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.

Contents 1 Characteristics 2 Symbolism 3 Game Appearance 3.1 Silent Hill 2 3.2 Silent Hill: The Arcade 4 In other media 4.1 Comic Book 4.2 Silent Hill Film 5 References

[edit] Characteristics

Of the creatures that appear in Silent Hill 2, Pyramid Head is one of the few 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, which was reportedly designed to appear painful to wear. This headgear appears to protect the creature from all of James's weapons, although they still slow him down. Pyramid Head is usually armed, either with the Great Knife or a Lightweight Spear, but can also attack with 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 other creatures in the game, including the final boss.

Pyramid Head does not speak, but grunts and moans painfully inside the helmet at different times. 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. He was born out of the towns peoples' idolatrous ideologies.[2] 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.

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 nickname red devil, a term constantly mentioned throughout the series. It is more likely that Jimmy Stone and Pyramid Head are visually referencing the same historic individuals.

In Silent Hill 2, his existence is directly tied to James Sunderland's subconscious^[3]; 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 and thus freeing themselves of their roles (it's mentioned that they are both punisher and victim of crime).

[edit] Game Appearance

[edit] Silent Hill 2

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. Terrified, James hides in a closet. The monster walks up to the closet and begins a sort of dance, 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, being mentioned by Walter, is actually his other half, having been split by the town's power in conflict of guilt and ambition. The innocent half of Walter would eventually commit suicide, leaving his body to be exhumed by the red devil half and sacrificed in a ritual to grant Walter the full powers of Valtiel/Xuchilbara, and bring "God" into this world as the form of Room 302.

James's next encounter with Pyramid Head is in the Blue Creek apartments. When James enters the door leading to a stairway, he witnesses Pyramid Head raping 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 only her screams of agony can be heard 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.

It is interesting to note that despite being portrayed as 'Boss' characters, The player never needs to actually attack the various incarnations of Pyramid Head in order to progress. In the first confrontation, in the apartment stairwell, Pyramid Head will leave after a certain amount of time has elapsed, even if not injured. The Pyramid Head in the Labyrinth is invulnerable and must be avoided, and the dual Pyramid Heads in the final Hotel battle will impale themselves automatically after a great deal of time has passed: attacking them only speeds up the process.

[edit] Silent Hill: The Arcade

Not much information is given, but Pyramid Head will appear in Silent Hill: The Arcade. Most likely his part in the game will be a boss. [4]

[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 pyramid head is indeed the chosen men who are the executioners of the town as there are many and appear to others. It also shows that even with different point's of view most the monsters that already exist in Silent Hill (especially ones from Silent Hill's past) will only change a bit in power, size, and symbolism, and never too major. Another example would be the newly added to the story closers which replace a drawing of Alessa's, it's as if James sees the closers and in his otherworld they shape themselves into James version.

[edit] Silent Hill Film

Although not linked with the first game plot wise, 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. According to Christophe Gans, the change is because it was impossible for the actor to wear the helmet from the game, though it's the exact same size in actual width, height and length as the game, and light materials can be used and sprayed with metal paints and other paints successfully like in so many other movies. The basic design principle of the game's designers is still there; they wanted the helmet to appear painful to wear. He makes no struggling gestures with his helmet in the movie as with the game. In the movie, his apron is worn from the waist down and appears to be made of human flesh. He uses the great knife weapon to fillet a thick steel door in a failed attempt to kill the main character and her companion. He displays his strength 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 or melted fingers like most Silent Hill characters have.

The producers of the film have stated in making-of features that since the creatures that appear in the fake hell(as on of hell's translation is the grave) 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 [5], i.e. Alessa's.

[edit] References

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