This Silent Hill 2 superfan has a theory that shows a new side to James
Estimated reading time: 5 minutes
The Silent Hill 2 remake is dense, loaded with detail and suggestions left by developer Bloober Team. Silent Hill fans have been poring over the game, looking for any clues that might shed further light on the small town’s mysteries. One theory has already been confirmed, thanks to detectives who examined strange photos to decode a hidden phrase, but others are still coming to light.
One fan in particular has pored over tons of environmental assets, notes left behind, and other clues to paint a vivid picture of protagonist James Sunderland’s past. None of this is confirmed, but it’s a fascinating theory that could shed a lot of light on James and why he behaves in the way he does. The theory discusses sexual assault and related trauma, so be aware before reading further. This post also contains major spoilers for Silent Hill 2.
Many players have noted that there are bodies strewn around Silent Hill that look suspiciously like James. Rachel Ashmun looked through the game’s files and connected one of these characters, known as the janitor, back to James. This draws a link between James and the Saul street apartment, and builds the foundation for Ashmun’s further speculation.
Ashmun continued to speculate on X, starting with some x-rays from the Brookhaven hospital. She carefully checked every detail — including James’ teeth, which I have to admit I didn’t notice. His teeth match up with both x-rays and a medical diagram. While medical trauma imagery often refers to Mary and her sickness, Ashmun theorizes that James also has a past in the medical system, citing tweets from Masahiro Ito and the Silent Hill 2 novelization.
Ashmun’s theory gives James much more dimension and trauma, all of which likely festered before he met and married his wife. The patients in Brookhaven hospital, a tombstone that only appears in the New Game plus mode, and a few notes left in both the original and remake suggest that James went through significant difficulties in the past that required hospitalization.
Ashmun suggests that James’ past of potential assault and hospitalization left deep psychological traumas on him that he cannot address or move past, which were further complicated by his wife falling ill. None of this is explicitly confirmed, but it’s an interesting reading of the game’s content. It also provides another dimension to James that informs much of his actions throughout the game.
It also gives James some thematic overlap with another Silent Hill 2 character. Angela Orosco is also trapped in Silent Hill, confronting her own demons. Orosco is a survivor of sexual violence inflicted by family members, which has left her devastated and unable to trust men. The Abstract Daddy, a terrifying creature of steel and flesh, is meant to represent Orosco’s trauma. Ashmun speculates that the Abstract Daddy also has links to James, with part of his past embedded in the design.
If you’re interested in the finer details of Ashmun’s theory, it’s worth checking out the entire thread on X. It may not be entirely true, but Bloober Team has clearly sprinkled many details throughout the game that can be used to support this narrative. Some of them may be red herrings or misinterpreted, but the subjective nature of Silent Hill games is a big part of the reason why the franchise is so beloved. Fans are using all sorts of tricks, like cam hacks and sifting through the game files, in order to figure out the truth. It’s unlikely there’s one concrete answer, but we’ll likely see more hidden secrets figured out by fervent fans fascinated by James’ descent into terror.
