Bloodborne Lyrics - Laurence, the First Vicar

My English translation is inspired by the lore of Bloodborne and mood of its soundtrack, while also following the imperfect Latin lyrics as closely as possible.
Many thanks to the Bloodborne fan community for providing the pool of knowledge needed to create this translation.
Thanks also to Shirrako for providing the music: / @shirrako
LATIN LYRICS:
Sic filii scite tibi vi sacramentum
Erit praemium sanguine sanctum
Erit praemium sanguine sanctum absconditum
Vel venio hūmānitās tendo pendēre
Sanguine sanctum
Honesta rete sanguinem
Expectare iste blasphemia
Es vītae ita dissimilum
Terrēs vīcerit trānem bestia
Honesta rete sanguinem
Expectare iste blasphemia
Hac mystērium obsumus
Arguam vitae ere non absolvis
Dido tuus
Timere
Dido tuus
Sanguine
Timere venēna scitis
Festiva praestābere
Sanguine sanctum
Ita venīte iste vinum
Languēscendum
O, succus temero
ENGLISH TRANSLATION:
So the clever children made a mysterious covenant
Holy blood will be our reward
The secret of holy blood will be our reward
We strive to bless humanity with
Holy blood
The truth lies within the blood
To hesitate would be blasphemy
What is this strange creature?
Our land is beset by a beast from beyond
The truth lies within the blood
To hesitate would be blasphemy
We are plagued by mystery
Our eyes are yet to open
Spread the word
Be afraid
Spread the word
Of the blood
Fear its terrible curse
We will surely be devoured
By the holy blood
So, come drink this wine
Savour its sweetness
Oh, the dreadful nectar

[@FiendMatadorSlayerOfNoobs]

"What is this strange creature?" immediatly into "Our land is beset by a Beast from beyond" is an absolutely terrifying line. Even more terrifying because it clarifies it as 'A Beast'. Singular. Those two sentences alone construct spine-chilling scenarios of how things both quickly and brutally went completely south.

[@platonios4666]

Terres does actually mean "The earth",so it would make more sense if he said,"The world is beset by a beast from beyond".

[@EmptyKing23]

the line "our eyes are yet to open." is bone chilling.

[@lunamaria1048]

Yup lol

[@rynemcgriffin1752]

For me, it’s Timere Venena Scitis. I’ve heard a theory that the violins after the line are meant to signify Laurence’s slow transformation into a beast, giving way more weight to the final half. His last words were to warn his people of the dangers of the blood, but it’s too late for him and the people he infected

[@alessiobellinon]

Fear the old blood

[@Shura31412]

That fucking cutscene dude ufffff

[@noobzo-0896]

Bing chilling*

[@williuscaesar1654]

As the classic saying goes, the road to hell is paved with good intentions. What Laurence intended to be salvation to the people of Yarnham and the world instead brought untold destruction. I love that picture of misplaced heroism that this game paints with so many characters being people who truly want to do good but are undone by the world itself and the things they did not understand or disregarded.

[@59spadesofalife52]

Spot on

[@Manny_lol]

Lovecraft would be proud

[@knightd3495]

Is it just me or do these songs get creepier when you know the lyrical translation.

[@MissMesa]

Oh for sure, when you know what the lyrics truly mean, it makes it creepier and sadder

[@rynemcgriffin1752]

Well it’s not an exact one for one but yes, it’s pretty fucked

[@Jaden-Ring]

Certain parts of this make more sense than the other translation vid for Laurence. Wish i knew latin so i could be sure.

[@rynemcgriffin1752]

This feels like a version attempting to translate the lyrics to English while the other feels like a somewhat direct translation from its Japanese roots

[@Jaden-Ring]

@@rynemcgriffin1752 fair. Wouldn't be the only time translations for English could miss something for fromsoft. Early on i feel more like this translation captures the perspective of the church itself and reacting to beasthood by doubling down on the blood. "To hesitate is blasphemy" makes more sense than "wait is this blasphemy" but i also like how in the other it implies Laurence had much more regret in his final moments. Pros and cons i guess.

[@rynemcgriffin1752]

@@Jaden-Ring Agreed, the first half is a lot better than the second half and vice versa with the original video from a few years back

[@saturn580]

@Sunbro Creating a lore-inspired translation based on the imperfect Latin lyrics was my goal. Nothing more. I used the Latin language the same way I imagine FromSoftware did, as a rough thematic framework for the soundtrack. There are several other translations available which are far more technically correct, but they mostly read like gibberish. Presumably because the soundtrack composers never intended for their crude Latin lyrics to be taken literally.

[@CalacaRoja]

@@rynemcgriffin1752 Latin has nothing to do with Japanese :/

[@arkapravakar8844]

The moment you get hit by the "Festiva Praestabere", just chills to the bone

[@williuscaesar1654]

It’s rather impressive just seeing the translation made Lawrence my new favorite character. Absolutely incredible.

[@marshallgrek997]

Having study latin and ancient greek, this song just give me shivers.

[@CharlesHall-rc1bm]

Do you know any songs that sound like this? Or give off the same vibe?

[@marshallgrek997]

@@CharlesHall-rc1bm ludwig the holy sword is kinda like it, but more orchestral. I cant remember any song that is like laurence

[@CharlesHall-rc1bm]

@@marshallgrek997 thank you very much!

[@phalanxt2416]

also gherman boss theme is quite alike yet more saddest than terrifying.

[@Avestella115]

This theme is why I study latin. RELIGIOUSLY.

[@charlie_magne_103]

Then you notice the wrong verbs sadly

[@gigabit6226]

@@charlie_magne_103 eh they're just wrong to have the right number of syllables, it's not too much of an offense

[@aname8240]

It's kind of incredible how the lyrics give his various opinions on the blood over the course of his life and the duality of how the lyrics are reflected by the music is pretty amazing, you can clearly hear the moment where he's infected by the scourge at 2:21 and all of his dialogue from that point forward is quite chilling since we're now getting to hear a beast's thoughts on the blood both during and after transformation.

[@SatoruTheFifth]

He wanted to tell us to spread the word to fear the blood, but by the time we find him blood is already central to Yharnam's society, and who knows how much of humanity at large, which makes him a much more sympathetic character than I thought, because I thought he knew what the blood did and simply didn't care. It probably means he became a beast and died fairly early into blood ministration, so he never got the chance to spread the word himself. And then towards the end of the song, he gives up and gives in the blood's intoxication. The fact that his song has lyrics speaking to the player also hints at the possibility that the people that the beasts once were might still be in there somewhere, no matter how far the transformation has gone. Ludwig could even be proof of that. Isn't that crazy? Just a few words in a song, that most people won't ever even realize HAVE lyrics (I didn't until I saw your Ludwig video) and yet it reveals so much about the history of the game, the character, and provides even more tragic insight into beasthood. The wild thing about Ludwig's song is that it seems like other bosses have songs addressing the player, from the bosses point of view, whereas Ludwig's song addresses HIM, as though something else is speaking to him. It implies that something DECIDED his fate. Like something either made the active choice to turn him into such a hideous creature to begin with, or something actively chose to put him into the nightmare after he died. The Holy Moonlight Sword? Another great one? It hints at so much but still leaves questions. Good god, these games drive me nuts.

[@lunamaria1048]

Probably one of the better translations of this track, on KZbin!.. At least, that I have seen... The Latin used in Bloodborne tracks is deliberately rough and primitive, for the sake of vocal symmetry.. It's genius!.. Other videos post lyrics literally copied and pasted from Google Translate, or similar literal translations, which is not always correct... They don't understand that grammar is very different across various languages, especially primitive language, requiring word replacement and even paraphrasing, to make a proper translation, for some languages. Well done!

[@vivikins837]

This comment provides valuable context

[@miloskesegic863]

How does "Arguam vitae ere non absolvis" mean "Our eyes are yet to open"?

[@rynemcgriffin1752]

@@miloskesegic863 As the description mentions, this is meant to be more of a interpretation of the lyrics rather than an actual translation

[@nicola4251]

What kind of Latin is the one of the lyrics?. I know classical Latin, and the text makes no sense to me. It seems like they used Latin words to make it sound like Latin, but Latin it isn't.

[@lunamaria1048]

@@nicola4251 This was not meant to be grammatically correct, but every word is definitely Latin, which is why so many of these videos with lyrics were made using Google translate (Translate Latin to English) to produce literal translations that weren't entirely correct. It is purposely written this way to convey a clear message, yet impose a degree of uncertainty, questions and require some interpretation, in true fashion of Lovecraftian horror, which Bloodborne is! 😊 The translating that I praise here is because this is the best use of interpretation and paraphrasing, where other videos simply used Google Translate. However, even using Google translate gives a decent understanding of the message the writer was expressing. I encourage you to look into Lovecraftian horror! Bloodborne's music is genius for the genre. Pure genius! I'd like to add that modern music in English is often just a system of random words and phrases, sometimes just to rhyme, sound good and not grammatically correct, at all, but it is still in fact English. This track is no different

[@matheuscomh4901]

There is some power in this "Languescēndum". Laurence is sad, insane and consumed by the Beast's blood, but this part is just... So glorious.

[@masquerader101]

This is just incredible. What a beautiful form of storytelling fromsoft has yet to recapture in such a visceral way

[@viveillyvi]

This theme is so damn impactful and underrated. The fight against laurence is one of the best things in gaming history.

[@szarekhthesilentking7043]

I'm gonna be honest. The lyrics and music is insane. The fight itself? Not amazing by Bloodborne standards. Especially for such a big character in lore

[@rynemcgriffin1752]

@@szarekhthesilentking7043 Definitely one of the better bosses that are a copy of the original but palette swapped though

[@szarekhthesilentking7043]

@@rynemcgriffin1752 yeah, it's better than the 3 asylum demons, but it's more BS than any other reskin boss. However it's also cooler than other reskins with the last phase.

[@viveillyvi]

@@szarekhthesilentking7043 For me its by far hte hardest boss. Combined with the length of the fight, the lore and the ost its one of my fromsoft fav's I just like longer fights in general Thats one of the reasons why Im not a big fan of Dark Souls 1, the fights are just to short.

[@szarekhthesilentking7043]

@@viveillyvi there is a difference between hard and fair and hard because the boss has a fuckton of hp and can oneshot you with some moves (tested with 35 vitality, in base game so no NG+, he still oneshots you easily. No other boss does that) . Laurence falls hard into the second category, and even more, it's only got an unique third phase and some unique moves in second phase (which doesn't have any visible changes). Laurence is hard indeed, but not a good fight. If you like long fights, I understand you and feel the same way, but at this point even yhorm without storm ruler is more fair than this. And it's actually pretty fun, especially if you know to aim for the arms and the head.

[@KossolaxtheForesworn]

the cosmic truth can melt steel beams.

[@harrizh146]

The translation in your version is much better than the one that has 2 million views i hope your work get more views

[@praised_goodness]

i hear this much clearer than what that guy antonio something was giving as lyrics given by a producer of the game supposedly, which is starting to make me confused.

[@deadhookerproductions1068]

I dont speak a word of Latin, and so there being 2 different lyric videos, each with different lyrics, is weird because I dont know which is right

[@gabbychan6609]

well they are interpretations as no one really remembers latin that well and one word has like a 1000 meanings

[@lorenzo8208]

@@gabbychan6609 it's "pig Latin" a Latin made to just sound like it, it's not true Latin. The most accurate translation sounds like gibberish, so choose the one you want.

[@Reynevan100]

This translation is more like interpretation, made to make more sense than be 'ackshually, teknikally' correct. Because latin used for the lyrics was rough - to fit the music, literal translations are close to gibberish. Or rather, latin lyrics ARE gibberish. So you either translate them into same gibberish, but in english, or you use the knowledge of the game lore to interpret and paraphase the gibberish into something sensible. This translation feels more accurate because it makes sense, when in fact, its less accurate to make sense :D

[@theroyalgamer6560]

According to the video maker, this isn’t a 100% translation, but rather a translation with a few liberties to make it lore accurate. They said that if it was translated directly, there would grammatical and coherience issues

[@lorenzo8208]

@@theroyalgamer6560"a few liberties" is actually wrong, every second of this video has them. There's nothing wrong in adding them, especially with videogame music with lyrics just made to sound cool, but if you translate "arguam vitae ere non absolvis" in "our eyes are yet to open", then you understand that the song itself is 100% gibberish, there wasn't even a nominative in that phrase...

[@schnakie5662]

If this video was monetized I would've made Saturn a fresh, clean Alexander Hamilton by now. Got this shit memorized. I understand that this is weird but its genuinely my favorite song, nothing hits this hard.

[@haraneheiiris6480]

The start of the song make me think so much of some of Powerwolf song.

[@lobstalova8491]

I don't think Elden Ring does anything better than Bloodborne. Music definitely

[@nurfathirobi8615]

Agreed. Elden Ring's music try to convey us about the weight and epicness of the boss battle. But the music at the past games (Bloodborne and Dark Souls 3) try to tell a story. And it ascend the fight into something magical.

[@Zero-zr6xx]

The only Elden Ring OST's that convey the story well are the Godskins, Lichdragon Fortissax, Mohg, Godfrey/Hourah Loux and Radagon/Elden Beast.. The others are all good but they sound too similar to eachother and tells the same story of "once great god is now on a sad state feeling" it potrays

[@Kafergoth]

@@Zero-zr6xx The Elden Ring's OST is in the style of Hollywood movies. Not bad, but it's very different from the old From Software's musical style. I think that in Bloodborne there are the best ever songs. Gehrman's one made me cry, it's an explanation of the character background and feelings. The music is a part of the lore

[@penguinwolf3330]

Elden ring has a great ost, I like bloodbornes style more but its a matter of preference not bloodbornes being better. Also Elden ring does a lot of things better then bloodborne.

[@penguinwolf3330]

@@Kafergoth It really isnt similar to Hollowood movies at all. Its still very fromsoft style music, just for a different, less melancholic and more Adventure filled world. its a different style and the music still fits lore. They are nothing like hollywood so i dont know how you came to that conclusion.

[@expealidocious]

this is paritally related to the translated latin, but since it's more of a musical thing, i wanted to talk about it (as a former orchestra student and violist). the entire soundtrack for bloodborne utilizes the cello as a musical motif, especially in regards to the first hunters. ludwig, maria, lawrence, and even throughout the hunters' themes (via the hunter's dream or even the trailer music), the cello is a musical symbol for the hunt. the instrument naturally has a wide range of tones, and can (in this case) be seen as representative of the states at which the people within bloodborne find themselves. from deep and beastlike, to high pitched and celestial, with the middle being a sort of representative for regular human beings (without blood echoes or insight). those range of sounds all belong to the same instrument, the same human base, but can manifest and become something so completely different. in other hunter themes, the musical use of the cello takes on a more prominent and moving role. in ludwig's theme, it's triumphant and proud, like a march. in maria's theme, it waltz's, reflecting the royal aspect of her bloodline she presents to the player. lawrence, however, is more subtle. out of all the main hunter theme's, the cello is subtle and not the most prominent leading voice in the ensemble. his theme, out of the three, has the the most spoken lyrics, presenting the listener the most context to what happened all those years ago. whether it be the people of yharnam or the choir (quite literately), they are telling us exactly what the gods of that world witnessed and saw happen in yharnam. they spell out their desire to take advantage of the gods, sighting any hesitancy towards finding out more blasphemous and against the nature of men. soon, the score quickly shifts to a darker tone altogether, the spectators of this event telling listener to be afraid, to be witness to this curse, not of godhood but the depths of depravity a human being like lawrence is wiling to go for the sake of ascension, even if it means abandoning one's humanity altogether. and then, from 3:02 to 3:41, you hear the most tender cello sing through. it sounds almost like a cry, a plea, with the higher octave sounding seemingly ethereal. like a moment of enlightenment, or a revelation of what's to come. to me, it's almost acts as the threshold lawence saw, that line that he'd cross and never come back from. and before we realize it, that cry is devoured whole by that dark, looming chorus again, like flame to a pyre.

[@Blitzkrieg791]

Then theres me, who thought it was just random mumbo jumbo lol

[@ggx4i]

I was hoping Elden Ring at least have one good OST in theirs DLC

[@dolphinboi-playmonsterranc9668]

When you have too much Taco Bell

[@elbobby2023]

Latín 🇷🇴🇵🇹🇻🇦🇫🇷🇮🇹🇪🇸

[@anextremeemo]

I vibe more with this video than the super popular one, the giga-literal translation didn't make sense in some parts

[@gillianpleaux5761]

The official lyrics were published 2 days ago by Antonius Tertius, a Latin student who contacted a music producer who worked in Bloodborne in order to confirm the correct lyrics.

[@r4ng3rd3thr0w]

This game needs and anime.

[@mr.mustacheyt3962]

No it needs a sequel

[@r4ng3rd3thr0w]

@@mr.mustacheyt3962 both, both is good.

[@shred0164]

IT ALSO NEEDS TO BE ON PC FFS

[@ratatouilledrinksclorax9897]

It has a kickass comic book

[@forgrim454]

@@shred0164 ah yes, forget about Xbox why don’t we?

[@umukzusgelos4834]

It´s a huge shame they dropped the use of actual lyrics for Elden Ring due to them "spoiling the mystery" I mean when you look at these Lyrics, they are by all rights meaningful and thematic but they don´t reveal what has not already been gleaned in some way, I´m sure with some clever wording unwanted exposition could have been evaded but alas, no proper lyrics and back to gibberish we go, too bad

[@rubub8455]

2:53 So you're telling me lyrics aren't "Left hand on titties:?

[@gillianpleaux5761]

These lyrics are mostly wrong. Official lyrics:kzbin.info/www/bejne/qGfLnJWCg8t9n8U

[@LarryGaming2009]

Okay but that one has laurence screaming and I'm not here to hear that

[@gillianpleaux5761]

@@LarryGaming2009 What a strange excuse, Laurence doesn't scream all the time ya know. If you intend to sing the song correctly, you got to stick with the official lyrics, if you intend to just listen to the song, you can listen to it anywhere.

[@MaxMustermann-hy9in]

What is wrong with this comment section? How can you guys just say that this is better than any other translation, when it's pretty obvious that none of you have the Latin knowledge to back it up. This is a TERRIBLE translation of the actual lyrics, which do of course need some interpretation - but still, this video really strays from the actual text in favour of some really outlandish interpretation. "Honesta rete sanguinem" as "the truth lies within the blood"? There's literally only one word these two sentences share! "Sic filii scite tibi vi sacramentum" as "So the clever children made a covenant"? Really? That's the worst possible translation of that sentence I can imagine!

[@sodafromteacups4029]

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[@bortholomewjr]

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