Characters / Silent Hill: Homecoming

Silent Hill characters index
Games: Silent Hill | Silent Hill 2 | Silent Hill 3 | Silent Hill 4: The Room | Silent Hill: The Arcade | Silent Hill: Origins | Silent Hill: Homecoming | Silent Hill: Shattered Memories | Silent Hill: Downpour
Films: Silent Hill | Silent Hill: Revelation 3D

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Main Characters

Alex Shepherd

Voiced by: Brian Bloom

"I'm not trying to be a bad ass or a hero or anything, I just want to do something that matters."

The main protagonist of Homecoming. Alex is a soldier returning to his old hometown of Shepherd's Glen, only to find his mother catatonic, both his father and younger brother missing, and the entire town abandoned and shrouded in fog. However, Alex does see Josh in plenty of other places as he explores the town, always running away from him, leading to him searching through both his hometown and the neighboring Silent Hill to get his brother back.

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• Abusive Parents: Of the Emotional Abuse variety, and it's made abundantly clear. Just looking around the Shepherd family home, all of the little details are really chilling when they sink in — like the fact that every single photo displays one or both parents and Josh, but Alex is never to be seen in any of them. And the revelation as to why they treated him this way just makes it worse. Either they never saw Alex as their son in the first place, or they purposely distanced themselves from him to avoid the pain of using their firstborn son as a Human Sacrifice.
• Ain't Too Proud to Beg: Under Judge Holloway's captivity at the Order's lair, he actually does attempt a feeble offer to help her with her plans, clearly trying to just say anything so he won't get killed by her.
• All for Nothing: His search for Josh is ultimately this, given that he's already been dead before Alex ever came back, by Alex's own hands as well.
• Big Brother Instinct: No matter what happened between the family, it's clear that Alex loved his little brother and made an effort to spend time with him, even as his father tried to drive a wedge between them.
• Cain and Abel: The "Cain" to Joshua's "Abel", resenting Josh for getting all the love and affection from their parents despite still dearly loving him as well. But it's because of this resentment that a fight between the two years before ended with Joshua drowning in Toluca Lake, something Alex caused during a fight with him.
• Determinator: Fighting dozens of horrifying monsters, seeing the gruesome deaths of Mayor Bartlett, Dr. Fitch, his mother and his father and the general horror that is Silent Hill didn't stop him from trying to bring Josh back. Unfortunately, said brother was Dead All Along.
• Image Song: Alex Theme, a droning theme with a beat reminiscent of a militaristic march, talking about Alex's feelings regarding his family and memories.
• Kill the Ones You Love: He accidentally drowned his brother when they were both kids. He can also choose to Mercy Kill his mother to spare her from a Cruel and Unusual Death.
• The Resenter: Although he loves his brother, some of his bitterness about his parents' favoritism does carry over to Josh.
• Self-Made Orphan: Both of his parents are doomed before Alex arrives. When his mother is trapped in a death machine, he can choose to give her a Mercy Kill... or just let it tear her apart. Likewise, he can refuse to forgive his father for all the things he did to Alex before the old man is slaughtered. Either way, their deaths leave him an orphan, whether directly or indirectly. It also counts as a Karmic Death given how they emotionally abused him with intention of sacrificing him to continue the prosperity of Shepherd's Glen.
• Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: The manly man to Josh's sensitive guy. Justified in that Alex is a young man and Josh is still a boy. Alex isn't afraid to face monsters searching for his brother while Josh is scared of the dark. Also shown through Alex often protecting and comforting Josh.
• Shell-Shocked Veteran: He returned to Shepherd's Glen as a discharged soldier who saw several of his friends get severely injured in combat, clearly still trying to recover. This is ultimately subverted, since he started to believe he was a soldier to cope with his brother's accidental death at his hands.
• Sir Swears-a-Lot: He swears much more than other Silent Hill protagonists, though one can't blame him for it given the circumstances. However, some instances where he does it don't quite fit the situation — one example is the reveal of the Sepulcher boss, where he calls Mayor Bartlett a "sick fuck" despite no clear indication Bartlett is tied to the monster in some way (which he is, but Alex still doesn't know that yet).
• Trauma-Induced Amnesia: He forced himself to forget about accidentally drowning his brother, and about his parents attempting to murder him afterwards. His memories of being a soldier are all a coping mechanism during his time as a mental patient.
• Trauma Conga Line: While all Silent Hill protagonists have it bad, of them all, he stands out. He was emotionally abused by his parents, who blatantly favored his younger brother, Josh. One day, he took Josh out boating, only for the brothers to get into an argument that led to Alex accidentally hitting Josh, who hits his head against the boat and falls into the water, drowning. He was institutionalized for several years, during which he developed the delusion of being a discharged soldier who came back home to find his missing brother. Not only does he discover that his hometown absolutely went to shit, but Alex discovers that his hometown had a history of making Human Sacrifices of their children in exchange for continued prosperity... and Alex himself was supposed to die as one of the child sacrifices, not Josh, the chosen family heir. Along the way, he fights bosses that are monstrous reincarnations of the sacrificed children, and when he fights Amnion and cuts out Josh's corpse from its belly, he finally remembers what happened to Josh and breaks down in tears.
• The Un-Favourite: Was this to his parents. Invoked; they tried to be as unattached to him as possible so they wouldn't be too upset when they had to make him into a Human Sacrifice.
• Unreliable Narrator: Due to his Trauma-Induced Amnesia.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Twice over, and both times played for serious horror. Firstly, when they were kids, he accidentally knocked his brother out of the canoe whilst they were boating together, and Josh wound up drowning. Then, because his parents were too emotionally distraught over losing one son to sacrifice him, the ritual was broken and Silent Hill's evil invaded Shepherd's Glen.
• Video Game Cruelty Punishment: Taking both opportunities to enact vengeance on his abusive parents and refusing to try and save the dying Deputy Wheeler results in the "Boogeyman" Bad Ending, in which Alex is turned into a Boogeyman himself... of course, Silent Hill may actually see this as rewarding him, making it almost an Esoteric Happy Ending.

Joshua "Josh" Shepherd

Voiced by: Dalton O'Dell

"What are we doing here, Alex? Dad'll freak if he finds out."

Alex's little brother. Joshua was the baby of the family, receiving all the affection while Alex was ignored and mistreated, yet the two brothers still loved each other and liked to do things together. But Josh has gone missing in the time Alex was gone, so he makes it his mission to find the only family member that loves him.

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• Creepy Child: Alex keeps seeing Josh in various locations, and he doesn't exactly look happy at any of those times. Also the fact that, like Alessa from the first game, he has an affection for bugs and spiders, which can be creepy in and of itself. Of course, the "creepy" Josh seen throughout the game is an apparition. The real Josh seemed like a fairly regular kid.
• Dead All Along: Alex accidentally knocked Josh into Toluca Lake on a late-night boating trip, and the brother he's seeing is a manifestation created by his trauma and materialized by Silent Hill's influence.
• Death by Falling Over: Died from accidentally bumping his head on the side of a boat, then falling in the water and drowning.
• Final Boss: Technically speaking, since he's a part of the final boss' body, and the monster is representative of him.
• Leitmotif: Cold Blood is associated with Joshua, even sometimes called "Josh's Theme" unofficially, due to playing in scenes involving Josh and his tragic backstory.
• Parental Favoritism: He was the Shepherds' favorite child, with no effort from the two parents to even try to hide that fact from Alex himself, with several photo frames at their house for the three yet next to none for Alex. This is due to the Shepherds choosing Alex as their sacrifice for the Order's ritual, and wanting to distance themselves from him emotionally so it would be easier on them. Joshua naturally had no knowledge of this himself.
• Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: The sensitive guy to Alex's manly man; understandable in that Josh is still a little boy and Alex is a young man. Lampshaded when Alex seems annoyed by his little brother being scared of the dark but gives him a flashlight to make him feel better.
• Youngest Child Wins: Subverted. Josh definitely had a better life than Alex, until that life ended when he drowned.

Elle Holloway

Voiced by: Llana Barron

"Everyday there are more flyers to put up... every day more people disappear!"

Alex's childhood friend, and Judge Holloway's oldest daughter. She's resentful of Alex for one day leaving without telling her, and is currently working with Deputy Wheeler to try and solve the several disappearances plaguing Shepherd's Glen, including her younger sister Nora.

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• Childhood Friends: With Alex, having an on-again-off-again friendship and crush with him until he suddenly left.
• Damsel in Distress: Often. She needs to be saved from a Siam by Alex at the police station, the two are separated in the sewers by Needlers, then she gets captured after arriving in Silent Hill. Alex then finally has to save her from Curtis at the Order's lair.
• Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: A blond young woman who wants to help others and solve the many disappearances in her hometown, as well as one of the few friends Alex ever had growing up.
• Image Song: Elle Theme, a somber piano theme talking about Elle's feelings for Alex. It doubles as her Leitmotif in certain scenes.
• Implied Love Interest: She and Alex are clearly close, and it seems like there may be something else between them. Elle seems to be the most overt about it though, mostly in her theme song, and Alex gives more subtle implications that he feels that way. The scenes they share when they meet again, and then on the boat, and at the end of the normal ending imply it the most.
• Neutral Female: Due to the particulars of gameplay, the only thing Elle will help with is lifting gates. Alex can be swarmed by the cultists at the Lair, and she will just stand by.

Deputy James Wheeler

Voiced by: Fitz Houston

"Things are not right here. This isn't something I'm making up. There is something honest-to-God wrong with this place."

A police officer from Shepherd's Glen who used to work with Alex's father. He's also a paranoid that boarded up the police station after the town's citizens began disappearing, working with Elle to try and find them. He's started seeing the monsters as well, and enlists Alex to help fight them off.

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• Badass Normal: At least due to being untouchable in gameplay—and during these segments, he's quite capable of taking out the monsters with relative ease. In-story, he does manage to get himself out of quite a few rough spots without outside help, though events do catch up to him. Even so, he remains the only surviving active police officer of Shepherd's Glen battling the monsters through the game.
• Casual Danger Dialog: On occasion. When he and Alex get ambushed by a Siam in the prison, he responds with the calm one-liner:
  You cuff him; I'll read him his rights.
• Conspiracy Theorist: An eyeroll-worthy one at times... unless you get a certain UFO ending. His paranoia is also proven to be correct that strange things are happening in the town, notices the signs early and takes precautions, becoming the best prepared for the monsters as a result, the last cop remaining alive on the police force, and the most competent of the supporting characters to Alex.
• Determinator: Whenever he gets knocked down during gameplay, he'll be back up again with some choice words and gunshots for the monsters.
• Made of Iron: He somehow manages to survive a lot of abuse. Whether he ultimately survives his horrific torture at the hands of the Order members, however, is dependent on the player's choice.
• Offscreen Moment of Awesome: His penchant for getting himself out of rough situations when he's separated from Alex could be its own game if we ever saw it happen. Most noticeably, he managed to fend off monsters while in the Orderworld Overlook Penitentiary all by himself, and the only thing that managed to catch him off guard was the Asphyxia boss.
• One-Man Army: Most of the monsters of the Fog World and Otherworld don't stand a chance against him, or particularly phase him. He adapts quickly to his bizarre situation and keeps kicking ass.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: He locks down Alex upon discovering him, but lends him his knowledge and manpower soon enough, knowing they can't fight what's going on alone.
• Token Minority: He's the only important character in the game who's black. (Granted, he's in a small Maine town, and by the time he appears most of it has been killed by the monsters, so it's at least a little realistic.)

The Order and Shepherd's Glen

Judge Margaret Holloway

Voiced by: Elizabeth Lambert

"You try so hard to raise a child, to instill your values into her. You want her to be her own person but you hope she'll always remember what's important: family. Family is the most important thing, Alex. I would do anything to protect them."

Shepherd's Glen's judge, descendant of one of the town's founding families. Her daughter Nora disappeared and her relationship with Elle soured to the point the two barely talk, and she receives Alex's return with cold dismissal. But naturally, there is more that she isn't telling.

She's a member of the Order, and sacrificed Nora in a ritual to appease the Order's deity. Holloway is also the overarching antagonist of the game, the one responsible for Shepherd's Glen's citizens disappearing.

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• Ax-Crazy: It doesn’t show at first, but when trying to torture Alex to death with a power drill you can see for yourself what an utter madwoman she is at heart.
• Big Bad: Ultimately revealed to be this for Homecoming, as the one who revived the Order in an attempt to save Shepherd's Glen from Silent Hill's corruption, kidnapping and brainwashing the citizens into following the "true faith".
• Contrasting Sequel Antagonist: Dahlia Gillespie and Claudia Wolf were high-ranking members of the Order so far gone into religious fanaticism that they saw anyone around them as a tool to further their goals, but were ultimately still trying to move their misguided agenda of reviving the Order's god. Holloway doesn't have the same level of belief as the two, choosing to revive the "true faith" mostly out of necessity to try and save the town she still has, but it's implied she's also a sociopath who just wants to torture others under her watch, and will openly go out of her way to do harm unto others, including her own daughter, just for getting in her way.
• Cutscene Boss: Of the Press X to Not Die variety, but Alex stops her torture and turns it around on her in a cutscene the player needs to pay attention to so they won't die to her.
• Damsel in Distress: Alex has to save her from Asphyxia at the Otherworld Penitentiary. Although it may have been best if he'd left her there...
• Evil Is Petty: She had no real reason to order Wheeler tortured, but did so anyway, with not even a hint that she offered him a position in the cult. She also takes her sweet time torturing Alex with a drill just because of her own hatred towards him and his family.
• Faux Affably Evil: She's very polite to Alex and he mentions that, in the absence of any affection from his mother, he looked to Margaret Holloway as a sort of mother figure. She also has a kindly, parenting tone of voice when telling Alex the reason he and his parents doomed their hometown, and holds it for a bit before she loses it to anger. She then tries to murder him.
• Hanging Judge: Averted, since there's no indication she did her job any differently than any other judge. But when her true colors are revealed, she absolutely becomes this trope. Her designated method of murder is even stated to be through "the noose" as defined by the carvings in the late parts of the game.
• Hiding Behind Religion: The Order is in large part an excuse for her to exercise her murderous ideals.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: Suffers a very Karmic Death trying to torture Alex with a power drill.
• Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Stabbed through the chin with the power drill she was going to kill Alex with. Judging from the blood and the screams, it’s as unpleasant as it sounds.
• Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremist: While the rest of the founders' descendants are trying to keep their god appeased by murdering their own children, Judge Holloway just likes the power it gives her. Tellingly, she felt no remorse in killing Nora, nor does she feel any when ordering Elle executed for refusing to join her.
• Offing the Offspring: She sacrificed Nora and tried to have Elle killed when the latter disagreed with her plans.
• Psychotic Smirk: Gives a faint one just before locking Alex in the room with Asphyxia, hinting at her true nature.
• This Is a Drill: Uses one to torture and try to kill Alex at the Order's lair. It ends up killing her instead.
• The Sociopath: While it may have been questionable when Alex was younger, by the present day she has unquestionably become a psychotic murderer obsessed with keeping her own power base through manipulation and gratuitous acts of violence, her humanity all but absent aside from a superficial veneer of basic decency.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: Possible. Alex seemed to see her as more of a mother figure than his own when he was younger, so either she was faking or she used to be a more caring person.
• Torture Technician: Towards the end of the game Holloway ties Alex to a chair and tries to use a frigging power drill on him.
• Walking Spoiler: As you can tell.

Curtis Ackers

Voiced by: Al Bandiero

"It's a damn shame the way people mistreat such nice things."

A handyman and owner of the Shepherd's Glen salvage yard. He's also working for the Order under Judge Holloway.

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• Ax-Crazy: Seem to sadistically delight in the notion of tearing Elle apart.
• Chainsaw Good: He wields a large circular saw as a weapon.
• The Dragon: To Judge Holloway.
• Dragon Their Feet: Alex kills Judge Holloway first and has to find and kill Curtis before he kills Elle.
• Foreshadowing: When the Order Soldiers invade Alex's home and kidnap his mother, you can see that one of them is wielding a circular saw, and his voice sounds very familiar. It's Curtis, and he'll use that weapon against you later.
  • Curtis also has a folded uniform on a table behind him that includes a gas mask. It's an Order Soldier suit.
  • On Joshua's photo of Curtis, he's wiping a dark-red substance from his hands. While it's possible that it might be grease, it also looks like blood.
• King Mook: The game treats him like an Order Soldier with more health and a circular saw as a weapon instead of a pipe or a rifle.
• Jerkass: He's very gruff and rude towards Alex (and likely everybody else). Then it turns out he's a member of the Order and is far, far worse than he initially appears.
• Mr. Fixit: He seems to delight in repairing things, and is frustrated that he can't fix any of the clocks in the town, which have nothing physically wrong with them but have all inexplicably stopped at 2:06. He gives Alex a working pistol in exchange for Adam's disused service revolver, presumably so he can restore the latter to working condition.
• No Social Skills: He has a strong dislike for any kind of social interaction, and will even go as far as threatening to shoot Alex if he pesters him too much. You can also tell during the conversation with Alex that he's far more interested in the pistol than in Alex himself.
• Not in This for Your Revolution: Villainous example. He's affiliated with the Order, but doesn't seem particularly religious, not even to the degree Judge Holloway is.
• Pet the Dog: Early in the game, Curtis gives Alex a working pistol to defend himself, despite not being required or even asked to do so, and not benefiting from it in any way.

Adam and Lillian Shepherd

Voiced by: Al Bandiero (Adam), Elizabeth Lambert (Lillian)

Lillian: "Your father and I... we loved you so much... but they said we could only choose one."

Alex and Josh's parents, descendants of one of the four families that founded Shepherd's Glen. The two were bitter and cold towards Alex as he and Josh grew up, openly favoring the latter over the former. But as Alex returns, he finds his mother catatonic and his father missing for undisclosed reasons.

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• Abusive Parents: They were cold to Alex as a child, and doted on Josh. Because Alex was chosen to be sacrificed, and they thought acting harshly towards him would make it easier on them when the time came to kill him.
• Didn't Think This Through: Adam's abuse of Alex was intended to make it easier for Adam to kill him and for Alex to accept death. Aside from the fact that it only leads to Josh dying through an accident, this is a fantastic way to cultivate someone with the capacity for harm that would eventually turn on them.
• Empty Shell: Lillian, who's been reduced to a catatonic state by the time Alex returns home. Their family dooming the town and losing Joshua in an accident all took its toll on her, and she only snaps out of it when she's about to die.
• Foreshadowing: The doctor that rolls Alex's gurney into Alchemilla during the prologue sequence and ends up cut in half by Pyramid Head just outside the room? That's Adam.
  • In the Otherworld Shepherd House, the mask puzzle's frame where the body is placed upon comes back later in the game, especially given that the puzzle represents Lillian. It's basically a prototype of the torture device she's later seen strapped onto.
• Go Out with a Smile: Lillian, who dies with a faint smile on her face, finally having told Alex she did truly love him.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: When it came to Alex, Adam was an inch away from explosive anger at all times.
• Half the Man He Used to Be: Both of them die like this, Lillian through the torture machine she's been placed on, and Adam due to Pyramid Head cutting him in half. In the former's case, Alex can choose whether or not to shoot her so she won't suffer through it.
• I Cannot Self-Terminate: Since Lillian is strapped to a torture device and is slowly being ripped apart, she begs Alex to kill her before the device does it instead.
• Insane Troll Logic: Adam rationalizes his abusive behavior towards Alex by claiming that he didn't want to get too attached to him because Alex had been pegged as the sacrifice. Given the guilt he later expresses for the abuse, it doesn't hold much weight.
• Kick the Dog: Adam's behavior towards Alex, who he marked down as the family's sacrifice. He outright admits to treating the family dog with more respect, which says a lot as he is implied to have dragged said dog to his back room and killed it, too.
• Parental Favoritism: Joshua was the son they doted upon and cherished, while Alex was turned into the black sheep who'd be repeatedly abused and neglected, because he was the one meant to be sacrificed.
• Parental Neglect: Adam is set up as the outright abusive one, while Lillian was more on the neglectful side.
• Stepford Suburbia: Alex says that everyone always thought the Shepherds were the perfect little family, and bitterly notes that looks can be deceiving. The Shepherd House was, under Adam's and Lillian's care, a miserable place.
• Video Game Cruelty Potential: As the deciding factor for the game's endings, Adam and Lillian's fates can be influenced by Alex through his decisions in-game. He can choose to end his mother's torture earlier and give her a Mercy Kill so she won't suffer, and he can opt to forgive his father at the Church of the Holy Way before watching him die, but he can also just refuse to kill his mother and condemn his father to Hell, both of which will lock the player onto the negative endings (except for the UFO ending should both parents suffer but Wheeler be saved).

Mayor Sam Bartlett

Voiced by: David Alan Graf

"Now you listen to me, you little asshole, I did everything I could to protect those people. But you can't stop what's already been started!"

Mayor of Shepherd's Glen and the father of Joey Bartlett, Josh's friend. After an undisclosed incident, he fell into alcoholism and began digging up graves at the town graveyard, with the residents dismissing him as a loon. The Bartletts were members of the Order, and their chldren meant to be sacrificed to the "Earth", so Sam killed his son by burying him alive.

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• The Alcoholic: Fell into this hard after sacrificing his child.
• Authority in Name Only: While not all that much is known about his authority within the town, it's clear that Judge Holloway was seen as much more of a leader. She's the one organizing the cult and putting the plans into motion while Bartlett is just drinking himself into a stupor, even as his town falls apart around him.
• Buried Alive: The Bartlett Family are consigned to "the Earth", so their sacrifice is done by burying their children alive, which is what the mayor did to Joey.
• Ludicrous Gibs: After Joey returns as Sepulcher, he smashes his father into a bloody smear.
• Mayor Pain: Played with. In the past, he was supposedly respectful and friendly, but after killing his son, he's become a bit of both types, as he becomes an alcoholic out of guilt and keeps digging up graves in the cemetery to cope. Also, keep in mind that he's mayor of a city that has a pact with the cult from Silent Hill, so he may have always been this trope to a degree.
• Mood-Swinger: Mostly on account of being drunk. He switches between cold, bitter shouting at Alex and solemn, detached mumbling about Joey at the drop of a hat.

Dr. Martin Fitch

Voiced by: David Alan Graf

"Don't you TOUCH me! I bleed out the sin, but it grows back. So I must let it out everyday!"

The resident doctor of Shepherd's Glen, father of young Scarlet Fitch. In the time during Alex's leave from the town, he took to cutting himself. The Fitches were affiliated with the Order and meant to sacrifice their children to "the Knife", so Scarlet was dismembered by her father and he didn't take it well.

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• The Atoner: Out of all the members of the Shepherd's Glen sect, he displays the most remorse for having to sacrifice his own child, and constantly cuts himself as penance.
• Creepy Doll: He dotes on his daughter and buys her a lot of these. Lampshaded by Alex when he examines Scarlet's room.
  • Ironically, she returns as a porcelain doll monster and kills him.
• Fallen Hero: Files in the game state that he saved Alex from drowning in a bus accident when he was eight years old. Then he murdered his own daughter.
• Irony: Saving Alex's life was this, given that he was supposed to be sacrificed through drowning by his parents.
• Off with His Head!: How he dies, courtesy of his daughter's vengeful monster form biting it off.
• Room Full of Crazy: In Hell Descent before the boss fight with Scarlet, there is a wall covered in bloody writing that says, "I'm sorry", "I want to die!", "I miss you...my only daughter", "Please come back", "Daddy misses you", and "Where did I go wrong?"
• Sanity Slippage: He becomes insane and starts mutilating himself after sacrificing Scarlet.

Order Soldiers

"It's Shepherd!"

The Order's scouting troops and militia, wearing heavy mining gear and gas masks to conceal their identities and protect them from both the heavy smog afflicting Silent Hill and the influence of the Otherworld. To this day, they're the only human enemies fought in the franchise.

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• Canon Immigrant: The last time the Order had "troops", they were portrayed as monsters due to the ambiguity of them still being human at all after the Otherworld's influence and Heather's perception of them as such. Here, their design is taken wholesale from the movie adaptation's Brethren troops, essentially making them the Order's version of those particular mooks.
• Church Militant: They're footsoldiers for the Order of Silent Hill, the only clear instance in the series of humans taking up active combat duty in their name.
• Evil Counterpart: The fact they're humans who commonly use steel pipes and firearms to fight the monsters with makes them this to the protagonists of the franchise, who all use pipes and guns in their arsenal as well.
• Gas Mask Mooks: They wear mining gear complete with gas masks to protect them from a coal mine fire that recently started in Silent Hill, given that the Order's lair is underground. It's also bulky enough to protect them from serious harm, but not to the point it prevents Alex from killing them.
• Improvised Weapon: The vast majority of their numbers use steel pipes to fight Alex with.
• Rule of Symbolism: Small, but taking from Philip K. Dick's quote on Gas Mask Mooks, their usage here along with their repeated, generic voice lines makes them come across as less human than the other clearly-established characters in the game.

Monsters

Nurse

The traditional Nurse-like monsters seen in Silent Hill, this time using a "pink uniform" and looking much more human-like in appearance aside from the clearly-deformed, blank faces and visible veins. Found everywhere in the first half of the game, but they'll vanish as soon as Alex reaches Silent Hill.

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• Canon Immigrant: Essentially the Dark Nurse monster from the movie translated into the games, right down to the movements and mannerisms with a few tweaks in the design.
• Fan Disservice: By far the most sexualized version of the Nurse enemies, but still clearly a monster that only looks human at first glance.
• Freeze-Frame Bonus: If you catch one of them in front of a light source (that isn't your flashlight), you'll see the shadow of a fetus inside their bodies.
• Genuine Human Hide: Their "pink uniforms", upon closer inspection, are made of human skin with tendons clearly visible.
• Psycho Knife Nut: They're monsters that slash away with knives in an erratic way to attack Alex.
• Recurring Element: A nurse monster in a Silent Hill game.
• Rule of Symbolism: Alex mentions in his journal how the nurses he saw during his time as a soldier wore skimpy outfits to help comfort the wounded troops, and as usual for the Hotter and Sexier nurse monsters in the franchise, they represent the main protagonist feeling sexually frustrated for one reason or another. Given that Alex wasn't really a soldier, he might have just come up with a sex fantasy during his stay at the mental institution.
  • The fetus inside their bodies could also be an allusion to Josh and Alex's accidental murder of his brother, killing the fetus inside the nurses like Alex killed him.

Swarm

Giant cockroach-like insects usually fought in dark, enclosed spaces. They'll latch onto Alex to drain his HP unless they're killed or pulled off quickly.

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• Big Creepy-Crawlies: They're giant cockroaches that can fly and drain blood.
• Mix-and-Match Critters: Swarms are basically insects, but their flexible mouths resembles that of a leech, which is also how they're able to suck Alex's blood if they latch onto him.
• Rule of Symbolism: Roaches and leeches are vermin seen often in times of war, so the Swarm likely represents decay, particularly the decay of Shepherd's Glen and its dark, rotten underbelly. They could also represent Joshua's fascination with bugs, with the leech traits alluding to bodies of water where they're commonly found, referencing the incident between Alex and Josh at Toluca Lake. Their parasitic nature might also be a nod to the guilt of Josh's death eating away at Alex.
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: To the series' usual giant bugs, the Creepers. The achievement for killing a Swarm even references the Creepers directly, and their appearance alongside Pyramid Head mirrors their role in the movie.
• The Swarm: Naturally. They'll always attack Alex in large groups.

Lurker

A creature that hides in holes and bodies of shallow water, using large sharp claws to attack and drag itself around due to its legs being fused together. It first appears to attack Alex at the flooded basement of his home.

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• Absurdly Sharp Claws: Which they attack Alex with and use to drag themselves around on the floor.
• Our Mermaids Are Different: They invoke mermaids with their design, having legs merged together to simulate a fish tail and hiding in water.
• Meaningful Name: They "lurk" in shallow water and out of holes to try and catch Alex off guard.
• Rule of Symbolism: Their aquatic nature can be a nod to Alex's intended death by drowning, but the merged legs can also allude to a feeling of helplesness and immobility, representing how Alex felt unable to make his harsh childhood better or leave until he was much older.
  • Lurkers appear after Alex reunites with his mother, hinting at a possible connection to Lillian Shepherd, particularly with how the creature's mouth resembles vaginal lips, signifying that Alex might be wishing he was never born, or at least never with his family.
• Vagina Dentata: Its mouth, which is vertical along its blank flace, further relating this monster to the presence of Alex's mother.

Feral

Monsters that resemble skinless dogs, first fought at the Rose Heights Cemetery then found everywhere in the street areas.

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• Glass Cannon: They can't take much punishment themselves, but make up for it by being really fast and seriously deadly if they land a hit on Alex or go for his neck.
• Press X to Not Die: Required if they pin down Alex, urging the player to button mash so the creature won't tear Alex's neck open.
• Raising the Steaks: They look like undead dogs without skin and eyes.
• Recurring Element: Another of the franchise's dog-like enemies.
• Rule of Symbolism: They represent Adam Shepherd's hunting days, especially with one of Josh's photos showing Adam's hunting room in their home's basement with a skinned dog on the table. Alex might also be thinking of the family dog Shuki, which is also gone, and how Adam even admits later on that he "treated the dog with more respect", making this creature a possible manifestation of Alex's resentment towards his father.

Smog

A skulking, stumbling humanoid figure with no arms and an open torso, revealing its inflamed, orange lungs from which it spews a noxious gas.

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• Attack Its Weak Point: The glowing, obvious lungs that it exposes when it's about to spew out smoke. A few blows or shots to those will be enough to take down a Smog.
• Deadly Gas: Its primary form of attack, spewing out a jet of black, noxious smoke from within its burned, glowing lungs that will deal considerable damage to Alex.
• Hell Is That Noise: It constantly sounds like it's choking and gurgling in its own deadly gas.
• Humanoid Abomination: It looks charred and disfigured, but the basic shape is clearly humanoid minus the lack of arms and the jerky movements as it stumbles about.
• Rainbow Motif: Its legs in particular show a multicolored surface, but given the monster's overall theme of disease and pollution, the colors are likely from oil shining on light.
• Rule of Symbolism: Its use of gas might be a nod to the coal mine fire plaguing Shepherd's Glen and Silent Hill at the time of Alex's arrival, as well as a more abstract version of the guilt Alex harbors over accidentally drowning Josh, emphasized by how the monster is bloated and constantly struggling to breathe.
  • It could also be symbolic of Adam's abuse towards Alex, spewing out toxicity and bile at his son.
• Shout-Out: It moves in a similar manner to the Armless Man monster from the film adaptation.

Needler

A quadruped creature with blades in place of its hands and feet, at the end of its double-jointed limbs, and with its head in-between what would be its legs. First seen at the Grand Hotel in Silent Hill before appearing in other enclosed locations.

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• Armed Legs: And arms, all of which end in sharp blades to slice at Alex with.
• Humanoid Abomination: Vaguely humanoid given the masculine torso and the otherwise-human head, but said head is between its legs and it moves on all fours with its bladed extremities.
• Running on All Fours: With its torso upward, meaning its body is bent over backwards so its limbs can acommodate its bizarre posture.
• Rule of Symbolism: The head between its legs is reminiscent of childbirth, likely another reference to Josh being the baby of the Shepherd family, constantly protected by his parents. Another reference to Josh is the creature's arachnid-like appearance, given that he liked bugs and spiders.
  • The blades are also reminiscent of a doctor's sharp tools, in reference to Alex and his time as a mental patient.

Schism

White-skinned creatures with a large, hanging head split down the middle, resembling some kind of pendulum blade. They attack Alex in droves at the Police Station before moving to the streets.

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• Bizarre Alien Biology: It has a natural black codpiece in place of where its genitals would be.
• Humanoid Abomination: A beastly humanoid creature with a bent, elongated right arm and a mouth between the division of its pendulum head.
• Rule of Symbolism: Its split head might symbolize duality and division, either representing Alex and his disconnect from reality by thinking he's a soldier, his family's dual nature towards their children (doting on Josh and neglecting Alex) and the split between Shepherd's Glen's founder families and the Order.
  • At the Otherworld Shepherd House, four Schisms appear in different situations each, representing each member of the Shepherd Family: one comes at Alex aggressively (Adam), one is laid down on the floor like it has given up (Lillian), one sulks at a corner like it's crying (Josh), and the last one is the decapitated head in the knife puzzle (Alex, as a nod to his trauma and mental treatment).
• Use Your Head: They swing their massive heads around like a pendulum to deal damage, and can even use a Foe-Tossing Charge with it to greatly harm Alex.

Siam

A hulking creature resembling a fusion between a smaller female body and a monstrous male one tied together by bondage gear and straps, with giant club-like arms it swings around for massive damage.

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• Boss in Mook's Clothing: Each fight with one of these monsters is essentially a mini-boss encounter, given how they appear in specific locations and always in open areas to give Alex more room to move in.
• Composite Character: The club-like arms are reminiscent of the Mandarin and Closer monsters from the previous games, along with the motif of male/female body fusion present in the Two-Back from Origins.
• Damage-Sponge Boss: It's a rare enemy for plenty of reasons, one of which is how tanky it can be. Needless to say, it's better to use a shotgun and keep a fair distance from this thing.
• Damsel in Distress: Invoked. It will only ever appear for a fight when Elle is in trouble and Alex has to hurry up and save her from something. The one time it doesn't is at the Order's lair, but even then he has to face it at the Church of the Holy Way, which is right above it.
• Dual Boss: At the Church, where Alex has to fight TWO of these at once.
• Mighty Glacier: Subverted. It's not actually all that slow, which coupled with its immense strength, makes it even more dangerous.
• Rule of Symbolism:
  • It always shows up when Elle is missing or in distress, indicating a connection between her and this monster. The creature could be Alex's feelings for Elle made manifest as a monstrous interpretation of sexuality, given the implicit romance between the two and the idea that he might want to be more intimate with her. Alternatively, it could represent Alex's Chronic Hero Syndrome and his need to keep her safe.
  • It could be Elle's monster, symbolizing her feeling that Alex's arrival is the only way things will finally start moving in the right direction, and a sense of codependence from her after feeling overwhelmed in the crushing situation she's in.
  • It can also be a physical embodiment of Adam and Lillian Shepherd's relationship, the male half carrying the helpless female body behind it like a burden, just like how Adam was the dominant force of the relationship so both could abuse Alex for the sake of his sacrifice.

Bogeyman

For tropes referring to this monster, see the Silent Hill 2 character page.

The Four Sacrifices (SPOILERS UNMARKED)

Sepulcher

A gigantic creature pulled from the ground by iron chains, resembling a large tree made of flesh and blood with a deformed blank face and giant hands. It embodies the spirit of Joey Bartlett, buried alive by his father, Mayor Bartlett, sacrificed to the Earth by the Executor of Law.

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• Boss Room: The Otherworld Grand Hotel's greenhouse.
• Botanical Abomination: A gigantic flesh tree hoisted by iron chains and hooks like meat at a butcher shop, with a humanoid head and arms.
• Creepily Long Arms: Ending in large deformed hands it uses to slam the ground with, or make the area shake so debris will fall from the ceiling.
• The Dog Bites Back: Given that this creature is essentially a monstrous reincarnation of Joey, the son Mayor Bartlett killed, this trope is in full effect when it kills him right back.
• He Was Right There All Along: Alex enters the Otherworld's version of the greenhouse to find Mayor Bartlett standing near a fleshy-looking tree stump. Said tree stump then rises from the ground and kills Bartlett before trying to kill Alex.
• Irony: There is quite the implication that the hotel's greenhouse was the site where Bartlett buried his son alive. Said son then rises from the earth as a monster and kills his father.
• Logical Weakness: The large flesh sacks hanging from the ceiling around the creature in its first phase, which serve as counterweights to keep the monster suspended. Destroying them drops Sepulcher to the ground and initiates phase two, where it can't defend itself from direct blows anymore.
• Meaningful Name: A "sepulchre" is a cavernous tomb, a burial place where Jesus Christ was said to have been placed in before his revival three days later. The word "sepulchre" also comes from the Latin "sepulchrum", meaning "tomb".
• Rule of Symbolism: It's a monstrous manifestation of Joey Bartlett, Josh's friend and Mayor Bartlett's son who loved plants and gardening, sacrificed by his father through being buried alive, now reanimated as a monstrous tree made of flesh with a head and arms. Its head has a single deformed feature that resembles a bloodied mouth, likely a nod to Joey's suffocation under the earth he was buried in.
  • It should be noted that Sepulcher acts similarly to a spider in its first phase, suspended in wires and hanging upside down like a spider from a web, likely another nod to Joshua and his fascination with bugs and arachnids.
• Varying Tactics Boss: It stays suspended on the ceiling during phase one, but it will be forced to the ground once the flesh sacks around it are destroyed, crawling on its arms and using them to strike down at Alex to try and crush him.

Scarlet

"Daddy...?"

A monster resembling a large, lean plastic doll with a deformed, chipped head and a wide-gaping mouth full of razor-sharp teeth, concealing flesh and blood underneath the artificial cover. It represents the spirit of Scarlet Fitch, dismembered by her father, Dr. Fitch, sacrificed to the Knife by the Performer of Rites.

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• Big Creepy-Crawlies: It moves around like a spider in phase two, able to crawl fast and jump around on the ground, as well as climb onto the walls and ceiling of its arena.
• Boss Room: The very bottom of Hell Descent, the Otherworld version of Dr. Fitch's medical office.
• Call-Back: To Silent Hill: The Arcade, of all things, as it looks a lot like the Mama boss, which may have even been an influence in Scarlet's design.
  • Her name could also be a coincidental allusion to Silent Hill 3, as Alessa Gillespie owned a doll she named "Scarlett".
• Creepy Doll: A variation, in that it's gigantic and monstrous on top of the uncanny flesh-like plastic protecting the actual flesh underneath. Scarlet herself owned a huge collection of dolls when she was alive.
• Death or Glory Attack: In phase two, Scarlet will occasionally crawl towards the ceiling and try to drop down on Alex for a huge amount of damage. If the player dodges in the nick of time, she'll be left wide open for punishment.
• The Dog Bites Back: Literally in this case, but much like how Sepulcher is Joey taking revenge on his father, Scarlet kills her father in retaliation for her sacrifice by biting his head off.
• Glasgow Smile: The eternal expression in its face, and it can open that smile to reveal its gaping mouth full of teeth.
• Glass Cannon: Fast, agile and hits hard if the player isn't also on their toes to dodge and retaliate, but once they break the plastic over her real skin, she'll be taking a lot more damage.
• Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: When she's weakened in either phase, a button prompt will appear to let Alex use his pipe/crowbar like this to deal a lot of damage back at her. This is also how he finishes her off for good.
• More Teeth than the Osmond Family: Not too many, but it does have an array of misplaced needle-like teeth inside its bloodied mouth.
• Off with His Head!: Bites off Dr. Fitch's head upon emerging from his blood.
• Rule of Symbolism: It symbolizes Scarlet Fitch and her father's crushing guilt over her sacrifice. Scarlet owned a huge collection of dolls when she was alive, which this monster embodies by being formed of her father's blood and Scarlet's favorite doll that Alex shows him. Her death by dismemberment is also alluded to in how the doll's joints are all crude-looking and bloodied, and her rapidly-beating heart (visible when Alex pries off the plastic from her back) ties back to the trauma Scarlet went through as she died.
  • Much like Sepulcher, she also takes on spider characteristics at a certain point of the boss battle, tying back to Joshua's love of bugs and spiders.
• Varying Tactics Boss: Phase one has Scarlet lumber towards Alex and swing her arms at him more slowly, but still fast enough to require quick evasive maneuvers. In phase two, she'll get down on all fours and become MUCH faster, opting for quick and precise strikes, as well as a desperate drop on Alex from the ceiling.
• Vengeful Abandoned Toy: It looks like a giant, four-limbed porcelain doll, and can be interpreted as the manifestation of Scarlet's rage and pain after being killed by her father.

Asphyxia

A mass of female bodies fused together with their arms and breasts all on display, a pair of which emerge from the creature's top shoulders to cover its gaping mouth. It symbolizes the spirit of Nora Holloway, strangled by her sadistic mother Margaret Holloway, sacrificed to the Noose by the Keeper of Lore.

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• Alice Allusion: Alice in Wonderland was Nora's favorite book, and Asphyxia resembles a giant fleshy caterpillar made of female torsos.
• Body Horror: It's a mass of female bodies merged together in segments, one of which extends from its spine as a tail made entire out of rear ends.
• Boss Room: A chamber at the basement of the Otherworld Overlook Penitentiary.
• Bloody Murder: It will occasionally "scream" at Alex, releasing a torrent of blood from its mouth.
• Death by Irony: A creature named after the absence of breathing that dies when Alex forcibly pries its hands off its mouth, forcing it to breathe.
• The Dog Bites Back: Averted. Alex and Wheeler's arrival allow Judge Holloway to escape the chamber they're in just when the monster manifests, so Nora doesn't get her respective revenge against the parent that murdered her.
• Meaningful Name: The word "asphyxia" comes from Greek and means "without heartbeat", and is a word usually associated with deprived oxygen levels in the blood through suffocation.
• Rule of Symbolism: It's a physical incarnation of the memory of Nora Holloway, manifested by her mother after being shown Elle's locket, which originally belonged to Nora herself. The creature's design is like a gross mockery of a caterpillar, in a reference to the Caterpillar character of "Alice in Wonderland", Nora's favorite book. Additionally, the creature is heavily sexualized and even crawls out of a fleshy hole in the wall resembling vaginal lips, likely in reference to the recurring theme of sexuality and birth seen in this game.
  • Yet again, the caterpillar-like design can be another nod to Josh's love of bugs, even if Nora's photo has him saying he prefers the Cheshire Cat in the book.
• She-Fu: It can swing its weight around to harm Alex and attack him with her large, fleshy tail.
• Shout-Out: Subverted. The fact that it's based off a segmented insect and made of merged human bodies brings to mind The Human Centipede, but the film was released one year after this game.
• Varying Tactics Boss: Averted. It's the only boss fight in the game with only one phase.

Amnion

A spider-like creature with legs made out of metal structures and medical instruments, carrying a female central body with a visibly pregnant uterus and its face extendable through a mechanical frame, bearing a black tube linked to the womb like an umbilical cord. It carries the body of Joshua Shepherd, erroneously drowned by his brother Alex Shepherd, mistakenly sacrificed to the Water and failing the Shepherds' ritual as Masters of Arms.

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• Big Creepy-Crawlies: A giant spider with metal legs and a female torso in the middle.
• Boss Room: The sacrifice chamber at the end of the Order's lair, following The Reveal that Alex was the sacrifice intended for his family all along, allowing the Otherworld to manifest and create the monster.
• Final Boss: Of Homecoming.
• Foreshadowing: One of Joshua's collectible photos shows a spider crawling towards one of his little soldier toys in a playground, which is exactly what the final boss battle ends up being.
  • The instruments on its legs are all things seen at the beginning sequence in Alex's nightmare, at the very first room where he comes out of the gurney he's strapped to.
• Making a Splash: In its second phase, it will hoist up its body and spew out bile-coated water around itself to deal damage to Alex if he's too close.
• Meaningful Name: An amnion is the innermost membrane enclosing the embryo of an unborn mammal, bird, or reptile - a fitting name for a creature designed to represent Joshua's status as the baby of his family.
• Rule of Symbolism: It's essentially a large conglomerate of metaphors for both the Shepherd brothers and their respective histories;
  • Josh loved bugs and arachnids, so the boss is a spider creature. It carries Josh's dead body in its womb, symbolizing how he was the baby of the family and repeatedly protected and doted upon by his parents, making him like a baby who never had anything bad happen to him until he died. The creature's extensible head could be a nod to a view camera and Josh's love of photography, and the umbilical cord pumping water into the creature's womb is likely referencing his drowning, also referenced by the fact the creature's metallic limbs are rusted as if exposed to water.
  • The implements at the end of Amnion's legs are first seen in Alchemilla Hospital during the nightmare sequence, and are items he'll see again if the player opts for the Intensive Care ending, which shows Alex as a mental patient. The creature's metal body could all be a reference to hospital equipment, like how the neck resembles a framing often seen in iron lungs, which likely represents Alex's institutionalizing and his time away in isolation. The tube feeding water into Joshua's dead body in the womb might also be a nod to the time Alex spent "feeding" the delusion that his brother was still alive, with the tube referencing an umbilical cord that should be sending nutrients to the fetus yet only feeds Josh the thing that killed him.
• Varying Tactics Boss: It starts the fight in the usual spider posture before shifting itself to move on its back during phase two, opting for heavier swings and wide shockwave stomps.

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