What were their experiments for? | Bloodborne Archaeology Ep. 4

Bloodborne lore archaeology into the hidden past and present of the Healing Church's Choir, and the real science that inspired it.
#Bloodborne #Bloodbornelore
References:
Hydrocephalus historical overview:
link.springer.com/article/10....
Images:
Caricature of Darwin's theory, Punch Almanac, 1881
The School of Athens, Raffael, 1511
Darwin, Spencer Arnold Collection, Hulton Archive
Anaximander, Detailansicht aus "Die Schule von Athen", Raphael Santi, 1510/11, Stanzen des Vatikans, Rom.
Naegleria fowleri lifecycle stages, CDC
Human Skull with Hydrocephalus: Hunterian Museum at the Royal College of Surgeons of England. Photo by Emőke Dénes
Skeleton of a child victim of Hydroencephalus. Medizinhistorisches Museum Berlin, 2013. Photo by Thomas Quine
Titel: Anatomische afbeelding, fol. 66, slak, slang en kind met waterhoofd
Hanging Gardens of Babylon by Ferdinand Knab
Cole Thomas Expulsion from the Garden of Eden 1828
Knee-chest birthing position: W. A. Newman Dorland, A.M., M.D. The American Illustrated Medical Dictionary, 1901
Video samples:
Giraffes, 8K Exotic Animals
Darwin's Voyage, BBC Earth
Tortoises, Taylor Butz, Lindblad Expeditions-National Geographic
Crab vs. Predator, Blue Planet II, BBC Earth
Human face evolution morph, Yale Press
Parasites of insects, National Geographic
Toxoplasmosis: What you need to know, Medical Centric
Hydrocephalus: What is Hydrocephalus and Why Does Fluid Build Up in the Brain? Children’s Hospital Colorado
Music and audio samples:
Obscura, ASKII
Inner Knowing, Simon Daum
Atlantis, Silviu, Ambient Planet
Haunting Choir, Deep Ambience
Contents of the Video
----------------------------------
00:00 Intro
06:45 Metamorphosis (Ch. 1)
12:25 MParasitology (Ch. 2)
21:35 Kin of the Cosmos (Ch. 3)
28:05 The Definitive Host (Ch. 4)

[@BlindZizka]

Parasite infection was the catalyst for the greatest evolutionary growth of all time: mitochondrial integration. Before we needed more eyes, we needed more energy.

[@gamongames]

That's not parasitic, it's mutualistic. Both the original cell and the mitochondria ancestors benefited from coupling up.

[@niall_sanderson]

@@gamongamesThe lines between parasitism, commensalism, and mutualism are, like many things in biology, often a lot blurrier than we might expect. And the relationship between organisms sometimes shifts between them, to the point where some scientists think that almost all mutualistic relationships in nature started off as one organism parasitizing another.

[@yawnhiccup]

so true.

[@leamneithon9531]

Guys youre on the internet, stop trying to sound all high and smart and like you know anything about the sht youre talking 😂😂 enjoy the content and stop being incels, cheers

[@darknessml6145]

​@@leamneithon9531do you know any of the words you use

[@michaelmannix1604]

Some other oddities perhaps you may find interesting: 1. One key difference between the Research Hall patients and the "perfected" Celestial Emissaries is their blood. The earlier patients bleed regular red human blood, but the Emissaries bleed a silvery substance (it's easier to see when wearing white attire, like the Choir garb). The Emissaries commonly drop quicksilver bullets upon their death, suggesting their blood has been largely replaced by liquid mercury. Of course, quicksilver is very Not Good for humans, least of all their brains, but to the Choir, perhaps chemically-induced madness resembled a revelation. 2. The One Thirds of the Umbilical Cord resemble human cochleae (the inner ear) laden with eyes. The Research Hall emphasizes a theme of sound and voice, as the cerebral patients were forced to listen for the sea stirring within. St. Adeline remarks on the sticky sounds that guide her, eventually gaining the ability too see her guide's voice as it "bends and bleeds." Sound plays a significant role in Bloodborne, from Formless Oedon, who exists only in voice, to the disembodied wail of Mergo, to the baneful chant that curses the Hunters. Furthermore, "cochlea" means "snail's shell;" it's no wonder these umbilical cords resemble the shells of the snail women residing in the Fishing Hamlet. Stranger still, the central depression of a snail shell's whorl is known as the "umbilicus..." 3. The parasites inserted into the Brainsuckers' cranium (you can see sutures running the width of their skull from ear to ear) resemble the Kos Parasites, with the bulbous proboscis of one end emerging from the top of their skull, and the segmented tendrils of the other erupting from their face. Seeing as there are no Brainsuckers in the Research Hall of the past, these appear to be a new experiment devised in tandem with the perfection of the Celestial Emissaries. Just some food for thought, I guess.

[@rotinasemroteiro]

Sir, your explanation was very interesting. I'm in the middle of the night, a little bit drunk, but reading this I felt like I've finally understood a lot of things about this game that I haven't understood before. I feel like I'm seeing something than I already know, but with a new perspective, you know? English is not my native language - it's my third, btw -, so sometimes it's hard for me to understand some hidden clues and figurative language or metaphors in other languages as English and japanese, because that's a cultural thing with it too, of course. Maybe it's just the alcohol, but thank u anyway. 😅

[@blacksesamecandies]

I think it's wise to compare the evolutionary differences between The Fishing Hamlet residents and those experimented on by The Healing Church's Choir. One being a more natural evolution coming about by a slow-progress of interacting,consuming and using the kos-parasites and the other forced by experimentation. If we go by the wandering fishman just outside the Hamlet, he seems to be of sound mind. At least more so than the Research-Hall patients and the Hamlet seems to be functioning as a normal society, albeit a bit warped.

[@MidnightatMidian]

Also the Kos parasite ressemble a ''Sacculina'' a parasite that infect crabs. It also have a big eggsack as a body, and tendrils that reach every parts of the crab, from the inside. It zombifies the crab. Pretty sinistrous parasite. The only main difference between the Sacculina and the Kos parasite is the tentacles that Sacculina has not.

[@ShizoMoses]

Well, that was awesome.

[@vaiyt]

As always, it begins with someone looking at a scientific achievement and going "But what if we use it on P E O P L E"

[@rugalbernstein7822]

Nice Sam o nella reference

[@HeyGuy4321]

I wanna be one

[@KingKamor2]

36:10 "Reproduction leads, invariably, to evolution." And, from the visuals, I'm guessing that evolution leads, invariably, to crab.

[@SmoteMyRuin]

All beings lead to crab 🦀

[@DavidStavis]

Same braincell, haha

[@ShizoMoses]

There's a joke in here about every developer eventually becoming a Rustacean, but we'll leave it.

[@CatArmorMew]

Ending the video on "...leads invariably to evolution" with shrill violins and a close up of a crab was a nice touch

[@TeddyPicker191]

TA uploaded, let us rejoice 🙌🏼

[@THE_MOONMAN]

Could it be friend? Therefore praise the beautiful view!

[@FuzBrain]

Woo!

[@TooLateForIeago]

Praise the sun? Too dated?

[@rikudo282]

Fear not the dark my friend. And let the feast....begin...

[@ripdito]

intro is vibrating my whole house

[@tarnishedhollow6826]

The choir and upper Cathedral ward were always my favourite lore parts of Bloodborne

[@nickelbutt]

My first play through, I totally missed the Upper Cathedral Ward. Goes without saying, my 2nd play through was amazing.

[@river7874]

I remember asking myself during my blind run why there were so many abandoned baby carriages in Central Yharnam and Cathedral Ward. Then I eventually found my way into the Orphanage. What a horrifying revelation that was.

[@djbeema]

Upper cathedral is my favorite location in the game. So creepy and bizarre

[@ewyeth7713]

i adore the way this series exposes me to facets of history I didnt have a concept of and as a result has generated within me a deep fascination with the idea of real world history used as horror the way these games do so masterfully

[@ambersandfer6963]

🥺🥺😱🥚🥖🥖📣🕔🀄️🕓🀄️🕓🀄️🕓🀄️🀄️🕓🀄️🕓🕒🀄️🀄️🕒🕒🕒🀄️🕓🀄️🀄️🕓🀄️🀄️🀄️🕓🕓🀄️🕓🀄️🀄️🀄️🀄️🀄️🀄️🀄️🕓🀄️🕓🀄️🀄️🕐🕛🀄️🕜🕐 36:36

[@joeclarke7982]

Watch the series called "an agony of effort: bloodborne lore" its original creator deleted his page but thankfully someone saved them and reupped them. Its amazing

[@colbyboucher6391]

​@@joeclarke7982Sad how the really good stuff goes unnoticed while fucking Vaati gets millions of views... Anoter big reccomend is TBSkyen's "Boss Designs Of" series. More Let's Play than lore but he flexes his art degree to do a little essay at the end of each episode about what maybe inspired the boss and what he thinks is going on, and there's some pretty insightful ideas in there sometimes. (Also it's just fun.)

[@nickhard7615]

​​​@@joeclarke7982it's so tragic how his series went so unnoticed and I think that's why he deleted everything tbh. I can't imagine how salty I'd be that I uncovered a completely unique perspective on Bloodborne, but the majority of the FromSoft fanbase just completely moved on to Elden Ring stuff as though Bloodborne was already thoroughly covered. I mean, it was, just look at "The Paleblood Hunt." Perhaps exhausted is a better word for it. But learning about this history and what it means to the game, to me, feels like a new dawn for Bloodborne and I can't help but wish Charred Thermos got his spotlight and revived the interest

[@joeclarke7982]

@@nickhard7615 i would def understand the heartbreak but at the same time im sure he understood that it takes alot of time to build up an audience. Idk hopefully 1 day he comes back to see how many folks loved what he made

[@LizardOnAMushroom2358]

I never fully appreciated just how immaculate Iosefka's voice actress did in the birthing dialogue...

[@red_menace1829]

Mmm birthing

[@StinkyPoopyMcFartFace]

*homer walks over and eats 1/3rd of an umbilical cord* mmmm jerky

[@OnyxSkiesXIX]

I never realized until just now the way "insight" is such a perfect play on words for "eyes on the inside"

[@juliajenuine6075]

I believe Wilhelm may have witnessed the ruins of Ailing Loran, and had put together the pieces after the discovery of the phantasms in the Dungeons and its connections to Loran. Thus, his understandable fear of the Old Blood.

[@maninhu9837]

If bloodborne ever was to gain a sequel, I'd be a prequel set in the ruins of Rohan

[@septic1502]

This Chanel is just too fresh with a game this old!! Absolutely glorious series!

[@n8doggy733]

lets get a remaster or remake Sony!!

[@Gmasterjoelio]

It ain't even that old

[@joshlegendre]

It's wild how all these years later there are still things I hadn't noticed in this game. The corpse on the operating table in Iosefka's clinic for example; never noticed it wasn't fully transformed until this video. CRAZY. Man, I love this game.

[@da_BemBem]

The Choir missed the final destination, the end of evolution, the final step in the lineage of elevation: To become Crab.

[@LinusN1887]

We settle for squid

[@CNNBlackmailSupport]

Great video, as always. Few random questions/ideas... -Why doesn't Ebrietas have parasites? -With that in mind, is the physical ocean truly the origin of Kos parasites, or could they have come with her from wherever? If they fed on her corporeal form and... became something greater... shouldn't Ebrietas have something similar that tends to plague the land, like ants, blow flies, or mosquitoes, maybe even a fungus? -"Teeming with parasites" implies a kind of sickness. Could they have been the cause of Kos beaching herself, or natural for her form? Lastly, something I've never seen mentioned... -Kos had a single "true" child, just like Oedon has specific "true" child bearers. Imposter Iosefka was "chosen" and impregnated, but dozens or even thousands of other women must have simply turned into beasts, instead. Could the Kos parasites actually be Kos' unchosen offspring? Several invertebrate sea creatures contain their young inside themselves in great numbers, only for them to be spewed forth in a cloud, or released to feed on the mother's dead body as their first meal. Unborn children are often referred to as parasites, right? If the Kos parasites are actually unborn offspring, Kos might have been expecting them to eat her and survive (or become food for the orphan) Maybe the old hunters broke the Kos/Kos parasite life cycle by removing or killing all the parasites from the fishing hamlet before her corpse was fully consumed. The hamlet had been taking parasites, but they didnt take them all. Kos doesn't have parasites when we get there, so the old hunters must have done it. Maybe the sin isn't just the corpse defilement or barbarism toward the hamlet, but ending the cycle of rebirth that Kos created.

[@VeronicaSipe]

We’re never really told what the corpse defilement consists of. It seems like it isn’t simply touching/approaching the corpse, as the villagers also interact with it. Maybe it’s what you say-disturbing its natural progress of decomposition.

[@Wile_E_Cyote]

​@@VeronicaSipe -Why doesn't Ebrietas have parasites? She does. The videos creator just missed a bunch of stuff. For starters the original inspiration for Willhelms investigation of insight was due to Ebrietas. Specifically Byrganwerths metaphysical encounter with Ebrietas when they discovered the auger of Ebrietas, resulting in her eye rune being inscribed in willhelm's mind. Its not as noticeable in the english but in the japanese it becomes pretty clear. For context when you see the terms left behind or abandoned great ones it is supposed to be singular not plural, the left behind or abandoned great one is another name or title for Ebrietas. So to answer your question Auger of Ebrietas, a call beyond, pearl slugs, and the slugs pictured in madmans knowledge/great ones wisdom are Ebrietas's parasites. (more context a call beyond is based on an attack done by Ebrietas)(just to clarify the choir are the ones who physically found Ebrietas in the labyrinths, Byrgenwerth just made contact with her.) -With that in mind, is the physical ocean truly the origin of Kos parasites, or could they have come with her from wherever? If they fed on her corporeal form and... became something greater... shouldn't Ebrietas have something similar that tends to plague the land, like ants, blow flies, or mosquitoes, maybe even a fungus? She has slugs. -"Teeming with parasites" implies a kind of sickness. Could they have been the cause of Kos beaching herself, or natural for her form? I dont know. The game doesn't say how Kos died, just that she washed up on the shores already dead. -Lastly, something I've never seen mentioned... I couldn't really comment on anything under here as it is all theoretical speculation. Though i guess i could mention that the villagers were eating the parasites, which is why they transformed into fish and worshipped Kos's corpse like a god. Also Kos's corpse did have parasites, its what you are rewarded with when you defeat the orphan.

[@CNNBlackmailSupport]

@@VeronicaSipe makes sense.

[@djbeema]

@@VeronicaSipe probably dissecting it for science instead of respecting it and leaving it at peace. I think the orphan was also still inside her before they came along but that's speculation based mostly on the cut scene before its fight

[@zapan9643]

The biggest question for me is: Who was Rom before ascension?

[@JessSimpson1313]

Everytime one of your videos come up I anxiously drop everything to watch. Your videos are amazing!

[@tarnishedarchaeologist]

Thank you so much!

[@Santo_Buzo_89]

Watching that bottom turtle just hide within her shell made me feel for that turtle dude. 😢 I feel ya man. I feel ya.

[@FlubbedPig]

The point about Wilhelm not condoning human experimentation DOES leave an important question as to why we find Byrgenwerth in the state we do. For one there's the Lecture Building that got set adrift in the Nightmare, but the remaining building is swarming with Garden of Eyes fly monsters, not to mention the fungus growing out of Wilhelm ('s corpse?).

[@alyseleem2692]

Scratch that; what happened to digging eyes out of the skulls of villagers?! Clearly,he had no qualms by then.

[@loomingmoon4682]

That makes no sense, if he does say that, I haven't watched the video yet

[@Ancusohm]

Also, didn't he make Rom by experimenting on a human?

[@loomingmoon4682]

@@Ancusohm Presumably yeah, and the raid of the Fishing Hamlet can be directly traced to him, in which they very much experimented on people, TA claiming otherwise is bizarre

[@juanausensi499]

Wilhelm was not above experimenting with humans. What he didn't want to do is to experiment with humans using old blood. Not by humanitary reasons, but because old blood, more often than not, produces mindless beasts, the opposite of what Wilhelm tried to achieve.

[@pathfindersavant3988]

The one thing I'm wondering is why Beasts specifically? I mean, we know beast transformation is the result of mutation caused by Blood consumption, yet why specifically do victim of these mutations seem to consistently turn into vague lupine beasts (Ludwig's Equestrian shape not withstanding, as the weird second neck full of eyes leads me to believe he was also getting hopped up on Phantasms as well)? And we know its consistent because we have the Dark and Silver beasts of Loran, the beastly clerics of Lorans, and the Beast-Possessed Souls found in the Ptumerian catacombs. Now, I understand that the Doylist motivation may be to combine both Victorian werewolf stories with the concept in Victorians science of Atavism (that being the reappearance and reversion to primitive traits and natures) but Watsonianly what is it about the Old/Healing Blood that that causes such atavistic metamorphosis, and why does it occur so strongly in people who resist it the strongest (ie why do townsfolk and hunters just get somewhat hirsute and sharp teeth, while people like Gascoigne, Lawrence, and Amelia turn into full on wendigo monstrosities). Further, if this is a form of metagenic Atavism, doesn't this run totally contrary to the Choir and Byrgenwerth's goals of evolution and ascendance?

[@Fronzel41]

Isn't it that the members of the Church are using more of the Old Blood? As for it it running contrary to their goals; surely that's true; it's a disastrous and unwanted consequence that proves they were deeply mistaken about what they were doing and/or how they were doing it.

[@dumbsterdives]

my read is that, with the old blood opening the self to rapid change and evolution, proper insight is required to have the mental fortitude to contain the changes. not enough insight, and baser instincts begin to take control, reverting the self to a more primal state. too much insight, and the mind shatters, "evolving" the subject at the cost of all humanity

[@FlubbedPig]

There are some descriptions (like Beast Roar) that seem to imply that people are not "turning into" beasts, but rather "turning back into" beasts. I take it as a spin on H.P. Lovecraft's "Rats in the Walls", which ends with a twist about the protagonist devolving into a pig monster. Essentially, we might think that the humans of this setting are not descendant from apes, but something altogether more monstrous. As for why different people transform in different ways, you can take from things like the Sword Hunter Badge that it's connected not to "fighting against it" but to the amount of blood consumption, on top of other things. A personal theory I have is that the gigantism shown by things like the Carrion Crows, Man-Eater Boars, Snake Balls, and Cleric Beast is that it's in some-way related to Vermin and the consumption of tainted blood. We know that vermin were found in the Madaras snake after feeding it people, and visually we know that all the snakes in the forest are covered in bulbs identical to when real-world snakes are infested with ticks, implying that they have some sort of parasite. My assumption then is that the various animals of Yharnam are growing so large because they've been eating the corpses produced by the plague and subsequent hunt, which carry corruption through the parasitic Vermin. For the people, a similar thing happens, either due to blood drunkenness in the case of Gascoigne, causing him to go mad and seek more and more blood, or due to the blood used in ritual imbibing becoming contaminated in some way for the likes of Cleric Beast or Vicar Amelia. Potentially, we could say it's like PFAS or micro-plastics: At a certain saturation point, you couldn't find a single properly clean blood sample in Yharnam, and the corruption inevitably bio-accumulated at the top of the food chain in the Church officials and blood-addicts.

[@juanausensi499]

Think of the old blood as a powerful mutagen, something that makes metamorphosis possible. But what you transform to, depends on many factors, one being your insight. Regular people with no insight, no phantasms, no other special treatments, as the people in Yharnam, always transform into beasts.

[@theoverlord3937]

The way the game describes beasthood, it’s essentially a sort of manifestation of humanity’s primal instincts. The old blood simply encourages our more animalistic tendencies, and indulging that too much causes a transformation into the beasts we see in-game. The reason for why they specifically look the way they do is because of the Victorian werewolf environment, like you said,

[@Nemo12417]

Heads up: in the original Japanese, the note referring to "evolution without courage" instead referred to "this ruinous evolution", which dramatically changes the meaning. I'd suggest checking out the work of Last Protagonist and his Fear the Old Lore series.

[@alyseleem2692]

His use of it in the video surprisingly close to the original meaning; the author is expressing anxiety at the coming evolution.

[@PaszerDye]

Actually you're mistaken too. The adjective used to describe evolution is 'nasakenai' [情けない] which is translated into miserable, pitiable, pathetic, or wretched; that last synonym being the actual adjective LastProtagonist used in his translation. The first character is the telling most of all, because that kanji means 'feelings, emotion, passion, sympathy.' So, 'evolution without courage' is on point, albeit with a poetic flourish. Japanese translated 1-to-1 into English is actually pretty cut & dry. So, it's up to the localizers to give it that literary accent, artistry, and flourish of the period while also preserving the meaning and context. Also, unless someone with full knowledge of the Japanese language is going pour over all the nuance of the kanji in the original text, verify the translations, and present their findings in lecture format like TA does with the lore, I think it's moot or even redundant to refer to the original Japanese. IMO we should really just take it as it is. Miyazaki used to read English books in his childhood without fully knowing their meaning, scope, and context. He probably wondered what the entire story was if he only knew better English, but that was his experience at the time. With Bloodborne, we shouldn't really need to bother, because Fromsoft crossed that bridge for us and had it localized. If he really wanted us to strictly to adhere to the meaning in his native tongue, short of leaving the game unlocalized (Sony would never let him do that because Fromsoft games should sell and reach as far and wide an audience as possible) he would have hired more thorough translators to make sure we get precise translations. And even after translations, Miyazaki and his writers probably had proofreaders go over the translations to check if the meaning was preserved. If you have any doubts, just go to LastProtagonist's translation spreadsheet, pick out the words in the original Japanese text, copy/paste and look them up in jisho or some other japanese dictionary site. It goes to show all this extra fretting over 'imperfect localization' after the fact is kinda unnecessary. At least where Fromsoft and their games are concerned.

[@siddhantshrivastav]

@@PaszerDye good man. someone that talks sense.

[@shira_yone]

​@@PaszerDyeit depends on the game. The Sony published games usually have good translation, the bamco ones are all over the place with DS2 being some of the worst imo (names not even remotely close to the original JP names), and then there's Sekiro which have the most questionable translations.

[@loomingmoon4682]

@@shira_yone Which examples of mistranslation in DS2 and Sekiro can you cite?

[@ThommyofThenn]

As a big fan of nature docs and aquatic life, thanks for using such good footage

[@kevo300]

I wish there was more lore on my favourite bloodborne enemy, the blood starved beast. Sekiro had so much lore on the centipedes and blood starved beast was the precursor to it.

[@TheReggaeMortis]

9:20 is this actually a mistake from the writers? We can see through fake Iosefka's victims, for example, that the celestial mobs were once the humans you sent to the clinic. Those people underwent metamorphosis, not evolution. The rune description could have been referring to that process

[@dagdammit]

Speaking as a longtime lore hunter, I think bloodborne very frequently favors outdated/inaccurate/poetic interpretations of the terms it uses. Take the use of blood gems to modify weapons, which the relevant workshop tool states is something that works because "blood defines an organism". Technically true in the DNA sense, but clearly being applied in a kind of willful conflation here.

[@VeronicaSipe]

@@dagdammitBloodborne, more than the Souls games, seems to have a thread of unreliable narration in the text. Not that I think we shouldn’t believe what it tells us-it’s the only information we get, after all. But everything seems to have such a perspective, that when there is any room in those descriptions for interpretation through the lens of a person in the world of Bloodborne, I think it is wise to look at it as having that lens. There are factions in the game and they each have an interpretation of the mythos and cosmology that is unique, each of them I think uniquely flawed, such that we have this disaster world left due to their schemings. I think that’s where the poetic phraseology comes from, and with it a lot of purposeful (by the developers) conflation of science, religion, fact, emotion, and delusion, not to mention history and prophecy.

[@benwatford3068]

Also I want to point out that Brainsucker’s are wearing robes close to Franciscan Monks, and there’s a couple of paintings by Francisco de Zubaran of Franciscan monks holding skulls like Madman’s Knowledge

[@Hellkite_07]

I've seen countless interpretations of this game's lore, but none were as viscerally intriguing as yours. Your work is truly inspiring. You dissect the lore in the context of real world history, and you do it in unexpected places. I mean I would've never thought to look at the big nose statues in the church of the good chalice, or think twice about quotes like "Moon-scented hunter." I can never get enough of this. Thank you for sharing your fascinating discoveries.

[@LispyJesus]

I feel it’s because he doesn’t approach it as video game lore. He approaches it in a realistic way like it’s not really a video game

[@Vaeland]

You’ve quickly become a “drop everything I’m doing to watch a new upload” type of KZbinr

[@MattiaBaroli]

God, what I wouldnt do to have Bloodborne on PC

[@HighPriestFuneral]

An incredible exploration into the Choir and their methods, along with what they hoped to achieve, just one thing to add. I don't think all of the Choir became the Blue-Eyed beasts, outside of boss music, music in Bloodborne is diegetic, I don't think its a coincidence that in the stronghold of the choir there is a third floor where the lights are still shining brightly that the player cannot reach, which may be the source of the haunting melody that's playing throughout the area. Some of the Choir may simply be watching the events unfold in a bemused state.

[@NikolajLepka]

I just realised the Lumenflowers look like eyes when fully bloomed

[@recordingstudiotech]

Bloodborne truly is the coolest game of all time.

[@Lorix84]

Yes i agree, its already a cult..and on top of that huge lore there Is the gameplay and the fucking OST ❤

[@aceundead4750]

Was that last closeup a hint that even in video games everything evolves into crab? If so i'll get butter melted

[@zapan9643]

We need more! Your lore dissection of Bloodborne is exquisite.

[@asbestosbabie]

so glad i found this channel through smough, a real hidden gem i hope you find much success

[@pastlink]

This series is fantastic! I love a well researched, well explained theory and every video has knocked it out of the park. I'm very excited to continue watching.

[@jayford1482]

Click your vids immediately. The work you put in is apparent and appreciated. Thanks for inspiring myself and others like me to do better.

[@joaolima8703]

all knowledge can be conjoined! great video, and for me, everytime you say "thats a story for a another day" i get excited for the next episode and the next new knoledge! keep like that my brother

[@toodleselnoodos6738]

Lol, wonderful! Absolutely makes everything come together! Based off your last video, the split between the Healing Church higher echelon into the School and the Choir really came down to what to do with the Great Ones. The Choir seeing the Great Ones as teachers and mentors to human evolution, while the the School sought them as prey to consume (blood infusion) and grow. Such a fantastic story, but I'm finally glad you found the key things to help fit the puzzles together!

[@ShowtimeARK]

Even after all these years, the story is so thought provoking. Great job analyzing and explaining!

[@patataeve]

YES!!!!! Another excellent video from my favorite lore channel, I’m truly loving all your Bloodborne videos, they’re the BEST!!!!!!! Thank you!!!!

[@shawnpurnell7552]

Literally just checked for a new video a few minutes before upload. I’ve got an internal clock jonesing for the most thoughtful, thorough, and creative From lore in existence.

[@zaclovesschool2273]

This is a very unique perspective and delve into these topics. Amazing that this game can still allow for new ideas to be connected together for new outlooks and insights. As someone who is fascinated with biology and archeology, I greatly appreciate your attention to detail and phrasing. Thank you for making this.

[@bojaylabrum9608]

These have become my most anticipated uploads on KZbin

[@ryanmcw7878]

Just wanted to say thank you for doing these deep dives especially on older From titles. I always listen to your work while painting Dark Souls/BB/Elden Ring fanart!

[@BadTeacherUA]

Masterpieces of lore you are producing. Cheers.

[@marcuswile6693]

Best channel on KZbin, love it

[@Ancusohm]

This is another fantastic entry in an excellent series! Great work.

[@joshuasanchez4514]

I’m loving these bloodborne videos you do. Keep em coming!

[@JaFi-pk3lb]

I love your bloodborne videos, can't get enough of it! Super inspirational

[@beansnrice321]

Put this way, it really seems like Miyazaki just looked at the Mind Flayer enemies in Demons Souls and made a game based on an origin story made for them. lol.

[@scotthalligan5702]

Oh please do more videos. These have been so wonderful to delve into as someone who has never been able to play blood borne

[@CrispyGFX]

My favorite lecture series marches on!!

[@lastEvergreen]

Ahh Kos or some say Kosm…

[@pinkemoslayer6337]

We are born of the lore. Made men by the lore. Undone by the lore. FEAR THE OLD LORE

[@CantSelectAName]

This has got to be a great and an informative video, man, thank you! first time I watched it, I remember that it had english subtitles generated by YT, now from the parasitology chapter onwards they're gone. :(

[@zupurfeg89]

Your Bloodborne videos are great, as an avid BB lore fanatic I have found your analysis top notch and intriguing - similar to charred thermos now defunct meta-lore serie - I really hope you'll delve even more into this unique universe

[@yellowlemon92]

I love your videos and am so happy when I see you uploaded a new one. Pleas continue!

[@mhiggs8001]

Hell yeah! This’ll be fun to watch later!! Thanks TA!

[@GeorgieBoiiGames]

and i thought my day couldn’t possibly get any better…ill be honest im writing this before watching the video but I just know its going to be phenomenal!! We do not deserve you Tarnished Archeologist!

[@dasninjastix]

I always learn something new watching this channel, I adore you folks, this content is amazing. Thank you 🫶

[@LB0697]

You should do one about cainhurst and the executioners

[@danielcallahan2981]

THE NEXT STAGE OF EVOLUTION FOR MAN IS CRAB.

[@wjr4700]

The absolute genius of this game. Every thread perfectly woven. Waiting for great minds to tug on them. Each unfolding uniquely in to its own fascet of science and history. All leading back to naked humanity.

[@dimosdimakopoulos3884]

The exhilaration that I feel when a new Yharnam Archaeology video comes out is so refreshing! Never again have I been so hyped for a video game lore channel!

[@karen-7057]

Majestic! Can't wait for the next one ❤

[@avatarnang5803]

I haven't even played bloodborne but I'm here for these videos man, so good!

[@gerardomendoza2578]

omg the crab at the end pinacle of evolution 😂😂 tysm TA for your work (I also love Fall of Civilizations)

[@MalcolmRidley-sf8uc]

I love your stuff man keep it up

[@purelucknoskill5158]

finding fresh bloodborne lore content in 2023 feels so good man. Good work!

[@HeatherHolt]

I need more bb lore videos from this channel! ❤

[@Cataceratops]

Another Soulsborne Lore Hunter with a nice voice to listen to. Amazing, love it already.

[@michaelchesnut865]

And of course, the video ends with the end point of all evolution: Crab.

[@melkerbotin7098]

Amazing video on Bloodborne!!

[@alientoastt856]

love the slow zoom on the crab at the end. all becomes crab one day. kneel

[@Naim11443]

GREAT video, the lore of bloodborne is soo good lol im gonna subscribe rn, i knew your chanell bcs of some elden ring structural lore theories and i love them but i lost track of u : ( , but the youtube algoritm recomended this bloodborne lore video and it was amazing, great work greetings from chile :D

[@viralengine908]

Oh thank God. I needed this

[@grenm9]

Great video man

[@mewt5358]

Less auditory hallucinations, more like hearing the water in their head

[@octopusoup]

Love the ending zooming in on the crab. For as grim a topic transformation and brain parasites is a little humor helps to remind that this is all a story in a video game.

[@silvandarart]

Research Hall is the most horrifying section of the game for me, absolutely foul. I love this series so much, thank you!

[@mategido]

What an amazing video, bloodborne lore is by far my favorite

[@LabMatt]

I know less than nothing about Bloodborne, but KZbin recommended me this and I love listening to people talk about videogame lore, so might as well.

[@JanuarySnowstorm]

I see TA knows the insurmountable drip of the hunter coat and Gascoigne hat.

[@user-cc3ms3mh4h]

This disquisition does an awesome job by contextualizing the themes of Bloodborne with real life concepts, ideas and happenings.

[@jeredgibb5064]

personally I think metamorphisis is a better term to describe what the scholars were after. They wanted substantial change achieved in their lifetimes, rushing into godhood, much in the same way the protagonist does at the end of the secret ending.

[@N1tr063nFr05trhym3]

A new TA bloodborne video exactly when I'm playing my first run? 😍

[@modernhaze3]

Finally thanks for the amazing content

[@djbeema]

Can't overstate how much I enjoy these videos. Out of curiosity, going by the channel name, one might assume you started with Elden Ring, and then moved on to other fromsoft stuff. If that's right I'm impressed with how quickly & voraciously you've taken on Bloodborne lore. Or maybe you've been a longtime fan lol

[@HokeyBugle]

God i want BB to come out for PC

[@5686darryl]

😭😭😭

[@boglurker2043]

If you have a good enough pc you can emulate it

[@t.greene583]

@@boglurker2043I don’t think it’s playable on emulation currently

[@MalcolmRidley-sf8uc]

The most underrated KZbinr I know

[@KosMachine2955]

I was blown away when I first noticed that each brain fluid has a unique item description

[@PaszerDye]

You don't normally encounter the massive Blood Ticks out in the world, though only usually by chance at the bloodstain of a felled enemy. Outside these chance encounters, the DLC, and the chalice dungeons, you only commonly find them in Cainhurst, a place home to the local nobility who are obsessed with blood and lineage. While Brainsuckers are more commonly found in specific areas in game, we do find one in Byrgenwerth too, mirroring the Blood Ticks at Cainhurst; the blood echo monster in the castle, and the insight leech at the college. That would suggest the research that ultimately resulted in the creation of Brainsuckers was not started by the Choir, but by the Byrgenwerth Scholars. This then further suggests that; while Willem did know the dangers of human experimentation with the Old Blood and instilled his students the well-known adage to discourage them from it, this did not extend to human experimentation with the parasite-ridden waters from the Fishing Hamlet, leading to the Brainsuckers, with the Research Hall Patient being the next step, and reaching their present form, the Celestial Emissaries. All this is to say, Laurence was probably Willem's right hand and protoge--right there from the start. He was there to see the initial research with the Brainsuckers and likely oversaw efforts in the Research Hall. And when he was there for their 1st human experiments with the Old Blood, he did not see nor understand why his master shied away from and even feared such obvious progress. Seems like in the flashback we see after touching his skull at Cathedral Ward, the words he said back then to Willem were merely lip service to placate him and fool himself that his actions were indeed a betrayal.

[@kylefern7504]

Glorious as always good sir.

[@adamblue2980]

Excellent as always!

[@TheStennar]

Oh lol! new video popped up while watching your last video. Found this channel few hours ago. I will binge elden ring after this

[@doehminator]

fantastic work!

[@thesaltbucket324]

Ayo I actually have hydrocephalus and I actually just learned about my own affliction from this video during chapter 2, holy shit! Hydrocephalus is such an under discussed issue from what I've noticed as I've literally never met anybody who could tell me about what this issue I have actually is or what the shunt even is or what it really does or anything like that but of course a video involving my favorite fromsoftware game has the insight to go and start telling me about it amidst the explanation of game lore lol way to go man holy shit xD

[@adamfowler350]

First running into these emissary creatures in the woods changed everything I thought I knew about the game.

[@quickclaw240]

I always thought the conversation between Willem and Laurence from the cutscene took place after they had seen the negative effect of blood on a human for the first time. Which scared Willem, leading him to seek more insight. And also making Laurence forced to leave to continue the research, because he did not get frightend enough by the event.

[@RabidCupcake2010]

Misspeak at 34:45 - "I knew it, I'm *no* different, I'm no beast", but Iosefka's actual dialogue at 32:01 is, "I knew it, I'm different, I'm no beast". Not that it prevented me from enjoying the video though lol. Love your content, TA! 👍

[@Pestielicious]

Best soulsborne lore content creator by far