Bloodborne Secrets - 1: Old Blood, Impostor Iosefka, Third cords and some other insights
1 - Old blood, Impostor Iosefka, and some insights.
So I was looking into some stuff, though I could share.
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1- Following the game progression, you learn about Old blood from touching the beastly skull of Laurence, in the grand Cathedral, and triggering the Night and a cut-scene:
Master Willem, I've come to bid you farewell.
No, but you will never listen. I tell you, I will not forget our adage.
Fear the old blood.
I must take my leave.
And
"Heir to the ritual of blood, purveyor of ministration. Place your hand on the altar's sacred covering, and inscribe Master Laurence's adage upon your flesh."
Location: The note is on the right side near some candles before you ascend the steps inside the Grand Cathedral in Cathedral Ward
Fear the Old Blood. Laurence does not listen and ends up as a Beast in the Nightmare and real life.
Then, you take that suspicious beggar (the abhorrent beast) to Impostor Iosefka.
She tells you:
“Oh, hello... You're alive. Good. I've received another patient. This time, I'll be trying old blood. I've achieved much. And I owe it all to you. Take this, as thanks. Custom made. And cheers, to the discovery of kinship. Doesn't it make you feel warm inside?”
Well.. That man that can turn into an Abhorrent beast provides Old Blood for the works of the doctor... And her toast, Kinship:
blood relationship.
synonyms: family ties, blood ties, common ancestry*, consanguinity*
The Old Blood, The beast blood, the foundation of the healing church, represented at the altar on the Cathedral, on the nightmare church too, the common ancestry, represented again on this toast.
What do you think? Old blood = Beast blood? It was the thing that gave them strength to go after Cainhurst, wasn’t it? Following Alfred questline - Beast hunter then Vileblood hunter. Edit: And why Old? Isn't Old Yharnam a place infected by beasts? Old Yharnam blood?
2 - More about Impostor Iosefka:
By bringing her the Old blood she gives you Blue Elixir. The other npcs are numbing mist, apart from the little girl, which is Lead elixir, fitting since she carried the music box. This is very strange because many reasons:
Numbing mist says:
“Said to be used by the blood hunters of Cainhurst, its recipe is a secret closely guarded by the line of nobles inhabiting the castle”
So Impostor Iosefka knows recipes from Cainhurst but she seems from the Church, sworn enemies. Not weird, if you consider she also gets pregnant on the Blood moon, like:
Arianna wears the Noble Dress found in Castle Cainhurst indicating she is a descendant of the nobles that lived there.
Considering she knows one secret of Cainhurst, how to make numbing mist (which helps you against Vicar Amelia too haha), she can know another, as, the blood capable of bearing a special child? Or she is a descendent from Cainhurst, infiltrated in the Church? Or she became the evolution sought by Master Willem as her cord states, finally capable of bearing a child as she says?
You see how she does not wear shoes? The suspicious beggar, Madman Wallar from the tombs, and Impostor Iosefka. Weird right? Worse, is the item that drops from Arianna… Her shoes. I dunno what this means yet haha.
3- And then:
"When the red moon hangs low, the line between man and beast is blurred. And when the Great Ones descend, a womb will be blessed with child.”
Arianna gives birth to a celestial larvae, like tons found at the Upper Cathedral Ward. It could be a representation of how many dreams there were already, hunters, as Arianna cord states: "
Every Great One loses its child, and then yearns for a surrogate, and Oedon, the formless Great One, is no different. To think, it was corrupted blood that began this eldritch liaison.".
They did it many times, you are doing it again, offering a Cainhurst Woman to Oedon.
Impostor Iosefka does not give birth, and her umbilical cord is special. Is the only one not related to a lost child.
Iosefka's Cord: "Provost Willem sought the Cord in order to elevate his being and thoughts to those of a Great One, by lining his brain with eyes. The only choice, he knew, if man were to ever match Their greatness."
The others:
“Every Great One loses its child, and then yearns for a surrogate.”
Meaning there was a child lost and a surrogate 3 times already, at least. Impostor Iosefka has another child coming.
The other 3 cords. Remember how there are 3 nightmares slain?
The Wet nurse (Mergo if you want), The Orphan of Kos and the Moon presence.
And three “Guardians” before them: Micolash, Lady maria and Gehrman.
And you get Rom, protected by the 3 shadows of Yharnam…
One, a mage, which casts spells and runs away from you
The other a fast swordsman, but easy parry.
The last mixes ranged and close combat…. Well, who were this shadows? You see the shadow of the orphan before nightmare slain, so...
4- More:
The moon presence is the representation of dream and the hunters, per umbilical cord:
Workshop's Cord: "Every Great One loses its child, and then yearns for a surrogate. The Third Umbilical Cord precipitated the encounter with the pale moon, which beckoned the hunters and conceived the hunter's dream."
The Mergo is representing the Nightmare of Mensis.
"Every Great One loses its child, and then yearns for a surrogate. This Cord granted Mensis audience with Mergo, but resulted in the stillbirth of their brains."
The orphan is the hamlet and the hunters nightmare. It does not have a cord there, which leaves Arianna cord, since Impostor Iosefka child had not being born. So Arianna cord is representing the beginning, a Cainhurst woman offered to Oedon? That is what began this liaison, with Gerhman being the first hunter. Something like that?
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So there you go. The three cords of the birth of three "nightmares places" (Hunters dream, fishing hamlet (which fed the nightmare frontier) and nightmare of Mensis), represented by 3 "nightmare great ones” (Moon presence, Orphan of Kos and Mergo), guarded by 3 "nightmare hunters” (Gehrman, lady Maria, Micholash, or the thing that they beckoned, the wet nurse a mix of shadow and beast).
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