A tale about the pressure of expectations, Silent Hill f follows a complicated story that requires a minimum of two full playthroughs if you wish to understand what you’ve just played through. Its visual novel formula, offering new lore with every unlocked branch, takes us on a journey of our own in understanding Hinako Shimizu’s psyche and the events that unfolded in 1960s Ebisugaoka.
The Fog World is no longer limited to the once peaceful town of Silent Hill. In fact, f hints this psychological dreamscape didn’t start there. Alessa’s time is yet to come. So, here’s our rundown of Silent Hill f, including our interpretations, analysis, and explanation of Ryukishi07’s complex narrative.
Warning for spoilers throughout.
Silent Hill f plot and themes, summarized
For Hinako Shimizu, the Fog World represents her fears surrounding womanhood, the gender role she’s meant to play, and what is expected of her. Conflicted by the views of others that can easily sway a young mind, the stigmatization of a girl being friends with boys makes Hinako a pariah in her community. Feeling trapped and uncertain of her future, unaware of how she should act around her family, friends, and peers, Hinako travels through Fog World with her needs and desires in constant battle against the person her culture wants her to be.
Two parts of Hinako exist at once, a direct contradiction of one another. But with marriage on the table, what Hinako Shimizu will she choose to be? The Fog World represents the confused, uncertain Hinako, who is simply trying to figure out her place in the world. Like a ghost wandering Ebisugaoka, she struggles to fit into the mold others keep trying to push her into. The Otherworld’s Hinako represents how a developing mind is easily manipulated, more malleable to bend and break. Our time spent chasing after Fox Mask is Hinako preparing for marriage, travelling down the long, winding path to the altar.
Hinako doesn’t want to be like her sister, Junko or her mother—to follow in their footsteps and become a devoted wife, with orders barked at her every waking moment.
The symbolism of Silent Hill f
We’ve interpreted the story of Silent Hill as following Hinako through her adolescence and into womanhood, from her time in school to the suddenness of growing up, forced upon her by her family. The Fields seemingly represent her childhood, the School her adolescence, and her homelife displaying Hinako’s abuse and the wedge placed between herself and Shu.
We know Hinako isn’t a teen in the events of f, as the post-credits scene for the default ending describes her in her twenties, meaning the Fog World acts like a memory lane of our protagonist’s life, showing her regret and inability to accept, move on, and decide whether marriage is truly what she wants.
The commonly used imagery of birds in Japanese media (e.g., in music videos and Anime endings) is present in f too, where Hinako’s metaphorical wings are confined throughout the game, her self-image being forced into a shape that’s not hers: the fox. Her decision determines whether she’ll fly free or have her wings clipped. Will Hinako live a life of her own, or for the benefit of others?
Silent Hill f: Full story, explained
It seems Hinako became linked to the Otherworld through taking the red and white capsules (Kakura-makakura), courtesy of Shu. Originally prescribed with the intention of getting rid of her tension headaches, those very pills would have a more nefarious side effect. Shu purposely gave Hinako the pills so she’d be able to “speak with her inner self,” allowing her to self-reflect and arrive to a conclusion on whether she really wants the arranged marriage.
See, Shu and Hinako have been friends since they were children, but with the inevitability of puberty hitting them both like a freight train, their feelings grew more complicated. Plus, Japanese culture stigmatized male and female friendships, where Hinako was shunned for acting more like a boy than a girl. This made her an outcast, while her friend Rinko grew hot with rage over Shu’s affection towards Hinako. The idea that Hinako had to be in love with Shu weighed down on her, and the pressure to act differently caused conflict.
The friend group made up of Hinako, Shu, Rinko, and Sakuko drifted apart through tension, as every member had unspoken feelings that festered into anxiety, paranoia, jealousy, and hatred. Hinako looked up to her older sister, but felt abandoned and betrayed when Junko got married. These feelings would reappear in Hinako’s friends, specifically with Sakuko, who felt like she’d been left in the dark.
The pills allowed Hinako to separate herself into two, where her outer and inner selves (the Fog and the Otherworld) took physical form. Dreams blur into reality, where her uneasiness about the wedding and her confused feelings for Shu manifested in the form of the crimson spring. Hinako selves believed one must kill the other to be free.
The Shimizu family
The Shimizu family was believed to be cursed. It appears that Junko and Hinako both had arranged marriages, likely to help pay off their father’s debts. Ignoring their wishes, he’d violently lash out if they disagreed or shared their true feelings. The mother, a devoted and obedient housewife, wasn’t the pillar Hinako needed. In a way, the Shimizu daughters were a sacrificial lamb for their father’s gain—a twisted birthright like Homecoming.
The Otherworld forces Hinako to change in every way. She has to part ways with who she was to ascend, metaphorically (but literally in the Otherworld) killing her family and friends to leave her past self behind.
Who is Fox Mask?
Kotoyuki Tsuneki, Hinako’s suitor and husband-to-be, was supposed to be the heir of Tsuneki, whose strict mother married into the family. At age nine, Kotoyuki fell into a coma after being attacked by a fox. Kotoyuki became possessed by the fox spirit and woke from the Otherworld as a new person. In the case of f, the kitsune is shown as a celestial being that can possess mortals. This linked Kotoyuki to the spirit, who became hellbent on making Hinako his wife. In the real world, however, it’s likely Kotoyuki was manipulated from a young age to believe he was in love with Hinako, without ever being granted the ability to think for himself.
Kotoyuki is kind, but his hidden identity as the Fox Mask makes Hinako question whether she’s being tricked and falling into a false sense of comfort. That’s where the doll comes in. But both Hinako and Kotoyuki are victims of their family’s expectations.
Who is the doll?
The doll is Hinako’s doubt and fear—the brewing worry that hangs over her head about her feelings for Shu and Kotoyuki. Hinako’s fears over Kotoyuki had manifested into doubt over the arranged marriage. She’s scared that the men in her life, who were once kind and affectionate, would turn violent like her abusive father. The doll is this thought in the back of Hinako’s mind that’s telling her it won’t be okay, that she’s a failure, a disappointment to her family. It’s holding her back, a warning that something bad will happen, for a future that may never come.
Silent Hill f endings, explained (Default, Good, Bad, and True)
Aside from the UFO ending, Silent Hill f explains (rather cryptically) what happens at Hinako and Kotoyuki’s wedding. Not only is Hinako trying to figure out whether this is what she truly wants, but Shu crashes the wedding, likely hoping Hinako would leave with him. The path Hinako takes into the Otherworld is her journey through womanhood, her mind and body transforming into what her partner wants her to be. Her autonomy is slowly stripped away unless she can come to terms with who she truly is, without the pressures of conformity.
Coming Home to Roost
The default ending is a terrifying conclusion for Hinako, Shu, and Kotoyuki. The pills Shu gave her for the tension headaches, caused by her father’s abuse, only escalated Hinako’s spiralling psyche. Her inability to self-reflect means she became something she doesn’t recognize, meaning her selves weren’t able to communicate with each other.
After giving parts of herself, Hinako is consumed by the crimson spring, resulting in a mental breakdown where Shu and Kotoyuki are murdered at the altar. Wielding a knife—likely the same one her father used when he’d get angry—Hinako fled the scene in her wedding dress—leaving the cause of her psychotic break—those cursed pills behind.
The Fox Wets Its Tail
Simply put, this ending shows Hinako getting cold feet at her wedding, fleeing from the marriage with Shu by her side. Kotoyuki’s form of the nine-tailed fox appears, the deity that’s taken over since childhood. Fox Mask’s intentions were for Hinako to be spirited away, just like how Kotoyuki was. Hinako overcomes the fox, who then lets her leave, knowing he’s disappointed the Tsuneki family.
Shu recognises Kotoyuki in the beast, remembering the time they’d spent playing Space Wars together, seeing the human in him. Hinako and Shu run into the fog, still able to laugh after the dark events they’d just witnessed. While they’re still in Fog World, they have each other. But is Hinako just running away instead of facing herself?
Fox’s Wedding
The most interesting ending is the Fox’s Wedding, which paints the outer, human form of Hinako as the antagonist. The Agura no Hotei-sama vial is used, eradicating outer Hinako from existence, ridding her of this “evil” as she became possessed with the Water Dragon’s spirit. This means inner Hinako’s choice and sense of self is removed, making her the perfect doted wife to Kotoyuki. This ending reveals Shu’s true intentions behind the medicine he gave Hinako, as he was unable to accept that she was growing up and moving on without him. Through missed opportunity and their inability to talk about the things that mattered, the partners inevitably drifted apart.
Shu’s inner self is revealed, but fox Hinako rescues him at his lowest moment, thus killing his doubts and setting him free. Of course, the same cannot be said for Hinako. Shu accepts the marriage, even though he, alongside Tsuneki, views Hinako as “theirs.” This ending appears good on the surface (ignoring Hinako being viewed as property). However, you can see that Hinako’s monstrous form is final, revealing she’s lost who she once was.
The post-credits scene has the most disturbing moment in the entire game, showing Hinako completely stripped of her autonomy. Her torn face at the bottom of the stairs, wailing in fear over the mistakes she’s made and terrified of becoming the very thing she despised, is stepped on, thus killing the last part of her identity. She’s encaged forever.
Silence in Ebisugaoka
In the true ending, Hinako comes to terms with her true feelings about not wanting to get married yet. While she feels like she’s failed the family—this being the reason she entertained the idea to begin with and risked losing herself in the process—Hinako accepted that she couldn’t be anything but herself. Kotoyuki saves both Hinakos from self-destruction, realizing he, too, hasn’t been living a life.
Both versions of Hinako defeat their demons, the very deities that were possessing them. The point of this ending is that Hinako finds inner peace, with all the noise stopped. An obvious metaphor for the dark thoughts inside, Hinako breaks free, and that’s something Kotoyuki wants for himself.
Hinako awakes from the dream anew, both versions of herself coexisting within, granting her the peace to figure out what she really wants. A letter from Kotoyuki shows he is more at peace with himself, attempting to live his life to the fullest, and taking the time to process his previously manufactured feelings for Hinako. Hinako’s inner and outer selves have values that align, and they are now able to see eye-to-eye when they were previously at each other’s throats.
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