Harry Mason

"Cheryl is my daughter. I will save her. No matter what.
 * —Harry to Cybil Bennett"

Harrold "Harry" Mason is the protagonist of the first Silent Hill game and the adoptive father of Cheryl, and later, Heather. When Cheryl goes missing in the hellish town of Silent Hill, he takes it upon himself to rescue her.

Personality
Harry is shown to be a competent, devoted, responsible, and loving father towards his adopted daughter, risking his life to save Cheryl when she goes missing in Silent Hill. Having lost his wife Jodie early in their marriage, his daughter is the most important thing he has in life, and he devotes it to her well-being.

Harry works as an ordinary run-of-the-mill writer and doesn't have very many relationships with other people. He is clumsy and awkward, but what he lacks in physical training, he makes up for in his courage.

He is a very perceptive and a quick thinker; this is shown throughout Silent Hill when he solves the various puzzles presented by Silent Hill's darker universe's repetitive and perplexing invasion into reality.

Harry is described by Heather as a "worrywart". Harry was so concerned for Heather's safety that he provided her with a stun gun for self-protection, though the real reasons as to why he was so concerned become apparent later in Heather's life. Harry also gave Heather a necklace containing Aglaophotis on her birthday as a sign of love, though this too was later revealed to be another act of protection against a cult known as the Order.

In the novelization, it is shown that Harry has a fear of kidnappers, murderers, child abusers, and the like. Because of this, he keeps a handgun for self-defense in his Jeep's glove compartment. As well, he wrote a book entitled The Criminal's Mask, which is an analysis about offenders who go unnoticed in communities under the guise of normal citizens. Harry believes if guns disappeared from America, crime would not, and he wouldn't risk the chance of protecting his daughter. This implies Harry has a somewhat pessimistic view of humanity.

Regarding Harry's beliefs or non-beliefs, the novelization, which has debatable canonicity, says Harry is "hardly religious". Despite this, it is suggested in Harry's notebook in Silent Hill 3 that he is (or once was) a theist, as he states "[Jodie and I] thanked God" about finding Cheryl. If one considers the novel to be in the same canon as the games, it can be deduced that either Harry is a theist who isn't too serious about the religious aspects of theism, or he may have lost faith in a deity later in life.

Background


At the age of 25, Harry and his wife Jodie found a baby on the side of a road, whom they took home and named Cheryl. However, three years later, at the age of 28, Jodie suffered a fatal disease and suddenly died. For the next four years, Harry raised Cheryl alone.

At 32 years old, Harry was still in deep grief over his wife's death. Cheryl, who was then seven, convinced Harry to take a peaceful vacation to relax in the resort town of Silent Hill. Harry agreed, but as they prepared for the vacation, they entered the town late at night due to engine problems.

While Harry was driving towards the town with Cheryl in the front seat, he saw a teenage girl, who is later revealed to be Alessa Gillespie, walk into the path of his vehicle. He tried to avoid her, but lost control of the vehicle and fell off the side of the hillside trail. He later awoke in the town to find Cheryl had gone missing.

Silent Hill
After a horrific nightmare of chasing Cheryl and dying in an alleyway, Harry wakes up in Cafe 5to2. He forms a bond with Cybil Bennett, a police officer, and they attempt to find his daughter. However, Cybil doesn't seem to understand Harry when he talks about phenomenal things, such as his dreams of the Otherworld and reality.

In the alleyway from his dream, Harry finds Cheryl's sketchbook with "to school" on it. After exploring Midwich Elementary School, Harry goes to the Balkan Church and meets Dahlia Gillespie, a priestess of a cult named "the Order". She gives clues to guide Harry, yet also confuses him in doing so. While exploring the town, Harry often encounters Dahlia's daughter Alessa, although she always disappears before Harry is able to speak to her.



In Alchemilla Hospital, Harry meets the hospital director and doctor named Michael Kaufmann and a young nurse, Lisa Garland, who grows attached to Harry after he meets her. Harry and Lisa have conversations about Silent Hill's past, and Harry offers to take her with him, but she declines, stating that she doesn't feel she should leave the hospital.

Meeting up with Cybil, who has seen a girl out on the lake, the pair find a hidden altar in an antiques store, but Harry disappears out of sight of Cybil, much to her confusion. Harry, meanwhile, finds himself back in the hospital with Lisa, who gives him directions to the lake. On the way to the location, Harry passes through some sewers and enters the Resort Area.

The player may determine Kaufmann's fate (and the game's ending) by choosing to assist him in Annie's Bar and doing a sidequest – in the canon Good ending, Harry saves Kaufmann and fulfills the sidequest. Kaufmann is thankful, but his business presses him onward. Harry finds a motorcycle stash of a mysterious red vial in a gas tank, and Kaufmann reappears and angrily snatches it away.

Harry, Cybil, and Dahlia meet up in a boat to stop Alessa's supposed plan to unleash hell on the town. In order to do this, they need to use the Flauros to stop Alessa before she places the "Mark of Samael" on the lighthouse and Lakeside Amusement Park. Harry arrives at the lighthouse too late, so he heads over to the amusement park to regroup with Cybil, who has been infected by a parasite. Harry has no choice but to defeat her in battle, and Cybil is ultimately killed in the canon ending. Dahlia reveals to Harry that the Mark of Samael is actually a sigil that repels against the cult's god, and Harry realizes he has been deceived.

Harry is then transported to Nowhere, where he reunites with Lisa. Harry retreats against a wall in fear as she approaches him, appearing to seep blood from not only all orifices, but all pores. Harry locks her in a room alone as she cries and presumably dies, though he feels sympathy for her.



Having found the location of Dahlia and Alessa and learning that Alessa and Cheryl are two halves of a same soul that has rejoined into one body, Harry tries to stop Dahlia from using Alessa/Cheryl to give birth to her god. However, Michael Kaufmann arrives with Aglaophotis and uses it on Alessa, expelling a monster known as the Incubus from her, which kills Dahlia using lightning. Harry defeats the Incubus in battle.

As the Otherworld crumbles in flames after the monster's defeat, Lisa reappears for a brief moment and kills Kaufmann before he is able to escape, successfully taking her revenge on him. The Incubator (Alessa) gives Harry a baby, a reincarnation of both Cheryl and Alessa, and opens a portal for him to escape. Harry enters the portal and is seen leaving Silent Hill with the newborn baby in his arms. He safely makes it to the highway on the outskirts of the town and stares up at the sky, bewildered at everything that has happened.

Non-canon alternate fates
The canon ending of Silent Hill is the Good ending, as stated in Lost Memories: Silent Hill Chronicle which states it is the "orthodox ending connected to the third game".




 * Good+ (Complete the Kaufmann sidequest and save Cybil): Cybil tries to shoot Dahlia but fails, and Alessa and Cheryl merge, becoming the Incubator. Kaufmann then appears, shooting Dahlia and throwing the Aglaophotis at the Incubator. When hit with the liquid, the Incubator falls to the ground, screaming as the Incubus emerges from her back. The Incubus kills Dahlia. Harry then fights and defeats the Incubus, and the Incubator gives him a baby (who is revealed to be Heather Mason in Silent Hill 3) and shows him the escape route. Harry, Cybil, and Kaufmann try to escape, but a blood-covered Lisa Garland appears and drags Kaufmann with her into the abyss. Harry and Cybil continue their escape; however, the Otherworld is collapsing too quickly for them to make it on their own, so the Incubator uses the last of her power to stop the world's destruction in order for them to escape. The Incubator is then consumed by the flames, and Cybil and Harry escape together with the baby.




 * Bad+ (Don't complete the Kaufmann sidequest and save Cybil): Alessa and Cheryl merge, becoming the Incubator, and kill Dahlia. Cybil then appears and tries to kill Dahlia, but fails. Harry then battles Incubator who, after defeat, thanks Harry. Harry then collapses in sorrow over the loss of his daughter. Cybil walks over to Harry, smacks him out of his grief, and tells him to go as the Otherworld collapses around them, leaving their fate up for debate.




 * Bad (Don't complete the Kaufmann sidequest and kill Cybil): Alessa and Cheryl merge, becoming the Incubator, and kill Dahlia. Harry then battles the Incubator who, after defeat, thanks Harry and says goodbye. Harry collapses in sorrow over the loss of his daughter. Harry is then seen bleeding from his head, unconscious in his car, which suggests that everything that happened in Silent Hill was just a dying dream, conjured by the failing synapses of his dying brain. This ending is ironic because at one point in the game, Harry foreshadows this by wondering whether everything that is happening to him is just a dream that he is having in a hospital after a car crash.




 * UFO: When Harry uses the Channeling Stone for the fifth time on top of the lighthouse, a group of UFOs is seen in the sky. As the UFOs land, the cutscene changes style to a roughly animated picture show. Harry tries to ask the aliens if they have seen his daughter but is shot and brought into their spaceship. The UFOs take off and Harry's fate is left a mystery.

Portland and murder case


After escaping Silent Hill, Harry lived an ordinary life in Portland with his new adopted daughter. Harry was unsure about raising the baby, and he even considered killing, strangling, and abandoning her because he suspected the baby was a reincarnation of Alessa, and Alessa was responsible for taking Cheryl away from him. Harry's suspicions were ultimately correct, although it is unknown if Harry realized that part of that baby also contained Cheryl's reincarnated soul. Regardless of whether or not the baby was Alessa's reincarnation, Harry ultimately decided to forgive Alessa and raise the baby.

He also decided to name the baby Cheryl again, presumably because Jodie chose it and he wanted to honor her decision, as well as his previous adopted daughter. However, he later felt this name was a mistake since at the time, Harry only thought of her only as a replacement for his lost Cheryl.

The religious organization of Silent Hill, the Order, had planned to abduct the reincarnated Cheryl/Alessa and proceeded to track her down. Five years after the events of the first game, Harry killed a cult member in self-defense; the cultist attempted to kidnap the reincarnated Cheryl/Alessa. Harry was acquitted in court and relocated to another town to hide incognito.

To ensure his adopted daughter's safety, he dyed her hair from brunette to blonde and renamed her from Cheryl to Heather. Afterwards, he eventually settled in the Daisy Villa Apartments with her. Despite feeling confused and frustrated at who Heather could be, Harry was determined to raise her.

Silent Hill 3
12 years later, the events of Silent Hill 3 take place. Because the game takes place 17 years after the events of the original Silent Hill, Harry is now 49.

Heather runs an errand for her father at the mall and phones her father telling him that she is coming home. Heather's last words to Harry in their conversation are "I love you too, Dad".

When Heather transitions to the Otherworld Hilltop Center, depending on the version of Silent Hill 3 played, Harry's voice may be heard saying, "It's being invaded by the Otherworld. By a world of someone's nightmarish delusions come to life..." In the PC version, Harry's voice was removed. In the Silent Hill HD Collection, it was re-dubbed with a different voice actor.



When she returns home, Heather discovers her father slumped in a chair, having been brutally murdered by the Missionary under Claudia Wolf's orders. Heather gasps at the sight and sobs, heartbroken by the sudden loss. Heather's mood switches from sadness to rage, and she confronts Claudia on the roof, demanding to know why Claudia murdered him. Claudia says that she killed him to get "revenge for 17 years ago" and that if weren't for Harry, "our dream would have come true" and that Harry taking Heather ruined this.



After defeating the Missionary by herself, Douglas Cartland helps Heather move her father's body into his bedroom and covers him with a sheet and lilies. Heather decides she will kill Claudia, who is waiting in Silent Hill, in revenge for her father's death. Before their car ride to Silent Hill, Douglas gives Heather a postmortem notebook from Harry. The notebook details Harry's experiences from the first Silent Hill game and is a final goodbye to his daughter. Heather wonders if her father would be mad at her decision if he were still alive and promises to return home.

In Lakeside Amusement Park, Heather finds a memo written by Harry during his visit to Silent Hill.

In the chapel, Heather encounters a facsimile of her father's bedroom while traversing the Otherworld church. There, Harry's corpse is missing from the bed, which is stripped of its coverings with scattered lilies on the floor, and a trail of blood leads to the door, possibly implying some postmortem manifestation, ghost, or perhaps even some monster form of Harry is elsewhere. If Heather examines the bed, she will state, "This room looks just like Dad's. It's more than just a resemblance. Dad's not sleeping in the bed, though." A diary written by Harry is on the bed. After defeating God, Heather mourns over her father's death one last time.

In the Normal ending, when Douglas calls Heather by her name, Heather says she isn't hiding anymore and wants to be called Cheryl, the name her father originally gave her. The game closes on an image of Cheryl putting flowers next to Harry's grave, having given her father the burial she wanted him to have.

In the UFO ending, Heather returns home to find that Harry is not dead and tells him about her hardships. Infuriated, Harry karate chops a wooden board held by James Sunderland and proceeds to obliterate the town of Silent Hill with the help of aliens.

Silent Hill 2: Restless Dreams
Harry is also found in the UFO ending of Silent Hill 2: Restless Dreams. In any version of Silent Hill 2 that isn't the original PlayStation 2 black label non-Greatest Hits version, after James uses the Blue Gem in three locations and uses it in the final location (Room 312), Harry descends from a space ship and asks James if he has seen Cheryl; James in turn asks if Harry has seen his wife Mary. James is then zapped by a ray gun and dragged onto the ship, while Harry gives the alien a thumbs up. During the UFO ending, Harry is depicted in PS1-era graphics, a probable parody of how the PlayStation 1 had inferior character graphics compared to James in the more realistic graphic engine of the PlayStation 2.

Silent Hill: Origins
Harry's voice can be heard at the end of the Good ending of Silent Hill: Origins, as can his wife's, when they discover Cheryl (off screen) in a field.

Silent Hill: Shattered Memories


Harry is the protagonist of the re-imagining of the first Silent Hill game, Silent Hill: Shattered Memories, which is in a separate continuity. While his role begins in a similar manner to the original game since he is still searching for Cheryl, his motives, directions, and ultimately his story differ in many ways, both because of how the story is told. He also wears glasses.

Silent Hill film


In the first Silent Hill film, Harry is replaced by a female character, Rose Da Silva. Rose's role and motivations are identical to those of Harry in the first game. Like Harry, she takes her daughter Sharon to the town of Silent Hill, where an apparition of Alessa causes her to crash her car. Rose searches the town for her missing child in the same fashion as Harry and is led to discover the town's cruel history, Alessa's story, and a fanatical cult responsible for the town's ultimate destruction. As with the game, the film ends with Rose returning home with a combined version of her child and Alessa.

Silent Hill: Revelation


Harry appears again in Silent Hill: Revelation, which serves as both a sequel to the first film and as a rather loose adaptation of Silent Hill 3, portrayed by Sean Bean. Unlike with the first film, his role is given to Christopher Da Silva, the husband of Rose. Chris uses the alias "Harry Mason" in order to hide himself and his daughter Sharon, who uses the alias "Heather Mason", from the Order. Harry is kidnapped by the cult, which forces Heather to go to Silent Hill to find him.

Creator's comment
"When development first began on this project he was given the name "Humbert Mason" because of his role as the doting, dutiful father, which was referenced from the protagonist of the Stanley Kubrick film Lolita. However, since this is an uncommon name, it was changed by the English staff. The truth is that Harry was the nickname of the person who named the character."

Quotes
Silent Hill
 * "This place is like a ghost town."
 * "Someday, someone may experience these bizarre events. Hopefully, they will find my notes useful."
 * "Have you seen a little girl? Short, black hair? Just turned seven last month?"
 * "In that case, I need to find her now! Cheryl's my little girl. I can't just leave her out there by herself!"
 * "Huh? Radio? What's going on with that radio?"
 * "Who in the hell was that...?" (after Alessa disappears in Midwich's boiler room)
 * "Was that another dream? Did I pass out again? I don't want to think so, but maybe this is all just going on in my head. I could have had a car accident, and now I'm lying unconscious in a hospital bed... I don't know what's real anymore..."
 * "Not again...!? No, this time it feels different. Rather than from reality shifting to a nightmare, this is more like reality becoming a nightmare. I don't like this feeling. Like something bad will happen... No doubt, something terrible is going on."
 * "This may sound really off the wall, but listen to me. You've got to believe me. I haven't gone crazy and I'm not fooling around. At first I thought I was losing my mind. But now I know I'm not. It's not me. This whole town. It's being invaded by the Otherworld. By a world of someone's nightmarish delusions come to life... Little by little, the invasion is spreading... Trying to swallow up everything in darkness... I think I'm finally beginning to understand what that lady was talking about."
 * "Cheryl is somewhere and she needs my help."
 * "Cheryl is my daughter. I will save her. No matter what." (to Cybil if he saves her)
 * "I don't know who you are or what you're trying to do, and I don't care. Just one thing. Let Cheryl go. That's all I ask." (to Alessa)
 * "Dahlia! Where's Cheryl!? What have you done to her!?"
 * "I'm in no mood for jokes." (to Dahlia)
 * "Cheryl...? Can't be? You can't leave like this... This can't be happening! Cheryl!? ...Cheryl!"

Silent Hill 3
 * "I confess I had reservations at first about raising that baby. Could I love her? Her existence was thoroughly unexplainable. I thought, 'She could be that young woman who snatched away my beloved daughter.' That led to sadness, anger... there were times when I put my hands around her tiny little throat. Several times I even considered abandoning her. That's what a terrible person I am. But I decided to raise her after all. I just couldn't seem to let her go. When she... when you look at me, you laugh, so... Even now, I can't forget about that girl. But I love you. I have no doubts about that. That's all I ask you to believe."
 * "But sometimes we have to tell the truth. That's why I'm writing this, before I'm lost in death and oblivion."
 * "No matter whose reincarnation she may have been, that girl was my most beloved treasure."
 * "When she knows the truth, will she feel bad? That's what worries me."
 * "Oh, my poor little Cheryl. I can't believe that! I'm going to Silent Hill and I'm gonna bust some heads!" (Harry in the UFO ending of Silent Hill 3)

Trivia



 * Harry's surname Mason could possibly be inspired by James Mason, actor of Humbert Humbert in Lolita.
 * Perry Mason is a detective/lawyer from an old TV show that is referenced in Jacob's Ladder, a known influence to the game. His first name rhymes with "Harry", and his last name is the same. This might be a coincidence, but could be relevant.
 * In Silent Hill 3, if the player makes Heather observe her father's bookshelf (in both the apartment and Harry's Otherworld room in the Chapel), it is revealed that Harry loved detective/mystery novels. This ties back to the possibility of Harry's name being a tribute to Perry Mason.
 * Harry's radio and pocket clip flashlight serve as the template for nearly all future Silent Hill protagonists.
 * Harry is the first male character seen in the series, making his debut within seconds of the opening sequence of Silent Hill.
 * Although Harrold is Harry's real first name, it is never acknowledged in the games themselves. It is shown in several official books, such as Lost Memories: Silent Hill Chronicle and the Play Novel: Silent Hill Official Guidebook, as well as the official Japanese website. It is also said in the PAL version of the game's instruction manual that his name is "Harold Mason".
 * The Cock Robin mentioned in Silent Hill 3 's Crematorium Puzzle (gurney 4 on Hard Difficulty) may represent Harry.
 * In Silent Hill, a contradictory quote from Harry can be seen by examining the dog house before reading the note at the end of Levin Street. Harry states, "Probably a doghouse, though I'm not sure since there's no dog around", even though there are two dog-like Groaners in the area.
 * In the trade demo of Silent Hill, Harry has voiced dialog which isn't in the final version.
 * Harry's face in Silent Hill 3, seen by using a model viewer, shows him clearly aged. It is the same model used for the corpse in front of the TV in Silent Hill 2, which is James's model.
 * Harry Mason is referred to by Dahlia as "the Hermit", the number nine of Major Arcana of a Tarot deck. Alessa kept a collection of Tarot cards, which are found in Silent Hill 3 and in the Lost Memories: Silent Hill Chronicle; many elements of the game are categorized by Tarot cards.
 * In the UFO ending of Silent Hill 2, Harry's dialogue is the exact same as that of the first game's UFO ending.
 * He's the first and only protagonist to be confirmed dead rather than being alive or ambiguous depending on ending.
 * Christophe Gans, the director of the Silent Hill film, felt Harry was more feminine than masculine in nature, leading to his role being replaced with a woman named Rose Da Silva for the movie. Instead, Christophe felt that Harry fainting, talking to himself, and being vulnerable wasn't very "masculine". In addition, Christophe wanted the film's theme to focus on different forms of motherhood, an ideal that would be difficult to achieve with a male protagonist.

"It quickly became clear however Harry never acted like a masculine character. He was constantly dizzy, fainting, talking to himself, screaming and in fact was very vulnerable. We didn't want to betray the nature of the game by changing the character's feelings and motivations, so we felt it was better to change to a female protagonist and retain all those important qualities. I don't want people to think that I have been "politically correct" because we changed Harry into Rose. There is no political correctness in Silent Hill.
 * —Christophe Gans"