Confessor

"God, I'm a child, trembling with fear as I stare at death! Soothe my tortured soul with your infinite mercy. Please forgive me..."

The Confessor is an unseen, optional character from Silent Hill 3, and she may be indirectly encountered by Heather Mason in the chapel of the Order. She is found in a confession booth, repenting for her sin of murder as an act of revenge for her own daughter being killed. She is very strong in her plea for forgiveness, seems sincere, and cries throughout the confession:

"Dear God, please forgive me. I know I'll be put to death for the sins I've committed. And I'll go to my death gladly and with a peaceful heart. But please grant me just a small piece of your everlasting mercy. Let me see my child once within your Golden Gates. Deliver me not to Hell, but to Purgatory. Allow me to atone for my sins there. I'll stand within the very Flames of Redemption, no matter how they burn me.

Forgive my wicked act of revenge. And deliver the soul of my poor murdered daughter. Please also care for the soul of the girl whose life I have taken. God, I'm a child, trembling with fear as I stare at death! Soothe my tortured soul with your infinite mercy. Please forgive me."



It is up to the player to decide if Heather, on the other side of the confession booth, should say "I forgive you" or to remain silent and leave. If Heather examines the confession booth again, Heather will comment, "There's nothing more to be said." The confessor's role is meant to give the player a moral dilemma – there isn't a clear "right" or "wrong" choice:


 * If Heather forgives her, then Heather is acting as someone who she isn't (God) and is forgiving a "wicked act of revenge" which apparently killed a girl.
 * If Heather does not forgive her, then she is not easing the confessor's feelings of intense guilt and sorrow.

The confessor's identity is unknown, but some fans speculate it may be a voice of Dahlia Gillespie or Claudia Wolf, but their voices are different. However, it may be possible that the character was supposed to be a spiritual manifestation of Dahlia, but the developers of Silent Hill 3 couldn't get Liz Mamorsky back and were forced to use another voice actor, Lenne Hardt, instead. Her "poor murdered daughter" could be Alessa Gillespie, and the "girl whose life I have taken" could be Cheryl Mason. Perhaps part of Dahlia's soul and spirit remained in the Otherworld for 17 years, and after being in a "purgatory" for so long, she has finally realized the errors of her ways and begs for Alessa's/God's forgiveness.

Forgiving the confessor will also help towards earning the "Possessed" ending in which Heather kills Douglas Cartland in revenge. Given the huge point donation (1,000) towards the required 4,000 to receive this ending, there is an obvious, great weight to Heather's route of action. Tying into Heather posing as the cult's god and "forgiving" the weeping woman, she can be seen as accepting her holy role among the Order with great jurisdiction as a saint as well as the mother and daughter of God.