Is there really such a place as Silent Hill?

Silent Hill is a remote lakeside resort, based on Lake toluca, which is divided into old city, central city and lakeside area. In fact, in reality, Lake toluca is a real place in the United States, which is located in California. In addition, Oregon is adjacent to northern California, and its largest seaport is Portland, where Harry and his daughter began to live after they fled Silent Hill.

According to official website, the development history of the lakeside town in toluca is 1820, and the official information of Konami also shows that Silent Hill was founded in 1820. The most important evidence is the second-generation painting named "Scenery by the Lake": there are only a few pioneers and houses in the painting, and Silent Hill Prison has a long history. The earliest prisoner records are 1820, September 1 1. However, during the civil war, Silent Hill Prison became a concentration camp for prisoners at that time. There were only two ways for prisoners here: hanging themselves or being stabbed to death with spears, just like the second generation of triangular heads did to Maria.

However, the earlier origin of Silent Hill is recorded in a book called Lost Memories, which is one of the four necessary props for the ending of the second generation. The legend recorded in this book comes from the aborigines who first lived here and were driven away by white pioneers. According to the book, this mysterious land was originally called "Land of Silent Hill", which may be the origin of the name of Silent Hill.

1880, Silent Hill's most famous Broken Paradise Hospital (Brookhaven) was established, which was a social welfare measure to resist the epidemic plague with the immigration tide. However, due to poor medical conditions and other human factors, it became a new disease gathering place until it became an infectious disease hospital completely isolated from the outside world. As time went on, the town gradually prospered and expanded. Among them, the role of immigrants is the most significant. The town has also become a multi-cultural gathering area, where tourists are very popular. The town takes advantage of its natural conditions to attract tourists.

However, there are always tragic accidents in Silent Hill. The most famous is the disappearance of the yacht "Little Baroness", which was at 19 18 1.08, that is, at the end of World War I, the yacht "Little Baroness" was full of tourists but did not return to the port. The police sent a large number of police officers to investigate. The ship disappeared without a trace along with 14 passengers and crew. Later, people inspected a statue by the lake to commemorate this event. In "silent hill 2", we can see such a sentence: countless bones are sleeping at the bottom of the lake, and their dead hands reach out to the ships driving above them, perhaps to find companions. ...

Silent Hill is just a place name created subjectively by the game, which does not exist in the real world, but it has caused discussions outside.

Silent Hill left many problems in the world view. I tried to solve it once and for all, and my ability is limited, so I didn't do it for the time being. I'll talk about it later.

The way to be a little lazy is to carry forward the spirit of ants moving trees and chew them piece by piece; Gong Yu moved mountains, "children and grandchildren are infinite." If the mountains don't increase, why bother? "Although the hill is quiet, it will be free one day.

Cut the crap. This time, I mainly focus on the world inside and outside Silent Hill.

First, explain the concept of the outside world.

The internal and external world is the general name of Silent Hill game scenes.

The so-called table is also outside; Inside, inside. Zuo Zhuan said, "If you are not agile, it will be harmless." Traditionally, we call the foggy world of Silent Hill the surface world of Silent Hill, and the scenes where there are barbed wire and friction metal noises everywhere and the visibility of walls and ceilings is less than two meters are collectively called the inner world of Silent Hill. Except for the four generations in question, all the scenes in Silent Hill series can be divided into the framework of this internal and external world.

Why is there such an unreasonable strange phenomenon in Silent Hill, an ordinary American town that mainly focuses on tourism? What is the origin of the outside world? This post will try to analyze and answer the above questions.

Timetable of Silent Hill

Before the official start, let's take a look at the Silent Hill timeline from Team Silent to get some official background information about Silent Hill.

Before16th century, Native Americans held religious ceremonies in Silent Hill. This land is regarded as a sacred place and respected by local people. The corresponding information can be found in the folklore of silent hill 2. )

Around 1607, Britain began to colonize America. /kloc-At the beginning of the 8th century, immigrants began to settle in Silent Hill.

1692, Salem witch incident, there is a witch trial craze in Massachusetts. (Salem trial, the famous sarin witch trial in American history. Unfamiliar students make up lessons by themselves, so there is no waste of space here. )

/kloc-In the early 8th century, a strange plague epidemic occurred in Silent Hill, killing a large number of people and animals. Therefore, the town was abandoned and uninhabited for a long time.

1776, the United States became independent.

1789, the first president of the United States, George Worthington, took office.

18 12, the Second Anglo-American War broke out and Silent Hill became a British exile. The British army set up a concentration camp for prisoners of war near Lake toluca. In order to cope with the large-scale plague that accompanied the war, Brookhaven Hospital was established. The corresponding information can be found in the history museum of the 2nd generation. )

1820, Maine became a state of the United States. During this period, the painter Allen Smith painted a lot of lakeside scenery that we saw in the game.

1830, the United States passed a bill to expel Indians.

1840, Silent Hill Prison was closed.

1850, Silent Hill discovered coal reserves and established coal mines. Driven by the economy, a large number of residents poured into Silent Hill, and the town became active again.

186 1 year, the American civil war broke out, and Patrick Chester, a resident of Silent Hill, and his son died after joining the army. The local residents later built a monument for them. (that is, the monument that James saw in the park in the game)

1864, the civil war reached its peak. In order to accommodate more prisoners of war, the prison camp near Lake toluca was transformed into toluca Prison.

1890 or so, Native Americans stopped their resistance to the U.S. government's forced expulsion order and moved into Indian reservations. At this time, for the first time in the history of Silent Hill, a large number of mysterious local residents disappeared.

At the beginning of the 20th century, toluca prison closed and Silent Hill became a tourist attraction.

1918165438+10, a yacht named Little Baroness mysteriously disappeared on Lake Tuluca. (The corresponding information can be found in the second generation)

1939, more ships were wrecked or disappeared on Lake Tuluca, and the notoriety of Lake Tuluca began to spread far and wide.

19XX, the mayor of Silent Hill died of a heart attack. His officials in charge of investigating a criminal case also died mysteriously.

The story of Silent Hill begins. )

There are several places in the timetable listed above that need to be supplemented in particular.

1 According to the background information provided by the producer, this land was regarded as a sacred place by the local Indian aborigines before the colonial history of Silent Hill began. The original name can no longer be tested, but Silent Hill was not the name of this land at that time. In the memo named "Lost Memory" in the game, we can see that they called this land "the land of silent elves", and then they were driven out of this land by foreign immigrants.

After the outbreak of the Second Anglo-American War, Silent Hill became a British exile. The British army set up a prisoner-of-war concentration camp on the shores of Lake toluca and held a large number of prisoners. Due to the harsh environment in the concentration camp, a plague broke out and a large number of prisoners of war and local residents died. Silent Hill got its name from this period, because at this time it has almost become a dead city, and no one can be heard. Silent hill, a quiet mountain. After a large number of innocent people died, the original power of Silent Hill changed. LM described it this way: "This town was shocked by an epic. It may be the cause of the unpredictable death of the town's population, as well as the thoughts and feelings of prisoners. The original power of the town has gradually been distorted. "

The concentration camp for prisoners left by the British was later officially transformed into toluca Prison during the American Civil War, and was later abandoned. The local government established the Silent Hill History Museum on the basis of the prison. Impressed players should remember how James came to the Lakeview Hotel through the underground passage of the History Museum.

Dualism, ternary theory, the manufacturing theory of evil president

Comparison is always the best way to discuss, so it is necessary to briefly introduce some other statements about the outside world.

As far as I know, there are several viewpoints in Silent Hill that have an influence on the nature of the outside world.

dualism

This is an early saying. Supporters of dualism believe that Silent Hill is an abandoned town. This deserted town has no residents and monsters everywhere. The misty Silent Hill we see is the true face of this town. In other words, the table world is the real Silent Hill world.

I think this is a mistake caused by carelessness in the details of the game. From the representative figures of Silent Hill I listed at the beginning, we can see that Silent Hill used to be a deserted town, and all the residents left here. It is undeniable that there are indeed many scenes in the game that are affected by this setting. For example, in Luo Swart Park, there are statues of people who may have lost their minds because of their age, and illegible monuments all over Silent Hill. However, the real large-scale abandonment in the history of Silent Hill occurred in the early18th century, which cannot represent the present situation of Silent Hill. Based on some impressions from the scene, this part of the players made a one-sided conclusion that is not in line with the facts. Aside from the content of last year's representative itself, we can easily find evidence against this statement in the game.

Evidence 1

At the beginning of the story of Silent Hill generation, Silent Hill is obviously an active city.

In order to make huge profits, the church secretly sold the psychotropic drug Claudia in the local area, and the government launched an investigation. Finally, the police chief in charge of the investigation and a series of officials all died of a sudden heart attack mysteriously, and the case went away.

Cybil Benett, a policewoman in a nearby town, Michael Kaufmann, a doctor who got ill-gotten gains by promoting WC, including Lisa Garland, a nurse, all need a big stage background as an activity space. This is Silent Hill.

Evidence 2

In the story of the second generation of Silent Hill, we can clearly see that the protagonist James once spent his honeymoon with his wife in Silent Hill. They stayed at the Lake View Hotel, and the waiter left the key to their honeymoon suite in the lost and found office.

Evidence 3

In the story of silent hill 3, we really didn't see any local residents. But one fact is clear, that is, Claudia, who inherited Dalia's legacy, greatly expanded the power of the church, established a new church and attracted a large number of believers after a great event. All these facts are inconsistent with the statement that Silent Hill is an abandoned town.

Evidence 4

Although the story of Silent Hill 4 did not take place in Silent Hill, we can see from many other details that Silent Hill is still an active tourist attraction in the nearby town of South Ashfield. From the news reports about Silent Hill from time to time on the radio in Room 302, to the casual words of the landlord Sunderland, and to the photo of the protagonist Henry hanging on the wall, he said that it was taken when he traveled to Silent Hill a few years ago. These facts all show that Silent Hill is still an active scenic town.

In other words, from the whole series, Silent Hill has never been a deserted town from one generation to four generations. On the contrary, its economic and cultural activities have been quite active. We can be sure that there is a real silent hill world, and we can also be sure that the misty world has nothing to do with this real silent hill world. The dualism of the external and internal worlds contradicts the game facts, so it can't be established. Later, in order to better explain the facts, someone put forward the view of the external world and the internal world.

Ternary theory and evil president

The most convenient thing about the triple theory of external and internal world is that it solves the problem of "where are the residents of Silent Hill".

It admits that there is a real Silent Hill world, and on this basis, there are two parallel worlds, the external world and the internal world. However, from the beginning of the game to the end of the game, players can't step into the real Silent Hill world, so they can only switch between the external world and the internal world.

It should be said that this statement is in line with the facts of the game. The hypothesis of ternary theory is easily put on the shelf of existing game facts, but on the other hand, it is very weak, that is, the relationship between the origin of the external world and the internal world. At this time, a player named Evil President put forward his own opinion, based on the fact of Silent Hill 1, that is, Dhalia Gillespie only appeared in the foggy watch world, while Alessa Gillespie only appeared in the dark world, so it was concluded that Dhalia made the watch world and Alessa made the inner world, which was said to be recognized by KONAMI.

I haven't seen the complete version of The Evil President, so I won't comment on his whole theoretical system about Silent Hill here. This post is only about the outside world.

Because of Konami's approval, it should be said that the evil president's statement about SH worldview is the mainstream among players now.

However, because his statement about SH worldview was launched after 1 generation, there were many problems with this statement after the appearance of the new series of works.

The first president's evil statement only applies to one generation, barely applies to three generations, and does not apply to two generations at all. There is a simple reason. The story of the second generation is only James and Mary, not Dalia and alessa.

Second, it doesn't solve the problem of monsters. No matter in the external world or the internal world, there will be the same monster. Judging from the generation in which this statement can be applied, because Dhlia also used Harry Mason to find Alessa, it is a quite obvious paradox to create monsters to kill Harry in Watch the World.

The power of silent hill

What is the power of Silent Hill?

Long before European immigrants arrived in the United States, this land was regarded as a sacred place by the earliest Indian aborigines and possessed some unknown mysterious power. Unlike the name we now call "the place where sinners atone", the earliest power of Silent Hill has no evil features in our eyes. However, due to a series of events in history, the original force of Silent Hill has undergone subtle changes. Due to the large-scale inhuman torture and killing of prisoners of war in Tuluca concentration camp during the Second Anglo-American War and the Civil War, the original power of Silent Hill was distorted to some extent. At the same time, because of the influence of this series of events, the original "land of silent ghosts and gods" has also become a silent empty city without people. This is why Silent Hill got its name.

So specific to the game, how is the power of Silent Hill reflected in various scenes and details?

Before the official information amnesia appeared, I put forward my own views on this issue.

That is-Silent Hill has the ability to materialize people's original sin or the dark side of their hearts.

At that time, I put forward this view mainly based on some situations of the second generation, because it is very obvious that in the game process of silent hill 2, different characters have different inner worlds. For James, his subconscious memory related to Mary constitutes his inner world; For Eddie, the shock of the first shot constitutes his inner world; For Angela, the experience of being raped by her father and finally being forced to kill her father constitutes her inner world. These are painful memories that the protagonist of the story tries to avoid. Among the two roles, Eddie and Angela, the latter is more obvious. Her inner world is more colorful. The flame and the exclusive monster abstract dad indirectly prove an already vulgar sentence, which is widely circulated among SH fans. "Everyone has their own Silent Hill."

In my later lost memory, I was not surprised to find that this view was confirmed by the producer.

"The dark materialization sleeping in people's hearts"

"In this small town called Silent Hill, there is a power that can materialize people's hidden thoughts. Just like what happened in the last work, this town not only shows the nightmares of everyone inside, but materializes these deep elements that constitute the subconscious and presents them to everyone. If the deep consciousness of a person who comes to Silent Hill is chaotic, then he will also see a chaotic world in Silent Hill. "

We can make such an analogy.

you

Silent Hill

Li world

=====

you

The mirror in front of you

You see yourself in the mirror.

There is no such real material world, just like your reflection in the mirror can never leave the mirror and become a real individual.

Under this new definition, I will make textual research on the internal and external world of Silent Hill from 1 generation to the third generation according to the three elements that constitute the internal and external world-scenes, puzzles and monsters, so as to prove its correctness.

At the same time, because the spatial background of Silent Hill 4 is in South Ashfield outside Silent Hill, this research does not include the game scenes in the 4th generation for the time being. Or we can say that the traditional concept of internal and external world does not apply to Silent Hill 4.

Silent hill 1

What are the characteristics of the outside world in Silent Hill 1?

Show the world-fog, inexplicable broken roads, buildings floating in the air at the end of these roads, and monsters that don't know when they will appear.

Inner world-barbed wire, harsh metal friction, floors and walls made of rust and black blood, wheelchairs and sickbeds for patients, and increasingly ferocious monsters.

Watching the world only appears in the early and middle stages of the game, and players usually wander aimlessly in the streets of Silent Hill at this time. The inner world of Silent Hill 1 appears in the following places-schools, hospitals, antique shops, sewers, playgrounds and finally nowhere to go. Judging from the law of its appearance, puzzles or Boss wars are generally regarded as an intermittent point, which appears alternately with the desktop world and constitutes all game scenes of a generation.

So what is the key to connecting these details?

Let's solve the problem of inner world first.

A manifestation of delusion, a materialized fantasy.

The most attractive thing about Silent Hill is the huge space it leaves for players in the plot. Tell you some confusing clues, and then let the players connect everything themselves. In fact, long before Amnesia, the producers had left the key to solving the problem to interested people through the plot setting and information of the game itself. One of the most important and easily overlooked keys is the following game memo, which is called "paranoid delusion".

Negative emotions such as fear, anxiety and stress can be directly manifested as physiological phenomena with external energy. Many times it will directly lead to nightmares. This phenomenon is not common. Although we don't know the reason yet, from the current situation, the incidence of adolescent groups, especially girls, is very high. "

These messages, called "the external expression of fantasy", have appeared more than once in the game. The book gives a detailed explanation of the special phenomenon that psychology affects physiology, and also leaves us a clue to finally solve the problem. As a 14-year-old girl, Alessa Gillespie was abused by her mother since she was a child. At the age of 7, she was severely burned by a fire and spent seven years in the basement of Alchemilla Hospital. Alessa's pain is materialized under the power of Silent Hill, which is the dark and fearful inner world we see. Alessa's fear, anxiety, stress, her joys and sorrows all appeared in various forms in the competition. The connection between the world and alessa is very obvious, and the school is where she goes to school; The hospital is where she was imprisoned after being injured; The antique shop is alessa's hiding place from Dalia, where she set up a secret altar in an attempt to get God's protection. The structure of the sewer comes from alessa's favorite fairy tale novel Monster Lurking. The playground is a place where alessa often plays, and everywhere is the concentrated expression of all these consciousness.

The entrance to the inner world