The Cord of the Eye and Communion with the Great Ones

In this article, I explore the possibility and implications of how the Cords of the Eye are used to communicate with the Great Ones.

Original image via bloodborne.wikidot.com

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

"Every Great One loses its child, and then yearns for a surrogate. The Third Umbilical Cord precipitated the encounter with the pale moon, which beckoned the hunters and conceived the hunter's dream." - Abandoned Workshop

"Every Great One loses its child, and then yearns for a surrogate, and Oedon, the formless Great One, is no different. To think, it was corrupted blood that began this eldritch liaison." - Arianna's Child

"Every Great One loses its child, and then yearns for a surrogate. This Cord granted Mensis audience with Mergo, but resulted in the stillbirth of their brains." - Mergo's Wet Nurse

"Provost Willem sought the Cord in order to elevate his being and thoughts to those of a Great One, by lining his brain with eyes. The only choice, he knew, if man were to ever match Their greatness." - Iosefka (imposter)

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

The Third of Umbilical Cord, or Cord of the Eye, is a relic that comes from an infant Great One. In Bloodborne, the Cord of the Eye is used to make contact with Great Ones. I would argue that the Great One who can be contacted by the Cord of the Eye is the infant Great One to whom the Cord belongs. 

The first, and most obvious is Mergo's Cord, where it says in the item description that the Cord "granted Mensis audience with Mergo". Mergo is the nightmare newborn, the infant Great One of Queen Yharnam and Formless Oedon. 

What about the Cord that Imposter Iosefka possessed? The Cord that we retrieve from her says that "Provost Willem sought the Cord in order to elevate his being and thoughts...". It is mistakenly believed sometimes that Imposter Iosefka is pregnant. Evidence of this exists in the description of the Cord we retrieve from her, which talks not about her, but Willem. It is likely that the Choir took the Cord from Byrgenwerth after Willem had used it, and Imposter Iosefka, a member of the Choir, took it from the Choir for herself (which may explain why we find her taking up shop so far from Upper Cathedral Ward). But that is another topic entirely. The main point is that, if the Cord was used by Willem, and the Cords grant audience with the infant Great One to whom it belongs, then this Cord very likely belongs to Rom. I believe that Rom was one of the "special children" that Miyazaki talks about in the guide, who was chosen by a Great One to ascend and become their child. Whether this occured with the help of Willem, or occurred in Ancient Pthumeru, I think there is enough evidence to suggest that Rom is the child of Ebrietas. 

I think we find the slumbering body of Rom at the Altar of Despair where we meet Ebrietas. Beyond this piece of evidence, I think there are also some similarities in how we encounter Ebrietas and Rom that further supports this. They both start out passive in their boss fights, and they both use arcane attacks. These similarities, combined with the appearance of a Rom-like figure at the Altar of Despair are enough to link Rom to Ebrietas for me, and therefore link the Cord that Willem used to Rom, the infant Great One to which it belonged.

This brings us to the last instance where a Cord of the Eye was used to contact a Great One: at the Abandoned Old Workshop, where the Cord "precipitated the encounter with the pale moon, which beckoned the hunters and conceived the hunter's dream". I think the Moon Presence is only hinted at in this description in order to keep the ending secret, but it is pretty obvious that the Moon Presence was contacted, and subsequently formed the Hunter's Dream. Given what we have reviewed already, I think this leads to an interesting conclusion. The Moon Presence is the Child of a Great One. 

If this is true, then it naturally leads us to ask who the Moon Presence is the child of and how did they become a Great One? The legitimacy of this information is tentative at best, but the original description for this Cord was:

"One of the heirlooms used to contact the Great Ones, originating in the child of the Vilebloods. Long ago, in an encounter with the Great Ones, a contract was established, establishing the hunters and the Hunter's Dream".

Now, this description was removed in the first patch, and replaced with the one we have now. Still, this means that this was the description for most of the development, so it can at the very least provide some insight to the intended origin of the Moon Presence. If the Moon Presence was originally intended to be a child of blood, then I would at least argue that Oedon is very likely the Great One parent of the Moon Presence, as blood is his thing. This would also mean that the Moon Presence was likely born as Great One similar to Mergo, and was not once human like Rom. If the Moon Presence is the child of Oedon, it would certainly help clarify why the Moon Presence is so interested in hunters. If Papa O is all about the blood, and the MP shares this interest, then there is no better servant to have than a hunter. Hunters are "half-cut with blood", and spill more than anyone else. 

On the other hand, sympathetic or not, this does complicate why MP would be down with, and even encouraging the player character, to kill Mergo, who would be a half-sibling in this case. Perhaps there is a sibling rivalry of sorts going on, or perhaps this isn't a big deal because the absolute death of a Great Ones may not even be possible. There is not enough evidence to do anything more than speculate one this point.

In summary: The Cord of the Eye puts the user in contact with the infant Great One to whom the Cord belonged. Under this theory, Mergo, Rom, and the Moon Presence are all the children of Great Ones by various means. Mergo and MP are the children of Oedon, and Rom is the child of Ebrietas.

Do you agree or disagree with this? Do you have thoughts or theories related to this? Let me know!