II : The High Priestess
Claudia Wolf
A faith which
is too pure invites a new tragedy
Claudia, a priestess in the religious organization, appears in the
game as Heather's adversary. As the game progresses, it becomes known that she
was once friends with Alessa when the two of them were young. Even though she
kills Harry, Heather's father, as well as Vincent, who is supposedly of the same
faith in upholding her cause of the revival of God and the establishment of
paradise, her actions are rooted in genuine piety in that she desires the
salvation of peoples' souls. Hers is a sorrowful existence, which cannot be
simply tucked away into the category of "villain."
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She is willing to take any steps
necessary to attain her goal of creating paradise.
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An unhappy connection with Leonard, her father, which
is the cause of her self-righteous personality
The one who guided Claudia to the town's indigenous religion was
her father, Leonard. It seems that Leonard, who held strict religious views,
forced his beliefs onto his daughter and inflicted physical punishment upon her
for irreligious behavior. From an episode in which he stabbed a patient because
of a religious dispute and from the radical memo in which he calls himself a
"protector of the seal," it can be surmised that Leonard possesses extremely
elitist ideas. Claudia has come to hope for a salvation in which not only the
chosen ones but everyone is saved, which is completely opposite from Leonard's
ideas. One can think that in the background, there were feelings of repulsion
and hatred towards her strict father.
Leonard's strict attitude towards
Claudia on the phone indicates the extremist nature of his piety. |
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Vincent seems to have witnessed the
physical punishment inflicted upon Claudia by her father. Could
Leonard's violence have been well-known even inside the religious
organization? |
Unique abilities
as a sorceress that sleep
inside Claudia
In the early stages of the game, the otherworld appears even though
Heather has not yet awakened as Alessa. This is undoubtedly due to Claudia's
power. Let's inspect a few instances that indicate her abilities.
Claudia issued the instruction to
kill Harry. It seems that she can manipulate the hearts and minds of
believers. |
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The shopping mall being swallowed
by the otherworld was due to Claudia's influence as well. |
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It seems that her abilities were
feared along with her profound devotion. |
Witch from seventeen years ago, Dahlia
Gillespie?
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In the first game, Dahlia
Gillespie was a priestess like Claudia who
attempted to revive God. Faith in God is a tradition that has been
handed
down over the years in Silent Hill, and, separated by a period of
seventeen
years, each of these two women who belonged to the same religious
organization
took steps to bring about God's revival. However, to Dahlia God is
an object
to be exploited, while to Claudia, God is a being that will bring
salvation.
Although they use a common means of "reviving God," their intentions
are
fundamentally different.
In order to arrange the differences between the two of them, let's
look back
at the first game. |
The case of Dahlia
Dahlia's
intention is to destroy and negate existing concepts by
reviving God. However, she has no concept of salvation
through the "establishment of paradise." The revival of God
is strictly a means to destroy the present world and for her
to personally command power. For this reason, she finally
comes to make her own daughter a sacrifice. It is evident
that her thought patterns exploit people she can take
advantage of such as Kaufmann and Harry to the fullest
extent possible. |
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The case of Claudia
As with Silent Hill's
long-standing tradition, Claudia's intention is to remake the
present world into paradise by reviving God. Because of her
experiences during her childhood, she perceives the world as being
full of suffering and in order to "save everyone," she attempts to
create paradise. And so one can think that for everyone to be saved,
some sacrifices like Harry and Vincent are unavoidable. |
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Although they are both priestesses who aim to revive God, their
motives are fundamentally different. |
Through the entire game, Dahlia never speaks the word "salvation." |
Her genuine faith is the cause of her actions, and she has no
intention to try to exploit God. |
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