"Even in this darkest of nights, I see...the moonlight..."
-Ludwig, the Holy Blade.
In a game filled to the brim with gore, madness and tragedy, there is still some light to be found amidst the darkness that is Bloodborne.
As a Moments subpage, all spoilers are unmarked as per policy. You Have Been Warned.
- The Plain Doll makes it clear that she requires another person's love to remain alive. Since she was utterly lifeless when you first see her, it’s obvious that Gehrman, the only other person in the dream, doesn't have a shred of empathy for her (anymore, at least). Yet in the Yharnam Sunrise ending, you see her in The Hunter's Dream, very much alive and mourning at your grave. Even though the two of you are now in totally separate worlds, and may never see one another again, your memories of her are still fond enough to sustain her. After killing hundreds of beasts and madmen throughout the game and the Souls series as a whole, you finally give life instead of taking it.
- Becomes even better when you give the Doll the Small Hair Ornament, an item you have to go out of your way into an entirely optional area to find, and she experiences joy for the first time. She also cries for the very first time, an act that the game itself claims should be impossible and through that produces a Tear Stone that passively heals you.
- Sometimes, when passing by, you can hear her offer you a prayer;O Flora, of the moon, of the dream.
O Little ones, o fleeting will of the ancients.
Let the Hunter be safe. Let him/her find comfort.
And let this dream, his/her captor…
Foretell a pleasant awakening… - Even the simple act of performing gestures in front of the Doll can be a heartwarming moment on its own, especially when she responds with applause. The Doll actually smiles at you and she clearly seems to be enjoying your company.
- Give the Doll a Curtsy emote, and she'll bow in response. There's something incredibly sweet about this particular emote response. And it's almost perfectly synced, too!
- In the Childhood's Beginning ending when you have transformed into an infant Great One, the Doll gently picks you up and asks if you are cold. It is implied that until you are strong enough to protect yourself, the Doll will act as your mother and keep you safe.
- Also, since Gehrman is dead, and the Moon Presence is gone, you are the only being left in the dream to sustain her. Although you have been afflicted by both illnesses and mutations which strip people of their humanity, have been exposed to horrors and trauma that have driven lesser men insane, and just now been twisted into an eldritch being, you still haven't forgotten what it means to love another.
- Another possible thing to point out is that when you become an infant Great One, you may grow to become a Transhuman protector or benefactor of humankind. Just like above, you may also remember the compassion and empathy you were given and gave back to the people of Yharnam.
- In The Old Hunters DLC, after you defeat Lady Maria, you can talk to the Doll again for some new dialogue. She asks the Hunter if she's changed somehow, because right as Lady Maria died she felt a "liberation from heavy shackles". She has no idea what it could've possibly been, and she doesn't even really process how it makes her feel, but in a first for her, she chuckles. Yes, not only can she cry, she can also feel joy and relief, much like Gehrman does after you slay the Orphan of Kos. A good sign for the Doll, seeing that both Gehrman and she herself consider her little more than a tool made to serve.
- Annalise, proud and cruel as she can be, rebuffs the Hunter if they attempt to propose marriage to her with the Ring of Betrothal because she's self-aware enough to understand that such a union would end badly for the Hunter and they are too "dear" to Annalise for her to risk them such harm.
She's reasonably flattered, though. - If you visit Iosefka and collect her medicinal blood enough times, rather than get annoyed by your apparent carelessness, the kindly doctor warms up to you. She assures the player that while the night may be long, "morning always comes," and says that she would like to meet them face to face once that happens. It will also make what happens to her an even bigger Player Punch.
- Leaving the nightmare once and for all requires the Hunter to kill Mergo's Wet Nurse, without whom Mergo cannot survive. After the Wet Nurse fades away, Mergo's cries linger in the area as it slowly perishes. Remember that Mergo is a baby. It's not its fault that its mere existence is inherently unthinkable, nor was it exclusively responsible for the horrors that befell Yharnam. Yet to end the nightmare and save yourself (along with whatever's left of Yharnam's sane population), it has to die alone. At the very least, you can use the Tiny Music Box to give it one last moment of pleasure.
- Offering a final solace to Ludwig is possible once you've defeated him. If you wear any sort of Healing Church clothing set and talk to his severed head, he will think you're a member, and ask you if his Church Hunters are the honorable warriors he wanted them to be. If you say yes (which is a big, fat lie), then he dies peacefully and happily with his humanity intact and gifts you his Moonlight Sword as thanks for setting his mind at ease. If you tell the truth and say no, he realizes that he just ended up made things worse and goes Laughing Mad in his despair, at which point you'll have to either finish him off yourself to get the sword, or reload the area and Simon will do it for you.
- You might question whether or not you've done the right thing in killing the Child of Kos at the end of The Old Hunters DLC, but there is a definite silver lining. The Doll will tell you that Gehrman is no longer wracked by nightmares and he's sleeping peacefully for once, meaning you've inadvertently eased the burden of a tired old man (and have ensured that he can eventually be free of both the Dream and the Nightmare).
- It's also not limited to Gehrman. If you accept the interpretation that the Hunter's Nightmare is a curse bestowed on all Hunters by Kos for the Old Hunters' misdeeds then by slaying the nightmare you've spared modern Hunters from being punished for the sins of their fathers, just as Simon the Harrowed wished in his dying moments.
- Then there's the matter of the Orphan of Kos itself. Born into a world that's inherently hostile to it, alone, experimented on and/or vivisected by Willem and his students (depending on how the timelines in the Nightmare and the waking world stack up) and finally killed by the first being it sees in the Nightmare). Yet perhaps this is the best ending possible; the poor, mad, frightened thing is at least free now...
- Given how the concepts of life and death also seem to be different for the Great Ones, it's entirely possible that in killing it, you've helped the Orphan itself Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence like Kos, allowing it to reunite with its mother. Which, combined with you choosing Childhood's End, could possibly mean you've ended the Nightmares Over Yharnam entirely. The Curse of Kos over the Hunters, the Nightmare of Mensis created by Micolash, the Hunter's Dream created by the Moon Presence and the Vicious Cycle of the Hunt are all ended thanks to your efforts.
Befuddled Villager: Ah, sweet Child of Kos, returned to the ocean...
A bottomless curse, a bottomless sea.
Accepting of all that there is, and can be. - It's up for interpretation given the situation, but meeting and helping Saint Adeline could be this. The only Clocktower Patient still relatively sane, she's a perfectly Nice Girl to you (despite likely being a member of the Healing Church, the Body Horror of having a tumorous mass of liquids for a head and being strapped to a table), giving you her blood just like Iosefka and the Balcony Key needed to proceed if you help her get Brain Fluid. She's polite, happy and grateful for your help all the way through her questline, even when she's become nothing but a giant tumorous head that's Laughing Mad and Hearing Voices (which she seems peaceful and happy about, oddly enough). Unlike her fellow Blood Saint Sister Adella, her friendliness is completely genuine and she doesn't seem to be The Fundamentalist. At the end of her questline, Adeline apparently does Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence and shows nothing but happiness before her body deflates and vanishes, with no apparent or distressing hints of having Gone Mad from the Revelation or Transhuman Treachery.Ahh, ahh! *slurping noises* Ahh! Aahh! I see a shape. My guide, I see your voice, clearly, as it bends and bleeds. My own revelation, just for me. *giggling* Thank you. For everything... Really, I used to be nothing... *giggling*
- A very fridge moment concerning the Narrow-Minded Man the Hunter can direct to the Oedon Chapel. He is extremely distrustful, and acts exactly opposite of how the player advises him (going to Oedon if the player tells him to go to Iosefka's, and vice versa). Once in the Chapel, he'll start to give the player advice concerning the other survivors there, but all of it is wrong. One interpretation is that he's simply a Troll. Another is that he genuinely wants to help the Hunter, but his paranoia makes him a Horrible Judge of Character.
