Christabella LaRoache


 * This article is about the antagonist from the comics universe. For the character from the film, see Christabella.

"...And me? I'm God here.
 * —Christabella explains her place in Silent Hill."

Christabella LaRoache is the sister of Lauryn LaRoache. Like the otherworldly entity known as Whately, Christabella is one of the primary driving forces behind the events that plague the lake-side town of Silent Hill in the comics universe.

Unlike Whately, Christabella isn't manipulating those who encounter her as pawns in some grandiose plot to gain control of the mortal realm. Christabella does what she does simply because she likes power and she likes control.

Personality
Christabella's behavior and mannerism prior to her death are unknown, though it is implied that she always had a darkened disposition. Since having died, Christabella has taken to reveling in the pain of others. Anyone unfortunate enough to venture into Silent Hill is subjected to whatever terrors and nightmares the young girl can inflict upon them. She has no compassion, and only feels excitement from those who beg and plead for mercy. She exhibits immense pleasure in killing innocents, as well as being able to enthrall others to her service. In addition to her sadistic tendencies, she is exceedingly foul-mouthed. She is also very controlling and doesn't deal well with competition.

Abilities
Because of her death and subsequent occupation of Silent Hill, Christabella has come to bear many unique abilities.

She is able to control the monstrous creatures that prowl the streets of Silent Hill, as well as manipulate both fire and ice. She is nigh-indestructible, having survived immolation, a gunshot to the eye and having her hair lit on fire. She has demonstrated the ability to warp from place to place in an instant. She can also transform those individuals who willingly give themselves up to her into the undead, monsters, or undead monsters. Like the town, Christabella can also manipulate the thoughts of others and give them form. Having plied her craft in Silent Hill for some time, Christabella is able to physically and mentally torment others for weeks before she finally kills them.

During the course of Dead/Alive, Christabella is given life once again, courtesy of Lauryn. This doesn't make her happy. As a living child, she loses all control of Silent Hill and is susceptible to the same mortal harm that a normal child would be. She isn't stripped of all of her powers, though. Rather than being able to continuously use her abilities, Christabella is restricted to using them in short bursts, having to rest afterwards.

There is a way around this limit on her strength, however. Blood of any type will temporarily empower her, allowing her to once again employ her abilities.

Background
Five years prior to the events of Dying Inside, Christabella was a young girl living in the bustling town of Silent Hill. One evening, while in the care of her sister Lauryn, pair of boys approached the girls, saying they attended the same school as Christabella and were having a discussion with their mother about a teacher the three shared. They wanted Christabella's input on the discussion. Lauryn, wanting to talk with a boy she knew without her sister being around, told Christabella she was free to go, and the boys grabbed hold of her hands and dragged her away.

Unknown to Lauryn, it had been a trap set up by child predators. The exact details of Christabella's death are unknown, but even five years after the tragedy, Lauryn is unable to think about what befell her sister without feeling physically ill. What is known is that the attack and subsequent murder left Christabella with a gaping wound in her stomach which has refused to heal even in the presence of the energies of Silent Hill. The boys responsible for ensnaring Christabella also suffered similar fates.

When first meeting her, Dr. Troy Abernathy makes note of the wound. Christabella mentions flies being a particular problem, though sometimes she forgets where she is and falls asleep. She then finds herself being woken up by the many dog-like creatures of Silent Hill pulling her intestines out. She shows no indication of actually feeling any pain.

Dying Inside


Some three-and-a-half years after Christabella's death, a young film student named Lynn DeAngelis comes to the now abandoned town of Silent Hill looking to shoot stock footage of the town and surrounding area that she can later sell. Deciding to use the girl as a pawn to draw more souls to Silent Hill, Christabella allows Lynn to shoot her footage and leave the town, but not before hunting down the girl and traumatizing her. When Troy Abernathy comes to Silent Hill with Lynn in an attempt to help shake the girl of her traumatic experiences, Christabella subtly orchestrates the forces of Silent Hill to force the pair into confrontation with her. Seeing the pair face-to-face, Christabella grows angry with the fact that Lynn has brought the "wrong" person back to Silent Hill with her, though the girl protests that she didn't want to come back.

Determined to punish the girl, Christabella lets loose the monsters in Silent Hill and gives form to a potent memory of Dr. Abernathy's, his late wife's ex-husband Brett. However, the manifestation doesn't behave correctly at first, and Brett actually helps Lynn and Troy to escape Christabella. It doesn't last, as the overwhelming guilt and hatred Troy feels for Brett helps Christabella to re-establish control of the manifestation. The doctor and Lynn are almost near a footbridge leading out of Silent Hill when Christabella appears in their path and destroys the bridge. The girl sets the manifestation of Brett loose on Lynn while Troy tries his hardest to save her, to no avail. Seeing no other way out, the doctor offers himself completely to Christabella in exchange for Lynn's safety, a deal she accepts without a second thought.

As Lynn leaves Silent Hill, Christabella begins to torment Abernathy. When the girl kills the doctor, she resurrects him as a partial monster, entirely under her control.

Christabella allows Lynn to videotape Silent Hill and escape with that footage with the hope that it would draw her big sister, Lauryn, back home. After her sister returns to Silent Hill, the girl remains in the shadows for a short time, entertaining herself by murdering any friends of Lauryn's that stray from their groups or try to escape town. Allowing the creatures in Silent Hill to surround the four groups Lauryn has separated her friends into, Christabella makes it clear that escape will be impossible, and that those who have come with Lauryn are going to be bound to her services. Lauryn, having been dragged away by an enormous worm-like creature, interrupts the girl's speech and attempts to use a spell book in her possession to immolate her sister. It fails.



Lauryn and her small group try to run, much to Christabella's delight. In light of Lauryn being her family, the girl gives them a five minute head start. Lauryn's other friends aren't shown such mercy, with each group being killed by the monsters Christabella has sent to surround them. Lauryn and her friends continue their escape, dealing with manifestations of Lauryn's past and various monsters along the way. When Lauryn is forced to crash her getaway vehicle in an attempt to halt the attacks of a winged monstrosity, she is surrounded (and outnumbered) by Christabella and her numerous creatures. Christabella demands her sister's help in exchange for the safety of her remaining friends. Rather than bargain, Lauryn reveals that each of her friends had been enchanted to serve her in death as undead thralls.

Behind the two girls, numerous monsters not under Christabella's control begin to congregate around the wreck of Lauryn's car and the unconscious forms of her friends, Clown and Payne. Christabella uses this opportunity to blackmail her sister into helping her. In exchange for destroying the rogue monsters and saving her friends, Lauryn will help Christabella get what she wants; complete control of Silent Hill. Fulfilling her end of the bargain, Christabella warns Lauryn not to double cross her and sends her sister off to a nearby hospital, where an unnamed female patient sleeps, giving rise to the dark influences of Silent Hill.

With Lauryn gone and Clown and Payne still nearby, Christabella uses blood from the two in order to create copies, should Lauryn try to disobey her.

As Lauryn confronts the entity that calls itself Whately within the depths of the hospital, Christabella arrives and uses her doppelgängers of Clown and Payne to strongarm her sister into helping her subdue the traitorous Dr. Abernathy, so the doctor can enter the sleeping patient's room and dispatch her. Doing so will leave Christabella as the sole controller of the dark forces of Silent Hill. Lauryn calls her sister a murdering freak who wants nothing but power and control, to which Christabella replies that Lauryn is no different. Lauryn, finding confidence in her abilities to manipulate the energies of Silent Hill thanks to her sister's comment, dispels Christabella's monsters as well as the darkness surrounding the town. She then restricts Christabella's powers and places her under the care of Dr. Abernathy.

Among the Damned, The Grinning Man
Though playing no physical part in the tales of the singer Dahlia and officer Robert Tower, it is implied that Christabella is responsible for the events that occur in Silent Hill during their visits.

Dead/Alive
Christabella, now a living girl, is left to fend for herself when Lauryn disappears from Silent Hill and a malevolent witch named Lenora takes her place. The witch forces Christabella to bring before her Kenneth Carter, an actor lost in Silent Hill who is needed to facilitate the arrival of Samael on the mortal plane. Bringing Carter to the witch as instructed, Christabella is treated to a glimpse of how the world could be, should Lenora's superiors have their way. The girl then sits by as Lenora explains to Kenneth his part in things to come. All is interrupted, however, with the appearance of Troy Abernathy, who has come looking for Christabella with only revenge on his mind. Staring down the monstrous doctor, Christabella, though alive, feels the stirrings of power inside of her, a gift from Lauryn. Using the magic at her disposal, Christabella tries to encase Abernathy in ice but the magic isn't strong enough to stop him. Kenneth picks Christabella up and flees the theater as Lenora yells a warning after him about Christabella. He pays it no mind, believing that if Lenora is afraid of the girl, that's all the reason he needs to keep her at his side.

Though free of the theater, Kenneth and Christabella are still being followed by monsters, and Christabella is far too weak to fight. Fearing the worst, Kenneth expresses his dread aloud, when Ike Isaacs arrives with Kenneth's dog, Bear, and offers his help per the instruction of Lauryn. Still too weak to be of use, Christabella can only watch as Ike and Kenneth take the fight to the monsters. When splashed with blood, however, Christabella is revitalized and is able to use her abilities to clear the remaining monsters from their path. Ike, though impressed, takes no chances with the girl and sticks a shotgun in her face. Kenneth tells Ike to put it away, but is told that Lauryn had warned Ike about Christabella and that the girl is nothing but pure evil. Possessing what power Lauryn left behind, Christabella induces a sickness in Ike and informs him that he serves her now.

As the trio walks the streets of Silent Hill, Ike tells Kenneth and Christabella that he'd been tasked by Lauryn to take them to an item that could help them fight against Lenora. As they continue onward, the group reaches a section of town that stands engulfed in flames. Believing they can follow their present course no further, Kenneth suggests taking another route but is told by Christabella that there is no other way for them to go. Because no other way in Silent Hill will lead them to the place where Lauryn keeps her book of spells, something Christabella is sure will help them stop Lenora as well, they must press on. Ike agrees, saying that with the book and the item Lauryn sent him to get, they should have no problem stopping the witch.

As they near the area of town where the item in question rests, the group encounters a wandering street carnival being thrown in Lenora's honor, but are able to sidestep it without confrontation. Reaching their destination, an old pool hall, everyone begins to search for the item, which happens to be a Keris Dagger, a knife of Indonesian origin. Ike is the one to find it, but questions the motive behind trusting Christabella with an item like this. Unknown to both men, Christabella has been using her powers to manipulate Ike into bringing them here. Not wanting her cover blown, the girl lashes out at Ike in anger, kicking him and causing him to slice his hand open with the dagger. Ike tends the wound, but warns his companions that the monsters in town will hear the dagger calling, now that it's drawn blood. As he says this, monsters from the street carnival storm the pool hall and begin to attack, overpowering Ike and causing him to drop both the dagger and a gun. Christabella grabs the Keris, while Kenneth goes for the gun and begins to fire on the monsters. Before he can kill them all, a tentacle pierces Kenneth's chest, bringing his rampage to an end, and the group is carted out of the pool hall into the streets of Silent Hill and brought to stand before Lenora.

Lenora, upon seeing the three, orders Christabella to remain quiet and demands that Ike be taken away, saying the town has one too many artists as it is. She then turns to Kenneth and commends him on his slaughter of monsters before healing his wound and informing him that he faces a tough decision. That decision is choosing and killing one of three individuals; Connie Mills, a woman who played a large part in Kenneth's past, Bear, or Christabella. Lenora offers that Christabella would be her personal choice, at which point Christabella hurls the Keris Dagger at Lenora and stabs her in the chest with it. Though wounded, the dagger is ineffective on the witch as she claims to be soulless. Christabella flees but soon stops because she begins to succumb to mortal weaknesses such as exhaustion and hunger. As she stands cursing her predicament, a young boy named Daniel approaches her and offers that he knows of a place that provides shelter from the town. Christabella agrees to follow him, and is lead to a jazz club. Once inside, the boy reveals himself to be none other than Troy Abernathy, who plans on inflicting far greater pain on Christabella then she had on him when she killed him. She tries to stall Abernathy in order to draw enough power to kill him, but her magic in ineffective on the doctor due to Lenora's unseen intervention. Before Troy can follow through with his plans to kill Christabella, Samael arrives in the body of Connie Mills.

Standing before the doctor, Samael consumes Abernathy's essence, with Christabella contemplating the thing's nature as it does so. With Abernathy gone, Samael focuses her attention on Christabella, who begins running her mouth in an effort to distract the god-like entity. Using what power she can, Christabella tries to incinerate Samael and the monsters that follow in her wake. The monsters are killed, but Samael stands unharmed. With limited options, Christabella uses her powers to begin jumping between realities in an effort to find help. As she does so, Christabella witnesses Ike sulking in a church, a sheriff once caught in Silent Hill doing paperwork at his desk, and a concert poster for a rock star who has also been stuck in the lakeside town. Her final leap for help brings her to Bear and the Keris Dagger.

Following Christabella, Samael catches up to the girl as she takes the dagger from Bear; reluctant to let the god have her way, Christabella hurls the Keris at her foe, even as she believes it to be a useless gesture. Unharmed by the blade and amused at the child's tenacity, Samael offers Christabella a gift, what she calls awareness, showing the girl glimpses of power that could have been hers before transporting them both back to Silent Hill, where Lauryn (having been revealed to be Lenora) is engaged with Whately in combat. With Samael's arrival, all action ceases and Christabella explains that, thanks to Ike's paintings and other events occurring in the real world, Silent Hill and the oddities occurring within it are at the top of everyone's thoughts. As such, Samael is able to draw strength off of the emotions such thoughts produced and is able to cross into the mortal realm.

Nearby Whately explains to the god-like being that, though she exists in the mortal realm, her control of it won't be assured until Kenneth completes his task of killing the body of Connie Mills. Doing so will free Samael from her mortal shell and destroy reality in the process, which can then be reconstructed as Samael sees fit. The god, however, doesn't care and only wishes to consume Christabella's essence so that she may grow stronger. Fearing her safety, Christabella calls for Lauryn's help (which she is all too happy to give), when Kenneth approaches Samael, an axe in hand, and kills the body of Connie Mills. As he does so, he also destroys reality as it had been.

Rather than being remade as seen fit by the god-like Samael, reality is restored for each person as they wish it to be for themselves. Christabella stands in a fog-draped Silent Hill, surrounded by her monstrous servants. After all the effort she put into trying to control the town, she has gained full control of Silent Hill, just like she always wanted.

Quotes

 * "So, Lynn. I've got one for ya'... What has two heads, one mouth, and no brains? The thing that's gonna rip you to pieces and eat your blood entrails! ...Oh, come on. I thought that was cute. Lighten up."
 * "The flies are a pain. It's worse at night. Half the time I forget where I am and go to sleep. Then I wake up with the dogs pulling things out of my tum-tum."
 * "You brought the wrong one. Now you have to be punished!"
 * "Boo-hoo. I give a fuck."
 * "How the fuck did you survive this long, being so stupid?"
 * "Oh. Terrific. Now my hair's on fire. Thank you so much."
 * "Hey Doc. I'm feeling all tingly in bad places. You know what that's all about?"
 * "Smile for the camera, asshole."
 * "You're confused, desperate, terrified. You don't understand what's happening. Are you awake? Are you dreaming? Is this hell? ...Why do I think that's funny?"
 * "Now it's time to open that yummy-nummy rainbow inside your belly and see what you had for-"