Top 10 Unresolved Silent Hill Mysteries

Placing this one here since it’s extremely likely that minor character K. Gordon is dead by the events of the original Silent Hill game, but what exactly happened to the Midwich Elementary schoolteacher is still an open point of discussion in the fandom. The general (but unconfirmed) consensus is that she was “silenced” by the town’s cult after lodging inquiries regarding the awful treatment of student Alessa Gillespie by her classmates…as well as suspected abuse by her mother.

9. Deputy Wheeler: KIA or MIA?

This is another case where many people agree that the character in question is probably dead (considering that he’s last seen with multiple knives stuck in his chest), but one of the determining factors in Silent Hill: Homecoming‘s endings is whether or not players give Deputy Wheeler a health item to “save” him – with the implication that he’ll somehow survive. However, outside of the game’s joke (and one surreal “bad”) ending, Wheeler doesn’t really make another appearance by the end of the game, ultimately leaving his (seemingly unlikely) survival a matter of the audience’s assumption.

8. Where Is Cybil Bennett?

Supporting protagonist Cybil Bennett, a police officer from the neighboring town of Brahms, falls within a similar state as Wheeler in the overarching Silent Hill mythos: namely, whether or not she actually survived the events of SH1…and, if she did, what is/are her exact whereabouts (s)? Even though the novelization of SH1 (and other supplemental material) largely go with her still being alive, it’s also very vague what actually happened to her (and, to be fair, that’s probably on purpose).

7. Was “Walter Sullivan” the Real Deal?

Another interesting but often overlooked mystery within the series is whether or not the man who reportedly killed himself in prison was the actual Walter Sullivan, the main antagonist of Silent Hill 4: The Room. Some have taken the stance that the man mentioned in the newspaper clipping from SH2 was an impostor, Walter, somehow forced or manipulated into obeying, but others say that it was Walter, and his reported suicide was the last condition for the Ritual of the Holy Assumption.

6. How “Abandoned” Is the Town?

This actually ties into the bottom two entries, but I wanted to go ahead and touch on a conundrum that is still something of a point of contention between certain sections of the Silent Hill fandom: in particular, if the titular town is abandoned or not. As above, some have taken the stance that Silent Hill is just a ghost town like its depiction in the 2006 movie, but others argue that it’s still a thriving tourist attraction, and the absence of other people in the games is due to separate layers of reality.

5. Is Shattered Memories (Technically)…Canon?

To celebrate the 10th anniversary of the original game’s debut in 1999, a full-fledged “reimagining” of SH1 was released in 2009 as Shattered Memories; however, while seemingly being set in its own separate continuity, there’s still a possible connection to the former. Following the latter game’s reveal behind its unique version of Harry Mason, some have postulated that SH1‘s worst possible ending (showing Harry dying in his crashed car) might be the “accident” instigating SM‘s storyline.

4. What Actually Happened to James?

Going back to the top three entries regarding the survival and whereabouts of prominent supporting characters, I’d like to focus now on the nebulous fate of James Sunderland, the central protagonist of Silent Hill 2 (both the 2001 original and 2024 remake). Due to SH2 being a largely self-contained story and – outside of a minor reference in SH4 – James never reappearing, him surviving and/or leaving Silent Hill (possibly with Laura) after the events of the second game aren’t very clear; worse, a cryptic hidden message in the remake implies that James can’t (and won’t ever) escape the town.

3. What Did Heather See (or Hear) at the End?

At the end of Silent Hill 3, main protagonist Heather quickly looks back one last time before leaving the strange, womb-like area that she fought and defeated the final boss in – it’s very brief, and we don’t see (or hear) what she’s specifically reacting to, but her face shows surprise or concern. Many theories have been put forth regarding what alarmed Heather (and why), including that she might’ve seen/heard the presence of Harry Mason, was dwelling on the game’s traumatic events, or – more disturbingly – was witnessing the cult’s “god” being prepared for yet another cycle of reincarnation.

2. Was Vincent Lying…or Being Darkly Honest?

Earlier in Silent Hill 3, Heather confronts the shady Vincent regarding his less-than-altruistic reasons for helping her stop the cult’s apocalyptic goals, with the latter shooting back that she’s just as terrible for going around and killing “them” – in response to asking if Vincent was referring to the game’s monsters, he states: “They look like monsters to you?” Even though Vincent flippantly brushes the question off as a “joke” before changing the subject, this line suggests something fairly unsettling about the unique nature of the town and its potential impacts on what’s real and unreal.

1. How Much Is Real…& How Much Isn’t Real?

This admittedly doesn’t really have a clear-cut answer of any kind outside of overlapping (but also somewhat contradictory) background lore, and is the single-biggest mystery to the entire Silent Hill franchise: how much of the town exists in reality, and how much of it is some sort of delusion? While even I can’t definitively say for sure (and, to be honest, sort of enjoy not knowing), it’s still such an alluring enigma to ponder: on the one hand, we arguably have most of the pieces to form rough ideas about what could possibly be happening…but on the other, those same pieces raise further questions.