Bubble Head Nurses are monsters appearing in Silent Hill 2, the spin-offs Silent Hill: The Escape and Silent Hill: Book of Memories, and in Bloober Team's Silent Hill 2. A manifestation of James Sunderland's subconscious, they were first encountered when James Sunderland entered Brookhaven Hospital after coming to Silent Hill, Maine, in search of his deceased wife. They can be seen both in the hospital and the streets of South Vale.
History[]
When James Sunderland reaches Brookhaven Hospital in search of his late-wife Mary, he is stalked by the Bubble Head Nurses for the duration of his stay. When the town cycles into the Otherworld, the equivalent of REM-sleep in this reality-state, a more demonic variation of the nurse surfaces, and they continue to stalk him until he reaches the Silent Hill Historical Society.
In other media[]
Silent Hill: The Escape[]
The Bubble Head Nurses appear as recurring enemies in the 2008 iOS mobile shooter Silent Hill: The Escape.
Silent Hill: Book of Memories[]
Nurse from Book of Memories.
In the dungeon crawler spin-off Silent Hill Book of Memories, they are simply called "Nurses" (as opposed to their full name) and are one of the first enemies to be encountered in the game, appearing in the first zone onwards. The player can encounter light, blood, and steel versions of the nurse.
Armed with a steel pipe, they usually attack in groups, are fairly fast, and will attempt to surround the player; however, their attacks only cause a small amount of damage, and they are fairly easy to kill, especially from range. They also have a weakness to the steel pipe, the same weapon which they wield.
If the player has the Expansion Pack, they can also wear Bubble Head Nurse masks, called the "Creature Head".
Silent Hill: Downpour[]
Bubble Head Nurses make an appearance in the "Surprise!" ending of Silent Hill: Downpour, attending Murphy Pendleton's birthday party, alongside James, Mary, Laura, Heather Mason, and several other cameos.
Silent Hill 2 (2024 video game)[]
The Bubble Head Nurse appears in Bloober Team's Silent Hill 2. Returning concept artist Masahiro Ito redesigned them to wear colored stockings, because he felt the original showed too much skin and he wanted to demonstrate that this was a new interpretation of the story. The design is also tied to the gameplay.[2]
Guest appearances[]
The Bubble Head Bomber.
The Bubble Head Nurse appears as a playable character Super Bomberman R under the name Bubble Head Bomber.[3] The game states that she is a monster who stalks an abandoned hospital on the barren Planet Silent-Hill, and will sometimes fall prey to Pyramid Head. Although she takes the form of a nurse, her true form is unknown.[4] Rather than wielding a pipe, Bubble Head Bomber wields a giant bendy straw.
Design and symbolism[]
| “ | When I worked on designing creatures in Silent Hill 2, I really made them have their each meaning of appearance on the true reason of James's journey. Because they are something like illusions from his subconscious, not only creatures to take the score. |
” |
The Bubble Head Nurse is a female humanoid creature, roughly the same height as Mary Sunderland,[6] that appears in a low-cut Brookhaven Hospital nurse uniform. Their heads are wrapped in a thin vinyl mask containing a semi-liquid (mixed with thinned blood) covering the surface of their face.[7][8][9] The liquid-trapped mask gives the head a swollen appearance reminiscent of Mary's swollen head during her illness and hospitalization.[10][11][12] The bottom center of the mask takes the shape of an infant's face,[13] sometimes obscured by a red square covered in dried dirt or blood tied to the save points and the nine red squares that James encounters at the end of the game.[14][15] The Nurses are seen constantly twitching and jittering, as they suffocate and attempt to shake the liquid-filled masks from their heads.[10]
The baby face symbolizes James and Mary's desire for a child.[16][17] The suffocation that the Nurses experience is also representative of James's subconscious memory of smothering Mary with a pillow.[18][19] The red squares covering the mouths symbolize "shrieking insanity," particularly Mary's anger and verbal abuse against James. This motif was continued in Silent Hill 3.[20][21][22]
The Otherworld variant of the Bubble Head Nurse
A dirtier brown-tinted variant of the nurses can be seen in the Otherworld wearing tattered clothing, a mask with spikes driven through it, and a protrusion coming from their back and shoulder. According to creature designer Masahiro Ito, this variant of the Nurse was a last-minute addition to the game, so the symbolism behind it wavers slightly. However, it serves as a metaphor for Mary on her sickbed. Despite fan speculation, the protrusion is in no way connected to the Parasite or Puppet Nurses from the original game.[23][24][25][26] Ito clarified that the design of the nurse reflects James's subconscious and not Mary's feelings.[27]
Trivia[]
Initial concept for the Bubble Head Nurse.
- At one point in Silent Hill 2's development, the Bubble Head Nurse's face mask was intended to burst like a balloon when taking damage to the head (such as from a gunshot). Their weapon was also going to be a blood transfusion stand.[28] Eventually, it was changed to a steel pipe as an homage to Harry Mason.[29]
- Despite being a manifestation of James Sunderland's subconscious, similar monsters have appeared in Silent Hill: Origins and Silent Hill: Homecoming.
- When asked why the Brookhaven Hospital nurses in Silent Hill 2 and Silent Hill 3 are distinct from one another, Masahiro Ito replied, "Because they had different protagonists."[30] However, because the Silent Hill 3 nurses are callbacks to the Puppet Nurses from Alessa Gillespie's nightmare, but with red squares and Brookhaven uniforms, Ito referred to them as "a cross between 1 and 2's nurses".[31]
- In the E3 trailer for Silent Hill 2, Bubble Head Nurses can be seen in the streets of South Vale during the Fog World segments.[32] This was not present in the final game.
- The Silent Hill 2 BradyGames strategy guide by Dan Birlew refers to them as "Nurse Demons". However, this should not necessarily be accepted as an official name because it never appears anywhere else, and even the official strategy guides occasionally have errors.
Lying Figure concept art.
- Masahiro Ito drew inspiration for the design of the nurses' attire from The Exorcist III, Jacob's Ladder, and bondage outfits.
- The red boots worn by the Gecco figurine were repurposed from Ito's concept art for the Lying Figure.[33]
Dark Nurses in the film.
- Similar nurse monsters appear in the Silent Hill film and Silent Hill: Revelation, referred to in the credits as "Dark Nurses". As nurses of Brookhaven Hospital, they take a similar appearance to the Bubble Head Nurse.
- A Bubble Head Nurse costume could be purchased in the now-defunct PlayStation Home.[34]
Gallery[]
Artwork[]
![Acid Bubble Head Nurse: Masahiro Ito artwork based on the Bubble Head Nurse.[35][36]](/wiki/File:Bhn_concept.jpg "Bhn concept.jpg (51 KB)")
![Bubble Twin-tail Nurse by Masahiro Ito: "I'm tired of seeing ordinary Bubble Head Nurses."[37][38]](/wiki/File:Twin-Tail_Nurse_Art.jpg "Twin-Tail Nurse Art.jpg (100 KB)")
![Gas Mask Nurse: Masahiro Ito artwork based on the Bubble Head Nurse.[39]](/wiki/File:Gas-Mask_Nurse.jpg "Gas-Mask Nurse.jpg (491 KB)")
![Art for the Bubble Head Nurse by Masahiro Ito, seen at Game Invest Forum in 2023 (sponsored by Bloober Team).[40]](/wiki/File:BlooberNurse2.jpg "BlooberNurse2.jpg (256 KB)")
Models[]
Silent Hill 2[]
Silent Hill: The Escape[]
Silent Hill: Book of Memories[]
Silent Hill 2 (2024 video game)[]
Merchandise[]
.jpg "Mezco Bubble Head Nurse figure (Box set).jpg (272 KB)")
_close-up.jpg "Mezco Bubble Head Nurse figure (Box set) close-up.jpg (413 KB)")
Misc.[]
![Bubble Head Nurses in Tokyo Game Show event (2024).[41]](/wiki/File:SH2R_-_Bubble_Head_Nurses_in_TGS_2024.jpg "SH2R - Bubble Head Nurses in TGS 2024.jpg (293 KB)")
References[]
- ↑ https://x.com/adsk4/status/1861017598391202220
- ↑ https://twitter.com/adsk4/status/1636975218517479425
- ↑ https://www.polygon.com/2017/11/15/16658372/bomberman-r-switch-castlevania-gradius-silent-hill-rumble-roses-zone-of-the-enders
- ↑ https://twitter.com/KonamiUK/status/1425849760624173059
- ↑ https://twitter.com/adsk4/status/1096846368021274624?lang=en
- ↑ https://twitter.com/adsk4/status/1221588171906928640?lang=en
- ↑ https://twitter.com/adsk4/status/1262794249952612352
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20200519181311/https://twitter.com/adsk4/status/1262807044421115904
- ↑ https://twitter.com/adsk4/status/1262817717301571584
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 http://www.twitlonger.com/show/n_1rk16ro
- ↑ https://twitter.com/adsk4/status/928352377425379329?lang=en
- ↑ http://www.silenthillmemories.net/lost_memories/guide/048-049_en.htm
- ↑ https://twitter.com/adsk4/status/871025486180122624
- ↑ https://twitter.com/adsk4/status/871026997140443137
- ↑ https://twitter.com/adsk4/status/1244402367082016769
- ↑ https://twitter.com/adsk4/status/871112029695651840
- ↑ https://twitter.com/adsk4/status/1244286176342577153
- ↑ https://twitter.com/adsk4/status/1137526700546203649?lang=en
- ↑ https://twitter.com/adsk4/status/1138097387170279424
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20160411234831/https://8226.teacup.com/hill_nobu/bbs/1476
- ↑ https://mobile.twitter.com/adsk4/status/534388290971906048
- ↑ https://mobile.twitter.com/adsk4/status/534391668384886785
- ↑ http://web.archive.org/web/20190925211400/https://twitter.com/adsk4/status/1171310265213652993
- ↑ http://web.archive.org/web/20190913220324/https:/twitter.com/adsk4/status/1171745390942535681
- ↑ http://web.archive.org/web/20190927192843/https:/twitter.com/adsk4/status/1171746211893657600
- ↑ http://web.archive.org/web/20190927084739/https://twitter.com/adsk4/status/1171801667693465600
- ↑ http://web.archive.org/web/20190914042959/https:/twitter.com/adsk4/status/1171802900869218304
- ↑ http://www.twitlonger.com/show/l4lo8d
- ↑ https://twitter.com/adsk4/status/928345853051355136
- ↑ https://mobile.twitter.com/adsk4/status/844153391320260608
- ↑ https://twitter.com/adsk4/status/1244166699831582720
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dk7JkSArEdQ
- ↑ https://www.twitter.com/adsk4/status/1364152917289172992
- ↑ http://alchemillahospital.net/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/pshome_nurse.jpg
- ↑ https://mobile.twitter.com/adsk4/status/1364044486540632076
- ↑ https://mobile.twitter.com/adsk4/status/485805613277265920
- ↑ https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/41460754
- ↑ https://mobile.twitter.com/adsk4/status/431814393362251776
- ↑ https://mobile.twitter.com/adsk4/status/582185296751542273
- ↑ https://twitter.com/adsk4/status/1633168374091100163
- ↑ https://x.com/silenthill_jp/status/1839492659867435057
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