Interesting that the original RE 2's police station was apparently very much designed around a typical Japanese police station. Not to say that the version we got is a traditional western police station, but RE 2 did move very much away from the contemporary Japanese design into a direction that is very western and in line with what the first game's Spencer estate went for If the beta build had been finished, I wonder what the distinct lack of the western visual style would've meant for the title. Of course Hideki Kamiya claims the game just wasn't very good in general and with an RE game, level design probably had a massive hand in that lack of quality. Trying to go for a contemporary Japanese design instead of an exaggerated, fantastical western one probably made for a more dull setting. That said though, Capcom was also fully capable of capturing the magic of RE in a Japanese setting, which they proved with Onimusha Warlords. A game that was envisioned and designed as RE in feudal Japan, largely is exactly that with all the charm intact
It is amazing how much more there is to be learned from the Silent Hill series. The concept of kegare and how it ties into the ideas of corruption and impurity is not one you'd readily find in Western literature, so it was quite enlightening the way you explained it. Don't think I'll ever look at flowing/stagnant water or blood the same way in Japanese games. Really enjoyed the video.
A similar concept actually is readily found in the West, namely the mythological origin of "original sin" in Eve's corruption by the serpent. This has led to millennia of the castigation of women as unclean, which is particularly common in ultraorthodox and evangelical communities. I think Western audiences have merely become inured to the concept as it's presented in the West, so the Japanese presentation feels much fresher.
@@yuyutubee8435 Honestly, thank you for the reminder. My family was never particularly religious, and thus I was mostly spared the reminder that women are seen as 'sick and unclean' while menstruating in almost all religions, the Abrahamic traditions included.
Warning: long post I feel that Silent Hill 4: The Room continues to carry the "lost" themes from the series as: a) the stagnation and resulting kegare of Room 302 comes about from it being locked and disconnected from the outside (mostly), and resulting in the eventual corruption of hauntings and destruction within. b) the reincarnation of the self - literally, in the case of Walter Sullivan (through the rebirth ceremony in the sealed portion of Room 302), figuratively, in Eileen Galvin (as she is initially presumed dead, only to be discovered as alive later on; additionally, as she is a projection of Walter's desire for a mother-figure in her role as Mother Reborn) and metaphysically, in Henry and the player, as a part of his survival comes from purifying his apartment by regularly taking inventory and rooting out the source, which I feel is a metaphor for taking emotional inventory (a common complaint of players being the arduous nature of returning to Room 302 in the second half of the game to take on a secondary task as strenuous, if not more so, as the primary "escort mission"). c) the theme of love - Walter and Henry appear to be two sides of the same coin. Both raised in environments lacking in parental love, yet one succumbing to violence and torture while the other pursuing pacifism and compassion. One is thoroughly corrupted by religious kegare to the point where even his idealistic vision of his mother becomes defiled (see 21 Sacraments ending); the other willfully seeking to protect and guide the near helpless Eileen out of the nightmare at a great cost to his own preservation (see Escape ending). Eileen herself shows incredible sympathy for the young version of Walter, even though helping him at this point in the story may prove inconsequential. But, even here, her "love" may not be wholly pure as her compassion may be a subconscious influence due to her possession, depending on the player's actions (or inactions) to protect Eileen (see Eileen's Death ending). Joseph also could be seen as someone who chooses love as he provides Henry with the knowledge and tools necessary to defeat Walter, despite not knowing who he is and being dead and trapped within Walter's nightmare. Again, there is also a blurring of lines here because Joseph could also be under the effects of possession of Walter and could simply be fulfilling the ritualistic role required by the sacraments. Even some of the minor characters show a great deal of love that contribute to the main conflict between Walter and Henry. For instance, Frank Sunderland's concern for Henry/Room 302 and attempts to intervene from the outside, his gifting of photographs and prints to Henry to decorate his apartment (as it is implied that Henry is a photographer, if not by trade, then by hobby) to help compensate for Henry's lack of home-making, intentional or not, and lastly, his attachment to the umbilical cord left by Walter's parents and his concern and protection for a baby he never came to know. Additionally, the painter living in Room 202 shows love for his fellow tenants by painting their portraits and encapsulating a small part of their lives in captions, something very difficult to do in an apartment complex based on my own experiences without a great deal of love for your community. (Although, ironically Eileen's portrait appears to be missing from the batch, despite her living in said apartment since childhood. Perhaps it was the unfinished portrait in the center of the workspace?) Walter is a near perfect villan (inwardly emotionless but outwardly erratic, powerful, manipulative, excessively violent and seeking oblivion), with Henry being his perfect foil (outwardly emotionless but inwardly kind, weak, nurturing, avoidant of confrontation and seeking redemption, second chances and a return to life). I think it goes without saying that SH4, while being radically different from the series and lacking refinement and polish, it encompasses the same passion and talent of its predecessors.
This is a fantastic analysis! I am wondering though, what redemption do you feel Henry is seeking? That's the one thing you said which I hadn't picked up on.
Yet, I also feel that SH4 moved away from the "American feel" through the enemies. They're ghosts. Americans don't really fear ghosts; the past has little effect on the present, and is gladly discarded. But for the Japanese, ghosts are common, ghosts are the most common enemy, and the past defines everything about their present. Americans fear wolves at the door; creatures from outside come to harm.
And this is why the series was the best under Japanese developers hands. The Devs used broader themes to flesh out the world, characters, and environment. Where as the western developers used far less to no background themes in their games.
this is weeb energy for real tho. it was just them gving the games to studios that didn't care. it's not because japanese people have some special grasp on themes. cmon yall lol
@@humblegamer7876 Hard agree... I really doubt there is no dev team in the West that could have attempted the same, from their own perspective, had Konami given a shit and spent more effort looking for the right hands.
Konami handed the Silent Hill series to incompetent western developers though. Imagine if it was handed to a well known respected team instead of the B teams they hired. There’s plenty of western made games, movies and books that explore deep philosophical themes. Some talented team could have given an interesting “western take” on the series.
Kegare reminds me of Persona 2, where I first learned about it. The antagonists are harvesting it and spreading it like a disease through the city. It also reminded me about how the concept of "sin" (tsumi) is viewed differently over there, how it's not necessarily a moral failing but can just be bad things happening to someone or accidental. There's a ton of butterfly imagery too. Idk how it relates, kegare just always makes me think of that game haha 😅
Kegare sounds kinda like Abjection if I'm understanding correctly? Here's a few Wikipedia snippets that explain Abjection better than I ever could: Among the most popular interpretations of abjection is Julia Kristeva's, pursued particularly in her 1980 work Powers of Horror: An Essay on Abjection. Kristeva describes subjective horror (abjection) as the feeling when an individual experiences, or is confronted by (both mentally and as a body), what Kristeva calls one's "corporeal reality", or a breakdown in the distinction between what is Self and what is Other. The roots of abject art go back a long way. The Tate defines abject art as that which "explore themes that transgress and threaten our sense of cleanliness and propriety, particularly referencing the body and bodily functions." It's not a one to one translation of concepts, but if I had to pick the closest Western concept that I know, that would be it. I doubt most people would want to watch a video exploring the similarities and differences between Abjection and Kegare, but if you ever want to get a bunch of highfalutin academic types to argue in your comment section for that sweet sweet engagement that appeases the algorithm, it might be a cool video to make.
Interestingly, Souls series also has those themes within them regarding resurrection and the impurity that comes with immortality. It's especially explicit in Sekiro where you literally spread a disease to friendly NPC's when you die repeatedly. The flow of time and the stagnation that comes from those clinging to their age like Gwyn did are very much what triggers the story to even happen.
I loved this video. There really isn't enough content that looks at how Shinto and Buddhist philosophies affect Eastern games. Thankyou for shedding some light on this!
Fantastic video! You really had your references together, and they definitely support these themes being present in the Silent Hill trilogy. Very interesting ideas, and knowledge of some of these Japanese symbols will help my understanding of Japanese horror movies I've yet to watch. It's always a joy to watch your content!
Nice, people in west are finally finding out Silent Hill is actaully a very Eastern series under the moniker of Western horror title. As a Chinese this is why the series got me fascinated.
From the description here it seems the key difference between SH1&2 and SH3 is that in the first two games the protagonist chooses love in some way where as in the third game the protagonist is a recipient of it. Could the youth of the third protagonist compared to the first two be a factor in this or is there something more in that shift? Of course Harry's actions are entirely motivated out of love in all cases so I don't know how that fits thematically over his success over his failure in contrast to James
I see that aspect of Heather as having more to do with the themes of abuse -- not that you couldn't look at it from another angle of course. Heather, Claudia and Vincent are all victims of the same system of abuse. Claudia and Vincent had no proper love as they grew up, whereas Alessa/Cheryl/Heather was rescued and raised with love before being traumatized, forced to be suddenly independent, and getting pulled back into the sphere of her abuse. Whereas Vincent and Claudia are twisted into villains by their abuse (in very different ways, mind), Heather is ultimately able to stay true to herself because she had someone like Harry to build her up in her childhood. All four original games are about the effects of abuse, among other things. I think a lot of ambiguity for some aspects gets cleared right up if you consider it through the lens of abuse dynamics. It's frankly amazing all the different angles you can look at these games from and get something out of it lol
I think that the third game is also about love, not just in the context of Heather and Claudia’s upbringing, but also in Heather’s character arc. She has to make a choice to acknowledge Claudia and forgive her, or to make the wrong choice and kill her. In choosing to forgive her, she is practicing love for Claudia. It’s ultimately not the person who is her enemy, but the entity inside her that feeds on her hatred. She has to direct her focus to the internal threat, instead of the external one. Which I believe is an act of love. The same holds true for Douglas’s arc and Heather’s feelings toward Douglas. We know Heather is wary of other people, and she initially doesn’t trust him and reproaches him, but she learns to better understand him throughout the course of the game, almost viewing him as a surrogate father figure. In choosing to trust him, she is practicing love. And this action is mirrored by Douglas when he chooses not to kill her. He puts his faith in her ability to confront Claudia and the entity inside her. Another act of love.
I’m late, but here! I really like these sort of in-depth analyses. It gets me thinking and forming my own theories and ideas. I also like how you talk about aspects of the story and themes that aren’t easy to spot. King of Games indeed lol.
This analysis was absolutely fascinating!! I’ve watched hundreds of videos on SILENT HILL at this point, but I’ve learned the most from yours, hands down! Opened my eyes to perspectives I’d never even considered before! Thank you for this, I can’t wait to watch it again and again!
There are some excellent insights in this video I hadn't considered before (as a die hard fan of the original four). Such as the symbolism of Dahlia and Harry being like two parents fighting over a daughter, and the daughter's fate or future is determined by which of those ends up being dominant (extrapolating from what is said in the video). Or a similar situation between Harry and Leonard, and Heather and Claudia. Very good.
Awesome video! its possible you may be reaching at certain concepts..BUT also these themes may be culturally inherited and simply present here, maybe without realizing. love your work
I don't want to just contradict you, because I definitely see how you could make that assumption. However, in the case of Keiichiro Toyama and Hiroyuki Owaku- there is no coincidence. The two are very adept in both Western and Eastern religions and esoteric doctrines.
I've been on a strange binge for the past few weeks that involved old horror games, specifically Silent Hill. I can't tell you how many Silent Hill analysis/reviews I've seen in that time. And non of it has gotten old nor repetitive. However, this video has brought to my attention themes represented in Silent Hill that I never knew existed, and was not explored in the many videos I've seen. This new information bring my respect of these games to a new high [and it was already high]. Thank you for this awesome video!
I'm just rediscovering your work as I go through my semi-regular return to silent hill as an obsession. It's really cool to see this take incorporating kegare after mentioning it in the comments some five years ago! Amazing to see how far you take that idea and run with it! Amazing analysis my friend
Just a quick note that you may want to follow up on - at 6:20, you refer to "Purity and Danger" as a novel by Mary Shelley. On the surface, that might make sense (since Shelley is the author of Frankenstein), but you've got the image of the correct book - "Purity and Danger" by Mary Douglas. Douglas was a British Anthropologist, and that particular (non-fiction) work talks a lot about things like ritual purity, and the cultural definitions of "dirt." The concept of "Kegare" that you mentioned is very similar to a lot of what is in Douglas' book - she may even reference it directly (my copy is inaccessible at the moment, or I would check!) I'm not sure if you just misspoke in the narration, but if not, you should definitely take a look at Douglas' work in the context of Silent Hill, as it seems like you'd find it interesting. I'd never heard that connection before, but it makes perfect sense - very cool to know that at least some of the team had it in mind.
Wow! I've never heard of kegare before since I'm Scottish and it's crazy how knowing about it puts the Silent Hill series into a whole new light! This is one of the best videos I've seen on Silent Hill. Thank you.
This is such a good video and I think it really explains why I love and hold silent hill 3 so near and dear. This is one of the first silent hill videos I've seen that actually covers something new, I love it!
Even over 10 years after being introduced to this series, I've learned something new about it. Thank you for making this! It makes so much sense and adds so much more depth to the symbolism than I ever could have imagined.
This was amazing, thank you so much. Also, thats neither here nor there but its interesting how in 1, 2, 3 the best ending is where an adult man leaves with a female child. This theme is of promised future rebirth, where a man ensures the safety of the girl until she grows up and births a child; specifically i think it is parental love thats meant to be read as englightement imo.
This was a great video, Aesir-senpai. Whenever you have free time Thegamingmuse has done a ton of in-depth videos on the first four SH games. I favorite was the video on the enemy The Closer and the hidden model details on them.
this is my first video of you that I've seen! and instantly, Im in love (like, not in that way, like as a creator!) I love how you gave a different and more in depth analysis, especially through a cultural lense! There are so many silent hill videos out there, but I feel like yours finally hit the mark for what REALLY made silent hill special :>)!
The whole theme of crossing boundaries between inside and outside, purity and dirt, is very close to the freudian concept of "unheimliche". I thought they simply draw inspiration form Freud, as they did for many other psychonalitic themes in the franchise, but I didn't know there was such a similar concept in japanese culture. I did know about impurity and stagnation in shintoism but I didn't know it was related to the crossing of boundaries*. The word "unheimliche" is hard to translate, is also hard to define in german, in Italy was translated as "perturbante" and in english was translated as "uncanny". For Freud's point of view, horror story deal a lot with this feeling. The word "unheimliche" comes from (is the opposite of) "heimlich" wich means "familiar", "related to the family house", "known" and so on, there are many possible translations. "Unheimliche" is the feeling experienced when something that once was covered, hidden, comes to light, (something once hidden inside the family home is exposed) the unconcious that becomes concious: something very common in the Silent Hill saga. Freud wrote that some narrative tropes can easily summon a sense of "unheimliche" in the reader/watcher/gamer: -Dolls, mannequins, and all those humanoid things we can clearly identify as "dead" or "alive" (the doubt of life is unheimliche) (ghost included). -Twins, doppleganger, reflections (is there one or two? Is that my reflection of a different human being?) -The constant repetion of actions, places, events, themes (We can see many of this elements in the movie "Shining") -The discovery of something dirt, guilty, impure (I tried to explain in one comment a very complex concept originally explained in a forty pages book, so I had to be brief). Also the metaphors of stagnated water, dirt, sh*t to represent repressed psychic contents is very common in psychoanalysis. *The idea of impurity and stagnant water is a very important theme in From Software games, expecially in Dark Souls.
Well done! I've been rooting around SILENT HILL lore for ages (hello, TwinPerfect!), these are angles I hadn't heard before. I think you're especially onto something with the water-corruption stuff. I would have liked a stronger conclusions for the "these things = reincarnation" and "this = love" (or "love = a substitution for enlightenment") sections--you know, a statement or two that answers "Therefore, what?" in regards to these nifty tidbits...But I still enjoyed this watch. That half-hour flew by! Thank you for working hard on this. :)
Regarding the "In Water" ending, surely that would imply a continouation and perpetuation of the "kigare" of Silent Hill by adding 2 more bodies to the lake? Makes you wonder if that was considered during development, especially if thats considered the canonical ending. Perhaps also as a in-game expanlation and basis for future games.
Good thoughts. I dont believe any of the endings result in the cleansing of the town, they relate only to James. Suicide is not universally considered an evil act, like it is in the west, and I think the idea of the In Water ending is more about James cleansing himself through his own destruction in the lake. How that act impacts the town is a good question, it would rely on whether there are degrees of kigare or whether it is binary, either clean or unclean. I would also say, that the In Water ending was considered when designing pyramid head would not perforce make it the canonical ending, all four of the standard endings work well for the story, but In Water being triggered by taking damage and looking often at things in your inventory would likely make it the most common ending achieved by first time completers, so there is that.
@@khaygn4579 The act of suicide mighn't be considered evil or bad universally, but the state of death would be. IIRC Japanese Shinto regards dead bodies as unclean, so much so butchers and undertakers were apart of the "Untouchables" caste (can't remember the proper name) because they were constantly around death, cast out from society and forced to live by rivers; water is purifying in Shinto so this was to try "clean" them. You can purify yourself, but to have so much contact to the dead made you very polluted, perhaps even to the point of being permanently unclean (not super sure on this last part). If we take this and apply it to Silent Hill, its full of the dead. Thats must do something to the town, not in the act of dying, but in the constant presence of the dead.
I absolutely love this. I'm so glad i stumbled upon this video and this channel in general. With quality this good of course i had to subscribe. This is amazing
What a truly amazing compilation and analysis video of the original Silent Hill games! I love the series and have played most of the games many times but I have never known about this important kegare perspective and without this awesome video I would have still been oblivious to that recurring and vital theme. I can't thank you enough for doing this video dude 🙏😊
I greatly appreciate this cross-analysis and enlightenment (no pun intended) of the SH series. I have watched many 'cross-analysis' SH videos, but every one of them were speculation, where yours sounds amazingly logical and since you have the knowledge resources of Japanese culture and Buddhism, I can only surmise you are 100 percent correct. As a westerner, the secrecy of the direction and flow of the games is what kept them so mesmerizing. I have played all 3 multiple times, beat them multiple times (including 4, the room) but I could have never tied together the underlying themes and even though the veil is now lifted I feel, thanks to you and this video, it also gives it purpose and a deeper meaning.
Wow.. fkn brilliant. I didn't know the concept of kegare. Wow!! Thanks for this video. This might even be better than a silent Hill 4 analysis. ...maybe 🙂
Really interesting stuff! I hadn’t heard about kegare at all until this video, especially not in relation to Silent Hill (and I’ve watched A LOT of Silent Hill videos). Good connection! I absolutely love the way these games manage to have a Western feel while being distinctly Eastern in their symbolism and philosophies.
This video is really amazing. I like it. I am South Korean, and there is somewhat similar concept of "kegare" in here, too. It is called "부정타다(boo-jeung-tah-dah)." Not quite sure it is 100% same, though, I don't know much of Korean folklore and myth or something. But I believe they are almost the same, even chinese character means really similar. Roughly translated to 'you've been affected from something not right, not clean, unholy or something'. Maybe there are some differences how one can be affected and/or how you can rid off or clean. Well anyways it was really fun to watch. Thank you.
This was an excellent and insightful video. One of the best I’ve seen on Silent Hill. Further to the central theme on the flow of water with respect to eastern thought and philosophy, this is a theme that runs throughout the book “The Wind Up Bird Chronicle” by Haruki Murakami. Coincidence? I’d say not personally but that’s just me.
This is going to sound disgusting, but since I first played these games I always wondered what the Otherworld would smell like. After watching this video, I see how fitting it is that I imagined the first Silent Hill's Otherworld to smell like rot, coppery old blood, and shit; Silent Hill 2's like semen and a dirty hotel room reeking of stale sex; and Silent Hill 3's like menses combined with bacterial vaginosis. Gross, like I said. But I have to think that kind of visceral reaction was what the devs were going for.
This is exactly why I dislike the later silent hill entries because there is so much depth to the original 3 games that was lost after they went to the fourth. This is EXACTLY why the original 3 were and still to this day ICONIC.
it's weird how death is considered kegare. bodies become food for other creatures, which helps decompose it into vital nutrients for the earth and plants. death helps life, it's all part of that natural circle.
This is an extremely well made video and I loved every minute of it, thank you for the content! Even though I've consumed lots of Japanese media like Fatal Frame, Ju-on, Dark Water, Ring, Sekiro, etc. I always seemed to forget about the concepts of purity and the disturbing, frightening imagery of stuff like still water. Thanks to you I now understand what Kegare means, at least on the surface level :) That's also something the American silent hill's missed (as well as a lot of the other themes) and went full style over substance, which is why I don't play them. Lastly, I'm kinda sad you didn't mention silent hill 4, in my opinion a very underrated game, though I understand it being the least liked and the most different of the Japanese SHs, but also Kegare surrounds a lot of the themes presented in the story and the apartment especially. Would love to see this covered!
Was thinking the exact same thing - SH4 fits these ideas perfectly with the corruption of the room/house (a home is a personal place that feels extremely "wrong" if it's impurified) There's a great video about it here that more or less covers it. (It's called "The lie we call home" by Daniel Santos)
Now with Elden Ring out, your use of the term “seedbed” when discussing kegare really sticks out to me as important given the whole seedbed curse and Dung Eater questline. What prompted you to use this term specifically in this video? It’s just such a specific word to use and then for Elden Ring to come out months later is just wild to me. Also this video definitely had me thinking of the From games in this context too which is awesome
Kegare had been in the From soft discourse since Demon's Souls and I noticed that no one had connected it to Silent Hill where I felt it was also very fitting :)
24:55 一家心中 is a term used for family suicides. Usually they are committed with carbon monoxide poisoning via characol burners or stuffing car exhausts . But I have never heard that driving into a lake together is a common practice. Could you provide a source on that?
@@AesirAesthetics Thanks for the reply! Certainly jumping into water from cliffs is a traditional way to commit a lovers suicide in Japan. Additionally the kanji used for the term lover suicide 心中 reflect the fact that the lovers are of one mind/heart and their love will be protected forever by their act. Certainly links into your analysis of love in the game
This is the problem with western devs. They understand the games at a surface level aesthetically but don't understand or have the mindset. Many games that one thinks are very western-like by japanese devs like early RE and Dead Rising fail miserably or feel off when western devs touch them.
Not gonna lie, my favorite subject to talk about SH these days is precisely the boiler explosion, which is ironic because most people are sick of discussing it. I guess I find it interesting precisely because it is a "controversial" topic amongst fans. I understand that many people just want closure on it already, but its hard for me to have closure with it since through my experiences in playing I keep finding pieces of the puzzle that I feel go against the theory. If anyone is interested, I'd be glad to discuss some of the clues I've found, otherwise I won't bother anyone with it. I know this isn't a forum, and I'd like to discuss this topic in the SH forums, but for some reason they didn't let me in. I guess its because I chose "Maria" as my favorite SH character in the registration and they just weren't having it xD
@@AesirAesthetics Well, I hope this doesn't turn out too long or too boring so I'll try to keep it as short as possible, just wanna say that I'm not *against* the boiler explosion theory, I'm just in a bit of a dilemma on what to believe xD The biggest thing imo is Harry's letter in SH3 that states that Dahlia burned Alessa. I know that Twin Perfect debunk this by saying that Harry wasn't present at the ritual and thus doesn't know any better, but I find this strange because we do vicariously play as Harry throughout the first game and read the "Schrodinger's" fire article *as* Harry. Why would Harry choose to ignore it? - My guess is because of what Dahlia tells Harry before the final boss. She mentions something about Alessa being in a perpetual nightmare that nourishes the God-fetus. This makes sense to me because the best way for her to have put Alessa in a perpetual nightmare would be to bring her to the brink of death, i.e. by burning her with a fire that would otherwise kill her, but then keep her alive with spells or some sort of magic (to the dismay of Lisa who was tasked to look after her). Another point is that the fire article itself only mentions that the boiler was "believed" to be the source of the fire. If the fire itself was ignited by some sort of magic from Dahlia (Alessa and Claudia have shown to be able to use magic, so it isn't that far fetched), I can totally imagine a bunch of frustrated investigators concluding that the boiler, which would inevitably become damaged in the fire, was the most likely source (I'm trying my best to avoid the point that the "investigators" were probably a part of the cult and tried to "cover it up" :D). Also, I went as far as to watch videos of boiler explosions (ridiculous I know xD), and I think it would be safe to say that if it did explode neither Dahlia or Alessa would be alive, yet Alessa was completely burned whilst Dahlia was unscathed. This could also just be attributed to Team Silent's misunderstanding of what a true boiler explosion looks like, like Guy Cihi mentioned when he said that they had know clue how to operate a chainsaw xD. Twin perfect also use the "The Monster Lurks" memo as proof that the stress Alessa endured during the ritual likely caused her to inadvertently make the boiler explode, but when I read the memo objectively as possible I only interpret it as an explanation for the manifestation of the monsters and Otherworld. It appears to be a chapter out of a book called "Manifestation of Delusions" (or was it vice versa?). This to me kinda coincides with Harry's theory on the Otherworld; "it's being invaded by the Otherworld. By a world of someone's nightmarish delusions come to life..." Another point TP bring up is that Heather/Alessa wasn't burned a second time in SH3 to conceive the God-fetus yet again, but as far as anyone's concerned Dahlia probably doesn't know this and the cult in general likely misunderstand the power of the town. Perhaps the fetus is yet another manifestation of the town and no ritual is necessary at all to manifest it in the first place? This makes sense to me because the second "God" looks like Alessa which is likely a result from Claudia's psyche as she views Alessa as the Mother of God. Its like what Vincent tells her: "You think that this is the work of God? Isn't this all nothing more than your own personal nightmare? Just like Alessa 17 years ago? If this really is the work of God, then I'd say She has pretty lousy taste". Either way, Claudia still needed to nourish the fetus with hate, so she killed Harry to instill hate in Heather. My final clue is a memo from SH3 called "Lost Memories" that talks about the cult's sacrificial rites. One of them is burning a person alive, but this rite is only allowed to the clergy of the cult. Since Alessa was the daughter of Dahlia and was viewed as "the Mother of God", I'm sure such a sacrifice would be allowed to her. The memo also attributes the connection of using fire in the ritual to the cult's god being a "sun god". I know I most likely over-analyzed this topic, I hope it wasn't too long or annoying to read xD. I realize that what actually happened isn't very important at all, but for some reason I find this topic very interesting. I'm still very torn on this despite all the "evidence", one of the reasons being that SH was inspired by the works of Stephen King and at the end of "The Shining" a boiler explodes taking the Overlook hotel with it... It would be hilarious if Owaku simply forgot about the fire article and just went with the whole "Dahlia burned Alessa" thing. This wouldn't be far-fetched since he only co-wrote the first game :)
I forgot to add one more detail, the question of; "Why the effort in including the Fire Article in the game in some versions when it was mistakenly left out in earlier releases?". When I read the fire article trying my best to pretend that I have never watched a Twin Perfect video in my life, what Harry says after reading the article sticks out the most. He says "That was the night we found Cheryl", so to me it serves as exposition that Cheryl is connected to whatever happened that night (which we later find out to be Alessa splitting her soul). It also serves as exposition to tell us that fire was involved, because if you think about it nowhere else in the game is it stated that Walesa was burned. I also tried imagining if the fire article told the supposed "truth". Imagine if it read something like: "Fire broke out, source discovered to be ritual where mother attempted to sacrifice daughter". Firstly, it would spoil the "twist" before the final boss fight. Secondly, Dahlia would be a useless character because she would likely have been arrested if not executed way before the events of the first game, thirdly it would be strange for the cult to be so easily discovered since they held so much power over the town that they even whacked the mayor before he blowed the whistle on their drug operation...
@@darkjapan No problem man. For the record I'd like to say that I mostly agree with Twin Perfect on Silent Hill lore. Their investigations served as a basis for my own, and I wouldn't have discovered these things if not for them. In my opinion its completely fine to disagree with someone if you feel that they are not right. The boiler explosion is one of the few things that I don't completely agree with them on simply because of my own subjective experience playing the games. I forgot to answer one more argument that is for the boiler explosion: Why did 5 (or was it 6?) other houses burn down if the ritual and fire wasn't an "accident"? My best answer for this question would be that Dahlia didn't care about the aftermath of the burning because by that point God should have been born and He(She?) already would have started "cleansing" the world with fire and destruction in order to achieve "Paradise", but Dahlia didn't predict that Alessa was going to split her soul, halting the birth of God... That's also why I don't think its particularly silly to think that the cult would attempt to cover up the aftermath of the fire...
This really illustrates how the subconscious mind understands things we aren't conscious of. There's plenty of games in the horror genre that don't give you the kind of feelings this series produces, and it's not always for obvious reasons that are easily articulated. But you know somewhere inside you, the connective tissue is there.
Love the video, but geez, some of those captions. But I'm probably one of the only people noticing missing punctuation and how some of the words are sometimes a little mashed. ('The Aglophatus' got turned into Neoglophatus at one point. Kegare turned into Cakery. Little things).
Genuinely one of the most illuminating videos on Silent Hill and the concept of Kegare in general. Thank you
Thanks for mentioning this video
I just wish @AesirAesthetics would do a series on Blasphemous.
@@edvfya9922SERIES?!?!?!
I did play it for a few hours a while back but didn't find the time to go back.
maybe one day :)
@@Destroyer120296 :)
That's what made silent Hill, mgs, and RE so interesting to the west. It's distinctly western settings but it also feels like an amazing fantasy
yes
Legendary series indeed;
more like fantasy, another perspective of the themes that were so relevant in the west at the moment
Interesting that the original RE 2's police station was apparently very much designed around a typical Japanese police station. Not to say that the version we got is a traditional western police station, but RE 2 did move very much away from the contemporary Japanese design into a direction that is very western and in line with what the first game's Spencer estate went for
If the beta build had been finished, I wonder what the distinct lack of the western visual style would've meant for the title. Of course Hideki Kamiya claims the game just wasn't very good in general and with an RE game, level design probably had a massive hand in that lack of quality. Trying to go for a contemporary Japanese design instead of an exaggerated, fantastical western one probably made for a more dull setting.
That said though, Capcom was also fully capable of capturing the magic of RE in a Japanese setting, which they proved with Onimusha Warlords. A game that was envisioned and designed as RE in feudal Japan, largely is exactly that with all the charm intact
Yes. Western setting without western developers. I'm an American but i HATE westernized franchises. RE and SH are perfect examples.
"East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet" - Rudyard Kipling
"how bout i do, anyway?" - Team Silent
lol
"Anyway?! What do you mean, anyway!?"
@@gguioa LMAOOOOOOO this made me cackle irl
@@gguioa best comment ever, we can end internet now and die in peace or in water.
It is amazing how much more there is to be learned from the Silent Hill series. The concept of kegare and how it ties into the ideas of corruption and impurity is not one you'd readily find in Western literature, so it was quite enlightening the way you explained it. Don't think I'll ever look at flowing/stagnant water or blood the same way in Japanese games. Really enjoyed the video.
Glad you liked it :)
A similar concept actually is readily found in the West, namely the mythological origin of "original sin" in Eve's corruption by the serpent. This has led to millennia of the castigation of women as unclean, which is particularly common in ultraorthodox and evangelical communities. I think Western audiences have merely become inured to the concept as it's presented in the West, so the Japanese presentation feels much fresher.
@@yuyutubee8435 Honestly, thank you for the reminder. My family was never particularly religious, and thus I was mostly spared the reminder that women are seen as 'sick and unclean' while menstruating in almost all religions, the Abrahamic traditions included.
Warning: long post
I feel that Silent Hill 4: The Room continues to carry the "lost" themes from the series as:
a) the stagnation and resulting kegare of Room 302 comes about from it being locked and disconnected from the outside (mostly), and resulting in the eventual corruption of hauntings and destruction within.
b) the reincarnation of the self - literally, in the case of Walter Sullivan (through the rebirth ceremony in the sealed portion of Room 302), figuratively, in Eileen Galvin (as she is initially presumed dead, only to be discovered as alive later on; additionally, as she is a projection of Walter's desire for a mother-figure in her role as Mother Reborn) and metaphysically, in Henry and the player, as a part of his survival comes from purifying his apartment by regularly taking inventory and rooting out the source, which I feel is a metaphor for taking emotional inventory (a common complaint of players being the arduous nature of returning to Room 302 in the second half of the game to take on a secondary task as strenuous, if not more so, as the primary "escort mission").
c) the theme of love - Walter and Henry appear to be two sides of the same coin. Both raised in environments lacking in parental love, yet one succumbing to violence and torture while the other pursuing pacifism and compassion. One is thoroughly corrupted by religious kegare to the point where even his idealistic vision of his mother becomes defiled (see 21 Sacraments ending); the other willfully seeking to protect and guide the near helpless Eileen out of the nightmare at a great cost to his own preservation (see Escape ending). Eileen herself shows incredible sympathy for the young version of Walter, even though helping him at this point in the story may prove inconsequential. But, even here, her "love" may not be wholly pure as her compassion may be a subconscious influence due to her possession, depending on the player's actions (or inactions) to protect Eileen (see Eileen's Death ending). Joseph also could be seen as someone who chooses love as he provides Henry with the knowledge and tools necessary to defeat Walter, despite not knowing who he is and being dead and trapped within Walter's nightmare. Again, there is also a blurring of lines here because Joseph could also be under the effects of possession of Walter and could simply be fulfilling the ritualistic role required by the sacraments. Even some of the minor characters show a great deal of love that contribute to the main conflict between Walter and Henry. For instance, Frank Sunderland's concern for Henry/Room 302 and attempts to intervene from the outside, his gifting of photographs and prints to Henry to decorate his apartment (as it is implied that Henry is a photographer, if not by trade, then by hobby) to help compensate for Henry's lack of home-making, intentional or not, and lastly, his attachment to the umbilical cord left by Walter's parents and his concern and protection for a baby he never came to know. Additionally, the painter living in Room 202 shows love for his fellow tenants by painting their portraits and encapsulating a small part of their lives in captions, something very difficult to do in an apartment complex based on my own experiences without a great deal of love for your community. (Although, ironically Eileen's portrait appears to be missing from the batch, despite her living in said apartment since childhood. Perhaps it was the unfinished portrait in the center of the workspace?)
Walter is a near perfect villan (inwardly emotionless but outwardly erratic, powerful, manipulative, excessively violent and seeking oblivion), with Henry being his perfect foil (outwardly emotionless but inwardly kind, weak, nurturing, avoidant of confrontation and seeking redemption, second chances and a return to life).
I think it goes without saying that SH4, while being radically different from the series and lacking refinement and polish, it encompasses the same passion and talent of its predecessors.
This is a fantastic analysis!
I am wondering though, what redemption do you feel Henry is seeking? That's the one thing you said which I hadn't picked up on.
Yet, I also feel that SH4 moved away from the "American feel" through the enemies. They're ghosts. Americans don't really fear ghosts; the past has little effect on the present, and is gladly discarded. But for the Japanese, ghosts are common, ghosts are the most common enemy, and the past defines everything about their present. Americans fear wolves at the door; creatures from outside come to harm.
And this is why the series was the best under Japanese developers hands. The Devs used broader themes to flesh out the world, characters, and environment. Where as the western developers used far less to no background themes in their games.
As it turns out, these games were trying to convey ideas, not just be strange.
@@AesirAesthetics Precisely. Thanks again for another great video!
this is weeb energy for real tho. it was just them gving the games to studios that didn't care. it's not because japanese people have some special grasp on themes.
cmon yall lol
@@humblegamer7876 Hard agree... I really doubt there is no dev team in the West that could have attempted the same, from their own perspective, had Konami given a shit and spent more effort looking for the right hands.
Konami handed the Silent Hill series to incompetent western developers though. Imagine if it was handed to a well known respected team instead of the B teams they hired. There’s plenty of western made games, movies and books that explore deep philosophical themes. Some talented team could have given an interesting “western take” on the series.
Kegare reminds me of Persona 2, where I first learned about it. The antagonists are harvesting it and spreading it like a disease through the city. It also reminded me about how the concept of "sin" (tsumi) is viewed differently over there, how it's not necessarily a moral failing but can just be bad things happening to someone or accidental. There's a ton of butterfly imagery too. Idk how it relates, kegare just always makes me think of that game haha 😅
Kegare sounds kinda like Abjection if I'm understanding correctly?
Here's a few Wikipedia snippets that explain Abjection better than I ever could:
Among the most popular interpretations of abjection is Julia Kristeva's, pursued particularly in her 1980 work Powers of Horror: An Essay on Abjection. Kristeva describes subjective horror (abjection) as the feeling when an individual experiences, or is confronted by (both mentally and as a body), what Kristeva calls one's "corporeal reality", or a breakdown in the distinction between what is Self and what is Other.
The roots of abject art go back a long way. The Tate defines abject art as that which "explore themes that transgress and threaten our sense of cleanliness and propriety, particularly referencing the body and bodily functions."
It's not a one to one translation of concepts, but if I had to pick the closest Western concept that I know, that would be it.
I doubt most people would want to watch a video exploring the similarities and differences between Abjection and Kegare, but if you ever want to get a bunch of highfalutin academic types to argue in your comment section for that sweet sweet engagement that appeases the algorithm, it might be a cool video to make.
Interestingly, Souls series also has those themes within them regarding resurrection and the impurity that comes with immortality. It's especially explicit in Sekiro where you literally spread a disease to friendly NPC's when you die repeatedly. The flow of time and the stagnation that comes from those clinging to their age like Gwyn did are very much what triggers the story to even happen.
Yes.
Underrated comment
IIRC Bloodborne in the Japanese translation explicitly uses the term kegare to discuss the Vilebloods as well.
I loved this video. There really isn't enough content that looks at how Shinto and Buddhist philosophies affect Eastern games. Thankyou for shedding some light on this!
Fantastic video! You really had your references together, and they definitely support these themes being present in the Silent Hill trilogy. Very interesting ideas, and knowledge of some of these Japanese symbols will help my understanding of Japanese horror movies I've yet to watch. It's always a joy to watch your content!
Glad you enjoyed it!
Nice, people in west are finally finding out Silent Hill is actaully a very Eastern series under the moniker of Western horror title. As a Chinese this is why the series got me fascinated.
:)
Special thanks to my good friend Shana for helping me with the fact checking :)
:0 das me!
0:20 I'm pretty sure they watched "Jacob's Ladder". They must have watched it a lot.
I remember being around 14 and asking my grandmother who raised me and was kinda my homie, to watch. Just the 15 minute run into town, blew her mind.
From the description here it seems the key difference between SH1&2 and SH3 is that in the first two games the protagonist chooses love in some way where as in the third game the protagonist is a recipient of it. Could the youth of the third protagonist compared to the first two be a factor in this or is there something more in that shift? Of course Harry's actions are entirely motivated out of love in all cases so I don't know how that fits thematically over his success over his failure in contrast to James
I see that aspect of Heather as having more to do with the themes of abuse -- not that you couldn't look at it from another angle of course. Heather, Claudia and Vincent are all victims of the same system of abuse. Claudia and Vincent had no proper love as they grew up, whereas Alessa/Cheryl/Heather was rescued and raised with love before being traumatized, forced to be suddenly independent, and getting pulled back into the sphere of her abuse. Whereas Vincent and Claudia are twisted into villains by their abuse (in very different ways, mind), Heather is ultimately able to stay true to herself because she had someone like Harry to build her up in her childhood.
All four original games are about the effects of abuse, among other things. I think a lot of ambiguity for some aspects gets cleared right up if you consider it through the lens of abuse dynamics. It's frankly amazing all the different angles you can look at these games from and get something out of it lol
I think that the third game is also about love, not just in the context of Heather and Claudia’s upbringing, but also in Heather’s character arc. She has to make a choice to acknowledge Claudia and forgive her, or to make the wrong choice and kill her. In choosing to forgive her, she is practicing love for Claudia. It’s ultimately not the person who is her enemy, but the entity inside her that feeds on her hatred. She has to direct her focus to the internal threat, instead of the external one. Which I believe is an act of love.
The same holds true for Douglas’s arc and Heather’s feelings toward Douglas. We know Heather is wary of other people, and she initially doesn’t trust him and reproaches him, but she learns to better understand him throughout the course of the game, almost viewing him as a surrogate father figure. In choosing to trust him, she is practicing love. And this action is mirrored by Douglas when he chooses not to kill her. He puts his faith in her ability to confront Claudia and the entity inside her. Another act of love.
What a great video. It's very rare that I learn anything new from silent Hill videos, but I had never heard of kegare before and it was fascinating.
Glad you enjoyed it, hope it made sense and I wasn't just rambling
I’m late, but here! I really like these sort of in-depth analyses. It gets me thinking and forming my own theories and ideas. I also like how you talk about aspects of the story and themes that aren’t easy to spot. King of Games indeed lol.
Thank you :)
This analysis was absolutely fascinating!! I’ve watched hundreds of videos on SILENT HILL at this point, but I’ve learned the most from yours, hands down! Opened my eyes to perspectives I’d never even considered before! Thank you for this, I can’t wait to watch it again and again!
I'm very grateful for the hard work you put into all of your videos.
Thank you :)
There are some excellent insights in this video I hadn't considered before (as a die hard fan of the original four). Such as the symbolism of Dahlia and Harry being like two parents fighting over a daughter, and the daughter's fate or future is determined by which of those ends up being dominant (extrapolating from what is said in the video). Or a similar situation between Harry and Leonard, and Heather and Claudia. Very good.
That was a very unique take on Silent Hill's development, and it was indeed enlightening. Thank you for the time.
James in the "In Water" ending: "Sorry guys, I need to go get myself Kegare."
lol
This is one of the best Silent Hill video essays out there. I shared this in the Silent Hill Facebook group.
Thank you :D
Awesome video! its possible you may be reaching at certain concepts..BUT also these themes may be culturally inherited and simply present here, maybe without realizing.
love your work
Thank You :)
I don't want to just contradict you, because I definitely see how you could make that assumption. However, in the case of Keiichiro Toyama and Hiroyuki Owaku- there is no coincidence. The two are very adept in both Western and Eastern religions and esoteric doctrines.
brilliant! I had no idea about these themes. Analyzing Silent Hill is truly the gift that never stops giving.
That -PAUSE- at 15:53 is the most authentic Silent Hill 3 experience. Still befuddled as to why the pause and inventory are swapped between 2 and 3.
yeah
I love the analysis of themes that I'd have never thought about before, let alone really understood the implications of as you have.
Glad you enjoyed it!
I've been on a strange binge for the past few weeks that involved old horror games, specifically Silent Hill. I can't tell you how many Silent Hill analysis/reviews I've seen in that time. And non of it has gotten old nor repetitive.
However, this video has brought to my attention themes represented in Silent Hill that I never knew existed, and was not explored in the many videos I've seen. This new information bring my respect of these games to a new high [and it was already high].
Thank you for this awesome video!
Glad you likes it :D
I have some other Silent Hill videos on the channel if you wanna check them out :)
@@AesirAesthetics I absolutely will!
I'm just rediscovering your work as I go through my semi-regular return to silent hill as an obsession. It's really cool to see this take incorporating kegare after mentioning it in the comments some five years ago! Amazing to see how far you take that idea and run with it! Amazing analysis my friend
Let me add, genuinely hadn't thought about how that relates to the lake itself
thank you friend :)
Never enough SH content! Especially the one that brings something NEW to the table. We may be running out of that soon, I'm afraid!
Thank you :)
Just a quick note that you may want to follow up on - at 6:20, you refer to "Purity and Danger" as a novel by Mary Shelley. On the surface, that might make sense (since Shelley is the author of Frankenstein), but you've got the image of the correct book - "Purity and Danger" by Mary Douglas.
Douglas was a British Anthropologist, and that particular (non-fiction) work talks a lot about things like ritual purity, and the cultural definitions of "dirt." The concept of "Kegare" that you mentioned is very similar to a lot of what is in Douglas' book - she may even reference it directly (my copy is inaccessible at the moment, or I would check!) I'm not sure if you just misspoke in the narration, but if not, you should definitely take a look at Douglas' work in the context of Silent Hill, as it seems like you'd find it interesting. I'd never heard that connection before, but it makes perfect sense - very cool to know that at least some of the team had it in mind.
This deserves Millions of views! Fucking phenomenal, my Man!!
Wow! I've never heard of kegare before since I'm Scottish and it's crazy how knowing about it puts the Silent Hill series into a whole new light!
This is one of the best videos I've seen on Silent Hill. Thank you.
glad you liked it fren :)
This is such a good video and I think it really explains why I love and hold silent hill 3 so near and dear. This is one of the first silent hill videos I've seen that actually covers something new, I love it!
Even over 10 years after being introduced to this series, I've learned something new about it. Thank you for making this! It makes so much sense and adds so much more depth to the symbolism than I ever could have imagined.
This was amazing, thank you so much. Also, thats neither here nor there but its interesting how in 1, 2, 3 the best ending is where an adult man leaves with a female child. This theme is of promised future rebirth, where a man ensures the safety of the girl until she grows up and births a child; specifically i think it is parental love thats meant to be read as englightement imo.
Love, especially parental love, is when you find yourself by losing yourself.
This was a great video, Aesir-senpai.
Whenever you have free time Thegamingmuse has done a ton of in-depth videos on the first four SH games. I favorite was the video on the enemy The Closer and the hidden model details on them.
Thank you :)
Dude, great video! Really gave me a new perspective of the games
Your Silent Hill videos are pure gold!
Thank you :)
This content has a purity I scarcely see on RUclips
Thanks, man. Really clarify some aspects of these games, besides I'm sure there are more things out to discuss/discover
God, I love these games, the amount of depth and cohesion with all of the themes, lore, items, and history never ceases to surprise me.
this is my first video of you that I've seen! and instantly, Im in love (like, not in that way, like as a creator!) I love how you gave a different and more in depth analysis, especially through a cultural lense! There are so many silent hill videos out there, but I feel like yours finally hit the mark for what REALLY made silent hill special :>)!
Thank you :)
The whole theme of crossing boundaries between inside and outside, purity and dirt, is very close to the freudian concept of "unheimliche". I thought they simply draw inspiration form Freud, as they did for many other psychonalitic themes in the franchise, but I didn't know there was such a similar concept in japanese culture.
I did know about impurity and stagnation in shintoism but I didn't know it was related to the crossing of boundaries*.
The word "unheimliche" is hard to translate, is also hard to define in german, in Italy was translated as "perturbante" and in english was translated as "uncanny".
For Freud's point of view, horror story deal a lot with this feeling. The word "unheimliche" comes from (is the opposite of) "heimlich" wich means "familiar", "related to the family house", "known" and so on, there are many possible translations.
"Unheimliche" is the feeling experienced when something that once was covered, hidden, comes to light, (something once hidden inside the family home is exposed) the unconcious that becomes concious: something very common in the Silent Hill saga.
Freud wrote that some narrative tropes can easily summon a sense of "unheimliche" in the reader/watcher/gamer:
-Dolls, mannequins, and all those humanoid things we can clearly identify as "dead" or "alive" (the doubt of life is unheimliche)
(ghost included).
-Twins, doppleganger, reflections (is there one or two? Is that my reflection of a different human being?)
-The constant repetion of actions, places, events, themes
(We can see many of this elements in the movie "Shining")
-The discovery of something dirt, guilty, impure
(I tried to explain in one comment a very complex concept originally explained in a forty pages book, so I had to be brief).
Also the metaphors of stagnated water, dirt, sh*t to represent repressed psychic contents is very common in psychoanalysis.
*The idea of impurity and stagnant water is a very important theme in From Software games, expecially in Dark Souls.
Well done! I've been rooting around SILENT HILL lore for ages (hello, TwinPerfect!), these are angles I hadn't heard before. I think you're especially onto something with the water-corruption stuff. I would have liked a stronger conclusions for the "these things = reincarnation" and "this = love" (or "love = a substitution for enlightenment") sections--you know, a statement or two that answers "Therefore, what?" in regards to these nifty tidbits...But I still enjoyed this watch. That half-hour flew by! Thank you for working hard on this. :)
I am no expert, but I dare say that I find your analysis excellent. Keep up the good work! Subscribed!
Thank :)
Regarding the "In Water" ending, surely that would imply a continouation and perpetuation of the "kigare" of Silent Hill by adding 2 more bodies to the lake? Makes you wonder if that was considered during development, especially if thats considered the canonical ending. Perhaps also as a in-game expanlation and basis for future games.
Good thoughts. I dont believe any of the endings result in the cleansing of the town, they relate only to James. Suicide is not universally considered an evil act, like it is in the west, and I think the idea of the In Water ending is more about James cleansing himself through his own destruction in the lake. How that act impacts the town is a good question, it would rely on whether there are degrees of kigare or whether it is binary, either clean or unclean. I would also say, that the In Water ending was considered when designing pyramid head would not perforce make it the canonical ending, all four of the standard endings work well for the story, but In Water being triggered by taking damage and looking often at things in your inventory would likely make it the most common ending achieved by first time completers, so there is that.
@@khaygn4579 The act of suicide mighn't be considered evil or bad universally, but the state of death would be. IIRC Japanese Shinto regards dead bodies as unclean, so much so butchers and undertakers were apart of the "Untouchables" caste (can't remember the proper name) because they were constantly around death, cast out from society and forced to live by rivers; water is purifying in Shinto so this was to try "clean" them. You can purify yourself, but to have so much contact to the dead made you very polluted, perhaps even to the point of being permanently unclean (not super sure on this last part).
If we take this and apply it to Silent Hill, its full of the dead. Thats must do something to the town, not in the act of dying, but in the constant presence of the dead.
ahh now i know where SCP 2316 is.
I absolutely love this. I'm so glad i stumbled upon this video and this channel in general. With quality this good of course i had to subscribe. This is amazing
Amazing content as usual, thank you for the upload!
This is such a good analysis. I subscribed and can't wait for more videos.
Thank you :)
Aesir you mad lad you did it! great work.
What a truly amazing compilation and analysis video of the original Silent Hill games! I love the series and have played most of the games many times but I have never known about this important kegare perspective and without this awesome video I would have still been oblivious to that recurring and vital theme. I can't thank you enough for doing this video dude 🙏😊
I greatly appreciate this cross-analysis and enlightenment (no pun intended) of the SH series. I have watched many 'cross-analysis' SH videos, but every one of them were speculation, where yours sounds amazingly logical and since you have the knowledge resources of Japanese culture and Buddhism, I can only surmise you are 100 percent correct. As a westerner, the secrecy of the direction and flow of the games is what kept them so mesmerizing. I have played all 3 multiple times, beat them multiple times (including 4, the room) but I could have never tied together the underlying themes and even though the veil is now lifted I feel, thanks to you and this video, it also gives it purpose and a deeper meaning.
Thank you for this video. It was a refreshing look into an otherwise less discussed side of SH series. Great job.
Glad you enjoyed it!
An AesirAestheticd upload and its about Silent Hill 2? A truly blessed upload keep up the great work love the videos!
Glad you enjoy it!
Great job on this! You're channel and vids are so underrated!
Thank you so much!
Wow.. fkn brilliant. I didn't know the concept of kegare. Wow!! Thanks for this video. This might even be better than a silent Hill 4 analysis. ...maybe 🙂
Glad you liked, rest assured though that the Silent Hill 4 Commentary will come one day.
Really interesting stuff! I hadn’t heard about kegare at all until this video, especially not in relation to Silent Hill (and I’ve watched A LOT of Silent Hill videos). Good connection! I absolutely love the way these games manage to have a Western feel while being distinctly Eastern in their symbolism and philosophies.
This video is really amazing. I like it.
I am South Korean, and there is somewhat similar concept of "kegare" in here, too. It is called "부정타다(boo-jeung-tah-dah)." Not quite sure it is 100% same, though, I don't know much of Korean folklore and myth or something.
But I believe they are almost the same, even chinese character means really similar. Roughly translated to 'you've been affected from something not right, not clean, unholy or something'. Maybe there are some differences how one can be affected and/or how you can rid off or clean.
Well anyways it was really fun to watch. Thank you.
This was really interesting. Thank you for doing all the research necessary for this vid. Subbed.
This was an excellent and insightful video. One of the best I’ve seen on Silent Hill. Further to the central theme on the flow of water with respect to eastern thought and philosophy, this is a theme that runs throughout the book “The Wind Up Bird Chronicle” by Haruki Murakami. Coincidence? I’d say not personally but that’s just me.
I love your essays! I always watch until the end!
Thank you, that will hopefully be many many years from now :)
This is going to sound disgusting, but since I first played these games I always wondered what the Otherworld would smell like. After watching this video, I see how fitting it is that I imagined the first Silent Hill's Otherworld to smell like rot, coppery old blood, and shit; Silent Hill 2's like semen and a dirty hotel room reeking of stale sex; and Silent Hill 3's like menses combined with bacterial vaginosis.
Gross, like I said. But I have to think that kind of visceral reaction was what the devs were going for.
Poetically gross, and also not inaccurate at all. Good mind.
This is exactly why I dislike the later silent hill entries because there is so much depth to the original 3 games that was lost after they went to the fourth.
This is EXACTLY why the original 3 were and still to this day ICONIC.
Your SH analysis videos are some of my favourite on YT so this was great to see in my sub box 😁 also will you ever do a SH 4 analysis?
Yes
@@AesirAesthetics Awesome 👍
it's weird how death is considered kegare. bodies become food for other creatures, which helps decompose it into vital nutrients for the earth and plants. death helps life, it's all part of that natural circle.
or having period/birthing children, it sems impossible to live "pure" life by this standard
This is an extremely well made video and I loved every minute of it, thank you for the content!
Even though I've consumed lots of Japanese media like Fatal Frame, Ju-on, Dark Water, Ring, Sekiro, etc. I always seemed to forget about the concepts of purity and the disturbing, frightening imagery of stuff like still water. Thanks to you I now understand what Kegare means, at least on the surface level :)
That's also something the American silent hill's missed (as well as a lot of the other themes) and went full style over substance, which is why I don't play them.
Lastly, I'm kinda sad you didn't mention silent hill 4, in my opinion a very underrated game, though I understand it being the least liked and the most different of the Japanese SHs, but also Kegare surrounds a lot of the themes presented in the story and the apartment especially. Would love to see this covered!
Was thinking the exact same thing - SH4 fits these ideas perfectly with the corruption of the room/house (a home is a personal place that feels extremely "wrong" if it's impurified) There's a great video about it here that more or less covers it. (It's called "The lie we call home" by Daniel Santos)
Now with Elden Ring out, your use of the term “seedbed” when discussing kegare really sticks out to me as important given the whole seedbed curse and Dung Eater questline. What prompted you to use this term specifically in this video? It’s just such a specific word to use and then for Elden Ring to come out months later is just wild to me. Also this video definitely had me thinking of the From games in this context too which is awesome
Kegare had been in the From soft discourse since Demon's Souls and I noticed that no one had connected it to Silent Hill where I felt it was also very fitting :)
24:55 一家心中 is a term used for family suicides. Usually they are committed with carbon monoxide poisoning via characol burners or stuffing car exhausts . But I have never heard that driving into a lake together is a common practice. Could you provide a source on that?
I don't have the term on hand but I got this info from Guy Cihi.
I think it was in the interview-playthrough of SH2 he did with Fungo.
🤔
@@AesirAesthetics Thanks for the reply! Certainly jumping into water from cliffs is a traditional way to commit a lovers suicide in Japan. Additionally the kanji used for the term lover suicide 心中 reflect the fact that the lovers are of one mind/heart and their love will be protected forever by their act. Certainly links into your analysis of love in the game
@@darkjapan :)
Bro... how can an entertaining video about a corny horror game i love make me this much smarter!? Incredible! What a galaxy brain video!
Really dig your stuff, great work!
Happy to hear it :D
Hey great video man!
Good stuff man I liked the content
This is the problem with western devs. They understand the games at a surface level aesthetically but don't understand or have the mindset.
Many games that one thinks are very western-like by japanese devs like early RE and Dead Rising fail miserably or feel off when western devs touch them.
Yes, as it turns out these games actually have ideas and themes they are trying to express.
You have done an honour to the series thankyou
Man, hearing your explanation of kegare, it makes me think of Siren.
Just found out this channel. Awesome point of view.
This video is fantastic. It really has me rethinking Elden Ring from this perspective.
:)
Great video. Good job dude.
Thanks :)
Not gonna lie, my favorite subject to talk about SH these days is precisely the boiler explosion, which is ironic because most people are sick of discussing it. I guess I find it interesting precisely because it is a "controversial" topic amongst fans. I understand that many people just want closure on it already, but its hard for me to have closure with it since through my experiences in playing I keep finding pieces of the puzzle that I feel go against the theory. If anyone is interested, I'd be glad to discuss some of the clues I've found, otherwise I won't bother anyone with it. I know this isn't a forum, and I'd like to discuss this topic in the SH forums, but for some reason they didn't let me in. I guess its because I chose "Maria" as my favorite SH character in the registration and they just weren't having it xD
lol, feel free to dish, I'd like to hear your thoughts!
@@AesirAesthetics Well, I hope this doesn't turn out too long or too boring so I'll try to keep it as short as possible, just wanna say that I'm not *against* the boiler explosion theory, I'm just in a bit of a dilemma on what to believe xD
The biggest thing imo is Harry's letter in SH3 that states that Dahlia burned Alessa. I know that Twin Perfect debunk this by saying that Harry wasn't present at the ritual and thus doesn't know any better, but I find this strange because we do vicariously play as Harry throughout the first game and read the "Schrodinger's" fire article *as* Harry. Why would Harry choose to ignore it? - My guess is because of what Dahlia tells Harry before the final boss. She mentions something about Alessa being in a perpetual nightmare that nourishes the God-fetus. This makes sense to me because the best way for her to have put Alessa in a perpetual nightmare would be to bring her to the brink of death, i.e. by burning her with a fire that would otherwise kill her, but then keep her alive with spells or some sort of magic (to the dismay of Lisa who was tasked to look after her).
Another point is that the fire article itself only mentions that the boiler was "believed" to be the source of the fire. If the fire itself was ignited by some sort of magic from Dahlia (Alessa and Claudia have shown to be able to use magic, so it isn't that far fetched), I can totally imagine a bunch of frustrated investigators concluding that the boiler, which would inevitably become damaged in the fire, was the most likely source (I'm trying my best to avoid the point that the "investigators" were probably a part of the cult and tried to "cover it up" :D). Also, I went as far as to watch videos of boiler explosions (ridiculous I know xD), and I think it would be safe to say that if it did explode neither Dahlia or Alessa would be alive, yet Alessa was completely burned whilst Dahlia was unscathed. This could also just be attributed to Team Silent's misunderstanding of what a true boiler explosion looks like, like Guy Cihi mentioned when he said that they had know clue how to operate a chainsaw xD.
Twin perfect also use the "The Monster Lurks" memo as proof that the stress Alessa endured during the ritual likely caused her to inadvertently make the boiler explode, but when I read the memo objectively as possible I only interpret it as an explanation for the manifestation of the monsters and Otherworld. It appears to be a chapter out of a book called "Manifestation of Delusions" (or was it vice versa?). This to me kinda coincides with Harry's theory on the Otherworld; "it's being invaded by the Otherworld. By a world of someone's nightmarish delusions come to life..."
Another point TP bring up is that Heather/Alessa wasn't burned a second time in SH3 to conceive the God-fetus yet again, but as far as anyone's concerned Dahlia probably doesn't know this and the cult in general likely misunderstand the power of the town. Perhaps the fetus is yet another manifestation of the town and no ritual is necessary at all to manifest it in the first place? This makes sense to me because the second "God" looks like Alessa which is likely a result from Claudia's psyche as she views Alessa as the Mother of God. Its like what Vincent tells her: "You think that this is the work of God? Isn't this all nothing more than your own personal nightmare? Just like Alessa 17 years ago? If this really is the work of God, then I'd say She has pretty lousy taste". Either way, Claudia still needed to nourish the fetus with hate, so she killed Harry to instill hate in Heather.
My final clue is a memo from SH3 called "Lost Memories" that talks about the cult's sacrificial rites. One of them is burning a person alive, but this rite is only allowed to the clergy of the cult. Since Alessa was the daughter of Dahlia and was viewed as "the Mother of God", I'm sure such a sacrifice would be allowed to her. The memo also attributes the connection of using fire in the ritual to the cult's god being a "sun god".
I know I most likely over-analyzed this topic, I hope it wasn't too long or annoying to read xD. I realize that what actually happened isn't very important at all, but for some reason I find this topic very interesting. I'm still very torn on this despite all the "evidence", one of the reasons being that SH was inspired by the works of Stephen King and at the end of "The Shining" a boiler explodes taking the Overlook hotel with it... It would be hilarious if Owaku simply forgot about the fire article and just went with the whole "Dahlia burned Alessa" thing. This wouldn't be far-fetched since he only co-wrote the first game :)
I forgot to add one more detail, the question of; "Why the effort in including the Fire Article in the game in some versions when it was mistakenly left out in earlier releases?". When I read the fire article trying my best to pretend that I have never watched a Twin Perfect video in my life, what Harry says after reading the article sticks out the most. He says "That was the night we found Cheryl", so to me it serves as exposition that Cheryl is connected to whatever happened that night (which we later find out to be Alessa splitting her soul). It also serves as exposition to tell us that fire was involved, because if you think about it nowhere else in the game is it stated that Walesa was burned. I also tried imagining if the fire article told the supposed "truth". Imagine if it read something like: "Fire broke out, source discovered to be ritual where mother attempted to sacrifice daughter". Firstly, it would spoil the "twist" before the final boss fight. Secondly, Dahlia would be a useless character because she would likely have been arrested if not executed way before the events of the first game, thirdly it would be strange for the cult to be so easily discovered since they held so much power over the town that they even whacked the mayor before he blowed the whistle on their drug operation...
@@antondavidovic3996 This was really interesting to read! Thank you!
@@darkjapan No problem man. For the record I'd like to say that I mostly agree with Twin Perfect on Silent Hill lore. Their investigations served as a basis for my own, and I wouldn't have discovered these things if not for them. In my opinion its completely fine to disagree with someone if you feel that they are not right. The boiler explosion is one of the few things that I don't completely agree with them on simply because of my own subjective experience playing the games.
I forgot to answer one more argument that is for the boiler explosion: Why did 5 (or was it 6?) other houses burn down if the ritual and fire wasn't an "accident"? My best answer for this question would be that Dahlia didn't care about the aftermath of the burning because by that point God should have been born and He(She?) already would have started "cleansing" the world with fire and destruction in order to achieve "Paradise", but Dahlia didn't predict that Alessa was going to split her soul, halting the birth of God... That's also why I don't think its particularly silly to think that the cult would attempt to cover up the aftermath of the fire...
This video is badass. I will probably revisit this one every now and again
Thank You :) :) :)
Excellent video!
Ty
Very well analyzed! The explaination of the Japanese "thinking" is very well explained! Thank you :)
great video! you really should have a look on the work of Roni Horn "still water"
I could listen to you ramble about Japanese mysticism for hours!
That "disconnect" between east and west is why none of the western-made Silent Hills feel right to me.
Quality stuff, as always!
Thank you :)
This really illustrates how the subconscious mind understands things we aren't conscious of. There's plenty of games in the horror genre that don't give you the kind of feelings this series produces, and it's not always for obvious reasons that are easily articulated. But you know somewhere inside you, the connective tissue is there.
А
Fantastic video. More Silent Hill pls
;)
Here because of Smoughtown, great video!
Thank you :)
Lovely as always!
Oh thank you!
thank you for including the kanji when you introduced kegare!
Of course!!
you are soo underatted man
:D
First thing I thought about hearing the kegare explanation was sekiro.
oh yeah!
Great job!
Thank you, it means a lot :)
6:22 I think you said „Mary Shelley“, who was the writer of „Frankenstein“ instead of Mary Douglas 😉
Amazing video, I just suscribed,
Greetings from México !!
:D
Love the video, but geez, some of those captions. But I'm probably one of the only people noticing missing punctuation and how some of the words are sometimes a little mashed. ('The Aglophatus' got turned into Neoglophatus at one point. Kegare turned into Cakery. Little things).
Lol, I'm uploading the script soon so it'll get fixed.
Can't rely on this auto captioning anymore.
Best video on the subject of Japanese way of thinking. Happy I stumbled upon it.