Silent Hill 2's Best Ending

Spoiler warning. Silent Hill 2 is well worth experiencing for yourself, and reading this article before playing it could really damage your experience. I strongly recommend playing it first.

Silent Hill 2 is considered one of the finest horror games ever made, and some would argue, one of the best videogames in general. A lot of this can be attributed to its engrossing story and characters. Like so many games with a strong narrative, Silent Hill 2 has multiple endings, and there are many strong opinions about which ending is the best. I'm going to share my own opinion on this matter.

All Consuming Guilt

Silent Hill 2 tells the story of James Sunderland. He receives a letter from his wife Mary asking him to meet her in the town of Silent Hill, but she supposedly died of an illness three years ago. Even so, James comes to Silent Hill to find out for himself. 

As we find out near the very end, Mary did not die of an illness three years ago, but rather, James killed her just three days ago and has been in complete denial of this reality through the entire game. Everything that happened in Silent Hill was a manifestation of his own guilt.

So why did James do it? Silent Hill called to him, so it's clear he feels guilty about it. Was it mercy? Mary was suffering after all, and outright stated she wanted to die. Was it revenge or an escape? In the late stages of her illness, Mary became angry and verbally abusive and taking care of her consumed James' life. Or was it desire? The feminine figures that haunt Silent Hill imply that James was sexually frustrated, so did he simply remove Mary so he could himself a new relationship?

Means and Ends

The powerful thing about Silent Hill 2 is that each of its endings puts James' motivations in a different light. The 'Maria' ending, for example, has James escaping Silent Hill with the Mary lookalike 'Maria' he met there. Maria is almost identical to Mary, but more seductive. She seems to be a creation of Silent Hill designed to tempt and torture James. This ending probably puts James in the most negative light, as it seems to prove that he simply wanted to move on from Mary. During the ending, Maria starts coughing, implying that she's also ill and James will be punished for his mistakes by experiencing the exact same thing he experienced with Mary once again. Powerful and tragic, as James has already been forced to see her die multiple times throughout the story.

The next ending is the one I've seen a very vocal part of the fanbase call the best. It is simply called 'In Water.' In this ending, James and Mary have a final talk, and James admits that 'part of him hated her for taking away his life.' Mary concedes that this may be true, but that he's suffered enough. She dies again, for the last time, and James comes to the conclusion that he cannot live without her. Taking her body with him, he drives his car into the lake, thus committing suicide.

This ending is powerful and tragic and certainly feels natural. Silent Hill 2 is James' journey to face his guilt, and then act upon it accordingly. After all, the others who were called to Silent Hill, Eddie and Angela, passed away as well. 

But in my opinion, the best ending is the "good" ending, 'Leave.' I admit I'm biased in favor of happy endings, although Silent Hill 2 has no truly "happy" conclusions, but I have a few valid narrative reasons why this ending is the best conclusion to this story.

In Leave, James and Mary have their talk just like 'In Water', but when Mary throws James a bone and justifies his actions by saying 'She wanted to die,' James doesn't take it and fully faces down his own guilt. He doesn't say that "part of him hated her" this time, he comes out and - in an anguished voice - says:

The difference is subtle but important. And Mary's response to this always makes me teary-eyed.

"James... if that were true, then why do you look so sad?" 

This ending paints James in the most positive light. In all of the endings, that impulse, that desire to get his life back was present, but him admitting it clearly - in spite of how much it hurts him and how wrong he knows it is - redeems him. That's why he can overcome his guilt and move on in 'Leave,' with Mary's blessing.

On top of the perfect way it finishes James' arc, Leave is also the only ending that wraps up Laura's story. Laura is a little girl James meets around Silent Hill several times, and she was friends with Mary before she died. In Leave, you appropriately see James leave Silent Hill with Laura, taking her with him and thus carrying on Mary's wish that they be friends. Her fate is left ambiguous in the other endings, which I think makes them feel a bit incomplete.

At the Core of Silent Hill (Conclusion)

The monsters of Silent Hill are never just simple monsters with a thirst for blood, and neither is the town itself. Silent Hill 2 is the story of James facing his guilt - that's why Silent Hill called to him - and the reason why the 'Leave' ending speaks to me the most is because it is the only ending where he truly faces it. In 'Maria', he runs from his guilt and the 'In Water' ending concludes with James ending his own life because he is unable to life with his guilt. In 'Leave', James fully sheds light on the darkest parts of his psyche and starts on a path towards redemption, with his penance being a responsibility to take care of Laura as Mary once did. And it ends beautifully with those final words in Mary's letter:

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Hey, thank you for taking the time to read another one of my articles. This one was a bit shorter, but definitely on a subject I'm passionate about. I've been thinking about why I love the 'Leave' ending for much of the past year and I finally got to put it into words here. Please let me know which ending you liked the best and why! 

Deltarune

We've finally had our first look at the successor to Undertale, Deltarune. I played through the first 'episode.' It'll take some time for me to form coherent opinions, so here's some ranting and wild speculation. I'll update this post as more thoughts and facts come up. I'm also going to include unmarked, HEAVY SPOILERS for Undertale and episode one of Deltarune. Beware!

Timeline Woes
Due to the characters involved and their relationship(s), this game cannot exist in the same "timeline" as Undertale. There are monsters living on the surface, yet our protagonist Kris seems to be the only human. To complicate matters further, his facial features and skin tone are reminiscent of Frisk (also note the name similarity), but his shirt and position in the timeline (recognizes both Toriel and Asgore as parental figures, has a sibling type relationship with Asriel) adds up more for Chara.

My current speculation is that we are in an alternate universe where humans were forced underground and the monsters stayed up above. Kris seems to be the only human around, a fact that is further emphasized by the fact that Susie initially keeps calling him freak.

To make matters even more complicated, there's our adorable and peace-loving companion throughout this adventure. Ralsei is a self-proclaimed PRINCE FROM THE DARK, explicitly establishing himself as separate from the Humans and Monsters in the prophecy, and yet...
... he's Asriel. it makes sense in a way, because he was also the prince of the underground in Undertale... and yet! This makes matters even stranger because Asriel is explicitly known to the world above and is supposedly enrolled in a university elsewhere. I speculate that Ralsei is Asriel from a different timeline, since this entire game seems to be playing with the idea of an alternate universe. It's still very strange that Kris doesn't really react, while Susie actually seems shocked. If my theory is true, that leaves two possibilities: Either Kris knew all along, or this Asriel doesn't look like his brother, the 'other' Asriel.

Every time I dig into the game, things seem to raise more questions than they answer, but I'm very excited to see where this is going.

One more thing, the game distinguishes the creatures from the underground as a separate 'class' of beings, referring to both monsters and humans as Lighteners. This sets the game's theme as being a typical light vs dark story, though it's up to the player whether they want to conquer dark (by being violent) or recovering the balance (by being peaceful).

Or is it? One more thing the game emphasized is that your choices don't matter. It says this several times, especially near the start. It makes me wonder if the outcome of the story will vary as much as it could in Undertale, or if it won't; Toby Fox likes to play with the conventions of the genre, so perhaps this is a play on the illusion of choice? I actually wrote an article about the way Undertale handles choices if you're interested, you can read it if you click here.

UPDATE 2-11-18: Toby Fox posted a Q&A, which you can check here:

http://www.twitlonger.com/show/n_1sqn3p9

He answered quite a few questions. Among other things, he confirmed that Delta Rune exists in a separate "universe" from Undertale and seems to imply one does not impact the other. I'm sceptical, though, because it is my belief that Kris and Susie entered another world or timeline through the closet in their school. Being a "separate" universe or timeline does not actually separate it from the story in Undertale.

Furthermore, and this puzzles me even more, he says the ending will be the same regardless of your choices. Undertale, I feel, had something profound to say about finding peaceful resolutions; it seems Delta Rune's outcome is ultimately always the same. I find it strange that Ralsei clearly states the contrary, however. It makes me wonder if this is a bit of deception on Toby's part. Perhaps the outcome will be the same in some ways, and not in others? We'll have to wait and see.
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UPDATE 2-11-18: After reviewing some gameplay footage, I have a few thoughts about the Lightners and Darkners.

After the adventure Kris and Susie wake up in an abandoned room in the school surrounded by many things they encountered on their adventure (poker cards, etc). It could all have been a dream, but both Kris and Susie remember the adventure and Susie still has her injury from the final battle.

All this got me thinking about what the Darkners really are.

Seam describes the Lightners as being Gods, but not just that - the Lightners are specifically named as the creators of Darkners and those who gave them purpose. And all the Darkners are based on manmade objects; the shopkeeper above is a plushy toy, Rudin and Hathy are poker cards, there are statues and poker chips, Lancer is a spade... It got me thinking that perhaps, the underground in Delta Rune is a place of lost toys.

Gameplay Joys
The battle system is basically an evolution of its predecessor, removing random encounters and introducing multiple party members. The interface buttons are a little small, though, which might be troublesome for people with impaired vision. I have little to say about it, beyond that I think it's great. Any excuse to hear more of Toby's musical talent is fine with me, and the added animations and in-battle dialogues add even more flavour.

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Also,

That is all.

I'll share more thoughts as more gets revealed and I take more time to do research.