Mary Shepherd-Sunderland

Mary Shepherd-Sunderland is a character from Silent Hill 2. She is the late wife of James Sunderland.

Rikiya Hayashi Story
After defeating Illusion Mary, Rikiya came up with the idea of reviving Mary.

Alternate Story
In an alternate universe (Non-canon), due to Angela tampering with the timeline, Mary's death didn't happen. Instead, James was the one who ended up getting what she had.

Mary later takes James' place in the story.

Trivia

 * Both Mary and Maria are voiced by the same voice actor, alluding to their eerie similarity. Even James notes their similar voices when he meets Maria.


 * Mary is voiced by Mary Elizabeth McGlynn in the HD Collection. McGlynn felt her voice was too deep to play Mary, but producers cast her anyway.


 * There is a high chance Mary's outfit, along with Laura's, was inspired by a character in the movie Con Air.


 * It is never explicitly stated what disease Mary had or how she obtained it. It was known to cause lumps on her skin and hair loss. It has been speculated to be a form of cancer or leprosy. Guy Cihi believes it to be melanoma. Silent Hill has had a history of illness, as Brookhaven Hospital was built in response to epidemics. It is possible that it is the same disease. It is likely that Mary obtained her disease before or during her vacation in Silent Hill as she is shown coughing in Lakeview Hotel. One supernatural theory is that Silent Hill cursed her. Another theory is that she lingered beside Toluca Lake too long which may have had contaminated water or mist due to the apparent 67 people who died of illness and "sleep beneath the lake". James states that he and Mary once stared at the water of Toluca Lake for an entire day.


 * When James says that his wife Mary has been dead for three years as he originally believes, it could be referencing how when Mary was diagnosed with the terminal illness she was told she would only have three more years to live, at the maximum. If this is true, then James could symbolically be saying that after the diagnosis of the disease, his wife was dead to him.


 * If the "In Water" ending is canon, the Rosewater Memorial may serve as foreshadowing of Mary and James' fate (although Mary more than James because she has a disease).


 * Some fans theorized that Mary was a patient at Brookhaven Hospital; however, Masahiro Ito confirmed that this is false.[6] Due to the connections to Rachel and Frank Sunderland, it is more likely that she stayed at St. Jerome's Hospital.


 * When James discovers the radio, Mary's voice says, "James, I'm here. Come to me. James. I'm waiting for you. Why did you kill me? James..."[7]


 * Audio of Mary screaming when James watches the video tape were removed from the final version for unknown reasons.[8] This could be due to the controversial subject of euthanasia, or Team Silent may have found Mary's screaming to be too excessive/extreme/disturbing and wanted a more subtle approach.


 * Audio of Mary reading her letter to Laura were also removed from the final version for unknown reasons.[9] Both this and Mary's screams through the pillow can still be found as unused audio files on the game's discs.


 * It is ambiguous and unknown how much of the true "Mary" was actually in Silent Hill 2. For example, James receives radio messages from "Mary" and has a final conversation with a bedridden "Mary". The player can interpret these as Mary's true spirit or self, or merely hallucinations and manifestations.


 * Masahiro Ito stated that most of the creatures' mouths in Silent Hill 2 represent Mary's insanity due to her terminal illness.[10]


 * Mary shares her maiden name with Alex Shepherd and, by extension, his family in Silent Hill: Homecoming. Both characters have brown hair.
 * When asked about the relation in an interview, Tomm Hulett said that while he isn't entirely sure, he believes it is probably a coincidence.[11] However, the story and character names were decided before Tomm joined Konami, so there is no clear definitive answer to this.
 * In a promotional diary for Homecoming, Alex asks, "Was she related to me?".[12]


 * In Silent Hill 3, Mary is referenced by Heather Mason if the player has a Silent Hill 2 save file and examines the mailbox in the Daisy Villa Apartments. Heather says, "There's no letter... from a dead wife or otherwise. Well, I don't have one of those anyway."


 * In Silent Hill: Shattered Memories's UFO Ending, James suddenly comes into the therapy room and asks Dr. Kaufmann if his appointment is today, only to discover it is tomorrow. Dr. Kaufmann mentions that he hasn't seen James's wife in a while. Then the scene abruptly changes and Cheryl Mason becomes Mira and Dr. K. becomes an alien. James can be seen hiding from Mary's/Maria's monster form (which is in the upper-left corner of the room) behind Dr. K's chair.


 * In the Behind the Scenes video, Kyle was a bit conflicted over who would voice Mary in English. However, he decided on a voice actress that would sound similar to Mary's original voice.
 * With Mary being voiced by Tomoe Tamiyasu, this marks as the first time that Mary has a Japanese Voice Actress.
 * According to Kyle, the Rebirth ending in SH2 is considered canon to the game's plot due to Rikiya reviving Mary from the dead.