Bloodborne: Peering into Laughter

Laughter, it is all around us, from joyous laughs to maniacal laughs. Laughter can ensue from a [bad] joke told at a party or it can be uttered due to uneasiness or feeling nervous. Scientists have shown that parts of the limbic system, which includes the hippocampus and the amygdala, are involved in laughter. Laughter is something that is always around us but we never really look into laughter itself. Laughter/laughing for no reason or for absurd reasons, laughing at some one/thing/idea, and the feelings that arise when you experience laughter as an outsider, is unfathomable.

Herodotus, a Greek Historian, believed those who laugh can be distinguished into three types:

Those who are innocent of wrongdoing, but ignorant of their own vulnerability.
Those who are mad.
Those who are overconfident.

When we boot up Bloodborne, our first experience with laughter coming from the Laughing house in Central Yharnam. Inside resides a young female and a older female voice laughing [at you]. From there, we meet a lonely and bitter old woman who we have the choice of saving by directing her to Cathedral Ward. If we save her and continue talking to her, she begins to warm up and even assists you, fetching you sedatives to calm your nerves. “Hehehehheh… Oh, Welcome home dear. What’s wrong? Anything you’d like to tell me? Oh, whats the matter? Are you in a bind again? Oh, my. You poor thing. But don’t you worry. heh… h-heh… This will help you forget. Forget your troubles, forget your cares…. hehehmm heh heh…” Funny part is, we never learn the old lady’s troubles, perhaps she buried them too deeply or she did not want to share her pain.

In addition, in Central Yharnam, we meet an old Hunter who is located on lofty shadow filled rafters; a quiet judge looking at all the beasts that plague the streets or a person about to fall, time will tell. When we give Eileen a hand in her fight with Henryk, she thanks us and tells us to leave the hunting of Hunters to her, but not without laughing in a sadistic unsettling way. “Leave the hunting of Hunters, to me.”(Laughs) Later, if we do not help Eileen, she goes mad declaring death to all Hunters. (Laughter) “Few hunters can resist the intoxication of the hunt. Look at you, just the same as all the rest…The hunters must die… The nightmare must end… Only I can stop this madness!” (continued laughter)“The beasts cannot be stopped. What good are hunters now? Your blood is mine! A hunter’s blood for me! Your punishment is death! Death to hunters! “Enough of this terrible dream! (laughter) …Ahh… you monsters… All hunters must die!” (laughter as her body fades)

Eileen’s laughter can only be beaten by the deep laughter of Alfred, covenant leader of the executioners. If you give him the unopened Cainhurst Summons papers, you find him basking and laughing in the ecstasy of finally finishing his master’s, Master Logarius, work. “Try stirring up trouble in this sorry state! All mangled and twisted, with every inside on the outside, for all the world to see! (Deep Laughter) Now Master can be canonized as a true martyr! Ha ha ha ha ha ha! I’ve done it, I have!!! Hah h-hah ha ha hah!

Adella, the nun wishes to be of help to us, gladly providing us with her “lowly” blood. But, if you imbibe too much of Arianna’s blood, she goes mad, attempting to kill us. “Tee hee… My sweet hunter… I can’t ha… I can’t help myself… hahaha haha…” Even if you refrain from Arianna’s blood, Adella sits and laughs incessantly.

Arianna, woman of the night becomes pregnant with child if she survives near the end of the game. You follow her blood trail, gain insight, and see her breaking down and her offspring, an infant celestial larvae, besides her. It can’t be…this is a nightmare… (sobs and laughs)

Finally, we come to (Fake) Iosefka, a truely cryptic being. Is she the benevolent doctor from the beginning simply gone mad, or is she a choir member using the clinic to further her agenda, depends if you have peered enough. Regardless, when we encounter her after defeating Rom, the Vacuous Spider, and allowing the Blood Moon to appear. She is highly proud that she is “chosen” and not a mere beast. “Don’t you see? How they writhe, writhe inside my head… It’s… rather… rapturous…” (Laughter)