James Sunderland

James Sunderland is one of the main protagonists from the Silent Hill series.
== Charactah Account ==
A store clerk who comes to Silent Hill after getting a letter from his deceased wife, Mary. The plot kicks off when he arrives in town to solve the mystery behind said letter. James was originally envisioned with having two different sides to his personality.
Maria describes James as kind; Mary, in her letter to Laura, describes him as a little surly and says he does not talk much, but is sweet underneath his enigmatic exterior. James is typically courteous to other characters he meets in Silent Hill. He is polite and mild-tempered. For example, he tries to help Angela Orosco cope with her emotional distress and tries to touch her shoulder to comfort her but fails. When James first encounters Eddie Dombrowski, he becomes concerned for Eddie's welfare and advises him to leave the town. He also expresses concern for Laura, attempting to follow her through Silent Hill so she won't come to harm.
However, James's darker side is revealed in some of his actions. James lost some of his confidence and self-respect when Mary became ill. James is in deep grief and depression from his relationship with Mary and her death. He denies the murder of his wife, attributing her death to her disease. James may be perceived as cowardly, running away from his guilt and blame. Upon being confronted about the truth or something uncomfortable, James tends to avoid eye contact, looks down, turns away, or remains silent. James is rather bad at consoling people; he often falls short in regards to helping Eddie and Angela.
== Appearance ==
=== Comics ===
* Hunger
=== Video Games ===
* Dead by Daylight
* Silent Hill 2
* Silent Hill 2: Restless Dreams
* Silent Hill 3
* Silent Hill Experience
* Silent Hill HD Collection
* Silent Hill: Book of Memories
* Silent Hill: Downpour
* Silent Hill: Shattered Memories
== Trivia ==
* According to Masahiro Ito, the team chose to make James Sunderland forgetful of his crime and gradually remember as the game progresses, so that "the player could explore the abandoned city with James' mind." The concept of denial and selective memory loss would again be used for Heather Mason, Travis Grady, and Alex Shepherd.
* The save menu's background is of James's face stained with red, which could represent anger or blood from a murder. His face appears to be blurred by water or glass. It could also simply be James's reflection on the save point's glossy surface.
* The reason why James hovers his hand in front of his face in the beginning of the game is to "check if he is in reality or if he is dreaming". For example, lucid dreamers may perform "reality checks" such as pinching their skin, looking at their hands, feeling solid objects, etc. Those who struggle with dissassociative periods, especially derealization, may cut or injure themselves, feel their body, or touch their face to try and help them feel "real". It also serves as foreshadowing and symbolism of James's mental state, unable to determine fantasy from reality, similar to psychosis.
* If James wields the chainsaw, he may raise it above his head and scream if the player waits near a dead monster. If the player goes into standby mode with the chainsaw equipped, he will set it down blade first and lean on it like a cane.
* It is possible to make James trip.
* It can be speculated that because James had just recently killed Mary, her corpse is actually in the trunk of James's car at the beginning of the game. The Book of Lost Memories alludes to this and the novelization affirms this with the In Water ending. However, Masahiro Ito stated that he believed that Mary's body was actually in the back seat. When asked how James didn't notice her corpse, Ito replied that James had repressed the memory of her murder.
** James' actor, Guy Cihi, has elaborated on Ito's statement, adding that having his dead wife in the backseat as he drives into the lake is more consistent with the common Japanese way of muri-shinjū ("forced love suicide").
* The given name "James" is cognate with the name "Jacob". Jacob's Ladderis a film well stated to have influenced Team Silent in the creation of Silent Hill 2, as well as of their other games for the series. Namely, James has many similarities to the film's protagonist Jacob Singer, in that they both wear M-65 olive-drab military jackets; they both grapple with guilt, lust, and lost marriages; and either of them endure a journey into his own tormented psyche. The jacket was also sold as licensed clothing for Insert Coin Clothing with the clothing name "Sunderland".
* James's surname could be seen as an allusion to his mental state; "sunder" meaning "to break or shatter", and "land" being representative of James's sense of reality, or his world.
* James's beta design depicts him with slicked back, auburn hair. This hairstyle made him resemble Harry Mason. James shares other similarities with Harry: the two of them suffered for having lost their wives, who both died of diseases. Depending on the endings, both of them leave Silent Hill with a girl (Heather in the Good and Good+ Endings for Harry, Laura in the Leave Ending for James).
* In the Dog ending, James has a tattoo of a heart on his left arm.
* In the Wood Side Apartments, the body of a man sitting in front of a TV displaying static can be seen after James finds a pistol. The game's art director, Masashi Tsuboyama, said in "The Making of Silent Hill 2" that the man sitting in the chair is actually James himself and that he came straight out of James's imagination.
** This scene also acts as heavy foreshadowing of the scene when James discovers the truth about his wife. He slumps back in the chair in a very similar position and the TV displays only static.
** By hacking the game's camera, it is possible to see the face of the man sitting in the chair is in fact James'.
* Almost every corpse in the game (excluding the ones in the holes inside the prison) wears the exact same clothing as James.
* In the Blue Creek Apartments, inside of Room 209, James may be able to hear a whisper that appears to say, "See my dead wife and come home, do some laundry, do some..." It has been speculated that it may represent a part of James's thoughts about what to do after he murdered Mary, although Japanese translator Jeremy Blaustein stated in an interview that he believes it was just one of the voice actors talking to himself in the recording booth and that the Japanese sound recorders would not have known what it had meant as it was unscripted.
* In Brookhaven Hospital, James finds records about three patients: Jack Davis, Joseph Barkin and Joshua Lewis. It may not be a coincidence that James and the three patients' names start with the letter J. It may be that Jack represents the part of James who is normally a model person, yet also has suicidal feelings. Joseph represents the part of James who feels guilt and regret for killing Mary and the delusions James is immersed in. Joshua represents the part of James who feels he needs to be persecuted and also represents his violent self (i.e. the act of killing).
* The Tablet of "The Oppressor" represents James and his sins.
* James may hear a man sobbing when he walks past Room 208 in the Lakeview Hotel. Room 208 is the room in the Wood Side Apartments where he sees the body of a man in front of a TV, which is a modified version of James's model. In Blue Creek Apartments, Room 208's doorknob may rattle if James attempts to enter and walks away from it. Room 208 is also written on the door where James discovers Maria is dead in her prison cell. The crying could be symbolic of James's inner sadness and sorrow.
* During the scene with Angela on the burning staircase, before James says, "It's hot as hell in here", he raises his right hand to his face. When the scene's camera angle is hacked, James is shown apparently wiping his eye. While it may be interpreted as James fidgeting; having something in his eye; or wiping sweat off of his brow from the heat, it is also possible that James may be weeping for Angela and wiping a tear away.
* In Silent Hill: Homecoming, one of the achievements is known as "Shades of James", unlocked if the player defeats a Siam. This has led to a theory that Siam symbolizes James and Mary or actually is James and Mary, however it more likely reflects the fact that Siam's vulnerable behind is feminine in nature and the achievement was simply a reference to James.
* In Silent Hill: Homecoming, if the player completes the game on Hard difficulty, they earn the achievement "The Old Gods haven't left this place", a reference to a comment made by James in the Rebirth Ending of Silent Hill 2.
== Gallery ==
File:James Sunderland Render 01.png
File:James Sunderland 01.png
File:James Sunderland 02.png
File:James Sunderland 03.png
File:James Sunderland Fan Art 01.png
File:James Sunderland Fan Art 02.png
== External Links ==
* James Sunderland at Silent Hill Wiki
Category:Characters
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Category:Silent Hill