Heather Mason

Heather from Silent Hill 3

Gender

Female

Age

17 (born 1983)

Status

Alive

Hair color

Blonde (naturally brunette)
Silver (God of Thunder mode)

Eye color

Hazel
Blue (God of Thunder mode)

Occupation

Various part-time work (babysitter)

Appearance(s)

Silent Hill (as a baby)
Silent Hill 3
Silent Hill: Downpour (cameo)
Silent Hill: Book of Memories (cameo)

Voice actor

Heather Morris (Silent Hill 3)
Amanda Winn-Lee (Silent Hill HD Collection/Silent Hill: Book of Memories)

This article is for Heather's role in the games. For her role in the film, see Sharon Da Silva. For her re-imagining, see Cheryl Heather Mason.

Heather Mason, later known as Cheryl Mason, is the protagonist of Silent Hill 3. She is the first female primary character in the Silent Hill series. Heather is the reincarnation of both Cheryl Mason and Alessa Gillespie.

In early promotions and the back of the game's cover, she was given the name Heather Morris, the name of her voice actress.

Background

Heather's given name is Cheryl Mason, the adopted daughter of the writer Harry Mason, who survived the events of the first Silent Hill game. When Harry escaped Silent Hill, Alessa, the Incubator, came back as an apparition and presented him with a newborn baby, which is both Cheryl and Alessa herself restored to one body again. Harry left Silent Hill with the baby and moved to Portland; however, they were attacked by a member of the Order there and Harry killed him in self-defense.

In an attempt to throw the cult off (should they come and look for both him and the child), he renamed her Heather, dyed her hair blonde and relocated to another city. Harry eventually settled in the Daisy Villa Apartments with Heather.

On one of Heather's birthdays, Harry gave her a pendant with a red jewel inside and told her to take good care of it and to never take it off; the reason being that the red jewel is crystallized Aglaophotis which can expel demons, so if Heather should ever be in danger of birthing the Order's god again, she could survive by swallowing the Aglaophotis and expelling God.

Personality

Official sources describe Heather as a "normal, carefree girl who loves to shop". When it comes to her personality traits within the game itself, one very obvious trait of Heather is that she is moody and loses her temper quite easily at things that frustrate her; these are considered normal traits for a teenager. Heather can also be very sarcastic and humorous (for example, her "joke" to Douglas in the normal ending). Because of her sarcastic streak, she adapts rather remarkably to the disturbing spectacles she comes across on her journey. She even specifically states in the game that this nightmare has numbed her. Her bravery and nonchalant reaction to various creatures and horrors late in the game, forged by her resolve later all point to a rather hot-headed temperament in comparison to the other protagonists in the Silent Hill series.

Heather has a great love for her father, as he raised her on his own. It is no surprise she jumps to Harry's defense when Vincent Smith criticizes him. When Harry dies, she is completely distraught, and begins to turn to Douglas Cartland as a father surrogate, since she feels that he is the only one she can trust, in contrast to Vincent and Claudia Wolf. They develop a father-daughter bond on account of their losses (Heather's father and Douglas's son, as he confesses later on). Douglas even comes to compare her to his dead son, to which Heather (visibly moved) replies "Well, maybe if you'd compared me to your daughter...". Their bond grows on their way to Silent Hill and later on after she finds an injured Douglas at the Lakeside Amusement Park.

Heather starts the game out with a switchblade as her starting weapon, which when inspected Heather comments that she "likes to carry it around for some reason". She also owns a stun gun, a gift from her "worrywart dad". In the subway, an article on the paranormal can be read on the ground. When Heather inspects it, she states that she used to love reading the said publication and "spooky" stories for fun, implying a fascination with the paranormal. She also seems vaguely interested in literature — she references William Shakespeare and Edgar Allan Poe, and can quote Macbeth. At one point in the game, Heather will refuse to pick up a pack of cigarettes, saying that she "quit for good", which implies she used to smoke but gave it up.

At the beginning of the game, if the player examines the mirror in the mall bathroom, Heather mentions that she dislikes mirrors as she feels her reflection is some sort of false image. Heather's mild spectrophobia (fear of mirrors) is emphasized by the fact that the mirror in her bedroom is covered and she doesn't have a mirror in her bathroom at home. The game's infamous scene in the mirror room at Brookhaven Hospital is Heather's fear becoming a reality.  It is reasonable to believe that her spectrophobia is caused due to her subconscious understanding of who she really is and what she has the potential to become, even though it takes quite some time in the game for her to begin recalling her past as Alessa (many spectrophobics claim they fear mirrors as they are a "portal to look into the soul.")

As the game progresses, it is implied that Alessa's original personality traits and memories surface in Heather.

Silent Hill 3

One day, while running an errand for her adoptive father at the Central Square Shopping Center, Heather accidentally falls asleep and dreams about Silent Hill. She finds herself wandering through the nightmare version of Lakeside Amusement Park. While she is walking along a roller coaster track she is run over by a roller coaster. When she awakens from the nightmare, she exits the burger joint and calls her father, letting him know that she is on her way home. However, when Heather is about to leave the mall, a man named Douglas Cartland attempts to talk to her about her "birth." Heather, thinking Douglas a stalker, walks away from him and exits the shopping mall through a bathroom window to avoid confrontation with Douglas. However, the alley past the window is blocked and she is forced to enter the shopping mall again through the employee's area. Heather comes across a monster and manages to kill it with a handgun, shaken by the sudden realization that monsters exist.

As Heather wanders through the monster infested mall, she encounters a barefoot woman dressed in all black with flowing platinum blonde hair who reveals herself as Claudia Wolf. Claudia tells her about a paradise created by God and Heather's "true" self. Heather is confused and comes down with a serious migraine as Claudia departs, as if she is trying to remember something from long ago. While descending an elevator, Heather soon plunges into the Otherworld version of the shopping mall. She tries to convince herself that everything is just a dream. After defeating the Split Worm in the core of the mall, everything changes back to normal. Heather decides to use the subway to get home, but as she walks through the mall, she meets Douglas again. Heather accuses Douglas of being on Claudia's side, but he tells her that he was only hired to find her and that he has no idea what is happening. Heather accepts Douglas's words, and faintly remembers that she forgot something important. She shakes off a strange feeling and tells Douglas she is heading home.

After exploring a subway, an underground passageway, sewers, and a construction site, Heather finds a way into the Hilltop Center. While inspecting a bathtub, Heather suddenly enters the nightmare world once again and falls unconscious. Just before coming to, Heather hears her father's voice in her mind. After the transition, Heather kicks the bathtub in frustration and yells, "Did Claudia do this too!?". Heather soon encounters a man named Vincent Smith, who is also a member of the same cult as Claudia, but who has different views on where the cult should go. Vincent confirms that Heather has a forgotten past and calls Heather's father a "sneaky guy", causing Heather to yell, "Don't talk about my dad like that!". Before leaving, Heather voices her disbelief about Vincent not being on Claudia's side.

Heather eventually finds a way out of the Hilltop Center and upon entering her apartment, she discovers her father brutally murdered, his lifeless body slumped in a chair. Heather, shocked and speechless, rests on her father's lap and sobs heavily. Once she regains control of her emotions, Heather follows a blood trail to the apartment's rooftop, where Claudia is waiting for her. Heather demands an answer from Claudia as to why she killed harry, and Claudia answers that it is revenge for seventeen years and to fill Heather's heart with hatred. Claudia locks Heather on the apartment rooftop and after a boss battle, Heather returns to her apartment where Douglas is waiting for her. Despite Douglas's apologies, Heather yells at Douglas furiously and blames everything that has happened on him. Once Heather is settled down, Douglas helps her move Harry's body into his room, covering him with a white sheet and lilies. Heather decides to find Claudia and kill her in revenge, even though Douglas doesn't agree. Douglas offers to drive her to Silent Hill since he is also responsible for Heather's loss, and she eventually agrees. Heather sighs heavily, and pays her final respects to her father before departing.

Douglas gives Heather a map of Silent Hill and a notebook that her father was holding. Upon reading the notebook, Heather learns that her father wrote it in order to tell her the truth about what happened seventeen years ago. During the car ride to Silent Hill, Heather sits silently in the passenger seat while Douglas tries to make conversation with her. Heather, with the notebook in her lap, tells Douglas about Alessa Gillespie, Dahlia Gillespie's failed attempt at birthing God using her own daughter, and her own birth. Heather then takes a moment to tell her father that she never had a chance to tell him about the happiness that he gave her. In Silent Hill at Jacks Inn, Douglas tells Heather to meet him once she explores Brookhaven Hospital.

While searching the hospital, Heather is phoned by Leonard Wolf, Claudia's father, resentful of his own daughter and willing to help Heather stop her. However, upon the two meeting, Leonard becomes hostile when he realizes that Heather is not a member of the Order. Heather kills Leonard and takes the Seal of Metatron with her. Upon returning to Jacks Inn, she meets Vincent once more, who tells her to go look for Douglas at the Lakeside Amusement Park. As she explores it, Heather re-lives her initial nightmare, only this time she jumps off the tracks in time to avoid the oncoming roller coaster. She then finds Douglas, wounded from a confrontation with Claudia. Having bonded with him, Heather tells him to hang in there as she goes off to look for Claudia.

In the amusement park's carousel, Heather is confronted by the Memory of Alessa, who attacks her with various weapons in an attempt to stop the birth of God. Heather beats her and she vanishes, allowing Heather to make her way to the chapel. In the chapel, Heather meets Claudia and Vincent once more. Vincent urges her to kill Claudia, whereupon Claudia stabs him twice, killing him, telling Heather that the Seal of Metatron will not prevent the birth of God. Heather ingests the Aglaophotis inside her pendant, which promptly makes her vomit out the unborn God fetus; however, Claudia ingests it and gives birth to it, which brings about her demise. Heather then confronts the partially-formed God, killing Her.

There are three possible endings. The first play-through gives the Normal ending, where Heather goes back to Douglas, who is alive, and comes to terms with her past and ostensibly returns to her normal life. She also switches back to her real name, Cheryl Mason. Second playthroughs can result (depending on certain requirements) in either the Possessed ending, where Heather murders Douglas and stares at his body, having been possessed, or a joke UFO Ending, where Harry is still alive and commands aliens to destroy Silent Hill. Because a memo in Silent Hill: Homecoming states that Douglas Cartland exposed the Order, the Normal ending is canon.

Silent Hill: Revelation

Main article: Sharon Da Silva

Heather Mason appears in the 2012 film, Silent Hill: Revelation, played by Adelaide Clemens. As with her game counterpart, she is an incarnation of Alessa Gillespie, who has been on the run with her adoptive father since she was a child.

Notable differences include Heather initially being only one part of Alessa's soul (while Dark Alessa/Memory of Alessa is the dark side), her real name being Sharon Da Silva and a romance with Vincent Cooper, the film's version of Vincent Smith.

Development

The first sketches of Heather portrayed her as an "innocent" type of character. The development team realized that she seemed too "nice" and Heather was inspired by Sophie Marceau and Charlotte Gainsbourg to give her an attitude. At this point, Heather was a clash of masculinity and femininity. Shingo Yuri, the character designer, imagined Heather as wearing jeans. However, the female team members of Team Silent thought that Heather should show her legs to look more feminine and convinced Yuri. Heather was given sex appeal in a very discreet way.

Heather's hair was very debated on. Initially, her hair was more natural and less elaborate, but the female team members thought that curly hair would be more suitable for a young girl. Heather was given shorter hair for the convenience of video games: it would have taken more processing power of the PlayStation 2 to create longer realistic hair. The game designers used the processing power towards increasing monster numbers instead. It is also noted that shorter hair has the benefit of being more practical in dangerous situations. [1]

Heather was eventually voiced by Heather Morris, and was given her name.

Heather's original design was later given to Elle Holloway, a character in Silent Hill: Homecoming.

Appearance

Note: For the list of codes used to unlock Heather's outfits, see Silent Hill 3 Secrets and Unlockables.

Heather has dyed blond hair which is cut short but layered. Her hair is actually black or dark brown, like Alessa's or Cheryl's. She wears an orange, sleeveless turtleneck under a white, hooded vest with four front pockets and a green denim mini skirt. She also wears tall brown boots, a wristwatch, and an orange wristband on each arm.

One interesting and notable aspect of Heather is her relative realism in terms of both character design and personality - while showing a level of sex appeal, flaws on her body are observable. Upon close up, freckles can be seen on her face, arms, and legs; she shows a female physique, though not one of overt sexuality, characterizing her symbolism of masculinity in femininity. She also displays no archetypal 'damsel in distress' style behavior, in contrast to common portrayals of women in video games, though this is an understandably necessary personality as a protagonist.

The creators of the game also paid a good deal of attention as to how "her [Heather's] eyes spoke to the player", as they wanted to convey a feeling of anger and exhaustion. In an interview with Shingo Yuri, the character designer, he stressed that he wanted to retain the essence of physical flaws that are seen in Silent Hill characters, attributing to their attraction and appreciation by the player. Shingo continued to say that Heather Mason was "no exception" to this, stating that although she was portrayed as a strong-willed character, she was still just a teenager, and her facial features were instrumental in portraying a heavy burden weighing down on the shoulders of a child.

After completing the game, a new option will be unlocked on the main menu which will enable the player to input codes for alternate outfits. In the PlayStation 2 version, many of them have gaming magazine logos. Most of the outfits consist of different colored tank tops and jeans. The developers of Silent Hill 3 also customized a few t-shirts that are exclusive to the game. In Japan, a limited edition yellow t-shirt of Robbie the Rabbit went on sale on Konami's website. One interesting outfit of Heather's is the "God of Thunder" outfit, that changes a few aspects of Heather: her hair is silver, her eyes are electric blue and one appears bruised, she has a cut on her face, her lips are gray, and her arms and collarbone are tattooed. This outfit is inspired by Raijin in Japanese mythology.

Another interesting alternate outfit is "Transform", which is obtained after inputting the code "PrincessHeart". It can be accessed by using a key which shows up in Heather’s inventory after the start of an extra new game. In a very satirical Sailor Moon-esque scene, Heather will change into her “Princess Heart” costume. It allows access to a powerful beam-like attack when no weapon is equipped, the "Sexy Beam".

Quotes

• "A detective? Really? ...Well, nice talkin' to ya."
• "Are you still following me? Do I have to scream?"
• "Ugh, forget it! This is way too gross. Who would even think of doing something so disgusting?" (A reference to James Sunderland.)
• "I don't really feel like eating and drinking stuff from an alternate reality, OK?"
• "There's no mail here, not even from a dead wife. Well, it's not like I have one of those anyway." (A reference to James and Mary Shepherd-Sunderland, upon examining a mailbox.)
• "Calm down?! How am I supposed to do that?! My father is dead! He's murdered!"
• "He loved me just like I was his very own daughter... Even though he didn't know who or what I was. It was so sudden... I never had a chance... to tell you... to tell you how happy you made me."
• "But you're wrong, it's not my birthday..."
• "Is every person here a mental case?"
• "You think you're Superman or something?"
• "Shut your stinking mouth, bitch!"
• "Looks like God didn't make it!"
• "You can't be dead, I was going to kill you!"
• "This is God...?"
• "Is this the end? I guess it's time to roll the credits." (Heather starts to cry) "Dad..."
• "You don't have to call me that. I'm not hiding anymore... Cheryl. The name my father gave me."
• "I don't know. Don't you think blondes have more fun?"
• "Oh, Dad! You're the coolest!" (Seeing Harry doing a flying kick)

Creator's comment

Trivia

Mary Elizabeth McGlynn - You're Not Here(02:47)
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• Heather makes an appearance in Dance Dance Revolution Extreme (another popular Konami title) for the PlayStation 2 in the song "You're Not Here". She is seen walking through a white, empty space and sitting on a wheelchair. After a scene of her in the car with Douglas, she is seen singing inside the shopping mall and appearing in various places throughout the game.

• Occasionally, Heather will break the 4th wall of awareness and back sass the player for making certain incorrect decisions.

• "Heather" became Cheryl's middle name in her Silent Hill: Shattered Memories incarnation. As well, Cheryl Heather Mason was born in 1983 in the Shattered Memories timeline.

• Like Alessa, Heather exhibits some supernatural abilities during the game, such as having a premonition about visiting Lakeside Amusement Park and detecting the Otherworld shifts. After defeating God, she also detects a presence (the wail of a newborn, according to creator Masahiro Ito) that is invisible and inaudible to the player. However, Heather never manifests Alessa's darker abilities, such as telekinesis and the ability to kill with her mind. Heather also exhibits the ability to fire deadly energy beams from her eyes under certain conditions. While the origins of this power are unknown, the Book of Lost Memories implies that they may be related to aliens.

• If the voice that phones Heather in the locker room in Brookhaven Hospital can be trusted, her complete being, Alessa, is 31 years old by the time of Silent Hill 3. However, the voice later congratulates her for her 24th birthday, creating confusion for the player. One can assume that, if the ages of Heather (17) and Cheryl (7) are added together she is 24. Adding Alessa's age (14) to Heather's age (17) is also where 31 comes from.

• In the Book of Lost Memories, Heather is referred to as "The Fool", which is the number 0 (also can be stated as the number 22) of the Major Arcanas in a Tarot Deck, most likely due to the main concept of the Tarot card which states that the man walks unconcernedly straight into an abyss and is confident of his cleverness, in a similar fashion to Heather's attitude towards her fate.

• Heather will make comments about flowers or plants throughout the game; this may be a reference to her name's meaning: "flowering plant". There are also photos of flowers in her room. When her father dies, Heather decides to place a bundle of lilies on his body. She also lives in the "Daisy" Villa Apartments.

• Heather is the first and so far only female protagonist to star in the main games, as opposed to a side story or spin-off entry.

• Heather makes a cameo in the Surprise ending in Silent Hill: Downpour. Her vest has sleeves, which is likely a nod to Silent Hill: Revelation.

• Heather makes a cameo in the Silent Hill: Book of Memories joke ending, seen running the service desk at the motel. She listens to the guests banter about Silent Hill, much to her annoyance, until one of the managers tells her that one of the guests in Room 302 accidentally locked himself in. She then thuds her head on the table and passes out.
• Many instances in the game hint towards Heather possibly having pediophobia, the fear of dolls, but moreso leaning towards mannequins. Heather makes a displeased comment about the dismembered mannequins in a room of the shopping mall where the game begins, claiming she finds them disgusting, and when entering the construction site, one building contains a catalog Heather notices is about mannequins. In another instance when Heather can break down a portion of a wall to retrieve the Silencer, legs are found hanging down inside, and once more Heather mentions the possibility of a mannequin, although in this case she claims she'd prefer it to be one in opposition to a real human. Heather is also unnerved while inside the mannequin room, especially when one is mysteriously decapitated. This probable phobia likely served influence for the Mock Spider beast in Silent Hill: Revelation, as well as the entire scene that occurred within the room.

Gallery

Silent Hill

Heather's birth.

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Silent Hill 3

Render.

Heather holding a steel pipe.

A closeup of Heather.

Close-up.

A portrait of Heather.

Heather standing.

Heather crouching.

Heather with a pipe.

Heather with a light.

Heather with a handgun.

Heather with a handgun.

Heather in a wheelchair being pushed by a Nurse.

Heather sobbing underneath Valtiel.

Heather singing "You're Not Here".

Heather outside of Lakeside Amusement Park.

Heather in Hazel Street Station.

A photo found in Hilltop Center.

"Don't you think blondes have more fun?"

Heather paying her tribute to Harry.

Heather wearing shorts.

Heather on the save menu background.

Heather's "Adrenaline Junkie" achievement.

Heather wearing another outfit.

Wallpaper of Heather.

Promotional shot of Heather.

Promotional figure, from Ratio's Silent Hill Collection.

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Silent Hill 3: The Novel

A middle-aged Harry holding Heather's hand.

Harry giving Heather her pendant with Aglaophotis in it on her birthday.

Heather facing the God.

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Concept art

An early concept sketch of Heather.

Heather's "innocent" look was scrapped.

A more mature looking Heather.

Developed artist concepts of Heather's hair and face.

Heather in jeans. Jeans and a jacket were later used for Elle Holloway.

Heather showing more leg.

The female team members thought Heather should show her legs.

Note that the left-most design resembles Heather the most.

More color concepts and design schemes.

Curly hair became the consensus.

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