Chapter 1062: Bloodborne and Cthulhu Mythos
Many players realized halfway through their playthrough that the story of *Bloodborne* is a Cthulhu Mythos-themed tale.
As a game of the same genre as *Dark Souls*, the innovations *Bloodborne* made in its combat system and level design are not its greatest highlights. If there is a highlight, it is probably that it encourages players to be more aggressive, making the game more "reckless" and thus creating a combat style more intense than *Dark Souls*.
The greatest highlight of *Bloodborne* lies in its unique world-building, which draws inspiration from the Cthulhu Mythos system. In fact, *Bloodborne* is widely regarded as one of the best Cthulhu Mythos-themed games.
So, what is the Cthulhu Mythos?
In short, the Cthulhu Mythos represents an "indescribable fear of the unknown." However, this fear is not static; it is a complete, progressive experience with a cause, process, and result. That is to say, due to human nature, people continuously explore the unknown, gradually uncovering the true nature of a world beyond their understanding, which triggers feelings of loneliness, despair, helplessness, and confusion.
The Cthulhu Mythos is undoubtedly very successful, widely applied in films, games, and novels. In fact, the Cthulhu Mythos should not be rigidly confined to its settings, nor does every story of a similar theme need to use names like "Cthulhu" or other ancient gods and assign them specific roles. For example, while *Bloodborne*'s entire worldview and its ancient gods heavily allude to the Cthulhu Mythos, it has strong originality, and this does not diminish its status as one of the best Cthulhu-themed works.
The Cthulhu Mythos posits that human abilities are limited. People cannot see the truth of the world, and their understanding of the world and the universe is at a very superficial stage. Humans are like inhabitants of a nameless island in a dark ocean, where the ocean represents the universe. Humans should not sail too far or delve too deep, or they will invite disastrous consequences.
The story of *Bloodborne* is a textbook example of the Cthulhu Mythos.
In Yharnam, humans and powerful ancient gods already coexist. Humans cannot see the ancient gods, cannot understand what kind of beings they are, and cannot comprehend their level of thought or perspective. When a player's Insight is too low, they cannot see ancient gods like Amygdala at all; they only see whirlpools appearing out of thin air in the air, and being caught by them means death.
However, the people of Yharnam discovered the tombs, and curiosity drove them to continuously explore, delving deeper into the domain of the ancient gods, seeking Insight to uncover the truth of the world. Because humans and ancient gods are not beings of the same dimension, their ways of thinking and living are completely different, humans cannot resist the ancient gods. Forcibly accepting knowledge beyond human cognition drives one to madness.
Master Willem, Laurence, and Micolash each sought the path of the ancient gods in their own ways, but this brought devastating disaster to Yharnam. Whether it was the brain fluid experiments, the beastly scourge, or the ritual of the red moon, all were calamities born from forcibly acquiring abilities or knowledge beyond human limits.
And the final endings of *Bloodborne* are profound.
The first ending represents the player giving up the pursuit of truth, choosing "ignorance is bliss," continuing to live as a human in the world, no longer attempting to seek the knowledge of the ancient gods.
The third ending, on the other hand, represents the player steadfastly moving forward. Even after encountering so many tragic events, they still want to understand the truth behind this world, to defeat those powerful ancient gods, and then evolve into a higher being, even at the cost of abandoning their human form.
These can be seen as *Bloodborne*'s unique reflection on the Cthulhu Mythos.
Some might ask, what is the point of the Cthulhu Mythos? Isn't it just deliberately fabricating disgusting creatures and calling them "gods"? Isn't it just deliberately belittling human abilities, even to the point of going mad at the sight of ancient gods? What is the meaning of this "fear of the unknown," concocted and forced?
The meaning of the Cthulhu Mythos lies in subversion and reflection.
It subverts the image of gods. So-called gods do not necessarily look like humans, nor do they necessarily love their creations. Gods may be beings completely beyond human comprehension, such as countless eyeballs and disgusting tentacles. It is meaningless to speculate on the appearance of gods based on human aesthetics, because since they are "gods," they should be higher-dimensional beings that surpass humans in both thought and existence. It is not strange at all for them to have any form of life.
It subverts the type of horror. It is not merely about blood and gore, nor simply scaring people with monsters. Instead, it creates a sense of the unknown. The more one explores, the deeper the fear of the unknown becomes, even leading to despair after endless investigation. This unique horror is unprecedented.
It subverts the concepts of good and evil and mainstream thought. In many other genres, good is good, evil is evil, angels are beautiful men and women with wings, and demons are villains with goat horns. But in the Cthulhu Mythos, ancient gods bear no great hostility toward humans. They view humans the way humans view ants. When ancient gods massacre humans, it is like a human stepping on and killing many ants. A human does not feel guilt for stepping on ants, and an ancient god does not feel sorrow for killing humans.
In other words, in the presence of ancient gods, humans' existing worldview is completely overturned. As beings that transcend humans, the logic, thinking, emotions, and ethics of ancient gods bear no resemblance to those of humans.
These subversions make the Cthulhu Mythos a highly distinctive genre, vastly different from mainstream worldviews.
The Cthulhu Mythos is also a reflection. In the process of continuously exploring the universe, humans become more aware of their own insignificance. The more knowledge they acquire, the more they feel the limits of humanity. For example, this saying: "The truly mysterious is not why the world exists, but that the world exists at all."
Of course, the charm of the Cthulhu Mythos lies in its ineffability. Its fear can only be felt, like being in darkness—the more you imagine, the more terrifying it becomes.
When the Cthulhu Mythos is combined with the suffering gameplay of *Dark Souls*, a new creation is born: *Bloodborne*.
This gives *Bloodborne* a completely different quality in world-building compared to *Dark Souls*.
The fading of the First Flame becomes the hunter trapped in an eternal nightmare.
The Lords of Cinder become unknowable, powerful ancient gods.
The endless journey of linking the fire becomes killing the ancient gods and taking their place.
Though it seems somewhat similar, it has become two entirely different stories.