darkoneinhabitance

[darkoneinhabitance]

Just in: Bloodborne is kino

Sound and hearing in Bloodborne's cosmology

Eyes may be the dominant motif in Bloodborne, relating to the characters' obsession with truthseeking and insight, but a while back, I noticed something odd about the One Third of Umbilical Cord. Despite its rather evocative name, it more closely resembles an eye-laden human cochlea, or the inner ear.

Sound as an arcane force

Mechanically, sound is used as a diegetic medium for the player's abilities within the game world. Bells and chimes are employed to resonate with fellow Hunters, allowing them to cooperate or even battle across worlds. Runes that represent the inhuman spoken words of the Great Ones are memorized to enhance one's attributes. Even the established currency, blood echoes, seem to be a formless medium drawn from slain enemies, and not the blood itself.

In fact, one of the very first runes players are likely to find is Formless Oedon.

The Great One Oedon, lacking form, exists only in voice.

While we never encounter Oedon himself, he is evidently revered by the city, as indicated by the Tomb of Oedon and Oedon Chapel.

Venturing further, we locate and defeat Rom, the Vacuous Spider, and are promptly greeted upon our return to the city by the omnipresent wail of Mergo. Ultimately, Mergo is revealed to be a formless Great One like Oedon; though their crying emanates from a lone pram atop the School of Mensis, the carriage itself is empty.

Mergo is promptly scooped up by the Wet Nurse, whose body is invisible amongst its billowing death shrouds. Upon defeating her, Mergo's crying fades into silence, and we are awarded the One Third of Umbilical Cord. From then, we are free to leave the night of blood and beasts at last at Gehrman's mercy.

Sound as a science

For the modest price of 19.99 USD, an Amygdalan Great One will transport players to the Hunter's Nightmare where they can peruse Yharnam's dark history. The Nightmare Grand Cathedral serves as ground zero for the cruelty inflicted upon citizens in the name of cosmic inquiry.

The Research Hall within the Astral Clocktower is populated by the demented and discarded test subjects featured in a twisted experiment to facilitate contact with the Great Ones.

In the early days of the Healing Church, the Great Ones were linked to the ocean, and so the cerebral patients would imbibe water, and listen for the howl of the sea. Brain fluid writhed inside the head, the initial makings of internal eyes.

The unfortunate products of this experiment suffered a grotesque transformation as their heads inflated to resemble an oversized raisin. Many of the patients were deemed failures, while others retained some semblance of sanity.

A common trend amongst them was a fixation on a "plopping" sound heard from within their own craniums. Those whose heads had inflated to completely absorb their bodies remark on the sound's resemblance to rainfall or the stirring of the ocean. (Should the player equip the Enlarged Head headgear, they can hear for themselves a periodic dripping sound ever so faintly.)

Perhaps the most successful of these damned souls was Saint Adeline, who, after administering multiple Brain Fluids, transforms likely into one of these bulbous heads.

I see a shape. My guide, I see your voice clearly as it bends and bleeds. My own revelation... just for me...

This produces the Milkweed rune, which allows the player to alter their form, turning their head into a lumenwood serving as a nursery for slug-like phantasms.

A call to the bloodless

Beyond this abominable laboratory and prison is the Fishing Hamlet accessed solely by stepping through the face of the Astral Clocktower. Just as the doomed patients envisioned in their maddened rambling, the village floats atop a rainy coast populated by icthyomorphic fishermen. At the far side of this tragic residence lies the carcass of Kos.

Though Kos herself is long dead, the gastly Great One known only as the Orphan of Kos emerges from her womb, carrying a savage weapon that many understand already to be Kos's placenta, still attached by a pulpy pink umbilical cord to the orphan's abdomen. After slaughtering the Orphan of Kos, a black, wraith-like figure appears from Kos's remains, still attached to her bloated belly. By severing this connection, the child is returned to the sea, and the rain promptly ceases.

Returning to the entrance of the Fishing Hamlet, a shaman villager mutters to himself, cursing Byrgenwerth and the Hunters for their sins. If the player has completed Saint Adeline's quest, they can equip the Milkweed Rune to reveal further dialogue:

"Listen for the baneful chants. A call to the bloodless, wherever they be. A call to the bloodless, wherever they be. Fix your ears, to hear our call."

True enough, should the player position themselves near any of the barnacled shacks in the village and strain their ears, low murmurs of unseen inhabitants recite an entrancing curse. This spite is what fuels the very nightmare and seals the Hunters in a generational cycle of misery.

Conflict of anatomy

What mainly struck me as fascinating about the One Third of Umbilical Cord's resemblance to the cochlea pertained initially to etymology. "Cochlea" is the Greek word for "snail shell," and the inner ear is so named for its resemblance to a whorled gastropod shell.

Snails and slugs are of course a common sight in Bloodborne. From the tiny phantasms regarded as augurs of the eldritch Truth to the Great Ones Kos and Ebrietas, these slimy angels harbor great spiritual significance to the various schools of Yharnam's esoteric leaders. Stranger still are the snail women, the mermaid-like enemies who are often found attached to large, whorled shells not unlike the One Third of Umbilical Cord in appearance.

The second linguistic comparison to be drawn relates to the central depression of a whorled shell, referred to as the "umbilicus," relating back again to the One Third of Umbilical Cord's origins.

A great relic, also known as the Cord of the Eye. Every infant Great One has this precursor to the umbilical cord.

Use to gain Insight and, so they say, eyes on the inside, although no one remembers what that truly entails.

Throughout the game, the player has the potential to collect four of these fetishes, despite only three are required for the secret ending. Two of them are obtained directly from infant Great Ones, the first being Mergo, and the second from Arianna's child. However, the Orphan of Kos, another "infant," lacks this special artifact.

...Well, not exactly, anyway.

Looking closer at the weapon in its hand, it certainly doesn't resemble a placenta, no thanks to the blade-like cutting edge. In fact, its shape is strangely reminiscent of, well, a human ear, or perhaps more accurately an ear shell.

If this was truly the intention behind its design, the attachment to a literal umbilical cord would be a fascinating spin on the One Third of Umbilical Cord's visual similarity to the cochlea.

For later ramblings

I'll admit, this sounds like a lot of pointless drivel. The truth is, there's plenty more I want to write on this subject, in particular why I think they would want to use ears as a symbol, as well as how it would relate to the greater mysteries of the narrative. But that would be too much to hope for anyone to read at once.

Until then, I suppose I'll just plant the seed and water it later with supplemental observations and theories.

Tl;dr:

[darkoneinhabitance]

EU is just a vassal of the US tbh. Just shitty eurocrats being used as tools by American oligarchs.

[darkoneinhabitance]

Hitlerbros... not like this...

[darkoneinhabitance]

I'd pick Blue bell or Klondike tbh.

benandjerrys on Instagram

[darkoneinhabitance]

Maria is a trans woman.

[darkoneinhabitance]

Something something capitalism o algo.

Only real empty fucks will get this reference

[darkoneinhabitance]

God shit.

I'm not gonna lie this is like the most inspiring tattoo I've ever seen I keep coming back to it and admiring it everything about it

[darkoneinhabitance]

That reminded me of that one furry porn artist who was really controversial for his right wing political views. I forgot what his name was, but he written an incestuous webcomic that takes place in the 1980s.

https://x.com/christinatasty/status/1848887958624952559

Probably would have made way more money that way too.

[darkoneinhabitance]

That's fine. I like men.

[darkoneinhabitance]

Still barely surprised though. Even though most of the shitty people fucked off to places like Reddit, Resetera, or Twitter, a good portion of them still reside here.

Not gonna lie, anon is right.

Promoting a doxxing website that hosted people trying to murder a trans woman for the simple fact she's trans is worse than anything Dobson has ever done. And I hate that creep.

…what?

Look, I’ve already pointed out numerous times that there are indeed a good number of shitty people on Kiwi Farms and it has exposed people before(again, the exact same as Twitter, tumblr, and any social media), and even that it has the reputation it does for a reason…but I’m going to need you to tell me exactly who you’re talking about, because the site has never actively tried to murder anyone for anything.

Because that would be fucking stupid.

Anyone who even seriously suggests any sort of irl interaction is typically mocked to hell and back.

[darkoneinhabitance]

Todd Phillips is going to hell in an ocean of boiling shit for creating a shitty sequel that defiles everything amazing about his magnum opus out of spite.

[darkoneinhabitance]

Oh – I don't know – maybe because the German government is a fucking joke filled with incompetent dipshits?

[darkoneinhabitance]

Lmfao, what the fuck is the fox story about?

Not gonna lie, anon is right.

Promoting a doxxing website that hosted people trying to murder a trans woman for the simple fact she's trans is worse than anything Dobson has ever done. And I hate that creep.

…what?

Look, I’ve already pointed out numerous times that there are indeed a good number of shitty people on Kiwi Farms and it has exposed people before(again, the exact same as Twitter, tumblr, and any social media), and even that it has the reputation it does for a reason…but I’m going to need you to tell me exactly who you’re talking about, because the site has never actively tried to murder anyone for anything.

Because that would be fucking stupid.

Anyone who even seriously suggests any sort of irl interaction is typically mocked to hell and back.

[darkoneinhabitance]

Jekzixhrbd? Urejjsushrbeis 8rn4jaixhcbthe, rudjdkiwj5je ridnej3ifushhr r8xjwnejr. R7shejieut tixjen4jeid t8diejej! Dixjrnjrdiufjrj?

[darkoneinhabitance]

*shits violently*

I just started Arkham city and I’ve already lost my mind