How do you feel about Heather?

[voodoohandbag]

I'm assuming most of you play a wider variety of games than I do (being mainly a JRPG fan). So how do people see Heather? Is she a worthy protagonist to you? Do you like her character design and her personality? Can you relate to her, whether you are male or female? Is she better or worse than other protagonists, particularly the other SH leads?

Personally, I think she's brilliant. She's young and sarcastic - I suppose that might not appeal to everybody though.

[Wooden Plank]

Eh... I'm alright with her. Doesn't rank high or low on my favorite protagonist list.

[keeps]

She's awesome.

[Purramid_Head]

I like her design because she looks normal. I like her personality because she is a strong female character and there's a lot of qualities she has I have not see in any female protagonist to date.

[voodoohandbag]

I like her design because she looks normal. I like her personality because she is a strong female character and there's a lot of qualities she has I have not see in any female protagonist to date.

These are good points that I agree with. She does look normal - although I think that teary-eyed design they gave her works so well and makes her stand out just a little I'm a straight female, and even I find her quite attractive - but that's just as much to do with her personality as her looks. As you say, she's strong and quite original, and as I said, she's sarcastic and entertaining.

[Shadedarkan]

I really enjoy Heather as a protagonist. I feel she acts the most naturally and fluidly given the scenario. Alex is a close second, but there is an awkwardness to him and other protagonists at times that Heather doesn't have. I'm very disappointed to hear that they voiced her over though in the HD version. Did they even do a good job of it, because I don't see how it could have gotten better?

[TheCrazy]

Heather is a great protagonist, her design is very nice specially because she doesn't need to be too sexy to be attractive. She's a perfectly normal girl and her strong personality is also a mirror of her age.
I cannot say if she's the best protagonist, she was great leading her own story, while other characters were great leading theirs. I think picking a favourite one is an unfair task. Although I'm pretty sure that she has a place on the top list of most SH fans.

[Alexander]

I think Heather is a fairly good protagonist. I think she's pretty strong willed and has a sense of humor.

[Floodclaw]

I think Heather is a fairly good protagonist. I think she's pretty strong willed and has a sense of humor.

This. She's not the best protagonist I've ever played as, but she's up there as one of my favourites.

[JaneTheNurse]

I don't like her much... Then again, I don't really like teenagers. It's unfortunate that the only viable female protagonist in this series is kind of a bitch.

[emma]

at first when i was playing the game in my first time i was like...all wondering all the time cus i really don't know what she did to get all that ..as i did know finally ...i was really feeling sorry for her ...cus of her harsh life and all .....then i beginning to like her and her passionate way with her father harry ~in doing all...and her character as i really wished some time to became like her once you know so confident so strongly way she act!^^..
so yeah heather is awesome:)

[Wren]

I like her, for reasons already mentioned. For one, her character design was "normal." (e.i.: NOT about sex appeal or being strictly a bad ass.) Two, she actually has a personality and responds to things realistically, unlike almost every other video game character......ever.
It doesn't have anything to do with the fact that she's a Silent Hill protag. either. I'd like her if she were in Mario too.

[what]

If I judge a character purely in terms of their personality, Heather is my runaway favorite. I'm critical of a lot of things in Silent Hill 3 but her character is well-written and Heather Morris gave, hands-down, the best performance of any character in the series. She made the game enjoyable for me in spite of the things I don't like about it, because she deals with her experience in ways I can believe and empathize with.

She convinces me that the stilted and hesitant voice acting is not the charm some people make it out to be.

[Purramid_Head]

If I judge a character purely in terms of their personality, Heather is my runaway favorite. I'm critical of a lot of things in Silent Hill 3 but her character is well-written and Heather Morris gave, hands-down, the best performance of any character in the series. She made the game enjoyable for me in spite of the things I don't like about it, because she deals with her experience in ways I can believe and empathize with.

She convinces me that the stilted and hesitant voice acting is not the charm some people make it out to be.

Totally, she acts like she is THERE experiencing those things. Plus, she had some of the best lines in all of SH.

[NarooN]

I like her design because she looks normal. I like her personality because she is a strong female character and there's a lot of qualities she has I have not see in any female protagonist to date.

Pretty much this. Her reactions to what was going on around her are some of the more realistic and believable reactions in the series to date.

[astro]

Really? Heather's dialog pissed me off numerous times. I hate her sassy remarks when she's around unspeakable horrors. I also found her relatively boring and lacking in any meaningful depth, she just seems like a spunky, (if I pronounce "spunky" the same way as I pronounce "shithead") teenage girl. That isn't to say I disliked her as a character, just that I didn't think there was anything special about her.

I've only played through Silent Hill 3 once though, so I'm probably missing some nuances.

[OneFreeMan]

I like here. I think she's one of the best things about SH3.

[Mr.E.Nygma]

One of the most annoying characters I have ever played as.

[Mr.E.Nygma]

Really? Heather's dialog pissed me off numerous times. I hate her sassy remarks when she's around unspeakable horrors. I also found her relatively boring and lacking in any meaningful depth, she just seems like a spunky, (if I pronounce "spunky" the same way as I pronounce "shithead") teenage girl. That isn't to say I disliked her as a character, just that I didn't think there was anything special about her.

I've only played through Silent Hill 3 once though, so I'm probably missing some nuances.

I know man some of the things she said were so stupid it almost made me want to quit playing xD. She showed like no fear the entire game, I think she was a very Unrealistic character.

[Purramid_Head]

Really? Heather's dialog pissed me off numerous times. I hate her sassy remarks when she's around unspeakable horrors. I also found her relatively boring and lacking in any meaningful depth, she just seems like a spunky, (if I pronounce "spunky" the same way as I pronounce "shithead") teenage girl. That isn't to say I disliked her as a character, just that I didn't think there was anything special about her.

I've only played through Silent Hill 3 once though, so I'm probably missing some nuances.

I know man some of the things she said were so stupid it almost made me want to quit playing xD. She showed like no fear the entire game, I think she was a very Unrealistic character.

Are you serious? She had been Alessa before, so "fear" took a backseat with her anger, and she wasn't saying "stupid things". Henry said "stupid things". Heather said things that made sense for her character. She has some of the best lines like "not even a kid can believe in this...".

Heather is realistic. This is why... In most games the female protagonist is a sexual symbol because Japan and America are patriarchal societies that appeal to males, Heather is protrayed as a normal girl with normal "flaws" such as her freckles and dying her hair with her roots showing. She is not made with exaggerated features such as large breasts or big lips and a skinny waist. (See Jill Valentine REmake for comparison.) She isn't a sex object. She is made to look as if she were a regular person. To top it all off, the monsters and the symbolism in the game denote she is fighting for her reproductive rights. This is hinted at with abortion and how she doesn't seem to want to be seen solely as the "Mother of God" and known only because of her ability to birth god. This is similar to how feminism is with women breaking away from the bandages of motherhood and proclaiming that women do have a right to say what goes on with their body. Since the game is from Heather's POV and not a male character's, all the monsters relate to the birthing construct and that's a ballsy move for a game made in Japan, because they are male dominated.

Heather is treated as a human being, not someone confined to gender roles, as a female who is equal to a male. She doesn't fit into any paradigm of female gender roles including the weak damsel in distress, unlike Alessa. (Who had tried to have Harry help her.) In this game Heather takes charge of her own issues and decides to face up to the god instead of running away. In this way, Heather is more of an adult and less of an escapist that Alessa was. She doesn't run away from her problems, she confronts them. She chooses life over death and because of that she triumphs over the "impossible" in the game.

She is also tomboyish and a lot of her lines I was thinking before she said them anyway when I first played. Notably "Looks like god didn't make it!" and "Is everyone in this town a crazy person?". I feel her anger and I feel her depth. I'd be the same way if it were me and I am as tomboyish as she is. I've even worked "masculine" jobs that females don't normally work. So, yeah.

Heather doesn't fit the cookie cutter image of a female:

-She is not submissive
-She is not weak
-She believes herself to be more than a "mother" or in this case a "Mother of God"
-She is not defined, and refuses to be defined as someone who is just there to reproduce, which is how women were viewed and how marriage was formed for centuries in multiple cultures where women had little to no rights.
-She isn't a sex object and doesn't try to be
-She acts more like a normal female than more than half the video game female characters out there
-She takes charge of her own life
-She is autonomous (Self-reliant) and independent.
-She fights her fears to stop the horror (She has commented this in the game a few times that she is afraid, she doesn't say it outloud, however.)
-She places more value on herself than what the Order sees her "role" as
-She doesn't wait for help, she does it herself.
-She doesn't need a man to help her
-She doesn't view herself as inferior to a man and is not portrayed as inferior.

If you want to see a damsel, try Jill. Although Jill kicked ass, in RE1(REmake too.) She always had Barry helping her. in 3 she had Carlos "save" her and couldn't move a bell because she was too weak to move it which Carlos moved with ease. I won't even go into RE5. All the meanwhile, she is ALWAYS portrayed as a sexual object for the male players. This is not the case with Heather.