“ | [I don't] but I know her friends... The worms. The worms, and the maggots, and the blood, AND THE ROT! THE PUTRID EARTH ENVELOPS HER! SWALLOWS HER WHOLE!
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” |
Orson Johansen is a character appearing in Silent Hill: Ascension. He is the son of Astrid Johansen and the grandson of Ingrid and Karl, living with his family in Stilledalen, Norway. He's a solitary and quiet child, but intervention from the sect of the Heralds unearths a violent side inherited from his grandmother and his late aunt Eva.
History[]
Background[]
Orson was always reclusive and quiet, choosing to play with his toys most of the time. Astrid noted he was "such a good boy" like his father of whereabouts unknown, in contrast to the violent tendencies running through Astrid's side of the family. [2] He'd also play around the farm with Karl while Astrid worked at the hospital. However, being somewhere in the autism spectrum, he was often criticized by Ingrid for his uselessness.
Silent Hill: Ascension[]
Grandmother's death[]

Upset about the noise.
The night Ingrid died, Orson tried to ignore the argument between Astrid and her upstairs. He complained to Karl about the noise when he got home, but as Karl tried to have him play outside, Astrid came downstairs and took Orson with her back to their house, upset about the argument. When they returned later to apologize, they found Karl acting strangely at the table, stopping Orson from greeting his grandmother when Astrid ordered him to. As it turned out, Ingrid was dead in her bedroom, place Astrid barred Orson from entering. As such, even when the police came later, Orson didn't understand that Ingrid had died.

Playing while suspended from school.
In the next days, Orson ran into an altercation at school: a fight broke out and Orson bit another boy (just like his aunt Eva in her childhood), which got him suspended for a few days. At home, waiting for Astrid to finish working, he asked Karl more about what happened to his grandmother. He started tapping the floor with his fingers as Karl explained that she passed away, and Orson asked him if he would die too. Reassured for the time being, he went back to play with Zayn, "the man in the fog," which Karl thought to be an imaginary friend.
Later that day, Astrid sat down to talk with Orson about the bite. Although he was initially too distracted with his toys to pay much attention to her, he ended up understanding her lecture and agreed to not harm a classmate again. Unfortunately, Astrid and Karl had a fight downstairs shortly after, resulting in Astrid taking Orson away from him due to his poor mental state. [3]

Orson meets Aurora.
Astrid brought Orson to play in Stilledalen's town square a few days later. While she was on the phone with her sister Brit, Orson vanished in the fog that was enveloping the area. He spent about an hour away from his mother, time in which he found Zayn and gave him his soccer ball, before a bystander found him in the docks and called child protective services on them due to the past history of the Johansen's with parental neglect. Astrid eventually found them, but she was made to meet up with a Barnevernet agent to discuss the event. He told Aurora, the social worker, that he lost his soccer ball because of sharing with Zayn, embarrassing Astrid as she explained that he really did have more toys than the ball. Unbeknownst to them, Aurora had an agenda of her own, and saw in Orson a potential object for the sect of the Heralds' plan. [4]

Orson receives the hunter doll.
In an attempt to cheer Orson up, Astrid followed Aurora's suggestion and gifted him a hunter doll to play with. Orson immediately thought about it shooting rabbits, and despite Astrid's attempt to sidestep the topic with the hunter just wanting to watch rabbits play, Orson started playing at it firing at enemies. The thought of Eva's shooting spree in the past upset Astrid, and more fog rolled into the town square. They found themselves trapped and returning to the same spot, frightening Orson into crying as Astrid held onto him and tried to find a way out. [5]

Aurora sends him to play away.
Over the next days after escaping that fog, Astrid kept Orson with her in further visits to the Johansen farm, but as she warned Karl previously, she didn't allow him to see her son. Instead, Orson was left in the car waiting outside while Astrid talked things with her father and the visiting aunt Mette. The prohibition was lifted some time later, when they had to discuss the funeral arrangements for Ingrid's burial. Orson played with his doll ignoring the discussions happening around him, until Astrid called him to search for a burial place. Later, he briefly interrupted Aurora's meeting with Astrid by "shooting" at his mother with the hunter doll. [6]
Capture by the Heralds and return[]

At Ingrid's funeral.
With Ingrid's funeral approaching, Orson grew more restless than usual. Astrid asked Karl for help containing him if he acted up during the funeral, which he did end up doing the next day. He insisted on getting closer to the casket to see his grandmother, against Astrid's wishes. Karl had to firmly grab him and keep him away from the coffin, scolding him for making things harder for them with his whining. Then, as fog invaded the funeral procession, Astrid found that both Karl and Orson had disappeared from the area. A search party formed by the funeral's attendees set out to find them, but Orson was nowhere to be found, having been taken by Aurora for her agenda. [7]

"Orson" runs past Astrid.
Aurora held him captive, re-educating him with the Heralds' beliefs of pain and suffering, taking advantage of the generational trauma he'd been subjected to by Ingrid's verbal abuse and Astrid's coldness. Orson grew more and more violent, speaking even less than before, growling and lashing out at things that upset him. Aurora taught him a variation of the Three Billygoats Gruff tale, twisted to graph the Herald doctrine, and kept him fed with a root of special properties that connected him further with their enlightenment. All the meanwhile, Astrid's sanity declined over the idea of her killing her own son, validated by hallucinations of Orson's voice luring her to confess to Brit or in pain at his murder. When Astrid snapped and confessed to detective Haugen, the evidence against her was deemed to be fabricated, and that her arrest was unfounded. Regardless, the hallucinations of his voice continued to haunt her. [8][9][10][11][12]

Orson returns unresponsive.
Following Brit's suggestion to burn belongings to let go of the past, Astrid brought Orson's hunter doll to the burning. After Brit burned Ingrid, Karl and Mette's belongings, Astrid was incapable of throwing the doll in the fire, feeling that he was still out there. Just as she thought, Aurora had deliberately set Orson free and on his way to the farm, where Astrid saw him and ran downstairs to meet him. Orson, holding the Three Billygoats Gruff picture book, was almost entirely unresponsive and unwilling to say a word. He started rocking back and forth after a while of staring at the TV static, while Astrid and Brit argued over taking him to a hospital. As it was decided to do it and Astrid tried to reassure her son, Orson smiled creepily.
At the hospital, a medic was checking on Orson when Aurora called Astrid pretending to organize a check-up to see the child's psychological state. While she was distracted, Orson suddenly bit down on the medic's finger violently, needing his mother to hang up and help free him from Orson's grasp. Seeing the aggressive reaction, the doctor told Astrid to sedate Orson for the night, even though he had already reverted to his catatonic state. [13]
Violent behavior[]

Astrid reads Three Billygoats Gruff for Orson.
Finding nothing physically wrong with him, Orson was discharged and sent home the following day, recommending to find a psychologist for him. In the evening, Orson tried to have Astrid read the picture book for him, only to growl, throw it at her and run upstairs when she refused to. Astrid followed him to his bedroom and agreed to read him the story, but grew fearful as she realized the tale was darker than the regular version. Orson finally spoke to read along the book's violent lines, as well as reciting the Heralds' prayer, before telling his mother that "the Lady in the Woods" taught him and is coming for her. [14]

Orson growls at Aurora.
Aurora visited the Johansen's afterwards, to check on Orson's progress. Astrid had considered sedating him for her visit, fearing that the Barnevernet would take him away, but ultimately chose to let her see Orson in his real state. Aurora arrived while Orson was aggressively playing with his toys, and as she got closer to greet him, Orson growled and jumped at her, biting down on her hand with force. Astrid pulled him away and sent him back to his bedroom, where he was heard throwing and breaking things. Aurora comforted Astrid about helping him, and left the house.

Orson tries to kill Brit.
The next night, Astrid allowed Haugen to have a talk with him, as the former child psychologist that treated Eva in her youth. Haugen expected to find answers about Aasta, her daughter who was killed in Eva's shooting spree and who Haugen had been encountering in visions as of late. She asked Orson if he ever saw Aasta in the woods while he was captive, to which he nodded negatively, before claiming that he knew "her friends." He mocked Aasta's death calling worms, maggots and rot her friends, before jumping on Haugen and attacking her. Astrid pushed him away so Haugen could escape, followed by Orson attacking her as well. Astrid ran away and shifted to the Otherworld, leaving Orson alone in the house. He went to Astrid's old bedroom in the attic to search among her belongings, where he was found by Brit once she arrived home. She tried to approach him peacefully, but Orson grabbed a knife and slashed her on the arm, chasing her through the second floor and trying to kill her. Brit managed to fight him off and locked herself in the bathroom, where she called emergency services to bring both of them to the hospital. [15]

Orson in the hospital.
Astrid returned from the Otherworld in Stilledalen's hospital, and after visiting Brit's sickroom - learning what Orson did, she found Orson asleep on his bed. Suddenly, Orson jolted awake with erratic eye movement, held onto Astrid and claimed that the Lady of the Woods had been there, but no personnel knew who went into his room before Astrid. After a day at the hospital, Orson was discharged once again and brought home, noticeably calmer than before. Haugen visited them again to perform a hypnosis session with him in an attempt to recover his memories and details of the kidnapping, at Astrid's insistence. Orson recalled being in a blazing forest, himself burning as well, and screamed at Astrid and Haugen for help. As Astrid refused to let him wake up, Orson snapped and bit into her neck, causing her to shift to the Otherworld again. [16]
Learning about the family[]

Orson learns what Karl did.
After Astrid came back, having learned of the Heralds, she let Orson stay in his bedroom and rip off the picture book's pages while she prepared to defend the house if the sect came for them. Despite calling Haugen for backup, Astrid let her guard down when Aurora visited, leaving her vulnerable when the social worker revealed her true identity and drugged both of them. Aurora demanded Astrid tell Orson about his grandfather being Ingrid's killer, and called the child downstairs to pressure her into confessing. Orson was then brought over, anxious, to Astrid's side to learn what Karl did. He reacted with disbelief at the idea of his grandfather killing his grandmother, but both Aurora and Astrid confirmed it to be the truth. Aurora told Orson that he had the same darkness in him as Karl, but before they could get further into the matter, Haugen recovered from her dose and attacked Aurora, forcing her to escape the house with him and let him go later.

Orson aims at Brit and Nils.
Orson was seemingly found by the Other Brit later, a possessed state of his aunt trying to embrace violence as a defense mechanism. She gave him a pistol and promised to go shooting with him for fun. When Brit and Nils Grønbekk, a stranged friend of hers who also survived Eva's shooting, arrived at the farm, Orson went up to them and insisted on going shooting with them. Brit tried to reason with him bringing up Nils' trauma, but Orson didn't care and shot at them before running away. In the farmhouse, he overheard Nils talking about Eva, and dropped the gun so he could learn about her. Nils bitterly told him who Eva was and of her killing spree, until Brit stopped them. Orson just wondered if he would be like his aunt too, and accompanied Brit and Nils into town to look for Astrid. [17]
As Astrid met with Aurora in town square for answers, she was offered the root Orson had eaten before to understand things better. Astrid reluctantly bit into it, immediately finding herself in an Otherworld vision involving the Collector standing by Orson. Astrid grabbed "Orson" and aggressively shook him until Brit took him away from her.

Learning about Eva.
A bit later, Brit, Nils and Orson arrived to town square, finding it deserted as the town had been fully immersed in the fog. Orson approached the fountain and became lost in thought, which Brit guessed was him feeling the massacre Eva carried out in there. Nils separated from the group to return to the hotel, and left Brit to handle how to explain Eva's actions to Orson. The time for it came when they went back to the farm, and Orson learned that Eva was dead. Brit also explained to him that he didn't have to be like her, or to continue the cycle of abuse in the family. Saddened by the tragedy, Orson walked back into the house with his aunt.

Smiling at the Immolator.
Astrid arrived home later, and Orson told her that he learned about Eva, but that he misunderstood the point as all of them having Eva's darkness. While Astrid pulled Brit aside to scold her for letting Orson know, he smiled at the Immolator's arrival at their front door. The family escaped through the back door right as the monster broke into the house, heading back into town for safety. On their way to family friend Lejo Kant's hotel, they came across a person who accused them of being witches, and attempted to bring a mob to kill them so the town would return to normal. Monsters attacked and let them escape, finally arriving at the hotel, where they found another group of survivors taking refuge. Lejo allowed them to stay against the protests of some people, leading Orson to realize that he's seen as a monster by them. [12]
Witchhunt[]

The group is made to leave the hotel.
Fights with the survivors continued into the next day, with them accusing Orson of being the source of the monsters and even suggesting to offer him as a sacrifice to appease them. When the arrival of monsters outside the hotel almost caused people to kill Orson, the group was forced to leave with Haugen to not cause any more discord among the survivors. On their way to some other shelter, chaos erupted from the hotel as the Immolator and other monsters attacked it. Haugen managed to run ahead while Orson and Astrid got caught in the Otherworld forest, trying to hide from the beast roaming around. Orson insisted on being allowed to see it, just like Eva did previously. The Immolator managed to sneak on Astrid and, while she was on the ground, Orson fearlessly signaled the monster against her. Astrid found herself out of the Otherworld, still chased by the Immolator, and without Orson. [18]

Orson next to the Immolator.
Astrid and Haugen went on the offensive against the Immolator a few days later. Orson had no desire to be rescued, following the Immolator around the Otherworld and watching it destroy things. Notably, the monster showed no aggressiveness towards the boy either. Astrid distracted it while Haugen snuck up behind Orson, restrained him, and escaped together. Once the three of them left the Otherworld, Orson seemed nonchalant about the situation, just telling his mother that he was hungry. [19]

Astrid refuses to let him out.
However, once they reunited with Brit and Lejo, an argument broke out between the sisters. Orson became more upset as they fight went on, culminating in both him and Astrid shifting to the Otherworld, where he was captured by Faith's followers in the merged reality between Stilledalen and Hope's Junction, Pennsylvania. In there, he was taken to the steel mill, where he became silent again and distant from Astrid. Meanwhile, in Stilledalen, Orson became violent and tried to attack Brit again, forcing the group to lock him in his bedroom. By the time Astrid woke up, Orson was incessantly pounding on the door and demanding to be let out. Since Astrid refused to let him out even when he was pretending to be calm, Orson began aggressively demanding Haugen to leave the house. Astrid decided to make her leave, fearing that her presence would make Orson hurt himself. [20]

Orson checks on his mother.
While he was locked up, other townspeople arrived at the farm with the intention of killing him. Astrid tried to send them away, but they were surrounded by a horde of Snarlers. Astrid heard Orson screaming from inside the house and rushed back inside, finding a manifestation of Ingrid preparing dinner, Orson's scream having come from Ingrid making him wash his hands in preparation for the meal. Ingrid commented on the hunters outside, suggesting that Orson should be sent to kill them all in retaliation. During the family dinner that took place afterwards, Orson remained silent the whole way through, while Astrid, Ingrid and the manifestation of Eva argued at the table. Astrid was pushed to a breaking point, but as she overcame it and the manifestations vanished, Orson was there to help her up.

Astrid defends him from the townspeople.
Outside, they met with the few survivors of the Snarler attack earlier, kept at bay by Lejo. Orson watched Astrid stand against them and defend his innocence, aiming her gun and threatening any of them that came close. Orson vanished when Astrid shifted to the Otherworld, ready to confront the Immolator and Ingrid's memory for the final time.

Happy to be with Astrid.
Once everything was over, Orson happily greeted his mother before dinner, and played around the dining room with a toy airplane while Brit, Haugen and Lejo sat down at the table. Astrid reassured him that everything would be alright from now on, and smiled watching him play again. Meanwhile, in the Arcane Library, Zayn had one last vision as he was putting away the figures for his diorama: Orson playing in the farm's swingset that Karl fixed while he was missing, along with Faith from Hope's Junction. [21]
Behind the scenes[]
“ | Orson Adamczyk. 2 to 5 years old; all ethnicities; 18 to play younger. A Norwegian boy that is taken and then returned. He's a docile, slightly sad boy at the beginning. When he returns later in the story, he will exhibit violent tendencies. Orson dismembers stuffed animals and action figures, continuing with the strange symbols.
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” |
Orson Johansen first appeared in the interactive television series Silent Hill: Ascension, voiced by Zain Vikram-Bugaj.
Gallery[]
Silent Hill: Ascension[]
Live event[]
References[]
- ↑ Silent Hill: Ascension Season 1 Episode 15
- ↑ Chapter 20: REPENTANCE
- ↑ Chapter 1: AMISS
- ↑ Chapter 2: BLIGHT
- ↑ Chapter 3: PENANCE
- ↑ Chapter 4: SEVERANCE
- ↑ Chapter 5: VANISHED
- ↑ Chapter 6: FRACTURED
- ↑ Chapter 7: QUALMS
- ↑ Chapter 8: VISION
- ↑ Chapter 9: DECEIT
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 Chapter 16: JUDGMENT
- ↑ Chapter 11: RIGHT
- ↑ Chapter 12: WRONG
- ↑ Chapter 13: CONSUMED
- ↑ Chapter 14: REVELATION
- ↑ Chapter 15: PURSUIT
- ↑ Chapter 17: SANCTUARY
- ↑ Chapter 18: ENSNARED
- ↑ Chapter 19: IGNITED
- ↑ Chapter 21: ASCENSION
- ↑ https://www.backstage.com/casting/murkwood-2590037/?role_id=4583491
v · e · d |
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Characters |
Major Characters |
Astrid Johansen - Brit Johansen - Eric Hernandez - Karl Johansen - Rachel Hernandez - Toby Cirelli - Xavier Candless |
Other Characters |
Aurora - Barbara - Eva Johansen - Faith Hernandez - Ingrid Johansen - Joy Cirelli - Krista Lee - Lejo Kant - Mette Dahl - Nils Grønbekk - Nora Jackson - Olivia Haugen - Orson Johansen - Zayn Davies |
Monsters |
Crawler - Fighter - Hanger - Snarler - Stinger - The Bruiser - The Collector - The Entangler - The Immolator - The Smotherer - Wanderer |
Locations |
Hope's Junction - Stilledalen |
Terms |
Monster - Fog World - Otherworld - Paul Radcliffe - The Foundation - The Heralds - The Purifier - The Withering |
Archives |
Episodes - Story Branches - Cameos - Arcane Library - Soundtrack |