#what is Paarl

[synthwayve]

ARCHIBALD !!!!! PLS PlS PLS ID LOVE TO SEE HIM IN YOUR STYLE

Also please get well soon

Sorry this one took me so long! I had to do some digging for Archie. I like the idea of him constantly having staticky/floating hair because of how much they work with electricity! Also lightning Lichtenberg scars because yeah :)

[deadwooddross]

Getting close to done with all of my current batch, so I'm opening a couple slots for august-september! You can also ask about regular comms if you'd like (overall prices and layout are the same), but I'll be prioritizing spicy ones at the moment Also, no limits on human-ness this time, though I would loooove some more body types- fat, extra hulking, undeadfully skinny, so on so forth More in depth info here Shoot me an email at deadwooddross@gmail.com if you're interested! turnaround time is usually about a month or 2 after the sketch is approved

[dridersgeorg]

CRIMINAL!!!!!

[rubia-peregrinart]

Norbert | One of several high-ranking clerics in the Healing Church who served as surrogates during the Vicar's absences. Of those who lived to this day, none remain human. Albina | Blood Saint who fell out of function after contracting Ashen Blood yet refused to abandon the locals. Pthumerian ascent gives her the instinct to remain by a Chalice even through beasthood. Paarl | Loran elder who lead a group of refugees into Yharnam, despite being already doomed herself - unaware the plague they meant to leave behind would catch up soon enough.

man bloodborbe has so many characters to work with (makes more characters)

brain hit me with a "hey what if we did a faceless for the beasts too" and because i'm still Struggling, i decided to simply line and color this lunchbreak sketch which may be in the middle of my work notes but had the merit to be spontaneous

Norbert's name comes from the game's original drafts, while the idea of the BSB having been a Blood Saint comes once again from Oodles' Must we burn it all. <3

also... what if..............

(punches my desk) WHAT IF !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[dhavaer]

Bloodborne

I bought it (finally). It's good.

I'm currently up to the Forbidden Woods. I've killed all the bosses prior to that except Paarl, as he's optional and doesn't gate anything I'm into.

It's been interesting as I've been somewhat interested in the game from a considerable distance for some time. It's kind of like when I finally watched Avatar after hearing about it on Tumblr for 2+ years.

My starter weapon was the Threaded Cane, because I remembered hearing it was good. It is. I like having incredible reach, although I was very confused why stealth attacks weren't working until I looked it up and apparently the whip mode can't do them.

Boss experiences:

Cleric Beast: took three tries, mostly because I had no idea what I was doing. Getting back to it after failing is annoying.

Father Gascoigne: took about ten tries. I have no idea what I did differently the final time; I got destroyed over and over and then he went down like a chump for some reason.

Vicar Amelia: two tries. Bought the saw spear for this, smacked her legs, stabbed her in the head a bit. Apparently she has a healing move but I never saw it.

Witches of Hereford or whatever: two tries. The first time the second witch held her paralysis spell until I was right in her face and I got wrecked. Second time she used it from long range, so I could dodge it and it gave away her position.

Blood-Starved Beast: about six tries. The first five were awful - I used so many resources trying to fight it I ran out of absolutely everything useful, even bullets and blood. Then the sixth time I just stayed still and shot him in the face every time he tried attacking me. Took about four shots - it got a little dicey on the third one but I ended up barely using anything.

Currently trying to save up echoes for the Holy Blade.

[queerlyhalloween]

Bloodborne bosses ranked by how fun they'd be to smoke a blunt with:

Father Gascoigne: 7/10, will usually respectfully decline but if he does smoke you bet your ass he'll chuckle heartily for the rest of the evening

Cleric beast: 2/10, scared of the flame

Vicar amelia: 6/10, her incense helps to mask the smell but if you pass her the joint you are NOT getting it back

Witches of hemwick: 9/10, barely moves as it is, brings her own buds

Darkbeast paarl: 0/10, yeah... you can't pass a joint to that thing

Bloodstarved beast: 2/10, scared of the flame (wet)

Shadows of yharnam: 5/10, good if you like an extremely quiet smoke...and snakes

Lady maria: 8/10, great if you like an extremely quiet smoke and a suffocating air of guilt, could smoke you under the table

Rom the vacuous spider: 8/10, she struggles to smoke on account of her extremely tiny limbs but if you take the time to put it in her mouth then her vibes are impeccable

Celestrial emissary: 2/10, no mouth, 40 feet tall

Lawrence: 10/10, "forgot your lighter? No problem ;)"

The one reborn: 1/10, if your dream blunt rotation consists of a whole damned village and plenty of vomiting then this baby great one's your new favourite smoking buddy...

Micolash: -2/10, he PROMISED he'd be cool this time but it's 3am and he's AWOOOing away because he coughed after one puff, master wilhem is gonna catch us dude, chill out

Amygdala: 4/10, no mouth, 100 feet tall, but willing to grab you snacks from the other side of yharnam... or just grab you

Mergo's wetnurse: 0/10, you've heard of no mouth now get ready for no anything, also she takes her babysitting job WAY too seriously, will probably snitch on you to beings that are all-seeing anyway

Moon presence: 3/10, talks a big game but when you get around to it doesn't actually partake

Living failures: 0/10, once again lacking mouths

Ludwig, the holy blade: 5/10, cool enough guy but weed makes him chatty and he won't stop talking about "the good old days of the church"

Ludwig, the accursed: 5/10, pick a mouth any mouth, GREAT guy to invite to the sesh if you want people to leave your home immediately

Djura (technically not a boss but he WILL fight you) 10/10, will tell you cool beast facts and stories about the powder kegs, what do you think he was doing on the clocktower before you opened the door to old yharnam?

Martyr logarious: 0/10 no lungs 😔

Gehrman: 1/10, tolerance isn't much stronger than micolash's, keeps crying

Ebretas, daughter of the cosmos: 15/10, please take the time to picture her with a joint in each of those little macaroni, yes i know those probably aren't her mouths but just do it

Orphan of kos: 0/10, born today, doesn't know what weed is, could have 6 joints and would probably still maim you

[thebrightestlodge]

Another Bloodborne on-off NPC I'm really really attached to .From the facts he is a summon for One Reborn and Paarl, his name, and is specifically wearing the Yahar'Gul gear ...I have thoughts. I really like summoning him jsut because he's cool, not even if he helps with anything. I plan on drawing him more.

A former Yahar'Gul kidnapper, when Antal discovered the secret of what the school was doing with his ...deliveries ...he ran off, hiding within the city he turned into a Necropolis. He seeks to repent for what he's done and now guides what victims he can find that the snatchers drag into the Gaol. Antal is constantly looking for new secret paths to lead people out, with his current route being behind the carcass of the Darkbeast Paarl.

[thegnomelord]

Bloodborne completely ruined every other piece of media's werewolves for me it's not even funny. Bloodbornes take on lycanthropy and it's design choices are 100/10 for me and have influenced my tastes to the extent that I struggle to enjoy werewolf content in general now because werewolves in most other things are just shit. Like, I could never really get into any of the hybrid! aus because the way werewolves are depicted in that is usually just "guy with wolf ears and tail that turns into a full furry sometimes" and that's just boring. Obviously other people can like what they like but I'm at the point where I'm like don't even talk to me about wanting to fuck werewolves unless you'd be willing to fuck darkbeast paarl. Anyway, this is a very long winded post to say that bloodborne is easily my favorite souls game. Hopefully in a few years ps4s will get cheaper and you'll get to play it because it's truly such an incredible game. I still listen to the soundtrack sometimes it's incredible. I would die for the plain doll

Same tbh, many of my body horror ideas come from bloodborn and I really like the visceral look the monsters have. Also same with the doll, she's a sweetie and I considered murder when German told the player they could use her however they want, just ew

[jarognieva]

What are your thoughts on Archibald working for School of Mensis? This is implied quite strongly! Did Archibald have no choice, or School of Mensis simply offered more opportunities and freedom for his "weird" research, or he genuinely thought Micolash was better leader in general? Or was it Micolash himself that bribed Archibald to work with him instead, since his research provided weapons extremely effective against those blue Choir toddlers? Or maybe School of Mensis simply vulture'd his weapons and inventions for themselves after Archibald was gone?

I just think that he is the underrated Mensis Squad's fourth girl fsdfdds

These are more my thoughts and headcanons than serious theories:

1. My first thoughts were that Archie was imprisoned from start to finish, was there and had to create weapons against his will. He finally dug a tunnel to escape from prison. He encountered the closed gate of Old Yharnam, and there was no one to open it for it was already a dead city. Archie transformed into Dark Beast.

This theory also assumes that Archie and Paarl are the same person. But on the other hand, if Archie and Paarl are the same person, why are they two different names? Even if he didn't turn into this particular beast, it's still possible that he ended up as a beast, because that's what the cut dialogue suggests.

2. It is possible that he came to Yahar'gul because Mico encouraged him with his freedom of action. And everything was fine until some conflict occurred between them. That's why he was imprisoned.

3. I like to think that Archie is the evil version of Nikola Tesla :D After all, he is described as "infamous". Btw, Tonitrus is similar to a Tesla transformer! And fun fact, tonitrus means lightning in Latin. Archie was a foreigner (according to the cut dialogue) and of course a madman doing crazy and dangerous experiments with electricity. First he experimented on darkbeasts, then he learned to generate electricity himself. Both were extremely dangerous.

In this version of my theories, Archibald was never imprisoned, but Paarl, the escaped experiment subject, was imprisoned and eventually escaped.

The hunters were afraid of both electricity and Archie. He was madman and eccentric and they were never sure if he was going to do something dangerous around them. He even looked strange and suspicious. He looked as if he had just been electrocuted. All his hair was sticking out in a different direction and on top of that his strange, creepy smile made people around him (except Mico xD) feel uncomfortable.

Mico allowed him to work without restrictions in exchange for weapons. I like to think they worked very well together. They understood each other well as madmen :D Although they argued sometimes. Archie had some ideas that seemed useless to the School. He wanted to create certain inventions, such as an engine or a radio, but in such a rotten city as Yharnam, only blood and religious fanaticism mattered (and cosmic shit if we're talking about School of Mensis and Choir), not civilization progress (in the technical sense). Mico was only interested in weapons that could effectively harm the Choir. To be honest, Archibald didn't care about civilization progress either. He was simply very curious which of his ideas and inventions would work. That's why Mico had to remind him every now and then "hey, you were supposed to do something else!"

I like to think that Archie died in some pathetic way, e.g. he was eaten by some beast or electrocuted to death xD Or some experimental subject escaped and mortally wounded him as revenge. Anyway, I imagine how the scholars found Archie's corpse:

Micolash: Yeah, that's sad. Anyway...

Damian: Heaven gained another angel today 😭💔

Archibald in hell: WHERE'S LAURENCE

So yes, I can say he's Mensis Squad fourth girl xD

[beesmygod]

BLOODBORNE LORE Q+A PART 5: BOSSES

part 1

part 2

part 3

part 4

---

THE HUNTER ASKS:

there IS a connection! where queen yharnam can be found, so can her shadows! they're HER shadows, not the shadows of the city. this is a reasonable inference given they have low poly pthumerian faces under the hoods. i brightened the shit out of this screencap to make it easy to see.

the boss version is found right before you run into her (or, really, one of her projections*) in the moonside lake and the others right before we bump into her on our way to deal with mergo.

*this is some speculation but its not without backing. the real queen yharnam can summon two ghostly clones of herself who can be distinguished from the real one because they are not pregnant. the one you meet before mergo poofs like the ones she summons during her fight if you hit her.

they do suck tho. kind of a shitty fight. if youre a confederate and you summon henryk its not even fair. something DID happen in development tho. lance macdonald, who does a lot of bloodborne datamining that whips ass, recently posted a comprehensive history of this bastard: the snake ball

despite the shadows of yharnam sucking ass and being one of the weaker boss fights, i seriously think this looks way worse and it was a good idea to cut it. if i reached the end of this notoriously grueling and miserably boring level full of literally nothing but snakes just to be served another, bigger snake i would become saint patrick irl. at least they pretended it wasnt snakes at first with the current fight lol.

i dont really get the snake infestation thing. like its there and there's the whole madras twins story or whatever. but it doesnt really seem to have any attribution to any outside force. it just seems like its some shit that happens in yharnam. sucks. maybe this is supposed to be another example of the line between man and beast blurring, like the note in byrgenwerth.

THE HUNTER ASKS:

lol i love this question. i have no idea. how tf does he know its name is paarl. it sure as shit didnt tell him. "vacuous rom" at least comes from micolash but i dont know how you would know it before that. how does the hunter know its a spider. how does the hunter know ebrietas is a girl. the insane confidence to decide that mergo's wet nurse is a wet nurse is unfathomable.

i saw someone on reddit call logarius "gary" and i thought that was very disrespectful. does that help.

THE HUNTER ASKS:

i think so! not a lot of info on those guys. i appreciate their existence tho. they have a sick hat you can steal.

i guess i don't really understand how fire works in the bloodborne universe, really. laurence's burning body could be read as metaphorical but none of the fires in yharnam go out easily. old yharnam is still burning, somehow. some pthumerican enemies can cast hadoukens for no reason, for example: the pthumerian elder, those chalice dungeon enemies that look like the chapel dweller, the keeper of the old lords and their horrible dog, the shadows of yharnam............lady maria..........!

the only one i can think of that breaks this pattern are the beast possessed soul and the loran cleric who tries to kill you IRL by lighting your PS4 on fire with his AOE attack. i know i post this all the time but please watch this 30 second clip of this asshole casting nuclear winter on this poor hunter

genuinely no clue on this. fire cleanses or whatever but other than that its a mysterious force in universe that behaves oddly.

THE HUNTER ASKS:

i believe so! she's at least a cainhurst knight if her outfit is anything to go by. its such a good fight. her song on the OST is a waltz and its like they created the fight around keeping time.

---

i should cut this here. next time i can focus entirely on rom/mensis/the one reborn, etc. almost done. that post will probably be long tho.

but everyone is so wrong about what happened so you have to deal with it.

I GOT A LOT OF PROBLEMS WITH YOU PEOPLE

[sanguine-tenshi]

i'm turning this round on you. if you've played bloodborne, then most fuckable five bosses from that. if you haven't, same for a different fromsoft game of your choosing. (feel free to do more than five)

I haven't played Bloodborne, I don't use the peasant boxes. But I did watch a playthrough so I'll go ahead and vote anyway.

First imma go through them all and smash or pass and then I'll tell you my faves. Good? Good. Anywhore!

Amygdala

Pass. Look, usually I'm a slut for multiple arms, can't go wrong with multiple arms. But this thing's head looks like a tick and I cannot get over that.

Blood-starved Beast

Pass. Concept art looks dope as hell and very smashable, but in-game it's giving Slav grandma and Slav grandmas fucking scare me. So a very hard pass.

Celestial Emissary

Pass. It looks like someone's diaper-bound toddler. Like the dumb thing was falling over too much so the parents just wrapped it's head in foam and let it terrorize the local wildlife. It also looks like it's fingers would be that nasty toddler level of sticky. Just no.

Cleric Beast

Smash. It's big. It's scary. It's harry. It's got horns. It looks like it's rotting just a lil bit. It's jaw looks like it's been scrapped raw. What's not to love? The only gripe I have are the weird stubby toes but I can tolerate it, not like I have to look at those things.

Darkbeast Paarl

Smash. It's like bones and hair and electricity. It's about the logistics at the moment but I'm down to figure it out.

Ebrietas, Daughter of the Cosmos

Smash. Very eldrich. Very have no clue what I'm looking at. Very I'm into it.

Father Gascoigne

Pass. That's just a grandpa. And not even a hot grandpa.

Gehrman, the First Hunter

Pass. That's just a grandpa. And an ugly grandpa.

Martyr Logarius

Pass. That's just a grandpa. An old and freeze-dried grandpa.

Mergo's Wet Nurse

Smash. Smash so hard. The multiple arms. The wings. The empty hood. The absolute feral creature posture. The way it's tattered and ruined and deadly. Smash.

Micolash, Host of the Nightmare

No.

Moon Presence

Smash. Eldritch. The fucking tentacle hair. The weird skull hole face. The ribs. Look it already has a weird sexually non sexual relationship with the player. I might as well. I might as fucking well.

The One Reborn

Pass. It's just too messy for me. I like the idea of this thing being made of parts, of people, of victims. But the design is just too damn messy. It's all over the place. It doesn't look like it added with purpose, with design, it just added stuff for the sake of adding, for the empty want of MORE. And I'm just not into that.

Rom, the Vacuous Spider

Fuck, no!

Shadow of Yharnam

Pass. These are just dudes in robes. There's nothing all that interesting about them. Not even some sexy armor, or weird gore, or bones sticking out.

Vicar Amelia

Hard smash. It's like Cleric Beast's more elegant sexy cousin. There's horns as well! And I mean I do like the aesthetic of her being so white. She has a nice smile as well, so long with so many pointy teeth.

Witch of Hemwick

Pass. It's just moldy Slav grandmas.

Ludwig, The Accursed

Weak pass. It's just the face I have a problem with here, tbh. It's just leaning too much towards horse, like regular normal horse.

Orphan of Kos

Pass. Just looks like a dude to me. A skinny twitchy white dude who ran out of drugs and that's now everyone's problem. Now... his mom on the other hand... ho boy.

Lady Maria of the Astral Clocktower

Smash. Yes, yes regular looking woman. But listen! She's tall. She's strong. She's a war criminal. She killed a god with a stick. Like I'm down. She can bend me over and I'd be down. I like her style. And she also stabs herself during the fight... kinda hot ngl.

Living Failures

Hard pass. It's like Celestial Emissary's failed cousins, slightly older and worse. Also have you seen their buts!? They've got the saggy frog butts.

I think the fuck not! Look at that thing!

Laurence, The First Vicar

Smash. Like I know he's one of the worst fights in the game and also the fire, but like... the sass. The fucking attitude in this one pose. Love that for him. Also yes, scraggly dog beast man with horns and ribs on the outside. Very smash.

Now as for the rankings... 1. Mergo's Wet Nurse 2. Cleric Beast 3. Vicar Amelia 4. Laurence, The First Vicar 5. Moon Presence 6. Lady Maria of the Astral Clocktower 7. Darkbeast Paarl 8. Ebrietas, Daughter of the Cosmos

Now in other news, I've realized that Bloodborne is very much moodboard, but it's a lot less fuckable than I thought.

[kiss-my-freckle]

Full Episode Commentary

1x16: There Goes the Neighborhood

One of few episodes I'm disappointed with. Some people call them filler episodes, but I term this one preparation. They're moving their pieces for the next episode. They place most of their focus on the vampires at Pearl's house for that reason. Building up for what's to come. If not for Damon and Frederick, I'd be snoring.

There are in-show dialogues that speak to the difference between Damon and Frederick. "We hunt. We stalk. It's often as exciting as the kill." Vampires enjoy being vampires. "She taught me how to kill, how to enjoy it." While their humanity makes them feel guilty, they still enjoy the kill because they're predators. "We enjoy the hunt, the feed, and the kill." While vampires do enjoy the kill, they don't necessarily enjoy inflicting pain. The difference between Damon and Frederick is the difference between a vampire and a sadist. Frederick is a sadist. When Stefan talks to Elena about Damon in 1x13, it's not Damon he's describing. It's Frederick. He's the man she should fear.

Anna's character shows the difference between Stelena and Delena. From the moment they introduce her to the moment she pulls her mother out of the tomb, it's about need. That need is the essence of Stelena. From the moment Pearl is rescued to the moment Anna dies, it's about want. That want is the essence of Delena.

Because Matt's mother took the party home, I'm assuming she slept with the plumber bachelor. He tells her there's a job opening at the Grill. She has Caroline walking on eggshells, and I don't like it.

Damon is in pretty much every conversation Stelena has. "Damon hasn't said a word to me. Every time I try to talk to him, he shuts me down." I don't know what he's been trying to talk to Damon about, but if it's about what happened in 1x15, Damon would shut him down. Stefan orchestrated their three-car collision. "He waited a hundred and forty five years only to find out that Katherine could not care less. I mean it's gotta hurt, right?" Stefan doesn't feel the weight of 145 years until the series finale. Elena is understandably still upset that Damon turned her mother. "And here's a thought: fun." Yeah, right. Stefan doesn't know fun.

I love Harper, Pearl, and Anna. It's heartbreaking to see them die so fast. I consider Paarl badass, but very classy. I love Harper and his loyalty to her. It's a shame we didn't get to see Pearl fight Katherine. What she has going on at this house won't work for the same reason Lily and her heretics don't. Harper offers to watch over things while Pearl and Anna take care of business.

Stelena has a planned double date with Matt and Caroline. I think it's too soon for Matt and Caroline to be like that with Elena. "A nice evening out with friends. Sounds fun, as in fun." A double date isn't what I consider fun, but okay. Jeremy researches vampires because I don't think Anna compelled him after he saw her face. I don't know why the number changed to 25 vampires unless Pearl is excluding herself. Damon lies about being part of their secret founders council, but Anna had been stalking him just as Stefan had been stalking Elena. She said she's been in town since the second episode. I don't agree with Pearl's intentions. She plans to start a war much like Damon was planning to.

His facial expressions are hilarious because he's now taking his role on the council pretty seriously. He very much plans to protect his home from Pearl and her vampires, but I also understand Pearl's side of it. "They took that from us. Our land, our home. It's time we rebuild." Katherine talks about this a little more in season 2. When the founders took them to the church to kill them, they took their homes and their land. She said it built the Lockwoods a fortune. We're talking about the homes and the land belonging to 26 vampires. They not only decided Pearl and her friends didn't have the right to live. The founders decided they didn't have the right to make Mystic Falls their home. Eiljah clears the air in season 2 when he discusses the history of Mystic Falls. The founding families didn't actually found anything. The Salem witch Bennett family did. That's why Bonnie is the one that decides for Mystic Falls in the end. "Well, I bet it was the men who made a big deal about being founders back in 1860. Men are very territorial." Mystic Falls belonged to the Bennett witches and the men took over. They wanted a patriarch rather than a matriarch. You see this same gender shift in season 3 when they switch from Mikael to Esther, the patriarch to the matriarch. They have five founding families altogether: Fell, Forbes, Gilbert, Lockwood, and Salvatore. Donovan is a secondary family, not an original founding family. So every time you watch a founding family event, expect those five founding families to be present. The founding families are to Mystic Falls what Elena is to her group of friends. Through this, you can see Damon's character. Pearl is smart enough to leverage him with information on Katherine. "I no longer have any desire to see Katherine ever again." This is Damon lying to Pearl. She's not asking for his help, she's demanding it, and Katherine was simply an incentive... motivation for him to help her. She digs her thumbs into his eyes and drops him to his knees.

Kelly: What's with the glasses inside? Damon: My eyes were a little sensitive today.

The Vampire Diaries has some powerful women. Qetsiyah is over 2000, Rebekah is over 1000, Sage is 900, Rose is 560, Pearl is 545, and Katherine is 500. The Salvatores are only 145. It's my opinion that Damon is attracted to powerful women, and that's why he slept with four from this list. He has scenes with vampires like Anna, Caroline, and Elena that suggest this even more. I also believe it's the reason he loves witches, to the extent that he'd have a sexual relationship with Bree.

Age, diet, and emotion affect the strength of a vampire. Pearl can overpower Damon because she's older. Caroline can overpower Damon because she's angrier. Damon can overpower Stefan because he's on human blood. Being hours older than Damon wouldn't make Stefan stronger. Stefan can overpower Damon for the same reason Elena can. Damon doesn't do any training or working out, but relies solely on his natural abilities. The only thing he does to make himself stronger is building his tolerance to vervain. Damon is more defense while Stefan is more offense. Damon's offense is written in love. He can't beat Stefan in a fight of strength, but he can get the girl in a fight of love.

Stefan has some pretty moments, like this one. I just don't like Stelena as a romance. I feel Elena is too good for him. It's my opinion that while she brings out the best in Damon, she brings out the worst in Stefan. But I do love the Stelena friendship. Because this is a pretty moment for him, I imagine Stefan at someone else's door.

Stefan talks about his double date with Hef and the twins. Playmates. Is it a coincidence that he got Miss June while Caroline plans their June wedding?

Pearl and Anna meet up with Jenna in front of her brother-in-law's office. They show this in Pearl's 1x13 flashbacks. Some towns have historical structures they refuse to give up. For Mystic Falls and their founding families, the apothecary where they sold vervain makes sense. They're a vampire hating/killing town.

Damon drinks human blood, yet his eyes are taking time to heal. He walks into the Grill wearing shades. Kelly Donovan is already at the bar. lol… I love Damon's honesty. "On the contrary, I'm very old." He's pretty much begging for a drink after his run-in with Pearl. I don't get Kelly, why she thinks it's sexy for a man to drown his sorrows. "It's more like nursing my wounds." Kelly admits to sleeping with the manager's boyfriend last time she was in town. tt's her way of telling Damon she doesn't care if he has a girlfriend, so he can feel free to do whatever he wants without feeling obligated lol. Jenna joins them at the bar.

The tomb vampires are already fighting at Pearl's. While I understand they've been trapped for 145 years, it's more than that for Frederick. He slams Harper against the wall. Pearl walks in and forces him to back off. She and Harper seem close, and likely were before they went into the tomb. Frederick believes they were caught because of the Salvatore brothers, but they weren't. Katherine had them all sent to the church, and did it to fake her death. That's why she waits until John gets rid of them with the vampire device before she returns to Mystic Falls. To prevent rumors of her survival and avoid their plans of revenge.

Stefan and Elena smile at each other in response to Matt's comment. "And they can't keep a bartender to save their lives." Stefan killed Ben, and Matt has no idea. The best way to not feel left out is to not let yourself be left out. Just open your mouth and spit out some words. Caroline is vocalizing her discontent with huffy breaths, as if she's not partially to blame. Damon and the women start getting loud at the bar, so the four look over. I honestly don't like the way Matt is with his mother. Granted, she's a shit mother, but she's allowed to do what she wants at a bar. She's a grown woman. I think he's way too parental with her and needs to drop it a few notches.

Harper warns they're not supposed to leave, which is according to Pearl's rules. Frederick and his girlfriend leave anyway.

Anna shows up at Jeremy's house. Because he's been investigating vampires, he's sure to see if she is one by testing her. It's no different than Elena watching Logan's video and confronting Stefan about his vampirism. Finding Vicki's body is a writing choice I don't agree with. They should've kept her buried and continued pulling Jeremy into the fold through Anna.

This scene between Damon and Jenna plays into 2x1. I'll post it once I get there. "My primary reason for existence has abandoned me…" Just know that this comment matters for Damon's character as Elena becomes the primary reason for his existence. When I get to 1x20, I'll show you the Elena parallel in 6x21.

"At least they're having fun." Caroline saying exactly what I feel. Their double date doesn't get fun until they go to the boarding house. A reason people do dinner and a movie or dinner and dancing. When planning for a dinner date, plan for something after. I could write an entire post on the subject. Let's just say Damon and Kelly aren't doing dinner, they've skipped to the fun of getting drunk for a reason lol. Matt and Elena reminisce getting drunk after the homecoming. Stefan is busy smiling because he's not jealous of Matt. He's happy in hearing stories about Elena, about who she was before her parents died. Every time Caroline gets into a relationship with someone, she's jealous of their history. More of a problem for her than it is for them. People come with history, best to accept that fact. She's not just like this with Matt and Elena, she's like this with Stefan and Elena, and again with Stefan and Valerie. She requires a virgin, a man with no history to be void of jealousy.

"I'd like to be a normal teen for once." Stelena vs Delena can be seen through their dead mothers, that's why Anna and Elena are currently in parallel. "We're normal tonight, remember?" It's through Anna that you see the truth of 3x19, Heart of Darkness. The point of Anna's necklace.

You can see certain human-vampire truths through their vervain-daylight jewelry. "Well, maybe they're normal and good. Just outsiders, you know? Um, misunderstood." This is why Jeremy reaches out to Damon after he snaps his neck. It's their 1x22 - 2x1 combo. "Is there anything you're not good at?" Matt has no idea that Stefan is a vampire. There are a lot of things Stefan isn't good at that Damon is. Honesty is one of them. "This is all kind of new to me. I usually keep to myself. I don't always fit in." This is true for Damon, not for Stefan. Stefan has it backwards because he's hiding his vampirism. If this were true for Stefan, he wouldn't claim to have attended high school 100 times. "Try less." This is where I disagree with Caroline and view it in the opposite. Elena doesn't need to try less, Caroline needs to try more. Her jealousy is ridiculous, but I feel she wasn't emotionally ready for this date.

Like Elena did with Stefan in the pilot episode, she bumps into Frederick on her way out of the bathroom. He's who she should be afraid of, not Damon lol...

This is their Katherine element. As you know, she was supposed to be in the tomb. She tells Stefan about Frederick via text because she knows vampires have super hearing. "That man over there just called me Katherine." Elena wants to push aside the vampire crap because she's desperate to make things good between Matt and Caroline. She wants her friends to be happy. "This is much better than watching Damon visit cougar town." This is hilarious. So Caroline would rather see Damon with someone her age than someone Kelly's age... who also happens to be her mother's age. "Feel like I've been here before. It's weird." lmao... yeah. She rescued Damon from the cellar.

These scenes are specific and intentional because it's the Matt - Kelly combo. You have to see the sum of it all to see the truth of it all. Damon is on the rebound from Katherine, Kelly is on the rebound from Pete. Matt is on the rebound from Elena, Caroline is on the rebound from Damon. So while Damon does a kissy thing with the cherry stems, Matt and Caroline kiss in Stefan's cherry red car. That's why they introduce the red car. "Don't worry about it. You and Elena, you guys have a history, and ignoring it doesn't do anybody any good." This is where I agree with Stefan. Caroline can't ignore that they have a history. If she wanted a man with no history, she should've found herself a virgin.

Jenna is drunk and trying to make it home. She runs into Frederick, and he tries to compel her. It's because of Stelena's vervain lesson in 1x12 that Jenna has her own vervain jewelry. If it weren't for that, Frederick would've had Jenna and killed her. "Was that Damon Salvatore you were with?" As I said of Elena, Frederick is the one she should fear, not Damon. While I do agree with Caroline's comment to Elena, her insecurity is part of the problem. That's one of the ways in which vampirism changes her as I feel it changed Damon. It made them more confident. Referring to Matt's mother as a "cougar" is proof that she always says the wrong thing. She's like Damon that way. He acts without thinking, she speaks without thinking.

Jeremy is in the kitchen with Anna. This is their parallel to Stelena in 1x5. He purposefully cuts himself to see her vampire face, and he's most certainly bolder than Elena in this regard. "Go for it." Their feeding scene is sexy af. "Maybe it's a sign you shouldn't be wearing it. What, I'm just saying. If you're going to be cooking without Stefan." Jeremy understands Delena as he understands himself.

Jenna interrupts their fun time, but trust me, he got off on it lol

This scene is their sex and blood combo. The difference between Stefan's bloodlust and Damon's. He's choosing sex instead of blood because he can. "I have to go and exploit some women in the name of grief, which I'm sure you understand."

Damon and Kelly are the only two in this scene that I don't have a problem with. The difference between scenes is my first issue. Matt's response to catching his mother should've been Kelly's response to catching Matt. Kelly's response to catching Matt should've been Matt's response to catching his mother. They've completely switched their parent-child roles.

Their response to Damon and Kelly is my second issue. These are two grown, consenting adults. It's not a big deal for them to be making out. Certainly not the big deal they're making it out to be. tbh, this is one of TVD's most natural, human moments. Their response to Damon and Kelly, not so much. It's not normal for a teenager to treat his mother like he's her father.

My third issue is Stefan's response to it. "Are you crazy?" I'm flabbergasted. I have no idea why someone would think it crazy for two consenting adults to make out or have sex.

Tell you what's crazy, though. This scene is intentional. Stefan knew that Damon has been mourning Katherine, and he invited everyone into their house anyway. They're showing what Matt could've seen of Damon and his mother. THIS...

Anyway... this is something Stefan has no control over. He can't make out with Elena without his bloodlust becoming an issue. Damon can. Here, have a parallel lol…

"Oh my god, Matt. Oh my god."

"Oh my God, Jeremy. I…"

I love Anna's relationship with Pearl. It's every bit what Matt and Kelly should be. Even though Anna has been taking care of herself since 1864, she treats her mother like her mother. Matt has been taking care of himself for mere months, and he's already acting like Kelly's father. Some of their characters are more mature than others. Anna is more mature than Matt, and I feel she's one of few that matured in her vampirism. Her being the parent gave her an understanding that Matt doesn't yet have.

"Stefan, I can't live every minute afraid that someone is gonna come after me. I won't, it's not living." This is every bit why Elena becomes a vampire. She can't live every minute afraid that she'll lose Stefan in choosing Damon. It's not living. As Rebekah tells Matt, "The first rule of truly living: Do the thing you're most afraid of." They cover this more with Rose in season 2. Fear is the reason she didn't live, she simply existed. That's what Elena is doing in season 3... existing.

"Don't look at me like that. Save the lecture. Look…" I love Damon's respone here because it's real. There's no need to lecture him for doing something so human. He gets more hate for trying to have sex with Kelly than he does for feeding on four sorority girls. That's altogether insane to me. That's why I'm glad Frederick and his girl interrupt the stupidity of it all. This is the first time they've had the chance to talk, so Damon hasn't warned Stefan about the vampires in the tomb. Had they known Sheila failed to restore the seal, they would've burned them before their escape. Stefan kills Frederick's girlfriend.

While I agree that Kelly is supposed to be the parent, I don't fully agree with Matt's comment. I'm a mother, and it's my experience that it's okay to act like a kid sometimes, to take time out and act stupid. It's not good to be serious all the time. That's why Damon pushes Elena to step away from her responsibilities, to hit Atlanta and get drunk. Matt is angry and resentful. I don't blame him, but I also see both sides of it. She's basically living the life he should be living because she shirked her responsibilities as a parent. That's where her fault lies. It's okay to spend the day acting kid, but don't leave your kid to raise himself for months. He's missing out on a lot because of her, so he has every right to be angry and resentful.

Jeremy and Elena in a bathroom scene, both completely lying to each other. Pearl stabbing Frederick with a wooden spoon is so boss. I wish she would've survived because I love her. Elena calls Stefan to let him know she made it home safe. "Because if it was true, maybe it's true about Vicki. And also because I want you to turn me." This is about Jeremy wanting a continued relationship with Vicki. "Maybe I'm a sucker for guys like you. Lost." This is the reason Jeremy reaches out to Damon after he snaps his neck. At that point, Vicki and Anna are dead, so he's basically left to choose between Caroline and the two Salvatores. He chooses Damon because he connects with him just as he connects with Anna.

[yharnam-is-a-fuck]

Bolt Paper and Fire Paper

Let's start with Fire Paper. As you can see from this image, it appears to be a strip of something that is on fire. Obviously. But you can see that it isnt just magic paper. There's clearly some sparks creating the fire and it isnt actually paper, but some kind of leather strip. The in game description doesn't give much, but it was created in the Healing Church workshop sometime AFTER the burning of Old Yharnam, or at least became popular during that time.

Let's move on to The Cooler Paper.

Looking at those two closely, you can already see many differences between these icons. The Bolt Paper clearly has some kind of fur on the larger end, which the sparks are causing to stand on end. This is already hinting towards its orgin, but i'll explain it in detail. Bolt Paper and the Tonitri (Tonitruses?) were created by Archibald. This Archibald fellow was an absolute lunatic of a Church Hunter. Unlike his other inventions, Hunters actually used this one, especially if they had never seen Darkbeasts. This is probably because if had associated the power of lightning with a Beast, it would be seen similar to Irreverent Izzys creations of Beast Roar and Claw. Anyways, Archibalds story starts in Ailing Loran, possible origin of the beast plague and home to many powerful beasts. This Chalice Dungeon is where we fight a lot of beasts. Beast Patients and Werewolves mostly, but the bosses are something special. The Loran Silverbeast, Abhorrent Beast, and Loran Darkbeast all have something in common besides being Beasts. They naturally generate bolt within their fur. Like Miyazakis little demented pokemon, they increase in size and electricity production as you go up, with Darkbeasts at the top of the food chain in Loran. On one dungeon run, Archibald must have seen a Darkbeast sparking with power and thought "thats cool as fuck" and sought to recreate the bolt... and succeded.

So that's it for the origin of the two. But what about the symbolism? Well the first part is obvious enough. As with all sets of two in Bloodborne, they represent the opposition of Laurence and Willem. Insight and Beasthood. Red and Blue. Cummmfpk Chalice and Pig Fisting. Fire for Beasts, and Bolt for despicable blobby things.

Relating it more specifically than that, it is quite obvious in the game that while Laurences obsession with the Blood and Willems obsession with Insight both royally fucked up, the Blood has caused more destruction across Bloodborne as a whole. So why do powerful Beasts use Bolt? More than just a evolutionary or biological defense mechanism, I think that Bolt using Beasts were created to hunt down and kill Kin, and possibly even Great Ones. It is heavily hinted that Oedon created the Plague of the Beast or Ashen Blood and that they are the result of an eldrich laison to seek to a surrogate child. Oedon could be sabotaging the work of more sympathetic Great Ones like Ebrietas or Kos by causing Beasts to destroy the Kin experiments of the Church and the School of Mensis. In a Bloodborne Comic, a deranged man sees visions of several bosses and things in Yharnam, but one of the coolest visuals is that of a Darkbeast, presumable Paarl, fighting The One Reborn. While the One Reborn is both a failed Great One and not considered Kin, the image of a Beast literally ripping the magnum opus of Yahar'Gul to shreds invokes quite a feeling. I know the comics arn't canon but they do seem to have a good understand of Bloodborne lore. Plus the art there is cool as hell.

So, that's my thoughts on Bolt vs Fire. Bolt Paper isn't the true path to godhood or anything but I think the "anti-kin beasts" theory is interesting and i've never seen anything about it.

[ohnoitstbskyen]

It's hard to know what to make of Darkbeast Paarl

It's hard to know what to make of Darkbeast Paarl. It seems almost random as a boss-fight, collapsed on the border between Yahar'gul and Old Yharnam.

The Darkbeasts and their lightning powers have connection with Loran, a city state that existed before Yharnam and was buried in sand after being swallowed by the beast plague, and are also connected with the Silver Beasts you find in the Nightmare Frontier.

The most interesting thing about the Darkbeasts is that lightning is the elemental weakness of cosmic entities like the eldritch Great Ones, which... given the deeply vague nature of the lore opens the Darkbeasts up to all kinds of odd interpretations. Were they somehow in opposition to or rebellion against the Great Ones, who destroyed Loran in punishment? It's impossible to say, but it is interesting to find a beast that is empowered by apparently the opposite power than that which ostensibly created them.

As a design, the Darkbeast is a big hairy skeleton, whose hair stands up and flutters as though with static electricity, which is certainly a unique visual idea. Its skeleton appears humanoid, rather than beastlike, but all of its animation is animalistic, wild and unpredictable, so like so many other Bloodborne beasts, it blurs the line between beasts and humanity. It's cool, but I do wish Bloodborne let us know more about it.

My full analysis of Darkbeast Paarl

[fantomette22]

bloodborne asks : 1, 11, 19 (besides Gehrman), 30, 50 !!

Ask game from here.

Favorite boss fight

Hm good question as well XD (I'm bad at choice I love many bosses!) But my favorite is of course Lady Maria. As in the boss fight. I need to redo her for sure but I always very enjoy the most fight. It's like a dance I love it! it's hard but not too hard as well. It's impressive, frightening and beautiful all at once.

11. If stats weren't a thing, what would you wear?

Well except when I need to go in the poison swamp or fight the winter lanterns, fight a very strong boss or try a new outfit just for the drip or references I do stay all the time with the same clothes.

That mean this : +the hat

very gender I know I love it. Wish it was real I would buy it x)

19. Favorite Old Hunter?

Besides Gehrman? Well Lady Maria obliviously duh.

😂 Ok i am joking let's not count her either. And let's not take Ludwig into account too. Well this 3 gone I would say hm Archibald and Izzy perhaps? Gratia as well. (80% of the shit I made about them are basically headcanons but it's not like 98% of the stuff I made up for Paarl jfeznfbf) + I really like Valtr, Henryk & co of course! (a bit everyone lol). But if we count like the nightmare hunters from that era my fav is literally an OC who became the beast possess soul 😭

30. Is there anything you always do in your playthroughs, even if it's not necessary to beat the game?

Hm get at least 3 Umbilical cord at least XD. and do all the bosses + try to have all the set & weapons! (items, runes etc Well the expensive weapons & outfits not all the time for sure.)

50. Tell me about your hunters!

Well I have Lucen Venator of course! (hunter on the pic above!) And I made a 2nd one for a new playthrough, I think I named her Claire bc I didn't want just a feminized version of Lucen's name lol but she's an equivalent of him for sure. One day I would need to make a third hunters for sure.

I made a couple of posts about Lucen & art + my friends did amazing drawings of him 🥺 (from Katy, Chess, Crow & Odds)

(He looks way too much like me smt help. I need to change my icon to the small chibi one day)

SO hm what can I say... ah yeah let's go with the oblivious for me :

In my main headcanon (fic verse) He was born the night MP was summon, but far from Yharnam.

His parents came from Yharnam but flew the city

He's related to Cainhurst a bit. (His mom (Louise) & uncle are from a servant family). The amount of her stress this poor woman had to go through during her pregnancy was quite insane too.

He have an uncle (Lupin) who still live in Yharnam, an old hunter that he don't have news off since some times.

His grandpa on his father side (Blaine/Blair) was an old hunter as well, he's an old friend of Gehrman.

Gehrman literally babysit Lucen's dad (Emil) when he was a baby and save him from being crucified decades later.

Somehow Bloody Crow (Voron) was around when he was born lol. Before he return to Yharnam. Do what you want with all those crazy infos.

Either he became the next crow hunter or baby squid great one.

On my first playthrough I choose "last survivor" but I'm not very settle on what happened exactly besides he got scars on his face for it.

He's a kind individual most of the time except when it's time to kick ass if that make sense.

[katyspersonal]

Hi I just saw your lore posts on Arianna and Cainhurst

It reminded me that I wanted to ask about the League. Do you think they were basically Yharnam’s police?

I do think that Vermin is one of the possible reflections of human dregs or otherwise a way to reflect the evil, and we do know that the rune of Impurity was discovered thanks to Valtr!

I am using this ( x ) retranslation document, and interestingly, localisation and either of translators versions say that the rune was found 'inside' of Valtr, not BY Valtr! So I presume that because he ate a beast, there were strange vibrations coming from within him, that Caryll or someone familiar with Caryll's rune language deciphered and wrote down (Adeline and Ludwig prove that other people can discover new runes on their own).

^ My inspiration for there being multiple ways to envision human dregs was the fact that on the Clocktower dial, there is a rune that looks similar but not the same, and I always felt like it was someone else's vision of the concept!

So yeah, for a long while I was thinking that Impurity was supposed to reflect Valtr's personal vision of evil, that supposedly would have to include a lot of broken laws too. But now I think its more likely that it was rigged by the concept of HOW Impurity was discovered! Whether Valtr was consciously trying to process whatever weird Insight he received upon eating a beast or someone basically just leaned an ear close and listened to his body, in either case - this concept of human dregs is tied to beasthood. And why beasts are bad? Well, because they eat their own, are blood-hungry, etc etc.

In offline mode, Vermin can be found by killing Old Hunters that have red glowing eyes instead of mob's regular yellow:

Red eyes appear to be special for beasts too - Abhorrent Beasts have them, many Beast Patients have them (that we all know have especially poisoned blood, I speculated it was the use of blood from Blood-Starved Beast ( x )), a special scourge beast that deals poison damage in Old Yharnam has them... Choice of red eyes feels like displaying very massively spoiled blood. But you also can get Vermin if you fight a boss with a League confederate and the confederate survives, so: Ludwig, Laurence, Paarl (beasts); The One Reborn and Shadows of Yharnam (have to do with cursed Pthumerian rituals); Rom and Living Failures (both are associated with lumenwood that reaches for the stars to be saved from curse of beasts, however Rom is also a spider person like Patches but with 999+ more Insight, so maybe blood/Pthumerian bit too).

So yeah... I tried to find some system here, but not only in online mode you get Vermin out of ANY hunter you defeat in PvP, but also Valtr himself talks about how Vermin is pretty much everywhere. So, as long as someone's blood is taunted by hunt/beasthood/ministration/whatever else, he (and anyone that keeps the rune in mind) will find Vermin in their body. And in Yharnam it is... well... EVERYONE...

I presume the post about Arianna inspired you to send this ask because she is supposedly on Valtr's hit list as a sex worker, so I will just say the goals of the League are different from that. Sure maybe in his constable past he would try to close her booth, but times have changed and the only reason he'd have something against her is by sensing Vermin in her. That might even come off especially strongly because Vilebloods are "cursed"; but at the same time, it might not even be there because they exclude themselves from the circle of blood and hunt the way hunters and the Healing Church do it and their "beasthood" manifests differently! It is up to interpretation what's up with Vilebloods, though I do like the idea that ironically they do not have human dregs (at least as they are present in others), and poor Shadows of Yharnam only became exception because of getting infested with snakes who DO have Vermin!

Another bit about 'police' comparison is that the League appears to be a hidden society, whose mission is so insane that virtually it means killing everyone - perhaps with taking their own lives when they're done. Rather than ensuring certain 'rules' are followed and punishment follows only if they are broken, they are in the position where the single 'rule' (to not be the "filth") is broken by everyone or almost everyone ALREADY, and they are exterminating ones like that. It is more like... idk, a secret society of fanatics. A cult, sort of? Actually:

League more or less shares the same mindset as what School of Mensis is doing - forcing themselves to be redpilled about whatever horrors lurk within world of humanity! Forcing oneself to look at something that is everywhere and presumably there is nothing TO do about it besides either killing everyone or killing yourself. Only, League doesn't have a cage that (presumably) lets the person to handle it without mental pain. League confederates only have their own willpower and guts to carry them through it (RIP Yamamura).

TLDR; I am not sure whether Valtr would judge Arianna or not, but his problem with fellow humans by now evolved into higher plane (but at the same time into more basic plane...?) so he'd definitely not bother. UNLESS vile-blood is corrupting as well, and Arianna sharing it with hunters would count as spreading human dregs (ie Vermin). THEN Arianna is dead. Overall I think if he found a person who is clearly a harm on the society but just HAPPEN to not be filthied by Vermin, he'd still not get them off the hook easily. Just that the League as it is doesn't deliberately police the bad guys, but exterminates the ones with impure blood; simply doing the SWIPER NO SWIPING could've been just a fun light-hearted change of the pace for them.