The Great Laura Debate! Who really is Laura from Silent Hill 2?

[shootzombies]

Is she real or is she there to prove something to James, like Maria is? I have recently been playing Silent Hill 2 over again, and I became interested in Laura again. In my opinion Laura represents the innocent side of Mary that James despised, and Maria represented the more wild sexual side that James always wanted. In the ending "leave" from SH2 I think that Laura was able to stay with James not in real life, but in his mind. We are seeing things from James' eyes and to him, Laura is walking beside him. I just think that in the end James has accepted the innocent side of Mary and to show his love for her he forgets about her other side- her wild side (Maria basically) and loves her for who she is. Which is why I believe that Laura is still with him, and Maria isn't, James has withdrawn that part of Mary from his memory and now loves her and doesn't care to much about the more "wild" side anymore.

I don't know, I just thought that I'd go on a rant about this because Laura's place in Silent Hill really interests me. Any thoughts?