Rose Da Silva

"Honey, the adoption people said Sharon comes from West Virginia, and Silent Hill is in West Virginia. I'm not giving up on her, Chris, I'm not!
 * —Rose discusses her reasoning for taking Sharon to Silent Hill"

Rose Da Silva is the protagonist of the Silent Hill film. She is the wife of Christopher Da Silva and the adoptive mother of Sharon Da Silva.

Rose's role in the film is similar to that of Harry Mason from the first Silent Hill video game.

Rose also has a brief appearance in the sequel Silent Hill: Revelation.

Personality
Rose is a bit complex and intricate. As an adoptive mother, she has a maternal side towards Sharon. It is not explained why Rose chose adoption, but it could be because she felt that there are already enough unfortunate children in the world. Rose's role as a maternal figure is one of the major themes of the film. Like Harry, Rose is willing to go through hell and back in order to save her child.

Rose has an extremely strong will and a stubborn, adamant nature. She defies Chris in order to do what she feels is "right", even if her idea of "the right thing to do" differs from her husband's. Perhaps it is strong will and determination that is her driving force. Rose also has her moments of sass, such as when she says to Cybil Bennett, "Fuck you, you stupid cop" and defies Cybil by running away. She can even raise her voice at people when they test her patience. However, she and Cybil become close and Rose is enraged upon discovering Cybil's fate.

In the beginning of the film, she starts off as rather innocent, completely unaware of her adopted daughter's painful history. During the film, Rose gradually loses her innocence and learns about the horrors of Silent Hill, West Virginia and of the horrible things that happened to Alessa Gillespie.

Although she is, understandably, horrified by Silent Hill and its monsters, she shows remarkable courage and determination to save Sharon. Rose becomes stronger and more determined in her search for Sharon, performing several dangerous stunts, including leaping over a gaping pit and having the will to go to the "demon's lair" Her bravery is shown when she confronts Christabella and her mob of angry cultists. Rose's determination to survive for Sharon's sake also helps her to survive years in Revelation.

Rose is Christian, as evidenced by her locket and she is seen begging for "God" to help her when her life is at risk. She was envisioned as someone who, when under pressure, resorts to faith and "God" for help; in the film's original script, she wanted to take Sharon to a faith healer out of desperation. One of the major themes of the film and the series is religion and how different people can perceive something, especially religion and their idea of "God", in different ways. Christabella's view on religion and what "God" is is different than Rose's, and in a script for the film, Christabella tells Rose she is Manichaeist, not Christian. Eventually, Rose tells Christabella that "God is not here" and that her faith brings death, which is where Rose draws her line. Rose's inclusion as a theist contrasts Christabella's perspective, and shows that not all theists are extremist fundamentalists, as Rose is presented as well-intentioned.

Biography
Little is known about Rose's life before adopting Sharon, other than "she's a very rich woman who, until the film begins, has led an untroubled life." and she lives in Ohio.



When she and her husband Christopher adopted Sharon, they loved her with all their heart, but could not control her sleepwalking. They eventually put her on medication, hoping to calm these nightly activities. Despite this and constant visits to doctors, Sharon continued to sleepwalk and Rose was eventually forced to make a choice: she could either have Sharon institutionalized for the rest of her life, or run the risk that her daughter would eventually die in one of these sleepwalking episodes.

Desperate to avoid either of these outcomes, Rose decides to take Sharon to Silent Hill, West Virginia, the town Sharon would talk about in her sleep. Rose has researched Silent Hill on the Internet and it is likely that she only wanted to drive through Silent Hill with the car windows closed, aware of the toxic fumes. Hopefully, Sharon would remember something about Silent Hill and be cured.

Silent Hill


After narrowly stopping Sharon from throwing herself off the face of a cliff in a sleepwalking fugue, Rose takes her 9-year-old daughter and makes the trip to Silent Hill. In doing so, she defies her husband, who does not want Rose to find the town, and who believes Sharon should be institutionalized.

On the way to Silent Hill, Rose encounters a police officer named Cybil Bennett at a gas station, raising the officer's suspicions when Sharon begins to yell and cry about the destruction of her drawings, which Sharon herself had drawn over while in a trance. Later, Cybil pulls Rose over, but the worried mother speeds off and begins a high-speed chase to escape the curious cop and reach her destination.



After swerving her car to avoid hitting a girl on the road, Rose is transported to the Fog World, where she searches for her missing daughter. After chasing a child who she thinks is Sharon, Rose finds herself in the Fog World's darker side, the Otherworld. There, she becomes so frightened by the sudden appearance of childlike monsters that she blacks out, awakening once more in the Fog World. She then attempts to flee the bowling alley where she had encountered the monsters, but instead discovers that the road out of town mysteriously ends, falling off into nothingness.

There, she is confronted by Dahlia Gillespie, an old woman who claims Sharon is her child, not Rose's. Dahlia frightens Rose so much that Rose shoves her to the ground and runs off, returning to her car on the other side of town. In the car, she finds one of Sharon's drawings, depicting a child trapped in a school with several demons. Cybil finds Rose at the same time, and arrests her for speeding off, but her opinion of Rose is changed significantly when the pair are confronted by an armless monster. Rose flees Cybil and heads to Midwich Elementary School.

Inside, Rose finds the desk of someone named Alessa Gillespie with "witch" on it. She continuously chases the fleeing form of what she thinks is Sharon, and flees scary figures in mining gear who chase her with weapons and are potentially dangerous. Rose chases Sharon's figure into into a washroom; in one stall, she reaches into a dead man's mouth to obtain a clue. The Otherworld comes, and Rose tries to find a way out.



Unable to handle the darkness of the Otherworld, Rose collapses on the floor, sobbing and feeling like she can't continue. Ironically, the one person Rose needs the most at that time, Chris, is standing right next to her, but the two cannot see each other, as they are in separate realities. She is saved by Cybil Bennett, who drags her into a janitor's closet, where the two women escape death at the giant blade of Pyramid Head. Suddenly, the Pyramid Head ceases his pursuit, and the Otherworld transforms into the Fog World.

From there, Rose and Cybil explore the Grand Hotel where they neet a local woman named Anna. They discover the way to a Sacrificial Chamber. While chasing Sharon's figure, Rose jumps across a dangerous hole. Rose asks the girl if she's Alessa, but the girl burns and appears. Rose reveals that she now believes that Alessa was the one who made her crash her car while driving into the town. The Otherworld returns, and the three women rush to a nearby church, where Rose is forced to watch as Anna is skinned alive by Pyramid Head.



Rose and Cybil soon meet Christabella, the priestess of a fanatical cult. Christabella tells Rose that a "demon" is controlling the town, and that she must confront the "demon" to find Sharon. Rose takes on a clear dislike of Christabella immediately, demanding to know why the other woman's personal religious beliefs should define everyone else's truth. Regardless, Rose decides to trust Christabella. Christabella leads Rose and Cybil to Brookhaven Hospital, where she says a demon wearing the face of an innocent lies in wait.

Upon discovering Sharon's picture in Rose's locket, Christabella condemns both Rose and Cybil as witches, but Rose manages to escape the clutches of the cult by Cybil sacrificing her freedom. An elevator takes Rose into the Otherworld version of the hospital, where she confronts several dark nurses, before finding her way to the room Christabella said was the demon's lair.



In the room, Dark Alessa, the manifestation of the dark part of Alessa, tells Rose the truth because she feels that she deserves it: Dark Alessa was the one who led all of the clues throughout the town in order to test Rose's love for Sharon and see if Rose is a worthy mother to be her new mother. Rose learns about the past of Silent Hill, and that Sharon is the manifestation of the remaining purity of a child named Alessa, who was burned alive as a witch by the fanatical cult 30 years before. Rose brokers a deal with Dark Alessa and agrees to help Alessa and Dark Alessa to take revenge on the cultists, in exchange for Sharon's safety.



Rose then enters the church and tells the cultists the truth, causing Christabella to stab her with a dagger pulled from beneath her robes. As Rose's blood drips onto the floor, a portal into the Otherworld is opened and Alessa and Dark Alessa rise into the church to take their final revenge. Rose finds Sharon and tries to hide her from the carnage, telling her "It's only a dream." While Rose keeps her head turned away from Sharon, Dark Alessa approaches, causing the two sides of Alessa's soul to reunite into a single body.

When the massacre passes, Rose leaves the church with a recombined version of Alessa, though whether Rose realizes this or not is unclear. As they leave the church, Rose proves that she understands Alessa better than her own mother does, telling Dahlia that Alessa did not kill her because "Mother is God in the eyes of a child". Rose drives Alessa/Sharon back to their home; along the way, Rose calls Chris to let them know they are coming.

When Rose and Sharon/Alessa return, however, they are still trapped in the Fog World. Rose sits quietly and stares into space with a small smile on her face.

Silent Hill: Revelation


Rose is only seen once in Silent Hill: Revelation, where she appears in a mirror to speak to Chris soon after she disappears in Silent Hill. She tells Chris that she has found a seal that allowed her to return Sharon into the real world, but that she was forced to stay behind. She makes Chris promise to keep Sharon away from Silent Hill, and then disappears.

When Heather, an older, renamed version of Sharon, meets Leonard Wolf, he reveals that Rose stole half of the Seal of Metatron from him.



A scene of Rose speaking to Heather was filmed for Silent Hill: Revelation, but not included for an unknown reason. The scene depicted Rose calling to Heather demanding for her to run, only for them to be separated by the Missionary. Why Rose is still wearing the same clothes and has the same hairstyle 6 years after the events of the first film is not explained.

At the end of the film, Chris tells Heather and Vincent Cooper that he cannot leave Silent Hill yet, and stays in the town to search for his missing wife.

Symbolism
Rose could be viewed as representing the Mary, mother of Jesus, of Christian beliefs, as shown through her non-biological relationship to Sharon, her usage as a pawn of Alessa and the chain she wears throughout the film. Rose's symbolic link to Mary is further shown in the locket she wears, which bears an image of the Mary on the front. Given the director's statements about the vast amount of Christian symbolism used in the film, this was likely intentionally suggested by the filmmakers.

Sharon is shown to metaphorically represent the Christ child, making the non-biological link between herself and Rose a representation of immaculate conception.

Like Mary, Rose is used by an all-powerful entity (Alessa) to raise a physical manifestation of itself that had been sent to live among mankind.

The scene of Dark Alessa merging into Rose's body acts as a metaphor for the Virgin Mary's impregnation by the Holy Spirit.

Rose's name is likely a reference to the Biblical Rose of Sharon, a name given to a plant mentioned in the Bible, which is also used to describe Jesus of Nazareth.

Director's comment
"She's playing a very rich woman who, until this film begins, has led an untroubled life. Radha brings something sophisticated and vulnerable to a character who is not initially sympathetic.
 * —Christophe Gans"

"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"

Quotes
Rose: (bursts into church) "THAT'S NOT GONNA HAPPEN!"
 * "Hey... you know we're going on a special trip, don't you? Do you know where we're going? Honey, sometimes when you go to sleep, you go on a little walk... and sometimes you talk about a place... called Silent Hill."
 * "Can you tell the best way to get to Silent Hill? I can't seem to find it on the map."
 * "The medication doesn't work. She's getting worse every day."
 * "Help me! Help. Help me. Help! Someone! Shit! Get off me! Get off!" (being attacked by Grey Children)
 * "FUCK, COME ON!" (when her car doesn't start)
 * "What, why?! What the hell for?! Look, you don't understand. There's something weird going on! My daughter, she's in danger! Listen to me, she's ill! She sleepwalks!" (when Cybil says she's under arrest)
 * "Have you heard a single word I've said? I'm sure she's at the school, we just need to turn around..."
 * "Look, I don't know what you're thinking here, but you're not helping. There is no way I would ever harm my own daughter!"
 * "Fuck you, you stupid cop. This place is completely cut off. You have no idea what's going on."
 * "Help me. Oh, God. Please, please, help me. Help... Help me. Please, help me. Help me. Help me, please."
 * "Oh my God, you could be her twin. Are you Alessa? Where is my Sharon?"
 * "I've seen your daughter, I've seen Alessa. She's dead, isn't she? She looks exactly like Sharon. She brought us here, didn't she? Why? What does she want?"
 * "Sharon's adopted, but I'm her mother. I knew that the moment I laid eyes on her."
 * "8A. 7A. Right. Right. 6A. 4A. 3A. Left, left. Right, right. Left, left."
 * "Okay... I can do this..."
 * Christabella: "To rid the world of this demon, we must burn this child!"
 * "It's okay, baby. Everything's gonna be okay."
 * "Oh my God. Oh my God... What have you people done?!"
 * "Do not believe her lies! I come from a world outside of this place! I come from a world full of life! Why don't you tell them the truth? Tell them the truth that you deny even to yourself. There was no Apocalypse! You burned in the fire that you started and nothing can save you because you're already damned!"
 * "Burn me? That's your answer? Burn anything you're afraid of, burn anything that you can't control."
 * "This woman uses your fear to control you. She led you to burn Alessa Gillespie, she led you to burn an innocent child. But you will NOT deny your guilt, and you can NOT deny her pain!"
 * "No, it's you who have sinned. You darkened the heart of an innocent and now you cower in the face of Alessa's revenge."
 * "YOUR FAITH... BRINGS... DEATH! You are alone in this limbo, and God is not here."
 * "Shut your eyes. Shut your eyes, baby. Shut your eyes. Shut your eyes. Shut your eyes. Shut your eyes. It's just a bad dream. It's just a bad dream."
 * "Mother is God in the eyes of a child."
 * "I love you."
 * "They'll come looking for her. They'll come looking because they need her. Never let them take her. No matter what happens, no matter what you have to do, swear to me. Swear to me you will never let them take her. I brought her back to you. She's yours to care for now. Goodbye, my love."
 * "Sharon? Run! RUN! RUUUN!" (to Sharon/Heather in deleted scene)

Trivia



 * The director of the first film, Christophe Gans, felt Harry was feminine in nature, leading to his character being replaced with Rose Da Silva for the film. He also stated that he wanted Silent Hill to be a matriarchal world, which he could not have accomplished by having a male lead character. Some fans felt it was a sexist decision because it implied a father wouldn't care about his child as much as a mother would.


 * Rose's name was originally Rose DeSalvo in the early script. This was changed less than two months before filming and appears on one of her prop driver's licenses. Her original name was likely a reference to Andrew DeSalvo from Silent Hill 4: The Room.


 * A prop of Rose's driver's license reveals that Rose's birth date is August 8, 1970 and that she lives in Sidney, Ohio.


 * In the original script, Rose reveals her leg was once badly broken in a car accident as a child, and her "insides were crushed".


 * There were over 100 different outfits made for Radha Mitchell, changing subtly from a dark chocolate shade to blood-red. These outfits symbolized the Fog World and Otherworld affecting Rose, most noticeable when she enters "the core of the darkness" (Alessa's hospital room), and her outfit instantly turns blood red.


 * Director Christophe Gans has stated that the scene of Rose laying with Sharon under a tree is meant to depict Rose's "personal paradise", which includes the one thing Rose loves more than anything else: Sharon.




 * Rose originally was supposed to have black hair. This description of Rose lasted until Radha Mitchell was hired to portray her, and was even drawn into the film's storyboard artwork.

Gallery
For a complete list of images of Rose Da Silva, please visit the Rose images category.

Silent Hill: Revelation
Rose Da Silva Rose Da Silva Rose Da Silva Rose Da Silva (Radha Mitchell)