- The Great Ones were an ancient race of almost celestial beings that made contact with primitive humans. Hence them being referred to as "the gods" why we see statues and monuments that resemble them.
- Byrgenwerth was a research facility that was established upon discovering a labyrinth containing the remains of some Great Ones.
- There were a few names discovered throughout the game and the only one I can remember is Laurence (εδω μπερδευτηκε με τον Master Willem που ειναι ο τυπος στην καρεκλα... οπου βλεπετε Laurence εννοει Master Willem) who I believe to be the dude in the rocking chair right before your fight Rom. He and a few others were the ones that established Byrgenwerth and began investigating and trying to make contact with the Great Ones. Perhaps, even try to harness some of their power within themselves.
- Their research of The Great Ones became the early foundation of blood ministration and led to the founding of Yharnam and the establishment of The Church. I believe the blood ministration was built upon the use of the old blood of The Great Ones.
- I have a theory that at some point, Laurence basically went crazy due to his obsession with trying to contact and harness the power of The Great Ones. This lead to one of his colleagues breaking off to found the village/town of Yahar'Gul to carry on the research.
- Over time, Yharnam and Yahar'Gul expanded and research on the The Great Ones continued. The early signs of the Scourge of Beasts began to pop up around this time. Gehrman, a great warrior and hunter, took it upon himself to put down these monsters before they became a problem and spread the plague.
- At some point, the Choir, or academy, or whatever organization that comprised the Lecture Hall area and the depths of Yahar'Gul managed to really tap into the power of The Great Ones; but it wasn't natural. This is why the students are horrendously deformed and I believe The One Reborn to be a failed attempt at genetically creating a Great One.
- This breakthrough drew the attention of The Moon Presence which beckoned to the normal world. I believe this being to be sinister and his plan was to merge the normal world with a nightmarish dream world of his creation and rule like a god much like the ancient Great Ones within Byrgenwerth.
- Micolash, who I presume to be some kind of ancient and powerful scholar, became a conduit for this nightmare realm. The creation and spread of this nightmare led to the red moon and the slow engulfing of the normal world. The Lecture Hall was essentially transported away from Yahar'gul and into the nightmare realm itself.
- Within this nightmare, it's my theory that The Moon Presence essentially impregnated several women (who are selected for whatever reason) in hopes of creating new Great Ones to further spread his influence within this world.
- I believe that one of these women was the Queen who was impregnated with "Mergo". Mergo was lost for some reason, and this combination of loss of child and strange contact with The Moon Presence resulted in her being restless for all eternity. She comes out in particular during Red Moons.
- I believe the other woman was Gehrman's wife. My theory is that she was impregnated and either died in unholy labor or was killed mercifully (along with the child) by Gehrman. This is why there was an umbilical cord in the old workshop. I believe the doll is modeled after his wife.
- At some point before the nightmare could spread very far, Rom somehow was able to drive the nightmare away and keep it sealed. I'm not sure if Rom himself is a Great One or a powerful being who somehow gained power equal to one. If he is indeed a Great One, he must be in opposition to the others.
- After that was done, Yharnam and The Church expanded and the practice of blood ministration spread making the city a bit of a legend. Eventually though, the overuse and dangerous experiments with the blood of The Great Ones, which I believe to be the "pale blood", lead to The Scourge of Beast overwhelming Yharnam. Overwhelming to the point that Old Yharnam had to be abandoned and sealed away. It was at this point that the Church sealed away Byrgenwerth and the Forbidden Woods knowing that it was the source of this terrible plague.
- With the Scourge becoming endemic, The Hunt, as first done by Gehrman, became a tradition within Yharnam. Great warriors and hunters would travel to the city to cleanse the place, test their meddle, and partake in a sport of sorts.
- With the original nightmare ended, The Moon Presence was left with little power to do anything. So it went after the two individuals who it had close enough contact with. The first was Laurence, original founder of Byrgenwerth and the one with a blind (pun intended, haha) obsession with The Great Ones. The second was Gehrman whose possession of the umbilical cord compelled The Moon Presence. I feel like this could be what the game means by "surrogates". Not true Great One children, but individuals that it can still use.
- I believe The Moon Presence cursed Gehrman and trapped him within the then created Hunter's Dream. I think it was Gehrman's duty to find potentially powerful hunters and use them to try and release the nightmare. Basically, he was forced to manipulate them and trap them within the Dream as a sort of purgatory. He would promise them that they could escape if they could end the Scourge of Beasts. Basically, he manipulated them under the guise of "The Hunt". He was to guide them to Byrgenwerth in hopes that one day a hunter could defeat Rom and release the nightmare once again.
- Laurence , again, the dude in the rocking chair at Byrgenwerth, was to meet hunters as they arrived and direct them to the lake to face Rom.
- So basically, your hunter becomes trapped in the Hunter's Dream and battles his way to Byrgenwerth believing it to be the root of the Scourge of Beasts. There he battles and defeats Rom accidentally unleashing the nightmare. That's why he sees the white queen, her soul is "unleashed" a bit.
- With the new moon and the nightmare descending to engulf the normal realm, select women again begin to be impregnated with potential Great One offspring. Iosefka and that whore chick who starts with an "A" were two such women. Hence, why you obtain powerful umbilical cords upon killing them.
- Thing is though, your hunter had been obtaining insight throughout his quest. The Madman's Knowledge items say when you inspect that they contain knowledge of The Great Ones. I believe that gaining all of this insight allowed the hunter to kind of transcend the hunt and maintain awareness of what's going on. Hence why he is able to enter Yahar'gul and see all of the creatures with clarity.
- It's at this point I believe Gehrman starts to rebel a bit. Your character keeps finding references to some kind of ritual, red moons, and children, etc. and begins to kind of be guided into the nightmare.
- The Hunter fights his way through the Unseen Village (whose name makes sense now) which is the heart of the nightmare. After killing The One Reborn he is able to enter the nightmare itself and begins to really learn about The Great Ones themselves.
- He kills some of them such as Amygdala, Celestial Emissary, and Ebrietas, before entering the nightmare of Mensis (The Mensis Ritual, the summoning of the nightmare) and kills Micolash. Upon killing Micolash, the nightmare begins to fade which would explain why the sky looks a bit different. The ritual has been stopped but the nightmare hasn't completely faded away yet; it will with time.
- The hunter is then faced with Mergo's Wet Nurse who I believe to be a Great One tasked with overseeing the nightmare and of course the birth of the Great One children (duh). It engages the hunter in a last ditch effort to preserve everything that they've done. The hunter defeats the Nurse and returns to the Hunter's Dream to find it burning.
- I believe that Gehrman is essentially rebelling against The Moon Presence. The hunter had stopped the nightmare that Gehrman was forced to help bring back which greatly pleases Gehrman; this why he tells the hunter what a great job he's done upon their confrontation. Gehrman is telling his overseer to F-Off basically and he burns down the place signaling his defiance.
- When the hunter meets with Gehrman, he is offered the chance to be killed and released from this terrible purgatory after putting an end to the nightmare. If the hunter agrees, he wakes up to a normal world and may or may not remember everything. If the hunter refuses to die, then Gehrman decides he must force the fate upon the hunter and they battle.
- In the ending where you only fight Gehrman, the hunter is victorious which ushers in The Moon presence. It then makes the hunter the new caretaker of The Hunter's Dream to replace its lost slave. In this ending, I believe the hunter is forced to act as The Moon Presence's pawn like Gehrman was.
- But in the true ending, the hunter obtains incredible strength and power from consuming the umbilical cords. The Moon Presence realizes that it can't control this hunter and decides to engage him. The hunter defeats The Moon Presence and now is where it gets weird.
- I'm not sure if the hunter like takes in the Moon Presence's power and becomes a Great One himself (that weird squid thing seen at the end) or just puts an end to everything and returns to the real world. I like to think that the hunter was able to wake up free from everything and that squid was maybe the Doll's long-lost child returning to her or something before the dream disappears. Kind of like reuniting the afterlife. If he is indeed the squid, that would mean the hunter has basically ascended to become a pseudo-godlike figure.
Originally Posted by teras1
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks