To date, I think this video is hands down the best at interpreting and contextualing the themes of Bloodborne. I do think there is a slight or mild inversion to the Call to Adventure phase however since we're hardly given a choice in signing the contract. There is choice but it is not informed choice. All we know is that we're seeking Paleblood for some unknown reason and the blood minister (man in the wheelchair) is ignorant of what that even is or means. So the treatment to receive blood is for some reason that isn't made extremely evident to us the player nor are the terms of the contract explained or communicated. In being chosen by the Messengers we're conscripted into the service of the Moon Presence. We even have its scent as do all Hunters. But we're never given a choice to be a Hunter or not be a Hunter, we don't even know what a Hunter is and Gehrman doesn't even explain it, he just tells us to kill beasts and includes that that's just what Hunters do. This is really the only video I share with folks who struggle in digesting Bloodborne and actually From Soft games. It's so well done, you deserve ever view and like you have on it and then some.

"The most terrifying thing in the game" _three tiny skeletons with hats burst through the floor and hold up a scroll_

"Humans are capable of kindness beyond angels, yet we commit sins that would put a demon to shame..."

Dark Souls: go on a journey of self realization in order to see God in one's self. Bloodborne: learn and accept your place as an insignificant being in the eyes of the gods. Sekiro: sever the connection between you and the gods to ensure it cannot seduce man ever again.

"You can't write a doctorate english thesis on video ga-"

Those Amygdala do actually pay attention to you When nearing them, their heads turn towards you and move to accommodate your movements, out of everything they could focus on they choose to focus on you consistently... It does make me think that the player character is much more than he/she seems Hell, we are even able to conquer these eldritch gods, alone. An ant we may be, but an ant is not entirely harmless.

The Blood Makes us Human... Makes us More Than Human... Makes us Human No More. Fear The Old Blood.

H.P lovecraft: he saw a horrible monster Reader: how horrible is it? H.P: it’s so horrible I can’t even describe it Reader: ...

And this whole time, I thought I was just a Vampire killing werewolves and other deadly things. Not a laughing stock to the alien gods.

[08:26 Video seemingly ends] - Damn that was a fantastic Dark Souls essay [08:32 Part II Bloodborne] - Oh right this video was about Bloodborne Great essay! Really enjoyed this

Only one flaw that I can see in this amazing commentary; we do in fact experience real maternal love, from the Plain Doll. Her seeming innocence and unknowingness of good/evil and kindness/cruelty sets her apart from every other character we encounter in the game. And yet, she seems to understand the physical and mental process of your eventual transcendence more than anyone.

"We are but a rope tied between animal and superman. Man ought to be overcome, what have you done to overcome him?" - Frederick Nietszche, Thus Spoke Zarathustra

I just wanted to point out a small error when explaining "The Belly of the Whale". Dark Souls 1 did this first in the encounter with Seath, the Scaleless. The first time you encounter him it is impossible to hurt him, the player is then forced to die. After dying, you wake up in a prison cell in which you must escape from. Amazing video by the way.

Good video, but I feel like you missed something added to the myth. It's easy to miss because it pertains to boss battles specifically and it's hard to analyze game mechanics as anything "deep". You mentioned how all those Amygdala ignored you, but remember how you also kill one in the game. Sure, the message that these gods don't care about human struggles is clear, but Bloodborne also shows how human can force notoriety. Imagine if an ant (as you compared humans to gods) started crawling up you. You could swat it away, but then it comes back. Basically, one power humans do have, even against gods, is consciousness enough to bother others, or at least persist against. Bloodborne manages this through it's classic Dark Souls death system. Bloodborne is like the non-pessimist version of Lovecraft's vision. Human still matter little to the gods, but humans can always force some shred of recognition onto themselves. Even if it's minor.

I've come back to this video so many times. The delivery is great, with humor here and there, but also it provides such an awesome review that is useful not only to understand Bloodborne, but also to understand narrative. To anyone trying to write a story, this should be an indispensable video to watch.

HP Lovecraft is a legend. He took the proverbial horror baton from Poe and handed it to contemporary authors. He evolved fear, in unison with the expansion of evolution.

If you remember, Wilhelm said, "The blood makes us human, makes us more than human, makes us human no more." So right off the bat the story makes it very clear that we are no longer human. Insight, knowledge of the so-called eldritch truth a.k.a. enlightenment in bloodborne is our understanding of the special world beyond the main mundane setting in the beginning, the nightmare realms. This inhuman knowledge manifests itself through its bearers as what seems to be madness to unenlightened individuals according to item descriptions and such knowlege is dangerous because there are some things we just aren't meant to know. The video says that since bloodborne is an anti-myth instead of using our humanity to be one with god we are shedding our humanity to become a god indicating as the story progresses we become less and less human. So as the story progresses and we gain more insight it would make sense for us to be able to fight the amygdalas and moon presence as we are so inhumanly enlightened at that point we know how to beat them. After we kill Rom the doll says our presence soothes, alluding to the fact we inherited some nuance of Rom's power to dull reality. So it can be said that with the blood echo system we absorb the great ones' essences as with our other "prey" but as well as leveling up and becoming stronger we become so inhuman and so enlightened by killing great ones and absorbing their traits that we have to shed our human form to contain our consciousness and become a god ourselves, hence we transcend the hunt. We find paleblood, which the doll bleeds when struck, to do so. Without the courage to pursue enlightenment and just imbibing the blood to force a communion (trying to take the easy way out) we embody our baser animal nature and devolve into a mere beast. It must be this way because these are alien beings. In not just Catholicism but the whole of Christianity humans are created in god's image and he is therefore familiar with us. So maybe because we aren't made in the great ones' image, and they are so alien an existence to us, to try to force a deeper connection by imbibing the blood in communion with them when that connection was never present to begin with is what makes us sick. It is something that should not be, an abomination, which is a common Lovecraftian theme, hence why we become beasts. In the end if we want to be connected with the great ones we must leave our humanity behind and become one of them. All in all the souls series has always revolved heavily around themes of humanity, human nature, and our origins. In Bloodborne we can either use what makes us human, our minds, pursuing knowledge no matter how dangerous and ascend to a higher plane of existence, or succumb to our animal side and do what is easy and feels good, thereby becoming a beast. Sorry for the essay guys, just had to get that off my chest. What do you guys think?

0:57 Very close, but a common misinterpretation. There are many superior alien god-creatures in Lovecraft's work that actually do take notice of humans, we just aren't very significant to them, a mere curiosity at most. Your comparison is accurate, in your ant allegory. We do not think of ants as very significant to our own lives, but we do take notice of them, perhaps studying them or slaying them for reasons they could not possibly understand.

I cant help but wonder what lovecraft would think about bloodborne and dark souls

I'm a little surprised at how brief your part on the endings were, since in my eyes each one is a absolute gold mine of symbolism. In one ending we choose to kill our selves to allow us to "awake from the nightmare" and return to that safe, sain ,world where humans matter. In another we attempt to continue to move forward despite without the understanding (Or insight if you will) of our place in this world and end up just a puppet of a higher power. Finally there is the ending where we come to understand humanities place in this world and, though bathing in the blood of a higher being we shed what we have come to realise is insignificant, our human selves. Stripped of our humanity we are able to ascend beyond our bestial self and become something more, we become another god looking upon humanity with the same mild curiosity any higher being would have when observing insignificant insects. (In a way many of these players are even able to have a limited understanding of this feeling as they look upon players who have yet to achieve this ending with smug superiority)

2 years later and people are still dissecting this game. This game will live forever

"...we distrust them because they're snakes..." Nah dude, those denture like teeth and elephant like ears are just way too far into the uncanny valley to make them (fraampt and kaathe) anything less than disturbing.

Jesus, Buddha, Hercules, The chosen undead. Sorry It's sounds so funny

The Moon Presence also had wings. Not of blood but physical, dark in color and tattered. Likely because of its opposition to both the player and other "gods".

I disagree with your opinion of the dark souls lore in relation to other myths. The fire to me, represents the key part of souls lore that everything has its time to end. You're not saving the world by linking the fire, you're letting it drag on a little while longer, because everything is temporary. Dark Souls is about realizing that, and that the journey through a temporary existence is worth it anyways.

We are born of the blood Made men by the blood Undone by the blood Our eyes are yet to open FEAR THE OLD BLOOD!

Isn't it incredible that this game can ignite so much theory, intrigue and debate. What a masterpiece. 👌🙌

"Where is your god now?" - ngl a scary thing to be asked by cthulu on the shitter

This is probably the best bloodborne video I have seen and I watch a LOT of Vaati.

Gaol is an old way of writing jail

Fun fact: In Hypogean Gaol, "gaol" is actually the old British spelling for jail and it's pronounced the same way. So "gaol" is pronounced "jail" not "goal" or "ga-ole". :)

You know, when I first started playing Souls games, I noticed something deeper that was drawing me to them. Something I couldn't put my finger on. I tried summing it up as, "It feels like it's telling a story older than time." I feel like a lot of people brushed me off as pretentious. Good to know I'm not totally crazy!

Coming from a Catholic uprising, I can't fucking believe I missed the blood communion in Bloodborne being a reference to the blood of Christ that Catholics drink. Of all the Gothic architecture, Latin chorus singing, and the church hunters basically being the inquisition, I missed the one thing that Catholics are known for!!! They literally drank the holy blood of their gods!!!

The Healing Church is Catholic on the surface but very Shinto beneath it, which is an interesting merger between cultures and religions, wouldn't ya'll agree?

Plot twist: Miyazaki was throwing random shit, just to see us suffer from multiple deaths.

24:00 "It's not a new idea to have a character impregnated by aliens, but being impregnated by alien gods is a unique one." Seems to me like a "The Dunwich Horror" reference.

I think the reason most Lovecraft stories have such a hard time translating to anything outside books is because it's honestly hard to make something scary and give a face to that scariness. The phrase "A coward dies a hundred deaths, a hero only once" is something like it, where when it lingers in our minds or us being able to personally personify our fears is actually much more horrifying than actually seeing it. Much like the movie "Blair Witch" (Which I personally feel is a good way to explain Lovecraft), we spend the entire movie scared from something we never see.

*Solaire gets impailed* *takes a sippy sipp of Sunny D* You monster

Bloodborne lore with an FFX backing track? Mate. You're the true Great One.

You know, having watched this video several times over the years, I would say that Dark Souls also subverts the Hero's Journey. For one, the special people that go to Firelink are found trapped in the special world by you, they are helpless until you interact with them. Then, when you've gained all you can from them or progressed the game far enough, they set off into the special world again, only to be dismantled by their own knowledge and desire. Many of them do not know any more than you do, and regard you to be far more talented than themselves. And you are. When you meet the motherly love figure, and/or the romantic love figures, the mother is an illusion and your potential lovers are murdered or kidnapped. You may rescue them, of course, but in rescuing one you only set her up to be kidnapped again since she has no strength of her own. The other resents you for restoring her soul and body, because you took agency from her just as the murderer did, since she did not ask you to revive her. She resents being able to speak, now being whole. When it comes time to, "Make the same decision Gwyn did." It appears to be the same symbolically, but it's actually that very idea, the idea of elevating yourself to Gwyn's level by roasting yourself as fuel to extend the age that lets the ruse go on for so long. What you actually are doing is perverting the natural order of the special world by wrongfully extending the age of fire past its prime. The creatures of the dark twist in the light of this mutant flame becoming mutants themselves in response in order to put an end to an unnaturally long lived cycle. That is what an Undead is, a human mutated by the over lived age, made immortal, able to possess power beyond that of the Gods. Having witnessed this ability in primeval man, what the Gods referred to as pygmies, Gwyn branded humanity itself, the Dark Soul, such that any human whose piece of the Dark Soul grew strong enough to turn them immortal would run into the limitation set by Gwyn's brand. To be drawn and ensnared by his fire. Until once again humanity mutated into Ash, becoming impervious to flame, unable to burn, and unable to die. But in Bloodborne, though it appears to be an anti-myth, it's actually the Hero's Journey with the more romantic aspects removed. When you look on the inhabitants of the special world, they do know more than you, but not by much. The real bar scene is the Hunter's Dream. Whenever you meet other Hunters they reference The Dream. You gain the most insight about the special world from those most similar to yourself. Other Jedi as it were, if we were to make a Star Wars comparison. The residents of Yharnam that you can send to Oedon Chapel, but can also send to Iosefka's Clinic makes the Oedon Temple as the Bar Scene not work. There are people who had no Bar Scene there on their first playthrough, afterall. But everyone encounters other Hunters. They may not get every shred of dialogue or knowledge the first time around, but they do get some dialogue. Knowledge they otherwise wouldn't have. When you ascend in the true ending, you've conquered the spiritual forms of Great Ones. Multiple Great Ones. The players that get this ending should understand that though they cannot relate to what has happened to their character, they can comprehend it. Something almost no one touches upon is the fact that your new slug like state may only be what your soul, your dream self, has become. It is worthy to note that the Great Ones have a physical form and their dream form. The dream form can sustain multiple physical incursions into the waking world, but if the dream form is killed, then only their body and blood remain. Dreams can also show the past, and make memories just as real as the waking world. As shown in the Hunter's Nightmare. Becoming a Great One is a selfish act, as the Great Ones have no camaraderie with one another. They do not act in tandem, though they may appear to. They live in similar fashions, because that's what life becomes at that level of ascension. One wonders what new terrors and what new glories are beyond that. The true ending to Bloodborne is a mind blowing revelation that we can only know so much, and there's always another secret, another hint, another ascension another truth to uncover. It never ends.

Immaculate presentation of my favourite series. This is practically a dissertation.

"As for her romantic love, what should expect is a scene like what we get in the Lion King where Nala gives Simba that very inappropriate 'fuck me' face." 😆Tehehehehe😂 I knew that something was off about that scene when I watched that movie over and over as a kid.

The transition from gothic to lovecraftian is definitely my favorite switch in all of media. I dont think any footage of the lovecraftian stuff was shown before release which made it a really good surprise. I still dont know which i prefer though, this or the witcher 3

I like to come back to this video whenever I get the urge to play Bloodborne again, to help put me in the right mindset. Something that I find interesting is that so many of the story notes regarding an inverted hero's journey were the exact opposite in my experience, and I think that's also significant. In my first (failed) playthrough, I met the beggar at the Church and was put off by his appearance but eventually, upon experimenting by sending people to the different locations, I discovered he was truthful. This was a good sign not to judge simply by appearances but to also pay attention to actions. While everyone else knows less about the world than myself, a newcomer, I felt that it was less tragic and more a display that, lost as I was, I could still help people. And rather than feeling depressed or lost at the reveal of the Nightmare and the return to Yahar'gul, I felt invigorated: I could see the truth, now, and that means I can fight it. The fact that the Great Ones are not truly divine, just as fallible as any human, means that we can face and overcome them. Some people treat unknown horrors with reverence, hoping that through worship they'll be spared. Some curse their lack of understanding and spiral into self-hatred, trying to imitate these unknown beings in an effort to comprehend them. But some see these horrors as no more than another obstacle, forces uncaring at best and malicious at worst that cause pain to humanity by their very presence. You don't need to understand them beyond how best to hurt them. The endings are a bit more muddied, because the game is morally ambiguous in the extreme, but in essence I can see two major interpretations of each one. Leaving the Dream, you're either escaping the horrors after doing Flora's bidding or you're leaving once you've ended your battles. There's no reason to continue a fight that isn't yours, especially once you're getting into circumstances you truly don't understand. Whether you're fleeing in terror or pragmatically departing, your work there is done and you're returning to your old life. Slaying Gehrman is generally due either to heroism in trying to free him from his prison or bloodthirst in seeking ever more powerful opponents. Gehrman is an elite hunter and presuming you can overcome what has ensnared him without preparation leads to you being trapped. Your reckless bloodlust, or foolish heroism, is rewarded by being trapped in the same wheelchair, used to anchor the Dream. Slaying Flora is the result of careful preparation, of paying close attention to the world and taking the same risks that got you this far. Great Ones can never exist in the same plane as their children, their obsessions arising due to utter loneliness. The umbilical cord is the only evidence of the connection between Great Ones. It doesn't just symbolize birth, death and the inverse of birth: it's also a solid educated guess that taking it into yourself will serve as a sort of barrier between you and any Great One trying to invade your being. Upon slaying Flora you become a baby Great One, with the mind of someone who defied godly beings to free himself and humanity from their machinations. Perhaps that will allow you to bridge the gap between humanity and the Great Ones, and actually bring understanding to your friends and loved ones rather than madness.

You make absolutely amazing content. The videos you make are far better than most channels with millions of subs. Please, keep it up - you will go far.

Thank you, Your analysis of Bloodborne is one of the best I have seen

Found this vid on Max Derrat's suggestion. I'm floored, this was amazing and I couldn't look away or pause for some errands or anything. This game offers above else, a nice hard dose of humility that will stick with you long after you play, it seems.

im so in love with this video and the way you were connecting bloodborne and dark souls to the myths of mankind. it seems you have a really good overall knowledge about myths in generell im really impressed dude

I´m a Souls Veteran, but this Video gave me a whole new perspective of the Game .. Holy shit Dude great Work, hands down.

Yeah, eat it, Jordan B Peterson. Where's your Dragon-Slaying Room-Cleaning now that I have eyes on the inside and a direct line of communication with a slug-deity birthed by the cosmos?!

This is by far my favorite video. I dont know how many times ive watched it. Amazing content and delivery.

I watched this video in 9th grade and it sent me down a rabbit hole of mythological analysis and symbolism that five years later I still have yet to find the bottom of.

I've seen so many Bloodborne analysis videos and this is by far my favorite. Thorough, convincing, and incredibly interesting. I may be a few years late but I tip my hat to this beautiful piece

32:31 - What do you mean, the Amygdalas' totally did intervene! One will crush you to death or send you to an un-escapable(lore-wise) nightmare if it catches you. Another one outright fights you if you meet it in the Nightmare Frontier

Bloodborne shows us the side of ourselves we fear the most.... THE FURRY WITHIN.

could the entire game be an unfinished hero's journey of all of humanity, ending at the "belly of the whale" stage?

"...Evolution without courage will be the ruin of our race."

wow. just, wow. I've never been so glad to click on a recommended video. your thoughts are clear and easy to follow and your attention to detail and the willingness to research so far outside of the game makes this a great video. You just earned a sub and most likely a patron (I will decide after binge-watching your content, haha). Although I'm surprised how you didn't mention the hunter's dream and the doll. The doll would make a good "goddess" for our hero.

Literalmente el mejor video sobre Bloodborne. Antes de éste vi por lo menos tres o cuatro pero ninguno llega al punto al que llegás vos. Gracias :)

This is one of those videos where everytime I come back to it I understand more and more of it and I never get tired of seeing it over and over again because it's incredibly interesting and the editing and delivery is amazing.

while you talk a lot about humanity never merging with god im pretty sure thats exactly what happened at the end. i think that the ultimate lesson is that humans must leave behind their their exact existence as humans to ascend in to a human like god. its like what carl sagan once said "It will not be we who reach Alpha Centauri and the other nearby stars. It will be a species very much like us. But with more of our strengths and fewer of our weaknesses. More confident, far-seeing, capable and prudent."

One question: The very last part you mention 'The hero ascends to godhood but without the player. The player is trapped on this plane, unable to see themselves in this virgin birth.' Would you elaborate on this? Is it that we, as the player, work hard to unravel this 'true' ending only to not feel a deeper sense of self-understanding through the cloudy choices we made throughout the game? Instead, we see our avatar ascend into something we do not understand, put the controller down and feel befuddled. Because we're stuck on the human plane? I prefer Bb over DS. Until watching this video, I thought it was for the more defined game mechanics and the darker Lovecraftian tones. This brings it to a whole new dimension of self-examination. Extremely well done!

Thank you for making this video. It's so in-depth and intuitive. The wording and music application are so good. Keep it up

Holy shit!! I am absolutely awestruck by the quality of this content!! Well done man, well done!

I stumbled upon this video and your channel by chance. Super interesting and you earned a sub after just 5 minutes of great analysis and discussion. Keep up the good work!

don't sweat it. I don't want to live in a world where someone can't take 8 months to create something of value.

This is one of the best video game essays I've ever had the pleasure of watching. Great work my friend, wish I would have stumbled across this much sooner.

Great video. Really enjoyed deep analysis of game aspects together with story telling techniques I was quite unfamiliar with. I appreciate very much the amount of work you've put in this piece. Masterpiece to be exact ;)

Miyazaki: "I just wanted some hard stuff"

I've watch a lot of Bloodborne Lore videos, and I just randomly stumbled onto this. And holy shit, what a gem. Fantastic work you do.

I keep coming back (a year later) to watch this again. One of the BEST pieces of Bloodborne content out there. Excellent work!

I'm glad I bumped into this because the way you explain lore and mythos is genius. You definitely deserve more recognition!

Typically, when I stumble upon channels with such low subscriber counts, I really don't expect much... But damn, this is a tremendously high quality video. You absolutely deserve a much larger following than what you have. I'm definitely subbing, and I hope more do the same.

I really love how Bloodborn is based on Lovecraftion myth as well, making the player feel fear of the unknown...coming across higher gods and the only thing we will understand of them is how they move and how we kill them...but we will never know why..who they really are, they are their an we are the hunters to stop them...I love it.

Your conclusion around the 33 minute mark really struck a chord with me. Poignant. You, my friend, have a new subscriber! Looking forward to devouring the rest of your content.

This is the video that made me start a favirotes playlist. I hope you can keep up the good work without burning yourself out. Cheers.

FYI: Gaol is the old english word for Jail, and is pronounced the same. So it's the Hypogean Gaol; the Hypogean Jail

"In participating in this version of the Hero's Journey, we went in thinking that humans would conquer this world and unite ourselves with some aspect of God. Instead, we discover that we are nothing more than sophisticated beasts with good intentions...." FUCK, THAT'S how you subvert expectations and deconstruct a common, universal human narrative, ladies and gentlemen. Miyazaki is a genius and I don't use that term lightly. When people scoff at the prospect of video games being art, I point them to the SoulsBorne series to shut them up. Great analysis and video.

You are absolutely captivating good sir. I'm usually a video skipper (going to the good parts), but this right here, i watched the whole thing not knowing that time is passing by. I was going to pause then get some food but I just couldn't stop watching/listening. I ended up not even eating LOL. U AWESOME ! 5 STARS ! THUMBS UP ! KEEP IT 100 !

I came upon this video by chance, but wow golly I didn't expect to be so interested in it. Thank you so much for making this, I loved it!

Very well done. I just wish Demon's Souls would be considered as well.

this is a great breakdown, should seriously keep up the vids man

Watching this at the end of my day.. your smooth voice is putting me to sleep and your points and the monstrous visuals are about to give me some wild dreams..

Wow! That was an excellent analysis. Deeply felt. Fascinating, well researched, and edited just right. Thank you Good Sir!

Man...I will NEVER look at Soulsborne games the same anymore....Now I know WHY I was feeling some of the things I was during this game...Miyazaki is... Incredible. THANK YOU for this video, your hard work and dedication is worth it's weight in gold, my friend.

Congratulations on the most philosophical video on the Souls series in combination with the Mythological history of humanity. I think you deserve more credit then "Vaati" for what you have made here, the way and tone you brought it to us is exactly how I would want it to be told and I agreed.

As someone who has just recently beaten the game and wanted an introspection, this was just what I needed. Thank you. This was a wonderful 36 minutes well spent.

After almost a whole year of this video being suggested, I finally got to watching it and now I’m mad I didn’t do it sooner. A lovely breakdown of one of my favorite games of all time

"He who slayed the Great Ones"

This seems useful for my research on story writing. Thank you. It was amazing.

Dude, just discovered your channel and already love your content. Really nice writing and perspective on games.

Wow, this is.. astoundingly well-written and researched. Of all the informational videos made on Bloodborne, this is easily the best.

Literally the best Bloodborne video on youtube!

I had forgotten how good your videos are. You should do them more often to elevate the standars of video making.

Fantastic! Brilliant and well-articulated analysis! Bloodborne is certainly a masterpiece, and you unfolded a lot of it to me here that I never understood before. I do hope you keep making videos.

This video just increased my love for bloodbourne by over 9000. You sir, are amazing.

*Plot Twist:* "All myths existed for the sole purpose of the creation of Dark Souls."

This is my favorite bloodborne analysis video in all of KZfaq I legit just spent an hour trying to find this

Coming back to this vid years later. Such a goooood video dude

Got distracted when I heard the FFX macalania woods song come on lol