Mayberry

"See, that's just it. This organization, The Kringle Society, they believe--
 * —Mayberry debates the finer points of the existence of Santa Claus"

Mayberry is the deuteragonist of The Grinning Man. Chosen by the State Police Commissioner to replace retiring State Trooper Robert Tower, Mayberry is a conspiracy theorist, though he doesn't share his view on life with just anyone.

Formerly a respected FBI agent and graduate of numerous universities, Mayberry chose the appointment to Tower's beat, which includes jurisdiction over the rumor-shrouded town of Silent Hill.

The Grinning Man
First seen in a briefing room of a State Police station lamenting those who were lost in Silent Hill, Mayberry awaits the arrival and introduction of Officer Robert Tower, a retiring trooper who is to spend his last day on the force acclimating Mayberry to a typical day on the job. Former introductions, however, are put on hold when the men are called to the scene of an apparent murder just outside of Silent Hill.

At the scene, Tower prepares to call the scene a homicide when Mayberry suggests he may be wrong. Though appearing to be a homicide, evidence found leads Mayberry to conclude that the incident was actually fabricated in an effort to dissuade police from trying to locate any persons missing from the scene. Tracks found near the wreck head toward Silent Hill, giving Tower and Mayberry their next destination.

As Mayberry and Tower cruise the empty streets of Silent Hill, Mayberry engages Tower in some of his more eccentric topics of conversation, stating that if one is open to the idea of monsters roaming the town, than you are admitting that the paranormal is real, which means that anything could be possible. Disgusted, Tower asks the man if he has any idea about how crazy he sounds, and asks if Mayberry talks to just anyone about these topics. Mayberry, however, says he hasn't told anyone except Tower, because he was under the impression Tower understood, assuming the man was aware of the true happenings in Silent Hill.

Having entered the hotel because Mayberry was unable to contact police headquarters, Tower grows irate with Mayberry's nonsense about beings from other universes and what hand they may have in human history. Having been grabbed by the lapels of his jacket and shoved into a nearby wall, Mayberry tries to reason with an increasingly angry Tower, when a trio of white-haired men happen upon the officers.

Initially regarding the armed officers as hostile, the trio, calling themselves Whately, make the choice to leave them unharmed and vanish after the apparent leader of the group recognizes Tower. Dumbfounded, Mayberry questions the event, only to hear someone deeper in the hotel screaming for help. After helping a pair of branded women escape the Lakeview Hotel, witnessing Tower dispatch of a pair of former residents of Silent Hill who unwillingly serve a nameless master, and being attacked by monsters, Mayberry's grip on reality begins to slip. Tower, however, reminds him that he wanted to believe, and he must believe.

A grinning man, the one responsible for the shuttle van accident, appears and commends Tower on his useful advice and compliments the efficiency with which the lawman shot the attacking monsters. When Tower shoots the Grinning Man and it proves ineffective, he orders Mayberry to take the two women and flee Silent Hill. Mayberry protests, but is reminded by Tower that they still have yet to locate the missing shuttle passengers, and he won't leave until they're found.

Not having gotten very far at all, Mayberry is subdued by the Grinning Man as a hostage to use against Tower as he confronts the lawman yet again. Due to Tower's rescue of the Grinning Man's captives, however, the protective spells the madman had been powering with the life force of those he had kidnapped have been rendered ineffective. Tower shoots and kills the Grinning Man with no harm to Mayberry.

Trivia

 * Mayberry's name may be an allusion to the fictional town of Mayberry, North Carolina, setting for the American sitcoms The Andy Griffith Show and Mayberry R.F.D.
 * Mayberry's full name is never revealed. Mayberry could be either his first or last name, or perhaps even a nickname.