Silent Hill 4/WMG

Henry has some connection to Walter that we don't know about.
Just about all of the other Victims is someone Walter knows on some level--cult members, went to the same school, residents in the apartment Walter frequented as a child, etc. But Henry moved into Room 302 well after Walter committed suicide in jail and is never shown to have met Walter before in any context. So is he really just a random victim Walter picked for the heck of it, or did they cross paths at some point?
 * Alternatively, someone actually put together a pretty damn coherent and good portrayal of both why Henry is as seemingly unemotional as he is along with providing a pretty good connection to Walter and partly why he was chosen. It's also a pretty damn good alternate take on the ending of the game. You can find the first one here. The rest of them can be found from the author's profile. This troper found it particularly nice because it helped her find Henry more sympathetic than he already was.
 * Walter DID say that he wouldn't let anyone get in his way. Henry, as the current resident of Apartment 302, is an obvious obstacle.

"Henry" from The Good Son is Really Henry
. Either from an Alternate Universe where Elijah Woods' character died instead, or Henry somehow got better from that fatal drop (hey, he's that evil, it could be possible), or this is other-Henry's dying dream (because honestly, Walter is totally the type of serial killer other-Henry could come up with).

This matches nicely with the "Henry is the true killer" folder. He's an Unreliable Narrator, recounting the events to his therapist after being caught murdering all of those people and then pleading insanity.

Henry is impotent.
Mainly because the apartment and Walter's Silent Hill won;t let him stick his pipe through the hole into Eileen's apartment, but also because the Dull Surprise only ends when he brings himself to pierce Walter('s Mother]) with, as an above troper so bluntly put it, "giant, phallic spears". He can't enter the first hole until you take the pipe, and in fact can't even access Eileen's hole until he has it.

Henry IS the killer in Silent Hill 4.
Think about it here. Isn't it odd that all the people he meets wind up dying horribly? Isn't it strange that no one else can see these "Holes" he does? My theory goes like this:

In Joseph's notes he remarks that he dug up the grave of Walter Sullivan and found it empty. Does that sound like the action of a sane man?

This troper's opinion is as follows: Joseph, in fact, became obsessed with Walter Sullivan's crimes and the cult, prompted by Walter's spiritual presence. Joseph then began the killings all over again (You'll notice the killings stop completely until Joseph starts writing about them. In other words the resumption of the killings and Joseph's research on Sullivan started at around the same time)

At this point, much of Joseph's writing reads as the work of a deeply unstable mind. He's unaware of what he does when he's "Walter", only seeing the aftermath-- just as Henry does. Finally, he takes his own life in horror, unwilling to keep participating, unaware that he is now a part of the evil that claimed Walter Sullivan.

Then Henry moves into the apartment building. Here's where things get complicated. It's possible that he learns of Walter Sullivan and indeed finds the corpse behind the wall BEFORE the events of the game. Henry is clearly mentally unstable. An introverted loner who likes watching his young female neighbor through a hole in the wall? If that's not a sign he's not all there, I don't know what is.

We also know he's been to Silent Hill before. He seems to think the trip was uneventful but I believe that his memories are false, just like those of James Sunderland-- A cover to keep him from remembering what really happened. While there, he was touched by the darkness of the town and learned of Walter Sullivan, a rather notorious murderer (the Bundy or Gein of the Silent Hill universe).

The Hole doesn't in fact exist. He's not locked in, he's locked the rest of the world out. He clearly doesn't get along with people at all, evidenced by his lack of emotion (he's practically a robot) and so has sealed himself in his appartment with the diary of Joseph. The "Scraps" that are pushed under his door are in fact left there by his own hand. He "Rediscovers" them because his subconscious is trying to force him toward a revelation and show him he's not in control.

The places he visits aren't accessed by holes, but on foot. The car that we see in the "Forest World" is in fact the car he drove there in, hence its open door and proximity to him. He's driven all the way to Silent Hill, then blacked out once more. When he blacks out again he drives back there.

Then the victims. Cynthia's death is perhaps the most shocking, but it's heavily suggested that Henry has issues with women, given his voyeuristic spying on Eileen. When Cynthia teases him it causes some kind of break in his mind and the "Other" takes control (much like the main character of Lost Highway, a movie Silent Hill has referenced more than once). His brutal assault of Cynthia is motivated by his own sexual frustration (such frustration being a common series theme, see the monsters of Silent Hill 2). Her "Dying words" are all in his head, as she is in fact already dead. Think about it. Her last words are regret she never got to have sex with him? Unlikely. But Henry objectifies women; he's unable to see them as anything but sex objects, hence dressing Eileen in a stereotypical "nurses' outfit".

Jasper knows too much and is the only survivor of the Walter Sullivan killings. The "Other" prompts Henry to kill him but knows enough to wait until the time is right. He lures Jasper into the house (We don't see Jasper visibly enter the "Wish House" because the story is told from Henry's normal frame of reference and he won't acknowledge that he was who lured Jasper into the Wish House) When Jasper talks about meeting the "Devil" he's actually referring to Henry, whom he now recognizes as a sociopath. Henry is actually the one who sets him on fire and carves the numbers into his chest, but he externalizes it. It's easier for him to see Jasper commit suicide than admit that he's done such terrible things.

Incidentally, Henry can read the childish writing that he finds in the Forest World just fine. His "Other" understands that this is the bloody tale of Walter's early life and how he suffered during it. But Henry won't or can't accept that, and tries to block out all conscious knowledge of Sullivan and his crimes. He's in a psychic fugue state, unable to comprehend the reality of his situation. That's why Eileen can read the writing just fine: unlike Henry, she's not delusional.

Desalvo is a scumbag and, with Henry inheriting Joseph's knowledge of the Wish House, he would know all about the cruel, evil stuff Desalvo was involved with. The "Other" will want to murder him, but can't, because he's safely locked in a prison cell. Think about it. Desalvo is perfectly safe while locked away. Nothing has attempted to harm him. But the MINUTE Henry unlocks the door, the "Child Walter" manifests. On how Desalvo can see it if this is all just part of Henry's warped psyche: it's necessary to remember that Silent Hill has a way of manifesting characters' inner thoughts. The "Child Walter" is made manifest because Desalvo is linked to Walter's childhood in Henry's mind. Henry, having been directed by the "Other" to free Desalvo (who likely locked himself in the prison cell to keep himself safe). He then hunts him down and drowns him in the very room in which the other children were tortured. Henry then regains control and comes face to face with Desalvo's corpse. Note that Desalvo has no last words; because Henry had no emotional connection with Desalvo, his subconscious needed not craft a death scene for him.

Blacking out again, Henry returns to the apartment, where he sees more of his neighbor, Richard Braintree. More importantly, he sees him with Eileen, the subject of his unhealthy fixation. So the "Other" suggests the perfect thing to do... KILL HIM. Kill Richard, it tells him, and Eileen can be ours.

So he kidnaps Richard. All Richard's lines about coming through a "Hole" are purely in Henry's head, which is why Richard abandons him. Again, think about it. Why would Richard leave Henry behind? It's because he has no idea what Henry is talking about. He's saying things that Henry is hearing completely differently, his mind having substituted a different reality.

Note that when Richard encounters the "Child Walter", Henry sees the encounter from afar, in a lift. It is in fact Henry himself who Richard is speaking too, or rather "The Other". The Henry in the lift is Henry's normal personality. He views his split personality (the "Other") as Walter in his child form and views the interaction this way because he feels trapped. He's in a lift that looks like a cage, unable to make himself heard or seen. This symbolizes his personality being submerged and imprisoned. He can see what his "other" is doing but cannot stop them or interfere. The lift descending is a sign of Henry's original personality being further and further submerged. Much of what follows is all in his head. When he finally comes to see Richard he's already dying, but Henry only makes a half-hearted attempt to rescue him. Richard stutters about the 11121 man, but he's not talking about a phantom. He's saying Henry IS the 11121 man.

The final victim, Eileen, is the most important. Throughout the game we've seen how obsessed Henry is with her. He's clearly a sexually frustrated man, happy to look but unwilling to get near to people. His obvious discomfort when Cynthia offers him a "Special Favour" speaks volumes. The message "Better check on your neighbor soon!" is his subconscious trying to warn him of what his split personality wants to do. He leaves his apartment, something he can suddenly do with ease, and proceeds to confront Eileen in her apartment. She's horrified by his advances on her, as she barely knows him. In a rage, he brutally assaults her. When his conscious mind takes over he is horrified by what he's seeing and so has to create an external source. The "Child Walter" is his scapegoat.

Now here is where it gets even more complicated. Henry is said to be the "Receiver of Wisdom". Some take this to mean learning of Walter Sullivan's crimes but I believe it actually means he's meant to confront what he's become. That is why he's taken to the various sights of his crimes: to be shown the truth.

Think about it. In the Hospital he regresses to an inhuman state and rips the heart from a corpse, disgusting himself so much that he once again manifests the "Other" as Walter. However, he's now beginning to lose his grip on his innocence, and so manifests Walter as an adult. Children in Silent Hill have previously been used as a symbol of innocence (e.g. Laura from SH2), and his "Other" now appearing as an adult is his subconscious slowly helping him understand his corruption.

The nurses Henry sees in the hospital are, in fact, real people whom he gleefully kills, once again demonstrating his issues with women (as with James). He makes them appear monstrous because he view women as threatening and unequal to himself. Similarly, in one room he encounters a giant version of Eileen's head, making sexual moaning sounds. That's all he sees Eileen as: a pretty face, a sex object. Her personality doesn't matter as he's never bothered to learn anything about her. He's interested only in her looks and sex.

When he finds Eileen, the interaction between them is, of course, entirely imagined. In fact, Eileen is his captive from this point on. But he, in his desperate need for companionship, essentially turns her into his sidekick in his mind. Think about it: Would a badly injured woman, barely able to walk, having just suffered a horrendous assault, gladly leave hospital with a man she'd never met to trawl horrific locales? Of course not. The entire "Daring duo on an adventure" scenario is what Henry WANTS his life to be.

From here it only gets worse. Eileen's injuries appear worse throughout the game because Henry is repeatedly assaulting her, and possibly doing far worse. The disjointed nonsense she speaks is his own mind beginning to break, his brain buckling under the sheer weight of his delusions and conflicting personalities. Here is where it all begins to come together.

Some find the repeated revisiting of worlds boring. However, I believe it wasn't a case of filler, but the design team trying to show us something important. What happens when Henry revisits these worlds? The ghosts of the characters killed appear. What do they do? They try to kill him. Now, I cannot claim to know how a ghost thinks, but I find it unlikely they would seek revenge on a perfectly innocent man. The reason all the various spirits assault him is that he is in fact their killer. Remember that the creatures of Silent Hill's "Otherworld" are summoned by the protagonists' subconsciouses. Thus, Henry's subconscious is trying to show him his guilt by summoning these vengeful spirits into the material world. Cynthia is the most telling. The image of a girl in a pale white dress with long black hair is a famous Japanese image (made so Stateside by films like "The Grudge" and "The Ring") and in many stories she's a woman greatly wronged by a man. Which man does Cynthia attack? HENRY. This is a sign that he bears the guilt for what happened. And how does Henry immobilize said spirit if he chooses to? A "Sword of OBEDIENCE". Henry wants control, craves it. He literally pins down his prey-- forces them to stay where he wants them. In the Forest World we again see a sign of Henry's fractured psyche. The entire Wish House has burnt down. The question is: why didn't Henry remember that? He blacked out and awoke in his bed. How did he get from point A to point B? The Other took control and got him there, that's how. We also see how Eileen can read perfectly the writing Henry can't. This is because, as mentioned earlier, Henry is out of touch with reality. The "Walter" that attacks him and Eileen is in fact, HIM. His "Other" takes over at various points, causing him to attack Eileen, and when she tries to defend herself, he rationalizes it as "Walter" also attacking him. The apartment world is also telling of Henry's mental state. He knows, from the notes he gathered, that Walter thought it was his mother. So how does Henry see it? Rotting and corrupt. The Apartment World is Henry's critique of the female gender. It's the "Other" that seizes the umbilical cord from Frank Sunderland, desperate to cling to its identity versus Henry's own. By now, the "Other" and Henry are in a war for control. The Other causes adult Walter to manifest and tell Henry the tale of him meeting a young Eileen and being shown kindness by her, merely to taunt Henry, as if to say "Even this monster was shown more affection by Eileen than you ever were, Henry. You're pathetic".

Henry is really starting to fall apart at the seams now. His Other continues to taunt him, moving his shoes around, turning the TV and radio off and on to show Henry that he can take control at any time, that Henry isn't in control of his own actions. The "Ghost Henry" that he sees outside his apartment is symbolic. It's his mind trying to warn him that his original personality is dying, being drowned out by the monster that is the "Other".

Eileen escapes from him at this point and he rationalities it as her being "Taken" by the "Other". In a rage he smashes down the wall and re-discovers Walter's body, the body Joseph dug from the ground. Henry has, in fact, known of its existence for some time. The system of wires around it is perhaps the most disgusting part. I believe it was a sign that Henry was "Feeding" the corpse the blood of his victims, as a symbolic way of "Feeding" the "Other" and thus helping it grow in strength. Note that the items on the table are the ones James Sunderland used to resurrect Mary in one possible ending. In fact, James is referenced several times in this game. Even without the other callbacks, it's a blatant hint, tying Henry to another deeply disturbed, delusional individual.

The "Always Watching" voice that Henry starts hearing around this time is the voice of the "Other", sharing his body. Indeed, his other personality is always watching Henry, and is taking pleasure in taunting him. Henry recaptures Eileen at this point, having finally been driven mad.

The climax of the game is, in my opinion, actually Henry's final confrontation with himself. We see Eileen, or at least his vision of Eileen, stepping down into a huge pool of blood with an orb in the center, while a massive beast looms over her. The "Beast" represents Henry devoid of his original self, fully controlled by the "Other". Personally, I feel this is not Henry wishing to kill Eileen, but in fact his own subconscious warring over his desire to rape her and "Sacrifice" her innocence. Henry clearly objectifies Eileen throughout this scene; the blood and the helpless, powerless woman (muscular, bestial man looming over her) seem to be the ultimate expression of that.

The "Walter" Henry sees is his "Other". It's him, trying to tell himself what he cannot bear to know. He even calls Henry the "Receiver of Wisdom" and actually says "It's You, Henry", but Henry refuses to acknowledge the horrible truth. Henry then begins his fight with himself, a mental battle played out as a physical one. Once again we see Henry's sexual frustration. To defeat the beast he must violently and repeatedly PENETRATE it with phallic spears.

In my opinion, the real ending is the most bleak one. Henry believes he has defeated the Beast but in giving in to rage he has simply strengthened the "Other". Henry collapses to the ground, clutching his head in pain and perhaps, finally realizing what he truly is, as "Walter" laughs triumphantly.

Henry rapes and murders Eileen before returning to his apartment. There, he finally finds the spirit of Walter, still a child. Walter as such may have never even been guilty of any of the crimes. He was compelled to commit the original ones in Silent Hill by the "Red Devil" mentioned in the Silent Hill 2 news report. The later crimes were committed by Joseph and Henry himself.

That is why the final scene is of the child Walter lying in the room and the adult Walter dead. Henry has seen his guilt and realized what he truly is. The adult Walter is Henry, a representation of how he sees himself. The child Walter is the spirit of Walter Sullivan, finally at peace, no longer controlled by the town and no longer forced to share an apartment with those similarly affected.

Another clue: At one point, in his apartment, Henry opens his fridge to find "Slabs of flesh" that later disappear. He's been storing pieces of his victims in his home. It's notable that Henry doesn't have any great reaction to this discovery, almost as if he won't let himself be shocked by it. Their subsequent disappearance is his "Other" taking over and disposing of them.

Then there's the blood all over his shower, not from a supernatural source but from him washing himself off after a slaying. The "Hole" in his cupboard is actually a place he is keeping Eileen, which is why the sound of a woman sobbing is always heard whenever he goes near it. It's also the reason for all the blood around the room at various points.


 * I thought Joseph was the one who poked the hole in the wall? (Of course, Henry uses it inappropriately, but still.)
 * Joseph is just one more facet of Henry's mania. The ghosts are brought into being by his warped mind (Because in and around Silent Hill thought and reality are more or less one) that's why their twisted versions of their true selfs. It's all part of Henry's Sullivan obsession that, like Joseph before him, lead him to commit copycat crimes.
 * The endings, since they are based on how much damage has been done to Eileen and how many hauntings remain in Henry's apartment, are a clue to the real endings. In Escape, Eileen escapes, and Henry (his insanity suppressed along with the hauntings) doesn't go after her. In Mother, she still escapes but Henry tracks her down at the hospital due to still being significantly influenced by "Walter". In Eileen's Death, Henry kills Eileen but triumphs over the Walter persona by suppressing the hauntings, and in 21 Sacraments, Henry kills Eileen and gives in to his insanity.
 * I doubt the Other wins out if Eileen is saved. I would suggest that if Eileen doesn't die, then Henry wins out over the Other no matter what, whereas if Eileen is killed, then Henry regains control of himself only after the Other is already finished with its bloody work, and thus is no longer really fighting for control. The hauntings would represent Henry's mad desire to see the twenty-one sacraments completed. Thus in Escape, Eileen doesn't escape, Henry lets her go, because he has completely defeated the Other and abandoned his desire to see the twenty-one sacraments completed. In Mother, Henry doesn't kill her and, presumably, triumphs over the Other, but he continues to obsess over and dominate (or at least stalk) Eileen, even if he isn't physically hurting her anymore, which is represented by Eileen moving back to the haunted apartment shown in the Mother ending. Henry still wants to complete the twenty-one sacraments, but has achieved enough control that he's no longer willing to kill for it. In Eileen's Death, Henry frees himself of the desire to complete the 21 sacraments, but only after the Other has already slaughtered Eileen. Henry himself is the only sacrifice who escapes, the Other leaving only after it's already finished killing everyone other than itself/Henry. In '21 Sacraments,' the Other wins out completely, killing first Eileen, then Henry through suicide.
 * Right, for the Mother ending, I didn't mean to imply that he killed her at or after the hospital, just that the suppressed (or gone but still influential) Other was still causing his obsession. If he makes sure to keep Eileen safe but doesn't remove all of the hauntings, it implies that Henry's protection of Eileen would be strong enough to keep him from harming her despite the Other still having a degree of influence.

Why there isn't a UFO ending.
Every ending is a UFO ending because Walter is a Time Lord.

Henry was raised at the same cult as Walter Sullivan.
Well that could explain why Henry and Walter have so many things in common despite Henry being supposedly trapped in his room and Walter allegedly being the real killer. They both prefer to be isolated from people, and more importantly they have serious issues with women. I'm not saying the "Henry is the real killer" is false, but let's remember that Walter choose all of his victims including Eileen so why would he pick one victim, more importantly the last and most important victim randomly. They must of went to the cult together because how would Walter know that Henry would be a good candidate for the Receiver of Wisdom. Just like Walter Henry was gaven an oppurtunity to experience the real world when he grew up so he just decided to go to school and get a good job and live a normal life instead of giving in to that cult's bullshit. He probably wasn't the only cult orphan that grew up to be the a functioning member of society. However he couldn't forget his life in the cult, and when he got into the real world it probably wasn't to kind to him either. So he subconsiously hates the world too, probably even more than Walter Sullivan and has decided to work a job and avoid any kind of contact with humanity what so ever. The monstorous versions of men(monkeys), women(nurses), children(two headed babies), dogs(demon hounds); even to small stuff like mosquitos(bats), and even the demonic fungus is how he views things. The whole entire game is in his head, when these so called monster attack him he is really hallucinating, in reality they are not being hostile to Henry, but he is being violent to them. He isn't proud of his childhood that's why he tries to block out all conscious knowledge of his childhood and act like he's oblivious to it, just like he tried to block out everything about Walter by trying to act like he can't read that childish reading in Forest World. Isn't it kind of odd in the endings where he lives he goes on about his life like nothing ever happened despite being allegedly locked in his room for five consecutive days and encountering those "creatures". Because as I stated earlier the whole game was in his head, a person with schizophrenia can't tell no cop or supernatrualist of what they saw because it wasn't there in the first place. Just like Walter Sullivan Henry probably specialized in the dark arts too hence, him trying to subconsiously complete the 21 sacraments and him delving so deeply in his psyche not Walter's psyche as we are mislead to believe. Him being the "Reciever of Wisdom" also ment him reliving the past he tried so hard to block out,that's why he's taken to the orphanage he was raised in and the water tower prison too, to remind him of his former life that he apparently tried to block out. He stalked Cynthia after he saw her enter through his apartment that's why he ended up there, he was so surprised by her straight forward courtsmanship that he kills her; this is similar to a situation in a story called The Cask of Amontillado the only difference is the protagonist was allegedly insulted. As for Richard I think he just didn't like him that's why he hunted him down like an animal,he tried to get to know everyone by apparently going through there apartments and even reading those bios on the painting in that artist house.

Henry Townsend is actually Walter Sullivan reborn in the flesh.
He could be another form of Walter Sullivan. That picture of a little boy on the dresser had blonde hair and Henry has brown hair so how could that be Henry Townsend when he was little. Henry's origins are never explained or even hinted at one bit because he doesn't have any, similar to Maria in SH2; Mary and Maria look similar and Henry and Walter act similar. Walter despises his childhood and tries to block out any conscious knowledge of it what so ever evidenced by Henry never letting the player know about his early life and Henry Walter trying to pretend like he can't read his own handwriting. The game player doesn't know how the Ritual of the Holy Assumption works or what it's really supposed to do, but we all do know it gives you supernatrual abilities as well as possible immortality, also the Ritual of the Holy Assumption can be used on a dead person as shown in SH2 when Earnest and James used it to bring a loved one back. Also we know Walter Sullivan is capable of many supernatural "godly" feats because of it, that even includes shapeshifting. So he took the form of another man so everyone wouldn't know that the "Walter Sullivan murderer" was still at large. While he |assumed| the Henry Townsend persona, while he did that, he apparently graduated from school got a job and a home that he believed to be his "real mother"(Room 302). Instead of living like a smelly stinking hobo while he was still human he has decided to live with his supposed mother Room 302, waiting for the day he will encounter the appropriate people to sacrifice to his mother. Also we know that the people Henry(Walter Sullivan) meets is people that Walter Sullivan knew in his life time, so what does he do? Trap them in his mind and hunt them down and kill them, that could explain how Andrew Desalvo was trapped in a deserted forgotten water tower prison, this is possible because Walter's nightmare world can extend beyong South Ashfield Heights. Living a normal life has caused Walter to get a grip on reality and become at least some what sane ,that's why Henry(Walter) acts like a normal human being instead of some silly man with an apparent mental disorder. He remembers the kindness Eileen showed her at the train station so after he assaults her he tries to abandon his desire to complete the 21 Sacraments despite her fitting the Mother theme of murder(Mother means she's the mother in her human form), Eileen could be the only victim Walter cared about. We see the remorse Walter(Henry) feels when Henry sees the X-rays and wonders if Eileen is okay. The supposed Walter sullivan that tries to kill Henry we sees is the physical manifestation of the cult inflicted insanity that Walter Sullivan is trying to surpress. The Walter attacking Henry is Walter surpressed insanity and his killer instincts trying to take back over, that could explain why Henry doesn't take any real surprise in seeing it, because he already knows what it is. Walter is now trapped in the nightmare world in which he used to hunt down his prey by his own insanity, in so many words he is trapped in his own mind. He must now fight his way to the bottom to seek the truth. We know from reading Joseph's diary that he became obsessed with Walter Sullivan, and his ten murders and he knows every little thing about him, when Joseph died he became a part of Walter's psyche as well. So now Walter must fight against all the people he killed as ghost so he can meet the ghost of Joseph and ask him what to do. Even though he is trying to abondon all the bullcrap the cult instilled in his mind he apparently stills haves some serious problems with society. Those loud obnoxious monkey creatures are in reality human adult males which he sadistically kills, we know that Walter has a serious problem with animals specifically dogs because he had a bad experience with his first encounter with animals in Steve Garland's pet shop, hence him killing the store owner to get his heart and him killing up every animal in there despite that part not being neccesary so what does he do every time he sees a dog? Kill it. We also know Walter has a serious problem with women due to their female parts so when he sees them he visualizes them as repulsive, disgusting, inferior, dumb and hostile creatures while he kills them. Those bats are just mosquitos but his psyche is so disgusted by outside creatures that it manifests it into the ugliest thing it can. He has a thing against children too, because those two headed babyish monsters could be normal children, note how they aren't as repulsive or even as seemingly violent as the other monster, because Walter doesn't hate children as much. Walter has a renouned warped psyche, so when these monsters are attacking him he is really hallucinating. "Henry" stated that "if you die in this world you die in the real world too" so that means South Ashfield is possesed by Walter evil psyche as well. Basically it's like another Silent Hill. The Crimson Tome could be some symbollic or self mental exorcism. After Joseph informs Walter how to perform it, he doesn't just go and fight his insanity. By Walter meeting Joseph he gained his wisdom and Joseph knows everything about Walter. It's possible that Joseph investigated a child being abondoned in South Ashfield Heights in his past as well. After Walter inherits Joseph's knowledge he seeks the truth about what happened to him when he was a baby before confronting his ultimate self. When Walter comes faces to face with himself his personal demon tells him he is the reciever of wisdom. That means he knows the truth, hence him inheriting it from Joseph. Room 302 wasn't his mother and basically Silent Hill Smile Support Society was bullcrap. He must now choose between letting go of the past and moving on, or punish the world for it's sins and plunging it into hell while he rest in peace. As a previous troper stated earlier the hauntings represent the characters own will to complete the 21 Sacraments, and if Eileen lives the "Other" dies hand's down. If Eileen lives Walter will feel like maybe there is something else to live for and will completely abondon his will to complete the 21 Sacraments, but if she dies that will be much harder.


 * When I stated that Henry(Walter Sullivan) was the reciever of wisdom that meant he discovered an ultimate deep mind shattering truth, he recieved the truth in so many words. That's why you get a chance to fight him after you've discovered all the dead hanging bodies, which is really the ugly truth. Now since he's gotten a revelation of some kind he has the power to complete the 21 sacraments. We know that when Walter commits suicide again it's very nasty, when the radio person says the dead body was disfigured beyond recognition, but it's not really for killing him. Him dying again is him and coming back to life is the final offering to the ritual. First he had to die in his human form to become the eleventh victim, after that he had to go back to finding victims to kill except this time they had to fit a specific theme, but with his new supernatural, I'm not trying to use the lord's name in vain but God-like powers like the text said, it should be easier. As a previous troper stated Joseph commited the Round two murders. He did it against his will however, whenever he would venture out that's right, his diary never said he was trapped in his room and we don't have any proof that Joseph carved that hole in Henry's apartment, and in one of Joseph's notes didn't he say he'll investigate Walter Sullivan's graveyard after all the cops left meaning he did have a chance to get help if he was really trapped. So Walter possessed Joseph and committed the round two murders all over again, when it's Joseph's turn to be sacraficed he let's him have control so Joseph can see what he's done so he'll be so overwhelmed with guilt and [despair] that he'll committ suicide to save Walter the effort of having to kill Joseph himself. Then he'd take on the form of another man(despite that part not being neccesary), noticed how Henry didn't move into room 302 right after Joseph died so he wouldn't draw any suspicion. Live a normal life until he runs into the people to sacrifice to his mother, experience some sort of mind boggling truth and commit suicide again in his immortal state, come back to life and the 21 sacraments will be completed.

Henry doesn't get hungry not because his body is supposedly frozen in time.
He doesn't get hungry because he is using all of those nutrition drinks. Remember, it heals your body with supplemental nutrients. Without those energy drinks Henry could actually starve.

Valtiel or "The Red Devil" was responsible for everything.
Let's see he compelled Walter Sullivan to complete the round one murders, but I believed his evil spirit was still part of Walter Sullivan even after death. In the ending where Henry was the reciever of wisdom he learned something about himself not someone else so Henry was Walter right? Picking up from my statement above about how Henry is Walter trying to live a normal human life this is how Valtiel was responsible for the events that occur in the game. While Walter assumed the identity of Henry Townsend and was trying to live normal Valtiel kept a watchful eye on the young man. He saw that Walter was trying to abandon the task of completing the 21 sacraments because he had two years to do it, evidenced when the game says Henry moved into his apartment two years ago. So the fleshy spirit finally decides to intervene in Walter's life by locking up in his room taking over his body at times and apparently giving him mild schizophrenia.

South Ashfield will probably become the new Silent Hill.
If Henry,not henry and Eileen but Henry died then the 21 sacraments would of been completed and South Ashfield would of been engulfed in darkness just like the original silent hill was. Walter and Alyssa are kind of similar if you kind of think about it, they didn't have great parental raising if you know what I mean, they were both brainwashed by cults and specialized in witchcraft, and more importantly they retaliated on past enemies. I bet if there were someone to stop Alyssa, and a lot of ambiguaty left on whether or not Alyssa succeded in whatever she was trying to do then they would be even more alike. If Walter Sullivan completed the 21 sacraments South Ashfield will go to hell just like the original Silent Hill as I stated earlier, but it will be more painfully and slowly evidenced by how the radio lady was telling how everyone was suffering in the bad ending, instead of just quick and painless like how Alyssa burned every organism in flames and took care of them in one fowl swoop. In the later Silent hills they don't make any references on how South Ashfield is doing, I bet if all that bad stuff happened on the 21 sacraments ending it would be broadcasted on a massive scale even to other video games, if South Ashfield was doing fine then nothing would be on the news, so most likely Henry and maybe Eileen survived that horrible ordeal.


 * I forgot that when Evil Walter is "working his magic" on a place it seems normal to anyone not in the vicinity such as Henry being locked up in his apartment, and no one being able to tell if anythings wrong, so also there's the possibility of this. While South Ashfield's going to hell he is casting an illusion on the town to make it appear normal because he has the town in another dimension. In the Silent Hill movie it's stated that you can't just go to Silent Hill, you can't find it anywhere on the Earth despite it being on the Earth, because Silent Hill itself is in a seperate dimension on the Earth, and Henry stated that he is trapped in another dimension and couldn't contact anyone else, meaning Walter could have South Ashfield in the palm in his hands making him the Devil and South Ashfield or his kingdom hell. Making it another Silent hill. Maybe Silent Hill will make a game that will take place in South Ashfield or make a game with it in the title like "Silent Hill South Ashfield (something I don't know)".

Room 302 leaks Otherworld powers into Henry and allows him to astral-project
Since it can only be assumed that (dead) Walter is somehow using Alessa's power to manipulate the Otherworld and bring it to the apartments, it isn't out of the realm of possibility that the power emanates from Walter's corpse, which is located in room 302. The occupant of room 302 therefore temporarily gains a small portion of Alessa's psychic abilities-- namely, the ability to see ghosts and to astral-project themselves to Otherworld locations in real time. Because both Joseph and Henry had never had any prior abilities, they were unable to control them and simply began astral-flinging themselves to wherever Walter was by default. The holes were constructed by their poor, abused psyches trying to make at least some sense out of the lunacy going on. This is why Eileen says that Henry simply disappears and doesn't see the holes, and why Henry always awoke in his bed when he returned.

Since Eileen was awoken in the Otherworld hospital and not the real-world hospital, it can be further speculated that Henry has "woken" her spirit while she was resting and brought her along, also astral-projecting, despite the fact that she is normally incapable of this. She is only injured because she perceives herself as being injured, which is why instead of further injuries crippling her she simply begins to become possessed. Unlike Henry, she doesn't have Alessa's abilities to shield her from malevolent entities. Or Walter, for that matter.

In "Escape" and "Eileen's Death" endings, the room loses its power, but in "21 Sacraments" and "Mother", the room will continue to endow its occupants with supernatural abilities.

Walter Sullivan is Johan Liebert.
After he escaping from the hospital, Johan travels around the world. He stumbles into Silent Hill, an attraction that is abandoned. He then takes an interest in the cult and its practices. Upon learning of how they murder for their God, his already insane mind has cracked.

He then isolates himself from everyone and begins living in Silent Hill alone. In those days living there, his hair has become long and wears a coat, and begins his killings again under the name Walter Sullivan. The police has arrested him; this is part of Johan's plan to commit suicide while being locked up. He finally did it, but his murders in Silent Hill have been part of a ritual to brought him back as a ghost. His soul splits into two: the psychopathic adult (the Monster personality) and the normal child (the normal personality). Johan has transferred his dead body into Room 302 and plans again the murders to have someone kill the Monster personality. That's when Henry Townsend gets to do it and successfully killed that personality.
 * Alternatively, Johan is the reincarnation of Walter Sullivan.
 * You have no idea how that made me screech. Though that begs the question: does that make the orphanage Walter was in 511 Kinderheim?

Walter Sullivan does know who his biological parents are.
We know that the whole entire setting is Walter Sullivan's mindset, the more deeper the player delves deeper in there the more the player learns about Walter Sullivan because they are really digging in his mind. When Henry(the player) get's the umbillical cord they see a brief glimpse of his real parents, to add to that before the player enters Frank Sunderland's room for the second time they hear Walter parents so we the player know that Walter at least knows what his parents look and sound like. Why he didn't hunt them down to appease the ten hearts sacrifice is because he was still human at the time and had no way to find them. After Walter Sullivan performed the ritual of the "holy" assumption we know he attained numerous supernatrual powers even the ability to track someone down from hundreds or even thousands miles away(Tony Archibolt, the dude who got killed outside of the U.S). Walter doesn't acknowledge or better yet accept the fact that the couple he saw was a baby was his parents and has created a false world of illusion that revolves around the fact that Room 302 is his mother, to help him do this he tries to block out the identity of his biological parents; that's why the player never actually hears his real parents name. If by some chance he didn't know his parents name he could of easily found out by checking through the apartments past room owner records, but he won't because he doesn't acknowledge the truth. The reason why he didn't murder them for the round two murders is because they didn't fit any of the murder themes. If he knew where they were while he was committing the round one murders(ten hearts) he would of killed them because that required ten random humans, but the round two murders were a lot more specific.

Henry Townsend is a man with Aspergers Syndrome.
He doesn't really care for social activity, also most would find it kind of odd how someone could be locked in a room with no interaction and still look as normal as if something like that wasn't going on. He sometimes has trouble socializing when ever he does choose to do so, an example of this is his somewhat akward verbal exchange with Richard Braintree. His brain is wired to a specific routine and hates having it being disturbed such as him living his life the same day everyday and being very content with it and no wanting any alterations in it(He lived in his apartment for two years and was enjoying his life) one could see that nothing was really going on before the Walter Sullivan conflict meaning that he wasn't really doing that much except living a normal life. He possess a narrow aray of interest, we see all of Henry's interest in his apartment: cars, photography,apparently smoking. Finally he appears to be heavily fixated with something just as anyone with Aspergers his, he seems to take a very keen interest or almost an obsession with Silent Hill.

Walter Sullivan is suffering from severe xenophobia.
Explaining why he hates all other forms of life and more importantly his insanity.

Walter's Homicidal Peter Pan status stems from his inability to accept the truth rather than the cult's teachings
In one of Joseph's notes the player reads that someone lied to Walter sullivan stating that Room 302 was his mother, but in another set of notes it reads that someone did tell Walter that his parents dropped him off at Room 302, so Walter was feed at least some of the truth; when the player enters apartment world for the second time and finds those things that look like bodies bags hanging up they can hear what Walter audibly remembers of his real parents when he get's close enough to them, showing the player that Walter is at least aware of the existence of his biological parents. Him despising the female body is due to him hating his real mother and the fact that people are conceived through their mother not mystically as his grown up child psyche would consider. Walter subconsiously knows that everything that the cult taught him was lies, but has built the nightmare world or better yet "his" fantasy world to escape reality rather than to isolate himself from society.

Eileen Galvin was Walter
Both Eileen and Henry have recollections of being together. The exchange on the hospital on the good endings imply that, at the very least, Henry was not her aggressor and that the victims really did share the experiences they lived on Walter's worlds. Moreover, the worst ending has Henry's face disfigured beyond recognition. Barring some improbable shenanigans, that implies he was not his own killer; he would have died well before inflicting disfiguring wounds to that extreme. If we knew the wounds were made post-mortem, that last fact would have been incontestable; unfortunately, we don't have that information at hand. Note here that because both Eileen and Henry have recollections of the events of the game and because of the fact that Eileen seems to get possessed by Walter the more she's hit by him or his demons (trait no other victim seems to possess), Eileen is the best candidate to be the "real" Walter, and the development and ending of the game would then be but a folie à deux, Eileen being the responsible for all of "Walter"'s killings, and Henry believing in her psychosis where a separate entity is stalking them and killing people around them. That last assumption gains strength when you realize that: It's important to point out that the whole point of the ritual was to bring God into Earth to create a paradise, but Walter wanted to perform the ritual because he wanted to get inside his "mother", depicted as room 302 in the game. In any case, Walter chose Eileen as the "Mother" sacrifice; that would imply that he sees Eileen as how his mother would be. It could also be interpreted as him acknowledging that Eileen was his original creator, and unless he gets "inside his mother" and "gets conceived properly", he'll be forever trapped as Eileen. This also explains the amount of "birth" imagery on the game, including the umbilical cords; they represent Walter's desire to be born as "proper" Walter. At the end of the game, his own suicide as Eileen becomes fundamental for him to be a "proper Walter". Eileen's tarot equivalence is number XX: Judgement; the success of her sacrifice serves the purpose of judging whether Walter should keep on and become the "new Eileen" or Eileen should keep being Eileen. Going a little further, Henry's equivalence is number XXI: The World; this could mean that Eileen could have had feelings for Henry, and his sacrifice would sever all of Eileen's ties with the world, allowing Walter to become "proper" Walter. The World can also mean wholeness, involvement and integration, so it is also possible that Walter began to have feelings for Henry, and he felt the urge to take Henry with him in order to become proper Walter at last. It's more possible Walter had feelings for Henry because Walter gave him a means to stop him, as to let him "emergency abort" if it was not what Henry wanted or if he didn't want Walter to succeed. His role as the "Receiver of Wisdom" is merely representative; in order to accept Walter, he has to learn that he was Eileen, that he was struggling to become a proper Walter [for Henry] and that he needs his sacrifice to succeed. Even if Walter makes conscious attempts at forcing him to accept his will, it's ultimately up to Henry to decide whether Walter becomes proper or not, regardless of the result of the battle. In a sense, then, Henry ticked off Walter by sticking with his female side (note that he wasn't hostile towards Henry before, and probably didn't intend to be hostile towards him until it was time to get him integrated into his world). Walter thought he would choose Eileen instead of him, and tried to accelerate his "choice" by killing both at the same time. Note that the holes Henry sees are a means to escape Walter (Eileen cannot see the holes or escape with Henry because she is Walter in a sense); even if Walter's apparitions manage to sneak by Henry's apartment, they can be easily dispelled, contrary to what happens with apparitions in Walter's worlds. Walter essentially gave him a safe-spot while he prepared everything to become proper Walter. When Henry ticked off Walter, the latter decided Henry didn't deserve that luxury anymore. About the hole on the bathroom, Henry was supposed to see Eileen "die" at the apartment world, then get trapped in his room and eventually die by Walter. As Eileen didn't "die", Walter granted him another hole in order to see her die, but he didn't think he would get on her side, triggering the reaction I explained before. The second visits to Walter's worlds are essentially an overstaying on part of Henry and the female Eileen; the latter was supposed to die either while or shortly after the Hospital World. Under the previous assumptions, it then becomes possible that Eileen is Walter; she's the real culprit behind the killings and she's also delusional; the ending of the game determines whether she gets "cured" from Walter or not, and whether Henry accepts her as Walter or as Eileen. Regarding Joseph Schreiber's intention for the effects of this WMG: Joseph had no choice but to let Henry know about Walter. The information he provides as the Giver of Wisdom serves not the purpose of arming Henry with the necessary knowledge to thwart Walter's plans, but to make him apt for sacrifice. Regardless of the Walter's intentions, Henry's role required him to be present at Walter's killings after Joseph and to know about Walter's past (which Joseph obediently recollected). If Walter wanted to succeed, he had no option but to hand Henry the layout of his life (and possibly the ways to thwart his plans). Joseph is not machinating on favour of Henry, but against him. Joseph's equivalence is number XV: the Devil. Whether it's straight or reversed, the Devil has negative connotations, so, regardless of circumstances, Joseph's ghost was trying to cause harm to Henry, or diminishing his probabilities at surviving. As Joseph appears upside-down on Room 302 of the Past, the most probable card layout intended for Joseph was reverted, which incidentally bears the most negative meanings for the given card. The scene is also reminiscent the card's layout: a demon (victimized Joseph under Walter's control) surrounded by a man and a woman chained to him (in the sense that all what he is doing is harming their probabilities at escaping Walter's plans). The dream at the beginning could be seen either as Joseph's spirit trying to get Henry's trust, one way or another, in order to manipulate him easily, or as a form of forcing Henry to know the truth before the Red Diary scraps and later the upside-down apparition were introduced in play.
 * Walter was a medic[al student], while Eileen has a nurse costume, hinting at her working as a nurse; they have similar abilities. She could have easily faked the surgical stitches performed on Walter's victims. It makes more sense than a freelance photographer faking them.
 * The Shabby Doll was originally Eileen's. If Henry stores it on his inventory box, he runs the risk of setting an apparition loose on his apartment. Why would Walter hand out and let alone curse one of his victim's possessions aside from it coming from one of his sacraments (again, trait no other victim's possessions have) is left unclear. If Eileen really is Walter, then it would make sense; Eileen would give Henry the doll in order to mark him out and curse him; the doll has no real value for her; she's just playing around the folie à deux. That would also explain the hazy meeting Eileen had with Walter; note that her tutor would not only let her be near a shady man, but also let her hand a doll out to him. Eileen was actually reminiscing on the time she first decided to become "Walter", which may or may not be an alternate personality. This may also imply that she's either a female-to-male transgender when being Walter, or having problems with being female. Her Walter side is essentially motherless, since he was technically not born from a real mother. Room 302 is probably the place where he began "having consciousness", after an undisclosed event, probably the coming of the presumed "real" Walter. That last bit about Eileen having problems with being female gains strength if you notice the female victims were more brutalized than the male ones (Miriam getting completely hacked while her brother just received an ax to the head, Cynthia being completely covered in knife wounds, Eileen almost getting killed by hitting her until she dies, etc).
 * As I've said, Eileen "connects" with Walter's memories and personality the more she is brutalized by him or his minions. Going by the assumption above, she hates being female, and sees getting hit by Walter's manifestations a way of becoming him. Outside of that assumption, it could be seen as her "Eileen" part and her "Walter" part contesting each other for dominance. Depending on how much damage she endures, she can really act like if she's Walter, especially on the scrapbook scene. She also goes towards the death machine faster the more she had been damaged, which would be the complete opposite of what should happen; the more wounded she is, the more sluggish she should become due to the pain and debilitating hits endured, mind control or not. Based on the previous assumptions, the endings are determined not by Eileen's damage and exorcism rate of the room, but whether or not Eileen's "Eileen" side wins against "Walter" side (Walter gets rid of the Eileen on his body if she dies in-game) and whether or not Henry submitted to the folie à deux (letting his room be haunted by Walter's apparitions would mean he is accepting Walter as the "real Eileen", and not Eileen herself). Note here that Walter's "win" conditions are to have possession over Henry['s apartment] and to kill Eileen; even if he gets killed by Henry before Walter can kill him, he succeeds; his real objective is to kill his female self; Henry's sacrifice is an extra he is aiming to, which I'll explain in a while.
 * Walter is unable to kill Eileen until the end of the game. Little Walter saved Eileen once from big Walter, which could hint at the Walter persona starting out as an imaginary friend for Eileen, and he remembered it before killing her for the first time. He then changed tactics; he tried to gain control over Eileen's part of their mind and making her commit suicide, as to not have to kill her himself. The damage Eileen endures during the game debilitates her control over her mind, while increasing Walters'. Walter wins if Eileen dies at the last scene, and vice-versa. Her survival is also partly determined by Henry, the second participant of the dual psychosis. Even if he prevented Walter from harming Eileen, giving him an almost sure-fire way to save her from Walter, it is still possible for him to stall until Eileen dies. He basically is responsible of breaking the delusion and let Eileen be Eileen, or keep believing in Walter and thus let Walter take over completely Eileen before murdering Henry and committing suicide, or just let himself get killed, depending on the ending.
 * We at least know that the "real" Walter was delusional; we know there had to be at least a "real" Walter killing people because of Silent Hill 2's magazine article on the subject; it's highly unlikely that the police officers would confuse Eileen for a male Walter. He at least killed Billy and Miriam Locane, and then tried to incriminate a so-called "Red Devil" before committing suicide. It is possible that the "Red Devil" was Eileen's "Walter" forcing the "real" Walter to kill and take the blame for him. As it's hinted that the "real" Walter was a follower of the one of Silent Hill's sects, as seen on the Wish House, it's possible that he actually thought Eileen was the reincarnation of God, aptly dressed in red on her depictions, and he decided to call her the Red Devil instead of God because of the atrocities she forced him to do (the Xuchilbara/Executioner imagery comes to mind, also). It then becomes completely plausible that, knowing where Walter was buried, Eileen profaned his tomb, took away his body and crucified him on room 302.

The random deaths Henry might experience in otherworld or in Room 302( not including the death he might suffer at the hands of Walter Sullivan) are canon.
Being that Henry is an important facet to the 21 sacraments and more importantly that each suitalble sacrifice has to be killed in the correct order, Walter wouldn't just let Henry die until the time was right for the sake of his mother. The diary in Henry's apartment is in fact enchanted whether the player knows it or not and everytime he uses it, it stores his life force in it along with his thoughts. That is why when the player chooses to hit the continue option instead of the load option they will be in a sense respawned(brought back to life) with everything like it was before Henry's supposed death. That's because Henry actually was revived, by dark evil malicous powers that want him dead ironically. When Henry dies it's the exact same thing as when he uses the holes to get back in the apartment, he thinks he simply just dazed out and it is his so called wild imagination at work but all of this is actually happening. When we see Walter for the first time in game in subway world he tries to kill Henry, but even if his does why doesn't he die for good being that it will supposedly be the 21st and last sacrifice? Walter is the main source of Henry's diary protective power so he should be way more stronger than it. It's because Walter doesn't want Henry to die yet unbeilievably because he's not the Reciever of Wisdom yet. Walter or better yet Evil Walter is just having some fun tormenting Henry and brutally assaulting him while Walter is invunerable(pure satanism) having a little fun time until Henry truly becomes the Reciever of Wisdom(Which is Henry learning the truth) which happens after Henry get's baby Walter's umbillical cord and his head starts hurting right after seing a brief glimpse of Walter's real parents. You'll notice that after this happens Walter Sullivan isn't seen anymore until the final battle, that's because when Walter finally ready to kill Henry because he's officially the Reciever of Wisdom. That's why after you engage in that last battle you can't save or at least even access your save point(diary), because if Walter kills Henry by his hand now he won't let the diary bring Henry back to life because the sacrafices would be complete and he doesn't need Henry alive anymore. One last thing, the reason why the 21 sacraments ending doesn't play if Henry is killed by Walter(Gameplay) is only for the sake of the gameplay, because the creators wanted each individual ending no matter how good or how bad to be played after Henry killed Walter; they wanted the 21 sacraments ending to be achieved depending on how much Henry exorcised his apartment and whether or not Eileen lived.

Walter Sullivan is the Silent hill version of Damien.
Practically Self explanotory. Despite their settings and the enviorments they were born in(Walter was abandoned and raised by an orphange whence Damien was raised by two loving caring parents) They are alike in many ways atleast when it comes in mental and auguably spiritual characteristics. Both of them confirmed religous prophecies Walter appeasing a blasphemous cult's prophecies while Damien acting out the prophecies in what's described in the holy righteous Christian bible as the antichrist. Both of them specialize in some worldly art, Walter specializes in unsacred blood rituals while Damien appears to specialize in politics. Both of them apparently despise the humans that gave birth to them.Both of them are the perfect examples of evil child tropes Walter Sullivan being a Psychopathic Manchild and Damien being a Creepy Child. Both of them have a malevolent supernatural like parental/guardian figure Walter's being Room 302 and Damiens being Lucifer. Their hair is similar of course, and finally both of them intend to literally bring hell to earth.

Walter Sullivan's unnamed biological parents were targeted by the Cult just like Sharon Blake's family.
That's the reason why suddenly "dissappeared" from their apartment and forsaked their son. Being how The Mother Sect recieves financial rewards for it's "raising" orphan children,the Silent Hill Smile Support Society the cult could of been well off.When the player hear what Walter audibly remembers about his parents, they sound like there trying to elude something more than responsibility, or better yet said someone. It's stated in the game that Walter's parents most likely had financial problems, meaning Walter's parents actually made a bargain with the sinister devil worshipping religous group. Walter's parents would "conviently" abandon their son(Walter), Walter would be eventually discovered by someone most likely the apartment tenants/employees then after all the paperwork and other nonsense was done for the baby, he would be conviently assimilated into the Silent Hill "Smile" Support Society, but not without Walter's good for nothing parents receiving financial compensation as well as immunity from future harassment and very possibly murder from the insane cult. Just like there was a logical explanation for what was happening to Henry and he didn't just coincidentally go insane, Walter being abandon and just suddenly adopted by a orphange like that seems a little to much to be a minor coincential catalyst that just so happened to spark up all of these catastrophic events. Walter being abandoned then getting adopted by the cult was really planned.

Silent hill 4 is a reboot.
That explains why it's the first game in the Silent hill franchise to usher in a whole bunch of new stuff. With the previous three games apparently suffering from Seasonal Rot Team Silent subconsiously felt they should surprise everyone with something unexpected, instead of what everyone would expect from Silent Hill. However the creator's couldn't make it seem like a gaiden game and just make it nothing like the other Silent Hill games and just only give it the name, and that's why Silent Hill 4 makes numerous references to its previous three predessors, to show the player that there is a connection if not in gameplay similarites like the player would be expecting since the last two games, but in Canon.

Henry was horribly abused by his parents.
Depending on the type of abuse and the extent of it, it would explain why Henry is very lackluster in his reactions to things. Severe abuse makes it difficult for people to relate to one another and express emotions. It could also explain why he keeps to himself so much that no one thought it was weird that he hadn't come out of his apartment for several days.