History Fridge / Bloodborne

** Cainhurst's bloodline are the descendants of [[spoiler:Yharnam, The Pthumerian Queen]]; the Chikage can inflict rapid poison.

** Cainhurst's bloodline are the descendants of [[spoiler:Pthumerian Queen]]; the Chikage can inflict rapid poison.

** This last one is speculation, but the blood you get at the beginning of the game could be [[spoiler:Gerhman's, which can explain how you have access to the Hunter's Dream.]]
* With such heavy emphasis on the consumption of blood, the Gothic architecture, and the constant theme of grand elegance amidst decay, it's amazing that Vampires aren't mentioned once throughout the entire game, even though it's a setting they should thrive in (Cainhurst Castle in particular gave off a strong Castlevania vibe). Yet when you take a closer look at the people of Yharnam, you may notice some alarming quirks that set them apart from your average human being. Yharnamites find blood more intoxicating than alcohol, but while blood may be heady, you can't get ''drunk'' off of it. The whore you meet in the game implies that she sells her blood rather than sex, meaning that the blood isn't just appetizing, it's ''euphoric'' to them. At the start of the game, you need a blood transfusion to "become one of them", and gain far greater strength and endurance as a result (to say nothing of the nigh obscene amounts of blood the protagonist consumes throughout the game). An item in the ''Old Hunters'' DLC implies that they regularly cannibalize "ignorant foreigners". Most telling of all, you can heal yourself via ''consuming blood intravenously''. Merely consuming blood doesn't mend wounds or knit bones... or rather, it ''shouldn't''. I spent the whole game [[NothingIsScarier anticipating an encounter with a vampire]], only to realize in hindsight that [[TomatoInTheMirror I may have been one]].
** Well, the Vilebloods in Cainhurst do seem a little vampy...Incidentally, one superstition about being turned into a vampire is that you have to be injected with vampire blood (being drained dry by a vampire just kills you) -- which adds an uncomfortable subtext to [[spoiler:the blood transfusion performed by the old hunter in the opening cutscene.]]

** Which would seem to set up a neat little FurAgainstFang situation as you fight your way through the beasts of Yharnam... until you begin to recall that the plague makes things much more complicated than that. I'll use a bit of fridge from Fullmetal Alchemist to contextualize my answer here: in ''FMA'', the villains all fell into horror archetypes. The Homunculi, with their soul-sucking lack of humanity, representation of human sin, and near immortality, were vampires. Human chimera, with their ability to become animistic, were werewolves. The soul constructs were zombies. The military high command were the government conspiracy. And Father was the alien EldritchAbomination. These archetypes carry over to ''Bloodborne'': [[spoiler:Sane Hunters are vampires, insane Hunters are zombies, beasts are werewolves, the healing church is our conspiracy, and the Great Ones are the aliens. Sounds good now that you know what you're up against, right? Well, remember: due to the nature of the plague, and the player's ability to replace Gehrman or the Moon Presence, you are effectively party to ''[[TomatoInTheMirror all five]]'' [[TomatoInTheMirror categories]]]]. [[DissonantSerenity Happy Hunting!]]

* It's not EarnYourHappyEnding or EarnYourBadEnding... it's just Earn Your Ending, period. If your objective is to just survive the nightmare and get the hell out, then congratulations, as far as you are concerned, it was all a bad dream and you can walk out into a world empty of monsters and people trying to kill you. On the other hand, if you want to stay in the nightmare, that means you've been captivated by its conflict, or possibly powerlust... and your fate is to be enslaved to the nightmare. ''Unless'' you've mastered the nightmare, by scouring its most hidden points and getting rare items you can't get except through specific circumstances; then your reward is to be the new master of the dream world, for good or ill.

* It may seem like a case of ButThouMust to assume that you automatically care enough for the Plain Doll to bring her to life. However, the first instinct of every beginning player when they first see the Plain Doll sprawled out in the Hunter's Dream is to approach her, as they assume she must be a human and can be spoken to. It's not much, just a tiny bit of empathy based on a mistake, but it's more than enough to bring her to life (after becoming a little more insightful about the world of course). It's not quite ButThouMust, it's linking [[SlidingScaleOfGameplayAndStoryIntegration Gameplay-Story Integration]] with IntendedAudienceReaction.
** Not to mention the other IntendedAudienceReaction is to have someone, ANYONE, around who gives a crap about you. Aside from Gilbert everyone's really hostile in Yharnam...

* If you tell Viola's daughter to seek refuge at Cathedral Ward, [[spoiler:then you'll eventually find her ribbon in the corpse of the pig in the aqueduct. How did this happen? The bridge preceding Oedon Cemetery (and by extension, Cathedral Ward) is guarded by a large number of huntsmen, and they have a boulder trap set up to take out any trespassers. Fighting is out of the question for a child, and there's no way she could sneak past them either. So she took the alternative route via the long ladder that you can conveniently climb down in that area. This would have led her to the aqueduct, which in turn would have let her pass safely under the bridge. The aqueduct is populated by Rotted Corpses, whom the little girl could have actually sneaked past. Unfortunately, it's also where the giant pig took shelter in, but by the time the girl figured that out, it was too late.]]
* When you think about it, the reason [[spoiler:why you turn into an EldritchAbomination yourself is because that, when you killed all of the potential candidates of the new Great One and consumed the Umbilical Cords, there's no one left for the Great One to continue the line of the Moon Presence, except for you.]] HeWhoFightsMonsters indeed.

** Regular bullets are ineffective against the beasts, so it wouldn't make sense for the Yharnam huntsmen to use regular bullets against the player when they are fully convinced that you are the beast that's hunting them. Rather, this troper believes that because the Yharnamites are already blood-addled, their bloodtinge is inadvertently at a higher level than the player at the level of which you fight them. Why else do the Yahar'gul gunmen do ridiculous amounts of damage? Because these guys are literally COVERED in blood!
** Alternatively they really are using regular bullets, which would show how terribly unprepared and under equipped they were for the hunt but would still do a lot of damage to you.

* Various characters (who are all insane in one way or another) have been beseeching Kos to "grant them eyes" throughout the lore. Yet in the Old Hunters DLC [[spoiler: we finally get a look at Kos... only to see that she had no eyes herself]].
** Quite a bit of the madness she caused could very well be the result of PoorCommunicationKills, as she was trying to fulfill a wish that she only had a rudimentary understanding of. After all, the incomprehensible nature of the [[EldritchAbomination Great Ones]] is probably [[HumansAreCthulhu a two way street]].
* The Forbidden Woods. It's not just a fancy name for a creepy "don't go in the forest" area. The upper part of it is covered in shacks and has lots of townspeople hunting around, and there are tons of booby traps. When you finally get to the lower areas, infested with horrible hydra parasites, you realize that the traps were meant for the creatures ''below.''

* At first, Micolash's presence as a boss battle in the game confused me, since it seems to come out of nowhere, despite his presence in the lore. Then it hit me. Micolash is the Nightmare of Mensis' equivalent of Gherman. Gherman formed a pact with the Moon Presence to create the Hunters Dream, as Micolash struck a deal with another great one (either Mergo or the Brain of Mensis) to create the Nightmare of Mensis. Hence his title "Host of the Nightmare".
** Looking at them closely, you can even see that the two are opposites of each other. While Gherman is old and weary of the dream, Micolash is young and absolutely loves it, never wanting to leave. Gherman is a hunter while Micolash is an academic. Gherman fights you head on with his trick weapon and physical strength, while Micolash runs from you for the most part and resorts to magic. Finally, Gherman's trapped in a dream, while Mikolash dwells in a nightmare.
* Many people comment on how the Moon Presence boss fight was easier than the battle with Gherman. However, when you think about it, it makes sense. You can only fight the Moon Presence once you've eaten the three umbilical cords, which is what makes you a Great One. This isn't a battle between a hunter and a great one. This is a fight between two great ones! And considering as a mere human the hunter was able to bring down other great ones...
* Looking at the three nightmares (Frontier, Mensis and Hunter), you begin noticing similarities between them. From the odd looking terrain, to Frontier and Mensis sharing similar enemies (The Silverbeasts, the Lost Children and the Winter Lanterns), and finally if you look carefully in the Frontier, you can see the masts of ships in the distance, exactly like the ships in the Fishing Hamlet. All three nightmares are connected. You're not just going into three different nightmares. It's all one big nightmare!
* From a gameplay perspective, the parry mechanic and how players are introduced to it. The first boss, the Cleric Beast, can be set up for parries at pretty much any time so long as you shoot it in its head and said head being "intact", providing an easy way for damage. Father Gascoigne, in contrast, can only be parried in the leadup to attacks, but at the same time there are comparatively large windows of opportunity to do just that. This helps prepare players for the [[FinalExamBoss Bloodstarved-Beast]], a boss with extremely narrow windows for allowing parries, and who first adds poison to attacks (thus making mistimed parries costly) and then as a passive AOE (thus making melee combat, if you were doing it, suicidal).

* The importance of the [[spoiler: Paleblood Moon and the Moon Presence]] become much more obvious in hindsight; the alternative name for a [[spoiler: blood moon]] is a Harvest Moon, or, alternatively, a [[spoiler: Hunter's Moon]].
* The opening scene with the not-know-to-be-friendly-yet messengers crawling all over one's paralyzed, sedated self might be familiar to anyone who suffers from night terrors or sleep paralysis. The little guys (who are "born from the nightmare", appropriately enough) really do resemble beings that people who experience these conditions "see" in that half-dreaming state.

* The Brainslug mind flayer enemies you come across throughout the game that can drain your Insight. How many of them walked among the streets of Yharnam, keeping the populous from digging too deep into what the Healing Church was doing?

* So, in the [[spoiler: childhood's beginning ending, you take the place of a Great One, with all the powers this entails]]. Sounds great, right? Except that no matter how you decide to use that power, you'll only be replacing the great ones you just destroyed, and perpetuating the cycle. And as you grow more familiar with your power, you may realize that you spent most of the game killing those who had mankind's best interests at heart...
** Do you want to become humanity's defender? Rom was already doing that, by shielding humanity from the madness the Great One's would cause, and holding their powers in check; she was Vacuous because she wasn't exploiting her power, and preventing other Great Ones from exploiting theirs. Her only reward for this restraint was to be slaughtered by the same people she was trying to protect.
** Want to uplift humanity to the same power and wisdom that the great one's enjoy? Mergo's Wet Nurse was nurturing and protecting humans who had the potential to become great ones, only to be killed by other humans who didn't know or care that she was trying to bestow power and privilege unto those in her care.
** Want to guide mankind without compromising their humanity? Ebrietas, Daughter of the Cosmos was working through the church to acclimate humanity to the world around them. Although much of the church's actions may be considered unsavory, the knowledge Ebrietas provided was genuine. She was informing humanity about the ''actual truth'' about the universe, and it was the healing church which was misusing it. In the end, she was murdered by the same creatures she was trying to educate.
** Want to wipe out the Great Ones, forever freeing humanity from their influence and machinations? The Moon Presence was way ahead of you. In fact, if it hadn't been for the Moon Presence, the hunt would never have existed, and you would have been dead meat within minutes of starting the game. [[TheFarmerAndTheViper It helped kill its fellow great ones for the sake of humanity, and humanity killed it in return]].
** Just want to withdraw from the affairs of men and gods and be left alone? The Mother Brain was completely passive when Mensis found and enslaved her, and was still utterly passive when you dropped her down a pit, climbed into said pit, and proceded to hack her to bits. She's only a threat to you because her mere presence increased your frenzy, and there is no indication that this was intentional. Even if you try to be as benign as possible in your post-human state, those still human will find you, bind you, research you, and go crazy from your presence, only for you to be butchered by those sent to clean up the mess when the crap inevitably hits the fan.
** Since there's no good helping the humanity, why not just [[ThenLetMeBeEvil mess with it]] and strike fear into their minds with your almighty power, and [[KneelBeforeZod bend their knees before you]]? If that's your answer, then you, are no different to Amygdala. She, as an entity who rules over emotion and fear, chose to side with [[{{Necromancer}} School of Mensis]] and invoked total destruction and fear to humanity. Among the rest of the choices, perhaps this is '''[[HobbesWasRight the best answer to the humanity]]'''? Feel free to lord over the hapless mortals, but enjoy it while it lasts; humanity is a tough lot, and sooner or later [[BullyingADragon you will provoke a hunter who has the skill and determination to take you on]]...
** Want to crate a legacy that will outlast you? Good luck with that; all Great Ones are sterile, and the disastrous attempts to subvert this shortcoming is one of the central causes of all the death and misery you see throughout the game. [[spoiler: Only Kos ever succeeded in birthing a child... and she gave her own life in order to accomplish this]]. They went to such great lengths to create their own protégés that most would have willingly cashed in their immense powers to start a family [[spoiler:(something Kos herself put into action in the end]]).

*** This means, ironically, the Great Ones were more [[WellIntentionedExtremist well intentioned]] than the [[HumansAreCthulhu various humans]] you meet - the majority of the residents of Yharnam are rude to outsiders, if not in the middle of killing you, and think nothing of consuming "ignorant foreigners". Gherman is implied to be an former agent of the scholars (he mentions Lawrence while sleeping). The other hunters are mostly insane and violent (even Eileen can be motivated to start hunting you, under certain conditions). The less said about the scholars, the [[CorruptChurch Healing Church]] and the [[{{Necromancer}} School of Mensis]], the better. The people in Cainhurst Castle became the Vilebloods. HumansAreTheRealMonsters.
*** CosmicHorrorStories are set in a CrapsackWorld almost by default, but ''From Software'' takes it one step further; [[EldritchAbomination The unspeakable horrors from beyond]] ([[TheseAreThingsManWasNotMeantToKnow so often the source of madness]]) such as Rom and the Moon Presence [[SwappedRoles are the ones most intent on preventing insanity]] while [[HumansAreCthulhu mankind is actively propagating it]]. Even among a genre infamous for it's bleakness and despair, ''Bloodborne'' stands out.

*** The concept of putting in so much effort but ultimately achieving nothing is pretty much a key trait of a CosmicHorrorStory; no matter what you did, you're only a very, very tiny and insignificant inhabitant of the universe and other forces greater than you will override what you've done.

* Giving Alfred the invitation to Cainhurst causes him [[spoiler: to literally tear Annalise to shreds, with her viscera lining the floor, her chair, and Alfred's wheel. She's implied to still be alive in this state, seen in the description of ''the scraps of her you can pick up''. AndIMustScream is in full effect.]]

* The beasts, especially the Cleric Beast and Vicar Amelia, frequently let off very loud and ear-grating screams. Normally this would seem like typical RoarBeforeBeating behavior, but pay close attention to Father Gascoigne's transformation. His body seems to ''explode'' to transform, and he sounds pained when he attacks. Most of the beasts also look horribly deformed and twisted. Those roars the beasts make aren't all aggression, they're ''screaming in agony''.

** Very similar beasts inhabit the Hunter's Nightmare in the DLC. But these ones act a bit differently, they cower from you even if you don't have a torch out. Why? Well, this area is full of hunters who will, if they see any, kill any beast with a brutal assault. Just like the beasts in Old Yharnam learned to fear fire, these beasts have learned to fear hunters.

* When you're running around the Hunter's Nightmare, you'll come across what looks to be the corpse of an Amygdalla. You might have wondered how this thing died. Then you remember that the Hunter's Nightmare is full of blood thirsty lunatics who will attack ANYTHING not human on sight. Suddenly you can't help but feel sorry for the thing.
* With the appearance of Rom in the Chalice Dungeons, even after you kill her in the storyline, and the fact that the Auger of Ebrietas still works after you've slain her, the Great Ones you've defeated during the game may not be dead at all, rendering your most hard earned victories completely moot. Good news for you though if you defeat the Moon Presence in the end.
* Both the above Fridge horror entry and the writings of HP Lovecraft come to the conclusion that is nigh impossible to kill an Old One. The only thing achieved is to temporarily put it back into its own slumber, and since it is a dream what if it simply is a reoccurring dream? Now think of the Sunrise ending; imagine if you wake up after going through that horrific nightmare and chose to forget... but what if the night after you end up coming back to the Nightmare, starting at the same place you did before.... Now remember how new game plus starts? What if your hunter is on a [[GroundhogDayLoop endless loop]] until either you become trapped by the Moon Presence or kill it?
* Perhaps counting as both a bit of horror and hope is the sheer power that humans can wield in this setting. Think about it, for all the might the Great Ones supposedly wield it's you, a human, that the Moon Presence sets against the others. Humans ''enslaved'' the Brain of Mensis. Humans are so ''unfathomable'' to the Great Ones they can barely figure out what we want from them. Humans are so powerful that Kos, one of the most powerful Great Ones, gives her life to spawn a single being ''in our image'' and it is by far the mightiest ''and most violent'' of it's kin. For all their supposed strength the Old Ones hide or lurk in shadows for as soon as a human wielding any real power sets sights on an Old One it inevitably ends up dead. Some of them even end up seeming down right ''pathetic'' once forced into an actual battle despite their eldritch powers. The only one of their kind to escape unscathed is Oedon and if he ever bothered to show up you can bet your blood he'd end up dead too. The real horror of this story isn't that there are unfathomable beings hiding beyond our sight, it's that '''we are the monsters they are hiding from.'''

* Both the above Fridge horror entry and the writings of HP Lovecraft come to the conclusion that is nigh impossible to kill an Old One. The only thing achieved is to temporarily put it back into its own slumber, and since it is a dream what if it simply is a reoccurring dream? Now think of the Sunrise ending; imagine if you wake up after going through that horrific nightmare and chose to forget... but what if the night after you end up coming back to the Nightmare, starting at the same place you did before.... Now remember how new game plus starts? What if your hunter is on a [[GroundhogDayLoop endless loop]] until either you become trapped by the Moon Presence or kill it?

*** CosmicHorrorStories are set in a CrapsackWorld almost by default, but ''Form Softwear'' takes it one step further; [[EldritchAbomination The unspeakable horrors from beyond]] ([[TheseAreThingsManWasNotMeantToKnow so often the source of madness]]) such as Rom and the Moon Presence [[SwappedRoles are the ones most intent on preventing insanity]] while [[HumansAreCthulhu mankind is actively propagating it]]. Even among a genre infamous for it's bleakness and despair, ''Bloodborne'' stands out.

*** Further implying this theory is that the plague has been going on for quite some time. With the beasts and the madmen preventing any sort of trade,productivity, or daily work from taking place, what has Yharnam's population been eating all this time? They would either need far less food than a typical human, or consume something else entirely...

*** CosmicHorrorStories are set in a CrapsackWorld almost by default, but for the EldritchAbominations (TheseAreThingsManWasNotMeantToKnow so often the source of madness]]) to [[SwappedRoles be the ones most intent on preventing insanity]] while [[HumansAreCthulhu mankind is actively propagating it]] sinks this setting to new depths of bleakness and despair, even amongst others of it's genre.

*** Ironically, it's the Great ones such as Rom and the Moon presence who are doing the most to prevent dementia and insanity, while the various human factions are responsible for the majority of misery, death, and madness in the game. CosmicHorrorStories are set in a CrapsackWorld almost by default, but for the Eldritch Abominations (so often the source of madness) to be the ones preventing insanity [[HumansAreCthulhu while mankind is actively propagating it]] is a new low,[[FromBadToWorse even for the genre]].

*** This means, ironically, the Great Ones were more [[WellIntentionedExtremist well intentioned]] than the [[HumansAreCthulhu various humans]] you meet - the majority of the residents of Yharnam are rude to outsiders, if not in the middle of killing you. Gherman is implied to be an former agent of the scholars (he mentions Lawrence while sleeping). The other hunters are mostly insane and violent (even Eileen can be motivated to start hunting you, under certain conditions). The less said about the scholars, the [[CorruptChurch Healing Church]] and the [[{{Necromancer}} School of Mensis]], the better. The people in Cainhurst Castle became the Vilebloods. HumansAreTheRealMonsters.

* With such heavy emphasis on the consumption of blood, the Gothic architecture, and the constant theme of grand elegance amidst decay, it's amazing that Vampires aren't mentioned once throughout the entire game, even though it's a setting they should thrive in (Cainhurst Castle in particular gave off a strong Castlevania vibe). Yet when you take a closer look at the people of Yharnam, you may notice some alarming quirks that set them apart from your average human being. Yharnamites find blood more intoxicating than alcohol, but while blood may be heady, you can't get ''drunk'' off of it. The whore you meet in the game implies that she sells her blood rather than sex, meaning that the blood isn't just appetizing, it's ''euphoric'' to them. At the start of the game, you need a blood transfusion to "become one of them", and gain far greater strength and endurance as a result (to say nothing of the nigh obscene amounts of blood the protagonist consumes throughout the game). An item in the ''Old Hunters'' DLC implies that they regularly cannibalize "ignorant foreigners". Most telling of all, you can heal yourself via ''consuming blood intravenously''. Merely consuming blood doesn't mend wounds or knit bones... or rather, it ''shouldn't''. I spent the whole game anticipating an encounter with a vampire, only to realize in hindsight that I may have ''been'' one.

* With the huge emphasis on the consumption of blood, the gothic architecture, and the visual theme of grand elegance amidst decay, it's astounding that there isn't one single reference or allusion to ''vampirism'' throughout the game (Cainhurst Castle in particular gave off a strong Castlevania vibe). Yet when you take a closer look at the people of Yharnam, you begin to notice more than a few quirks that set them apart from normal folk. They find blood more intoxicating than alcohol, but while blood may be heady, you can't get ''drunk'' off of it. The whore you meet in the game implies that she sells her blood rather than sex, meaning that the blood isn't just appetizing, it's ''euphoric'' to them. At the start of the game, you need a blood transfusion to "become one of them", and gain far greater strength and endurance as a result (to say nothing of the nigh obscene amounts of blood the protagonist consumes throughout the game). These examples and more imply that the Yharnamites only ''consider'' themselves human. I spent the whole game waiting to find my first vampire, only to realize in hindsight that I may have ''been'' one.

*** Further implying this theory is that the plague has been going on for quite some time; with the beasts and the psychos preventing any trade or daily work from taking place, what has Yharnam's population been eating all this time? They would either need far less food than a typical human, or consume something other than food...

** Since there's no good helping the humanity, why not just [[ThenLetMeBeEvil mess with it]] and strike fear into their minds with your almighty power, and [[KneelBeforeZod bend their knees before you]]? If that's your answer, then you, are no different to Amygdala. She, as an entity who rules over emotion and fear, chose to side with [[{{Necromancer}} School of Mensis]] and invoked total destruction and fear to humanity. Among the rest of the choices, perhaps this is '''the best answer to the humanity'''? Feel free to lord over the hapless mortals, but enjoy it while it lasts; humanity is a tough lot, and sooner or later [[BullyingADragon you will provoke a hunter who has the skill and determination to take you on]]...

* The above Fridge horror entry as well as the writings of HP Lovecraft come to the conclusion that is neigh impossible to kill an old one only to temporarily put it back into it's own slumber and since it is a dream what if simply it is a recurring dream? Now think of the Sunrise ending, you wake up, imagine if you went through that horrific nightmare and chose to forget...but what if that night you end up coming back to the nightmare starting at the same place you did before....Now remember how new game plus starts? What if your hunter is on a [[GroundhogDayLoop Endless loop]] until either you become trapped by the Moon Presence or kill it?

* With the appearance of Rom in the Chalice Dungeons, even after you kill her in the storyline, and the fact that the Auger of Ebrietas still works after you've slain her, the Great Ones you've defeated during the game may not be dead at all, rendering your most hard earned victories completely moot. Good news for you though if you become defeat the Moon Presence in the end.
* The above Fridge horror entry as well as the writings of HP Lovecraft come to the conclusion that is neigh impossible to kill an old one only to temporarily put it back into it's own slumber and since it is a dream what if simply it is a recurring dream? Now think of the Sunrise ending, you wake up, imagine if you went through that horrific nightmare and chose to forget...but what if that night you end up coming back to the nightmare starting at the same place you did before....Now remember how new game plus starts? What if on a [[GroundhogDayLoop Endless loop]] until either you become trapped by the Moon Presence or kill it.

* With the appearance of Rom in the Chalice Dungeons, even after you kill her in the storyline, and the fact that the Auger of Ebrietas still works after you've slain her, the Great Ones you've defeated during the game may not be dead at all, rendering your most hard earned victories completely moot. Good news for you though if you become a Great One yourself in the end.

* If you tell Viola's daughter to seek refuge at Cathedral Ward, [[spoiler:then you'll eventually find her ribbon in the corpse of the pig in the aqueduct. How did this happen? The bridge preceding Oedon Cemetery (and by extension, Cathedral Ward) is guarded by a large number of huntsmen, and they have a boulder trap set up to take out any trespassers. Fighting is out of the question for a child, and there's no way she could sneak past them either. So she took the alternative route via the long ladder that you can conveniently climb down in that area. This would have led her to the aqueduct, which in turn would have let her pass safely under the bridge. Unfortunately, it's also where the giant pig took shelter in, but by the time the girl figured that out, it was too late.]]

** Cainhurst are the descendant of [[spoiler: Pthumerian Queen]], the Chikage can inflict rapid poison.
** [[spoiler: You, the Hunter]] is a potential [[EldritchAbomination Great One]], the Bloodletter can inflict frenzy.
** This last one is speculation, but the blood you get at the beginning of the game could be [[spoiler: Gerhman's, which can explain how you have access to the Hunter's Dream.]]

** Well, the Vilebloods in Cainhurst do seem a little vampy...Incidentally, one superstituition about being turned into a vampire is that you have to be injected with vampire blood (been drained dry by a vampire just kills you) - which adds an uncomfortable subtext to [[spoiler: blood transfusion by the old hunter in the opening cutscene.]]

*** Further implying this theory is that the plague has been going on for quite some time; with the beasts and the psychos preventing any trade or daily work from taking place, what has Yharnam's population been eating all this time? They would either need far less food that a typical human, or consume something other than food...
** Which would seem to set up a neat little FurAgainstFang situation as you fight your way through the beasts of Yharnam... until you begin to recall that the plague makes things much more complicated than that. I'll use a bit of fridge from Fullmetal Alchemist to contextualize my answer here: in ''FMA'', the villains all fell into horror archetypes. The Homunculi with their soul-sucking lack of humanity, representation of human sin, and near immortality, were vampires. Human chimera, with their ability to become animistic, were werewolves. The soul constructs were zombies. The military high command were the government conspiracy. And Father was the alien EldritchAbomination. These archetypes carry over to Bloodborne: [[spoiler: Sane Hunters are vampires, insane Hunters are zombies, beasts are werewolves, the healing church is our conspiracy, and the Great Ones are the aliens. Sounds good now that you know what you're up against, right? Well, remember: due to the nature of the plague, and the player's ability to replace Gehrman or the Moon Presence, you are effectively party to [[TomatoInTheMirror ''all five'' categories]]]]. [[DissonantSerenity Happy Hunting!]]
* Old Hunter Djura is trying to protect the beasts, saying that they're 'No threat to those above'. [[spoiler: Is he referring to those in the waking world or the Great Ones?]]

* It's not EarnYourHappyEnding or EarnYourBadEnding... it's just Earn Your Ending, period. If your objective is to just survive the nightmare and get the hell out, then congratulations, as far as you are concerned it was all a bad dream and you can walk out into a world empty of monsters and people trying to kill you. On the other hand, if you want to stay in the nightmare, that means you've been captivated by its conflict, or possibly powerlust... and your fate is to be enslaved to the nightmare. ''Unless'' you've mastered the nightmare, by scouring its most hidden points and getting rare items you can't get except through specific circumstances; then your reward is to be the new master of the dream world, for good or ill.
** So, in the end, you have three options: Leave the nightmare, free (Hopefully) of whatever malady that had afflicted you that led to venturing into the city in the first place; become semi-immortal, able to die only when someone else comes along and kills you, taking your place; or slay a nightmarish abomination, and in doing so, become a creature that has an effectively endless lifespan, unimaginable power, and is something that transcends, on all levels, what we consider the human condition. Given that you live in a pretty CrapsackWorld version of the Victorian era, where disease, murder, and war are quite common, and even if you survive the horrors of the dream, there's no guarantee that you won't suddenly die of any number of things before you reach home (If you even have a home to come back to). The hero is an ordinary person, and when you leave the dream, nothing will have changed, except that you're a good deal stronger, faster, and more resilient than your fellow man. All of that taken together, there's a pretty strong argument for the Childhood's Beginning ending being the "good" ending...
* In the debut cinematic trailer, the second shot lingers on an abandoned baby's carriage in the midst of a dilapidated Yharnam street. An attempt at fridge horror, or a brilliant piece of foreshadowing regarding the Great One's plan for humanity?

* When you think about it, the reason [[spoiler: why you turn into an EldritchAbomination yourself is because that, when you killed all of the potential candidates of the new Great One and consumed the Umbilical Cords, there's no one left for the Great One to continue the line of the Moon Presence, except for you.]] HeWhoFightsMonsters indeed.

* You may wonder why the game is filled with ArbitraryGunPower. How come your guns do ScratchDamage but the hunting mobs can do quite a lot? But think about it; The Hunter guns use bullets made out of quicksilver, AKA mercury, mixed with magic blood that allows it to take different forms and fit in different weapons. The Yharnam citizens are using normal bullets, musket balls and cannonballs. You're essentially spraying enemies instead of shooting them, and while globs of metal will still hurt they can't match the power of a lead slug. At the same time though the mob's guns would probably do nothing against the beasts due to lacking the magic enhancement.
** Regular bullets are ineffective against the beasts, so it wouldn't make sense for the Yharnam huntsmen to us regular bullets against the player when they are fully convinced that you are the beast that's hunting them. Rather, this troper believes that because the Yharnamites are already blood-addled, their bloodtinge is inadvertently at a higher level than the player at the level of which you fight them. Why else do the Yahar'gul gunmen do ridiculous amounts of damage? Because these guys are literally COVERED in blood!

** In any case, he's not wrong. There are only two entrances to Old Yharnam; one involves finding a secret passageway beneath a tomb, getting past a savage werewolf, [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking and ignoring a "No Hunters allowed" sign]], in that order. The other entrance is through [[EldritchLocation the Hidden Village,]] [[NightmareFuel Yahar'gul]].

* If you tell Viola's daughter to seek refuge at Cathedral Ward, [[spoiler:then you'll eventually find her ribbon in the corpse of the pig in the aqueduct. How did this happen? The bridge preceding Oedon Cemetery (and by extension, Cathedral Ward) is guarded by a large number of hunters, and they have a boulder trap set up to take out any trespassers. Fighting is out of the question for a child, and there's no way she could sneak past them either. So she took the alternative route via the long ladder that you can conveniently climb down in that area. This would have led her to the aqueduct, which in turn would have let her pass safely under the bridge. Unfortunately, it's also where the giant pig took shelter in, but by the time the girl figured that out, it was too late.]]

** Which would seem to set up a neat little FurAgainstFang situation as you fight your way through the beasts of Yharnam... until you begin to recall that the plague makes things much more complicated than that. I'll use a bit of fridge from Fullmetal Alchemist to contextualize my answer here: in ''FMA'', the villains all fell into horror archetypes. The Homunculi with their soul-sucking lack of humanity, representation of human sin, and near immortality, were vampires. Human chimera, with their ability to become animistic, were werewolves. The soul constructs were zombies. The military high command were the government conspiracy. And Father was the alien EldritchAbomination. These archetypes carry over to Bloodborne: [[spoiler: Sane Hunters are vampires, insane Hunters are zombies, beasts are werewolves, the healing church is our conspiracy, and the Great Ones are the aliens. Sounds good that now you know what you're up against, right? Well, remember: due to the nature of the plague, and the player's ability to replace Gehrman or the Moon Presence, you are effectively party to [[TomatoInTheMirror ''all five'' categories]]]]. [[DissonantSerenity Happy Hunting!]]

** Just want to withdraw from the affairs of men and gods and be left alone? The Mother Brain was completely passive when Mensis found and enslaved her, and was still utterly passive when you dropped her down a pit, climbed into said pit, and proceded to hack her to bits. She's only a threat to you because her mere presence increased your frenzy, and there is no indication that this was intentional. Even if you try to be as benign as possible in your post-human state, those still human will find you, bind you, reaserch you, and go crazy from your presence, only for you to be butchered by those sent to clean up the mess when the crap inevitably hits the fan.