Gehrman, the First Hunter: the Old Man Bound to the Hunter's Dream

Gehrman, the First Hunter, is the old man in the wheelchair who welcomes the player to the Hunter's Dream and calls himself "friend to you hunters". He was the first of Yharnam's hunters: his weapon set the pattern for the whole workshop, and Lady Maria was one of his students. By the time of the game he is bound to the dream, and at the end of the night he offers the player mercy, or fights them. (Bloodborne; Bloodborne: The Old Hunters)

Who is Gehrman?#

When the player first meets him, Gehrman explains the dream: it was once a safe haven for hunters, a workshop where they used blood to strengthen weapons and flesh. They don't have as many tools as they used to, he says, but the player is welcome to whatever they find, "even the doll, should it please you". The Doll adds that he was a hunter long, long ago, but now only advises, unseen in the dreaming world. (Bloodborne)

His equipment fills in the rest. The Burial Blade is his weapon, "a masterpiece that defined the entire array of weapons crafted at the workshop", forged with siderite said to have fallen from the heavens. It says Gehrman saw the hunt as a dirge of farewell, and wanted only that his prey rest in peace, never again to wake to another nightmare. The Old Hunter Badge, made in Gehrman's time, is for "romanticising about the past". (Bloodborne)

Gehrman's students#

The Maria Hunter Cap says that among the first hunters, all students of Gehrman, was the lady hunter Maria. She admired Gehrman, "unaware of his curious mania". The Old Hunter Bone belonged to another apprentice of old Gehrman, a user of the Quickening, a technique of the first hunters. (Bloodborne; Bloodborne: The Old Hunters)

His workshop didn't last. Ludwig's Holy Blade says the Healing Church workshop began with Ludwig and "departed from old Gehrman's technique". Gehrman tells the player the Church's ministers were once guardians of the hunters in Ludwig's time. (Bloodborne)

Trapped in the dream#

Gehrman has rare lines he only says while dozing in the garden. One: "Oh, Laurence... what's taking you so long... I've grown too old for this, of little use now, I'm afraid." Another, later: "Oh, Laurence... Master Willem... Somebody help me... Unshackle me please, anybody... I've had enough of this dream." (Bloodborne)

A note in the Hunter's Dream says that to escape it, the hunter must halt the source of the spreading scourge, "lest the night carry on forever". The Third Umbilical Cord says a cord led to an encounter with the pale moon, "which beckoned the hunters and conceived the Hunter's Dream". (Bloodborne)

After the player kills the Orphan of Kos in The Old Hunters, the Doll says she can hear Gehrman sleeping calmly for once, as if something had eased his suffering. (Bloodborne: The Old Hunters)

Gehrman at the end of the night#

Once Mergo's Wet Nurse falls, the Doll tells the player Gehrman waits at the foot of the great tree. He says the night is near its end and offers mercy: "You will die, forget the dream, and awake under the morning sun." (Bloodborne)

• If the player submits, he kills the player with the Burial Blade, saying "Farewell, my keen hunter. Fear the blood." The player wakes in Yharnam at sunrise, the Yharnam Sunrise ending. (Bloodborne)
• If the player refuses, he wonders aloud whether it was the hunt, the blood or the horrible dream, decides it doesn't matter, and says "Tonight, Gehrman joins the hunt." After he falls, the Moon Presence comes, and the player takes Gehrman's place in the wheelchair (Honoring Wishes), or, with three cords consumed, fights it. (Bloodborne)

Full details are on the endings page, and the fight is in the bosses guide. The story explained page puts his part in order.

What fans read into Gehrman#

• The most common reading is that Gehrman made the Doll in the image of Lady Maria. The Doll and Maria look alike, the Doll's spare clothes in the Abandoned Old Workshop show "a deep love" that "borderlines on mania", and the Maria cap mentions Gehrman's "curious mania". No line says he built her. (Bloodborne; Bloodborne: The Old Hunters)
• Many players believe Gehrman made a pact with the Moon Presence and is held to it. The Lecture Building note names "Laurence and his associates" as the ones who beckoned the moon presence, and Gehrman's sleep talk names Laurence, so he is often counted among them. The game doesn't confirm his part. (Bloodborne)
• Whether Gehrman took part in the Fishing Hamlet massacre is debated. His calm sleep after the Orphan dies suggests he was bound to that guilt, but he is never named there. (Bloodborne: The Old Hunters)