- This article is about the monster in the first Silent Hill game. For the monster from Silent Hill: Shattered Memories, see Larval Stalker (Shattered Memories).
Larval Stalkers are dark translucent ghost-like entities in Silent Hill.
They appear to be a premature form of the Stalker, which, like the Larval Stalker, is partially invisible, but has the shape of the similar Grey Child, and can damage the player.
Appearance
Larval Stalkers appear to be the size of a toddler and are black albeit translucent, child-like ghosts. Curiously, they seem to have a short, pointy tail.
Character
One may be duped into believing the tiny ghosts may cause damage, considering they sometimes walk straight towards Harry Mason, but they are completely harmless. However, their presence still causes the radio to emit static. Larval Stalkers will slowly walk around the room and make squeaking noises before eventually disappearing. They cannot be killed, although they will stumble and vanish once the flashlight beam is directed at them for an extended period of time.
Symbolism
Alessa's loneliness.
The Larval Stalker evokes memories of Alessa Gillespie being bullied and teased during school, where she was told go to home and kill herself by her classmates. This is supported by their translucent nature, which can be seen as symbolic of Alessa believing her genuine identity is invisible to her classmates, and instead is merely a source of darkness (hence the Larval Stalkers being of black coloration) in their eyes.
They also have a tendency to walk towards Harry and sometimes continuously pace around him, as if a child clinging to its parent. This could be representative of Alessa's yearning for comfort during her torturous youth, especially from her mother, something that is supported when Harry sees a flashback of Dahlia and her daughter in their home.
Trivia
- In the first trailer, the Larval Stalkers' appearance are similar to their final build. They seem to appear having a physical body rather than to appeared as ghost-like. They also do get killed. However, this was changed to ghost-like entities and they cannot be killed in the final game release.
- As the Larval Stalkers cannot be killed, they were approved for the PAL version (unlike the Grey Children).
- To evade the Puppet Cybil Bennett battle, the player can also use the Aglaophotis on a Larval Stalker anywhere in the park before entering the carousel through a glitch.[1]
- In the original version of the game, they used to appear more distinctively and also allowed the player to attack them. In the end, the developers felt that attacking a nonresistant enemy was not such a good idea.[2]
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