Grey Child

Grey Children inhabit the school and attack with sharp knives

Other names

Demon Child

Debut

Silent Hill

Other appearances

Silent Hill film

Health

Low

Locations

Midwich Elementary School
Bowling alley (film)

Weapons

Knives
None (film)

Attack method(s)

Stabbing
Melee (film)

Grey Children are child-like, knife wielding monsters that inhabit Midwich Elementary School in Silent Hill and its film adaption. They are exclusive to the North American version of the game, and do not appear in the European or Japanese version.

Character Edit

Small, like Mumblers, these creatures haunt the schools and alley ways of Silent Hill's Otherworld. They can walk quickly, and generally attack in pairs or groups of three. They are slender, with long arms and each wields a long knife. As they approach a target, they leap at their victim, grabbing it by the legs and pinning it while they attack and laugh. A ghost form of these monsters, called Stalkers, later appear in Nowhere. Unlike the non-aggressive Larval Stalker, these ghost forms are just as deadly as their grotesque counterpart.

The Grey Children are the first creatures to be encountered in the town by Harry Mason. After a transition into the Otherworld, Harry is cornered and overcome by Grey Children in an alley, but wakes up at the Cafe 5to2 diner, apparently rescued by officer Cybil Bennett. Grey Children reappear prominently later on in Midwich Elementary School.

LocationEdit

• Back alley
• Midwich Elementary School (commonly)
• Alternate Midwich Elementary School (commonly)
• Alternate Lakeside Amusement Park (scarcely)

Symbolism Edit

Grey Children are the distorted, disturbed perception of Alessa Gillespie's classmates as seen through her eyes, from the torment and ridicule they abused her with.

Silent Hill film Edit

The Grey Children appear in the beginning of the film, swarming Rose Da Silva in the Otherworld version of an alleyway. They look like small children, however, their faces are twisted on the sides of their heads (Director Christophe Gans has said this is because their skull is separated from their bottom jaw and twisted to the side of their faces) and they continuously burn from the inside out, screaming the scream of a child in immense pain. The Grey Children reach out and try to grab Rose, ripping off her jacket in the process. They disintegrate as the Otherworld lifts and the fog world is reinstated.

While Rose runs away from them, the Grey Children do not particularly seem to want to harm Rose on purpose, acting instead like a child in pain who is trying to get their mother's attention. The first one Rose sees reaches its arms out to her, acting as though it wants to be held, and only when Rose starts running away and tries to kick them off do they start to act with more aggression. They would most likely burn Rose if they held her any longer than the ones who held her ankles did. The monsters may not realize they would burn or injure Rose, and instead only feel the pain of the burning and a longing for a mother to comfort them.

The Grey Children are played by a dancer named Yvonne Ng in a costume with CGI burning effects added. Several shots of Yvonne were made and then superimposed onto each other to make it appear as though there were several Grey Children attacking Rose. Yvonne and Gans came up with the idea for the monster to walk with its toes in and arms out, since small children just learning to walk will often stick out their arms to help balance themselves.

They represent the pain Alessa felt while being burned alive by the cult, as evidenced by their high-pitched screams and distorted appearance.

TriviaEdit

• In the PAL and NTSC-J version of the game, these creatures were replaced by Mumblers, as their appearance was deemed too similar to that of a child by censors. However, their Stalker form still appears in the Sewers and in Nowhere.