Edit: Hello to everyone watching this a year later! a lot of my opinions/interpretations here have changed; you can find those edits in recent vids (mainly regarding Oedon). ALSO: it's Queen Victoria not Elizabeth. Whoops

Hi everyone, as usual I want to thank you all for the comments and the kind words. A few people have already approached this video combatively which I knew would happen so I don't care, but I will say this so my thoughts are VERY CLEAR. This video is not man bad woman good. Men are not inherently violent, women are not inherently innocent. Beasthood and ascension, metaphorically, is available to every last one of us.

"The Queen lies dead, but her horrific consciousness is only asleep, and it stirs in unsettling motions."

Real Souls fans respect women's rights AND women's wrongs

I have a different interpretation for Ludwig. He's unique in the fact he became a beast of burden, and I feel like the implication was that his noble nature was taken advantage of. I like to imagine he's especially grotesque because he feels more accountability for his actions than the others, almost like self flagellation had an impact on his mutation.

Maria could have been talking about Kos when she says “A corpse should be left well alone.” It seems she was repentant for what the old hunters did at the fishing hamlet, which is probably why the Curse of Kos allows her to rest peacefully in the clocktower.

"Bloodborne presents the reality of gender, the reality of our similarities, not the fantasy of our differences." Ohh, I love this line. Cant wait for more videos on this channel. Some super interesting things to consider in this one in particular. I have to agree with what seems like most everyone who has commented here that there is just never enough videos like this one. A relatively simple idea that has such a profound impact on how a person looks at this game and all From games really. Excellent video.

In Bloodborne, do battle against that most ancient if eldritch horrors: the British.

The Visceral Femininity vid from Honey Bat is honestly the only other Bloodborne essay I’ve seen that dives as deep into these thematics, which is a shame since  they’re so prescient in the game.

Very glad YT algorithm shared your channel through this vid.  This was such a well done analysis, your comparisons to both the old Victorian gender roles that Bloodborne took inspiration from and ones of modern day and the twist the game took on both through the cosmic beings were interesting, especially with those stereotypical male and female roles throughout history and how it effects people.

Beasthood, while most assuredly a disease that the hunters are tasked with destroying, can also be seen as humanity's evolution in response to the great ones. They are resistant to the damage types dealt by the great ones you fight, and deal damage types that are extremely effective at harming the great ones. It's like a very violent and maddening evolution

One thing that this video didn't touch on are gender roles within the Healing Church: specifically the Choir and School of Mensis. Choirs throughout history have been comprised of male singers, but male singers who have strived to sound feminine, be it castratos or choir boys who grow out of their membership. Bloodborne's Choir wear flowing white gowns reminiscent of Yharnam's wedding dress, and the only male member we know about is undercover (Edgar), while women are able to show their Choir membership openly (Yurie, potentially Fake Iosefka). Meanwhile, the School of Mensis has only one female member and she seems to have abandoned them (Real Iosefka). They wear college robes in a time when predominantly men attended college, and when the Choir wanted to spy on them, they sent Edgar, their only male member. While we're on the college metaphor, their reckless summoning rituals and the devastating effects on their own populace reminds one of frat boys chugging four-lokos before backflipping off a two-story building onto a trampoline.

Also, shout-out to Micolash, he's immune to beasthood because his autistic hyperfixation on eyes is far more important than disrespecting women. If he got into radiation, that boy would be praying to Marie Curie and Oppenheimer in the same breath. Absolute king.

A detail you didn't mention but which I love is how Eileen wants you to tell the doll she said hello after Eileen kills you, should you chose to fight her. 'the hunter of hunters' treating the doll as a subject on her own is really telling, I believe

Rom it seems is also a victim in sense. The fight doesn’t start until you attack her, and even then she just runs away and has her children fight, but even they are only aggressive if you get to close. She’s not aggressive until later in the fight when she has no choice but to be. It feels as if she was just minding her own business and you started attacking her for no reason.

36:40 "We are more similar than people realize" while turning the camera to the smartest werewolf alive cracked me up

using cosmic horror as a lens to view gender roles is really interesting and I wish more people talked about that aspect of bloodborne. All in all, great video!

Girlhood is a spectrum between the doll and Vicar Amelia

Miyazaki once said "I'm not good at telling stories, I tell worlds." And I think he's selling himself a bit short there, because his stories in those worlds are often unique and compelling. Short, for sure, but still interesting.

They handle multiple themes well, I think, because the writing isn't about centering a specific person as the be all end all, but instead about showing a living world filled with people all experiencing their own bittersweet tragedies. It's partly why FromSoft writing feels so much better to me than most dark fantasy.

Modern storytelling is taught as a very selfish frame of efficiency and centralization. If you have taken a modern writing course you've been told to eliminate anything that does not contribute to the protagonist's story and arc. This is why so many films and books have giant gaping plot holes or severe world building blind spots.

FromSoft doesn't do that, and because they don't the worlda having missing details feels realistic instead of unsatisfying.

9:11 In the two endings where you stay with the doll, it should also be noted that Gerhman is dead. So nothing forces her to do anything at that point. Other than, perhaps, the fact she was made to love. Fantastic essay.

Ta...ten years? How...how has it been 10 years...

When you said "Motherhood is a form of Ascension" I Ascended, harder bars than Micolash's helm

"So many players deny the sexual implications like he's they're dad."
THEY DO?!  Jokes aside, I thought that was incredibly obvious