Bloodborne Fear the Old Lore - What Makes the Vilebloods' Blood Vile?

In this episode we turn our attention to the Vilebloods of Cainhurst and explore what makes their blood "vile."
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0:00 Intro
0:17 Good blood? Bad blood? What's the difference?
0:57 The localization of "Vileblood"
1:17 Kegare Explained
3:00 Blood & Kegare as Taboo
4:00 The "Blood Clan" of Cainhurst
4:31 The Blood Queens of Cainhurst & the Old Labyrinth
5:20 Becoming a Vileblood
5:34 Blood Dregs & Blood Rapture
8:04 Shared connections between Annalise and Queen Yharnam
9:00 Impurity's connection to Great Ones
9:43 Corrupt Blood & Eldritch Liaisons
10:30 The Purity of the Healing Church & the Raid on Cainhurst
10:57 Cainhurst & the Healing Church ─ Conflicting Goals?
11:22 A Retconned Child of Blood?
11:53 The Limits of Information on Cainhurst
12:10 Infant Experiments, Death, and Stillbirth
13:15 Impurity, Insight, & Transcending Man
14:09 Transcending Death & Nightmare Mist
15:58 Consciousness Persists in Sleep
16:49 Summary
18:04 Outro

[@blackopsquay]

5 years later and Bloodborne is still going strong. Truly, a masterpiece.

[@lj1021]

No. That would be Dark Souls. A masterpiece indicates that it's original and there is not much to improve. There is so much to improve here. And original? No. I was very disappointed how rushed this felt. Not bad, but definetly not a masterpiece good sir.

[@officialyungkb]

@@lj1021 Bruh, they both are.

[@lj1021]

@@officialyungkb I personally think bloodborne is just lazy. Bloodvials were a terrible addition. Just made the game worse. Map desing is horrible, I can't tell apart the last place from the next. Bosses are meh and too easy in late game and the experience just felt lame. Otherwise it's pretty much just a copy of DS 🤷🏻‍♂️ with great features removed. Glad you enjoyed it dude.

[@ghoulish6125]

@@lj1021 "I personally" Into the trash with everything that comes after that phrase

[@lj1021]

@@ghoulish6125 Well I am definetly not the only one who thinks that. And bloodborne is essentially just a copy of Dark Souls so it's not even original and definetly not a "masterpiece." And I believe in the worth of my opinion since i have platinium on all of the games in soulsborne series🤷🏻‍♂️ No reason for you to act like a brat. It could be MUCH better.

[@Robin_TheArtist]

Honestly to me it just seems like the healing church gave them the "Vileblood" or "Impure Blood" name. As in, their blood isnt really impure, but actually more pure than any other, but since the worth "pure" has holy connotations and it relates in a positive manner to the church, they, maybe in a fit of envy, or to make people believe they were bad, they started calling them "Impure Bloods" So yeah, thats why the Queen Yharnam is the Blood Queen, and Annalise is also called the Blood Queen (originally at least) And yeah, the thing about Annalise having her child taken away makes a lot of sense, it would explain the raid into Cainhurst, like, having that kid was what sent the church over the edge. I'm loving this videos a lot, thank you for making them so interesting!!! I subbed right away ;A;

[@00Boogie]

At the very least a stolen child of Annalise would make for a parallel with the abduction of Mergo. Though it seems likely the School of Mensis grabbed Yharnham while Logarius guarded the hidden portion of the castle. Maybe Logarius knew she could never truly die, maybe felt pity and thought keeping her from her followers was the compromise, or the Healing Church might well have coveted her blood and he was made a martyr to keep them out of mischief. If nothing else, I imagine a child of the Vilebloods inspired some twisted experiments.

[@hansheinrich125]

Yes and no. The Healing Church's own blood is heavily tainted as it induces the beast transformation. So there is a huge hypocrisy. I'm not too sure what it actually does to you if you are born with it but Cainhurst blood is a source of rapid poison. This could very well make it super potent as mercury is a powerful medium for all kinds of shenanigans in Bloodborne and the major source for that is (mercury poisoned?) blood. I think Logarius had its own beef with Cainhurst. He's Pthumerian and so are the Executioner enemies. With all the parallels to Queen Yharnam and the looks of Annalise, Ariana and Maria Cainhurst is most likely (of) Pthumerian (origin). The church in its early days was operating covertly. Gherman and his band stalked and assinated the infested and they even managed to poison the citizens of Old Yharnam without anyone really blaming them. (The blame is always regarding them abondining the doomed Yharnamites, not for being the cause of it all.) So I think Laurence himself was the scholar, who brought the forbidden (i guess vermin ridden) blood to Cainhurst to sample its effects. In his quest to beckon the Great One's he allied the Church with Logarius' Executioners once the time was right and kidnapped that Child of Blood. (This infant according to cut content which is not contradicted in the actual game is the origin of the cord we find in the Abandoned Hunter's Workshop.)

[@colt4505]

I have a passing fancy / half-assed hypothesis that different blood-types are connected to different Great Ones and they have corresponding elements. Loran=Lightning Isz=Arcane Pthumeru=Fire Probably nothing to it, but I can't shake the feeling that there's a deeper correlation that I'm missing.

[@MegaBlair007]

@@hansheinrich125 by the time old yharnam burned, Gehrman was already in the hunter's dream, since Djura was once a dream hunter and he renounced his vows after what happened to old yharnam

[@hansheinrich125]

@@MegaBlair007 yes, imo the Moon Presence was beckoned after Laurence realised Old Yharnam was doomed. With Gherman gone and no need for secrecy anymore Church Hunters became a public militia under Ludwig in charge of protecting the civilians from the Church‘s mistakes

[@sheolcodemonkey4027]

The fact that Blood Dregs appear to be full of sperm seems worth considering, given the notion that Annalise will use them to conceive a Child of Blood

[@hugofontes5708]

Looking closer I noticed the small sperm-like things in blood dregs actually have little faces that kinda remind me of messengers

[@Alpha_beef]

@@hugofontes5708 Its possible that they resemble pthumerian mouths as well

[@frybread002_3]

I think it depends on how you interpret the information you receive. In the North American version of the game, it strongly implies/ outright declares for Queen Analise to be impregnated with and conceive a child of blood. Buy after watching this video, where he states the translation of the some items, says that Queen Analise wants to embrace/hug/hold a child of blood. So the conversation can go anywhere at this point.

[@odysseas.kosmatos]

My theory regarding the Vilebloods is a bit fuzzy but here goes: The Vilebloods seem to be descendants of the Pthumerians, with queen Yharnam and queen Annalise sharing so many similarities. In the game we know of 2 Vilebloods, Arianna and Annalise. Though it wouldn't be far fetched to assume that Lady Maria is also belongs to Vileblood clan, due to her blood attacks, greyish white hair etc. My theory is that the umbilical cord found in the hunter's workshop belonged to Lady Maria, and that Vileblood women were more prone to being impregnated by the Old ones. That would explain both why we found it there, and the original lore text stating that it was a child of the Vilebloods, meaning Maria. Gehrman used it to come in contact with the Moon Presence, and stricken with sorrow over the death of his student whom he loved, fashioned her back to life in the form of the plain doll. As for the Vilebloods, thinking back on the Gothic feel of the game, and the noble castles, one great sin that comes to mind is incest. The descendants of Pthumeru kept their bloodline pure via interbreeding among the nobles, and that made their blood "impure". That would explain the aversion of the healing church towards them, and could also potentially explain why their kids came out deformed or stillborn.

[@ThanesTito]

Lady Maria's equipment bluntly states that she is distantly related to Queen Annalise, and despite being, assumedly (somewhat confirmed due to her moveset), pretty powerful with using blood to fuel her martial prowess, which is the staple of Cainhurst, despises doing so and prefers a weapon that requires a lot of skill

[@mysteryperson706]

I really suspect that Mergo is the child of Queen Yarnham, and the stone she drops is meant to represent Mergo's body. Mergo dies, and their concioussness is locked in a dream. Then the ritual of Mensis causes Mergo distress, turning it into a nightmare. This explains why Yarnham wants to stop the crying; her child is in distress. Additionally, this leads me to suspect that the Moon Presence might have used Yarnham as a surrogate, just as Oedon uses Adella. The Moon Presence is drawn to the sound of it's infant crying.

[@VaLOREant]

I’m totally on board with the stone being mergo’s body. But not sure about the moon presence impregnating Yharnam. IMO, I think it’s more likely that Oedon is Mergo’s "Father" and the Moon Presence is trying to find a Hunter capable of killing other great ones.

[@mysteryperson706]

@@VaLOREant I mean I'm still one of those people who believe the MP is Oedon aha. But ultimately I don't think there is any one objectively true Bloodborne 'story'. These are gaps the player is meant to fill in themselves, and so I think your thoughts on the matter are as true as anyone elses. I actually really like the idea that the MP is cultivating someone to hunt great ones, very interesting.

[@Sohelanthropus]

His*

[@mysteryperson706]

@@Sohelanthropus I'm sorry I'm not entirely sure who you're referring to

[@Sohelanthropus]

@@mysteryperson706 mergo

[@punkly8423]

These are very strong lore videos, cannot believe I found this hidden gem so small. Thank you.

[@SinnerBeta]

Speaking of dead infants, I always thought that the Messengers are basically dead babies that became something akin to great ones due to blood experiments.

[@boabuin1151]

That's one hell of a way to start a sentence

[@crestfallenwarrior5719]

Top 10 Conversation beginners

[@anonecki]

They're dead Pthumerian babies if anything

[@Scyle92]

Say"vile vileblood blood vial" 5 times fast.

[@colt4505]

Vlud bile 😤😂

[@kestrelswatchingchannel]

As someone who has been planning a recreation of Bloodborne and it's story in D&D, these videos have been immensely insightful (pun somewhat intended)

[@denvercoplan6069]

We all need to link up, lol, I’m also doing the same thing right now.

[@joca_sol]

I'm literally doing a campaign based on the souls-borne series, but writing from scratch

[@LexIconLS]

Yoooo. Can the five of us link up and compare notes sometime? I'm also working on this project. I'm working on recreating the area maps(with verticality), putting together the timeline in a way that I can work, writing up a few homebrew rules to make the combat in D&D snappier, and have made a bunch of miniature templates on HeroForge for as many enemy types as I can.

[@goroakechi6126]

@@LexIconLS I can help out. I’m not very experienced in DND, but I’ve got a heap of knowledge of SoulsBorne lore, especially Bloodborne.

[@waltercook3843]

I must say your videos really throw open the curtain on Bloodbourne's obscured background plot. I am continually impressed at how lucid you make the game's phantasmagoria. Well done!

[@DoctorDex]

I always saw Cainhurst as a family like the Habsburg's trying to keep their bloodline "pure" by... keeping it in the family..

[@insertedgynamehere___969]

Something I found interesting is that the Cainhurst armour is adorned with engravings of Coldblood Flowers. It's easiest to see on the scarf (Or is it cape?). The Coldblood flowers various item description say they grow on coldblood and mature slowly near death. And when cold blood flowers bloom: They're described as a "stygian flower". Stygian is an adjective that means "relating to river styx" which is a literal river souls in Greek myth (I'm assuming this is referring to the cold blood they grow on. To my understanding: blood echoes is the wills of the dead). The Cainhurst helmet also has what looks like a skull engraving under the face plate (You can see the jaw bone and teeth if you look at the side of the helm and kinda angle it under the face plate). This all but confirms that it's coldblood flowers that adorns the armour. It also seems the arms of the Cainhurst (specifically the chikage, on its hilt and scabbard, and Evelyn's, I havent checked the Reiterpallasch as of yet) also have cold blood imagery. It seems to me that this is more of a direct connection to Pthumeru, although the cold blood flowers seem to be growing in both the hunters dream and the workshop it reflects. Although in Gehrmans waking world work shop they are more of an ashen grey colour instead of the white and red colour of cold blood flowers

[@therobotFrom94]

You describe kegare being akin to sin in judeo-christian traditions but the Old Testament of the bible has a whole ton of rules and guidance for dealing with dead bodies and diseased people in an incredibly similar way to how you describe kegare. The biblical term used is unclean, or unholy, and is contagious. The main difference is that being unclean / impure / unholy does not anger God, rather His total purity would just annihilate anything impure

[@Sage3356]

Can you please elaborate the last part? I want to understand better

[@therobotFrom94]

@@Sage3356 I'll give it a go. The God of the bible is described as 'Holy'. This basically means perfectly good/pure and as such, nothing that isn't good or pure can be in His presence. Hence why OT priests were only allowed in the Holy Place of the temple once a year. It's a bit like the sun. It provides heat and light and life to the planet, but if we spend too much time in its presence, or get too close we become damaged. This isn't the sun being bad or evil, simply a result of exposure. In the same way, sinful humans can at best, only spend a very short time in God's presence or his holiness will damage them

[@Sage3356]

@@therobotFrom94 you said you found this information in the old testament, right? Can you tell me the page please? I am doing a bit of research on the matter

[@therobotFrom94]

Sure; for one, in Exodus 3:5 God tells Moses to take his sandals off, for he stands on holy ground. God's presence purified the very ground around Him. Again in Exodus; chapter 40, verses 34 and 35 show that God's glory resting on the Tabernacle was so intense that even Moses could not enter. In order to assist people. The Torah has a lot of rules for purification. Ceremonial washing etc. Which it is there to allow humans to remove their uncleanness and be in the presence of God. For Christians, we take our uncleanness directly to God through prayers in Jesus' name and He presents us clean before God

[@Sage3356]

​@@therobotFrom94gosh i forgot io thank you for It, thanks! :3

[@stanfordfeynman2796]

Seeing Bloodborne videos so long after release makes me so happy. Part of me yearns for a sequel, but I understand that it doesn’t need one. Still, lovely video nonetheless!

[@LavosYT]

Just join our prayers for a 60 FPS patch or re-release.

[@richardcheese4680]

Fingers crossed that Bloodborne Kart is on the menu.

[@stanfordfeynman2796]

@@richardcheese4680 Nah I’m hoping for Bloodborne: Chain of Memories!

[@federicosavorani6320]

actually a prequel would be more interesting. but myiazaki doesnt like the idea edit:in my opinion

[@colt4505]

Cainhurst deserves it's own DLC if not it's own sequel. There are still so many missing links and unexplained things in Bloodborne.

[@timogul]

It sounds like a better translation of "Vile Blood" would be "Tainted Blood."

[@robertjensen4541]

funny thing is the fact that the healing church has all this evidence of their less than savory practices. hell if you finished the games dlc you realize that they literally sactioned the massacre of a town just to get at something that wasnt theirs to begin with and results in the cursing of ALL hunters.

[@HighPriestFuneral]

While the Research Hall is indeed horrific, the Fishing Hamlet massacre was carried out by Byrgenwerth Scholars, not the Healing Church.

[@capollyon]

Well, my theory is bit different. For me, Cainhurst was intended to be main storyline in early game development. Cainhurst is clearly adaptation of Dracula story, making Annalise undead vampire. Also the enormous attention on details in Cainhurst are extraordinary for some optional area. We know that Hamewick was first area developed, and it very much feels like village under Dracula's castle. The Church was probably intended to be enemy of Cainhurst vampires, which is common theme in vampire/werewolf stories. All in all, the story has changed drastically in mid-game development and Cainhurst plotline was completely abandoned. What we have are just fragment's which were slightly changed to fit new theme of cosmic horror instead of gothic horror. I support the idea that it was in fact Laurence who gave Old Blood found in labyrinth to Cainhurst nobles. He did it in secret when Willem forbid to use Old Blood and wanted to rely only on insight and runes. Due to the connection of Cainhurst nobles to Pthumerians, the Old Blood had magnificent effect, they became healthier, stronger, the blood healed all wounds and diseases making Cainhurst nobles unstoppable. I think that they tried to incorporate the Cainhurst to the new cosmic horror storyline, as in the unpached US version of the game from 2015 the Gherman's umbilical cord says: _"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 hunters dream."_ This information was cut out from the game with next patches, but it confirms that Annalise was in fact meant to bear Great Ones child, as Queen Yharnam once did. The *Yharnam Stone* is in fact Mergo's fetus and there is cut out dialogue of Hamlet's Priest which was related to gifting him Yharnam Stone. We can find paintings, portraits and statues of Annalise with her Child all over the Cainhurst, but except that we have no other information what happened to Cainhurst Knight's, King and her child/ren. The only enemies we find in Cainhurst are ghost ladies, some mostly unhostile servants and bloodlickers which are not vilebloods, they just appear in places with lot's of blood, something like hyeans. Basically, the storyline we get in final product is that once Laurence left Willem and together with his followers founded Healing Church to further experiment with Old Blood. He knew about _vilebloods_ and their blood and probably feared them. He wanted to destroy evidence of his actions, he wanted to get rid of them, so he came with propaganda that their blood is "tainted" and they needs to be destroyed. That caused fanatics to join ranks of Executioners with goal to destroy anything which could compromise Laurence and Healing Church. And they did. The only reason we have Cainhurst is probably only that they invested so much time into it's development at beginning. Comparing to other areas nothing in main game has so much details to environment, certainly not any side areas. In fact I was disappointed to find Yaharghul chapel to be completely empty, as well there is absolutely nothing in Upper Cathedral Ward (I would love to find there some tools as we found in Research Hall, but no, the area is just empty with no details in architecture or design. Even the stupid wolves feel like they do not belong in there). The Cainhurst alone is one of the biggest areas in the game, leaving any other side area behind. I think they should have finished Byrgenwerth and Lecture hall properly and give us Cainhurst in second DLC which would explained their origin and downfall. But they rushed to DS3, so we are not going to get anything about it, and rest are just fantasies.

[@burtdanams4426]

damn you just blew this game wide open for me. I just gained 20+ insight

[@NN-qw8jf]

Like your fantasy of bloodborne not having originally cosmic themes? They were always going for that route.

[@Pibblepunk]

If you had a vial of blood filled from a Vileblood would the Vileblood's blood vial be vile

[@LastProtagonist]

How vile would a blood vial from a vileblood be if a vileblood's blood was vile?

[@colt4505]

@@LastProtagonist You beat me to it! 😂

[@kasp7674]

I would love for you to give your take on the relationships between blood echoes, blood dregs, vermin, insight, beasthood, great ones and kins.

[@LastProtagonist]

Thanks. It's a bit of a mess putting it all together, but I do intend to touch on the subjects more in future videos.

[@caelinnis]

@@LastProtagonist I would also love to see that video. Particularly Blood Echoes and Oeden

[@colt4505]

Shout out to "Little Things in Yharnam: Oedon" by Redgrave. Search for it here on KZbin. In short, he speculates that Oedon's essence is that of Quicksilver, otherwise known as Mercury.

[@kanseidorifto2430]

@@colt4505 I'm betting that Oedon is like a living form of Abyss, if you follow his other videos from Dark Souls lore; given that it's supposedly highly vast, it may be a form of that, since it takes the form of blood, and mediums of liquid are said to be catalysts for sound. Oedon could be the connection between other realities, which could be the explanation for other players coming into our worlds, and the blood magic used by the bell maidens. Maybe, Oedon is not a being either, but rather as a bridge to parallel and nonlinear realities Oedon is a concept created under various conditions.

[@gagemcmahon9485]

For some reason I’ve had a loose grasp on BB lore, like I knew everything in the game and everyone’s back story but I couldn’t connect it all in a sensible way. With your videos I feel like I can finally grasp the connections. Thanks so much

[@johnjurell8365]

I thought vaatividya's lore make sense. But after this video i learned they were nothing more of the fundamentals. I mean his videos are good for people who want to know the fundamental structures of the lore. But if you want to go deeper then you are the man!! No competition btw i just found that the lore has more deeper nooks and crannies.

[@kanseidorifto2430]

I agree with your statement. His content is somehow more insightful than Vaati's, despite the time and detail in his videos too.

[@wenderzxanthome1465]

Staying true to my words on Discord, so as always: Excellent video! Congratulations! You already know that, but since kegare is associated with pollution and filth as well, I feel like it could be relevant to bring up poison to the subject. In DS, rotted blood is likely a source of poison (Manslayer, Bat Staff, DS3 Poison Knife, Arstor's Spear, etc.) and toxic, and I think I can safely say that BB (and also DeS, where the link with kegare is made even more clear through descriptions like Death Cloud) follows the pattern considering Ashen Blood is a source of slow poison and the Chikage transformed mode inflicts Rapid Poison, among other things (The names "murky" and "dirty" blood gems could also play into the idea of kegare). Speaking of which, do you think rapid poison could be associated with the "Vilebloods" and their lineage, and that the rapid, more immediately effective poison, could find its roots in a more impure kind of blood ? I mentioned the Chikage, but most, if not all of the sources of rapid poison in the game, are caused by enemies associated with Vilebloods and Pthumerians to some extent. I'm mostly thinking of Queen Yharnam, Mergo's attendants, and I'd argue that the bloodlickers and the crawlers in Nightmare's Frontier (who seem to have messengers in their "mouth", which as you noted look like the Pthumerians) are connected to an extent as well. There are other things to add, but you are probably aware of most of these already. Once again, good job!

[@LastProtagonist]

It's a good question. It might not be Vilebloods/Pthumerians specifically, as the people of Old Yharnam seem to have a kind of diseased or "rotten" blood with the "Ashen Blood" ailment which afflicts Slow Poison, but we also see that kind of ailment in effect in the Research Hall Patients with swollen arms. But to be fair, even down in the caverns beneath Yharnam, we see it's in the midst of a grave of sorts with the charred remains of humans in the mud, so even they may have been adjacent to death, which ties to kegare. It should also be noted it's not every Pthumerian that has rapid poisonous attacks, but it is interesting to think about.

[@hansheinrich125]

@@LastProtagonist Thanks for the loregasm. Awesome stuff, subbed right away Might be stupid to suggest it to you two being fellow lore enthusiasts but Redgrave has an intriguing video about the poison mechanics and their respective in-game sources and lore.

[@Theavfanclub]

Looks like varying levels of Humanity in the blood tbh

[@colt4505]

People think I'm lazy. I'm just cultivating my impurity to strengthen my blood 😅😵

[@hugofontes5708]

I used to think Bloodborne lore was intentionally vague and cryptic as Dark Souls, but you make it seem like it was mostly thinly veiled or scattered and partially lost in translation. Makes me wonder why there wasn't a book afterwards making a compendium or things

[@dutchbannger6503]

I think something else noteworthy is that the healing church seems to partake in blood ministration via injection or insertion into cuts and then become beasts where as the vileblood vampire types seem to consume the blood orally just as the hunter does from the queens wrist if so chosen. If repression is what leads to greater beasthood perhaps this sort of giving into beastial desires upfront is what prevents the scourge.

[@gamingdealer9514]

I'm a bit late but I have a theory that most great ones start as infants but they never "mature", they only gain more power. In contrast, the 3rd ending, in which we become an infant great one, we are mentally mature but we only now begin to grow our metaphysical power.

[@MadamFoogie]

" . . . Literal trickle-down economics." Heheh. Nice.

[@steamedhamlet]

Kegare is close to parasite then. As it drains you. Same kind of concept is present in Sekiro and the "vilebloods" of that game who I believe are the people with parasites are also immortal like the Cainhurst people.

[@colt4505]

Parasite, huh? "Vermin," much? 😘

[@DS_DoggerX]

My, my, this channel is fantastic. Thank you for making these. I've thought of making things like these but seeing as I hate my voice, I'll probably stick to PvP montages. Good stuff!

[@LastProtagonist]

Aww, don't worry about it. I'm not too crazy about the sound of my recorded voice either. Just try to make something you'd be interested in & share that with others.

[@DS_DoggerX]

@@LastProtagonist well, seeing as you're on an actual roll with these, ever thought about giving the connection between Byrgenwerth, Mensis, the Workshop and the Healing Church a go? It's an EXTREMELY interesting bit of lore that I'm sure you'll love to get into. It's fascinating to think that the One Reborn may have an orphaned Great One (like the OoK, perhaps even just him) as the avatar controlling it at the head. Seeing as proportionally it's not human, perhaps in the real version of the hamlet, the abduction of the orphan succeeded...

[@colt4505]

@@DS_DoggerX I took a crack at it. I even have a web of connections drawn with pencil and paper going 😂

[@sheolcodemonkey4027]

I'm probably a bit late noticing this but something I only just thought of (don't know how relevant it is) is that it doesn't actually say "echo fiends" is another name for hunters, it says "that is to say, the blood of hunters". I didn't clock it the first time around, but the word "fiend" is often used to mean "addict". If that's what they meant (which I suspect, because I don't think the term "echo fiend" is used literally anywhere else) then Blood Dregs aren't found in the blood of hunters specifically, they're found in the blood of people addicted to echoes, that is to say, the blood of hunters, i.e. they're found in hunters' blood because they're echo addicts. That makes sense given that the impurity is the result of death, you get echoes by killing, thus people who absorb a lot of echoes have to kill a lot and end up with corrupted blood I wonder if also, since more echoes seems to correlate with being closer to Great One status, the reason Blood Dregs can be used to conceive a child of blood is because they're full of echoes, because they were taken from the blood of echo addicts. Maybe that's what all those sperm-like things in the Blood Dregs are, blood echoes. Maybe that's ALL the skull/messenger things you see in relation to blood and why those who consume a lot of impure blood seem to look like that too

[@bingoboppins9875]

Great video, had the same thought you mentioned at the end. Knowing spiritually unclean blood is valued by the Great Ones definitely adds a more sinister aspect to them.

[@_-Achilles-_]

Thank you for making recent content for Bloodborne, I am just now on my first playthrough, and wow I have been missing out for years

[@commentingpausedtoprotectus]

This game is why I got a PS4 and just started a fresh playthrough, loving the game more than ever and lore vids like these wet my appitite when I'm unable to play; great work!

[@kanseidorifto2430]

Got one last month JUST for this one game. No regrets!

[@colt4505]

Subbed. Been looking for a bLOREdborne channel that isn't 5 years old. Thanks for keeping things relevant and presenting fresh takes.

[@ozanozdinc9197]

15:35 nightmare slain text refers to mergo himself, not mergo's wet nurse.

[@gametheus1306]

I’m not so sure about that, since the text appears after killing Mergo’s Wet Nurse, and after Mergo’s crying turns into snoring; if it were really referring to killing Mergo, I’m sure they would’ve made it similar to the Orphan of Kos, so that killing Mergo’s Wet Nurse would bring the Prey Slaughtered text, and killing Mergo after that would bring the Nightmare Slain text

[@DichotomousRex]

No, you hear Mergo stop crying and quietly start breathing softly, if you turn it up.

[@Sohelanthropus]

It's clear Cainhurst used to play a way bigger role in early development with the cut content And at this point in the lore, I can't help but just feel bad for the guys at Cainhurst lol, they were massacred by the church just for being different

[@38Jim]

I feel like I stumbled onto a gold mine. Your channel is amazing. Keep it up

[@richardcheese4680]

This is without a doubt my absolute favorite game of all time. I hardly believe this will ever change. Bonkers that I still learn new things about the game. Great videos on the lore.

[@odell191]

You're awesome for still making Bloodborne theory videos. At this point I don't even care if they hold water, you could be pulling em out of a hat and I'd still watch any From Soft lore video.

[@dutchbannger6503]

The Child of blood that Analise seeks first reminded me of queen yarnams blood stone or the fact she's the one directing you to the crying infant, mergo, and how that's another parallel between them but then i realized that these children of blood are the special children that miyazaki said the great ones take interest in. So if the blood stone is yarhnam's still birth, and we know micolash's dead body existed while he was in the nightmare, perhaps the nightmare of mensis involved going into the nightmare of dead baby mergo and the way great ones are beconed is in the dream/nightmare states of sleep/ death (where they already reside if they are based on hp love craft)

[@finchamnicky]

I love your lore videos, you go sooo much more in depth than any other I've seen, especially with the Japanese translations :) Thank you!

[@Blintedhaa]

A hunter is never alone Subbed

[@claviceps_giles5177]

This is the best video on Cainhurst I've seen. I was so stoked to find this!

[@caeleanvieira6987]

Your videos are absolutely incredible, man! Please keep uploading. I'm loving them.

[@signoguns8501]

Love your content. It's crazy that even half a decade after its release, people are still releasing videos that offer a fresh and unique perspective on Bloodborne lore.

[@gnomechomsky8037]

You go into depths that other great content creators haven't touched. I appreciate it very much

[@bb-tj7ef]

incredible timing! i just finished the other videos lol

[@MastaShake99]

Another masterpiece. I love seeing your uploads

[@piercenewby2406]

Your videos are such high quality content, keep it up.

[@Elyas11S]

Amazing work, mate!

[@steamedhamlet]

And the kegare rune looks like the centipedes from Sekiro

[@colt4505]

Again, Vermin are depicted as centipedes. 🙃

[@Morraak]

Your lore videos are so good. Keep up the good work!

[@olivias.m.7377]

Just when I thought I was done watching lore videos...

[@spookyf1nger979]

Fantastic analysis. I've noticed the black mist but never drew the connection.

[@nadiaem8184]

Awesome, as always. Thanks!

[@POProckxplosun]

From what I understand, it's almost as if queen yahrnham had control over yahrnhams views, the church saw that not only did their blood have high potency and by default the vile bloods would be ablel to beckon a great one themselves, but they also influenced the city itself with their aristocratic rule (which is why a analyse may be so aristocratic and classier, since her kingdom was taken from her with political ploy). unless those of the healing church consumed the more potent blood as well (which they may have realized they could not because it was from the vile bloods pthumerian heritage) or they would have to get RID of the more potent blood *potent here is just a loose term for, more "dirty" / more likely to create a child of blood* so they pushed logarius' and his members to attack the church, taking the child *Except it may have been retconned as killing the child and taking the cord or filling the cord out of queen yarnham* and specifically slitting all of the women's throats so there would be no more children of blood from them. The great ones would HAVE to look towards the church for not only for surrogates but for the blood child itself*, which is what they wanted so they could summon the great ones (the moon presence in the case of what actually happened). But analise was truly immortal and when logarius' found that out he knew that all would fail if he did not stop the vile blood followers from trying to give blood dregs so she could be plump with blood once again and create a blood child as her forebearers once did. This would be ruining the entire plan to summon the great ones. *NOTE:I don't know if logarius' was apart of this plan or if the healing church used him*

[@POProckxplosun]

Or I could be wrong as fvck 😂 but it's fun to speculate

[@rauladrianbautistachavez346]

Dude, this is great content, and very underrated, you're the best

[@Dedusmln]

Tbh soulsborne lore will never gets old

[@Tutorial7a]

I just realized that there are "Vile Bloods" and "Blood Vials." This is purely coincidental, I'm sure, but it's also hilarious.

[@burtdanams4426]

Its as if the hunters are just existing as part of a unique function in an ecosystem. Creatures in our world form all sorts of strange variants of symbiotic/parasitic relationships, the hunter's dream and the nightmare may be an extension of the same functions capable of the moon presence or other great ones. Hunters made an encounter with certain great ones beyond our knowledge and unknowingly fell into a symbiotic relationship with them that seems beneficial at face value, but was indeed the source of our suffering. Trapped in a cycle that gives us the illusion that we are making progress and constantly clawing our way up out of the trap, only to slide back down and begin again as we are digested in this great one's trap. There's no intent behind it, no great planning or deception required to enact this 'pact', it was simply a necessary result of the interactions of the features that make us distinct from them. It's quite possible that we are almost like a domesticated animal to the moon presence, in some lower sense of 'domesticated'. Searching for human hunters who can acquire the most blood echoes (wills) within themselves and shepherd other hunters with great 'nourishment' to the slaughter. The dream and the nightmare may be different in name only, with different groups being caught in different traps of attempting to beckon the moon presence for some perceived gain of their own

[@BRNNANN]

Fantastic video!!

[@caydespliff181]

this. game. keeps. pulling. me. back. (top notch content as well, I thank you, on behalf of mankind)

[@TheVivaJacob]

Amazing Video keep it up!

[@FTZPLTC]

re the "carrying" vs "embracing" difference, I guess the main one is that "embracing" a child implies that it's voluntary and potentially welcomed, whereas "carrying" or "bearing " a child *can* imply that but doesn't have to.

[@spicec3613]

ok tbf to the executioners the vile bloods had like human sacrifes on the daily and ate their organs and shit

[@amrayman5819]

In Stephen's King Salem's lot Father Callahan is made to drink the blood of the Vampire master Kurt Barlow and then he goes mad and cannot enter the church because he has become impure

[@bimbonboon4360]

Im really impressed with your analysis' of bloodborne! Keep going!

[@fattyjaybird7505]

Awesome video! Thanks

[@luisbarrera5740]

As someone who has played every songlet Fromsoft game. Bloodborne is still #1.

[@derigel9783]

These vids are awesome!

[@erndeche1475]

It is incorrect to assume that impurities are necessarily bad things, as purity is not necessarily a good thing. An impurity in human blood simply means something not-human has intruded upon the blood. It may be either good or evil.

[@grotus5549]

It's almost a crime that this channel doesn't have more subs with quality content like this.

[@ElevenDollarCheese]

I like your content, but I subscribed mainly because of your correct usage of an apostrophe in the title. Correct grammar is now like a memory of a bygone age, triggered by an obscure aroma. Cheers.

[@BBoy4040]

Bloodborne 2: The Search for Mehblood

[@issam4569]

Good stuff

[@IRuTReX]

keep going I love it

[@leviathantb4014]

True kegare translation: cheese touch

[@kasp7674]

Your video expanded my own thoughts on the matter, but i disagree, though forgive me if I'm just factually mistaken. I don't buy the idea that more impure blood means being closer to being a great one. First of all, I think it would be a mistake just ignore the fact that vile bloods collect "blood dregs" rather than blood echoes. If the power behind blood echoes/the old blood is the will of the dead residing within the blood, then what would "dregs" of that be? It would be the parts that sinks to the bottom of the blood and the vile blood are specifically imbibing those parts of the blood. And rather than impurity, the rune that is connected to blood dregs is "Corruption", likely meaning that the Vile Bloods' blood isn't impure but corrupt. When looking at the image for Blood Dregs, we see things that looks like sperm. It could mean that the parts of the wills of the dead that sinks to the bottom of the blood, the dregs, are thing related to sex or life. It's because blood queens posses blood filled with a large amount corruption(sex, sperm, life) that the great ones who seeks a surrogate child are attracted to them, not because they are they are closer to being great ones.

[@LastProtagonist]

The "Corruption" rune comes from "kegare." Blood Dregs are "Blood Kegare." The impurity I'm talking about is related to the impure nature of kegare. Since "blood kegare" can produce a Great One infant, a child of blood, that's one symbol of impure blood being related to Great Ones. Arianna is able to have liaison with Oedon because of her "impure" blood. The blood of the Vilebloods and Blood Queens is "corrupt" or "vile" because of the impurity within it. Kegare/Impurity comes from death, and Blood Echoes are related to the dead, which is why we find Blood Dregs in those who have a large amount of Echoes--Hunters. While I agree that there is a separation between Great Ones and merely having impure blood, having more impure blood brings one closer to the levels of Great Ones.

[@kasp7674]

​@@LastProtagonistI sorta disagree. It's the power of blood echoes(stronger will and body) and insight(knowledge and perception) that makes you closer to great ones, with impurity not being required. The impurity in blood dregs are just the parts of the blood that gives you more life energy and fertility, which attracts great ones seeking to have a child and let's you stay alive even after death. I would really like to hear the Japanese meaning behind the Corruption rune's name and Impurity rune's name and what the differences between them means.

[@LastProtagonist]

@@kasp7674 It should be noted that using Blood Dregs grants a point of Insight, so there is a connection on that level. How exactly they tie in together, or where one begins and the other ends, I'm not entirely sure. Corruption comes from "kegare," as I've mentioned in my video. If you'd like to learn more about that, I highly recommend Chikara Abe's "Impurity and Death: A Japanese Perspective." The "Impurity" rune comes from 淀み yodomi, which can mean "stagnation" or "dregs." In Dark Souls 3, the item called 人の淀み "hito no yodomi" was translated as "Human Dregs." I might do a more specific video on these two topics in the future. It just takes time.

[@Pikee]

The best translation for kegare is "unclean"

[@mightystu49]

Blood queen is just a title, and since birth and matriarchies are so important in the game, it's really just a title indicating they are the heads of their familial line. This is mirrored in the fact that both bloodlines are named after their queens. Yes, while the game is Japanese you do also have to recall that it is very intentionally trying to base itself in lots of western fiction and concepts, much like Darks Souls: the healing church is modeled after the catholic church in its trappings, the Vileblood clan is modeled after French noble families, and the whole fiction is heavily inspired by western horror authors like HP Lovecraft and Bram Stoker. Annaliese does not want to marry you because you are not a noble of her level, and would bring ruin because it is unacceptable for royals to marry those of less nobility. As for the dichotomy between Cainhurst and Healing church, it is no secret that the church demonizes the Vilebloods because they don't want them to have political control, and that calling them vile is mostly due to their wanting them to be seen as evil enemies. It's obvious from Alfred's violent finale to his quest that he isn't a "good guy" and from the whole game that the church are not good people. I don't think the game at all indicates that the church are good guys at all, even talking about how they turn into the most abhorrent beasts. Lastly, Oedon is pronounced "UH-den" not "ERR-den," Gehrman can be heard saying it out loud.

[@jacobhoover1654]

Annalise doesn't marry you because she is already married, not because you are not a noble. I like the rest of ur words tho

[@colt4505]

You are actually both incorrect. Annalise explicitly states why she will not marry you when you propose with the Ring of Betrothal. She states that "Your worth is too great." Eluding to the fact that a marriage would somehow conflict with the goal, which is the birth of a Child of Blood. I took it to mean, since we are the last remaining person who can gather Dregs for her, our worth is in the role of collector, not husband, and a husband or King cannot be the one to gather Dregs for whatever reason. As for the relation between Annalise and Yharnam, they are both referred to as "Queen of the Vilebloods" eluding to the fact that they are of the same bloodline, not different. Annalise is directly referred to as QoV, but Yharnam is referred to QoV in her boss music, which is titled "Queen of the Vilebloods" And on the topic of pronouncing Oedon, it is indeed Uh-den, spoken by both Gehrman and the Oedon Chapel Dweller.

[@Sohelanthropus]

I always spelled it Ohh-eh-dune

[@zombiedemon1762]

I have been wondering what are supposed to be the effects of kegare. My Google searches and Wikipedia didn't provide the answer to that.

[@CharlesZane_]

My comment about Blood Queens from the last video was made before I watched this one. So I supposed we're on the same page. Lady Maria is also a descendant of Queen Annalise. Could the ambilocal cord in the old workshop be from her, and explain the doll?... I assume the Pthumerians are pale and skeletal because they lived underground. Maybe Queen Yharnam's bloodstone is the fossilized body of Mergo. With the consciousness still existing the the nightmare.

[@LastProtagonist]

It's all good. Maria isn't descended from Annalise, she's just related to her collaterally. Perhaps a cousin or something like that.

[@yoso378]

It's really interesting how much the lore of this game is influenced by Japanese culture, considering the setting. I feel like the actual Japanese use of "corruption" would have been fine as long as they put in the extra effort to give more info on the concept through item descriptions and such even if it didn't completely match the original text. The changes between the languages does change a lot of the story and setting mostly due to cultural differences and I think it would have been a much better story if they had kept it.

[@LastProtagonist]

Unfortunately, that's the nature of the beast. No matter what they did, it wouldn't be able to convey the cultural context in its entirety, and it's so subtextual, it might not even be noticed. If they did try to explain it, it could end up breaking immersion which is bad too.

[@TheCangu97]

Let's take for granted the aforementioned theory of the Kos mentioned by Micolash to be Ebrietas, the name kos remaining as an oversight on fromsoft's part Is it too far fetched to think the Orphan of Kos and Mother Kos might be a Child of Blood and a fully corrupted vileblood mother respectively? Lady Maria being so strongly affectionate towards Mother Kos and hiding her from the outside world would make sense considering we know for a fact Maria is linked to the vilebloods. Perhaps the fishing hamlet's villagers were the one providing blood dregs for her, and the inhabitants receiving her tainted blood is what leads to the village becoming what we find. Maybe the truth Maria was hiding is the inevitable result of communion with a Great One: a slow and agonizing metamorphosis that does nothing but leave most that partake in it as mindless "beasts"; and perhaps, "beasts" are nothing more than human and Great One hybrids, as implied by the Great One Beast we can find as a cut boss

[@GaijinEncarmine]

The concept of 'kegare' reminds me a little of the given reasons for Jewish spiritual sanitation - women isolating themselves to undergo ritual purification after menstruation, and such. Do you know if the idea of spiritual pollution being cleansed with ritual washing is present in Shinto? My guess would be no, given the fact there's an entire historical caste (bunrakumin) who are still sometimes discriminated against today for their traditional roles in 'unclean' work (tanning, corpse removal, etc).

[@LastProtagonist]

Yes, kegare could be purified with ritual washing called harae, but if someone came into contact with kegare, they'd typically be forced to self-quarantine for an extended period. So even if a burakumin tried to perform harae, they'd be so defiled from their line of work that they still wouldn't be purified enough to fit into the rest of society. It's messed up, but it kind of makes sense in a way. If you've got a subset of people that directly deal with death and disease, you wouldn't want them intermingling with everyone else. But yes, it is similar in some ways to Abrahamic spiritual sanitation, though it's less about guilt and moral purity.

[@GaijinEncarmine]

Thank you for the answer! Very enlightening.

[@toaryanonicle2877]

What makes a Vileblood's blood vile like a vial of Vile Blood?

[@lonewolfsx29]

Awesome videos. Your pronunciations are funny to me though, my usually playing group doesn't pronounce a lot of things the way you do. For example, Oedon, Ebrietas, Pthumeru etc. we all say differently than you do. Just something interesting I noticed, I think we'll never know the correct pronunciation, the only one of those I can think of that is said aloud in game is Oedon, by Eileen.

[@LastProtagonist]

I could probably be more careful with my pronunciation to mimic the Chapel Dweller and Eileen's "UHHHdon," but at this point, I may as well keep the meme running. In my personal life, I say Ebrietas closer to the Japanese pronunciation of "Ebb ree Ay tus," but there's some cut dialogue of the Blood Minister saying "A bry tus," so I intentionally use that for my videos. Pthumeru probably is "Tomb aroo," but I may have already dug my own hole with that one. ;)

[@BlackIronGamer]

@@LastProtagonist I also say thu-ma-roo when speaking of the "blessed" people of the dungeons

[@blarg2429]

Ebrietas is a real word, so we know that one more or less. Something like "ay-bree-uh-toss," meaning drunken-ness or intoxication, as in "inebriated." It's also the name of a genus of butterfly/moth.

[@WendyOfTheWoods]

So if i am understanding this correctly. What makes their blood vile are impurities, which having impure blood bring you closer to becoming more than human and not sub coming to beasthood. Due to the Vilebloods giving dredges to the queen, her blood is more impure and thus better than the church so she gave her blood to her kingdom which turned them into undead vampire (somehow, still not clear on that part) and the churches blood wasnt as pure? and due to that turned everyone into beasts? im still very unclear on how the spread of the beasts happens and how the blood is made and if the great ones cause the scourge due to being close or their blood, however since you stated impurities can be cause by just being in close proximity i think that is what caused it.

[@Valisk01]

Oddly enough, alot of these concepts are expressed in similar fashion through the books of Enoch 🤫 Miyazaki been readin the deepest lore

[@BlackIronGamer]

The forbidden book

[@kanseidorifto2430]

Listened to the Bible theory iceberg video while going through the hospital ward in the dlc; this game is practically a version of them.

[@Valisk01]

@@kanseidorifto2430 bro all the souls entries hit those vibes in the lore

[@kanseidorifto2430]

@@Valisk01 Legit

[@KonniWynn]

Well, the old testament basically features "Kegare", so I don't think localization of the concept would be hard.

[@tylerh2548]

Ironically, the player character Paleblood Moon Hunter of Bloodborne is a much more acomplished scholar of Yharnumite history and Eldritch Truth than the college of Byrgenwurth and the Healing Church Choir combined. Like, it seemed obvious to me after an initial story playthrough that the Vilebloods were just distant descendents of Pthumeria, thus inherriting the same blood properties that the Healing Church sought through ritual and the College through insight. The Vilebloods were just born into it, and so they didn't have knowledge to share, only power to envy. Church Werewolves v Royal Vampires. Except one side of the conflict is "peaceful", but ultimately dependant on inheriting blood dregs from the Queen so must turn to murder, aka Bloody Crow. The other side, the Church, doesn't even acknowledge that they ARE the beasts so they are just basically greedy new power consolidating what the old aristocracy left ofter after they sent religious zealots to invade the unsuspecting Cainhirst estate while eroding their own powerbase from the inside through turning people to zombies and beasts with increasing frequency. Meanwhile, the Hunter is Sherlock Holms-ing around like "I say, old chap, all these cult nutters, mad scientists and blood drinkers do appear really obsessed with Lovecraft, don't they? Oh well, off to banish another Great Old One, wot wot."

[@pingamalinga]

Pthumerian dungeons indeed do have beast enemy. Mob and boss.

[@lhomepereta6425]

LP, I always wondered why Maria does not use honorifics when refering to Gehrman in her cut dialogue. What do you think that means? How that informs the nature of their relationship?

[@LastProtagonist]

I haven't looked at it too closely tbh, but it would show the two had a closer relationship. I doubt it, but social class may have also had a role in it

[@lhomepereta6425]

@@LastProtagonist Social class? Like she is nobility and he is not, even that he is her teacher/colleague?

[@diandrea4]

I’m so close to understanding, but yet so far! Wtf

[@James_Wisniewski]

So what you're saying is that Alfred is a Slytherin, and the Executioners are basically Death Eaters. Based.

[@GrzegiMargi]

Has anybody verified if anything happen within the game's world in the period between Orphan of Kos being dead and this Sillhouette not being taken down? I just wonder if there's any "in-between" state of events within the game.

[@LastProtagonist]

As far as I know, there's no difference in the "in-between" state. Only after you kill the sprite will the disc in the sky disappear from the areas.

[@na5794]

18:03 is just me or does the moon presence’s resemble the tonsil stone?

[@jacobhoover1654]

Just u

[@mortalmannequin4091]

More like amygdala. I do think that the messengers look similar to the presence in terms of the mouth

[@johntrains1317]

First. Hey thanks for all the cool videos. It's nice to hear new opinions about Bloodborne #Urdon

[@colt4505]

Gehrman, Eileen, and Oedon Chapel Dweller all pronounce it Uh-dun. It's really not up for debate and just flagrantly incorrect to pronounce it Erden.

[@johntrains1317]

​@@colt4505...KAY 😂

[@jordansebert11]

Truly beautiful buddy! Such a masterpiece of a game. Would you want to play Bloodborne together? Anyone should add me if they want to play or talk lore!