author: destroytheardor
Ash or Snow? Silent Hill Mystery Solved After 20 Years
The dispute over whether it was snow or ash falling from the sky had been dividing the Silent Hill community for some 20 years now. The speculation was put to an end by Masahiro Ito.
- Art director of Silent Hill puts an end to a 20-year fan dispute, writing on Twitter that it was snow that was falling on the town, not ash.
- The whole affair was about nothing and came from the game's movie adaptation.
When the main character of the original Silent Hill recovers from a car accident at the beginning of the game and takes his first steps through the fog-bathed town, he takes notice of the strange weather. Although the action takes place - presumably - in June, snow is falling from the sky. Only is it really snow? Maybe it's ash?
Masahiro Ito dispels doubts (again)
Although there is no mention of ash falling from the sky in the game, and the words about snow appear several times, fans could not come to a consensus. The problem began with the movie directed by Christophe Gans, in which the statement is made that there has been a fire going on in the mine under the town for years, and the main character notices that ash is falling from the sky. This is also a symbolic reference to the fate of one of the most important characters in the entire Silent Hill universe.
The movies, however, they are not part of the official canon, so the whole discussion should not even be taking place. The games are set in one version of the universe and the movies in the other. Nevertheless, the fan community has been divided on this issue for many years.
Eventually all doubts were dispelled by Masahiro Ito, who was the art director of Silent Hill and was responsible for, among other things, the scenery or monster designs. Tired of the irrational dispute and constant repetition of the same thing, he wrote on Twitter:
This is not the first time Ito has tried to clarify the issue, but apparently fans know better and are hard to convince. The artist has been active on Twitter for years and is happy to respond to questions and concerns from Silent Hill fans. However, the topic of Ash (and Pyramidhead, whose creation he sincerely regrets today) is almost like a berserk button for the man.
