Silent Hill 2 artist Masahiro Ito claims it’s “exhausting” to deal with fans’ headcanons

There’s a bit of an obsession among modern horror fandoms to find the one “true” theory behind pieces of media – one that the creators must have hidden from ordinary consumers that explains everything. Five Nights At Freddy’s comes to mind, along with a deluge of MatPat videos and Reddit posts trying to pull at phantom threads and chasing ghosts.

Silent Hill 2, on the other hand, has the benefit of a very outspoken original creator, Masahiro Ito, who is more than happy to clear up any hare-brained tall tales. His most recent feedback? Dealing with fan theories is exhausting.

The latest “headcanon,” as Ito called it over on Twitter, came in the form of a thread on the site that has since been deleted claiming that, in the remake, James isn’t actually in Silent Hill, Mary isn’t real, and he’s actually been locked away and tortured in an insane asylum for 20 years. The thread has now been deleted in response to alleged harassment of its author (don’t do this, please), but I did get to peruse it beforehand. I would generously call it a stretch.

But I certainly wouldn’t go as far as to call such a theory disrespectful or “wrong” – it’s all in good fun, after all – but sometimes the earnestness with which such theories are shared comes across as gospel. An overly excitable community mixed with an easily-reachable but busy artist makes for some spicy interactions, including the money shot from Ito: “To be honest, I’m [sic] so exhausting to deal with their headcanons seriously.”

This comes on the back of years of Ito protesting the interpretation of Pyramid Head sexually assaulting mannequins. In the same thread, when probed about having to explain his work to players, Ito simply said, “I don’t mind. ¯\_( ´•ᴗ•)_/¯.” Granted, a lot can change in three years.

You could argue death of the author in both these cases, meaning once the piece of art has left the creators’ hands players are free to interpret it in any way they feel appropriate. That’s a whole philosophical conversation outside the scope of a silly news piece, so I’ll just say this: if you have a funky little theory of your own, prepare for the heat of the living artist.