While knowing character lore isn’t integral for playing as any of the survivors or killers in Dead by Daylight, knowing what characters have been through before being thrust into the realm of the entity can enhance the experience. Cheryl Mason is certainly a character that’s been through a lot in her life with a lot for players to learn about her.
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Players should note that following will contain spoilers for the original Silent Hill and Silent Hill 3. The following is also only about the original Silent Hill timeline from the games and not from the movies. It is also important to note that the Cheryl Mason that appears in Silent Hill: Shattered Memories is an alternate version of Cheryl as that game isn’t connected to the main timeline.
Cheryl is Also Known as Heather Mason
Many people who aren’t to familiar with Silent Hill, but know of the series may be confused on why Cheryl isn’t called Heather Mason in Dead by Daylight. However, for those completed uninitiated with Silent Hill, there is some background to the issue of Cheryl’s name.While being given the name Cheryl as a baby, her name had to be changed to Heather when she was five due to being stalked by Silent Hill’s infamous cult, The Order. Her hair was also dyed from her natural brown to a blonde to help distance herself from The Order.
After the events of Silent Hill 3, Cheryl makes the decision to keep her blonde hair, but to change her name back to Cheryl out of respect for what her father originally named her. As Cheryl is taken into the realm of the entity in Dead by Daylight after the events of Silent Hill 3 presumably, it makes sense that she’s referred to as Cheryl instead of Heather.
Cheryl is the Reincarnation of Alessa Gillespie and the Original Cheryl Mason
Before the events of the original Silent Hill, there was once a girl known as Alessa Gillespie. This girl lived in Silent Hill and was indoctrinated into the Order by her mother, Dahlia Gillespie, from a young age. It was discovered that she had supernatural powers that she was bullied for in school. Alessa was also physically abused and mentally by Dahlia as part of the Order’s practices and Dahlia’s own twisted parenting skills.
Alessa had only one friend growing up named Claudia Wolf, who was also a young girl forced into the Order. The two were as close as sisters until Dahlia enacted her plan for Alessa’s role in the Order. Alessa was to become the surrogate mother for the Order’s god and give birth to it. To begin the process, Alessa was burned alive by the Order and became impregnated by with the Order’s god at the age of seven. However, this also later had the effect of part of Alessa’s soul being split off and manifesting itself as a baby that was later found by Harry Mason and his wife, Jodie Mason. This baby was named Cheryl Mason.
Despite her injuries, Alessa was kept alive and was kept in Alchemilla Hospital’s basement. Only a few people knew Alessa survived the fire and she was treated in secret by those select few. Dahlia then kept making sure Alessa suffered in order to complete a spell to compel Cheryl Mason to come back to Silent Hill somehow. After seven years, this eventually succeeded.
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During the events of the original Silent Hill, Harry Mason is looking for his now seven year old adopted daughter, Cheryl Mason. Alessa uses her powers to try and lure Cheryl to her so that she can kill both parts of herself so that the Order’s god cannot be born. Eventually in the canon ending of Silent Hill, Cheryl and Alessa are combined into one being again and a new baby is created. While Harry considers killing the baby out of anger of Alessa taking Cheryl away from him for good, he ends up raising the child and naming her Cheryl once more.
Cheryl Isn’t a Damsel in Distress
A lot of female protagonists in horror games tend to not have a lot of methods to fight back. Even those that do often need to be saved by others often or spend the entire game cowering in fear. While it’s understandable to act like that, especially when trapped in the hellish lands of Silent Hill, Cheryl develops through her travels and becomes more angry than scared by the end.
Cheryl is reasonably freaked out by the terrible monsters that remind her memories of Alessa of the fear of being pregnant with God, but after the Order kills Harry Mason to get to her, Cheryl is more angry than scared. The monsters soon become just obstacles for her as she goes on a journey to end what Dahlia had brought to Silent Hill and purge any inkling of the Order’s god from her body.
Throughout Silent Hill 3, Cheryl has plenty of sarcastic quips to help break tension for the player, and presumably herself. While she goes through hell and high water on her journey, she goes through a lot of growth that make her a stronger person by the end.
This strength will likely help her in the entity’s realm in Dead by Daylight, as while Cheryl likely isn’t used to being without weapons for too long, she is used to dealing with nightmarish beings that want her dead. The only real shame is having to end up in the entity’s realm after escaping one other hell.
Dead by Daylight is available now for Android, iOS, PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One.
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