Bloodletting: Seductive Monstrosity and the Interplay between Waking and Dreaming in Bloodborne
Authors
Wilson Borrell, John MarcIdentifiers
Permanent link (URI): http://hdl.handle.net/10017/57013DOI: https://doi.org/10.37536/reden.2023.4.2131
ISSN: 2695-4168
Date
2023Bibliographic citation
REDEN: revista de estudios norteamericanos, v.4, n.2 (2023), pp. 72-89 ISSN 2695-4168
Keywords
Videogames
Monstrosity
FromSoftware
Seduction
Dream
Waking and dreaming
Document type
info:eu-repo/semantics/article
Version
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
Rights
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 Internacional
Access rights
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
Abstract
FromSoftware, a Japanese game developer, displays perhaps their most gothic inspired creation in Bloodborne (2015). Hidetaka Miyazaki, the director of the game, though drawing from several other key authors
in the field, primarily pays homage to themes and concepts present in H. P. Lovecraft’s relatively niche
oeuvre. The American gothic tradition thematically underscores various significant characteristics of the
game, not only through the pervasive use of Lovecraftian imagery, but by incorporating the sense that the
land itself is cursed, with hidden secrets and occult histories residing just below the surface. The gameplay
mechanics in a FromSoftware title are intimately ligated to the lore, world building, ambiance, and the
narrative structure—a structure known for being relatively loose and nonlinear. In Bloodborne, the playercharacter controls an avatar referred to as a “hunter” during their sojourn in the oneiric, perverse world
called Yharnam. The various inhabits of Yharnam range from beastly in nature to unfathomable to the
human mind, though they share the commonality of once being human prior to receiving blood ministration. This blood came from Eldritch Great Ones and was once hailed as a panacea before the terrifying side
effects manifested. This article explores the gothic connection between seduction, monstrosity, and the
dynamics of waking and dreaming in FromSoftware's Bloodborne.
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