50 Facts about James Sunderland
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- Опубликовано: 2 янв 2025
- You see that town, Silent Hill. I promised I’d take you there again someday, and that day is today because we are going to dive into everything I could find about one of the most tortured characters in the series.
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I've always felt James fit the bill for someone who suffered greatly from caregiver fatigue. I see it a lot in my job as a nurse, and it leads people to say and do awful things that they would normally never do.
I’m not a nurse but I’ve supported family members in their last extremity and yes I agree! The mocap and acting sold his caregiver fatigue in a very real way.
The patient getting annoyed and lashing out at loved ones is also, sadly, common.
I always thought of him as a tortured soul; a good man who did something bad and to me that was what the game was trying to convey, that even good people can do bad things. He wouldn't have regretted killing Mary to the extent of going into a delusional repression if he didn't love her.
And in relation to that, Leave was always my canon. The game showed what happens when you give up through Eddie and Angela. The power of Silent Hill does not make the distinction of whether you actually ARE guilty, it just gives you what you want; continued punishment for Angela who saw herself as undeserving of love and thus deserving to suffer. A place to feel powerful where bullies can be removed for Eddie who instead of growing out of it, succumbed and went mad. James went through the horror, and he persevered. By the time he fought the two Pyramid Heads at the end, he had confronted what he did and came to accept it. Silent Hill, recognizing this, threw him one last curveball with Maria in the guise of Mary and once James still remained faithful, it gave him one last chance to talk to Mary so he could confess why he did what he did and Mary forgave him because she understood how cruel she also became as she got more sick and James was all alone with no one to help him through watching her suffer until he cracked. With that, she gave him what he wanted; forgiveness and the power of Silent Hill let him leave the town.
Damn, what a perfect summary. ❤🎉
@@Szokynyovics thanks man
I felt really bad for the couple James and Mary tho. Mary who devastated with her disease so much that she ended up hurting her husband with those cruel acts and words .In James cases, he is not bad nor good, he did bad thing because of the situation he was in but i see him redeeming himself through the story its just beautiful 😭
The new Stillness ending, imo, is the canon ending for me. Not only is it hauntingly beautiful in its performances, but I feel like it's also good send-off for Mary, while James lives on until it's his time to meet back up with his wife, in Silent Hill.
I also like the idea that Silent Hill isn't a malicious or malevolent place. It simply takes in broken people, plagued with delusions, and gives them what they believe they deserve. But inversely, it can also be a place of solitude and warmth at the end of your journey, like it would be for James and Mary in the Stillness ending, when James' time comes.
EDIT: I disagree with the interpretation that it means he never leaves Silent Hill, ofc. He wouldn't tell her to wait for him if he plans on staying in Silent Hill for the rest of his days.
In the Remake's labyrinth, you find a room with an office cubicle that stands out. I'm guessing that's supposed to be where James works.
I think it's where "James" works - the character who was Born From A Wish, by Maria's wish for a boyfriend. Remember that the Labyrinth is only perspectives, not objective reality (rotating box, 3 doors that can only be viewed one at a time, Schrödinger's Maria, who is both alive and dead at the same time, Eddie's cope that maybe he really enjoyed the power trip of murdering a helpless dog, like that's why he did it, and Angela's trauma, that seems to be all but entirely refuted by her own fantasy nightmare of it).
Because Maria wants to self-delete, because "there are no people left, only monsters/strip-club customers". Her idea was to deserve a human connection because boobies, and it didn't work out that way, apparently men don't go to strip clubs to look for wife-material. We find multiple notes suggesting that James Sunderland followed in his father's footsteps as a crazy janitor, we also see them wearing a similar coat, and driving a similar car in the same color. Maria may have lusted after him, and used his appearance as a template for "James", "if only he hadn't been so mentally unstable". But she throws her revolver away, to go meet "James" anyway, and instead of hello, she says: "I look like your girlfriend! That's how I wrote her, just bitchier and uglier. Now fuck me!"
Maria's ex boyfriend, the locked door, warned her that "James" is a bad idea, but there's no reason why he would know of him - except for existing only in Maria's head. She wants "James" to be infinitely loyal to his chosen woman, so that he won't replace her with a younger stripper. Maria wants "James" to hate his wife, and be a spineless alcoholic, and have Pussy Helmets teach him "how a real man does a random Mannequin", so she can win because boobies. Maria wants Laura to provide a distraction, when he loses hope and thinks of leaving. Maria wants to make James want her, when all her other ham fisted manipulations have failed, by falling ill at the sight of the self-delete window, and then by dying to the Pussy Helmets (by skewering, suggesting that she is a prisoner). And finally, she smiles wickedly, when she lets him know "oh, stop resisting, you murdered your wife, I decided! Now get to the fucky-fucky, I'm drying out over here!"
And I think there were always two of them, given that they only wield a great knives, after "James" crosses over into the Otherworld to earn Angela's heavy knife - but it disappears, when he is with Maria, suggesting that she has more control of them. A chain for Maria (that James only sees, after her failure and they mutually no longer need each other, when they "merge" with her, and one for "James", who can wield the great knife to recommend In Water. In the original, after the Blue Creek boss fight, Pussy Helmet also walks down the flooded staircase, as if to drown himself.
lol I was just typing about this when thankfully I saw that you mentioned it. I think that James being an office clerk was actually confirmed in that (Japanese?) lorebook about the OG SH2 (I can't remember the name), at least according to another video. I think it's likely why the developers put that area in the game as I don't think there was anything in the OG that pointed to it, at least as blatantly.
@@philippeamon7271 IS this a copypasta?
@@philippeamon7271 You have a real way with words.
I always figured him for a guy that works at Bed Bath & beyond.
Each time James finds Laura, she's drawing a rabbit, and a wolf that's always hiding, snarling and aggressive. Yet, when she speaks with him in the hotel, and even jokes with him, she then draws a rabbit and a dog, a friendly one, and the rabbit is happy. I think that could mean that she's warming up to him, as Mary's letter to her states James can be surly, but he loves her, and to go easy on him. Laura punishes James in the hospital, and runs away from him, until she's somewhere she feels safe, and her drawings reflect that.
If true, it makes it even more tragic when Laura learns what James did to his wife.
Keep in mind, the happy drawing is just a finger trace on a fogged-up window. So it’ll soon fade away…
Fun fact: the flowers on the blanket that covers marys body is called "forget-me-not" which is a type of flower thats symbolizes remembering a loved one and to never forget about them, special place in both heart and mind
I feel sorry for James. The Leave ending is the most beautiful one. How Mary reminds him that he didn't actually hate her.
Yet he doesn't want to live without her. In Water is better
@dragonkamran
Leave ending fits so much better. story wise, he gets a redemption arc and the ending shows the players what happens to Laura. Water ending contradicts James's whole monolog he says before fighting the 2 pyramid heads
Isn't it the default ending on a first playthrough in the original game? For me anyway, that's reason why I consider it the canon ending.
Finding out that Mary was always in the back of the car is one the disturbing details in a game
Fun Fact: at 3:47, it's not just any mental health poster, it's specifically a diagnostic criteria for Major Depression.
Ah yes, my old friend...Major Depressive Disorder.
James' jacket is actually a nod to the jacket worn by the main character in the movie Jacob's Ladder! The game took sooooo much inspiration from the movie, especially the part where you're being wheeled down the hall. It's pretty similar to a scene in the movie
in the remake theres another nod in bar's menu - Jacob's LAGER
Masahiro Ito himself has stated multiple times on Twitter just how much Jacob's Ladder influenced his designs and the team's direction for the games.
@@live2rock13 he shares a lot of the history and secrets from the SH games, I love going through it and seeing his cheeky hints with the lore
5:41 the James chainsaw "battle cry" is a nod to Texas Chainsaw Massacre, its something Leatherface does once in the first movie then in the sequels he does it ALL THE TIME XD
I often have lucid dreams, pinching or hurting me doesn't work. In dreams, I hurt as much as in reality, and sometimes my dreams are just as realistic as real life.
I once even got trapped in sleep for hours when I thought I was going to wake up and I was always sure I was really awake, but I woke up again and again from bed.
Yh, that stood out to me too, even though I never had lucid dreams. It kind of makes sense, because pain is the feeling that makes us react the fastest for survival reasons, but at the same time if you have dreams that are indistinguishable from reality then why would it work?
In Silent Hill 4, James’ dad comments that’s his son went missing in silent hill. Couple that with the hotel looking damp and water logged once the video is over and the final boss fight is carried out in a rainy environment I think In Water was always supposed to be the Canon ending.
but none are and he would also disappear in "leave" cus y'know, he still killed mary. (if it wasn't obvious i love leave)
It feels more ambiguous in the original but there definitely is the impression that In Water or the alternate version of it is the likely intended canon ending to the remake. Maria is far less of a sympathetic character in the remake and it feels like it's easier to get In Water in it compared to the original.
12:35 are you sure? im pretty sure Stillness is James accepting that Mary is gone and that's why he plunged his car into the lake, but he got out of the car before that. It's like Leave but without Laura.
I have to give massive props to Bloober team, the acting James displays in the Stillness ending was so raw and real the way he tries to hold back his tears.......I broke down and began crying my eyes out and gathered my courage to ask my wife the hard question I hope never needed an answer.....what she wants me to do if she was ever in a unwakeable coma.........seeing the way it tore up James inside.....I knew in my heart I wouldn't have the strength to make that choice myself, so I asked her what she wanted if it ever happened......it was among the hardest things i've ever done in my life......but I had to know and she thankfully understood the weight of why I couldn't make that decision on my own......I love her to much to live with myself if I thought for an instant it wasn't what she wanted. The emotional impact of a video game made me confront this head on.......people who say video games are not a form of art can get locked in a room with Pyramid head.
With #1 originally in Silent Hill: Homecoming Elle Holloway was going to be a grown up version of Laura (Laura Elizabeth Holloway) and her having James' jacket during the game would imply that the Leave ending was at one time going to be the canon ending to SH2. This may have been changed during development to keep the canon ending of 2 more ambiguous.
That would have made homecoming so much more cooler!
@@PointsMasterno, it wouldn't. To me In water was canon so that would have pissed me off especially considering that Team Silent didn't make Homecoming.
In the remake it is implied that James is struggling with alcoholism.
On the suitcase you can also spell "KILL MARY"
This probably stems from the part in the original where there is a bit of internal monologue regarding drinking - James examines some bottles of alcohol and remarks quite a bit, saying that he drinks a fair amount to escape the pain and loneliness.
Watching Silent Hill 2 in the 00's as an early teen: "HAH James is a lot older then me at 29 years old!). Me (born in 1995 and ) being 29 years old in 2024 playing the remake "James, i feel you man".
Why was him being 29 funny to you? lol.
@@kreb9721 Just an ignorant teenager thing at the time i think lol
The idea that In Water is the most fitting ending makes me sad. My interpretation is that Silent Hill warns James about the two traps that people run into in regards to their trauma: running from it, like Eddie, and what James ends up doing in the Maria ending. And letting it consume you, like Angela, and what James ends up doing in the In Water ending. You can't run from your trauma, and you can't let it consume you, you have to face it, but in a gentle, supportive way and give it all the time it needs. You have to forgive yourself for the things you've done as a result of the things that happened to you. Take accountability, but take your own side in an honest way. I believe the Leave ending is the canon ending.
Considering that both in OG and the Remake Leave is the most likely ending to get on the first playthrough since it has a lot of "score" from the start, then you might be right. I really dislike in water ending and don't understand why it is so popular
It is a matter of neverending psychological-phylosophical discussion. Dostoevsky, which the story was inspired by, wrote multiple works on matters like this, which highlights the complexity of the topic. Which is perhaps why the idea of eternal hell exists, and it cross-fades well with the idea of Silent Hill. I can not say for sure that James deserves forgiviness, as well as I don't want eternal suffering for him. That's why we have the idea of God's judgement in religions.
P.S. Each time I play I get the "In water" ending, and I disagree with it being the most likely ending to get, especially for completionists.
@@hoorting stop examining Angela's knife if you want to avoid the In Water ending.
I think Stillness is the canon ending, mainly because it can be interpreted as "In Water", but it also allows you to interpret it as James giving Mary's body a proper burial in the lake before looking for Laura for the "Leave" ending.
Then again, that's what I believe!
@@fae_gavan7582 Agreed, I really like how it turned now in the Remake, and I think I prefer it to "in water" ending
Should've called him "James Smotherland"
I get why, but, I personally don't get "In Water" being considered as the "canon ending"
to go through the events of the game, see James confront the truth of his actions, only to then still go through what he originally planned, just hurts a lot
the Leave Ending for me is canon, and again I get why because unfortunately it doesn't always happen (also biased because personal life between myself and my loved ones have been quite rough and I'm just tired of it), but it's nice to have that little flicker of hope instead of fully giving into the darkness
Silent hill 2 remake was crazy, I enjoyed it
The 2 decades thing would also be a reference to the fact the original SH2 came out in 2001.
Yeah, I think it wasn't a message for James, but for the player.
had no idea 29 doesn't qualify you to be a father...
I know right 😂. I became a father at 26.
My dad was turning 22 when had me
@@RiqueG478 im becoming a father at 30 ffs LOL
@@kevenracanelli3091 it’s never to late to join the Fatherhood Club. Welcome and Congratulations on your new baby 👏🏾👏🏾
@@RiqueG478 thank you big dog!!! she is due on the first week on february. we're expecting twins :) a boy and a girl :)
James is actually the clerk at the Silent Hill Blockbuster and decided he liked the army coat
My favorite ending is the "James regrets nothing" ending. If you know, you know! lol
“…from sticking his hand in the pooper, to meeting his dad, the super.”
That was pretty clever!
I see James as a tortured soul especially in the remake.
I always thought he's just burdened by taking care of Mary. Taking care of very ill person can make you say/do awful things sometimes
Also missed opportunity to say "Smother that like button with a pillow"
I see so many topics on the Silent Hill subreddit asking 'Why does James stick his arm in so many holes/in that toilet?' it makes me chuckle. With the whole nihilism thing, it makes sense. But I appreciate the Remake's new animations and graphics so he gets the 'Do I really have to do this?' expression every time he goes to investigate a hole.
In Silent Hill 4, we learn that Silent Hill is about a day's drive from Ashfield. So chances are he killed Mary the day before the game starts: the 3 year time span comes from a conversation we can hear between James and a doctor in the original, where the latter says Mary could live for up to another 3 years if she reacts well to the treatement. Or the whole timeline came from her first getting sick 3 years beforehand. Far as he's concerned, she died then when she first got sick.
In the bathroom at the very start of the game is likely the moment he has his mental break: his hands are shaking badly, and he's staring right through his reflection.
The whole 'the bodies are James' was likely a means of cutting corners in the original released, but in the remake it fits with the theory that the town is mocking james at every turn: seeing his corpse constantly reminds him of his nihilistic streak, that he wants to die constantly, and maybe he deserves it for what he did. The threatening message in Neely's Bar in the Otherworld also reinforces that.
In the OG, a second PH appears after killing Eddie.
Why OG specifically? This happens in the remake as well
@@mr.hashundredsofprivatepla3711 I did not play the remake.
I don't know why but for me the stillness ending seems the most realistic and canon
It's hasn't been confirmed, but another fan theory is that the missing person that Douglas Cartland, from Silent Hill 3, was hired to search for might be James Sunderland.
7:25 After he watches the video tape, James will still look directly at you, he only looked too the side that time because he was looking at the other red squares 😀
Silent hill 4 states james and Mary are still missing (nobody knows he killed her) even a few years after sh2. When you examine the painting in the living room after first visit to 2nd world
The two decades secret message can also allude to how long we have been playing SH2 in real life since the OG first came out.
Such an awesome video with lots of things I didn’t know! Thank you for creating!
11:21 I mean there was that thing in silent hill 1 about drugs being very common in the town and being sold to visitors, like James
In Water Ending is the best endings ever made in SH2, and the remake delivered so much raw emotion to it. The fact that James can't live without Mary, nor he can accept her death and seeks redemption for his actions. His only way to get away from the guilt is to take his own life, just so he could be with Mary in the afterlife. This is why I love SH2 so much.
For me, it's the only ending that makes sense. Yeah, Leave and Maria are feel good endings but it doesn't make sense to me. Besides, Laura would just get in the car with him (Mary's body in the back seat)? Don't think so....
@@ancientandboredthe maria ending is definitely not a good ending
@@Kompressor808you’re asking gamers to interpret emotions.
I’m sorry buddy but that’s mission impossible.
Terminal fans usually have terminal opinions.
Like Far Cry 3 fans applauding the option to kill friends and not feeling bad at all about dying… also enjoying the view.
@@Kompressor808 Yeah, not sure how someone can interpret that as a good one lol "you better do something about that cough." James sounds ready to grab another pillow.
I own an M65 field jacket. They are very nice to have and warm. James could possibly be a vietnam vet
I always feel like the leave ending is the canon ending because it gets clarity that James and Maria had a bad marriage when she got sick and both people were to play because James was so sexually frustrated and she was very verbally abusive. I like how he fights off his remaining temptation being Maria and then ends up, leaving with Laura to start a new life hopefully adopting her and giving her a better life. I always wondered how she got to silent hell though especially since she can’t see any of the creatures cause she never killed anyone. And I always remember to drink water. Thanks for the reminder though.😂
When you mentioned touching his face as a way to check if he was dreaming, I also noticed the way he presses his thumb into his palm. This is a "technique" I guess that lucid dreamers use to check if they are dreaming or not, to see if you can actually feel your thumb or if it goes through the hand. I think he's checking to see if he's dreaming in the bathroom because he got a letter from Mary, whom he just used the pillow on 3 days ago. When he beats Eddie, he does the same hand motion, pressing his thumb into his palm again. I like to think he's checking to see if he's dreaming again, just like after he finished Mary, making sure he really did just do what he did.
My theory is when he said that Mary died three years ago is that the woman he knew died when she got sick. He smothered her with a pillow to end her suffering and to release himself from the burden. He did bring her back to Silent Hill... and I think he wanted stay with her in Silent Hill. The water ending would make the most sense as a "canon ending", but his fate remains uncertain.
8:34 the fact that THAT is James makes me seriously question that upcoming film...
The main character in the first movie was a woman. Hans takes the liberty of making his own stuff up. It worked for the first movie so I wouldn't bash this one yet.
@@dragonkamrani think its just kinda dumb to take liberty like that with such a tightly wound story like sh2. James wearing what looks like a leopard vest and a black leather jacket just feels off
Huge fan of dead by daylight. I didn’t know that skin of James existed. Thanks
There is a skin of Maria in it too.
If James had waited a couple of days for Mary to die due to her illness, all that happened in Silent Hill could've been avoided.
This was my first time I played and beat this game. I enjoyed every minute of it. Except the Eddie boss fight. That made me rip my hair out, but that’s beside the point. Anyways I looked up what the ending meant and found that there were different endings depending on how you played. I got the Maria ending. I didn’t like how it felt. It felt like James was selfish. Sure enough, that’s what the Maria ending is meant to portray.
11:30, pillow for a weapon 💀 diabolical
Wait until power scalers find out about James' pillow
Yay! Love learning more about this game and characters. I’m a new fan to the franchise !!
I understand how James felt. My mom got cancer at the age of 48 and it was basically a death sentence. Only my brother and I knew from doing research and we decided not to tell her. Every day she would cry out from pain, and we just felt so helpless it went on for a little over a year and a half. Seeing somebody you love suffer a slow painful death changes you.
I personally believe that James is stuck in silent hill aka hell and will never leave
I could totally see Kai playing James in a live action version.
It crazy the bawk used to run sh4 and never realised frank was his dad 😂
Brilliant video. You put so much work into them. One thing which may have included was the possible reference to James in silent hill 3. The detective (forgot his name) said he had missing persons case and never found the guy...
Guy sounds epic. Probably a great dad.
See I feel like I’m the only one who previewed the bliss ending this way, but James knows the town is magic, we also see him disappear, no body to remain there if he would die and start over (loop theory). I believe James is conscious about when he gets teleported into the reality with the video tape, I believe he knows what he just went through, and even though this new universe isnt real, he’d still be able to fix his mistakes and be happy with this version of Mary for whatever time they would have left. And the old saying fits will “Ignorance is Bliss”
Luke Roberts who played James should receive a Game Award for this game. Damn fantastic acting. You really feel his pain.
I didn't know about James's voice actor being involved in the silent hill community or being involved in a controversy of any kind 😮
I mean, his father never hears from him ever again, pretty sure he mentions it or I think it was Henry, that the supe mentioned how his son and his wife disappeared, that was my headcanon since then, James is dead.
Yo... I'm so glad you're doing one on a Silent Hill character... I was hoping you'd do one on each protagonist (Harry, James, Heather and Henry)
Great video as always mate.
already liking the video before watching it
I see him stuck in purgatory from the guilt of killing Mary
I've been subscribed to this channel for a very long time. In all this time, I have never gotten one notification for new uploads for this channel. RUclips sucks
if i remember correctly, in SH4 or 5 is mentioned that james never came back from SH
Stay hydrated. Let in water.
Apparently James takes his ring off right as the game begins. There's supposedly a metallic clank that is meant to be him dropping his ring down the sink.
Great video Kai, one of your best in a while👏
I'm definitely a 'leave' fan in terms of the fate of James,
i know guy cihi and and the game directors kinda lean on the 'in water' ending, but personally i kinda like the idea of James getting out of there with Laura - but i am kind of a sap for happy endings, and i feel like the trend of 'bad/hopeless' endings for horror movies kinda made me jaded to a lot of medias 'twist' endings in that regard~
An often overlooked tidbit is James talking about developing a drinking problem when you examine the empty liquor bottles in Heaven's Night. I think he alludes to it at Venus Tears as well.
Such a tragic character. Also sad that many fans have turned on Guy for things he's said on his personal social media accounts that have nothing to do with SH. I've spoken to him several times, and he has been nothing but gracious.
"the 48th is not a fact but here is a document you can read"
I’ve always thought of this story as James trying to justify his actions and having to come to terms with the fact he fucked up
I'm so excited for this video!! Love your facts videos on RE and SH games! 💕so cool that there's new facts from the OG AND the remake that I hadn't notice before!
"You've been here for two decades." - yes, we waited 20 yrs for the Remake. That's basically the meaning behind that. There is no loop.
Sounds like you're coping lol
@@arbaazshaw8123 Why ? Can you explain that to me, Thx.
@stevenlehmann2188 The eager egg strongly hints at a loop, but then again like everything with SH2 is up to interpretation. If someone sees a loop then there may well be a loop
@@arbaazshaw8123 No, it only hints we had to wait 20 yrs. - why of all things should James be stuck in a loop for the specific 2 decades?
@@stevenlehmann2188 shouldn't then be "you've been waiting for two decades?:
What about 50 or 25 Facts about Yeti112’s resident evil parodies
bruuhhh i never associated frank and james together. bruuuh. just like i didn't think alex and mary had a connection. totally subscribing to you! no other creators on youtube ever mentioned these kinds of lore.
i dont think there is a 'canon' ending. they are all canon
Being trapped in Silent Hill is like being alone inside your head with no guide.
My personal head canon is that the alien abduction endings are the canon endings of each game, simply because they’re something no one would suspect
Love me some more Silent Hill content. I wanna see 50 Facts about Heather/Cheryl Mason someday.
I'd love for this kinda thing to continue on your channel - more silent hill main characters and some others like Walter Sullivan
I love how fans are just "Man what is this dudes deal?" and then we see his Dad in 4 and it all makes sense.
Another excellent video many thanks Ink Ribbon
In the original the chainsaw warcry was not random. It will trigger any time there was an enemy nearby if you stand still long enough. Could be used like the radio to check for enemies in hallways or areas like the hotel where you couldn't see down the halls.
Only problem with the timeloop theory is that it kind of means poor Laura is either a victim of it herself, or she's not real, and the latter can't possibly be the case given the game heavily implies that she can't see the things James and the others see, and this is even further confirmed by multiple people who worked on the game. Granted, the Leave ending is the only one that involves Laura directly, but for the loop to work, it would have to be that no matter what outcome James gets, he's bound to repeat events yet again at some point.
Plus, it does kind of kill the mystique of James' ambiguous fate following SH2. His father never hears from him again, yet no trace is ever found, which can mean anything from James leaving the town and going somewhere far where he can raise Laura without fear of being questioned about Mary, succumbing to weakness in the case of many other endings, or getting hauled away by aliens for who knows whatever purpose.
In SH4 they say James went missing in Sillent Hill. So he's either trapped there or In Water is the true ending.
There's also a subtle nod to Jungian psychology- the obvious presentations as him feeling guilt and being trapped by circumstances of being a caregiver and that he needs to be punished for his actions aswell as his sexual repressions subconsciously/innately through the manifestation of the monsters but also the cathartic method in which by reliving or becoming aware of the suppressed feelings bring about healing and insight physically and psychologically, a confessional experience of sorts after confronting or purging himself of his guilt. It can also be argued that there is a collective shadow element of the game that all the characters apart from Laura are trapped in silent hill bound by their traumas and inadequacies.
As far as computer games go, Silent Hill is definitely thought-provoking, and i guess also humbling that we are all flawed and can easily succumb to the human experience.
In case someone is still confused. James never enter the real Silent Hill. When James parked the car that was the real place. But while walking down the forest trails James got teleported to this special version of SH. This is the SH where Angela, Eddie, James, and Laura can see and interact with each other. This is why SH is empty. The real town is the one that Harry and then later Heather visited. Broken roads. But there are still residents lives there.
I'm sure it's real and James has toured there but the town is abandoned or there wouldn't be a closed highway gate next to the observatory parking. The town is actually called South Vale but Silent Hill says, "You're a part of me now, yoink! Now where's Brahms again?"
According to the notes, there were towns people just doing unfinished tasks before they just instantly disappeared. Maybe said towns people could've turned into the enemies you see walking around or teleported to Otherworld since that place used to look lived in for some time.
I love your calming voice 😰
Awesome informative video. I had no idea fans attacked the original voice actor either. People so soft for attacking the actor for simple views he had on a "certain subject". Not like he was alone in that sentiment.
Also for James fate. I like to think he gets every ending. Leave being the final one and he escapes because Silent Hill feels like "Nah, he earned it."
Video: 50 Facts
Also Video: rumour.. unconfirmed, could mean this.. or could mean that... maybe... supposedly....
Where are the 50 facts?
To me I believe that every ending is canon and the loop is real but ends in the Leave ending when James finally confronts his guilt over decades of being in Silent hill and the rest of the of the endings simply restarts the loop. To me Silent Hill wants to teach James a lesson and not outright kill him that's why it loops and revives James until he realizes what he must do to be able to leave Silent Hill.
And I'm not really a fan of Ending yourself as the true ending as it is never the answer and that's just easy and cowards way out and I don't think Silent Hill would let that happen.
to me OG Silent Hill 2 ends with Water ending but it restarts the loop into Silent Hill 2 Remake and then finally ends with the Leave ending you could add extra loops in between and before OG Silent hill 2 since he's been there for 2 decades at this point.
I wonder if Silent Hill 2 is actually a Prequel, where it was set before Silent Hill 1. SH2 doesn't have cellphones or computers or laptops. Feels like it is set in the 1970 or 1980
Oh hey! An ink ribbon video on my 2nd favorite sh protag. 6:04 I thought that was just a Photoshop by a fan. You mean to tell it was in the game?!
A grieving soul is ment to be tormented and thus james must live on so leave ending is the most canon to me
i've missed this videos about SH man, hope you are doing well Kai!
Spoiler Alert*
Loop is actually great theory and it does make sense. I think that this picture mystery can be just a fun way to say thank you to players that played original back in the day or time loop can actually be a thing. But for me "Leave" ending is the canon one. Because he came to silent hill to drive himself and Mary's body into Toluca lake, but maybe Silent hill wanted him to live, to get second chance at life and i think that his silent hill was more Therapy and a way to find the strength in him to continue his life. Him leaving with Laura can be seen as a good thing, he might ended one life, but he now can get some redemption with being her guardian. And i think this could be Canon cause "In water" is more of a Japanese traditional thinking and James as seen in game is American. Also great and fun video and keep going.
I personally find the "leave" ending a bit unreal. Mainly because he had told Laura that he killed his wife and her friend/surrogate mother. (Another channel I watch is "Dartigan" and he mentioned the surrogate mother thing so if I am wrong, forgive me.) So for her to immediately think better of him or to forgive him so easily comes off very difficult.
Hmm, good video. Also, if I going to pick an ending, I actually would combine all of them, (Minus the UFO and Dog endings) with the loop theory.
This is my idea, the endings where James dies/Never leaves would be the first part of the loop, follow by the reviving Mary, then the leaving with Maria, and finally ending with the ending where he lets go of the guilt and leaves with Laura.
But just my silly two cents in this debate.
Finally. Hello from Ohio! Since you like MK will you do any other fighting games in the near future, like Killer instinct or maybe even KOF?
I feel like the most obscure fact about James that never seems to be brought up in these types of videos is the fact James used to be a mental patient (Look up the SH2 novel). SH2R makes a rather discreet mention of this