Friday, March 2, 2018

Insight

Apologies, if there has been a glut of Bloodborne related posts, but I've been playing the game quite a bit recently so once more into the nightmare my friends.

One of the neatest tricks Bloodborne pulls off over the course of the game happens around the midpoint when the thematic elements gradually shift from gothic horror to cosmic horror.  The werewolves, witches and beastmen of the early game steadily give way to floriecent alien flowers, the tentacular "moon presence" and Ebrietas, Daughter of the Cosmos.  It's a great way to mix up enemy variety and also serves as a means to differentiate Bloodborne from the Castlevania series.  A number of Youtubers and writers for various gaming outlets have already pointed out how the H.P. Lovecraft Mythos relates to Bloodborne, but there are a few interesting details that have been overlooked by others (or simply ignored due to time commitments).  Regardless, I'd like to mention a bit more about said details here.

The Brain of Mensis in Bloodborne is probably the most obvious parallel to a Mythos entity found in one of H.P. Lovecraft's short stories, "At The Mountains of Madness."  In this case it's a Shoggoth, described as bubbling blobs able to form eyes and mouths at will.  They are also a slave race dominated by an even more powerful society of extraterrestrials referred to as "The Elder Things."  In Bloodborne it's easy to identify the enslavement aspect in that the Brain of Mensis is suspended from its tower perch by chains and rivets.  Nothing profound, but there might be a connection to the Slime Scholars found in the Lecture Hall.  My first thought when I encountered them was that they were students reduced to hideous monstrosities.  However, in the Lovecraft themed short story "Fat Face" by Michael Shea, there is a Shoggoth Lord which is a more advanced version of its kin in that it has learned how to take on the form and mimic the mannerisms of humans.  So perhaps the Slime Scholars are the opposite of what I initially thought in that they are actually Shoggoths studying how to appear more human.

Silverbeasts are only found in the nightmare realms of Bloodborne, which is fitting if they are meant to be inspired by Gugs.  What's are Gugs?  They are semi-intelligent humanoid creatures that inhabit the Dreamlands and make an appearance in the story "Dreamquest for the Unknown Kadath" by H.P. Lovecraft.  Gugs are also known to use simple tools (including torches) and feed on wayward dreamers with their vertically oriented mouths.  Near the city they inhabit is a graveyard filled with stone monoliths and, at the center of it, The Tower of Koth.  These little tidbits of information match spot-on with the Nightmare Frontier found in Bloodborne.

Last is the Garden of Eyes, an enemy found exclusively at Byrgenwerth.  The Mi-Go, as described in "The Whisperer in the Darkness," are a close match, insect-like creatures that emit a buzzing noise.  Unlike many of the lesser Mythos entities, Mi-Go are not simple-minded animals, but rather scientists  by nature who specialize in genetic manipulation.  Hence, it makes sense that they'd mostly be doing their thing at a place dedicated to higher learning.  Additionally, the Mi-Go have a habit of collecting human brains in cylindrical containers.  It's a process which, oddly enough, doesn't kill the victim.  In fact people contained in the brain cylinders are able to converse with others provided special audio/vocal devices are attached to the container.  Disturbing stuff, but it is well matched by the Garden of Eyes in that their main form of attack is to leap on the player character's head in a move that inflicts no damage yet causes frenzy (the Bloodborne equivalent to insanity) to rise precipitously.

Anyway, those are just a few details I wanted to share.  None of them are especially important nor well known...in fact you could even say it's esoteric knowledge...but maybe you've gained a bit more insight...


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