Éire Literature

I recently completed Silent Hill F, a new addition to the very popular game franchise. I wasn’t expecting such an intense and heartwrenching story alongside the incredible fight scenes and confusing dynamics. The story follows Hinako, a young school girl in a small town in fifties Japan. Her family consists of her parents and her older sister, Junko, who recently got married and moved out. Junko is a mysterious figure throughout the game. We never see her face or learn what truly happened to her, but it’s all jumbled in her mind. Everything is depicted through Hinako’s eyes, whether we choose to believe it’s truly happening or not. Hinako is accompanied through parts of the game by her two friends, one of them being Shu. A childhood friend, who very obviously has romantic feelings for her. Though it’s so clear to see, Hinako blatantly ignores it and acts as friendly as she can muster. As the story progresses, we see more context behind Hinako’s behavior. After witnessing her older sister’s betrothal, she’s utterly terrified of marriage and the possibility of turning into her mother. Her mother obeys her father without question and has to submit herself to him entirely. Both her mother’s and her sister’s experiences in marriage made Hinako ultimately make up her mind to avoid marriage at all cost. 

We witness her battle multiple distorted figures throughout the story, each one pertaining to her phobia of marriage. They resemble grotesque brides channeling her fears into physical entities. Like lots of stories about women, it ends once they are married. She fights so hard in order to prevent the end of her story over and over again, as each event gets more violent. Shu continues to stay by her side, as she fights her inner self who wants to submit and let herself belong to him. We play as two different versions of her, the “real” Hinako and the one within her head. The Hinako that is in her head fights enemies and goes through countless marriage rituals as she gets closer and closer to the altar. The “real” Hinako fights continuously  to escape the pressure of parents, friends, and her older sister, to give in and let it happen. As her mind gets more twisted and her actions become less real, she gradually starts to lose her sanity completely. 

Depending on who is playing, Hinako can give in to her imaginary groom and the idea of a suffocating marriage, or she can leave the altar with Shu, ultimately to be married off to him instead. One of the last options is seeing the aftermath in the real world, where she loses all grip on reality and kills people at her arranged wedding, running away to be on her own. Other options are just as confusing as everything else in the game; some have both Hinakos, some only have one, and mostly depict a pretend world. I received the murder ending. Although I wouldn’t say it’s the happiest, I’m relieved I got that outcome versus the ending with one of her two “love interests.” After all she endured, I think it’s a disservice to allow her to end with an outcome she so desperately wished to escape. It could be chopped up to accept the inevitable, that it’s not as scary as she imagined, but I think it diminishes the meaning behind the story. For a girl stuck in such a trapping situation, she fights diligently to give herself the freedom that she and all women deserve.