Since he says he got not use out of the flamesprayer, I figured he didnt actually participate in the burning of old yharnam. Maybe he still caught the sickness at that time, though, and couldnt participate because of it.

This page keeps suggesting he participated in the burning of old yharnam but the only things that link him is the flame sprayer, that he claims to never even had used, and his beastmodel being the same as the beast patients even though it doesn't share the same behavior as them.

Gilbert when in beast form can both be damaged and damage other enemies. He is also unaffected by holding a torch around him (unlike other of the same beast which will shy away)

When the sick old man is a beast but not afraid of fire like others lol. But still in all honesty, Gilbert lives a sad tale.

If you speak to Gilbert after entering the Forbidden woods and before killing the Shadows of Yharnam (I visited right after Iosefka’s Clinic), there’s another set of dialogue talking about Byrgenwerth and how Gilbert has never heard of it. He also says in the end, “I’m afraid I won’t be of help for much longer...”

He turned into a beast, no Gilbert

Oh if you look in through his window the room is higher than the doors and the doors are bricked off. I imagine we weren’t supposed to see that, sorry Miyazaki

Can’t figure this guy out. He says he’s an outsider like yourself, and mentions that Yharnamites don’t share much information to outsiders. Then he turns around and knowledge dumps all of the ways with which you can get to the cathedral ward. He knows that it’s the birthplace of where the church gets their blood and even mentions “they say” like some townsfolk informed him. Furthermore he just has a Flamesprayer for some reason, which is a church hunter weapon. If he came here to find a cure for his ailment, then how is he finding the time to gossip with yharnamites in the first place? And how does he know about all the backwater ways to get to the cathedral ward? It’s also strange that he turns into one of the plague beasts like in old yharnam. I feel like it might be more likely that he was to participate in the cleansing of old Yharnam, but caught the ashen sickness and is trying to hide out pretending to be an outsider seeking healing.

Best husbando. Too bad he couldn't be saved. =(

He gave me the Tonsil Stone for some reason? I did the skip to go to Forbidden Woods so maybe that's why?