Alessa Gillespie
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Alessa Gillespie is a fictional character from the video game and film Silent Hill. In the film Alessa is played by Jodelle Ferland.
[edit] Background in Game
Alessa is the daughter of Dahlia Gillespie. Alessa, was originally thought to follow in her mother's footsteps to become a spiritualistic medium for the cult. Dahlia's realization, however, is that a certain ritual to descend the cult's god and usher in Paradise where everyone would be free from pain & suffering, would likely be a success using Alessa as a surrogate mother. The technique had been performed on other girls that the cult abducted and had failed.
Offering up Alessa, Dahlia performed the technique to bring about the descent of the cult's god using Alessa in the cellar of her own house. The method Dahlia used to bring about the descent of the cult's god had nearly succeeded with Alessa as the surrogate mother, but Alessa quickly let part of her soul escape and the technique was not completely successful. In short, even with the embryonic malevolent god within her, the ritual was in a suspended state. Alessa had suffered burns covering her entire body that were far beyond a fatal level, but she continued to live - that is, she was kept alive - because the malevolent deity protects its mother's body. Additionally, Dahlia continuously inflicted pain upon Alessa in that state for years by means of an incantation that compelled the missing part of her soul to respond to her.
That part of her soul was Cheryl. If the soul could be unified, the ritual would be complete and the malevolent deity would awaken, so Dahlia caused Alessa to suffer, compelling her to seek help from Cheryl.
Although Cheryl was Alessa's "other self," she was not conscious of it. When she told Harry she wanted to go to Silent Hill, it was because the sensation of Alessa's suffering - "Someone help me" - had reached her. For seven years, Alessa endured her suffering because she had not wanted to destroy whatever small happiness her other self was able to enjoy, but little by little, Dahlia's incantation succeeded and it became more than Alessa could bear. And so based on her perception that "It's like someone (myself?) is calling me...", Cheryl came to Silent Hill with Harry Mason.[1]
Alessa had acquired psychic powers such as teleportation - powers that she had always possessed. If she had been living under normal circumstances, these powers would almost never manifest themselves. She naturally possessed certain amounts of spiritual intuition and at some point her "sixth sense" was powerful enough that she began to have premonitions, but these were more like hunches rather than supernatural powers. She was harassed by her schoolmates, who called her a witch and other names. Her classmates vandalized her desk by carving phrases on her desk such as "Drop Dead. Go Home. Thief." Her teacher K. Gordon saw signs of abuse of Alessa from the scars and bruises that she had received from her mother. Alessa was always sad and depressed, however she had a friend in another girl who was also raised within The Order named Claudia Wolf. Claudia was a bit younger than Alessa and both girls could relate to each other as their parents abused and tormented them, their lives never being 'normal', they found comfort in each other.
Throughout the course of the first game, Harry Mason attempts to find his daughter Cheryl Mason, but keeps running into Alessa (who happens to look like Cheryl). Dahlia manipulates Harry to trap Alessa with saying that Alessa possesses the "Mark of Samael", the mark of a demon, and she is taking Cheryl as a sacriface, she gives an object of great debate, the Flauros to Harry to use against Alessa. Alessa shows up near the end of the game as part of the final boss, and assuming you played the game in a certain way, she hands Harry a 'new' baby, which sets up some of the later games.
Alessa also makes an appearance in Silent Hill 3 as a 'memory' of what Alessa used to be.
[edit] Background in Film
Alessa was a kind, but troubled girl who was subject of constant ridicule at the hands of her classmates, who had branded her a "witch" because, presumably, she possessed strange powers like in the game. However, the film doesn't directly say Alessa had powers at all. The only real evidence of Alessa's powers before she made a pact with her evil self, was the withering of a vase of roses with her boiling hatred. At the age of nine, while hiding from her cruel classmates, Alessa was either molested or raped by the school janitor, Colin. The source of this abuse was that Alessa's father was unknown to anyone, except possibly Dahlia Gillespie. She was possibly the product of a virgin birth, or otherwise had no mortal father, as Alessa Gillespie's life has numerous Christlike undertones.
Soon afterward, Christabella ordered Dahlia to deliver Alessa to the Order's ceremonial chamber for "purification", with the intent of ritualistically sacrificing Alessa by fire (the Order's beliefs stated that sacrificing a witch would hold off the apocalypse). When the ritual failed, the fire raged out of control, consuming much of the town and eventually reaching the town's coal mines. Alessa's charred body was pulled out of the fire and she was sent to nearby Brookhaven hospital. After an agonizing period, an entity (thought to have been either Samael, Valtiel, the unnamed female God, or a split personality) in the ragged and persecuted form of Alessa herself came to her and promised her revenge upon those who had done this to her. Growing hateful, she let the being throw the town and the people into endless darkness, spawning creatures symbolic of her tormentors to slay the remaining cultists trapped within the town, who referred to Alessa's visage simply as "the Demon" or the "Dark One", and feared her lair in the bowels of Brookhaven Hospital. With the town under the curse, Alessa used her power to create an infant child, a physical embodiment of her pure, uncorrupted side, and delivered her to the Toluca County Orphanage. The child would later be adopted by Chris and Rose DaSilva. Eventually, with the help of Rose, Alessa was able to penetrate the safe haven of the Order's church and slaughtered Christabella and her flock with ruthless fury. In the end, Alessa became one with her other self, Sharon DaSilva.
[edit] Resemblances
When the Dark One fused with Rose it gained passage into the church where it raised Alessa, still in her hospital bed scarred and disfigured. She was surrounded by moving, twisting barbed wire she could control, and she used it to get her revenge on the cult members. (Note: Alessa was the final boss of Silent Hill 1 if the bad ending was received, but looked much different. She simply wore a glowing white gown and used electricity to kill Dahlia and attack Harry rather than barbed wire to kill Christabella and the other Cult members. Her appearance in the film closely resembles the Mary/Maria end boss in Silent Hill 2.)
