Bloodborne Lore Summary: the Whole Story in Five Minutes
Bloodborne's lore in a nutshell: the blood, the beasts, the Great Ones and the three endings, in plain words. The first section is spoiler-free for anyone about to play. Everything after it spoils the whole game, with links to the deep pages for each part.
Bloodborne's lore in one line: scholars found the blood of god-like beings under a city, a church fed that blood to the public, and the people turned into beasts. You play a stranger who arrives for a blood cure on the worst night of the hunt. This page is the short version. The first section is safe to read before playing. After that, full spoilers. For the long version, see Bloodborne's story explained. (Bloodborne)
What to know before playing (no spoilers)#
Bloodborne explains almost nothing out loud. You wake after a blood transfusion with a note telling you to seek paleblood if you want to rise above the hunt, and that's your briefing. The story sits in item descriptions, notes on walls and short, cryptic conversations. Read what you pick up. Talk to the voices behind doors. Nothing in the plot is hidden behind difficulty, but plenty is hidden behind curiosity. (Bloodborne)
That's genuinely all you need. Skip the rest of this page until you've finished.
Spoilers from here: the backstory#
Long ago the Pthumerians carved a Labyrinth under what became Yharnam, explored through the Chalice Dungeons. Scholars from Byrgenwerth, led by Master Willem, went down and met the Great Ones, beings the game says might be described as gods. Willem wanted "more eyes" to think on their level. His student Laurence wanted their blood. (Bloodborne)
Laurence founded the Healing Church, and its Old Blood healed the sick. It also brought the scourge of the beast. Hunters were organised to kill the beasts, starting with Gehrman, the first hunter. The Church's elite split into the Choir and the School of Mensis, both still chasing contact with the Great Ones. (Bloodborne)
Somewhere in this, Laurence and his associates beckoned a moon presence, and a Third Umbilical Cord's encounter with "the pale moon" conceived the Hunter's Dream, where Gehrman has been trapped ever since. The most common reading is that this Great One, the Moon Presence, is the "paleblood" of the opening note. (Bloodborne)
The night of the hunt#
The hunter wakes in the Dream, meets Gehrman and the Doll, and goes out to hunt. They kill Father Gascoigne and Vicar Amelia, both lost to the blood, and reach Byrgenwerth. Under its lake lies Rom, a Great One. Killing Rom turns the moon red, and the usual reading is that Rom had been hiding the true state of the world. (Bloodborne)
The hunter then crosses into the nightmare, dream worlds where Great Ones live. Mensis used a cord to reach an infant Great One, Mergo, and lost their minds for it. The hunter kills Micolash, host of that nightmare, and then Mergo's Wet Nurse. Mergo's crying stops. Dawn is close. (Bloodborne)
The three endings#
Gehrman offers to free the hunter. What you do decides the ending, explained in full in all three endings explained. (Bloodborne)
- Yharnam Sunrise. Accept, and Gehrman kills you in the Dream. You wake in Yharnam as the sun rises. (Bloodborne)
- Honoring Wishes. Refuse and beat Gehrman, and the Moon Presence takes you. You end up in his wheelchair, the Dream's new keeper. (Bloodborne)
- Childhood's Beginning. Do the same after consuming three Third Umbilical Cords, and you kill the Moon Presence. The trophy says you became "an infant Great One, lifting humanity into its next childhood." (Bloodborne)
The Old Hunters in one paragraph#
The expansion shows the crime at the root of it all. Old hunters massacred the Fishing Hamlet, where the dead Great One Kos had washed ashore, and the villagers speak of a mother dead and her baby taken. Blood-drunk hunters end up in the Hunter's Nightmare, where the hunter meets Ludwig, Lady Maria and Laurence, and kills the Orphan of Kos. The most common reading is that the Nightmare is Kos's curse on the hunters, and that killing the Orphan ends it. See The Old Hunters story. (Bloodborne: The Old Hunters)
What the game leaves open#
Plenty. Why the Great Ones lose their children, who started the hunt, what the Moon Presence wants and which ending counts are all left to you. The cords say every Great One "loses its child, and then yearns for a surrogate", and most theories start there. The timeline puts the backstory in order, and the Kin covers the creatures caught between human and Great One. (Bloodborne)
Frequently asked questions
- What is the Bloodborne story in a nutshell?
- Scholars found god-like beings and their blood beneath Yharnam. A church used that blood to heal people, and it turned them into beasts. A hunter from abroad spends one night hunting through the city and its nightmares, and ends the night by escaping, replacing the old hunter Gehrman, or becoming a newborn Great One.
- What should I know about Bloodborne lore before playing?
- Very little. The game drops you in with no explanation on purpose. It helps to know that the story is told through item descriptions, notes and short conversations, so reading what you pick up is how you learn it.
- Is Bloodborne lore confusing?
- It is fragmentary by design. The main events are clear once laid out in order, but motives and causes are left to the player, and many popular explanations are readings the game never confirms.
- Who is the main villain of Bloodborne?
- There is no single villain. The closest answer is the Moon Presence, the Great One behind the Hunter's Dream, but the game spreads the blame across Byrgenwerth, the Healing Church and the hunters who massacred the Fishing Hamlet.
- What is paleblood in Bloodborne?
- A note in the Lecture Building calls the nameless moon presence beckoned by Laurence and his associates "Paleblood". Most players take that as the answer to the opening note that tells the hunter to seek paleblood.
Sources
- GameBloodborne, FromSoftware, Sony Computer Entertainment, 2015
- GameBloodborne: The Old Hunters, FromSoftware, Sony Computer Entertainment, 2015 (expansion)
Spotted a factual error or a primary source we missed? Email a correction. Every flagged claim gets reviewed.
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