rionaleonhart | You Probably Shouldn't Include The Nails.

Riona: Why does the Silent Hill 2 manual feel the need to tell me that the plank James wields is between 32 and 40 inches long? What am I expected to do with this information?
Rei: Craft a custom dildo.
Riona: I don't like this answer.

My other favourite detail about the Silent Hill 2 manual: each character bio opens with a rundown of age and occupation, but it's just 'Age: Unknown. Occupation: Unknown' for every character. Apart from James, for whom we get 'Age: Unknown. Occupation: Protagonist'.

A few notes I forgot to include in my previous entries on replaying Silent Hill 2:

- It cracks me up that James's reaction, if you try to examine the stage with the pole on it at Heaven's Night, is '...Just a regular stage. There's nothing strange about it,' ellipsis and all. (There's also a great 'James desperately tries not to pay attention to how sexy Silent Hill is' moment if you examine the locker with a poster of a woman in a bikini on it: 'The locker won't open. ...This is no time to be looking at a stupid poster.')

- An unsettling detail I never noticed before: the prison morgue is not included on the prison map, suggesting this is not an entirely above-board affair. Although I should probably have guessed that from the fact that their corpse disposal system appears to be 'just shove the corpses in a big hole'.

- I examined the piano in the hotel, and James's thoughts slightly broke my heart. 'There's a piano here. I remember how much Mary liked to play the piano. She wasn't very good... But I still loved to hear her play. That was so long ago, before we were even married. Why am I thinking of that now...' Oh, James/Mary, one of my longest-standing and most doomed ships.

- Another devastating bit of internal narration I don't remember ever seeing before: 'There's a book open on top of the desk. It looks like a medical book. I've already read enough medical books. None of them ever did any good.'

- I actually missed examining the liquor bottles in Heaven's Night this time around, which I was sorry to realise, because it's the single piece of examination text I remember most vividly: 'Liquor bottles. I don't need that right now. It’s not that I don't drink. In fact, I drink a fair bit. To get away from the pain and the loneliness... But the drinking never changes anything... Anyway, I don't need it now. There's something I have to do.' It feels like a significant characterisation detail; I'm surprised that it's so easy to miss it entirely.

- god, James, you're such a wreck, I can't believe I love you so much

- 'The symbolism of Silent Hill 2 clearly illustrates that James is an ass man,' I appear to have written in my diary at some point. I regret this.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

'It looks like a medical book. I've already read enough medical books. None of them ever did any good.'

Okay, I know that the standard implicit assumption is that he was feverishly researching Mary's condition, but. On the other hand, what if James was a doctor in real life? Or, better yet, a nurse.

Also, I love Rei's answer enough for the both of us.

This is an interesting thought! But it's impossible for me to picture James as a medical professional; his character doesn't work for me if I think of him as someone who would have encountered serious illness on a day-to-day basis before Mary became ill. We also at one point hear him saying, 'But you’re a doctor! It’s your job to heal people! How can you just let her die?' in a flashback conversation, which I can't imagine he'd say if he worked in the medical field himself.

Also, I think you'll find the manual clearly states his occupation is protagonist.

(Apparently the creators have said he's a clerk. I assume he works as a clerk part-time to make room for his protagonist duties.)

Counter argument: He’s a very unprofessional nurse!

That said, checking the new comments of this entry on mobile and it escalated in delightfully quick fashion. I approve.

Riona: Why does the Silent Hill 2 manual feel the need to tell me that the plank James wields is between 32 and 40 inches long? What am I expected to do with this information?
Rei: Craft a custom dildo.
Riona: I don't like this answer.

That seem impractically large.

It cracks me up that James's reaction, if you try to examine the stage with the pole on it at Heaven's Night, is '...Just a regular stage. There's nothing strange about it,' ellipsis and all. (There's also a great 'James desperately tries not to pay attention to how sexy Silent Hill is' moment if you examine the locker with a poster of a woman in a bikini on it: 'The locker won't open. ...This is no time to be looking at a stupid poster.')

NOW IS NOT THE TIME FOR BEING HORNY! NOW IS THE TIME FOR BATTLING THE MONSTERS OF YOUR OWN GUILT! IF YOU TRY TO COMBINE THE TWO IT JUST GETS UPSETTINGLY WEIRD!

An unsettling detail I never noticed before: the prison morgue is not included on the prison map, suggesting this is not an entirely above-board affair. Although I should probably have guessed that from the fact that their corpse disposal system appears to be 'just shove the corpses in a big hole'.

Yeah, that's not a sign of a well-run and ethical prison.

I examined the piano in the hotel, and James's thoughts slightly broke my heart. 'There's a piano here. I remember how much Mary liked to play the piano. She wasn't very good... But I still loved to hear her play. That was so long ago, before we were even married. Why am I thinking of that now...'

Aw, James!

Another devastating bit of internal narration I don't remember ever seeing before: 'There's a book open on top of the desk. It looks like a medical book. I've already read enough medical books. None of them ever did any good.'

I'm really coming to understand why you like the character!

I actually missed examining the liquor bottles in Heaven's Night this time around, which I was sorry to realise, because it's the single piece of examination text I remember most vividly: 'Liquor bottles. I don't need that right now. It’s not that I don't drink. In fact, I drink a fair bit. To get away from the pain and the loneliness... But the drinking never changes anything... Anyway, I don't need it now. There's something I have to do.' It feels like a significant characterisation detail; I'm surprised that it's so easy to miss it entirely.

Wow, yeah, that does suggest a lot!

That seems impractically large.

I told

th_esaurus what Rei had said, and everything just got worse.

RD: Is she implying the stick length is the same depth as his anus
Riona: ??? I don't think so? I don't think the suggestion is 'craft a custom dildo for use on James'.
RD: It absolutely is the suggestion.
Riona: It's presumably 'craft a custom dildo to replicate the sensation of James ramming his nail board inside you'.
RD: Oh god

NOW IS NOT THE TIME FOR BEING HORNY! NOW IS THE TIME FOR BATTLING THE MONSTERS OF YOUR OWN GUILT! IF YOU TRY TO COMBINE THE TWO IT JUST GETS UPSETTINGLY WEIRD!

ALL THE MONSTERS OF HIS OWN GUILT ARE SO SEXY AND IT'S EXTREMELY TROUBLING. (I was going to say 'apart from Pyramid Head', but the three most kudosed Silent Hill fics on AO3, excluding crossovers, are all explicit fics in which You, The Reader bang Pyramid Head, so apparently Pyramid Head is also considered very sexy.)

You know the best people!

LOOK, JAMES IS GOING THROUGH ENOUGH WITHOUT FACING HOW MUCH HE WANTS TO FUCK HIS OWN GUILT! HOW DO YOU EVEN DEAL WITH THINGS LIKE THAT? (Wow, yeah, I just looked, and apparently that's very much a thing. As a fic called "James + Pyramid Head= Baby?" which is making me feel much better about my trouble coming up with titles.)

LOOK, JAMES IS GOING THROUGH ENOUGH WITHOUT FACING HOW MUCH HE WANTS TO FUCK HIS OWN GUILT!

This is an incredible (and true) line.

a fic called "James + Pyramid Head= Baby?" which is making me feel much better about my trouble coming up with titles.

I snorted aloud at this, while simultaneously being extremely troubled by the thought of Pyramid Head impregnating anyone. Hideous Pyramid Head/James is distressingly believable, but please don't involve a foetus!

I just took a look at the fic and came across this amazing line: His doctors are worried about his mental health and keep dropping little hints like ‘maybe you should speak to someone about your fear that your child will evolve a head shaped like a pyramid.’ (I also love the author's note 'Not sure if the title works.')

each character bio opens with a rundown of age and occupation, but it's just 'Age: Unknown. Occupation: Unknown' for every character. - this is a really cool detail, I love it.

~~I think you might need a disclaimer of do not create your own custom dildo unless you are a licensed dildo professional~~

For some characters it creates an appropriate sense of mystery; for some it's just sort of hilarious. Laura's less than ten years old; how mysterious can her occupation be?

~~EVERYONE CREATE YOUR OWN CUSTOM 'WOODEN BOARD WITH A NAIL IN IT' DILDO, REGARDLESS OF EXPERIENCE; THIS IS A GREAT PLAN.~~

I wonder if the naughty poster is an homage to a similar situation that occurs over in Metal Gear Solid 2? Konami isn't above its hat tips.

The two games were being worked on at the same time (Silent Hill 2 came out seven weeks earlier - 2001 was a big year for Konami!), so I suppose it's possible there was some exchange of ideas during development! But the poster is very fitting for the game, which makes me feel it's less likely to be intended as a reference; James is a walking bucketload of issues and the personal hell Silent Hill creates for him contains a lot of sexual symbolism.

I sort of need to know your reasoning for your Why James is an Ass Man theory. Is it because the Mannequins are two sets of legs and the Lying Figures have their chests kind of covered?

That's pretty much it, yes! Plus the fact the nurses have shorter skirts than in other Silent Hill titles. Although, when I mentioned this to the people watching me play, they pointed out that he might be more of a leg man, which is very true. I was focusing on 'the Mannequins have two asses, that's one more than usual' and neglected to register that the asses might be there primarily to enable the legs.

You Probably Shouldn't Include The Nails.

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