Harry next meets her in the Silent Hill Cafe. Previously, he has had a strange experience, which he thinks is a dream. He "dreamed" that he was chasing Cheryl through the streets of Silent Hill, and that the world transformed into a nightmare. He found himself running from murderous dwarf creatures, all carrying butcher knives. All escape routes were cut off, and they stabbed him until he died. But then Harry wakes up in the Cafe, as if from a nightmare. Cybil Bennet walks into view, and introduces herself.
In the scene that follows, Harry comes to the conclusion that he was dreaming. After talking to Cybil, he finds out that parts of his dream were somewhat accurate; The misty town seems deserted, and a light snow is falling, out of season. All the radios don't work, and all the exits from town have been cut off. So while Harry was unconscious, Cybil has been doing some investigating of her own, it seems. She leaves Harry in the Cafe with her gun, and tells him to be careful. But the Cafe is invaded by a flying monster, and Harry decides he'd be better off looking for Cheryl anyway.
So what is Cybil doing here? Well, I'm not completely sure. I do know that in the structure of a normal drama, Cybil would be considered the classic "Confidant", a character who's main purpose in the narrative is to allow the main character to question the situation of the plot, and together they reason it all out. The problem in Silent Hill is, Cybil does not seem to experience the same things that Harry does. This makes it impossible for them to sort out what is happening to Harry. When they next meet, in Dahlia's Antique Shop, Harry learns that Cybil is not experiencing the menacing "other world" that he has experienced.
The fact that she denies it needs to be addressed for a moment, because when this situation occurs, it is indeed dark outside. This seems to confuse many players, "How can she deny it when she's STANDING IN IT!?!?!?!" The difference is, this is not yet the Dark Silent Hill. This is only Misty Silent Hill, at "night". When the player pilots Harry out of the Antique Shop, it is indeed dark and there are monsters about. But the streets are still streets, the buildings are still pretty normal, and there is snow falling, not rain. When Harry leaves the Town Center, after encountering the Larvae, yes, that is Dark Silent Hill!
I hope I cleared that up for many of you, and that maybe a few light bulbs and bells went off. I hope that they are going off all the while you are reading this. But if not, you'll be given the chance to get further answers. Don't worry, I won't leave you in the dark.
So now, to return to Cybil's purpose in the game. She is a Confidant, but not a perfect one. The conversations between her and Harry do let us know that whatever Harry is experiencing, this "Dark Silent Hill" as it were, it is only happening to him. This reinforces the whole Alessa/Dahlia power struggle theory, and that Harry is the pawn in the entire thing. Since Cybil is not experiencing Dark Silent Hill, she would seem to have no use in the struggle between Dahlia and her daughter. Why, then, is Cybil even here???
Is it because Cybil just happened upon the situation, as Cheryl was returning to Silent Hill and gradually remembering who she really was? Did the officer get sucked into this situation by accident??? I'm starting to think so, even though Cybil is later used against Harry. The officer spends most of the game as a normal person, and as Harry's ally. Only after Cybil assists Harry, by telling him that she saw a young girl crossing the lake, does Cybil become important in the power struggle between Dahlia and Alessa. By giving away Alessa's hiding place in the conjured world, Cybil has focused Harry on where he needs to search. Up till this point in the game, he has been searching entirely the wrong areas. But Cybil has provided assistance to Harry, and that makes the officer an inconvenience to Alessa. Soon afterward, Alessa takes control of Cybil by attacking her with a parasite, to be discussed later.
Cybil follows Harry through the concealed tunnel in the Antique Shop, to the altar where Samael was worshipped regularly by the cult. But Harry has been sucked into Dark Silent Hill by Alessa. Previously, she had been investigating near the town lake, and saw a young girl walking on the air across the water, toward the Resort area. This was most likely Cheryl, in Alessa's form. So she has seen something weird, but just doesn't know how to process it, maybe. Harry uses this to question Lisa about the Resort area, and finds an alternate route to the Resort through the Silent Hill sewer system. If Lisa is under Alessa's control, why does she give Harry this valuable information, which leads Harry to Alessa? I don't know, I find it to be a plothole in the game, especially if all my other theories are to be accepted. But for what it’s worth after she tells him she tries to make him think twice, probably realizing what she just did, Alessa makes Lisa tell Harry that she isn’t positive that it leads to the lake and that it is all fenced off. Another attempt to stop Harry before returning to her original tactics of having Lisa beg him to stay. Maybe this is the reason the Radio stops working in the sewer, since Harry doesn’t stop looking, Alessa takes away his only warning system from her monsters in hopes that they will kill him so that he must start over.
Anyway back to Cybil. Cybil is next seen on the boat where she finally meets Dahlia and is obviously in Dark Silent Hill then she is seen in the second sewer system, looking around a corner in a frightened manner. Something hits her from behind and knocks her to the ground. Whatever it was, it caused a lot of red liquid to splatter. What happened to Cybil???
This is the question that I have to be the most vague about answering. The only affirmative answer is, "I don't know". And neither can any of you, because not even Cybil herself can explain it later. What we all do know happens, is that Cybil is somehow "possessed", or taken control of, by the dark forces of Silent Hill. With blood-filled eyes, Cybil goes after Harry in a slow and creepy manner, and begins shooting at him. She moans and bends over several times. If Harry runs far enough away, she won't pursue him. Several times, Cybil turns, as if to show Harry the red patch on her back. These behaviors are quite a bit like those exhibited by the evil doctors and nurses in the Dark Alchemilia Hospital, who all had strange humps on their backs, containing wriggling shapes.
Now the player has the choice of either fighting to the death with Cybil, in which case she dies and Harry grieves; or if the player is extremely keen (and I mean EXTREMELY KEEN) they might attempt to prevent Cybil's death by curing her, using the medicine scooped off of the floor of Kaufman's office. This second method causes Cybil to collapse, and a smoking parasite of some kind crawls out of her back.
So how did Cybil become possessed? Obviously in the previous cinema, where we saw the parasite slam into her back. Many seem to feel that Kaufman uses the Aglaophotis to turn Cybil into this. I do not agree. Where, then, did this THIRD Aglaophotis sample come from? And please don't tell me your imaginative explanations, saying "Well, there's plenty of parts of the town we don't get to see, where Kaufman might have other stashes of Aglaophotis". Fine, if you want to believe that, don't let me stop you. However, I will stick to what is presented in the game.
Something unseen attacks Cybil. This much is clear to me. Something smashes into her back with either a great enough force to cause her blood to splatter, or with such a splatter that red liquids go everywhere. What I will accept is that the spine, in the back, is depicted in this game several times as the doorway to possession. Mother Alessa (the full-grown version of Alessa seen only at the end of the game, in the white gown) is possessed by Samael. Samael rises out of Alessa, through her back. This is the same as all the doctors and nurses of the Hospital, controlled by the parasites squirming around in their backs.
Were these the actual staff of the hospital, at one time? Perhaps. I certainly do think so, myself. I think Alessa had to suck all of the staff into her nightmare world, just to draw Kaufman in as well. When she had drawn them all in, she asserted control over all but Kaufman by creating parasites that attacked and "possessed" all the staff. Then, she transformed one of these possessed creatures into the likeness of her old nurse, Lisa.
Along these lines, I will assess that while trying telepathically to remind Cheryl of who she was, that Samael accidentally allowed Cybil to slip into the conjured world. And like everyone else who was accidentally drawn into this world, one of Alessa's parasites finally seeks out Cybil and takes her over. Now, Cybil becomes another of Alessa's tools to stop Harry, and maybe the most powerful one yet, since Harry has recently become acquainted with the cop and has sided with her. Only when Harry twists "possessed" Cybil around and uses the Aglaophotis on her back is Cybil reclaimed from the clutches of evil. The next time we see the Aglaophotis used is when Kaufman hurls it at Mother Alessa, and Samael then pours out of her back.
So the purpose of the Aglaophotis seems to be that it can extract the demonic element in possession of any person in the game. My only problem with this is that you can't use the Aglaophotis on any of the Doctors and nurses at the Hospital, and you can't use it on Alessa yourself during a Bad Ending (an ending in which Kaufman does not appear, and Harry must fight and defeat only Mother Alessa). This gives me some pause in fully endorsing this theory, but then I remind myself that it's just a videogame, and not everything is planned for. Plus, this is the only near-conclusive theory I can attain from what is presented in the game.
Now I will recap from what has been previously stated to make my assertions regarding Cybil and her role in the game clear: 1. Cybil is drawn into the conjured world by accident. As an incidental and unimportant piece in the chess match between Dahlia and Alessa, she does not experience the same shifting-reality experience that Harry has. She is free to explore on her own, and incidentally catches sight of Alessa, telling Harry where he can find her. 2. Perhaps because Cybil helps Harry draw closer to Alessa, Alessa creates a parasite that possesses Cybil, just like she did previously to everyone else who was accidentally drawn into the conjured world. Now, Cybil is under Alessa's control. 3. Alessa positions "possessed" Cybil to fight Harry. But in a + ending scenario, Harry thinks to use the medicine from Kaufman's office on her. This causes the supernatural parasite to be extracted from Cybil's back. 4. True to form, the Aglaophotis extracts the demon Samael from Alessa, but probably not with the results the doctor expected. Samael is freed momentarily to wreak havoc on the universe.
Well, I admit it's not the most conclusive part of this analysis, but I have basically explained Cybil's role in the entire game as best I can, using the skills I have. I will continue to look at theories about Cybil, but until one really "clicks", and is truly drawn from what is presented in the game and not created from your fertile imaginations, this is the theory I will promote.
Back To Main Explanations Page Topic 7: The Endings