Dark Alessa

Dark Alessa in the Silent Hill film

Gender

Female

Age

9 (physically)
30 (literal age)
39 (soul age)

Status

Merged with Sharon Da Silva/Heather Mason

Hair color

Black

Eye color

Blue (Silent Hill)
Black (Silent Hill: Revelation)

Occupation

Reaper

Appearance(s)

Silent Hill film
Silent Hill: Revelation

Actor

Jodelle Ferland (Silent Hill)
Erin Pitt (Revelation)
Adelaide Clemens (older form, Revelation)

Dark Alessa is a character seen in Silent Hill and Silent Hill: Revelation. She is a supernatural manifestation containing the dark half of Alessa Gillespie's soul.

She is 9, 30, and 39 all at the same time. Her physical form is that of a 9 year old girl, though her body's age is 30, as she first manifested 30 years before the events of the film. Because she comes from Alessa's soul, and Alessa is 39, Dark Alessa can also be seen as being 39 years old.

She is portrayed by actress Jodelle Ferland in Silent Hill, and by Erin Pitt in Silent Hill: Revelation. An older version of Dark Alessa is shown in Revelation, played by Australian actress Adelaide Clemens.

Background

Sometime around 10 PM on November 1, 1974, a young girl named Alessa Gillespie was burned alive by a group of religious fanatics who believed her to be a witch. The burning went awry, leaving Alessa alive, but with third degree burns over one hundred percent of her body. After being taken to Brookhaven Hospital, Alessa's rage and hatred spiraled out of control. Her hatred caused her to manifest extreme psionic powers, resulting in the flowers next to her hospital bed wilting at an unnatural rate of speed. When a curious nurse looked into Alessa's burn tent, she lashed out, burning the nurse's eyes and making them bleed forever, staining her clothes.

Immediately after, Alessa's soul split in two, causing the creation of Dark Alessa. Dark Alessa approached Alessa, and promised her that she could help her to take revenge on the cult. Alessa gave in to her own dark side, and she and Dark Alessa created the Otherworld, an alternate reality infected by Alessa's rage and pain.

Dark Alessa used the Otherworld and a horde of monsters under her control to torture and kill the cultists. In 1995, Alessa split her soul a second time, and created Sharon Da Silva, a doppelganger of herself containing her good side. Dark Alessa carried the baby Sharon to the local orphanage, where she left her to be found by Sister Margaret.

Nine years later, Dark Alessa began to appear to Sharon in her sleep, causing her to sleepwalk. Dark Alessa continued to call to Sharon, intending to bring both Sharon and her mother to Silent Hill, West Virginia, the town where Dark Alessa and Alessa reside.

Silent Hill

In a sleepwalking fugue, Sharon Da Silva walks out of her house and to a steep cliff. As her mother calls to her, Sharon looks down and sees nothing but Dark Alessa, who seems to be beckoning her to throw herself off the cliff. At the last second, Rose Da Silva grabs Sharon and throws her to the ground, stopping her from falling to her death. During this, Sharon can be heard screaming, "Silent Hill! Silent Hill!" The next day, Rose takes Sharon to Silent Hill, intent on discovering the cause of her illness. As Rose arrives on the outskirts of the town, Dark Alessa darts into the road, causing Rose to crash her car. Once she is knocked unconscious, Sharon is removed from the car, and Rose is shifted into the Fog World.

Dark Alessa appears to Rose almost immediately after she wakes up from the crash, luring her into a dark alley, where she leads her to a miner strung on a fence, and a group of childlike monsters known as the Grey Children. Rose comes across Dark Alessa again at Midwich Elementary School. As before, Dark Alessa leads her to clues pertaining to Alessa's past. When the Otherworld overtakes the school, Dark Alessa appears to Rose in her natural form, with greasy hair, pale skin, and blood smeared on her mouth. Dark Alessa later leads Rose to the sacrificial chamber where Alessa was burned alive, but quickly catches fire and disappears, rather than telling Rose what happened in the church.

At the hospital, Dark Alessa tells Rose "the truth", explaining Alessa's history and why Rose was brought there. She explains to Rose that she intends to kill the cultists for their crimes against Alessa, and that she needs Rose's help to finish her plan. She also adds that it's time for the cultists to suffer the consequences of their actions. Dark Alessa warns Rose that Christabella, the cult's priestess, has likely found Sharon already, and that she intends to kill her in the same way she attempted to kill Alessa. Desperate to save her child, Rose agrees to help Dark Alessa and Alessa to get their final revenge. Dark Alessa hugs Rose, allowing her body to merge into Rose's.

Rose then carries Dark Alessa into the church where the cultists are hiding from Alessa's monsters, and promptly releases her. There, Dark Alessa dances in the blood of Christabella as Alessa rips her apart with rusted barbed wire. As Alessa's revenge ends, Dark Alessa finds Rose hiding in the corner of the church, shielding Sharon's eyes from the carnage. Dark Alessa approaches Sharon and locks eyes with her, causing her to faint. The darkness ends immediately afterwards, and both Dark Alessa and Alessa disappear. After Rose and Sharon leave the church, Sharon gives a strange look to Alessa's mother, Dahlia Gillespie, and starts Rose's car with her mind, showing that Dark Alessa has merged with Sharon, creating a full rebirth of Alessa living in Sharon's body.

Silent Hill: Revelation

Dark Alessa appears in Silent Hill: Revelation, taking the form of both a child and a teenager. Her child form is seen in a flashback chasing cultists and bringing the darkness with her, and later appears on the carousel. When Heather Mason, a renamed, older version of Sharon, returns to the town, Dark Alessa meets her on the carousel and then morphs into a teenaged version whose appearance and clothing match those of Heather. She and Heather recombine and become a complete incarnation of Alessa, allowing Heather to take control of the Otherworld.

Psionic abilities

Dark Alessa appears to have the ability to shift her appearance at will, changing from looking identical to Alessa as a child to having a darker, more demonic appearance. She has the ability to be both tangible and intangible when she wishes, can appear and disappear at will, and also shows signs of extrasensory perception; as she is constantly aware of where Rose and the cultists are at all times. Also notable is Dark Alessa's silence when she takes the form of the regular child version of Alessa. When Dark Alessa takes on a normal appearance, she does not speak, but rather relies on rattling a fence, making jerky movements, and running by loudly to catch Rose's attention. This likely is a reference to Alessa's inability to speak or scream after she was burned in the fire, given the heavy emphasis on Alessa's silence in both the theatrical poster and the script.

She is also shown to have possession of massive pyrokinetic abilities. She can ignite fire our of nowhere, demonstrated when she catches fire in Silent Hill, and again in Revelation when she burns Heather and sets a group of cultists on fire. In all instances, her use of fire is symbolic of the torment of Alessa. When she catches fire in Silent Hill, she states, "Look at me, I'm burning", a clear reference to Alessa being burned alive by the fanatics. When she burns Heather in Revelation, Heather's form takes on a charred appearance, very similar to that of burned Alessa. In killing the cultists with fire, Dark Alessa is visiting the same suffering upon them that they forced onto Alessa.

Symbolism

Dark Alessa strongly represents the Holy Ghost, a prominent figure in Christian beliefs. Like the Holy Ghost, Dark Alessa is created by a prominent God figure (Alessa), who splits off part of themself to exist as multiple entities. Dark Alessa also acts as a mouthpiece for Alessa, the same as the Holy Ghost is said in the Bible to speak for God. When she merges with Rose in the hospital, the scene acts as a metaphor for the impregnation of the Virgin Mary by the Holy Ghost. Further, the Holy Ghost is well recognized in the Bible as using the followers of God as a mouthpiece, possessing believers and literally speaking through them. This is seen when Dark Alessa merges into Rose and then speaks through her during the confrontation with the cultists. This symbolism is likely intentional, given director statements about the vast amounts of Christian symbolism found in the film.

It is also possible that Dark Alessa has a duel representation as the Christian devil, in light of her claim to have "many names", and the demonic nature of her deal with Alessa. The director has stated that Dark Alessa is a Japanese representation of a devil, which consists of the dark side of the human soul.

Actor Commentary

Quotes

• "All we ask for is satisfaction."
• "Look at me, I'm burning."
• "When you're hurt and scared for so long, the fear and pain turn to hate and the hate starts to change the world."
• "But you should be careful how you fight evil. Your weapons can turn back on you."
• "Now the dream of this life must end and so too must the dreamers within it. For over 30 years, they've lied to their own souls. For 30 years, they've denied their own fate. But now is the end of days, and I am the reaper."

Trivia

• Dark Alessa was originally just an astral projection of Alessa, but she was later changed to a manifestation containing the dark side of Alessa's soul. Similarly, Sharon was changed to be a manifestation of the good side of Alessa.
• When Rose asks who she is, Dark Alessa replies that she has "many names". There are many theories for why she says this, the most prominent being that she's saying the cult calls her many things. It is also possible that she may be referencing the many "names" given to Alessa throughout the film ("witch", "sin incarnate", "filth", "demon").
• According to the Blu-Ray commentary, most of Dark Alessa's lines contain Biblical references.
• Contrary to popular belief, Dark Alessa's physical appearance is inspired by Italian horror cinema, not Japanese.
• Dark Alessa is often confused by viewers as being a literal incarnation of the Christian devil. The confusion is so widespread that director Christophe Gans commented on it in the film's commentary, saying that the character is meant to be seen from a Japanese perspective (the Japanese form of a devil - the dark side of the human soul), not a Christian one.
• Dark Alessa is not listed in the film's official cast list, with Jodelle Ferland only being credited as Alessa / Sharon, however, her name appears in interviews, on the official website, and in all promotional materials. In the final version of the script, she is called "Dark Alessa", however, in the original script she was referred to as "Alessa" and "Young Alessa". Similarly, Christophe Gans never calls her "Dark Alessa" in his commentary, repeatedly referring to her as "Alessa", and once as "the dark side Alessa".
• Dark Alessa is called "the architect of the darkness" in the film's commentary, and the scene of her scribbling at her desk in the Otherworld is meant to show that her drawings are what causes the alternate reality to shift to its Otherworld variation.
• Silent Hill: Revelation likely retcons the merging of Alessa's soul seen at the end of the first film, as Sharon and Dark Alessa are again shown to be separate entities in Revelation, and no explanation is offered as to how or why they exist as two people.

• Dark Alessa's appearance in Revelation is drastically altered from that seen in Silent Hill. In Silent Hill, Dark Alessa is shown with blood dripping from her eyes and mouth, black smears on her face and lips, and blue eyes. In Revelation, her face is clean and her eyes are black. Given that the ages of both Sharon and Alessa are changed from 9 to 11 in the sequel, it is likely that Dark Alessa's physical form is supposed to be that of an 11 year old girl in Revelation, as compared to her 9 year old form in Silent Hill.
• Dark Alessa's teenaged appearance in Revelation is based on that of Memory of Alessa in the Silent Hill 3 video game, however, the two characters serve very different functions.

Gallery

Silent Hill

Dark Alessa's first appearance in the film.

"Look at me, I'm burning."

Dark Alessa.

Dark Alessa tells Rose the truth.

Dark Alessa at Alessa's hospital bed.

Dark Alessa in the church.

Dark Alessa in Midwich.

Jodelle Ferland as Dark Alessa.

Dark Alessa's screenworn outfit.

Dark Alessa and Rose in the hospital.

Dark Alessa locks eyes with Sharon.

Dark Alessa dances as Christabella is killed.

A CGI version of Dark Alessa seen in the film's credits.

Dark Alessa watches as Christabella is dismembered.

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Silent Hill: Revelation

Concept art of Dark Alessa by Martin Mercer.

Dark Alessa killing cultists in Revelation.

The teenaged version of Dark Alessa seen in Revelation.

Young Dark Alessa on the carousel.

Dark Alessa's older form speaks with Heather Mason. Notably, both characters are portrayed by Adelaide Clemens.

A behind the scenes image of Erin Pitt as Dark Alessa.

Dark Alessa on the cover of Fangoria magazine.

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