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Walter Sullivan is a fictional character who appears in the Konami video game Silent Hill 4: The Room. Although he is the main antagonist of the game (the player character being a young man named Henry Townshend), many see him as the main character as well, seeing as the story revolves almost entirely around him. This could be a reflection of Silent Hill 1, in that most of that story was about Alessa rather than Harry.

Biography

Walter Sullivan was born in 1970 in the town of Ashfield in Room 302 of the South Ashfield Heights apartment building. Just after his birth, his biological parents fled the apartment and left the newborn child behind. The infant was later discovered by the building superintendent, Frank Sunderland (thought to be the father of James Sunderland), who turned the child over to the nearby St. Jerome's Hospital.

Soon after, Walter became a ward of the state and was turned over to the Wish House orphanage in Silent Hill. It was there that he began his tutelage in the ways of The Order, the cult that operated the orphanage.

After learning of his tragic birth, the young Sullivan gradually 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. During his late adolescent years, he learned of the "21 Sacraments," an obscure ceremony in the Order's teachings that Walter could use to "awaken" his "mother."

Sometime later, he briefly encounters five-year old Eileen Galvin while homeless. Eileen, out of sympathy, gives the perplexed Walter one of her dolls and walks away conversing with her mother. The scene of Eileen happily walking with her mother inspires a profound sorrow within Walter, leading him to sob uncontrollably.

When Sullivan was twenty-four, he began his killing spree. Murdering ten people in as many days, he removed their hearts and carved numbers into their bodies. The first corpse had the numbers 01121, the second 02121, the third 03121, and so on up to 10121. What the police failed to realize was that these numbers were meant to be read as 01/21, 02/21, 03/21, etc, signifying that Walter intended to kill twenty-one people in all.

Walter made no effort to cover his tracks, even going so far as to carve his own name into the flesh of his victims. He was captured, tried, and convicted for murdering Billy (07121) and Miriam Locane (08121), and was thought to have committed suicide by stabbing himself in the neck with a metal soup spoon and severing his own carotid artery while in prison. He was buried in an unmarked grave near the Wish House. However, three days later, a man fitting his 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 Sullivan's previous victims, and the numbers 12121 were carved into the body. The police suspected a copycat, though the heart was not removed, nor was a name carved into the body. Joseph Schreiber, an investigative journalist, developed his own theory at this time. He believed that the police had failed to capture the real Walter Sullivan, and began to investigate Walter's life in conjunction with an earlier investigation into the Silent Hill cult.

Eventually finding Walter's grave, Schreiber discovered there was no body inside and that the numbers 11121 had been carved into the coffin. Two more bodies surfaced over the next few weeks, marked with the numbers 13121 and 14121 respectively. Joseph Schreiber went missing from room 302 shortly thereafter.

Role in the Game

When Walter committed suicide in the prison, he was fully released from the bonds of the flesh and gained the "Power of Heaven." With that power he was able to create the twisted world which Henry Townshend has to oppose.

Henry meets Walter nearly at the middle of the game. At that point Walter's motives are still unclear. After the attempted murder of Eileen Galvin his behavior suddenly changes and he starts attacking Henry (and Eileen) whenever they trip over him in one of the levels.

Trivia

• The first reference to Walter Sullivan appears in Silent Hill 2 in a newspaper article found by the game's protagonist (James Sunderland). The article (which can be found in a trash bin outside of the Blue Creek Apartments building) states that Walter Sullivan was a killer from nearby Pleasant River who murdered two local children (Miriam and Billy Locane) with an axe.
  • In addition, the article contains a quote from a former schoolmate of Walter Sullivan's from his hometown of Pleasant River. The schoolmate said Sullivan claimed that a "Red Devil" (presumably Jimmy Stone) forced him to commit the murders. Some speculate that the "Red Devil" could also mean Xuchilbara, the 'Red God' of Silent Hill, whom Claudia Wolf mentions in Silent Hill 3.
  • The information found in this article was later included within a "test" with which the protagonist was presented, and it is also possible to see Walter Sullivan's tombstone inside the cemetery in Silent Hill 2.

• "The Assumption Ceremony" requires the scripture, white chrism, obsidian goblet, and ten hearts. This is a ritual similar to that of a ritual mentioned in the "rebirth" ending of Silent Hill 2; the items needed for the latter being the Book of Lost Memories, The White Chrism, the Obsidian Chalice, and the Book of Crimson Ceremony.

• The foldout timeline provided with the Silent Hill 4 official strategy guide states that "34 Years Ago: Newborn Walter Sullivan is abandoned in South Ashfield Heights apartment" and "10 Years Ago: The Walter Sullivan murder spree." Thus, Walter was 24.

• When Henry Townshend encounters the child version of Walter in the forest world, he asks if he is Walter Sullivan. Walter responds, saying that everyone calls him that, but he did not really have a name.

See also

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

• Silent Hill characters
• Fictional serial killers
• Fictional undead
• Video game bosses