#that’s why he’s summonable for both Ebrietas and Rom

[va-va-vamp]

I headcanon that Mensis Scholar Damien was actually Runesmith Caryll’s little brother, and that he used to be a member of the Choir. (Hence his use of the Choir Bell)

However after witnessing the slow decline of Caryll’s health due to experimental surgeries performed by the Choir to magnify her natural connection to the Great Ones, Damian defected.

Unable to reconcile his own feelings with the group that exploited his sister to death.

[katyspersonal]

if you could ask Miyazaki a single question on Bloodborne lore and he had to give you a complete and non-obscure answer, what would you ask?

"Why the Doll from Bloodborne is dressed like this?". In a heartbeat.

There ARE some other things I really want to know, of course! All Fromsoft, not just Bloodborne. Like who was Djura's third companion, because it is absolutely not obvious since Joseph is not unique but just a summon variant of a generic invader enemy 'Izzy's Follower'! Or exact list of parents of Gwyn's children, so the family tree is solid! Or how exactly Rom ascended, because whereas Micolash claims she was given eyes by Kos, she is a Spider (Nightmare/Amygdalae affiliation) AND is found as a corpse near weeping Ebrietas in the Choir! Or who exactly Gloam-Eyed Queen was... All that!

However, simply answering all these with theories and headcanons and interpretations does not have consequences! The Doll's clothing discourse, however, does!

It is obvious that we as a fandom are not ready for Miyazaki's genius, and above all, not ready to be mature enough to respect each other's takes! Doll discourse brings out the worst in people! No other unresolved lore question makes people block each other on the spot for """wrong""" reading of this. People even block Gehrmaria shippers as if to distance from "impurity uwu" instead of just blocking the ship's name, like Tumblr allows to do! No other question makes them vagueblog absolutely vile shit about another, or sometimes put their hate for character/ship in the tags. No other question makes people call their opponents misogyny-apologists, braindead, weirdos, media-illiterate or straight up claim they "just want to woobify the cis white man" (seriously what the fuck RACE has to do with this?) ..... this is the part where I should address the wrongdoings of people with charitable Gehrman reading as a 'both sides bad' matter but I can't recall anything lolololololol

Yeah, I might not believe there was any sort of misogyny tradwife stuff planned for the character. It is not just a matter of "even the doll should it please you" and "his curious mania" being inventions of localisation team:

Doll says '私をお使いください' ('Watashi o o tsukai kudasai', so, please use me), referring to using her for channeling Blood Echoes! Gehrman says '君さえよければ、あの人形もね⋯' ('kimi sae yokereba, ano ningyō mo neso', so, 'doll too if only you are okay with it', or '...if that is alright with you') in the context of talking about the Hunter tools in the Workshop, again, pointing us towards the fact that she is, too, a 'tool' in a way. Some tools fortify your weapons, others (herself) turn blood echoes into your power.

The "mania" mentioned in this line also uses the word 狂熱 (kyoonetsu), which refers to madness and insanity. Meanwhile, the "mania" mentioned in the description of Doll's clothes uses the word 偏執 (henshuu), meaning to be absorbed in the process very much, being very fixated etc. So, he was so absorbed in his work on the clothes of the Doll that he lost track of time!

It is... everything. Him being put up as a tragic character with a tragic song, when Fromsoft is always blunt when they want someone to be a weirdo or disliked. It is Doll crying a tear of joy upon feeling how Gehrman cared for Maria through Hair Ornament. It is Doll being based on Victorian grief dolls and not being a sex doll or whatever Reddittube said and Twitbr parroted. It is bifauxnen archetype being more often about a woman who did not even want to be masculine but something, or someone, pushed her to, than about plain masculine woman, paired with how much Maria regretted joining the hunt and her hunter attire being the 'masculine wear'. If not and transition was genuine, grief doll implies Maria at least used to be this way, and Gehrman clings to the past version of her, away from what killed her.

But in the end, it doesn't matter which! I try to not have biases besides 'what works better' or 'what feels more natural'! But even if Miyazaki said that yes, he did imply misogyny tradwife forced femininity whatever whatever for this character, what would matter is a concrete answer! Again: we as a fandom, heck, as a species, are not intellectually ready for the concepts like 'up to interpretation'. But removing interpretation factor from THIS thing would've saved so, so, SO many unnecessary petty dramas and conflicts!

[katyahina]

So... whats the deal with Patches⁉️🤔 Do you have any ideas on why hes a spider?? How'd he get so close to Amygdala in the first place?? ALSO, any hcs?? I know u like the idea of him and rom interacting😳😳

Oh boy I thought I would NEVER get to ramble about this one

...Hmm okay well the initial thing as of 'why'? It is not all headcanon, more like thoughts, because to get a hunch of why all we needed is to ask Miyazaki himself? xd Here is something from his interview:

*listens to how ridiculously HYSTERICAL laugher of Patches Bloodborne gets in voice lines* Ah yes, sounds like a typical local sane person. ...So yeah pretty much I take that it was through Insight as an axiom. As for 'other spider-men' I am pretty sure that refers to Nightmare Apostles - numerous spiders (some are with human heads still, like Patches himself, but they are hostile and do not talk) that can be summoned by the bell-ringing women to dunk you in the dungeons, but mostly found all over Nightmare of Mensis!

As for why spider? Okay well headcanons time now! How I see it - there are 'ways' to pursuit the knowledge, two most distinct ones at the first glance are through peering into cosmos (what Choir does, interacting with Ebrietas and with Celestial Emissaries as an ultimate form of absorbing it) and peering into somewhat of 'forbidden' knowledge - something I speculate that can be done through interacting with Amygdala! Basically, I think Amygdalas are like, antipodes of celestial children (which Ebrietas is, but adolescent - celestial children have wings that resemble hers, plus her japanese title is 'daughter of the stars' whereas for celestial children it is 'star child', lines up)!

I personally call them 'children of stars' and 'children of blood' for now, to discern for myself! Basically angel/demon dichotomy! The side symbolizing 'angels' being cosmic Kin, passive star-worshipping people that bleed silverwater, all perfectly pure and clean from curse of beasts/filth/sin/whatever you call it, it has many names. Demonic side is represented by arachnids, most evidently by Nightmare Apostles, something with more freedom and learning 'more than what stars want you to know' as I refer to it within my thing!

(I speculated already about how The One Reborn is very probably a failed attempt at creating an Amygdala, so if you compare anatomies - the lumps on Amygdala's back are of missing weird person-shaped body part The One Reborn still has, but yeah at this rate the parallel with torn wings is palatable.)

You might notice tho, that celestial children crawl helplessly and Ebrietas is the only known adolescent one, whereas big Amygdalas are abundant. I speculated that it might be because Amygdalas can get hostile and eat people to grow (might as well have ripped the womb of their mother and eat her corpse as first thing to do in life!), but the 'good' babies need care and nurturing, and the worst thing they do is 'eating' their brains upon interaction. It also might be because overall Amygdalas were more popular to interact with, since:

(Datamined internal names, from this (x) source)

In this setting, the 'God' to worship and obey to is not even a nice one! I will talk about how it ties to Oedon giving Arianna her special baby another time, I already keep sidetracking, but yeah, seems like Kin that bleed silverwater are marionettes of the Moon in a way, possibly seeking redemption (and finding it... ish...? but at what cost?). Ebrietas also is listed as abandoned Great One, and I speculate that Kos (since she has a humanoid face) used to be a priestess (if not her own Wet Nurse equal) that interacted with Ebrietas, but saw through futility of this life and left for her own life. Left the 'lake' to enter the 'sea', both literally and metaphorically.

Either way, knowledge Amygdalas are offering(?) is 'forbidden' one that no longer makes stars favor you, but there is more freedom in this? sooooorta? I speculate that Patches and many other Nightmare Apostles were original residens of Yahar'gul - there are descendants from the ancients in the setting aleady! From very Pthumerian people like Chapel Dweller and the Kidnappers, to just 'humans but pale' like Cainhurst nobles! I also speculate that Witches of Hemwick come from what Keepers of the Old Lords were - seekers of 'cleansing' through fire.

Patches speaks clear in-setting language so I guess he is of 'this' timeframe, but he even has this necklace other Nightmare Apostles that kept human heads have, something Mensis Scholars did not wear, so he is not QUITE part of School of Mensis, but I think Micolash had a very strong arguement promising that he knows the way to bring this weird God they seem to worship back! I even speculate that traitor of Byrgenwerth that brought forbidden blood in Cainhurst thus helping them to start the "impure" clan was Micolash himself, to learn more about Pthumerians/Loran maybe. And of course Rom would never rat him out.

Speaking of which!

Strangely enough but Rom qualifies as sorta Nightmare Apostle with human head still kept but... human head that is bloated due to watery Arcane? ...or as a Research Hall patient who kept their body but it's spidery? In my headcanon it absolutely definitely certainly has to do with her delving into forbidden knowledge - to a big woe of Ebrietas that still weeps for her to be "forgiven". Since I believe that spider on the altar is Rom's mortal body (which doesn't seem to matter TOO much, she probably transcended death as a concept anyway), the change of her form in the Lake might have to do with prolonged exposure to... something. Something divine. Her head bleeding grey (which I already believe is direct connection to "will of the stars") JUST in the Lake might hint at her unwillingness to even BE in the lake, maybe Moon Presence just doesn't want to be found for all we know, so she holds Rom down! Or maybe being in the Lake just makes Rom be too close to the cosmos, hence is the effect.

It is almost certain for me that Rom is, or is one of, people that did manage to obtain eyes on the inside through imbibing water and did not go crazy/die/becomes just a head/whatever. Rom actually lasted surprisingly long time without mutations, aside of some extra eyes and blueish skin somewhere. As Micolash puts it, 'Ah, Rom? Bless her... She knows everything, but understands none of it.'

As you might notice, her situation in my case is similar to that of Patches - a human-to-spider mutant that got close to a deity who is also a deity birthed by a human rather than 'real' one or ascended one! Though their bond is of different kind. Ebrietas and Rom wish well for each other, but although Rom somehow gave Ebrietas the Grinch heart moment, she is still scared. It is more like 'Rom honey being marionette of the Moon is not THAT bad please come back for dinner' and Rom be like 'No there is more to do I will figure it out let me think *proceeds to be physically unable to think*' hahah

Patches is different! He provides sacrifices to Amygdala in exchange to more knowledge it seems? And is not opposed to just finding a new one...? Actually I think that since no parent names their child Patches obviously, it is a nickname and his real name is not supposed to be known nor ever will be because 'to give someone your name is to give them your identity'. The way I see it, he would never let anyone have this power, absolutely excluded. But yeah that's another bit of how since he does not form strong/genuine connections - he is quick to move on haha; Probably helped to retain his sanity, too, he has flexible mind. He always bends but never breaks. Not gonna lie it is still a blank for me how he befriended this one and was not eaten himself, I guess if you are charismatic - then you are charismatic... But, it is probably sacrifices.

I think all in all Micolash was useful with bringing weird things back to humans - like any dutiful Byrgenwerth scholar is! - however, Mensis Scholars turned into Brain of Mensis and Micolash himself lost every last bit of his sanity, whereas Patches'... friends? also went insane but they are at least mobile and spiders, so either Micolash and his scholars were protected by Mensis Cage from turning into spiders, or Patches was the one to not reveal him the full possible consequences of the ritual and simply stepped on his failure to dwell into his Nightmare of Mensis - presumably a gateaway to even more knowledge as it features some sort of endless library. But in either way he doesn't pity him, probably.

As for Rom, yes I do like the idea of them meeting! Rom sticked with Ebrietas for as long as she could before being returned to Byrgenwerth in a way, but that's for later, and it could work in my version that Rom and Micolash even managed to discover Yahar'gul together! Might very well be because of Rom's powers to see through illusions. Although they're technically part of the Church, it is... complicated. Micolash is a madman but he has transhumanism aspirations and might find a way into the Nightmare that is more efficient than getting blood-drunk or something, Rom is sort of a priestess but the worst she does is helps to communicate with Ebrietas and prepares people for Real Things, like Willem wanted and what only Yurie still tries to do (hence many Fluorescent Flowers and Gardens of Eyes in Byrgenwerth, note how they're mix of arachnid and cosmic design vice!).

They are crazy but are anything than corrupt people giving empthy promises, so in the eyes of someone who is interested in knowledge in this setting they're lesser evil, if evil at all. That cannot be said about sort of the Church Leader left after Laurence's downfall (not Amelia yet! I believe a few heads existed between Laurence and her, plus it's not like their case of death is old age or so...). Laurence was sort of a core of the whole thing - doing blood ministration AND condoning transhumanism Research Hall things as evident from him dropping Eye Pendant, and after his death it branched. Regular Church reps (one of which Amelia is) stayed in the normie cathedral, researchers - mostly led by Rom and Micolash and few others familiar with secret works of Laurence - went higher, remembering what Willem told them about... all this. One side lowkey abuses the position and the system, another side tries to find new future now that humanity crossed events horizon and cannot avoid Hell even if they "just stop drinking blood". They try to DO something. But yeah pretty much Rom, Micolash and Patches all hate the new guy who replaced the half of Laurence's functions and dunk on him at any opportunity.

Also, Rom shares the 'Why are you fretting about it, nobody died anyways :/' attitude with Patches except... with her it is genuine. x) Like, she doesn't just twist perspective to cover herself up, she genuinely does not understand why 'think about it too hard'... Bless her. And I like the idea that she can see right through Patches but not even intentionally! Like, it is impossible to prank her. Either she avoids any trap on sheer accident - like moving at the 'right' moment or suddenly changing direction in the 'right' moment, or he calls her to look at something and she be like 'That would be so silly if there was a trap you set up to me right :D Haha' and he just... leaves to curse everything except himself in another room xd Omg- Imagine him getting so frustrated that she doesn't fall for his trick that he just 'shows her what to do' in fit of anger and ends up getting into his own trap pfffttt But yes you got the drill. He is probably permanently pouting at her for this xD It is kind of weird started-off-wrong relationship that is only fixed by having a genuine talk when it's convenient for the plot. At the very least, he has more fun interacting with Micolash, because he on the opposite cannot see through Patches at all.

Okay I think I can end the (un)regular episode of my 'Lore jambled with headcanons' show here, before I started to ramble about even MORE connections and ideas...

[demons-fanatic]

The Choir: Chloral Madmen or Misguided Fools?

Spoilers for Bloodborne below for the entire post:

So, for my first lore post here, I wanted to keep it within the season. Believe it or not, the Choir is quite a scary prospect of Yharnam when you look at it in depth. First of all, what is the job of the Choir? As their set states outright: “Members of the Choir are both the highest-ranking clerics of the Healing Church, and scholars who continue the work that began at Byrgenwerth.“ This means the choir continues in Eldritch Knowledge and the pursuit of ascension in the path of Master Willem and not Laurence. The origin of the Choir is also explicitly stated with the Orphanage Key: “Key to the Orphanage, birthplace of the Choir. The Orphanage, shadowed by the Grand Cathedral, was a place of scholarship and experimentation, where young orphans became potent unseen thinkers for the Healing Church. The Choir, that would later split from the Healing Church, was a creation of the Orphanage.“ This explicitly tells us that the Choir are just Orphans who grew up and were taught to essentially experiment on people their whole lives, along with a lot of Eldritch Knowledge. If you’re wondering where the rest of the Choir is well, presumably they’re in the third floor of the Upper Cathedral Ward main building. It’s a fact that some of them are there, given that singing can be heard, arias specifically. These aria’s are supposed to be religious-like thing, given by the Rosmarinus’ description: “A special weapon used by the Choir, high-ranking members of the Healing Church. Sprays a cloud of sacred mist, created by using blood-imbued Quicksilver Bullets as a special medium. Arias are heard wherever sacred mist is seen, proving that the mist is a heavenly blessing.

‘Oh, fair maiden, why is it that you weep?’”  It is seen as something of the heavens, the heavens being something the Choir, or really the church believe in. These heavens might be the Nightmare realms in the other planes of existence. The mist is made from Quicksilver Bullets, aka Mercury and Mercury in Bloodborne deserves its own post but it’s essentially Mercury gas, in which Oedon loves Mercury. The last line “Oh, fair maiden, why is it that you weep?” this maiden is the Great One below in the cave, but we’ll get to her later. Now, what do the Choir do? Well, they experiment on people to, as Fauxsefka puts it “Surpassing our own stupidity.” these experiments create Kin. These experiments are the Celestial Emissaries. And why are they called “Emissaries” well, it’s presumable they are used to contact Great Ones. How do we know this? Well, they drop communion. The boss does anyways. Meaning that they have contacted a higher truth. All the places we find communion, minus +5 vials, is in relation to some sort of religious place/person. Where communion has or could take place. 

The Choir also is said to now be separated from the Healing Church itself and with this they have just become a separate name. They are still apart of it, just not the Healing Church conglomerate. This means that the Choir gets their “patients” from the Church who of course, just kidnap Yharnamites. Another faction that has separated from the church is the School of Mensis, who preform a similar function to the choir, but they do not experiment on people in the same way, their wish is though, is to reach Kos and end the Curse of Hunters. The Choir is very suspicious of the School, sending a spy, Edgar to the school in hopes of sharing secrets, though, due to the Mensis ritual, he got stuck in the Nightmare Realm. The choir’s suspicions aren’t for naught though, Mensis is doing something and killed an entire village to try and create an artificial Great One, which worked half-way.

Another aspect of the Choir to note is their clothing. Which the cap is the most interesting part. “Attire of the Choir, high-ranking members of the Healing Church. Members of the Choir are both the highest-ranking clerics of the Healing Church, and scholars who continue the work that began at Byrgenwerth. Together with the left behind Great One, they look to the skies, in search of astral signs, that may lead them to the rediscovery of true greatness.“ This states that the Choir outfits are inspired by Willem, why they choose not to see is a common concept. It’s not rare in Yharnam to cover ones eyes so that you can gain eyes on the inside and ascend. Their attire looks very special and like Choir wear, nothing special there but it is apart of the Choir.

Another interesting part of the Choir is their tools. Their tools include: Rosmarinus, Choir Bell, A Call Beyond and Augur of Ebrietas. Minus the Rosmarinus, they are all Arcane items. Meaning they are understood by few, but they also incorporate, for the lack of a better word, magic in their use. The Choir Bell is based on a larger bell that can send a sound across multiple planes of existence. This one just uses its sound to raise vigor/heal someone. A Call Beyond was created when the Healing Church failed to contact the greater Cosmos using Phantasms, but instead summoned a small exploding star. Finally, the Augur of Ebrietas uses a similar tactic to A Call Beyond. It uses a phantasm but it uses it to partially summon Ebrietas, using one of her tentacles to shoot out of ones hand. All of these weapons use the cosmos and are the latter two are considered secrets, for good reason. They do use it in combat, Yurie, Fauxsefka and Edgar all use it. Along with Micolash(Who would’ve been apart of the Choir but split in Mensis). 

Another thing the Choir is continuously said to do is look at the sky or mention how the sky is one with the Cosmos. This, of course, is also something they most likely took from Willem as when we find him in Byrgenwerth, he is literally staring at the sky forever. Doing this seemingly does do something as Willem is growing some sort of Fungus on his neck which isn’t natural. He’s also lost his ability to speak in a normal human tongue. Though, the Choir either haven’t done it long enough or as expected, have just used other methods to achieve this. Of course, the experiments are these ways. Once you understand that in this world that these Gods exist, you’re either afraid or in awe. How the people of Bloodborne even figured out you can transcend is beyond me, but. They figured it out and now they wish to do so. Multiple ways of doing it have been shown in the game whether it be drinking God Blood, Water, Eating Organs or becoming too Enlightened. And all of this, as we know are connected to Aliens. Beings from Space. There is a reason the Moon Presence is called the Moon Presence after all, did she come from the Moon? Who knows, but she always descends from it, meaning she is not from Earth and comes from space. Not to mention some aspects of the Choir magic as listen above are well, space related. Stars. Yes, it is strange they just realized that the sky leads into space but it helps in the fact they most definitely worship the moon a lot. Hell, they even have statues of the Moon Presence.

These can be found in Lumenflower Gardens and most definitely suggest that the Choir worship or really appreciate her in which one makes sense over the other. With this, and other descriptions, the Choir are really obsessed with the Moon, in the same theme of the Lumenflower Gardens, the flowers open in full Moonlight. We also know the church has always participated in rituals with a Great One, mostly the Moon. So this obsession with space, Great Ones, it’s all religious. It’s sacred, holy, divine, etc... This isn’t surprising of course, all Great Ones are considered Gods. The Choir themselves have a connection to one of these Gods, Ebrietas.

Now, since we are talking about the Choir and Isz and Ebrietas are apart of the Choir, I will 1. Talk about them as if they are the same(Isz less so) and 2. Go into full detail about them. 

First off we have Isz, a land that the Choir themselves consider to be in touch with the Cosmos. It is a land that is filled with Moon Larvae(Most likely where most of the ones in Upper Cathedral Ward come from) Celestial Emissaries and other Kin. It’s infested with a blue hue and arcane tree roots. This of course, going along with the themes of Bloodborne proves that well, all of this has already played out. Isz has already done what the Choir has done, the Choir is just repeating Isz. There’s even a human(or Pthumerian; Iszian?) who has become a Great One, but we’ll get to her later. But yes, this is just proof everything is repeating, like Loran and Yharnam. It is also notable that Isz houses most Great Ones we see as bosses, which brings to effect 1. These Chalices are Pocket Dimensions, Rom has no place being here. 2. These Chalices are existing so the Great Ones shall keep their forms stored so they cannot die, they can revert back to their other form and regenerate so to speak and then come back. Isz just seems to possibly be the main hub for that. Regardless, that is Isz. And relation to the Choir, well, they found the chalice and explored it and then came into contact with Ebrietas.

Now we have Ebrietas, Daughter of the Cosmos. She is called a Great One in many places, but is she? Well, it’s confusing. All true Great Ones bleed red, like Humans. But, all Kin bleed White, Mercury. But, what does Ebrietas bleed? Red and White. What does Rom bleed? Red and White. What is Rom? A Human who has transformed into a failed Great One. From the previous paragraph, we established cycles in Bloodborne. This isn’t a joke or false, this is true. Think about it; Loran, Old Yharnam and now Yharnam all were infected by the Beast Plague. It happens again and again. Isz and now the Choir, it’s happening again and again. The Fishing Hamlet and now Mensis with Mergo, again and again. If this isn’t proof, well, I don’t know what to tell you. This is even more explicit than Dark Souls. Anyways, along with this would be another failed attempt at a Great One, right? Well, of course, why couldn’t it? Ebrietas is like Rom, she can cast her own magic and looks like a Great One. Anyways, take that theory with what you will. So, what does Ebrietas do in our current story? Well, she was found in Isz by the Choir. It’s said she was left behind, if you believe my theory you’ll know why. She’s not like the others, she cannot ascend to other planes like the others can because she’s not full, so to speak. So, she was found and luckily for the Choir, she wanted to coexist with humans. Why she does isn’t known but, she soon became a thing for the Choir to study, but presumably they did nothing bad to her and even gained a good relationship with her. She stays in a cave below the Grand Cathedral, called the “Altar of Despair” and currently she’s weeping over a dead corpse of a giant Spider. 

And, this is where I deviate from current lore to cut content, well. See, that Giant Spider is Rom. It’s honestly, should I say an extremely bad mess up, like really, really bad. Because in current game, it makes no sense. This giant spider that looks like Rom is here but it’s not really Rom? And you can reverse Annalise’s death here? What? Well, if you want to know, it’s Rom and the Altar used to be below Byrgenwerth, Rom would fall and then Ebrietas would be sad her “sister” is dead. There’s also a cutscene associated with her corpse, but nevertheless, there we go. You might be asking, “Why is this important” well, there’s no good explanation for it other than to explain why it’s there when the area was being developed.

But that’s the end of the rant, so the Choir are children who have been raised to experiment on people and elevate humanity. Of course, they aren’t the only ones who do so but they definitely are making progress. If you read all the way through, thank you! Feedback and RB’s are appreciated!

[bellringermal]

Requested by anon :D

Here’s how the story plays out in my fanfiction!

 (which makes way more sense than I anticipated! Every time I find new clues, they all support my line of thought pretty well.)

Byrgenwerth is founded. Willem’s teachings attract brilliant thinkers and scientists like him. Students flock to the college.

The Old Labyrinth is discovered (its main physical entrance is located in the Forbidden Woods, in the Forbidden Grave aka Shadows of Yharnam’s Arena) and the first Chalice is brought back to the surface.

Willem hires Gehrman, a commoner with a special talent for disposing of beasts. He refines his combat techniques and develops special weapons that allow him and his students to fight their way through the Chalice Dungeons.

The Old Blood is found in the Chalice Dungeons. Different types of Blood are discovered but one in particular interests a scholar named Laurence. This special ‘branch’ of the Old Blood is the one taken from Queen Yharnam, (who according to this timeline, was shackled by the scholars so that they could experiment on her) and her closest descendants. Yharnam’s Blood possess 2 major qualities: is poisonous and burns the flesh of most people like acid. Laurence suspects that only those somehow linked to the Pthumerians can inject it into their veins and survive.

Caryll, one of the youngest students of the college develops the ability to hear the voices of the Great Ones and transcribe them into symbols.

Laurence, helped by his two classmates Micolash and Rom, pushes his research too far despite Willem’s protests. The three of them travel to the lowest layer of the Pthumeru Chalice to experiment on Queen Yharnam’s unborn baby, the half-Great One Mergo. Things go horribly wrong. After this ‘accident’, Laurence takes all the blame on himself and he and Master Willem part ways. Micolash and Rom stay at the college.

Laurence is able to continue his research thanks to Queen Annalise’s patronage. It was the Queen who contacted Laurence in the first place, impressed by the progress of his studies and the spreading rumor that a ‘healer’ was able to cure a little girl affected by a terrible illness. The girl in question is obviously young Amelia.

Ludwig, a former apprentice of Gehrman, follows Laurence to Cainhurst.

Lady Maria, one of Annalise’s faithful royal guards, is sent to Byrgenwerth  to become Gehrman’s apprentice: Laurence needed fresh supplies of the Old Blood for his experiments and Annalise’s plan was to have her guards trained by Maria in order to be able to explore the Chalice Dungeons just like Byrgenwerth was doing thanks to Gehrman’s hunters.

Two years pass and so many things change, both for the Byrgenwerth hunters and behind the castle walls:

> Gehrman and his hunters find out that Caryll’s runes possess a mysterious but undeniable power and began to etch them on their bodies to gain special abilities. The use of runes combined with their increasing dependence from the Old Blood turns the hunters into almost super-human individuals capable of feats of strength and endurance no common man could perform.

> Laurence manages to purify Yharnam’s blood enough for it to be safely injected into people. The results are mediocre at best when used on common people, but when the transfusion is performed on a member of the Cainhurst nobility, their dormant Pthumerian heritage awakes. The Vilebloods are born.

> Lady Maria becomes a permantent member of the Byrgenwerth Hunters (aka the ‘Old Hunters’). She doesn’t really cut all the ties with her family but still expresses her disapproval for their questionable practices. Despite her doubts, Laurence persuades her to receive an infusion of Queen Yharnam’s blood and the results are, in a word, spectacular. She is the only Cainhurst noble to inherit the Pthumerian Descendant’s ability of manipulating fire.

> *insert a large chunk of Gehrmaria shipping fluff here*

> Micolash and Rom’s research brings them closer and closer to locating Fishing Hamlet.

11. More years pass. At some point, Laurence becomes so influent and powerful that he doesn’t need Annalise’s approval and/or help anymore. The population of Yharnam hails him like a saint and a savior. The use of the Old Blood becomes common practice and the Healing Church is born.

12. Rom and Micolash’s research drives the scholars and the hunters to the Fishing Hamlet. Master Willem is extremely pleased by the results obtained by the two students that became his favorite pupils after Laurence’s leaving. Here, the villagers are slaughtered and Gehrman is the one who strikes the killing blow to the poor Orphan, reason why the two are linked by the curse. (Kos is already dead when they arrive.)

13. The Curse of Kos falls upon them all, all hunters from now on are doomed to wander in the Hunter’s Nightmare after their deaths as if it was some sort of hell.

14. Lady Maria leaves the Old Hunters to join the Healing Church, hoping to redeem herself by acting as a caretaker for the patients of the Research Hall. To her discomfort, she finds out that the Church is not any better than Byrgenweth and in fact, Choir members follow Willem’s teaching way closer than Laurence himself does.

> Not unlike Maria, Rom too has a change of heart after witnessing the horrors of the Fishing Hamlet and steals the Umbilical cord of Kos from the scholars. The remaining hunters chase her down and corner her. Determined not to let the powerful relic fall into their hands, Rom consumes it, beginning her transformation into a ‘failed’ Great One.

15. After the events of Fishing Hamlet, the Old Hunters disband. Some of them join the Church, others became Hunters of Hunters, some, like Gehrman, retire.

16. Tension grows between the Healing Church and the Cainhurst nobility. The most zealotry fraction of the Church, the Executioners, led by a half-Pthumerian general named Logarius, openly declares war to the Castle. Skirmishes become extremely common.

17. The uncontrolled use of Blood among the population forces Ludwig, Captain of the newborn Church Hunters, to recruit Yharnamites to replenish the ranks. Still, it’s not enough and the only way to contain the spreading of the plague of the beasts is to burn Old Yharnam to the ground.

18. The Executioners raid Cainhurst, slaughtering the nobles and imprisoning Queen Annalise.

19. The terrible news is too much for Maria to bear. Not only her actions stained her conscience, but now she was also the last survivor of her family. Overwhelmed by grief, she commits suicide.

20. Gehrman finds out about her passing and breaks down, secluding himself in the workshop where he crafts the Doll in her image.

21. Meanwhile, another faction of the Healing Church rises to power. The School of Mensis, led by Micolash and a bunch of ex Byrgenwerth scholars are allowed to further their research under the watchful eye of the Choir. But the apparent cooperation between the two groups doesn’t last for long.

22. Aware that he won’t be able to keep the city under control for much longer, Laurence swallows his pride and goes back to Byrgenwerth, now abandoned, seeking Master Willem’s advice.

23. Willem suggests the beckoning of a sympathetic yet mysterious Great One called Moon Presence. (I like to think that Willem knew of MP because he somehow managed to commune with Rom at some point. And the secret that Rom protects is the Blood Moon itself.)

24. Laurence, Willem and Gehrman (and a bunch of Choir guys, probably) perform a ritual on the memory altar of the hunter’s workshop. Moon Presence is summoned and she takes Gehrman as her prisoner and host of the Dream. Laurence promises Gehrman that he will come back to free him from her grasp at some point.

25. Plain Doll is brought to life by Moon Presence’s will. Since she’s casted from Gehrman’s memories just like the entire Dream is, something of the real Maria is now alive inside her.

26. The cycle of the night of the hunt begins. The Red Moon appears in the skies of Yharnam, unseen by most thanks to Rom’s concealing powers.

27. The influence of the School of Mensis becomes too huge to be ignored. With an army of Pthumerian snatchers at their disposal and with their headquarters located in the unseen village of Yahar’gul ( a portion of the long abandoned Old Yharnam ) the School of Mensis is in fact the only branch of the Healing Church still standing.

> Laurence and the Choir have their own problems to solve. He needs to conceal all signs of his incoming transformation and the Choir scholars, once enlightened by the benevolent Ebrietas, are now torn between her influence and that of Moon Presence (as hinted by the statues of MP in UCW).

28. The Red Moon causes the whole town to sink into further madness but at the same time, undying hunters are allowed by the Dream to roam the streets and clear them from the biggest and most dangerous beasts.

29. Laurence turns into the first Cleric Beast and is swiftly killed by what remained of the Church Hunters and the members of the League.

30. The School of Mensis performs the ritual in Yahar’gul. Micolash, as the last surviving member of the trio that originally experimented on Queen Yharnam and her baby, is the conductor and master of ceremonies of such a horrifying event. Hundreds and hundreds of civilians are slaughtered and frozen in stone as they try to escape from the Unseen Village. In one shockwave, all the scholars in the ritual chamber are killed, Micolash included, but his conscience is projected into the Nightmare realm where Mergo’s Wet Nurse takes him as the host of the Nightmare just like MP did with Gehrman.

31. On the outside tho, the ritual apparently is still going. Just like Rom’s powers keep the sky clear from the Red Moon, they also halted the ritual preventing the School of Mensis from re-creating their ‘surrogate’ of Mother Kos and the Orphan, aka: the One Reborn, which is allowed to come into existence only once Rom is killed.

32. The city remains in this state of apparent “””calm””” and stillness for the gods know how long.

33. An outsider, you, arrives.