Heather Mason vs. Moira Burton (Silent Hill vs. Resident Evil)


(Yuix)

(Grimes)

"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. 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. This is a pretty sizable rewrite from the original and since we already have done blogs with these respective series, we will be mostly ignoring scaling unless necessary as to not be redundant with the other blogs. Please go read James Sunderland VS Alan Wake on Bang’s Blogs for a more in depth look into Silent Hill’s scaling and stay tuned for Jill Valentine VS Regina and Leon Kennedy VS Frank West for more in depth looks into Resident Evil.

With Moira compositing her is kind of… impossible? She only appears in Revelations 2 and… Teppen. So we cannot really scale her to any expanded media in the franchise like the non-canon comics or the novels, since she probably just doesn’t exist in these (Or at least isn’t the Moira we’re familiar with). So to stay within reason we’re only going through the main canon here. Heather on the other hand has quite a bit of extra side media to go through. She does stay mostly consistent throughout these so we’re going to include some not-necessarily canon materials like the Silent Hill 3 novelisation and the live action movie for example. Similarly to Teppen though, we’re just ignoring any crossover games, so don’t expect Dead by Daylight to come up.

Note: This is a REWRITE, there have been many removals and changes done to this blog.

Special thanks too…

  • Rina, Kuma, Kaiser and VSBW for Calcs
  • Yuix for art

Background

Heather

“It’s bread…”

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. 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. It’s also important to note that Heather is still part of Alessa and Cheryl, as she is just them.. In a way and unlocks Alessa’s memories throughout the game.

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. Along with Claire, Moira showed a talent for sneaking around rooms of enemies and taking them out all while staying undetected.

Arsenal

Heather

Knife

A small foldable blade that Heather carries for basic self defense. It’s probably the weakest weapon in the game, but it’s also very quick and allows for hit and run tactics easier than other melee options.

Various Pipes

A staple of Silent Hill games. Heather can technically acquire three separate pipes, respectively made of steel, silver and gold respectively. In Silent Hill 4, bullets made of silver are capable of instantly killing ghosts, meaning the silver one could have similar properties. Good to have in any close quarter brawls.

Katana

Just like her dear old dad, Heather has used a katana to cut down the monsters of silent hill. It’s 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. So it’s a much faster weapon to use, similar to the knife.

Stun Gun

It’s seemingly a simple taser… until you consider that 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. It can crumble weaker monsters into the dirt with a single attack.

Beam Saber

A sword of light that shines with a strange force. It is described as “pure light” and is a secret unlockable goodie for beating the game. However, if one should go on to beat the game again it becomes twice as strong, making it even more busted.

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 and it’s ammo is the most commonly found throughout the game, ensuring its usefulness.

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! It has a 15 round capacity and like the beretta is popular amongst law enforcement.

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. It’s ammo is the second most common throughout the game and is a preferred choice for crowd control.

Mac-10 Submachine Gun

A fast paced and medium ranged weapon that's pretty good at crowd control. Its ammo is the most scarce in the game to balance its power but if the requirements are met on subsequent playthroughs, 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. It’s likely the most powerful ranged weapon in the game and was popular enough to make a return in Book of Memories.

Radio

A little portable radio that Heather snatched up from an abandoned elevator. It plays static when monsters are nearby so she knows to be careful.  This doesn't seem to be a unique ability of the radio however, but more so to do with Silent Hill’s monsters themselves.

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. It also helps that she conceals it under her puffy vest! So the bad guys don’t know to aim somewhere else.

Perfume

An odd perfume, said to smell like infection that attracts enemies to where it is sprayed but if she’s not careful it can make them more aggressive towards her. Allowing Heather to use it as a semi-distraction so she can maneuver around the town better without any fuss. In BoM, it increases the users health and intelligence.

Silencer

Operates on action movie logic and guns totally silent, making it useful for stealthy kills. It's attachable to all of Heather’s guns, shotgun aside (duh).

Beef Jerky

It's used to distract certain monsters, specifically the dog enemies and can sometimes distract 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 Items

Halo of the Sun

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 seemingly 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.

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 these features, 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 some of Alessa’s memories.

Though it is important to keep in mind that Valtiel, a demon that watches over Heather throughout the game, is responsible for the resurrection. It’s not something that naturally occurs for her and likely has a limit. The worst it’s brought Heather back from is likely dismemberment. But the official companion guide; 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.

Princess Heart

Slay.

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.

Silent Hill: Book of Memories Kit

In 2012, Konami released what is possibly the worst entry in the series (Yes, worse than the HD Collection) ... An officially canon dungeon crawler… exclusive to the PS Vita… But, both James and Heather are playable characters within it and get quite a few handy items and powers from it that they both have full access to. (Still better than Ascension though, dear god)

Karma: There are two kinds of Karma to be collected: Good (White) and Bad (Red), depending on whichever the user has more of will determine the outcome of what they write within the Book of Memories. Karma is also used to perform a vast variety of abilities to aid in survival. These range from abilities that steal health from enemies, stun them, deal large amounts of damage or heal the user and allies.

There are also Boosts, which also do various things, such as amplifying speed or strength temporarily, making the user invincible, invisible or just increasing their Karma. Power Moves are in the same vein, used to attack multiple enemies at once, paralyze them, steal health, etc.

Weaponry: Of course there is a plethora of extra weapons characters can snatch up throughout these dungeons. There’s a plethora of firearms, including a rifle and a laser gun. Melee weapons are in good supply as well, like chainsaws, magic hammers and a few elemental swords. Heather can also get things like James Sunderland’s hyper spray and even a special remote control that can change enemies into a plethora of fodder punching bags from Silent Hill. There’s also a vast variety of artifacts and charms that can amplify certain in-game stats and there’s a few items that can change the user’s appearance or restock their health and ammo.

The Book of Memories: Just one of many books written by The Order that are cursed with negative energy and “bound as if by steel, so as to be impervious from assault from non-believers”. Embodying them with God’s will, it possesses all of their memories throughout their entire lives, allowing them to change whatever they could want so long as they have enough “memory residue". The book is mainly used to alter the past of course and being able to bring its contents into the real world. It can control the life of others as well, as shown in the pure light ending and the world around them as insinuated in the light and neutral endings, with it even being able to write things out of existence itself, as shown in the pure blood ending. The book also has very potent regeneration and durability, resisting having its pages torn out and being burned to ash.

Characters have used this thing for even the most petty of tasks, such as screwing over their coworker from getting a promotion or ruining romantic relationships. In using the book to affect others, the user is transported into their “dreamscape” and their wills clash (portrayed through the use of boss fights), although in some endings this isn't required. Harry Mason was also seemingly able to use the book to rewrite the timeline and start a new parallel one, kickstart the game of Shattered Memories, which takes place in an alternate universe. The book is not invincible however, there are ways to destroy it, though we're never given a direct answer on what can destroy it.

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.

Side Arms

Moira has a couple side arms in the story. She has a Smith & Wesson Model 329PD, a trusty and powerful magnum that holds up to six shots at a time and is Moira’s most powerful sidearm. There’s also a Makarov PM, similar to the one Claire uses. It’s not especially powerful, but it explodes heads all the same.

Machineguns

Moira can use an AK-47, a classic assault rifle and one of Moira’s most powerful options for long range combat. She also has a 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.

Shotguns

Moira’s got a groovy double barreled shotgun M147S,  which is Moira’s most directly powerful firearm but it only carries two shots at a time, though. There’s also the 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, it’s just in this loading screen.

Katana

An unlockable weapon that is specific to Moira. 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.

Healing Items
  • 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 rigged together piece of cloth that's tightened around bleeding wounds to help it stop.

Weaponized Bottles
  • Explosive 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.
  • Smokescreen Bottle: This one emits a big smoke cloud when used, go for getaways.

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

Inhuman Endurance and Stamina

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. She also survived Silent Hill's monsters and then Silent Hill itself for an entire day with little solid rest, all while enduring mental torture and consistently engaging in battles for her life.

Non-Physical Interaction

Silent Hill protagonists have a pretty good record of beating the shit out of ghosts. James Sunderland could attack ghosts in Toluca prison and Henry in the 4th game could battle ghosts in a sort of dreamscape. Heather herself can also fight ghosts in Silent Hill: Book of Memories.

Limited 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.

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. This movie sucks really bad.

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 potentially 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 others to bypass a church’s protective aura.

Moira

Inhuman Endurance and Stamina

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. 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. Other Resident Evil protags have showcased a level of this as well, so it’s not really inconsistent.

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

Moira

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.
  • Kicked God in the face three times.
  • Ultimately avenged Harry Mason’s murder, learned of her true nature as the reincarnation of Alessa and unlocked her past selves’ memories.
  • The best Silent Hill protagonist.

Strength

Durability

Speed
  • The Missionary is described as “lightning fast” in the script for Silent Hill Revelations.

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

Durability

Speed

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 to an extent, 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 technically by events within the movie.

One may argue that we never see Heather use her powers, but we actually do to a certain extent at least. 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. But ultimately there’s not really enough evidence to support the idea of Heather having access to Alessa’s entire pool of abilities. We do see her have some abilities, sure but obviously nothing on the level of stopping time or reality warping. It is possible that if given enough time Heather could unlock more but this is sort of getting into fan-fic territory. We even technically pick back up with Heather in Book of Memories, which takes place 10 years after SH3 and she’s just chilling with a normal ass life seemingly. So really we can only use what she’s directly shown, which in the game itself is some light precognition and seemingly some form of heightened senses. She also has that weird… life absorption shit in the movie.

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.

How do they scale to other protagonists?

This one is decently easy to explain for both. With Moira, she’s a companion to Claire throughout Revelations 2, being able to aid her in fights and tangle with all of the same bosses. Barry Burton also rolls up to the island as well and can trade blows with many of the same enemies as Claire and Moira. So there’s sufficient reason to argue Moira being somewhat comparable to Claire and Barry, veteran characters in the series.

Now what’s tricky is arguing when Moira actually scales to these characters. Resident Evil isn’t like The Walking Dead or The Last of Us where the human cast are just… dudes with some occasional superhuman showings. They’re pretty blatantly and consistently superhuman, to a ridiculous degree. Though someone like Claire isn’t really on the same level of bullshit that a prime roided out RE5 Chris Redfield is. She does later in the series show some level of relativity but it’s clear that Claire isn’t exactly on that level and this doubly goes for Moira. She shows some relatively to Claire in Revelations 2, but that's about it. Moira is one of the many characters that Capcom sort of just forgot about after their introduction game lmao. So realistically her scaling is just going to be limited, on top of the fact that she’d just naturally downscale to begin with. We agree that Moira should likely only be scaled to anything in Revelations 2 and before that game's events, such as a young Claire Redfield or a rookie Leon. But things like RE4 Leon or RE7 Chris would just be overly generous.

With Heather her scaling is much more direct. Harry Mason is killed in Silent Hill 3 by the Missionary, who Heather bodies in revenge mere moments after. Heather makes her canon return to the series 10 years later in Silent Hill Book of Memories and can be compared to James Sunderland with that, since they can both fight the same bosses and enemies. Really that's all Heather needs, as Harry and James just have some of the best feats/scaling in the series as a whole but unlike Resident Evil, Silent Hill can be applied with different scaling logic. As its cast are, for the most part, just typical people narratively and aren’t performing feats that are latitudes above the others. At least not to the point where it’d make sense for them to stone wall each other. So Heather should just be somewhat comparable to most feats in the series.

Verdict

Stats

As far as strength and speed are concerned, it's actually decently close. On the lower end of things, both of them have and scale to a plethora of wall level feats and bullet timing. Reasonably neither are really blitzing each other here and would be around the low mach ranges in reaction speed. Even if you wanted to bring up their respective laser feats and ignore their issues in validity, they’d likely still be neck and neck. Moira is definitely a bit stronger than Heather normally however. Moira has lifted heavier things and AP scaling is quite a bit better. You can scale Heather to James Sunderland, who has a feat knocking around 0.6 Tons of TNT which does outdo any direct feat performed by Moira or really any character in Rev 2 but that's not it. Moira is directly comparable to Claire Redfield throughout the game, able to aid her in boss fights and handle the same creatures. Claire in her youth could tangle with a few of William Birkin’s mutations and withstand hits from him. William has a feat kicking up to around 1 Tons of TNT, a tiny bit over a 2x difference.

However Heather can hang in there thanks to several buffing items from Book of Memories. While only lasting for around 60 seconds, the strength boost doubling Heather’s physicality would get her to 1.2 Tons of TNT and would match Moira already. However the fists boost increases her strength 10x over, getting Mason at around 6 Tons of TNT, a good bit stronger than Moira. While of course this doesn’t last forever, it’d still allow Heather to hang in there or even take advantage of a close quarters brawl.

Ultimately neither should have a considerable advantage over each other physically, Moira is likely stronger regularly, but Heather has the amps to match and even over take this advantage. Making this category a draw overall.

Offense

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, which has better aoe than really anything Heather has. The Book of Memories game does actually give Heather a larger arsenal of weapons and some pretty destructive options herself. Like laser guns, grenades and a bit more haxy weapons than Moira. Hyper Spray and the transmutation remote would provide Heather with a couple extra options to just incapacitate Moira, but all in all a bullet will put down both and neither are really lacking in the instant win conditions department.

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. On top of that, while Moira may have a slight 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, either cleaving through Moira’s crowbar or just stunning her temporarily. Leaving Moira wide open to attack. This also isn't to say Heather’s ranged weaponry is lacking either. Princess Heart gives her auto-aim and laser 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.

The Book of Memories itself is also just something Moira doesn’t really have an answer to directly and does operate on a higher scale than anything really present in Resident Evil. But given that Moira is just as fast and just as capable of killing as Heather, she’d be hard pressed finding an opportunity to actually get anything off with it, since it requires the user to actually write in it. So it’s likely not as huge a factor in deciding the winner here, though Moira couldn’t really afford to allow Heather to get use out of it.

Both have their advantages in pure offense and all together their advantages aren’t really enough to afford either one the edge here. Making this category another draw.

Defense

In addition, Heather’s defensive options are just superior. Bullet-proof armor is something Moira just doesn’t have. 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. To add to this, Heather has a lot more healing options at her active disposal and can stockpile higher amounts as well. Which means that even if she is hurt, she’d be able to more easily recover from that in comparison to Moira.

Power Moves within BoM would also be insanely dangerous as well, giving Heather things that Moira doesn't really have a solid answer to. Push Force could knock Moira away if Heather is on the backfoot in close quarters, Flash Burst could stun Moira and allow Heather a solid extra hit or two, and Health Siphon provides another healing option to Heather. A couple of the Boost powers are also quite handy, specifically the Unseen and Guard Boosts, which would grant Heather invincibility and invisibility for 60 whole seconds respectively. Ultimately leaving her with a plethora of ways to avoid damage and lock Moira down in return. Moira does have a slick counter to invisibility with her special flashlights but this would be something done in reaction to Heather disappearing, so it’d still allow her a moment or two to get away or make distance.

Certain boosts would also grant Heather more impressive travel speeds for a short time, so she could play more evasive than Moira if given the chance or just close the distance between them if needed. Something that also needs to be discussed is Heather’s potential resurrection. It is admittedly 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 sort of 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. It’s basically just another thing not really helping Moira’s case here.

Overall, Heather Mason just has far better means of protecting herself compared to Moira, giving her this category with relative ease.

Skill

Last but not least, their own skill sets are important to cover. 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. So Heather is the only one here with any actual training. Moira was definitely capable of taking care of herself, but the story makes it quite clear that Moira is sort of just winging it.

You could argue Moira has more experience in general, as she did survive around a week straight on that island but this is probably the only real tertiary advantage Moira has here. Heather has done all her work on her own, only occasionally receiving some minor help from Vincent or Douglas. She’s fought all her battles on her own, while Moira has always had aid from far more experienced combatants like Claire Redfield and Barry. Meanwhile Heather took down all the big bads in Silent Hill on her lonesome, even during her fight with the Order’s God.

This is probably the outlier matchup in this series pairing in terms of skill. Moira was sheltered most of her life and refused to even touch guns until she had to in order to survive the events of Revelations 2. Meanwhile Harry ensured Heather was capable of taking care of herself if the occasion ever arises. Keep in mind, Harry was hiding Heather from The Order for pretty much her entire life and regularly took her to training ranges. Dude went out of his way to make sure she could handle shit. While Barry was pretty content with keeping Moira out of umbrella related affairs.

And this brings us to Heather more than likely winning this pretty consistently. Her better experiences and skill would just ensure that she can capitalize on her advantages before Moira. Which ultimately just amounts to shooting her ass. Heather’s body armor alone is just a crazy advantage here. Especially given Moira’s lackluster experience with firearms but add in the fact that Heather’s karma powers can hold her in place or just make Heather immune to damage as a whole, mix that with a slight speed advantage and the winner here is very clear. Moira is fairly grounded compared to most other characters in her series and has never been a recurring member of the cast, she really only has the one game. Compared to her opponent's extensive list of extended media, it’s hard to really form an argument for Moira that’s completely solid. The winner is Heather Mason.

Conclusion

Heather “Cheryl” Mason

"I don't know what kind of hell is waiting for me there, but I've got no other choice. I don't care about God or Paradise... If that's what she believes, then fine. But she won't get away with what she did. When I find her, I'll kill her myself.”

Advantages:

  • Around 5x faster with high ends
  • Higher ap and travel speel via karma 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
  • Karma 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 and Door (fight us)
  • Silent Hill f was pretty awesome

Disadvantages:

  • A bit weaker without strength boosts
  • Invisibility is countered by Moira’s flashlight
  • Not as much general experience
  • The movie is so dogshit

Moira Burton

“I watched him as he faced reality and thought: “I don't wanna do this to my Dad.” I can't die here. If he wants to be over protective, let him. I’d rather deal with that than make him spend the rest of his life wishing he protected me more.”

Advantages:

  • Stronger and tougher 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
  • Generally more destructive arsenal
  • More general experience and a more seasoned survivor
  • Revelations 2 is pretty underrated

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 karma abilities from BoM
  • Inferior close quarters abilities
  • Doesn’t have bullet-proof armor

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 skill, protections and hax that are sealing her fate. Making her vastly more dangerous 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, with or without Valtiel's aid, Heather simply had the means to shut it down basically immediately and keep herself alive. Even when 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 good 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 (3) - door-kun, Thicc Grimes, Yuix

Moira Burton (0) - We'll run it back with Rose Winters when she has more.

Afterword

2026 Update: So we returned to this one for a good, basically top to down rewrite. We used to logic prior that we don’t really think flies too good anymore, so I wanted to give this blog a good ‘ol cleaning up. Format changes, new art, gifs, updated calcs etc.

These days I think this matchup is kind of just fine. It’s not necessarily bad, but I just think Heather has much better. Rebecca Chambers and Rose Winters from Resident Evil have a bit more to work with compared to Moira and the new cast member; Grace Ashcroft has a really good vibe too. Rose has the similar issue as Moira and doesn’t really have much media to be fair though the dynamic of them having limited powersets and the fact that RE7 is just clearly inspired by SH3 makes me enjoy it a lot. Caroline from Tormented Souls is also a really cool non-RE match-up for her. I do still understand why people really like this one though, Moira is a pretty underrated character and the thematics here are strong.

  • Grimes

NEXT TIME….

Hungry for more RE, though? Well, keep your eyes out for Jill Valentine VS Regina from Dino Crisis, coming up very soon as our 2nd installment in our Resident Evil blog trilogy.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

All For One vs. Toichiro Suzuki (My Hero Academia vs. Mob Psycho 100)

Image
(Flip) (Flip) (Ninja) (Toxin) (Toxin) (Yuix) “ No man chooses evil because it is evil; he only mistakes it for happiness, the good he seeks.” - Mary Shelley All For One , My Hero Academia’s Symbol of Evil. Toichiro Suzuki , Mob Psycho 100 ’s terrorist esper. A dream is something that many people aspire towards - that they view as their life’s work and goal. It’s usually something positive - but not for these two. They desired to rule their worlds, as demon kings and rulers - after all, as the strongest there ever was, it was their right, was it not? They would take the powers of others for themselves to gain more and more power, as all they believed they needed was themselves. And yet, they were defeated by the ideals of heroism they mocked, by the people they thought beneath them - and so, their stories ended. However, when Claw’s Boss meets the Demon King, will All For One be rewound to zero again? Or will Toichiro learn why not to challenge the throne? Let’s find out in this DEAT...
Read more

Mario VS. Kirby (Nintendo vs Hal Laboratory)

Image
(Arima) (Morta) “Only a handful of characters can last for one, two or three decades” - Satoru Iwata Nintendo is one of the most important companies today, with its thousands of IPs that have marked and will mark generations until its final days. But if there is one thing they are known for, it is their expertise in making platform games, and among all the platform icons that exist in the gaming world, these two are their most iconic ones! Mario, The super star. Kirby,  The greediest dreamer. Today, these two warriors will battle to see who is the greatest Power Star . Will Mario's perseverance lead him to victory, or will Kirby's insatiable gluttony cause him to devour his competition? Find out today on Shinomiya Blogs! (In case you’re wondering, this blog was done by my friend Roxx, hence the different name/formatting. Enjoy goofiness.) Before We Start I love myself (yeah hard thing i know) so im only using media for NES and Classic GameBoy , no games for further consoles l...
Read more

Uzi and N vs. Toko and Komaru (Murder Drones vs. Danganronpa)

Image
“Kill all sons of bitches. That’s my official instructions.” -Ellis Uzi Doorman and Serial Designation N , worker and disassembly drone (planned) human murderers of Copper 9. Toko Fukawa and Komaru Naegi , super high school level serial killer and hope sibling saviors of Towa City. The humans of earth have a sour philosophy: Kill or be killed, and that seems to bleed to the autonomous as well. But when that idea reaches its apex in your city, you’d be surprised what pairings can emerge. Blades out and guns blazing, which survivor duo will live another day? You better hope your favorites don’t get murdered . Too much? Before We Begin… Content Warning: While the topics won’t be directly discussed in the blog, Ultra Despair Girls is a very extra game that can sometimes be incredibly tone deaf over serious subjects. Some links for feats/information in the bios will lead to or imply scenes that involve the following: Child abuse/neglect Sexual assault Graphic/gory imagery/implications (for ...
Read more