The Pthumerians and Queen Yharnam: the Lost Civilisation Under Yharnam

The Pthumerians are the ancient people who carved the Labyrinth that lies beneath Yharnam, the ruins explored in Bloodborne's Chalice Dungeons. Item text calls them superhuman beings who are said to have gained "the wisdom of the eldritch Truth", and says their earliest generations guarded the sleeping Great Ones. Their last famous ruler, Yharnam, Pthumerian Queen, waits at the bottom of the deepest fixed dungeon. (Bloodborne)

Who were the Pthumerians?#

Nearly every Pthumeru chalice repeats the same line: the old Labyrinth "was carved out by the Pthumerians, superhuman beings that are said to have unlocked the wisdom of the eldritch Truth." That is the core of what the game states. It doesn't say where they came from, when they lived or how they fell. (Bloodborne)

The Great Pthumeru Ihyll Chalice adds the only real piece of history. Pthumeru Ihyll was the title of both the Pthumerian monarch and its capital, and this shows "that while early Pthumerians were mere humble guardians of the slumbering Great Ones, their descendants felt entitled to name themselves a leader." (Bloodborne)

So the order runs like this. First, guardians. Later, a kingdom with a crown, which the item frames as a kind of presumption. The Pthumeru Ihyll Root Chalice says the Pthumerian monarch "was traditionally a woman who assumed a name with classical roots." (Bloodborne)

The Labyrinth they left behind#

Gehrman calls the place "the tomb of the gods", and says most Holy Chalices lie deep within it, while the few that reached the surface "were lost again in the hands of men." The Pthumeru Chalice itself was found in the Church of the Good Chalice in Old Yharnam. (Bloodborne)

The Labyrinth is where Yharnam's story starts. Alfred says a group of young Byrgenwerth scholars found a holy medium deep within the tomb, which led to the founding of the Healing Church and blood healing. The Augur of Ebrietas says Byrgenwerth's first encounter with the eldritch Truth began an inquiry into the cosmos from within the Labyrinth, which later led to the Choir. The Graveguard set says Master Willem sent two loyal servants into the Labyrinth, where they met the eldritch Truth and went mad. (Bloodborne)

Signs of the Great Ones are still down there. The Pearl Slug calls the Labyrinth's slugs "clear signs of the left-behind Great Ones". The Bone Ash armour belonged to "the oldest keepers", who mind the slumbering Great Ones and gained eternal life "in a ceremony of flame that cremated body and soul." (Bloodborne)

Other dungeon folk carry on the old work. The Hintertomb Chalice says the Watchers "continue to expand the hintertombs" to this day. The sinister root chalices say the bell-ringing woman "appears to be a mad Pthumerian". Bosses such as the Pthumerian Descendant, the Pthumerian Elder and the Keeper of the Old Lords hint at a whole line of nobles, though none of them speaks. (Bloodborne)

Queen Yharnam#

Yharnam, Pthumerian Queen, is the final boss of the Great Pthumeru Ihyll Chalice. Her trophy calls her "Blood Queen of the Old Labyrinth". She starts the fight veiled, in a white dress, with her hands bound. As the fight goes on she breaks free, draws a dagger and coats it in her own blood, and her dress grows bloodier. An unseen child cries from her belly, and its cries can paralyse the hunter. (Bloodborne)

She drops the Yharnam Stone: "A sacred heirloom left by Yharnam, Pthumerian Queen." The stone adds that the Queen "lies dead, but her horrific consciousness is only asleep, and stirs in unsettling motions." (Bloodborne)

Outside the dungeons she never speaks or fights. After Rom is killed and the red moon descends, the same veiled woman can be seen at Moonside Lake. In the Nightmare of Mensis she stands outside the lift to the Wet Nurse's Lunarium, looking up. Return after the Wet Nurse falls and she bows before fading. (Bloodborne)

What players read into her#

• The most common reading is that Queen Yharnam is Mergo's mother. She is pregnant in the dungeon, blood covers the front of her dress, and she waits outside Mergo's chamber in the nightmare. A note at Byrgenwerth reads: "And when the Great Ones descend, a womb will be blessed with child." None of this names her as the mother. (Bloodborne)
• Many players think the city of Yharnam was named after her. The names match and the city stands on her people's Labyrinth, but the game never states it. (Bloodborne)
• Her bow after the Wet Nurse dies is often read as thanks for ending Mergo's torment. The game gives her no words to confirm it. (Bloodborne)
• Who the father was, and how the child was taken into the nightmare, is anyone's guess. The School of Mensis gained audience with Mergo through an Umbilical Cord, but no item ties the queen to them. (Bloodborne)

For the wider picture, see the Great Ones and the story explained.