The League in Bloodborne: Valtr and the Vermin

The League is a covenant of hunters in Bloodborne who hunt vermin, small centipede-like creatures they believe hide inside all filth and are "the root of man's impurity". Its leader is Valtr, Master of the League, found in the Forbidden Woods, and its members call each other confederates. The League's own items hint that the vermin may exist only for those who choose to see them. (Bloodborne)

What is the League?#

Valtr introduces it plainly. Members of the League "cleanse the streets of all the filth that's spread about during the hunt", and he asks if you haven't seen enough of "these wretched beasts, freakish slugs and mad doctors". Join, and he hands over the League's Caryll rune. (Bloodborne)

The rune is called Impurity. Its description says it "came to symbolize 'Impurity,' and the oath of The League", that confederates "cooperate with hunters from other worlds, and hunt to discover vermin", and ends with an order: "Crush all vermin without hesitation." (Bloodborne)

Once you're in, Valtr spells out the creed. By the oath of the League, "those who bear its rune will see Vermin." Vermin "writhe deep within all filth, and are the root of man's impurity." Until they're gone the hunting goes on, and "This bloody fate is ours alone." (Bloodborne)

The League Staff marks a member. A directory in its hilt lists the names of fellow confederates, and members brandish it so other members know them. Its last line is the odd one: "There shall be no sympathy for those engaged in the bloody mission of the League. No matter that an oath must be taken to uphold the illusion." (Bloodborne)

Valtr, the Beast Eater#

Valtr's past is told as a Yharnam fable on the Constable's Garb. A troupe of foreign constables chased a beast all the way to Yharnam. The beast killed them all except one survivor, "who in turn devoured the creature whole, all by himself." Yharnamites love the story because it's about "pompous, intolerant foreigners, who suffer for their ignorance." (Bloodborne: The Old Hunters)

The fable never names the survivor, but the game all but does. Valtr wears the constables' outfit, the Whirligig Saw is the "weapon of choice of the Old Hunter Valtr, the Beast Eater", and the Impurity rune was found "inside the forbidden beast eater". So the League's founding sign came out of the man who ate a beast. (Bloodborne; Bloodborne: The Old Hunters)

He's no longer the hunter he was. The Master's Iron Helm, an upturned bucket with one eyehole, "is passed down among masters of the League", and it admits: "Valtr had in fact lost the ability to see Vermin long ago." When a confederate has crushed enough vermin, Valtr says this was his "last, most pressing task", and leaves the helm behind. (Bloodborne)

Turn on him and the courtesy goes. He calls the attacker a beast, "A defiled mess of rotten flesh", and promises their blood "will curdle with Vermin". (Bloodborne)

What are vermin?#

The Vermin item is "A centipede-like creature discovered on successful hunts by League hunters." It's found hidden within filth, seen only by confederates, and called the root of man's impurity. Then it adds: "Perhaps there is some mercy in the madness. Those who wish to see vermin can, and those who choose to are provided with boundless purpose." (Bloodborne)

Put that next to the staff's "illusion", and the most common reading is that the vermin aren't real, or not in any way an outsider would recognise. They're what a hunter sees when they need a reason to keep killing. The game never says so outright, and it does hand you physical vermin to crush. (Bloodborne)

Yamamura and the cost of seeing#

The League's other named member is Yamamura the Wanderer. His garb says this Eastern warrior "pursued a beast for honourable revenge, then became a hunter of the League. But when he stared straight into impurity, it drove him mad." His hunter cap says the hat and staff "were given to him when he became a hunter and confederate of the League." (Bloodborne: The Old Hunters)

That's two stories with the same shape. A foreigner chases a beast to Yharnam, joins the League and is changed by what he sees. Valtr lost his sight of the vermin. Yamamura lost his mind. (Bloodborne; Bloodborne: The Old Hunters)

What players read into the League#

These are interpretations, not statements. (Bloodborne)

• The usual reading is that eating the beast is what let Valtr see vermin, since the rune came from inside him. Whether the beast's blood, or the act itself, gave him the sight isn't stated. (Bloodborne)
• Valtr's "freakish slugs" are often read as the Kin, and his "mad doctors" as the Church's scholars. He names neither. (Bloodborne)
• Many players see the League as a mirror of the hunt. Hunters in Yharnam kill beasts who were once men, and the League gives that killing a moral reason. Valtr's own words, that "nothing out there, deserves to live", fit that reading. (Bloodborne)
• Valtr handing on his helm is often compared to Eileen the Crow handing on her duty as a hunter of hunters. Both are old hunters passing a calling to the player, but the game never links them. (Bloodborne)

For the city these foreigners came to, see Yharnam. The lore summary covers the hunt as a whole. (Bloodborne)