Figure in the road = Helen Grady (spoilers)

[Lobsel Vith]

In the topic "The figure at the beginning" I asked who the figure was, and ERROR mentioned that it was Alessa, and if it wasn't Alessa it was Helen, but he'd leave it to someone else to figure out the details.

Which is what I'm going to attempt to do in this post. For certain reasons I just can't accept the fact that the figure is Alessa. The figure looks to be an adult for one thing.

In order to determine if it's Helen I decided I needed to answer the following questions.

1. Is Helen actually dead.

2. Is Helen's arrival on the highway predetermined, or a coincidence?

3. If it was predetermined then how did Helen find out about Travis.


1. Is Helen actually dead?

Strangely enough, the game never once mentions that Helen died. Richard Grady under the advice of the doctor told Travis she was dead, but this was obviously a lie.

The game makes damn sure to inform us that Richard Grady committed suicide, and he did. With Helen, they make sure to tell us that she was insane, and tried to kill herself and her son.

Then for some reason Lisa is in the female seclusion wing lamenting about the poor woman in one of the rooms who only wants to see her son. Personally I have to wonder, if Helen were dead why the hell Lisa would be sitting there crying about her? I know someone will say she's stoned, but actually I don't think she's had her fix yet. Anyway, Lisa being stoned should not be the focus of this discussion.

Well, then Travis supposedly kills his mom (or rather a representation of her), but in the Butcher ending of SH0 we hear this

"I'm not your momma! *screaming*"

I personally believe it's possible that Travis entered into another woman's room, and then killed this woman because thanks to Alessa and the Otherworld he saw a monster representing his mom.


What we have is a case where there's no sure fire proof she's dead, but no sure fire proof that she's alive.

2. Is Helen's arrival on the highway predetermined, or a coincidence?

If Helen is the figure on the highway we need to determine if her arrival was predetermined or a coincidence. I would like to believe that nothing in Silent Hill is a coincidence, so therefore I need to figure out how this could have been predetermined.

What I've thought of is this - There's a possibility that Helen Grady herself had powers. Rather I should just say that she had/has the power of precognition. Here's my reasons for thinking this could be a possibility.

She tries to kill Travis because she believes he's a devil child, and a bad boy. Perhaps it's possible that Helen received a vision of Travis becoming a killer when he grew up. I want to point to point out that I do not believe Travis killed anyone prior to SH0, but only during the events of SH0 did he kill anyone. If Travis did indeed kill people in SH0 that would prove that Helen's thoughts about Travis came true.

If we can take this much, and say that Helen had slight precognitive abilities then it's in the realm of possibility that Helen received another precognitive vision of Travis coming to Silent Hill.

and that answers number 3 by the way.

Which leads to number 4. How did Helen get out of the hospital? I can think of two scenarios.

1. Real world - Helen Grady overpowers the guards, and escapes from the hospital wearing a robe and hood. One of the memos states that it took three orderlies to take her down even though she's a woman of slight build. Another memo also mentions how easy it was for Travis to get into the seclusion wing.

2. Mirrorworld - Helen goes into the mirrorworld, and having gained freedom she runs out to the highway where Travis is coming. This however would mean that the figure isn't Helen, but something similar to an astral projection (if it's not actually one)

But, what's really interesting is the Butcher ending. In it we see Travis strapped down, and it appears that he could be in Cedar Groves. At the end of the video seen in the corner is the back of a hooded figure. Perhaps this hooded figure is the same one from the beginning. Perhaps then this figure is actually Helen herself, finally getting to see her son.

I have to admit that if this is true then it brings a lot of things full circle concerning Helen and Travis Grady.

But those are just my thoughts, comments are welcome, but let's keep it on topic please?

[PyramidHead316]

But if Travis killed another woman, why would he be rewarded with a piece of the Flauros? Why would Alessa allow him to kill an innocent woman? Does she just not care? Is the need for her to obtain the Flauros greater than any morals she has left? Or is it Alessa's dark side at work?

It just seems to me that the same effect could have been achieved without him killing anyone (meaning in the real world), by manifesting a monster for him to deal with. The theory that it could be an innocent person adds a darker side to Travis and Alessa's 'game', because it seems Alessa is using innocent people as sacrifices in her quest to obtain the Flauros.

[Lobsel Vith]

Personally I believe we need to put a few pieces of the puzzle together.

Piece 1: Lisa Garland is seen in the seclusion wing lamenting over some poor woman, and how she only wants to see her son. I'm of the belief that Lisa, Dahlia, and Kaufmann were in the real world. Such as that, if Lisa is in the real world, then there are patients in those rooms.

Piece 2: Travis enters room 5, kills the representation of his mother. In the Butcher ending though we hear a woman saying "What are you talking about? I'm not your momma!"


Piece 1 tells us that Helen is most likely alive. Piece 2 tells us that Travis didn't kill her.

But if Travis killed another woman, why would he be rewarded with a piece of the Flauros? Why would Alessa allow him to kill an innocent woman? Does she just not care? Is the need for her to obtain the Flauros greater than any morals she has left? Or is it Alessa's dark side at work?

Look at it from Alessa's P.O.V. She needs to stop the God from being born, and for that she needs Travis. If the hiatusing of God's birth causes the death of a few people then so be it.

However, we can't ignore the memo in the theater the one that says that children who have been abused will often develop a side of them that desires to inflict their rage and pain on the world, and that it's this side that seems to triumph most of the time. I don't think it's out of the realm of possibility for Alessa to kill innocent people.

(One could argue, for example that the Nurse the Butcher killed, was an innocent woman killed by the Butcher under the influence of Alessa)

But, innocent person or not, Travis is going to gain a piece of Flauros. He doesn't gain it because he killed something or someone, he gains the pieces because he's dealt with something concerning his past, and present.

[Purramid_Head]

Hm. I'm thinking over the pre-determined part. I can concieve of Helen having some sort of power, because of the mirror world thing. But would she have others? It may be a possibility...

[NightFlutter]

However, we can't ignore the memo in the theater the one that says that children who have been abused will often develop a side of them that desires to inflict their rage and pain on the world, and that it's this side that seems to triumph most of the time. I don't think it's out of the realm of possibility for Alessa to kill innocent people.

(One could argue, for example that the Nurse the Butcher killed, was an innocent woman killed by the Butcher under the influence of Alessa)

But, innocent person or not, Travis is going to gain a piece of Flauros. He doesn't gain it because he killed something or someone, he gains the pieces because he's dealt with something concerning his past, and present.

I always thought that memo was referring to Travis...or both...but mostly Travis and hinting at the bad ending.

I also thought that they memo about being in the military and the cutout of him in the fatigues was a reference that he may've been in the military before he became a trucker. I know this is off topic...but has that possibility been debunked yet?

[Lobsel Vith]

The memos in the theater are referring to Alessa and Travis, and I think of it like this.

An ID torn in two - Both Travis and Alessa were abused as children, and both have split IDs. For Travis, his darker half is represented by the Butcher

Repression and coercion - Alessa can piggy back off of Travis, and use him as a conduit for her powers because Travis' mind censors itselfs.

Astral Projection the ultimate murder weapon - Still figuring this one out.




@xuchilbara - For now, I believe that if Helen had any psychic abilities it would only be the precognition.

[Devoured]

Not to burst your bubble or anything, besides this is all interesting and all and well enough to stand as it's own point of discussion, but let me get this clear : are you talking about the opening sequence, the woman that Travis is about to hit on the road before seeing Alessa, smoke etc? Wasn't that Dahlia?

I've only played the entire game through once so I'm sorry if I'm saying anything very stupid, but I thought Dahlia planned Trevor's 'interference'? I've only seen the one ending so I don't know exacly how much the other is different, but didn't Dahlia need or at least use Trevor to find/complete the Flauros, in order to contain the demon [which was very easy compared to the rest of the game BTW], otherwise birthing it would be useless? So we and Trevor are lead to believe throughout the game, and the series actually, that the initial fire at the Gillespie place was the actual birth, when it was basically just a scam to use Travis to get the Flauros? That would explain how and why exactly Alessa was kept in the hospital under a spell - it wasn't their plan to keep her that way for years, just until they had the Flauros to cage the demon, it just backfired?

Question : Lisa is actually seen in the game? I mean, I remember hearing about the poor woman etc but I didn't see anything?

[Lobsel Vith]

1. His name is Travis, not 'Trevor'

2. The figure can not be Dahlia, because as soon as Travis gets to the house she's still there, and not wearing a robe.

3. Dahlia had no way of knowing that Travis would be interfering with the ritual.

[Devoured]

1. His name is Travis, not 'Trevor'

2. The figure can not be Dahlia, because as soon as Travis gets to the house she's still there, and not wearing a robe.

3. Dahlia had no way of knowing that Travis would be interfering with the ritual.

1. lmao @ trevor sorry

2. but she would've appeared into that direction, wouldn't she, and Trevor took quite a while standing around the truck and getting to the house?

3. but what I'm saying/thinking is that it wasn't the actual ritual -

Dahlia could have known Travis would be there :

1. The radio. I know it sounds simplistic, but Travis does mention going to Silent Hill through his radio.

2. Alessa is known to have had powers in school, and wasn't Dahlia also supposed to have certain powers as well? It also seems to be a strange coincidence that Travis of all people drives by on that road on that night at that time...

I'm not saying I'm right, you're wrong, but what I don't understand is that if Dahlia wanted to execute the ritual then and there, all by herself, what would she do? She needed the Flauros to contain the demon, didn't she? If it was all to gain his attention, that would explain why Alessa told Travis to leave her there to burn. That could also shed some light on Lisa's situation : having been appointed to taking care of her - that it wasn't a realistic long-term solution, and that it was only meant to be temporary...

[Lobsel Vith]

First off according to the official SH1 guide, Dahlia performed the ritual on Alessa by herself, and she was spontaneous.

I don't want to be rude, but it's kind of hard to explain something to a person who's only played the game once, and doesn't seem to understand the game.

So I'll just say this.

It's not Dahlia, because she was busy performing the ritual on Alessa. Dahlia did not use any powers to find Travis, because Dahlia has no powers. The official SH1 guidebook says that while Dahlia has the ability to perform magic, she herself does not have any power.

(I once worked with someone who told me that the use of magic is 'borrowing' power from a higher source, think, 'god')

I can also say for sure that it's not Dahlia, because she traps Alessa inside the Flauros after Travis saves Alessa. If Dahlia knew that Travis was arriving, she would have halted Alessa's projection by trapping her in the Flauros, right then and there.

[Devoured]

Uhm...yeah I think I'm not really getting the game... what you're saying is that Dahlia already had the Flauros?

From the last scenes I gathered that Dahlia used Travis to gather the Flauros, in order to trap the God Alessa birthed inside, so that they could raise it more or less. I remember Alessa asking her mother what it is, and Dahlia replies something to the effect of "do not touch it, it is hot! it is a cage for a demon...etc"? That scene shows that Alessa is still pretty much following her mother's lead through it all, meaning she could also be pushed participate in getting Travis to the house and him gathering the Flauros - and with the pieces needed to complete it, they needed someone with a life/past fitting those needs, through radio or Alessa sensing that the person Dahlia needed would be coming that night, Dahlia sets fire to the house, this being the spontaneous action, rather than the actual performing of the ritual. Why would Alessa appear so ghastly in his truck's mirror, only to tell him to leave when he gets there?

But...you're saying Dahlia already had the Flauros from the beginning?

[Lobsel Vith]

1. Dahlia had the Flauros since the beginning

2. It is Alessa, not Dahlia that wants Travis to find the pieces of Flauros and assemble it.

3. Dahlia does not want to 'trap' God in the Flauros. She wants God in her daughter.

4. The demon of the Flauros is called Flauros. It is not, the God.

5. Please, please replay SH0

[Purramid_Head]

ITS OBVIOUSLY ALESSA...CAUSE WHEN HE GETS OFF THE TRUCK YOU CAN SEE HER FACE IN THE MIRROR OF THE TRUCK

What?

that figure is in white, Alessa is not in case you never noticed. Also the figure appears bigger than her.

[Lilacatz]

Well if you compare the body structure of the hooded figure and the body of the Momma Boss. They are similar.

Well, then Travis supposedly kills his mom (or rather a representation of her), but in the Butcher ending of SH0 we hear this

"I'm not your momma! *screaming*"

I personally believe it's possible that Travis entered into another woman's room, and then killed this woman because thanks to Alessa and the Otherworld he saw a monster representing his mom.

Then why wasn't he stopped? The main reason I believe that Vincent is wrong...is that if the SH protagonist where seen running around killing people...the police would come. (Unless the entire town is "stoned")
I think Lisa was only being used by Alessa and she saw a memory of Helen.

But, what's really interesting is the Butcher ending. In it we see Travis strapped down, and it appears that he could be in Cedar Groves. At the end of the video seen in the corner is the back of a hooded figure. Perhaps this hooded figure is the same one from the beginning. Perhaps then this figure is actually Helen herself, finally getting to see her son.

I've always wondered about "her". I think, if it is Helen, she is watching Travis from the Mirror World.
This could prove that, with the help of Alessa, Helen finally escaped into the mirror world as Silent Hill was being consumed by Darkness or Fire or Fog or Something.

[Purramid_Head]

I think Vincent was pertaining to the Missionary boss & the missionary like monsters of the church. I don't think he meant all monsters were like that. They were cult members. The boss can be argued as defense. The others too, but Heather is in the otherworld. The police knows the cult has been after Heather for sometime.

[SHF]

The figure is Alessa's projection, just like in the first Silent Hill game.
At first I thought it was Dahlia, but the figure is not wearing a cowl ( hood).

And it's certainly not Helen Grady, as she is either dead, or still in the Sanitarium, that is if it's still up and running.
Alessa is the only one that has the power to project iamges.

[Purramid_Head]

I don't think it's Alessa. There's multiple clergy members during the ritual. This person seemed to have seen the ritual and fled. The white robes are never on Alessa until SH1.

[SHF]

I don't think it's Alessa. There's multiple clergy members during the ritual. This person seemed to have seen the ritual and fled. The white robes are never on Alessa until SH1.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkE6VYmafhQ

Look at 1:55

First the figure is wearing a dark colored hooded coat/robe.
And I said it was Alessa's PROJECTION, not Alessa herself.

[Mercury]

I'm pretty sure that's the lighting and not the color. I don't see why Alessa's psyche would escape as a different form than herself, just to lead Travis back as herself. I agree with Xu, that it's most likely a member of the cult that had witnessed the ritual and escaped when the fire broke out. Remember, Dahlia's following is very twisted and may not resemble The Order as a whole, resulting in people being shocked/swayed by her actions.

[SHF]

I don't see why Alessa's psyche would escape as a different form than herself, just to lead Travis back as herself. I agree with Xu, that it's most likely a member of the cult that had witnessed the ritual and escaped when the fire broke out. Remember, Dahlia's following is very twisted and may not resemble The Order as a whole, resulting in people being shocked/swayed by her actions.

If you play the first Silent HIll, Alessa projects herself in front of Harry, he swerves off the road and ends up in the town.
It's the same thing with Travis.
And the reason why Alessa projects herself, is she is calling out for help.