ÿþ<html> <head> <title>Samael</title> <meta content="Mark Patraw" name=Author> <meta content="Images of, and information about, a Silent Hill Samael/Incubus action figure, made by Mark Patraw." name=Description> <meta content="Samael,Incubus,Alessa,Silent Hill,Konami,monster,boss,demon,creature,enemy,art,fan art,figure,sculpture,model,Mark Patraw." name="Keywords"> <head> <body vlink=black alink=black link=black></title></head> <body bgcolor="black"> <table width=85% align=center cellpadding=10 bgcolor=tan border=10> <tr> <td> <p align=center><font size="7">Samael/Incubus</p></font> <center> <br> <br> One of two possible final bosses one may encounter at the climax of the 1999 Playstation video game <i>Silent Hill</i>. <br> <br> <table width=600 align=center cellpadding=10 bgcolor=maroon border=5> <tr> <td> <center><font size=5 color=white><b>Trivia</b></font></center> <hr width=500 color=white> <font color=white> 1. In Jewish religious tradition, Samael is regarded as an important archangel/demon. Some sources classify him as good, and others as evil. Other names for him include 'The Angel of Death','The Severity of God', 'The Blind God', and 'Ariael'. Amongst other things, he is sometimes credited with being the serpent that enticed Eve to eat the forbidden fruit, seducing Eve and impregnating her via Cain, wrestling with Jacob, holding back Abraham's arm as he was about to sacrifice his son, marrying Lilith, etc. The name 'Samael' is derived from a combination of the Hebrew words 'sam' (poison/venom) and 'el' (God); one can translate the name's meaning as 'Poison of God'. <br> <br> 2. Samael's design seems to be based upon Eliphas Levi's 19th century artistic rendition of Baphomet--a goat/man hybrid sporting wings and female breasts (The Sabbatic Goat). In modern times, Baphomet is widely considered to be the name of a powerful, evil demon, but the majority of scholars versed in the subject believe that the word 'Baphomet' is simply a corruption/misspelling of the old French word for 'Muhammad', the prophet of Islam. It is thought that, during the Crusades, the Knights Templar incorporated some aspects of Islam into their practices, which would later be viewed as heresy by the Catholic Church during the Inquisition of the 1300s. Worshiping Baphomet as an idol was one of the many crimes the Templars were charged with and sometimes executed for. In more modern times, the accusation of worshiping the demonic interpretation of Baphomet has been used in attempts to discredit the Freemasons, who are supposedly linked to the Knights Templar. <br> <br> 3. Whether or not you fight Samael as the final boss of <i>Silent Hill</i> is dependent on your completing the Dr. Kaufmann side quest, namely saving the not-so-good doctor at Annie's Bar and finding his stash of Aglaophotis in the motorcycle's gas tank. If you did those things, during the pre-fight cut scene, he'll toss Aglaophotis on Alessa, forcing Samael to manifest himself. If you didn't save him and find the stash, you'll end up fighting Alessa herself, awakened as god, instead of Samael, as Kaufmann won't be able to help you. </font> </td> </tr> </table> <br> <u>BACKGROUND:</u><BR>Harry Mason, and his daughter, Cheryl, embarked on a vacation trip to the lakeside town of Silent Hill. As they near the town's boundaries, Harry gets into an accident as he narrowly avoids striking a young woman, standing in the middle of the road, who seemed to come out of nowhere. Returning to consciousness shortly thereafter, he is alarmed to discover that Cheryl is missing. Even more disturbing, Silent Hill is not as he remembers it: A heavy fog shrouds the strangely deserted streets, huge chasms in the earth seem to have separated the municipality from the rest of the world, snow is falling out of season, and, most terrifying of all, strange, deformed creatures run rampant. Harry begins to explore, desperately searching for his lost daughter and a way out of this surreal nightmare . . . <br> <br> More than a decade ago, in an attempt to control the supernatural forces surrounding Silent Hill, a secretive cult came up with the idea of allowing Samael, the god they worshiped, to be born inside the body of a human fetus--the daughter of one of the cult's members, Dahlia Gillespie. They thought that, through this malleable child, the powers of Samael would be theirs to command. They were wrong. The child, Alessa, was not cooperative, nor did she contain the full measure of Samael's power. Frustrated, the cult members arranged for Alessa to be burned alive in a house fire, hoping the trauma would awaken Samael. This gambit failed, and Alessa did not perish in the blaze; the dark force coursing through her veins kept her fire-ravaged body alive and in constant, terrible agony. She was moved to Brookhaven Hospital, and her bandage-wrapped body was secreted away in a basement room, her existence known only to a chosen few. The cult members could draw upon some of Samael's power within Alessa in this diminished state, but it was pitifully weak. Hoping to still claim victory from the ashes of this setback, Dahlia conceived another child, in the same manner, with the idea that this second child would contain the rest of Samael's power--finally completing the process if the two girls could be made a whole. However, this baby was stolen from Dahlia shortly after its birth and left on the side of the road. Seven years ago, childless, Harry Mason, and his wife, found this very baby on the roadside and rescued the girl, adopting her as their own, naming her Cheryl. <br> <br>Now, Harry, Cheryl, Alessa, and Dahlia move through the shifting forms of Silent Hill, on a collision course with destiny. All the while, Samael watches closely from afar, knowing that his time is fast approaching, and that he will not be a slave to the will of the foolish woman, Dahlia, when he, at long last, can finally enter our world in the flesh . . . </center> <br> <br> <center><u>ABILITIES:</u></center> <br> <ul type=square> <li>Flight</li> <br> Samael's wings allow him to fly. His top flight speed, range, etc. are unknown, but, due to his divine nature, he likely has no physical limits in that regard. During gameplay, he simply uses his wings to hover in mid-air, outside the reach of melee attacks. <br> <br> <li>Lightning</li> <br> Samael can summon and direct, by simply desiring it, bolts of lightning to strike down from the sky at his enemies. Being inside an enclosed space (i.e., buildings, caves, etc.) does not shield one from, or impede, these attacks. A direct hit will result in terrible external and internal burning damage as well as electrical shock. As they travel at incredible speed, these deadly lances of energy are nearly impossible to evade. <br> <br> <li>Divine Attributes</li> <br> The full extent of Samael's powers are unknown, but they are doubtlessly impressive. Presumably, Samael would be capable of matching any feat that has been credited to either an archangel or archdemon. </ul> <br> <center><u>WEAKNESSES:</u></center> <br> <ul type=square> <li>Premature Birth</li> <br> Samael's rebirth into our plane of existance, forced by Dr. Kaufmann's Aglaophotis, was premature; as such, his resulting physical manifestation is imperfect. In this reduced state, Samael does not enjoy the full measure of his powers and is thus vulnerable to injury from mortals. Years later, in Silent Hill 3, while retelling the events that unfolded in Silent Hill 1 to the private detective, Douglas, Heather (Cheryl/Alessa) remarks that a god (Samael) that could be slain by a man (her father, Harry Mason) wasn't much of a god at all. <br> <br> <li>Reliance of Mortals</li> <br> While Samael has the ability to influence humans indirectly (presumably through cult teachings, literature, dreams, visions, etc), he does not appear to be able to physically enter our plane of existence without mortal assistance, which, in the case of Silent Hill 1, occurred by allowing him to be born, through the process of a ritual, into the body of a human fetus--Dahlia Gillespie's daughter, Alessa. Unable to act in our reality, under normal conditions, Samael instead relies on small groups of fanatical followers to work on his behalf, subtly manipulating them to achieve his desired goals. </ul> </p></font> <br> <p align=center><b><font size=+1>Materials:</font></b> <br> Newsprint, cardboard, tissue paper, a paper plate, wire twist ties, white glue, hot glue, marker, and acrylic paint. </p> <br> <p align=center><b><font size=+1>Dimensions*:</font></b><br><i><font size=-1>(*The dimensions for this model can vary, depending on how the joints are positioned. The numbers given are for the figure in a 'neutral' standing pose with the wings set at the widest possible wingspan.)</font></i> <br> 11.8 cm/4.6 in. x 17.7 cm/7.0 in. <i>(highest point x widest point)</i> </p> <br> <p align=center><b><font size=+1>Articulation:</font></b> <br> Twenty-five points total: Jaw, neck (2), spine (6), wings (2), shoulders (2), elbows (2), wrists (2), thighs (2), upper 'knees' (2), lower 'knees' (2), and ankles (2).</p> <br> <p align=center><b><font size=+1>Time:</font></b> <br> Approximately five days; construction ran from 8/15/07-8/21/07, with no work being done on the 17th or 20th.</i></p> <br> <p align=center><img src="http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y196/kramwartap/kramwartap002/SIL_samael_zps96d9e3a1.jpg~original" border=3 alt="Samael photo collage."> <br> <br> <hr width=650 size=3 color=maroon> <center> <b><font size=+1>Mid-Construction Photos & Sketches</b></font> <br> <br> <img src="SIL_samaelDRAW.jpg" border=3 alt="Samael reference sketches."> <br> <img src="http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y196/kramwartap/kramwartap002/SIL_samaelFAB_zps48d5d556.jpg~original" border=3 alt="Samael mid-construction photos 1."> <br> <img src="http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y196/kramwartap/kramwartap002/SIL_samaelFAB2_zps608878f4.jpg~original" border=3 alt="Samael mid-construction photos 2."> <br> <img src="http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y196/kramwartap/kramwartap002/SIL_samaelFAB3_zps28bd235e.jpg~original" border=3 alt="Samael mid-construction photos 3."></center> <br> <br> <hr width=650 size=3 color=maroon> <br> <br> <center><i>For comparison purposes, below are two images of Samael. The first, on the top, is a screenshot of the Samael polygon game model from the Playstation 'Silent Hill' video game. The second, on the bottom, is Konami's official artwork for Samael.</i> <br> <br> <img src="SIL_samaelREF.jpg" border=3 alt="Samael game model."> <br> <br> <img src="SIL_samaelREF.gif" alt="Samael official Konami artwork."></center> <br> <br> <br> <center><font size=+1>REFERENCES:<br></font></center> <br> <br> <ul> <p align=left><li> Wikipedia--<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silent_Hill_%28video_game%29">'Silent Hill'</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baphomet">'Baphomet'</a>, and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samael">'Samael'</a> articles.</li> <br> <li> <a href="http://www.google.com">Google</a> Samael and Baphomet image searches.</li> <br> <li> Various <a href="http://www.gamefaqs.com">GameFAQs</a> 'Silent Hill' and 'Silent Hill 3' guides.</li> <br> <li> 'Silent Hill' Playstation video game and instruction manual & 'Silent Hill 3' Playstation 2 video game and instruction manual.</li> </ul> </p> <br> <br> <p align=center><font size="5"><a href="konami_artwork.html">&laquo; Return To My Konami Video Game Fan Art Gallery</a></font> <br> <br> <br> <font size="2"><i>This is a nonprofit web site. <br> All trademarked/copyrighted characters, names, etc. depicted on this web page belong to their respective holders/owners.</i></p> </td> </tr> </table> </body> </html>
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