Inola

"The fires burn for them... for the spirits. And they've only just begun..."

Inola is a character from Past Life and resident of Silent Hill in 1867. The Cherokee woman speaks of the "spirits". She appears to want to birth her daughter Awinita. She seems to wear medicine wheel earrings.

Past Life
Esther Munroe discovers her in the Munroe House, sitting on the floor with bleeding hands and a knife nearby. As Jebediah Foster 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. As Inola exits, Jeb tells her to take the knife with her, but she replies that it doesn't belong to her; she was "just returnin' it." Before leaving, Inola calls Jeb by his old nickname: Hellrider.

Later, while Esther is doing some sweeping outside, she falls unconscious. Inola 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.

A couple weeks later, Esther goes into labor. Inola and the skeletal monster—Inola's daughter, Awinita, enter the room. They lay Esther on the floor and prepare to "assist" the delivery. 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. Under Inola's instruction, Awinita seemingly "merges" with Esther, causing their babies to become one.

Jeb enters the house, and a final flashback reveals his darkest sin: during his mission to kill the Cherokees, he found Inola and Awinita, the latter trying to give birth. Jeb took out his knife and killed the baby.

Esther delivers the baby, and Jeb tells Inola to take it and leave. He then cradles Esther, who appears to be dead.

Outside the burning house, Inola meets with Howard Blackwood and introduces the baby as her daughter, Awinita. Howard calmly inquires about the fire, and Inola replies that the spirits of Silent Hill are no longer silent, that the fires burn for them, and that "they've only just begun..."

Quotes

 * "The Place of the Silent Spirits. It was what this place was once called. Not by my people—but people like me. People who've seen all they are, all they've loved... all they've ever known... taken away by others. The others claim a Manifest Destiny and infest a sacred land like fleas to a dog, calling it their world. A new world. But, really, it's not new ... only different. An other world. And everywhere, even in this place, those spirits, silent for so long, cry out to be heard. To be remembered. To be avenged. I watch this white man and his woman enter town, and I know... the silence is ending and the time has come... for a whole new kind of Manifest Destiny."