Bloodborne is a one of a kind game. It is the perfect balance of horror, action and mystery and it  merges these traits together so effortlessly to bring you a package that you cannot find anywhere else in gaming.

Fromsoftware really hit the nail on the head with this one as it also brings with it a refinement of the classic Dark Souls formula that emphasizes aggression and speed over caution, where the game incentivizes the player to keep attacking with short dodges, unlike the Dark Souls strategy of hit and run.

Now, another thing that Bloodborne offers is the most incredible and mind bending lore and world that we’ve seen in a long time. Halfway through the game, you will notice how the tone and atmosphere of the game changes from Gothic/Victorian horror to a cosmic, Lovecraftian nightmare, with ancient, alien Gods doing things and achieving goals that are far beyond the understanding of mortal men. All 3 of the game's endings serve to hammer in the theme of how everything is being orchestrated by beings far greater than us.

So, let’s take a look:

1. Yharnam Sunrise

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JbpOUKBVXIM

This is the first ending and the easiest one to get. After playing through the entire game, the player will be confronted by the doll upon visiting the Hunter’s Dream after they’ve defeated Mergo’s Wet Nurse. The doll then tells the players that Gehrman is waiting for us under the great tree. After going to Gehrman and exhausting all of his dialogue, the player is then faced with 2 options; to submit to Gehrman or to reject his offer of submission. If the player chooses to submit, Gehrman proceeds to decapitate us, upon which we wake up in Yharnam in the morning, after the hunt.

Lore implications:

After the decapitation, the doll is seen to walk up to a tombstone and wishes the hunter to find worth in the waking world, after which the hunter is shown to wake up in the morning to a sunrise, seemingly putting the hunt behind them. What this implies is that the night and the hunt are over, and the world is normal now as a new morning is welcomed in Yharnam.

However, this doesn’t really solve anything for the world, it just seems to imply that this specific night is over, but is almost assuredly going to happen again at some point because nothing has changed that may end the cycle, just that the player has played his part as a pawn, exactly as he was supposed to. 

The tons of tombstones located within the Hunter’s Dream make it seem like this has happened countless times before with countless different hunters who just chose to wake up and put everything behind them. It also sets up many questions about whether the whole game was a dream and we are waking up, or vice versa, with Gehrman possibly preventing the birth of a Great One.

2. Honoring Wishes

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swzoqD8GBPQ

Just like the Yharnam Sunrise ending, this one is very easy to get, just play through the whole game up until you reach Gehrman once more. However, this time, you have to refuse his offer of waking you up from the dream. Instead of throwing you straight to the ending, the game instead throws you into a fight with Gehrman, who is simultaneously one of the most difficult and one of the absolute best boss fights in gaming.

Upon defeating him, a terrifying Lovecraftian monster descends from the moon and embraces you, which is then followed by a cutscene of the doll pushing you on Gehrmans wheelchair.

Lore Implications:

After the Moon Presence embraces us, we are seen to be essentially taking Gehrmans place as the host of the dream. This once again does not fix anything and reinforces the cyclical nature of the world of Bloodborne, how we are all just puppets that serve to entertain alien gods whose goals and ambitions are far beyond our understanding, with the Moon Presence implied to be the one behind the whole hunt in the first place. How many times has this happened before? Was there a watcher of dreams before Gehrman?

In any case, the player is now the new watcher of dreams, guiding hunters in a cycle that may never end.

3. Childhood’s Beginning

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0KBHQyJYmo

This is Bloodborne’s secret ending. At the end, the goal is to once more reject Gehrmans offer and fight him. This time, however, instead of just being thrown into the wheelchair for the honoring wishes ending, we can now fight the Moon Presence for an entirely new ending. This is only possible if the player has come across and consumed 3, One Third of an Umbilical Cord throughout their journey. These are very spread out and there is no indication that they’re needed for this secret ending, so luckily you have this guide to help you:

• One of these is found in the Old Abandoned Workshop, which can be accessed through the Cathedral Ward door that is opened upon defeating the Blood starved Beast. Instead of going into the building, just run around to the back and carefully work your way down towards the left side, where you can jump on a platform that opens to the workshop. Go in and get it from the table.
• Follow through Arianne’s quest up until where she is in the Oedon Chapel sewer where she gives birth. Exhaust her dialogue and eventually, you will come across the Cord. Or, if you sent her to Iosefka, you can get it from there.
• If you go to Iosefka’s clinic before defeating Rom through the back entrance from the Forbidden Woods, you will see Iosefka on a stretcher. Exhaust the dialogue and retrieve the Cord.
• Another Cord will be retrieved upon defeating Mergo’s Wet Nurse.

It should be noted that while there are a total of 4 Cords to be collected, only 3 are needed to get the ending and can be used at any time. Once 3 have been used, the Moon Presence’s embrace gets cut short, because ofwhich it screams and initiates a fight with you. The bossfight itself is fairly easy, so after defeating it, you are transformed into a squid and cradled by the doll.

Lore Implication:

What this ending implies is that upon defeating the Moon Presence, the hunter inherits its powers and attains a form that is quite similar to that of the Great One’s. This means that one day, the hunter shall be the master of the Dream as they too are now a Great One, or at least have now joined a higher realm and can now do whatever they want, free of all the influence of any other being. However, the hunter is still young, and that is why they are being cradled by the doll, until they come of age and perhaps can use more of their power.

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