Christabella

"Perhaps your faith will protect you. Perhaps not."

- Christabella

Christabella is the main antagonist of the 2006 film Silent Hill. She is the leader of a fanatical religious cult known as The Brethren based in the town of Silent Hill, West Virginia.

She is portrayed by Alice Krige, whom also portrayed Morgana le Fay and Borg Queen.

The film and an interview with the set designer imply that she is the sister of Dahlia Gillespie and the aunt of Alessa Gillespie.

History
Christabella is the manipulative leader of a local religious cult who believes in finding and burning those who are considered to be witches. Before she and her religious group were trapped in the Fog World, Christabella also worked as the headmistress at Midwich Elementary School. At least one of Christabella's ancestors was burned alive as a witch, leading to the suggestion that "witchcraft" may run in the Gillespie family.

After Christabella's sister gave birth to a daughter out of wedlock, Christabella had the child condemned as a witch. Alessa was bullied and abused by her peers daily, while the members of the cult and her aunt not only allowed it, but encouraged it. When Alessa was nine years old, Christabella convinced Dahlia that she needed to be "purified", calling her "filth" and saying her innocence must be restored. Christabella then had Alessa laid over a bed of burning coals to be burned alive as a witch. When one of the chains holding Alessa in place had broken, Christabella and her followers fled from their secret church. All of the members of the cult, including Christabella, were then pulled into the Otherworld after Alessa split her soul and started taking revenge. Rose Da Silva meets Christabella after she and Cybil Bennett flee to the local church to hide from the coming Darkness. Christabella becomes agitated when Cybil fires a shot in the church to stop the cult members from attacking Rose, declaring that the church is a "sanctuary" and casting an ugly look at Cybil and Rose. She then questions the two women on how they came to be in Silent Hill, and agrees to lead them to the local hospital, where she says a demon lies in wait. When Christabella discovers that Rose's adoptive daughter, Sharon, is identical to Alessa, she has her followers attempt to kidnap Rose and Cybil. Rose escapes, but Christabella orders her men to beat Cybil as she lays on the ground bleeding.

Christabella then goes to the apartment of her now mad sister, Dahlia, where she finds Sharon and kidnaps her. At the church, Christabella has Cybil burned alive as a witch, and attempts to do the same to Sharon when Rose arrives. Christabella stabs Rose with a dagger, causing Alessa's dark essence to spill out of her and to overtake the church. Christabella and her followers were in horror that Alessa and Dark Alessa are inside the church and Alessa and Dark begin their revenge on them. Alessa then rise into the church with mounds of rusted barbed wire, which Alessa then uses to rape and sodomize Christabella. The barbed wire exits Christabella's body through her back, chest, and mouth; eventually tearing her in half. As Christabella dies, Dark Alessa dances in her blood.

Trivia

 * Alice Krige wore blue contacts during filming, most likely to match the eye color of Jodelle Ferland and Deborah Kara Unger.
 * Christabella has many similarities with the Silent Hill 3 character Claudia Wolf, the most notable one is that both want to purify the sin with fire.
 * Christabella was a character created for the film. In the video game, it was Dahlia who was the cult priestess. Here however, Dahlia is given to be a loving, though misguided mother and Christabella was created to replace Dahlia's role in the Order.
 * Christabella's last name is likely Gillespie, though this is never stated in the film.