An Analysis And Findings

[Shadedarkan]

Pre-game story:
Murphy lived in Brahms. Presumably, in the left house that we see in the Cinemas Verite depiction. Patrick lives in the right house. Murphy and Carol were divorced and custody rights are unclear, but we assume Charlie lived with Murphy. Charlie goes missing walking home from school and no one can find him. At some point, the body of a child is pulled out of the water behind Patrick's house. Murphy witnesses this, but we never find out if it is Charlie or not (note that there are two cut scenes of this event depicting it happening different ways). We are actually led to believe that the body pulled from the water is Daniel, who Patrick was convicted for the molestation and murder of and sent to Ryall State. Murphy goes stupid and gets himself locked up at Ryall State where Patrick is. There he meets Frank who can see early on that Murphy shouldn't be there and does what he can to look out for Murphy. Frank sets up the work release program for Murphy and tries to get his parole hearings pushed faster. Sometime before Murphy arrives at Ryall State, Frank has already sent his report to the warden about George. George is mad and is looking for a way get Frank out of his way. At some point George finds out about Murphy and proposes a deal, coincidentally, on the same day that Frank shows up with Murphy's approved parole papers. Murphy takes the deal and kills Patrick. George finds out that Murphy is going to be released and has a little talk with him to make sure he isn't backing out of his end of the deal and walks away singing 'Born Free'. George instigates the riot where Murphy finds Frank in the showers and is not sure what to do next. At which point George 'kills' Frank while Murphy watches. Murphy is blamed for Frank's death which is how Anne knows who to go after and she makes sure Murphy gets a transfer to Wayside Max where she works.

Purpose of Characters:

• Carol:
Murphy's ex-wife. She isn't important to the story, but gives us some insight into Murphy's emotional and mental state and background story. She seems to have honestly loved Murphy and Murphy thought the world of her but for some reason they divorced. After Charlie went missing she writes Murphy a scathing letter of hate placing all the blame on Murphy.

• Howard:
Howard serves little purpose to the game except to give us perfectly clear direction on where to go to advance the story. His presence after that is no longer required and so he doesn't appear again. Although, parts of his dialogue can be used to help support other concepts in the game.

• John P. Sater:
John shows a few aspects that we should look at. First off, he doesn't believe he murdered anyone, but he does believe his actions caused people to be hurt. He still can't live with it and commits suicide. We also see that John calls the media, of which Murphy sides, and opinions from others around town liars and John mentions what it is like to live in someone else's lie. This parallel's Murphy being blamed for Frank's death even though he didn't do it, with the one ending exception, and not being able to change what people think about it. If you taunt him, Murphy says, "That's right, take the easy way out. That's what cowards do right?" To which John replies, "There ain't nothing easy about being a coward, Murphy. You should know that." He's referring to when Murphy sat and watched Frank get killed.

• Bobby (DJ) Ricks:
Bobby serves the same style of purpose that Howard serves. There is a small amount of parallel connection between him and Murphy. One of Murphy's comments (I cannot find it now for the life of me) mentions the small difference between action and inaction and Bobby didn't do enough acting. This comment displays exactly what Murphy didn't do in the showers when George 'killed' Frank.

• Nun:
The nun helps introduce us to the concept of Bogeyman being the child of Murphy. She makes a few comments that imply some interesting concepts that might be useful in understanding the story. She mentions that monsters must run in the family, that Murphy has been so blind he couldn't see what he really was and she welcomes him home when he picks up the freedom key.

• Orphanage Girl:
She isn't important to the game as we see it. Yes, she shows aspects of Anne but overall she doesn't add much more depth. She sings "Itsy Bitsy Spider" on a few occassions which is a direct analogy of Murphy's plight and she mirrors some of Anne's lines. She is supposed to be the driving factor for Murhpy traversing the St. Maria Otherworld, but Murphy would have had to do that anyhow.

• Orphanage Boy:
The boy is a representation of Murphy and Charlie. He represents Murphy the first time we see him and hints that Murphy's tunnel vision with killing Patrick, his unwillingness to open up to people trying to help him and his indecision are what caused him to become trapped in a nightmare of guilt and self destruction. The boy represents Charlie the second time we see him. The purpose was to make Murphy understand that, even with all the tools at his disposal, he still can't stop what happens. He can also represent Murphy the second time in that he is so focused on his toy that he doesn't realize he's left himself no where to go and his fears are closing in.

• George Sewell:
George is needed to construct the main support story for Murphy and Anne's adventure. He doesn't provide any symbolism or overarching themes to the story though other than the 'Born Free' reference.

• Frank Coleridge
Frank is needed, like George, to construct the main support story. We also have to know the type of person Frank was to understand the driving force behind Anne and, part of the driving force behind, Murphy's actions.

• Wheelchair Man:
So, it's Frank and not Frank. It's an entity based on the memories of Anne and Murphy of Frank. Murphy blames himself for Frank's death even though it wasn't all his fault. It is constantly setting the 'stage' for every place that Murphy goes, but doesn't seem to actually try to bring Murphy harm. Wheelchair Man uncovers bits and pieces of things Murphy has chosen not to remember or pay attention to all the while forcing Murphy to follow a pre-determined path of self-discovery and choice. The reason wheelchair Man may look deformed to Murphy, we assume the same to Anne, is because whenever Murphy remembers Frank he associates it with his guilt and pain at what happened and when Anne remembers Frank she associates it with anger and sadness. These have warped Frank's memory into something it shouldn't be an thus his physical embodiment.

• Charlie Pendleton:
He's not really an important character. He helps us to understand Murphy's motivation. We see him in some memories and once in St. Maria's talking to Murphy. He is a projection of Murphy's memory. There is some importance to note that after St. Maria's we no longer encounter Bogeyman as Charlie states, "You killed him. You killed the Bogeyman." He also tells Murphy, "It's not your fault," alluding to Charlie's death.

• Patrick Napier:
A character vital to the sub-story supporting Murphy, but not very important. His character helps show Murphy's initial motivation for being in prison and what 'locked' him into his current adventure.

• Anne Cunningham:
Anne is required for the current story to unfold. She provides the catalyst for the events that she and Murphy find their selves involved in and could be seen as the reason Silent Hill 'activated'. We keep thinking that the rain and storms are a part of Murphy's mind, but they are more in line with Anne's. She has held on to and fanned the fires of her anger for years and Silent Hill could be manifesting it as a great storm. She believes Murphy killed her father and see's him as a monster for it and does some "sick shit" to get him transferred to the prison where she works. Anne was, or still is, a kind, gentle and caring person at heart, all things she learned from Frank, who became 'broken' after what happened to Frank. She let hatred and anger change who she was.

• Murphy Pendleton:
The main character of the story, can't have this story without him. Murphy appears to be kind, gentle, slightly introverted and self-absorbed and headstrong. Murphy seems to make decisions without weighing the costs and jumps to conlusions easily. His name may be derived from Murphy's Law. He mentions that his past had a lot of screw-ups and Carol still married him despite that. Murphy seems fond of this era of his life, he was happily(?) married and had a son, who he loved beyond anything else. Things were going good for Murphy it seemed. Before he knew it he was divorced, his son was 'dead', he was in prison and he saw his only friend in the place killed right in front of him. After Charlie died I'm sure Murphy felt he had nothing else to live for except to get revenge for himself and his son and his walking that road trapped him in his nightmare that just kept getting worse and worse.

• Bogeyman:
Bogeyman is an idea. A projection of emotion and thought. He represents that thing that we fear. The thing that haunts our dreams and turns them to nightmares. That is it. The things Murphy feared were Patrick and himself. Patrick's fear was the type of retaliation Murphy brought to him (I don't want to confuse anyone to thinking Murphy was his fear as that is not the case). Anne's fear was the person that murdered Frank, whom she believes to be Murphy. Bogeyman's look is most likely different for each person, but the game has to keep one look for the concept otherwise players might not get the idea. We really only see Bogeyman in a few places and never in physical form outside of the Otherworld. But, just because something scares us doesn't mean it is bad. As far as we know, Patrick didn't kill Charlie, Murphy believes it and may have killed an innocent man. Anne sees Murphy as Bogeyman even though Murphy is innocent of Frank's death (with the exception of the one ending). I'll be the first admit that, even though this theory is the most consistent one I can find, it doesn't explain Bogeyman's apparent hindering of Murphy's progress in the St. Maria Otherworld while he is chasing the Orphanage Girl.

Concepts:

• Void:
The void seems to represent truth. Before the first Void chase in the diner Frank tells Murphy to run. This seems to be because Murphy isn't able to face the truth like that in his current state. After the first Void chase in the Centennial Building Frank says, "Truth is like the sun, boy. You can shut it out, but it ain't going away." After the Void chase in St. Maria's Frank says, "You won't find yourself, Murph. Until you face the truth." Before the Void chase in Overlook Penitentiary Frank says, "You can't outrun yourself Murphy." Murphy keeps believing that he isn't a bad guy because he never hurt anyone who 'didn't deserve it.' The Void is what Murphy really is and tries to force Murphy to realize it. The Void doesn't actually destroy the world Murphy is in, it does suck things up and they 'disappear' (I say this because some things have come back, but that could just be a glitch on the PS3). What the Void wants is Murphy and takes as direct a path as it can to get to him. It's something like fire, the ability to purify, bringing light to darkness, truth to lies and leaves no where to hide.

• Born Free:
A song we only ever here George singing and yet, it shows up so often in Otherworld episodes. Just judging by the lyrics this song says that we are all born free and can do what we want, living free keeps the world beautiful and interesting, stay free by not shutting parts of yourself away and that life is only worth living because we are free. It's alluding that we are the only ones that can take away our freedom through our own actions. It is a subtle hint to Murphy that not forgiving himself and coming to terms with the things that have happened to him are just keeping him locked up and unable to do what he wants.

In short, Murphy and Anne go on a little adventure of discovery. The memory of Frank still seeks to help Murphy along every step of the path and even at the end becomes something of a 'self-sacrifice.' Murphy deals with the death of Charlie and what he had become and subsequently did to Patrick. Ultimately, he is given the choice to become a monster or redeem himself by either killing or sparing Anne. Of course, we all know where inaction leads.

[devil hunter]

Napier did kill Charlie. If he didn't there would be no reason for Murphy to go into jail. Police didn't know that Napier killed Charlie, Murphy did.

Wheelchair Man:
So, it's Frank and not Frank. It's an entity based on the memories of Anne and Murphy of Frank. Murphy blames himself for Frank's death even though it wasn't all his fault. It is constantly setting the 'stage' for every place that Murphy goes, but doesn't seem to actually try to bring Murphy harm. Wheelchair Man uncovers bits and pieces of things Murphy has chosen not to remember or pay attention to all the while forcing Murphy to follow a pre-determined path of self-discovery and choice. The reason wheelchair Man may look deformed to Murphy, we assume the same to Anne, is because whenever Murphy remembers Frank he associates it with his guilt and pain at what happened and when Anne remembers Frank she associates it with anger and sadness. These have warped Frank's memory into something it shouldn't be an thus his physical embodiment.

I don't think that it's partly Murphy's monster. Murphy didn't knew Frank ended up as the vegetable. I think its' entirely Anne's monster. Like Anne it follows Murphy through his journey and it looks pathetic and weak, like how Anne saw Frank after what happened to him.

Bogeyman:
Bogeyman is an idea. A projection of emotion and thought. He represents that thing that we fear. The thing that haunts our dreams and turns them to nightmares. That is it. The things Murphy feared were Patrick and himself. Patrick's fear was the type of retaliation Murphy brought to him (I don't want to confuse anyone to thinking Murphy was his fear as that is not the case). Anne's fear was the person that murdered Frank, whom she believes to be Murphy. Bogeyman's look is most likely different for each person, but the game has to keep one look for the concept otherwise players might not get the idea. We really only see Bogeyman in a few places and never in physical form outside of the Otherworld. But, just because something scares us doesn't mean it is bad. As far as we know, Patrick didn't kill Charlie, Murphy believes it and may have killed an innocent man. Anne sees Murphy as Bogeyman even though Murphy is innocent of Frank's death (with the exception of the one ending). I'll be the first admit that, even though this theory is the most consistent one I can find, it doesn't explain Bogeyman's apparent hindering of Murphy's progress in the St. Maria Otherworld while he is chasing the Orphanage Girl.

I have to completely disagree with this. Bogeyman doesn't represent fear, it represents hatred and revenge. It's basically someone's idea of evil.

There are two Bogeymen in the game, Murphy's and Anne's. Murphy's Bogeyman is Napier and Anne's is Murphy. They see them as monsters they have to destroy, they think that's the right thing to do, since they only see soulless monsters. Anne even says it: "I saw a monster. I saw you." Then it shows Anne's point of view and she sees Murphy as the Bogeyman.

There's no evidence that Murphy and Anne are afraid of their Bogeyman, completely opposite. They chase the monster and want to destroy it.
One might even become monster himself when he wants to kill a monster. There are two times when Murphy sees Bogeyman's shadow and he's killing someone. One time he kills a man with a towel (Napier). That could mean that Murphy is becoming a monster.
When Bogeyman is unmasked there are two faces shown, Napier's and Murphy's. There are two reasons why Murphy's face is shown, it represents how Anne sees him as the Bogeyman or it shows how he was becoming the monster himself. When Murphy admits that going to jail etc. didn't solve anything Bogeyman disappears.

Carol:
Murphy's ex-wife. She isn't important to the story, but gives us some insight into Murphy's emotional and mental state and background story. She seems to have honestly loved Murphy and Murphy thought the world of her but for some reason they divorced. After Charlie went missing she writes Murphy a scathing letter of hate placing all the blame on Murphy.

I think the reason they divorced was because Murphy stole a patrol can and ended up in jail.

Orphanage Girl:
She isn't important to the game as we see it. Yes, she shows aspects of Anne but overall she doesn't add much more depth. She sings "Itsy Bitsy Spider" on a few occassions which is a direct analogy of Murphy's plight and she mirrors some of Anne's lines. She is supposed to be the driving factor for Murhpy traversing the St. Maria Otherworld, but Murphy would have had to do that anyhow.

Actually she's very important. She is Anne's manifestation or something like that. We can see that by her relationship with the Wheelman and the part in one Otherworld we can see her running across the bridge, then second later we can see Anne running across another bridge. The girl sees Orphanage boy's dead body and thinks that Murphy killed him. She thinks he's the Bogeyman. That might be symbolism for how Anne thinks that Murphy killed Frank.

Orphanage Boy:
The boy is a representation of Murphy and Charlie. He represents Murphy the first time we see him and hints that Murphy's tunnel vision with killing Patrick, his unwillingness to open up to people trying to help him and his indecision are what caused him to become trapped in a nightmare of guilt and self destruction. The boy represents Charlie the second time we see him. The purpose was to make Murphy understand that, even with all the tools at his disposal, he still can't stop what happens. He can also represent Murphy the second time in that he is so focused on his toy that he doesn't realize he's left himself no where to go and his fears are closing in.

I don't think he represents Murphy. I think he represents Frank (see "Orphanage girl") and Charlie. The part where Bogeyman strangles the boy it reminds Murphy of Charlie's murder. A monster killed his son and he couldn't stop him. After the boy is dead and Murphy comes to him he says: "I'm sorry Charlie" or something like that, I forgot. Then we get a flashback of Murphy seeing the police and finding Charlie.


I have to disagree with you saying that Charlie and Napier are not very important characters. They are minor characters but VERY important to the story.

One more thing, I think that the rain is Murphy's. It might represent prison showers. It might also be Anne's considering the fact that Frank was attacked in the showers. But the water theme is Murphy's because a lot of stuff like Charlie's death, two shower encounters etc. involved water. His name even means "Sea Warrior".

That's some of the stuff I wanted to say, maybe I'll add more, If I remember some stuff.

[Shadedarkan]

Napier did kill Charlie. If he didn't there would be no reason for Murphy to go into jail. Police didn't know that Napier killed Charlie, Murphy did.

We have no proof showing that Patrick killed Charlie. We only have Murphy's belief that he did and George saying he did. With no other evidence we can only assume Patrick indeed killed Charlie.

I don't think that it's partly Murphy's monster. Murphy didn't knew Frank ended up as the vegetable. I think its' entirely Anne's monster. Like Anne it follows Murphy through his journey and it looks pathetic and weak, like how Anne saw Frank after what happened to him.

For Murphy it isn't necessarily a 'monster'. Frank was always a protector for Murphy and it seems that wheelchair man has continued in that respect. Wheelchair man doesn't follow Murphy through the game, he leads Murphy through the game. I'm saying the reason his physical embodiment may be weak and frail and why Murphy and Anne both see him that way is that both of them have associations of bad feelings with his memory, not to mention that both of them saw him after he was beaten to 'death' laying there like a limp noodle, broken.

I have to completely disagree with this. Bogeyman doesn't represent fear, it represents hatred and revenge. It's basically someone's idea of evil.

There are two Bogeymen in the game, Murphy's and Anne's. Murphy's Bogeyman is Napier and Anne's is Murphy. They see them as monsters they have to destroy, they think that's the right thing to do, since they only see soulless monsters. Anne even says it: "I saw a monster. I saw you." Then it shows Anne's point of view and she sees Murphy as the Bogeyman.

There's no evidence that Murphy and Anne are afraid of their Bogeyman, completely opposite. They chase the monster and want to destroy it.
One might even become monster himself when he wants to kill a monster. There are two times when Murphy sees Bogeyman's shadow and he's killing someone. One time he kills a man with a towel (Napier). That could mean that Murphy is becoming a monster.
When Bogeyman is unmasked there are two faces shown, Napier's and Murphy's. There are two reasons why Murphy's face is shown, it represents how Anne sees him as the Bogeyman or it shows how he was becoming the monster himself. When Murphy admits that going to jail etc. didn't solve anything Bogeyman disappears.

Murphy chased after Patrick and killed him. From Murphy's view Patrick still looked like Patrick. Unless Bogeyman's style was merely coloring Silent Hill added as a perception filter. There wouldn't be a reason for Murphy to keep running into a Bogeyman in the first half of the game. He already killed Patrick. Murphy never runs after Bogeyman during the first half of the game or tries to kill it, Silent Hill forces him into that. When we see the shadow of Bogeyman killing Patrick, who's point of view is it from in regards to who is seeing Murphy as Bogeyman?
I used the word 'fear' because it was the closest I could come to describing the idea. We can still fear the things we hate and want to destroy. I mean, historically, look at Christians and Pagans or white people and everyone else.

I think the reason they divorced was because Murphy stole a patrol can and ended up in jail.

I would agree if Execution Ending didn't say that they divorced four years prior to Charlie going missing. He didn't hot wire a police cruiser until sometime after Charlie died.

Actually she's very important. She is Anne's manifestation or something like that. We can see that by her relationship with the Wheelman and the part in one Otherworld we can see her running across the bridge, then second later we can see Anne running across another bridge. The girl sees Orphanage boy's dead body and thinks that Murphy killed him. She thinks he's the Bogeyman. That might be symbolism for how Anne thinks that Murphy killed Frank.

She isn't that important because, should she have never been there, we would have understood no less from the game. Everything she represents we find out elsewhere also.

I don't think he represents Murphy. I think he represents Frank (see "Orphanage girl") and Charlie. The part where Bogeyman strangles the boy it reminds Murphy of Charlie's murder. A monster killed his son and he couldn't stop him. After the boy is dead and Murphy comes to him he says: "I'm sorry Charlie" or something like that, I forgot. Then we get a flashback of Murphy seeing the police and finding Charlie.

It's likely that it represents Frank also. After he gets killed Murphy does say, "I'm sorry, Charlie." That's when the girl screams and runs off to begin the Otherworld episode. Murphy gets the flashback of when the body was pulled out of the water after the Otherworld is over.

I have to disagree with you saying that Charlie and Napier are not very important characters. They are minor characters but VERY important to the story.

They aren't very important because their entire sub-story could be taken out of the game with no side effects. You don't need them to understand why Anne is mad at Murphy and why they ended up in Silent Hill. All you have to know is that Murphy was there when George killed Frank and Murphy was blamed for it. The Patrick/Charlie sub-story is added for extra background and it also causes misdirection during the first half of the game.

[devil hunter]

For Murphy it isn't necessarily a 'monster'. Frank was always a protector for Murphy and it seems that wheelchair man has continued in that respect. Wheelchair man doesn't follow Murphy through the game, he leads Murphy through the game. I'm saying the reason his physical embodiment may be weak and frail and why Murphy and Anne both see him that way is that both of them have associations of bad feelings with his memory, not to mention that both of them saw him after he was beaten to 'death' laying there like a limp noodle, broken.

Still, Murphy thought Frank died right away. He didn't knew he became a vegetable, so it makes more sense that Wheelman is Anne's monster.

Murphy chased after Patrick and killed him. From Murphy's view Patrick still looked like Patrick. Unless Bogeyman's style was merely coloring Silent Hill added as a perception filter. There wouldn't be a reason for Murphy to keep running into a Bogeyman in the first half of the game. He already killed Patrick. Murphy never runs after Bogeyman during the first half of the game or tries to kill it, Silent Hill forces him into that. When we see the shadow of Bogeyman killing Patrick, who's point of view is it from in regards to who is seeing Murphy as Bogeyman?
I used the word 'fear' because it was the closest I could come to describing the idea. We can still fear the things we hate and want to destroy. I mean, look at Christians and Pagans or white people and everyone else.

From Murphy's point of view Patrick looked like Patrick because that was Patrick who was killed in the showers, that was before Murphy went to SH.
Murphy is refusing to talk about his problems until he gets a letter from the orphanage. It's during that part that he starts encountering Bogeyman more. He always thought that killing Napier was a right thing to do. He thinks that it's right to kill "monsters".
It doesn't necessarily have to be a point of view, you misunderstood what I said. SH is showing that Murphy is slowly becoming the monster, like the "monster" he killed.
Fear is not one of the major themes of the game, though. Revenge is one of the major themes. Murphy was blinded by revenge and killed Napier(except in ending A, Sewell finished him off). He thought that was a right thing to do, but he admits that didn't solve anything, Charlie was still dead, he ended up in jail etc. When Murphy admitted his mistakes his Bogeyman was finally defeated. Anne just like Murphy wanted to kill a monster, the evil. When she finds out the truth she doesn't feel hatred and doesn't want to kill Murphy anymore her Bogeyman disappears.

I would agree if Execution Ending didn't say that they divorced four years prior to Charlie going missing. He didn't hot wire a police cruiser until sometime after Charlie died.

Murphy killed Charlie in the Execution ending. That is a good reason for divorce.
It's the reason I wrote before for other endings.

She isn't that important because, should she have never been there, we would have understood no less from the game. Everything she represents we find out elsewhere also.

She is important because of the symbolism. She thinks that a monster killed that boy, like I wrote before, just like how Anne thinks Murphy killed Frank. Those are pieces building up the reveal, how Frank was Anne's father and why she is trying to catch Murphy so much.

They aren't very important because their entire sub-story could be taken out of the game with no side effects. You don't need them to understand why Anne is mad at Murphy and why they ended up in Silent Hill. All you have to know is that Murphy was there when George killed Frank and Murphy was blamed for it. The Patrick/Charlie sub-story is added for extra background and it also causes misdirection during the first half of the game.

I can't believe you just wrote that.
If you took them out of the game none of the events in the game wouldn't have happened. If Napier didn't kill Charlie, Murphy wouldn't have stolen a patrol car and ended up in jail. He wouldn't have killed Napier and had to make the other part of the deal he had with Sewell. Frank wouldn't have died (maybe, Sewell probably would have found another prisoner, who knows). Anne wouldn't have a reason to hate Murphy and want to kill him so much.

You wouldn't have the story of Downpour. Murphy's and Anne's story wouldn't exist.
I wouldn't really call Patrick/Charlie stuff a sub story. It doesn't cause a misdirection. It's the first part of the story. You can consider that "Murphy's story". Stuff with Anne after Murphy is free from the Bogeyman is the second part of the story.

[Q. Valintyne]

@Shade:

I really enjoyed reading this. I'm not even going to nitpick and choose what I disagree with because you wrote it and organized it very well.

Great job!

[Shadedarkan]

@Shade:

I really enjoyed reading this. I'm not even going to nitpick and choose what I disagree with because you wrote it and organized it very well.

Great job!

Thank you. I played the game quite a few times to make sure I had my ducks in a row. Well, mostly a row.

Murphy killed Charlie in the Execution ending. That is a good reason for divorce.
It's the reason I wrote before for other endings.

The only thing I'm going to mention here is that, no matter the ending or who killed Charlie, Carol and Murphy have been divorced for four years by the time Charlie goes missing from school. No reason is given for this, only that it is the case.

[devil hunter]

The only thing I'm going to mention here is that, no matter the ending or who killed Charlie, Carol and Murphy have been divorced for four years by the time Charlie goes missing from school. No reason is given for this, only that it is the case.

Do you have proof for that? I'm asking that because I don't remember that very well in the game. Where was it mentioned?

I believe they divorced because Murphy ended up in jail. That is even written in SH wiki: "The reason behind the breakdown of their marriage was Murphy's desire for revenge for the death of their son, leading him to be put into jail on purpose, all in order to kill the person responsible. "

[Shadedarkan]

The only thing I'm going to mention here is that, no matter the ending or who killed Charlie, Carol and Murphy have been divorced for four years by the time Charlie goes missing from school. No reason is given for this, only that it is the case.

Do you have proof for that? I'm asking that because I don't remember that very well in the game. Where was it mentioned?

I believe they divorced because Murphy ended up in jail. That is even written in SH wiki: "The reason behind the breakdown of their marriage was Murphy's desire for revenge for the death of their son, leading him to be put into jail on purpose, all in order to kill the person responsible. "

The Execution Ending states, "Assembled here to witness the state's execution of Murphy Pendleton, sentenced for the murder of his seven year old son. The couple had divorced four years earlier and prosecutors believe Pendleton drowned his son Charlie in retaliation for his ex-wife seeking sole custody."
According to this, being that all introduction sequences are true and the same regardless of ending, Charlie was killed after Carol and Murphy divorced. The fact that they were divorced has no bearing on the story so is highly unlikely to be different for separate endings.
This ending states only that Murphy was convicted of his son's death, not that he actually did it, and that prosecutors are speculating on his motives for it so they don't even know why. It's more likely that Murphy was blamed for Charlie's death since there wasn't anyone else around to blame as Murphy and Carol were already divorced. This also maintains continuity for Murphy having killed Patrick in the beginning after finding out that Patrick was a child molester and murderer that lived next door to him.

[devil hunter]

Wrong, that ending states that they had troubles in marriage so they divorced and Murphy drowned his son in retaliation for his ex-wife seeking sole custody.

That ending clearly shows Murphy as a different person, a bastard that is willing to kill his own son.
I don't think it's fair to judge by that ending that they were divorced before, because in that ending Charlie was killed by Murphy. They probably have evidence for that, they can't kill a man without evidence. That is a bad ending.

I think it was like how it's written on the Wiki, the reason they divorced, for other endings.

[poorjack]

• Bogeyman:
Bogeyman is an idea. A projection of emotion and thought. He represents that thing that we fear.

I have to disagree with this as well. I think the Bogeyman is a representation of blame, and scapegoating.

[Shadedarkan]

Wrong, that ending states that they had troubles in marriage so they divorced and Murphy drowned his son in retaliation for his ex-wife seeking sole custody.

That ending clearly shows Murphy as a different person, a bastard that is willing to kill his own son.
I don't think it's fair to judge by that ending that they were divorced before, because in that ending Charlie was killed by Murphy. They probably have evidence for that, they can't kill a man without evidence. That is a bad ending.

I think it was like how it's written on the Wiki, the reason they divorced, for other endings.

I'll be more comfortable supporting that theory if you can give a plausible reason for Murphy to take George's deal to kill Patrick if Murphy killed Charlie. Because, if Murphy actually killed Charlie, Murphy killing Patrick has no credibility.

I have to disagree with this as well. I think the Bogeyman is a representation of blame and scapegoating.

I know a lot of people aren't going to agree with my theory. I thought long and hard about what Bogeyman could represent and stay consistent in that representation across all the times that we see him and that theory was the only thing that could do that. Please, don't stop reading at the word 'fear'. It's a part of his representation, but not all of it. I used it for lack of a better term. Whether we fear something or not, it can still cause us much alarm. Honestly, would you mind explaining your reasoning in coming to your conclusion. That theory has the potential to represent itself conisitently across all Bogeyman appearances also.

[devil hunter]

I'll be more comfortable supporting that theory if you can give a plausible reason for Murphy to take George's deal to kill Patrick if Murphy killed Charlie. Because, if Murphy actually killed Charlie, Murphy killing Patrick has no credibility.

I'm not really sure, but since it probably isn't a canon ending there's no much to think about. There's a possibility that Murphy agreed to do that because he can't stand child molesters. Napier was in special cell, someone before mentioned that prisoners don't really like child molesters.

But like I said, it's probably not a canon ending.

You can find a letter in the Overlook Penitentiary, from his wife, and says that he asked her for forgiveness. She says that she can't forgive him because he destroyed everything she left in this world. He failed her and Charlie and there's no way they'll have him back. She says that she doesn't want him to call her, write her, she doesn't want to see him ever again.

That letter is found in Murphy's cell, you can see Murphy all depressed and stuff before you get a letter. I think that's more evidence towards the fact that they divorced when he ended up in jail.

Also, Charlie wasn't missing when she wrote that letter. Btw. more evidence towards the fact that Napier killed Charlie. After Bogeyman is defeated, Charlie says: "You did it! You killed the Bogeyman.", Murphy says that didn't bring him back and Charlie says that it wasn't his fault.

EDIT: I still think you're very wrong about the Bogeyman.

There's no way it represents things we fear. The theory that it represents someone's idea of evil is the most consistent one. Murphy and Anne saw the persons they hated as soulless monsters, they wanted to kill them, they thought that was a right thing to do.

I don't think you understand what means it means to "be afraid of the the things we hate". Murphy certainly wasn't afraid of Napier, same with Anne. There's no evidence to support your Bogeyman theory.

One more thing, something I forgot to mention before, I don't think Bogeyman looks different for each person, he looks generic because he symbolizes a generic monster. He can be seen by a lot of people probably, well, to the people who see other people as evil monsters.

[Q. Valintyne]

All I want to say is that the wiki is no different that this forum; ANYONE can edit it and change the text. It's not really a go-to, 100% accurate source to back up an argument of yours.

[devil hunter]

True that, that's why I made a thread on another forum. Some people who posted there also think that they divorced when Murphy ended up in jail.

http://www.helldescent.com/forums/viewt ... =24&t=1251

I never really heard anyone say about the possibility that they were divorced before Charlie died until now. That doesn't really hold water to me (no pun intended).

[Shadedarkan]

About Carol's letter. We find it in a room in which Murphy is sitting on a bed with head in hands wearing civilian clothes. The room was transfigured; by doing so representing another place and time. This does not mean that it is a jail cell. The room where we find the letter is actually in the Otherworld space, telling us that this is not a place inside the prison. The letter does not allow one to conclude what event happened to cause her to write the letter. We cannot use the letter as evidence to support any claim that Carol and Murphy divorced because of Charlie's death or for other reasons before Charlie's death. I certainly don't use it as such. The letter can only be used to determine when the letter was written, which was after Charlie had died. But, if Murphy were already in prison when he received the letter, he would not be in civilian clothes.

About Bogeyman. I've mentioned this twice, so I'll do it one more time. Fear may not be the best word to describe the concept. I'll explain it another way. We all fear things, if we didn't, there would be no reason to involve ourselves with the affair of 'evil'. If something is evil, we fear it. Something cannot be evil if man does not fear it. We fear evil for what evil can do, either to us directly or to us indirectly. In this way, Bogeyman represents that fear, his name is the embodiment of it.
This next part is not fleshed out well, so bear with me. Bogeyman also represents continuing pain and suffering. Evil seeks to destroy us by, or keep us in, a state of fear, pain and suffering. This 'evil' took Charlie's life and, by doing so, caused Murphy to enter into a state of constant fear, pain and suffering. Murphy sought to end this pain by destroying the evil that caused it, which he displaced to a physical being, Patrick. Murphy took revenge on this 'evil', inflicting the pain to it that was inflicted to him. But, the underlying cause was because he was afraid of being hurt again. Murphy thought that if he killed the 'evil' his fear, pain and suffering would go away. Murphy did not conquer the Bogeyman until after he faced it and took its power, alluding that the 'evil' he was trying to destroy all along was in him, rather than in Patrick.
We see Anne doing the same thing that Murphy has already done in displacing her 'evil' onto a physical being, Murphy. In this case, there is a chance for Murphy to prevent Anne from walking the same road he did and redeeming himself in the process.

Of course, we could just throw everyone's theories out the window and say that the Bogeyman is Murphy. Plain and simple. He is the destroyer of monsters. That's what he's good at, right? He kills Patrick for killing Charlie, he kills the Bogeyman (a reflection of himself) for killing the Orphanage Boy and Anne is special. She hasn't done anything bad other than screw up Murphy's day and try to recently kill him so you pick her fate at the last minute.

[devil hunter]

About Bogeyman. I've mentioned this twice, so I'll do it one more time. Fear may not be the best word to describe the concept. I'll explain it another way. We all fear things, if we didn't, there would be no reason to involve ourselves with the affair of 'evil'. If something is evil, we fear it. Something cannot be evil if man does not fear it. We fear evil for what evil can do, either to us directly or to us indirectly. In this way, Bogeyman represents that fear, his name is the embodiment of it.
This next part is not fleshed out well, so bear with me. Bogeyman also represents continuing pain and suffering. Evil seeks to destroy us by, or keep us in, a state of fear, pain and suffering. This 'evil' took Charlie's life and, by doing so, caused Murphy to enter into a state of constant fear, pain and suffering. Murphy sought to end this pain by destroying the evil that caused it, which he displaced to a physical being, Patrick. Murphy took revenge on this 'evil', inflicting the pain to it that was inflicted to him. But, the underlying cause was because he was afraid of being hurt again. Murphy thought that if he killed the 'evil' his fear, pain and suffering would go away. Murphy did not conquer the Bogeyman until after he faced it and took its power, alluding that the 'evil' he was trying to destroy all along was in him, rather than in Patrick.
We see Anne doing the same thing that Murphy has already done in displacing her 'evil' onto a physical being, Murphy. In this case, there is a chance for Murphy to prevent Anne from walking the same road he did and redeeming himself in the process.

That does not make any sense. Are you saying that if someone is afraid of bugs does that mean that bugs are evil? Something can be evil without a man being afraid of it.
You're right about one thing, Bogeyman does symbolize evil, a generic monster. I don't feel like repeating myself, so I'll put it shortly, Murphy conquered Bogeyman when he admitted what he did was wrong and it didn't solve anything. Murphy wasn't evil, he was just lead by revenge. He thought that monster deserves to be destroyed. That just made his life worse. Murphy was never afraid of Napier, he just wanted to kill him for what he's done. Murphy also wasn't afraid of being hurt again, he just wanted to avenge his son, same with Anne, she wasn't afraid of Murphy, she just wanted to avenge her father.
Also "displacing evil her evil onto a physical being"? That sounds like you're saying that she put her evil into another being and was battling herself.
She, like Murphy, had her Bogeyman, the monster she thought needs to be destroyed, to avenge her father.

Remember what the nun said? About how "we all face with grief in our ways" and "Revenge is a long and treacherous road, isn't it Mr. Pendleton? Where do you suppose it ends?"

That's what I'm trying to tell you. Fear is not a theme in the game, revenge and hatred are. Just because he's called Bogeyman that doesn't mean that he symbolizes fear of someone. He represents a cycle of revenge, When Murphy admits his mistakes and other stuff and finally defeats the Bogeyman you get an achievement called "Broken cycle", further showing that he does not symbolize fear. He's a dehumanization of the object of revenge, that's why Murphy and Anne are seeing the generic monster.

[poorjack]

Let me explain my "blame and scapegoating" theory.

A "bogeyman" in our real life is something you blame something on, which is not in reality the root of the problem. Something you make out to be a monster, when in fact it may not be a monster at all. It is also something you can place blame on, when you don't want to be blamed yourself.

REVEAL SPOILER

Blame and guilt may be the two most powerful ideas in the world of silent hill. Take James for example, he refused to take the blame for Mary's death, and his overwhelming guilt and denial manifest as PH. Travis had it the other way around, and felt like a butcher, placing to much blame on himself for the deaths of his parents, thus manifesting the Butcher. Murphey put so much blame and hatred on Patrick, that he could not possibly move on with his life, not to mention, it may not have been Patrick who killed Charlie at all. We just know that Patrick is a pedophile who hid bodies in the lake behind his and Murphey's houses, and that Charlie was found in that lake. One could see this as Charlie being a victim, or one could see this as Murphy not watching charlie close enough, and Charlie drowning in the lake. This theory is further supported by the attitude Patrick has towards Murphey in the shower. He isn't scared at first, he is just surprised to see Murphey there, and he shows no guilt towards killing Charlie, just a fear that Murphey is accusing him of it. So if that is indeed true, one could see Patrick as Murphey's personal "bogeyman" and the object of his blame for Charlie's death.

[Shadedarkan]

@poorjack,
That is a much more plausible explanation than simply the revenge thing. It fits into Downpour's theme of giving us something with no seeming depth, we accept it at face value, then turns around and shows us there was more to it all along.

I can't believe that Bogeyman simply represents revenge because it's the thing the game makes the most obvious conclusion. Everything else in the game has hidden meanings and messages and if Bogeyman represents simply revenge then it doesn't fit the scheme of the game nor does it explain his actions during the Otherworld episodes.
It doesn't explain why he is always seen one step ahead of Murphy, why he doesn't acknowledge Murphy behind him in the Centennial Building Otherworld, why it appears behind him in the bathroom of St. Maria's rearing back to strike, why he starts making the effort to hinder Murphy's progress in getting to the Orphanage Girl during the St. Maria Otherworld, it doesn't explain why he picks a fight with Murphy after Murphy picks up the key or why it manifests out of the body of the Orphanage Boy for the actual showdown. It certainly doesn't explain why Murphy can only kill it with its own weapon while it waits, as if it wants to be killed. There has to be something more to it.

[poorjack]

another thing I forgot to note is that Murphey's ex wife seems to blame him for what happened to Charley with no mention of Napier. She absolutely hates and blames him for this, which I think is a little odd. Even if she hated him for Patrick killing Charlie, she probably would have at least hinted at Napier. The fact that she doesn't says to me that it is widely accepted that Murphey wasn't watching Charlie, and he drowned, not that Pat killed Charlie. I believe that Murphey projected this guilt and blame onto Pat, and thus manifest the Bogeyman.

[Shadedarkan]

another thing I forgot to note is that Murphey's ex wife seems to blame him for what happened to Charley with no mention of Napier. She absolutely hates and blames him for this, which I think is a little odd. Even if she hated him for Patrick killing Charlie, she probably would have at least hinted at Napier. The fact that she doesn't says to me that it is widely accepted that Murphey wasn't watching Charlie, and he drowned, not that Pat killed Charlie. I believe that Murphey projected this guilt and blame onto Pat, and thus manifest the Bogeyman.

This is a theory that is highly probably also. I decided not to pick a side on what actually caused Charlie to disappear, whether accident or person, but I do wholly believe than no matter the ending, Murphy did not kill Charlie.