Laura (Silent Hill 2)

Laura is a major character in Silent Hill 2. A young girl, she is often seen wandering around Silent Hill, Maine. Like JamesSunderland, she is also searching for Mary Shepherd-Sunderland and is unaware of her death because Laura misinterpreted Mary's "I'm far away now. In a quiet, beautiful place." in Mary's letter not as Heaven, but Silent Hill.
She is the only innocent human character in the town who does not hold any darkness in her heart, in contrast to James Sunderland, Angela Orosco and Eddie Dombrowski. Because of her innocence and purity, she does not see any monsters or serious abnormalities in the town, including Maria.
== Biography ==
Laura is an orphan who befriended Mary Shepherd-Sunderland a year prior to the events of Silent Hill 2, and became attached to Mary as if she were her own mother. How Laura's parents died and why she was in a hospital is never revealed. She and Mary were patients of the same unspecified hospital (possibly St. Jerome's Hospital in Ashfield) and under the care of the same nurse, Rachel. Mary described Silent Hill as a beautiful place and showed Laura many pictures of the town.
== Silent Hill 2 ==
Laura somehow finds her way to Silent Hill, having apparently ran away from the orphanage or hospital she was staying at. It is implied Eddie helped her travel to Silent Hill, whom she met by chance on the way to Silent Hill.
James first encounters Laura in the Wood Side Apartments, where she kicks a key out of his reach and stomps on his hand while mocking him before running away. After he leaves the apartment complex, he finds her humming to herself on a graffiti-covered wall. He confronts her in frustration and Laura taunts him by believing she 'may' have stomped on his hand. She then reveals to James that she knows of Mary, but then jumps off the other side of the wall before James can get anymore information from her.
She appears next at Pete's Bowl-O-Rama with Eddie. Eddie tells her that he is running from the police and Laura calls him a "gutless fatso" as he eats a pizza. Laura then confides that she too runs away a lot. She asks Eddie why he can't just apologize for what he has done, to which he responds by saying that nobody will forgive him. Once James appears, Laura rolls a bowling ball towards James and Eddie and then runs away.
Outside, James pursues her at Maria's request. Laura finds a way to Carroll Street by squeezing through a narrow space between Heaven's Night and a wall, then enters Brookhaven Hospital. Eventually, James finds her inside a room playing with teddy bears on the first floor. James accuses her of lying when she explains her connection to Mary. He then apologizes for his outburst. As James and Laura are about to exit the hospital, Laura asks him to pick up a nonexistent letter from Mary inside a room. When James enters it, she slams the door behind him, locking James in with several dangerous monsters.
While James is sent to the Otherworld, Laura remains in the Fog World. According to the novelization, Laura returned to the treatment room to find James missing. For a while, Laura made a game out of pretending to be a detective, searching through the empty hospital for clues until she finally grew tired. She decides to go back to Pete's Bowl-O-Rama and check up on Eddie. Laura is seen again on Carroll Street through a hospital window by James. She eventually makes her way to the Lakeview Hotel, likely because Mary probably told Laura about Silent Hill and showed her pictures of the town, and also possibly of the Lakeview Hotel. How she gets to the hotel is unknown as Nathan Avenue is blocked by a road-in, but it is possible this road-in doesn't exist through Laura's perception of the town.
In the "Lake Shore" restaurant, Laura hides behind a piano. When James enters the restaurant, Laura slams on the piano keys, startling him. She asks James if she scared him and James replies that she did. It is worth noting that James used to watch Mary play the piano and this scene likely triggers James's memories. Laura says she's tired of walking around Silent Hill, talks about Mary with James and then shows James a letter confirming her friendship with Mary, which she took out of their nurse's locker. While James reads the letter, Laura draws a cat on the patio door.
After he finishes, James asks Laura how old she is and Laura tells James that she turned eight last week, meaning that Mary couldn't have died three years ago. Laura then runs away again looking for "another letter", most likely the letter that Mary wrote to James.
In Room 312, Laura finds James after he learns the truth of Mary's death. He tells her that Mary is dead, and Laura, in denial, calls James a liar. After a few moments, she accepts what James said and asks him if Mary died from her illness. James reveals to her that he killed Mary, and Laura becomes furious at him, shouting that she hates him and that she knew all along that James didn't care about her. James apologizes to Laura and tells her that the Mary they know isn't in the hotel and Laura silently leaves the room.
In the "Leave" ending, James leaves Silent Hill with Laura (where he found her and how he convinced her to leave Silent Hill with him is unseen) and they travel through Toluca Graveyard. James follows Laura, who then stops and waits for him to catch up to her and then leaves the town. They vanish into the mist, one after the other. This ending could suggest that James is intending to carry out Mary's wishes to adopt Laura.
Laura does not appear in the game's other three endings, so it is not revealed to what happens to her. However, since the town was never dangerous to her, it is assumed that she leaves Silent Hill unharmed.
== Personality ==
Laura is rude and bratty to James Sunderland and Eddie Dombrowski, the two people she encounters consistently during her journey through Silent Hill, calling them a "fartface" and "gutless fatso" respectively. With James, she is motivated by the belief that he did not really love Mary, due to the fact that he rarely visited her in the hospital. Even though Laura is first perceived as rude and bratty, she is not malevolent-spirited.
As the game progresses, Laura becomes much less rude toward James. In the Lakeview Hotel, she gives him more details about Mary, and runs away to find a letter from Mary that she dropped. In Room 312, she immediately asks James to leave the hotel with her.
Laura seems to love stuffed animals, such as teddy bears, and may be interested in drawing.
== Trivia ==
* In the Leave ending, Laura waits for James.
* In Lost Memories: The Art & Music of Silent Hill, there is a photo of Laura and Maria sitting on the wall which never occurs in the game.
* In Born from a Wish, Maria comments that Laura loves teddy bears. Maria then wonders "Laura...? Who am I talking about?" This shows Maria has Mary's memories. In Brookhaven Hospital, James finds Laura playing with teddy bears.
* Laura appears to enjoy drawing (especially cats and bears), as she draws on the wall and on the patio door of the Lakeview Hotel. This may allude to Cheryl Mason, as Cheryl loved coloring and also had imprints of kittens on her dress.
* It has been theorized that Laura wrote the messages in Neely's Bar due to the haphazard childish-like capitalization.
* Laura is, appearance-wise, somewhat similar to Cheryl Mason from the first Silent Hill in that they both wear dresses with shirts or jumpers underneath.
* In the song "The Reverse Will", when played backwards, Laura recites a popular bedtime prayer: "Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray The Lord my soul to keep. If I should I die before I wake, I pray The Lord my soul to take."
* There is a high chance Laura's, along with Mary's, outfit was inspired by a character in the movie Con Air.
* It is possible that Laura and her actions and motivations are related to the "Little Mermaid" music box found in the Lakeview Hotel, most likely due to the fact that, despite that she knows many things about Mary, she never explains them to James, fitting the music box text "Seat of the Princess who spoke no words" and "Even so I still want to believe she was happy", paralleling Laura's desire to know what happened to Mary. The player also meets Laura in the hotel's restaurant that stares at the lake.
* Laura makes a cameo in the "Surprise" ending in Silent Hill: Downpour.
* Elle Holloway from Silent Hill: Homecoming was originally supposed to be an older version of Laura and she was supposed to wear James's jacket during the boat ride, but the idea was scrapped during production.
Category:Silent Hill Heroes
Category:Dark Fantasy Heroes
Category:Horror Heroes
Category:Mischievous
Category:Liars
Category:Tricksters
Category:Video Game Heroes
Category:Female
Category:Kids
Category:Jerks
Category:Karma Houdini
Category:False Antagonist
Category:Unwanted
Category:Friend of a Villain
Category:Siblings
Category:Arrogant