Characters of the Silent Hill series
The survival horror video games series Silent Hill features a large cast of characters. The games' player characters are "everymen", in contrast to action-oriented survival horror video game series featuring combat-trained player characters, such as Resident Evil. Most games are set in the series' eponymous fictional American town.
Characters went through several conceptual different phases prior to their final designs. The physical appearances of Silent Hill 3 characters were created using actors as models.
Design
Silent Hill and Silent Hill 2 characters were designed by Takayoshi Sato. Team Silent, a production group within Konami Computer Entertainment Tokyo, oversaw the process. Team Silent designed the character Maria to have physical flaws and did not base her on any particular model. The developers toned down her design because of technical problems with her low neckline. To better capture her facial movements, Sato Takayoshi practiced expressions in front of a mirror and drew her facial expressions instead of using motion capture. Maria and Mary share the same facial structure, polygon count and voice actor; only the muscle structure differs. Takayoshi designed Angela to appear older than her intended age of nineteen and the developers chose an older voice actor for her. Fifty to sixty Japanese and American voice actors auditioned for Silent Hill 2, with five ultimately chosen: Guy Cihi, Donna Burke, David Schaufele, Jakey Breckenridge, and Monica Horgan. Motion capture of the voice actors was used to model their action.The Silent Hill 3 development team initially saw Heather as "innocent", something that was reflected in original sketches of her, but they found this motif to be too "nice", so the game's supervising illustrator Shingo Yuri modeled Heather after French actresses Sophie Marceau and Charlotte Gainsbourg, with Vanessa Paradis serving as a model for concept art. The character's leg-revealing outfit and slightly curly hair was the subject of debate among Yuri and two female members of the development team: while Yuri firstly envisioned her wearing jeans, these members convinced him that she needed more sex appeal. Yuri also accepted their view that curly hair would be more suitable for a young girl. The character's name was taken from Heather Morris, who provided Heather's voice and motion capture.
Priestess Claudia Wolf was the biggest design challenge. She was intended to look strange, but conventional and evoke a sense of danger. To reflect her evil nature, the development team imagined her with a shaved head and tattoos. Other dropped ideas included portraying her as a "holy woman" as well as dressing her in a long robe. The team opted to remove her eyebrows to making her expression unreadable. Hollywood actress Julianne Moore was used as a model. Claudia's name originates from Italian actress Claudia Cardinale. Claudia replaced the original Christie, because the latter was viewed as too cute.
Silent Hill 3s male characters were delineated by the development team as possessing flaws and complexes to add realism. Douglas Cartland was given a combover. Early on, he was seen as a middle-aged detective. A priest from The Fifth Element was the basis for this generation of Douglas; actors such as Ian Holm and Giancarlo Giannini were models for some of the character's concept art. Douglas' name was taken from actor Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., because it "just seemed to suit him".
Vincent's design centered on making him a hypocrite clad in "nice" clothes and of a neat appearance. Incorporation of hints aiming at revealing Vincent's nature were added, by giving him a laugh "like he is hiding something nasty" and during his speech, "one of his eyes is not looking at the observer.".
Characters
''Silent Hill''
Harry Mason
Harry Mason is the player character. A widower, writer and father of his adopted daughter Cheryl. They crash while driving past Silent Hill. He escapes the town by himself or with police officer Cybil.Harry makes a cameo in Silent Hill 3, which stars Heather, Harry's adopted daughter and Alessa's reincarnation. He is murdered by the Missionary under Claudia's orders.
Harry is the protagonist of the Silent Hill: Shattered Memories reimagining, which starts similarly to the original game. However, it is revealed that Harry had died long before, and his "travel" through Silent Hill is actually inside his daughter Cheryl's head, who broke down after Harry died in a car crash.
In the games, Harry is voiced by Michael Guinn in the original game and by Kirk Thornton in Shattered Memories.
In the films, Harry's role is divided among Rose and Christopher Da Silva. In the Silent Hill film, Harry's role is played by Rose. In Silent Hill: Revelation the plot is retconned, although Rose is still in Silent Hill. Christopher then takes the role of Harry, adopting the alias Harry Mason. Christopher enters Silent Hill to search for Rose. He is portrayed by Sean Bean.
Cheryl Mason
Cheryl Mason is the adopted daughter of Harry Mason. She is the untainted half of Alessa Gillespie's soul, which split during Alessa's ritualistic immolation by the Order, which she barely survived. The soul was reincarnated into baby Cheryl. Seven years afterward, Cheryl and Harry crash their car to avoid hitting Alessa's other half, who appears in the road. Cheryl disappears after the crash and is later seen running down an alley, but is never seen again. She is later fused with Alessa, becoming an angelic being called the Incubator. If Harry faces the Incubator's evil side, the Incubus, Cheryl's spirit thanks Harry for his hospitality before reincarnating along with Alessa as a baby girl, whom Harry adopts and names Cheryl.In Silent Hill: Shattered Memories, Cheryl, Heather, and Alessa are all reimagined as "Cheryl Heather Mason", the biological daughter of Harry and Dahlia Mason. She refuses to accept her father's death, imagining him stranded in Silent Hill. She hates her mother, blaming her for divorcing Harry, though they reconcile at the end. In the Silent Hill film, Cheryl, renamed Sharon da Silva, is adopted by the da Silvas. She is abducted by the Order, but is rescued by her mother and her own dark self, the latter massacring the entire Order. Sharon then merges with her original and dark selves. The sequel, Silent Hill: Revelation retcons this as Sharon, now known as Heather, searches for her father.
Jodie Mason
Jodie Mason is the deceased wife of Harry and the adopting mother of Cheryl. She was Harry's high school sweetheart, and their marriage is described as a "nine-year honeymoon". Jodie contracts an illness that leaves her unable to have children, and dies when Cheryl is three years old. Jodie's persona is combined with that of Dahlia to become Dahlia Mason, the ex-wife of Harry and mother of Cheryl in Silent Hill: Shattered Memories.Dahlia Gillespie
Dahlia Gillespie is the leader of the Order. She is the main antagonist of Silent Hill and Silent Hill: Origins. Dahlia is the mother of Alessa, whom she abused. She wants to trigger the birth of the Order's God, using her daughter, Alessa as the 'mother of God'. She explained the Order and its beliefs to the children of the orphanage. In Silent Hill: Origins, as part of the birthing ritual, Dahlia burns Alessa, but the ritual fails. Alessa's soul is split, with part of it becoming Cheryl. In Silent Hill, Dahlia first appears as a bystander, but later reveals that she has ordered Cheryl's abduction. She fuses Cheryl with Alessa, effectively resuming the ritual to birth the God. The Incubator, a form of the God in Alessa's body, is hit by Kaufmann's aglaophotis, causing a demonic form of the Order's god to emerge, the Incubus, who kills Dahlia. In Silent Hill 4: The Room, it is revealed that Dahlia took part in brainwashing Walter Sullivan, leading him to believe that the 21 Sacraments are the only way to see his "mother".Dahlia and Jodie merge to become Dahlia Mason in Silent Hill: Shattered Memories. She divorced Harry years earlier, earning her daughter's hatred. Depending on the ending, Dahlia can reconcile with Cheryl after the latter accepts Harry's demise. Dahlia appears in the Silent Hill film, where she is a much more sympathetic character who is tricked to hand Alessa over to her sister, Christabella. Dahlia survives Alessa's killing of the Order, as a loving mother. In Silent Hill: Revelation, Dahlia appears in a minor role giving cryptic warnings to Heather.
Dahlia is voiced by Liz Mamorsky in the original game, Laurence Bouvard in Origins, and by Laura Bailey in Shattered Memories. In the film, she is portrayed by Deborah Kara Unger.
Alessa Gillespie
Alessa Gillespie is the central character of Silent Hill, Silent Hill 3, and Silent Hill: Origins, the series' most important character as a central element of all that happens in the series. Dahlia's daughter, she was born with powers, which allowed Dahlia to use her to birth the God of the Order. In her childhood, she was best friends with Claudia, the only person who ever understood her. Alessa was used as a ritual sacrifice by Dahlia in an attempt to birth the Order's God but spiritually resisted the ritual and was rescued by Travis. Alessa's soul split during the failed ritual, one half of which went into Cheryl. Alessa is kept alive in a broken state, suffering with incurable wounds and projecting her nightmares onto the town. In Silent Hill, a projection of Alessa makes Harry crash his car, allowing Cheryl to recombine with her. After the death of the Incubator, all that is left of Alessa is the baby Heather, who was recovered from the Incubator's corpse. Alessa also appears in Silent Hill 4: The Room on a medallion titled as Saint Alessa.In the Silent Hill film, Alessa is then split into three: her pure self, who is reincarnated into a baby that the da Silvas adopted as Sharon; her dark self, who is an incarnation of the Order's God merged with Alessa's anger; and her original body. Alessa's dark self merges into Rose so she can then exterminate Christabella's cult. Afterwards, the three selves recombine in Sharon's body. The sequel retcons this as Alessa's dark self roams free, who manages to later merge with Heather.
Alessa is voiced by Sandra Wane in the original game and Jennifer Woodward in Origins. In the film, she is portrayed by Jodelle Ferland.