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skleech · 6 months

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The parallels between The Good Hunter and Simon the Harrowed

i'm putting the entirety of this essay under here because it's long as hell. enjoy reading it ig

Yup. it's one of those essays

I had previously written a very miniature essay on comparing the similarities between Simon the Harrowed and Eileen the Crow, as at the end of the day when you look back you can see some amount of parallels between the two (though i suppose that could be seen as subjective too at the end of the day.)

However, whilst it can be argued about whether or not those two have a strong parallel between each other, this essay is not about these two.

Instead, I'm going to be looking at another character that I believe shows probably some of the strongest shared parallels when put aside Simon.

“And who might that character be?” I hear you ask. Well dear viewer, i’m glad you asked.

That character would be none other than you! Or, I suppose more specifically the Good Hunter themselves.

Throughout the whole DLC all the way to the end of not only Simon's questline but once you reach the end boss, I believe it can be evident that Simon the Harrowed and the Good Hunter show probably some of the strongest parallels between each other (and I suppose when you step back and look at the game as a whole there are other npcs throughout that also show strong parallels with the player, though this essay is simply discussing their similarities between Simon specifically)

But before i can actually go into depth about these two and just how similar they are to each other, I’m firstly going to need to list just what makes them so similar eg. their goals, what they do and how that progresses/adds to the general plot of Bloodborne.

Let’s firstly look at Simon, as I believe this would start things off a little easier.

Some of Simon’s goals listed include:

Exposing the church for their transgressions, evidenced from pretty much most of his dialogue but includes dialogue pieces such as:

Presumably ending the Hunter’s Nightmare, evidenced with such pieces of dialogue as:

Whilst less clear, it can also be argued that Simon’s other goals can also include trying to figure out just what the hell is going on in the Nightmare realm (considering that’s his whole deal anyways), evidence when he states:

Now that we’ve gone over Simon’s goals, let's take a look at the Good Hunter’s, and we’ll see just how closely they parallel each other.

Whilst the goals of the good hunter varies depending on how people play the game, by default some of their goals include:

Exploring Yharnam (slaying beasts in the process of course) and uncovering the secrets within (seeing the parallels already?)

Discovering the Healing Church and just what happened to cause the current situation happening in Yharnam

When entering and exploring the Hunter’s Nightmare, The Good Hunter can have the option to choose whether or not they want to help put an end to the suffering, eventually ending the nightmare once and for all if they choose to fight the Orphan of Kos)

Now that I've listed these two’s goals, this should now give me a good chance to start actually discussing how similar these two are.

When the Good Hunter first comes across Simon, the first and probably biggest piece of evidence that hints at their similarity is when Simon himself states right off the bat:

now, this is probably a fairly obvious piece of evidence that right off the bat can be used to show the parallels between the Good Hunter and Simon the Harrowed as the two meet (after the Hunter explores the very beginning of the Hunter's Nightmare), but it's nonetheless a good piece of dialogue that shows these two's similarities.

Simon also finishes his dialogue off by warning the Good Hunter of the Church's less desirable way of keeping folk away from prying into their business, which the Good Hunter no doubt has much personal experience from these attempts (e.g possibly seen with fight between Vicar Amelia as well as a few other examples)

this final part that Simon mentions could also potentially be seen as some foreshadowing for what the Good Hunter will come to witness as they venture through the DLC, but we're getting side tracked.

Anyways, from this it can be gathered that already from the beginning of Simon's starting dialogue with the Good Hunter that the two already show some strong parallels between each other, both being hunters having experienced the hostility of the church. Furthermore, their parallels can also be seen not just through their goals but also the circumstances on how they got to where they are now from when Simon possibly hints of 'taking the wrong turn'.

Further examples of Simon and the Good Hunter's shared goals of uncovering the secrets of the Healing Church as well as the Nightmare can also be shown through this piece of dialogue from after the Good Hunter finishes off Ludwig:

the final line from this piece of dialogue can possibly used as another example of how Simon the Harrowed and the Good Hunter themselves share the goal of discovering the secrets as well as the transgressions caused by the church, evident with how Simon expresses both of their desires to unveil these secrets along with further motivating the player to continue on with their journey through the Hunter's Nightmare

Now, later towards the middle of the DLC, when the Good Hunter finishes off Ludwig and manages to reach the Research Hall, Simon re-appears and gives more insight into the church as well as guiding the Good Hunter further onto their journey.

Here, Simon's disillusionment of the Healing Church is further evident within this dialogue piece, as well as further enticing the Good Hunter to continue on with their shared journey of discovering the secrets left behind by the Healing Church (further highlighted when Simon eventually pushes the player to kill Lady Maria to continue on with their journey, but that's a discussion for another day)

(Okay, now here's where I'm gonna go a small diverge in order to continue explaining the shared parallels between the Good Hunter, but bear with me here as I try and explain this point)

Whilst throughout this whole essay I've mainly been using dialogue examples as a way to emphasise these two's similarities, I feel like it would be careless of me to not mention how this can be highlighted through the actions/dialogue of OTHER npcs.

What npcs?

For this, I'm going to use Brador as a way to further explain the similarities of Simon and the player.

Firstly, I feel this idea can be mainly evident from the fact that Brador, once the Good Hunter begins to go in further with uncovering the church's secrets (the biggest being the Fishing Hamlet just by that being the moment Brador begins to hunt down the player), where if killed by him, Brador states:

(this piece of dialogue is important when it comes to Simon himself as he eventually falls victim to this 'unending death' that Brador emphasises)

Other lines from Brador that can also potentially help in conveying the similarity between Simon and the Good hunter include:

(I feel like my point from above can also be used to explain this, but I'm adding this dialogue just help with what I'm trying to explain here)

When the Good Hunter meets Simon for the final time, during his death dialogue Simon will give the player one final push to ending the Hunter's Nightmare once and for all, stating:

and:

once more emphasising the importance for the Good Hunter further uncover the secrets of the Fishing Hamlet in order for the Nightmare to end, which can be used as evidence to convey the parallels between as the two as the Good Hunter is seemingly given the mantle to continue Simon's own end goal (which is also the player's end goal too but you get what I mean)

(Also, not the biggest piece of evidence to highlight their similarities, but It's one I sorta want to discuss here as a potential idea here)

After Simon dies, the Good Hunter will be given both the underground chamber key and Simon's own weapon, the Bowblade (which also finally gives away Simon's name to the player). The Bowblade specifically I find important here in this discussion as I feel this can be used a way to convey Simon 'passing over the torch' to the player, giving not only the means to get rid of Brador with the keys to his cell (interesting that even though he had the means to kill Brador himself, he never did, but that's a potential discussion for another day because this essay will get way to long if I try and shove this in here hh-), but also his own weapon. With this, I believe this can be used as a way to explain their parallels as the player is essentially now given Simon's role; which is to now put an end to the nightmare once and for all (this might seem like a stretch but It's a point i wanted to point out nonetheless)

If the player decides to go back to confront Brador (after being given the key to his cell upon the death of Simon), Brador after being killed by player says this line upon his death:

the line of "nothing changes" can be further used as evidence for the parallels of the Good Hunter and Simon as both are described to having 'pried' into the business of the church despite the consequences (as gracefully shown through what Brador did to Simon and probably many other during his lifetime working with the church).

At the end of the day, it really does depend on how the player themselves play as the Good Hunter and how they interact with Simon (if at all) that can support this idea of Simon the Harrowed and the Good Hunter having parallels between their actions and their own goals. However, towards the end of writing this I do hope I was at least able to show some evidence that can support this idea of how closely these two's goals intertwine with each other as well as both characters being somewhat of a representation of each other.

#bloodborne #simon the harrowed #good hunter #rambles #this post is probably going to flop but idc i've been dying to make this essay for literally ages #you WILL LISTEN to me scream into the void about this man #my arms are gonna fall off from typing this much ow #I'm probably waffling so hard in this essay i'm so sorry i'm normal about this character i promise (lying)#(also my apologies if some of these points aren't explained in the most clear way i'm awful at articulating my words sometimes)#owing my life to the fextralife wiki for all the quotes used here

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itstheelvenjedi · 2 months

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Slow on the uptake bc checking tumblr/socmed is very much the bottom of my priority list rn

But obligatory disclaimer as a polyam queer butch that I do not condone, support or agree with the shit Frazer Blaxland has been saying lately.

I'm not personally gonna stop making content for Dammon/shipping him with characters, I'm so deep into my personal headcanons that tbh the only connection there is pretty much the voice itself and the vague appearance so I feel like I can separate the two pretty well. If you can't that's also fine but also pls do not attack me for this. I will block you. I'm ONE more bad thing away from losing my fucking shit frfr (which is why I'm so inactive here rn) and I'm NOT about to be the bitch that has to tell the psych that dumb fandom drama was my last straw so I will not be engaging w any attempts. This is the only time I'll bring it up. but yea. Feel like I have to say it so ppl don't assume I support those disgusting opinions.

Also not sure how long I'll be 'active' here again. I may disappear again for a while I'm sorry ;; shit sucks rn and tumblr/most socmed is effort and spoons I dont have LOL if we're buds and for some reason you DONT already have me added on Discord feel free to DM me and I'll give yall my Discord tag,

That's the place that's easiest/least stressful and where I spend most of my time atm, but I don't want ppl to feel like I'm ignoring them! I promise I'm not <3 if you tagged me in a meme or whatever I will get around to it when I can I promise, it'll just be slow and at the whim of how many spoons I have on a given day haha

#i have no idea what to tag this as but uh #this #lmao #unfollow or hate me for choosing to separate the character from his VA if you want thats your call /gen #but i'm going to be a stubborn petty bitch about it #genuinely have so little good in my life rn i'm not letting some asshole take my comfort ships away from me #call me dramatic if you want idc im dead /srs bg3 is keeping me sane & stopping me from chewing people's arms off irl rn #blog update #kinda sorta #blog announcement #delete later #elven rants #elven screams into the void #also kinda. but i'll tag it just incase

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