Thor Steinbach (Silent Hill)

Thor Steinbach is the protagonist of Silent Hill: Devil's Pacifism.

He is a dark and mysterious person. Born in Alaska, he lacked friends throughout his childhood due in part to his strange personality (caused by Asperger syndrome, though it wasn't diagnosed until adulthood) as well as his family moving roughly every six months. Often the target of ridicule well into his high school years, he eventually became bitter and withdrew from society as a whole. His 'genius gene' lies in writing and as such he was become a wordsmith, writing science fiction stories in the darkness of his quiet apartment. Despite the fact that he has had bad luck with people leading to a general distrust towards everyone, he can be highly charismatic and will often perform tasks for people when asked, even when he really does not want to do so. He considers this a "failing trait" and wishes that he could just let go of his caring for others. Overall, he is a fairly pessimistic individual.

He often mentally punishes himself for having let go the girl of his dreams. While she is now married and living far beyond his reach he chooses to play nice with her husband and even once invited him and her on a trip to Silent Hill, just to be close to her. However, this was the last time he ever heard from the two of them and since then he has lived his life in total seclusion. This has had some negative effects on his personality and he feels lonely most of the time, although even so he prefers to go it alone. Two quirks of his are his talking to himself out loud and the fact that he pursues the paranormal specifically because it frightens him.

Appearance
Thor is primarily of Alutiiq/Athabaskan descent, and as such has slightly tanned skin. Mutative genes have given him green eyes like his grandmother, despite both his parents possessing brown eyes. His eyes possess hazel-like properties and appear to shift in hue dependent upon the clothing he wears, the local weather conditions, or even his mood; they most often alter to a slate gray state but have also been known to turn golden. This change occurs in real time and can be immediately noticeable as it occurs.

His hair normally appears black and drifts down to his shoulder blades, though in direct sunlight it will taken on a reddish hue. Past stresses have led to a white streak along the right side, though it usually is not noticeable amongst the rest of the mass. It is also considerably thick - four times that of a normal person - and falls in tight ringlets when wet, drying quickly to a more "poofy" look, with his bangs extending out away from the rest like a pair of hairy antennae, bouncing with every step. He detests this and therefore generally keeps his locks tied back into a ponytail.

Initially, his clothes could be considered somewhat hodgepodge. Beyond the black-rimmed glasses he must wear in order to see anything, he also has come to town wearing his trusty brown poofy hat and a black military trenchcoat over a black & white Hawai'ian shirt. His green slack pants are loose from weight loss and are only held up by a GM seatbelt. White socks remain between his feet and the black leather slip-on shoes adorning them. He wears three rings - two on his right and one on his left ring fingers - and he carries a black leather collar that has been blessed by a priest.

After a particularly bloody battle, he is forced to change his clothes. He is in luck however and finds a new white shirt and tan slacks to put on, and a pair of leather fingerless gloves. Surprisingly though, he chooses to keep his hat and coat on, as they hold sentimental value to him.

Personality
Thor is a self-hating introvert who has built a defensive barrier that appears more outgoing, friendly, and helpful. He considers himself a realist, although all of the "reality" he sees tends to be particularly negative in nature. It is a combination of his hatred for himself as well as his humble nature and community-oriented mind that leaves him placing others' needs before himself. Despite this, he has been known to 'snap' and become incredibly selfish for a short period of time.

Being only 5'7" in height, he has developed a Napoleon complex and therefore feels really uncomfortable around people being taller than he is. Part of the reason he wears his trusty hat is to keep him from noticing how people are usually taller than him.  He "swore himself out" when he was 6-years-old, and ever since then has been unimpressed by the swearing of others, but feels incredible empathy toward someone crying, to the point of feeling the need, rather than a desire, to help them.  At the same time he detests bossy people, whether it be someone telling him what to do without asking his opinion first or pushy people cramming their religious beliefs down his throat.  He doesn't mind people having their own religious beliefs, but immediately draws the line when a person attempts to convince him that his opinion is wrong and theirs is correct.

Although feeling disenfranchised with life as a whole at this point in his existence, he still holds some likes and desires. He enjoys eating, savoring every bite of his food(s) of choice - unfortunately, when combined with his tiny mouth it can take him quite a while to finish a meal. As a child, he dreamed of being a paleontologist, and later an entomologist, and while neither of these panned out for him he still holds both dinosaurs and arthropods in high regard. He always fancied himself a writer and took up an amateur level of artistry from his childhood idolization of his father, whom he never saw growing up.

He also hails from a place that was still spiritually-focused in the 1980s, and he now works as a paranormal researcher, finding the paranormal fascinating yet terrifying at the same time.

Like everyone, Thor is not without his phobias. As he has not figured out exactly what happens upon demise he is afraid of dying until he can figure out exactly whether or not an afterlife exists. This is someone unique for him, as he fears specific types of demise more than others out of unnatural fears related to them. For instance, he fears dismemberment because he is unsure about whether he will end up in the afterlife in that same condition or not - this has also caused him to refuse being an organ donor. He also fears drowning and by extension, deep water in general. This stems from his early childhood when a teacher's aide at his school nearly drowned him while trying to teach him not to fear dunking his head under the water; shocked at the sudden dunking he was unable to catch his breath and nearly suffocated. He also worries about being buried alive, as he would have no way out.

He still has a lingering fear of the darkness stemming from childhood, which he has not entirely gotten rid of. However, this only extends to making him paranoid. Larger animals also cause him stress, from fear of being harmed by them. He holds no fear of cows. His final phobia is the result of decades of taunting from his peers and neglect from the opposite sex, if not outright being creeped out should he attempt to flirt with them. This has culminated in an intense fear of rejection, to the point that he cannot talk easily to attractive females and can never tell them his true feelings for them. He is perfectly capable of talking to girls he has no desire for; unfortunately this has led to them desiring him on several occasions, which he is not interested in, ultimately expanding his loneliness.

Thor suffers from what was formerly known as Asperger's Syndrome, a type of high-functioning Autism. He also has an I/Q of 148.

Relationships
Growing up with undiagnosed Asperger's Syndrome would prove to be pivotal in developing how Thor would handle his relationships with other people. Being unable to properly express himself to others but not knowing why until some years into his adult life, Thor had few friends growing up. Despite initially being close to his family because of this, puberty led to frustration and angst, and many bridges were inadvertently burned in the process. Ultimately, Thor became estranged from his family as well as what little friends he had.

Although his personality developed its own quirkiness that would attract people in his mid- to late-twenties, he continued to pull away from people. However, he would not completely pull himself away until his incident with Alice.

Alice Noel-Roback
Alice and Thor became friends in 2003 and he instantly fell into deep infatuation for her, although the feelings never appear to have been reciprocated. Although he did attempt to date her she turned him down at every turn, instead dating jerks who would continuously break her heart. Thor felt betrayed and even unlovable because of this, that nobody would want someone as nice as he was. In truth, Alice hid a lot from Thor, believing he would not accept her true way of life. Ultimately he appeared to never officially tell her how he really felt about her.

The two's hanging outs would slowly grow more and more infrequent after she met her future husband, Shawn. The last time the two saw each other was a couple of years ago, where after a long, wonderful hang out period overnight she abruptly told him she was moving away that night. He never heard from her again. Although he has been trying to move on with his life, the fact that he was willing to travel across the United States to Silent Hill at behest of her husband just to try and look for her indicates that he has been unsuccessful in completely letting her go.

Henry O'Toole
Henry and Thor have very little to do with each other. However, Thor randomly runs into Henry at a motel where the latter is standing outside of a room, lighting up a cigarette. Thor asks him if he has seen Shawn Roback, but Henry is unsure. He informs him of another motel in the town and Thor thanks him, departing. The two do not meet up again.

Lucrecia Callahan
Thor and Lucrecia worked together in Alaska as paranormal researchers. The two share a significant amount of sexual tension, though it has gone unrequited and unacknowledged. She sees a lot of one of her former roommates in Thor, and is shocked by their tremendous physical similarities, which may actually contribute to her desires somewhat.

Thor left for Silent Hill without informing his fellow researchers and this confused both Lucrecia and Felicity, another coworker of his. They are both worried as to his disappearance but that is the extent it has gone to thus far.

Statistics

 * Eye color: Green, though they often change color depending on his clothes, the weather or his mood.
 * Hair color: Hair color is black, while facial hair is more brownish. Both gain a surprising tint of natural red in them when in the sun, although this certainly won't ever become noticeable in the foggy and dark town of Silent Hill. Due to past stresses, a large white streak is in his hair, but is generally hidden within the mass of the rest of his hair, which is four times as thick as a regular person's.
 * Hair length: When down, his hair drifts down in fairly tight natural curls to his back, to a little bit below the shoulder blades. He often ties it back into a ponytail or a tight bun, depending on the chance of it getting in his way.
 * Skin tone: Slightly tan due to Alaska Native heritage.


 * Apparel: Head is covered in a brown poofy hat while the face is adorned with a small set of glasses. He wears a black & white "Hawai'ian" shirt—his typical style of dress—covered in a black military trench coat to help keep warm. Green chino pants are held up by a GM seatbelt belt due to a recent loss of 30lbs and his lower limbs end in a pair of white socks and black leather slip-on shoes. His two ring fingers are adorned with a grand total of three rings - two on his right and one on his left. Due to his background in researching the paranormal, he brought along a black leather collar that he considers as good luck, as it was once blessed by a priest for use in his paranormal researching.


 * Likes:
 * Food
 * Writing
 * Drawing
 * Insects
 * Dinosaurs
 * Paranormal aspects


 * Dislikes:
 * People being taller than him
 * Being bossed around without his having asked to be told what to do first
 * Having religious beliefs pushed onto him
 * Swearing (minor)
 * Others crying (high weakness)


 * Fears:
 * Dying (Most specifically dismemberment, drowning, and burial while alive)
 * Rejection
 * Darkness (only to the extent of making him paranoid)
 * Deep Water (due to fear of drowning)
 * Large Animals
 * Paranormal aspects

Weapons

 * Ballistic Knife

Behind the scenes

 * The character was originally created for the now-defunct Silent Hill fanon forum known as Silent Hill Paradise to be his personal character. In the first map shown in Silent Hill: Devil's Pacifism you can see other characters from this forum show up as it was originally intended that Somarinoa would keep track of where everyone was for a better and more in-depth writing experience.