Before I begin I just want to say that I'm under no illusion that any of these findings are my own, merely that I'm attempting to combine said findings together into single coherent piece. More importantly I feel that there's never been a detailed analysis on the time-line of the themes Kojima's been implementing and how this song teases them further. I feel that if more people understood this time-line of ideas and themes the more they'll be convinced the ruse could be real.
Context.
Months before the third Death Stranding trailer a song by title of Silent Hills found its way into existence on October 2017 leading up to Halloween. The song was by ex tATu band member Lena Katina a singer who was born in the year 1984 in Soviet Russia. Soviet Russia also happening to be the place Kojima's character The Sorrow was born. Now Silent Hills released with two alternative covers. The world wide release which had Lena depicted in a black n' white photo as a widow with a red: 'X' on her lips whereas the Russian release whilst also still depicting Katina in black n' white photo as a widow this time had a red: 'X' over her right eye and a blue drip over to her left. On top of this the title of Silent Hills itself used a similar variation of the same font on the word: 'SILENT' Hideo Kojima used for Silent Hills according to the end of P.T. and the: 'Concept Trailer.' Lyrically the song seemed to be in the form of very simple words and phrases. Sorta like a nursery rhyme. In fact one of the lyrics in the song even references a nursery rhyme, Humpty Dumpty. More curiously though is that the song was about relationship, commitments, dreams/existentialism, space elements and murder...
Symbolism.
Asides from Lena Katina being depicted specifically as a widow on the cover. The Russian cover with the red: 'X' over her right eye and blue drip over the left seem to be not only just referencing P.T. with Lisa's eye being gouged out, but also Death Stranding. Now the second trailer of Death Stranding before Silent Hills came out many months later specifically showed Mads Mikkelsen's character with a leaking black tear over the left hand side of his eye. Taking into account also that Time-Fall rain fell specifically on Sam's wife's right eye on the photo Sam dropped.
Furthermore, this character also did a gesture where he'd put his finger to his lips. The world-wide release of Silent Hills had Lena Katina's lips covered with a: 'red' X reminiscent to the blue one we saw in the photograph of Lisa and her husband in P.T. to symbolise silence. Keep in mind that this was merely two months or, so away before the third Death Stranding trailer where the themes of: 'silence' become even more blatant with Sam telling his co-workers to: 'keep quiet' as the phantoms that of which surrounding them were attracted by the slightest of noise. Furthermore, coming back to the title itself you'll note that the word: 'HILLS' is emphasised in blood. In the fourth Death Stranding trailer Hideo Kojima specifically showcased Sam Porter Bridges traversing various hills whilst having to keep: 'SILENT' when hand phantoms were nearby.
One more thing you'll noticed although minor is that Lena Katina's chosen hair-style in those album covers seem to match with the hair-style of Sam's wife seen in the photo. Which reminds me, notice how Death Stranding, P.T., this song and Metal Gear: SurviVe seem to focus on photo-graphs? Think about it, the framed photo's in P.T. are a puzzle in order to continue through, Venom Snake in MGSV places photos all over the ACC throughout The Phantom Pain as does the illusion of Paz on her hospital wing ward wall if you decide to tackle those side-quests.
In addition, the Wandering Motherbase Soldiers also carry with them photos, these being the same photos the Paz illusion places on her wall. Moreover again in Metal Gear: SurviVe we start off with Chris/Goodluck holding a photo of avatar and other MSF soldiers before placing it in the coffin. Then at the end if we choose to leave via the: 'wormhole' we wake up as one of the identical Wandering MSF soldiers that Kaz claims were conveniently: 'Off base nine years ago' who's left with a photo-graph. Once you begin to piece it all together it all begins to make sense. How Hideo Kojima and his team have been utilising the momento themes seen in Silent Hill games. Moreover, Lena Katina's Russian cover specifically utilises a red to blue motif. A motif that again has been seen to have been vigorously used by Kojima, his team in MGSV, P.T., Death Stranding with Lindsay Wagner depicted specifically in blue/red dresses and Metal Gear: SurviVe which uses said motif everywhere from beginning to end.
Lyrics.
Despite the song's simple child-like lyrical content, there are many lyrics in the song that contain a specific context to not only just the ruse, but Death Stranding as well. Lyrics such as...
- "Surely it was all just a dream?" The third Death Stranding trailer specifically showed us Sam was wearing a: 'Dream Catcher' a Native American Indian trinket or charm that was made to: 'ward bad dreams away from children.' Furthermore, in Metal Gear: Survey there's multiples characters within the cast who keep using the word dream in their dialogue as well as telling each-other to: 'wake up.' SurviVe has several moments where avatar is knocked out, waking up with something similar to Death Stranding's reveal and third trailer.
- "Now I'm frozen in a black-hole" Again, similar to how the themes of: 'silence' got more blatant between what's shown in trailer two to three, so did the idea of black holes. For instance people noted in a DECIMA Engine demonstration that Mads Mikkelsen's character's gun had the word: 'BLACK HOLE' with the: 'O' as an omega symbol engraved and how the third Death Stranding trailer straight up just shows you a black hole after the tall phantom explodes upon pulling in the man. Python Selkan pointed out that a black-hole is an inescapable point in space n' time. A loop.
- "You lost our wedding ring Frodo..." I know, bizarre wasn't it? I didn't understand the context of this lyric either. Until I saw the fourth official trailer for Death Stranding which not only showcased Sam traversing various lush-green, black craggy lands akin to that of The Shire and Mordor, but that the trailer also specifically focused on what appeared to be wedding vows. Those were: 'GIVE ME YOUR HAND IN LIFE, GIVE ME YOUR HAND IN FLESH, GIVE ME YOUR HAND IN DEATH AND GIVE ME YOUR HAND IN SPIRIT.' In addition, also important to note that with said potential wedding vows in mind that Sam was holding a momento of him and his pregnant wife. On top of this again, similar to the black hole and themes of silence the third trailer of Death Stranding was conveniently where we first learned that Norman Reedus's character was named Sam. Reason this could be potentially significant when regarding the Lord of the Rings reference in Lena's song is that Frodo's best friend in said story just, so conveniently happens to be named Sam as well, Samwise Gamgee. Who at end of the book got married and started family. Finally, it's important to note how the baby seems to also work similarly to that of The Ring from Lord of the Rings, however instead of it transporting one's visual existence to another dimension it instead reveals other invisible entities nearby.
- "Silent Hills... I know we were not real." This has kind of been shown visually in Death Stranding via the black lion from the 5th trailer being forged as rocks behind the character of Golden Mask specifically form DNA helix structures, but more importantly it's more or less indirectly quoted by cast in Metal Gear: SurviVe. For instance upon rescuing Nicholas he'll reply saying: 'Seriously thank you - I know you're not real, but I'll never forget you guys.' To which the nurse character then replies back to Nicholas with: 'You know we're not real!?' Interesting right, how not only Survive and Death Stranding shares themes, but how both have connections to this cryptic pop-song by this Russian singer.
- "I had a great fall like Humpty Dumpty." Coming back to what I said about how the song seems to have deliberate lyrical content of a children's nursery rhyme and how Death Stranding seemingly revolves around a baby or babies. At least in my mind it kinda makes me think of a infant describing the relationship between the mother and father.
- "Looks like we are not on one team." I think this is referencing the supposed feud/split from Konami, but what's more interesting is that the lyric that follows directly on from this is: 'Surely, it was all just a dream?' Maybe in the sense that it didn't actually happen?
Other interesting details.
If you listen to the song carefully after a number of verses you'll begin to hear a ticking sound play throughout the song, followed then by a clock chime for the chorus. Again, just like how other themes became more apparent with each trailer. This song was only released months before Kojima talked about a concept called Time-Fall in Death Stranding, with the previous trailer being what appeared to be people outside of their own time during the events of D-Day 1944.
Upon listening to the chorus I suggested to RetroHellspawn, a friend of mine that the tune was a slowed down version of the intro of the Silent Hill theme song. Needless to say it's kinda eerie just how well the song's chorus fits with that intro.
Conclusion.
As you can see for yourself it'd appear that Hideo Kojima has been implanting these themes within a specific time-frame throughout the years. Making theme more apparent with each new trailer whilst slipping in cryptic external media that provides further context to said themes. The fact that Silent Hills by Lena Katina lines up this perfect within said specified time-frame of themes and ideas is no accident.
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