, and the "light" was the fire. So "where is the fire" is behind the camera, which is why the paintings have an orange tone to them. The play novel mentions a "sacred flame" needed for the ritual. So I thought the ritual was essentially this: You need to spear the mother of God in the womb (which is depicted in the painting and why Alessa is shown with bandages around her stomach in opening amv), with nothing but fire being the source of light during the ritual. The fire then got out of control.
I’m putting together a vod channel for just that! I stream SH1-4 all the time, especially lately and 80% of my routing comes from your vids! I always thinking of the “new bullets” at the end of Nathan Ave in the dark lol I welcome the challenge to my stance :) Hm, I like the idea of the photograph being the fire in concept, but it would have to apply to both pictures in that case. Would there be any meaningful reason that the camera or flash are related to the flame? It would make more sense to equate it to the lightning to me, but I don’t know in what way. I admit, I haven’t given the Play Novel nearly enough attention and plan to soon. But I also know Keiichiro Toyama left Konami after SH1 and Hiroyuki Owaku was writing SH2 at the time. PN:SH was written by Hideki Sakamoto and is an adaptation so I take it with a grain of salt like I would a novelization of a film for instance. But that’s just me splitting hairs on what’s canon and what’s not.
@themidnightsnow I wasn't trying to challenge your stance lol. At the end of the day I just take everything officially published by Konami as canon in some way. And yeah the fire is the source of light in both photos, as God would use the flame to cleanse the Earth right after being born.
I don’t mean “challenge” as a negative thing. Bringing something contrary to my position is a challenge and invites me to think differently about it which is what I’m all about here. It’s all good in either case :) I used to take Konami’s official publications as canon for a long time but with all the changing hands, internal inconsistencies, and Ito claiming a story bible was never made, I only trust what got pressed on the discs. I’m not sure the god is actually its own entity. I believe it was manifested as a deity but is really just another monster so it wouldn’t have to have a specific method of cleansing the world. However the lighting makes a lot of sense relating it to a method of destruction and harkening back to the flash of the camera.
1:58:22 This moment honestly made me tear up just a little bit ngl What makes me love Harry is he's not looking for Cheryl out of some biological obligation, or an arbitrary last wish from a loved one, but just pure love. There's a lot of reasons why SH1 and 3 are my favorites of the classic SH games but ultimately I think Harry and Heather and everything they represent is really the deciding factor tbh
This is what makes classic SH games so extra special that the later games forgot or didn’t realize. At the core, it’s about love. Harry’s love for his daughter, James’ love for his wife, Heather’s love for her dad, and the sad lack of love in Walter’s life.
[CORRECTIONS]
- (3:58) In reference to TGM’s video, Team Silent was a real developer group within Konami, but many members changed around per game and were not unified under a singular vision.
- (1:03:47) (1:26:40) I dubiously conflated Alessa's innate power with the manifestation of her nightmare in some places. While Alessa's innate power amlified her nightmare invading reality, they are separate phenomena.
- (1:27:38) The Midwich map is oriented 90 degrees clockwise, so my compass directions are incorrect.
- (1:08:30) Snow is likely not a manifestation, but the temperature change is. Fog is not a manifestation.
- Subtitles are fixed.
- (1:42:32) It is unclear when Alessa's nightmare began spilling out in full. Whether the nightmare invaded before or after she merged with Cheryl is unknown, but considering Lisa's experience (1:16:28), it is more likely before, but not by much as Lisa and Kaufmann both claim the nightmare invaded very recently (1:07:25). This may account for Cybil's phone call (1:46:12) and subsequent abandonment of her motorcycle occurring before Alessa caused Harry's car to crash.
- I forgot to credit the Silent Hill Level Viewer! Fixed in the description.
- I am very broke. Maybe help me out on Patreon?
patreon.com/themidnightsnow
@@themidnightsnow I finished watching your video and wanted to say thanks. Not only did you explain the crazy story too this game, but you answered other things I didn't understand. Such as alessa killing the cop Gucci I always thought it was dahlia that killed him. Anyway thanks again i will watch more videos of yours.
Thanks, it was a year plus of research and playing this game to death to get here!
I actually wouldn’t have put it together either if Heather hadn’t said Alessa “could kill people just by wishing for it.” I looked back at SH1 and it was there the whole time 🤯
@@themidnightsnow if you could please explain one more things to me. Why does the god at the end of silent hill 3 look different?
Because the god in SH1 is what Alessa believed it to look like based on the image of it at the altar. Her drawing of it makes clear that that is the form she had in mind. It manifested from that image.
In SH3, Claudia is primarily the one doing the manifesting. While she is working to birth the god, she mostly just wants her friend Alessa back. Her salvation was in reuniting with Alessa so the god looks like a monstrous, incomplete version of Alessa. (It’s a bit more complicated than that but that’s the basic idea.)
@@themidnightsnow thanks again your the best.
Babe, wake up, another small channel I don't know about just uploaded a feature length video about Silent Hill again
Bro for real 😂😂
Acccccurate we built our algorithms brick by brick
I thought about that same thing, "how dark have I been lately that I keep getting all these amazing silent hill videos from channels I've never seen a video from" @@amcstoner3372
Hell yea
The narrative is so interesting.
And every youtuber seems to have a unique experience
Right!?! Always love hearing different opinions and perspectives on this gem 💎
It's always the small content creators that put out the best Silent Hill feature length videos that need far more recognition
When it's a big channel they put out like an 8 minute video
@@Moon_Presence with like 20 parts. It's the small content creators that do the true work that need far more support on these projects
Greed kills. They get corrupted and become what they hate.
I'm just gonna leave this here... just in case.
patreon.com/themidnightsnow
I've been watching essays on Silent Hill for like 15 years, so you bet your ass I'm gonna watch another essay that is over 2 hours long.
They never get old, do they? Fascinating games.
let me guess, twin perfect?
@@ennayanne TRSHE certainly got the ball rolling.
Yea ive watched so many of them
Hahahaha yeah I do the same. I’m old enough that I was 19 when the original came out, so I got to experience the games in real time. I have forgotten so many things over the years, so watching these essays manages to keep the games close to me.
It seems as if the silent hill games really spoke to a specific slice of our generation.
We all grieve at some point in life, and have to make sense of events that we don't understand. These games oddly enough sorta gave us a frame of reference for the absolutely trash world we'd be trying to navigate as adults.
God love y'all, stay safe out there.
They really did.
my entry into these games was silent hill 3 demo on a playstation magazine, then i picked up silent hill 2, and wasnt expecting something like this to make me remember childhood trauma that i was burying deep in my subconscious..it helped me grieve too but for my self, my old innocent self.
@@isaiasrico589 it's crazy you bring it up. I played SH1 at my buddy's house down the street and then 2 and 4 at another friend's house on Xbox. And today my son and I found my original Xbox in the basement.
I plugged everything into an old VCR/crtv combo I have down here too and it still works and turns on.
I'm gonna buy all the original Xbox titles so we can play then together when he gets a little older.
But yeah there's a nostalgia here for these games. Like a vacation town we all went to as kids and we are all connected through our time there.
Now that you say it, I think many of us who played through the fogs of the town of Silent Hill while being teenagers surely learned prematurely about the struggles of the human mind. The ones who went through depression and melancholy would also certainly feel super at home while playing Silent Hill. I had a fotolog where I created a fanfiction called "My Torture: Break the Edge of Insanity", super SH inspired. And I remember that in the worst moments of sadness and darkness, the town of Silent Hill was like a home, a place that seemed even better than the real world, and although it is a videogame, it felt more real than life itself, for my perception at least. And to be honest, whenever the city I now live in becomes foggy, I just feel nice and safe again. There is a joy in the silence of an empty street and the fog. I love Silent Hill and it's a beautiful artistic masterpiece that helped me a lot to become the very wizard I am today. Amazing.
@@Haruchemy exactly. With all the crazy weather lately we had a week recently that was extremely foggy, and I would catch myself just staring out sometimes smiling. It's familiar now. Like a cousin you haven't seen in a while
To me Alessa is a saint, she is entirely good, because if she sacrificed herself to stop the ritual from being completed, she gave her life to stop evil from entering this world. Cheryl is half of Alessa, and Cheryl is also entirely good. And even when she is bonded to the evil god, she still protects those she can.
I don't know about a Saint, but a Martyr she definitely is.
She was a innocent child, definitely a saint,u just e not played the game@@maiaraandrade1952
I find Alessa’s powers and reincarnation to have that distinct Japanese flavor. She’s more or less a miko/priestess with innate powers and she reincarnated 2 times without a true death. Elements of Shinto.
@@maiaraandrade1952 Alessa was an innocent child she was a saint
I’ve seen a lot of these multi-hour silent hill breakdowns but this one really takes the cake imo. I love the black and white flashbacks you show that tie together all the different parts of the story. They show moments of foreshadowing I’ve never noticed before
Agreed. Films didn't do any justice for Aleyssa.
This was really, really good. I just wanted to say I appreciate the last thing you said about Alessa; I have always disliked how she was characterized in the post 'Team Silent' works. In the end, she was a child going through things more horrid than anything the adults of the series ever experience. And after all that, she can still show love. It's a remarkable testament to her true strength.
20 something years ago I waxed poetic about this game and its themes in a literature class, only to be laughed out of the discussion by my professor.
Careful, thoughtful analyses like this one are a lovely reminder that the study of video games as literature is *this close* to finally being mainstream.
Great work ❤
People and culture used to laugh at novels too. And film. And comics/graphic novels. The late 90's and early 00's was such a golden age of meaningful narration in AAA game development. Nowadays it's the odd indie and practically never in mainstream gaming what with costs and risks of development being so unsustainable. One day, video games will get respect. I'm trying to do what I can to get there.
Even though you were laughed out of the discussion, I'm proud you did it anyway. I had an assignment to sing a song in choir and I wanted to sing a song from the Labyrinth, but I got so nervous of people and that the would laugh at me that I pretended I didn't have a song. I think that was very brave and I regret not doing it.
That’s just a bad professor to attempt to make fun of a student for having passion about, well, anything honestly. Teachers are meant to nurture those feelings. Not attempt to squash them. SMH
My wife died, the amount of shit they got right about mourning and the self torture that exists is insane. No one in any medium should get this much correct about any human condition. The sexual confusion and fantasies, the wanton the willingness to occasionally forgive yourself then hate yourself moments later. It all making sense and not really mattering because even if you understand doesnt mean its better. The acceptance is neither a problem or a solution its just knowing that it sucks. Everything is turned down and muted even though you feel overwelmed and on fire all the time.
@@rickdavis32 I think that's the most poetically blunt description I've seen of grieving. I felt a weight lifted off me just reading it, but it's true. Even though it can be many different things for different people, essentially only people who have experienced it know what that language is, and it exists in more than one place, maybe the haunting nothingness of the eyes, maybe the self loathing, maybe the quick short lived forgiveness back to bouts of hatred- maybe all of the above of what you just said- but it definitely exists. And trying to explain it to anyone who hasn't experienced it well, it's a foreign language. And for what its worth, I am sorry for your loss.
You gotta love Harry, such a devoted father who would cross hell itself to get back his daughter and it's even more impressive knowing hes not biologically related to Cheryll, he just loves her so much. He had his doubts when he was raising Heather, who cpuld blame him tho? He went through something no other human can comprehend or even understand and not even sure if the baby he got from Alessa is even 100% human. But what made him so great is that despite it all. He still loved Heather. He loved his daughter(s). A true and very noble father through and through.
True, that’s what makes his death so tragic in 3. He didn’t deserve it and honestly could have continued on.
@@acgearsandarms1343 Very much true, his death makes Heather renaming herself to be Cheryl that much bittersweet, cause in a way she's living in honor and with the spirit of Harry and his love for Cheryl
17:55 this part never translates to western audiences, but the reason the 4th floor button showing up is supposed to scare you isn't just a random button appearing from nowhere, it's that in japanese the word for 4 sounds similar to the word for death, and there's lots of superstitions surrounding the number and as a result lots of large buildings just don't label their actual fourth floors as being the 4th. it's the japanese equivalent of like if you suddenly had to step on a crack underneath a ladder while holding a black cat to continue
Yes, it’s the Japanese word “shi” which is a homophone for the number four (し) and death (死).
That was a magnificent piece man. SH1 and SH3 hold a special place for me among all the titles, especially because to me, Harry is the epitome of a true father. Alessa's wish all her life was having a parent that would love her, and despite all of her efforts, Dahlia never loved her nor ever saw the error of her ways. Yet, Harry, a slight built man whose only occupation is being a writer fought through hell and back to save his little girl. This willingness to even face a demon god just to save Cheryl, I always thought, is why Alessa decides to reincarnate back into the world as a baby despite knowing nothing but horror and misery; because her other half knew joy and happiness in the embrace of Harry, and she at long last, as you aptly put it at the end, had the one thing Dahlia would not give her: Love.
My thoughts exactly.
Each of the first four games, at their core, are about love. Or, in Walter’s case, the lack of it. That’s what makes them so special at their heart.
@@themidnightsnow Looking forward to your future deep dives!
You know, it’s kinda weird how we have a literal stereotypical evil old witch who acts sussy the whole game and a power hungry grown man who’s also sus, but noooo it’s the traumatized dead kid who is the ultimate villain.
because that traumatized dead kid was the end result of their evil. alessa or anyone else in her situation would have been a completely different person had she not been forced to endure their torture and had experienced actual real unconditional love, both cheryl and heather are shining examples of this. the villain isn't alessa herself, it's what she's been twisted into by the hands of her abusers
Alessa is not the villain.
Video essays like this one, just shows that we need a remake of SH1. This game is a masterpiece. Thanks for your hard work.
Really nice video, when you summed up Harry's relationship with his daughter at the end, hit me hard, "At lest one righteous man in a world of sinners well done," well done. I can see you're doing your best to only use in game knowledge to create connections, but to help build on your thoughts. The idea of Alessa having pyromancers or fire control, links well into Alchemical themes in the story of Silent Hill's and real world Occult links.
Thank you, thank you.
If nothing else, I wanted to get a good emotional response :')
I'm surprised I've never seen anyone else (to my knowledge) comment on Alessa maybe having pyrokenetic powers. It's not cited as an inspiration, but I know that Team Silent referred to pop culture movies a lot such as the similarites with Alessa and Carrie, but the movie Firestarter was also in that era and genre. May have bled into the idea. All speculation though. But also, yeah, occult pyromancy is a thing to explore too.
I think this is the most coherent, objective, simple, and sensible breakdown of the first Silent Hill game that I've seen on RUclips. Would love to see you cover Origins and 3 next. I'm not a 100% sure that the developers intended Alessa to be a metaphor for a Suffering Servant sacrificing herself to save the world, but I would say as a Christian that even if people don't believe in Jesus and his sacrificial death and resurrection, because it is reality, people can't escape it and the true God (obviously not the demon god of Silent Hill's cult) so ordains that even in our human rebellion, we glorify him and he seeks to turn us back to him and be forgiven.
I do believe that the truest of stories reflect God and His love, done intentionally or not, and the parallels in Alessa are definitely there.
I will be doing SH2-4 and Origins, yes :)
God bless
Whether Dahlia burned Alessa or it was the result of a boiler explosion. Both situations do not change anything. In both cases, Alessa was burned and ended up admitted to Alchemilla.
Yeah, that’s why I mentioned it doesn’t ultimately matter as far future lore is concerned and the present story in SH1.
Though I do think the boiler fire explanation has more supporting evidence and presents a more meaningful version of Alessa’s story as someone who fought back instead of doing nothing when she could have.
I’ve always believed it was the bouiler incident and probably not an accident with Daliah involved for sure. I enjoyed Orgins psp but the changed quite a few things but still enjoyed it
I actually really like Origins too, the closest in spirit and mood to the originals but the writing gets too many details mixed up.
@@themidnightsnowI do find the boiler explotion makes more sence,as as soon Alessa is reunited with Cheryl and turned into the incubator,she gets fully cured,afterall,pain and suffering may nurture the God,but it does need a healty...womb,incubator?
So i think setting her on fire and expecting her to give birth to satan won't make much sence,she getting that badly hurt handicapped the ritual.
Hey man, I just got recommended this vid, but I have to say your voice over is very well done! You speak very clearly. Nicely done!
Ah, thank you for saying so! That was one of my biggest struggles and concerns, just making sure I wasn’t stumbling over my words.
Lol same. And I'm grateful.
At 6:47 when he said skip if you know the story all I could think was “ My good sir I know the story by heart but you cant stop me from listening to it again in a 2+hour video” 😂😂
Good!
WOW! And just like that, one of the best Silent Hill videos I have ever come across. Thank YOU from the bottom of my heart for putting this much heart and hard work into this analysis, it truly shows. Will be patiently waiting for the next parts, you are creating something amazing here :)
Thank you so much. I spent maybe two years planning this thing out and I’m so happy it paid off and is resonating with you.
Good news is, most of the planning and notes has been done for the other games so it **should** be faster. SH2re gonna be a bit distracting though 😅
Always here for long form Silent Hill content
My little cousin is very sick and im in shock, somehow this video helped me to calm down. Thank you from the deep of my heart.
Hoping for the best for your cousin! Glad you were able to find some peace here ❤️
I hope your cousin recovers, if not quickly at least completely.
hope your little cousin is ok
I am a huge fan of the Silent Hill series, so I have seen many of these analysis videos. After watching this video, I can finally say that I now understand the story of Silent Hill! I really understand it now. This was an absolutely fantastic video, and I beg you to do the other games in this series. Thank you for your hard work.
It really does seem such a complicated narrative when all the pieces are turned in a blender like how the game presents them. I’m glad it all made sense to you in this way. My biggest fear was that it stopped making sense halfway through.
And yes, I’m doing at least SH2-4 and Origins.
The fact that Dahlia was only 45 but looks about 70 says a lot about the Order 😅
Hate makes you ugly? It did for Dahlia.
i've never seen your videos before but this is by far one of the best retrospectives/media analyses i've ever seen. i enjoyed it heavily. you earned a supporter.
Thank you so much.
It's all the years of contemplation and running out of retrospectives for me to watch that had me throw myself into the ring.
I’m glad you played the whole cut scene for Lisa, it’s probably my favorite game cut scene of all time. Sad, beautiful in an odd way, and haunting. It’s amazing that all the cut scenes in the first game were done by one person.
Best thing to hear on the background while doing my programming homework is always a small channel doing a long video on a horror franchise that I played being way too young for comfort! Great video
Man, you can program and listen to a video essay? When I do programming (Python), I can barely get my brain noodles untwisted!
First off, you have a voice for radio and narration. You in-depth insights into a game that still has me guessing at its true meaning is exciting to listen to. Great job. I seriously appreciate your efforts here.
Thank you for saying so, I've had some folks tell me they couldn't watch because my voice was so bad :\
@@themidnightsnow There is always going to be haters. I think you have a great voice man. Keep going!
Amazing breakdown, first explanation that has actually made me feel like I kinda understand the story and it's not all gibberish. Well done 🔥🔥🔥
Thank you, Val!
I’m glad it actually made sense in the end. I got so brain twisted making this!
Man, as an old fan, I saw many video essays about SH series for all these years. Your video so impress me, and some takes are blow my mind, expecially about Flauros ,and words at the end about love. Thanks for hard work! Your storytelling is amazing. Waiting for new essays!
This is the definitive, most thorough and passionately and emotionally driven analysis I’ve ever watched. You literally had me crying with the retelling of Lisa’s tragic story. God, this story, it’s all so tragic. I will be sending this to those who are intrigued with my love of Silent Hill but just aren’t gamers. The first few games are some of the greatest horror stories ever created and videos like this let them reach an even wider audience. I thoroughly enjoyed this, thank you 🙏
Thank you for saying so.
I was truly terrified at the response this video would have. Part of it was I was sick when I wrapped, part of it is the fever pitch the fandom has found itself in, but in the end I just hoped I was doing the story justice.
I hope after SH2’s remake is old news that the general interest in Silent Hill doesn’t fade away. It never has for me but I want to help keep these great stories alive.
we've come a long way from "silent hill is based on centralia PA and Alessa is evil and pulling the town into different dimensions"
I certainly hope so.
I dont know if youll see this, but i absolutely love this video. I have been a fan of silent hill since the year it came out. I was probably way too young to play it, but i did and was immediately taken by the story. Some 25 years later, i still think about this story (and the sequels). This has, hands down, been the best analysis of any silent hill story I have ever had the privilege of seeing. The depth you have gone in while remaining clear and logical is impressive.
Within all of that, the most important thing you have done is provide the best characterization of Alessa. I confess that I have not thought of her more beyond a secondary character of SH1 and the precursor to Heather. This made me realize how deep of a character she is. Her life and story are tragic, but even so the inherent goodness within her allowed her to truly be the light fighting against the darkness. Its inspriational.
Thank you again. I cannot wait for the next one
Fell asleep to this so now I gotta rewatch
Mood.
Thanks for a really enjoyable video, you're really a great storyteller.
The editing and the SH soundtrack playing in the background really sets the mood and it was a delight listening to your telling of the lore, storyline and more and your speculations are pretty spot on what I'd speculate too. I've learned a lot so thank you for the hard work you've put in. Cheers!
Thank you, thank you.
It does a lot for me to hear I can tell stories. I’ve been wanting to do that well and professionally for as long as I can remember, ever moment of my life in service of that goal. Feels like I’m a little closer now.
This is one of the most accurated, well made and totally awesome analysis of the first game. Loved it. Can't wait to do the same analysis of the other games :)
Working on them now :)
Great video and analysis. I also like how you did it based on the “Sola Scriptura” principle; and you’re not relying on external sources.
Thank you, thank you.
External sources can be so difficult to compile. A worthy effort but it ends up becoming so layered, contradictory, and ever changing with developer commentary happening any day, Sola Scriptura is the only way to go to avoid being “proven wrong” by one of Ito’s tweets a week later.
absolute banger just dropped. Sorry I couldn't be there for the launch!. The video is fantastic as expected.
There you are, Arcane! Don’t worry about not being awake at absurd hours.
The premiere was just hype. The video is forever :)
(Freakin’ love your avatar btw.)
Been falling asleep to this 3 nights in a row now so thanks 😂 🙏🏼
Glad to help.
i've watched a LOT of silent hill retrospectives and analysis videos, and by far, i think this is one of my favorites, if not my top video. this was so delicately and intricately made, i applaud you. keep doing what you're doing
Thank you. I will try to keep pace, best I can!
Amazing retrospective, I'm a sucker for these long form videos! I hope you keep up great work
To preface, @themidnightsnow , I'm very grateful for all the time you've put into making this video. The added bonus of knowing how the story related to your personal experiences was a heartwarming and beautiful reminder that we can all be deeply touched and comforted by similar things, not just as a generation, but as humanity in general. But, I digress.
I found your video by happenstance because it's my hope to write a detailed and lore-respecting (if not fully lore accurate) fanfiction and I thought another detailed lore-based video would be far better than relying on wiki information for ideas, since I was never allowed to play horror/occultist/magic using games as a child or even have a playstation growing up (religious parents, thankfully not these kind). How I managed to sneak away to play Zelda games, I'll just count my lucky stars there. But, Silent Hill was a game I always wanted to play. Anytime another friend *had* the game and I was allowed to visit their home, I would watch them play, and I wanted to saturate myself in the lore, the heart of the story. It spoke to me, though it took being an adult to be able to watch full-length playthroughs of the game here on youtube. I never knew if parts were omitted or skipped, but I hoped to see the whole game, and the following ones after.
To this day I've only seen the playthrough for the first, second, and third Silent Hill games, mostly because life was difficult and I prioritized other things, like my health. So to say I'm excited to see your interpretations and actual evidence hunting of the next few games would be a massive understatement. When you had thoughts that could be contested, I loved how you had a notice on screen under *Speculation*, it really helped me in writing down notes to understand the lore, the tone, and the spirit, of the games.
So, I've spent the better part of the last two days worth of my free time writing down almost everything you said. I hope I don't sound obsessively fanatic, there, I just enjoy being thorough and it's kinda relaxing to type things out when I'm working on any kind of project. Even if I don't end up writing my fanfiction or no one really wants to read it, just being able to submerge into the lore and ask thoughtful questions has been a euphoric experience I'm grateful for. I'll have to look you up on twitch! I usually just find folks playing DBD there, haha.
I've watched several four hour Silent Hill videos dissecting the lore, and though I found them helpful and lovely, yours had so much more heart and depth into the interpretation than I was prepared for. In the most wonderful way, so thank you. I'm very happy you have love and a supportive family here for you.
Please feel free to take as much time as you need for the other videos, years if you need them. We'll all be waiting, I'm sure, but your health is more important than our entertainment and devouring of the lore. If I could give you all hugs and support, I would. Bela.
Heh, I had religious parents that banned me from these kinds of games too.
Sorry this took me so long to respond. Yours is among the shorter ones I've had to put off, haha. If you ever want to get help with writing that fan fiction, hit up our Discord! We have channels to share that kind of stuff and a few other fan fictions writers too.
Thank you so much for the love and support. I hope the next video lives up to your hopes in me :)
The camera angle in the alleyway is probably the most amazing piece of gaming cinematography in the history of gaming.
Definitely among the most iconic and memorable.
Just finished my first playthrough of Silent Hill 1 not even 24 hours ago, and was recommended this vid soon after. Loved the game, got the bad ending my first playthrough lol This video helped shed SO much light on things I missed my first go around!
Probably gonna go through it again sometime, but am excited to start Silent Hill 2 here soon. This video was very informative and well put together. Thank you so much for this! Can't wait to continue the series!
Thank you, thank you.
The original 4 SH games get better and better the more you replay them.
me hearing your boiler argument after dismissing it for years: you're right it doesn't matter
(no one's made a good argument for it before now, imo)
I almost never, ever comment on videos, for the sole reason that I feel it's always flooded by an ocean of messages and lost in time and space.
But man, this essay was an absolute masterpiece. I'm 33 now, played Silent Hill when I was much younger and this entire video is just as fascinating as it's passionate.
From the montage to the words carefully chosen and used, that has to be a must-watch for anyone who likes the SH games and franchise, and, to be honest, probably even for those who don't even know it.
I've spent the quickest two hours of my life. Thank you for spending that much time and effort into making this. It was, and is, amazing.
Thank you, I love hearing comments like these. Means I did my job :)
dude keep it up, that’s some quality content here, thank you for this video
You're welcome and thank you!
26:07 I will never forget playing this game in '99 and how cold my blood ran at this part. Resident Evil gave me a good one time jump scare with the dogs jumping through the window a year and a half before, but this scene with Cheryl on the TVs is STILL chilling to me.
Great job on this video man. Been a SH fan for along time, this was a nice watch.
Thanks so much!
Trying to finally give back as an old SH fan myself who’s been neck deep in video essays since the dawn of RUclips lol
I have loved the silent hill series since I was a kid, this deep dive into the lore of silent hill is amazing and a fantastic narrative on the first entry in the series. This is awesome, thanks for making this video.
Thank you, thank you and you're welcome.
This is the best Silent Hill lore video I’ve seen in years. Thanks so much for making this, I look forward to more!
"In my restless dreams i see that town Silent Hill" - Mary Sunderland.
This game series, yes even Downpour and Homecoming, will remain my favorite horror game hands down. I never cried as hard as i did at the end of SH2 or felt as confused as Alex when he found out what happened to his brother. This game series will forever be the greatest horror franchise of all time. *looks over at the new silent hill media that came out* yeah.....those are bad, lets hope "Silent Hill F" (or Forte since it has that musical notation) is good.
Oh, is it Forte? I didn’t realize! Neat! It’s the release I’m looking forward to the most.
I appreciate Homecoming. It has a lot of issues but something about it hits that nostalgia element even when I played it at release. That feeling of a home you can’t go back to.
Downpour… had a lot of good ideas and I remembered it fondly, but it’s got so many little problems holding it back, imo.
@themidnightsnow totally agree on both fronts, im happy i gave you some new insight on the new SH game.
LOL 😂😂😂😂 🤦🏻♂️
@@Hugo_Tate hu?
Absolutely beautifully told thank you truly for such brilliant and diligent work
Thank you, thank you.
The best SH1 essay on the whole internet
Thanks, I aimed for it.
I think I like your theory of Alessa’s past. Mainly the desk part as she either wrote those hurtful words on the desk probably to tell the other students (who might have recently moved to Silent Hill) or the students wrote those hurtful words because they’re new to this town and don’t understand Silent Hill’s culture. Either way, the real reason why Alessa was bullied was because her friends moved away and the new students don’t understand her or Silent Hill at all.
I hadn’t thought about how that would have affected Alessa’s friend group! Yeah, I imagine that even if she had friends either they moved away or her mother wouldn’t have let her be friends with them for not being from Silent Hill. Very good speculation here!
@@themidnightsnow I've got another form of speculation. Why did Kaufman started to work with the Order? Maybe there could be a few reasons, maybe he was indoctrinated into the Order because his family had strong ties with the culture. Or maybe his hospital was going through finical difficulties due to changes in the town and he sided with the Order in the means of gaining money for his hospital.
Another form of speculation I've been thinking about is about the citizens of Silent Hill. Maybe they might have turned into monsters due to Alessa's magic powers. Or they all might have died from PTV overdoses, mainly because the victims were tourists and Kaufman was supplying the PTV drugs to them either to prepare them for the ceremony, or just to kill them seeing how they were destroying the Order's traditions.
But as for the Boiler Room Controversy, you forgot to mention that Alessa was only 7 years old when she was impregnanted and burned alive, which is sort of controversial and disturbing since a 7 year old girl got pregnant with the Order's god by her mother.
@@samflood5631 We don't really know much else about Kaufmann, but I like your thoughts! I always imagined that he got in deep because of the White Claudia being something the cult needed help refining, but otherwise I have no idea! Fun to think about.
I think Alessa's powers/manifestations makes the most sense to me. There was an early theory (like when SH1 was the only game) that the fog **is** PTV and functions like The Ladder from Jacob's Ladder, a commonly cited inspiration for the series. It is white after all. So maybe they did all die from overdoes in a way.
SH2 is my all time fave game. Remake looks AMAZING! Can't wait til the 6th!!! To all the RE fanboys, don't sleep on this one! You'll be missin out
It does look amazing! I’m nervous about story changes but at the very least, going around the town refreshed and expanded is going to be so awesome.
I loved every "hot take" you discussed in this journey of a video and want to congratulate and thank you for making it. I am one of those people, like many others in this comment section, who devours these types of videos and it always makes me happy that yet another creator manages to include even more theories / knowledge / insights or even just "new" ways of looking at things. Also, your voice is very enjoyable, too! Subbed and looking forward for your coverage of the rest of the series!
Awersome Video dude. I really like your thoughts and conclutions. The first Silent Hill has a special place in my hearth. You managed to make me think about it again after 15 years.
I personally subscribe to the interpretation that the sirens represent the ones she heard while she was burning alive. It is the point of no return, when the nightmare first began for her and a fitting signal for when it seeps into the real world.
I tend to agree that the sirens are related to the fire engines and it’s even the interpretation Origins seems to go with, the fire engine sirens transitioning into the Otherworld sirens.
It’s just odd that they sound more like air ride sirens. They are scarier though.
@@themidnightsnow The sirens sound similar to the ones in my city that would go off if a big, general emergency would happen. So maybe that is why i never made the air raid connection. To me it sounds like "big threatening thing is happening" so sounding that when a big fire is happening makes sense. If the japanese developers thought the same thing, no idea.
Generally those types of sirens were put into use as warnings for air strikes or nuclear bombs during the 1950s (iirc). Since those didn't happen nearly so often, they were repurposed for natural disasters. In Minnesota, for example, they use them for tornados. Japan still regularly has missile testing threats from North Korea that uses a similar warning system but sound very different.
Excellent video, by far the best explanation of the story.
I learned two new things through this video, namely the two people that Alessa was forced to kill with her power, and that the ritual involved spears. Both were details that I never noticed before.
On the other hand, I found odd how such a big portion of the video had to be dedicated to clear up the boiler misconception. To me it was always obvious since the beginning that Alessa exploded the boiler with her powers as an attempt to stop the ritual, I didn't even know that other people thought differently. Sadly there's a lot of misinformation and muddied waters regarding the story of this game, but this video does a fantastic job at clearing everything up.
It's unfortunate how SH2 overshadows this game so much, because I think the first is far, far scarier as a horror game, and the story hit me much harder emotionally than SH2 did (though I know I'm a minority on this).
I agree the boiler issue shouldn’t be as big of a deal as it was. But with the film’s interpretation often confusing people on what actually happened in the game, I wanted to weigh in on exactly what happened for clarity’s sake.
It is unfortunate the SH1 gets forgotten. Without it, a lot of the series doesn’t make sense and if you take SH2 by itself, the fan theories start getting wild.
Excellent video dude. I’m only half way through but I love it. I am a huge SH fan.
Thank you :)
This was an amazing watch, very excited to see your future uploads analysing Silent Hill
I never thought of Dahlia asking Alessa for a teeny bit of her power like that... but now that you mention it, Claudia managed to do the same. In SH3 Heather is always asking "did she do this?!" And while you could say that the otherworld was manifesting in SH3 due to the god inside Heather, there's a line that Vincent says that people tend to ignore. In the same scene where Vincent says "they look like monsters to you." (which I always read it as a perspective thing, rather than a literal visual thing.) He also says, "I don't have powers like you two." Referring to Heather AND Claudia. I never sat down and analyzed the otherworld transitions in SH3, but this line always gave me the impression that the cult was able to somehow tap into the towns spiritual power, or at the very least, their highest members, like Dahlia. Which explains the theories everyone always had involving Dahlia and Alessa's birth, being under mysterious and suspicious circumstances.
There’s so much the flies under the radar in SH3 that explains a lot of SH1 that I can’t wait to get to.
Also note that Vincent attributes the church’s current state to Claudia: “Although I admit this atrocious scenery is all yours.” Meaning he’s aware that Claudia is manifesting and seemingly intentionally.
I've been recommended this video for weeks and I'm so glad I finally watched. Awesome job, I loved every second of it!
Appreciate it :)
ty so much for the content, it is extremely well documented and explained, hope you get more views
Thank you! I got really worried towards the end that I had lost my mind and this would only make sense to me lol
Thank you so much for creating this incredible video. Im a huge fan of the series but im waiting for a remake before i touch SH1 and this video cleared up SO many questions that I have had over the years. I must have watch this atleast 15 times by now. I hope you continue to produce more content like this, its really stellar stuff.
This video is so dope, it gave me glances of ideas on how to adapt the games’s story into a 12 episodes series/tv show where the first 6 episodes would be how Harry would arrive at nowhere and defeat God/Alessa, and the other six would be a repeat of the nightmare and Harry getting more info on the general situation and story of Alessa, Cybil’s perspective of the nightmare, a flashback to how Cheryl was found and how she convinced Harry to come to Silent hill, and a flashing out Lisa’s and Kaufman’s story. On the second half Harry would understand that the nightmare was sealing into the real world, and It would end with Harry saving the baby and Cybil, the nightmare dissipating but leaving the town forever scared, haunted, and attracting damned souls. Season 2 would be with James. 😉
U a film maker?
Wow, that was certainly an amazing voyage back to Silent Hill, thanks for this incredible video, it really helped me to realize of so many details I didn't have in mind. Keep the good work and thanks a lot again!
really well done, my man. hope to see more SH content
God the voice acting is DREADFUL in the first one, i hope they'll make a remake XD
A lot of it was the direction and the dialogue not sounding like it’s reacting to what the other person is saying in the correct tone. Add in some 3 second PS1 audio lag and the occasional awkward line and it starts being… not great.
The VAs did a good job with what they were given. It just wasn’t directed or implemented well.
Thank you for stating that the first game is in no way related to Centralia, PA. I hate people that try to retcon the lore by saying it is ash falling on the town and that fires are burning underneath, because of the movie explanation. The game even explicitly states it is snow! Such a small thing to be irritated about, I know, but is is one of the most widely spread false facts for the game.
It’s not a small thing. So many of the misunderstandings in the series are specifically because of the film. The game is confusing, and the film offers an explanation, but not enough consideration if they are the same story or not.
Lots of people started playing SH because of the movie and it’s made a deep schism in the fan base and part of the reason the later game’s writing is so confused. The little things are exactly what build into big issues.
To be honest that doesn’t bother me that much. SH was based aesthetically on a real town and the snow looks ashy so I can understand the mistake.
I once thoughtlessly confused it myself one time in a YT comment when I was tired and hadn’t been involved in the fandom for years only to quickly realise I was a dummy.
To be fair I only saw the movie one time in 2006 and I confused the actually town that inspired SH with that one, I still realised it was fire and ash and not snow. I was thinking about aesthetics.
It bothers much much more seeing PH out of context or people thinking Alessa is evil and Dahlia is good when it comes to movie misconceptions. Hot take but I think it’s a pretty minor misconception relative to the sea of way more detrimental misinformation.
The mistake about Centralia is pretty harmless to me compared to actual game lore. Mistaking snow for ash doesn’t really chap hide. I learned 2 decades ago to pick my battles in the fandom lol.
@@RightsForZombies That’s true. The snow/ash debate isn’t really that important. But it’s those little incongruities that grow into very radical misreadings (or misrememberings) when people conflate the film and the game’s internal logic.
The only time the snow/ash debate matters is when talking about Homecoming that uses the ash interpretation which, to me, puts it in the film’s canon (or its own.)
(btw I know this isn’t a popular take and one I fought against for a while, but SH2 and SH3 supports that Pyramid Head can exist without James. James does have his own-well, two-that can’t exist without him. But the form that manifestation takes predates James’ time in the town.)
@@themidnightsnow I think it matters a lot in homecoming for sure. I guess I just remember my SH forum mod days in 2006 when the movie came out in the help section just constantly correcting really crucial lore confusion so in my mind it’s a lesser issue comparatively speaking. What can you expect when most parts of the current fanbase haven’t played any of the classic games though? They don’t seem to care much for SH1 sadly.
See, as someone who got into Silent Hill because of the movies (I would love to play the games, I just don't own a playstation as my folks were very religious, thankfully not the same cult, lol) I thought the ash falling down thing was really neat. I never knew about Centralia, PA before, so as something that could be tied to the paranormal it's a fascinating idea. However, I agree, I don't think that uniqueness of the movie should be tied to the original games. They're unique and interesting enough as themselves without needing more things retconned into them to be meaningful. Could there be a silent hill with falling ash? Sure, but it isn't this one, and the movie is kinda like watching someone's fanfiction of the original. Interesting, fun to read, but not canon. If that makes sense?
Talk about stumbling onto a total gem. Dude this video rocked! Can't wait to see how the next one Pans out and I hope your channel takes off. I always love seeing someone who has genuine passion speak their mind on a game they love.
Thank you, thank you.
I'm really only going to be talking about games (and other stories) with deeper meanings. Hopefully when we eventually--not anytime soon--move on from Silent Hill, that'll still be what you're looking for here :)
Starting this video, subscribing, saving for bed time
Best time to watch a video about child sacrifice really.
This game deserves a remake so badly. My god, after having just finished the SH2 remake, and seeing how much love and care was put into that. A remaster is LONG overdue for SH1, let alone a full-on remake. Please, Blooper, Konami. Hear my pleas🙏
I think SH1 has the most room for straight improvement, yes. But at the same time, nothing will replace that old PS1 jank adding to this specific kind of horror.
One of the best analysis I've ever seen, it was a pleasure to spend these 2 hours watching this 👏👏👏
About Silent Hill's lore, it's clear that Alessa was powerful enough to change the reality in town through her nightmares when she was alive, but what happened after her death? What exactly have caused the events of Silent Hill 2 and how is this tied with Alessa?
Thank you so much!
I’ll be getting into it more in the SH2 video, but short answer is the spiritual power of the town that seems to cause the manifestations has been around since ancient times. The incident with Alessa left the town empty and the roads destroyed and was the first time something of that magnitude ever happened, possibly because her power amplified it or it was specifically the god ritual that made it spread. (Trying to simplify for comment text.)
@@themidnightsnow Ooh, now I get it! 😃 at first I thought the powers of the town itself was dormant til the presence of people with psychic powers as catalysts, that's why SH2 left me with so many questions about how the town works exactly... I'll be waiting for your video about SH2 (and the rest of the titles 😉) since you make focus on details of the lore like no one else did...
I'm going to get into it a lot more in the next video on SH2, but the short version is that **something** around the town causes manifestations. Ancient peoples saw these manifestations and thought they were gods. They depicted these manifestations in their art and then other people who saw the art manifested the same or similar creatures. The cult's religion is based entirely off of worshipping the manifestations of their own minds (with some Christianity and sun worship mixed in.)
There's A LOT more to that but that'll have to do for a comment.
Bro, had me hooked in the first 5 seconds, subbed in the next 30. Looking forward to a long time with this channel.
Excellently researched video! Earned yourself a subscriber.
Thank you, thank you :)
Hey Glitchy, Etzio here!
Glad to see your video getting blessed by the algorithm. Can't wait for part 2!
thanks for subtitles! please don't miss it in your other videos too.
I watch a lot of videos on the bus without headphones and have to keep the volume off. I HATE it when there’s no subs (or nonsense AI subs.) They may come a bit late, but there will always be subtitles on my videos!
Outstanding video. The level of effort and detail gone into this deserves recognition. You made it easy to follow and understand. Looking forward to future videos
Thank you, I’m working on the next one now :)
Oh my God. That was sooooo AMAZING. Absolutely love it.
Thanks so much :)
Wow! This is what I call "CONTENT" a lot of big content creators nowadays don't even put this much effort. Subbed!!
Thank you, thank you.
I hope to make it a habit.
@@themidnightsnow you will make it dude! Believe it! God bless you!
Thank you. May He bless you as well :)
I had no idea this game was so deep!
This isn’t even the deep one.
This just popped up on my feed and I’m loving it!! SH2 was the first game I bought with my own money so I just had to watch this video 😋
Thank you :)
SH4 came out right when I was buying my own games so I know how that makes them feel extra special.
@@themidnightsnow it’s so fun that a franchise can bring so many people from different walks of life together! The power of a good storytelling both in game and in the video 😆
They already had a chosen and maybe willing person to be the mother of God. Alessa wasn't willing and wasn't supposed be chosen. Maybe the ritual backfired.🤔🤔
That’s what seems to have happened. No idea if the original vessel was a willing person or not though.
The short graphic novel that Owaku and Ito made in 2006 called “Silent Hill: Cage of Cradle” allegedly seems to say that Lisa was going to be the vessel but since it was released digitally, the content as been mostly lost and most of the plot is heresay and fuzzy memories so no one really knows. (Man, I hope Ito’s got that on a hard drive somewhere!)
Holy hell, or would have never known you were a new youtuber. This video is doo well written and edited.
Well be watching your career with great interest
Thank you, thank you.
I hope the SH2 video holds up to it. It’s been many years of study and practice to make a video like this one.
@themidnightsnow ill be looking forward to it. Trying to beat the Remake and original side by side right now
@@captainfach Haha, same!
INCREDIBLE!!! Absolutely incredible!!! 👏 👏 👏
wife
Please keep making these I’ve been really interested in learning about the world of silent hill and you do an amazing job of doing that thank you
Thank you, thank you.
SH2 script is happening and SH3-4 plus Origins in the pipeline.
absolutely brilliant. I have to say, the amount of effort put into this video must have been overwhelming.
2 years of note taking, planning, learning new software and how RUclips works/the algorithm, and wondering if it was all worth it.
Just need to say. Wow. You put so much time, effort, and work into making this!
So great, well done and thank you! ❤
Thank you, thank you :)
...As there is a continuous theme of duality throughout the game - i.e. dual-headed monster - and rebirth - i.e. moth monster - could it be that Alessa's game the whole time was to birth both a weakened evil God and a powerful good God?
Hm, I'm interested in where you're going with this but at the same time I think that the duality of Alessa and Cheryl is probably the biggest reason. Why do you think she'd want to birth and weakened and a powerful god?
Solid work man. Really digging the small channels I've been getting recommended lately.
Thanks :)
RUclips seems to be doing a better job of discovering smaller channels lately. Really awesome to finally see that.
@@themidnightsnow Keep it up. You have a good style for these types of videos.
Fantastic!
Thank you!
You put a lot of hard work into this, and it shows. Wonderful analysis and storytelling. I will be eagerly awaiting your next video in this series! Well done and godspeed.
Thank you so much, I hope I can keep it up!
6:48 I know the story by heart, and still, with such a thorough, respectful and well thought n developed intro, i know that im gonna binge and enjoy every second of this video. Thank you.
Nothing like finding a new silent hill video I haven’t seen that’s over an hour long. Fucking love it.
Edit: you did a really great job on this retrospective man 👏👏👏👏👏
Do you have any plans on making another retrospective on the other games?? Specifically 2-4???
Thank you, thank you.
I do plan on doing SH2-4 and will probably do Origins as well to make the case of how it can't be in the same continuity as the other four.
I finally finished this video and i wanted to say, GREAT WORK MAN, this is an amazing analysis, and i can't wait to see the future videos you're planning
Thank you, thank you.
Once the remake hype calms down and the streaming schedule chills out, I’ll be doing the original SH2. I already have tons of notes and an outline. It mostly just needs organizing.
I always find it funny how Cybil just outright gives you her handgun, of all the ways you could make Harry find a firearm. Which is even more funny is that the rest of you arsenal you outright pick it up from the floor, the shotgun in the bathroom and the hunting rifle in the outdoors store.
Lots of trust to put in a stranger for sure!
Interesting that she has another handgun later. Did she have two or did she find one in a urinal somewhere? 🤔 lol
@@themidnightsnow I think she goes to the police station while Harry has his bizarre adventure.
That’d make a lot of sense.
I do still need to go over the Play Novel’s Cybil scenario and see how well it jives with SH1. Different writers and many endings. Might make an interesting (and much shorter!) video.
It just occured to me that Cybil probably think that the town was attacked by extremists or even aliens for everyone to have disappeared. LMAO
That's the only logic I have for Cybil handing us a gun out of nowhere. I don't think she can even see the monsters Harry sees possibly right until she gets possesed? Coz she's never mentioned any of the enemies in any of the cutscenes. But this is just my assumption. 🤔
@@nafizhelmi That was my assumption too. Something that wasn't a natural disaster or disease or something like that likely was caused by an attacker. But even though Cybil doesn't see the monsters at the same time as Harry as far as we the players know, it doesn't mean she is incapable of seeing them. I think she just doesn't mention them.
This is a fantastic video, Midnight Snow!
I was gripped from the beginning. I really like I'd never really thought of SH as an anthology series, but that's an excellent description of the franchise!
I've subscribed and I'm looking forward to your next video when it's ready!
I still disagree but this is the best pro-boiler explosion video I've seen.
Woah, Rumin! Hello! I watch your SH runs all the time! Especially, the SH2 100% items, no bullet adjust, no saves, Rebirth run. Godlike! I’m planning a “Rumin Run” on my stream one day but I’m not good enough yet lol
Respectfully agree to disagree, but I’m honored you watched my video!
@themidnightsnow Honored! Thanks for watching my stuff, i'll be looking forward to your own 10 Stars if you commentate them.
Want to hear what I think about the boiler explosion? I'm not sharing to try to argue with your theory, as all views are valid imo and we should all agree to disagree respectfully, I just want to share specifically because I haven't heard it anywhere else:
1:30:42 I always thought the Light to the Future paintings depicted the ritual, and the "light" was the fire. So "where is the fire" is behind the camera, which is why the paintings have an orange tone to them.
The play novel mentions a "sacred flame" needed for the ritual. So I thought the ritual was essentially this: You need to spear the mother of God in the womb (which is depicted in the painting and why Alessa is shown with bandages around her stomach in opening amv), with nothing but fire being the source of light during the ritual.
The fire then got out of control.
I’m putting together a vod channel for just that! I stream SH1-4 all the time, especially lately and 80% of my routing comes from your vids! I always thinking of the “new bullets” at the end of Nathan Ave in the dark lol
I welcome the challenge to my stance :) Hm, I like the idea of the photograph being the fire in concept, but it would have to apply to both pictures in that case. Would there be any meaningful reason that the camera or flash are related to the flame? It would make more sense to equate it to the lightning to me, but I don’t know in what way.
I admit, I haven’t given the Play Novel nearly enough attention and plan to soon. But I also know Keiichiro Toyama left Konami after SH1 and Hiroyuki Owaku was writing SH2 at the time. PN:SH was written by
Hideki Sakamoto and is an adaptation so I take it with a grain of salt like I would a novelization of a film for instance. But that’s just me splitting hairs on what’s canon and what’s not.
@themidnightsnow I wasn't trying to challenge your stance lol. At the end of the day I just take everything officially published by Konami as canon in some way. And yeah the fire is the source of light in both photos, as God would use the flame to cleanse the Earth right after being born.
I don’t mean “challenge” as a negative thing. Bringing something contrary to my position is a challenge and invites me to think differently about it which is what I’m all about here. It’s all good in either case :)
I used to take Konami’s official publications as canon for a long time but with all the changing hands, internal inconsistencies, and Ito claiming a story bible was never made, I only trust what got pressed on the discs.
I’m not sure the god is actually its own entity. I believe it was manifested as a deity but is really just another monster so it wouldn’t have to have a specific method of cleansing the world. However the lighting makes a lot of sense relating it to a method of destruction and harkening back to the flash of the camera.
1:58:22 This moment honestly made me tear up just a little bit ngl
What makes me love Harry is he's not looking for Cheryl out of some biological obligation, or an arbitrary last wish from a loved one, but just pure love. There's a lot of reasons why SH1 and 3 are my favorites of the classic SH games but ultimately I think Harry and Heather and everything they represent is really the deciding factor tbh
This is what makes classic SH games so extra special that the later games forgot or didn’t realize. At the core, it’s about love. Harry’s love for his daughter, James’ love for his wife, Heather’s love for her dad, and the sad lack of love in Walter’s life.