Mirrors

[God's Condemned]

Interesting thing in Silent Hill Origins, Mirrors. They are the portal to the otherworld, and in real life they are the display of a world that is not real. This is something that I think the developers at Climax had looked into. What do you guys think about the changing of worlds through Mirrors? There was something said about Mirrors in SH3 by Heather. Not sure if that has anything to do with it or not.

In modern times, the mirror is considered falsehood, and earlier people thought that it was the realm of souls, whre they existed and could possibly take control of people in the real world. As a side note, it was thought that mirrors were a cure for schizophrenia. Do you think Climax used the history of Mirrors to influence their decision on transition between worlds?

[JpD]

I liked it, but I feel they could have done things better with them, like maybe a one time use type of thing, once you used a mirror it would break and you would have to find another one.

it was the realm of souls

Explains Travis "seeing" his dead father, mother, and Alessa

the mirror is considered falsehood

hence Travis's statement "This isn't right" when he examines the first mirror in the game.

whre they existed and could possibly take control of people in the real world

Would explain Travis's mom and Travis's odd movements he made when first touching the mirror.

it was thought that mirrors were a cure for schizophrenia

The mom once again.

I would say Climax definitely used the history of mirrors when developing the game to help influence the story.

[God's Condemned]

There were interesting references. What was wrong with Helen definitely connected with the mirrors. I'm with you on the different mirror thing. When one was used, there should have been a way to block that way into the otherworld.

[unseen-monster]

i think the mirror thing was a good idea in theory, but it killed so much of the atmosphere.
for the 4 games team silent made, the character had no control over the switch to the otherworld. it made you feel totally defenseless and at the whim of a very, very, evil town. in those games, the town was as much of a character as Harry, or James. it had this room 1408 feel to it, like it had it's own personality and motives for dragging the protagonist in there.
with the mirrors, all of that is gone. by giving you control over the shifts in the otherworld, you've just destroyed probably the most terrifying character in all of the games. you have power over the town, not the other way around. and i don't know if it's just me, but being in control of things, having power, it isn't scary at all.

[God's Condemned]

That is something I hadn't considered. In theory, you are in control of what happens in Origins. Travis chooses to go to the otherworld, where with Harry, James, Heather, and Henry, it was no choice. Henry chose to go through the hole, because he felt like there was some responsibility to Eileen later. It is a let down, when put that way.

[Xuchilbara]

Mirrors are portals to the otherworld in Jewish mythology/folklore and in Mesoamerican lore. So are other reflective surfaces like puddles of water. (Think SH4's puddle near Walter's body that leads to the final battle.) They did look into it because not only does SH series have Jewish mysticism in it, it also contains Aztec/Mayan references too.

[Fungo]

If you were forced into the mirror otherworld but could not return it would have been much scarier, but knowing you could go back to the "safe" side of the mirror after transitioning ruined the horror for me. I liked how it was in previous games when you were really locked in to the horror and couldn't go back.

[James]

I liked the idea.
I thought it made a nice change from what it was like in Silent Hill 1.
The mirrors were a winner for me. They could have made it a little more interesting though.

[Travis_Grady]

I like very much ! one of my favorite movies is Mirrors with Kiefer Sutherland, so can understand why i like so much the idea of mirrors in Origins

[God's Condemned]

Now that was a good movie. I like the thought of souls being banished to the mirrors, like in the movie, ad that was what Helen saw as well. She saw the condemned Silent Hill that was Alessa's nightmare. It is interesting that Travis can traverse through the normal and otherworls through the mirrors. I like the theme.