Here's why Silent Hill 2's Angela Orosco is one of the franchise's most tragic characters. The original Silent Hill offered a more psychological survival experience when compared to rival franchise Resident Evil. The game found players stranded in the titular town, which is inhabited by various creatures. The game was a big success, while 2001's Silent Hill 2 would not only become regarded as the franchise's best but one of the greatest games of all time. Silent Hill 3 is also considered a top-shelf survival horror experience, though Silent Hill 4: The Room - the final installment from Team Silent - was met with mixed reactions.
Later entries were made by Western developers, and were widely seen as inferior to the original games. Silent Hill: Shattered Memories - a remake of the original for the Wii - is considered an intriguing title, though Silent Hill: Homecoming is regarded as one of the weakest of the series. The franchise also spawned two movie adaptations. Sadly, publisher Konami has shown little interest in continuing the series following 2012's Downpour, and fans were left heartbroken when Hideo Kojima/Guillermo del Toro's Silent Hills was cancelled in 2015.
Silent Hill 2 is rightly praised as everything from its gameplay to its story, design and music are fantastic. The basic story finds main character James Sutherland coming to Silent Hill after receiving a letter from his wife - which is strange since she supposedly died three years before. Of course, there's far more to this story than meets the eye which unfolds slowly throughout Silent Hill 2. James meets a few characters along the way, including a young woman named Angela.
Angela is first seen in Silent Hill 2 in a cemetery and is in town looking for her mother, and was designed to resemble Sandra Bullock (Bird Box) from 1995's The Net. She initially appears shy and withdrawn, though later encounters find her angrier and talking about her suicidal thoughts. Angela only appears in a few scenes in Silent Hill 2, and while her backstory isn't explicitly spelled out, it can be pieced together from story files and her dialogue. Angela grew up in a home where her alcoholic father and her brother molested and beat her regularly. Despite being aware of this, her mother refused to help and told Angela she deserved the abuse.
Just as the town called to James for his sins, it also called out to Angela in Silent Hill 2. Both of them are repressing memories of their past, and it appears she's genuinely looking for her mother when she first arrives. Angela eventually recalls the truth; she stabbed her father to death in self-defense and fled. James later picks up a knife held by Angela, which is linked to her suicidal thoughts. This may cause James' tormentor Pyramid Head to later wield his giant blade, and James to see the Abstract Daddy boss.
This boss is closely linked to Angela's memories of her abuse, and she even labels the monster "Daddy," meaning she may see it differently from James. This creature is one of Silent Hill 2's most disturbing and appears to represent two writhing figures wrapped in decayed skin over a bed. After James kills it, Angela assaults the dead creature but rejects any help from James, and while the truth about why she came is clear to her, she sees James hasn't accepted the truth about his wife yet.
The final time she's seen is one of the Silent Hill franchise's most tragic. She stands in a staircase covered in flames, with two bound male bodies on either side - which represent her father and brother. By this point, Angela has surrendered to the idea she did deserve her abuse and should be punished, which is due to her years of psychological trauma. She claims she sees the flames "all the time," and ascends the staircase with the clear implication of committing suicide. Angela's story is easily one of the most heartbreaking of the series and is another example of Silent Hill 2 exploring some disturbing subjects.