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| “ | You're it, Henry. The last of the twenty-one sacraments, the final sign, the Receiver of Wisdom. | „ |
| ~ Walter Sullivan |
Walter Sullivan is the primary antagonist in the video game Silent Hill 4: The Room. He was an orphan raised at Wish House, an orphanage in the town of Silent Hill run by the Holy Mother sect of the local cult known as the Order. He was chosen by the cult to perform the sect's ritual called the 21 Sacraments for the Descent of the Holy Mother, which required him to murder twenty-one people to bring about the descent of the cult's God.
Birth
Walter Sullivan was born in room 302 of South Ashfield Heights, an apartment building in the small city of Ashfield, a few hours drive from Silent Hill. His mother was a nurse named Rachael and his father was an artist. His father couldn't stand him, and his parents abandoned him in room 302 when he was only a few months old. Frank Sunderland, the superintendant, found the child and took him to the nearby St. Jerome's Hospital.
Wish House
Walter was sent to live at Wish House, an orphanage used by the Holy Mother sect to indoctrinate young children into the Order. The children were taught the sect's scriptures and were made to read them. If they read poorly or misbehaved in any way, they briefly imprisoned in a stone tower known as the panopticon. The watchmen there were not members of the cult, and one of them, Andrew DeSalvo, was particularly abusive and also an alcoholic. His abuse made Walter resent the Order and had consequences later on. It became clear early on that Walter had special powers, and thus could fill the role of the Conjurer, the one named to perform the 21 sacraments in the sect's scriptures. A series of events unfolded, involving key members of the Order.
Jimmy Stone and the Sect of Valtiel
The Holy Mother sect that ran Wish House was rivaled by the Holy Woman sect, led by Dahlia Gillespie. The Holy Woman sect had its own ritual for the descent of God, which involved burning a young woman with special powers in order to impregnate her with God. However, all attempts at performing it had failed because no girl they tried could withstand the ritual. An Order priest named Jimmy Stone formed a third sect, known as the Sect of Valtiel, to mediate between the two and hasten the descent of God. It was decided to use Walter as the Conjurer and Dahlia's daughter Alessa as the vessel for God. Stone's right hand man was George Rosten, the priest who administrated Wish House. Rosten personally tutored Walter in the 21 sacraments. The first ten sacraments had to be ten "sinners," and Walter didn't have the authority in the cult's eyes to make that judgement. Rosten therefore surreptitiously implanted the spirit of the angel Valtiel, considered to be a judge and executioner, into Walter's subconscious. But Dahlia had meanwhile discovered that Alessa was more powerful than she had previously thought, and decided to sabotage Stone's plan. She took the young Walter, who was under the impression that the 21 sacraments would reunite him with his mother, to South Ashfield Heights, and showed him room 302, telling him that the room was his mother, and he used it as the vessel later on. From this point on, he traveled to South Ashfield Heights every Sunday and tried to enter room 302. However, Richard Braintree, who lived in room 207, frightened him so badly that he stopped visting the apartment building. When Walter turned 18, he left Wish House and moved to the nearby town of Pleasant River, where he began his preparations for the sacraments.
The Sullivan Murders: Round One
Walter's first round of killings involved the removal of their hearts, which were necessary for the Ritual of the Holy Assumption. Walter then neatly stitched the wounds back up. He carved his name as well as numbers on the victims' bodies. He bagan with 01/21, which the police mistook for 01121. He killed ten people in as many days.
01/21- Jimmy Stone, Theme: Ten Hearts. Shot in the back of the head in Wish House.
02/21- Bobby Randolph, Theme: Ten Hearts. Choked/Strangled.
03/21- Sein Martin, Theme: Ten Hearts. Death by strangulation.
04/21- Steve Garland, Theme: Ten Hearts. Riddled by machine gun bullets except for chest.
05/21- Rick Albert, Theme: Ten Hearts. Hit over head with golf club.
06/21- George Rosten, Theme: Ten Hearts. Killed with an iron pipe at an underground altar in Wish House.
07/21- Billy Locane, Theme: Ten Hearts. Killed with an axe.
08/21- Miriam Locane, Theme: Ten Hearts. Killed with an axe.
09/21- William Gregory, Theme: Ten Hearts. Stabbed with screwdriver.
10/21- Eric Walsh, Theme: Ten Hearts. Shot in the face.
Suicide
Walter took the victims' hearts, as well as the obsidian goblet, the white chrism, and the sect's scriptures to a secret chamber in the then vacant room 302, which he had created as a place to perform the Ritual of the Holy Assumption. The ritual allowed his soul to exist after death, and also created several bizarre worlds based upon his memories. But the ritual also had an unexpected effect: it split his soul into two parts, the adult psychotic killer, and the child who just wanted to see his mother. This second half existed in the other worlds only. Not long after his performance of the ritual, Walter was arrested and convicted for the murders of the Locane children. He killed himself in his jail cell by stabbing himself in the neck with his spoon and severing his carotid artery. In doing so, he completed the assumption ritual and released his soul from his body. His body was buried in a cemetary near Wish House, but he dug it up and wrote 11/21 on the coffin. Walter moved his body to the secret chamber with the ritual items to await the completion of the 21 sacraments.
The Sullivan Murders: Round Two
The second round of killings began seven years after Walter's suicide with 12/21 and ended several months later with 15/21. These victim's did not have their hearts removed, nor did they have a name carved in them.
12/21- Peter Walls, Theme: Void. Beaten to death.
13/21- Sharon Blake, Theme: Darkness. Drowned in woods near Silent Hill.
14/21- Toby Archibold, Theme: Gloom. Pushed off a cliff in Mexico.
15/21- Joseph Schreiber, Theme: Despair. Reproter living in room 302, cause of death unknown.
The Sullivan Murders: Round Three
The third round of killings began about two years after the disappearance of Joseph Schreiber. These final victims were pulled into Walter's twisted worlds and killed. Henry Townshend, the new occupant of room 302, was chosen to be the Receiver of Wisdom (21/21), which entailed being pulled into Walter's worlds, witnessing the murders, and learning the truth about Walter. Walter's initial attempt to kill Eileen Galvin, victim 20/21, was stopped by the intervention of his child self.
16/21- Cynthia Velasquez, Theme: Temptation. Stabbed repeatedly.
17/21- Jasper Gein, Theme: Source. Burned to death.
18/21- Andrew DeSalvo, Theme: Watchfulness. Drowned.
19/21- Richard Braintree, Theme: Chaos. Electrocuted.
20/21- Eileen Galvin, Theme: Mother. Beaten with fists (unsuccessful).
21/21- Henry Townshend, Theme: Wisdom. Cause of death unknown.
Final Death
Henry and Eileen eventually made to a room known as the ritual area, where Walter made his final attempt on Eileen's life. Henry attacked Walter's body, which had mutated into a large monster. He attacked it with Walter's umbilical cord (which Frank Sunderland had kept), as well as with eight holy spears, which destroyed Walter's body and allowed his soul to be attacked and killed. As there are multiple endings, it is unknown whether Henry and Eileen survive, but the existence of Silent Hill: Homecoming would suggest that Walter had failed and God didn't descend, meaning that at least Henry had survived.
Effects and Consequences
Walter's killings of both Jimmy Stone and George Rosten destroyed the Valtiel sect, while the Holy Woman sect was destroyed at roughly the same time as his round two killings during the events of Silent Hill 3. Toby Archibold, head of the Holy Mother sect, was the last important Order priest left alive. His death at Walter's hands brought about the end of the Order as an organized religion.
Sources
Much of the information in this article came from either supplementary material or fan speculation, so here's a list of sources: