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An iconic horror franchise that crept onto our consoles way back in 1999,Silent Hillarguably set the bar when it came to symbolistic horror and thematic storytelling. The cursed, quiet town that we frequent so often in these games had a massive cultural impact, and you can often find references or full-on crossovers popping up with this doomed burg in countless modern titles.
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Though the narrative and protagonist usually change in each game, the primary location is almost always set completely in or briefly around the town of Silent Hill. It’s a timeline that spans a decade and can often get convoluted. But for those looking for a breakdown of what happened in this cursed place, keep reading.
Warning: Spoilers Below For The Plot of Every Major Silent Hill Game
The Silent Hill Timeline, Explained
Strap yourselves in, because this is going to be long. The Silent Hill seriesspanned an entire decade, with games released almost yearly between the first one in 1999 and Silent Hill Downpour in 2012.
ThoughSilent Hill: Book of Memorieswas thelast official game on the Vita in 2012, it featured aplayer-created protagonistand was a dungeon crawler. It alsodoesn’t impact the main timelinein any particular massive way, so it’s safe to consider it not connected.
We’ll be sticking to themain gamesto keep things relatively organized. There’s adifferent protagonist in each one, but there are a few connection points in some likethe cult and their dark god, Alessa, Pyramid Head, and some of the locations that tie it all together somewhat. Here’s a rough breakdown of each game in the series so far.
Silent Hill - 1999
The first journey into the eldritch interdimensional nightmare town fell onHarry Mason. Who decided to take a family vacation to Silent Hill with hisadopted daughter Cheryl.
But after their car crashes whenHarry swerves to avoid a girl in the road, he finds himself alone in the spooky town, andhis daughter mysteriously missing. So he sets off and explores the town, finding allies and otherlost soulswhilst dealing withtwisted and abhorrent creaturesthat stalk the streets.
Harry stumbles onto the remnants of acult in the town that worships a dark entity. Which is slowly transforming the town into the reflection of someone’s nightmare.
It’s revealed thatCheryl is one part of a soul split into twoand the other is Alessa, a young girl who was used asthe vessel of the cult’s deityand who waspainfully immolatedduring an occult ritual but survived.
Her new parasitical demon friendrendered her immortalbut stuck in agonizing pain forever. Her mother Dahlia-with unintentional help from Harry, manages to combine the two andthe dark entity within Allessa/Cheryl finally takes over. It’s at this pointone of five different endingsstarts depending on your choices throughout the game.
In the “bad endings”,the demon is defeatedbut Harry either flees with Cybil or is shown to bedying in the car wreckfrom the beginning, implying that it was all a dream. Whilst in the “good endings"Harry leaves the town alivewith an infant reincarnation of Cheryl that has none of Alessa’s darkness.
Or Harry gets abducted by aliens.
The first Silent Hill featuredmultiple endings, includingjoke ones involving a dog and aliens. A feature that wouldappear in more of the gamesin the series going forward.
Silent Hill 2 - 2001
Next up to bat in this cursed burg is everyone’s favorite widower,James Sunderland. This game was set in aseparate area of the townand spent more time on the backstory than the previous one did.
James’s excuse for going to Silent Hill was that hereceived a letter from his deceased wife Marytelling him to meet her there, and of course, after arriving there things start to go very bad pretty quickly.
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Whilst exploring the town, James meetstwo young teen runaways, an eight-year-old girl, and a woman that resembles Marywho’s called Maria. It’s revealed that everyone has a dark secret related to them killing someone and that this version of the town seeks tomanifest punishments for them. Though whether that’s caused bytheir own psyches turning on themis left purposefully ambiguous by Konami.
In James’s case, he previouslysmothered a sick and dying Mary in a hotelbefore arriving in the town and was apparentlysubconsciously seeking punishment. Themultiple endingsare also a lot more varied this time around.
EitherJames leaves the town with Lauraand some closure, or with Maria, who coughs, implying that the cycle is going to start all over again. Or, hedrives his car into Lake Tolucawith Mary’s body in the back.
There’s also a dog and UFO ending again, plus one called Rebirth which isavailable on replayand involves James using arcane objects toperform a revival ritual on Mary.
Silent Hill 3 - 2003
Shifting gears slightly, Silent Hill three followedHeather the daughter of Harry Mason. After a nightmare of beingtrapped in a derelict and demon-infested theme park, Heatherawakens in an abandoned mallin seemingly the real world.
After a few shifts in the nightmare realm, she finally manages to make it back to her apartment where she learnsHarry has been murderedby agents of a woman named Claudia, who taunts her and says she’ll bewaiting in the town of Silent Hill.
Heathertravels to Silent Hilland after dealing with demons andClaudia’s abusive father, who planned on dethroning her, it’s revealed that Heather is in fact thereincarnated infant Cheryl from the first gamethat Alessa created.
Claudia was Allessa’s childhood friend and intends touse Heather to bring about the resurrection of the cult’s godto remake the world into a “paradise”.
Heather confronts Claudia, and after using acleansing liquid left to her by her father, she’s able to vomit up the dark deity fetus that was parasitically inside her. To her horror,Claudia then swallows it wholebefore running off to a chapel of the cult.
Wherein it’s found she gave birth to the dark god and either died herself or just disappeared,it’s a bit unclear. Heather then battles the creature and wins,leaving the town aliveafter taking time to mourn her father.
There are onlythree endingsthis time. They’re “Normal”, “Possessed” which sees Heather kill her only friend Douglass, and “Revenge”, which has Heatherabducted by aliens and reunited with an alive Harrywho orders the aliens todestroy Silent Hill.
Silent Hill 4: The Room - 2004
The Room was thefirst Silent Hill game in the series to step away from the town. It followedHenry Townshendwho was locked in his apartment in thecity of Ashfield.
Strange events then unfold for everyone in the building, especially Henry, who finds himself battling with an undeadserial killer called Walter Sullivanas he visits different nightmare realms through astrange holethat appears in his bathroom.
Related:Silent Hill: Who Is Alessa?
On his journey, Henry encounters other people, but they all end upgruesomely murdered, with the exception ofEileen Galvin. Each one iskilled by Walter as part of a ritualthat involves murdering 21 people in a specific location. In this case, the apartment complex Henry lives in. Which is also revealed to bethe birthplace of Walter Sullivan, quite a horrible coincidence.
The supernatural events in the apartmentslowly worsen over time. But thanks to the ghost of a kid called Joseph, who is achild manifestation of Walter, Henry, and Eileen are able to retrieveWalter’s umbilical cord. This odd item is then used toweaken Walter and kill himin a climactic showdown.
What follows after is one offour possible endings.
In one, Walter and his child ghost are seen in Henry’s apartment whilst a radio describes howHenry and Eileen are dead. In another, Henry wakes up in his apartment, but hearsEileen is dead.
Finally, in the last two bothHenry and Eileen are alive, but either Eileen goes to visit the apartment that isdemonically possessedor she leaves and finds somewhere else to live whilstthe apartment is shown to be completely fine.
Silent Hill Origins - 2007
Origins takes things back to good old Silent Hill. Setseveral years before the first game, it follows truckerTravis Grady, who ends up in the town after driving past itwhilst taking a shortcut. Heswerves to avoid a mysterious ghost girl(sound familiar?) and ends upsaving a girlfrom a burning house.
It’s revealedthis was Alessaand the town’s cult was burning her as part of aritual to impregnate herwith their dark god. Travis passes out, wakes up in the town, and decides tofind out what happened to Alessawhile also trying to escape Silent Hill.
On his travels, Travis encounters the local demonic denizens whilstunlocking repressed childhood memoriesand fightingmonstrous representations of his parents,with whom he didn’t have the best relationship.
After receiving guidance from aspirit manifestation of Alessa, Travis is able to assemble a device known asthe Flauros. An odd artifact that houses a demon and is able toamplify the thoughts of those wielding it. Alessa uses it toenhance her powerand it is relevant to the ending you unlock.
Travisdefeats the cult and imprisons the demonthey summonwithin the Flauros. Alessa, whilst also burnt and incapacitated during another ritual, uses it tosplit her soul.
This creates the baby Cheryl, who’s taken to the outskirts of the town by Alessas’s spirit form andlater adopted by Harry Mason. Whilst Travishappily leaves the townin his truck. Whilst surviving members of thecult hatch a plan to lure Cheryl backto Silent Hillone day.
In an alternate “bad ending”, Travis awakes strapped to a medical gurney. He’s then injected with a strange substance as heconvulses and has visions of himself killing peopleas his outline briefly shifts to the monstrous form ofThe Butcher. A demonic creature that appears throughout the game and regularly kills other monsters.
There’s also thealien abduction endingbecause Konami likes a running joke.
Silent Hill: Homecoming - 2008
We’re back in Silent Hill again and this time around it’s withAlex Shepard, a special forces soldier who returned to thesmall town of Shepards Glenfrom overseas with a bag full of post-conflict trauma.
Arriving home, Alex finds hisfather and brother are missingwhilst his mother hasbecome catatonic. As he searches his town which seems deserted and filled with fog, hepasses into Silent Hill periodicallybefore phasing back into Shepards Glen.
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The town itself isempty apart from a few survivorslike Alex’s childhood friendElle Holloway, the Mayor, and others. Thoughmost are killed by supernatural creaturesthat have manifested in the town from the “Otherworld”.
As the story goes on, it turns out people, especially children, have gone missing from Shepards Glen, abducted bya Cult known as The Orderwhich is thesame group from previous games.
The reason they’re here is that,150 years ago, four founding family members of the Orderbroke away and settled in Shepards Glen. The cult did allow this, on the condition thatonce every 50 years they would sacrifice a childin a specific ritual for their dark god.
Whilst this did happen, when it came toAlex’s Father’s turn, as his ancestors helped found the town (Shepards Glen),he backed out.
So The Order returned, to set things right.
Members of the culttry to kill Alex regularly, but they’re unsuccessful. During these events, it’s revealed thatAlex was never in the military, but was in fact in amental asylumfor years.The reason, when he was younger hetook his younger brother Josh out on the lakein a boat, andaccidentally drowned himwhen they jealouslyfought over a ringtheir father had given to Josh instead of Alex.
Unable toaccept his brother’s death, Alex wassent to an asylum, taking him out of the sacrifice rotation andcausing everything up until now. After a final boss fight that involves ademonic-looking manifestation of Josh, Alex finally has the chance to apologize to him and get closure.
From thereone of five endings play outdepending on your actions up until that point. They range fromAlex reuniting with Elleand leaving Shepards Glen,Alex getting drownedby his father, Alex waking up back in the asylum under shock treatment,becoming a monsterknown in the game as The Bogeyman, the UFO ending and asecret post-credits endingif you beat the game on Hard.
Silent Hill: Shattered Memories - 2009
We can skip through a little of Shattered Memories as it’s areimagining of the original Silent Hill. The story followsHarry Masonagain as he searches for his missingseven-year-old daughter Cheryl.
A lot of the same characters from the first game reappear like Dr. Kauffman, Dahlia, and Cybil but withdifferent rolesand there’sno cult this time.
Through trips into and out of the Nightmare world, which isfrozen in icethis time, Harry struggles to find Cheryl, and side characters can get killed off depending on your decisions as you go through.
In the finale, Harry makes it to a lighthouse, which is revealed to have thesame name as Dr. Kauffman’s therapy clinicthat the game repeatedly dips back into between story beats. It turns out that this entire timeHarry has been dead.
Hedied in a car crash a long time agoand the events of the story have been a now-adultCheryl recounting a story about a fictitious idealized version of her father, whose death she’s been in denial over, with the therapy acting as an attempt at closure.
There arefour endings, one has Harry tell Cheryl she’snot to blame for her parent’s separation, another has a drunk Harryblaming his alcoholism on Cheryl, in this one Harry acts sleazy with some of the female cast, another hasDahlia slapping Harryand of course, there’s the bizarre UFO ending.
Silent Hill: Downpour - 2012
Last but not least, in the mainline Silent Hill games we have Silent Hill: Downpour. This time aroundMurphy Pendletonis at the reins. A prisoner on abus that crashes in Silent Hillwhilst being transferred to another penitentiary.
The story rotates around Murphy, his dark past in prison, and hisconnections to some of the corrections officers, for good and bad.
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As the plot kicks off,Murphy murders another inmate in the showerscalled Patrick Napier. A man whomolested and then drowned several children, including Murphy’s son.
Through a deal with acorrupt prison guardcalled George Sewell, he was able to get some one-on-one time with Patrick. But it’s then revealed later that thiscame with a price, Murphy had to also"deal with” a corrections officernamed Frank Coleridge.
Someone whobelieved in the good parts of Murphy, but was also just about totestify in a corruption caseagainst George.
As Murphy explores the town, dipping in and out of the Nightmare World like so many before him, he manages tofind friends and foes.
One of which is Corrections Officer and fellow bus passengerAnne Coleridge, who reveals as the story plays out thatFrank Coleridge was her Fatherand that he lived in avegetative statein a wheelchairafter Murphy assaulted him.
Anne had arranged Murphy’s transfer all along asshe wanted him in her prisonwhere she would arrange for the inmates to “deal with” Murphy asrevenge for her Father. Murphy then transforms into a figure known asthe Bogeymanand attacks Anne.
Depending on choices made up until this point,one of six endingsplays out.
If Murphy doesn’t kill Anne, the “good endings” show thatMurphy didn’t kill Frank and was framed by Officer Sewellfor the attack on Anne’s father. Anne and Murphy thenleave Silent Hill togetherand Anne reports Murphy’s death toallow him to escape and disappear. Anne also either does or doesn’t set off on amission of vengeance against George, eventually confronting him about his crimes in his office.
If Murphy kills Anne the “bad endings” showMurphy committing suicide out of guiltbecause he actually did assault Anne’s father, or Murphy waking up in a prison in the Otherworld, or Murphy being executed. If Anne kills Murphy, shewakes up in prison as an inmateand Murphy in George’s position asthe roles reverse.
There’s also a gag ending involving Murphyescaping the prison via Shawshank-esque tunneling, where he ends up at a surprise party in his honor featuringcharacters from throughout the Silent Hill series.
Are They All Connected?
Short answer, yes. Long answer, kind of butonly just a few games. Whilst a few followed returning groups like The Order and theirdark god rebirth shtick, the Masons and Dahlias friends, plus the multiple appearances of Pyramid Head, there are others like Downpour, The Room, and Silent Hill 2 thatwent off and did their own thing.
They focused on concepts like grief, guilt, self-punishment, and a whole treasure trove ofpsychological sub-text. Whilst Silent Hill, Silent Hill Three, Homecoming, and Origins allrotated back to the Cult. So you can’t pin it down to a solid yes. The connecting fiber that holds them sort of together is that they’rebased in, around, or involve periodically traveling to Silent Hill.
An otherworldly nightmare realm thattakes your innermost demons and desires and then manifests themto taunt, torment, and teach you.
Are The Movies Canon?
Worth a brief mention in closing is a question a few have about the Silent Hill movies and that’s if they’re connected to the games. In general, they’reconsidered by most Silent Hill fans to be non-canon.
Thoughthere are similaritiesin that they use thesame settingof everyone’s favorite town and somecharacter namesmight make an appearance, like Harry, Heather, Cheryl, and of course, the strange cult worshiping a bizarre dark god. Theydon’t share any meaningful connectionoutside of retreading a story that’s done much better in a different format.
There’s also theoccasional referenceor appearance of a character from the games likeTravis Grady in his truckfrom the start of Silent Hill: Origins andthe bus Murphy rides onin Downpour at the end of the second Silent Hill movie, but they’re morethrowaway easter eggsthan connections. Something to point at and say how you remember it.
At a push, they should generally be consideredalternate universes or spin-offs.
