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| “ | They've come to witness the Beginning. The rebirth of Paradise, despoiled by mankind. | „ |
| ~ Claudia Wolf to Heather Mason, regarding the monsters of Silent Hill. |
Claudia Wolf is the main antagonist of the 2003 video game Silent Hill 3, the third installment of the Silent Hill franchise.
She is a priestess of the Order whose driving personal goal was to bring God into the world so that Paradise could be given to all mankind.
She was voiced by Donna Burke in the original version of Silent Hill 3 and Laura Bailey in the HD version.
Biography[]
Past[]
Claudia was raised to be a priestess of the Order in the Sect of the Holy Woman. Her father was Leonard Wolf, a fanatical member of the Order and protector of the Seal of Metatron. Leonard often beat and kick her when he thought that she had blasphemed or that her faith had wavered or he caught her on doing something non-religious.
Her only friend was Alessa Gillespie, with whom she sympathized because they shared similar backgrounds. They would often play together, but losing would make Claudia cry. As Alessa stated on the birthday card she gave to Claudia on her 6th birthday, she loved her as she was her little sister (Claudia kept this card for her entire life as those words meant so much to her). Her childhood experiences drove Claudia to be ruthless in bringing about the birth of God so that no one would have to suffer as she did again.
When the Order reorganized itself with the help of Father Vincent after a period of inactivity caused by the events of the first game, Claudia rose to a place of prominence within the Order, even making Alessa one of its saints.
Silent Hill 3[]
Claudia knew about the birth of Heather Mason at the end of the first game through her powers of retrocognition and that she had been raised by Harry Mason, who had killed one manifestation of God. 17 years after those events, Claudia hired Douglas Cartland, a private detective, to locate Heather. He found her at the Central Square Shopping Center and asked her to meet Claudia but Heather refused. Claudia arrived shortly thereafter and manifested the Otherworld, over which she had some control, but she viewed it as the hand of the unborn God remaking the world.
She then proceeded to the Daisy Villa Apartments, where Heather and Harry lived. Claudia ordered a creature known as the Missionary to kill Harry, partly out of revenge for his meddling 17 years before, but also to fill Heather's heart with hatred, which would nourish the God growing inside her. When Heather arrived at the apartment and saw what happened, Claudia informed her that she would be "waiting where it all began, in the town of Silent Hill", knowing that Heather's desire for revenge would cause her to follow. Once in Silent Hill, she learned that Father Vincent had opposed her plans and sent Heather to Brookhaven Hospital to meet Leonard and retrieve the Seal of Metatron.
When she felt Heather killed her father, she confronted Vincent inside Jack's Inn, who knew of her childhood abused and questioned the motives behind her actions but she replied that in order to free the world of the suffering like she endured the humanity needs god. She headed back to the Order's church, and met with Douglas in the Otherworld version of Lakeside Amusement Park. He said that he did not like being used and lied to (he was told Heather had been kidnapped from The Order) and mocked Claudia's aims, calling Paradise a place for "castrated sheep". Claudia used her powers to break his leg.
She was later confronted by Heather in the Otherworld version of the church, where Heather had been led to by Vincent. Claudia was overjoyed to be reunited when Heather begins to speak as Alessa, calling "little Claudia" her "dear sweet sister". It is unknown if Heather is truly talking as Alessa, or just impersonating as her to manipulate Claudia. Whatever the case, Heather tried to reason Claudia that she is fine with the way the world is, but she collapsed from the pains brought on by God's imminent birth and Claudia simply informed that the God is growing within her.
Claudia descended to the main worship area of the church, where she was confronted by Vincent, who mocked her faith and told Heather to kill Claudia. She stabbed him in the back when he was facing Heather, an act she waved off as "nothing important." When the still living Vincent called out to Heather to use the Seal of Metatron, Claudia laughed and told that the seal was nothing more but a "piece of junk" that will not prevent the birth of God, before stabbing Vincent in the heart and killed him but she added that the god loves even him for his blasphemy.
Heather then began to experience sharp pains, indicating that God was birthing and told Heather to accept it. Heather stopped this by swallowing a pill of Aglaophotis, a substance used to repel demons, which had given to her by Harry as part of a necklace on her birthday as Harry knew that the Order might use Heather to birth the god. This caused her to vomit up the fetal form of God. Just as Heather was about to kill god by stomping it, Claudia pushed her aside. In an act of desperation, Claudia snatched up the fetus and swallowed it, thereby birthing God herself, an occurence which obliterated her in a very painful death. However, God was born improperly and was destroyed by Heather.
Personality[]
Much like Dahlia Gillespie, Claudia speaks in religious riddles and holds an overwhelming belief in God. However, while Dahlia's motives were decidedly malevolent, Claudia truly believes in what she is doing. While her faith is unshakable, Claudia realizes that her methods are questionable, and even states that she does not expect to take part in Paradise due to her role in Harry Mason's death and for the pain she caused to Heather. Claudia's intention is to remake the present world into Paradise by reviving God. Because of her experiences during her childhood, she perceives the world as being full of suffering and in order to "save everyone," she attempts to create paradise. She believes that for everyone to be saved, some sacrifices like Harry and Father Vincent are unavoidable.
Because of her passionate need to believe, Claudia also has a temper, especially when others seem skeptical or opposed to her mission. She has several moments where she loses composure, particularly with Father Vincent, who openly mocks her faith. Eventually, Vincent's words are met with violent consequences when Claudia stabs and kills him.
According to Heather, if she were to examine the cards in Alessa's room, Claudia often cried if she lost in card games to Alessa.
Powers and Abilities[]
In the library, Father Vincent mentions that Claudia and Heather both have "special powers". The Book of Lost Memories states that the reason Heather encounters the monsters in the Central Square Shopping Center is because Claudia's presence is nearby, meaning she has control over the Otherworld and Fog World. She can also control the monsters to some extent, as she commanded the Missionary to kill Harry Mason.
The scene in the Otherworld Lakeside Amusement Park where Douglas points his gun at Claudia ends on a cliffhanger. When Heather reunites with Douglas, his leg is suddenly broken and he never states the cause of it. Because Douglas is in the same area and there are no monsters present in either cutscene, it can be assumed that Claudia used her powers to break Douglas' leg through telekinesis.
Vincent has also stated that she has the gift of "Sight". Whereas Alessa was stated to have precognition, it is likely that Claudia had the power of retrocognition, seeing the past. This would explain why she had detailed knowledge of the events of the first game.
It is unknown where Claudia received her special powers. It is possible that like Alessa, Claudia had been born with unexplained special powers. It is also possible that playing with Alessa frequently throughout her childhood caused powers to manifest within herself. Lastly, the powers could also be a result of her strong faith within the Order given to her by the spiritual power of the land. It is seen that other members of the Order both revere and fear her due to her powers.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- During Silent Hill 4: The Room, serial killer Walter Sullivan in the Hospital Otherworld removes the womb of a corpse that has the same character design as Claudia, much like the Angela Orosco corpse in Silent Hill 3. It is possible Team Silent recycled Claudia's character model structure just to build the corpse, similar to how they recycled Angela's model to build the corpse in Silent Hill 3.
- In the Book of Lost Memories, Claudia is referred as "The High Priestess" The second of the Major Arcanas in a Tarot Deck, related to her high position on the Order.
- Claudia shares the name of the plant "White Claudia" from Silent Hill.
- It is interesting to note that Donna Burke voiced Angela Orosco in Silent Hill 2 and Claudia Wolf in Silent Hill 3, and that both of them were treated badly by their fathers. Also, in both games, a monster version of their fathers is fought by the protagonist.
- Much like how Claudia and Angela share the same voice actress in the original release of their respective games, both are voiced by Laura Bailey in the HD Collection.
- In the Silent Hill HD Collection, Claudia has a small script change in her first meeting with Heather. Instead of saying "despoiled by mankind", she will say "unspoiled by mankind".
- After Claudia swallows the God fetus, its form takes on similarities to Alessa. This is likely due to Claudia's belief that Alessa was the savior of mankind. The face looks almost identical to Alessa's, and the lower half may represent Alessa's immolation, and how Claudia may have once thought her dead. If Claudia had thought Alessa was dead, and then found out she was alive, Claudia may have thought that God's presence in Alessa had reincarnated her or made her unkillable.
