#if architecture in loran dungeons is of any meaning? soulsborne pushes the 'history repeats itself' narrative

[katyahina]

Rom the Vacuous Spider is the perfect lifeform in this essay I will-

No, but seriously.

I spent like... okay, some time analyzing Kin/Great Ones lifeforms in Bloodborne, and I can't help but say that Rom is by far, at least in Bloodborne lore, the best creature to ascend from human kind!

Notice how most of Kin and Great Ones are all either marine-themed or spider-themed. I tried to understand the difference between the two, and I think I sorta got it? Basically, spider Kin/Great beings transcend limitations of their mortal body, whereas 'marine' Kin/Great beings transcend limitations of mentality (brain).

I've noticed that spider 'superiors' are more affiliated with Pthumerian era. Notice how Nightmare Apostles are found in both dungeons/mortal plane and Nightmare plane; whereas regular Nightmare Apostles are found in both planes and can be effortlessly summoned by bell-ringing women, Bloodborne Patches incarnate can just effortlessly travel between realms. Then, Amygdalas, other spider-resembling nonhumans, can transport the Hunter between Nightmare and mortal plane, too. And even more obscure situation - Mergo's Wet Nurse, who has eight spidery arms, doesn't bleed unlike other Kin and Great Ones (she only drops ash/feathers upon being hit), as well as create doubles of herself (like Queen Yharnam and Micolash do).

Basically, I think that 'spidery' superior lifeforms originate from pthumerians' idea of what it means to transcend humanity. Meanwhile, marine superior lifeforms originate from humans' ideas. Pthumerians decided that 'we are not in WHERE knowledge is, so we need to transport there', hence necromancy, ghost-like Bell-Ringing Women and overall transcendance of human body limitation. But humans decided that 'we don't need to move anywhere, we just need to change our brain so we can absorb Eldritch Truth no matter where we are'. I think that Mensis Scholars essentially picked off of Pthumerians ideas more, having dissociated themselves into a Nightmare Realm, to be WHERE knowledge is prior having ABILITY to consume said knowledge! ...Apparently, with only Micolash having his chill together enough to not transform into a slug upon all the knowledge he consumed, unlike other Mensis Scholars. Perhaps, he has more chill than we give him credit for? Or maybe he has no 'mind' to lose to begin with?

However, spider-ish life-forms, especially Nightmare Apostles, have shown a risk of losing their literal heads - many of them are JUST spiders, without a human head even. (I presume, losing one's head results in items like Madman Knowledge or Great One's Wisdom). Meanwhile, some marine life-forms have shown to lose their bodies - as shown with just-head Research Hall patients that became JUST heads and nothing else, even poor Adeline did so!

Rom though, lost neigher body nor head.

Basically, I think spider-like superior lifeforms reflect transcending bonds of being in the mortal plane physically, but marine lifeforms show being able to transcend past mortal plane mentally. Rom though? She lost neigher her body, nor her mind, so she indeed has a spider body and a bloated eyed head of a research hall patient. She lost neigher head OR body. The more I think about it, the more I agree that her being called an 'idiot' reflects her not realising tremendous power she possesses - she is able to transcend both physical AND mental plane, yet she does nothing with it but just chills in the lake. (Another Lovecraftian reference, after all).

So basically, she has perfect body (as a spider), AND a perfect mind (shown by her having head structure similar of a research hall patient, but with eyes present). Heck, she can teleport, which leaves her still presenting in the Byrgenwerth Lake a mystery.

My theory is that... Uh... Basically, if you hit her in the lake:

But if you hit her in the Dungeons?

Notice, that in the lake, her head bleeds grey - same as Ebrietas, Celestial Emissary and like, most of the Kin do! But in dungeons, her head bleeds normal red. So I think that implication here is that during the battle in the lake, you knock her conscious out. And indeed you find her again in Pthumerian Dungeons - where spiders are supposed to like to be! You also have Damian, a Mensis Scholar that helps you to initially defeat Rom who conceals ritual of his affiliated school, to help you with Ebrietas in both mortal plane and Isz Dungeons (which he is suspected to have prospected, given description of Loch Schield he has). Narratively it only makes sense if Ebrietas poses a risk of making Rom to return to the lake - and all things considered, Rom might just return to the 'volume of water' (aka Lake in her case) to keep in contact with Ebrietas, since 1) she can teleport and 2) Ebrietas mourns a body a lot like hers

Sooo... Yeah, I think, Rom is a very unique case. Spider body implies that she can travel planes effortlessly, bloated head + marine tails implies that her mind is elevated, yet nothing happens past that, hence why I think 'idiot/vacuous' title is applied. Though I would not put it past BB coded-era that Rom has fallen under ableism when she was still human herself, but again, it depends on what you want the story to be!

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* Game Theory time - I think that Rom having married Ebrietas had secured her becoming a Great One (same logic as when a peasant marrying royalty makes them a royal too). Despite her previously having been just a very long-lived 'Patient', who survived and even was a short-lasted Conductor of the Choir, by merely 'not thinking about it too hard' (inspiration for later, more vicious Choir scientists, to seek JUST children as opposed to 'people with intelligence of children', to communicate with Ebrietas). It is not like they had a shortage of church officials in the Choir to grant them that sort or cerimony, after all... In my interpretation, Rom was notorious for having ideas stupid enough that they might as well have worked! But since Great Ones are cursed to lose their children, same thing happened with Rom and Ebrietas - their child died even before it was formed, hence why Rom is surrounded by 'children of Rom' AND many celestial children are revealed after Red Moon - the child between Rom and Ebrietas has never gotten to be formed, so they 'replace' it with hollow (cord-less) coin-flip (either a little spider or little celestial child) replica of a child, not unlike how child of Queen Yharnam doesn't even HAVE a visible form. All - 'children of Rom' and cord-less celestial children in upper cathedral ward - are coinflip of their child. They all are just baby version of their parents, in coin-flip, all are a 'shrodinger child' trying to exist but doomed to same fate (since Ebrietas is essentially grown version of a celestial child, aka 'celestial adult'). After all, what's good about being a Great One, if you can't even get s simple happiness of having a family?

* This post is dated 05/10/21, but by this date (I might change my opinions later!) I think that after Rom had had her lethal pregnancy (curse of all Great Ones), Yurie figured it out and took Eye Cord from Rom, knowing that only Master Willem might have known what to do with such a thing. (I think that Yurie being called 'The last Scholar' implies that she's been original from Byrgenwerth which makes her 50+ years old... yet she can still kick ur ass, but what else is new in Bloodborne!). She travelled, with Fauxsefka presumably, into Byrgenwerth, in which Willem used cord to lure Rom into the lake (as suggested by description of Lunarium Key that he 'left a secret' in the lake), but for one reason or the other he refused to consume it himself. Said cord was useless, it could not granted Rom and Ebrietas their child back, yet Rom followed, out of foolish sentimentality alone.

* I also think that Fauxsefka, bein a knowledge-thirsty psychopath she is, resented Yurie being okay with helping to conceal Eldritch Truth from mortal and 'getting to known Master Willem from the start yet learning nothing from him'. She resented not getting to see the Truth, she took the cord Rom followed despite it being useless now, she wanted to go big - so she left, unleashing the Kin to prevent Yurie from stopping her. She was obsessed with turning others into Kin because just before transofmation, they had a small 'window' to share Eldritch Truth they've withnessed with her. She also was one known case of 'Insight Poisoning'. You know how if you consume too much of something - drugs, alcohol, medicine, whatever - your body might refuse to take it, so it throws it all out? I think similar thing happened with Fauxsefka - notice how after every victim you send to her, you get Insight upon merely talking to her? I think she ended up swallowing more Insight than her brain could diggest so she started to 'throw it up' - with culmination of it being her body rejecting a cord of Rom's born-dead child she once consumed.

* Basically, Fauxsefka became so woke that had it not been for Insigt to be important ingame currency, a person coulda gotten enough Insight to ascend just by sitting next to her. But also, she could take no more of it. Who knows what could she have accoplished if she took it at slower pace, after all?