Edit filter log

'{{Gamecleanup|May 2008|date=September 2009}} {{General CVG character |name=Pyramid Head |image=[[File:PyramidHead.png|250px]] |caption=Pyramid Head, as he appears in ''Silent Hill 2'' |series=''[[Silent Hill]]'' series |firstgame=''[[Silent Hill 2]]'' |artist=}} '''Pyramid Head''' is the name of a fictional [[List of Silent Hill monsters|monster]] from the ''[[Silent Hill]]'' [[video game]] series, primarily the game ''[[Silent Hill 2]]''. ==Characteristics== Of the creatures that appear in Silent Hill 2, Pyramid Head is one of the few that is overtly masculine in appearance, whereas the other monsters generally have feminine features to them, with the exception of the doormen/abstract daddy. Pyramid Head resembles a pale, muscular man covered with a white, blood-soaked robe reminiscent of a butcher's smock. His most outstanding feature is a large, red, triangular helmet that covers his head completely. It was reportedly designed to appear painful to wear, suggesting that it serves as some kind of punishment. In interviews with the chief artist responsible for creating the character (found on the Silent Hill 2 bonus DVD) it is stated that the initial thought process behind the pyramid shaped helm was to create an iconography of 'pain'. In other accounts the helmet has been described as an elaborate executioner's mask. Like the Nurses in the game, Pyramid Head wears plain white gloves with partially connected fingers, either to conserve polygons or for a unique effect. Early designs show him with a strange tattoo on his left shoulder, but this does not appear in the game. Some players claim that Pyramid Head has an "eye"<ref>http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v12/bulletprooffaces/silenthill/mystuff/3f4152a8.jpg</ref>, although there is no definite proof for this claim besides the fact that there is indeed a hole in the helmet. Pyramid Head is usually armed either with the Great Knife or a lightweight Spear. However, he can also attack with a strangle grip, during which a black tongue-like protrusion "stabs"<ref>http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v479/WhisperALullaby/pyramidheadedit1.jpg</ref>. Also he can perform a headbutt which can cause an instant death. A similar attack is used by other creatures in the game. He can also use an extremely slow overhead chop with the Great Knife, which can also cause instant death (unless on easy mode). Pyramid Head does not speak, but grunts and moans painfully inside the helmet - his breath hisses through the helmet grilles. His actions display shocking brutality - such as two scenes in which he sexually assaults and violently kills two Mannequins and a Lying Figure over the course of the game. In all of his appearances Pyramid Head punishes his victims in extremely painful and violent manners both physically and mentally. ==Name== Pyramid's original name as a human was said to be "Mike Hawk." Mike Hawk was hairy hairy and had a small head poking out of his hair. As a human he worked at a local pawn shop. That is all that is been discovered of this character. The game's [[protagonist]], [[James Sunderland]], usually refers to him as "Pyramid Head" and he is officially named as such via the description of the Great Knife (which James finds late in the game), and so it is regarded as [[Canon (fiction)|canon]]. Some official sources refer to the creature as "Red Pyramid Thing" or "Red Triangle Thing" although, according to ''[[Silent Hill (film)|Silent Hill]]'' director [[Christophe Gans]], the Japanese name is "Triangle Head". He is credited in the ''Silent Hill'' movie also as "Red Pyramid" and additionally referred to during the first cathedral sequence as "The Fiend". ''Silent Hill: Homecoming'' refers to him as "Boogeyman". ==Symbolism== In the additional back story material created by the game's designers<ref>[http://www.translatedmemories.com/index.html Translated Memories - The Translated World of Silent Hill<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> it was explained that the physical appearance of Pyramid Head was an effect of James' fascination with Silent Hill's history. As revealed throughout the game, Pyramid Head's appearance was a variation of the outfits of the executioners from times past, who wore red hoods and ceremonial robes to make themselves similar to the [[Valtiel]], the angel of the town. He was born out of the towns peoples' idolatrous ideologies.<ref>http://www.translatedmemories.com/bookpgs/Pg84-85.jpg</ref> According to documents created for the release of ''[[Silent Hill 4: The Room]]'', a sect of the Silent Hill cult (the "Valtiel Sect") wore the executioner's costume depicted in ''Silent Hill 2''. His helmet is also a possible reference to Jimmy Stone (a high member of the cult of Silent Hill and Walter Sullivan's first victim), as when performing certain rituals he would wear a red triangular hood, which earned him the nickname "Red Devil", a term constantly mentioned throughout the series. It is more likely that Jimmy Stone and Pyramid Head are visually referencing the same historic individuals. In ''[[Silent Hill 2]]'', his existence is directly tied to [[James Sunderland]]'s [[subconscious]]{{ref|memories}}; James' repressed anger and desire to be punished for the death of his wife are what compels Pyramid Head to pursue him. Pyramid Head functions as both an executioner of Maria, and more importantly, as the constant tormentor of James. Watching Pyramid Head repeatedly murder a highly eroticized [[tulpa]] of his late wife brings a great deal of grief to James, thus completely satisfying his masochistic desires. Once these desires are fulfilled, Pyramid Head's power over James is removed. This is evidenced in one of the game's final scenes, where just before battling two Pyramid Heads simultaneously, James gains insight into his situation, admitting that he needed them because he was weak, and that he has no further use for them. It is only after James asserts this that the Pyramid Heads eventually impale themselves on their own spears and thus free themselves of their roles (it is mentioned that they are both punisher and victim of crime). The entity that James encounters is a delusion of his own mind, a projection of the memories he has hidden away. Although it is unclear if the energies that formed the delusion come from Valtiel/Xuchilbara, it is suggested that others in the past have seen the manifestation. This is most likely due to the common faith in the community's history. ==Game appearances== ===Silent Hill 2=== James first encounters Pyramid Head in Wood Side Apartments. After finding a handgun on the upper floor, he hears a scream in one of the corridors and heads in its direction, only to see the monster, standing behind the grate. While the radio does go off to indicate its presence, Pyramid Head makes no attempt to attack James, so it may even go unnoticed by some players. A nearby room contains a bloody corpse, which was not there before. Later, James sees Pyramid Head in Room 307's kitchen raping two Mannequin creatures. Terrified, James hides in the closet. After the scene, Pyramid Head begins to leave the apartment. As he passes the closet James had ducked into, he appears to stop and examine the closet, causing a panicked James to shoot it with his handgun a number of times. The bullets however, appear to have no effect on him, but do cause him to leave. James' next encounter with Pyramid Head is in the Blue Creek apartments. When James enters the door leading to a stairway, he witnesses Pyramid Head raping another creature, a Lying figure. He turns to James and attempts to kill him, but his movements are severely hampered by the Great Knife he wields during the encounter. After a few minutes, sirens sound in the distance and Pyramid Head descends the flooded stairway, opening the door at the bottom and removing the water. Pyramid Head is not apparently hampered by walking into the water. James does not meet the creature again until later where it surprises him on the roof of the Brookhaven Hospital. It knocks James through a safety railing and he falls below, sustaining injuries. Pyramid Head does not pursue or continue the attack. Later in the hospital, Pyramid Head appears to torment Maria, who is following James through a lengthy corridor. When James makes it to the end of the corridor into an elevator, the doors shut before Maria can join him. James struggles to open the elevator doors in order to save Maria, but only her screams of agony can be heard as Pyramid Head impales her with a spear. The elevator then takes James away. James next encounters Pyramid Head in the [[Labyrinth]] beneath Toluca Prison, after finding Maria alive. In the resulting scene, she very openly [[seduces]] James from behind a locked grate. James meets his enemy as he patrols an octagonal corridor, now carrying a spear instead of the Great Knife. Outrunning the creature, James can enter a room where Pyramid Head lives where the player can take Pyramid Head's great knife and use it as a weapon for the rest of the game. James also encounters Pyramid Head patrolling a flooded area in the Labyrinth. James reaches the room behind the grate soon afterwords, but finds Maria dead, with what appears to be head trauma, as evident from the blood and deformities around her face. Pyramid Head makes his final appearance just before the final boss, where ''two'' Pyramid Heads (a "red" one, for new blood, and a "brown" one, for old blood) take part in the encounter. They kill Maria yet again and then attack James. After relentlessly pursuing James around the room for a while, eventually both Pyramid Heads realise they cannot kill James then commit [[suicide]] by impaling themselves in the head on their spears since they are no longer needed. ===Silent Hill 3=== Inside the Alternate Hilltop Center, you can find creatures that resemble Pyramid Head but without the pyramid helmet (they are part of the scenery and cannot be fought), hanging by one arm and holding a doll with the other hand. Their heads are completely black, and their vest is exactly the same as the ''SH2'' Pyramid Head. Many times throughout the game Valtiel can be seen. Since the appearance of Pyramid Head is modeled after Valtiel in ''Silent Hill'' lore, the appearance is very similar to him except Valtiel's face is exposed and twitching violently. Pyramid Head can also be seen in one of the pictures in the church. ===Silent Hill: Origins=== Pyramid Head appears in a painting at the top of the stairs in the Gillespies' burning house at the beginning of the game. In the painting he is seen holding spears. Another picture of Pyramid Head is over the bed in room 503 in Riverside Hotel, again holding a spear. In the Riverside Hotel level, it is possible to obtain a spear (similar to the one used in ''Silent Hill 2'') for use as a weapon. It is found in the bathroom of one of the rooms in the Fog World. ''Silent Hill Origins'' features a monster called the Butcher, who is basically Travis' mind's form of Pyramid Head. He is similar to his usual in his actions and appearance, with slight differences. Instead of a black, triangular helm, he has a gray metal half-pyramid on one side of his head and covering the back of his head, but one side of his face is exposed. His face fleshy, completely blank, and the place where his mouth should be looks like a thin layer of stretched skin. He also seems to serve similarly in a punisher-victim role. The Butcher is also more muscular than Pyramid Head and his movements are more controlled and focused than Pyramid Head's twitching, shaky movements. His knife also makes the same screeching noise when dragged in the ground and can be heard in the lumberyard, hinting that The Butcher may only be a few steps ahead of Travis. The bad ending of ''Origins'' shows Travis being experimented on by the cult, with The Butcher in the background serving his role as a punisher. A file located in the theater depicts someone being stalked by The Butcher, and that person has noted that he looks like "HIM". The "HIM" is revealed to be the executioner, which was also an alternative name for Pyramid Head. In the apartment building, Travis finds a gutted and gory corpse of a Straightjacket on the bed, in a position which suggests that it may have been raped by the Butcher/Pyramid Head, as has occurred in ''[[Silent Hill 2]]''. Pyramid Head is also on the cover of the soundtrack for Silent Hill Origins. ===Silent Hill: The Arcade=== Pyramid Head appears as a boss character in ''[[Silent Hill: The Arcade]]'', although his appearance is more like the movie's depiction. <ref>{{ja icon}} [http://www.watch.impress.co.jp/game/docs/20070216/konami.htm 「AOU2007 アミューズメント・エキスポ」ＫＯＮＡＭＩ編。シューティング「オトメディウス」など新規タイトルを出展<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> ===Silent Hill: Homecoming=== ''PlayStation: The Official Magazine'' reveals that the "famous Pyramid Head makes a significant appearance in ''[[Silent Hill: Homecoming]]'', but his role is limited to non-interactive scenes."<ref>Joe Rybicki, "Review of ''Silent Hill: Homecoming''", ''PlayStation: The Official Magazine'' 13 (December 2008): 64.</ref> Pyramid Head serves a minor, albeit important role in the newest installment, Silent Hill: Homecoming. Pyramid Head, while retaining his namesake pyramid and the characteristic Great Knife, seems to be inspired by the version portrayed in the movie instead of the model that tormented James Sunderland. In Homecoming, Pyramid Head appears to materialize the guilt of Alex Shepherd's father, Adam Shepherd, for choosing to murder his son. "The Boogeyman", as he is referred to in the game, appears only twice to Alex; once in the Grand Hotel in Silent Hill and again much later in a church where he, like the monsters that represent the other sacrificed children, executes Adam by splitting him in half. He also makes appearances in the game's introductory level, where he first executes the doctor who wheels Alex into the Operation Theater and is then heard in the darkness dragging his knife. Although the game begins (the ending of the first level) with the Great Knife plunging toward Alex before he wakes up, the Boogeyman does not seem to show hostility toward him for the rest of the game. Yet his last, yet surprising, appearance is in a possible ending in the game where Alex wakes up in a wheelchair as two Pyramid Heads appear, each with part of a helmet which they use to turn Alex into one of them. ===New International Track & Field=== A [[super deformed]] Pyramid Head appears as a selectable character in the [[Nintendo DS]] title ''[[New International Track & Field]]'', the latest installment of the ''[[Track & Field (video game)|Track & Field]]'' series. His backstory is somewhat different to the one in the original games - he is turned into a normal [[demon]] rather than a psychological construct. ==Cultural impact== === In other media === Pyramid Head has appeared several times in the [[Silent Hill (comics)|''Silent Hill'' comic books]] by [[IDW Publishing]], often as a common monster. The character debuted in ''Dying Inside'' in the company of extra-dimensional entity Whately and next appeared in ''Paint It Black'' and ''Dead/Alive'', attacking Ike Issacs and Cheryl inside the bowling alley in the former and prowling the streets of the real world after crossing over from the Otherworld in the latter. Pyramid Head most recently appeared in ''Sinner's Reward'' where he kills mob boss Finn Conway by impaling him with the Great Knife. Pyramid Head appears in the [[2006 in film|2006 movie]] ''[[Silent Hill (film)|Silent Hill]]'', listed in the credits as "Red Pyramid" and portrayed by [[Roberto Campanella]], where he acts again as a tenacious antagonist first encountered by [[Rose DaSilva]] in [[Midwich Elementary School]] while looking for her daughter. Although he doesn't stand out among the monsters of the town, he is unaffected by attempts to stop him and displays his characteristic strength and brutality, as well as his Great Knife. However, Pyramid Head's appearance is somewhat different from the game. His helmet is a black and girded [[tetrahedron]] - a 4-sided version of the 5-sided one in the game - and appears much more sharp. According to Christophe Gans, the change is because it was impossible for the actor to wear the helmet from the game. The basic design principle of the game's designers is still there; they wanted the helmet to appear painful to wear. However, he makes no struggling gestures with his helmet in the movie as with the game. In the movie, his apron is worn from the waist down and appears to be made of human flesh. Pyramid Head uses the Great Knife weapon to fillet a thick steel door in a failed attempt to kill the main character and her companion. He displays his strength when he catches Anna, holds her in the air using only one arm, tears off her dress, then grabs her chest and tears off her skin in one movement. He is 7 feet tall as mentioned in the behind the scenes commentary but lacks his signature gloves. The producers of the film have stated in making-of features that since the creatures that appear in the fake hell version of ''Silent Hill'' are punished human beings, Red Pyramid is being punished by having to wear the large, burdensome helmet. Director Christophe Gans has also stated that Red Pyramid's appearance is conjured from a female perspective,<ref>[http://www.sonypictures.com/movies/silenthill/productiondiary/archives/2006/04/on_the_red_pyra.php ''Silent Hill'': On The Red Pyramid, Carol Spier as Production Designer, and Exploring Society in Horror Films<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> i.e. Alessa's. ===Promotion and reception=== ''[[Computerworld]]'' named Pyramid Head as one of the most terrifying villains in computer and video games, noting his role as both a plot device to terrify the player but also his role as an element of James's psyche.<ref>Gagne, Ken ([[2008-09-16]]). [http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9022399&pageNumber=5 You can run, but you'll only die tired: Gaming's 'baddest' villains]. ''[[Computerworld]]''. Retrieved on [[2008-09-16]]</ref> ==References== {{reflist}} <div class="references-small"> *Konami. ''Silent Hill 2''. KCET, 2001. *Konami. ''The Making of Silent Hill 2 DVD''. KCET, 2002. *{{cite web | title=Book of Lost Memories | url=http://www.translatedmemories.com/ | accessdate=2006-12-12}} *{{cite web | title=On The Red Pyramid, Carol Spier as Production Designer, and Exploring Society in Horror Films | work=sonypictures.com | url=http://www.sonypictures.com/movies/silenthill/productiondiary/archives/2006/04/on_the_red_pyra.php | accessdate=2006-12-05}} *{{cite web | title=GameFAQs Plot Analysis Guides | work=gamefaqs.com | url=http://www.gamefaqs.com/console/ps2/game/437029.html | accessdate=2006-05-05}} </div> {{Silent Hill}} [[Category:Silent Hill characters]] [[Category:Video game bosses]] [[Category:Fictional demons]] [[Category:Fictional rapists]] [[Category:Fictional mass murderers]] [[es:Cabeza Piramidal]] [[it:Pyramid Head]] [[hu:Pyramid Head]] [[pl:Piramidogłowy]] [[pt:Pyramid Head]] [[ru:Пирамидоголовый]]'