Byrgenwerth: the College Where Bloodborne's Story Began

Byrgenwerth is the old college by the lake, past the Forbidden Woods, where Bloodborne's backstory begins. The Student Uniform calls it "a bygone institute of learning", and nearly everything in the game, from the Healing Church to the hunt itself, traces back to what its scholars found in the Labyrinth. (Bloodborne)

What Byrgenwerth was#

The college studied the Labyrinth and what lived there. The Augur of Ebrietas is a "remnant of the eldritch Truth encountered at Byrgenwerth", and Kin Coldblood refers to "the eldritch Truth touched upon long ago at Byrgenwerth." The Great Isz Chalice was "the first Great Chalice brought back to the surface since the time of Byrgenwerth." (Bloodborne)

Its tools spread across the game. Most Caryll runes are "a secret symbol left by Caryll, runesmith of Byrgenwerth", transcriptions of the Great Ones' voices. Even the Healing Church's eccentric Archibald, says the Spark Hunter Badge, worked in a style that "closely followed the methodology of Byrgenwerth." (Bloodborne)

Willem and the eyes#

Willem's goal is stated in several items. The Great One's Wisdom quotes him: "We are thinking on the basest of planes. What we need, are more eyes." The Eye rune says he was "disillusioned by the limits of human intellect" and "sought to line his brain with eyes". A note in the Lecture Building agrees: "Master Willem was right. Evolution without courage will be the ruin of our race." (Bloodborne)

The Student Uniform shows how he would see the Church's copy of his school: its focus "not on knowledge, or thought, but on pure pretension would surely bring Master Willem to despair, if only he knew." (Bloodborne)

The scholars who left#

Byrgenwerth's students went in three directions the game names. The Student Uniform says the Healing Church "has its roots in Byrgenwerth". Alfred passes on Logarius's story that "a scholar betrayed his fellows at Byrgenwerth and brought forbidden blood back with him to Cainhurst Castle", where "the first of the inhuman Vilebloods was born." And the Choir Garb calls the Choir "scholars who continue the work that began at Byrgenwerth." (Bloodborne)

The worst of it is in The Old Hunters. The Fishing Hamlet's priest mutters "Byrgenwerth... Byrgenwerth... Blasphemous murderers... Blood-crazed fiends", and curses the hunters who raided the Fishing Hamlet. Simon tells the hunter that it is "as if the spirit of Byrgenwerth lives on within you." (Bloodborne: The Old Hunters)

Getting in, and the lake#

The gate to the Forbidden Woods is watched by a mad old servant who only mutters "The password...". A note in Cathedral Ward explains: "A watchman of Byrgenwerth guards the gate with a password, the sacred adage of the Grand Cathedral." The Gold Pendant, passed among the Church's vicars, "is a reminder of the cautionary adage, words that will open the gates of Byrgenwerth." Touching Laurence's skull on the Grand Cathedral altar shows a vision of Laurence leaving Willem, and gives the hunter that adage: "Fear the old blood." (Bloodborne)

Inside, Willem sits in his rocking chair facing the water. The Lunarium Key says "in his final years, Master Willem was fond of the lookout" and that "he left his secret with the lake." Notes in the building warn that "the spider hides all manner of rituals". Jumping into the lake leads to Rom, the Vacuous Spider. The Lake rune explains why: "Great volumes of water serve as a bulwark guarding sleep, and an augur of the eldritch Truth. Overcome this hindrance, and seek what is yours." Killing Rom turns the moon red, the turning point of the main story. (Bloodborne)

The Lecture Building#

A piece of the college survives in the nightmare. The Nightmare Lecture Building trophy calls it the Byrgenwerth lecture building that drifts within the nightmare. Its notes hold some of the game's most important lines, including "the nameless moon presence beckoned by Laurence and his associates" and "Hunt the Great Ones". The Old Hunters' Research Hall and the Hunter's Nightmare come back to the same circle of people. (Bloodborne; Bloodborne: The Old Hunters)

What the game never confirms#

The split between Willem and Laurence is shown only in that one short vision: Laurence bids Willem farewell, Willem accuses him of betrayal, and both recite the adage. Why Laurence left, and what he took with him, is reconstruction. The text shows that the Church came from Byrgenwerth and that Willem wanted eyes, but never states the argument in full. Who led the raid on the Fishing Hamlet, and whether Willem ordered it, is also unsaid. And while "Fear the old blood" is usually read as Willem's warning against blood ministration, the game never says what use of the blood he meant. (Bloodborne; Bloodborne: The Old Hunters)