Silent Hill: Shattered Memories discussion thread *SPOILERS!*

[naiyo]

noname2200 said:

naiyo said:

noname2200 said:

Here's my theory: the entire thing was just a symbolic journey through Cheryl's head. Outside of the therapy sessions, not a single thing we saw actually happened. There's nothing to tie this game with the previous Silent Hills: there's no cult, there's no dark past, there's no evil town. None of the characters we met ever really existed (and this includes Harry!), although they each symbolize something in Cheryl's life. Everything we see is simply Cheryl going on her journey of self-discovery and recognition.

Here's the part that confuses me though: clearly some of the phone calls and text messages we receive were not directly related to Cheryl's life. While the vast majority definitely were her experiences (and boy has she chosen a crappy life...) I can't understand where the Babes in the Woods, or The Choking Game fit into all of this. Cycle of Death is another one that doesn't seem to be about her at all. What am I missing here?

 

I want to know the answer to this as well.  What did the highschool, nurse and the cop represent too?

 

My guess is that the high school girl was either Cheryl's ideal life or a representation of how she felt about her own life. In my first playthrough, Michelle was the prom queen (she even dressed like one!) who had brains, liked her job, was generally cheerful, and was in love with what she thought was a good guy. In my second playthrough, she was much more cynical, unhappy, and she was the one who broke up with her boyfriend. Mirroring this, my first playthrough was generally happy, while the second one was...not.

The nurse is probably meant to represent guilt. You find Lisa after she's crashed her car (sound familiar?). You give her the pills, and then she dies. The natural question is "was her death my fault? Am I responsible?" Seeing as how Cheryl is subconsciously asking herself the same question regarding her father, I think Lisa's role is fairly clear-cut. Maybe too clear-cut?

As for Cybil, I see her primarily as representing Authority. When she was friendly, the game ended with Cheryl meeting and hugging a blond woman in the parking lot, one who looked a lot like Cheryl's mother. The phone at the start of the woods was also much less hostile, with the caller telling her mother that yes, the mother was right about the party, and could she please come pick the caller up? By contrast, when Cybil was borderline nasty to Harry, the phone call had a more tearful caller accusing her mother of never being around when the caller needed her, and the woman didn't appear in the ending. What I don't completely understand is why Cybil is the only character, aside from Harry, who ever notices anything odd happening. She's the only one who questions anything, although it's strange that she keeps overlooking his sudden disappearances. Also, in my first ending she resigned from the Silent Hill PD, while in the second she only said that she was going to trust her gut from now on.

not the highschool girl.  she was the mother.  thats what i took from it.

the whole highschool area... like the phone calls, the photos taking of the girl and principal in the car and others...