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Pyramid Head is the nickname of a fictional Monster from the Video Game '' Silent Hill 2 ''. Although the character is nameless, the game's Protagonist , James Sunderland , usually refers to it as Pyramid Head. Some official sources refer to the creature as ''Red Pyramid'' or ''the Red Pyramid Thing''. PHYSICAL APPEARANCE Of all the creatures that appear in Silent Hill 2 , Pyramid Head is the only one that is overtly Masculine in appearance, whereas the other monsters generally have Feminine features to them, with the possible exception of the Doormen/abstract Daddy . Pyramid Head looks like a tall man covered with a white, blood-soaked butcher's smock. His most outstanding feature is a large, pyramid helmet, covering his head completely. He is usually armed, either with the Great Knife or a spear. Pyramid Head does not speak. He appears to be very brutal and Sadistic , killing monsters and people alike, though only Maria and James can see him. During his attacks on monsters he appears to be raping them, as most fans generally declare it. Though he never actually attacks monsters with either of his weapons, the monsters do seem to fall to the ground (presumably dead) after he has stopped attacking them. His role in the game is that of a punisher, created by James to punish him for his crimes. His sexual actions towards the monsters in the game represents James' aggressive sexual tension. He is almost mocking James when he rapes them, trying to 'clue' him in' so to speak. After he kills Eddie a second Pyramid Head appears, a reminder of a new crime; his second murder. SYMBOLISM Just before battling the two Pyramid Heads at the end of the game, James seems to gain insight into his situation, and admits he needed them because he was weak. After James asserts that he does not need them anymore, Pyramid Heads become invulnerable to attack until they impale themselves. In contrast to the first and third games, in the Restless Dreams installment, the town of Silent Hill feeds off James' guilt and repressed sexuality. In effect, the town acts as a self-imposed purgatory for the people trapped in it, and is more of a canvas against which the games unfold rather than the actual subject matter of the games' story lines. Most of what James sees and experiences is directly related to, and symbolic of, his need to punish himself for his wife's death. It can even be said that the town indulges James' wishes and brings them to life. In this regard, Pyramid Head functions as both an executioner of Maria , but more importantly, the tormentor of James. James is subconsciously using the town and Pyramid Head to punish himself for his own sins. Watching Pyramid Head continuously destroy a highly eroticized version of his late wife is the perfect torture for someone in James' position, and most completely satisfies his masochistic desires. Once these needs are met, James is free from Pyramid Head. Their official functions having been fulfilled, and thus their usefulness having been spent, the Pyramid Heads destroy themselves. In the additional back story material delivered by creators (Walter Sullivan Victims and Book of the Lost Memories) it was revealed that the physical appearance of Pyramid Head was an effect of James' fascination with Silent Hill folklore. As we may learn throughout the game, Pyramid Head's appearance was a variation of the outfits of the executioners from the Valtiel Sect (connected to the feeling of self-punishment) who were wearing red hoods and ceremonial robes to make themselves similar to the Valtiel, the angel of the town. HISTORY James first encounters Pyramid Head in West Side Apartments. After finding a handgun on the upper floor, he hears a scream in one of the corridors and heads in its direction, only to see the monster, standing behind the grate. A nearby room contains a bloody corpse, which wasn't there before. Later he enters Room 307, where Pyramid Head appears to be assaulting two Mannequins . Terrified, James hides in a closet. The monster walks up to the closet slowly, and panicked James shoots him with his handgun a number of times, with the bullets deflecting harmlessly off the monster's helmet. After a moment, Pyramid Head hesitates and walks away. James's next encounter with Pyramid Head is in the Blue Creek apartments. When James enters the door leading to a stairway, he sees his antagonist again apparently raping and then murdering another creature. He turns to James and tries to kill him. Luckily his movements are severely hampered by the Great Knife he's wielding. After a few minutes, sirens sound in the distance and Pyramid Head descends the flooded stairway, opening the door at the bottom and removing the water. James does not meet the creature until later, on the roof of the Brookhaven Hospital, where he once more attempts to kill the protagonist. James breaks the safety railing and falls down, sustaining minor injuries. Mysteriously, Pyramid Head seems to abandon his efforts for the moment and does not pursue or continue the attack. Later in the hospital Pyramid Head appears to torment Maria, who is following James through a lengthy corridor. When James makes it to the end of the corridor into an elevator, the doors shut before Maria can join him. James struggles to open the elevator doors in order to save Maria, but she screams in agony as Pyramid Head impales her with a spear. The elevator then takes James away. James next encounters Pyramid Head in the Labyrinth beneath Toluca Prison. After finding Maria alive, in a scene where she is very openly seducing him, but locked behind a grate, James meets his enemy, who is carrying a spear as he patrols an octagonal corridor. Outrunning the creature, James can enter a room where Pyramid Head apparently lives, as evidenced by the Great Knife lying there and numerous corpses hanging from the ceiling. The room also contains a large ceiling fan and a table, covered with blood. Soon after, James reaches the room behind the grate, but finds Maria dead, apparently smothered, as evident from the telltale smears of blood around her mouth. Pyramid Head makes his final appearance just before the final boss. There are in fact ''two'' Pyramid Heads (the main red pyramid and the white pyramid) in the encounter. They kill Maria yet again and then attack James. After relentlessly pursuing James around the room for a while, eventually both Pyramid Heads commit Suicide by impaling themselves on their spears (On HARD mode, the Pyramid heads will only kill themselves after being hit several times by weapons of the player's choice.) VARIOUS FAN THEORIES (GAMES) Since Pyramid Head, and the Silent Hill games in general, are so shrouded in mystery, many fans have developed theories that may or may not reflect the original developers' intentions. However, the back and forth dialogue between artists and their viewers contributes much to the interest of the art itself, and endows it with a richer mythology and life of its own outside the limited boundaries of the game developers' imaginations. Incredibly lengthy and convoluted plot and character analyses made by fans can be readily found on the Internet, including on GameFAQs . These theories may not be " Canon ", but they are very important to Silent Hill's enthusiastic fan base, and at the very least, add interest to ambiguous characters such as Pyramid Head. Jimmy Stone theory Attributed to claudio88au, in Silent Hill 4: Plot Analysis by Duncan Bunce a.k.a. The Hellbound Heart {Link without Title} : There is some evidence to suggest Pyramid Head was originally a person named Jimmy Stone. The character of Walter Sullivan, who is the antagonist of the fourth game in the series, Silent Hill: The Room, is actually introduced earlier in Silent Hill 2. James discovers the following newspaper article about Sullivan's murder spree and subsequent suicide in his prison cell: "...An old schoolmate of Walter Sullivan's from his hometown of Pleasant River said "He didn't look like the type of guy who would kill kids. But I do remember that just before they arrested him he was blurting out all sorts of strange stuff like 'He's trying to kill me. He's trying to punish me. The monster... the red devil. Forgive me. I did it, but it wasn't me!'." The schoolmate then added "I guess now that I think of it, he was kinda crazy." As the player becomes familiar with Pyramid Head stalking him or her, the notion that Sullivan's "red devil" tormentor and Pyramid Head are one and the same occurs naturally to most players. Walter's first murder victim in Silent Hill 4: The Room is named Jimmy Stone, and is described as a priest of the town's local cult, The Order, in which Sullivan spent much of his life. Stone was said to have worn a triangular red hood during rituals, and to have the nickname "Red Devil". Adding to this theory is the fact that Walter's sixth victim, George Rostin, was another member of The Order, and in fact was Stone's right-hand man. Fans of Silent Hill have suggested this could explain why James must battle not one, but two, Pyramid Heads at the end of Silent Hill 2. However, this theory only works in hindsight : the developers designed Sullivan's murder victims to coincide with the earlier story, but did not have it in mind originally when Silent Hill 2 was created. Silent Hill 4 was originally slated to be the beginning of a new franchise outside the world of Silent Hill. Furthermore in Silent Hill 4 both Jimmy Stone and George Rosten appear in the form of ghosts (as we may conclude from their description delivered by creators). James Sunderland theory Another popular theory is that Pyramid Head represents a side of James that he has long repressed. Pyramid Head is often seen raping female monsters (ones that are postulated to be representations of females as objects; two sets of mannequin legs attached together, etc.). It is suggested that Pyramid Head could be James' repressed sexuality, but he also serves as a reminder of his crimes. When he is not tormenting or raping other monsters, he is attacking Maria, the sexualized copy of James's late wife, Mary. This could be seen as James's unconscious mind, not only acting out his unconscious desires, but also telling him what it is he has done. In Freudian and Lacanian language, Pyramid Head is a keeper of the Phallus , or masculine power, something which James does not have, which is made evident in how he reacts to Maria's flirting. This is personified in the Great Knife Pyramid Head is often seen carrying. Once James receives the Great Knife, Pyramid Head seems to lose power and it becomes possible to kill him (or rather, he kills himself). A complicating factor in this theory is the presence of two Pyramid Heads near the end of the game. It has been suggested that this is because by that point James had killed another person, Eddie. Upon doing so James asks himself, "How could I kill ''another'' human being?" While that would usually mean ''another'' apart from himself, it has a second connotation when one considers that Eddie is presumably the second person he killed. Once the Pyramid Heads are dead, James retreives two eggs from the monsters, one, the red egg, might symbolize a new death, while the brown egg, a rusty colour, might symbolize an old death. To that end, Pyramid Head can be seen as some form of James' subconscious guilt, the presence of which is brought on by the mysterious powers of the town of Silent Hill. It embodies the sexual and mental repression James brought upon himself. Valtiel theory Another popular theory regarding the true identity of Pyramid Head is that he is in fact an incarnation on one of the monstrosities worshipped by The Order : Valtiel. Valtiel, seen in Silent Hill 3, is said to be the attendant to the Orders god. In The Lost Memories companion book the developers state that Pyramid Head's design is essentially Valtiel with a pyramid over his head. This has led speculation that Pyramid Head is in fact Valtiel, or an incarnation of him. Both wear the similar gloves and robes, both are invulnerable to the protagonist's weapons, and both have been seen assaulting other monsters. This theory though, does not help explain the presence of two 'Pyramid Heads' near the end of the second game. Other ideas A slight variation is that Pyramid Head is yet another work sent to punish sinners. Furthermore, as Pyramid Head resembles the executioners of Silent Hill, he can be considered a manifestation of the town. This theory gains some credibility with the revelation that Silent Hill once housed a Civil War prison camp, where many grisly executions took place. It can be hypothesized that the "evil" force has resurrected demonized forms of the executioners in order to punish James and others who enter the town. The Pyramid Head can also be seen in one of the Orders paintings, housed within the church. Painting Number 3, Creation, and is shown descending with Lobsel Vith, God, and Valtiel. SILENT HILL MOVIE Although not linked with the first game plotwise, Pyramid Head does appear in the Silent Hill movie, listed in the credits as "Red Pyramid" and portrayed by Roberto Campanella , where he acts again as a tenacious antagonist. Although he doesn't stand out among the monsters of the town it should be noted that he is unaffected by attempts to stop him and displays his characteristic strength and brutality, as well as his Great Knife. His appearance is slightly different from the game. He lacks gloves and his helmet is black and girded. It is also pointed at the 'chin' whereas the game version has a blunt 'chin'. His apron also appears to be made of human flesh, when in the game it appears to be made out of cloth. VARIOUS FAN THEORIES (FILM) Some have suspected that Pyramid Head is none other than Colin, the janitor suspected of raping Alessa. This makes sense from a thematic standpoint. Both Pyramid Head's actions and appearance in the film are representative of two of the basest male instincts; namely, sex and violence. These are of course the weapons used against Alessa by Colin. His actions against Anna are blantantly sexual; the first thing he does after lifting her off of the ground is rip her clothes off. When he flays her alive a moment later, the act is intensely invasive and highly suggestive of rape. The connection to Colin also seems evident when one considers that Pyramid Head makes his first appearance in the film shortly after Colin comes to life in the nightmare version of the school bathroom. The Colin as Pyramid Head theory could in fact be a misconception, possibly due to casting because the actor who plays Pyramid Head also plays Colin. Pyramid Head's true identity is not explicitly mentioned in the film, but some other theories as to who he really is are as follows. Father figure and guilt theory His role appears to be that of a hunter of the members of The Order butchering any he comes into contact with; unlike the other monsters he doesn't appear to be representative of any part of Sharon/Alessa entity psyche. Based on the theories of what it is that Pyramid Head symbolizes in the second game, it can be assumed that he is a manifestation of the guilt that Dahlia Gillespie carries regarding the burning and near death of her daughter Alessa, and like how James (Silent Hill 2) tortures himself through the two deaths of Maria. Also, it is possible to assume that the reason why Pyramid Head retains his masculine appearance is not only for homage to the game (as opposed to Pyramid Head representing Dahlia in some way so that it is more of a direct representation of her guilt), but to also represent the fact that Alessa is fatherless, so quite possibly related to Dahlia's guilt for the lack of the father figure and her inability to protect Alessa from the sexual assault of the janitor. The connection that is made between Dahlia and Pyramid Head is primarily based off of the small scene where both characters are featured, as it can be assumed that what follows with the disrobing and skinning of the character Anna can potentially be Pyramid Head demonstrating the burning of Alessa, as she herself loses her skin. Admittedly, the connection is vague, but can be interpreted as such. TRIVIA '' Silent Hill ''.]]
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