Yes, that character, Angela Orosco, exactly that one. You can have your own opinion, but I want to share mine too and do my best to explain why I think Angela is a great character with a well written story that shows the damage of abuse.

First off, I wasn’t talking about abuse SURVIVORS, just abuse victims in general, and this is important precisely because Angela isn’t meant to be a survivor, she is the exact opposite, it’s the whole point of her story. Angela’s story is what happens when someone gets extremely abused during their whole life and is even blamed for it, they are left with wounds so deep there’s no turning back. Angela doesn’t blame herself for no reason, she blames herself because her mother, the only person she could trust and her last hope of redemption, said so (“Even Mama said it… I deserved what happened”) and this is abuse too, not the same kind of abuse that her father did on her and not as gruesome, but is what pushed her over the edge in the end, what crushed her last hope. This is the tragedy of Angela, not only her life was a living hell, but she was lead to believe she deserved it and died thinking that. When you see Angela for the last time you really want to help her, you want to tell her it’s not her fault, but James is too deep in his own issues to help Angela, is too late now and only a miracle would be able to make Angela not want to die (when she says “will you love me? Take care of me? Heal ALL of my pain?” she is pretty much telling how she could be saved if someone were to truly love her and always care of her, but James obviously can’t give her that and it’s too little too late now). Honestly, if they were to make Angela suddenly not want to die that would have been sugarcoating the whole issue and that wasn’t the point. The whole point of Angela’s story is that not everyone survives abuse. Is it sad? Yes, of course it is, but it’s a truth. If someone is heavily abused their entire life by their own family, lead to believe it’s their fault, and not getting help until the last moment (and from someone who is also really damaged and can’t do much) then yes, the most likely outcome is that they would choose death. It’s sad, it’s awful, no one deserves that, but it does happen. If Angela were to survive that would just make the issue seem less serious than what it really is. Angela’s story is very good because it shows the tragedy of someone who is heavely abused and doesn’t get help in time. They have an awful life, they blame it on themselves, they get depressed and lose all of their self-steem, they choose to die and they think they deserved it until the last moment. If people who are abused don’t get help in time and form then they may not make it. Not everyone can find salvation, specially if they are on their own.

As for Abstract Daddy and the piston room. Have you noticed how each time you meet Angela the effects of the abuse show more and more? Just like James, at the start of the game she doesn’t remember the truth (she believes her father is still alive when in reality she killed him) and she probably doesn’t remember most of the abuse, so she seems like just a nervous, shy, awkward girl, a bit weird but still normal overall. But on the 2nd encounter she changes a lot, she seems depressed, cynical, defensive, and even suicidal. She likely remembered the abuse from her father and brother but not from her mother, so she is still clinging to her mama and that’s why she hasn’t gone completely suicidal and gives the knife to James so she won’t do anything with it, and even though she is the one that asked him to take it from her, she gets scared as soon as he gets his hand closer, apologizes as if she was talking to her dad and runs away. All of that plus the torned photo will most likely leave everyone suspecting that she was abused, and the 3rd encounter is the confirmation of those suspicions. By the 3rd encounter Angela has remembered too much and she can’t even try to hide her damage anymore, hence Abstract Daddy’s “vulgar” design and the piston room. The town is projecting her worst traumas and that’s why the design of Abstract Daddy is so unsubtle, because there is nothing subtle about what happened to her, she is too damaged to hide anything and it shows in her breakdown after you kill Abstract Daddy.

Finally, as for “most female SH characters being associated with sex”, excuse me but what about Cheryl, Alessa, Dahlia, Cybil, Laura, Mary, Claudia and Heather? It seems as if you just looked at Maria (who isn’t associated with sex just because fanservice or something stupid like that, it’s because it’s heavily connected with James’ story, but this is too long already and I don’t wanna go on another tangent) and maybe Lisa and just ruled every female character as “sex associated” without thinking much about it. As for SH4, I am playing it now but I still haven’t beaten it, so I won’t say anything about it until I clear it and get the whole picture to rightfully judge it’s characters.

Sorry if this was too long, but I just had a lot to say and probably could still go on but I wont. Thanks for your patience