Main Characters | Secondary Characters | Enemies and Bosses | Great Ones | Covenants | The Old Hunters | Comic
This page details the Hunter and the residents of the Hunter's Dream. Head back through here for the other character pages. Warning: unmarked spoilers ahead.
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The Good Hunter
You, an outsider who has journeyed to Yharnam in search of information on something known only as "Paleblood". Upon arriving, you are conscripted into the Hunt, and end up searching for a way to escape it.
- Action Girl: For female Hunters.
- Action Survivor: In the face of therianthropic monstrosities, you start off unarmed and oblivious to the goings on in Yharnam.
- Ambiguous Gender: In marketing, the Hunter was portrayed as being heavily covered up in a longcoat and a tricorn hat/bandana combo that obscured their facial features, making them deliberately androgynous. This outfit — the Hunter outfit — and many others like it are accessible in-game, potentially entirely obscuring your character's features and gender.
- The Hunter that appears in the Death of Sleep comic is depicted as androgynous, with dark skin, light blue eyes, and short cut white/grey hair. Iosefka even comments on not being able to tell their gender, to which the Hunter simply replies "I am a Hunter."
- Amnesiac Hero: Ambiguously implied by your starting clothing set; just as you, the player, the Hunter is thrown into the game with almost zero context, they wear clothes from a land foreign to Yharnam and don't seem to have any memory of how they found themselves in the "nightmare of blood and beasts." The original draft of the game's story makes it a bit more justified: you spent a month in a coma after your initial transfusion, waking up right as the events of the game start.
- And Show It to You: Visceral Attacks involve shoving your hand inside an enemy and violently ripping out their, well, viscera.
- And Then John Was a Zombie: Using the special Caryll runes from the DLC, you can assume the (partial) form of a Beast or a Kin — both of which are creatures you're meant to hunt.
- In one of the endings, you become a baby Great One.
- Anti-Hero: Can become one if you desire to focus solely on finding a cure to your vaguely terminal disease, and your potential final opponents in the game are a tortured old man, and a being that gave you access to the Hunter's Dream in the first place, although it's pretty clear that it's not on your side.
- An Arm and a Leg: A discovery
reveals that the reason why you end up in Gehrman's wheelchair in the Honoring Wishes ending is that the Moon Presence appears to take your left leg from the knee down. - Badass Finger Snap: Performs a nonchalant one to summon The Messengers whenever a note is written.
- Bifurcated Weapon: Some Trick Weapons act this way, switching between two forms at the touch of a button.
- The Kirkhammer and Ludwig's Holy Blade are silver longswords that can join with a detachable larger weapon, a massive stone hammer and a large, hollow sword blade respectively.
- The Blade of Mercy is basically two twisted shortswords made from a magnetic metal known as siderite. It can be split to allow for Dual Wielding.
- The Burial Blade is a Sinister Scimitar, which can attach to a special staff that allows it to become a Sinister Scythe.
- The Whirligig Saw introduced in the Old Hunters DLC is basically a long mace that can attach to what is essentially a buzzsaw.
- Also from The Old Hunters DLC is the Rakuyo, a katana-sabre hybrid like the Chikage, which also has detachable dagger at the bottom. Like the Blade of Mercy, the Rakuyo also allows for Dual Wielding.
- Blood Magic:
- If injured, you can counterattack to regain health, give yourself blood transfusions to restore health, and power up using "Blood Echoes".
- The procedure of using Quicksilver Bullets for firearms or casting spells is to infuse your own blood into the bullet.
- The Chikage uses a rite to infuse the blade with the blood of Yharnam, Pthumerian Queen, which inflicts Rapid Poison.
- The Bloodletter transforms into a blood gem morning star using your own blood. Thanks to being an Eldritch Abomination, your own blood inflicts severe damage and can inflict Frenzy, but only on yourself.
- The Executioner Gloves conjure angry ghosts when smeared with blood.
- Blood-Splattered Warrior: You can get just covered, head to toe, in the blood of your enemies.
- Body Horror: With the DLC and the requisite items, you can finally get in on that mutation and tentacles craze that sprouted in Yharnam before you arrived. Your head becomes a blue, fleshy tree and your attacks come from tentacles, vomit, and breaking your own spine to release a burst of Star Power. The dodge animations also change to make you look like a puppet being pulled along on its strings. Alternatively, you can instead choose to mutate into a proto-Cleric Beast.
- The Cavalry Arrives Late: Sadly, you arrive just a little too late to stop Yharnam from falling to ruin, but fortunately you can still help with what threats remain.
- Chick Magnet: Surprisingly so, the list being Arianna, Adella, Iosefka, and The Doll. Also Annalise, despite rejecting your proposal, states you are dear to her and that the reason she rejects you is precisely because she wishes no harm to come to you.
- Dark Is Not Evil: Despite wielding horrifying weapons and having a selection of different wardrobe options that are gothic or creepy, the Hunter will be fighting against a corrupt church and other monstrosities to protect humanity... Well, provided you don't indulge in some of the more morally deplorable actions presented to you in the game that is.
- Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: You can end up encountering and killing no less than eight Great Ones officially over the course of the game,note and you are only required to at least kill three.note
- Given the enigmatic and loose nature of the lore, Mergo's ultimate fate isn't immediately known. However there is enough evidence to imply that Mergo had passed away centuries prior, as they are referred to as being stillborn.
- Dream Walker: You eventually end up traveling through The Nightmare Realm, a supernatural and eldritch parallel world made up of several parts that were created by The Great Ones through dreams.note
- Eldritch Abomination: This is what you'll become if you have consumed three Umbilical Cords over the course of the game within the "Childhood's Beginning" ending.
- Empowered Badass Normal: After receiving the blood transfusion in the intro, you're granted infinite revives via access to the Hunter's Dream, a Healing Factor dependent on blood vials, and superhuman strength, speed, and toughness. It gives you a fighting chance against the Beasts, but you'll still need to rely on your skill to prevail in the game.
- Equippable Ally:
- The Call Beyond and Augur of Ebrietas spells take the form of ethereal sea-slugs held in the off-hand.
- In the DLC, the Kos Parasite is the eldritch abomination version of a tapeworm. When in Kin form, it allows itself to be used as a whip. Outside of the transformation, it only serves to enhance punching power.
- Find the Cure!: For certain use of "cure". Your mission is to stop the source of the Beastly Scourge, lest the night carry on forever. A note at the beginning of the game (implied in the Japanese version to be written by you before your memory faded) tells you to find something called Paleblood, for whatever reason.
Miyazaki confirmed in an interview that "paleblood" (more accurately translated as "bluish blood") referred to the color of the sky after Rom is slain ("a very pale blue, like a body drained of blood"), revealing the effects of the Mensis Ritual. Thus, paleblood "refers to uncovering that ritual and putting a stop to it", which then stops the outbreak.- On a personal level, it's implied that you came to Yharnam in the first place because you needed blood ministration to cure some disease (cut dialogue outright confirms this). Everything that happens after the opening would just be fulfilling the contract for the first act in the game.
- Fragile Speedster: In comparison to the Souls protagonists and many of the enemies as well, due to the lack of heavy armor and shields in Bloodborne. As a result, the Hunter has to place far more emphasis on dodging and dealing big damage over tanking blows. Although you can increase your natural resistance through Blood Echoes over time.
- From Nobody to Nightmare: You go from an unarmed stranger stuck in Yharnam during the Hunt to becoming a feared and terrifying Hunter that slays monsters, eldritch abominations, and even other Hunters. Especially pronounced if you pick the "Waste of Skin" background.
- Gender Is No Object: There are both male and female hunters active in Yharnam, so you naturally don't question superfluous things such as gender when it comes to hunting various beasts or hostile Hunters.
- Grievous Harm with a Body: The Amygdalan Arm is the severed, undead arm of a small Amygdala that is wielded as a club. Its transformed state is a bit like wielding a very large Whip Sword, where certain attacks give it the impression that there's still some life in it, despite it being a severed arm.
- He Knows Too Much: You somehow know about "Paleblood" ("Sage's Blood" in earlier story builds). Which is unknown to the general populace of Yharnam, save those associated with the Church's higher echelons like the Choir and the School of Mensis. Although it can be implied that you read the "Seek Paleblood" note while waiting for the blood minister to show up before your transfusion.
- Heroic Mime: Except for grunting and screaming in pain when you take particularly nasty hits, your character is silent the whole way through. You can talk to several NPC's where you actually have some brief dialogue written out in response to their questions, but you don't actually hear your character talk.
- Horrifying Hero: There are many opportunities to present yourself this way, not only do you quite frequently become covered in the blood of your enemies, but this also includes partially transforming yourself into a Beast or Kin with certain items, using weapons like the Beast Claw and Amygdalan Arm, or wearing armor like the Graveguard, Madman, or Yahar'Gul sets. And that's not getting into what you can make yourself look like in character creation.
- Hunter of Monsters: You are an outsider to Yharnam who unwillingly gets drawn into the Hunt, although, given the state of things when your arrive, this isn't necessarily a bad thing.
- Iconic Outfit: The Hunter Set, natch. Most (but not all) promotional artwork features the version without the cape, wielding the Saw Cleaver and the Blunderbuss. All are among the earliest items you can get, and they can easily carry you through the whole game, while looking damn cool.
- Improbable Weapon User:
- Most Trick Weapons err between sensible and just plain strange. One particular example that goes far into the realm of strange is Logarius' Wheel. While the other Trick Weapons have the decency to at least be either based on actual weapons or give the wielder some kind of supernatural power, Logarius' Wheel is basically an executioner's carriage wheel with handles that's infused with Cainhurst ghosts. Its Trick Mode basically consists of some kind of blood magic that changes its damage type to arcane and allows it to spin and grind up any victim unfortunate enough to be within its range. This mode also possesses a buff that allows it to do more damage, at the cost of gradually depleting health, but unlike the Chikage this health can be recovered with the Rallying mechanic.
- Taken to new levels in the DLC, which lets you fight using the Bloodletter, a barbed mace that you can impale yourself upon and then tear out your own insides with it, leaving you fighting with a huge, spiky mace made of your own own blood and viscera. There's also the Kos Parasite, which even in its own description is called an "atypical" weapon, and is essentially useless without the Milkweed Rune. Equipping the rune turns you into an "Lumenwood" that fights with tentacles and celestial magic, due to integrating with what amounts to an eldritch tapeworm.
- Informed Attribute: The Hunter came to Yharnam to cure an illness that they had, yet they never show signs of being sick throughout the story. Justified as by the time you've awakened your body was infused with Yharnamite blood, meaning any disease would have likely been cured.... In exchange of being trapped in the Dream instead.
- Instant Expert: Unless you selected the Military Veteran or possibly Lone Survivor background, it's unlikely your character has any real fighting experience, and certainly not with the kinds of weapons used in this game, but pretty much from the minute you gain control of your character you're a Multi-Melee Master. Over the course of the game (which takes place over one very long night) you're shown to be the greatest hunter of all, taking down several Eldritch Abominations and other hunters, including some with decades of experience.
- Kill and Replace: The Hunter can do this either intentionally or not to Gehrman and be made the new Host of The Hunter's Dream by The Moon Presence, which may or may not be what it truly wanted from you in the first place.
- Klingon Promotion: By killing Gehrman, you become the new overseer of the Hunter's Dream, and by killing the Moon Presence, you become a new Great One.
- Laser-Guided Amnesia: While it's only ever stated in the Hunter's original foreign attire's description and doesn't really have an impact in the story, it's made clear that the Hunter lost all memory of their past before the blood transfusion at the start of the game.Not typical clothing for Yharnam, perhaps it is of foreign origin. It is said, after all, the traveler came to Yharnam from afar. Without memory, who will ever know?
- Lightning Bruiser: In the end of all the stats, this is what you will inevitably become. The large health and stamina pools, powerful weapons, and quick maneuvering is what your combat style boils down to.
- Multi-Melee Master: Including the DLC, there are no less than 26 trick weapons, each with its own unique moveset and two different configurations. Some of them are wildly different from one another: compare, for example, Ludwig's Holy Blade (a longsword that combines with its sheath to form a BFS, the Saw Cleaver (a weapon resembling a gigantic butcher's cleaver that's serrated on one side), and Logarius' Wheel (a literal wagon wheel infused with ghosts). Yet the Hunter wields every one of them like they were born with it in their hand.
- Multiple-Choice Past: You can choose what your origin/upbringing was before journeying to Yharnam, replacing the class system from the Souls games.
- Milquetoast: Ordinary, happy upbringing. All attributes average. The Jack of All Stats origin, very balanced stats and easy to build into whatever you desire.
- Lone Survivor: The sole survivor of a lost hamlet. The Stone Wall, having the highest starting Vitality and Health.
- Troubled Childhood: Suffered misfortune in their youth, but is more resilient as a result. A Fragile Speedster who can dish out more attacks due to their higher Endurance.
- Violent Past: Had a terribly violent past, but is all the stronger for it. A Mighty Glacier who starts with the highest Strength.
- Professional: A born specialist, fit for academia or sleuthing. Starts with the highest Skill.
- Military Veteran: An experienced soldier with strength and skill. A Lightning Bruiser with equally high Strength and Skill but sacrifices Bloodtinge and Arcane Capabilities.
- Noble Scion: The scion to a noble line with faith in their pedigree. The Long-Range Fighter, starts with the highest Bloodtinge, allowing them to deal more damage with guns, and the most Blood Echoes.
- Cruel Fate: Someone who has faced terrible hardships, but all the more confident in their purpose. A Magic Knight, in a sense, with the highest starting Arcane stat, which allows them to deal more damage with arcane, fire, and lightning weapons.
- Waste of Skin: You should have never been born. The Joke Character or Master of None, starting at Level 4 instead of Level 10 and starts with 10 Blood Echoes.
- Multi-Ranged Master: You can wield a wide variety of firearms in tandem with your trick weapons, including blunderbusses, pistols, rifles, and an arm-mounted cannon. Then there's the thrown weapons like daggers and rocks. All used with perfect accuracy.
- The Nose Knows: You smell like the Moon to many of the NPCs of Yharnam. Somehow they are able to sense the lingering Hunter's Dream upon you.
- Non-Answer: The Hunter in The Death of Sleep gives one to the doctor Iosefka when in their care.Iosefka: What are you? A man? A woman? With you, I could never tell.Hunter: I am a Hunter. Hello Iosefka.
- Not Quite Back to Normal: Implied to happen in Yharnam's Sunrise ending. The Hunter has their connection to the Dream severed, and subsequently returns to the real world. However, seeing as several Hunters who were once part of the Hunter's Dream still retain their supernatural prowess (minus Resurrective Immortality), it's safe to say the player Hunter is much the same.
- Not So Stoic: Perhaps the only time the player Hunter ever shows emotion, specifically shock and fear, is upon encountering Lady Maria. See Oh, Crap! below.
- Oh, Crap!: The only time you are ever shaken up before a boss fight is against Lady Maria, who speaks with the voice of/is modeled after The Doll.
- One-Man Army: Kills literally thousands of enemies over the course of their adventures, ranging from comparatively mundane (e.g. partially infected humans with various melee weapons and firearms; super strong werewolf-like Beasts) to various Eldritch Abominations. Dozens of the enemies you kill (including all of the bosses and hostile Hunters) qualify in their own right.
- Our Vampires Are Different: The Hunter is never explicitly referred to as one, but considering the most common methods of healing involves taking in blood, either from attacking enemies or injecting a vial, in addition to a stat involving blood, they do have some vampiric traits.
- Our Werewolves Are Different: Due to the infusion of "Yharnam blood", you've been inflicted with the Beast Plague. Despite the English description of the Beasthood stat, there's no werewolf transformation aside from the Visceral Attacks and Beast Claw's special ability. The Beast's Embrace Rune in the DLC fixes this, transforming you into a Wolfman-like monster and altering the Beast Claw's moveset.
- Partial Transformation: Performing a Visceral Attack causes your right hand to briefly grow and transform into a clawed appendage for the duration of the attack, though it's hard to notice due to a combination of the lighting and how quick the attack is. Using the Beast Claw's special ability transforms your left hand into a massive, grotesque talon.
- Purely Aesthetic Gender: And not even all that aesthetic, as your costumes will most likely completely obscure your features. That said, some dialogue does change to reflect your character's gender and some outfits have gender-specific looks as well.
- Resurrective Immortality: As long as the Hunter remains connected to the Hunter's Dream, they will revive again and again in the Dream until the link is severed. As the host of the Hunter's Dream, Gehrman is able to sever the Hunter from the Dream by ritualistically killing them, which occurs in Yharnam's Sunrise ending. As the realm's creator, the Moon Presence is presumably able to do the same.
- Ripple-Effect-Proof Memory: Bloodborne's Dream Cycles are the only thing preventing this from being Flash Sideways, but apparently it's not perfectly foolproof against death. In the Death of Sleep comics, the Hunter only has the vaguest recollections and feelings of their past attempts through Yharnam's streets before dying, akin to Déjà Vu. Things like knowing they've been somewhere before, confusion on meeting a creature that the Hunter is unsure if they've seen it before, significant sentences said in past meetings even though they don't remember who exactly said it and when. This even goes so far as forgetting their actual past before becoming a Hunter, and not to mention their lack of answers as to how or why the Hunter remembers any of this. To them, their past lives are a Dream and their memories are the Hunter trying to remember the specific details of those Dreams and getting the bare minimum, just enough that the Hunter instinctively takes a different course rather than what got them killed last time, even though they don't know how they died. The Hunter's memory seems more attuned to remembering feelings and senses of the memories rather than the memories themselves. Their thought process is rather like being constantly in a daze despite their mostly-coherent thoughts, constantly asking self-questions that should have obvious answers but that the Hunter is legitimately lost on.The Hunter: — I remember a child the way one remembers a tale told around a campfire burning — Inside their heads - What am I — Was I ever a child —
- Sanity Slippage: The more eldritch knowledge — aka Insight — you acquire, the more warped the world becomes.
- Serrated Blade of Pain: Serrated weapons (Saw Cleaver, Saw Spear, and whip mode Threaded Cane) do 20% bonus damage to Beast Man enemies.
- Shapeshifter Weapon:
- Visceral Attacks don't actually involve weapons, but actually transforms the Hunter's hand into werewolf claws and scratching at their enemies' insidey bits.
- Beast Claws are sharpened humeri/femurs of a Darkbeast, tied together with bandages. While their base form is more or less a punching dagger, their Trick form allows you to use the same claws used in visceral attacks in basic combat.
- Shoot the Dog: In order to find what may be the true source of the Beastly Scourge, one of the resources you need to progress is obtained by killing Arianna, one of the nicest NPCs in the game, who has already been forced into pregnancy by Formless Odeon, as well as her child note .
- The Starscream: The "Childhood's Beginning" ending has the Hunter kill both Gehrman, the proprietor of Hunter's Dream (although this is implied to be a Mercy Kill), but also the Moon Presence, its creator. What the Hunter's Dream will be used for in the future is anyone's guess, but the Doll seems to be more than okay with the new owner.
- Super Mode: The Beasthood state — which was initially thought to involve a bestial transformation — does this instead, powering up your attacks while decreasing your defense.
- Super-Strength: As a result of the blood transfusion at the beginning of the game, the Hunter can (among other things) send Giant Mooks flying several meters through the air with heavy attacks, shrug off hundred-foot falls onto hard rock, survive getting beaten down by beings that can shred through plate armor and shields like paper, and swing around a ~300 pound chunk of stone on a stick as if it was a normal sledgehammer. With enough Blood Echoes put into Strength, your character will be so strong by the mid-game that single heavy punches can instantly kill Huntsmen or Beast Patients in the first areas, despite all Beasts being effectively bulletproof against normal small arms per the lore.
- Super-Reflexes: The Hunter can easily dodge or deflect rifle bullets (but not Gatling gun fire). While said bullets are obviously slowed down for gameplay purposes, the fact that unique animations exist for doing just that does imply that it's an ability they and other Hunters actually possess in the lore.
- Surpassed the Teacher: You do this if you choose to kill Gehrman near the end of the game.
- Sword and Gun: You will usually wield a trick weapon in your right hand and a firearm in the other.
- There Is Another: Should you choose to accept Annalise's offer, you will become the only other Vileblood alive aside from her.
- Through the Eyes of Madness: Possibly. It's stated that the more Insight you have, the more insane and eldritch the world will become. Though it actually goes deeper than this — the whole game is a massive city-wide delusion that you have been brought into, and not everything you do is really happening. However, the delusion is also later revealed to be an entire plane of existence, much like Nyarlathotep's realm from the Dream Cycles stories. It's less like you are insane, and more like you are infected with a disease that drives you to delusions — except the delusions are real.
- Thunderbolt Iron: Siderite, used in a few trick weapons, is said to be this. It's also naturally magnetic, similar to lodestone (somehow this quality isn't lost when the metal is forged).
- Took a Level in Badass: You go from some poor schmuck who is in way over your head with Yharnam's Hunt to being the city's deadliest Hunter.
- Unwitting Pawn: Maybe. It has been speculated and interpreted that you, and seemingly every other Hunter who's ever lived, may have been this for the Moon Presence all along, although this is not certain.
- The primary theory is that the Moon Presence created the Hunters in the first place so that they could kill the Great Ones and their children as part of what is apparently a cosmic war.
- At the same time however, it is also possible that The Moon Presence is indifferent towards whether or not you find and kill the other Great Ones, and is in fact more concerned with finding a replacement for Gehrman as Host of The Hunter's Dream.
- Was Once a Man: Possibly. Pre-game, the Hunter was a normal person, who was turned into a superpowered blood-fueled immortal-by-resurrection murder machine, and who can (via the Beast's Embrace and Milkweed runes, respectively) become a part-Beast or Lumenwood Kin. And in Childhood's Beginning, they are reborn as a Great One.
- Weapon-Based Characterization: There's a weapon for any kind of Hunter with the diverse array of trick weapons.
- The Standard Workshop Weapons are weapons that were designed by the original workshop led by Gehrman. They have simple, straightforward designs, and tend to utilize serration to increase damage to Beasts by bloodletting.
- The Hunter Axe, a Saw Hunter Weapon, can transform between a one-handed axe and a two-handed axe resembling a halberd.
- The Threaded Cane, a Saw Hunter Weapon, transforms between a cane and a metal serrated whip.
- The Blade of Mercy, one of the first workshop weapons and heavily utilized by the Hunter of Hunters, is a lightweight short-sword that is made with a magnetic metal known as siderite that can also be split into two daggers.
- The Saw Cleaver and the Saw Spear, both Saw Hunter Weapons, are saws with handles that fold out to make them behave like a cleaver and a spear respectively.
- The Burial Blade, Gehrman's Weapon of Choice and the original Trick Weapon. It's a scythe with a detachable blade that can act as a scimitar. Like the Blade of Mercy, the blade is made of the magnetic mineral siderite.
- The Healing Church Weapons are weapons forged in the Church Workshop rivaling Gehrman's workshop. Their weapons are usually large, heavily adorned weapons that are also unbearably heavy, resembling ceremonial weapons more than actual tools of war or hunt, partly to demonstrate the glory of the Church to Yharnam's masses, but secretly because they are designed for hunting the larger Beasts that, ironically, most of the Healing Church's ranks eventually become.
- Ludwig's Holy Blade, the weapon for Ludwig's successors. It's a one-handed silver longsword that can be used in tandem with the sheath to become a greatsword.
- The Kirkhammer, the standard Healing Church Weapon. It uses a slightly shorter silver sword than Ludwig's version. It can become the handle for the large stone hammer.
- Logarius' Wheel is an Executioner's choice of weapon. It resembles a heavy stagecoach wheel. Transformed, however, it opens up to unleash a continuous vapor of blood, which makes it stronger with arcane damage the more revs it goes, but weakens the wielder in the process, quicker with each form.
- The Church workshop is also a host to several heretic workshop factions within, usually researchers more interested in a singular concept as a weapon.
- The Tonitrus, an infamous weapon created by Archibald, an electricity obsessed heretic of the Church. It's a mace that can generate electricity.
- The Beast Claw, made by the Irreverent Izzy is a gauntlet with a two-pronged claw made of the still living bones of a Darkbeast. When transformed, it fuses your right hand to the weapon and transforms your left hand into massive, grotesque claws.
- The Powder Keg Weapons were weapons created by the heretic workshop splinter group bearing the same name; their designs are radically different from Gehrman's workshop, featuring complicated designs with a deliberate emphasis on coolness and explosions. In other words, they live by the Rule of Cool, and don't mind if their weapons become Awesome, but Impractical. To quote their own motto, "If a weapon ain't got kick, it just ain't worth it."
- The Rifle Spear, an imitation of the Reiterspallasch, is exactly how it sounds; a spear that can transform into a rifle, or technically, shotgun.
- The Stake Driver, Djura's favorite weapon, is a thick, short stake blade, attached to an arm-mounted mechanism that can drive it into targets with extreme force.
- The Cannon. No, not a Hand Cannon, an actual cannon. Basically a mounted cannon with no mount and a handle, complete with its ridiculous weight, staggering kick, and lavish use of ammo. These people really are something.
- The Whirligig Saw, personal favorite of Valtr, The Beast Eater. A simple long-handled mace the transforms into a Buzzsaw Hammer. Included in the Old Hunters DLC.
- The Boom Hammer, a similar Trick Weapon to the Tonitrus, the hammer has a furnace built inside that when struck, would make the next swing release a burst of flame. Included in the Old Hunters DLC.
- The Gatling Gun, introduced in the DLC, is exactly what you would imagine.
- The Vileblood Weapons are weapons traditionally used by the Cainhurst bloodline; they are few in number in comparison with the other three workshops, and require a more bloodtinge-invested wielder to effectively use. The Vilebloods themselves were almost entirely offed by the Executioners, with only their queen remaining by the time the story begins.
- The Chikage is a strange weapon for the Queen's Royal Guards. Its transformation consists of wielding the sword with both hands in combination with a powerful blood rite that causes the weapon to scale with bloodtinge, but saps the user's strength the longer it's wielded in that form. On a side note, it has a static rapid poison effect for both transformations.
- The Reiterpallasch, the standard Vileblood weapon, is a rapier that has a pistol attachment. This mechanism was mimicked by the Powder Kegs in the form of the Rifle Spear.
- The Old Hunters also introduces several different weapons in the game.
- The Beast Cutter, a serrated blade that can extended into a large, heavy whip, akin to being a strength-based version of the Threaded Cane.
- Simon's Bowblade is the most literal example of the latter trope, being a scimitar-like sword that folds out into a bow.
- The Bloodletter, a mace that shows its true form when given the blood of its wielder, becoming a pulsing staff-like weapon that spurts blood and can cause frenzy.
- Rakuyo was the weapon used by the Old Hunter Maria during her time on the Hunt. This weapon is composed of a curved saber and a dagger, with the latter inserted into the hilt of the former. It differed from other weapons forged at Cainhurst Castle, for it is not a blood weapon, and scales with skill instead.
- The Amygdalan Arm, an arm of a small Amygdala weaponized as a club; it is a trick weapon in name only, and you are essentially clubbing the others with a limb which appears to still be alive.
- The Kos Parasite, a creature that, when used in conjunction with a certain rune, gives you Combat Tentacles.
- The Church Pick starts as a short, heavy sword in its default form, but becomes a massive pick when transformed. Particularly notable for being a more practically designed Healing Church weapon with less adornment, and being skill-based instead of strength-based. What makes the Church Pick stand out from other weapons is that it has both serrated and righteous bonuses in both forms, and every hit of its transformed state counts as Thrust Damage, which many enemies are weak against.
- The Church Cannon is an oversized cannon operated by Healing Church members, either carried with a grip or mounted onto the left arm. Unlike the regular cannon, the projectile arcs down when fired and doesn't explode mid-air, making it decent fire-and-forgot artillery. This artillery piece is designed for use by brawny men with deteriorated brains, not for just any ordinary Hunter. But the men lacked the wits to effectively operate firearms, and the weapon was quietly ushered into permanent storage.
- The Holy Moonlight Sword, the trick weapon wielded by Ludwig and a weapon people might remember from FROM Software's other titles such as Dark Souls. Its one-handed form resembles a silver claymore with cloth wrapped around it, while its transformed appearance surrounds the blade in moonlight, giving it arcane damage and allowing it to shoot Sword Beams.
- The Beasthunter Saif, a short, powerful saif capable of powerful sweeping and slashing attacks. Interestingly enough, it seems to be something of a midpoint between the Burial Blade and the Saw Cleaver in terms of design.
- The Standard Workshop Weapons are weapons that were designed by the original workshop led by Gehrman. They have simple, straightforward designs, and tend to utilize serration to increase damage to Beasts by bloodletting.
- Wholesome Crossdresser: If the Hunter is male, he has the option of donning women's clothing at two points: first after fining a dress left behind by one of the noblewomen who previously lived in Cainhurst Castle, and then after finding a set of the Plain Doll's clothes in an abandoned workshop that's implied to be Gehrman's old workshop (the apparent basis for the Hunter's Dream). The game doesn't discourage this in any way, and it's presented as just as valid a clothing choice as any other.
- Would Hurt a Child: HEAVILY downplayed and even played with for anyone who is concerned; the lore notes state that the School of Mensis and the Great Ones seek to procure an infant to beckon the moon. There are three women who produce said offspring over the course of the story — Impostor Iosefka, Arianna, and Yharnam — who were impregnated by the Great Ones at different points in time. A note found in The Hypogean Gaol says to find said infant and to, "silence its harrowing cry," however, such a phrase can have several meanings.
- There is also much debate as per the lore when you reach the end of the story as to whether or not you are actually attacking Queen Yharnam's child, Mergo or just simply The Wet Nurse herself. It's also heavily implied that events concerning Yharnam herself happened a long time ago, and that Mergo may not actually be alive in present time.note
- As an enemy type later in the game is implied to be all have once been children, you're unfortunately going to have to be wary around them unless you want your head to explode. Although granted, they aren't terribly fast or threatening and there is really nothing stopping you from just running past them.
Hunter's Dream
Gehrman, the First Hunter
"Just go out and kill a few beasts. It's for your own good."
Voiced by: Allan Corduner (English), Yosuke Akimoto (Japanese)
A wheelchair-bound old man who used to be one of Yharnam's greatest Hunters. Now serves as the "Watcher of Hunters" and offers guidance and advice throughout the game.
- Almighty Janitor: In stark contrast to all the scholars, clerics, and nobles he rubbed elbows with during the heyday of Byrgenwerth and the Church, Gehrman seems to have been a craftsman or a tinkerer by trade before becoming the First Hunter. This is particularly evident in the language used to describe his hunting ways: he and his pupils were based out of a "workshop", used "tools" to hunt, and even their weapons were improbable contraptions, rather than basic weaponry. Gehrman also seems to have crafted the Doll's frame as a way to cope with Lady Maria's suicide, indicating that he has always been a builder first and a fighter, second.
- Ambiguously Related: In the Comic, he appears to have...intimate knowledge of Iosefka. However, this is also complicated by the fact that he appears to have just made some kind of deal with the Moon Presence to kill her, and thus may only be remembering things about her out of guilt, or alternatively, his own...proclivities. It’s even further complicated by the fact that The Hunter is just leaving her clinic, and therefore it may in fact be The Hunter remembering being treated by Iosefka instead.
- An Arm and a Leg: He lost his right leg from the knee down at some point. A discovery implies that the Moon Presence took it for some reason, rather than Gehrman losing it during a hunt gone wrong.
- And I Must Scream: Gehrman has been trapped in the Dream for a long time, presiding over each Hunt and watching all the carnage that unfolds as a result. He desperately wants to be free, but doesn't wish his burden on anyone else, viewing watching over the Hunt as his duty and his alone.
- Anti-Villain: The only reason he attacks you at the end is because you refuse to leave the Dream and it's his duty to make you do so. He bears you no ill will at all and simply wants to prevent you from suffering the same way he has to, as overseer of the Dream.
- Big Good: Watches over Hunters and even frees them from the dream out of mercy, and God forbid should you refuse his offer...
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: The Death of Sleep comic hints that he and the Moon presence may have collaborated with Iosefka's Imposter, making him responsible for her murder.
- Blood Knight: Downplayed, but Gehrman seemed very excited to put down Our Hunter before the boss fight commenced. Including a brief, mirthful laugh.
- Contrasting Sequel Antagonist: Gehrman largely fulfills the From Software archetype of "old guy trapped in a miserable situation that needs to be put out of misery or replaced" with one exception; unlike Gwyn, Allant, or Vendrick, he's fully aware of his predicament. Thus, he fights you not because he's a mindless husk, but because he knows how awful his situation is, and doesn't want anyone else to take his place.
- Cool Old Guy: Is a laid-back Retired Badass who guides you through the Hunt.
- Creepy Good: A lot of his dialogue comes across as creepy and knowing, but he's very helpful with telling you where to go. There's also his weird intonation about "using the doll" at the beginning of the game, which can either be taken as sexual or regarding her with disdain.
- Dark Is Not Evil: Has a sinister scythe and wears all black, but watches over the Hunters and his workshop is a safe haven.
- Deal with the Devil: With the Moon Presence, leading to the creation of the Hunter's Dream and the Doll. In exchange, Gehrman must watch over the Hunt.
- Death Seeker: Gehrman can be caught begging Laurence and Master Willem for help in his sleep, pleading to be unshackled from the Dream. You can potentially set him free if you refuse his offer to Mercy Kill you.
- Dirty Old Man: Has shades of this. Upon first meeting you, he tells you that you're welcome to use anything you find in the Hunter's Dream, including the Doll. His whisper and tone when saying this gives off a very perverted vibe.
- One of the books in the workshop is titled "How to Pick Up Fair Maidens," which can be seen by knocking over the bookshelf and inspecting it with the monocular. Although it could just be a joke by the dev team.
- The Dragon: Willingly or not, he serves as this to the Moon Presence.
- Eccentric Mentor: Serves as one to you, giving helpful hints and clues in his own odd, creepy way.
- Gilded Cage: The Hunter's Dream seems to have been created as something of a paradise for him, but he can't leave for as long as he remains subservient to the Moon Presence. By the time you arrive, he's been trapped so long that the only thing he wants is to die and be freed.
- I Cannot Self-Terminate: Gehrman desperately wants to die and be free from the Dream, but he realizes that if he were to leave, another Hunter would have to take his place and suffer in his stead. He doesn't want to kill himself, but evidently doesn't mind being slain in battle by you, judging by his last words.
- It Has Been an Honor: Tells you this right before beheading you in the Yharnam Sunrise ending.
- Large and in Charge: It's harder to tell when he's slumping in his wheelchair, but Gehrman is ridiculously huge. Ripping the models◊ reveals he towers over even Gascoigne, himself nearly two heads taller than the player character and generic NPCs.
- The Last Dance: If you refuse to leave the Dream and the Hunt, Gehrman will fight you to the death.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: His speech to you in the intro gently mocks the
Play the Game, Skip the Story mindset of many players."You're sure to be in a fine haze about now, but don't think too hard about all of this. Just go out and kill a few beasts. It's for your own good." - "Leave Your Quest" Test: When a hunt ends, Gehrman kills Hunters to kick them out of the Dream. If they refuse to leave, he uses force. This appears to be a part of his Self-Sacrifice Scheme, as even though he wishes to be freed, he chooses to let you go instead.
- Loving a Shadow: Gehrman created the Plain Doll in the image of Lady Maria, with whom he had an unrequited obsession, but it's obvious that the Doll is entirely unlike the real Maria- delicate, nurturing, submissive, demure, feminine and unquestioningly loving, where Maria was strong, independent, a fearsome fighter and dressed in a manner that was androgynous bordering on masculine. The Doll is Maria as Gehrman apparently wished she could be- although he possibly came to regret crafting her like this, given his apparent dismissal of her in the present day.
- Lunacy: A long, long time ago, Gehrman made a deal with the Moon Presence that led to the creation of the Hunter's Dream, and it seems that he acts as its primary human agent. During the final battle, he's able to call on the power of the Moon to buff himself up and gain new abilities, including the ability to Flash Step.
- Mercy Kill: What he offers you at the end. If you refuse, you end up doing this to him.
- Mix-and-Match Weapon: Back in the day, he favored the Burial Blade, a siderite scimitar that can be attached to a long handle to turn into a huge scythe. Fitting for the first Hunter, it was the first Trick Weapon ever made. If you don't choose the Yharnam Sunrise ending, you get to see him in action with it and can buy it in the New Game Plus.
- Moment of Weakness: His pact with the Moon Presence to create the Doll was due to his grief over Lady Maria’s suicide, thus dooming him to be trapped in the Hunter’s Dream.
- He rather heroically avoids this in the endgame, selflessly offering you relief from the Hunter’s Dream at the cost of continuing his own imprisonment, and while part of it is due to believing you’ve gone blood-mad, is quite clearly done lucidly rather than clouded with grief.
- Not So Stoic: If you listen to him dream late in the game, you can hear him begging somebody to free him from the hunt before breaking down into tears. Considering how laid-back he is the rest of the time, it's pretty jarring.
- Obfuscating Disability: Gehrman is a one-legged old man who mostly comes off as senile. Then comes the end when he offers you a chance to leave the dream. If you refuse, you'll soon learn that the loss of his leg is no impediment.
- Obfuscating Stupidity: Gehrman behaves like a senile old man when you first meet him, often mumbling incoherently and even forgetting his own name when he introduces himself to you. By the time you meet him at the foot of the old tree towards the end of the game, he shows his more serious side...
- Old Master: The oldest living Hunter, though he's long since retired so he's mostly dispenses the advice of his years to younger Hunters. That's hardly dulled his skills, though, and one piece of his advice is "leave the dream". You don't listen to it, he'll make you do so.
- Past Experience Nightmare: Is evidently haunted by nightmares of the Hunt, as when you listen to him sleep, you can hear him begging someone to free him from his burden.
- Rambling Old Man Monologue: Is prone to this, even in his sleep!
- Retired Badass: He was once a mighty Hunter in his own right, but now serves mainly as your adviser. He comes out of retirement at the end.
- Senior Sleep-Cycle: Is found fast asleep in the garden after the first third of the game. You can still listen to his sleep-talk, though.
- Throw the Dog a Bone: If you speak to the Doll after completing the DLC questline and killing the Orphan of Kos, she will remark that the usually restless Gehrman had an unusually calm sleep, as if something eased his suffering a bit. Being a veteran of Byrgenwerth and thus presumably a participant of the Fishing Hamlet atrocities, it's likely Gehrman was tormented by remorse or was afflicted by the village's curse in some capacity, and the Hunter's actions helped ease that particular burden.
- Who Wants to Live Forever?: As the guardian of the Hunter's Dream and implied agent of the Moon Presence, he is trapped there. Later in the game, he tearfully pleads for someone to finally release him.
- Ultimate Blacksmith: Implied to have been some some of artisan before he was recruited by the Church, Gerhman continued to make use of his crafting skills as a Hunter, and invented many of the most important tools in the Hunters' arsenal, the most notable being the concept of the Trick Weapon.
- You're Insane!: Implied; he seems to believe the hunter has gone insane if they refuse his offer to be released from the Hunter’s Dream, and given that it is essentially him sacrificing himself for your sake, he has a point.Gehrman: "Dear, oh dear. What was it? The blood, the hunt, or the horrible dream?"
The Plain Doll
"Welcome home, good hunter. What is it you desire?"
Voiced: Evetta Muradasilova (English), Saori Hayami (Japanese)
A mysterious life-sized doll residing in the Hunter's Dream. After you gain enough Insight, she will come to life and can use your blood echoes to raise your blood level.
- Alien Blood: If you attack her, you can see her blood is white.
- Animate Inanimate Object: When you first see her, she's inanimate. It's only when you acquire at least one Insight point that she's able to walk and talk.
- Artificial Human: An animate doll made in the shape of someone dear to her creator.
- Beautiful Dreamer: She often drifts off, breathing peacefully until you wake her up.
- Call-Back: Her outfit and general appearance are based off early concept art of Anastacia of Astora, the Firekeeper of Firelink Shrine, modified slightly to be more appropriate for the Victorian setting. She also shares her voice actress with the Maiden in Black from Demon's Souls (in both English and Japanese, curiously enough) and uses very similar intonation and tone as the Maiden.
- Creepily Long Arms: While difficult to ascertain what, exactly, is up with her arms, their position in the artwork above, with her elbows near her hips, means that her arms have a bizarre length fitting with her inhuman nature. As can be seen when she cradles a Blood Gem close to her, it appears her upper arms are incredibly long. Her inspiration, Lady Maria, obviously has more human proportions, suggesting this was a failure by Gehrman to actually completely match her.
- Curtains Match the Window: Has pale, blue-grey eyes to match her grey hair.
- Cuteness Proximity: Has this towards the Messengers, describing them as "sweet".
- Due to the Dead: She can be found praying in front of a gravestone of a fallen Hunter sometimes. She also does this for you in the Yharnam Sunrise ending.
- Expy: Of the Maiden in Black and Emerald Herald, the previous female companions.
- Extreme Doormat: Remains loyal to you even if you kill her every single time you enter the dream.
- A Glitch in the Matrix: Before gaining the Insight necessary to see her as anything other than a doll, you may notice that her finger is patiently tapping in her lap, as if she's waiting for something... And if you find her "real-world" counterpart in Yharnam's Old Abandoned Workshop, you may also notice that this Doll is also patiently tapping her finger. note
- Happiness in Slavery: Of course she loves you; Gehrman made her that way. The Doll actually muses on this situation, directly comparing her relationship with you to your (and Humanity's) relationship with the Gods. She was made by humanity, and thus implicitly loves them, while humans were made by the gods, and thus implicitly love them.
- The Ingenue: The Doll is unconditionally kind and caring towards you and is utterly devoted to you. She also possesses an almost child-like innocence, as her reactions to numerous gestures show.
- Innocent Blue Eyes: Has pale blue eyes and is the kindest and most innocent character in the game.
- Mysterious Waif: A pretty kind one, though.
- Mystical Waif: Possesses the power to channel Blood Echoes into strength and explains the nature of the Hunt and the Hunter's Dream to you. She's also the one who sends the Messengers to aid you when you first encounter a beast in Iosefka's clinic shortly after the blood transfusion.
- Mystical White Hair: Supernatural and grey-haired.
- Nice Girl: Kindhearted and always looks out for your well being.
- Parental Substitute: Becomes your caretaker after you transform into an infant Great One in the Childhood's Beginning ending.
- The Power of Love: She cannot remain alive and sentient without another's affection, and comes to life after you first interact with her inanimate body. Giving her the Small Hair Ornament also causes her to cry tears of joy, which transform into a gemstone that passively heals you in battle.
- Quizzical Tilt: She does this during Gestures that make no sense to her (contrary to, say, Hunter's Salutation, where she bows back), which really drive the point home how innocent and child-like she is.
- Rei Ayanami Expy: More obviously kind than most, but she is an Artificial Human who devotes herself utterly to the needs of her master's charge, and can't be (permanently) killed. Then there's her white blood... It's also possible that Gehrman's lack of empathy for, and implied abuse towards the Doll is a parallel to Gendou and Rei's relationship. It's also implied that the Doll is modeled after a deceased wife/lover, just like Rei. The Old Hunters reveals that she's a Replacement Goldfish of Lady Maria, the Cainhurst Hunter towards whom Gehrman displayed a "curious mania".
- Replacement Goldfish: Gehrman seems to have created her as one for Lady Maria, as part of his pact with the Moon Presence, but by the time of the game it seems he's grown rather contemptuous and/or indifferent of her.
- The Reveal: Who is the Doll based on? Based on data mining alone, she seems to have been originally based on a very early version of the Vileblood Queen, even sharing the same voice actress. The Old Hunters however revealed that she was made in the image of Lady Maria, a Huntress from Cainhurst that Gehrman may or may not have had feelings for.
- Statuesque Stunner: She's significantly taller than you. This is something she gets from Maria, who also towers over the Hunter.
- Tears from a Stone: She weeps a single Blood Gem if you give her the Small Hair Ornament. The game acknowledges that this should be impossible.
- Unexplained Accent: Unlike everyone else in Yharnam, who speak with English accents, she has a distinctly Slavic accent. She's based on Lady Maria, who has the same voice, but Maria is from Cainhurst Castle, whose only living residents also sound English, so this remains a mystery.
- What Is This Feeling?: When she is given the Small Hair Ornament, she expresses feeling an emotion she doesn't remember feeling before: joy.
- What Is This Thing You Call "Love"?: Ponders if humans love their creations the same way the gods supposedly love humans. Initially, she seems to believe she was "programmed" to love you or whoever else visits the dream by default.Doll: "I am a doll, created by you humans. Would you ever think to love me? Of course... I do love you. Isn't that how you've made me?"
The Messengers
"Ah, the little ones, inhabitants of the Dream... They find Hunters such as yourself, worship and serve them. Speak words they do not, but still, aren't they sweet?"
—The Doll
Voiced by: Joe Simms and Ryan Morris
Mysterious creatures that serve the Hunters. Child-like in size and profile, they appear whenever they are needed to the Hunters they worship.
- Ambiguously Evil: The official artbook has the Moon Presence surrounded by them, and by removing its tentacles, they bear a resemblance to each other, possibly implying some sort of connection. Seeing how other Great Ones have avatars or spawn like Amygdala and Ebrietas, it's possible they were related, and therefore share the Moon Presence's goal of killing other Great Ones. Then again, it's debatable if the Moon Presence itself is evil, and their loyalty to the Hunters is second to none, so it could go either way.
- Body Horror: They look like the reanimated corpses of infants/toddlers that died from birth defects, with their faces being either deformed or missing features.
- Creepy Good: Despite how damn ugly they are, the Messengers are ultimately there to help the Hunters.
- Hero Worship: Well, depending on your idea of a "hero". The Doll says that the "little ones" dedicate themselves to worshipping the Hunters.
- Innocently Insensitive: They just like to play dress-up. It makes no difference to them what they're dressing up with, such as with a bloodstained ribbon taken from the dress of a dead little girl.
