Episode 66: Old Yharnam

The following podcasts were produced by Gary Butterfield and Kole Ross of Duckfeed.tv as part of the Bloodborne season of their show Bonfireside Chat. These episodes cover Old Yharnam, and features Matt Lees.

The Paleblood Hunt - A Bloodborne Analysis

The following content is a very extensive interpretation of the narrative and world of Bloodborne by dmcredgrave. 

What's Really Going On In Bloodborne - The Hunt and Old Yharnam

Rich Stanton of Kotaku wrote a very extensive interpretation of the narrative of Bloodborne that you can find here. The following is an excerpt from the article in which Rich presents his interpretation of the hunt and Old Yharnam, and I highly recommend reading the original article in it's entirety. All content presented is the work of Rich Stanton and Kotaku, with only minor formatting changes made.

The Hunt and Old Yharnam

The residents of Yharnam are familiar with the tradition of the hunt. When the moon comes close, the most blood-addled become beasts, and doors are closed for the night as hunters sweep the streets and slaughter their prey.

Gehrman was the first hunter, and the host of the Hunter's Dream, but we'll return to him later. What matters historically is that he inspired other hunters, some of whom followed his methods and some of whom diverged. The Healing Church had its own line of hunters, began by Ludwig, a necessity because as the most blood-addled citizens of all, clerics would turn into the most hideous beasts. It even began to create special blood gems for the task.

Pre-Release: The Wild Beast Within: Folklore, Metamorphosis, and Motivation in From Software’s Bloodborne

This in-depth article looks at the history of transformation in folklore and what it might mean in Bloodborne.

Pre-Release: On Covered Eyes

This post explores what the significance of covered eyes might mean.

Does the Protagonist Have the Scourge Before Arriving in Yharnam?

Nightmares, The Scourge, and Night

The Major Themes

With the information released so far, some recurring themes have come forth: Nightmares/Dreams, Disease/Transformation, and Day/Night.

These themes will inform and direct the story, and figuring out how they play into the world and how they connect to each other is the key to understanding the game as a whole.

Now this is ultimately idle speculation, as I'm sure the game will outright answer and lot of this, but as someone who is invested in solving the lore of this game I think there is value in thinking about it now. That way, when the game is released I have an idea of what I'm looking for.

The big question is: How do these themes connect? On their own I can get a relatively clear picture, but I am coming up short when I try and imagine how they form a cohesive story.

Night meshes well with both Nightmares and Transformation; Nightmares happen at night typically and Transformation in Gothic horror is certainly linked to night. But how do Dreams/Nightmares and Disease/Transformation connect?

Disease can be linked to hallucinations and disconnecting from reality, but I do think the Nightmare World/Dream Refuge are connected to dreaming, and not just a symbol for psychoses or horrors of the mind (you can find out why in this article). This basically becomes a question of how are the Nightmare World and the Scourge of the Beast related?

Without understanding what the Nightmare World is, my pursuit to answer how the major themes connect ends, and speculation begins.

Speculation

My personal thought is that perhaps the Nightmare World is the manifestation of people's fears. Similar to the Fade in Dragon Age, there is a connection to the Nightmare World when humans sleep.

Following that line of thinking, The Scourge of the Beast then could be a disease that literally transforms people into the monsters of their nightmares. Could this mean the plague came from the Nightmare World? Maybe someone tries to access the Nightmare World through a ritual involving blood, and thus the plague began.

This isn't a great answer, but it's a theory. Unfortunately it creates more questions, and there is enough unknown already, I don't need to try and answers created by my own speculation.

Questions

• How do the themes of Dreams/Nightmares, Disease/Transformation, and Day/Night connect to one another?
• How are the Nightmare World and The Scourge of the Beast related?
• What is the Nightmare World?
• What do you guys think? Am I over thinking things? What are your thoughts on these questions?

To see the full list of questions, visit this page.