Travis Grady
From Silent Hill Wiki
Silent Hill: Homecoming
| “ | Happy? You dug up my parents, what now? When do we get to look inside your sick little mind?
-Travis confronting Alessa Gillespie | ” |
Travis Grady is the main protagonist of Silent Hill: Origins. A troubled trucker, Travis goes into the town of Silent Hill while trying to take a shortcut towards his destination. While driving his truck, a shadowy figure appears in front of Travis's truck, making him swerve. When he returns to his truck, he sees a girl in his side mirror, seemingly trying to grab him. He sees a thick cloud of smoke moving towards him and walk towards the source. Thus the story begins.
Contents |
Biography
Early life
Travis was born to a married couple named Richard and Helen Grady. During Travis' early childhood his mother started suffering from worse and worse mental delusions, claiming beings from a mirror world told her that her son was a devil child, ending in her attempt to try to gas herself and Travis. Police broke into the house and both were moved to the hospital, and Richard later transferred Helen to the Cedar Grove Sanitarium. While she was there, Travis, missing his mother, snuck into the Sanitarium, probably to give her the "Daddy, Momma & Travis"-drawing found there later, but he was observed, and was brought home by his father. The two of them later moved to Riverside Motel, and Richard, on the advice of a doctor, told his son that his mother had died, but kept writing letters to her. Richard, while at the motel, moved deeper into a deep state of depression and finally hung himself in Room 500. Travis, having been out playing at the motel's arcade during his father's suicide, locked himself in the room with his father's corpse and stood there talking to it until the cleaners found them the next morning.
Silent Hill: Origins
At the time of Silent Hill: Origins, Travis is a truck driver in his early 30s, haunted by nightmares of his past. On a routine drive one day, he ends up passing through Silent Hill. Driving on an unusually foggy road, he immediately stops his truck to prevent hitting an unknown bystander. Upon getting out of the truck, he notices the person is gone. This is the same predicament Harry Mason was in in Silent Hill 1. Trying to find the person, he wanders down the foggy road on foot, eventually coming to a burning house. Making his way through, he finds the charred and badly burnt body of Alessa Gillespie. He carries her body out of the house, and shortly after passes out in the front yard.
He wakes up in Silent Hill itself, left to make his way to Alchemilla Hospital. Shortly after entering he meets Michael Kaufmann and Lisa Garland. He soon encounters an unharmed Alessa behind a large mirror, which she "teaches" him how to use; by touching the mirror with his hands, he himself can shift the town into it's Foggy and Otherworld counterparts.
He travels through the town, the Sanitarium, the Riverside Motel, and more locations, discovering that his father committed suicide and that his mother went insane and was placed in the Sanitarium. Much like James Sunderland had Pyramid Head to represent his emotional torment, Travis has an entity known only as "The Butcher" to represent his inner demons. Travis defeats evil incarnations of his already-deceased mother and father, and defeats The Butcher as well, finally gaining solace from his past.
Because Travis saved Alessa from completely dying in the house fire, she spared him and enlisted him as her unwilling aid in fulfilling her desires. Travis unknowingly helps her by traveling throughout the town and collecting the Past, Present, Future, and Truth pieces of the Flauros, which have the power to expel the demon at the climax of the story. Although Travis wants to leave the town as quickly as possible, he later realizes the importance of his role and stays to finish his job of his own free will. Depending on the ending the player activates, Travis receives a different fate, although the canon ending is the Good Ending due to his appearance in Silent Hill: Homecoming.
In the Good Ending, he successfully defeats the Flauros, and Alessa is pleased. She splits her soul in half, which is noted to be the birth of Cheryl Mason, (who would later be called Heather Mason, as seen in Silent Hill 3.) Travis is then seen walking on the outskirts of the town, towards his truck. The sky is blue with clouds and relatively little fog, indicating the area he is in is not in the area of influence of Alessa or Silent Hill, or that Alessa has reverted the town back to normal. As he gets in, he sees a happy Alessa with the baby (from having split her soul in half to create an infant doppelganger of herself) who stares happily at him in the rear-view mirror of his truck, and gets in. He resets the meter that shows the mileage, which represents him starting over anew.
The Bad Ending shows Travis restrained to a table in a relatively dark room, while cult members inject an unknown substance into him. Images of the Butcher flicker on and off as he lays on the ground staring at his bloodied hands. Sound clips of unknown people screaming in pain can be heard, with one person saying "I'm not your mom!". This indicates that the Butcher may have actually been another identity of Travis, as Travis possibly was a serial killer in his past or killed before. This is reinforced with the very first conversation at the beginning of the game, where Travis and a fellow trucker converse over the radio. The bad ending can only be unlocked on a second playthrough with the player killing 200 or more enemies before finishing the game.
He also appears in the traditional UFO Ending, where he tries to go to a certain apartment room before the end of the game. A UFO descends with the dog from Silent Hill 2 and an alien, and Travis asks if have they seen his truck. They claim it is on their home planet and ask him to go with them. Travis asks if he can drive and the alien asks if he can drive "stick". He joins them on the ship and they leave Silent Hill.
Silent Hill: Homecoming
Having only a brief cameo, it's Travis who gives Alex Shepherd a lift home to Shepherd's Glen. Interestingly enough, Travis left Silent Hill in the normal world, but was once again in the fog world as he drove Alex to his hometown (although it's possible that he, just like Laura, only saw the Real World, not the fog world). The reasons for this are unknown. Also, despite being years older, Travis wears almost the exact same clothes he wore in Silent Hill: Origins, albeit with long sleeves (likely the same shirt, but with the sleeves rolled down) and sporting a full beard. He seems to have some friendship with Alex, who thinks he is a soldier.
Trivia
- In Silent Hill: Homecoming, there was originally a hunter character that Alex meets and helps out in the woods. The character was scrapped, but the model was tweaked and used for Travis Grady's character.
- Travis is one of two protagonist to appear in more than one Silent Hill game aside from Harry Mason.
- Since his introduction in Origins, there have been many small clues that point to Travis being Xuchilbara or at least connected to him (albeit unaware). These clues are as followed:
- Travis has some (if any) control (mirrors) over the Otherworld, as most times he went into the Otherworld he wasnt exactly forced in like his predecessor or successor (Alex)
- The Butcher looks similar to the Pyramid Head (also is suspected of being Xuchilbara) and Valtiel (another deity in Silent Hill's cult). .
- In Silent Hill Homecoming the monster didn't attack Travis. It is possible Silent Hill has a will of its own, and recognized his importance (also possible that it recognized that he's no longer suffering from an internal struggle, or that Travis is not a resident of Shepherd's Glen).
- Helen Grady tried to kill Travis because supposed people in the mirror told her to kill the devil child. This may have not entirely been the ramblings of a crazy woman but her seeing the truth of what her son was destined to become.
- Dahlia and Kaufmann could have known that Tarvis is Xuchilbara. Seeing as Dahlia didnt tease and taunt Travis with the clue as to find Alessia unlike she did with Harry persisting him to leave and give up on his quest. This maybe due to either irritation from his interference or fear of being Xuchilbara. This may same reason Kaufmann tended to avoid Travis or leave when they were in the same room.
Gallery
 Travis Grady's 3D Homecoming model by Kenzie LaMar |
 Travis Grady's Homecoming character model by Kenzie LaMar |
 The Homecoming "Hunter" design which went to Travis. Art by Kenzie LaMar |
