Pumpkin Spice 2021 | Beast and Blade, Ludwig the Accursed
“Aah, you were at my side, all along.
My true mentor...
My guiding moonlight…”
For the first time this year, I finally took it upon myself to beat Bloodborne. We all have our backlogs that we’re slowly trying to trudge through in-between moments we call “life” and I thought to myself this year “hey, I fancy myself a hunt.” I don’t need to tell you the game is good, you probably know that if you’ve played it yourself, and if you haven’t everyone who has made it very clear it is good. But there was one particular character that captivated me, from The Old Hunters DLC; Ludwig the Accursed, or alternatively, Ludwig, The Holy Blade.
Spoilers follow.
Beast and Blade
The church…
They made a blade in your image and my name.
But it is lacking in your lustre…
I am infinitely intrigued by the relationships between weapon and wielder. This undoubtedly stems from my love of games like The Legend of Zelda and Kingdom Hearts, both series that feature iconic weapons that have some semblance of sentience. My first 3D Zelda was Twilight Princess, and coming across The Master Sword in the Sacred Grove is eternally embedded in my mind, there was a radiance to the sword when I found it, it was clearly something special.
The later Zelda games do more to expand upon Link’s relationship with The Master Sword, such as Fi in Skyward Sword, and his lack of strength to use it in Breath of the Wild tied to his own sense of worth. I could almost see some semblance of this relationship between Ludwig and the Holy Moonlight Sword.
If you aren’t aware, the Holy Moonlight Sword is a weapon that appears in almost every FromSoftware game. Its appearance changes slightly from game to game, but it always generally takes the shape of a huge sword that glows blue. There’s a storied history to this blade, one that isn’t clear without some research across all of their games. And because of that, there’s an air of mysticism to it, one that Ludwig is connected to.
Ludwig’s bossfight is one of my favourites in the game, not just because it’s a fun fight to learn, but because of the cutscene that occurs when you get him down to half health where he is finally reunited with the Moonlight Sword. Even if you hadn’t paid attention to mentions of his name in the base game, you could easily feel the love he has for his weapon, calling it his “guide” and “mentor”. The music changes, it swells with a chorus of vocals, it exudes a prideful energy. His name changes from Ludwig, The Accursed to Ludwig, The Holy Blade, now stood up straight in his beast form, the honour he had as a hunter returned to him. It’s an incredible moment, and the reason I became so enchanted by the character.
The Accursed… The Holy Blade…
My guide…
Why do you not speak to me?
The hunt continues, the beasts plague the streets!
The church crumbles beneath me…
The change in demeanor in the boss fight is something I feel you never see in games. The whole fighting style of Ludwig changes in that moment, right down to his posture, and tells you so much about his character. As a beast, he’s almost rabid and wild, and when the glowing light of the Moonlight Sword graces him in his time of need, he’s reminded of who he once was.
FromSoftware’s approach to lore means you have the opportunity to find meaning in every corner of their worlds. And for myself, I see the shadow of a man, in love with his hunting companion. They seem to complete one another, and in a city like Yharnam, having anyone at your side is a rare blessing. Playing through the game, I almost felt a sense of envy between the two of them.
In Bloodborne, there are people you can ally yourself with, but none that I think you could ever call a friend. All of the NPCs have their own wants and will use you to whatever allows them to meet those goals, normally resulting in some gruesome end. Eileen the Crow is the one character who could be the closest thing you have to a friend, but if you don’t play your cards right you’ll end up fighting her too.
It’s unclear if the Holy Moonlight Sword is really alive in any way, but Ludwig certainly thinks so. But I’m honestly glad they have each other at the very least. Ludwig, for me, is one of the hardest bosses to face in the game, but not because of the fight itself, but for what comes after.
If you wear clothing from the Healing Church, the hunters’ group that Ludwig was the first hunter of, he’ll ask you if the Church Hunters are the “honourable spartans” he hoped they would be. You can lie to him in his final moment and say yes, and if you do so, the Holy Moonlight Sword will be yours. The sword will never speak to you, however, showing the strong bond that the two had. It’s sorrowful, and while, yes, you can have a cool as hell sword, it isn’t right.
Bloodborne is a game full of pain, in so many ways, but the most interesting ways it manifests in the miserable existences of its inhabitants. To see a character who takes pride in his work like Ludwig, even if maybe that pride is misguided, as powerful. He’s someone who very little information is known about, but everything I imagine him to be is what ultimately makes him such a compelling character, and one I haven’t stopped thinking about since meeting.
Ah, my love…
I hope the good hunter treats you well.
Be their light and savior, and bring them through the hunt.
The night is long…
The night is dark...
