Minor Spoiler Warning: I'll be talking a little bit about some of
the events of Bloodborne even though I won't be addressing most of
the story or 'twists' directly.
Bloodborne
is a horror game. To clarify, I do not claim it is a
'survival horror' in the classic sense of a horror game – but it
draws upon the very core of what horror is[1]. Now, the fact that Bloodborne is heavily involved with
Lovecraftian style lore is something that is particularly commonly
known and discussed at this stage. So, I would like, here, to have a
closer look at some of the other horror influences of Bloodborne –
the 'Gothic fiction'.
The Popularity of Victorian Horror
Victorian
Gothic horror is something that has had repeated surges of popularity
ever since they first arrived with tales such as Horace Walpole's
'The Castle of Otranto' (1764); continuing with stories such as
Frankenstien (1818), by Mary Shelly; The Tell-Tale Heart (1843), by
Edgar Allen Poe; and Dracula (1897), by Bram Stoker. The main part of
the popularity of this kind of fiction appeared during the Victorian
era, and thus the Gothic and Victorian styles became synonymous.[2]
As
a testament to the popularity of this style of story in Victorian
London, it wasn't just the wealthier folk who were able to enjoy the
high literature of Gothic horror. The 'Penny Dreadful' serials (1830
– 1890) were cheap and often unimpressive stories that could be
bought in instalments as quick as they were churned out. Some Penny
Dreadfuls proved significantly more popular than others, introducing
us to stories such as 'Sweeney Todd' (Originally 'String of Pearls')
– but the style remained and many of them were copied stories of
previous Gothic horror tales, or a stylised retelling of old folklore
stories such as Witches, Highwaymen, Werewolves, and Hunters. This
Victorian approach to Gothic horror is the core aesthetic of
Bloodborne's characters and the setting of Yarnham, as is the basis
for which it was inspired. From top-hats and cloaks to canes that
become serrated whips to a medieval fear of witches – Penny
Dreadfuls and Gothic fiction has them all.
Let
us have a look at some particular examples of Gothic fiction in
Bloodborne.[3][4]
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Experimentation,
for education purposes or otherwise, plays a common role in Bloodborne
owing largely to diseases that need to be cured and some folk's
beliefs that they can become improved beings by infusing some part of
themselves with other beings. These 'experiments' often incur some
kind of transmogrification, often into some kind of beastly or
violent form. A popular tale this rings true to is that of 'The
Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde' by Robert Louis Stevenson in
1886. In this story there is a Doctor who wished to hide some of his
darker indulgences so found a way to transform himself in a way that
would hide his identity when doing so. However, the alter-ego was
dangerous and uncaring and eventually could not be controlled,
causing murder and destruction in his wake.
Frankenstein
Similarly:
quite a heavy fear for people during the Victorian era was the
weirdness of medical practices and that, with speedy advances in
medicine, they may have gone 'too far'. Bloodborne also uses similar
themes such as the main character getting a blood-transfusions from
the man in Yharnam as a way of opening the story. Specifically,
getting a blood transfusion extends the player's lifespan until they
can find an actual cure to their disease, as well as many of the
other medical experiments being toward the goal of things such as
immortality and thereby 'playing with life and death'. Frankenstien
by Mary Shelley has themes of worries about scientific advances at
the time, such as 'galvanisation', which was a feared practice within
the Victorian era that people thought could re-vitalise the dead
thereby 'playing with life and death'.
Another
link to Frankenstein is that the game starts with a man muttering
that what you will experience will seem like a “bad dream” to
frame the entire story. The main hub in the game that we return to
often is 'The Hunter's Dream' and, at many parts throughout the game,
the character dips in and out of other people's dreams. Each dream
frames its own little parts of the story, making the whole narrative
both unreliable, uncertain to have actually happened, and somewhat
confusing. In Frankenstein, the tale happens as a series of letters
as a prelude to someone telling the story which is a frame of a story
which at some point is further framed by another layer of story –
leaving the whole narrative just as unreliable, uncertain and
confusing.
Dracula
Bram
Stoker, the author of Dracula, used a series of letters and
second-hand accounts to make up the story of the people surrounding
the vampire in his castle. This adds to the speculative aspect of the
story in having to figure out a lot of what is happening otherwise than what is seen, as one does in Bloodborne. Dracula, being written and set
heavily into the Victorian period suggests a lot of the imagery for
the characters, also. While clothes are not specifically mentioned
much in the book, it is not beyond reason to suggest, owing to the
time period, there would have been, depending on character social
status: canes, top hats, suits with long tailcoats, capes and cloaks,
and other such garbs that can be seen in Bloodborne.
The
main link between Bloodborne and Dracula, however, is the social
factor. Toward the start of the game the player is contracted to
participate in a night of the hunt, where people go out and kill any
monsters or diseased folk. One thing to note about this situation is
the status of the people involved. Most of the hunters outside are poor to
middle classed men, and we sometimes have the option to talk to the people secure inside their houses. Of which, those are the safe folks who have the
social status to not participate and not only that, they have the
gall to mock you rather than offer shelter. Meanwhile we later find
the higher-ups and important folk, such as leaders of the healing
church, are not only safe and remote from the hunt but are also
corrupt in their own ways. This kind of thing is a running theme
throughout Dracula, where much of the power of Dracula is in his
social status and stands as commentary on the social power people
have.
The
'good guys', then, are not anyone of status. They are simply workers who
desire not to die by the hand of the corrupt. Whether this is a direct link or something that
happens to be a common suggestion or theme owing to the style and
setting of both Bloodborne and Dracula is to be seen – though it is
certainly something to consider and gives a bit of an understanding
as to why people consider the first half of the game to be something
'straight out of a Bram Stoker novel'.
To Be Continued...
As the risk of repeating myself, I would like to clarify further
that I do not think these links are strong or directly influential to
the game. My goal is to merely give insight to the kinds of themes
that are prevalent in the Victorian and Gothic horror setting which
Bloodborne in some kind of way either falls prey to or pays homage
to; I personally think that is something to be respected.
Bloodborne does not simply copy these styles of story – it adds to
them. It is part of the fiction of Gothic horror genre which is
something people pay attention to less than the more obvious
connection with Bloodborne... Lovecraft.
The links with Lovecraft in Bloodborne are not subtle and the works of Lovecraft came a decade or so after and were slightly inspired by the kind of horror works that popped up in the Victorian period. With this in mind, as a huge fan of Lovecraftian horror, I will chip in with my thoughts and links next time...
The links with Lovecraft in Bloodborne are not subtle and the works of Lovecraft came a decade or so after and were slightly inspired by the kind of horror works that popped up in the Victorian period. With this in mind, as a huge fan of Lovecraftian horror, I will chip in with my thoughts and links next time...
Until then - thanks for reading.
- Horror only need to play upon things that people are not okay with, it can be scary and based on our fears, but it can also just be unsettling, disturbing, suspenseful, nightmarish or plainly weird.
- It is a common theme amongst this genre to be told as if it were true, through letters or second hand stories suggesting the possibility of this strange thing that happened rather than addressing it as a narrated fiction. This is one reason a 'Souls' series game owes itself greatly to this genre, as most of the lore is found out through stories or second-hand writings.
- Less specific, though still a link: Werewolves have been popular in folklore since ancient Greece, though Lycanthropy in horror fiction was very much popularised by the Gothic horror in the early 19th century with stories such as 'The Man-Wolf' in 1831 and 'Hughes, Wer-Wolf' in 1838. Popular themes involved similar tales to the Scourge Beasts in Bloodborne with it being some kind of disease or curse that transforms them, often permanently, into a murderous wolf-beast.
- While some of these links may be tenuous as oppose to direct influence, it they will still ring true as tropes of the stories with Bloodborne being reminiscent of them due to being part of the genre as a whole.
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