Cheryl's "birth"

[Maria]

I don't know.

I always saw it as the 'rebirth' is Alessa, using the power of the god, re-fusing her soul into one being.

That would mean that there really isn't a 'Cheryl Rebirth', but an Alessa Rejoined.

Cheryl, such as she is, isn't really a person at all. She was created by the god as a safe repository of part of her soul.

There is a weird 'hole' here. The god promised that she'd be back to open the path to Paradise. A good thing, yes? Yet the alternate SH is not a good place. Claudia justifies the horror by claiming that there needs to be a cleansing, and Paradise will be opened after it. We're told that the horrible SH is the result of Alessa/the god's pain acting on the town.

But we are left with the puzzle, why did the god not simply come back when the initial ritual was done? That would have avoided all the dark Silent Hill stuff, the path to Paradise would be open, and mankind would live in joy.

Was Dahlia's initial ritual so screwed up that it made the god(who is clearly present) not want to manifest?