“Listen, suffering is a fact of life. Either you learn how to deal with that or you go under. You can stay in your own little dream world, but you can't keep hurting other people! Besides, I'll never forgive you for hurting my father!”

—Heather to Claudia Wolf

Heather Mason is the main protagonist of Silent Hill 3. She is the reincarnation of Alessa Gillespie and Cheryl Mason, and the adopted daughter of the original Silent Hill protagonist Harry Mason.

Before Heather was born, a cult in the town of Silent Hill, Maine impregnated the psychic child Alessa Gillespie with the fetus of their God so that it could be born and bring their horrific version of paradise to mankind. During the ritual, Alessa sustained significant burns, causing her to split her soul into two halves – one remaining in her charred body, while the other manifested as the baby Cheryl found on the side of the road by Harry Mason. Seven years later, Harry and Cheryl returned to Silent Hill on vacation, causing the two souls to reunite and allowing for the birth of God to take place. Harry was able to stop the deity, but the ritual was too much for the now-whole Alessa. As she was dying, she was reincarnated as a baby saved by Harry during the ordeal.

As with Cheryl, a grieving Harry raised the baby as his daughter Heather Mason. However, seventeen years after her birth, the cult managed to track down Heather in an attempt to birth God once more. They murdered Harry in the process, prompting her to seek revenge and stop the cult as her father did years ago. After the events of Silent Hill 3, she changed her name to Cheryl Mason to honor the name that Harry gave her former self before he became entangled with the cult.

Heather was loosely adapted in the 2006 film and its sequel as Sharon Da Silva, reimagined in the game series' reboot Silent Hill: Shattered Memories as Cheryl Heather Mason, and appeared in the crossovers Dead by Daylight: Chapter XVI - Silent Hill and Dark Deception: Monsters & Mortals - Silent Hill.

Personality
“ Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player/ That struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more. "

—A line from Macbeth that Heather claims she can't forget


FollowingMe

Heather annoyed at Douglas stalking her.

Heather is a seemingly normal and carefree girl who loves to shop. She has a few rough edges and tends to be blunt with others. One trait of Heather's is that she is moody and loses her temper quite easily at things that frustrate her, which are considered normal emotions for a teenager. Heather has a sharp tongue and can be very snarky, sarcastic, and humorous such as her "joke" to Douglas Cartland in the "Normal" ending.
HeatherNumbed

Heather comments that she feels desensitized.

No longer a child yet not quite an adult yet either, she still bears childish conceit and naïveté. Heather is still vulnerable, as there are moments when she can be quite sensitive and emotional. In Silent Hill 3, Heather experiences vicissitudes and is a scared, stressed, exhausted, and frightened teenager struggling to realize her identity (Alessa) and find her place in the world.

She adapts rather remarkably to the disturbing spectacles she finds on her journey. Upon discovering a bloody corpse covered by newspapers, she says she feels her ordeal has numbed her senses. Her bravery and nonchalant reaction to various creatures and horrors late in the game, forged by her resolve later, all point to a rather feisty and hot-headed temperament, perhaps to a fault. If a helmet is examined, she contemplates wearing it, but ultimately chooses not to because she thinks the helmet is too geeky-looking, despite that she has already encountered flying bladed monsters.

Nevertheless, hidden in her heart is a great source of kindness. Heather views suffering as a natural, and sometimes unavoidable, part of life, yet doesn't like the idea of Claudia Wolf hurting and killing people to achieve her goals, as seen during their heated arguments. This shows that she has a strong sense of "justice": further proven by her statement when she examines Vincent Smith's corpse, that while she hated him, she felt like his death was unfair. In the One Stop Imports, Heather can find cash scattered on a desk, though she chooses not to take them, saying she's "no thief", implying she is not greedy concerning money. However, she states that she "might act like one now and then, though", possibly indicating a mischievous streak.
HarrySheet

Heather and Douglas give Harry a makeshift funeral.

Heather has a great love for her father, as he raised her on his own. She passionately jumps to Harry's defense when Vincent criticizes him, and when Harry dies, she is completely distraught. After Harry's death, there is a very noticeable change in Heather's personality: she gradually becomes reflective and somber. If Heather examines a movie poster in her room, she comments, "I always liked that line, but now it just seems stupid," regarding staying hopeful in despair.

Heather begins to turn to Douglas Cartland as a guardian surrogate, since she feels that he is the only one she can trust, in contrast to Vincent and Claudia. They develop a bond, and Douglas even tells her that she reminds him of his dead son, to which Heather, visibly moved, replies, "Well, maybe if you'd compared me to your daughter..." Their bond grows on their way to Silent Hill and later on after she finds him injured at Lakeside Amusement Park.

Heather begins the game with a switchblade already in her inventory, and if it is examined, she comments, "I know it's terrible, but I just love walking around with this." She also owns a stun gun, a gift from her "worrywart dad", although she doesn't usually carry it with her because of its bulkiness. Upon finding the shotgun, she states that it's "gross", implying that she is not a fan of firearms, but is willing to use them to survive.

Regarding hobbies and interests, like Alessa, Heather also seems vaguely interested in literature as she references Edgar Allan Poe's The Black Cat and can quote William Shakespeare's Macbeth, though she considers Romeo and Juliet "sentimental slop". In the subway, an article on the paranormal can be read on the ground. When Heather inspects it, she mentions she read it before and thought it seemed like a "bunch of crap", but admits she would read it for fun, hinting at an interest with the paranormal despite not believing in it. If the silver pipe is examined, Heather makes a comment about how it would be effective against vampires and werewolves. She also makes a nod to a horror film while in the construction site, stating that she wished she hadn't watched it in her current situation. These things could hint to her being a horror fan. Heather also may be interested in dolls and "cute" things, as she has a doll in her room she found at a garage sale. In the Hilltop Center's Otherworld, Heather will refuse to pick up a pack of cigarettes if clicked on, saying that she "quit for good", implying she used to smoke. During the car ride with Douglas, Heather implies she knows what a hangover feels like, probably indicating she drinks or has drank alcohol. This could mean she has a rebellious and mischievous side, as with Harry's personality, the odds of him allowing his daughter to drink to the severity of hangovers is questionable.
Silent_Hill_3_storeroom.

Silent Hill 3 storeroom.

Brookhaven Hospital's storeroom.

At the beginning of the game, if the player examines the mirror in the mall bathroom, Heather mentions that she dislikes mirrors as she feels her reflection is some sort of a false image. Heather says, "I don't like mirrors. It's almost like there's an unknown world right on the other side. And the person staring at me isn't really me, just an imitator." Heather's mild spectrophobia (fear of mirrors) is emphasized by the fact that the mirror in her bedr