Jump to content

Alessa Gillespie: Difference between revisions

Add links
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Browse history interactively
← Previous editNext edit →
Content deleted Content added
VisualWikitext
Benten (talk | contribs)
11,894 edits
m rv. This one seems less needed (it's more about Claudia than about Alessa).
Benten (talk | contribs)
11,894 edits
m Using tags.
Line 44: Line 44:
===Video games===
===Video games===
====1999====
====1999====
Alessa debuted with the [[March 4]], [[1999]] release of the video game ''[[Silent Hill (video game)|Silent Hill]]'' in [[Japan]]. The character was born with incredible [[psychic]] powers, including spiritual intuition and [[premonition]]. Had she been living under normal circumstances, her abilities may have almost never manifested themselves, but she was branded a [[Witchcraft|witch]] by her classmates at school for displaying these strange gifts.<ref>'''Heather:''' Her classmates called her a witch. She could make things happen with her mind. She could kill people just by wishing for it. (''[[Silent Hill 3]].'' [[Konami]], [[2003]].)</ref> Her only friend in childhood was [[Claudia Wolf]], who sympathized with her because she also came from an abusive family background.
Alessa debuted with the [[March 4]], [[1999]] release of the video game ''[[Silent Hill (video game)|Silent Hill]]'' in [[Japan]]. The character was born with incredible [[psychic]] powers, including spiritual intuition and [[premonition]]. Had she been living under normal circumstances, her abilities may have almost never manifested themselves, but she was branded a [[Witchcraft|witch]] by her classmates at school for displaying these strange gifts.<ref>'''Heather:''' Her classmates called her a witch. She could make things happen with her mind. She could kill people just by wishing for it.{{cite video game|title=Silent Hill 3|developer=Team Silent|publisher=Konami|date=2003-07-03|platform=PlayStation 2/PC|language=English}}</ref> Her only friend in childhood was [[Claudia Wolf]], who sympathized with her because she also came from an abusive family background.


[[Dahlia Gillespie|Dahlia]] became convinced that a certain ritual, to birth the cult's [[List of Silent Hill monsters#Divine creatures in Silent Hill|God]], would likely be a success if she used her daughter as its birthmother. The technique had been performed on other girls that The Order abducted, but all previous attempts had failed. At the age of seven, Alessa is offered as a [[Human sacrifice|sacrifice]] by Dahlia to the God in the cellar of their house by immolating her body.<ref>{{cite web|publisher=[[Konami]]|title="Alessa's History"|work=Book of Lost Memories (per Translated Memories translation)|url=http://www.translatedmemories.com/bookpgs/Pg08-09AlessasHistory.jpg|date=[[2003]]|accessdate=2007-07-26}}</ref> The plan succeeds, with Alessa becoming pregnant with the deity–which remained suspended in embryotic form–but a part of the girl's soul escaped and is reborn as a baby found by [[Harry Mason]] and his wife outside Silent Hill.<ref>'''Dahlia:''' Everything is going according to plan. Sheltered in the womb.<br>'''Doctor:''' But it's not done yet. Half the soul is lost. That is why the seed lies dormant. (''[[Silent Hill (video game)|Silent Hill]]''. [[Konami]], [[1999]].)</ref> This baby came to be called [[Heather (Silent Hill)|Cheryl Mason]].
[[Dahlia Gillespie|Dahlia]] became convinced that a certain ritual, to birth the cult's [[List of Silent Hill monsters#Divine creatures in Silent Hill|God]], would likely be a success if she used her daughter as its birthmother. The technique had been performed on other girls that The Order abducted, but all previous attempts had failed. At the age of seven, Alessa is offered as a [[Human sacrifice|sacrifice]] by Dahlia to the God in the cellar of their house by immolating her body.<ref>{{cite web|publisher=[[Konami]]|title="Alessa's History"|work=Book of Lost Memories (per Translated Memories translation)|url=http://www.translatedmemories.com/bookpgs/Pg08-09AlessasHistory.jpg|date=[[2003]]|accessdate=2007-07-26}}</ref> The plan succeeds, with Alessa becoming pregnant with the deity–which remained suspended in embryotic form–but a part of the girl's soul escaped and is reborn as a baby found by [[Harry Mason]] and his wife outside Silent Hill.<ref>'''Dahlia:''' Everything is going according to plan. Sheltered in the womb.<br>'''Doctor:''' But it's not done yet. Half the soul is lost. That is why the seed lies dormant.{{cite video game|title=Silent Hill|developer=Team Silent|publisher=Konami|date=1999-03-04|platform=Sony PlayStation|language=English}}</ref> This baby came to be called [[Heather (Silent Hill)|Cheryl Mason]].


In order to lure the missing portion of Alessa's spirit back to its point of origin, Dahlia intentionally kept her daughter in a state of excruciating pain for years to compel Cheryl to return. Confined to Alchemilla Hospital's basement and tended to by [[Lisa Garland]], Alessa was given [[Psychedelics, dissociatives and deliriants|hallucinogenic drugs]], which further intensified her torment. Feeling that Cheryl was drawing near, Alessa's latent psychic abilities were triggered; she shrouded Silent Hill in fog and [[Reality warping|altered reality]] to prevent her mother's scheme from advancing. Many of the drastic changes that befall the town, such as the horrific [[List of Silent Hill monsters|creatures]] that come to inhabit it, are conjured from her imagination and delusions.<ref name="B"/>
In order to lure the missing portion of Alessa's spirit back to its point of origin, Dahlia intentionally kept her daughter in a state of excruciating pain for years to compel Cheryl to return. Confined to Alchemilla Hospital's basement and tended to by [[Lisa Garland]], Alessa was given [[Psychedelics, dissociatives and deliriants|hallucinogenic drugs]], which further intensified her torment. Feeling that Cheryl was drawing near, Alessa's latent psychic abilities were triggered; she shrouded Silent Hill in fog and [[Reality warping|altered reality]] to prevent her mother's scheme from advancing. Many of the drastic changes that befall the town, such as the horrific [[List of Silent Hill monsters|creatures]] that come to inhabit it, are conjured from her imagination and delusions.<ref name="B"/>


While searching for the missing Cheryl in Silent Hill, Harry is manipulated by Dahlia into believing that Alessa possessed the "Mark of [[Samael]]," the mark of a demon. She instructs him to use a sacred item, the [[Flauros]], to stop Alessa from completing Samael's five crests and plunging the entire town into a hellish [[Parallel universe (fiction)|alternate dimension]] known as "Otherworld".<ref>'''Dahlia:''' There's only two left, to seal this town to the abyss, the mark of Samael. When it is completed, all is lost. Even in daytime, darkness will cover the sun. The dead will walk, and martyrs will burn in the fires of hell! Everyone will die!...Stop the demon! The demon! The demon taking that child's form!...You will need to use it.<br>'''Harry:''' Use what?<br>'''Dahlia:''' The Flauros. Only with that can you stop it. (''[[Silent Hill (video game)|Silent Hill]]''. [[Konami]], [[1999]].)</ref> Taking the bait, Harry neutralizes Alessa, only to learn that she was really trying to contain Otherworld herself with the "Seal of [[Metatron]]" (an [[Amulet|talisman]] that recurs in ''[[Silent Hill 3]]''). Dahlia finally combines both halves of Alessa's soul into one, however, depending on the player's actions during gameplay, Alessa emerges either as a white-clad figure named "Icubator" or the demonic "Incubus". In the latter case, Dahlia's former associate [[Michael Kaufmann|Dr. Kaufmann]] throws a sample of [[Aglaophotis]] onto Alessa to prematurely expell the God, but both scenarios result in Dahlia being killed by the birthed deity.
While searching for the missing Cheryl in Silent Hill, Harry is manipulated by Dahlia into believing that Alessa possessed the "Mark of [[Samael]]," the mark of a demon. She instructs him to use a sacred item, the [[Flauros]], to stop Alessa from completing Samael's five crests and plunging the entire town into a hellish [[Parallel universe (fiction)|alternate dimension]] known as "Otherworld".<ref>'''Dahlia:''' There's only two left, to seal this town to the abyss, the mark of Samael. When it is completed, all is lost. Even in daytime, darkness will cover the sun. The dead will walk, and martyrs will burn in the fires of hell! Everyone will die!...Stop the demon! The demon! The demon taking that child's form!...You will need to use it.<br>'''Harry:''' Use what?<br>'''Dahlia:''' The Flauros. Only with that can you stop it.{{cite video game|title=Silent Hill|developer=Team Silent|publisher=Konami|date=1999-03-04|platform=Sony PlayStation|language=English}}</ref> Taking the bait, Harry neutralizes Alessa, only to learn that she was really trying to contain Otherworld herself with the "Seal of [[Metatron]]" (an [[Amulet|talisman]] that recurs in ''[[Silent Hill 3]]''). Dahlia finally combines both halves of Alessa's soul into one, however, depending on the player's actions during gameplay, Alessa emerges either as a white-clad figure named "Icubator" or the demonic "Incubus". In the latter case, Dahlia's former associate [[Michael Kaufmann|Dr. Kaufmann]] throws a sample of [[Aglaophotis]] onto Alessa to prematurely expell the God, but both scenarios result in Dahlia being killed by the birthed deity.


Following the God's defeat at the hands of Harry, a fading apparition of Alessa creates a small portal back to the real world and hands him a newborn child containing the fused soul of herself and Cheryl, who he would raise as his own child.<ref>'''Heather:''' After the god died, the girl reappeared. She was holding a baby in her arms. Before she died, she gave the baby to my father. He loved me just like I was his very own daughter. (''[[Silent Hill 3]].'' [[Konami]], [[2003]].)</ref>
Following the God's defeat at the hands of Harry, a fading apparition of Alessa creates a small portal back to the real world and hands him a newborn child containing the fused soul of herself and Cheryl, who he would raise as his own child.<ref>'''Heather:''' After the god died, the girl reappeared. She was holding a baby in her arms. Before she died, she gave the baby to my father. He loved me just like I was his very own daughter.{{cite video game|title=Silent Hill 3|developer=Team Silent|publisher=Konami|date=2003-07-03|platform=PlayStation 2/PC|language=English}}</ref>


====2003====
====2003====

Revision as of 01:27, 31 July 2007

Alessa Gillespie
Silent Hill series character
File:Alessa.jpg
A photograph of Alessa found in the basement of Alchemilla Hospital in the first Silent Hill installment
First gameSilent Hill (1999)
Created byTeam Silent

Alessa Gillespie (アレッサ・ギレスピー, Aressa Giresupī) is a fictional character in the Silent Hill video game series largely created by Team Silent. Silent Hill is one of Konami's premier survival horror game franchises, which sold over 4 million copies worldwide as of 2004.[1] Their enduring popularity has led to many incarnations of the Silent Hill story and of its Alessa Gillespie character. The character's first appearance took place in the 1999 Silent Hill video game, where her appearance was conveyed by a computer-generated image. The character Alessa has been featured on Konami's merchandising for the franchise, and in a horror film based on the Silent Hill series.

Alessa is the daughter of Dahlia Gillespie, the leader of a cult known as The Order that operates out of the ficticious titular town of Silent Hill. She was originally meant to follow in her mother's footsteps and take over as spiritualistic medium for the religious group, but her role in the franchise is greater, her history directly influencing all events in the Silent Hill universe.

Alessa is portrayed by Canadian actress Jodelle Ferland in the Silent Hill film.

Conception and creation

Character creation

"The principle behind her [Alessa's] behavior is that she desires to escape from suffering. It will become easier to understand if I say 'to die'."
— Hiroyuki Owaku[2]

Silent Hill writer Hiroyuki Owaku described Alessa's situation as one of "obsession," wherein "the object of Alessa's obsession was only for herself to cease to exist. It is a sentiment rooted in benevolence".[2] As Alessa was rendered immortal while acting as the vessel for her faith's unborn God, she became affixed to the idea of escaping life to die. Her appearance changed depending on the place within which she resided, as her most negative emotions were concentrated in certain locations that held significance to traumatic experiences in her past.[2]

Team Silent originally intended to name her "Asia" after Italian film director Dario Argento's daughter, Asia Argento, but dropped it in favor of "Alessa" when they decided that it was much too uncommon of a name.[3] The character is represented by the Empress card in Silent Hill's Tarot symbology.[2]

Although Alessa is not always physically present throughout gameplay, her presence is reinforced by symbolism. Images of wheelchairs, bloody bandages, and halved things are suggestive of her hospitalization and death, and rotating objects such as fans and valves are indicative of her constant cycle of death and rebirth.[4] The burns suffered in her mother's ritual are reflected in writhing shadows and the twisted movements of Silent Hill's creatures, and her rejection of the cult's teachings and of herself as the conduit for calling forth its God are marked by blood-red background tones, recurring bad dreams, and afterimages.[5]

Actor portrayal

In the first Silent Hill video game, Alessa was voiced by Sandra Wayne. She was succeeded by Heather Morris, who took on the eponymous role of Alessa's reincarnation in Silent Hill 3.

Characteristics

Alessa's thoughts and fears were contorted by her powers into the various supernatural phenomena that plague Silent Hill. When she was young, the girl enjoyed collecting butterflies and drawing pictures, but she was afraid of insects other than butterflies, and menacing or frightening animals like large dogs, snakes, and worms.[6] In addition, she developed an aversion to adults from being mistreated by her mother and the cult.[6]

Fairy tales and similar books read by Alessa in her youth also contribute to the town's motif. Her favorite work, Arthur Conan Doyle's The Lost World, was the basis for the "Air Screamer" monster,[6] and the predicament that Harry Mason and his daughter Cheryl face in the first Silent Hill game (that of being lost in another world) is compared to Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland.[7] The Wizard of Oz and Mother Goose nursery rhymes are prevalent as well.[7] The transformation that Silent Hill goes through therefore embodies Alessa's mind, and signs of her influence become more prominent as the town sinks deeper into darkness.[7]

Appearances

Video games

1999

Alessa debuted with the March 4, 1999 release of the video game Silent Hill in Japan. The character was born with incredible psychic powers, including spiritual intuition and premonition. Had she been living under normal circumstances, her abilities may have almost never manifested themselves, but she was branded a witch by her classmates at school for displaying these strange gifts.[8] Her only friend in childhood was Claudia Wolf, who sympathized with her because she also came from an abusive family background.

Dahlia became convinced that a certain ritual, to birth the cult's God, would likely be a success if she used her daughter as its birthmother. The technique had been performed on other girls that The Order abducted, but all previous attempts had failed. At the age of seven, Alessa is offered as a sacrifice by Dahlia to the God in the cellar of their house by immolating her body.[9] The plan succeeds, with Alessa becoming pregnant with the deity–which remained suspended in embryotic form–but a part of the girl's soul escaped and is reborn as a baby found by Harry Mason and his wife outside Silent Hill.[10] This baby came to be called Cheryl Mason.

In order to lure the missing portion of Alessa's spirit back to its point of origin, Dahlia intentionally kept her daughter in a state of excruciating pain for years to compel Cheryl to return. Confined to Alchemilla Hospital's basement and tended to by Lisa Garland, Alessa was given hallucinogenic drugs, which further intensified her torment. Feeling that Cheryl was drawing near, Alessa's latent psychic abilities were triggered; she shrouded Silent Hill in fog and altered reality to prevent her mother's scheme from advancing. Many of the drastic changes that befall the town, such as the horrific creatures that come to inhabit it, are conjured from her imagination and delusions.[6]

While searching for the missing Cheryl in Silent Hill, Harry is manipulated by Dahlia into believing that Alessa possessed the "Mark of Samael," the mark of a demon. She instructs him to use a sacred item, the Flauros, to stop Alessa from completing Samael's five crests and plunging the entire town into a hellish alternate dimension known as "Otherworld".[11] Taking the bait, Harry neutralizes Alessa, only to learn that she was really trying to contain Otherworld herself with the "Seal of Metatron" (an talisman that recurs in Silent Hill 3). Dahlia finally combines both halves of Alessa's soul into one, however, depending on the player's actions during gameplay, Alessa emerges either as a white-clad figure named "Icubator" or the demonic "Incubus". In the latter case, Dahlia's former associate Dr. Kaufmann throws a sample of Aglaophotis onto Alessa to prematurely expell the God, but both scenarios result in Dahlia being killed by the birthed deity.

Following the God's defeat at the hands of Harry, a fading apparition of Alessa creates a small portal back to the real world and hands him a newborn child containing the fused soul of herself and Cheryl, who he would raise as his own child.[12]

2003

In Silent Hill 3, seventeen years after the events of the first Silent Hill game, the child given to Harry by Alessa (going by the name Heather) is approached by Claudia Wolf (now a priestess for The Order), who intends to bring about the descent of the cult's God to usher in Paradise. For this to happen Heather must remember her "true self" (Alessa). To nourish the growing fetus within her, Claudia has Harry murdered. A "memory" of Alessa, a dark emotion mimicking her likeness, is encountered by Heather in Silent Hill's Lakeside Amusement Park. While violent, it merely wished to spare Heather the same suffering that Alessa had endured.[2]

To rid herself of the God, Heather swallows a tablet of Aglaophotis given to her by her father, thereby vomitting it out of her body. Claudia, however, in desperation, devours its remains to birth the God herself. Being born of Claudia's womb, the God personified her vision of what God would look like, and therefore vaguely resembled Alessa.[13][14]

2007

Template:Future game Alessa has been confirmed to appear in the upcoming Silent Hill prequel Silent Hill: Origins.[15] Previews for the game have shown the game's protagonist Travis O'Grady rescuing Alessa from the house fire started by her mother.[16] Further details on her role in the game are unclear.

Other media

File:Silenthill6.jpg
A younger Alessa Gillespie as portrayed by Jodelle Ferland in the Silent Hill film.

The 2006 Silent Hill film's Alessa, as well as the adaptation's version of Cheryl Mason, Sharon DaSilva, and Dark Alessa, were played by Jodelle Ferland. Director Christophe Gans selected Ferland after viewing her performances in Kingdom Hospital and her screen test for Terry Gilliam's film Tideland.[17]

Based on the first four games of the series, with plotline mainly from the first game, the movie presented Alessa as a kind, but troubled girl who was the subject of constant ridicule by her classmates. It is implied that, at the age of nine, she was molested by the janitor of Midwich Elementary School, Colin. Refusing to divulge the name of Alessa's illegitimate father, the film's more sympathetic Dahlia caves in to requests by the cult's Puritanical leader, Christabella, to set things right.

Alessa is burned alive by the cult to "purify" her and supposedly hold off the Apocalypse. When the ritual fails, the fire rages out of control, consuming much of Silent Hill and eventually reaching the town's coal mines. Alessa is pulled out of the blaze and sent to the nearby Brookhaven Hospital, where, after an agonizing period, she met "the Demon" or the "Dark One," an entity that posed as her doppelgänger and promised her revenge upon those that had wronged her. Growing hateful, she allows the being to send the town and its people into a dark fascimile of her nightmare, spawning creatures symbolic of her tormentors to slay the remaining cult members trapped in Silent Hill. Alessa then used her power to create an infant (Sharon) from the last pure, uncorrupted part of her soul, and her dark alter ego delivered the baby to Toluca County Orphanage, where it would be adopted by Chris and Rose DaSilva.

With Rose's assistance, Alessa is able to penetrate the safe haven of the cult's church by means of possession, and slaughters Christabella and her flock in a scene inspired by the erotic anime Legend of the Overfiend,[18] tearing them apart with living barbed wire. Her appearance at the climax of the film closely resembles the Mary/Maria demon James Sunderland sees at the end of Silent Hill 2 due to the game being Christophe Gans' favorite installment in the Silent Hill series.[19]

References

  1. ^ "Konami and Davis films agree on film production of popular Silent Hill game - Production to begin for worldwide release -". Retrieved 2007-07-29.
  2. ^ a b c d e ""The Empress"". Book of Lost Memories (per Translated Memories translation). Konami. 2003. Retrieved 2007-07-26. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  3. ^ ""Silent Hill Character Commentary"". Book of Lost Memories (per Translated Memories translation). Konami. 2003. Retrieved 2007-07-26. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  4. ^ ""The Wheel of Fortune"". Book of Lost Memories (per Translated Memories translation). Konami. 2003. Retrieved 2007-07-26. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  5. ^ ""The Chariot"". Book of Lost Memories (per Translated Memories translation). Konami. 2003. Retrieved 2007-07-26. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  6. ^ a b c d ""Silent Hill Creature Commentary"". Book of Lost Memories (per Translated Memories translation). Konami. 2003. Retrieved 2007-07-26. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  7. ^ a b c ""The Star"". Book of Lost Memories (per Translated Memories translation). Konami. 2003. Retrieved 2007-07-26. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  8. ^ Heather: Her classmates called her a witch. She could make things happen with her mind. She could kill people just by wishing for it.Team Silent (2003-07-03). Silent Hill 3 (PlayStation 2/PC). Konami.
  9. ^ ""Alessa's History"". Book of Lost Memories (per Translated Memories translation). Konami. 2003. Retrieved 2007-07-26. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  10. ^ Dahlia: Everything is going according to plan. Sheltered in the womb.
    Doctor: But it's not done yet. Half the soul is lost. That is why the seed lies dormant.Team Silent (1999-03-04). Silent Hill (Sony PlayStation). Konami.
  11. ^ Dahlia: There's only two left, to seal this town to the abyss, the mark of Samael. When it is completed, all is lost. Even in daytime, darkness will cover the sun. The dead will walk, and martyrs will burn in the fires of hell! Everyone will die!...Stop the demon! The demon! The demon taking that child's form!...You will need to use it.
    Harry: Use what?
    Dahlia: The Flauros. Only with that can you stop it.Team Silent (1999-03-04). Silent Hill (Sony PlayStation). Konami.
  12. ^ Heather: After the god died, the girl reappeared. She was holding a baby in her arms. Before she died, she gave the baby to my father. He loved me just like I was his very own daughter.Team Silent (2003-07-03). Silent Hill 3 (PlayStation 2/PC). Konami.
  13. ^ ""Silent Hill 3 Creature Commentary"". Book of Lost Memories (per Translated Memories translation). Konami. 2003. Retrieved 2007-07-26. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)
  14. ^ ""The Eye of Night"". Book of Lost Memories (per Translated Memories translation). Konami. 2003. Retrieved 2007-07-26. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)
  15. ^ Reed, Kristian (2006-05-11). "Silent Hill Origins interview with William Oertel". Eurogamer. Retrieved 2007-07-30. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  16. ^ Berghammer, Bill (2007-04-20). "Silent Hill Origins Exclusive Hands-On". Game Informer. Retrieved 2007-07-30. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  17. ^ Ferry, IIan (2006-04-02). "Master Class Silent Hill (French)". Ecranlarge. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  18. ^ Prin, Kevin (2006-12-22). "INTERVIEW: CHRISTOPHE GANS (SILENT HILL) PARTIE 1 (French)". DVDRama. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  19. ^ "Q&A with Christophe Gans". 2007-07-29. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)


Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Alessa_Gillespie&oldid=148174041"