Bloodborne has some of the most unique and interesting settings and characters of all the Soulsborne games. The game is so in-depth and convoluted that many players are still discovering secrets to this day. Bloodborne is packed full of mesmerizing content, but as with all games, not every idea was able to make it into the final version of the game.
There is a plethora of unused content for Bloodborne that many committed fans have uncovered and pieced together. Most of the content is bosses, enemies, or NPC dialogue some of which give even more detail to the mysterious world of Yharnam, while some act as the prototype versions of finalized content that was put into the game. Regardless of whether the content provides in-depth detail to the world or not, it is interesting to dive deep into the cut content of Bloodborne.
Gehrman’s Cut Dialogue
Much of Bloodborne’s story, like most other FromSoftware titles, is told through item descriptions and the environment. There are some details that can be discovered through NPC dialogue and the most lore-specific dialogue is given by Gehrman, the first hunter. Since Gehrman has been trapped in the Hunter’s Dream for so long, he knows much about the beastly scourge, as well as other hunters, the Great Ones, and the Healing Church. The first hunter is a wealth of useful knowledge for the player during the course of the game, but some of his cut dialogue provides even more useful and curious information.
Some of Gehrman’s cut dialogue is him giving a sort of monologue after the player kills Mergo’s Wet Nurse and the Hunter’s Dream begins to burn. Gehrman is speaking indirectly to his compatriot Laurence, the First Vicar, and the context of the speech is mainly cursing the Hunter’s Dream and the prolonged nightmare that they have both lived. Gehrman also claims that he and Laurence agreed long ago to fight for the right to be consumed by the Great One known as the Moon Presence, whom Gehrman refers to as Flora.
The most relevant information in this cut dialogue is Gehrman referring to a Great One by its proper name, a name that is never explicitly stated in the game which is why when the player confronts this Great One at the end of Bloodborne it is called Moon Presence and not Flora. However, it should be noted that the Living Doll’s in-game dialogue does mention Flora in a rare encounter in which she is praying at a gravestone, and in the Japanese version of Bloodborne, the Moon Presence is called Flora.
The rest of Gehrman’s speech somewhat contradicts what he says and does in the full version of the game. In the cut content, he encourages the burning of the Hunter’s Dream because it will free him, but in the true game, players know that even after the end of the game, the Hunter’s Dream continued to exist and the cycle continues. Gehrman also reminds Laurence of a vow they both took to duel for the right to be consumed by the Moon Presence, which does not track with the final version of each character who seem more like allies set on their own paths to navigate the nightmare. In the final version, Gehrman remains bound in the Hunter’s Dream to assist hunters and Laurence pursued blood ministration and founded the Healing Church, so the cut content may have had the two directly competing for the Great One’s acceptance.
Cut NPC and Boss Dialogue
Another bit of cut dialogue comes from the Blood Minister, one of the very first characters the player meets in Bloodborne who does not have much to say in the full game but provides some backstory to the player’s character in the cut content. Upon giving the blood transfusion at the beginning of the game, the Blood Minister states the player character is from a distant land that is plagued with disease and the player has come to Yharnam to try and find a cure through Yharnam’s Blood Ministration. And after the transfusion, the Blood Minister mentions Ebrietas, a character that is not fully discussed or discovered until much later in the game.
The interesting part of this conversation is that the player hails from a land that is plagued with a disease but has come to Yharnman, which is also suffering from a disease, to try and find a cure. The Blood Minister also mentions the Great One, Ebrietas, who is a Great One that was discovered by the Healing Church in the old labyrinth and has since been studied and used for Blood Ministration. This piece of information could have hinted at Bloodborne’s association with Great Ones and foreshadowed the game’s twist too early for players to understand, which is likely why it was cut from the game.
Lady Maria has some cut dialogue that lends her to be more curious about the hunter and their goals and accomplishments as opposed to how aggressive she is in the main game. The cut content has Maria thanking the hunter for killing so many beasts and characters, putting an end to their nightmare. She also asks the player if they are satisfied with the hunt thus far, at which point the game gave the player the option to choose whether they were satisfied or not. Each answer gave a different response, but both showed how Maria is far more compassionate about the hunt and the beings and beasts being hunted. Maria’s cut dialogue seems far more in line with her character in the final version of the game, so it is unclear why so much of her conversation with the hunter has been cut. Another part of her speech has her refer to the player as “good hunter” just as the Living Doll does, which would even further prove that Gehrman modeled the doll after Maria.
Finally, one of the most subtle yet impactful pieces of cut dialogue comes from Father Gascoigne. The line is likely either spoken after Gascoigne kills the beasts in the cutscene before the boss fight or if Gascoigne is able to kill the player during the fight. Father Gascoigne says the word “Umbasa” after confirming his kill, a word that means nothing to any other character in Bloodborne but one that is mentioned often by followers of Saint Urbain in Demon’s Souls.
The word Umbasa likely has a religious context in the worlds of Demon’s Souls and Bloodborne as it is often said as a sort of blessing after a conversation. The word being used in both games would definitely create a direct connection between the two titles, but Father Gascoigne is the only character who ever utters the word in Bloodborne. Since the content was never used, the connection between Yharnam and Boletaria remains a mystery. However, many Soulsborne fans assume all the worlds are connected somehow, and this piece of content, whether it stayed in the final game or not, confirms there is a connection between the games.
Bloodborne's Cut Bosses and Enemies
Many of the cut bosses and enemies in Bloodborne feel reminiscent of the final version of each model. There is a large, awkward moving beast that looks identical to the Moon Presence but is far weaker and appears to be in an area similar to the Chalice Dungeons, which would imply this may be the physical form of the Moon Presence that existed in the old labyrinths before the Great One ascended.
Additionally, there is a version of Mergo’s Wet Nurse that required players to simultaneously fight three copies of the same boss during the fight. This content was likely the prototype to the boss’ final form that had it create copies of itself to deceive the player. And there is also a large, wolf-like beast that looks and moves similarly to Sif from Dark Souls. This being is referred to as the Great One Beast and is likely a representation of one afflicted with the beastly scourge who also ascended to become a Great One. This boss did not make it to the full game in any form, which is unfortunate because it would have made for interesting lore.
Other early versions of enemies and bosses can be seen in the content cut from Bloodborne and many of them look similar to Dark Souls enemies, with large weapons and shields. So it is likely this content was created as a placeholder for the real enemies or were the first ideas for enemies that later got tweaked to better fit the theme of Bloodborne.
Bloodborne is available now for PS4.
