Pyramid Head
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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. Since this is the only instance in which Pyramid Head has been named, it is regarded as canon. Some official sources refer to the creature as Red Pyramid Thing or Red Triangle Thing although, according to Silent Hill director Christophe Gans, the Japanese name is Triangle Head. He is credited in the Silent Hill movie also as Red Pyramid.
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[edit] 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 exception of the doormen/abstract daddy. Pyramid Head resembles a pale man covered with an off-white, blood-soaked robe that resembles a 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 Lightweight Spear.
Pyramid Head does not speak, but his grunts of exertion during boss fights sound identical to the voice clips used for James. He displays much brutality, killing monsters and people alike.
[edit] Symbolism
In the additional back story material created by the game's designers [1] it was explained 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 times past, who wore red hoods and ceremonial robes to make themselves similar to the Valtiel, the angel of the town. According to documents created for the release of Silent Hill 4: The Room, a sect of the Silent Hill cult, (the "Valtiel Sect") wore the executioner's costume depicted in Silent Hill 2.
In Silent Hill 2, his existence is directly tied to James Sunderland's subconscious; James' repressed anger and desire to be punished for the death of his wife are what compels Pyramid Head to pursue him. Pyramid Head functions as both an executioner of Maria, but more importantly, as the constant tormentor of James. Watching Pyramid Head repeatedly murder a highly eroticized doppelgänger of his late wife brings a great deal of grief to James, thus completely satisfying his masochistic desires. Once these desires are fulfilled, Pyramid Head's power over James is removed. This is evidenced in one of the game's final scenes, where just before battling two Pyramid Heads simultaneously, James gains insight into his situation, admitting that he needed them because he was weak, and that he has no further use for them. It is only after James asserts this that the Pyramid Heads become vulnerable to James' attacks before finally impaling themselves.
[edit] 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 was not there before.
Later, he enters Room 307, where Pyramid Head is in the process of assaulting two Mannequins. Terrified, James hides in a closet. The monster walks up to the closet slowly, causing a panicked James to shoot it 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.
In a newspaper article, found in a trash bin at the Blue Creek Apartments building, James reads about Walter Sullivan who was convicted for murdering two children in Silent Hill. It seems that Walter blames his acts on a Red Devil. This Red Devil is most likely Pyramid Head, and wasn't responsible for Walters actions but rather there to punish him for killing the two children.
James' next encounter with Pyramid Head is in the Blue Creek apartments. When James enters the door leading to a stairway, he witnesses Pyramid Head tormenting another creature. He turns to James and attempts to kill him, but his movements are severely hampered by the Great Knife he wields during the encounter. 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 again until later on the roof of the Brookhaven Hospital, where he once more attempts to kill James. During the battle, 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 lives. Soon after, James reaches the room behind the grate, but finds Maria dead, apparently from head trauma, as evident from the blood and deformities around her face.
Pyramid Head makes his final appearance just before the final boss, where two Pyramid Heads (a 'red' one, for new blood, and a 'brown' one, for old blood) take part 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.
[edit] In other media
[edit] Comic Book
Pyramid head also appears in the Silent Hill comic book Paint it Black during the attack on Ike and his rescue crew, but he serves no other purpose other than that of a common monster along side the growler hounds. Their massive numbers and relative vulnerability suggest that these are not genuine pyramid heads, but rather "watered down" clones of Pyramid Head, or simply monsters that resemble Pyramid Head and carry a large knife.
[edit] Silent Hill Film
Although not linked with the second game plotwise, Pyramid Head does appear in the 2006 movie Silent Hill, listed in the credits as "Red Pyramid" and portrayed by Roberto Campanella, where he acts again as a tenacious antagonist first encountered by Rose Da Silva in Midwich Elementary School while looking for her daughter. Although he doesn't stand out among the monsters of the town, he is unaffected by attempts to stop him and displays his characteristic strength and brutality, as well as his Great Knife. His appearance is somewhat different from the game. His helmet is a black and girded hexahedron - a 6-sided version of the 5-sided one in the game - and appears much more sharp and severe. According to Christophe Gans, the change is because it was impossible for the actor to wear the helmet from the game. The basic design principle of the game's designers is still there; they wanted the helmet to appear painful to wear, though in the movie this is derived from how it looks rather than how Pyramid Head acts. He makes no struggling gestures with his helmet in the movie as he did in Silent Hill 2, when James shot at him from the closet. In the movie, his apron is worn from the waist down and appears to be made of human flesh. He is also very muscular and strong, which enables him to wield his Great Knife with ease. He uses this weapon to fillet a thick steel door in a failed attempt to kill the main character and her companion. He displays his strength again when he catches Anna, holds her in the air using only one arm, tears off her dress, then grabs her chest and tears off her skin in one movement. He is 7 foot tall as mentioned in the behind the scenes commentary but lacks his signature gloves.
The producers of the film have stated in making-of features that since the creatures that appear in the hellish version of Silent Hill are punished human beings, Red Pyramid is being punished by having to wear the large, burdensome helmet. Director Christophe Gans has also stated that Red Pyramid's appearance is conjured from a female perspective [3] ie Alessa. This explains why he wears a skin "dress" and is a lithe, towering, god-like figure.
[edit] Trivia
- Pyramid Heads resemble the executioners from an earlier point of the town's history. This explains why they are spattered with blood and why their faces are concealed.
- His helmet is also a possible reference to Jimmy Stone (a high member of the cult of Silent Hill and Walter Sullivan's first victim) as when performing certain rituals he would wear a red triangular hood, which earned him the nick name red devil, a term constantly mentioned throughout the series.
- According to the Silent Hill developers, they designed the helmet so that it would appear to be painful to wear.
- In addition to swinging his Great Knife or jabbing with a spear, one of Pyramid Head's close-ranged attacks against James is a strangle grip, during which a black tongue-like protrusion "stabs" James from a small hole in the side of Pyramid Head's mask. A similar attack is used by a couple of the other creatures in the game, including the final boss.
- Pyramid Head is invulnerable to any weapon in James's arsenal, though James's attacks do slow Pyramid Head down. In one of the boss fights against Pyramid Head, the more you attack him with your weapons the quicker the battle will end.
[edit] References
- Konami. Silent Hill 2. KCET, 2001.
- Konami. The Making of Silent Hill 2 DVD. KCET, 2002.
- Book of Lost Memories. Retrieved on 2006-12-12.
- On The Red Pyramid, Carol Spier as Production Designer, and Exploring Society in Horror Films. sonypictures.com. Retrieved on 2006-12-05.
- GameFAQs Plot Analysis Guides. gamefaqs.com. Retrieved on 2006-05-05.
