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Walter Sullivan is a fictional character and antagonist of the video game Silent Hill 4: The Room.

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Biography

Walter Sullivan was born in the town of Ashfield in Room 302 of the South Ashfield Heights apartment building. Just after his birth, Walter's biological parents fled the apartment and left the newborn child behind, believing his birth to be unnatural. The infant Walter was later discovered by the building superintendent, Frank Sunderland, who turned the child over to the nearby St. Jerome's Hospital. After a stay in the hospital, Walter became a ward of the state and was turned over to the Wish House orphanage in Silent Hill. It was there that Walter began his tutelage in the ways of The Order, the cult that operated the orphanage.

In time, after learning of his tragic birth, Walter started to believe that Room 302 itself was his mother, and the child started making weekly trips to Ashfield to visit "her", much to the dismay of the apartment's current residents. It was during this time that Walter met and befriended Eileen Galvin. During his youth, Walter learned on the "21 Sacraments", an obscure ceremony in the Order's teachings that Walter could use to "awaken" his "mother".

When Walter was twenty-four, he began his killing spree, slaying ten people in ten days and removing the hearts of his victims. The numbers 01121-10121 were carved into the bodies. During the killing, Walter made no effort to cover his tracks, even going as far as to carve his own name into the flesh of his victims. Walter was captured and tried, but committed suicide by stabbing himself in the neck with a spoon while in prison. Walter was buried in an unmarked grave near the Wish House, but three days later, a man fitting Walter's description was seen exiting Room 302 of the South Ashfield Heights apartment building.

Three years later, another body was found, killed in a very similar manner to Walter's previous victims and the police suspected a copycat as the heart was not removed, nor was Walter's name carved into the body. Two more bodies surfaced over the next few years carved with the numbers 12121-14121. What the police failed to realize was that the numbers, 01121-14121, actually meant 01/21-14/21 meaning that Walter intended on slaying 21 victims in all.

Through the Order's teachings, Walter believed that the deaths of these 21 victims would help free his mother, Room 302, and wake her up again so that he could live within her "womb" once more, safe from the world that terrorized him. In the game, most of Walter's victims appear as ghosts.

• The first reference to this character appears in Silent Hill 2, in a newspaper article found by that game's protagonist (James Sunderland) in a trash bin at the Blue Creek Apartments building. The article stated that Walter Sullivan was a killer from nearby Pleasant River who murdered two local children (Miriam and Billy Locaine) with an axe. Four days after his arrest Walter committed suicide as described above. There are no references to the other murders he committed up to that point time in the article. In addition the article contains a quote from a former schoolmate of Walter from Pleasant River. In it Walter claimed that a "Red Devil" forced him to commit the murders.

Walter's Victims

01/21 - Jimmy Stone: First of the Ten Hearts - Jimmy Stone was a priest in the Valtiel Sect, a division of The Order. Jimmy's was nicknamed "The Red Devil" by members of the Order in reference to the triangular red hood he wore during ritualistic executions. Walter shot him in the back of the head inside the Wish House orphanage and removed his heart.

02/21 - Bobby Randolph: Second of the Ten Hearts - Bobby was a college student who attended the same school as Walter Sullivan. He and two of his friends, Sein and Jasper, were fascinated by the mythology of The Order and tried to learn all about it. Walter strangled him to death, removed his heart and dumped his body on the college campus in Pleasant River alongside the third victim.

03/21 - Sein Martin: Third of the Ten Hearts - Like his friend Bobby, Sein was also interested in the legends surrounding the Order and his curiosity likely led to his death. Walter strangled him to death, removed his heart and dumped his body on the college campus in Pleasant River alongside Bobby Randolph.

04/21 - Steve Garland: Fourth of the Ten Hearts - Steve Garland operated a pet store in Ashfield. His murder was particularly gruesome. After Walter killed Steve by riddling his body with bullets from a submachine gun (leaving his chest undamaged to the heart could be removed), he proceeded to brutally kill all the animals in the store. Given his name, Steve Garland could be related to Lisa Garland from Silent Hill 1, but this is neither confirmed nor denied.

05/21 - Rick Albert: Fifth of the Ten Hearts - Rick Albert was the manager of a sporting good store in Ashfield. Walter bludgeoned him to death with a golf club and removed his heart. He was murdered on the same day as Steve Garland.

06/21 - George Rostin: Sixth of the Ten Hearts - George Rostin was a priest in the Valtiel Sect and the right-hand man of Jimmy Stone. He personally instructed Walter on the 21 Sacraments, then ironically fell victim to his own teaching when Walter beat him to death with an iron pipe iron pipe and removed his heart.

07/21 - Billy Locaine: Seventh of the Ten Hearts - Billy was a child living in Silent Hill. Walter killed him with a single blow from an axe and removed his heart.

08/21 - Miriam Locaine: Eighth of the Ten Hearts - Miriam was Billy twin sister and killed just after her brother. Unlike Billy, who was killed with a single blow from an axe, Walter brutally dismembered Miriam's body before removing her heart, most likely due to his violent hatred of women. Unlike Walter's other victims, Billy and Miriam do not appear as ghosts but rather fused together as a monster.

09/21 - William Gregory: Ninth of the Ten Hearts - William Gregory owned the Watch and Clock store in Ashfield. Walter killed him by stabbing him with a screwdriver and removed his heart.

10/21 - Eric Walsh: Last of the Ten Hearts - The final victim of Walter's initial rampage, Eric was the owner of Bar Ashfield. On his birthday, he closed the bar early and returned home to find Walter waiting for him. Walter shot him in the face and removed his heart.

11/21 - Walter Sullivan: Assumption - After his capture, Walter committed suicide in his jail cell by stabbing himself in the neck with a spoon. His body was buried in an unmarked grave near the Wish House, but after the first copycat murder, his grave was exhumed and was discovered to be empty. His body was most likely taken from its grave by the ghost of Walter and taken to the hidden room in Room 302 to await the last of the 21 Sacraments.

12/21 - Peter Walls: Void - The first of Walter's postmortem victims. Peter was a notorious drug-addict known for his crazed ranting. His body was found in a room in the South Ashfield Hotel. The cause of death was not determined, but it is possible his drugs had been tainted.

13/21 - Sharon Blake: Darkness - Sharon Blake had been a target of the Order for some time. Her family had all been taken in by the Order, but she refused their requests (and later demands) to join. When she went looking for her family in the woods near Silent Hill, Walter caught her and drowned her in the lake.

14/21 - Toby Archbolt: Gloom - Toby Archbolt was a priest of the Holy Mother Sect of the Order, which operated the Wish House. After the deaths of Jimmy Stone and George Rostin and the subsequent weakening of the Valtiel Sect, Toby tried to increase the influence of his own sect within the Order. During a trip to Mexico, Walter pushed Toby off of a cliff, making him the only Sullivan victim outside of the United States.

15/21 - Joseph Schreiber: Despair (Giver of Wisdom) - Joseph Schreiber was an investigative reporter who lived in Room 302 before Henry Townshend. Joseph was investigating the Order, which led to an exposé on the Wish House. While investigating ties between the Order and the Walter Sullivan murders, Joseph suddenly found himself sealed inside his apartment with the only means of escape being a mysterious hole in his bathroom wall. Joseph was Walter's 15th victim, but his body was never found.

16/21 - Cynthia Valesquez: Temptation - Cynthia Valesquez is an amorous young woman living in Ashfield. Henry met her in the South Ashfield Station where Cynthia believed herself to be dreaming. While Henry tried to find a way out of the station, Walter killed her by multiple stab wounds.

17/21 - Jasper Gein: Source - A somewhat mentally unbalanced youth who, along with his friends Bobby and Sein, was fascinated by the mythology of the Order. While exploring the ruins of the Wish House, Walter immolated Jasper, who seemed almost appreciative of the act.

18/21 - Andrew DeSalvo: Watchfulness - Andrew was a guard at the Water Prison where children at the Wish House were sent as punishment. Somehow, Andrew became locked in one of his own cells and after being released by Henry, was captured by Walter and drowned.

19/21 - Richard Braintree: Chaos - Richard lives in Room 207 of South Ashfield Heights. He is an eccentric, somewhat violent and possibly sadistic man. Remembering what happened to Joseph Schreiber, he becomes concerned when he notices the same thing happening again in Room 302. He tries to find a way to help Henry, but is captured by Walter and electrocuted in his own apartment.

20/21 - Eileen Galvin: Mother (Mother Reborn) - Eileen, neighbor of Henry, was nearly beaten to death by Walter with only Henry's interference stopping her from being killed. Thought the 20th Sacrament was not complete, Walter is able to summon her to him to try and finish the deed.

21/21 - Henry Townsend: Wisdom (Receiver of Wisdom) - Walter's final intended victim, the current resident of Room 302, had to die in order to purify Walter's "mother" so she could finally be reborn and he could be reunited with her. Depending on the actions of the player, Henry either defeats Walter or dies at his hands.

See also

• List of Silent Hill characters
• List of Silent Hill monsters

• Silent Hill