Silent Hill 2 Remake: Why James Killed Mary – Explained

Silent Hill’s tragic protagonist has a lot more going on than some may have initially thought.

With the release of the Silent Hill 2 remake, fans are rediscovering the tragedy behind why main character James Sunderland killed his wife, Mary.

Heralded as one of the more harrowing and bone-chilling horror games of all time, 2004’s Silent Hill 2 is back in the conversation thanks to its new PlayStation 5 remake from Konami (who have become a bit of a punching bag of the industry over the last couple of years) and The Medium studio Bloober Team.

The title follows series protagonist James Sunderland as he is called back to the mysterious town of Silent Hill after receiving a letter from his long-deceased wife, Mary.

Why Did James Kill Mary in Silent Hill 2?

One of the biggest plot twists in gaming history happens in Silent Hill 2, as protagonist James Sunderland is revealed to have killed his wife, Mary.

Throughout the Silent Hill franchise up to this point, James was branded as a mourning widower, having lost his wife to what was assumed to be a devastating illness prior to the events of the games.

That continues into the Silent Hill 2 remake, as the franchise figurehead heads back to the fog-covered town of Silent Hill thanks to a mysterious letter he receives from his long-dead wife.

James spends much of the game traversing the horrors of this creepy video game locale looking for the origins of the letter and retreacing his tragic past. This eventually leads the player to discover that James, in fact, killed Mary.

James is revealed to have killed his wife after she was stricken with a debilitating illness the game had talked plenty about up to that point. As Mary received her prognosis, James became more a part of her life, having to take care of his ailing wife more with each passing day.

Eventually, he grows tired of this, building resentment for the woman he once loved as she slowly disappears into her bed-ridden husk of a body.

Mary makes it clear she may want to die, knowing that James is wasting valuable time of his life spending days at a time by her side. However, she is also conflicted in knowing that with her death she would have given up, leaving behind her mortal coil and the man she loves so dearly.

James eventually takes matters into his own hands, doing what he sees as taking his wife out of her misery with a quote/unquote mercy kill.

The actual reality of her death is murkier than that. Mary never outright tells James that death is what she wants, and she is conflicted about the thoughts of potentially ending her life. This essentially makes James a murderer and is meant to make the player question their empathy for the in-game widower, especially seeing as they have had a hand in getting him to this point in playing the game.

It is this complicated realization that makes Silent Hill 2 and its newly released remake one of the most dramatic and unforgettable video game stories in the history of the medium.

Depending on what ending of the game the player gets, this can leave James in a variety of places. The most traumatic of these epic finales sees James succumbing to his guilt and grief, taking his own life after much time thinking about the reality of his selfish act.

Silent Hill 2 Remake is now available on PlayStation 5 and Windows PC.