Content Warning: This article contains mention of spousal abuse and suicide.
Morality is as complicated in the as it was in the original game. For protagonist James Sunderland and his fellow wanderers through the fog, the titular town is a journey into the darker parts of their psyche: their regrets, their trauma, and their past sins come to life. Neither the original SIlent Hill 2 nor the remake shies away from portraying gray morality, even in its protagonist.
[Warning: This article contains spoilers for Silent Hill 2.]
Near the end of Silent Hill 2, James discovers a tape in the Lakeview Hotel. Although he initially believes it to be the home video he and his late wife Mary made during their vacation there, it actually turns out to be a snuff film, showing James smothering Mary with a pillow. This is all faithfully adapted in the Silent Hill remake. Just as in the original game, depending on their perception of the game's events, players are left to decide for themselves whether James is truly a villain, or just a victim of circumstance.
Every Way James Isn't the Villain In SH2
A Mercy Killing?
Although James is undeniably guilty of murder, his reasons for doing so are up for debate, and may not have been entirely selfish. During the final days of Mary's illness, she became verbally abusive towards James, as can be heard in the final audio message that plays as James walks down the long hotel hallway just before the end of the game.
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Verbal abuse alone, though, doesn't justify murder. And not to excuse her actions, but James knows that Mary is clearly lashing out due to her ongoing suffering, and her distress over her impending death. In her final letter, she even apologizes for her behavior towards James in his final days. However, James may have had another reason for killing Mary: he may have simply been following her wishes.
In James' flashbacks, Mary occasionally expresses a desire to die. She's clearly tired of the pain her illness causes her, and the difficulty of repeated, failed treatments. Of her doctors, Mary even says in the final audio message, "It'd be easier if they'd just kill me. But I guess the hospital is making a nice profit off me. They want to keep me alive."
The exact nature of Mary's illness is never directly addressed. Because of its effects on her hair and skin, it is generally assumed to be a type of skin cancer.
Of course, Mary never directly asks James to end her life, so even if his sole motive for smothering her is to relieve her pain, he's still guilty of taking the initiative. Either way, though, James clearly regrets his actions. Pyramid Head exists as a physical manifestation of James' own belief that he deserves to be punished, and in most endings, he's only able to defeat Pyramid Head once he accepts responsibility.
James Tries To Save Everyone
James is undeniably a murderer, but, to his credit, he does try to save all of his fellow Silent Hill survivors, even if he ultimately fails on almost every count (depending on which ending the player gets). He approaches everyone he meets with apparent comion and concern.
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When he first encounters Angela in the cemetery outside of town, James takes her warnings about Silent Hill at face value, and wishes her good luck in finding her mother. Later, when he realizes she's contemplating suicide, he takes her knife away, and refuses to return it. He then helps her kill the Abstract Daddy - Angela's own Pyramid Head, a manifestation of the trauma caused by her father and brother's abuse, and her guilt over killing them in retaliation. Unfortunately, James loses track of Angela at the Lakeview Hotel, and she is presumed to have taken her own life off-screen.
Mary's letter to Laura describes James as "surly," suggesting the kind side of James' personality might be seldom seen.
In a similar vein, James also treats the orphaned girl Laura with kindness when he first meets her, but her repeated mischief eventually causes him to snap. Still, the two eventually reconcile their differences, and if the player achieves the Leave ending, James escorts her out of Silent Hill and back to the relative safety of the outside world. James also attempts to sympathize with the bullied Eddie, to much more disastrous results (more on that later).
Every Way James Is The Villain In SH2
A Selfish Killing?
It could equally be argued, though, that James killed Mary for selfish reasons, in order to free himself from a doomed, sexless relationship. James is shown to feel great shame that his sex drive continued throughout his wife's illness. It's strongly implied that he cheated on, or at least considered cheating on Mary while she was sick; the overt sexuality of certain monster designs, like Bubble Head Nurses and Mannequins, represent his inability to accept his own desires.
When Maria, a near-exact clone of Mary, appears in Silent Hill, she preys on James' desire. She repeatedly flirts with him, implying that he should be over his wife by now, or even that he outright hated her and was looking for a way out of the marriage. It is worth itting, though, that James almost always rejects Maria's advances by default, and almost always denies any ill feeling towards Mary.
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That is, except in the aptly named Maria ending. In this conclusion, James completely abandons his quest to find Mary, and instead leaves Silent Hill with her doppelgänger, starting a new relationship. This is arguably the most villainous ending for James; however, this is unequivocally portrayed as a negative outcome. In the final moments of this ending, Maria is seen coughing, suggesting she will fall ill just like Mary before her, and the vicious cycle will repeat itself.
James Doesn't Save Eddie
James tries to save the others who have been drawn to Silent Hill with mixed results, but never does he fail so spectacularly as he does with Eddie. Eddie Dombrowski is introduced as a victim of ridicule who eventually snapped, killing his bully's dog, and wounding the bully himself. James attempts to show Eddie sympathy and help him escape town, both of which he repeatedly rejects. He grows more paranoid each time they meet, believing that every single person he encounters is secretly making fun of him.
Eventually, Eddie becomes convinced that James, too, is out to get him, and attacks him in a meat locker beneath Toluca Prison. James then kills Eddie, doubling his body count. This could be chalked up to self-defense; it's very clear that Eddie would kill James himself if given the chance, and James doesn't have the option to run or use nonlethal force. Even so, it means James is responsible for a second death.
Silent Hill 2's Ambiguity Is What Has Kept It Timeless
SH2's Gray Morality Is Its Greatest Strength
ittedly, James can be interpreted as both hero and villain; Silent Hill 2 never provides a straight answer on the topic. That's intentional, though, and speaks to one of the game's greatest strengths: its refusal to shy away from gray morality in its portrayal of complex characters. Few characters in Silent Hill are purely good or bad; most are shown to commit acts of both, and some, like James, commit acts that are hard to categorize. They all feel more human as a result. Ultimately, this speaks to one of the game's themes: the difficulty of sorting real, complicated people into neat, black-or-white, good-or-bad compartments.
In no small part, it's that moral ambiguity and the ongoing discussion around it that make SIlent Hill 2 a classic. James' moral code is just as puzzling and difficult to categorize today, in the wake of the Silent Hill 2 remake, as it was when the original version was first released.
Silent Hill 2
-
- Top Critic Avg: 87/100 Critics Rec: 95%
- Released
- October 8, 2024
- ESRB
- M For Mature 17+ // Blood and Gore, Language, Sexual Themes, Violence
- Developer(s)
- Bloober Team
- Publisher(s)
- Konami
- Engine
- Unreal Engine 5
- Franchise
- Silent Hill
- Platform(s)
- PC
- OpenCritic Rating
- Mighty
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