Heather Mason vs. Moira Burton (Silent Hill vs. Resident Evil)
"The scariest moment is always just before you start. After that, things can only get better."
- Stephen King
Heather Mason, Silent Hill’s reincarnated heroine.
Moira Burton, TerraSave's B.O.W. Killer in training.
In the 90s Capcom and Konami brought us two juggernauts in the survival horror genre. Since then, gamers have constantly debated on which series is better. From their lowest to their highest points, Silent Hill and Resident Evil have battled it out for over 30 years and today we're ending the debate in our own way. Since nobody gives a fuck about Pyramid Head vs Nemesis, we’re doing this one! Their fathers went through hell and back to protect them, but they've grown through their own trials to overcome past trauma, unlocking their true potential and proving to be capable fighters themselves. All thanks to a good role model… and a bit of attitude.
Before We Start…
This blog will be a somewhat short one. It's just a little side thing we threw together cause we already had a majority of the research done beforehand. Since we already have done blogs with these respective series, we will be ignoring scaling unless necessary as to not be redundant with the other blogs. Please go read James Sunderland VS Alan Wake by Bang’s Blogs and Nemesis VS Magician by LandonBlogsALot as they may already go over anything you may think is missing from this. This also means we won't be going over Silent Hill: Book of Memories for Heather, as anything she’d get from it, has already been gone over for James. So in short, we’ll only be focusing on things specific to Heather and Moira for the most part but things such as scaling and whatnot are still being considered, even if not directly mentioned.
As with the other blogs, we will be doing a sorta soft-composite for both of them. Mainly focusing on main canon material but also looking into any available side media as well. Such as the Silent Hill 3 novelisation, the Resident Evil novels, and guide books just for example. This is excluding obviously contradictory media or crossovers. So no Dead by Daylight, Teppen, Manhua and no, there will not be a scaling section for Alice from the live action movies, that shit is ASS. We’ll also be ignoring Shattered Memories, as that version of Heather does literally nothing.
Also, thanks to Ishi for the background images, and Yuix for the Combatants are Set GIF.
Background
Heather
In the year 2000, Heather Mason was just your typical teenage girl hanging out at the local mall. But when she fell asleep inside of a burger joint, her dream showed her visions of the horrors to come. After shaking off such a nightmare and letting her Dad know she'll be home soon, Heather was approached by a shady man, claiming to be a detective and telling her that he had news on her birth. Understandably put off, Heather told him to beat it and went on her way. Suddenly, the mall became dark and twisted, monsters roamed the halls and she then ran into Claudia, who told her she needs to remember her true self and that her power is needed for the rebirth of paradise. Left confused, Heather fought her way out of the mall and made her way home to her father.. who she had found murdered in their living room. Claudia revealed herself once again, having had one of her twisted cult members rip him apart. Forcing Heather to battle this monster, Claudia told her she'd be waiting in the place where it all began, in the town of Silent Hill. Vowing revenge, Heather and the detective from before made their way to the town. During this car ride, Heather had read a letter left behind by her father. Seventeen years ago, Harry Mason battled against an all-powerful God all in a desperate attempt to get his daughter, Cheryl Mason, back from this same cult, using her as a host for God's return. In her last moments, Alissa Gillespie manifested a baby and gave it to Harry, a reincarnation of herself and Cheryl. Determined to avenge his death, Heather ripped her way through Silent Hill. Unlocking memories from her past lives, and taking down its monstrous manifestations until she finally found Claudia for the last time. Just before she could finally end this, God's return had come and Heather kneeled down in pain. Whether it was through love or pure hatred, Heather pushed back the corruption with the aid of her precious locket. Ejecting God from her body, Claudia in a desperate hail mary swallowed the incomplete God, sacrificing herself to act as its new host. Now faced with God herself, Heather fought in her father's name and replicated his accomplishment from all those years ago. In the end, Heather just wanted her life to get back on track, starting anew with her real name. Cheryl.
Moira
“I swear to God I’m going to survive the fuck out of this.”
Founded as a result of the destruction of Raccoon City in 1998, TerraSave's main goal was to help provide medical aid and support to victims of Bio-Terrorism. As it was exceedingly clear that corporations and world governments couldn't be trusted. Inspired by family friend Claire Redfield and against her over protective Father's wishes, Moira Burton refused to let past mistakes hold her back from helping those who needed it. In 2011, TerraSave leader: Neil Fisher was hosting a party at their headquarters, with Claire and Moira in attendance. When out of nowhere the lights cut out, the building was overtaken and they were kidnapped. When Moira came to, she and Claire were locked in a prison with bracelets on their wrists. After being let out by an unknown entity and arming themselves, they eventually found the place to be crawling with zombies and they weren't just stuck in a prison, but an entire island of Uroboros infected monsters, all while being watched by a woman claiming to be the Overseer. Refusing to touch firearms after a past accident, Moira resorted to using a crowbar to defend herself. Once they had a moment of peace, they came across a radio tower. Moira desperately tried to send out an S.O.S. giving up after several attempts they ventured on, finding other members of TerraSave and Neil Fisher. This is when the Overseer revealed that they were all injected with a virus, and if their fear becomes too great they'll quickly turn. Trying to weed out the weak links, she had lured a massive amount of infected to their location. The Survivors fought their way out and escaped, getting separated from Neil in the process. After narrowly escaping death and finding their way to a nearby factory, they found out the truth about Neil. He had betrayed them and sold out TerraSave. But in a moment of betrayal squared, the Overseer injected Neil with Uroboros. Turning him into a grotesque monster that Moira and Claire were forced to put down. With Moira finally finding the courage to overcome her past trauma and save Claire's life. After this and tracking down the Overseer, the building they were in started to collapse around them. During their attempt to escape Moira was trapped under rubble and Claire was forced to leave her behind. Six months later, refusing to believe his daughter was gone, Barry Burton tracked down Moira’s S.O.S. and made his way through that island to find her. He ended up discovering that the Overseer is actually the sister of Albert Wesker and she had transformed herself into a mutated monstrosity, as well as Moira. Having survived the island for the entirety of those six months. After putting Alex Wesker down for good, Barry and Moira ultimately patched their relationship back together and became a family once again.
Experience and Skill
Heather
Even at a young age Heather was considered resourceful and wise, later showing off her skills in solving complex riddles, using chemicals to create dangerous gasses and has solved a multitude of obscure puzzles to make her way around Silent Hill. Having been taught by Harry during childhood, Heather is a natural with firearms. Having been praised by her father for her skills with a variety of them and making her a surprisingly capable combatant who can score headshots with no issue. Heather has battled a decent variety of Silent Hill’s manifestations and members of The Order, including Leonard, a man turned monster and even their very own God. Her survival skills are also very up to par, having several showings of using her wit to utilize her surroundings and drawing maps on the go to aid in her survival of Silent Hill and the traversal of Otherworld dungeons during her use of the Book of Memories.
Moira
Despite having no prior training, Moira proved to be a valuable ally for Claire Redfield during the events of the Sein Island incident. Having assisted in solving elaborate puzzles, escaping plenty of deadly traps and taking part in many chaotic battles against a vast variety of monsters infected with the t-Phobos virus. Including Niel Fisher, a traitor turned super powered monster and Albert Wesker’s own sister, complete with her own god complex. Even after being separated from Claire, Moira used what little knowledge she picked from their time together and became a formidable survivor. Scavenging for supplies and hunting her own food for 6 months straight with the help of Evgeny Rebic, taking her under his wing and teaching her to survive on her own. Ultimately impressing Claire Redfield and Barry Burton with her capabilities.
Arsenal
Heather
Knife
A small foldable blade that Heather carries for basic self defense.
Various Pipes
Made of steel, silver and gold respectively. In Silent Hill 4, bullets made of silver are capable of instantly killing ghosts, meaning these would likely have similar properties. Good to have in any close quarter brawls.
Katana
The second most powerful melee weapon in SH3. While it's a little weaker than the mace, it makes up for it by being very light in return, and as such easier to use.
Stun Gun
This thing lays out monsters several times the size of Heather, although obviously non-lethal. Still, nice to have!
Maul
It’s almost too heavy for her to sling around, but it’s generally one of the strongest weapons in SH3, and a strong option in any close quarters brawl.
Beam Saber
A sword of light that shines with a strange force. It is described as “pure light” and It becomes twice as strong after beating the game with it once.
Beretta 92fs Centurion
A trusty choice of a firearm, typically used by law enforcement. She scored her first kill ever within seconds of finding it.
Smith & Wesson 5946
This movie sucks but hey, it gives her an extra gun. Pretty average pistol in comparison to most of her kit, but still!
Remington Model 870
This boomstick is undoubtedly Heather’s strongest gun. Despite a shorter range, it’ll knock most monsters on their asses with a single shot.
Mac-10 Submachine Gun
A fast paced and medium ranged weapon that's pretty good at crowd control. Heather can acquire unlimited ammo for it as well.
Flamethrower
An unlockable weapon in reruns of the game, it has unlimited fuel and roasts monsters to death in seconds.
Radio
This doesn't seem to be a unique ability of the radio however, but more so to do with Silent Hill’s monsters themselves. Still, it’s neat!
Bullet Proof Armor
Specifically Point Blank Genesis Covert Body Armour Level IIIA, it’s pretty damn tough, allowing Heather to better tank blows from even the strongest enemies Silent Hill threw at her. Also helps that she conceals it under her puffy vest!
Perfume
An odd perfume, said to smell like infection that attracts enemies to where it is sprayed. In BoM, it increases the users health and intelligence.
Silencer
Operates on action movie logic, making guns totally silent. It's attachable to all of Heather’s guns, shotgun aside (duh).
Beef Jerky
It's used to distract certain monsters, sometimes multiple at once. Keeps ‘em distracted long enough for Heather to beat the shit out of them.
Flashlights
Like other Silent Hill protags, Heather’s flashlights are valuable in their trials. Heather keeps hers in the front pocket of her vest and can turn it on without touching it.
Misc. Items
Heather has gathered a vast variety of tools throughout her time in the streets of Silent Hill. Such as.. 5 books on Shakespeare, tongs, bleach, detergent, instant camera, map, pork liver, matches, hooked chain, red shoe, oil filled wine bottle (Kerosene specifically), Otherworld laws book, plastic bag (Later filled with blood), nail polish remover, car jack, doll head, silver coin, tarot cards, flathead screwdriver, rope, hair dryer, walnut/moonstone, nut cracker, coat hanger and of course, lots of spare ammo.
Pendant
Heather’s good luck charm and one of her most prized possessions. It aided her in cleansing “God” from her body because of the red thing inside, which is Aglaophotis. A magic liquid used to repel dark forces that Harry crafted into a necklace for her. This stuff should be pretty damn strong, since “God” is stated to have created time and could reshape the world.
Seal of Metatron
A magic talisman. Though Heather never uses it directly, it is stated to have the power to stop God's birth. It possesses strong protective and dispelling capabilities, as well as powerful exorcism and sealing power. It will bring results regardless of whether the target is good or evil; its strength, therefore, places a very high burden on the caster. It can be interpreted that it amplifies the power of the wielder, rather than being a source of power itself. Though in the Movie, it is used to reveal the “true nature” of things, like when Heather used it to bring out Claudia’s true form. In Book of Memories, it’s said to fill its user with Spiritual Strength.
Health Drinks
The most common to come across, yet are the weakest option for healing up.
First-Aid Kits
Heather’s second best option for healing up, granting a medium boost in heath.
Ampoules
Glass bottles that contain medicine for injections. Heather’s most powerful option for healing up. There's a couple variations, being singular bottles and packages with multiple inside.
Oxydol
It’s a type of disinfectant. Harry has used rubbing alcohol for a fire that burned away thick vines within seconds.
Halo of the Sun (Debatable)
A cursed symbol that is used as a save point for Heather in game, but is much more than that. Acting as an actual resurrection point for her. If she is to die, the Halo will revert time back to when Heather last interacted with it. It also showed to be capable of unlocking memories from her past lives. Though, in a creator commentary, they state this is rather unpleasant for her. (Though it is important to keep in mind that Valtiel, a Demon that watches over Heather throughout the game, is responsible for the resurrection). The symbol also seems to be able to help with general protection as well, as Alessa uses it to dispel flames around Travis or to phase through walls. While Heather has never used this feature, in Silent Hill: Orphan, they can be used as “portals”, although Heather should know how to draw these symbols up herself as well, as she has Alessa’s memories.
Princess Heart
An unlockable item in Silent Hill 3. Due to alien experiments, when Heather grabs the Heart Staff she is transformed into Princess Heart, Sailor Moon Style. The outfit gives Heather a multitude of projectile attacks that are shot from her eyes, including a laser beam, homing energy blasts and the “sexy beam”. Heather doesn’t need to be wearing the outfit to get use from its abilities, as she can shoot beams in regular clothing, though more limited. It doesn't require ammunition or anything, but Heather must take a small break after prolonged use.
Moira
Crowbar
In the beginning, Moira's refusal to use firearms led her to physically defend herself more often than not with items such as this - a pretty average crowbar. Good for close quarters engagements.
Smith & Wesson Model 329PD
A trusty and powerful magnum. Holds up to six shots at a time and is Moira’s most powerful sidearm.
Makarov PM
Similar to the one Claire uses. It’s not especially powerful, but it explodes heads all the same.
AK-47
A classic assault rifle and one of Moira’s most powerful options for long range combat.
MP-AB50
A nifty submachine gun. It deals less damage than the AK-47, but more than makes up for it with a far faster firing rate.
Shotgun M147S
A groovy double barreled shotgun and is Moira’s most directly powerful firearm. It only carries two shots at a time, though.
Shotgun TAP194
It’s weaker and slower than the double barrel, but makes up for with a much higher ammo capacity.
Mosin Nagant M1891/30
A weapon gifted from Evgeny. Supposedly used more for hunting rather than combat. Moira never actually uses this in the game proper for some reason.
Katana
An unlockable weapon. Moira uses it to rapidly strike enemies in quick succession, making short work of most immediately.
Flashlight
She preferred to stay on “flashlight duty”. But this was far from useless. Moira showed a knack for revealing hidden goodies with her light and even was able to trail hidden markings to solve puzzles. Moira’s flashlight has also come in handy with revealing invisible enemies.
Green Herbs
The green variants are your basic health item. Claire and Moira can break them down and craft them into a spray for quick use.
Red Herbs
When combined with green herbs it can produce a more powerful healing item. While usually they’re useless by themselves, in other games such as Gaiden, they can heal the player on their own and in Outbreak they’re used to stall out infection.
Disinfectant
Not really a healing item, but it's useful for when enemies use all sorts of nasty stuff to blind you.
Tourniquets
Y'all have seen the movies. It’s a riggle together piece of cloth that's tightened around bleeding wounds to help it stop.
Exploding Bottles
A quick-made explosive. Dealing massive damage to even the largest enemies.
Firebomb Bottles
Basically a molotov but with a bit more oomph. Definitely don't try to drink it.
Decoy Bottles
Bottles that when shattered produce a gas or smoke that attracts enemies. Useful for a quick getaway.
Customization Gear Kits
Used for… customizing weapons. These customizations can be a multitude of things. Faster firing rates, quicker reloading, ammo capacity, burst damage, focusing, easy hits, charge shot, scatter and firepower.
The Rocket Launcher
The single most powerful weapon Moira has used. Specifically it's a scoped RPG-7 and if the player completes the campaign in 3 hours, they unlock a version with unlimited rockets.
Misc. Tools
Spare ammo, bottles, gunpowder, alcohol, odorous chemicals, gasoline, cloth, airplane battery, smoke powder, glass eye, artificial eye, replica liver and rabbit meat. After the player beats all four campaigns, they are rewarded with infinite ammo for all guns. Nifty!
Abilities
Heather
Strong Force of Will
Heather has a great sense of self confidence in herself and her capabilities, having been taught to never give up despite her odds.
Inhuman Endurance
Heather has been mauled by Double Heads, sliced up by blades and has taken beatings from multiple enemies at once, getting up like nothing happened. In her battle against the Order’s God, she toughed it out and kept fighting even with several broken ribs.
High Stamina
Misc. Magic
Heather has read books on Black Magic and Occult Magazines. With using the spell; TU FEI, EGO ERIS, she was able to banish/kill The Glutton. A monster that couldn't be killed with conventional weapons.
Non-Physical Interaction
Heather should be in the same boat as James and Henry, who could attack Ghosts (and perceive them in Henry's case). Heather can fight Ghosts in Silent Hill: Book of Memories.
Precognition
In her dreams, Heather could see visions of future events, with this being confirmed in the Book of Lost Memories Lore Guide. I also have no idea otherwise how she’d know to use her necklace to fuck with God’s birth.
Memories from Other Lives
Within Heather is still part of Alessa and Cheryl, as she is just them and unlocks Alessa’s memories throughout the game.
Immortality
The Book of Lost Memories states that Heather was granted an immortal body due to harboring God, tying into the whole reincarnation and resurrection thing.
Fourth Wall Awareness
She’ll call out the player directly when you try to make her feel around a dirty toilet, she also seemingly does this in other areas of the game too.
Life Force Absorption
In the film, in her battle with Alessa, Heather overcomes Alessa’s attempt to absorb her and reverses the attempt. Absorbing Alessa into her instead… due to love.
Alessa’s Powers (See Before the Verdicts)
Heather is considered a Holy Figure and is the reincarnation of Alessa, born with strange powers that are tied to her emotions in a way. Alessa could “make things happen with her mind and kill people just by wishing it.” She possessed levitation and powerful telekinesis, capable of rag dolling Harry at his peak and stopping time. She could also incapacitate, attack and communicate telepathically, cast Illusions, astral project, warp reality on small and large scales, create force fields, control fire, madness, souls and darkness and possessed a 6th sense, which Heather showcases. In Origins, Alessa also shows off the ability to transfer others to the Otherworld with the use of mirrors, as well as establishing that Heather is on a similar level of power as her prior lives. In the movies, Alessa’s dark half could also absorb herself into other’s to bypass a church’s protective aura.
Moira
Botanary Knowledge
Like many Resident Evil protagonists before her, Moira is knowledgeable in harvesting herbs to grind up for medicinal purposes. Making a potent powder to rub onto wounds (No, they aren’t smoking it)
Inhuman Endurance
Moira has shook off being sliced up by massive drills and being mauled by various infected monsters, being no worse for wear by the end of any of it.
High Stamina
With little to no rest and withstanding bloody wounds, Moira survived Sein Island for a prolonged period of time.
Enhanced Senses
Despite loud alarms going off around them and shit blowing up, Claire and Moira seemed to sense that invisible enemies were among them. Something that required a telepath to detect in other sections of the game.
Stealth Mastery
Along with Claire, Moira showed a talent for sneaking around rooms of enemies and taking them out all while staying undetected.
Skill Tree Upgrades
Throughout Rev 2’s campaign, you unlock various skills that grant minor buffs and even new abilities. Any skills gained during the main campaign can be used by Moira in The Struggle. We’ll also be listing her unique skills from Rev 2’s Raid Mode (See Before the Verdicts)
Hurler - Increases the power of sub-weapons by 130%
Quick Heal - Reduces the time it takes to heal by 50%
Crouch Power - Increases firepower while crouching by 120%
Change Up - Increases firepower for the first shot after switching weapons by 150%
Batter Up - Increases Moira’s attack power with the crowbar
Speedy Rescue - Reduces the time it takes to save a partner by half.
Evade - Makes enemies more likely to miss.
Medical Knowledge - Increases the effectiveness of herbs by 130%
Dashing Knife - Grants the ability to attack while dashing, tripling its effectiveness.
Upholstered - Allows AI companions to fire guns when not controlled.
Light is Might - Increases the effectiveness of Moira’s flashlight by 130%
Double Play - Grants a 10% power boost for 5 seconds after switching characters.
Crouch Advantage - Grants temporary invincibility.
Charge Attack - Allows you to… charge a melee attack for more damage.
Follow Up - Allows the player to perform a finisher on a downed enemy up to 200% attack power.
Last Stand - When less than 10% ammo remains, increase its power by 200%
Crowbar Finisher - Grants Moira extra bp after a finisher.
Ranged Healing - Allows partners to heal at further ranges.
Evasion Extension - Increases distance covered while dodging by 200%
Rope-A-Dope - Withstand killing blows better.
Evade Recovery - Reduces time after evading.
Evade Cancel - Cancel out attack animations for a dodge.
Smokescreen Bottle - Moira throws a bottle that can obscure enemies' view for 15 seconds.
Exploding Bottle - Moira throws a bottle that explodes on contact. Has great stun and dazing potential.
Powering Up - At the cost of a short charge up time, physical attacks are increased 500% for a short time.
Landmines - Place a trapped bottle on the ground that’s triggered once an enemy touches it.
Health Up - Increases your health bar to 2000 points.
Resistances
Heather
Poisoning. James Sunderland could recover quickly from poison gas. Travis could survive Momma’s gas attacks.
Sound. James can shrug off Maria’s scream attack, which busted windows, Murphy would later withstand the Screamer’s attacks.
Corrosion. James can withstand the vomit attack from Patients, which is described as “acid-like”. In the movie it was strong enough to eat through Cybil’s police uniform.
Heat. Heather could survive powerful flame attacks from God and Travis can tank fire balls from Alessa’s Dream.
Electricity. Harry could withstand bolts of lightning.
Cold. Harry was unaffected by the snowing weather of Silent Hill.
Corruption/Possession. Through the use of her Pendant, she forced God out of her body.
Moira
Heat. Moira can shrug off being attacked by enemies that are lit on fire and shake off being lit on fire herself.
Cold. Chris and Sheva can withstand liquid nitrogen rounds that can freeze enemies solid instantly.
Electricity. Chris and Sheva can withstand their own electric rounds, which fry enemies in seconds.
Corrosion. Rebecca, Jill and Claire can survive the splash back of acid rounds. Chris can survive the variants in RE5, which can melt multiple enemies very quickly.
Sound. Leon can shrug off the Screamer’s… scream attack. Which could shatter windows.
Venom. Chris needs no medical care after being bitten by a gigantic venomous snake.
Feats
Heather
Overall
Survived Silent Hill, once in a past life and again as Heather, bringing the fight to them.
Quit smoking. (Good for her!)
Battled an insane cult, The Order, that was trying to summon God.
Defeated The Split Worm, Alessa, The Missionary, Leonard, The Boogeyman, The Elemental Guardians and God.
Ultimately avenged Harry Mason’s murder, learned of her true nature as the reincarnation of Alessa and unlocked her past selves’ memories.
Strength
Heather can break a piece of bread. (10 - 20 Newtons)
She can break the grip of Slurpers.
Heather can shank Closers to death with a pocket knife.
Fought a partly formed version of The Order’s God, who when first born survived being torn through a metal floor, making a massive hole. She can actually beat its ass with just a metal pipe.
All protagonists can beat Nurses to death, which are capable of launching metal doors off their hinges and tearing people apart.
Murphy could fight the Boogeyman, with one attack he created two massive holes in the ground at once and did similar later.
She can multiply her physicality 12x over temporarily with boosts from Book of Memories.
Durability
Heather could withstand blows from The Order’s God.
Can shake off being head butted by Numb Bodies and can tank blows from Closers.
She can tank blows from The Insane Cancer, which can break bone and bash through metal doors.
Heather could withstand blows from The Split Worm, which could shake buildings and launch itself dozens of feet into the air.
She can take attacks from the Earth Guardian, who can pulverize massive boulders and shake a small rock island with his blows.
Scales to James Sunderland, who can tank blows from Maria. In their battle she brought down an entire floor of the room above them (0.6 Tons of TNT)
Speed
Heather could outrun Splitheads, which should be comparable to dogs. (15 - 45 mph)
Fought Alessa’s Memory, which could seemingly block point blank shotgun blasts.
Could battle The Missionary, who could react to and deflect shots from her handgun, shotgun and submachine gun. The Missionary is described as “Lightning Fast” in the script for Silent Hill Revelations.
She is comparable to her father, who could dodge lightning from Incubus and the Incubator. It is referred to as “Lightning” in official guide books and in the Play Novel. (Mach 46 - Mach 230)
Characters in Silent Hill: Book of Memories (Including Heather) can dodge and move in tandem with Light Beams from the Light Guardian. (12% Lightspeed)
Moira
Overall
Survived Sein Island, aiding in battle against all sorts of infected monsters for 6 months.
Aided Claire Redfield and Barry Burton in the defeat of Neil Fisher and Alex Wesker, respectively.
Managed to escape a room set to explode within mere minutes.
Slapped Mutated Neil on the ass with a crowbar.
Ultimately patched things up with father Barry Burton and overcame her fear of firearms.
Strength
With little effort, she could pry apart metal barricades and lift up heavy gates.
Can smash apart wooden barrels and crates.
With help, lifted a large hunk of brick.
Comparable to her father, who could shove around destroyed helicopters and fight infected capable of busting down concrete walls.
Comparable to Chris Redfield and Leon Kennedy, both of whom have moved large boulders. (We had to mention it) (4.5 Tons)
Durability
Can take knife slashes from Claire Redfield.
She and Claire could tank attacks from enemies who could casually bust through floors. (0.01 Tons of TNT)
Is directly comparable to Claire Redfield, who in her younger years could shake off William Birkin throwing giant slabs of machinery at her.
Ethan Winters can survive blows from Lady Dimitretscu’s mutated form, which could destroy castle structures. (0.3 Tons of TNT)
Leon Kennedy can eat punches from El Gigante, who can smash apart large sections of rock. (1.6 Tons of TNT)
Speed
Moira and Claire can dodge fast moving fire balls.
Can evade gunfire casually. Which is consistent among other characters like Jill Valentine, Leon Kennedy and Chris Redfield.
Jill Valentine can fight Nemesis, who could casually catch rockets and dodge them so fast he becomes a blur.
Leon Kennedy could move in tandem with a lightning strike. (Mach 5.7 - 8.8)
Bruce McGivern can battle Tyrant Morpheus, who can react to particle beams. (14% Lightspeed)
Weaknesses
Heather
While Heather has more than proven herself against the horrors of Silent Hill, she still has her flaws. All things considered, she is rather young and quick to anger. While Heather does have supernatural powers, physically she is still human and the amount of punishment she can take is limited. This goes for her mentally as well. She’s become numb to the concept of death, and the untimely murder of her father, Harry Mason left her scared and vengeful.
Moira
Moira has weathered storms that would’ve killed most, but she has her fair share of baggage. Firstly, for a majority of her life, Moira refused to even touch firearms and has no formal training. Making her talents and experience with them somewhat lacking, leaving Claire to do most of the heavy lifting during the events of Revelations 2. Not helped by the fact that Barry tried to keep her from getting involved with outbreaks for most of her life.
Before the Verdicts…
Does Heather have Alessa's powers?
While Heather is the reincarnation of Alessa, this alone doesn't automatically mean they are one to one in terms of power set. However, there are several things worth pointing out.
Firstly, Heather has all of Alessa’s memories, it's a main plot point throughout Silent Hill 3 that Heather is continuously remembering her past life even down to the smallest details through her constant exposure to The Order and Harry’s letter. Even going on to recognize certain rooms or remembering bullying kids in card games. Heather after her own battle against Alessa's memory does also comment on knowing Alessa's mindset, and how they don't think alike despite being “the same person”. Heather does understand what she is, and it is even a point made by Vincent that only Heather can stop God's birth due to her having powers and is also the entire reason why the cult is trying to use Heather as a vessel for God's return. Even translations of the Silent Hill 3 Novelisation support this, as in an alternative take of the car ride scene, Douglas says: “Are you saying you have these same powers?!” after Heather explains her true background. Further being backed up by events within the movie.
One may argue that we never see Heather use her powers, but we actually do. In the first scene of the game she shows off her precognition, which the Book of Lost Memories comments on and later in the game shows her danger sense when Douglas pulls a gun on her from behind. So in the end, there's a bit of evidence in favor of Heather knowing what she is truly capable of.
Is Raid Mode usable?
Well, yes and no.
Canonically, the Raid Mode is an AI Simulation, where “players” can take the role of various characters from the series. Chris, Jill, Leon and Moira included, along with some others. These simulations do use existing data from them in regards to their skill sets, though. So they should reasonably have their respective skill trees, as it is just their data. So you can certainly argue Moira should get base skills and any physical feats performed within the simulation should be able to act as support in a worst case scenario. Equippable skills and weapons however, more than likely cannot be taken into account, as those gained through the “player’s” influence.
Verdict
Stats
As far as strength and speed are concerned, it's actually decently even. On the lower end of things, both of them have and scale to a plethora of wall level feats and bullet timing. When you look at their middle ends of speeds, Heather has a significant advantage over Moira, though. Even at its lowest, Harry dodging lightning at Mach 45 is almost 6x greater than Leon running in tandem with lightning at Mach 8. Both are solidly within the building ranges, though Moira would have the slight edge here. Scaling to James Sunderland, Heather would be hanging around 0.6 tons of tnt. While Moira scaling to Leon taking hits from El Gigante would grant her an almost 3x edge over Heather in terms of pure muscle. On the highest possible ends for their speeds, they're almost dead even. It’s 12% light speed vs 14% lightspeed. However there are a few things worth mentioning in this. Fully scaling characters like Moira and Bruce to Morpheus' speed is a bit questionable. While they are capable of tagging and reacting to him, he is much faster than they are visually. Meanwhile, Heather and James can react to the Light Guardian's light beams directly. Heather can also completely take stats for herself for a short period of time. Multiplying her strength 12x, which would be bordering on out right one shotting Moira. Moira's skills can amp up her AP, but this is through doing specific actions while Heather can activate her boosts wherever and whenever she would want to.
So in short, stats are typically even across the board, but Heather can amp herself up temporarily to higher ends than Moira can.
Arsenal & Abilities
This matchup is a prime example of weapons versus superpowers and they both match each other in some surprising ways. They both have some level of enhanced senses, are similarly resistant to pain, can amplify their stats, redirect enemies at each other, and neither are really gonna be worrying about running out of ammunition.
Moira definitely has more raw firepower than Heather, along with more precise weaponry given her rifle and rocket launcher are equipped with scopes. With her options for infinite ammo affecting all of her guns, Moira would be incredibly dangerous in a shootout, especially with the rocket launcher in mind. On the flip side though, Heather's super powers provide an immense advantage here. Not only are her telekinetic abilities by far more versatile than anything Moira has but they give her options to defend herself as well, given Alessa could make bullet proof shields in Silent Hill 1 and potentially her precognition could give her a heads up on anything Moira could try to pull out. Moira’s skill upgrades are plentiful but it's also important to keep in mind that they're usually just temporary and need certain requirements to activate. While Heather by her own admission just has to think. This also isn't to say Heather’s weaponry is lacking either. Princess Heart gives her auto-aim and beams that would be difficult to avoid, and her own guns are still guns, even if they are less precise and have less ammo then Moira’s. Even her flamethrower, with having infinite fuel would provide something to keep Moira at bay. Her arsenal is overall larger if you take Book of Memories into account and has far more hax as well.
In general, the hax granted by Alessa’s powers are far beyond anything that Moira has really dealt with. Stuff like a time stop, reading minds, and illusions, are all things beyond what you’d really see in any Resident Evil game, and while Heather doesn't generally use many of these, the fact she has access to them at all puts Moira in a bind, as she’s not going to be able to deal with any of these. Karma within BoM would also be insanely dangerous as well, giving Heather things like invincibility, paralysis infliction, health stealing… a whole bunch that Moira doesn't really have a solid answer to, either, leaving her open to a plethora of win-conditions.
On top of that, while Moira may have an advantage in a shoot-out, things are similarly worrisome for her in a CQC fight. While both have katanas, and a crowbar is certainly handy, Heather’s stun gun and her beam sword are both options Moira doesn’t have access to, and both of them would lend her an edge in any close quarters fights, leaving Moira right open to attack.
In addition, Heather’s defensive gear is also superior. Bullet-proof armor is something Moira just doesn’t have, and in a fight like this where the right gunshots matter, it’s not great for your opponent to be able to shoot you anywhere, while you have to aim for specific spots in order to hurt them. As well, Heather has a lot more healing options at her active disposal, which means that even if she is hurt, she’d be able to more easily recover from that in comparison, giving her another edge.
Something that needs to be discussed is Heather’s resurrection (This may seem a little familiar if you've read James vs Alan). It is a bit debatable if Heather should be allowed this. On one hand, it's technically outside help, as Valtiel is the one bringing her back to ensure God will be born. But on the other hand, you can argue that “God” is… technically standard for Heather as it was within her since birth and it's insinuated that Valtiel doesn't always need to be there directly to do it. So granting her this is likely just up to personal opinion, however, it doesn’t change this either way.
Overall, while Moira certainly has a better arsenal of long-ranged weaponry, Heather’s superior defenses, versatile abilities, and close quarters edge means she should take this category with relative ease.
Tertiary Factors
Last but not least, their own skill sets are important to cover. To start, intelligence is likely similar in most aspects and both have fought wide varieties of monsters, but Moira is generally more experienced than Heather. In the sense that she has just canonically done more. Despite Heather having almost double her life experience by the events of BoM, we don’t know what she’s been up to between the games. However, this isn't to sell Heather short. As typically, she went through her journey mostly on her own while obviously, Moira is a companion to Claire for the majority of Revelations 2.
Surprisingly, Heather is likely more skilled with firearms. Simply because Barry sheltered Moira, and she refused to touch guns for a majority of her life. While Harry in the novelisation is confirmed to have regularly taken Heather to shooting ranges in order to train her to defend herself. Moira is by far a more seasoned survivor however. Spending 6 whole months hunting, gathering and fighting on Sein Island is a bit more intense than Heather’s few day journey in Silent Hill 3. So while both have their strengths here, Moira has the better advantages when it comes to this category.
Conclusion
Heather “Cheryl” Mason
Advantages:
Much higher AP with boosts
Faster with speed boosts
Resurrection makes her difficult to keep down, if you use it
Taser and Laser Sword would turn a close quarters fight in her favor
Has bullet-proof armor and more healing options, giving her superior defenses
Powers give her various ways to lock down, defend against or overwhelm Moira
Princess Heart’s auto aim and auto targeting would be difficult to avoid
More solo experience and formal training with firearms
Much larger arsenal in general with BoM in mind
Silent Hill 3 is better than Silent Hill 2 - Grimes (fight me)
Silent Hill f looks promising (When They Cry writer on Silent Hill is kinda peak?)
Disadvantages:
Slightly weaker without strength boosts
Slightly slower without boosts
The movie is so dogshit
Moira Burton
Advantages:
Takes the stat trinity normally
Certainly has much higher lifting strength
Larger arsenal of firearms, making her more dangerous in a shootout
Unlimited Ammo applies to more of her arsenal
Flashlight could counter Heather’s invisibility from BoM
Better range via the rifle and greater AOE via the rocket launcher
Generally more destructive arsenal
More general experience and a more seasoned survivor
Better written character than Claire in that game, it’s not even close
Disadvantages:
Loses the stat edge against Heather with boosts
Not as well trained or experienced on her own
Cannot resist a majority of Heather’s super powers or karma abilities from BoM
Inferior close quarters abilities
Doesn’t have bullet-proof armor
Still no news on RE9….
Surprisingly, it’s Silent Hill taking the victory with blood stained hands over its gaming rival. While Moira wasn’t without some dangerous gear and capabilities, It’s Heather’s supernatural powers and hax that are sealing her fate, making her vastly more versatile and giving Moira a fight she couldn’t possibly be prepared for. Moira would certainly win a direct no bullshit hand to hand fight but we have to look at this from every angle and for every angle Moira could try, with or without Valtiel's aid, Heather simply had the means to shut it down basically immediately and keep herself alive. Even if we looked at it without her superpowers, the ball is still in Heather’s court thanks to her similar stats, more useful gear and better training with guns. Both match and counter each other in a lot of surprising ways, and make for a shockingly interesting debate. However, in the end it wasn’t much of a revelation that the winner’s true self is Heather “Cheryl” Mason.
Final Tally
Heather Mason (4) - door-kun, Thicc Grimes, Yuix, therealgnomechompski
Moira Burton (0) - We'll run it back with Rose Winters when she has more.
Afterword
Hi, so this was a bit of a surprise! Grimes and Yuix are doing some other horror blogs, so I'll be hosting them - and this one was the first one, as it wasn't particularly hard to do! Don’t worry, Nagisa vs. Tokaku is still in progress and if all goes well, will be out this month too. Be excited for it.
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