There is a lot going on in Silent Hill 2, and depending on the ending players receive they may not understand the full context of the story on a single playthrough. Silent Hill 2 is a game steeped in complex (but not overly-complicated) symbolism, and the real reason James Sunderland decides to return to Silent Hill isn’t as simple as “he got a letter,” as the beginning of the game implies. In fact, it’s likely James never got any sort of letter at all.
[Warning: Spoilers for Silent Hill 2 below.]
Silent Hill 2 gives players a lot of hints about James Sunderland’s unreliable mental state. From the monsters found throughout the town of Silent Hill itself to the way Sunderland communicates to other people, everything James does and sees feels off for some reason. He seems to think his wife died three years ago, but he also is convinced she mailed him a letter asking him to return to Silent Hill, to their “special place” where she is waiting for him. How can both things be true?
The short answer is, they’re not. James never received a letter from Mary – in fact, there was never any letter at all. Over the course of Silent Hill 2 the text on Mary’s letter in James’ inventory slowly begins to fade away, and near the end of the game the letter disappears altogether. Mary didn’t ask James to come to Silent Hill, he came on his own accord. She didn’t die three years ago, either, as emphasized by Laura when she tells James she met Mary in hospital only one year previous.
Silent Hill Is James’ Punishment For His Actions
The most iconic monster in Silent Hill 2 is known as Pyramid Head, a giant knife-weilding figure who has taken the form of the town’s long-dead executioner. All of the monsters in Silent Hill 2 are filtered through James’ broken mind – the attractive nurses and aspects of Maria’s character are in reference to Sunderland’s pent-up sexual frustrations, for example, and the Lying Figures (creatures who appear to be sewn together in straightjackets made out of their own skin) are analogous to James’ own confusion and inner anguish. Pyramid Head, who appears multiple times throughout Silent Hill 2, is James’ rage and his need for judgement.
James Sunderland desperately wants to be judged for his actions. It is revealed late in Silent Hill 2, in a room in the Lakeview Hotel, that James was the one who ended up killing his wife, not her “sickness” as he had been telling himself. He smothered her because he couldn’t stand the thought of having to take care of her any more, and that action broke his mind and caused Silent Hill to call out to him for judgement. In Silent Hill 2, the town acts as a sort of purgatory for everyone who enters: Angela, Eddie, and James are all in Silent Hill for different reasons, and they all see different sorts of monsters as they are forced to confront both their fears and their past misdeeds. James is in the world of Silent Hill during the events of Silent Hill 2 because he killed his wife, and (depending on what ending Silent Hill 2 players receive) he’s likely never going to leave – nor does he deserve to.
