Richard Braintree

"But if you're here too, then there must be something wrong with the whole apartment building...
 * —Richard to Henry Townshend"

Richard Braintree is a character in Silent Hill 4: The Room. He is Henry Townshend's neighbor from Room 207.

Biography
Richard lived in Room 207 of South Ashfield Heights. He is an eccentric, angry and somewhat violent or possibly sadistic man who carries a revolver along with him.

Remembering Joseph Schreiber's sudden disappearance, he becomes concerned when he notices the same thing happening again in Room 302.

Richard also seems to be on good relations with Eileen Galvin, as Richard and Eileen are seen having a friendly conversation together.

When Walter Sullivan traveled to South Ashfield Heights as a small child, Richard often noticed him. Richard was suspicious of Walter, and was often aggressive with him, as he believed Walter didn't belong there. As a child, Walter wrote that "The city is scary and the apartment where mommy is has a scary guy in it."

An incident occurred where Richard peeled off the clothes of a man named Mike, who was a perverted stalker living in the apartments who was despised by the other residents. As Walter was in the crowd and saw Richard holding bloody clothes, Walter may have misunderstood the situation and thought that Richard literally "skinned" Mike and that he was a homicidal killer.

Silent Hill 4: The Room
Richard can appear before entering the Building World by examining the peephole, where he and Eileen Galvin are standing outside Henry's door.

There is also an extra scene where Richard appears alone outside of the door, staring into the peep-hole before walking away down the hall. This scene can be viewed upon constantly checking the peep-hole between visits to the apartment.



Henry Townshend first meets Richard Braintree personally in the building world on Hotel South Ashfield. He appears to inexplicably fall out of the sky and suddenly points his revolver at Henry, but realizes that he is another resident of his apartment building. Richard tells Henry he wants to find a way out and suddenly leaves.

Later, as Henry enters and descends through an elevator, he sees Richard chase a young Walter Sullivan, having recognized him.



Henry makes his way to a large staircase when he suddenly hears Richard's scream. When Henry reaches the top of the staircase, he finds a replica of Room 207, Richard's own apartment room. He enters Room 207 and sees the child Walter point outside a window at Room 303 and eventually disappear into thin air. Henry tries to help Richard, who is being electrocuted in an electric chair, with "19/21" smeared onto his forehead. Richard tells Henry, "A kid? That's no kid... It's the 11121 man." Henry is unable to free him and is forced to watch him die. Richard was killed with the 'Chaos' theme of murder. His item left behind is his trademark revolver, which Henry can later obtain as a weapon.

Victim 19


Richard's ghost haunts the building world in the game. When he first appears, he is standing on a ledge and falls off. Unlike the game's other ghosts, he does not float, but he attacks with great celerity and is able to teleport and "phase" across medium distances, making him a dangerous enemy. As a victim of an electric chair, Richard's skin is black and somewhat "fried", and his clothes are also burned and charred. As he walks, Richard keeps twitching and emitting static sounds, due to his electrocution. He moves erratically, even to the point where it seems he does a certain motion, such as swinging his crowbar, backwards.

Richard wields a crowbar and attacks Henry aggressively. As he walks, he can swing his crowbar in slow motion and at a high speed. If a Sword of Obedience isn't used on him, his ghost will appear in Room 207. It is recommended a Sword of Obedience, possibly with a Silver Bullet, should be used on him.

Another Crimson Tome
"Hey, Richard's gone nuts again." "He lost his temper this time." "I'll bet next time will be even more fun."

The residents of South Ashfield Heights enjoyed talking about him. He was famous for his short temper.

The worst incident was when Mike, the resident of Room 301, bumped into Braintree's shoulder in the corridor of the apartment unintentionally. At the time Richard was even more moody than usual. He yelled, "Who do you think I am?", and dragged Mike by the collar of his shirt into his apartment, Room 207.

"Not again", said the crowd from the apartment, and they went to Room 207 to see what was going to happen. Suddenly, the door opened and a stark-naked Mike came out of the room. Right after that, Richard came out of the room, holding Mike's shirts and jeans soaked in blood.

"How do you like that, you sick little freak? You had it comin' to you!", said Richard as Mike ran away from him. Richard threw away Mike's clothes and said, "These clothes are disgusting. Get 'em outta my sight!"

Then a middle-aged woman in the crowd said, "I know... It'll be perfect to wrap his body in", and she took the jeans.

"Hold it. Hold it... I think I'll keep that one for myself", said a drunk, and he took the shirt.

After that, Richard took a look into the crowd and noticed a little boy among the crowd and yelled, "You! You snoopin' around again?! Get your ass outta here before you really piss me off!"

Creator commentary
"I guess [my favorite character] was Richard’s ghost. To have an enemy that moves like a record scratch isn’t something we’ve done before, I don’t think. Richard’s ghost has this design that seems like something anyone could think up - he looks like a zombie, an everyday middle-aged man. But he has this bizarre way of moving and such that we went out of our way to emphasize. I myself really thought that was an interesting part of this installment."

- Masashi Tsuboyama

Quotes

 * "Ouch! Dammit... where the hell am I?"
 * "Phew... you're a real person... Hey... you're the guy that lives across from me..."
 * "What the hell's happened to us? That hole... and this FREAKY world... But if you're here too, then there must be something wrong with the whole apartment building..."
 * "Anyway, I'm getting the hell outta here. You should too, if you know what's good for you."
 * "Are you the kid he was talkin' about? You live in that apartment too, huh? Say... you look a lot like a little punk that I once caught sneakin' around there... Do you know somethin' about what's goin' on?! Hey! Hey, you! Stop!" (to young Walter)
 * "A...a...a...a...a...k...k...k..."kid"...!? Th...th...th...th...that's n...n...no kid... It's...th...the 11121...m...m...man..." (Richard to Henry while being electrocuted)

Trivia



 * Richard's backstory reveals the story of "Skinned Mike", a cassette tape found in the Apartment World that can be played back with Henry's tape deck.
 * The last name "Braintree" could be seen as an allusion to Richard's death. A tree has roots connected to it and a brain's "roots" can be thought of the nerves or nervous system which spread throughout the entire body, hence "Braintree". Richard's death involves his entire nervous system being stimulated until cardiac arrest.
 * Electrocution was an old method used by law enforcement to punish criminals charged for murder. Richard's death on a electric chair is a possible representation of Walter's misunderstanding about Richard "skinning" Mike, punishing him for his "crime".
 * In artwork, Richard has light blue eyes, though in the game, his eyes appear grey.
 * Richard wears a tie with a smiling angel-like woman on it.
 * Richard is the only ghost who can walk and teleport, aside from Walter Sullivan.
 * In ghost form, Richard may at times merely stand in one spot and twitch erratically.
 * Upon discovering the first Gum Head, gunshots as well as what sounds like grunts from Richard can be heard. This could be connected with his first appearance, before having fallen off the roof.
 * The two occasions of Richard falling out of the sky seem to have been made into a running joke, understandably. On the first occasion, he falls at least two stories and when he hits the ground, no more than a light thud and "Ouch! Dammit!" from Richard is heard upon the impact. He does not appear in the slightest bit hurt, sitting up and training his revolver on Henry. On the second occasion (Building World Revisited), the ledge he falls off of is seen, and as Richard is now a ghost, he is no more hurt than the last time.
 * It appears that Richard Braintree and Sam Bartlett's from Silent Hill: Homecoming facial features are similar, though this could just be a coincidence.

Gallery

 * Note: For images of Richard's ghost form, please view the respective gallery.



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