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| “ | Have you ever seen such aberrations? Ever even heard of such things? You and I both know, creatures like that don't exist! | „ |
| ~ Doctor Michael Kaufmann expressing his disbelief to Harry Mason after killing an Air Screamer monster in Silent Hill. |
| “ | I want you to know, this will be different. We take this at your pace. No notes. No drugs. No theories. We go back to the start - understand what happened. | „ |
| ~ Dr. Michael Kaufmann (also called "Dr. K") beginning his therapy in Silent Hill: Shattered Memories. |
Dr. Michael Kaufmann was the staff director of Alchemilla Hospital within the northeastern town of Silent Hill. He was an associate of Dahlia Gillespie, the leader of the local religious cult known as The Order. He is one of the two main antagonists of Silent Hill: Origins, turned anti-hero/supporting protagonist in Silent Hill (1999) video game. and in the remake Silent Hill: Shattered Memories, in a way he is the main antagonist of the game.
Kaufmann is voiced by Jarion Monroe who also voices James Seth Lynch.
History
Silent Hill
He was involved in trafficking a hallucinogen named PTV made from "White Claudia", a local plant, in order to fund the Order. How much Kaufmann knew about the cult's involvement is unknown.
After Dahlia severely burned her daughter Alessa in a successful attempt to impregnate her with the cult's God, Alessa split her soul in half, rendering the birth of the god nearly impossible. Dahlia cast a spell that kept Alessa alive but prevented her wounds from healing, keeping her in intense pain. This intense pain would draw the other half back to Silent Hill, but this took seven years to occur. Meanwhile, Kaufmann hid Alessa in a secret room in the hospital's subbasement, where she was attended to by a 16 year-old trainee nurse named Lisa Garland (with whom he was having an affair), who was disturbed by the uncontrollable manifestations of Alessa's power and by her inability to heal. Kaufmann gave her PTV to help her cope, but also to keep her where she was, and she became addicted.
Also, Alessa's subconscious was still active and due to her intense pain and the power of the deity within her, created two alternate worlds, which were basically physical manifestations of Alessa's torment, both of which resembled Silent Hill. Both worlds were populated by monsters that were manifestations of Alessa's fears, imagination, etc. Kaufmann, and others involved in the immolation, were pulled into these worlds for reasons that are not entirely clear, but may be due to Alessa wanting retribution for the act of cruelty inflicted upon her. They were all unaware of how they got there.
Kaufmann was situated in the misty world, an almost normal, fogbound Silent Hill. Lisa, on the other hand, had been killed by Kaufmann shortly prior to this event when she became uncontrollable. Alessa loved her for her care, and kept her reanimated and alive in the Otherworld version of the hospital, without her traumatic memories.
Harry Mason, who had picked up the infant which the other half of Alessa's soul had manifested as, named her Cheryl, had raised her himself when his wife died. When she was 7 years old, they went on vacation to Silent Hill, Cheryl having been drawn there by Alessa's pain. They were involved in a car accident just outside of Silent Hill, in which Harry was knocked out.
When he woke up, he was in the misty world and Cheryl had disappeared. Dahlia began to use him to help her trap the other half of the soul for her, but he did not know what he was doing. Kaufmann briefly encountered him in Alchemilla Hospital, as did Lisa, although she encountered Harry more often. Kaufmann was later saved by Harry Mason from being killed by a monster in Annie's Bar. This, and a related sidequest, is one of the requirements to achieve a "good" ending to the game.
Dahlia eventually managed to trap Alessa with Harry's assistance and brought the soul and the body together in order for them to fuse and give birth to the "God", worshipped and praised by the Order, in its beatific and heavenly form, the Incubator. This succeeded but just as the god was born, Kaufmann entered. Blaming the presence of the dark otherworld and misty world on Dahlia, he wounded her with a pistol, then flung a vial of aglaophitis, a substance that forced demonic spirits and parasitic monsters out of their victims. This backfired when it caused the god transform into a twisted, winged demon, the Incubus. Kaufmann was knocked out, and Harry fought and killed the god. The God in an act of self preservation, reverted back into its original form and created a new reincarnation of Alessa as a baby girl, which she gave to Harry, and opened a portal for him to escape from before she died. (She impersonated Cheryl so Harry would think Alessa was giving the child to him). Kaufmann awoke and attempted to escape as well, but was held back and presumably killed by Lisa, who had begun to decay and remember her death when Alessa's power was caged by Dahlia.
Silent Hill: Origins
Upon entering Alchemilla Hospital after Alessa nearly died the in the fire at her house, Travis Grady encounters Kaufmann near the elevator. Travis questions Kaufmann on the condition of Alessa, but Kaufmann denies any knowledge of the incident. Tiring of the conversation, Kaufmann leaves in an elevator, taking it to the second floor, the only floor accessible at this time. Upon entering the lift after Kaufmann leaves it, clues indicate the girl was in the hospital, such as a gurney in the lift with fresh blood on it.
Later when Travis reaches the Riverside Motel, upon entering the Otherworld, Travis hears a "sexual encounter" between a man and a woman through a hole in a motel room. Jumping through a hole above the room, Travis stumbles upon Kaufmann and Lisa Garland, both of whom appear to be in the midst of finishing redressing. Kaufmann then voices his impatience at seeing Travis still in Silent Hill, having recommended he leave during previous encounters. Once alone in the motel room, inspection shows the presence of white powder, possibly the ingredient of the same drug that Kaufmann deals in, within the bathroom and on a mirror in the bedroom.
Kaufmann makes another appearance before the emergence of a demonic being, in which he gasses Travis before he can interrupt the Order cult's ceremony in their secret church found at a local antiques shop. Upon the defeat of the entity, when the Flauros separates the baby from Alessa, he is seen escaping the room as this occurs.
Kaufmann's final appearance in the game takes place as a voiceover in which a conversation between he and Dahlia is played. Kaufmann questions Dahlia over the next stage of the plan. Dahlia informs him the other half of the god will return some day. After Kaufmann suggests it could take years, Dahlia responds with "We can wait.".
Silent Hill: Shattered Memories
Dr. Michael Kaufmann, otherwise known as Dr. K, is a character in Silent Hill: Shattered Memories. A psychoanalyst, his role is radically different from the incarnation of the original game, as he engages Cheryl Heather Mason, in a psychiatric evaluation in an attempt to help her overcome the death of her father 18 years prior.
Cheryl's identity is anonymous to begin with, leading to the false illusion that the player is controlling Harry Mason during these sessions. The purpose of these tests, aside from progressing in the story, are to engage in personality shaping exercises which alter the way the game progresses. Choices made in therapy and the different exercises can also affect the game's ending.
In a way, he can be considered the main antagonist of the game, as he tries to help Cheryl accept her father's death, while she wants to remain in her fantasy.
Gallery
Trivia
- In German, "Kaufmann" means "seller", "dealer" or "businessman", which perfectly describes his drug-dealing business. It may also reference his "businessman"-like appearance.
- In Silent Hill: Homecoming, it is possible to get an achievement called Kaufmann's Handiwork after finding one Serum.
- In both the normal scene and the leaked scene in Silent Hill: Origins, Kaufmann appears to holding one of the Order's masks in his right-hand, presuming that he was one of the cult's members but that has never been confirmed.
- Kaufmann is the first antagonist from the Silent Hill series to redeem himself, the second being Vincent Smith, the third being Valtiel, the fourth being Anne Marie Cunningham.