Silent Hill 4: The Story Background and Settings of the Chamber of Secrets

Silent Hill is a small town in the United States. According to the setting of the game, Silent Hill is located in Toluca Lake (Toluca Lake (this lake is also fictional). Toluca Lake is full of water vapor, it is wrapped in thick fog all year round, and there have been supernatural incidents such as the mysterious disappearance of yachts, so it is considered an unlucky lake. There is a small island in Toluca Lake with a church built on the island.

Silent Hill is a quiet town surrounded by forests, and it is also a vacation and health resort. The town has been self-sufficient due to its commercial boom; it has a primary school, a shopping center, a church, a sanatorium, two independent hospitals, as well as other shops and tourist attractions. The main commercial activities in the town are small retail stores run by locals, and chain stores or dealers with little impact, except for Happy Burger and Shell gas stations.

Located in the northwest of Toluca Lake is Paleville, and to the east are Old Silent Hill and Central Silent Hill. Silent Hill is a residential area with a large number of apartments and homes, as well as elementary schools and churches; while the central area of ??Silent Hill is a commercial area with a commercial center and various shops, including Alchemilla Hospital. ) and several motels, as well as a South Park. Paleville is a resort area with a lighthouse and Lakeside Amusement Park on the lakeside, as well as the Lakeview Hotel (Lakeview Hotel, which was destroyed by fire before Silent Hill 2).

To the south is the almost abandoned South Vale, which nevertheless has many tourist attractions, shops and entertainment facilities. For example, the lookout point where "Silent Hill 2" begins, from which you can see Parville across the lake; Rosewater Park, where James and Mary stayed for a whole day; Night in Paradise Strip Club (Heaven's Night), Brookhaven Hospital (Brookhaven Hospital), Silent Hill Historical Society (Silent Hill Historical Society) and Toluca Prison (Jacks Inn) where Heather and Douglas stayed , the Baldwin Mansion where Ernest and Amy lived, and Pete's Bowl-O-Roma. (See Silent Hill map, "Silent Hill 2" bonus questions and answers in the hospital) To the east of the South Valley is the town where the murderer Walter Sullivan once lived - Pleasant River.

(Although Silent Hill is set in the United States, the reference materials for making the map are all taken from Japan, such as Lake Towada and Lake Tasaku.) By the early 20th century, based on primitive Indian beliefs, People formed "churches". No one knew the name of the church, people simply called it "the church." Despised by most of the population, the "church" operates in secret. The church was originally a series of loosely organized small groups, each of which believed in different "gods", such as Lobsel Vith, Xuchilbara, Valtiel, Holy Mother, etc.; and they practice human sacrifice, alchemy and other occult techniques, hoping to resurrect "god". These believers fervently believe that they are among the elite chosen by God. They believed that through God's resurrection, they would enter "Paradise" and that other humans who did not believe in God would be destroyed.

They also use "Gyromancy", "Talisman of Metraton" and other techniques that are difficult for ordinary people to understand.

In order to raise funds for their activities, church members used the plant native to Silent Hill, "White Claudia", to create a drug called PTV. The drug trade helps residents from neighboring areas travel to obtain PTV and increases local tourism revenue. But the drug trade was banned by the local government, and during the conflict the church murdered the mayor and several police officers. And their power has gradually penetrated into public institutions. The church's organization "Silent Hill Smile Support Society" (4S for short) operates an orphanage called "Hope House". Although the organization is called a charity, it is actually a kidnapping organization for children and kidnaps children. It is an institution that tortures, brainwashes and turns them into cultists. There are endless such rumors.

In "Silent Hill 1", several important believers such as Dahlia Gillespie died, and the church's vitality was greatly damaged, so it fell silent for a period of time. After Claudia and Vincent took power in the church, the church was reorganized. Due to Vincent's exploits, the church expanded rapidly within a few years. In "Silent Hill 1" the church used a Christian church to carry out religious activities, but in "Silent Hill 3" they already have a church of their own style. It can be seen that in these 17 years, the influence of the church has expanded. There are three main factions in the church.

Saint sect:

Believe that by performing special rituals, "gods" can reside in qualified women (saints) in the form of fetuses, and then resurrect "gods". The goal is to make the saint give birth to a "god". Led by Dahlia Gillespie, it is the most powerful faction. But since Dalia's death, the power has begun to decline.

In the additional Memo of Silent Hill 4, Claudia Wolf’s name does not appear in the explanation of the Saint Faction. This makes Claudia's faction very nuanced. In Silent Hill 3, Claudia is persistently searching for Heather Mason, hoping to make Heather give birth to a "god". In the previous 17 years, Claudia, with the help of Father Vincent, reorganized the church, resulting in a significant increase in believers. Originally, members of the church believed that only the selected elite could enter "Paradise", but Claudia wanted everyone to enter "Paradise", so she and her father Leonard Wolf There was a conflict, and it was unknown whether it was Claudia's conspiracy. Leonard was sent to the psychiatric ward of Brookhaven Hospital because he stabbed someone during an argument over religious differences. Does this mean that in the era of Silent Hill 3, Claudia's status is superior to the three major factions?

Holy Mother Sect:

Believe in the Holy Mother (Holy Mother), a relatively weak sect. With Toby Archbolt as leader. They believe they can communicate with God through the Virgin Rock, located in the Silent Hill forest. By cultivating "warlocks" and having them complete the "21 Sacraments: Advent of the Virgin" to allow God (Mother) to descend. After the decline of the Angels, Toby Archibalt raised a large amount of money through developing tourism and selling drugs, took over and reopened the House of Hope.

The Valtiel Sect:

It is a new sect that worships the angel Valtiel (Valtiel), who is known as God’s agent and God’s midwife. Founded by Jimmy Stone, nicknamed the "Red Devil", he considers himself the being closest to God and acts as an executioner. He existed as a mediator to mediate the hatred and disputes between the Saints and Saints, and gradually gained great power through mediation.

After the deaths of priests Jimmy Stone and George Rosten, the House of Hope and the Water Prison were closed.

Other sects:

In addition, some people in the church believe in the red god Xuchilbara. The known believer is Ernest Baldwin. (Earnest Baldwin). The Red God has the ability to resurrect the dead. In "Silent Hill 3", the myth in the church said that God created gods and angels including the yellow god Lobsel Vith and the red god Sucherbala; however, in Silent Hill 2 In the literature, this deity is called Xuchilpaba. From the sentence in the text "Crimson Ceremony" "Thou shalt ever call upon me and all that is me in the place that is silent." It can be seen that this is a monotheistic belief. That is to say, for the Red God Sect, Xuchipaba is the only true form. There can be no higher gods than it, and they can no longer believe in other gods such as the Yellow God Robese Weiss or the Holy Mother. Since the book "Crimson Tome" in "Silent Hill 2" is a red book, and in "Silent Hill 4" there is a Crimson Tome that teaches people how to destroy the 21 Sacraments (English: Crimson Tome; Japanese: 红の书), Moreover, the book comes from the second floor of Hope House, so there is reason to suspect that believers in the Red God have been secretly sabotaging other sects’ god-summoning operations.