Frank Sunderland is the tritagonist in Silent Hill 4: The Room. and the superintendent of Henry Townshend's apartment building, South Ashfield Heights, and the father of James Sunderland.
Biography
Prior to the game's events, he discovered a baby in Room 302 and gave him to the nearby St. Jerome's Hospital. Frank suspected that the baby's parents may have had financial troubles or had gotten themselves into danger. He kept the baby's umbilical cord in his room for over 34 years because he felt that it was too precious to throw out. Frank wrote of this in his diary.
A few years later, Frank would often see a little boy coming to Room 302 to visit his "mother", but the boy eventually stopped.
About a couple decades later, Frank witnessed a man wearing a coat hanging around Room 302, and confirmed there were signs of someone having been in there. Frank began to have dreams of the man crying and calling for his mother.
Silent Hill 4: The Room
Frank makes an effort to investigate what is going on in Henry's room during the game, but is unable to open the door or otherwise enter the room, much to Eileen Galvin's disappointment. Henry's mysterious absence reminds Frank of Joseph Schreiber's disappearance.
When Henry and Eileen traverse into Walter's Otherworlds, they enter Frank's room and Henry takes Walter's umbilical cord, which he uses to defeat the final boss.
In the "21 Sacraments" ending, Frank is reportedly found dead in South Ashfield Height apartments, along with five unnamed police officers. This is possibly the work of Walter, but his motive for these murders is unknown. In the other alternative endings, it is assumed Frank is still alive and well.
Trivia
- In some moments in the game, the player can find letters mentioning a character named Rachel, including a bloody nurse uniform with her name on it. In Silent Hill 2, Rachel was the name of Mary Shepherd-Sunderland's nurse. Frank Sunderland may have had some connection to her because of the letters in his apartment. Frank mistakenly thought that Mike was Rachel's boyfriend.
- The person that resembles the woman from the photo with Frank Sunderland in room 301 can be seen in room 106. This is possibly Rachel.
- If the player examines the picture above Henry's couch at one point in the game, Henry states that Frank's son and daughter-in-law disappeared in Silent Hill ("I got this photo from Sunderland, the superintendent. I heard his son and daughter-in-law disappeared in Silent Hill a few years back..."). This alludes to James and the story of Silent Hill 2.
- Frank is the one of the few characters in the game that is not involved in the 21 Sacraments directly.
- Frank, like his son, has some questionable actions, such as keeping an umbilical cord from a stranger in his room for 34 years. Likewise, his son is willing to grab a wallet inside a filthy toilet and not wash his hands.