😮😮😮😮 all these years and I never knew I lived a literal stones throw from an Iconic Silent Hill image. That Toluca image is from where I walk my dog on weekends. GamingMuse I love you ❤❤❤
Awhile back on the 101 in California i first saw a sign for toluca lake at night while a thunder and rainstorm was goin on and i freaked and geeked out so badly😂😌😅
LOL, the lake my family had a cabin and eventually a hone at had a mini lighthouse as a tourist attraction. There were even graves from the settler era on the beach we lived at. Nothing remotely supernatural happened while we were there. It is a 'special' beautiful place to me and I do hope I get to visir there again.
Speaking of water, Japan (and its native Shinto religious tradition) has a fascination with the subject. Running water is considered purifying, whereas stagnant water is linked to corruption. That corruption is called "Kegare", which is similar to the Abrahamic idea of something being "unclean", in a spiritual way. Not necessarily a moral judgement, as a person, place, or object can be tainted with Kegare through contact with blood, corpses, excrement, illness, and childbirth. But also to stagnant water, which is a breeding pool for disease and waterborne parasites. As such, the most common means of purifying Kegare involves running water; the motion of it carrying away impurity. Standing under waterfalls, or repeatedly cupping and pouring water on oneself, are common rituals of purification. In Silent Hill, the presence of Kegare is obvious. Blood and corpses everywhere, as is deformation and malign birth. From the Japanese perspective, the environments of Silent Hill are spiritually significant in their horror. That the town is situated on a still lake is further significant; a calm surface of unmoving water, concealing death that has settled at the bottom. Executioners rinsed their bloody implements in the lake (technically a swampy part thereof; more stagnation), tainting the placid water with Kegare born of suffering and death. In Downpour, the constant rain is linked to the unquiet souls of prisoners, living and dead, desiring that the stains of their transgressions be washed away. But in many places in that game, the water collects or soaks into walls, creating its own sort of stagnation in the sheltered corners. Such water damage can also be seen in SH2's hotel level, the site linked to the death James caused (and the resulting blood symbolically still on his hands; the lingering Kegare he seeks to cleanse). Let's not even get into the instances in the series where players must venture into sewer levels, the epitome of stagnation. Finally, know that, from a symbolic standpoint, the "hero's journey" Silent Hill protagonists go through can be seen as a kind of cleansing. They are the water, and are forced into movement. Silent Hill 2, for instance, shows multiple people whose _lives_ can be thought of as having stagnated and become burdened with Kegare. The blood on their hands, and their refusal to move on with their lives. Angela cannot bring herself to move from the mire, until she ends up turning to a more drastic element to facilitate her purification: fire. Eddy simply wallows in stagnation, until he becomes a spiritual breeding pool for new horrors; he had _become_ Kegare. James alone allows himself to be swept along by the current Silent Hill intended for him, confronting the corruption he tried to bury beneath the water. Which ending he goes through is indicative of how his purification went. If he leaves with Laura, he has been washed clean, his Kegare purified by his experience. "In Water" sees him submitting fully to the waves, giving in to stagnation and sinking to the bottom. The resurrection ending could be a sign that his purification has given him a brief moment of enlightenment...or is a sign of further corruption. After all, he's intent on communing with the dead, and corpses are also Kegare.
Yo that is fucking insane, I never would have thought about that! How much of Japanese do you know? Edit: Do you make analysis videos as well by using Japanese language for games like Resident Evil, Silent Hill or other games that are primarily created by developers from Japan if so then you should collaborate with other youtubers because stuff like this is mindblowing and in my opinion the original japanese words are more faithful and tells the narrative of how these games are supposed to be told?
In the PT for Silent Hills the guy on the radio talks about how you shouldn't drink the tap water. If it comes from the lake, I could see why. Great vid as always!
I think there is also something to say with the lake's association with death, reflection and otherworld alongside the fog that seems ever present in Silent Hill. You can never avoid the waters of Toluca rusting everything around you.
So glad to see another SHS. I've never notice the fact of the lake was consuming the graveyard. After all these years, SH can surprise me with such subtleties.
3:41 More reasons to think the in-water ending of Silent Hill 2 is canon. Also, thanks for another great symbolism video on Silent Hill 2, my favorite Silent Hill game.
There is also a note on this topic about the "Grey World" or the "Fog/Mist World" also being part of the water theme since both fog and mist are comprised of water which we can assume is sourced from Toluca Lake itself. The only exception I know of is that of the film franchise which uses perpetually falling ash from Alessa's burning for the same effect to mark the town where her torment happened. In my theory is, that the grey world's defining feature is literally the waters of the lake rising up as a gas and condensing into a concealing vapor, signifying both confusion and transformation like the characters undergo and the visible presence of the lake even at great distances from it's shores. The rusty motif of the "Dark World" could also be the supernatural prolonged result of all this spiritually charged water, corroding and corrupting what is submerged in it for too long. Without water, life is impossible but water can just as easily end life as well, from storms to floods to drowning to lethal water-borne illnesses. I think that it also is interesting that the Maya of central America have been theorized to use cenote sink holes as places of worship and sacrifice, tying back into both the water = death and the reoccurring use of South American names and spirituality.
@@JabamiLain I wouldn't know where to start to start to be honest... it would fund the team but the name is owned by Konami, it would turn into another P.T.... it might be easier to buy silent hill from konami, fund the team and then build them a studio... business so complicated
@@smokedogz5 well we could always get something similar to mighty no 9 ( hopefully without the issues that game had) where the devs get togetger and make a spiritual successor (basically a sequel in all ways except in name)
The Little Baroness also has some connections to the Silent Hill. If only they go deeper with the story. I think the final boss of SH Arcade reflects the little girl trying to swim herself up but failed and she got drowned.
Sure Toluca Lake actually exists here in the valley, but the name isn't attributed to the lake itself. It's to the neighborhood that the lake is located in.
You re Genius. The water stopped in that lake reminds us all the guilty pain and hurt that the characters keeped stopped by themselves too. In the water ending, incapable of going on after Mary death, James ends literally in the water after such intense attachment with her And all context.
The more I think about it Toluca Lake sounds more and more like Lake Winnipesaukee in New Hampshire. Silent Hill's coastline looks almost exactly like the Meredith, NH coastline if you turned the Silent Hill map clockwise 90 degrees. It is a beautiful place and there are resort areas, nothing supernatural to my understanding. However looking over the lake when the sun goes down, it has a haunting look, but that's 1 hour out of 24.
have you guys ever been to the park in SH2 after it gets dark? you can’t hear or see the waters looks like it dried up and the bodies were just left there
Toluca Lake was made not by nature.... Toluca Lake was made by supernatural means.... The Silent Hill villagers was drowned by this supernatural event in Silent Hill's lost and forgotten history.... The few survived and went uphill.... Some of them founded The Order and reestablished Silent Hill uphill.... They blamed Jennifer Carroll for the massacre of their families.... They called this massacre The Great Flood in their sacred tomes.... A few Centuries later, The Order builds a statue of her within Rose Water Park as a tribute.... Some believe Jennifer's statue is her gravestone.... Her remains were never found and her existence was erased from public knowledge overtime.... A few families have in and around Silent Hill that legend has it that folks have seen a woman in white, within the fog, walking across the waters could be her....
Do you ever get sick of SH? You've made so many SH videos and spent countless hours thinking about it. I love SH as much as the next guy, but even Eddie gets sick of pizza after a while. Love your videos!!!!!
Du-ality Dual-ity The pronounciation of this word throws me through a loop, it's the same word but it always confuses me based on how it's pronounced, being british I pronounce it Du-ality like Muse despite her being American where as I've heard other Americans pronounce it Dual-ity, some word pronounciations are really dependent on where you live
Symbolism to me has always sounded like pure speculation. Seeing things where they may or may not be. The author's intent could have been much less deep. Now I'm not saying there's no symbolism from the creators or even that it's unlikely, because it's highly likely in a game like Silent Hill, but I just find it all to be a lot of irritation assumption-making for sake of trying to find depth where none was intended. I'm sure you probably did some research before making assumptions, I'm just speaking my mind.
😮😮😮😮 all these years and I never knew I lived a literal stones throw from an Iconic Silent Hill image. That Toluca image is from where I walk my dog on weekends. GamingMuse I love you ❤❤❤
Noice!!
Ive been patiently waiting for another symbolism video hope u never run out of things to make symbolism videos on
Every week i come here for sh simbolism
Ive been patiently waiting for a track to explode on
I’m from 3 years in the future and I have good news for you.
Awhile back on the 101 in California i first saw a sign for toluca lake at night while a thunder and rainstorm was goin on and i freaked and geeked out so badly😂😌😅
LOL, the lake my family had a cabin and eventually a hone at had a mini lighthouse as a tourist attraction. There were even graves from the settler era on the beach we lived at. Nothing remotely supernatural happened while we were there. It is a 'special' beautiful place to me and I do hope I get to visir there again.
there's also Toluca holding back Harry Mason when trying to reach the lighthouse on Shattered Memories
Speaking of water, Japan (and its native Shinto religious tradition) has a fascination with the subject. Running water is considered purifying, whereas stagnant water is linked to corruption.
That corruption is called "Kegare", which is similar to the Abrahamic idea of something being "unclean", in a spiritual way. Not necessarily a moral judgement, as a person, place, or object can be tainted with Kegare through contact with blood, corpses, excrement, illness, and childbirth. But also to stagnant water, which is a breeding pool for disease and waterborne parasites. As such, the most common means of purifying Kegare involves running water; the motion of it carrying away impurity. Standing under waterfalls, or repeatedly cupping and pouring water on oneself, are common rituals of purification.
In Silent Hill, the presence of Kegare is obvious. Blood and corpses everywhere, as is deformation and malign birth. From the Japanese perspective, the environments of Silent Hill are spiritually significant in their horror. That the town is situated on a still lake is further significant; a calm surface of unmoving water, concealing death that has settled at the bottom. Executioners rinsed their bloody implements in the lake (technically a swampy part thereof; more stagnation), tainting the placid water with Kegare born of suffering and death. In Downpour, the constant rain is linked to the unquiet souls of prisoners, living and dead, desiring that the stains of their transgressions be washed away. But in many places in that game, the water collects or soaks into walls, creating its own sort of stagnation in the sheltered corners. Such water damage can also be seen in SH2's hotel level, the site linked to the death James caused (and the resulting blood symbolically still on his hands; the lingering Kegare he seeks to cleanse). Let's not even get into the instances in the series where players must venture into sewer levels, the epitome of stagnation.
Finally, know that, from a symbolic standpoint, the "hero's journey" Silent Hill protagonists go through can be seen as a kind of cleansing. They are the water, and are forced into movement. Silent Hill 2, for instance, shows multiple people whose _lives_ can be thought of as having stagnated and become burdened with Kegare. The blood on their hands, and their refusal to move on with their lives. Angela cannot bring herself to move from the mire, until she ends up turning to a more drastic element to facilitate her purification: fire. Eddy simply wallows in stagnation, until he becomes a spiritual breeding pool for new horrors; he had _become_ Kegare. James alone allows himself to be swept along by the current Silent Hill intended for him, confronting the corruption he tried to bury beneath the water. Which ending he goes through is indicative of how his purification went. If he leaves with Laura, he has been washed clean, his Kegare purified by his experience. "In Water" sees him submitting fully to the waves, giving in to stagnation and sinking to the bottom. The resurrection ending could be a sign that his purification has given him a brief moment of enlightenment...or is a sign of further corruption. After all, he's intent on communing with the dead, and corpses are also Kegare.
Yo that is fucking insane, I never would have thought about that! How much of Japanese do you know?
Edit: Do you make analysis videos as well by using Japanese language for games like Resident Evil, Silent Hill or other games that are primarily created by developers from Japan if so then you should collaborate with other youtubers because stuff like this is mindblowing and in my opinion the original japanese words are more faithful and tells the narrative of how these games are supposed to be told?
I’m glad you’re still doing these videos. Much welcome point of view
Yes finally, these videos are honestly my crack
In the PT for Silent Hills the guy on the radio talks about how you shouldn't drink the tap water. If it comes from the lake, I could see why. Great vid as always!
If you wouldn't drink Toluca's water then you might not want to drink any from the Great Lakes, lol
Another great Silent Hill video, you're theories on these games are some of the best as always.
I had no idea the Derwent was the inspiration for Toluca Lake, I’ve been rowing there.
_Sees a GamingMuse video_
*_I'M AS WET AS THE BODIES SUBMERGED IN THE LAKE~_*
I don't know whether to raise my eyebrow, or be very disturbed.
Ill be honest, I laughed.
@@FedorovAvtomat you can actually do both you know :")
I think there is also something to say with the lake's association with death, reflection and otherworld alongside the fog that seems ever present in Silent Hill. You can never avoid the waters of Toluca rusting everything around you.
Finally another symbolism video! Thank you!
You tell the stories in such ways were it effects me deeply.
Thank you.
I'm pretty sure the power of the Town comes from the lake. Especially because of the Mist, that is understood as water from the lake surrounding you
Thanks for this beautiful video Muse! Its full of mistery and so enchanting.
Keep up the great work!
Cheers to 2019! So happy I found your channel, love your taste in media :)
So glad to see another SHS. I've never notice the fact of the lake was consuming the graveyard. After all these years, SH can surprise me with such subtleties.
I really, really love your symbolism series! Thank you so much for making them!
Thank you for watching them! :D
3:41 More reasons to think the in-water ending of Silent Hill 2 is canon.
Also, thanks for another great symbolism video on Silent Hill 2, my favorite Silent Hill game.
There is also a note on this topic about the "Grey World" or the "Fog/Mist World" also being part of the water theme since both fog and mist are comprised of water which we can assume is sourced from Toluca Lake itself. The only exception I know of is that of the film franchise which uses perpetually falling ash from Alessa's burning for the same effect to mark the town where her torment happened.
In my theory is, that the grey world's defining feature is literally the waters of the lake rising up as a gas and condensing into a concealing vapor, signifying both confusion and transformation like the characters undergo and the visible presence of the lake even at great distances from it's shores.
The rusty motif of the "Dark World" could also be the supernatural prolonged result of all this spiritually charged water, corroding and corrupting what is submerged in it for too long.
Without water, life is impossible but water can just as easily end life as well, from storms to floods to drowning to lethal water-borne illnesses. I think that it also is interesting that the Maya of central America have been theorized to use cenote sink holes as places of worship and sacrifice, tying back into both the water = death and the reoccurring use of South American names and spirituality.
These are really good. You have so much material to work with and many games to cover!!!
I’ve been waiting for this! Finally!! I love you muse!!!! More SH on twitch plz :D 💖
Love your Silent hill symbolism videos, maybe there should be a go fund me for bringing back team silent, it's sad to see that the series is gone.
Then make a petition asking for the saga to return. People are right, there is still so much to be explored on this game's universe.
@@JabamiLain I wouldn't know where to start to start to be honest... it would fund the team but the name is owned by Konami, it would turn into another P.T.... it might be easier to buy silent hill from konami, fund the team and then build them a studio... business so complicated
@@smokedogz5 well we could always get something similar to mighty no 9 ( hopefully without the issues that game had) where the devs get togetger and make a spiritual successor (basically a sequel in all ways except in name)
Really love your Silent Hill symbolism series ♥️
The Little Baroness also has some connections to the Silent Hill. If only they go deeper with the story.
I think the final boss of SH Arcade reflects the little girl trying to swim herself up but failed and she got drowned.
Sure Toluca Lake actually exists here in the valley, but the name isn't attributed to the lake itself. It's to the neighborhood that the lake is located in.
I'm already hyped for the new SHS's!
Thanks for the new vid, Muse. Happy Holidays
Really enjoying your work. Tysm
I miss you’re videos 😭
Hell yeah 1st like! Great vid
You re Genius. The water stopped in that lake reminds us all the guilty pain and hurt that the characters keeped stopped by themselves too. In the water ending, incapable of going on after Mary death, James ends literally in the water after such intense attachment with her And all context.
Finally another SH related vid. Great work! And happy holidays to you, muse.
You’re amazing❤️❤️
The more I think about it Toluca Lake sounds more and more like Lake Winnipesaukee in New Hampshire. Silent Hill's coastline looks almost exactly like the Meredith, NH coastline if you turned the Silent Hill map clockwise 90 degrees. It is a beautiful place and there are resort areas, nothing supernatural to my understanding. However looking over the lake when the sun goes down, it has a haunting look, but that's 1 hour out of 24.
you seem to have a lot of knowledge on mysticisim/occult. Could probally make a good a dope video on it!
I love this fan theory! It holds weight
have you guys ever been to the park in SH2 after it gets dark? you can’t hear or see the waters looks like it dried up and the bodies were just left there
Guess all that fog is made of magical lake water :)
Great video Muse and Happy new year ^^
love your videos! Are you planning to redo Heather or Claudia? :)
In the first game it rains in the otherworld too, more water themes, just throwing that in. :)
I’ve been to the real Toluca lake in the Lake District it’s amazing
love your vids!
Love your videos :)
The lighthouse may be because the water is particularly dangerous, rather than because the body of water is so large
Ey Muse, could you make a video about the symbolism of "Rule of Rose" ?
Toluca Lake was made not by nature.... Toluca Lake was made by supernatural means.... The Silent Hill villagers was drowned by this supernatural event in Silent Hill's lost and forgotten history.... The few survived and went uphill.... Some of them founded The Order and reestablished Silent Hill uphill.... They blamed Jennifer Carroll for the massacre of their families.... They called this massacre The Great Flood in their sacred tomes.... A few Centuries later, The Order builds a statue of her within Rose Water Park as a tribute.... Some believe Jennifer's statue is her gravestone.... Her remains were never found and her existence was erased from public knowledge overtime.... A few families have in and around Silent Hill that legend has it that folks have seen a woman in white, within the fog, walking across the waters could be her....
Does anybody know the name of the intro song? It sounds so cool, but I can’t find it anywhere.
It's Eternal Light, from Broken Notes Studios, broken-notes.com
Be like water my friend
Bruce Lee
Do you ever get sick of SH? You've made so many SH videos and spent countless hours thinking about it. I love SH as much as the next guy, but even Eddie gets sick of pizza after a while. Love your videos!!!!!
I think I'll add this to the pile of questions for my next blog - but if you want a quick answer, no. I really don't. :D
@@thegamingmuse Awesome! Thanks so much!
I've missed these symbolism videos
Have you ever done a symbolism on Robbie the Rabbit?
Please do Symbolism in Evil Within series.
Ayy it’s been a while
Theres a Toluca in México
You have a beautiful voice
Du-ality
Dual-ity
The pronounciation of this word throws me through a loop, it's the same word but it always confuses me based on how it's pronounced, being british I pronounce it Du-ality like Muse despite her being American where as I've heard other Americans pronounce it Dual-ity, some word pronounciations are really dependent on where you live
SPSHTL
Isn't Silent Hill Centralia PA
Good video, but you talk so little about Silent Hill impressions of the lake.
It's not a lake. It's an ocean . . . .
Symbolism to me has always sounded like pure speculation. Seeing things where they may or may not be. The author's intent could have been much less deep.
Now I'm not saying there's no symbolism from the creators or even that it's unlikely, because it's highly likely in a game like Silent Hill, but I just find it all to be a lot of irritation assumption-making for sake of trying to find depth where none was intended. I'm sure you probably did some research before making assumptions, I'm just speaking my mind.
That intro beat is fucking 🔥