| “ | 'Right'? Look around you, Eric! We can't be bogged down by our previous definitions of 'right' and 'wrong'! This is about survival!
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” |
Xavier Candless is a character appearing in Silent Hill: Ascension. Xavier is one of the main leaders and a devoted member to The Foundation, a cult that operates in Hope's Junction, Pennsylvania.
History[]
Background[]
Xavier had to overcome grief since he was very young. When he was a child, he watched his father get shot in front of him, mistaken for a thief that had robbed a bodega. This experience made the Foundation's beliefs more appealing to his grown up self, as they taught that past struggles made people stronger. Xavier adhered strongly to the organization's vision, and climbed through the ranks as he devoted his life to it. [1]
Xavier's devotion and studies of Paul Radcliffe's teachings would earn him an influential spot in the Foundation, becoming a strong and charismatic leader when it came to moving operations to Hope's Junction. The town was shaken by a catastrophe at the local steel mill that claimed the lives of several workers, so Xavier set his goal of recruiting Rachel Hernandez, an important figure in the accident, into the Foundation.
Xavier propped Rachel up as a blessed woman who could help them drive back the Withering phenomenon. His influence rooted deeply into Rachel's beliefs and self-confidence, convincing her that she was regaining control of her life. He managed to make Rachel introduce her husband Eric to the cult and raise her daughter Faith according to their teachings, as well as recruiting Joy Cirelli, a troubled local woman dealing with drug addiction.
Silent Hill: Ascension[]
Xavier after Joy's death.
Joy's recruitment resulted in utter failure, as she wound up dead during a private ceremony with Rachel. Xavier had to cover for her and ensure that her faith wouldn't waver, holding onto the belief that the monster Rachel saw killing Joy was none other than the Purifier, the Foundation's god. Despite Krista Lee's doubts of Rachel's account, he was adamant on Rachel being blessed and special due to surviving the experience, and promptly arranged for her to testify before the Foundation's elders about what she saw. In order to calm Rachel's fears down, he blamed Joy's lack of faith for her death. As Rachel felt more threatened by further visions of monsters around her, Xavier allowed the Hernandez family to stay over at the Foundation for the night, promising to keep them safe at all costs.
During Rachel's testimony.
The next night, Xavier accompanied Rachel to testify before the Elders, staying silent in a corner while Barbara carried out the interrogation. When she proposed a ritual of clarity to discern the truth behind Rachel's experience, Xavier became apprehensive about the dangers of performing another ritual so soon. He was in disbelief as Barbara declared the events as proof of the Withering taking root in Hope's Junction, not having seen any signs indicating it prior to Joy's death. Either way, the ritual of clarity was approved. [2]
Xavier in the Otherworld.
The ritual took place a few nights later, with both Xavier and Barbara presiding the steps. Having reminded Rachel of the consequences if she was judged unfavorably by the Purifier, he allowed the bloodletting to begin. Shortly after Krista sliced Rachel's wrists, the ceremony was interrupted by a raging Toby Cirelli, Joy's brother and another involved party in the steel mill accident, throwing a molotov cocktail into the room. As Rachel continued to bleed out, Xavier and the others present found themselves shifting to the Otherworld, watching in horror and confusion at their distorted surroundings. After witnessing the Entangler monster itself kill one of the attendees, they returned to reality, with Xavier being particularly shaken by what he had seen.
Discussing what to do with Toby.
An argument between Xavier and Krista over Rachel's role in the Withering continued into the library, with Xavier maintaining that Rachel was chosen by the Purifier to fight back against the phenomenon. Besides that, they discussed how to handle Toby's pursuit of revenge against the Foundation and how to keep him under control. While he left it in Rachel's hands proposing to reason with him, he approached her the next day with a mission of his own: to recruit Toby into the Foundation and to keep it a secret from Barbara. When Rachel complained about the difficulty of the request, Xavier was firm on it being an order. [3]
Rachel blames Xavier for her failure.
Although Rachel utterly failed in her mission, Krista was successful at easing Toby into the Foundation's support. Barbara approached Xavier upon finding out, disappointed and upset over him withholding his plans. While they argued, Rachel entered the room to deliver the news of her failure, receiving Xavier's own disappointment for not succeeding at the mission by herself. Rachel turned it onto him, complaining that he had sent her into a fight she couldn't win, and that her failure was his fault for choosing her. Xavier retorted that he fully believed she was capable of handling it, feeling annoyed by Rachel's sudden challenging attitude. He announced that Krista had succeeded, and that he'd start preparing Toby's induction ceremony. [4]
Xavier reaches into Toby's wishes.
Toby was welcomed to the Foundation in a ceremony presided by Xavier, guiding him towards a mentor and pricking his finger on a needle to sign his name onto the Foundation's manifest in blood. Xavier approached him after the ceremony for a private talk to ease him further into the Foundation, apologizing for not knowing Joy much and pointing how alike she was to Toby. Toby quickly revealed his true intentions of joining the cult only for answers about Joy's death, forcing Xavier to change his approach on the fly. After a failed attempt to offer protection to get him on their good side, Xavier instead appealed to a mostly hidden wish of Toby's, that of being liked and admired by others. That way, he convinced him to go in a mission to the steel mill, the place of his strongest trauma.
Xavier identifies Toby as the source of the Withering.
When Toby returned, he showed Xavier an old wrench he found at the mill. Xavier identified it as Toby's "blight fetish," a telling sign that Toby was the source of the Withering in Hope's Junction. Although he promised that he'd deal with the pain Rachel caused him, he warned Toby that, as the "blighted" one, he had to be severed before the Withering fully consumed and destroyed the town. Notably, Xavier wanted to say that the blight had already destroyed it, but hesitated. Toby refused to sacrifice himself and left the building, prompting Xavier to contact Krista to both keep a close eye on Toby and protect Eric Hernandez, his best friend. He later broke the news to Rachel and Barbara, but explained they couldn't sacrifice Toby unless he was willing. In order to push him towards the edge, Xavier asked Rachel to break Eric and Toby's friendship and free him of the attachment. [5]
At Toby's severance.
The efforts worked, and after a few days, Toby gave in and allowed himself to be sacrificed. The severing ritual took place in the steel mill ruins, presided by Xavier and attended by Barbara, Krista and Rachel. He opened the ceremony by keeping his word to Toby about dealing with Rachel, by simply slicing behind her ear with the ritual knife. Reminding Toby that his sacrifice would save everyone, he handed the knife to Rachel and allowed her to slice Toby's wrists. As he and Barbara recited a prayer, Xavier smiled down at the agonizing sacrifice, but the ritual was suddenly interrupted again by a shift to the Otherworld that took Rachel and Toby. Although Toby finished off his sacrifice by Rachel's hand, Xavier and Krista were left unsure if it was properly closed.
Meeting at the Foundation.
Regardless, Xavier and the others rejoined at the Foundation's meeting room, where he optimistically claimed that with Toby gone, they had gotten rid of the Withering. However, both Krista and Rachel felt that they weren't quite out of danger, prompting Xavier to validate Rachel's "special" relation with the Purifier. As he sent everyone home, Rachel expressed more worries about the near future. He tried to send Rachel home with her daughter Faith, but they noticed then that Faith had mysteriously disappeared while they were talking. As he tried to calm Rachel down with simple explanations, Rachel ran out of the building to search for her. She returned some time later, panicking over Faith's disappearance and being punished for doubting the Foundation's teachings. Xavier calmed her down and told her to find Eric, so that he could help in the search. [6]
Xavier remains catatonic.
In the next hours, Xavier left the Foundation building by himself, allegedly saying something about "protecting the innocent." With no one at the Foundation knowing about his whereabouts, Barbara and Krista asked the Hernandez marriage to trust them and wait for his return. Meanwhile, Xavier wandered into the Otherworld, rendering his body and mind catatonic. His body was found later by the building's entrance and taken inside, where he sat on the library couch without speaking or acknowledging his surroundings. Before leaving the town, Barbara gave Rachel a letter she claimed to find on Xavier's possession when he appeared, describing his wish for Krista to take leadership in his absence, but also strongly disparaged Rachel, calling her an untrustworthy power-seeking woman. Rachel tried to confront Xavier about it, but in his unresponsive state, he couldn't give her any answers. [7]
Crawlers attack Xavier.
Rachel grew viciously angrier, accusing him of having made up everything he said about her being special and blessed. As she kept yelling at him for choosing Krista as the leader, she began to hear Faith's voice beyond the door and saw it rattling, causing the still unresponsive Xavier to turn his head at the commotion. The door opened and several Crawlers entered the room, heading for Xavier and climbing onto him, knocking him to the floor in the process. Rachel managed to kick the creatures out of the room and helped Xavier back onto the couch, with the interruption distracting her from the rage she had earlier.
Eric tries to awaken Xavier.
Meanwhile, Xavier's mind wandered around the Otherworld aimlessly, reciting verses from Radcliffe's texts about the monsters. He was found by Eric in the corrupted town streets, after he got lost in the Otherworld himself while searching for Faith. Eric tried to ask him for help getting back to the Foundation, but Xavier stood unresponsive to his begging. As Wanderers closed in, Eric's will to snap Xavier out of it and save Faith grew, even telling him of the trauma of watching his mother die in front of him when crossing the border. Eric's passion awakened Xavier, and they both returned to their senses in the Foundation.
Xavier asks for Eric's convictions.
As he met with Krista and other members, he announced that Eric healed him and praised Krista for taking leadership, as well as thanking Rachel for supporting Krista in charge. He told Rachel that he was proud of her and expected her to become a leader in the future too. Then, alone with Eric, he deeply thanked him even more for pulling him out of the darkness of the Otherworld, pointing out that he could even be a key player in the fight against the Withering. In order to work together, Xavier asked him for his true convictions and allegiances. [8]
Empowering Eric.
In their next private talk, Xavier reassured Eric that he said the right things to wake him up, but that it was his fighting spirit that pulled him out of the catatonic state he was in. Acknowledging that Eric was a survivor that went through so much suffering in life, Xavier revealed to him his own story, pointing out that only people he trusts get to know it. As Eric started to feel powerless over his failure to save his mother as a child, Xavier offered him comfort and reminded him that, in their beliefs, their pain is their armor. He asked Eric about his convictions again, to which Eric replied he was only motivated by Faith. Xavier tried to make him accept the possibility of Faith being gone for good, but Eric rejected giving up on her.
Confronting Rachel for the ritual.
To his shock, while he was focused on recruiting Eric for the core cause, Rachel had been misled into carrying out a ritual forbidden by the Foundation's texts. When Xavier, Krista and Eric found her, she had gouged out her right eye with a knife in the Foundation's ritual room. Xavier became enraged at the desecration of her body and her flawed reasoning, berating her extensively for her actions and calling for a tribunal to decide if she should stay in the Foundation. Most of all, he blamed her for throwing out his belief of her being blessed, breaking the strong trust he had put on her. [1]
At Rachel's tribunal.
During the tribunal, Xavier accused her of performing an unapproved ritual and desecrating the sanctuary. When Krista brought up that in his absence, Rachel supported her as the leader and put aside their differences, Xavier noted her loyalty in her favor. However, Rachel suddenly announced that she didn't trust the Foundation's leaders anymore, and quit the cult in the spot. Xavier, who wasn't actually expecting to excommunicate her, tried to stop her from doing so, but she made up her mind and left the building.
Xavier tries convincing Eric.
With Rachel gone, Xavier approached Eric at the Foundation's entrance with the new course of action. He told Eric that Rachel quit the Foundation and abandoned Eric to them, lamenting that he was so wrong about her being blessed. After Eric too lamented being separated from his family by the Withering, Xavier unveiled his plan: the merging ceremony, a ritualistic approach to sex between members of the Foundation to create stronger bonds against the Withering's effects. Xavier wanted Eric to merge with Krista, having noticed the bond they formed in the days following Toby's death. He then left Eric to think about, returning to the building. [9]
Xavier offers the Satyr role.
To his dismay, even after thinking about it for a while, Eric declined sex with Krista. An upset Xavier met with Eric in the library to discuss his refusal, opening with his strong disappointment. When Eric said he declined because it didn't "seem right," Xavier became angrier over the concepts of wrong and right still weighing down in their circumstances. He then gave Eric a final chance to help them protect the community, through a group merging ceremony taking place among the Foundation's high-rank members. He promised Eric clarity and insight if he took the role of the Satyr in the ceremony, maintaining that all he's offering Eric is to make him a member of the community. [10]
The Merging Ceremony.
As he hoped, Xavier saw Eric join them for the merging ceremony. After giving the initial words to open the ritual, he received from Krista a ram hood to put on, and invited Eric to the altar with him. The ceremony was then carried out to completion, centered around Xavier and Eric with the participation of the other members. Proud of their work, Xavier led the participants out of the building for Eric to meet the night sky, only to find Rachel waiting for them outside.
Faith returns.
Upon seeing Rachel, Xavier turned to the other members and ordered to ignore her, as she is "a heretic that would see us destroyed." Before any altercation between Rachel and the Foundation could start, they were interrupted by the sudden return of Faith with the help of an unknown woman, Nora Jackson. In disbelief at Faith's safe return, he tried to have Faith and Nora taken inside in case they were blighted. Noticing that Faith was unusually scared of Rachel, he swayed Eric to help him get the child inside as well. Rachel insisted on accompanying Faith at all times, forcing him to comply and allow her in.
Once inside, he took Nora to the ritual room and locked her inside, heavily suspecting her to be a guilty party in Faith's disappearance. He then brought Eric over to explain the situation, although he didn't elaborate on the forces working against the Foundation. He asked Eric to interrogate Nora and get information about her identity as a matter of caution, claiming that if it was his own daughter missing, he would get every last piece of information from her. [11]
Xavier visits the Hernandez home.
Despite all his attempts to strengthen the Foundation and convince himself that things were under control, Xavier's hope of fighting back and nullifying the Withering diminished constantly. He finally decided that it was a false hope, and the only way to escape the Withering was to perform the Ascension ritual, a last resort in the event that everything was lost. A few days after Faith's return, Xavier visited the Hernandez residence. He admitted to Rachel that he's exhausted of keeping an optimistic outlook, and that he feared the Withering couldn't be undone anymore. He announced his plans of Ascension for the community to save itself, even if it abandoned many others, and choosing Faith as an "Aspirant" to ascend with them. Because Rachel was too impure to ascend, Xavier offered her to rejoin the Foundation and clear herself of blight, claiming to understand what she did when she performed the forbidden ritual. Saying that he wanted to spare the Hernandez from the Withering through Ascension, he left the house. [12]
Xavier is presented with proof of the Heralds.
The next day, Barbara returned to the Foundation and was catching up with Xavier when Eric arrived, announcing that he had found out where Faith was while she was missing. As he had worked together with Nora to go to the steel mill ruins and gather clues, they presented a heretical religious text by the sect of the Heralds, a splinter of the Foundation. Xavier had Nora leave the room, before scolding Eric for allowing her to leave and to sow suspicion among them, still believing her to be a spy for the Heralds. He was completely unaware of Barbara, his friend, being the Herald behind the scenes.
Xavier holds a knife to Rachel's throat.
Xavier met with Rachel and Faith in the woods later at night. As Faith seemed scared, he gladly told her that the Purifier had great things waiting for her, to which she still seemed apprehensive. Xavier then asked Rachel if she considered his offer of rejoining the Foundation to ascend with them, to which she unfortunately, for him, replied that she wouldn't rejoin. Xavier suddenly pulled out a knife and held it to Rachel's throat, lamenting that it had come to that and ordering her to tell Faith that it was alright. He regretted the high hopes he once had of her, before accusing her of being the true source of the Withering that killed Joy and Toby.
Xavier falls dead.
Reciting verses to sacrifice Rachel, he prepared to stab her in the stomach with a swift movement, but Rachel caught his hand and wrestled him for the knife. In the struggle, Rachel sliced one of Xavier's fingers, forcing him to drop the knife and retreat screaming in pain. Rachel took the opportunity and got ahold of the knife, stabbing Xavier in the abdomen with it and killing him instantly, before taking Faith and running into the Otherworld.
The Collector claims Xavier's finger.
As she got lost and turned around in it, she ended up back at the spot where she killed Xavier, where she found the Collector looming over Xavier's corpse. The monster took the finger Rachel sliced off earlier, roared and left her alone with the corpse. [13]
Xavier's death resulted in Barbara taking temporary leadership, before being exposed as a Herald and dying.[14] From that point onward, Krista took complete control of the Foundation and followed on Xavier's footsteps, attempting to perform Ascension to save the few members left in the cult. During the preparations for the ritual, Rachel and Krista found an old box in Xavier's possessions that contained one of Paul Radcliffe's personal journals. In it, he described a flawed point of their faith, that being that not even Radcliffe himself could tell apart the deities he saw. [15]
Behind the scenes[]
| “ | Xavier Candless. 40 to 50 years old; African, Black, Mediterranean, Mixed Ethnicity, North African, West Indies/Caribbean; man. Stately and superior. Xavier is a charismatic leader who believes in the best of others. He is willing to use his power to make a point. He does not like being questioned. Xavier is effortlessly charismatic, with a quiet intensity that only cult leaders possess. His devotion to the Foundation is intoxicating. But the more we learn about the spiritual side of the organization, the more we begin to wonder if there is anything Xavier wouldn’t do to advance the group’s aims. Attempting to save the world with an almost religious fervor, Xavier is always meant to have an edge just beneath the surface: Is he the great leader the Foundation makes him out to be, or a dangerous cult leader who will stop at nothing to lead his fanatical group to their stated aims, or… something else?
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” |
Xavier Candless first appeared in the interactive television series Silent Hill: Ascension as one of the six ensemble protagonists,[17] voiced by Oscar Jordan.
Trivia[]
A still of Xavier from the early Ascension trailer.
- Xavier is the only protagonist of Silent Hill: Ascension to never appear in the Endurance scenes.
- Footage of Xavier struggling with Hangers can be seen in the second trailer for Ascension that never appeared in the show.[18]
Gallery[]
Silent Hill: Ascension[]
Art[]
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Chapter 8: VISION
- ↑ Chapter 1: AMISS
- ↑ Chapter 2: BLIGHT
- ↑ Chapter 3: PENANCE
- ↑ Chapter 4: SEVERANCE
- ↑ Chapter 5: VANISHED
- ↑ Chapter 6: FRACTURED
- ↑ Chapter 7: QUALMS
- ↑ Chapter 9: DECEIT
- ↑ Chapter 10: REGRET
- ↑ Chapter 11: RIGHT
- ↑ Chapter 12: WRONG
- ↑ Chapter 13: CONSUMED
- ↑ Chapter 15: PURSUIT
- ↑ Chapter 21: ASCENSION
- ↑ https://www.backstage.com/casting/murkwood-2590037/?role_id=4583494
- ↑ https://screenrant.com/silent-hill-ascension-character-reveal-exclusive/
- ↑ [1]
| v · e · d |
|---|
| 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 |