#spooky ahh season wtf

[fluffiwrites]

YOOOOOO bros changing their account theme for Halloween (no one cares) I’ll change it back after (shut the fuck up)

#I love halloweenf #spooky ahh season wtf

[retvenkos]

OLIVE

okay, so, i think i forgot to tell you this (i'm so sorry, stress from school has been taking up most of my brain space ahh) but ma'am, the lovely and very helpful list of tips that you left in my ask box ?!

i seriously cannot thank you enough for that oml <3 i actually hated that paragraph the most, so it really really made me happy to receive help on that particular part of the little excerpt i shared !! i didn't post it since i didn't want to loose it in the messiness of my acc, but please know that i read it every single time i sit down to write bc ur tips are so freaking good !!!

also, hi i miss you so how've you been? i'm pretty sure you told me you major in psychology um, hello?! that's so cool wtf??! i'm still is hs, but i reaaally want to major in something like that or astrophysics when i go to uni ! although i hear astrophysics is really stressful... but i like space :( </3

(also wait kind of off topic but that really suits you,,,, like idk how to explain it but psychology just seems like something you'd be into??)

ANYWAY, i'm so sorry for this trainwreck of an ask, i hope you're doing well, love u <33

MEI !!!!!

i'm so glad you snuck into my ask box and that i saw it before logging off for the night! i'm doing alright for myself, how are you???? i love your theme change! going dark mode for spooky season is my everything, and if i ever get around to it, i'm going to change mine accordingly. october is for dark mode, only.

and omg, i'm glad you liked my advice! don't worry about not mentioning it sooner - i am the worst at remembering to respond, so i feel you. i was super worried that i was going to come off as like,,,,, pretentious or something, so i'm glad it's not like that, and that it's helpful! i honestly love making little changes to my writing, so doing it for someone else was fun, but also little nerve-wracking.

and yeah! i major in psychology, and it's pretty sweet! sometimes the science of the brain can be a little tedious, and the math (of which there isn't a lot, mercifully) isn't my favorite, but i adore the subject, and it honestly can be used in so many different ways? developmental psychology is my favorite (ironically, considering the importance of the growing brain) but i also love family and marital psychology. i sound like an ad for the psych department, lol, but those are just my thoughts.

(also, i'm v glad i seem like a psychologically-minded person. idk what exactly gives off those vibes, but sometimes i meet people and go 'oh, your definitely a physics or chemistry major aren't you?' so i understand how the vibes can be picked up on. for you, i do get vague astrology vibes (but mainly high school vibes, oop—) so astrophysics??? hell yeah! go for it! i will Not be able to help you with any math whatsoever, but i will say that earth science is my favorite science class that i've ever taken, so you clearly have superior taste.)

#asks #mei — 🦋 #but omg you like astrology right? so are you the astrology bitch who has everyone's birth chart memorized? #because i believe i have an opening. #long post #also omg if you have any theme tips don't be shy.... i will gladly take them from you. your excellence is not missed ma'am.

[bellringermal]

«She fancied Gehrman, unaware of his curious "mania", but was left heartbroken when Gehrman couldn't, or wouldn't, reveal his feeling towards her.» WTF, fextralife?!

Thank you fextralife! ~♡No okay let’s be serious for a second and put aside my fangirl heart that craves for the damn romance and let’s look at the facts, shall we?

Let’s begin with the Hair Ornament and how the Doll reacts to it.

The item is described as “ordinary” and does look as such. This is not something fit for a woman of noble lineage like Maria is, is the sort of gift that a middle-class Yharnamite would give his fiancee. In fact, I would say that the Red Jewelled Brooch that Gascoigne gave to his wife looks way fancier and in line with what a Cainhurst noble would wear than the plain, ordinary hair ornament.

Giving little tokens of affection before the marriage was a no-no for Victorian lovebirds unless the couple openly expressed the intention to get married and both families agreed to the arrangement.

In Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen, Marianne Dashwood’s spontaneous behaviour is considered unorthodox and her (only rumoured!) clandestine engagement with John Willoughby is heavily frowned upon. One of her biggest ‘sins’ was to have sent John a bunch of letters and locks of her hair that the young man respectfully gives back to her before marrying another woman.

So, if we take for granted that Yharnam’s courtship customs are similar to those of the 19th century’s I think it’s safe to assume that if an unmarried man gave something as cute and personal as a hairpin to an unmarried woman he was clearly saying “hey babe I like you. But I haven’t the slightest idea of what I’m doing and I should’ve finish that “how to pick up fair maidens” book before doing anything on my own” :P

Of course, we can’t take Victorian society and expect Yharnam’s to be exactly the same because of all the obvious differences such as the clearly more prominent role of women in society, (Amelia is the highest authority of the Church, many hunters are women, Viola, though traditionally married, takes instant action to help her husband etc) but I still think it to be a good lens through which seeing the game’s world and it surely gives some extra credit to Gehrman’s conscious decision to hide his feelings from Maria.

Now, on the subject of Plain Doll, if we gave her the Hairpin she says this:

What… what is this? I-I can’t remember, not a thing, only… I feel… A yearning… something I’ve never felt before… What’s happening to me? Ahh… Tell me hunter, could this be joy? Ahh…

And as she speaks, they even took the time to actually animate her so that she would wipe her tears and gave us the Tear Stone:

Now, the dialogue itself is enough for me to say that Maria had feelings for Gehrman because there’s _no way_ that mere admiration and/or respect for the guy would make her surrogate, who only shares a few, blurred memories with her, cry tears of joy. But hey, we could say that since Plain Doll was “made” to love her creator her perception could be warped by what Gehrman wants her to feel towards him. So, let’s read what the lore has to say about this ;) let’s turn the Tear Stone into a Blood Gem!

Created from a shining silver doll tear, this blood gem is a quiet but unfaltering friend that continually restores HP, the life essence of a hunter. Perhaps the doll’s creator had wished for just such a friend, albeit in vain

BOOM! “Albeit in vain”… and here it is why I think Gehrman doesn’t talk to/doesn’t care about and is openly dismissive of the Doll. She is not the woman he used to know but a pale imitation. She doesn’t have Maria’s memories, she is nothing like the hunter that fought by his side, the strong and kind woman he secretly fell in love with. Before Moon Presence brought the Doll to life, Gehrman poured love and care into her creation that most likely happened after Maria’s passing. All item descriptions related to the Doll include this bit:

“A deep love for the doll can be surmised by the fine craftsmanship of this article, and the care with which it was kept.“ It borderlines on mania, and exudes a slight warmth.”

Which once again, reinforce my idea that my boi Gehrman cared for Maria not _just_ because she was hot. He doesn’t dress her up in revealing clothes nor does he keep her hunter attire while retaining elements of it such as the brooch and her boots. Maria killed herself after renouncing her life as a hunter, her conscience forever stained by what she and her teacher had done to the inhabitants of Fishing Hamlet. Dressing the doll in her hunter set would have been an even greater insult to her memory. Gehrman’s decision to dress her up in the seemly clothes of a respectable woman of the time is actually pretty tasteful if you ask me. May look strange and “unnecessary cute” to us modern-day players but that’s how women used to dress. Take a look at this picture of Mia Wasikowska’s in this movie adaptation of Jane Eyre. The reason why I pick this movie is its director, Cary Fukunaga who also directed the first season of the award-winning HBO series True Detective. (a show inspired by R.W Chambers and Lovecraft’s nihilism & cosmic dread.) This too is a pretty dark and spooky rendition of Charlotte Brontë’s classic.

But no more talking about Gehrman, let’s get back to Maria:

Among the first hunters, all students of Gehrman, was the lady hunter Maria. This was her hunter’s [cap/garb/gloves/trousers], crafted in Cainhurst. Maria is distantly related to the undead queen, but had great admiration for Gehrman, unaware of his curious mania.  [Maria’s Hunter Set]

This description tells us a lot of things, but most of them are irrelevant to the subject of this analysis. I could go on for hours pointing out the similarities of her set to the Knight’s and other Cainhurst fashion but let’s not do that. What matters here is that Maria, despite being of noble blood, had no social prejudice towards her mentor (and I would assume, any of her fellow hunters.) and, just like Gwyn’s firstborn, “had respect only for arms and nothing else” :P

I wouldn’t say that the reason why she was heartbroken was the fact that Gehrman never revealed his feelings to her (as mentioned in the ask) but that she idolized him and the cause of the Byrgenwerth Hunters as a whole and couldn’t bear the guilt once the college’s research pushed their actions too far. Like Ludwig who had an unshakable faith in the ways of the Healing Church, Maria had faith in and was possibly in love with Gehrman and couldn’t believe that the man she admired so deeply would blindly obey Byrgenwerth’s orders.

“Go and kill those fishmen who did nothing wrong and aren’t bothering anyone. Oh, and be sure to rip that umbilical cord from the body of thad Great One that washed ashore.”

“Yep.” No question asked.

THAT’s why Maria felt betrayed. It hasn’t anything to do with Gehrman’s “mania”. In my headcanons Gehrman’s total obedience to Willem is motivated but there’s no solid proof in canon so let’s just say that Gehrman was an idiot who never questioned the orders from above :/

And now, let’s get to the final, FUNDAMENTAL point of this analysis: did Maria love Gehrman back?

Yes she did. Why else would anyone want to take a look at any picture one last time before killing themselves? To remember what they lost or could’ve had if things were different.

Why am I 100% sure that Gehrman is in that picture? Because in canon we don’t know the name of any other member of the Old Hunters. It’s just the two of them: Gehrman and Maria, the only ones with faces and backstory in a crowd of faceless, bloodthirsty mannequins.

Here you go, thanks Fextralife.

#anon ask #bloodborne #lore #gehrman the first hunter #lady maria of the astral clocktower #cainhurst castle #hunter's workshop #hunter's dream #plain doll