Incubus

"Alessa has been trapped in an endless nightmare from which she never awakens. He has been nurtured by that nightmare. Waiting for the day to be born. That day has finally come... This is a God! Descended among us to reach out and save us!
 * —Dahlia talking about the Incubus"

Incubus is the final boss in Silent Hill encountered during the Good and Good+ endings. The Incubator is fought with the Bad and Bad+ endings.

An Easter Egg in Silent Hill: Downpour gives the creature the alternate name Samael, although the only previous reference to Samael has been when Dahlia Gillespie speaks of the Seal of Metatron as "Mark of Samael".

This boss can only be battled if the player completes a side quest, that being the task of saving Michael Kaufmann and eventually finding red liquid in a motorcycle gas tank. If Kaufmann is not saved and the red liquid is not found, the Incubator will be fought instead. Due to the events of Silent Hill 3, the Incubus is the canonical final boss.

Creation


When Harry Mason confronts Dahlia Gillespie in the mysterious world known simply as Nowhere, she explains that Cheryl Mason had rejoined with Alessa Gillespie the moment they entered the town. With the two halves of her soul reunited, the god was able to mature once more and possess the body of Alessa, forming a new being called the Incubator.

As Harry steels himself for the final confrontation, Kaufmann inexplicably arrives, standing beside Harry. Kaufmann soon shoots Dahlia out of anger, and she collapses. Much to her horror, Kaufmann reveals a large bottle of Aglaophotis to her. Claiming more to be readily available, he hurls the bottle at the glowing form of the combined girls, where it shatters.



As the form collapses in pain, the beast known as Incubus expels itself through the Incubator's back. Because of the effects of Aglaophotis, the demon has been exorcised. The Incubus, while imperfect, still possesses the ability of flight and the use of deadly lightning. Demonstrating its capability, Dahlia is immediately struck with lightning, killing her. The Incubus continues to rampage but is soundly defeated by Harry Mason.

Appearance
The Incubus seems to be based on Baphomet, an ambiguously-gendered deity that the Knights Templar were accused of worshiping before they were disbanded by the Catholic Church. It is widely known as the Deity of Fertility in the Pagan religion and was honored in the spring. In Catholic and Christian culture, Baphomet is considered to be the image of Satan, thus the Incubus is symbolic of the being.

The Incubus has the head of a bull or goat, topped with two long, demonic-looking horns. No eyes are visible on its face, or lack thereof. Its feet are hooves resembling those of a goat, and it has a pair of large, feathered wings and breasts. As a means of demonstrating its incompleteness, its abdomen appears to have rotted away, leaving only the spine visible. From the artwork, if one looks closely, Incubus appears to have a slightly long, black goatee under its chin.

In concept artwork, the Incubus appears with a metal object shaped into the Seal of Metatron on its back, but this is absent in-game.



Incubus' wings appear to say "Saroa" both in forward (on the left wing) and backward (on the right wing). However, Masahiro Ito believes they are Greek symbols. If that is the case, then the word spells out "ςηφοδ". Letters in Greek alphabet translation are listed as follows: The direct result is "Sifod" or "Dofis". Neither σηφοδ nor δοφης are true words in Greek, leaving the meaning a mystery.
 * ς - s
 * η - i/e
 * φ - f
 * ο - o
 * δ - d

Both of its biceps also have messages. The many words on the body of Incubus have not all been identified, therefore what words they spell out and their meanings remain unexplained.

Character
The Incubus attacks with bolts of red lightning which inflict severe damage and, in some cases, can instantly kill Harry if his health is even slightly low. The Incubus, similar to the Incubator, is completely stationary throughout the fight, so the only strategy needed to battle it is to dodge its barrage of lightning bolts and relentlessly attack it with Harry's most powerful weapon. A few clips from the hunting rifle will defeat it in a short amount of time. Since this is the final boss, the player can be liberal with first aid kits and ampoules.

Dodging the lightning Incubus expels during the boss fight can be difficult to entirely evade. The most effective tactic Harry can employ is to run in a sideways circle, which will warrant him capable of avoiding almost all strikes if the player times their actions correctly. With PlayStation's button configurations, this can be achieved by holding down L1 and square and moving the analog stick or D-pad in the direction the player desires Harry to run. It is best to begin running just as Incubus fires its first shot.

It is possible to kill both Incubator and Incubus without dealing damage. If the player uses up their ammunition before the fight and survives for a few minutes, the boss will react as if the final shot has been fired. However, this will not work if the player has the Hyper Blaster, or if they picked up hunting rifle ammo but not the gun itself.

Symbolism
Incubus is a manifestation of the deity worshiped by the Order. It is unknown if this is an actual deity or the manifestation of Dahlia's and/or Alessa's expectations, though Lost Memories suggests the latter. The Otherworld from Alessa's dreams are caused by the presence of this god, which explains why when it "dies", the Incubator in the Otherworld collapses. It's the second manifestation of God seen in the first game, the first being Incubator.

Incubus' physical appearance is the manifested form of Dahlia's mental image of the Order's god. Samael/Incubus being a god of the Order is heavily supported as well by a specific memo found in Silent Hill: Origins, in which the author states Samael is the god worshiped by the cult, although this information is not present in previous games.

The actual appearance of the Incubus was inspired by the representation of the theological deity Baphomet by Éliphas Lévi, which has been widely associated with the occult.

In real-world mythology, an incubus is the male counterpart to a succubus. The incubus is a demon who seduces his female, human victims as they sleep. This may possibly be a tie to Alessa; figuratively, one may imagine an incubus "seducing" her to a placid, helpless state, therefore warranting her mother and cult members to commence the ritual that they hoped would bring to fruition their god. This is supported by flashbacks in the game that show Alessa was highly reluctant to have anything to do with Dahlia's plans, only to later be rendered entirely devoid of her liberty. The name may also represent how it trapped Alessa in her own dreams.

In Jewish mythology, Samael is an archangel of death, sometimes even considered to be the illustrious Grim Reaper. However, in Jewish mythology, Samael (who, in this case, is male) is depicted as both commendable and contemptible in different cases. This may carry heavy symbolism in the game of what the Order's god genuinely is: a divine messiah in the eyes of the Order, but a malicious hellion through the perceptions of others.

The fact that the Incubus attacks with lightning may be a reference to the Bible. Luke 10:18 says, "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven."

Trivia



 * There is a translation error in the scene before the battle. In the Japanese version, Dahlia refers to the entity inside Alessa not as "God", but as "(her) savior".
 * The song "My Heaven", which is played during the battle with Incubus, is the reason for the high-pitched noise during the battle, which was made by distorting the sound of a dentist drill.




 * In the "attic" room in Nowhere, there is a scribble on the wall of a figure resembling the Incubus.




 * In Alessa's room, there is a blue drawing on the ground that vaguely resembles the Incubus.
 * The same picture is present in Alessa's room in Silent Hill 3, although it is more detailed and thus resembles the Incubus more. However, judging by the other pictures, resembling the Grey Child and the Groaner, the picture is more likely to be of the Air Screamer.




 * After proceeding through Alessa's room and heading down the stairs, the second picture hanging on the wall looks very much like the Incubus. The deity seems crucified with its wings folded.
 * It shares the first five letters of its name (Incub) with the Incubator, it is unknown if this was done deliberately.
 * An Incubus in medieval folklore was a daemon that raped women in their sleep and caused severe illness to those it defiled.
 * A creature similar to Incubus appears in the third issue of Anne's Story.
 * The Incubus makes a total of four cameos in other Silent Hill games.
 * In Silent Hill 3, a picture of the Incubus can be seen on the right page of a book memo entitled Silent Hill's Ancient Gods: A Study of Their Etymology and Evolution.
 * In Silent Hill 4: The Room, Jasper Gein has an Incubus t-shirt with the word "Haures" beneath it, which is another name for Flauros.
 * In Silent Hill: Shattered Memories, classroom 4D's projector in Midwich High School may display a drawing of a succubus similar to Incubus, depending on the player's Psych Profile.
 * In Silent Hill: Downpour, there is an Incubus painting on the 1st floor (Archive/Offices) of the Centennial Building titled "Demon Samael".

Play Novel: Silent Hill
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