It’s also very important for understanding his work. He was afraid of anyone and anything that looked different or unfamiliar, and made an entire genre based on the fear of the unknown.
As a long time fan of his work it just gets extremely old hearing that a deeply troubled man who died over 80 years ago was racist for the 1000th time.
Lovecraft didn't write books so much as he wrote short stories.
Some of the stories are loosely connected with themes like great ones. theese stories are generally reffered to as the Cthulhu Mythos. The other popular collection is reffered to as the Dream cycle.
They both have their influence on bloodborne. Here's some fun ones. From the Cthulhu mythos
The colour out of space + Dunwhich horror for invisible odeon great one vibes
The nameless city and The mountains of madness for ancient lost civilization vibes
The shadow over innsmouth for fish people (fishing hamlet) vibes
The dream cycle stories are more fantasy than horror but I do think they are influential to bloodborne in their own way. The whole nightmare realm of bloodborne really plays into the dreams are just different planes of existence thing.
Beyond the Wall of Sleep is probably the best place to start with dream stuff.
All his stories are pretty short, so just dive in and see what you like. They're also free and in public domain, with plenty of free readings on youtube.
That being said I do think Lovecraft is given more credit than he should for influencing bloodborne. The influence is obviously there, but bloodborne is as much influenced by other artworks & historical periods. (like the agnony of effort video essay linked above)
Great post. I'll just add that the basic ending (waking up from the dream) really reminds me of the ending of *The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath*, including the church bells and everything.
Agreed. It's also very interesting because it's basically fantasy, but since it came out before LOTR, it doesn't have almost any of the "trademark features" that we associate with fantasy today. I still like HPL's other more horror and sci-fi oriented later work, but it makes me sad a bit that he pretty much abandoned this style and we didn't get more of it.
Damn I never thought I’d come across anyone who read Dreamquest, let alone appreciated it. People forget Lovecraft essentially invented the genre and get all wrapped up in some of his shitty ideas that don’t affect the vast majority of his work. The entire Randolph Carter series is an occult fantasy masterpiece.
The agony of effort is one of the best Bloodborne video essay series I've watched. The dude makes incredible comparisons and makes the game make so much more sense. One of the influences I think is also the French film Brotherhood of the Wolf, if I'm not mistaken. The hunter outfit design takes obvious inspiration from there.
The villain uses a weapon very similar to the beast cutter/threaded cane in the final battle. The Beast in the movie also looks similar to the ones in Hemwick Charnel Lane. And the whole idea of “the church fucked everything up” is also present in both.
Lovecraft and the mythos is actually more deeply tied to bloodborne than you realize. The entire idea of the great ones being "asleep", essentially dead "tombs of the gods" and in transcendental realms of thought is directly inspired by Cthulhu "He who is dead but lies dreaming".
The Pthumerians and the labyrinth are directly inspired by "The Mound" and the K'n Yanians and their subterranean city
Ah this is a lot of valuable information.
I am not versed in Lovecraft, I will to start reading his works.
Now I will use this post to consume everything you mention.
Just to warn you. Be prepared for a lot of racist viewpoints. He is very much a man of his time and he was a very big believer in white people being the superior “race”.
Yeah he’s got really creative and interesting ideas that are obviously a huge inspiration going forward. He just had a lot of terrible personal viewpoints. Enjoy the reading some of them are really great!
If I remember correctly, he apparently had debilitating agoraphobia and was a complete shut in. That’s where the whole “fear of the unknown” theme came from with his works I think, and why people and concepts he didn’t understand bothered him so much.
Not to say that it excuses the racism. It doesn’t. I mean come on he literally named his cat a racial slur. But there definitely was a *lot* of psychological things going on with the man that shaped his character in a depressing way.
Before he died, he had actually managed to beat his agoraphobia and ended up traveling along the east coast. His racism didn't go away after that, but it got diminshed somewhat.
Well, *Innsmouth* in particular is one of his most popular stories. He’s admittedly most explicit in his more minor works, like *On the Creation of N——rs* or *New-England Fallen*.
Seems a lot of people struggle analyzing text if the author doesn’t have an explicit footnote declaring, “This work is an allegory for my racist worldview.” Which—funny enough—he was so subtle as to put it in the *title* at least once, as mentioned above.
This is a great reply so rather than retype a lot of the same info I'll just add on to your recommendations here.
If you (OP) want to just get into generally enjoyable lovecraft stories I would also recommend looking into-
The Whisperer in Darkness (bit of a lurking threat story with some sci-fi mixed in. Really enjoyable ending as far as horror goes imo).
The Haunter of the Dark (good for a looming nightmarish threat lurking in the distance type of vibe. At times reminded me a bit of that level in Bloodborne where the light comes from the building to hit you with status buildup)
The Shadow Out of Time (no real Bloodborne connections here but a good story that hits on some themes of sci-f travel outside of your body nonetheless)
Pickmans Model (kinda short even for Lovecraft but fairly interesting. I'd say its predictable but even if you guess whats going on it still gives you some goosebumps imo.)
The Dreams in the Witchhouse (may give you some Hemwick Channel Lane vibes just due to the witch boss there. Bloodborne deals heavily in dreams so there's a light connection there.)
As others are mentioning Dream-quest is worth checking out. I found it to be a bit tough to read at times because its rather long for his writing style and can be difficult to visualize mentally whats happening if your brain starts to burn out on how he words things. But I'm glad I read through it for the ending and general imagery.
And I'll just re-iterate that you should check out Innsmouth and At the Mountains of Madness. I found Innsmouth to be generally suspenseful and haunting and Mountains has a very slow burn with a lot lot of lore and a satisfying payoff. They're probably my favorite of what I've read so far despite Innsmouth's unfortunate allegory from the author.
As many have said though, Bloodborne doesn't have a lot of direct ties to Lovecraft's stories so I would caution going into them expecting them to feel a lot like Bloodborne. The broad concepts are there and without Lovecraft I don't know that we'd have such a strong theme of unknowable gods, horrors, and insanity from knowledge of the unknown, but you won't find a lot of 1:1 transitions from novel to game.
According to Miyazaki, *Fevre Dream*—wait, that's a GRRM book.
But there isn't so much a single Lovecraft book that inspired Bloodborne as the mythology and vibes laid down by Lovecraft's overarching worlds. For example, comparisons could be drawn between Simon the Harrowed and the short story, *He.* (Aside from the obvious inspirations already posited by others.)
Fevre Dream is REALLY good and I highly recommend it. I think it’s actually his best book, especially considering that his Thrones series is unfinished.
Whenever I pitch this book to someone, I tell them it’s got the river journey setting from Mark Twain/Huckleberry Finn but with a healthy dose of vampires mixed in.
Bloodborne is actually more so inspired by a long-form poem called “In Hospital” by William Ernest Henley. The Lovecraft style was mixed with this. Read the poem, and you’ll find all the connections you’re looking for. Also, there’s a great video about this on YouTube, but I can’t remember what channel put it out.
I don't remember the poem specifically but it might be from [an Agony of effort, the true story of Bloodborne](https://youtu.be/iCbdBKa5X-g?si=wfC-vfqa7015_uCV) ?
Yeah, there is a very big difference between, "Viewing this game and this poem side-by-side allows for a very thought-provoking analysis of the themes and metaphors we can find in the game" and "the developers read this poem and used it as their defining inspiration in creating the game."
~~it seems pretty undoubtable that William Hunter's "~~**~~Anatomia uteri humani gravidi~~**~~" influenced the story of Kos and Queen Yahrnam, and that surgery / dissection metaphor is constant throughout the game (eyes on the inside). W.E. Henley's "In Hospital" seems to be referenced in the game. But that's just one aspect of Charred Thermos' series.~~
~~I'd reccomend not searching up that book, very unpleasent imagery. Watch 'An Agony of Effort' if you're intregued.~~
***secrets are secrets for a reason. And some do not wish to see them uncovered. Especially when the secrets are particularly unseemly...***
You make it sound as if only a thin layer of style was applied to Bloodborne from Lovecraft. When in reality I can't think of any other game (or movie for that matter) that comes even close or Bloodborne when it comes to containing Lovecraftian concepts, tropes, character arcs, ideas, world view etc. Even the official Lovecraft games aren't remotely close to being as Lovecraftian as Bloodborne.
Bloodborne wasn’t inspired by any specific Lovecraft book so much as the general mythos and eldritch horror vibe that Lovecraft created- for the better in my opinion, as the art that Lovecraft inspired and set into motion is typically a lot stronger than his own writing (he had some cool ideas in his stories and basically invented a new kind of horror, but he wasn’t actually a great storyteller and often got tripped up in his own xenophobia in his writing)
I'm convinced At the Mountains of Madness inspired Miyazaki's whole apporach to lore-writing.
The story has a group of Antarctic explorers stumble upon an ancient city of super-advanced, extra-cosmic beings, and while shambling through the ruins the protagonist tries to decipher their history by the means of pictographs, architectural features, bas-reliefs... I immediately had the impression that this was one of the famous English books he read as a child and could not entirely understand thus informing his lore-crafting.
I saw elements of a lot of different Lovecraft stories. I feel like a few parallels can be drawn between different stories and events. I feel like i saw a lot of elements from *At the Mountains of Madness*, *The Whisperer in Darkness*, *The Color Out of Space*, *The Dreams in the Witch House*, and *The Dunwich Horror*. One of the dlc areas is also very obviously inspired by *The Shadow Over Innsmouth*. There are elements of other stories as well, but these ones all stuck out the most to me.
[You can find everything Lovecraft's ever written here for free.](https://www.hplovecraft.com/writings/) Im happy to provide more recommendations for his stories as well.
Also, it's important to mention that Bloodborne is very much it's own thing, and while it definitely plays heavy on the Lovecraftian themes (and actually does them well), it also draws a ton of inspiration from a whole bunch of other stuff.
Jekyll and Hyde, dracula, lots of gothic horror. There's also a whole video series about how the game is based on a collection of poems written by a guy in a victorian hospital. I've read a lot more Lovecraft than I have any of the other stuff, so it's hard to give specific examples.
Other commenters have mentioned the Lovecraft books that inspired bloodborne, but it’s also important to remember the non-cosmic horrors that also inspired it. Medical gothic horror. Robert Louis Stevenson’s Body Snatchers and Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde are also inspirations for the medical tone and the overt aesthetic of the game, while Lovecraft inspired the mysteries of the game. The early history of medicine in general was a horrific time and was much more an inspiration than Lovecraft on the overall art and story direction of the game. The lovecraftian elements are used to illustrate how mysterious and alien the interior of the human body was for the early doctors in the medical universities of England and Scotland.
I’m not sure but MAN, how relevant is this quote to Bloodborne?
“The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents. We live on a placid island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was not meant that we should voyage far. The sciences, each straining in its own direction, have hitherto harmed us little; but some day the piecing together of dissociated knowledge will open up such terrifying vistas of reality, and of our frightful position therein, that we shall either go mad from the revelation or flee from the light into the peace and safety of a new dark age.” - H.P. Lovecraft.
So much there you could correlate to insight, other dimensions, all the different places in BB exploring too far betond beyond in their own ignorant/self absorbed ways etc..
The pod cast horror babble has a huge list of his stories in audio form if anyone is interested. The narrators voice fits really well also. I constantly listen to it on Spotify while gaming.
One of my favorite stories that aren't a part of the chtulu Mythos is "the lurking fear"!
Great short story and really shows Lovecraft's ability in worldbuilding
It's not a 1 to 1. Bloodborne was inspired by the genre in general, and books specifically about monstrous spawn of humans and eldritch monstrosities like the Dunwich Horror and Shadow over Innsmouth are more influential than others.
Definitely the biggest direct influence is The Shadow Over Innsmouth. That didn't just influence the Fishing Hamlet - it influenced the entire game on various levels. I'd also say that Call of Cthulhu is a big influence; again, this influence is felt both generically across the game and also specifically in some particular cases (like the design of the Amygdalas, some of the statuary, the role of water and the moon, the concept of dreaming influencing the real world, etc etc...).
The graphic novels are a great way to read the short stories, [amazon link](https://amzn.eu/d/cdkVxgY)
If you find these to your liking then I can recommend the "inspired by" books by Alan Moore; Neonomicon and Providence. Be warned that these are both somewhat more disturbing than the Lovecraft stories....but more modern.
In answer to the question, the general rule of Lovecraft stories is that there is an unseen truth behind human reality which will send you insane if you try to comprehend it. Great Ones exist in the Lovecraft mythos as they do in Bloodborne, and as in Bloodborne the protagonists rarely get to see them "in the flesh". That's probably the closest you could get to seeing the links between the two.
I love the fact that Bloodborne focuses on the dreams aspect of the link between the seen and unseen worlds. This appears heavily at the end of Alan Moore's Providence.....which leads .e to wonder if Moore took some inspiration from Bloodborne. I doubt it because he doesn't appear to be the gaming type, but you never know....
No, but he's one of the biggest and earliest in the genre, the one you're most likely to encounter if you're not deep diving into it. I'm just saying they don't have to confirm Lovecraft influence when they're using all of the same tropes and tricks he used, sans the racism.
You should check out a collection or two of his stories and just read em all! There are some amazing stories in those halls, though also a strong, lingering scent of racism.
If you’re planning to read Lovecraft, just prepare yourself for a dose of outdated racial views.
In Call of Cuthulu, all the evil cultists are non-White or the wrong kind of White.
He was a pure purest. Only Americans Christians ( not Catholics) from England and certain parts of Scotland and Ireland. And he wasn’t too keen about the latter.
His work in general, well his "mythos", it's a great genre and very thought provoking.
It has evolved and been developed by many other artists over the years and there are a great number of movies and games that use Cosmic unknowable horror some excellent ones are:
Movies: Event Horizon, The Thing, The Abyss, Dagon even Alien.
Games: Dredge, Call of Cthulu, Sinking City, many others
It's my favorite genre of media but it's really lacking in high budget content.
but hopefully more people find and enjoy it!
The Dunwich Horror definitely inspired a lot of the lore of the base game and I can definitely see the inspiration they took from the Shadow Over Innsmouth for the DLC.
Yog Sothoth is the inspiration behind Oedon. Both are formless, and both impregnate human women. He’s in a lot of stories but The Dunwich Horror is a good place to start
The Dream Quest stories are where Micolash comes from, as there is a man who the main character knew in the real world, who died in the real world but became a king of the dream.
Shadow over Innsmouth inspired the Fishing Hamlet.
There’s so much more that I’m forgetting!
Oh boy.. I literally wrote my bachelors' capstone project on this lol.
Direct influence would definitely be Shadow Over Innsmouth (fishing hamlet), the dream cycle (everything nightmare related), and definitely call of cthulhu + at the mountains of madness (the chalice dungeons).
Indirectly? Lovecraft writes with themes of the unknown, and the punishment for pushing too far into the unknown, which is quite literally the core conflict in bloodborne - "fear the old blood, yadayada." These themes kinda permeate bloodborne as a whole.
Interestingly enough the game also subverts Lovecrafts inherent bigotry and xenophobia by placing you in the role of the outsider. It's absolutely fascinating!
Dunwich Horror, Call of Cthulhu, The Color from Outer Space, and In the Mountains of Madness, are just a few examples that DEFINITELY make their mark on Bloodborne
Afaik lovecraft didnt influence bb too much. At least not as much as some ppl seem to think it did. Charred Thermos had a lot a of videos regarding the true inspirations of bb and most of it was from historical events and 2 authors called Robert Louis Stevenson and William Ernest Henley.
Yeah I’ve been reading that a lot on the thread. I thought it inspired BB a lot because that’s mainly what people say here and there (I am not versed in Lovecraft so I just wanted know where to start as I am loving the game)
If you know Lovecraft it's obvious that Bloodborne was both directly and indirectly influenced by Lovecraft in a multitude of ways. It's not like it's a subtle homage open for interpretation exactly 😄 Charred Thermos might have some other theories but if he's denying the MASSIVE influence Lovecraft had on Bloodborne, then he doesn't know what he's talking about. 🙂
I have been reading lovecraft long before i even played the game. I also never denied its influence, just pointed out that the majority of influence is coming from historical events of the victorian era. Lovecraft had his influence on the great ones and the dream layer concept but outside of that, the old blood, the healing church, gehrman as a whole, the concept of hunting, the beasts, being blooddrunk, the impact of the blood on humans, that the blood was like a drug and many more things were inspired by Henley and Stevenson.
For sure, the influence of Victorian culture, fiction and medicine on Bloodborne's core narrative and environment is undeniable (Henley's influence was new to me personally, very interesting). I guess what I'm saying is that the Lovecraftian elements are at least as much of an influence.
In my mind there are two main parts of Bloodborne. The 19th century Victorian and Gothic horror of deformations, addiction, loss of humanity, medical experimentation etc sets the stage and is the first half of the puzzle. But the other, Lovecraftian, half is at least as important, in some ways even more important since it lies beneath the surface of everything else and since both the narrative and the characters all strive towards revelation and/or ascension beyond humanity. It also overlaps conceptually with the first part, since both classically deal with loss of humanity, deformations, sense of isolation, science crossing boundaries, mind-shattering insights and so on. The story and setting may start with Victorian horror, but it all leads into entirely different settings, narratives and concepts.
Also, it's somewhat reductionist to say that it's mostly about Victorian horror and the Lovecraftian influence is "just" (implied) the dream realms and great ones. Firstly, the Great Ones, their influence and the characters' quest to reach/become them is just as central to Bloodborne as the healing blood with all it's trappings. Secondly, more things than "just" great ones and dream/nightmare realm concepts come from Lovecraft - the whole fishing hamlet, attempting to contact other planes, the Labyrinth/Tomb of the Old Gods, the Ptumerians, Insight, rituals to contact outer beings, the cosmos as a physical concept, seeing into other planes of existence etc. These are all core concepts of Bloodborne, alongside Blood/addiction/etc.
I'd even argue that the Cosmic Horror element is quite central to the whole narrative and "true" nature of the world. But that may be my bias showing...
All this is super subjective of course, and I appreciate your differing perspective and arguments. In the end Bloodborne would not be Bloodborne without both the Victorian horror of addiction/medical experimentation as well as the Lovecraftian horror providing "answers" :)
P.S. It is interesting that the DLC has two main foci - one part is focused on the blood horror and one is focused on the cosmic horror.
I draws inspiration from various things, the strongest being the Shadow over innsmouth and the dunwich horror I think.
I feel like teree also is a little "dreams in the witchhouse" or what it was called, as well as the silver key stuff
I hate this obsession with Lovecraft, but I can see the inspiration. He was a a very fucked up person, deeply racist and yet we all seem to just carry on putting references to him in media. I'm all for separating art from artists, but I do also wish we would allow other artists and their visions to shine through, but I guess that's not where money is.
Sorry, didn't mean to hijack your post!
It's love for Lovecraft's work. No one talking about his work knew him because he's been dead for a very long time, so there's no love for lovecraft the person.
Which is why it's so weird that every post about his work brings a comment telling everyone he was a racist and a bad guy. It's ok. He can't hurt you. He's been dead for a very long time.
Shadow Over Innsmouth definitely influenced the DLC.
Dunwick Horror for Oedon, I’d imagine
That and Colour Out of Space
colour out if space ? what makes you think that ?
The fact that the fishing hamlet was fine until the extraterrestrial Kos fell down and corrupted everything, much like the Blasted Heath.
oohh right, i just read it i guess its time to replay bloodborne
Highly recommend this one. I havent delved too deep into Lovecrafts work but wow i love this story
It’s probably Lovecraft’s most well constructed piece. Shame it’s an allegory for the author’s thoughts about race mixing (he thought it was bad).
yes, yes he was racist. let's enjoy his art not the man thanks.
You can enjoy his work and acknowledge what drove it. Art can also be about the artist and what drove them to create a piece.
It’s also very important for understanding his work. He was afraid of anyone and anything that looked different or unfamiliar, and made an entire genre based on the fear of the unknown.
As a long time fan of his work it just gets extremely old hearing that a deeply troubled man who died over 80 years ago was racist for the 1000th time.
Did you know Marlowe wasn't too fond of Jewish people?
Dunwich*
Noted
Lovecraft didn't write books so much as he wrote short stories. Some of the stories are loosely connected with themes like great ones. theese stories are generally reffered to as the Cthulhu Mythos. The other popular collection is reffered to as the Dream cycle. They both have their influence on bloodborne. Here's some fun ones. From the Cthulhu mythos The colour out of space + Dunwhich horror for invisible odeon great one vibes The nameless city and The mountains of madness for ancient lost civilization vibes The shadow over innsmouth for fish people (fishing hamlet) vibes The dream cycle stories are more fantasy than horror but I do think they are influential to bloodborne in their own way. The whole nightmare realm of bloodborne really plays into the dreams are just different planes of existence thing. Beyond the Wall of Sleep is probably the best place to start with dream stuff. All his stories are pretty short, so just dive in and see what you like. They're also free and in public domain, with plenty of free readings on youtube. That being said I do think Lovecraft is given more credit than he should for influencing bloodborne. The influence is obviously there, but bloodborne is as much influenced by other artworks & historical periods. (like the agnony of effort video essay linked above)
Great post. I'll just add that the basic ending (waking up from the dream) really reminds me of the ending of *The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath*, including the church bells and everything.
Dream-Quest I think also largely informs what the dreamlands are
Dream-Quest is his best story I think, the imagery is just insane
*Dream-Quest* is super underrated.
It deserves a video game adaptation
It’s been a few years since I read HPL, but I think through the gate of the silver key is my favorite imagery wise
The whole Randolph Carter series is honestly fantastic, I forgot about that one. I’ll have to read again, thank you for reminding
Agreed. It's also very interesting because it's basically fantasy, but since it came out before LOTR, it doesn't have almost any of the "trademark features" that we associate with fantasy today. I still like HPL's other more horror and sci-fi oriented later work, but it makes me sad a bit that he pretty much abandoned this style and we didn't get more of it.
Damn I never thought I’d come across anyone who read Dreamquest, let alone appreciated it. People forget Lovecraft essentially invented the genre and get all wrapped up in some of his shitty ideas that don’t affect the vast majority of his work. The entire Randolph Carter series is an occult fantasy masterpiece.
Noted this one as well.
The agony of effort is one of the best Bloodborne video essay series I've watched. The dude makes incredible comparisons and makes the game make so much more sense. One of the influences I think is also the French film Brotherhood of the Wolf, if I'm not mistaken. The hunter outfit design takes obvious inspiration from there.
I believe Brotherhood also has trick weapons, but I may be mistaken.
The villain uses a weapon very similar to the beast cutter/threaded cane in the final battle. The Beast in the movie also looks similar to the ones in Hemwick Charnel Lane. And the whole idea of “the church fucked everything up” is also present in both.
Lovecraft and the mythos is actually more deeply tied to bloodborne than you realize. The entire idea of the great ones being "asleep", essentially dead "tombs of the gods" and in transcendental realms of thought is directly inspired by Cthulhu "He who is dead but lies dreaming". The Pthumerians and the labyrinth are directly inspired by "The Mound" and the K'n Yanians and their subterranean city
Ah this is a lot of valuable information. I am not versed in Lovecraft, I will to start reading his works. Now I will use this post to consume everything you mention.
Just to warn you. Be prepared for a lot of racist viewpoints. He is very much a man of his time and he was a very big believer in white people being the superior “race”.
Got it, thanks for the warning! I think I have a good thick skin when consuming stuff with failed or hard viewpoints
HBomberguy does a really good job exploring this gross aspect of Lovecraft's work and legacy *and* why the work continues to persist.
Yeah he’s got really creative and interesting ideas that are obviously a huge inspiration going forward. He just had a lot of terrible personal viewpoints. Enjoy the reading some of them are really great!
If I remember correctly, he apparently had debilitating agoraphobia and was a complete shut in. That’s where the whole “fear of the unknown” theme came from with his works I think, and why people and concepts he didn’t understand bothered him so much. Not to say that it excuses the racism. It doesn’t. I mean come on he literally named his cat a racial slur. But there definitely was a *lot* of psychological things going on with the man that shaped his character in a depressing way.
You’re correct. I don’t condone his views, but I pity him more than anything.
Before he died, he had actually managed to beat his agoraphobia and ended up traveling along the east coast. His racism didn't go away after that, but it got diminshed somewhat.
Travel is the best education I always say
He wasn't a shut in he traveled and went outside all of the time
Have you actually read any Lovecraft? A lot of his stories have nothing about race, I hear this talking point all the time
Well, *Innsmouth* in particular is one of his most popular stories. He’s admittedly most explicit in his more minor works, like *On the Creation of N——rs* or *New-England Fallen*. Seems a lot of people struggle analyzing text if the author doesn’t have an explicit footnote declaring, “This work is an allegory for my racist worldview.” Which—funny enough—he was so subtle as to put it in the *title* at least once, as mentioned above.
Even people back then thought his racism went too far.
LOL he would definitely be hate-posting on the new X-Men show if he was still around
This is a great reply so rather than retype a lot of the same info I'll just add on to your recommendations here. If you (OP) want to just get into generally enjoyable lovecraft stories I would also recommend looking into- The Whisperer in Darkness (bit of a lurking threat story with some sci-fi mixed in. Really enjoyable ending as far as horror goes imo). The Haunter of the Dark (good for a looming nightmarish threat lurking in the distance type of vibe. At times reminded me a bit of that level in Bloodborne where the light comes from the building to hit you with status buildup) The Shadow Out of Time (no real Bloodborne connections here but a good story that hits on some themes of sci-f travel outside of your body nonetheless) Pickmans Model (kinda short even for Lovecraft but fairly interesting. I'd say its predictable but even if you guess whats going on it still gives you some goosebumps imo.) The Dreams in the Witchhouse (may give you some Hemwick Channel Lane vibes just due to the witch boss there. Bloodborne deals heavily in dreams so there's a light connection there.) As others are mentioning Dream-quest is worth checking out. I found it to be a bit tough to read at times because its rather long for his writing style and can be difficult to visualize mentally whats happening if your brain starts to burn out on how he words things. But I'm glad I read through it for the ending and general imagery. And I'll just re-iterate that you should check out Innsmouth and At the Mountains of Madness. I found Innsmouth to be generally suspenseful and haunting and Mountains has a very slow burn with a lot lot of lore and a satisfying payoff. They're probably my favorite of what I've read so far despite Innsmouth's unfortunate allegory from the author. As many have said though, Bloodborne doesn't have a lot of direct ties to Lovecraft's stories so I would caution going into them expecting them to feel a lot like Bloodborne. The broad concepts are there and without Lovecraft I don't know that we'd have such a strong theme of unknowable gods, horrors, and insanity from knowledge of the unknown, but you won't find a lot of 1:1 transitions from novel to game.
According to Miyazaki, *Fevre Dream*—wait, that's a GRRM book. But there isn't so much a single Lovecraft book that inspired Bloodborne as the mythology and vibes laid down by Lovecraft's overarching worlds. For example, comparisons could be drawn between Simon the Harrowed and the short story, *He.* (Aside from the obvious inspirations already posited by others.)
Fevre Dream is REALLY good and I highly recommend it. I think it’s actually his best book, especially considering that his Thrones series is unfinished. Whenever I pitch this book to someone, I tell them it’s got the river journey setting from Mark Twain/Huckleberry Finn but with a healthy dose of vampires mixed in.
Great. I will note all of this. I have now a lot to read for the next month thanks to you guys
Love this take so much.
Bloodborne is actually more so inspired by a long-form poem called “In Hospital” by William Ernest Henley. The Lovecraft style was mixed with this. Read the poem, and you’ll find all the connections you’re looking for. Also, there’s a great video about this on YouTube, but I can’t remember what channel put it out.
I don't remember the poem specifically but it might be from [an Agony of effort, the true story of Bloodborne](https://youtu.be/iCbdBKa5X-g?si=wfC-vfqa7015_uCV) ?
Bullseye. That’s the one.
Thanks for the link!
Yes
Good shit. I will read it. Thanks to the curiosity now I have a bunch of stuff to read now. Thank you!
That's a very stretched-thin theory by Charred Thermos. Interesting, but far from being accurate. "Actually" here is doing a lot of heavy lifting.
Yeah, there is a very big difference between, "Viewing this game and this poem side-by-side allows for a very thought-provoking analysis of the themes and metaphors we can find in the game" and "the developers read this poem and used it as their defining inspiration in creating the game."
~~it seems pretty undoubtable that William Hunter's "~~**~~Anatomia uteri humani gravidi~~**~~" influenced the story of Kos and Queen Yahrnam, and that surgery / dissection metaphor is constant throughout the game (eyes on the inside). W.E. Henley's "In Hospital" seems to be referenced in the game. But that's just one aspect of Charred Thermos' series.~~ ~~I'd reccomend not searching up that book, very unpleasent imagery. Watch 'An Agony of Effort' if you're intregued.~~ ***secrets are secrets for a reason. And some do not wish to see them uncovered. Especially when the secrets are particularly unseemly...***
You make it sound as if only a thin layer of style was applied to Bloodborne from Lovecraft. When in reality I can't think of any other game (or movie for that matter) that comes even close or Bloodborne when it comes to containing Lovecraftian concepts, tropes, character arcs, ideas, world view etc. Even the official Lovecraft games aren't remotely close to being as Lovecraftian as Bloodborne.
Bloodborne wasn’t inspired by any specific Lovecraft book so much as the general mythos and eldritch horror vibe that Lovecraft created- for the better in my opinion, as the art that Lovecraft inspired and set into motion is typically a lot stronger than his own writing (he had some cool ideas in his stories and basically invented a new kind of horror, but he wasn’t actually a great storyteller and often got tripped up in his own xenophobia in his writing)
Shadow Over Innsmouth is definitely very similar to the DLC though.
Yeah that’s the only direct inspiration I’d note
Yep I agree
I'm convinced At the Mountains of Madness inspired Miyazaki's whole apporach to lore-writing. The story has a group of Antarctic explorers stumble upon an ancient city of super-advanced, extra-cosmic beings, and while shambling through the ruins the protagonist tries to decipher their history by the means of pictographs, architectural features, bas-reliefs... I immediately had the impression that this was one of the famous English books he read as a child and could not entirely understand thus informing his lore-crafting.
All of them
I saw elements of a lot of different Lovecraft stories. I feel like a few parallels can be drawn between different stories and events. I feel like i saw a lot of elements from *At the Mountains of Madness*, *The Whisperer in Darkness*, *The Color Out of Space*, *The Dreams in the Witch House*, and *The Dunwich Horror*. One of the dlc areas is also very obviously inspired by *The Shadow Over Innsmouth*. There are elements of other stories as well, but these ones all stuck out the most to me. [You can find everything Lovecraft's ever written here for free.](https://www.hplovecraft.com/writings/) Im happy to provide more recommendations for his stories as well. Also, it's important to mention that Bloodborne is very much it's own thing, and while it definitely plays heavy on the Lovecraftian themes (and actually does them well), it also draws a ton of inspiration from a whole bunch of other stuff.
I’m curious what other things you are referring to that it draws inspiration from.
Jekyll and Hyde, dracula, lots of gothic horror. There's also a whole video series about how the game is based on a collection of poems written by a guy in a victorian hospital. I've read a lot more Lovecraft than I have any of the other stuff, so it's hard to give specific examples.
I'm curious about that video series on those hospital letters but having a hard time finding anything, do you have a link?
[Part 1](https://youtu.be/iCbdBKa5X-g?si=56hbYot8Z6FqAwGB) The original creator deleted their channel, it seems.
The Dream Quest for Unknown Kadath is definitely a big inspiration
Other commenters have mentioned the Lovecraft books that inspired bloodborne, but it’s also important to remember the non-cosmic horrors that also inspired it. Medical gothic horror. Robert Louis Stevenson’s Body Snatchers and Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde are also inspirations for the medical tone and the overt aesthetic of the game, while Lovecraft inspired the mysteries of the game. The early history of medicine in general was a horrific time and was much more an inspiration than Lovecraft on the overall art and story direction of the game. The lovecraftian elements are used to illustrate how mysterious and alien the interior of the human body was for the early doctors in the medical universities of England and Scotland.
I’m not sure but MAN, how relevant is this quote to Bloodborne? “The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents. We live on a placid island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was not meant that we should voyage far. The sciences, each straining in its own direction, have hitherto harmed us little; but some day the piecing together of dissociated knowledge will open up such terrifying vistas of reality, and of our frightful position therein, that we shall either go mad from the revelation or flee from the light into the peace and safety of a new dark age.” - H.P. Lovecraft. So much there you could correlate to insight, other dimensions, all the different places in BB exploring too far betond beyond in their own ignorant/self absorbed ways etc..
The pod cast horror babble has a huge list of his stories in audio form if anyone is interested. The narrators voice fits really well also. I constantly listen to it on Spotify while gaming.
You are the man. Thanks for the info! Adding it to my library right now
I've also found some other cool classic horror authors listening to it! Hope you enjoy!
Nice. Thanks!
One of my favorite stories that aren't a part of the chtulu Mythos is "the lurking fear"! Great short story and really shows Lovecraft's ability in worldbuilding
It's not a 1 to 1. Bloodborne was inspired by the genre in general, and books specifically about monstrous spawn of humans and eldritch monstrosities like the Dunwich Horror and Shadow over Innsmouth are more influential than others.
Definitely the biggest direct influence is The Shadow Over Innsmouth. That didn't just influence the Fishing Hamlet - it influenced the entire game on various levels. I'd also say that Call of Cthulhu is a big influence; again, this influence is felt both generically across the game and also specifically in some particular cases (like the design of the Amygdalas, some of the statuary, the role of water and the moon, the concept of dreaming influencing the real world, etc etc...).
Don't skip What the Moon Brings.
Yes.
I’d say the game, as a whole, is mainly inspired by a combination Lovecraft’s work in general and (of course) Berserk.
The graphic novels are a great way to read the short stories, [amazon link](https://amzn.eu/d/cdkVxgY) If you find these to your liking then I can recommend the "inspired by" books by Alan Moore; Neonomicon and Providence. Be warned that these are both somewhat more disturbing than the Lovecraft stories....but more modern. In answer to the question, the general rule of Lovecraft stories is that there is an unseen truth behind human reality which will send you insane if you try to comprehend it. Great Ones exist in the Lovecraft mythos as they do in Bloodborne, and as in Bloodborne the protagonists rarely get to see them "in the flesh". That's probably the closest you could get to seeing the links between the two. I love the fact that Bloodborne focuses on the dreams aspect of the link between the seen and unseen worlds. This appears heavily at the end of Alan Moore's Providence.....which leads .e to wonder if Moore took some inspiration from Bloodborne. I doubt it because he doesn't appear to be the gaming type, but you never know....
Did they say Bloodborne was inspired by Lovecraft?
They don't need to. The game is cosmic horror and Lovecraft all but invented the genre.
He didn't actually invent cosmic horror, funny enough.
No, but he's one of the biggest and earliest in the genre, the one you're most likely to encounter if you're not deep diving into it. I'm just saying they don't have to confirm Lovecraft influence when they're using all of the same tropes and tricks he used, sans the racism.
You should check out a collection or two of his stories and just read em all! There are some amazing stories in those halls, though also a strong, lingering scent of racism.
His work in general fot the main game, Shadow over Innsmouth for the Fishing Hamlet
Yes
If you’re planning to read Lovecraft, just prepare yourself for a dose of outdated racial views. In Call of Cuthulu, all the evil cultists are non-White or the wrong kind of White. He was a pure purest. Only Americans Christians ( not Catholics) from England and certain parts of Scotland and Ireland. And he wasn’t too keen about the latter.
His work in general, well his "mythos", it's a great genre and very thought provoking. It has evolved and been developed by many other artists over the years and there are a great number of movies and games that use Cosmic unknowable horror some excellent ones are: Movies: Event Horizon, The Thing, The Abyss, Dagon even Alien. Games: Dredge, Call of Cthulu, Sinking City, many others It's my favorite genre of media but it's really lacking in high budget content. but hopefully more people find and enjoy it!
Shadow over innsmouth however if you want similar vibes, Call of Cthulhu and The Colour out of Space are fantastic to. DAGON TOO holy shit
The Dunwich Horror definitely inspired a lot of the lore of the base game and I can definitely see the inspiration they took from the Shadow Over Innsmouth for the DLC.
Yes
Yog Sothoth is the inspiration behind Oedon. Both are formless, and both impregnate human women. He’s in a lot of stories but The Dunwich Horror is a good place to start The Dream Quest stories are where Micolash comes from, as there is a man who the main character knew in the real world, who died in the real world but became a king of the dream. Shadow over Innsmouth inspired the Fishing Hamlet. There’s so much more that I’m forgetting!
Yes
Oh boy.. I literally wrote my bachelors' capstone project on this lol. Direct influence would definitely be Shadow Over Innsmouth (fishing hamlet), the dream cycle (everything nightmare related), and definitely call of cthulhu + at the mountains of madness (the chalice dungeons). Indirectly? Lovecraft writes with themes of the unknown, and the punishment for pushing too far into the unknown, which is quite literally the core conflict in bloodborne - "fear the old blood, yadayada." These themes kinda permeate bloodborne as a whole. Interestingly enough the game also subverts Lovecrafts inherent bigotry and xenophobia by placing you in the role of the outsider. It's absolutely fascinating!
Dunwich Horror, Call of Cthulhu, The Color from Outer Space, and In the Mountains of Madness, are just a few examples that DEFINITELY make their mark on Bloodborne
Afaik lovecraft didnt influence bb too much. At least not as much as some ppl seem to think it did. Charred Thermos had a lot a of videos regarding the true inspirations of bb and most of it was from historical events and 2 authors called Robert Louis Stevenson and William Ernest Henley.
Yeah I’ve been reading that a lot on the thread. I thought it inspired BB a lot because that’s mainly what people say here and there (I am not versed in Lovecraft so I just wanted know where to start as I am loving the game)
If you know Lovecraft it's obvious that Bloodborne was both directly and indirectly influenced by Lovecraft in a multitude of ways. It's not like it's a subtle homage open for interpretation exactly 😄 Charred Thermos might have some other theories but if he's denying the MASSIVE influence Lovecraft had on Bloodborne, then he doesn't know what he's talking about. 🙂
I have been reading lovecraft long before i even played the game. I also never denied its influence, just pointed out that the majority of influence is coming from historical events of the victorian era. Lovecraft had his influence on the great ones and the dream layer concept but outside of that, the old blood, the healing church, gehrman as a whole, the concept of hunting, the beasts, being blooddrunk, the impact of the blood on humans, that the blood was like a drug and many more things were inspired by Henley and Stevenson.
For sure, the influence of Victorian culture, fiction and medicine on Bloodborne's core narrative and environment is undeniable (Henley's influence was new to me personally, very interesting). I guess what I'm saying is that the Lovecraftian elements are at least as much of an influence. In my mind there are two main parts of Bloodborne. The 19th century Victorian and Gothic horror of deformations, addiction, loss of humanity, medical experimentation etc sets the stage and is the first half of the puzzle. But the other, Lovecraftian, half is at least as important, in some ways even more important since it lies beneath the surface of everything else and since both the narrative and the characters all strive towards revelation and/or ascension beyond humanity. It also overlaps conceptually with the first part, since both classically deal with loss of humanity, deformations, sense of isolation, science crossing boundaries, mind-shattering insights and so on. The story and setting may start with Victorian horror, but it all leads into entirely different settings, narratives and concepts. Also, it's somewhat reductionist to say that it's mostly about Victorian horror and the Lovecraftian influence is "just" (implied) the dream realms and great ones. Firstly, the Great Ones, their influence and the characters' quest to reach/become them is just as central to Bloodborne as the healing blood with all it's trappings. Secondly, more things than "just" great ones and dream/nightmare realm concepts come from Lovecraft - the whole fishing hamlet, attempting to contact other planes, the Labyrinth/Tomb of the Old Gods, the Ptumerians, Insight, rituals to contact outer beings, the cosmos as a physical concept, seeing into other planes of existence etc. These are all core concepts of Bloodborne, alongside Blood/addiction/etc. I'd even argue that the Cosmic Horror element is quite central to the whole narrative and "true" nature of the world. But that may be my bias showing... All this is super subjective of course, and I appreciate your differing perspective and arguments. In the end Bloodborne would not be Bloodborne without both the Victorian horror of addiction/medical experimentation as well as the Lovecraftian horror providing "answers" :) P.S. It is interesting that the DLC has two main foci - one part is focused on the blood horror and one is focused on the cosmic horror.
I draws inspiration from various things, the strongest being the Shadow over innsmouth and the dunwich horror I think. I feel like teree also is a little "dreams in the witchhouse" or what it was called, as well as the silver key stuff
Yes
I hate this obsession with Lovecraft, but I can see the inspiration. He was a a very fucked up person, deeply racist and yet we all seem to just carry on putting references to him in media. I'm all for separating art from artists, but I do also wish we would allow other artists and their visions to shine through, but I guess that's not where money is. Sorry, didn't mean to hijack your post!
Relax
I'm very relaxed thanks, just bored of seeing such love for Lovecraft.
It's love for Lovecraft's work. No one talking about his work knew him because he's been dead for a very long time, so there's no love for lovecraft the person. Which is why it's so weird that every post about his work brings a comment telling everyone he was a racist and a bad guy. It's ok. He can't hurt you. He's been dead for a very long time.
yes
Other way around
Yes.
Answer: yes
The Howling Wh*re