The Pthumerians

The Pthumerians

The Pthumerians were/are an ancient race of humanoids who lived deep below ground in Pthumeru Ithyll, or the Chalice Dungeons. It is unclear if they always lived down there or if they merely moved down there and then evolved into their current form from one that looked more human, but what is known is that they were the servants of the Great Ones. Not just servants, but likely a slave race whose sole purpose was to care for the Great Ones and expand the Chalice Dungeons endlessly.

Regardless of whether or not the Pthumerians originated above or underground, descendants of them can be found in both orientations. It seems an ancient branch of Pthumerians, or perhaps several branches, eventually breached the surface and subsequently created Yharnam and Cainhurst. There could be other locations in the world of Bloodborne that were created by the Pthumerians as well, as we don't know just how far the tombs sprawl beneath the surface, and it is very likely that some of their descendants could have simply traveled to new locations as well.

The Executioners are said to be from a foreign land, and among their ranks are the likes of Martyr Logarius, who is notably very Pthumerian in appearance. This could mean that there are more Pthumerian-descended civilizations out there, or that Logarius was simply a member of the Healing Church, which also employs (or really seems to enslave) many of these people themselves, and Logarius was simply appointed by them to lead the Eexecutioners during their siege and genocide of Cainhurst.

I mentioned Logarius having a very Pthumerian appearance, but what does that mean exactly? Throughout the game, we can encounter many Pthumerians. Each of these individuals have incredibly pale skin, straight up alabaster in color in some cases, with sunken, black eyes and somewhat strange mouths. Build-wise, Pthumerians have a number of shapes they can take, with some being rather tiny and frail, but most of them seem to be quite large, with their height being anywhere from slightly taller than a hunter, to almost twice as tall, to being literal giants. The variations between these Pthumerians could indicate that there are different branches, something like humans having once had homo sapiens, neanderthal, and denisovans, but they could also simply just be prone to intense levels of diversity, or even be affected by arcane arts or the influence of the Great Ones they serve.

The arcane arts seem to be a very important thing to the Pthumerians, as the tombs they live in are full of items and alters for ritual. Not only that, but we can find many Pthumerian witches who will assault us with magic. The Bell Ringing Women, who also seem to be Pthumerian, can also summon enemies to attack us. I am inclined to believe that the enemies they summon are the spirits of the dead and that the Bell Ringing Women act as necromancers, though it is also possible that these enemies are from different realities as well, similar to how player invasions work. Another point towards necromancy however is the fact that, within the dungeons, we can find several Pthumerian giants who are labeled as being undead. They look far different from the living ones we see above ground and are often adorned with candles, making them look like walking ritual alters. We can also find the occasional ghost wandering the dark corridors of the tombs.

I mentioned earlier that the peoples of Yharnam and Cainhurst are descended from the Pthumerians, but how do we know that? Well, for Yharnamites, it is much more obvious. Yharnamites have a distinct look about them. It isn't quite the same as that of the Pthumerians, but it is still quite different than the average person, like the hunters we meet from foreign lands. Yharnamites are tall, lanky, with seemingly mismatched proportions. These traits could be chalked up to the affects of beasthood and the Old Blood, but it seems odd that characters seemingly unaffected by the plague, such as the old woman or distrustful man we can send to Oedon Chapel still have these characteristics. On top of that, the city of Yharnam itself is named after Yharnam, the Pthumerian Queen.

"Yharnam" has been posited to be a name passed down from queen to queen. I think this is likely true and that the name is a thing of power and ritual. When a Pthumerian woman becomes queen, she also becomes Yharnam. The city was thus eventually named after the Pthumerian queens, though its possible its people have forgotten the origin of the name, especially with the Healing Church's take over and the burning and abandonment of Old Yharnam - Old Yharnam having an aesthetic and culture that seems much more in line with those below ground than those of Central Yharnam and the Cathedral Ward.

Old Yharnam is home to many statues that are bestial in nature and, while other parts of Yharnam aren't exactly strangers to fucked up looking statues themselves, Old Yharnam's still feel much more in line with what we find underground; much more archaic and dark. On top of that, the most damning evidence is the Church of the Good Chalice, where we can find the first Pthumerian Chalice on an alter. We can also find ritual blood on a separate alter. These two findings offer a direct link to the tombs, and thus to the Pthumerians, and paint the other oddities of Old Yharnam under a much more suspicious and Pthumerian-themed light.

But what about Cainhurst? Cainhurst's connections aren't as clear cut, but I believe the clues are there. For starters, the people of Cainhurst, the Vilebloods, are even more Pthumerian in appearance than the Yharnamites are. The people were see have drastic changes in sizes, some being short and hunched over little goblin men, kind of like the Pthumerian leg witches we see in the tombs, while the ghosts of victims we see are rather tall. These ghosts are also incredibly pale like the Pthumerians, but they are also ghosts, so who knows which is the cause.

Queen Annalise, on the other hand, is not a ghost, yet still bears these traits. Her skin is pale and grey, and almost shiny. Now, Annalise being a queen who isn't named Yharnam could be a flaw in this theory, but the people of Cainhurst and the people of Yharnam are enemies, so it makes sense that they wouldn't keep the same name. On top of that, some have posited the idea of a Pthumerian civil war, as thousands of corpses and ancient sets of weapons and armor can be found underground. These could all be from explorers, but the sheer number of these corpses and items makes it seem unlikely that they are JUST from explorers, possibly indicating that the split between Cainhurst and Yharnam was a lot further back in time.

Other possible links to the Pthumerians are the fact that we can find gargoyles and blood lickers in Cainhurst. Now, blood lickers can be found in other places as well, such as in the Hunter's Nightmare, as the creatures are simply attracted to blood. Blood lickers very well could be some form of interdimensional beings who just seek out blood, since the ones we encounter in the Chalice Dungeons mainly come out when we kill an enemy via visceral attack, but the fact that in the base game, these were the only two places we could find them could still be a link.

The gargoyles on the other hand are not found in the DLC, nor anywhere else. They can only be found in the Chalice Dungeons and Cainhurst. The gargoyles are rather humanoid in nature, so it is possible that they themselves are another form of Pthumerian. Alternatively, they could be beasthood afflicted Pthumerians, as beasthood affects people in a number of ways and the people of the dungeons did commune with the Old Blood. These beasthood afflicted Pthumerians could have been subsequently used as guard dogs, seeing as they tend to wait in inconspicuous places to jump out and grab any intruder who passes by.

Another potential connection is the fact that, when we arrive at Cainhurst, the courtyard we first enter has a strange hole. A sloping path leads down into the ground but seems to dead end. I personally believe this is, or was, an entrance to the dungeons that has since been sealed off and possibly where the branch that would become the Vilebloods first ascended. We can find a similar location in Yharnam, that being a cave below Iosefka's Clinic and the Forbidden Woods that is full of poison water and Pthumerian Giants who do not seem to be under the control of the Healing Church. Notably, these two locations also features the annoying worm enemies, which can also be found within Loran Silverbeasts where killed. Loran Silverbeasts can be found within the dungeons, and within the nightmare, and could possibly link Loran to the Pthumerians as well.

It is also interesting to note the fact that the streets of Yharnam are filled with coffins. This very well could be due to the plague that is ravaging the city, but it could also be one of the few remaining remnants of Pthumerian culture that hasn't been fully abolished yet; that connection to death and necromancy. The School of Mensis in Yahar'Gul seems to use necromancy themselves, as we can find abominations like wolves made of corpses, or the Cramped Caskets that are sentient masses of limbs that are fused together and inhabiting, well, cramped caskets. Yahar'Gul is also where we fight the One Reborn, a failed attempt at creating a Great One, or a vessel for a Great One, who is also made up of corpses and aided by Bell Ringing women, who I already discussed the connections to necromancy and Pthumerians. Yahar'Gul is also where the Snatchers reside or bring victims to, Snatchers once again being very clearly Pthumerian in appearance and located within the dungeons.

So that was my random ramble about Pthumerians and the culture likely descended from them. I may have missed some aspect that I wished to talk about since I got carried away a few times, and maybe some of this stuff is pointless, already well known, or simply not cared about, but I enjoy rambling about Fromsoft lore, especially my precious baby, Bloodborne. To anyone who read this, thanks! Would love to hear any thoughts.

soulsborne sketches from the past couple weeks. i might color that ranni sketch

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Bloodborne fanart by Stu_dts

Potential Ensha info from the DLC

Me and @katyspersonal were hoping for more potential lore on Ensha, surprisingly enough... and we might have actually got our wish somehow. Let's take a look at the description of Ensha's bones for a second, as well as their properties...

While they don't look it at first glance, the description specifies the bones are "golden", and they can replenish HP when it's reduced. Gold and healing go hand-in-hand in Elden Ring's setting, so this propriety makes sense by considering the golden nature of the remains.

This description alone doesn't tell us much however. It describes the remains as belonging to an ancient lord named Ensha who is currently known as a soulless king. However, Shadow of the Erdtree might give us more hints about who he was prior to becoming an elaborate set of armor.

In the Lands of Shadow we can come across a very rare crafting material, mostly found around Scadu Altus and in the Shadow Keep and Fort of Reprimand. It is also held by the various Black Knights found around the world. This material is the Blessed Bone Shard.

These blessed bones shine gold with the blessing of the Scadutree, and can be used to craft many interesting items, including Festive Grease, Golden Vows (the tool, not the incantation), and Sunwarmth Stones. Two out of three of these items are directly aligned with the Golden Order (though the Festive Grease is likely part of the Shaman tradition which Marika made sure to somehow preserve), and one of them is directly tied to HP regeneration, the same passive power as Ensha's bones.

Since the other ingredients needed to craft it are a Spiritgrave Stone and a Black Pyrefly, neither connected to healing, I assume that part of the power comes from the blessed bones.

If this is the case, could it mean that the ancient lord Ensha participated in the Crusade as a warrior on the side of the Erdtree prior to his death? And that his bones were blessed because of his great service, as it was "the greatest honor that can be granted to the dead" after all. Him being some sort of lord or king might have also allowed his remains to be brought back to the Lands Between for a proper burial, or maybe even to craft this armor as a means to immortalize him. If so, his death must have been prior to the Lands of Shadow being hidden away by Marika.

Now, one could still question why Ensha's bones aren't as shiny as these shards are, but perhaps his blessing has faded with time. After all, the potency of the blessed bones we pick up is much greater than that of his armor, offering continuous healing to everyone nearby as opposed to just when our health gets low.

I think Ensha himself might have rested peacefully for years until after the Night of the Black Knives or the Shattering, which led to the rise of Those Who Live in Death through Deathroot. There is a possibility he himself is part of them, especially with the way he is described.

He is soulless, which has a deep connection to both Godwyn and other perished Demigods of the Night of the Black Knives. There seems to be a connection between death, undeath and the lack of a soul, strengthening the connection between Ensha and the undead.

He is further described as the king of the "lost and desperate", which seems to harken back to how Fia describes Those Who Live in Death as "the meek, and the many".

The connection seems slightly more obvious, as in Japanese she refers to them as "the weak" (弱き者) and she describes herself as their "guardian/protector" (庇護者). Meanwhile, Ensha is the King of those who "cling to/depend on" him (縋り付く) which seems to hold similar connotations of a weaker group of people needing a stronger figure for protection. In that case, Ensha might have been a surrogate king of sorts, but clearly not good enough to truly become their lord, a title fully reserved for the godly flesh of Godwyn. Or maybe, just like Fia, he was simply a self-appointed protector for them and had no higher aims.

The way in which he operates is still quite a mystery though. The man who wears the armor is also named Ensha, just like this ancient lord, so unless he is simply cosplaying him, there might be something deeper going on...

The DLC also introduced an interesting NPC enemy: Rakshasa. Named after a demon, the description of her armor makes a peculiar comment about following a certain path to "become" Rakshasa itself, hinting that the woman we just beat was just one embodiment of it.

Now, Ensha would be a bit different, but what if he also worked in a similar manner? As in, those who wear his remains become him by extension. But in that case, why would this king follow Gideon Ofnir? Is it because of his desire to reach the Haligtree? Perhaps he wants to confront Miquella since in his kindness he seems to have forsaken Those Who Live in Death, and if the Golden Epitaph is to be believed, agrees and maybe even endorses their destruction.

The vow of peace of the Roundtable Hold might be why someone like D doesn't strike him down on the spot. Or maybe hiding as a simple suit of armor proves to be quite effective in avoiding detection from the hunters of his kind.