Founding Families Puzzle



The Founding Families Puzzle is the last puzzle encountered in Silent Hill: Homecoming. It is located within the Order's lair in Silent Hill. It must be solved in order to proceed. The first puzzle is located on the ground and the second is located on the final doorway.

The puzzle is revolved around the founding families of Shepherd's Glen, and the solution refers to the Founding Family Contracts. Mounted on the walls of the chamber are the four Family Contracts written in what appears to be Hebrew. Once Alex unlocks small slots adjacent to the Family Contracts with the Ceremonial Dagger, the Hebrew writing fades away into English allowing the player to interpret the words. After reading, the answers to the puzzle can be identified.

Solution
The contracts state the methods in which the founding families must sacrifice their children. The puzzle utilizes symbols to represent the founding families and the methods of sacrifice. In order to solve it, two concentric circles must be rotated so that they highlight the correct symbols that represent the founding families and their corresponding methods of sacrifice.

The puzzle is broken up into two parts; the first are two large rings on the ground that must be solved using the information gleaned from the Bartlett, Fitch and Holloway contracts. The second part is on the door before the final chamber and utilizes the contract of the Shepherd family. In both instances the player must rotate the rings so that the outer ring highlights the correct family/families and the inner ring highlights the correct method/s of sacrifice. It should also be noted that the methods be placed adjacent to its corresponding family.

Symbols
The four founding families are represented by four symbols that also somewhat signify their part in the town and ritual. The symbols can be found on the top of their corresponding contracts. They are: The Shepherd Family; Keeper of Arms

The Bartlett Family; Executor of Laws

The Fitch Family; Performer of Rites

The Holloway Family; Keeper of Lore

The symbols that must match the founding family represent how each child was sacrificed every 50 years:

Drowning (consign to the water)

Burying alive (consign to the earth)

Mutilation (consign to the knife)

Suffocation (consign to the noose)

By progressing through the game and reading the contracts on the wall the player can discern which symbol belongs to which family:
 * Shepherd: Drowning
 * Bartlett: Burying
 * Fitch: Mutilation
 * Holloway: Suffocation

Part 1
The first part of the puzzle involves rotating two large concentric rings to to match the Bartlett, Fitch and Holloway families to their methods of sacrifice. By inspecting the ground, Alex identifies Dr. Fitch's prescription pad on one of the highlighting points. Thus we can discern that point belongs to the symbol for the Fitch family. The solution from the beginning in all difficulties is:
 * Outer ring: 8 rotations
 * Inner ring: 2 rotations

Part 2
Once the symbols of the two circles on the ground match up, a similar mechanism on the door becomes accessible. On this part only the information of the Shepherd family is needed. The rotations aren't in a fixed state and can be controlled freely by the player. In order to solve the puzzle, simply line the symbol for the Shepherd family (the curved trident) above the symbol for drowning (the water drop).

Trivia

 * The first set of rings in the puzzle are designed to mimic the game's save points, a simplified Halo of the Sun. A symbol from the halo also appears in the inner ring.
 * The symbols representing the four families are similar to large symbols found in the outer ring of the original Halo of the Sun.