Tales From The Sunless Sea: The Clayman Chronicles

First Zee-Captain --- Previous Zee-Captain --- Next Zee-Captain

The clayman had a successful run at being a captain, much longer than many of his predecessors. This was mostly owing to its agelessness and cautiousness. With most of the crew being immune to things such as religion, illness, and curiosity, it was an ideal situation for the ocean. They were also cautious, as most civilised places would not take too kindly to a ship of sentient claymen, so they covered themselves in shadow and spent little time roaming the cities.

Due to the difficulty mingling with city-folk, the claymen dealt mostly in some of the forbidden trading - finding themselves doing runs for underground organisations in London, dealing with the Khantae, and even finding themselves spending great lengths of time working with those on the Isle of Cats. Before they did all this, however, they did need to recruit more people to help run such a large cruiser. The people who joined were... odd. It takes a certain kind of individual to join a crew of claymen, thus a certain kind of individual they were.

To carry on to more specifics, the clayment sought improvements to their life at zee. As they had no intention of retiring to London - improving their state at zee was significantly beneficial to them. So they sought out legends and tales of special ship parts, and engines. They needed to keep their money, up of course, so they traded in coffee beans and wine as well as gaining the trust of some of the more disreputable trade markets. They gained trade with the Khan himself, and sought out some of the harder to find markets in the Iron Republic. The admiral of London also cared not for who brought information and shipments of red honey to him, so this was useful for income.

It seemed all set and useful, with these trade routes, but then pieces started to fit together. The plan was to recruit a co-captain who was human, set up a trustworthy set of officers and hunt down the Fulgent Impeller - an engine that can efficiently power the most grand of vessels. The clayman also heard of some powerful weapons he might seek out in due time, as if he had any aspiration, it was either to find peace or to hunt the most dangerous of zee-creatures. Whichever came first.

With these careful goals, trade routes were planned and success came in great swathes. His crewmates were helpful, also - bringing in all kind of outsider information as well as some of the stories and information gathered from those who had come before.

The shadow clayman, whilst hunting information of the Fulgent Impeller, happened upon an island named 'Aestival', which had the rarest of resources blasting down upon it. Sunlight. The clayman was said to have stood on that island in awe, overstaying his welcome at the peril of his human crewmates.

Though he never spoke of it, there are some who claim that finding the little island changed the clayman. As if he was reinvigorated. Perhaps, he had just found a new goal in life. Whilst visiting the Grand Geode, there was one who claimed to have overheard the clayman talking about a way of making the island habitable. There also happens to be a book upon the shelves of his quarters that is entitled 'Aestival' - though none have ever seen inside of it.

All this being said, the one thing that is known for sure is that it gave the captain an idea. An idea to go to the surface. Which he did. Many of his human crewmates never made it back alive, whether dying from the harsh sunlight (as direct sun is fatal to us Neath Dwellers), or those who could withstand it were said to have stayed. Nevertheless, it did not affect those clay-crew on board. So with plenty of fuel and supplies, they sought out the surface and traded in Naples to make some money. Few stories have ever reached back to us about Naples. Would that I could say more about the place.

The captain, upon his return was particularly sneaky, however, as it is said, that secretly even to some of his crew, he had filled up a few suntrap boxes of sunlight for some underground dealings in London. This was the financial boost that was necessary to set the Clayman on his path. After some long discussions with engineers, he finally found a man who thought he may be capable of creating the Fulgent Impeller - and thus outlines the resources he would need.

Next on the agenda, then, was to ransom a particular prisoner out of the prison on the lilypads of Wisdom - and it would not be easy...

To Be Continued...
---Howard Sterling, Chronicler of the Fallen London University

To The Moon - Memories vs Happiness

Personally, I adore the game To The Moon. If you have not played it, I shall not be spoiling anything that happens in the story, only the main premise of what it is about, so worry not. In a long and convoluted sentence, the idea is:

To the Moon is an interactive novel-style game that focuses on two workers on one of their jobs of entering the memories of people on their death-bed, with the purpose of altering what they believe to be the course of their life, in order for them to die contently.

With that in mind, the main story follows the pair inside the memories of one man who wants to go To The Moon. In order to do that they go back through his memories in order to find a place to put him on the path of becoming an astronaut and uncover a particularly interesting and emotional life in the process.

I shall not mention any more, as I recommend the experience thoroughly. However I would like to focus on a key point that is mentioned in passing, and what one of the bonus episodes, not included in the main game, touches upon: the ethical factor. A company such as the one in To The Moon is one that if it were real, people would have a lot of problem with. The main job of the company is to enter people’s dreams before they die to alter their memories. Of course, your memories are particularly important to your character and who you are. So some people would find this idea unnatural and therefore upsetting.

        In the bonus episode, we see that outside of the building where the character work there are a whole bunch of protesters. So the question is: is it really so bad?

        On the one hand, of course living naturally is really important and one should never underestimate the importance of their story they created while alive. On the other, surely people have the right to die happy, as if even for a fleeting moment they could believe they were amazingly successful and be content with that, that ought not really be a problem.

        One way we can reason the value of each side would be under the belief of an afterlife. It would appear that is one believes death is final, then allowing them to die happy doesn't really have any major problems. However, if these memories of your life persist into the beyond, then perhaps that is a bit more an issue. However, we have no way of knowing if there is an afterlife, so it's not a point I will push.

        One thought experiment we can use is that of the experience machine by Robert Nozick in 1974. Nozick claimed that the increase of pleasure alone isn't the only reason we do things: even if most of the things we do are things that result in increased pleasure. What he hypothesised is that if we could just plug ourselves into a machine for the rest of our life and only have positive experiences, then we would not want that. We would not have the things that come with the positive experience, just live a pleasurable life indistinguishable from the life outside of the machine.

         The idea here is would we really prefer a life of heightened pleasure if the pleasure wasn't natural, or real, or full of negative experiences, too? Perhaps it seems most people would prefer the "whips and scorns of time" (Shakespeare quotes for the win!) as there is added value to the hard work and reality of the pleasure we experience.

         Is this thought experiment the same, however? As rather than genuinely feeling those fake pleasurable experiences we have opted into, we are just choosing to, on our deathbed, have believed we lived a better life than we did. That in itself is only one pleasure filled with inaccurate memories of success. So if we change the experiment to briefly only having one pleasurable experience at the cost of your memories - maybe more people would be willing to opt in for that.

        It seems if we had the choice to gain a pleasurable experience at the cost of nothing, we likely would all opt in for it. So what cost is too much a cost for that pleasure? These are the kinds of thoughts that play on your mind off the back of the story To The Moon. I want not to ramble on too much about this topic, but I figured it was interesting food for thought. Would you opt in for the treatment of having your memories changed on your deathbed, or do you treasure your real life events too much?

        Do let me know, I'm always up for a discussion. I would also be happy to return to covering this game again if people are interested - I think there's a lot of great stuff going on in this story.

Tales From The Sunless Sea - The Seventh Zee-Captain

 First Zee-Captain                                   Previous Zee-Captain                              Next Zee Captain

     The seventh Zee-Captain was doomed for failure. Well, actually he was very much one of the most capable Zee-Captains the Unterzee has seen, however, luck was not on his side. By which I mean the Gods did not favour him. Zeraphya stole a perfect cruiser and had the experience of years of dealing with Zee-Captains doing the bidding of The Cheery Man. The problem being, work for the cheery man didn't always go in favour of Salt, Stone, or Storm.

     With money and a boat and the ability to fight as well as knowledge of the Zee let Zeraphya immediately boost himself into success. He traded cargo back and forth, took out some Zee threats and everything seemed well. His main problem was recruiting new members for his crew, and of which there were two reasons why he kept his crew count low. Firstly, he was a talented man who neither needed much help, nor wanted much help. Even though most of his work was illegal or against the authorities of Fallen London, he still made enemies of pirates and he still treated the residents of Kahn as if they were not friends. Secondly, people took a disliking to him. His face was known to Zee-Captains, no most of them avoided dealings where possible, and many religious folk saw his general appearance, with the scars and tattoos, to be a bad omen for travel.

     So, Zeraphya's crew was considerably low. The reason I mention this is because it wasn't long before this became his undoing. He had been dealing with unstamped human souls, when his voyage was blocked by some kind of hideous crustacean, as described in the journal of one crew member.

"It were a crab, monstrous one, to be sure, yet it had one claw too many! With the flailing it were hard to know where be limbs coming from on its body. It glowed red with anger as it came for us! It were the work of Storm, I tell you - and I wanted nothing of a Storm's curse. I understand why Zeraphya fought, but I just wanted off the ship. Once we landed on the nearby Polythreme, I stayed behind. Polythreme ain't a nice place to stay, but it were clear to me that Zeraphya's vessel was one not looked kindly upon by the cavern above!"

     After felling the beast, Zeraphya apparently took no heed of religious omens floating around the crew. Few were happy as they all felt an unearthly gaze upon them, though most kept a steadfast faith in Zeraphya. It was then that they took a shipment of Claymen. Three to help on the ship, and another six to trade in Fallen London. He had seen a hundred Zee-Captains ferry Claymen here or there and although he heard rumors of the things that have gone wrong - he had seen no evidence that Claymen were dangerous at all. That is unless they were ordered to be by whoever makes them act.

     Naturally, then, this shipment seemed like good money to Zeraphya, though it was on the return journey - somewhere near the Khan's shadow where the first of the woke up. In a blind panic, it killed two men before giving pause. Zeraphya, as soon as he was aware of the commotion ordered the Clayman dead - and so his crew threw themselves at it in the hopes of taking down the beast. It took down three more men before being dismembered to uselessness and each limb cast off into the Zee.

     With so few men left to a cruiser, the ship moved particularly slowly. Morale was down, fear was high, and grief was weaved into their actions. They were so far away from Fallen London, but it was the only direction they could afford to go. It was at that point they were spotted by a Khanate Warship. Zeraphya knew he didn't have the crew to outrun them, so he needed to outwit them. He turned off all lights and drifted in the dark for some time, praying.

     Zeraphya did escape, just. Not before a struggle, however, as just before he was able to get his ship out of view around the side of an island the Warship fired one heavy shot which hit the cruiser right by the cannons - killing the two men manning them. Zeraphya cursed, set the boat to drift, set his crew mates to nightly watch and went to sleep off the problems and wait for London. Which, of course, allowed the second Clayman the perfect opportunity to attack.

     The second Clayman woke at the same time as the first, though did not attack like the other did - instead he simply watched. When Zeraphya went down below to be, the Clayman decided he needed to take control of the ship as Zeraphya was clearly incapable of manning such a vessel, so thought the Clayman. He managed to kill three men before drawing attention to himself. The men attacked, not sure what else to do, and when Zeraphya emerged from his quarters to find out what the noise was there was only Claymen left. Eight of them, to be precise.

     Zeraphya tried to hide when he realised what had happened - he had no idea which of the Claymen was the woken one and which were just doing as they were told. They followed him. He was able to grab a cutlass and remove the arm of one and the head of another before they got him, but in the end they did get him. When they did, they put him in a coffin, nailed it shut and dropped him into the Zee.

     Thus began the adventures of the first Clayman Zee-Captain. First, however, he needed to organise his boat - and Fallen London was on the horizon.

---Howard Sterling, Chronicler of the Fallen London University

Rebecca - The Nameless Girl

     *Spoiler Warning* - As the post goes on, I will reveal more of the story. If you wish to yet read the story, then at least stop reading by the third section of this. It is a brilliant book.

     Today I thought I would explorator one of my favourite books of all time, Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier. In order to do so there are, in particular, three things about the book I would like to look at. It is worthy of note that little of what I say here will be original, as this is a well known book which has been analysed since it came out in 1965. Nevertheless I would like to summarise three interesting things about this book: The opening line, the protagonist, and Ben.

The Opening Line

     "Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again." Let us get one thing straight - this is, without a doubt, one of the best opening lines in literature. In these nine words, we have established so many things about the book. Also, almost every word brings something new to the sentence. Let us deconstruct it.

•      Last - Immediately, this word shows us that we will learn something. If a book starts with 'The', it could go literally anywhere. With 'Last' it either means something like repetition, or narrative voice.
•      Night - It now becomes clear that we are being spoken to and we have established a time-frame for our story.
•      I - The story is being spoken in first person, this is their story we are being told.
•      Dreamt - This sets up the theme and style for the rest of the book. It makes us frame the whole story in a dream-like way and suggests that some of the elements might be a bit fantastical or unreal.
•      I - This is a personal story, whatever happened in the dream is important to the character, as we have repetition of the character uttered and there needs to be a reason we are being told.
•      Went to - We are being set up for a setting, we know that the setting must be important to the story we're about to be told.
•      Manderley - We don't know what this means, but we were set up to know it was a place, but because we know nothing about this place, we have our hook - now we want to know why this place is important enough for us to be told about it - particularly from a dream.
•      Again - This is what brings the whole sentence together. We now know it is from a memory, it is part of this person's life, we know that at the current point of being told the story that the narrator hasn't been to Manderley in a while.

     Every part of this sentence establishes the story and the hook of the book. That, on it's own, should show us that the rest of the book is going to be very well written. While it is not something that I can elaborate on to do with the lore, this was definitely worth mentioning.

Next, we have our nameless protagonist.

     One of the running themes of Rebecca is our narrator's self-identity. Throughout most of the story, our narrator is young and trying to find her own identity. It is for this reason she remains anonymous throughout the book, to the reader.

     At the start of the book, the narrator is not her own person, she is at the whims of a strict 'companion' who has hired her, as she is an orphan. So at this point, she doesn't have much choice in her own life. She cannot model herself off of her parents, as she has none, and she is not overly fond of her elderly companion: Mrs Van Hooper. Mrs. Van Hooper, as the person paying the narrator for her company then gets to tell the narrator to do what she likes, or interrupt her activities when she likes - so at this point the narrator's life is not her own.

     Then comes Maxim, which is the first time our narrator gets a glimpse of freedom as her name is mentioned but we still do not learn it. Her name is described as "unusual and lovely", and the next moment is a whirlwind ride and Maxim asks for her hand in marriage and she accepts. However, she is not comfortable with this - while she is happy about the whole situation, and she doesn't question it too much while they are on their honeymoon, she is slightly insecure about why Maxim would want to be with her. Her identity at this point feels fragile and unfitting to her as the new Mrs. De Winter.

     We then learn of Rebecca, the old Mrs. De Winter, who our narrator struggles to climb out of the shadow of. This covers the core part of the book as Rebecca's name is on the title of the book, yet the narrator who we are seeing things from the perspective of and empathising with has no name. This story is not the story of the narrator, as much as it is of Rebecca, and our narrator remains nameless as she cannot live up to the established identity of the old Mrs. De Winter.

     It feels like at the very end, as we are being told the story after the event, that perhaps the character is older and settled in her identity - but the events that happen throughout the story happen while the narrator was not really anyone. So, we are not given her name. Perhaps the narrator, still, doesn't think she is important enough in this story. Either way, a very interesting literary choice my Du Maurier.

Ben

     Ben is an older mentally ill man who lives on the Manderley estate, and happens to be one of my favourite characters from the novel. This is despite him not being in the story very much / often, barely says much when he is in the story, and seems wholly inconsequential to the story. However, he is not - and he serves as the greatest foreshadowing elements in the story.

     It is easy for the reader to dismiss Ben, as the narrator does. The narrator talks to him when she is alone with him and we very quickly learn he either doesn't want to say anything or doesn't understand what is being said to him at any given time. We also learn he is harmless and the narrator, while not caring about him much, doesn't feel very threatened by him as she is happy to talk to him multiple times while on her own. This makes us feel like he is just there have doesn't have an important role to play. Also, because he is not very bright and appears to have some mental issues, we don't take what he says very seriously, though that is our fault and not his.

     Ben, from the first time we meet him, is the first person who doesn't like (or claim to like) Rebecca. Obviously, by the end of the story we learn why, but it should have been telling that such a harmless seeming man was scared of Rebecca. This is the first time we hear negativity towards Rebecca, so stands as foreshadowing that she is not as amazing or golden as she appeared to have been when her shadow first loomed over Manderley.

     While mostly we can dismiss what Ben says, it still does serve to give that underlying feeling that there is something more going on here, that things might not be as they seem early on, and what exactly the twist may be. This is because as he has seen things he shouldn't and was told not to say anything under threat. If Rebecca isn't coming back and Ben is okay with this, and was being threatened not to talk about what he saw - what is it that he saw that was so important? He is the catalyst for all the secrets in the depths of Manderley, and that is why I adore him, as such an unassuming important character.

Black Sails - The Story Toward The Book

Major Spoiler Warning: I will be spoiling parts of the end of the series, so best to be avoided until you've finished the show.

     Black Sails is a fantastic show which acts as a prequel to the popular book Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson. With the finale of the TV show Black Sails aired, people have many opinions on whether or not the last episode was a good one or not, but one thing is sure - everyone who has read the books knows that where the characters end up in the show set up where the begin the book of Treasure Island very well.

     With that in mind, I thought I would take the time here to bridge the gap, embellishing some of the story that would lead to the characters being who and where they are by the time Billy Bones first knocks on the Admiral Benbow. Afterwards, keep reading, as I shall explain my take on the ambiguity of Flint's end in the series.

     Added, is some of the end of the real pirate's lives, as they happened in history, despite the liberties taken in the series with regard to their stories, I feel it is interesting to fill in the whole narrative. By my account, the story of Black Sails starts 20 years before Treasure Island and I would estimate around six years passes over the course of the show, leaving 14ish years before Treasure Island starts. So without further ado, here are the next steps of the characters in the books.

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          Madi finally forgives Silver after a long contemplation and seeing that her people have not returned to slavery or ended up dead. They move together to Bristol and open up a tavern / restaurant which likely houses pirates from time to time.

     Captain Jack Rackham has a few successful years of pirating, making his flag known around the world and securing it as one of the most famous pirate flags ever. Anne Bonny becomes good friends with Mary (Mark) Read and they sail together until the pirate ship is caught. Jack Rackham is hung for piracy, leaving a legacy of tales in his wake. Anne Bonny and Mary Read avoid their sentence by both claiming to be pregnant. Mary Read dies in child-birth and Anne Bonny's end is unknown.

     Woodes Rogers was finally released from prison after the judge took pity on him. He would later attempt to publish a book that would restore some of the credit of his name. He became reappointed by the British Isles as Governor of Nassau, as he makes a slow and successful isle of commerce by initiating taxes and riding off of the back of Nassau's now pirate-free claim. Max and Mrs Guthrey likely struck a deal with him and are running the place alongside him. Piracy is kept quiet, but still continues.

     Billy Bones washes ashore on Skeleton Island and searches for Flint's treasure. It takes a long time and many vessels show up due to the aftermath of what happened there, but then one of two things happen depending on the fate of Flint. By my account, Billy decides he won't leave without the treasure and creates a map of the island, and after going a bit mad and frequently singing to himself, he finds the treasure and then seeks passage upon one of the vessels. He takes only some of the treasure with him and rallies himself a small crew with the promise of prating and knowing where the rest of Flint's treasure is. Thus becoming a captain of his own crew, and turned to drinking to rid his nightmares of Flint. After a long run of not actually returning to the island for the treasure, his crew-mates abandon him with his chest in Bristol Docks.

     Or he gives up on finding the treasure, takes passage on one of the vessels, recruits a crew of his own and his chest contains his own treasures of the seafarin' life. Then one day he bumps into a dying Flint  in Savannah, drinking himself to death because of Hamilton, who had left him after their reunion once he learned of what Flint had done. Flint had drawn a map of Skeleton Island with the location of his treasure, and Billy sought to find it after his return to England.

     Israel Hands, Ben Gunn and the rest of the surviving pirates go their separate ways. Some, still working as pirates and keeping in touch with Silver, such as Israel Hands. Some other important pirates not seen in the show stay loyal to Silver in this time, such as Black Dog and Blind Pew. Three years before the book, Ben Gunn resolves to find a merchant vessel and usher it to Skeleton Island under the claim he knows where Flint's treasure is, perhaps after bumping into his friend, Billy Bones. After he does not find the treasure, the ship that took Gunn to the island decides to leave without him. He goes slowly mad, but, like Billy, also has the time to find the treasure.

     Silver and Madi are fairly happy together for many years. That is until Billy Bones walks in one day with a chest in a barrow looking for drink. Silver recognises Billy immediately, and the adventure of the ocean calls to him in the very same way that Flint told him it would. Billy escapes on foot and decides to hide in as remote a location as possible. Silver sends people after him to retrieve the chest. After asking around for the taverns with the least footfall, Billy finally decides to inhabit the Admiral Benbow, under the paranoia that a one legged seafairing man is hunting him.

Treasure Island begins.


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     Now for Flint...

     The last time we have a proper scene with Flint he delivers an incredibly powerful speech (kudos to Toby Stevens for his wonderful acting) before Silver offers him an ultimatum and we don't really see what happens next. I believe Silver shot Flint at that moment and had been planning the story he could spin after such an occurrence for some time. The reason I believe this is that more things appear to fit into place.

     Firstly, the story told to Madi by Silver is shown in a dreamlike way, and is also resembling a story of Flint going to heaven to be with the one he loves most.
     Secondly, the scene after Silver's talk shows birds flying away and the other characters starting towards them, as if an alarming noise happened, like a gunshot.
     Thirdly, the episode before, Flint states that if Silver kills flint, even he couldn't spin a story to Madi that would make her forgive him (which is exactly what he does).
     Fourthly, him lying, even to those he loves, in the most realistic and manipulative way is exactly representative of who Silver finally becomes to become the nasty character he appears as in the books.
     Fifthly, and most the compelling reason, is that the treasure remains in the ground on Skeleton island. Silver still wanted that money before he stopped the war, so it seems more likely that Silver shot him for failing to reveal the location and getting him out of the way for good rather than delivering him to Thomas Hamilton as a very different man and risking him still causing problems. Also risking Flint leaving with Hamilton and going to collect the money anyway.

     For me, that is way more compelling and accurate to who Silver's character has become and who he is in the books.

Fahrenheit 451 - Who Is Beatty?

Spoilers for a fantastic novel ahead:

      Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury is a wonderful futuristic novel based on the idea that firemen are book-burners rather than people who put out fires. In this, Captain Beatty fulfils his role as the chief book burner and as one of the most interesting characters in the entire story. Beatty is used by Bradbury to provide story exposition, yet is still more three-dimensional than most other characters, as he has a clear set of conflicts within the one character.


      The story follows Guy Mustag, a book-burner who slowly comes to question his life and role within it. Some characters made this easy for him, others do not. One of the biggest problems for Mustag is Beatty, his boss, who Mustag knows is a very intelligent man and would not be happy with his questioning of things. At first, Mustag tries to avoid showing there is anything wrong and even skips work a few times, claiming to be sick. Beatty knows, however, what is going on. This is because Beatty appears to be a well-read character and had clearly seen the signs of Mustag's curiosity and conflict.

     One of the best scenes in the book, in my opinion, is Beatty's monologue to Mustag when he visits his house. Beatty is hiding a book under his pillow and pretending to be ill, and Beatty goes on to slowly reveal he knows what is happening and explains some of the history of firemen as well as his own past being well read. Beatty talks at length about them doing the right thing and how books are definitely not a good thing, but he uses his well-readness to push this point, causing a major contradiction.

     Because of this, it is hard to know whether or not Beatty can really be considered an antagonist, as it is very easy to empathise with him and see some of his clear flaws. It seems clear to the reader that the contradictions Beatty points out is likely not beyond him to realise himself, so there appears to be way more to the character than is fully explored before his untimely death.

     Beatty's death scene is also an interesting one, as it appears to happen without any argument from Beatty, causing the reader to wonder if he planned to die the way he did, or if he just realised that there no out of it and remained calm. An interesting talking point is whether or not Beatty actually did commit suicide then it adds to a major theme of the story - as the story begins with Mustag's wife attempting suicide, despite claiming to be generally happy.

     This appears to be a point of the book - within a world where intellectual stimulation is discouraged and all pleasures are instant, it would seem that people's lives are actually much worse off, and there are multiple characters, happy and unhappy who can be thought to commit or at least attempt suicide. This becomes more interesting if you were to be able to add Beatty's name to the list. As while Mustag's wife could easily be said to be depressed in her brainwashed and lack of independent thought of a life. There is also the woman who's books the firemen burn, who decides to burn herself along with the books, thinking it better to be dead than to become one of the soulless people promoted in this society. Beatty, then dies calmly as if okay with his own demise. This could be for any number of reasons, as we never get a full chance to explore the character, however, if it was suicide then perhaps the entire monologue he gives about how books cause mental dismay weighed heavily on him.

      It seems clear that Beatty at one point was a big reader. He goes on to explain that books bring questions and intellect and inequality rather than happiness and stimulation. It seems clear that Beatty might believe what is he saying when he explains the problems of of books, but having been well-read, maybe there is part of him deep down that knows it is not what should and is dismayed by this fact. Perhaps he is just disappointed by society having changed in such a way were the value of books did fall and so convinced himself he was in a minority for enjoying them. Either way, the speech certainly gives much food for thoughts.

     Overall, I wanted to point out the importance of this character as there is so much more to him than can be remotely visible in the books, so if you read or re-read the book at any point, I implore you to pay more attention to this character and what is really going on there.

...Thanks for reading.

Breaking Bad - The Fly Episode

     If there is one particular episode that stands out in the whole show of Breaking Bad, the Fly episode will be one of the first out of most people's mouths. Their opinion thereafter is either it being the worst episode or one of the best. The episode divides opinion because it is so different to all other episodes that usually involve some kind of intense drama or action. 'Fly' however, was a slow paced look at the characters, originally put forth due to budgetary reasons, but later admitted that it was the kind of episode that they did want to make and all were happy with having made it.

     Vince Gilligan, the writer of Breaking Bad, told the A.V. club that even if there weren't financial concerns, he still feels the episode would have been a good choice, this is - in general - due to the ebb and flow of a good story. Good stories don't pummel you with action from start to finish, they have moments of quiet that make the explosions more explosive, they have some character development in order to make the moments have bigger impact.

     Before I go any further, allow me to explain 'Fly' episode for anyone who hasn't seen Breaking Bad. This episode happens as the 10th episode of season 3 and is a bottle episode. This means that all of the scenes take place very few standing sets with minimal characters involved. In 'Fly' - the main character, Walter White spends most of the episode chasing a fly around a laboratory in order to cleanse the place from contamination. This happens amidst Walter's insomnia and the return of his cancer and his partner, Jesse, is dragged along for the fly catching ride. This gives time for the characters to talk, develop and potentially divulge secrets. I shall leave the explanation at that vagueness to avoid any real spoilers.

     Now, for those that hate the episode - it is likely that they thought it was boring and brought the action to a halt. Though those that love the episode praise it for it's metaphor, cinematography and development of character. While those reasons might seem a little pretentious in comparison, I am generalising. It is certainly worth nothing, however, that characters are the story. What I mean by this is that we need moments of getting to know the characters before we can really be invested in the characters.

     When a show is fast paced, it can be difficult to keep up with characters and their developments - so 'Fly' remedies that for Breaking Bad. It stands as not only an episode to show Walt's lack of control and little escalating troubles, but also for us to get to know who he has become now he has 'broke bad'. This is also true of Jesse who ends up spending so much time with Walt that it becomes a personal goal for him to catch the fly, even if it is for different reasons to Walt. By stopping and seeing what the characters are like now, it allows the viewer to reflect on exactly how far they have come, up to this point. This point is pressed home at the end with Walt's monologue about exactly when he thought it would have been a good time for him to die. This recaps previous events, reminds the viewer of how this all started and really gives perspective of what has happened to this stage. This sets the viewer in the mindset of a calm clarity which will aid to give much more gravity to the events that follow this one. A calm before a storm, if you will.

     The truth is, I love bottle episodes for this reason. It gives us time to just see the characters being who they are, rather than having to keep up with multiple stories and how they act around different people in bizarre scenarios. We get to observe the characters as people, which puts weight behind any punch we'll be given as well as just giving us, as the viewer, time to think or collate certain events. This is something that can make or break a series or movie. When a story given to you is filled with quick paced moments, each of them fighting for the limelight of importance with no rest between - it is too much an the story becomes a mess. If you want an example of this in practice, I recommend (or don't) the Batman vs Superman movie.

     The use of calms in stories are commonly and effectively also used as death flags. One thing that is particularly common in a story (particularly TV media) is that a character might explain some of their history or an important moment in their life. This is used to humanise the character and make us care a little more when they inevitably die in the following scene. This works for the exact same reason that an entire episode based on a character not being able to swat a fly works - it gives us time to humanise the character (in this case, Walt) rather than consider them the wrecking ball of a plot mover.

     So whether you think it is the best or worst episode, it is certainly a memorable one - however, it is there for a reason and that reason is really rather important. I can guarantee you learned more about the two main characters in this episode than you did in any other three combined (except, perhaps the first episode, obviously).

     Thanks for reading.

Why the world will know the name Isadore (Isadore by Incubus)

     The lyricist and singer of the band Incubus, Brandon Boyd, tends to keep many of the meanings of his songs somewhat close to his chest. This isn't a specific thing he does to be confusing, but rather a thing about his art. Many of Boyd's lyrics are poetic enough to leave interpretation up to the listener, and this is especially true of many of the songs from the If Not Now, When? Album. When looking up song meanings, one can find a wide array of different stories read into these songs, so we're going to take a look today at the song 'Isadore' from that same album. As I won't be embedding the song, here, I recommend giving it a YouTube search and having a listen before continuing - I think it is a fantastic song to listen to anyway.

     "Erica and her Isadore, climb aboard a balloon...

I want more than this kite will soar, I set our sights on the moon."

     .....Welcome back. Now, allow me to cover two different interpretations of this song. A simple one and a more complicated one. You can make your own mind up as to which one makes the most sense to you, or neither if you have another interpretation.

The First Interpretation - The Complex Narrative

     The first story of this song involves three people. That is Erica, Isadore and the unnamed man from who's perspective the song is sung. The story involving these three is a particularly sad one and is about loss, more specifically the loss of Erica after she gives birth to Isadore and the song is about the narrator coming to terms with the death of his lover. This is where the speculation comes into play - but let's explore this idea.

"It's not who you were, it's who you are, and we've come this far, lover. 

No, I won't rest 'til the world knows the name Isadore."

     The song from the start mentions a metaphor of a balloon, of which we can think of a hot air balloon and reaching an elevated state because of it. So, if Erica, heavily pregnant with Isadore (note the 'her' Isadore and not 'our' Isadore - interesting choice of words, I think.) board a balloon, or engage in some activities that get get 'high up'. However, the narrator is not satisfied with a simple balloon ride and wanted more, even if it was dangerous. This is emphasised by the later line 'blinded by their unbridled height, our lovers turn dissolute.'

     To clarify, Erica, being heavily pregnant, and the narrator have sex and get a little bit carried away. 'Dissolute' explaining the overindulgence factor and 'unbridled' being the uncontrolled factor. With the two protagonists being so deeply in love, they take it 'too far' and are not careful of the baby. Or at least the narrator takes something too far and Erica gets in to a very bad way due to her weakened state.

     'There's just one parachute...' This line is suggesting that with the mother in critical condition, the doctors may only be able to save one of Erica or Isadore. The narrator wanted Erica to survive, but Erica chose Isadore.  The loss of Erica is apparent in the bridge which says '...you can't just leave, you've taken everything.' showing how much Erica meant to the narrator. So we get to the point of the chorus - "...it's not who you were, it's who you are." suggesting the narrator's coming to terms with Erica's death and accepting that she lives on through Isadore. The narrator then vows to do his best to bring Isadore up to be amazing - and won't rest 'til the world knows the name.

The Second Interpretation - The Simpler Narrative

     The story starts with two lovers, who are on their journey together. They both are elevated by the experience, however, one appears to be significantly more ambitious than the other one. The wording of 'her' Isadore as well as 'I set our sights on the Moon' suggests that Erica is more controlling in the relationship, yet Isadore is particularly ambitious and wants more than what they currently have. The reaching for the Moon puts a strain on the relationship.

     "You can't just leave, I've given everything. 

You can't just leave, you're taking everything..."

     The chorus sums up their fighting and desire to keep the relationship together due to having put so much into it. It also reinforces the narrator, Isadore's, ambition to continue on a success path. With the next verse however, they stay together and recklessly ride their high - the success reinforces their relationship for a little while before it gets worse. The quick juggling of lines between the chorus of Isadore's fears of being alone verses the 'lovers becoming dissolute' are reminiscent of continued arguments in an unhealthy relationship.

     Then the song suggests that they've gone so high, but only one can make it. "There's just one parachute. Goodbye Erica, now I see, that all my fears were in tune." This line is stating that now they have reached a high up spot, Isadore realises he can make it further without Erica holding him back and while previously he was terrified of losing her, he now learns that that loss was exactly in tune with his goals - success. Therefore it's not about the past, but who you are now that matters. Overall, he won't rest until the world knows the name Isadore.

     So, there you go. These two are my favourite interpretations of the story. Personally, I think the second one makes a lot more sense as a narrative, but the first one is a lot more emotion evoking as it becomes a really sad song. Whatever you decide as your value to the words - I hope at the very least you enjoyed the song. Of course, thanks for reading.

Tales From The Sunless Sea - The Sixth Zee-Captain

 First Zee-Captain --- Previous Zee-Captain --- Next Zee-Captain

     The next two captains come as somewhat of a pair, though they could not have been more different. The child of the two previous captains was the first. The orphan boy Yorren. He had a great head-start when he came of age to go out to Zee. The first thing he did was take ownership of his parent's town-house. Then, he raided their rooms for tips and hints of how to be a successful Zee-Captain. He inherited a small fortune which kick-started the equipment of his ship and he was gifted with the same powerful deck weapon that his mother had used on her ship. This was the curious part.

     Yorren was set to be a good and honest zailor. Of course he had his goal of reclaiming all knowledge of his parents and finding their resting places, but he also knew he had to get some experience at a zailor first. He turned down most help and instead, went to gain as much money as he could, in similar ways his parents had. He fulfilled deliveries back and forth and took on some really risky missions of strategic information for the Fallen London admiralty. It was his fourth trip back to fallen London where he was approached by a Shady Sort.

     The Shady Sort was notably an elderly gentlemen, and under the employment of a Cheery Man. He was the same Shady Sort, I am to believe, as they who approached the great Ylvanna as well as others in the same line I have been chronicling. Of course, many years had past and this man was clearly in his late fifties at this stage of his life. He approached Yorren, who immediately had no interest in the man's offer. This caused the Shady Sort to resort to shadier tactics.

     “I have something that you might be interested in, though, if you re-consider.” Said the Shady Sort.

     “And I have no need for extra fuel or supplies, sir. So I shall bid you good day.” Yorren said.

     “Ah, but it is not this that I offer, young Yorren. It is a weapon you may be interested in. Specifically, one that has been generously gifted by the Cheery man and the very same that once belonged to a Zee-Captain named Miss Thistle. I believe you may have particular interest in that name.” The Shady Sort knew this would garner the desired interest.

     “...I see. Take me to the weapon, now,” Yorren replied. So, the Shady Sort did. The weapon was mildly rusted, so had been used, and also was of the same model that his mother had written about acquiring. Of course, it could not have been hers, though it seemed too odd not to follow it up. Besides, he was unsure how the Shady Sort would have known what weapon his mother was carrying upon her ship. “...Where did you get this? I must know the details.”

     “Your interest is noted. Well, you can have both this weapon and that information, only should you take my the offer of patronage from my humble host.” The Shady Sort held a smug sort of grin.

     “I must know!” Yorren said.

     “Okay, okay. You're to take this crate of human souls up to the northern town of Mt. Palmerston. Only then will I give you the information you require. For now, I shall have this gun brought down to the docks so that you may have it mounted on your humble ship.”

     “I shaln't be humble for long, sir. Give me three days, I plan to purchase a grander vessel than that which caused the demise of both of my old folks.”

     Yorren's next step over the next few days was handing over the money to have his ship traded in for a large cruiser-ship. He had all of his old weapons mounted upon his new ship. Then he set sail for the northern town of Mt. Palmerston. When he returned successful he gained the information from the Shady Sort that his father was not to be sought, as his journey would take him through pirate isles. Yorren didn't take kindly to the suggestion that he father was not a noble and honourable zailor. So he then learned that the quest for his mother might be an easier one to follow. She got lost deep within the tombs of Godfall, so the Shady sort claimed. Of course, you and I know this not to be true, but Yorren wasn't to know. He took this information and sailed with it.

     With his cruiser, he took one more money making voyage to stock up on candles for a dark trip and then took directions on how to get to Godfall. Then he left. It took days to find the place in the mid-Zee, but when he did, he felt a significant unease. It was not a comfortable place to set eyes upon, let alone feet. He disembarked, took inventory of his ship and of the island, then he descended into the tunnelled abyss. This was the last that was ever seen of Yorren. Hours went by and his crew grew worried. Half a day went by and some of his crew left for other shores, certain of Yorren's demise. By three days there was only one main waiting on the cruiser for Yorren's return.

     The Shady Sort was a veteran of the war of '68. He knew his fighting. He had also lived nearly seventeen years as a cronie for the Cheery Man, though now – he wanted his freedom. Three days after Yorren arrived at Godfall, the Shady Sort arrived, also, though out of sight of the cruiser. The Shady Sort was named Zeraphya, and he wanted a life away from doing powerful men's bidding. He had been in Fallen London dealing with Zee-Captains for long enough that he wanted his own adventure and knew exactly what to do about that. So when he sailed, he sailed quickly, leaving word of his departure for the Cheery Man to hear of. For his years of service, he was not pursued, but he would be expected to carry cargo for the underhanded fellow.

     The one loyal crew member upon the cruiser had no chance. Zeraphya crept up behind the man, leaving a bloody grin across his neck. He whistled, and ten of his own crew-members jumped up on the Cruiser and sailed away. If Yorren ever did emerge, he would emerge to nothing – so probably for the best he did die. Most of Yorren's money that hadn't been looted by the crewmen was on board, as well as all weaponry and such. A perfect vessel that Zeraphya needed not even raise the money for. A perfect voyage.

     To be continued...

---Howard Sterling, Chronicler of the Fallen London University

Monkey Puncher - The Story Behind the Retro Hidden Gem

     Firstly, I am fairly certain I am one very few people to have actually played Monkey Puncher here in the western world. Of those who did play it, I am probably one of significantly fewer who thoroughly enjoyed the game. I imagine so, anyway – I have been incapable of tracking down anyone else who has played it. Nevertheless, it was a game I picked at random from a shop as a child and recently re-discovered; so I thought I would cover it here on The Explorator.

     Monkey Puncher is a GameBoy Color game that, surprisingly, isn't about punching monkeys; 'monkey punching' in game is a poor translation of 'monkey boxing'. Released in the year 2000 and developed by Taito Corporation, it is the kind of game that the translation and shipping to a western audience may have been an after thought, as the translation is horrible and basically nobody has heard of it. Nevertheless, it exists here and I'm so glad it does.

What is Monkey Puncher?

    As a child I understood the premise of the game: train a monkey (they're actually apes, but we'll continue to call them monkeys because game 'cannon') and watch them box each other, before continuing to make stronger monkeys. However, I didn't understand much of what was going on other than that, partly because I was a child and didn't care so much about the story, partly because most of what it says in the game doesn't make sense. Being older and playing it however, has allowed me to piece the parts of the game together enough to understand the story and beat the game, getting way further than I ever did as a kid.

     The game is essentially a training game. You get a monkey, you train that monkey in individual stats, such as 'power' by using a punching bag or 'speed' by skipping (this mostly involves pressing 'A' a bunch but not too fast or slow), and then climb up the 'Japan monkey boxing circuit ladder'. Every few days you will be asked to challenge another money up to two ranks above your monkey's rank. Then, when you go to the ring, you can give them a strategy of how to fight before sitting back and watching them go ape-shit (hehe) on each other.
     You have no input to the fighting, you just have to cheer your monkey on as they punch another monkey in the face for three rounds of thirty seconds. Then, you either win or lose, but go back to training either way. There are also special books you can pick up to teach your monkey special punches – but I digress. That is the game.
     Some of my favourite parts of the game include the name of the food you can feed your monkey, such entire curries, or just jam. As one of the activities you can ask it to go to the shops and laugh as it comes back having completely ignored your order and randomly bought a Toaster and a CD (both of which are useless in game).

     Of course though, you're not just watching animals fight each other for the fun of it. Rather, there is an intense story behind the whole thing which is dramatic, amusing, and (again) terribly translated. So, if you wish to train your own monkey and don't want to know the game's amazing twist, stop reading here. Otherwise: behold, the wonderful world of Monkey Puncher.

The Story

     You start the game as either Kenta (male) or Sumire (female), the child of an ex-monkey punching champion. The player character's (whom I shall call Kenta, as I played as him) mother died when Kenta and Sumire were very young and their father retired as a Monkey Puncher trainer in order to raise his children. Kenta's father was taught as a Monkey Puncher trainer by a man named Fred, who later on became your father's rival. One day, Sumire and your father get kidnapped by the evil underground monkey ring and criminal syndicate called the Saru. The Saru is lead by a man named 'The Master' who plans to mind control your father and make him and his monkey punch for them.

     Kenta then decides that the only way to get them back would be to join the monkey puncher circuit and train until he can beat The Master's monkey in order to get his father and sibling back. Upon deciding this, Kenta gets a visit from a wizened old man named Fred, who explains that he was his father's rival but wishes not for him to be used in such ways the Saru would have him used, so aids Kenta on his goal by giving him his first monkey named Freddy. Kenta then also gets a visit from another friend of his father's named Bill. Bill then books Kenta and Freddy's test punching match; he also goes on to book each of Kenta's ranked matches every three days.

     Kenta and Freddy train hard and work their way up to around rank 10, before Freddy's abilities reach a maximum. So Kenta breeds Freddy with another powerful monkey to make a new baby monkey puncher and begins to train that monkey instead. Kenta does this a few more times, reaching a higher rank each time, but not without problems. Around rank 10, the Saru send one of their cronies to have a monkey punching match with Kenta. Upon beating the cronie and continuing to rank 5, Kenta is challenged by a scientist known as 'The Professor' from the Saru who uses a robot monkey to fight your monkey. Somehow, Kenta also wins that fight and each victory gets Kenta closer to his goal. Eventually Kenta reaches rank 1 and Fred arrives, explaining that his monkey holds the rank 1 placement in the Japan league and that he is proud of Kenta for reaching this far.

     When Kenta beats him, Fred congratulates him. Kenta then received a mysterious letter from the Saru offering him a place in their monkey puncher tournament on an island off the coast of Japan. So Kenta trains a little further and accepts the invitation, taking a boat to the island where it is explained that Kenta's monkey will need to win five fights in a row in order to make The Master want to challenge him. Kenta's monkey successfully beats the first and second monkey (who is the same monkey owned by the cronie he fought at rank 10). The third monkey is an upgraded robot monkey with The Professor. The fourth monkey is owned by – Sumire herself! Kenta battles his half-mind-controlled sister in a monkey puncher match and when he wins, Sumire becomes free of her mind-control and joins Kenta in saving their father.

     The last monkey puncher match in the tournament is then called and Kenta's opponent is his own father! Kenta must battle his fully mind-controlled father and his monkey puncher: 'Beast'. When Kenta wins, his father begins to regain consciousness and Fred returns to see the end of the event. Fred explains that Kenta became more powerful than he expected much quicker than he expected and that Kenta was the goal the whole time. Fred throws off his gown to reveal that he is The Master of the Saru and claims that he only kidknapped Kenta's father so that Kenta would train and become the strongest trainer in Japan. All Fred needed to do then was have his monkey, Shadow, throw a mind-controlling punch and Kenta would then be under Fred's control.

     Kenta's monkey fights Shadow, in an epic final showdown. When Kenta's monkey wins, Fred claims that he cannot understand there being anyone stronger than him, so decides that if he cannot be the best, then nobody can. He throws himself into the volcano on the island and the islands starts shaking. Kenta, his father and Sumire panic. Just in time, Bill arrives in a helicopter in order to take them all home safely. With the Saru defeated and living at home with his family again, Kenta decided that he wants to go full time in the monkey puncher world, so signs up for the world leagues and begins to rise the ranks there instead.

Conclusion

     Okay, so the graphics are simple, the gameplay is simpler. However, I adore this game and I think that story pretty much speaks for itself! I don't know anyone who played this game, so if you did - please get in touch! That's all.

Tales from the Sunless Sea - The Fifth Zee Captain

First Zee-Captain --- Previous Zee-Captain --- Next Zee-Captain

     Thistle, is not the last in the line of Zee-Captains, as successful as she was, curiosity was the downfall of her. Just like the previous philosopher in her line, Ylvanna. See, it happened very late into her Zee-faring life she heard too many tales of the Elder Continent not to seek it out. She was not prepared, however. The water and the air when zailing towards the Elder Continet was too much for her boat to handle. The boat was seen sinking by someone at Adam's Way and she was never heard from again. Three years later, back in Fallen London, the son of Garrid and Thistle was of age, and as previously decided, took to the Zee.

     Thistly, however, before she died had quite an adventure. Two very notable ztories of hers were tales from the curious isle of Visage and an odd encounter surrounding the Empire of Hands.

     Thistle made most of her money by shipping things back and forth to Fallen London. She would sail east and pick up some Sphinx Stones from the Salt Lions and then some Clay Men from Polythreme and ship them back to Fallen London for a large profit. It was because of this she was able to complete the map she desired of the Unterzee, though some places were still recommended to be avoided.

     One of the strangest places she visited was that of Visage. An island where strange rituals happen and everyone is identified by what mask they wear. Upon disembarking on the island she was asked if she wanted to wear a frog, bat or locust mask. The frog was a visitor who was clumsy but wanted to learn of the local ways, the Locust was a visitor searching for profit and the Bat was not to be worn by anyone in their right mind as they were spies and the like.

     On this island, Thistle wore the Frog and hopped her way clumsily around the town fitting in greatly. At one point she tells of a strange ritual she observed where people flocked to the right ear of the giant head adorning the island. She could not fully understand what happened but it was then that she knew the Gods existed.

     After successfully gaining knowledge at Visage, she explains that she gained a more powerful mask and out of respect for the locals, refused to exclaim what it was. Though I suspect she refused to mention it because Visage was now a part of her and her higher status deems her to not need to explain such things to us lowly Frogs. Her sanity was never quite the same after her initial trip out at Zee.

     The other tales she tells is a strange one that after visiting the Empire of Hands, she surveyed all of the surrounding islands for a complicated port report and then went to see the inhabitants of the main island. She tells that all of the inhabitants were apes. She also tells that the high chief of the island offered to buy her souls. She knew there was more to the town, though considered it not at the top of her priority to find out.

     Upon returning to Fallen London she was summoned to this very university to attend a lecture on the Empire of Hands by a 'delightful adventuress'. After the lecture, the adventuress enquired if she might use Thistle's ship to get back to the Empire of Hands with her companion as she had heard that Thistle knew the way. Thistle agreed.

     When they reached the Empire of Hands, the delightful adventurer disembarked and payed for the voyage as well as her companion offering a thank you and revealing that they were a rogue clay-man. A dangerous sort that would never have been allowed on the ship had Thistle known. Thistle spent some time then on an island and leaves a journal entry of a strange occurrence thereafter of visiting one of the hot springs and relaxing for an afternoon.

     Thistle heard some giggling, assuming it was to her naked form she covered herself and looked around to find a small child, hunched over like one of the chimpanzees on the island. She had clearly grown up here and thought it would be funny to steal Thistle's clothes. She ran into the forest and Thistle gave chase. After some altercation and yelling, Thistle tells that she was only able to retrieve a single sock from the child before they escaped through the trees. She returned to the boat wearing only the one sock, and laughter roared from her ship-deck. At least she had raised their spirits. It was not too long after this that Thistle met her demise.

     It is nice that we can look upon Thistle's journey and know her as a character and personality. She existed and became far more real for this than some of the other stoic entries of the other Zee-Captains. Zerred, for example, Thistle's child and the next Zee Captain only wrote stunted journal entries and did not last long at Zee. His ztory, in fact, was quite a terrible one.

To Be Continued...

---Howard Sterling, Chronicler of the Fallen London University

Bloodborne - The Lovecraft Loveletter

Warning: Spoilers of the ending and some of the bosses throughout.

See my first post on the non-Lovecraft Gothic Horror influences here.

“Ah Kos, or some say Kosm... Do you hear our prayers? ...As you once did for the Vaccuous Rom, grant us eyes... Plant eyes in our brains, to cleanse our beastly idiocy.” - Micolash, Host of the Nightmare.

     Bloodborne's development takes a lot of its influence from Victorian, Gothic, Japanese myths, and eldritch literary horror fiction, which is notable for a few major reasons. Firstly is because Bloodborne being a 'Souls game' lends itself greatly to this genre. This is because much of the horror style is based on confusion and second-hand storytelling, which is often seen throughout the Souls series having a rich lore but never being properly explored on the surface of the game or observed directly. All of the information we get of what has happened is from unreliable narrators or small snippets of text alongside items, or even just events that lead us to make assumptions of connections [1]. More on this below.

     Secondly, it adds to the genre as a whole; a game that is interesting and enjoyable as well as quite scary in ways that avoid the modern tropes of jump-scares and solitary murderers. This is because it focuses on story, situation and particular events happening within the world, rather than a simple meta-desire to terrify the player. Thirdly, is the transition between general Gothic horror and uncovering the deeper cosmic terrors underlying everything. This is done well in Bloodborne as it is reminiscent of Lovecraft's transition between writing Gothic horror and his eldritch mythos, as well as the transition of many of his characters. Going from sane human investigating some odd phenomenon to developing an understanding of something so unfathomably beyond them that they lose grasp of that sanity. More on this below, also.

     With that in mind, let us look at some of what makes Bloodborne such a great example of eldritch lore done correctly, with a slight focus on The Old Hunters DLC as main examples.

The Works of Lovecraft

     Howard Phillips Lovecraft was born in 1890, toward the end of the peek popularity of Gothic Horror, particularly in Victorian London, and had an interest in horror from an early age. Apparently his father read him Gothic Horror stories as a child and thus Lovecraft himself began writing in this genre when he took up the pen. While maintaining many of the core Gothic Horror tropes, his direction, over time took on a slightly differing form to his predecessors - that of eldritch. His major influences with regard to Gothic Horror was Edgar Allen Poe [2] while his most notable influence to the eldritch influence was a book by the name of The King in Yellow by Robert Chambers in 1895.

     Some of the stories of Lovecraft can be seen within Bloodborne, such as The Shadows Over Innsmouth notably being about cult figures worshipping bizarre Gods and creatures that come from the sea. This can be seen in the early parts of the game when you first uncover the strange statues showing what kinds of beings of worship there are in Yarnham, but can particularly be seen in The Fishing Hamlet segment of The Old Hunters DLC, which can almost directly be seen as a kind of aftermath of an Innsmouth type village.[3]

     Other examples of translation from Lovecraft are beings such as the Amygdalla and the Brain of Mensis being full of eyes and tentacles; they appear to be directly something out of the unfathomable Cthulhu mythos - of things that if you knew about them it would ruin everything you thought you knew about the world. While there are many examples of particular things that seem like they could have come from the pages, it is the themes of the style that persist through the whole game.

Existential Crisis

     As mentioned in the introduction, there is a heavy importance on the style of storytelling being through things like letters and unreliable narrators. This works particularly well with influence from Lovecraft's Cthulhu mythos as one of the major themes of this is of forbidden knowledge; things that could be easily missed or ignored by any sane person not specifically seeking it out. This leads our character (and us) into a situation where we are specifically looking further into the forbidden depths of the 'Great Ones' for both intrigue and to reach our goal.

     How this is approached in Bloodborne is similar to how it is approached in tabletop RPGs of Cthulhu lore, and is also something that many games or adaptations get wrong. The transition towards the ever-expanding ever-confusing scale of things needs to be a slow transition, but a permanent one. Rather than hiding the subtlety throughout the story and having the character forget his knowledge to progress as is done in many insanity based mechanics, Bloodborne tackles it differently. Once the character knows of things that they ought not know, they need to find a way to deal with that knowledge or use it to their advantage without being overwhelmed by it. Often, you need to keep your sanity lowered in certain ways or risk death. Bloodborne, however, treats it as a necessary mechanic that really ties in well to the approach. The whole point of forbidden knowledge is that it is both incredibly important as it holds truths and keys to the universe, but also carries with it understanding of things that we are not capable of understanding, as well as deep existential understanding of exactly how pointless and tiny we are. This is a very important part of the Lovecraft lore as a lot of the fear comes from the sheer extent of how unimportant humans are.

     Our character in Bloodborne uses this to their advantage, by carrying a balancing act of knowing enough to keep them aware and powerful, but not having so much that it harms us greatly. The more 'insight' we have in the game, the more danger we are in from certain things like Frenzy, as with more insight comes a weak mind susceptible to insanity. This allows our character to have a necessary way of handling the knowledge that ought to kill them as a way of increasing their power as well as making it threaten them at the very core.

     In Bloodborne, we start out as a newcomer to a town (like many investigators in stories before us, typical of a Lovecraft story) on the night of the hunt where the story is simply focused on seeking a certain kind of blood to cure a disease; there are a few supernatural elements and scientific experiments gone wrong also, as is typical of Gothic horror stories. [4] Then, it transitions at an increasing rate towards the power of cosmic entities and existential disturbance. The only reason we don't immediately die of insanity when gaining 'madman's knowledge' is that slower transition of only finding out little bit at a time as the insight trickles in and we are capable of using it as it comes. Also it can be said that there is so much that we do not know. Our character gains insight only enough to deal with the threats in front of them, just like the player, the character is still clouded in speculation and confusion rather than fully understanding any of what is going on. They are simply dealing with only what is necessary. There is also suggestion of a higher power guiding us as the character, too, which would help with that and it brings us to the next point.

Fighting Elder Things

     It only seems natural, with the Great Ones and those touched by unknowable entities beyond our comprehension, that we ought not be able to fight these things. This should be the weakest link between any progressable combat-based game in an eldritch mythos. However, Bloodborne tackles this well, in my opinion, and it even leads to one of the most Lovecraft-y things in the whole game.

     The Great Ones that are bosses in Bloodborne are closer in reminiscence to 'Elder Things' in Lovecraftian lore, as they are seen entities that generally have no care for humans unless they can be used for something more important. An example of this is Ebrietas, Daughter of the Cosmos, who completely ignores the player until they actually attack her. In Lovecraft's lore, Cthulhu itself is an Elder thing, for a similar example. Cthulhu is thought to be the 'high priest' of the Great Ones in the lore – so is connected to them in a similar way the Pope might be to God, to give you an idea of the scale being discussed. That being said, while incredibly powerful and ancient, they are still essentially mortal and potentially killable under the right circumstances.

     The playable character in Bloodborne is certainly strong. They are strong because they have help and are augmented by blood and have influence from powerful things. It is also worthy of note that the character dips in an out of dreams such as the Nightmare Frontier which is where they fight the Amygdala. This includes The Hunter's Dream where the character is influenced by some important figures on the main game. This takes the edge off of the potential for the character to fight Great Ones, as they are not actually fighting them, they are fighting an aspect of them as an aspect of themselves (within the dream / nightmare). This, of course still has an impact outside of the dream, but it still takes some of the edge off of the possibility of killing a Great One.

     Furthermore, there are some other fights with huge creatures that can be considered not on par with a natural Great One, as they were people who have turned into something greater (Such as Rom, Ludwig, or many of the Chalice Dungeon bosses) – so not as powerful as a Great One could be. [6] Then there are Great Ones that are experienced outside of dreams and are very powerful. This circumstance that aid us in those fights (Ebrietas being the most powerful) possibly being that we have access and influence from a Great One ourself – the Moon Presence.[7] I say possibly, here, because we don't fully understand the intentions of the Moon Presence and probably never could. It does, however, give us some possibility of justification for our actions. It is also of consideration that while powerful, the Great Ones we fight are potentially some of the least powerful possible Great Ones. That being said, for the game to be the game it is and not actually within the Lovecraft lore, I'll admit that it is acceptable that killing some of these things is to be accepted for purposes of epicness and gameplay.

The Orphan of Kos

     With the relative power of our main character, one thing is worthy of note. None of the Great Ones we kill are unkillable and they certainly put up an incredible fight, but this it true of the Orphan of Kos more than any other. Generally accepted to be the most difficult fight in the game – this is probably the most powerful 'thing' our character ever fights and it isn't even that powerful, in a twist that leaves practically the last thing our character does in the game to leave us with the most Lovecraftian feeling of all.

     When we approach the Orphan of Kos, there is a deflated dead thing on the floor that is being worshipped from the cave we exit. This dead thing could be Kos, though is more likely to be the surrogate of Kos's child as Kos is suggested to be a being of much higher power than the Great Ones. Then, the Orphan of Kos climbs out of the thing on the floor and immediately takes a disliking to you. While most Great Ones do not care for you at all until you threaten them, the Orphan does care. The Orphan is a being of anger, showing it's naive state as far as Great Ones go – as like the others it is of something higher than humans, so probably shouldn't care about them.This newborn proceeds to aggressively attack the character in a fight to the death. As previously mentioned, this is likely to be the most powerful thing in the game and, once we finally do beat it, nothing in particular happens. It just dies and we are left staring out into the infinitely expanding abyss. We just fought possibly the toughest thing we could fight and though that makes us feel good about our power – it also emphasises what infinitely higher powers are out there.

     The empty abyss that extends from that fight is essentially the last message of the game. An existential belittlement directly after we overcome the toughest challenge we have faced. That, in my opinion, is why Bloodborne is the most successful homage to Lovecraft found in a video game.

1. One of my favourites of this style of storytelling is that when you use the Tiny Music Box - that you get from a little girl who wants to locate her mother - against Father Gascoigne and it stuns him. Then you find evidence for the little girl's mother having died nearby the area after the fight, leading you to believe that Gascoigne himself is the father and you can put the story of what happened together. With the disease changing the Hunter and him probably having killed her - and without any dialogue to explain as such.
2. A notable link to this is Poe's belief that all stories should be readable in one session, so had a disposition toward short stories. While Lovecraft dabbles in some longer works, all of them can be read in a rather short time overall. Edger Allen Poe writes the reasons for his doing this in an essay called 'Philosophy of Composition' which I thoroughly recommend for anyone interested in general fiction.
3. While there is no obvious evidence that the inhabitants of the village 'fornicated' with the fish people... let's not kid ourselves, it definitely happened!
4. Van Helsing the hunter from Bram Stoker's Dracula was originally just a doctor who had a bit more knowledge of supernatural things rather than just his medical profession, as he was a man of science who did not ignore the world's stranger occurrences. Thus he does what he does because of his scientific knowledge.
5. It could be suggested that the Brain of Mensis is the form of a Great One, though it becomes somewhat apparent according to the method by which we bathe it in darkness where it loses it's main power, and then we are capable of killing of it, or at least this form of it.
6. The Celestial Emissary is essentially just a powerful alien, so reasonably killable and Mergo's Wet Nurse is a relatively weak Great One with only one purpose, to protect Mergo. This basically leaves Ebrietas and the Moon Presence itself. The Moon Presence is also inside of a dream and most endings have you not fighting it at all.
7. There is a theory that there is rivalry between the Moon Presence and Ebrietas, owing to Ebrietas influencing the worship of the Healing Church who are some of the people undoing the Moon Presence's work of creating Beasts in a Blood Moon. If this is true, then it explains why it would aid us in doing some of the things we do from The Hunter's Dream. However, there is another theory of the Moon Presence being created by the Healing Church, which would ruin this idea, so the possibility is tenuous at best.

Meta-Post Exploratoring This Blog - (Feel Free To Ask Me Questions or Make Suggestions of Topics)

     Hi, folks! Just wanted to say hi and update a few things.

     Firstly I want to say there will basically never be update posts like this, it is simply that time constraints have caused me to change up how I approach the blog, so I have had to post-bone today's post to Sunday.

     That is to say that from now on, the blog posts will be posted weekly every Sunday. These will be the main posts, the exploratoring posts, the good and researched ones. Wednesday will still be my other posting day, but it might not be every Wednesday that something is up. When something does appear on Wednesday it will either be ongoing journal posts such as Tales From the Sunless Sea, or real-world exploratoring that might also be ongoing. These posts are to keep up content but are less important and targeted at my main audience.

     On Sunday will be the follow up to my Bloodborne post about the Lovecraft ties, so keep up with that. Other than that I wanted to say thank you for joining me for a successful launch of this blog. While I have had very few comments on the actual blog, the feedback I have been getting elsewhere has been really great and I've had a few posts hit over 1000 views, so that is fantastic.

     My only hopes are that you will anyone seeing one of my posts might stick around to check out more of them, and perhaps get a feel that they like my blog. Once I have 4-5 months of startup time I will open up a Pateron and perhaps put a few adverts in the side bars, but not so much that it will overwhelm - because if I could make some money from this, that would be amazing and I could spend more time focusing on making the best possible content!

     Now, I also know that so far almost all of my content has been about video games, but it won't always be. I have a few books, TV shows and films in the pipeline to discuss, including a potential segment looking at adaptations and why one is better than the other. So if you've been checking out some of my stuff but aren't massively into video games - please stick around!

     The other thing I wished to say is as it says in the title - please do make suggestions. Anything you think is interesting enough for a deeper analysis is something I could add to my list and if it is recommended, then I am happy to prioritise it for you. So if there is a game, film, book, etc. that you really like, feel free to throw a suggestion my way and I'll see what I can do. Alternatively if you wish to as me any questions about pretty much literally anything, I will always reply - and if my reply is good enough or I get a bunch of questions at once, I could always use that to fill in a Wednesday post where I would otherwise have no content. So don't be shy!

     Also, I am available for hire fairly cheap if you would like my help on any work, either proofreading or want something written for you. I know my current posts are not in the most exemplary form with regard to proofreading (which is one reason I'm focusing on one a week rather than two a week from now on - higher quality) but if you check out my short story portfolio to the right hand side of the page, they are a better example. All you have to do is ask, and I look forward to working with you.

     Thank you so much for reading and remember: some may explore, but I explorator!