Bloodborne

Dear oh dear, what was it? The hunt, the blood, or the horrible dream?

Last update: July 15, 2025

I FUCKNG LOVE BLOODBORNE. I really hope to write my dissertation down the line about it, so I’m using this shrine page to log my thoughts I have on the game.  Bloodborne is a Fromsoft game about hunters killing beasts, once people who used the blood of old gods to cure their ailments. This will mostly be some of my current observations, as I need to replay and eventually platinum the game. This will be my thoughts from my first play through. If you want to play the game with no spoilers then I don’t suggest reading the rest of this, but if you don’t mind spoilers or have played and are interested in reading this then thank you! I hope you like my ideas. <3 Many of the topics discussed include menstruation, birth, and the experiences of AFAB people. This is NOT an invitation for gender critical/TERFs and bioessentialists to join this conversation. As there are no trans people in this game, I won’t mention them. That does not mean I don’t believe trans men and women have these experiences , as a transman myself I feel the need to say this. My usage of the word “women” in these games are only to apply to the characters, not real people who experience these things in real life.  

 Bloodborne at its core is a survival horror game, just with fromsoft combat.

Argument – Make your hunter a girl.

This is based off my own experience, as in my first play through I made my character a girl. The gameplay does not change if you make your character either gender, but dialogue can change with some of the people in Yharnam. In the broader themes in the story, it makes more sense for the intended protagonist (the character the player creates) chooses the female option. The reason I say to do this is because two of three endings make much more sense if the hunter you make is a girl. These two endings are “Honoring Wishes” and “Childhood Beginning”.  The “Honoring Wishes” ending is more dependent on Gherman and his relationship with Lady Maria and the Doll (which I’ll explain later).

In the “Honoring Wishes” ending, the player kills Gherman, and the Moon Presence arrives to make the player the watcher of the dream. I believe the gender imbalance of hunters is ridiculous, only two named women are hunters Lady Maria and Eileen the Crow. Regarding the relationship that Gherman has with the Doll, and by extension, Lady Maria it’s something disgusting. To some extent, taking watch over the dream as a girl hunter felt so much more comfortable. All the old gods in the game (NOT ALL BOSSES) are also implied to be female, usually they are mothers or daughters. It makes more sense as the Moon Presence gives a (sort of) motherly role to a female player, to watch over the dream and other hunters that come through.

**note: I have very mixed feelings on Gherman, I don’t think he’s an entirely horrible character as he is there to help you. I do believe the correct thing to do when approaching the end is to kill Gherman, because I don’t think he really dies. You can get some dialogue where he’s crying for Laurence, begging to be freed from the Hunters Dream. Gherman is also suffering, so I think that to free him is the moral thing to do lol.

In the “Childhood Beginning”, the player kills both the Moon Presence and Gherman. This leads to the player becoming a cute little slug, becoming a great one. Like I said before, the great ones you fight are usually females. They’re nothing like the ideas of female that humans are attached to, but it makes more sense that a female hunter would become a great one herself. In the process, the hunter transcends gender, humanity, and motherhood. This could apply to a male character as well, to transcend beyond gender and humanity, but not motherhood necessarily.

Lady Maria and The Doll

Lady Maria and the Doll are some of my favorite characters in the game, simply because they are essentially the same person. However, they are incredibly different. The player is introduced to the Doll before Lady Maria, who is only mentioned until the DLC where you fight her. Gherman made the Doll, to serve and help hunters as they come through the dream. However, he modelled her completely after Lady Maria. The two have the same face, hair, and voice.

Gherman was obsessed with Lady Maria but has grown bored with the Doll. Gherman openly invites the player: “You're welcome to use whatever you find. ...Even the doll, should it please you…”. This implies that Gherman views the Doll as nothing, but a sexual and complicit object. Gherman most likely became disinterested in the Doll because she is so different from the real Lady Maria.

Lady Maria is a headstrong hunter, who is determined to kill the player. Lady Maria’s excursions with Byrgenwerth and her violation of Kos’ body lead to her suicide, in turn pulling her into the Hunter’s Nightmare.

The two mirror each other beautifully, where the Doll is made into a submissive, feminine object. That isn’t to say she doesn’t feel or think, she ponders regularly about her own existence. She will cry if you give her a hair pin, because it’s the first time that a Hunter cared back. However, she is made to be motherly, subservient, and almost virginal.

Lady Maria on the other hand is incredibly aggressive, human, and is in a position of power in the Hunter’s Nightmare. The first time the player sees Maria, she’s bleeding, as she’s slit her own throat and wrists. This is one of the things that differentiates how Gherman might view Maria. The Doll, although lacking her personality, doesn’t bleed. Maria is a woman who does. Maria isn’t as traditionally feminine (especially for Victorian standards) she wears clothes that are closer to what the male hunters wear. She’s one of the only women who was part of the hunt.

(done for now, will write about Vicar Amelia next <3)