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When going through all the different puzzles in Silent Hill f, it’s easy to get stumped by several of them. The Mural puzzle, however, takes the cake as the hardest puzzle in the whole game, being vague just for the sake of it.
However, what players didn’t know is that the Mural puzzle is foreshadowing, detailing the ending you’re getting. Because of that, the puzzles don’t change based on difficulty — they change based on your ending. It’s probably one of the coolest things a Silent Hill game has ever done.
In first playthroughs, everyone gets the same exact experience with the mural puzzle, but other endings are actually easier to decipher than the original.
For this puzzle, you have to obtain three different crests: a Fox, a Black Bird, and a White Bird. Based on the themes of this game and its endings, it’s clear that these crests are representative of Fox Mask and both versions of Hinako. Where to put those crests, however, is different depending on your path.
|
Ending |
Requirements |
|---|---|
|
Coming Home to the Roost |
Beat your first playthrough on any difficulty. |
|
The Fox’s Wedding |
Don’t take any Red Capsules, purify the Sacred Sword (or don’t pick it up), and find the Agura no Hotei-sama. |
|
The Fox Wets Its Tail |
Don’t take any Red Capsules, obtain the Sacred Sword but don’t purify it. |
|
Ebisugaoka in Silence |
Complete at least two endings, don’t take any Red Capsules, purify the Sacred Sword, and offer the Fox Pin at the jizo statue right before entering the Shimizu Residence. |
This guide will contain minor spoilers about each of the game’s endings, as the riddle for this puzzle foreshadows them.
Coming Home to the Roost
Coming Home to the Roost is the default ending that everyone gets on their first playthrough. I tried to see if you still get it even if you don’t take any Red Capsules — and you still do. This is the ending you are guaranteed to have unless you actively work for the other endings.
With that in mind, onto the Mural. You first encounter this Mural without any of the crests to put in, your hints hanging on scrolls on either side of the painting.
The riddle goes as follows:
“The Black Bird wishes to take the White Bird. The White Bird wishes to resist. The Fox brings along his followers in triumph. He notices not the two birds in conflict.”
To start, the Fox crest would go with the Fox up at the very front, in his fan. The two birds, on the other hand, can be found as foxes on the other end of the painting, basically playing Tug-of-War with each other. The one on the right, the one trying to march along, is where the Black Bird is placed. The one it’s fighting with, the other trying to yank away, is where the White Bird goes.
In order, the Fox, Black Bird, and White Bird should go in these slots:
The Fox’s Wedding
In The Fox’s Wedding, Fox Mask is victorious in successfully seducing Hinako into marriage. She’s subdued in a Shiromuku, and this is hinted at in the riddle. These hints are located on the same scrolls on the wall, on either side of the Mural, but it isn’t the same one as the last ending.
In this one, the riddle goes like this:
“The Black Bird is in the cage at last. The satisfied Fox spreads his fan. The White Bird remains in a daze. All had been swept away as she slept.”
The Fox Crest, across all these riddles, is the easiest one to find a home. This ending is no exception, as the satisfied Fox spreading his fan is for a single character in the painting, depicted at the very front and leading the group along. From there, the Black Bird must be “caged,” for lack of a better term, by having her ride along with the princess fox in her lantern.
The White Bird is sitting in a daze, and for this one, you have to find the fox that’s sitting cross-legged and looking confused, like it just woke up from a terrible nightmare, only to realize it’s actually happening.
Going in order of the Fox Crest, Black Bird Crest, and White Bird Crest, they go in the following spots:
The Fox Wets Its Tail
The Fox Wets Its Tail is the ending where Hinako runs from the altar, running away from her marriage and all the expectations that came with it. In the end, Fox Mask (who we learn is actually named Kotoyuki Tsuneki), watches her leave, letting her go and unable to do anything about it.
The hint foreshadows this; for this ending, you get this riddle:
“The White Bird flies free from her cage. Her shadow follows close behind her. The Fox raises a lantern as he watches them fly away. There is nothing he can do now.”
Instead of leading and boasting over victory, the Fox Crest actually goes in a different slot this time. Specifically, it goes right above the carriage, in the fox’s lantern that’s dangling above it — watching the runaway bride. From there, the White and Black Birds are right next to each other, just with the Black Bird right behind the White Bird, as the riddle states.
Following the order of Fox Crest, Black Bird Crest, and White Bird Crest, they end up in these spots:
Ebisugaoka in Silence
Ebisugaoka in Silence, the best (and true) ending of the game, Hinako does not take any action at all. Instead, she learns to sit with herself, coexisting with her emotions and processing her thoughts. She gives herself time to actually think about the marriage, just as Kotoyuki is. This ending is all about the freedom of choice, and the peace that that freedom brings.
For the final, true ending, you will get this puzzle, which is the most vague of them all:
“Two chicks confide in one another in their shells. A Fox watches over them in the light of his lantern. Nobody knows when, or even if, the eggs will hatch. Not even the chicks themselves.”
For this, the Fox Crest goes back in the lantern dangling above the carriage, just like it does for The Fox Wets Its Tail. However, the birds aren’t anywhere on the other side of the painting this time. Instead, they’re right beneath the fox himself, being in the carriage and confiding in one another.
In the carriage itself, the Black Bird will be placed there, symbolizing the side of Hinako that wants to get married. In the lantern right outside the carriage, the White Bird highlights the rest of the metaphor, showing how this new Hinako is ready to accept that, but while also carving her own pathway at the same time.
In the end, going in the frequent order of Fox, Black Bird, and White Bird, the crests go in these openings:
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Author: 360 Technology Group
