Insight.00: Synopsis

Bloodborne (2015)

Set in Yharnam, an ancient city renowned for its miraculous “blood ministration”—a unique medical practice capable of curing all ailments. The protagonist, afflicted with an incurable illness, arrives in search of “Paleblood”. Immediately after undergoing a dubious blood transfusion, they are drawn into an otherworldly realm known as the “Hunter’s Dream”, becoming a “Hunter” under the guidance of Gehrman, the host of the dream. At this time, Yharnam is in the terrifying grip of an endless Night of the Hunt. The “scourge of the beast”—a catastrophic side effect of the blood treatment—has swept through the city, driving maddened mobs to hunt through the streets as they themselves succumb to the beastly transformation.

Seeking the root cause of this tragedy, the Hunter ventures deep into the city, eventually defeating Vicar Amelia—who has transformed into a monstrous beast—in Cathedral Ward. Memories left at the altar reveal a pivotal history: Laurence, founder of the Healing Church, ignored the warning of his mentor, Master Willem of Byrgenwerth—“Fear the Old Blood”—and laid hands upon the forbidden, mysterious “Old Blood”.

Tracing these roots back to the academy of Byrgenwerth, the Hunter slays “Rom, the Vacuous Spider,” a creature lurking at the bottom of the lake. With Rom’s demise, the veil obscuring reality is torn away, revealing a maddening “Blood Moon” in the sky. Cosmic beings beyond human comprehension, known as the “Great Ones,” are exposed throughout the city, and the phantom cry of a newborn infant begins to echo from nowhere. The scourge of the beast was merely a secondary byproduct of humanity brushing against the presence of these gods; the true horror of the world is finally laid bare.

Pursuing the “School of Mensis,” the faction advancing the ritual, the Hunter penetrates the “Nightmare of Mensis”—an otherworldly plane born from their minds. Deep within this realm, after a brutal struggle, the Hunter slays “Mergo’s Wet Nurse,” guardian of the infant Great One. With her defeat, the crying ceases, and the ritual behind the nightmare night comes to an end.

Having fulfilled their purpose, the Hunter returns to the Hunter’s Dream, only to find their central refuge, the Workshop, engulfed in flames. Gehrman offers words of comfort and proposes to sever the Hunter’s neck with his own hands, granting a merciful death to send them back to the waking world of Yharnam at dawn. Depending on this choice and the depth of “Insight” accumulated throughout their journey, the story branches into three distinct endings.

Ending 1: Yharnam Sunrise

Accepting the offer, the Hunter is beheaded and liberated from the dream. Awakening in Yharnam under the light of a new dawn, the protagonist forgets the night’s nightmare and lives on as a human, while the Hunter’s Dream itself endures, awaiting its next victim.

Ending 2: Honoring Wishes

Refusing the offer and defeating Gehrman, the Hunter faces the true mastermind behind the dream: the Great One known as the “Moon Presence”. Stripped of the power to resist, the Hunter is taken into its embrace and becomes the new host of the dream in Gehrman’s stead, bound to a wheelchair to await future hunters for eternity.

Ending 3: Childhood’s Beginning

By consuming three pieces of the hidden key item “One Third of Umbilical Cord” and possessing profound Insight, the Hunter defies and slays the Moon Presence. Transcending the limits of humanity, the Hunter transforms into a strange, slug-like creature—a newborn Great One—heralded as the beginning of humanity’s next childhood.