Silent Hill: Townfall – Story and Endings, Explained

Accepting the things we cannot change is the very heart of Silent Hill: Townfall. In the Scottish coastal town of St. Amelia, tragedy has fallen, but with no one to take responsibility, which side will you be on?

Here is our interpretation of Silent Hill: Townfall‘s cryptic story.

Silent Hill: Townfall Story, Explained

We play as Simon Ordell, Zoe Ellis, and Richard Shaw. All three characters and their storylines are crucial in understanding what happened to St. Amelia. Set both in Fog Town and Otherworld, questions begin the moment we see a cannula in Ordell’s arm as he wakes from water, having never set foot on this tainted town troubled by the aftermath of a horrific disaster.

Ordell is brought to St. Amelia through Richard Shaw, who wants him to help and acknowledges it is difficult for him to do so. A deal has been made, and Ordell must stay on the “right side of this.”

The town is left in a state of ruin, the latest date shown to be March 10. Protests are held showcasing that St. Amelia cannot get ferries to come in to land, trapping them on the island with dwindling supplies. But what exactly happened here?

WARNING FOR MAJOR SPOILERS BELOW

The Heart of St. Amelia

The heart of St. Amelia is Simon Ordell. As the star witness and sole survivor of the South Well Disaster, Ordell’s testimony for the fate of both St. Amelia locals and Chapman Energy Group (CEG). References are made at the protest that the town’s heart has stopped, that the truth must be delivered, that “our grief is their failure.” The heart in question belongs to Mr. Stewart, a member of the community who died of a drug overdose. What’s troubling is that this appears to be a prescription Ellis made. But why?

The heart is then transported via an organ box to the Medical Centre, where she must perform surgery on Ordell on January 18. He suffered from pulmonary edema, chest trauma, and third-degree burns, with a foreign object embedded in his spine, puncturing his lungs and causing them to fill with fluid and collapse. A “flooding of lungs.” The rusted doors where Ordell uses a scalpel in the Fog World to slice the dotted surgical lines are a parallel to the heart surgery Ellis did, and how the choice has transferred over to him.

But Ordell shouldn’t have survived. How he did was thanks to Ellis, who used the heart taken from Stewart to save his life. But we later learn that this overdose was orchestrated not entirely by Ellis, but under the orders of another.

It’s through Ordell’s actions after his surgery that determine the outcome of both CEG and St. Amelia. Whether he commits perjury and lies on the stand to protect CEG, who deny responsibility for the disaster, or is on the side of justice, tells us what aftermath this devastated coastal town will have to deal with next. Will they have the chance to grieve properly, or would CEG take that away from them too?

The Flooding of Lungs

In the lead-up to the South Well Disaster, there were supply shipment delays due to bad weather conditions. Then there was the issue of the Medical Centre not having over half of the patients’ medical histories.

Ordell was brought in as an external Safety Inspector to assess SWDP following a whistleblower (we assume must be Zoe, as GHB Legal needed her testimony due to her connection to Ordell). Shaw wanted to “buy off” Ordell to protect the company. On Jan 16, SWDP is warned to keep output low so that nothing goes wrong with the Reciprocal Compressor Unit (RCU), but by this point, it had been flagged as faulty numerous times and ignored by Shaw. He did this to avoid losing millions in profit, as CEG would have to go offline for weeks to find a replacement.

On January 18, 1996, Ordell does his assessment on the SWDP, a refinery facility. Though engineer Joe McKenzie flagged the faulty wiring, he was told not to alert higher-ups and to silence all alarms. This led to the foundation shaking and the east side of SWDP burning up. The RCU caused severe damage, resulting in a fire that set the facility and the oil they were mining ablaze. The crew tried to evacuate, some going overboard on the top deck to survive. But they landed in a pool of boiling oil below and burned alive.

McKenzie was the first victim, for he was trapped on SWDP, and while Ordell tried to carry out his orders to fix things, the facility and its crew couldn’t be saved. Fishermen tried to rescue them in boats, but the spillage ignited their hulls, sparing no one. The spillage contaminated the water supply, causing locals to boil tap water as it was unsafe to drink. Overalls eventually washed up onto the shore, charred bodies bringing the tally to 96 casualties.

Ellis, alongside the reduced medical staff due to the extreme stress and dislike of Dr. Glenn, tried to save who they could, but Ordell was the only survivor. The Medical Centre shut down in February. Vital health care was now gone, and pharmacy supplies were limited to short-term prescriptions. Body bags lined the centre. No one was allowed to visit.

Ellis handed in her letter of resignation as District Nurse on February 10. She fled the clinic and waited in room 204 for Ordell’s choice, deciding whether she could leave the island or stay trapped in her guilt. Ellis’s declining self-worth caused her to see herself as unhelpful, and she felt guilty that she was to blame for the deaths she couldn’t prevent.

We Carry Our Guilt

The story and its monsters are rather on the nose, but I’d like to do an analysis of each entity and what they represent. After all, it wouldn’t be Silent Hill without symbolism. Each playable character suffers from their own monster, representing their guilt, denial, and grief. Here are my thoughts:

The Weight

This is the physical manifestation of Simon Ordell’s guilt, how he’s torn and in multiple minds. As the name suggests, the Weight is the guilt Ordell has been carrying since his heart surgery. He knows he is part of a wicked deal to cruelly condemn an innocent, dead engineer for something he didn’t do and, in turn, destroy the community from the inside out. He knows the right thing to do is to serve justice by bringing CEG and Shaw down for their negligence.

The Weight has a giant and expanding mass above its head that slams onto Ordell, a clear display of the guilt being too much to bear. It is only through acceptance and taking responsibility that Ordell can do the right thing and bring the town the peace it needs to heal.

The Collapse

Belonging to a ginormous, Lovecraftian entity, the Collapse represents CEG. It is the very thing hanging over St. Amelia and Simon. CEG donated millions to the coastal town to improve its technology, and in turn bring more jobs and profits to the land. It created Chapman Ward in the Medical Centre, Clara Woods Estate in 1974, the Refinery Complex, SWDP Facility, Atlas Square, and Brae Apartment, with plans to make Bridgeburn Estate next. This refinery company created the gasworks facility (SWDP) to improve power and energy in St. Amelia, hoping to empower the community who they called “family.” St. Amelia relies on CEG for survival; its power and money were forced down their throats, trapping them in a state of compliance.

The Collapse moves across the town, but there are two things I want to highlight. One being the corpses it throws from its larger body that’s obscured by the fog, the other is how it has incubation tubes sprouting out of its four oscillating tentacles, showcasing the hold it has on CEO Richard Shaw. This, in a way, visually shows us that Shaw is reliant on CEG—that it’s his lifeline. The tentacles likely represent the reach and power this company has, but also how it’s vital to the town’s healthcare, as CEG is directly tied to the Medical Centre. It is the reason why they were able to get better medicine and technology, and had the control to stop correspondence sent from the island once disaster hit.

This monster and the concrete wall encasing St. Amelia embody the suffocating confinement of the locals. Finally, the bodies thrown from the tentacles may represent the CEG employees who resigned following Shaw’s decision to deny responsibility for the disaster. Or, more plausibly, is that they may be the victims of the disaster, cast aside and ignored by CEG.

Sorrowful

Ellis’s personal monster, first introduced in Mr. Stewart, likely represents the many victims Ellis had to examine, complete blood transfusions on, and try to help but sadly failed. Their bodies are haphazardly sewn together and badly burnt, with an IV line sprouting from their chest as their main method of attack. I believe the Sorrowful is Ellis’s guilt and inability to save anyone during the disaster.

Widows

I believe the Widows represent exactly what the name implies: the grieving women of St. Amelia. Acting as Shaw’s personal monsters, these banshee-like enemies are highly aggressive and scream as they approach. They flee when looked at. These are likely the disgruntled community begging for justice.

Fallen

The Fallen are corpses missing the upper half of their skull, who lie and attack if approached. These fall from the sky and rest on the ground, probably representing the crewmates and rescuers that died during the disaster, whose identities are remembered through the town mural.

Lunger

Humanoid entities with fleshy straitjackets, restrained by black tape/belts. The rectangular mass atop its head, fused into the flesh, is an interesting one. These are the monsters that stalk Ordell throughout St. Amelia. Lungers may symbolize the locals, who are lost and grieving, unable to move on without justice. They cannot think straight or properly process the disaster. Their straitjacket design may represent the feeling of being trapped, which is the case for all Townfall characters.

You Cannot Change the Past

Following the South Well Disaster, Richard Shaw attempted to cover up CEG’s negligence by creating a scapegoat in the first deceased, McKenzie. Ignoring company policy and choosing profits over his staff—believing he bettered the lives of St. Amelia—he went on air to pass the blame onto a man who couldn’t defend himself. This lie caused CEG staff to resign due to the shocking treatment of the whistle-blowers (Ellis and Ordell). CEG’s shares plummeted, shareholders demanded change, and Shaw’s position at the company became threatened.

To save himself, Shaw had Ellis give Stewart the wrong prescription so that his heart could be used to save Ordell’s life following the disaster. He would then use this as leverage to get Ordell to testify that CEG couldn’t prevent what happened at SWDP. Having worked at CEG for 25 years, Shaw is as much a puppet as anyone else, as he is tied to the company and will do whatever he must to keep it going—though his actions backfired. He threatened to take back the heart he gave Ordell if he did not go through with the deal.

But Shaw’s decision to save Ordell had one glaring flaw — Ellis. By ensuring Ordell survived, it meant whatever he said as the sole witness to the event would be true. If he went against Shaw’s deal, then CEG would be finished. In the Otherworld, Shaw wondered whether ridding himself of his Ellis problem would have stopped Ordell from testifying, as he wouldn’t have survived. Regardless, the choice is placed into Ordell’s hands on what happens to Shaw, Ellis, and the rest of St. Amelia.

All Silent Hill: Townfall Endings, Explained

When Ordell defeats the Weight, it is not only the guilt being lifted, but through pulling out the IV stands buried into its chest, the CEG releases the grip it has on St. Amelia. Its credibility is destroyed, and the power it has on the community and the island is brought down.

In the main (not joke) endings, the canon should be Justice. In all, Ordell confronts Shaw on the pier, where it all started. Townfall is just as much about Shaw accepting the things he cannot change as it is about Ordell and Ellis coming to terms with their guilt, but Shaw still tries to avoid taking responsibility.

Abandoned

Ordell shoots Shaw with the flare, revealing this outcome has happened time and time again. He falls into the water, and the loop starts over. Back in the real world, Ordell used the scalpel on Shaw’s neck, killing him. This choice leaves a suspended St. Amelia, unable to move on, for CEG haven’t been held accountable.

Forever

Ordell is transported back to the hospital where Ellis must complete the heart transplant. The cycle continues as without Ellis, Ordell cannot fulfil his end of the bargain or betray Shaw and bring the town justice.

Justice

Ordell confronts Shaw, but this time he shoots the flare into the sky, bringing the Lovecraftian monster to him. We see back in the hotel room—in the real world—Ellis doesn’t need to wait for Ordell anymore, for she can give her testimony against CEG to bring the company down. She can finally move on. Back in the hospital, Shaw kills Ordell with the scalpel, taking back the heart of St. Amelia. His false testimony is destroyed, likely resulting in prison time and the destruction of CEG.