Preface If I had to pick the roughest area of Bloodborne‘s worldbuilding, it would have to be the Executioners. Now, there are many parts of the game which lack narrative polish, at least on the environmental side, and this covenant is hardly far below the standard. On the whole, they are fairly well-integrated into the […]
The handmaid of Firelink Shrine doesn’t do her job well considering the copious ash littering the place. Instead, her cleanup seems more to support being a merchant on the side. The old woman’s initial wares are all fairly generic items that one normally wouldn’t expect to find at a shrine. But given that warriors — […]
The Pit of Hollows has earned its name not only for the corpses dumped down but also the Mound-makers hiding out. Based on Hodrick’s dialogue, members of this covenant judge someone’s Hollow status by their minds instead of their bodies. This isn’t unprecedented considering that many characters will consider us Hollow purely based on whether […]
Preface I hold an unabashed love for Dark Souls III. (DS3) Whereas Dark Souls II (DS2) threw out its old setting in a vain attempt at a soft reboot, DS3 wholeheartedly embraces it, building upon the world and plot threads from the original Dark Souls (DS1) to weave something new. From a storytelling angle, a […]
The duty of being Prince Lothric’s wet nurse fell to High Priestess Emma. In her dying moments, her Japanese dialogue quickly shifts from calling him just “the Prince” to “Lothric-sama“, a respectful address which nonetheless uses his name. In other words, this loyal subject is showing a degree of intimacy when decorum no longer matters […]
If the game script itself is the lore hunter’s Bible, then external sources can be considered the Apocrypha. While they can never trump what is provided in the actual game, such outside resources can inject additional insight into analysis, sometimes even creating a shortcut for more oblique inferences. Characters don’t exist in a vacuum, and […]
Preface I have no fond memories of Tseldora, but I could say that for the entirety of Dark Souls II. What surprises me is that I found a lot more to like when finally committing to this analysis. Part of this is thanks to my love for Seath as a character, but he is just […]
Preface Although Castle Cainhurst isn’t as expansive as I would have liked, the story behind it is still probably my favorite in Bloodborne. Gothic, medieval, evil, aristocracy, vampires; what is there not to love? It is one of the few areas which stays true to the horror inspiration the game initially presents while also seamlessly […]
Preface My general impression has been that encountering Willem ranges from confusion to disappointment. Here we get to meet a character so integral to the game’s events, yet the moment of truth proves anticlimactic. It doesn’t help that our time in Byrgenwerth is equally short and uneventful. In that respect, I consider myself in harmony […]
With not even a known name to add nuance, the Fishing Hamlet seems to have been exactly that: your typical “fishing village”. (漁村) Shipwrecks at sea, a lighthouse on the tallest peak to lead those ships back home, shallow waters to dock dingies in town, nets to haul in catches; everything revolves around eating the […]
Lokey Lore 