So I don’t know if anyone else noticed this
but if not I think I’m about to break some pretty big ground in video game analysis. This, after all, is what brought me to YouTube—to
research and talk about the literary interpretations of games and hopefully understand their true
meaning. So are you ready for ol’ SolePorpoise to
blow your minds? Okay, Bloodborne, is heavily inspired by H.P. Lovecraft. Boom! Let's see here... oh. hmmm. oh... Okay, change of plans—let’s actually talk
about why that matters. Lovecraft’s philosophy was that of cosmicism—not
JUST the idea that humans will discover aliens that they can fight should they find the right
tools but they will discover aliens that are so superior to humans that they don’t even
notice us. It was the idea that our species, while having
value to us, is a useless coincidence. We are to these cosmic beings as ants are
to us. It’s important to note that he was inspired
by mythologies so when his stories of Old Ones gradually turned into one, it was no
surprise. His mythology, however, was different. It was used to push humans out of their humancentric
worldviews where a current Christian myth kept his society at the center. But where Lovecraft’s invention of alien
gods was revolutionary, his execution… wasn’t. He talked a lot about how horrible these discoveries
were to characters but he wasn’t great at communicating that to the reader. Hidetaka Miyazaki on the other hand, seems
to have the tool Lovecraft needed—the understanding and ability to tell this mythology through
the traditional myth. Because viewing Bloodborne as a traditional
myth, is essential to understanding just how important a contribution it is to gaming. Like peanut butter and chocolate, movies and
popcorn, reading Internet comments and the overwhelming desire to stick a fork in your
eye, some things just naturally complement each other. In this case, it’s Lovecraftian gods and
Joseph Campbell’s myth. Using his understanding of the universal need
for mythology, Miyazaki delivers what I’m calling the antimyth and in participating
in it, the audience experiences the deconstruction and ultimately the destruction of the human-centered
myth. In my first video on Dark Souls, I discussed
how Miyazaki presents Joseph Campbell’s idea of the Hero’s Journey—the idea that
many cultures independent of each other have a story that shares the same motifs. So Jesus, Buddha, Hercules, The Chosen Undead—their
stories followed similar paths. And while we’re going to use Joseph Campbell
as a guide again in this video, we’re going to focus on the bigger picture. Because while the hero is important, they’re
a smaller part of the larger myths. Contained in these myths we find defining
tales that talked about our creation and the choices we make that are consequential for
the rest of humanity. And when applying Joseph Campbell’s research
on the myth to Miyazaki’s work, we find Dark Souls was written in the recognizable
handwriting of the myths that came before came before it. For example fire theft was a common trope
in the hero’s journey. Bill Moyers: In the story of Prometheus—going after the fire and bringing it back and benefiting humanity and suffering for it Campbell: Yeah. I mean Prometheus brings fire to mankind and consequently civilization. That by the way is a universal theme. The hero—fire theft Usually with a relay race after it. Um... it's a world-wide myth—the fire theft. There's something symbolic in this motif of the hero’s journey
that resonates with us, and that’s the reason we partake in a fire relay in Dark Souls. While we probably didn’t even notice it,
through the game’s mechanics complementing its story, we don’t pass off the flame between
other people, but rather, we pass the flame between ourselves. From bonfire to bonfire, or as seen through
the game’s mechanics, from check point to check point, we slowly make the same divine
journey that Gwyn did to link the flame. Now before you dismiss this as useless information,
and I’m sure, some of you already have, This actually matters. Because as Campbell saw it, speaking through
myth was a universal language that all humans can understand—and more importantly, it’s
much more effective at transferring that message to the audience. And if we look carefully enough, we’ll see
the outline of the most popular creation myth in Dark Souls—when adam and eve ate from
the tree of knowledge of good Campbell: When man had eaten from the fruit of the first tree—the tree of the knowledge of good and evil— He was said to have been expelled from the garden. He had already expelled himself from the garden. The garden is the place of unity. Nonduality. Nonduality of male and female, nonduality of man and god, nonduality of good and evil You eat the duality and you're on the way out. Ours is a mythology that's based on the insight of duality And so our religions tend to be ethical in its accent—sin and atonement; right and wrong. It started with a sin, you see. SolePorpoise: According to the biblical myth, gained from
eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil is the knowledge of god—the knowledge
to see the world like god does—through duality. And that’s the reason we’re instructed
to live moral lives in this myth. Because a moral life, is a life lived with
god working through us. As we’re going to see, the fire and the
forbidden fruit in garden of eden share the same meaning in our creation. Because both events mark humanity’s understanding
of the dual nature of the world. The only difference is Dark Souls doesn’t
call it duality, but rather disparity. So just like the Garden of Eden, the flame
brings with it duality. But along with that recognition of the dual
nature of the world, both of these moments in our creation give us something else—it
also gives us a path to a meaningful life. Campell: If the world is a mixture of good and evil, you do not put yourself in accord with it. You identify with the good and you fight against the evil. SolePorpoise: It’s the same thing in Dark Souls. Our purpose is to not put ourselves in accord
with the dual nature of the world, but to fight for the light, and against the Dark. As many of you know; however, the chosen undead
is offered a choice—they can either not rekindle the flame as encouraged by Darkstalker
Kaathe or they can sacrifice themselves to rekindle it, and that’s encouraged by Kingseeker
Frampt. But if you didn’t trust these guys to give
you a wholesome option, that might have something to do with the fact that there’s a cultural
distrust for serpents. Because this too is reminiscent of the snake
who offered Eve the forbidden fruit. Campbell notes that there’s an important
reas on that myths commonly use snakes as a vessel for change. Because to the people telling these stories,
snakes are representative of the fact that they shed their skin and are reborn from what
they leave behind. And that is, after all, the state of the world
in Dark Souls—where the fire is fading and needs to be rekindled. But it’s not the result choice that matters. What matters is what the choice represents. The player now sees the world in the same
way as Gwyn did and they will make their choice in the same place that Gwyn did, when he made
the decision that would change the world. So should they make a dark world for humans
or a world of light and dark that the gods valued, it is the player character that will
decide the fate of humanity. It’s beautiful stuff and it succeeds in
its goal that all myths set out to accomplish—for the player to see god in themselves through
experiencing it. For seeing the world through a lens of duality,
is the same lens through which the gods view the world. Miyazaki carefully designed his myth to have
the same symbolism of the myths that came before it. So even though it might have different details,
we still recognize the meaning behind those details. And just as Campbell foretells, Miyazaki’s
version of the myth ends up contributing to a transcendental experience because the player
now feels like they have been a part of something that was much bigger than they are. As we just saw, Dark Souls is based on the
same motifs of other myths, and just like other myths, humans have a role to play—what
that gives them the opportunity to elevate themselves to the same level as the gods. That brings us to Bloodborne—a game that
plays like Dark Souls, feels like Dark Souls, God damnit! but its story couldn’t be more in contrast
with that of Dark Souls. Because while there are gods in Bloodborne, humanity will not elevate themselves to their level Miyazaki will again
have us experience a myth with different details. But this time, when he uses the recognizable
motifs, we’re going to see an inversion of the meaning we would typically get from
one of our otherwise recognizable myths. So instead of elevating us and allowing us
see god in ourselves, we will find the destruction of the human-centered myth. To best understand just how important the
events we’re about to talk about are, here’s a quick recap of the lore for the uninitiated. First there was Byrgenwerth, a place of learning. A place that realized humans and the Great
Ones were separate entities—and the great ones were far superior to Humanity. Willem knew this and, while he wanted to understand
them better, he was “disillusioned with the limitations of humanity.” So he went on to line his brain with eyes. And he encouraged his followers to do the
same so they could, someday, evolve beyond the confines of humanity to better understand
the great ones. Then, in the chalice dungeons, they discovered
the quote unquote holy medium. And in a schism with the college, Laurence
founded the church. An organization that would not honor the adage
of “fear the old blood” and would instead imbibe it. And that brings us to the most important moment
in Bloodborne’s history as far as we know it, when the Yharnamites attempt to brute
a force relationship with the gods. Unlike other myths, Lawrence eating this forbidden
fruit will not give humans the knowledge of god, but rather, it will forever curse them
to their bestial nature. So it all started with the chalice dungeons
where Byrgenwerth scholars discovered the old blood. And with it, they were able to cure diseases. That’s all we really know about this early
time in the story, and it leaves out an important step, because it doesn’t make sense for
the Byrgenwerth scholars to use the blood to cure disease especially when there’s
an adage of the college that tells them not to. But it’s not until we view it in its mythical
context that humanity using blood to cure illness begins to make a lot more sense. For once they found it, it was not simply
the medium of blood healing, it was called the holy medium. It’s a subtle hint at the direction in which
things are about to go and as we now know, this lead to the creation of the church. And as you might expect, the church acts as
a direct symbol for man attempting to create a relationship with gods in a reality that
consists of them—that would be the function of any church. But notice the intentional change in the direction of the narrative. Laurence founds the church, not a different
college with different leadership, that will split off and begin the using blood. For Laurence’s followers won’t be content
with simply studying the Great Ones like the scholars of Byrgenwerth. And that brings us to a surprisingly important
character—vicar Amelia. Because she’s going to teach us about the
church and its practices when imbibing the blood. Unlike our character who imbibes the blood
and forgets about it in a sick room, there’s a ceremony associated with imbibing the blood
for Amelia. So it’s important our encounter with her
is set in the Grand Cathedral when we find her taking part in a ritual that’s intentionally
borrowed from Catholicism—communion. To fully appreciate the significance of communion, let's look to Campbell to give this ritual context in the larger antimyth. Campell: One of the wonderful things in the Catholic ritual is going to communion. There you're taught that this is the body and blood of the savior. And you take it to you turn inward and there he's working within you. SolePorpoise: Through this context, we gain an understanding
of what it means to imbibe the blood and why this ritual came in to being through the church. To partake in communion with the great ones
is to attempt to unify themselves with these gods. To have the blood of god pumping through their
hearts. Notice the attention to detail in faithfully
preserving this ritual from the catholic myth. Should communion be taken by the hand it should
be placed in the left hand with the right hand holding the left. And this is the same way that Amelia holds
her pendant, with her right hand holding the left. Also important to the ritual is it’s to
be held at the same level as the heart to resemble the importance of god working through it. And this is something we notice in Vicar Amelia
even when she’s in her beast form. For she keeps her left hand at the same level
as her heart at all moments that she is able. This is all to say that Bloodborne doesn’t
clumsily use communion by analogy and then turn it into their version of it. Instead, it’s careful to preserve everything
it can from the ritual to show its importance. It’s respectful of the ceremony and what
that means in the context of myth. Because communion is Catholicism’s way of
becoming unified with god. And having god working through us through
imbibing blood is even presented in the box art. For we see a character in the Hunter Set with
a crimson color that resembles wings that resemble angel wings. But these are red and thus, granted through
blood. It shows us that the blood is our key to accessing
the divine transformation that will be a part of this myth. It’s a transformation that’s paralleled
in Amelia’s Transformation. Because the shot that focuses on her silhouette
doesn’t show her claws, or teeth transform. It shows her upper back, the same place that
wings are located, erupt with blood. It’s similar to the wings of blood that
spew from the backs of Amygdalas, and it represents our transition into this divine plane. Communion with the great ones marks an important
inversion of a typical myth. In any other myth, including the very one
Bloodborne borrowed the ritual from, humanity plays a unique role in which they can become
one with god. Instead, there’s a clear cost associated
with this gesture—humans become, not invigorated, but sick and are doomed to succumb to the
bestial nature that lurks inside them. And it’s from this moment that that the
rest of the events of Bloodborne unfold. Because now Yharnam is stuck in a seemingly
endless cycle of its citizens turning into beasts, and hunters who hunt them. Humans will go on to try different methods
to make themselves relevant in a world of gods. But all of them will fail. This is ultimately the main idea behind Bloodborne. In a world of gods, humans naturally see themselves
as a part of that higher plane of existence, and be it through communion, meditation, or
some other means, humans will try some method to gain entry. But Bloodborne inverts that and not just for
our myths, but also for the expectations from the player. And to better understand how it translates
to the player, we need to look no further than Bloodborne’s inverted hero’s journey. Let’s start this section with a quick distinction:
Where the myth is focused on the things that we experience from the external, the Hero’s
Journey within the myth is focused on things that we experience from the inside. Therefore the myth is about god and how he
affects us, and the hero’s journey is how humans can have a spiritual transformation
from within where they overcome their egos and take on traits that resemble the traits
of god. But as we’ve already discussed, humanity
seems to be barred from entering this realm in Blooborne. And that’s what we experience in this corrupted
version of the hero’s journey. So just like I did on my video on Dark Souls,
we’re going to apply the steps of the hero’s journey and see how Miyazaki merges the meaning
of those steps with the games mechanics to translate to the player. But this time, where the end result should
be the player using their humanity to overcome their egos and demonstrate traits that resemble
the traits of god, we’re going to see how this corrupted version of the journey makes
the player feel dejected by the limitations of humanity. Now in the beginning act of Bloodborne, things
are fairly normal from the perspective of the hero’s journey, and the first three
steps all seem to come at once. The first is the Ordinary World and while
we don’t see it, we have an idea of what the ordinary world was for our character from
the stat select screen that tells us our history, and we have our call to adventure which is
our contract that obligates us to carrying out the hunt. These two steps can’t really be inverted
because they affect the character, and thereby the player’s motivation. So there’s not much to work with here since
Bloodborne can’t tell its story if the player isn’t motivated to carry it out. So let’s move onto the next step—the meeting
with the mentor. In Dark Souls, this was the meeting with Oscar
who gives us the divine gift of the Estus Flask and it was the step that was so important
to Dark Souls’ hero’s journey, that I talked about it ad nauseam in my last video. In Bloodborne, the Blood Vials serve the same
purpose as a healing mechanic and as a divine gift. It’s the sole reason we’re able to get
through the game because it teaches us how to navigate the game’s exceptionally dangerous
world through trial and error. And it’s an item we use through the game—beginning
to end that gives us a psychological boost so that we know we’re making progress. But our mentor here, the blood minister, is
a little bit more of a sketchy character than Oscar was. And while it’s not immediately clear, there's good reason for us to be suspicious. Because w hile we need the blood to cure us of our
illness, it causes the player to willingly inject themselves with the very thing that
has turned men into beasts. And this is the brilliance of Miyazaki. Just like in Dark Souls, he is able to use
the game’s mechanics as a metaphor. For the blood also devolves the player into
beasts. The first thing you might notice about the
blood vials when comparing it to the Estus Flask is it reverts to the more flawed system
that forces us to waste time farming them. Now, can players go through the game without
making an effort to restock their supply of blood vials? Absolutely. Will they? Not likely unless they were trying to prove
a point that they’re better than me. What was probably the typical experience for
the naĂŻve Bloodborne player was they had to farm blood vials in one way or another. For me it was a route in Central Yharnam. Many other players likely had a different
route or method that they felt was a reliable way to get blood vials. But there was probably never any serious number
crunching on what was the best method. Instead, we felt a certain path was the best
because it was the one that worked for us before. There’s a reason for this. There’s a part of our brains that are carried
over from our animal origins. It’s the part that associates locations
with certain stimuli. Similarly, that’s the reason why we think
of our farming location as a good one. It’s our animal brain telling us that we’re
in the right place because it knows it has paid off before. And if you felt uneasy traversing the world
with your blood vials lower than the max amount, that was our animal brains telling us we’re
breaking from our proven ritual. It knows that we can and should be more prepared. And even though we rarely use all of our blood
vials when exploring the world, we’re still creating an unnecessary risk. Both of these things can be attributed to
that same primitive animal part of the brain that also shares its name with one of the
great ones—the amygdala. It’s an important clue because this is also
the part of the brain that recognizes what we should be afraid of—and we’re going
to see a lot more on fear in this upcoming steps. For now, just note that the narrative about
men turning into beasts after consuming the blood works in more ways than just in the
story. It’s a direct commentary we get from the
game that keeps cropping up. Be it from the hunter tools that acknowledge
the primitive parts of men, Or the runes that tell of the horrific and unwelcome bestial instinct
within our hearts—it all combines to say that a human brain is an animal brain. And by being forced to farm the blood vials
in this ritualistic way, we too are giving into our animal nature. Our next important step in the journey is
something Campbell points out to be a motif of the modern myths—the bar scene. Here the hero is just about to cross the first
threshold and begin their initiation process. It’s where they encounter the characters
who have already experienced the special world and it serves to contrast the hero’s inexperience. Luke: 10,000?! We could almost buy our own ship for that! Han: And who's going to fly it, kid? You? Luke: You bet I could. I'm not such a bad pilot myself. We don't have to sit here and listen to-- SolePorpoise: It’s a taste of what’s to come when they
experience the outside world for themselves. In Dark Souls, it’s Firelink shrine. A safe place that’s just on the border of
the special world. It’s here that the player will run into
NPCs who will offer him or her advice on how to navigate Lordran as well as NPCs who will
sell them the spells and miracles that they’ve already learned. And each time we encounter an NPC whom we
send back to Firelink, they automatically know where to go. It’s well known as a haven in this dangerous
world. In Bloodborne, things are different. The equivalent to the Bar scene comes after
the first mandatory boss, Gascoigne—Oeden Chappel. Here, there are incense that ward off the
beasts that make it a safe space. But where the warriors and seasoned veterans
of the special world should inhabit the bar like in Dark Souls, we instead find people
who know less about the special world than you do. Instead of knowing where to go like in Dark
Souls, they ask you where to go. But the player likely doesn’t have an informed
answer on their first play through. They’re given a choice where they can send
them to Iosefka’s Clinic, Oedon Chappel, or nowhere at all. In this sense, the player is just as informed
as the NPCs looking for a good answer. And giving them a wrong answer, as we know,
will make them subject to Imposter Iosefka’s weird experiments. So there's a lot here at stake if our intention is for them to survive. So the value of a bar scene isn’t just
an obscure reference that we’re meant to pick up on should we do the research. There’s a reason this interaction from the
hero’s journey exists and why it is inverted—so the player will feel a sense of loneliness
and despair. After I defeated Rom and revealed the real
terror behind the events of the game, it was the first time I desperately wanted to talk
to the NPCs. I longed for them to tell me that this was
a normal part of the hunt and Cthulu-like creatures are nothing out of the ordinary. Because discovering the first amygdala wasn’t
just a weird out of place allusion to what was going to happen later in the story. They were now everywhere. It made me feel discomfited and I wanted to
know that someone else has seen it before. Instead, the refugees of Oedon chapel were
beset by a psychological decline much worse than mine. They were less prepared for this than the
player was. And so the player is alone in what is the
game’s true special world. And the Oedon Chappel brings us to the next
extremely important step of this hero’s journey: the meeting with the Goddess. This is a step where the character experiences
love and that love can be romantic or maternal. So let’s look at Arianna, because she offers
us inversions of both romantic and maternal love. As for her romantic love, what we should expect
is a scene like what we get in The Lion King where Nala gives Simba that very inappropriate
“fuck me” face. And it’s to the tune of the on-the-nose
song “Can You Feel the Love Tonight.” But instead of True Love, Arianna is a lady
of the night. So rather than helping us to understand what
love is, she offers shallow and unfulfilling pleasure. So what about her maternal love? For that, let’s look at her motherhood. Now it’s not a new idea to have a character
impregnated by aliens. But being impregnated by alien gods is a unique
one. And because this is in the context of a myth
and already borrows so heavy from Catholicism, there seems to be a lot in this story that
resembles the Virgin Birth that takes place in the New Testament. That’s because the virgin birth is a common
motif of
the myth. Campbell: This is the virgin birth. It's the birth of spiritual man out of the animal man. Moyers: But in these stories, that's the moment when gods are born. Campbell: And you know who that god is? It's you. It's not a physical birth. It's symbolic of a spiritual transformation. That's what the virgin birth's about. As we know, Arianna is impregnated by a Great
One and that on its own elevates her to the goddess status. But also contained in her story is the fact
that she was impregnated without touch just like the Virgin Mary for it was initiated
by the great one without a physical form—Oedon. But as you'd expect, the story of the virgin birth is inverted. It's not virginity that makes Arianna special. Instead, the one who is associated with virginity,
the nun, is ignored and Oedon impregnates the whore with special blood. Instead of being told she would be the mother
to god before he impregnated her like Mary was, Oedon Surreptitiously impregnates Arianna. Lastly, Arianna doesn’t take her baby to
a manger like Mary did, but rather, she takes it to the gutters. This is where the audience is supposed to
feel the most uncontrovertibly beautiful thing about being human. To experience love. But here, Arianna does not love her child
but rather, she is horrified by it. And for me, this is one of the most horrific
events I’ve witnessed in gaming. But it’s not for shock value. But rather, it was to expose our human weakness. That’s the importance of this inverted step. We do not see this virgin birth as a metaphor
for a spiritual transformation without a physical touch like Campbell talks about. Instead, we simply experience horror. Later we have atonement with the father, who
isn’t necessarily restricted to being our father but rather, a figure with immense power—in
Bloodborne, that would be the Moon Presence. Lastly, there’s Apotheosis which is a spiritual
transformation but more on these last two steps later. All of these inversions matter when taken
together to contribute to the hero’s journey because, as I’ve already said, they don’t
work to uplift us, but rather, they work to give us experiences and emotions that are
unique to humanity. But these experiences and emotions reveal our weakness. And while these are important, I think there’s
one step that stands out. Because there's a moment in the game where
we engage in what should be the most pivotal part of the journey—where the hero confronts
and conquers the abyss. This act is going to mirror the step in the journey referred to by Campbell as the Belly of the Whale. It’s where the hero appears to have died
and that’s important because it symbolizes the fact that the fact that the hero has to
shed an aspect to themselves that’s holding them back so they can become fully prepared
for what’s to come. And that’s exactly what we get from the
Snatcher. Because unlike every other fight in the game,
if we fail, we don’t return to our last lantern, but rather, we’re abducted and
taken to the alien world of Hypogean Gaol where we’re seemingly trapped. And as we’re going to see, Bloodborne uses
horror more effectively than ever before to make this step better translate to the player. It marks some of the most sophisticated design
choices in the horror game genre. Because one of its tools is to show that the
larger system that governs the rules of the story can be broken. A great example of this is PT, a game that’s,
at its core, a puzzle game. So the player is reliant on carrying over
the same rules of reality that govern their life, and the laws of logic that help the
navigate it. This is why PT is so effective at what it
does. Logic is essential for solving these reality
based puzzles, but we can’t rely on our only mechanism for survival because reality
breaks down. Minutes tick backwards, hallways go on forever,
and fourth walls are broken. This all works together to transfer a feeling
of powerlessness to the player. To make them understand that they’re at
the mercy of a system that’s more powerful than them. And that brings us to Yahar'gul. Here we have no choice but to face this challenge. If you try to die or use the Hunter's Mark, to force the game to take you back to your last lantern, it will return you to the jail
cell instead—here, the system as we knew it has broken down. We are no longer able to exploit the system
because it anticipates us trying to override it. It’s the ps4 telling us: "I'm sorry Dave. I'm afraid I can't do that. This is important because just like how understanding
reality is essential to overcoming the challenges in PT but reality starts to break down, our
inability to force the game into letting us back to the Hunter’s dream offers us the
same feeling of powerlessness. Because instead of our understanding of reality
being our tool for success, in Bloodborne, it’s our opportunity to upgrade our stats
and gear. But now we're prohibited from doing this until we escape. The player has always been in the situation
where they decide whether or not they are strong enough to continue fighting in a certain
area—this is the hallmark of a Souls game. It’s why their brutal difficulty is tolerated. And this impacts the challenge of the area
substantially. Now we have a constant reminder that we’re
likely outclassed and our fight or flight instinct is putting more pressure on the flight
side. This gives us a nagging feeling of doubt in
our abilities because it disarms us of the key to our strength. It’s like when Dumbo lost his feather and
had to realize that his ability to fly came from within. And this feeling of doubt heavily influences
our decisions and that leads us to the second reason this area is brilliantly designed. Because in addition to doubting our ability
to handle this challenge, Bloodborne takes advantage of another tool of the horror game
genre—to charge the player with multiple meaningful decisions. Since we are abducted and taken to the center
of the dungeon, we have no reliable way to know how to escape. And what’s more is we’re at the bottom
level of a three-dimensional labyrinth with no idea where the exit is. We can go left, right, upstairs, which lead
to more stairs both up and down, which all lead to new areas on their own. And every time we reveal a new corridor or
stairwell, we’re also revealing a new risk. Will the path we choose reveal the exit or
will it bring us deeper into the dungeon. This is all extremely important to the overall
experience. Because the emotional weight of our decisions and
the vast amounts of them contribute to one of the most anxiety inducing, adrenaline pumping,
and all out terrifying experiences I’ve had in gaming. And it might be tempting to classify this
scene as just another unfair cheap way to frustrate the player like the Souls games
can be known for, but this was an extremely important moment in the context of the hero’s
journey. Because, the Belly of the Whale scene we got
here was followed faithfully. It’s usually a scene where the hero is taken
prisoner or is otherwise trapped against their will, it’s a scene where they appear to
have died and return from the abyss, it’s a scene where they shed a weaker part of themselves
so that they can take on the more demanding challenges of the special world. And that’s why this is so expertly handled—because
in addition to the player experiencing all of these moments, by delivering this scene
through horror, Miyazaki is able to directly communicate this feeling of self-overcoming
to the player. For players will overcome that animal part
of their brains that’s screaming at them to be terrified of every new hallway and every
new monster so that they can conquer and return from the abyss. But this isn’t all that’s important about
this scene because as we know, this is the inverted hero’s journey. So just like with every other step we’ve
talked about at length, instead of being uplifted by this, we’re going to experience demoralization. Because what Bloodborne giveth, Bloodborne
taketh away. Because as we know, we return to Yahar’gul. And this time, we find that our participation
in one of the most powerful acts in the game turns out to be a ruse. As we know, after we defeat Rom and enter
Yahar’gul from its normal entrance, we find this area is different on all accounts. While this should be a moment where the hero
returns to conquered ground, they instead find the layout has changed with new and more
difficult enemies. But more important than this, defeating Rom reveals something new to the player that was likely there during our prison break. Now we can see the Amygdalas who look down on us from high above. Unable to be conquered and likely unconcerned with my existence. And upon having that creepy realization that I was being watched during my desperate fight for survival, I felt instantly dejected. Here, every one of my decisions mattered to
me—they were crucial to my survival—and upon conquering the abyss, I felt like I had
just ascended from prisoner to warden. But that was never true. These Amygdala didn’t intervene and probably
didn’t care any of my decisions that felt so important at the time. For my concerns were human concerns. And they have no impact on the universe. Even if they're the actions of a hero. And with this realization, I felt nostalgic
for the much more difficult, much more terrifying experience of my jail break—A time before
I had the insight that revealed the Amygdalas. Because even though I was in an alien world,
legitimately confused and frightened, at least at that moment, the story was about me. Unlike other myths, the most pivotal moment
for the hero of the myth didn’t help the hero to save the world—it made me realize
how insignificant I was. Players participate in The Hero’s Journey
because they’re certain that they will find themselves at the center of the myth. But players in Bloodborne gain no such insight. Instead, we have done the equivalent of imbibing
the forbidden blood. In participating in this version of the hero’s
journey, we went in thinking humans would conquer this world and unite ourselves with
some aspect of god. Instead, we discover that we’re nothing
more than sophisticated beasts with good intentions. It’s important to note that Campbell doesn’t
take any of these motifs of the myth literally. To him, they're all metaphors that offer humans a path to become better than their bestial instincts and put them in touch with the better parts of their
nature. That’s why Bloodborne functions so well
at what it does. We don’t need to have researched Campbell
to feel the universal message of a myth and become elevated. In the same way, we don’t need to have researched
Campbell to feel the Universal Message of Bloodborne, that humans will have multiple
futile attempts to see the gods in themselves, but will ultimately succumb to their animal
nature. This was the point Lovecraft was trying to
make—these gods don’t exist for humanity—they exist with no concern for humanity. The myth is Miyazaki’s tool to makes us
truly feel this way because it is universally about us. About us and our place in the universe. It’s about us and our destiny to inherit
the earth. But here, Miyazaki uses it to point out that
even at our greatest, we are but ants to these gods. But there’s another option that completes
this antimyth. Should we follow the instructions at the school
of Mensis’ Lecture Building and use three third Cords, we will ascend after defeating
the Moon Presence. The player character’s ascension is marked
by another virgin birth—this time to the doll of the dream who instantly nurtures us
in our vulnerable state. Not to a human that will use its humanity
to ascend to godhood like Campbell talked about, but to an infant alien god who has
ascended through shedding its humanity. We have completed our hero’s journey and beared witness to another virgin birth but we cannot relate to this metaphor of spiritual transformation because these gods are not meant for humans. So players are trapped on this human plane, likely feeling confused and unsettled by what they're seeing because as Willem puts it: The quote unquote true ending to Bloodborne
shows our hero ascended to godhood without the player—they are trapped on this human
plane, unable to see themselves in this virgin birth. This is how Miyazaki delivers the Lovecraftian
mythos in a way that Lovecraft would have envied. By using Campbell’s research on the myth
as well as the game’s mechanics, Miyazaki presents to us the antimyth that directly
affects the player. So while this is a story about gods, and this
is a story about humans. This is not a story about humans participating
in a myth. Bloodborne denies us the ability to see ourselves
in god and instead, offers us a story where we see ourselves for the beasts that we are.
Whole video felt more like the author's experience undergoing the story of Bloodborne than an explanation of Miyazaki's intent. The author seems to have perceived his playtime in the light of his knowledge on the hero's journey as well as selected aspects of the game, while ignoring others. What others?
agymdalas do notice you and fire upon you at some point
the doll senses the echoes of the gods through your body as you grow in power
yahargul isn't quite as unescapable or labyrinthic enough to give that impression
you can see the amygdalas if you have over 60 insight even without killing Rom
the Hunter's Dream, the Hunter's Nightmare, the Nightmare, and Yarnham are all just layers of dreams and you can't really tell which part is reality or not. perception is blurred and insight while offering to peel back the layers of reality, only further adds to its confusion
smashing the prostitute's newborn and ingesting part of it, the newborn guarded by the wet nurse, the alien newborne in the dlc
While it's a good video in that it gives a rigurous and rational analysis of an individual perspective, it strays far from an Occam's Razor. I think it touches upon it when discussing the earlier events with Brygenworth and beasthood but then gets lost in the myriad of metaphors involving the hero's journey.
The interactivity of the game clouds this even further. While the Moon Presence is the last boss you'd need to complete the game, it doesn't make the ending a truer one than the other two. It simply provides one version of events where you can escape the dream and ascend into another form, much like in Buddhism or Hinduism reincarnation is a neverending wheel of fate - corresponding to waking from the dream, likely into another dream - from which you can only escape by renouncing your worldly desires.