The Chalice Dungeons: Bloodborne's Pthumerian Labyrinth Explained
The Chalice Dungeons are Bloodborne's optional underground ruins, opened by Holy Chalice rituals in the Hunter's Dream. They are the Labyrinth the Pthumerians carved beneath Yharnam, which Gehrman calls the tomb of the gods. Here is how they work, the four lands inside, and what the chalices reveal.
The Chalice Dungeons are the optional ruins beneath Yharnam, opened by performing a Holy Chalice ritual at an altar in the Hunter's Dream. In the story they're the old Labyrinth carved by the Pthumerians, which Gehrman calls "the tomb of the gods". The game's own explanation is short: endless old ruins lie under the city, and a Chalice Ritual breaks their seal so a hunter can explore them. (Bloodborne)
How do you open a Chalice Dungeon?#
It starts with Gehrman. If the beasts threaten to crush your spirits, he says, "seek the Holy Chalice. As every hunter before you has. A Holy Chalice will reveal the tomb of the gods, ...where hunters partake in communion". Later he adds that most chalices lie deep within the tomb, and the few that reached the surface "Were lost again in the hands of men." One, the old tales say, is worshipped in the burned valley town of Old Yharnam. (Bloodborne)
That one is the Pthumeru Chalice, a "Ritual chalice found in the Church of the Good Chalice", dropped by the Blood-starved Beast. Its description tells you to use it at the tomb altar in the Hunter's Dream, and ends: "Let the chalice reveal the tomb of the gods; let blood be the hunter's nourishment." (Bloodborne)
The ritual needs materials. The most basic is Ritual Blood: "One of the basic ingredients used to satiate a Holy Chalice is this incoagulable blood." Other rites use stranger things, such as the Sage's Wrist, "A body part of a saint, sacrificed by the Healing Church in their search for Truth", or the Bastard of Loran, remains of an infected Loran infant. (Bloodborne)
There are two kinds of chalice. A normal one always opens the same dungeon. A Root Chalice, used to break several seals at once, is said to change the dungeon's form each time. Each dungeon has layers, and a boss ends each layer, with a lift down to the next. (Bloodborne)
The four lands of the Labyrinth#
The chalices name four places. Each description adds a scrap of history. (Bloodborne)
Pthumeru is the Pthumerians' own ground. Almost every Pthumeru chalice says the old Labyrinth was carved out by the Pthumerians, "superhuman beings that are said to have unlocked the wisdom of the eldritch Truth." The Great Pthumeru Ihyll Chalice reveals that Pthumeru Ihyll was both their monarch's title and their capital, and that the early Pthumerians "were mere humble guardians of the slumbering Great Ones". Its trophy calls the network "the catacombs that form a web deep below Yharnam." (Bloodborne)
The Hintertombs are "the peripheral catacombs" of the underground Labyrinth. "To this day, the Watchers continue to expand the hintertombs, unceremonious catacombs filled with graves and death." The root chalice calls them "cesspools of noxious snakes and insects." (Bloodborne)
Loran is the warning. "Loran is a tragic land that was devoured by the sands." Its tragedy "is said to have its roots in the scourge of the beast", and "Some have made the dreaded extrapolation that Yharnam may be next." Another Loran chalice notes trace remains of medical procedures there, and admits nobody knows if they were attempts to control the scourge "or the cause of the outbreak". (Bloodborne)
Isz is the cosmic one. The Isz Root Chalice records the Choir's belief that "the land of Isz lies in contact with the cosmos, which allowed the Great Ones to function on transcendental planes of thought." The Great Isz Chalice was "the first Great Chalice brought back to the surface since the time of Byrgenwerth", and it gave the Choir its audience with Ebrietas. Its trophy calls Isz "the home of the cosmic kin", meaning the Kin. (Bloodborne)
Who lives down there#
The Watchers keep digging. The mask of Dores, the graveguard of the Forbidden Woods, imitates their pale faces. The oldest keepers wear bone ash. They "mind the slumbering Great Ones" and gained eternal life, preserved as ash "in a ceremony of flame that cremated body and soul." The bell-ringing woman summoned by sinister chalices "appears to be a mad Pthumerian." (Bloodborne)
Hunters come down too. Tomb prospectors explore the ruins on behalf of the Healing Church, which traces its roots to Byrgenwerth "and is therefore aware of the ruin's true importance." The ruins, their garb says, "hide the very secrets of the old Great Ones". The Pearl Slug calls the Labyrinth's slugs "clear signs of the left-behind Great Ones." (Bloodborne)
The bosses are a mix of dungeon nobility and old faces. Names like the Watchdog of the Old Lords, the Keeper of the Old Lords, the Pthumerian Descendant and the Pthumerian Elder hint at a whole Pthumerian nobility, though none of them speaks. The Blood-starved Beast, Rom, Amygdala, the Celestial Emissary and Ebrietas all return in deeper dungeons. At the bottom of the Great Pthumeru Ihyll Chalice waits Yharnam, Pthumerian Queen, whose trophy names her "Blood Queen of the Old Labyrinth." See the Pthumerians for her story and the bosses for the rest. (Bloodborne)
Why the dungeons matter to the story#
You can finish Bloodborne without setting foot in them, but the backstory starts here. Alfred says a group of young Byrgenwerth scholars "discovered a holy medium deep within the tomb", which led to the founding of the Healing Church and blood healing. The Augur of Ebrietas says the first encounter with the eldritch Truth began an inquiry into the cosmos from within the old Labyrinth, which led to the Choir. The Graveguard set says two loyal servants of Master Willem were sent into it, met the eldritch Truth and went mad. (Bloodborne)
What players read into them#
These are readings. The game doesn't confirm any of them. (Bloodborne)
- Root dungeons change shape each time, so some players think the hunter explores dream copies of the ruins rather than the real thing. The chalice text says only that Root Chalices "are said to change" the form each time. (Bloodborne)
- Loran is often read as Yharnam's future, a land that tried medicine against the scourge and was buried for it. The Loran chalice puts that fear into words itself. (Bloodborne)
- The Amygdala of the Nightmare Frontier drops the Ailing Loran Chalice, so many players link that nightmare to Loran. No text explains the connection. (Bloodborne)
- The Blood Queen is pregnant, and her phantom stands outside Mergo's chamber, so many read her as Mergo's mother. (Bloodborne)
For the whole story in short, see the lore summary. (Bloodborne)
Frequently asked questions
- What are the Chalice Dungeons in Bloodborne?
- Optional dungeons beneath Yharnam, opened by performing a Holy Chalice ritual at an altar in the Hunter's Dream. In the story they are the Labyrinth carved by the Pthumerians, which Gehrman and Alfred call the tomb of the gods.
- How do you start the Chalice Dungeons?
- Get the Pthumeru Chalice from the Blood-starved Beast in Old Yharnam, then use it in a Chalice Ritual at one of the altars in the Hunter's Dream with the materials it asks for, such as Ritual Blood.
- Are the Chalice Dungeons part of the story?
- They are optional, but much of the backstory starts there. Byrgenwerth's scholars found the holy medium of blood healing in the tomb, and the Choir's Great Isz Chalice gave it an audience with Ebrietas.
- What is the difference between a chalice and a root chalice?
- A normal chalice always opens the same dungeon. A root chalice, the game says, changes the shape of the dungeon each time it is used in a ritual.
- Who is the final boss of the Chalice Dungeons?
- Yharnam, Pthumerian Queen, at the bottom of the Great Pthumeru Ihyll Chalice. Her trophy calls her the Blood Queen of the Old Labyrinth.
Sources
- GameBloodborne, FromSoftware, Sony Computer Entertainment, 2015
Spotted a factual error or a primary source we missed? Email a correction. Every flagged claim gets reviewed.
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