Hunters Dream

Extra's

Bloodborne's story is, at times, infuriatingly vague, and the removal of boss souls and overall fewer loot drops in the game are going to make deciphering the lore harder than ever. There's a ton of people hard at work in the community doing so right now, though. There's a lot left to find, I'm confident, and I'll probably do a write up on some theories, or smaller bit of interesting lore discoveries, later on.

Overall, the unexpected shift from gothic, to cosmic horror made Bloodborne a stronger game, in my opinion. It's still distinctly a From Software title, the emphasis on cycles is still present, though less prevalent than in Dark Souls or Demon's Souls, and the storytelling is as environmental and inferred as ever. While a lot of this is, obviously, based on my own conjecture and interpretations of the events of Bloodborne, I tried to keep this all as close to "factual" as possible, not a ton of theorycrafting in this post, though the closing hours of the game virtually require it.

There are still some lore spots which I'm unclear on, and which it seems like (from what I've found) the community is as well. What, exactly, is paleblood? Is paleblood even real at all, or merely a macguffin Gehrman sends you after, hiding your real quest? Was there even a real quest, or was the whole thing merely a game being played by the Moon Presence, seeing how far various hunters could get in the hunt before dying? Did the Moon Presence want Mergo's Wet Nurse, and possibly her child, dead? Or did it just decide to pull the plug on the whole thing after seeing you become strong enough to take down several Great Ones, fearing for its own security?

One thing I will note, I don't think there can be any doubt that the events of Bloodborne are a dream. Between Micolash's comments, and the Yharnam Sunrise ending, it seems that the events of the game are not set in the real Yharnam, but within a dream version of it— with the Hunter's Dream being a dream within a dream. I say it's a dream, but understand, I don't think that means it wasn't real. The great ones are strange, eldritch beings. I think it's entirely possible, and in fact likely, that (with the exception of the Celestial Emissary, who seem to just be straight up U.F.O. flying saucer aliens) they aren't necessarily beings of the physical realm, all the while being able to influence it. The School of Mensis lies afloat in the nightmare— but perhaps the entire game, the Yharnam we play through, is afloat in the nightmare as well. A very real dimension, a very real world, but one which humans can only access through dreams.

Bloodborne's lore is a very compelling love letter to the works of Lovecraft, and hopefully the community will be able to work out satisfactory answers to the many questions I listed above. It feels like we're still figuring out secrets of the game in general (as far as I know, people still haven't figured out what that wedding ring key item does), and the lore could take a while to hammer down. Still, it's a great game, and an exciting time.