>>601010
>>Silent Hill, somehow, manifests another world that is someone's personal Hell
<MC may or may not manifest his own personal Hell when going to Silent Hill, depending on how whacky the death cult and its gypsies feel like that time of the month
this is not "the formula". Silent Hill only did this for James, Angela and Eddie in Silent Hill 2 and even then it was a combination of their personal demons and the spiritual power of Silent Hill that was tainted by the cult's god.
Silent Hill 1 is Alessa's nightmare twisted by the power of the demon god in her womb. Silent Hill 4 sees Henry and Eileen traversing Walter's nightmare. even in Silent Hill 3, Heather is experiencing more things from Alessa than she is from "herself". Silent Hill 2 is the only Team Silent game that does the therapist town schtick. in the other games you're in someone else's nightmare.
historically Silent Hill is always a weird/mystical place but "Silent Hill™" things don't happen unless you have a powerful psychic or ritual going on in the background. you didn't get Pyramid Head and flesh monsters and blood and rust until the cult performed their ritual.
>>601012
>silent hill the town, wich is mostly normal save for drugs and cultists
no, Silent Hill actually looks like the 'fog world' because it's a mostly abandoned ghost town. (no pun intended) by the time you reach it in the games its economy is in the toilet. they tried to turn the town around by turning it into a resort town (SH2 - James and Mary's visit) but the cult starts secretly killing the company involved in it and the town falls to shambles, with residents either abandoning the town entirely or being called to the cult's god (probably sacrificed.) when Harry, James and Heather only meet a couple of human beings between them when they venture to the town it's not because of some creepy horror magic, it's because all the people fucked off.
SH3 is the outlier because of the mall, but i imagine it's a combination of Heather's powers and the demon in her womb manifesting the power of the town and she's basically phased out of reality. not in "another dimension" more like a bubble reality that's centered around her.
>>601019
>The games leave it so open to interpretation
they really don't. they explain almost everything if you pay attention.
>line after all, to imply some psychosis but the thing is, apart from Heather and Private Dick Doug "Dicks out" Cartland, as the player we have no idea if the rest of the cast is real or in Heather's head the whole time
that's not what that line means. Vincent is saying that to fuck with Heather, but the implication is that "they look like *monsters* to you?" - because to the cult, those aren't monsters. Valtiel is a scary looking monster to us, but he's an angel to the cult. Claudia would have gotten on her knees and began praying to him if he appeared to her suddenly, not run away in fear. it's not "ZOMG HEATHER HAS BEEN KILLING PEOPLE SHE'S A SERIAL KILLER HALLUCINATING!!!!" but showing you that the cult is full of crazy people who view the nightmare world of blood and rust as paradise on earth.
>As for 4, it showed that you don't really need a death cult
Silent Hill 4 only happens because of the cult. there were two competing sects that had different ideas on how to bring about the cult's god, Alessa was the result of one sect and Walter the result of the other. they brainwashed him into doing the 21 Sacraments. without the cult, you don't have Silent Hill 4. i get what you mean in that Walter performed the murders himself, but you still need their involvement for it to happen.
>>601044
>and her body was in the back seat of his car
this is a longstanding fantheory that has no backing. i think people assume this because of the In Water ending because otherwise for it to happen James would have to
>go to Silent Hill
>remember he killed his wife
>find the ritual stuff to revive her
>leave Silent Hill
>dig up her corpse
>come back to Silent Hill
which i get would be silly, but that doesn't mean Mary's corpse is in his car.
>>601049
>It can be speculated that because James had just recently killed Mary, her corpse is actually in the trunk of James's car at the beginning of the game
there's no evidence though. wikis can be edited by anyone. he's just talking out of his ass. Ito and Cihi can think what they want, but there's nothing in the game that actually confirms this. it works for a single ending out of every other ending in the game. does James leave Silent Hill with Laura and Mary's corpse is in the backseat?