Analysis of the characters in Silent Hill 2 and their symbolic significance and relation to the game’s protagonist – Part Three, the Final Installment
Continuing our Article:
Monsters
While monsters in the game represent different things, they share some elements. For example, except for the final boss, all monsters lack clear facial features, or their faces are obscured in some way. In one instance, the monster doesn’t have a head at all. This, along with the leap the series made from PlayStation to PlayStation 2, made the monsters more disturbing and horrifying.
Many monsters in Silent Hill had eyes. Personally, I prefer monsters in Silent Hill without eyes.
Now after clarifying this point, let’s start with the least important monsters in the game: creeper.
Probably the only monster in the game not associated with a specific character. In fact, this monster seems to be just a reminder or continuity from the previous game. That game had giant cockroaches, and this one has them too. According to the Book Of Lost Memories (a guide available only in Japan for the first three parts of the series), these creatures seem to be embodiments of the city itself. It’s strange, because I don’t think they appeared in any of the later parts. Now let’s move to the next beautiful monster, Lying figure.
The creature known as “The Lying Figure,” the first creature we encounter in the game, resembles a hairless, faceless figure wearing a straitjacket made of its own skin. It moves towards James slowly, and at times spews acid at him. At other times, it crawls on the ground making disturbing screaming noises.
Lying Figures symbolize two things: first, they represent Mary in the later stages of her illness, and how the disease made her feel ugly and repulsive. This is partially supported by her saying to James in the final hallway conversation, “Do I look like a monster to you?”. The other symbol reflects the pain and helplessness James felt in the face of his wife’s illness. He couldn’t do anything to help her, and this monster literally has its hands tied behind its back.
After finishing this, let’s move on to the mannequin, a monster that looks like it belongs in a Marilyn Manson music video.
The mannequin resembles two sets of women’s legs stitched together at the waist, with the upper body missing feet. These creatures usually remain completely still until James approaches them, then they attack him by hitting him with the upper legs. This monster sets a pattern you may notice: many monsters in this game have feminine or clearly sexual traits. This is because James is dealing with a lot of sexual frustration. When your wife is seriously ill, she doesn’t feel like having a relationship, and James doesn’t seem like the type to cheat, so all this frustration has built up over the past three years. The fact that these are the monsters we see Pyramid Head mistreating in the apartment complex is definitely an extension of this.
Now let’s move on to Nurses
These creatures are also referred to as bubble head nurses because of the growths that obscure their faces, and they are considered an intensified version of the nurses from the first part of the game. Unlike the nurses in the first game who used scalpels, these nurses carry pipes to hit James. They also wear more provocative clothing, with open blouses and very short skirts. These monsters combine the symbolism of lying figures and mannequins: James’s concern about Mary’s illness, along with his sexual frustrations, ultimately form a unified nightmare. Now it’s time to talk about a monster we don’t actually see in the game, but we definitely hear: Mandarin.
I’m not entirely sure why it’s named that. According to the Silent Hill Encyclopedia, this is because the robe it wears resembles something like a cheongsam, but I don’t see it, and I must approach any information from the encyclopedia with caution. This monster appears in three areas: a small part of the road in the town, Labyrinth, and the Otherworld Hotel. They are mysterious human-like characters with big worm-like arms and lip-like openings instead of arms. These creatures dangle from iron bars, and if James stands on top of one, they will strike him with claws. According to the Book Of Lost Memories, this monster symbolizes “overwhelming and incomprehensible feelings of sorrow.” I would also propose that this monster may represent James’s unconscious feelings towards Mary, who became verbally and emotionally abusive towards the end of her life. That’s all about regular enemies. Let’s now move on to bosses. The first boss we face is: the man, the legend, Pyramid Head.
Probably the most famous monster in the series, Pyramid Head has become a symbol of the game. He also appeared in Silent Hill movies (although none of them were specifically based on this game), as well as in the game Silent Hill: Homecoming. This annoys me slightly because it diminishes the original meaning of his presence. Pyramid Head is a massive masculine figure, wearing a bloodied apron and an uncomfortable triangular helmet. The fleshy parts visible underneath the helmet suggest it may be actually fused to him. The helmet looks very heavy, as he has to use his hand to guide his head when searching for James in the apartment building. When we first see him, he carries a heavy knife, but later replaces it with a spear. The symbolism here is interesting: there are some sexual symbolic elements when we see him in the apartment building, but this does not recur later on. What Pyramid Head represents is James’s guilt over killing Mary, and his accompanying need to punish himself. This is evident in the way he kills Maria in three separate instances: the purpose of that is to try to remind James of the incident, and it also serves as a reenactment of the event itself. Another interesting aspect is that we ultimately see two Pyramid Heads near the end of the game, forming the penultimate boss. This is because, at this stage, James has another murder on his conscience: killing Eddie recently in the Labyrinth. The next boss the player faces is the monster with the unique name Flesh Lips.
Like many monsters in the game, Flesh Lips are humanoid forms but grotesquely and unnaturally disfigured. Players encounter these monsters in the hospital after Laura locks James in the office. These monsters dangle from the ceiling inside cage-like structures with a mouth-like opening suspended between a pair of feet. They attack by slowly advancing and attempting to strangle James using the mentioned feet. The Book Of Lost Memories refers to these monsters as “lusty lips” and they symbolize James and Mary together in bed. Again, this relates to the sexual psychological issues James is dealing with. Then comes the monster Abstract Daddy, which also symbolizes sexual issues but not related to James.
