The book on the stretcher next to the altar.
- This article is about the memo. For the guide released by Konami, see Book of Lost Memories. For the passages from the same book appearing in Silent Hill 2, see Book: "Lost Memories".
Lost Memories is a book found in Silent Hill 3, inside room C4 of the Otherworld Brookhaven Hospital. It is a copy of the same book that James Sunderland and Maria found on respective occasions in Silent Hill 2.[1]
Reading it will give the player a clue that the plastic bag with blood found previously must be spilled on the altar near the book, and thus allowing Heather Mason to proceed down a ladder to defeat Leonard Wolf.
Transcript[]
- "One characteristic, mentioned only
- in rare documents and dying out in
- the modern age, is that of the ritual
- sacrifice.
- 'Offering prayers, pierce a man's
- chest with a copper stake. Drench
- the altar in the blood which spouts
- red from the heart, to praise and to
- show loyalty unto God.'
- In another sacrificial rite mentioned
- in the same book, the victim is
- burned alive.
- This was a more dignified ceremony
- in which prisoners and sinners were
- not allowed to participate. Only the
- clergy could be sacrificed.
- Similar to burning at the stake, no
- comparable rite can be found in
- religions practiced nearby. It may
- have some connection with the
- main deity being a sun god.
- Even though this religion extols
- redemption, it brings to mind a
- dark and cultish history."
Plot significance[]
An artistic depiction of the cult's executioners.
An abstract executioner standing before an alter.
The passage discusses the executions and sacrificial practices of the town's religious cult. According to Silent Hill 4: The Room, the executioners fall under the Sect of Valtiel, which was founded by Jimmy Stone and worships the angel of death and rebirth of the same name.[2][3] The memo expands on information provided by Silent Hill 2 in the Historical Society:
| “ | Death by Skewering
An execution at the prison. |
” |
Those condemned to die in Toluca Prison were allowed to choose the form of their execution: death by skewering or by noose. Developer Takayoshi Sato further explained in an interview: "The place Silent Hill used to be the place of execution, away from cities. That was secret and sacred place. Heinous criminals are transferred to that place and get executed. That place existed only for that reason. Thus all village people are executioners or family of executioners. Executioners needed to wear a mask at the event so they do not directly witness their spear when it was piercing flesh."[4]
In the cult's mythology, an offering to the Sun is considered an offering to God.
Lost Memories describes the process of skewering and reveals that members of the clergy were given an option not afforded to the convicted: death by fire. This was not considered punishment, but rather a more dignified ceremony potentially linked to their chief god's role as a solar deity.
Trivia[]
- The ritual that Dahlia Gillespie performed on her daughter to impregnate her with God involved a great deal of fire, which inadvertently escalated into a conflagration that destroyed her house.[5] The association of their god with the Sun might explain why fire was used in a ritual to summon it into the material world.