Numb Body

Numb Body is a monster from Silent Hill 3. They also appear in Silent Hill: The Arcade and the comics Dying Inside and Hunger.

Appearance
Numb Bodies are relatively featureless, bipedal creatures that appear in various sizes. They waddle and hop side-to-side. They resemble tadpole-like creatures covered in purplish, pale skin which splits and cracks constantly. They consist of only two legs, which end in deformed, toe-like digits. From their backs protrude two triangular growths of presumably no real purpose. Their heads only have a single hole in it, from which they presumably see, and nothing else.

Character


Numb Bodies are usually found in groups, typically consisting of three or four, but may be found solitary. Alone, they aren't very dangerous, simply attacking by ramming their heads into Heather Mason to damage her; however, when in groups, they have a tendency to surround her, and this can make them much more difficult to handle as Heather tries to ward them off one at a time.



The smaller Numb Bodies will occasionally ignore Heather for a few moments, walking by her without acknowledgment, but will typically begin to approach her if another Numb Body has begun to attack the protagonist. They may also make tiny leaps (sometimes quivering just before as if building up energy) to advance more quickly towards Heather or as another method of smashing into her. These monsters emit moan-like calls in a constant pattern, but will make sounds more reminiscent of an injured, young animal when actually being attacked. They flail around when Heather has grounded them, shrieking out cries that somewhat resemble a human infant's.



The larger variants, first appearing inside the moving subway car that departs from Hazel Street Station, aren't much more dangerous, though they both give and take slightly more damage, making them harder to defeat. These bigger enemies slowly deflate when killed, similar to the Insane Cancer. Just like their smaller counterpart, they too voice moan-like sounds, although theirs is more like a deep bellow. When attacked, they make loud, almost gurgling effects, and they will also kick about and "scream" wildly once they have fallen over.

Symbolism
According to Lost Memories: Silent Hill Chronicle, the name "Numb Body" is derived from the creature's slow and clumsy movements and the pale frozen texture of its body. In contrast to Silent Hill and Silent Hill 2, series creature designer Masahiro Ito only designed five of the monsters in Silent Hill 3. As such, several creature designs were more abstract and created without fully fleshed out symbolism in mind. When asked about the meaning of the Numb Body, Ito replied, "They are only creatures. Sorry."

Silent Hill: The Arcade


In Silent Hill: The Arcade, the Numb Bodies are first seen in the Central Square Shopping Center stage and then in a short subway train scene. They never appear again after this.

They convulse and thrash about much more than their previous incarnation. The Numb Bodies are more aggressive as well, so much so that they will even leap from edges of a higher floor to land a strike on the player as they fall. These Numb Bodies also demonstrate a new form of distance attack, by producing a gaseous, green ball through the hole at the center of their faces, which is then hurled in an arc-like fashion towards the player. This attack does require charging, where the Numb Body is seen leaning backwards to prepare for this method of attack.

Dying Inside
Appearing in Issue 1 of Dying Inside, the Numb Body does little more than frighten Troy Abernathy and his patient, Lynn DeAngelis.

Trivia

 * According to Masahiro Ito, Numb Body was designed by Takashi Ito.

Comics
Numb Body Numb Body