The Order
From Silent Hill Wiki
Within Silent Hill is a religious cult known simply as The Order. The Order is a primary source of struggle for most of the games, and are responsible for many dilemmas that the protagonists of the series face. The Order often resorts to murder, kidnapping, torture, and other acts of violence to meet its needs. Though not all of their members are insane or violent, many of them are. Many members are driven insane by their methods and cruelty as well.
The Order is prevalent in all of the games, and are deeply rooted into Silent Hill's history and culture. They are responsible for Alessa Gillespie's immolation and rise to power, as well as the attempts to contain it. Pyramid Head takes the form of an iconic figure of judgement and punishment of The Order's mythos, the Valtiel. The creature itself even makes an appearance to follow Heather Mason and the God sleeping in her womb. They also ran the Wish House Orphanage, and were responsible for Walter Sullivan's descent into madness.
The Cult's official seal is known as the Halo of the Sun, and is often present during the presence of cult members, particularly while conducting rituals.
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Beliefs
The Order worships the entities of the Otherworld of Silent Hill, which they believe to house their faith's incarnation of God, which is often depicted as a woman. Their mythos has a wide variety of angels and saints, as well as many occult rituals, many of which are extremely cruel, destructive, and produce unnatural results.
The Order's main goal, as many of its members state, is to usher in the apocalypse and deliver the faithful to paradise. This paradise means many different things to different members, but the goals remain the same, and this is brought about in ways that vary from sect to sect. Some try to actively aid it while others simply prepare for the inevitable.
As stated on several occasions, The Order does not believe in terms of "good" or "evil", only "chaos" and "order". Their ways are cruel and brutal, to ensure order remains in place. To ensure loyalty and discipline, many children under The Order's care are cruelly treated and disciplined harshly in some sects. Human life is also inconsequential to them, as they are more than willing to sacrifice and kill to appease God.
Their occult and seemingly magical abilities are further unexplained, as many of their rituals produce arcane effects that defy all logic. Their tie to the forces of the Otherworld is also quite strong, as some members of The Order can even go so far as to manipulate it to a degree.
Sects
The Order is divided into several sects. So far only three sects are known of. These are the sect of the Holy Mother; the sect of the Holy Woman; and the sect of Valtiel.
Sect of the Holy Woman
Centered around priestess Dahlia Gillespie. This sect believed that by performing the immolation ritual on a woman with concealed supernatural powers that the God would be born from this woman. Members of this sect include Dahlia Gillespie, Claudia Wolf, Vincent and Leonard Wolf. They believe that once God has come, she will cause the apocalypse and usher the faithful to paradise. Not all their members are active in this, however, such as Vincent. Their goals to birth God stem from the belief that a God born from pain and hatred would thereby be more sympathetic.
Sect of the Holy Mother
Members of the sect of the Holy Mother (not to be confused with Alessa Gillespie, known as the Mother of God) used their self ran Wish House to raise a conjurer. They respected the Mother Stone as something sacred, and called the God, "Holy Mother". This sect believed that the Holy Mother would be descended by a conjurer performing a ritual to descend the God into a sacred object. Members of this sect include Toby Archbolt. They are slightly more pacifistic than the Sect of the Holy Woman, though their cruelty is still directly shown by their treatment of the orphans in their care, including Walter Sullivan. It is also they who told Walter of the Ritual of the Sacred Hearts, which he misinterpreted. They also held a ritual for the resurrection of the dead, which James Sunderland may find.
Sect of Valtiel
Centered around Priest Jimmy Stone. This sect believed Valtiel to be the closest to God, and worshipped him as a divine executioner. Members of the Valtiel sect would don red pointed hoods and act like executioners in honor of Valtiel. Members of this sect include Jimmy Stone, and George Rosten. This sect is mostly devoted to discipline, punishment, and sacrifice. They are seen as the keepers of order among the other members. They also have a seperate belief of eternal purity and virginity, and those who lose their virginity must burn in the fires of hell, meaning that this sect finds sexual activity disgusting and a sin. Members include Scott Emptage and Eric Gein.
Sect of Shepherd's Glen
An unnamed sect of The Order residing in Shepherd's Glen, they are a splinter group, having broke away from the core of The Order to live more peaceful, stable lives. Though separate from the Order, many of the core beliefs are still upheld, including faith in their God and a desire for discipline.
The Founding Families that made up this sect entered into a pact with their God; if one child from each of the four families was sacrificed every 50 years, Shepherd's Glen would be spared from the effects of the Otherworld.
With Adam Shepherd's failure to fulfill his portion of the Pact, the agreement was broken, and Shepherd's Glen was left to the ravages of the Otherworld.
Members include Curtis Ackers, Adam Shepherd, Sam Bartlett, Martin Fitch and Judge Holloway.
Silent Hill Film
- See main article: The Cult (film)
The Silent Hill film features a fanatical religious cult as well, however, the director has stated they are two separate cults. He implies that Jennifer Carroll was burned alive by the movie's cult, tying The Order to the movie cult and says they have "opposite" beliefs.
Comics
In contrast to the Order's presentation in the game series, the Order of the comics universe is not a central element to the plot.
Presented as a clandestine group of human individuals, the Order's goal is to facilitate the birth of the entity Samael. In addition to being servants of Samael, the Order is also said to be able to control the monsters of Silent Hill. Whately appears to serve as the intermediary between the otherworldly Samael and members of The Order.
Though their connection is unclear, Christabella LaRoache appears to have entered into some kind of agreement with the Order, but is said to be guilty of betrayals against the group by trying to obtain the powers of Samael for herself.
