I often think about James Sunderland and his hero complex.
Now, I've only seen the remake of Silent Hill 2 but from my understanding there isn't an incredible amount of difference between the original and this game. And anything not in the remake explicitly are mentioned in the notes and lore littered around the game. But that's besides my point.
Point is, James is overcompensating for his murder of his beloved wife, Mary, and as the viewer we're forced to watch him constantly try to save the women around him. It's exhausting, trying to watch a man desperately try to rescue women who do not want to be saved--in fact, it's embarrassing. He's embarrassing, and we see him also constantly ridiculed for his fake care and concern or the fact that his heart truly isn't in it. Its glaringly obvious with Maria, but with Angela she blatantly calls him out on it and refers to Mary in the same breath which has James's mask slipping.
Not to say I think James is a horrible awful guy incapable of redemption. I don't like attaching one label to James in general, but this is part of his nefarious charm, to me at least. I enjoy watching him stumble to make up for his sins and ultimately not reaching that satisfaction. With the Laura ending, I think that might be the only ending where his efforts actually come into fruition.
I enjoyed a deeply flawed character, just look at my discography that often gets me made fun of at work, James is definitely towards the top of that list.
Not like they're similar but the other character who immediately pops up in my mind about a man with a need to overcompensate is Joel Miller. A man searching for his own redemption to his guilt in the form of a girl/woman, both characters don't care about anything other than the lessening of their own suffering with little regards to others. I don't think either are heartless or anything of the sort, that's not where I'm coming from at all.
I just think James needs to do some saving to settle his devilish guilt at the expense of other women's lives. Pretty basic but I just wanted to share obvious thoughts.
