"Seek Paleblood to transcend the hunt."
Every Souls game begins with a goal:
Slay the Arch Demons. Ring the Bell of Awakening. Seek the King.
And yet, in all of those stories, those goals were not the end.
They didn't hold the answers we were looking for, but they did set us on the right path.
And it was on the path to these goals that we found our answers.
Bloodborne is no different, so we seek the Paleblood.
"Paleblood you say?"
"Hmm...Never heard of it."
"But if it's blood you're interested in, you should try the Healing Church."
"The Church controls all knowledge on blood ministration, and all varieties of blood."
Blood ministration is the art of using blood for healing.
In a time before the events of the game, the Healing Church became immensely powerful
due to the healing qualities of their special healing blood.
Somehow they had created or found a blend that could cure any illness.
And so, as you would expect,
travelers from far and wide journeyed to Yarnham, seeking this special blood to cure their illnesses
Gilbert is one of these travelers. He mentions that what ailed him was incurable,
but that the special blood bought him time.
We ourselves were administered with Yarnham blood in the opening cutscene
and many sources say that we had an incurable disease as well.
Blood became the focus of worship and desire and the Church was at the centre of it all.
The Pungent Blood Cocktail item states that
"In Yharnam, they produced more blood than alcohol, as the former is more intoxicating."
And all was likely well for a time, for the Church had time to grow more powerful
and the Yharnam blood had time to gather a reputation.
But then it became clear that the blood was tainted.
The Antidote states that the healing blood gave rise to the endemic nightmare known as the scourge of the beast
and the men who had imbibed the blood began to turn
arms-lengthened hair-grew blood-thirst beast.
And when we arrive in Yharnam, we find that there are very few humans left.
Coffins lie on the streets.
And it's clear that death had become a new part of the daily routine.
Frantically the Church rallied together a force to fight the beast outbreak.
By inspection of the Yharnam Hunter Cap, we learn of the cleric Ludwig, the first hunter of the Healing Church.
Ludwig recruited the men of Yharnam to serve as hunters.
This hunter's attire was made for new recruits,
but it was not nearly enough to allow ordinary men to stand any real chance against the beasts.
And yet, Ludwig's influence is seen throughout Yharnam
in the hunt that is carried out by the men of the town each night.
With steel and fire, the men of Yharnam fought the beasts.
Since the tragedy that struck Old Yharnam, fire has become a staple in the beast hunts
and is thought to cleanse impurity.
Certain types of beasts also have an abnormal fear of flame.
The Molotov Cocktail is one of the oldest hunter tools in the workshop.
"Sometimes, when hunters burn beasts, they appear intoxicated by the euphoria of purification."
Despite all these hunts, Ludwig's attempts to rally the men of Yharnam backfired in a way.
Those who engaged in the beast hunt became overwhelmed with fear and bloodlust
and their transformation into a beast was ironically fast-forwarded.
Different men turn into different beasts and most men of Yharnam are half-turned,
patrolling the streets in a hunt that may never end.
The same Yharnamites hide indoors and , as you've probably experienced,
they spurn the outsider stupid enough to be caught outside on the night of the hunt.
We fight our way through the moonlit streets,
trying to find this valley to the east of Yharnam, and the great bridge that will lead us to the Cathedral Ward.
"Normally, they wouldn't let you near the place, but..."
"the hunt is on tonight."
"This might be your chance."
"Ludwig was the first of many Healing Church hunters to come, many of whom were clerics."
"As it was, clerics turned into the most hideous beasts."
The Cleric Beast leaps from the Cathedral Ward and
we fight what became of the first Church Hunter Ludwig.
Take from this encounter that to be close to the church
is to transform into a more complex beast.
Perhaps the more insight you have into the Church's doings, the more complicated your transformation.
It's something worth keeping in mind as we continue to explore, because this theme continues.
After the Cleric Beast is defeated, one can obtain the Hunter Chief Emblem,
an item that belonged to the captain of the Church hunters long ago.
It opens one of the main church gates in the Church Courtyard,
which would close behind Ludwig every time he embarked on Yharnam to engage in the hunt.
It would then open upon presentation of the Hunter Chief Emblem.
But that gate has been closed ever since, for Ludwig became the Cleric Beast.
And even though Ludwig gave his own humanity to lead the hunt,
the villagers saw only the Church's abandonment.
This note you find reads, "When the hunt began, the Healing Church abandoned us,
blocking the great bridge to the Cathedral Ward,
as they burned Old Yharnam to the ground on that moonlit night."
When we go across it, the great bridge is of course still blocked.
So we have to find a different way to the Cathedral Ward.
On our path through the sewers, we meet Eileen, a veteran hunter who tells us
that tonight is one of the worst hunts she has ever seen.
"Prepare yourself for the worst."
"There are no humans left. They're all flesh-hungry beasts, now."
You'll notice that she stands beside an incense lantern. The incense spreads a scent that repels beasts.
They're commonly found outside of the homes of the same experienced Yharnamites.
Wherever you see a lantern, there is safety from the beasts
and the people who hide inside are safe as long as they have a store of this incense.
We come across another lantern later, which protects a little girl from the horrors outside.
"Are you a hunter?"
"Then, please, will you look for my mum?"
"Daddy never came back from the hunt, and she went to find him, but now she's gone, too..."
Her father is a man named Gascoigne, who went on a hunt and never returned.
We find him here at the end of the sewers, in the Tomb of Oedon,
harvesting the blood of beasts.
Gascoigne is the perfect example of a man gone mad from the hunt.
He has forgotten his child. He has killed his wife.
And we also have to remember that those of the Church turn into the most hideous beasts.
"Hunter attire worn by Father Gascoigne."
"The dingy scarf was once a Holy Shawl and a symbol of the Healing Church,
from which Gascoigne would eventually part ways.
'Father' is a title used for clerics in a foreign land,
but there is no such rank in the Healing Church."
Gascoigne's attire is similar to the Hunter Garb that was created the workshop.
Only it's tainted by a pungent beastly stench that eats away him.
So why did Gascoigne leave the Church?
Was it to raise his family that he had at home,
or was it because he found he disagreed with the new Church's teachings?
There is much more to the Healing Church than there seems.
"You're sure to be in a fine haze about now, but don't think too hard about all of this."
"Just go out and kill a few beasts. It's for your own good."
"You know, it's just what hunters do..."