Esther Munroe

"Can you feel it, Jebediah... The past just slipping away? A whole other world we love, truly."

Esther Munroe is a character from Past Life. She is the wife of Jebediah Foster and is pregnant with his child.

Personality
Esther is a kind and gentle woman, with high hopes for the future. She often scolds her husband for doing such things as calling Howard Blackwood a "negro" and using God's name in vain.

Background
Esther had a husband, but he died in the American Civil War.

Esther worked for a doctor. She met Jebediah after he was involved in a fight and healed him.

Past Life
Esther either has or once had a family in Silent Hill. When Howard Blackwood asked her and Jebediah Foster if they are on their way to Shepherd's Glen, she simply responds by saying "No, we're on our way to Silent Hill. My family has an old house there", and mentions that she is inheriting her uncle's property.

After settling in at their new house, Jeb heads outside to put his horse in the barn, where he finds a bottle of whiskey. The whiskey triggers a flashback: some time ago, Jeb received money from a man named Grimes in return for murdering a group of people for unknown reasons, and celebrated the payment with a drink.

Esther suddenly screams from the house. Jeb runs inside and discovers a Cherokee woman, Inola, sitting on the floor with bleeding hands and a knife nearby. As Jeb looks for rags to stop the bleeding, Inola has a personal talk with Esther about her child and her relationship with Jebediah. When Jeb returns, Inola states that she suddenly has to leave and that her wounds are manageable. Jeb is still annoyed by Inola breaking and entering into their home, but an unnerved Esther begs him to let her go.

Later, Jebediah sits in bed with Esther, worrying that with all the sins he has committed, it might be too late for him to start leading a good life. Esther reassures Jeb that things will turn out okay, then reveals herself as a macabre, skeletal creature. Jeb awakens from this nightmare.

Later, while sweeping the porch, the creature from Jeb's nightmare watches nearby. Esther suddenly has a chilling vision of a young woman struggling to give birth while her mother tells her, "Hurry! They're coming!" Esther passes out. As Esther wakes up on the porch, Inola appears and helps her into the house. Esther tells her that Jeb went to report her to the sheriff, and worries what might happen if he comes back and sees Inola. Inola tells Esther to rest for the sake of her baby and, before leaving, remarks on the irony of a criminal like Jeb reporting to the sheriff.

On Sunday, Esther has a nightmare of the same woman urgently trying to birth her child with her mother's frantic assistance. After waking up, she and Jeb prepare to go to the town's church, which she wants to visit before the baby's arrival. Jeb notes her ill complexion and advises her to rest, but she insists that she needs to go.

As Esther enters the house, Jeb goes to the barn and begins drinking the whiskey, oblivious to the fact that the skeletal creature is watching him, its belly very pregnant. Jebediah sits in the barn, drinking and contemplating his old knife. Esther suddenly goes into labor, even though it's too soon. Inola and the skeletal monster—Inola's daughter, Awinita—enter the room. They lay Esther on the floor and prepare to "assist" the delivery.

Jeb hears Esther scream. Esther realizes that the pregnant woman in her nightmares is Awinita, and Inola is the one telling her to hurry before "they" arrive. Now, Inola echoes those words to Esther and tells her to push. Esther delivers Awinita, and Jeb tells Inola to take it and leave. He then cradles Esther, who appears to be dead.