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'Walter Sullivan (1970-1994) is a fictional character that appears in the Konami video game Silent Hill 4: The Room. Although he is the main antagonist of the game, and the player character is a young man named Henry Townshend, many state that he is in a way the main character of the game 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. Walter, along with Pyramid Head and The Nurse is considered one of the most iconic characters in the series.

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, who turned the child over to the nearby St. Jerome's Hospital. After a stay in the hospital, he 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.

In time, 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 then walks away conversing with her mother. The scene of Eileen happily walking with her mother, while he holds her doll in hand, inspires a profound sorrow within Walter to which he sobs uncontrollably.

When Sullivan was 24 (see below), he began his killing spree, murdering 10 people in as many days, removing their hearts and carving numbers into their bodies. The first corpse had 01121 carved into it, the second 02121, the third 03121, and so on up to 10121. He made no effort to cover his tracks, even going as far as to carve his own name into the flesh of his victims. He was captured, tried, and convicted, 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. However, 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 numbers, 11121, were carved into the coffin. Two more bodies surfaced over the next few weeks, carved with the numbers 13121 and 14121 respectively. Joseph Schreiber went missing from room 302 shortly thereafter. What the police failed to realize was that the numbers, 01121-14121, actually meant 01/21-14/21, meaning that Sullivan intended to kill 21 victims in all.

Through the Order's teachings, Sullivan 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 his 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 Locane) with an axe. Four days after his arrest Sullivan committed suicide in 1994 as described above. There are no references to the other murders he committed up to that point in time in the article. In addition the article contains a quote from a former schoolmate from Pleasant River. In it Sullivan claimed that a "Red Devil" (presumably Jimmy Stone, but considered by some to mean a "Pyramid Head") forced him to commit the murders. This information was later included within a "test" with which the protagonist was presented. Also, it is possible to see his tombstone in the same game inside the cemetery.

• "The Assumption Ceremony" requires the scripture, white chrism, obsidian goblet, and ten hearts. This is a ritual similar to that of the "rebirth" ending of Silent Hill 2; the items 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 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 and Walter responds saying that everyone calls him that, but he did not really have a name. (Surprisingly Walter's child form uses very good English throughout the game.)

See also

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

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