Father Gascoigne: the Hunter, Viola and the Tiny Music Box

Father Gascoigne is a hunter who has lost himself to the blood, and the first boss Bloodborne makes you beat. The hunter finds him in the Tomb of Oedon hacking at a corpse, and he greets them with "Beasts all over the shop... You'll be one of them, sooner or later..." Partway through the fight he becomes a beast himself. His trophy reads "Defeat the beast that once was Father Gascoigne." (Bloodborne)

Who Father Gascoigne was#

His title isn't a Church rank. Gascoigne's Garb says "'Father' is a title used for clerics in a foreign land, and there is no such rank in the Healing Church." The same item calls his dingy scarf a Holy Shawl, symbol of the Healing Church, "from which Gascoigne would eventually part ways." (Bloodborne)

His other gear shows how far he had gone. The cap, gloves and trousers are "tainted by a pungent beastly stench that eats away at Gascoigne." (Bloodborne)

He once hunted alongside Henryk. Henryk's Hunter Garb says "the taciturn old hunter Henryk was once partners with Father Gascoigne, and though they were a fierce and gallant duo, their partnership led to Henryk's tragically long life." Eileen the Crow later hunts Henryk, who has gone mad too. (Bloodborne)

The fight in the Tomb of Oedon#

Gascoigne fights with a Hunter Axe and a pistol, starting with the axe short and extending it later. Mid-fight he mutters: "Ooh, what's that smell... The sweet blood, ooh, it sings to me! It's enough to make a man sick." Near the end he turns into a large wolf-like beast, faster and far more savage. (Bloodborne)

The Tiny Music Box changes the fight. Playing it near him makes him stop and clutch his head for a moment, as if the tune reaches whatever is left of the man. Beating him gives the Oedon Tomb Key, which opens the way to Oedon Chapel and the Cathedral Ward. (Bloodborne)

Before all this, he can be met as a friend. With the Old Hunter Bell and a point of Insight, the hunter can summon Gascoigne near the fountain in Central Yharnam to help in the streets. (Bloodborne)

Viola, the daughter and the music box#

The family story starts at a window in Central Yharnam. A young girl asks whether the stranger is a hunter, then pleads: "Then please, will you look for my mum? Daddy never came back from the hunt and she went to find him, but now she's gone too I'm afraid." (Bloodborne)

If the hunter agrees, she says her mother wears a big red jewelled brooch: "You won't miss it." Then she hands over a music box. "It plays one of daddy's favorite songs. And when daddy forgets us, we play it for him so he remembers. Mum's so silly, running off without it!" (Bloodborne)

The Tiny Music Box "plays a song shared by her mother and father." Inside the lid is a scrap of paper with two names, faint but readable: "Viola and Gascoigne." (Bloodborne)

Viola lies dead near the Tomb of Oedon, close to where her husband fights. On her body is the Red Jeweled Brooch: "A woman's bright red brooch, engraved with the name Viola. Perhaps the jewel is a gift from a hunter." (Bloodborne)

How the daughter's quest ends#

Every outcome is bad. Giving the brooch back tells the girl the truth: "Mummy... mummy... Don't leave me alone..." She never speaks again, and after the moon turns red she is gone from the window. Telling her to seek shelter instead sends her out into the night, with a parting "I love you almost as much as mum and dad, and granddad!" (Bloodborne)

Sent to Oedon Chapel, she never arrives. A Maneater Boar in the sewers later drops the Red Messenger Ribbon, and it drops the same ribbon if she was told the truth. The ribbon is made of "thick, pungent red" drawn from "the organs of some unfortunate victim." Sent to Iosefka's Clinic, she ends up changed into one of the clinic's strange patients, docile and harmless. (Bloodborne)

After the moon turns red, another girl appears at the same window, calling herself the older sister and asking after a small girl with "a big white ribbon". Give her the ribbon and she laughs: "What a perfect ribbon, and now it's mine... I can't wait to try it on." She is later found dead below the house. (Bloodborne)

What the game never confirms#

The first question is who killed Viola. Many players believe Gascoigne did in his frenzy; others point to the dead huntsmen around the tomb. No item or line settles it. (Bloodborne)

The second is the "granddad" the girl mentions. Some players think it means Henryk, his old partner, but the game never names him. Whether the "older sister" is really family is also disputed, since the younger girl never mentions one. For the other bosses' stories, see every Bloodborne boss explained. (Bloodborne)