History WMG / Bloodborne

If that doesn't convince you, consider this. Much is made of Formless Oedon's strength, to transcend being and exist purely as blood and voice, or Kos's (some say Kosm's) ability to grant eyes to the lesser as indicative of similar strength. In response, the Moon Presence [[IKnowYourTrueName doesn't have a name]]. Think about it; for all Oedon's might he can still have part of his essence encapsulated by a rune and appropriated by Hunters. Further, leveling in the game requires blood echoes that the '''Moon''' rune enhances the collection of, establishing a relationship between the power in blood ''you shed from others'' and the Moon Presence. You can't capture its strength in a rune without empowering the dream it has trapped you in! The Moon Presence's whole schtick is taking the power of others and using it against them. The grand plot of the game divorced from any human concern is the Moon Presence giving Hunters the power to steal the strength of their foes and slaughter them with it.

* Jossed, it was only referenced in the alpha and that was it.

So why is it such an easy boss fight comparatively? Simple: you're a SpannerInTheWorks. Look at all the graves throughout the Hunters' Dream. There are graves underneath the shrubbery everywhere; hell, even in the final boss arena it's possible the tree is growing out of a gigantic mound of graves (some parts of the ground are just more tombstones). It didn't plan for a Hunter to actually ascend; all who had tried before in some fashion were either rendered mindless (Vacuous Rom) or raving beasts (Laurence as the Blood-letting Beast deep in the chalice dungeons).

Why? Because unlike the rest of its brethren, it is not merely sympathetic to humanity but ''understands us''. It's the Great Ones' answer to Provost Willem. In much the same way humans can, with some magical help, partially summon Great Ones and their servants to their aid, the Moon Presence through the Hunters' Dream summons Hunters to do its bidding. The Healing Church might have been an attempt by Great Ones to share knowledge of the cosmos, but those Great Ones thought they could bend humanity's fear and awe of them into being gods and control that information. The Moon Presence taps at something deeper -- revulsion -- and uses it to compel the service of Hunters, giving them only the information they need via proxy (old Gerhman) and setting them loose [[OmniscientMoralityLicense fully knowing]] what they're likely to achieve. The Moon Presence understands us to a better degree than any of the others, and for that reason doesn't underestimate us.

If that doesn't convince you, consider this. Much is made of Formless Oedon's strength, to transcend being and exist purely as blood and voice, or Kos's (some say Kosm's) ability to grant eyes to the lesser as indicative of similar strength. In response, the Moon Presence [[IKnowYourTrueName doesn't have a name]]. Think about it; for all Oedon's might he can still have part of his essence encapsulated by a rune and appropriated by Hunters. Further, leveling in the game requires blood echoes that the '''Moon''' rune enhances the collection of, establishing a relationship between the power in blood ''you shed from others'' and the Moon Presence. The Moon Presence's whole schtick is taking the power of others and using it against them! The grand plot of the game divorced from any human concern is the Moon Presence giving Hunters the power to steal the strength of their foes and slaughter them with it.

[[spoiler: The Moon Presence.]] Most of the Great Ones and their Kin seem to non-hostile to humans or even helpful. [[spoiler: Oedon and several other Great Ones offered their children to humans, Mergo is a baby and tried to help the School of Mensis ascend, Mergo's Wetnurse protects Mergo, the Brain sits there and gives you a rune if you Make Contact, Kos, some say Kosm, helpd Rom ascend, Rom doesn't attack directly until she's nearly dead and Ebrietas allows humans to summon her via her Augur.]] It's said they're sympathetic and will answer if called upon, even though it doesn't work out. But [[spoiler: the Moon Presence created the dream]] specifically to kill an infant Great One, and on that path you end up killing most of the other Great Ones and their Kin. They also trapped Gehrman and possibly all of Yharnam in [[spoiler: the dream]] and does the same to [[spoiler: you in the Honoring Wishes ending.]] Apparently they don't want humanity to ascend, and are willing to kill the Great Ones to stop it. That also explains why they attack you [[spoiler: if you've used three Umbilical Cords; you're ascending and turning into a Great One, so it tries to kill you before the transformation is complete.]]

[[spoiler: The Moon Presence.]] Most of the Great Ones and their Kin seem to non-hostile to humans or even helpful. [[spoiler: Oedon and several other Great Ones offered their children to humans, Mergo is a baby and tried to help the School of Mensis ascend, Mergo's Wetnurse protects Mergo, the Brain sits there and gives you a rune if you Make Contact, Rom doesn't attack directly until she's nearly dead and Ebrietas allows humans to summon her via her Augur.]] It's said they're sympathetic and will answer if called upon, even though it doesn't work out. But [[spoiler: the Moon Presence created the dream]] specifically to kill an infant Great One, and on that path you end up killing most of the other Great Ones and their Kin. They also trapped Gehrman and possibly all of Yharnam in [[spoiler: the dream]] and does the same to [[spoiler: you in the Honoring Wishes ending.]] Apparently they don't want humanity to ascend, and are willing to kill the Great Ones to stop it. That also explains why they attack you [[spoiler: if you've used three Umbilical Cords; you're ascending and turning into a Great One, so it tries to kill you before the transformation is complete.]]

[[spoiler: The Moon Presence.]] Most of the Great Ones and their Kin seem to non-hostile to humans or even helpful. [[spoiler: Oedon and several other Great Ones offered their children to humans, Mergo's a baby, the Brain sits there and gives you a rune if you Make Contact, Rom doesn't attack directly until she's nearly dead and Ebrietas allows humans to summon her via her Augur.]] It's said they're sympathetic and will answer if called upon, even if it doesn't work out. But [[spoiler: the Moon Presence created the dream]] specifically to kill an infant Great One, and on that path you end up killing most of the other Great Ones and their Kin. They also trapped Gehrman and possibly all of Yharnam in [[spoiler: the dream]] and does the same to [[spoiler: you in the Honoring Wishes ending.]] Apparently they don't want humanity to ascend, and are willing to kill the Great Ones to stop it. That also explains why they attack you [[spoiler: if you've used three Umbilical Cords; you're ascending and turning into a Great One, so it tries to stop you before the transformation is complete.]]

Why are the Great Ones doing this? Which ones are doing what and for what purpose? Well the obvious candidates are [[spoiler The Moon Presence]] for turning people into Hunters and tying them to the Hunter's Dream, and Formless Oedon, especially in the case of the Beast Plague as his medium is blood, so of course Oedon would want blood shed. Ebrietas would probably being the one turning people into Kin.

I'm less sure about this part, but if the above is true, it could also explain why defeating Mergo (who is pretty heavily implied to be Yharnam's child) presumably ends or at least halts the spread of the curse (allows you to transcend the hunt and wake up, after all); its conception is the whole reason the curse exists in the first place. Luckily, the School of Mensis got in contact with the unborn creature's mind, allowing you a way to stop its influence in the city. But considering that the source of the curse itself is not dead (for even if you kill Yharnam, her conscience lives on, as described in the Yharnam Stone), it's likely that, eventually, someone else will find their way into the Labyrinth, find the cursed blood, and bring the scourge of beasts to another land.

She bleeds Pale (white) blood if you attack her. Also note that she cannot ever be truly killed. She may, in fact, be a Great One who is looking for a surrogate child herself (YOU) and the Childhood's Beginning ending is her wish finally fulfilled. Congratulations, Plain Doll, you now have kin.

[[WMG: Yharnam was destroyed by rumors of the Panacea]]
Stories about a "panacea" in Yharnem that could cure all ills led to every crippled, sick, and otherwise desperate person in the world descending on the city, including the protagonist. Of course, the sick brought their diseases with them. Soon, the entire city, with its population swelled by refugees until its infrastructure was already buckling, began drowning in plague(s). [[spoiler:Which is why the real-life city is empty when the protagonist wakes from their dream.]]

[[WMG: Yharnem was destroyed by rumors of the Panacea]]

Indeed, you don’t even need to go to Old Yharnam to complete the Hunt and end the Nightmare; Gehrman just points you in that direction so that you can steal the Holy Chalice from them. The Old Yharnamites really are no threat to anyone. [[YouBastard YOU’RE the one trespassing on their domain, murdering them as you see fit, and taking whatever belongings you like.]]

Another point I thought of, the first few moments after your character gets his blood ministration, a bloody beast comes up and reaches out to touch your character, only for a molotov to drive it off. This may have been symbolic of the Hunter and Beast Runes fighting for dominance in your mind.

EpicNameBro pointed out that Caryll the Runesmith made the rune workshop tool after Master Willem was lost to the Church and yet killing him nets you an "Eye" Caryll Rune. He then goes on to hypothesize that a Great One may have "spoke" the rune into Master Willem. He further posits that the Hunter's Mark item uses the same rune as the Hunter Oath Rune but was different in nature, leading him to speculate that a Great One "spoke" it into your character at the beginning of the game.

* maybe its because of how "Insight"ful the Good Hunter is... regardless of actual Insight counter... Though this theory is rather awesome, in fact maybe its not just the arrangement of the Limbs but the time delay and motion that is the full polite greeting.

* [[spoiler: Seemingly unlikely considering how it isn't a literal dream, it's like the Dream Cycles from the Cthulhu Mythos, where people are brought into a dream by evil entities. Writing the game off as ONLY a dream is honestly both stupid and generic.]]

Considering how you get the best Moon rune by performing the gesture in front of a Great One that's not actively attacking you, this is probably the best way you can start a conversation with a Great One, and to keep talking you have to perform all sorts of other gestures. There seems to be a really precise requirement to it, as when you perform Make Contact you shift your arms to the opposite direction after exactly 35 seconds. How your character figured this out from a corpse stuck in one position is anyone's guess.

It's doubtful a Great One powerful enough to transform Rom is just some brain monster. Kos/Kosm was apparently powerful enough to transform Rom into a Great One without going to the [[FaceFullofAlienWingWong absurd lengths]] of Oedon, and Micolash, an insanely powerful arcanist, implies what Kosm/Kos has given him is only a SLIVER of his power. In short, Kos/Kosm is the [[CthulhuMythos Yog-Sothoth]] of Bloodborne, and Ebrietas might even be his daughter, considering his name is implied to mean "Cosmos," as Micolash says something along the lines of "Oh, it was Cosmos." Perhaps Kosm/Kos [[GeniusLoci IS]] the Cosmos itself?

[[WMG: The game takes place in the same universe as ''DarkSouls'']]

Kos/Kosm was apparently powerful enough to transform Rom into a Great One without going to the [[FaceFullofAlienWingWong absurd lengths]] of Oedon, and Micolash, an insanely powerful arcanist, implies what Kosm/Kos has given him is only a SLIVER of his power. In short, Kos/Kosm is the [[CthulhuMythos Yog-Sothoth]] of Bloodborne, and Ebrietas might even be his daughter, considering his name is implied to mean "Cosmos," as Micolash says something along the lines of "Oh, it was Cosmos." Perhaps Kosm/Kos [[GeniusLoci IS]] the Cosmos itself?

Kos/Kosm was apparently powerful enough to transform Rom into a Great One without going to the [[FaceFullofAlienWingWong absurd lengths]] of Oedon, and Micolash, an insanely powerful arcanist, implies what Kosm/Kos has given him is only a SLIVER of his power. In short, Kos/Kosm is the [[CthulhuMythos Yog-Sothoth]] of Bloodborne, and Ebrietas might even be his daughter, considering his name is implied to mean "Cosmos," as when Micolash dies he says something along the lines of "Oh, it was Cosmos." Perhaps Kosm/Kos [[GeniusLoci IS]] the Cosmos itself?

* Alternatively, you could end up as the next Rom, desperately trying to prevent HUmanity from realizing the Nightmare all around them. Because, given From's track record, and considering the [[CthulhuMythos inspiration]], this is the most likely "Good Eldritch Abomination" ending.