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But Mommy, I just want to be with you. Just two of us. Please understand.
~ Alessa Gillespie as a young girl to her mother Dahlia Gillespie.

Alessa Gillespie is the overarching character of the Silent Hill franchise. She is a young girl who lived in the legendary and cursed American ghost town of Silent Hill and is the catalyst for the entire series.

She was voiced by Sandra Wane in the original Silent Hill, and voiced by Jennifer Woodward in Silent Hill: Origins. In addition, she was portrayed by Jodelle Ferland, who is also known for portraying Five on Dark Matter, as a child, and Lorry Ayers as an adult in the film adaptation of Silent Hill.

History[]

Early life[]

There's a girl named Alessa in my class. If your memory is any good, you may remember her she's the one I said they called a witch. Most likely her mother is abusing her. I've never seen her come in without some sort of scrape or bruise. Her expression is pitifully dark for a 6 year old.
~ Mrs. K. Gordon about her student Alessa Gillespie.
The Silent Hill

Silent Hill

Alessa is the only daughter of Dahlia Gillespie, the presiding priestess of a religiously crooked cult group known as The Order that operates out of the resort town of Silent Hill, Maine for many years. Any information regarding Alessa's father remains unclear. Dahlia and Alessa live together in a house at Silent Hill's business district.

Alessa kept a butterfly and insect collection in her room, and had 2 dolls (one of which she named "Scarlett"). Alessa was born with vast mental powers, including telekinesis, premonition and astral projection, which could enable her to kill someone with her thought by projecting her desire for them to die into their body.

Her powers eventually lead her to being ostracized at Midwich Elementary School, where she was branded a witch. At her elementary school, her classmates had scribbled on her desk statements such as "Go home", "Drop dead", and "Thief". Alessa's teacher, Mrs. K. Gordon, noticed her bullying and wanted to help her.

Claudia Wolf & Alessa Gillespie

Claudia and Alessa praying together as children in the novelization of Silent Hill 3.

Alessa's only friend during childhood was a young Claudia Wolf, who empathized with her because she also came from an abusive family background as well as a father named Leonard who is a overzealous disciple of The Order themselves. Their relationship together was strong, as Alessa thought of her as a "little sister", despite not being related. On Claudia's 6th birthday, Alessa gave her a card that stated "I love you as if you were my real sister. Here's to you!"

They did activities such as playing cards which often made Claudia cry as she had a time winning, as well as drawing. Alessa always drew monsters whenever she was alone and wished for a "nice daddy and mommy and a fun school, and a happy world where everyone smiled and laughed all day long," which was in short everything Alessa and Claudia never had.

A note found at the Artaud Theater says that a certain girl came to the theater apparently playing truant. After being allowed to stay, the girl was terrified of Caliban's costume, and the actor who played him had a headache and a nosebleed. This showed that Alessa was skipping the school and visiting the Artaud Theater to avoid her classmates and hang out in a place she liked to watch theatrical rehearsals.

The Order's Paradise

The Paradise as described according to the beliefs of the local religious cult in Silent Hill known as The Order.

Alessa dreamed of the arrival of Paradise, another world with no hatred, no disease, no famine and no old age. The child also believed that their world must be cleansed with fire before creating another one and shared these thoughts with Claudia with good intentions of eternal happiness and bliss.

The Chapel

The Chapel

As a young girl, Alessa grew up with the teachings of The Order. Dahlia brought Alessa to the Order's chapel frequently and Alessa often looked up at the stained glass which depicted The Order's God (not to be mistaken for real life "God") and the man and woman who birthed Her. Alessa came to worship God and to ask for her prayers to be answered, however, none were ever answered.

Silent Hill: Origins[]

When Alessa was seven years old, Dahlia became convinced that a certain ritual to summon the cult's God would likely be a success if she used her daughter as its birth mother. The technique had been performed on other girls that the Order abducted, but all previous attempts had failed. Alessa was offered as a sacrifice by Dahlia to the God on the second floor of their house by immolating her body.

Despite the interfering actions of Travis Grady, the plan was a success, with Alessa becoming pregnant with the deity in embryonic form. Dahlia fled the scene of the fire and people believed that she became crazy due to Alessa's supposed "death". After Travis saves Alessa from the house, Travis faints and the Order takes Alessa's body to a secret ritual site located in Dahlia's Green Lion Antiques antique store. Alessa uses astral projection to guide Travis through the town. Alessa gives hints to Travis to help her to recreate the Flauros, an artifact that would "trap" the evil side of her by combining it's five pieces: Future, Past, Falsehood, Truth and Present. Alessa seems a little indifferent to Travis throughout the game, even when he helps her continuously, she remains quiet. Though Travis becomes angry with her and asks what is going on, she continues to use him for her plans.

When the Flauros has been restored, Alessa appears outside Alchemilla Hospital and starts changing the town into its Otherworld version. After Travis kills the demon inside the Order's church, her charred body creates a baby from a part of her soul. She later appears at the end of the game, holding a baby, when Travis is finally able to get back into his truck in the good ending. She smiles at him as a sign of thanking him to which he smiles back and then proceeds to leave the town. Alessa's other half is then found by Harry Mason and his wife Jodie on a road outside of Silent Hill. They named the baby Cheryl and begin to raise her as their own daughter.

Alessa's Pain[]

The fire in the business district? How awful. I heard about that. No one knows how it got started. And that poor girl, Alessa Gillespie... To die like that.
~ Nurse Lisa Garland before discovering Alessa Gillespie is still alive.

Due to the ritual's fire, Alessa Gillespie had received many burns on her body. The ritual performed by Dahlia was kept secret and the residents of Silent Hill assumed that the Gillespie's house burned down due to an antiquated boiler. Alessa was then taken to Alchemilla Hospital and was hidden inside a room in the hospital's basement by Dahlia and the director of the hospital, Dr. Michael Kaufmann, who had an alliance with her centered around drugs. To the public, Alessa was thought to have died in the fire, and was declared a "saint" by the Order as the "Mother of God" and "Daughter of God". Only Dahlia, Michael, a few members of the Order, and a young nurse working at the hospital knew that Alessa was still alive. The young nurse, Lisa Garland, often cared for Alessa and in return, was supplied with drugs from Michael Kaufmann as he was the one who made her addicted to the drugs.

That child...that demon... When I think of the endless pain it will bring when it is birthed... I decided that, instead of the suffering and cruelty I endured in that sick room, that I would like to bestow a more gentle and peaceful death on "myself".
~ Alessa Gillespie's thoughts on God and Heather Mason.

Silent Hill[]

In order to lure the missing portion of Alessa's spirit back to its point of origin, Dahlia intentionally keeps her daughter in a state of excruciating pain for the 7 years prior the events of the first game to compel Cheryl to return. Confined to Alchemilla Hospital's basement and tended to by young nurse Lisa Garland, Alessa is given hallucinogenic drugs, further intensifying her torment.

Upon Cheryl's return, Alessa's latent psychic abilities are triggered and she shrouds Silent Hill in fog and an altered reality to prevent her mother's scheme from advancing. Many of the drastic changes that befall the town in the game, such as the horrific creatures that come to inhabit it, are conjured from her imagination and delusions. While searching for the missing Cheryl in Silent Hill, Harry is manipulated by Dahlia into believing that Alessa possesses the "Mark of Samael", which is the mark of a demon.

She instructs him to use a sacred item, the Flauros, to stop Alessa from completing Samael's five crests and permanently plunging the entire town into a hellish alternate dimension known as the "Otherworld". Taking the bait, Harry neutralizes Alessa in Lakeside Amusement Park, only to learn that she was really trying to contain the Otherworld herself with the "Seal of Metatron" which is a talisman that recurs in Silent Hill 3. After Alessa has been depowered, Dahlia appears and takes her to the Nowhere which is a mix of places from Silent Hill that Alessa knew.

At the end of the game, Dahlia finally captures Alessa, who recombined with Cheryl immediately after the car accident, and uses her to birth God. Depending on the player's actions throughout the game, Alessa emerges either one of the deity's two seperate forms as a serene white-clad figure named the Incubator or the demonic Incubus, the latter coming about by Dahlia's former associate Dr. Kaufmann throwing a sample of Aglaophotis onto Alessa to prematurely expel the God. In either case, the birthed deity kills Dahlia and fights Harry as the final boss.

Following the defeat of the Incubus, a fading apparition of Alessa creates a small portal back to the real world to enable Harry's escape after handing him a newborn child containing the fused soul of herself and Cheryl. Alessa then points towards a light as a path for Harry to escape. Harry looks at the reincarnation of Alessa and ponders what to do, and eventually decides to carry her with him as he escapes. Alessa, with her remaining power, stops the fire surrounding Harry before collapsing to the floor.

From then on, Alessa's soul lives on in the new baby whom Harry names Heather. With no memories of her previous life as Alessa, Heather lives a life without pain or suffering, the life Alessa had wanted. Silent Hill 3 is about Heather remembering who she was and what happened to her father in Silent Hill 17 years prior to the game.

Silent Hill 3[]

In Silent Hill 3, seventeen years after the events of the first Silent Hill game, Alessa's reincarnation, Heather in Central Square Shopping Center is approached by Claudia Wolf who is now a priestess of the Order. Claudia intends to bring about the descent of the cult's God to usher in Paradise; for this to happen, Heather must remember her "true self" (Alessa). To nourish the growing fetus within her with hatred and also seventeen years of revenge for taking Heather/Alessa away, Claudia has Harry murdered by one of her followers. During the game, Heather slowly regains her memories of being Alessa.

The Memory of Alessa

The Memory of Alessa

The Memory of Alessa, a living dark emotion mimicking her likeness, is encountered by Heather in Silent Hill's Lakeside Amusement Park. The living memory of Alessa attacks Heather as a boss enemy, intent on ending Heather's life herself to spare her and everyone from further pain after the God is born.

Heather then enters the Order's Chapel that slowly transforms into Nowhere, and revisits several of Alessa's memories from the past. In a confrontation with Claudia, Heather swallows a tablet of Aglaophotis given to her by her father, causing her to vomit it out of her body. Claudia, in desperation, devours the fetus to birth the God herself. Being born of Claudia's womb, the God personifies her vision of what God would look like, and therefore vaguely resembles Alessa. Heather survives the ordeal, kills the God and it can be presumed she lives a happy life afterwards.

Appearances in Other Media[]

Silent Hill (film)[]

BURN THE WITCH! BURN THE WITCH!
~ Alessa's tormetors to Alessa.

In the 2006 film adaptation of Silent Hill, Alessa Gillespie was born out of wedlock and her mother Dahlia was a devout member of a different cult, known as The Brethren, which in the film canon, opposed The Order. Like her video game counterpart, Alessa possessed a vast array of psychic powers. Dahlia's sister Christabella, the high priestess of The Brethren, believed that Alessa was sin incarnate due to the unconventional nature of her birth. Even so, Dahlia refused to name Alessa's biological father, driving Christabella to take matters in her own hands. For nine years, Christabella incited her fellow cult members and their children to ostracise, bully and make Alessa's life a living hell everyday.

Most of them also branded her as a witch who needed to be burnt. One day, after being sexually assaulted by a janitor in Midwich Elementary School's girls washroom when Alessa attempted to hide from her tormentors, Christabella convinced Dahlia that Alessa needed to be "purified". Dahlia later alerted the police after realising she was deceived and that Christabella intends to burn Alessa in a ritual, which would "purify" them of sin in their perspective. Officer Thomas Gucci, who takes on the role of Travis Grady, saves Alessa after being burnt in the ritual, which went awry in the process and sparked a massive coal seam fire, killing several residents of Silent Hill and making it a ghost town.

Dark Alessa

Dark Alessa

In Brookhaven Hospital where Alessa was hospitalized, her suffering grew into hatred, leading her to split into two clones, Dark Alessa (the corrupted portion of Alessa) and Sharon Da Silva (the innocent side of Alessa) and drag every resident of Silent Hill, including her mother into the hellish monster-filled dimensions of the Fog World and the Otherworld, psychic manifestations of her mental state. Dark Alessa guarded the original Alessa in the hospital and controlled both dimensions whilst Sharon was sent into the real world to live a normal life.

30 years later, Sharon and her adoptive mother Rose are lured by Dark Alessa into Silent Hill to accomplish what Alessa wanted all along: to gain revenge against her tormentors and to be reborn. Dark Alessa showed Rose Alessa's story and when she learned that Sharon is in grave danger at the hands of the cultists, she agreed to help Dark Alessa and Alessa to get revenge on the cult. Dark Alessa enters Rose's body, allowing her to summon an adult Alessa, whose hospital bed is transformed into a massive barbed wire contraption. Alessa then uses the barbed wires to rape and eventually bisect Christabella and kill her remaining followers one by one. However, when her mother Dahlia approaches Alessa, the woman removes the barbed wire from her path as a sign that Alessa never blamed Dahlia about what happened to her and that she forgives or forgave her long ago.

Dark Alessa soon reunites with Sharon after the massacre and is reborn as Alessa. Rose leaves Silent Hill with the reborn Alessa and returns to her home, still in the Fog World Dimension, as the real world was where Alessa suffered the most. Just before leaving, the reborn Alessa looks at Dahlia on the steps of the church, showing that although she doesn't hold it against her, she leaves with Rose from Silent Hill as her new mother who will protect her from evil. Dahlia seems to realize that Sharon is now Alessa.

Silent Hill: Revelation[]

Memory of Alessa

The Memory of Alessa (Alessa Gilliespie) in Silent Hill: Revelation.

Portrayed by Erin Pitt, the past Alessa has a relatively minor role in the film. She, in child form, is only seen once in the movie stalking down the road, expressing her uncanny powers on pedestrians and also the world itself as the roads implode behind her.

The Memory of Alessa which Dark Alessa transforms to, is played by Adelaide Clemens, encountered by Heather at Lakeside Amusement Park on the morbid carousel, controlled by Pyramid Head, where the two fight briefly in a mock-battle of what occurred in the game Silent Hill 3.

The battle ends with Heather dominating the incarnation of a portion of her past self, and Alessa burning away to nothingness.

Gallery[]

Trivia[]

  • Alessa was likely inspired by the tragic main character of Stephen King's Carrie. Both are teenage girls born with supernatural powers. They also have fanatical religious mothers and were ostracized at school. There are many other Stephen King homages in the series, including Carrie posters across from Green Lion Antiques.
  • One of Alessa's favorite books, Arthur Conan Doyle's The Lost World, is the in-universe basis for the "Air Screamer" monster. Alice in Wonderland, another of her favorite books, is referenced in a puzzle that unlocks a door in Alchemilla Hospital. It can even be found on the bookshelf in her bedroom, if examined.
  • The Book of Lost Memories refers to Alessa as "The Empress" the third of the Major Arcanas of a Tarot Deck, due to her absolute dominion over the town.
  • Alessa is the only major character in Silent Hill that did not appear in Silent Hill: Shattered Memories.
  • It appears as if Alessa was originally supposed to have brown or hazel eyes according to the images from the original Silent Hill; however, in Origins, her eyes are notably blue. This is most likely a goof by the developers of Silent Hill: Origins. It also makes much more sense for her to have brown eyes, considering how Cheryl has brown eyes, and Heather has hazel. If she does indeed have blue eyes, it is possible she has inherited the gene from her mother.
  • According to the Book of Lost Memories, Alessa called Cheryl Mason to Silent Hill when she was 14, intending to reunite the souls and commit suicide. Origins shows a different version of this, claiming it was Dahlia, not Alessa, who called Cheryl to the town, hoping to use the recombined souls to birth God.
  • Alessa original and Origins Comparison Silent hILL

    Alessa's appearance comparison between in the first Silent Hill game and in Silent Hill: Origins.

    In Silent Hill: Origins, Alessa's school uniform has a red tie, rather than a red ribbon seen in the original game.
    • Also, in the first game, Alessa's outfit is so extremely Japanese-styled to the point of being unbelievable and historically inaccurate. Silent Hill is set in Maine, America, in the 1960s-80s. Most North American schools do not require uniforms and even then, ribbons are extremely unusual and are more common in Japan. Alessa has dark hair and eyes which appear almost dark brown.
    • Because of it, the later game that serves as its prequel, Silent Hill: Origins, attempts to rectify this by making Alessa's hair color a lighter shade of brown, and changing her eye color to blue, like Dahlia. Her school uniform has a more traditional red tie, rather than a red ribbon. Her hairline and bangs are also inexplicably on the opposite side and she has a ponytail which she shouldn't have (7-year-old Alessa should not have a ponytail, 14-year-old Alessa should have a ponytail, and Alessa is 7 years old in Origins).
  • Alessa's name in Italian means "defender of mankind". This may be an allusion to her mother using her sacrifice to birth a "god" and bring about a "paradise".
  • Alessa's name is similar to Alissa, which is the name of a girl in Moomin who is a good-natured girl who is the grandchild of a wicked witch, a relationship which is somewhat like the relationship between Alessa and Dahlia.
  • Alessa is similar to Alma Wade from F.E.A.R., a horror/survival title developed by Vivendi. Both have a parent never mentioned (Alma's mother and Alessa's father) and suffered great abuse at the hands of the other, and the two later use their psychic powers to take revenge on those who caused their suffering. Both exhibit immense psionic powers, including the ability to create monsters from the depths of their minds. At the age of 7, it was decided they would be used to give birth. The two of them were forcibly impregnated through unnatural means and were still adolescents when they gave birth (Alma 16). It is also important to note that both Alessa and Alma delivered newborns to the protagonists in the endings of their respective games before disappearing. Coincidentally, both their names start with 'Al'. In personality and physical appearance, Alma is very closely matched with the film version of Alessa, who is much more emotionally unstable and vengeful than her game counterpart. Like Alma, the film version of Alessa also appears as a child throughout the film, until near the end, where she is seen as a badly injured adult woman.
  • Alessa Gillespie is also very similar to Aggie Prenderghast, the main antagonist of Paranorman. Both have a loving mother, both are treated badly by the society, both are ghosts or restless spirits, both are thought and accused by many to be a witch, both are children, both are legends in their hometown, both their names start with an A, and both have the ability to create horrific illusions. Coincidentally, both were portrayed by the same actress Jodelle Ferland, who portrayed her in the 2006 live action film.
  • When Silent Hill writer Keiichiro Toyama was asked, he also thought Alessa was burned on purpose by Dahlia and her cult.
  • There was a misconception that Alessa's heightened stress levels made her psychic energy cause a boiler explosion in the Gillespie House which started the house fire, due an interpretation of the Fire Article. This is only a theory and it has never been officially confirmed or proven. It is possible that Dahlia intentionally burned Alessa with fire as part of the immolation ritual, and that the boiler had nothing with the fire and was a scapegoat for The Order to hide the truth of Dahlia's ritual as a cover up. In addition, the Fire Article only says the boiler was "believed to be the source of the fire", not that it actually was the source of the fire. In addition, Kaufmann left a substitute dead body at the scene to fake Alessa's death, so it wouldn't be much of a stretch for Kaufmann to have tampered evidence in order to blame the fire on a boiler.
  • Orphan Trilogy version of Alessa are far worse (more Evil & Heartless) than her canon counterpart.

External Links[]

Navigation[]

           Silent Hill logo Villains

The Order
Dahlia Gillespie | Michael Kaufmann | Claudia Wolf (film series) | Vincent Smith | Leonard Wolf (film series) | Missionary | Walter Sullivan | Toby Archbolt | Jimmy Stone | George Rosten | Judge Margaret Holloway | Curtis Ackers | Martin Fitch | Mayor Sam Bartlett | Adam Shepherd | Lillian Shepherd | Jennifer Carroll | Reverend Stone | Order Soldiers

Monsters of Silent Hill
God | The Demon | Samael | Phantom | Pyramid Head | Abstract Daddy | Valtiel | The Butcher | Memory of Alessa | Bogeyman | Blood Mama | Asphyxia | Amnion | Scarlet | Sepulcher | Twin Victim | Mama | Blood Guardian | Parasites | Colin the Janitor | Nurses | Raw Shock | Lisa

The Brethren
Christabella | Anna | Eleanor | Adam | Soldiers

Others
Alessa Gillespie (Dark Alessa) | Alessa | Christabella LaRoache | James Sunderland | Maria | Eddie Dombrowski | Andrew DeSalvo | George Sewell | Anne Marie Cunningham | Patrick Napier | Sanchez | Dr. Aickmann | Lisa's Husband | Lorraine | Walter Sullivan's Parents | Whately | Lenora

           Dead by Deathlight logo Villains

Killers
Original Killers
The Trapper | The Wraith | The Hillbilly | The Nurse | The Hag | The Doctor | The Huntress | The Clown | The Spirit | The Legion (Frank Morrison, Julie Kostenko, Joey & Susie Lavoie) | The Plague | The Ghost Face | The Oni | The Deathslinger | The Blight | The Twins | The Trickster | The Artist | The Dredge | The Knight (The Faithful Three) | The Skull Merchant | The Singularity | The Unknown
Guest Killers
The Shape | The Cannibal | The Nightmare | The Pig | The Ghost Face | The Demogorgon | The Executioner | The Nemesis (Zombies) | The Cenobite | The Onryō | The Mastermind | The Xenomorph | The Good Guy
Skins
Chatterer | Look-See | Mordeo | Baba Yaga | Krampus | Minotaur | The Birch | Armored Titan | War Hammer Titan | HUNK | William Birkin | Jabberwock | Queen of Hearts | Xenomorph Queen | Grid | Naughty Bear (Narrator) | Tiffany Valentine | Eddie

Survivors
James Sunderland | Alessa Gillespie | Maria | Kenny Ackerman | Eren Yeager | Annie Leonhart | Ada Wong | Mr. Scratch

Backstory Characters
Original Characters
The Entity | Archie MacMillan | A. Azarov | Otto Stamper | Mr. Yamaoka | Henry Bayshore | The Black Vale | The Faithful Three
Crossover Characters
Drayton Sawyer | Nubbins Sawyer | John Kramer | Vecna | Brian Irons | Frank Cotton | Butterball | Female Cenobite | The Engineer | Ricardo Irving

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