Micolash, Host of the Nightmare: the Mensis Scholar Who Begs for Eyes
Micolash is the cage-headed scholar who runs from you through the Nightmare of Mensis, praying to Kos and shouting for eyes. He's the School of Mensis made flesh. Here is what he says, what his gear tells you, and what players think it all means.
Micolash, Host of the Nightmare, is a scholar of the School of Mensis and the boss who waits in the Nightmare of Mensis. He wears the school's iron cage on his head, prays to the Great One Kos, and begs to have eyes planted on his brain. He runs from the player through the halls of the nightmare before finally standing to fight. (Bloodborne)
Who is Micolash?#
The game never gives Micolash a biography. What it gives is his title, his gear and his words. He is the Host of the Nightmare, found inside the Nightmare of Mensis, and he wears the Mensis Cage, the symbol of the school that controls Yahar'gul. (Bloodborne)
The cage's description explains what it was for: it restrains the will of the self so the wearer can see the profane world for what it is, and works as an antenna for contact with the Great Ones of the dream. "But to an observer, the iron cage appears to be precisely what delivered them to their harrowing nightmare." (Bloodborne)
What does Micolash say?#
His opening is a prayer: "Ah, Kos... Or some say, Kosm... Do you hear our prayers? No, we shall not abandon the dream. No one can catch us! No one can stop us now!" (Bloodborne)
As the chase goes on he cries out in fragments. "As you once did for the Vacuous Rom... Grant us eyes, grant us eyes! Plant eyes on our brains, to cleanse our beastly idiocy!" And later, half to himself, he talks of a grand lake of mud hidden from sight, and of sitting about and speaking feverishly into the wee hours about "new ideas of the higher plane". (Bloodborne)
After the first skirmish he cheers: "Ooh, majestic! A hunter is a hunter, even in a dream." When he dies: "Now I'm waking up, I'll forget everything..." (Bloodborne)
Micolash's eyes and Rom#
The cry for eyes ties Micolash to the oldest ambition in the game. Master Willem wanted "more eyes" and sought to line his brain with them. Mensis, the Living String says, retrieved an immense brain from the nightmare that was lined with eyes on the inside, "but they were of an evil sort". (Bloodborne)
His line about "the Vacuous Rom" names Rom, and "a grand lake of mud" is usually read as pointing at her lair: Rom, the Vacuous Spider, lies under Moonside Lake at Byrgenwerth. The game never explains how Micolash knows that Rom was granted eyes, or why he credits Kos. (Bloodborne)
The fight#
Micolash fights like a human hunter, unarmed but with Choir tools. He casts the Augur of Ebrietas and A Call Beyond, the second of which, its description says, came from the Church's failed attempt to reach the outer cosmos. For much of the encounter he runs and taunts. Beat him and the way opens to Mergo's Loft and the Wet Nurse who guards Mergo. (Bloodborne)
What fans read into Micolash#
- The most common reading is that Micolash and the other Mensis scholars left their bodies behind in Yahar'gul, still wearing their cages, while their minds went into the nightmare. A seated cage-wearer in the village is often taken to be Micolash's body. The game doesn't name it. (Bloodborne)
- "Host of the Nightmare" is read as meaning he made, or holds open, the Nightmare of Mensis. Others read "host" in the sense of a parasite's host. The game gives only the title. (Bloodborne)
- His knowledge of Kos and Rom is often taken to mean he was a student at Byrgenwerth before Mensis. It fits, but the game doesn't state it. (Bloodborne)
- His dying words, about waking and forgetting, echo Gehrman's promise in the Yharnam Sunrise ending that the hunter will "forget the dream". Many players read that as a deliberate parallel. (Bloodborne)
Frequently asked questions
- Who is Micolash in Bloodborne?
- Micolash, Host of the Nightmare, is a scholar of the School of Mensis and a boss in the Nightmare of Mensis. He wears the Mensis Cage and prays to Kos for eyes.
- What does Micolash say?
- His best-known lines are "Ah, Kos, or some say Kosm... Do you hear our prayers?" and "Grant us eyes, grant us eyes! Plant eyes on our brains, to cleanse our beastly idiocy!" When he dies he says "Now I'm waking up, I'll forget everything..."
- Why does Micolash pray to Kos?
- The game never explains how he knows of Kos. He links Kos to Rom, crying "As you once did for the Vacuous Rom, grant us eyes". Kos is the dead Great One found at the Fishing Hamlet in The Old Hunters.
- Is Micolash a Great One?
- No. He is a human scholar, fought like a hunter. He calls himself part of the dream but has no special powers beyond the Choir tools he carries.
Sources
- GameBloodborne, FromSoftware, 2015
Spotted a factual error or a primary source we missed? Email a correction. Every flagged claim gets reviewed.
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