Chapel

"I used to come to this chapel all the time when I was a little girl.
 * — Heather remembering Alessa's past in the chapel."

The Chapel or the Church is an unofficial name for the final location in Silent Hill 3.

Heather Mason enters the chapel through a mysterious tunnel following a fight with the Memory of Alessa and the descent of the Happy Carousel in the Lakeside Amusement Park. It seems safe to assume the chapel is located somewhere in the Resort Area. Its location appears to be "underground" Lakeside Amusement Park which is located in the Resort Area - whether or not this is where the chapel is truly located, or just another supernatural manipulation of the town, is unknown.

Inside, she encounters Claudia Wolf and Vincent Smith for the final time, and reaches the end of her quest for revenge. The effects of the Otherworld are most prevalent within the church, and it is here that Heather actually experiences the culmination of the Order's god.

Design
The entire church is an extensive collection of corridors and rooms, and although the interior is fully explored by Heather, the outside of the church is never seen. It is possible that the church is actually underground, as Heather enters through tunnel passages. It is unclear whether the chapel is even located within Silent Hill, but its connection through Lakeside Amusement Park makes this likely. Another possibility is that Heather was physically transported to the church through the powers of the Otherworld or Alessa Gillespie, as Heather had just regained her memories as Alessa prior to entering the chapel.

The entrance/main room of the church is very much like that of an ordinary church. The narthex is unoccupied, excluding the placement of two rectangular tables and a duo of side-doors. The nave is small, each wall containing three pictures summarizing the life of their most treasured deity, the Sun God. The two-side transepts and altar appear to be combined. The altar's front wall is ornated by three intricate stained glass designs; the left image is of the man who offered a snake to God, the right was of the woman who offered reeds, and the biggest, middle image is of God herself. The south transept has a door in which Heather can enter.



A map of the church can be found against the wall in its first corridor, and it appears to be hand-drawn by a child and incomplete. As Heather progresses through the church, more rooms and halls are drawn onto the map. There are two floors that Heather is able to explore, and they can be accessed using a single elevator. Although some doors remain locked or otherwise cannot be opened, many of the rooms within the church don't physically belong within it.

Some of the rooms can be attributed to Heather or Alessa's memories; these include Alessa's classroom in Midwich Elementary School and Harry Mason's room in the Daisy Villa Apartments.



Two rooms originally in the church are Claudia's and Vincent's rooms, and inside, a bed, a desk and few belongings can be found, implying that the cult's followers also lived within the church. The rooms are very simplistic and minimal.

Other notable rooms include a large library and a belfry with paintings of the cult's saints (Alessa, Jennifer Carroll and St. Nicholas) and a large Halo of the Sun.



One notable section of the church is the inner chapel, where Heather, Vincent and Claudia meet for the final time. It is stated in the Book of Lost Memories that this chapel is a ruin that was once used as an area where the members watched rituals occur, rather than a place to worship God. The pews face each other rather than the front of the chapel.

The Otherworld
"Home? This church is my home. I built it with my power. The power of money that you view with such scorn. Although, I admit this atrocious scenery is all yours.
 * —Vincent to Claudia, regarding the chapel."

The Otherworld is particularly explicit inside the church, most likely because it is central to the Order's beliefs. There is no transition to the Otherworld as Heather experiences in previous locations; however, most of the church is already "swallowed" by the Otherworld.

The chapel can essentially be considered a return of Nowhere as many of the rooms found in the chapel are the same or similar to the ones found in Nowhere in the first title of the series.



The effects of Nowhere and the Otherworld is also very explicit here; for example, a church normally wouldn't contain abysses that drop into voids, wheelchairs and gurneys, huge fans, a morgue, etc. The floors and walls have become rusted, grated metal and blood is found staining most surfaces. Many dead bodies are also strewn about, and gurneys and hospital equipment litter the hallways.

There are also many monsters infesting the church, some of which have grown stronger due to the Otherworld's effects. Valtiel is often seen inside the church, patrolling the corridors and turning valves among other things. He is also seen near the end, facilitating the birth of God.

Trivia

 * As revealed in "The Making of Silent Hill 3", the first room of the chapel is inspired by the Sacred Heart Cathedral, also known as "Yamate Catholic Church". It is located in Yokohama in Japan.


 * Though it is the stronghold of the Order, no members of the cult are actually seen. Furthermore, if one considers a conversation heard on a recorded tape in the chapel, it is possible that some of the cult members chose not to follow Claudia's ambitions.
 * However, it is possible that the members are monsters which Heather is killing. As Vincent says, "They look like monsters to you?"


 * Heather states that, as Alessa, she used to visit the chapel very often when she was young. This suggests that it is not just a stronghold, but also a communal place of worship. Alessa often looked up at the stained glass which depicted God and the man and woman who birthed Her. Alessa came to worship God and to ask for her prayers to be answered, however, this wish was never granted.


 * There is a confessional located in the hallway just outside the main chapel. Very similar to proper confessionals, there is a slidable door and small red curtain that allows the confessor to choose whether or not they wish for the clergy member to be able to see them or not while they speak. Inside, Heather will hear a woman begging for forgiveness for killing a girl who killed the woman's daughter. The identity of the woman is unknown and Heather can choose to forgive her or not. The creators wanted to add this confessional scene to symbolize that not every choice is the right choice, for to forgive her or not will ultimately contradict Heather's actions and vengeance towards Claudia.
 * This is very similar to a scene in Silent Hill: Homecoming, in which Alex Shepherd enters a confessional in the Church of the Holy Way and must choose whether or not to forgive a voice representing his father. Also, the map of the chapel that Heather receives outside of the confessional bears resemblance to the maps drawn by Alex's brother Joshua.
 * Forgiving the confessor will also help towards earning the Possessed ending in which Heather kills Douglas Cartland in revenge.




 * In two areas, there are bloody footprints accompanied by the sound of sobbing girl. Heather must follow these footprints as they open new passages which are required to proceed, but they are most likely not showing Heather the way but simply wandering aimlessly about the church.


 * There is a corridor that leads to a dead end where Valtiel appears twisting a valve with two pair of legs that are visible but covered by a large red curtain, representing Cheryl Mason and Alessa. This peculiar scene is seen many times in the game's intro.


 * In one walkway leading to Alessa's room, there is a monstrous growl. In the same area, when it goes to the Otherworld, there is gurgling sound similar to the one heard in the hospital storeroom.


 * According to the Book of Lost Memories, the map's foundation was based on a drawing by the daughter of one of the designers; her representation of "France". According to the "Making of Silent Hill 3", the purpose of this was to add realism.


 * According to the Book of Lost Memories, in a passageway and on an outer wall of the Otherworld church, a mural is created from a drawing of Valtiel and Incubus centered around a female figure.


 * The author of most of the paintings in the Chapel including the Paradise picture in the Sanctuary and Stained Glass is | Hiro Usuda . The main inspiration for these pictures were works of Caravaggio and his dramatic high contrast lighting.




 * The painting over the hole in the inner chapel is very much akin to the work of Dutch painter Hieronymus Bosch. His work illustrates moral and religious concepts as well as narratives of Heaven and Hell.


 * The hole in the inner chapel which Heather jumps down to face God resembles a woman's vagina leading to the uterus. This supports Silent Hill 3's theme of birth. Similarly shaped holes are seen on several occasions in the game:
 * When Heather climbs up the ladder in the Hospital, Valtiel is seen in the hole of the same shape.
 * In the Otherworld Hospital in the Woman's locker room..
 * The shape of the hole where Heather climbs down to fight Leonard.
 * One of the paintings seen earlier in the chapel actually depicts the inner sanctuary area with checker floor and circular space with the hole. The picture also can be seen for the second time on the wall in the sanctuary area.
 * Also the objects with the holes with same shape are seen in Fukuro.


 * Heather's run in the corridor after Alessa's room mirrors Harry's run in the alley on Finney St. in Old Silent Hill at the beginning of Silent Hill.


 * The huge fan in the room near the sanctum is a reference to the room with the huge fan in Midwich Elementary School from the first game.