For the uninitiated, the plot of Bloodborne is a subtle and macabre tale wrapped in Lovecraftian lore and dripping with some of the best FromSoftware designs in a long time. There are a lot of characters, side-quests, and rich poignant pieces of character development that you're going to easily miss unless you know where to look or what specific actions you need to perform.
One particular head-scratcher that kept the fan base up late into the small hours comes down to the Doll and Lady Maria - why do they look so eerily similar? - and how that played into the mind-bending story as a whole. As it turns out, their similarities are no mere coincidence and are at the core of a tale about unreturned love turned sad obsession. For first-timers waking to the Hunters Dream, or those with plenty of eyes on the inside, here's the Doll and Lady Maria explained.
Who Is The Doll?
Your constant companion in cosmic horror along with the wheelchair-bound Gehrman in the Hunters Dream, the doll is at first, just a doll. But as you progress through Bloodborne, gaining more insight, she becomes real, greeting you solemnly as a constant companion whenever you arrive and providing a point where you can level up your character - akin to your typical Dark Souls Fire Keeper.
She’s a mysterious and somber maiden, often found in different spots around the Hunters Dream upon every new arrival, and behind that frilly bonnet and grime-covered dress is a surprisingly dark and twisted connection to a DLC character. She was created originally by Gehrman to keep him company and on the surface, it sounds sweet - but it has a creepy undertone when you dig into the lore, and it’s something that often goes overlooked.
Impact On The Story
The Doll’s impact on the story of Bloodborne is not too big - she’s more of a supportive Hub NPC than anything - but she’s a friendly face in what’s mostly a not so friendly dimension. By the end of Bloodborne, depending on the ending you've gotten, she is either standing next to the Hunter, now taking Gehrman’s role as host of the Hunters Nightmare, or holding an infant Great One, the Hunter reborn.
She responds to certain emotes, such as Bow, and her attire known as the Doll Set can be found in Abandoned Old Workshop within the Hunters Dream. So those who wish to match with this somber and stylish Lantern Keeper can. She also never leaves the Hunters Dream, seemingly content with welcoming new hunters as the Old Ones' curse continues to bring in the wayward minds of more and more lost souls.
Who Is Lady Maria?
Maria, or as she’s fully known, Lady Maria Of The Astral Clocktower, is a legendary hunter in Bloodborne that appears as a boss fight in the Old Hunters DLC for the game. She was once a student of Gehrman, and she’s considered to be one of the best bosses in the game. Her battle has multiple phases, and it offers a genuinely hard challenge and some great gear for Hunters skilled enough to take her on. It's a fast, particle-filled frenzy that keeps you on your toes - if you aren't ready for her, it's going to be a solid wall to your progression.
When she’s first encountered, she’s lying limply on a chair inside the Astral Clocktower, at the top of the Asylum after you defeat the Living Failures. Seemingly dead at first, once approached she lurches up, grabbing the Hunter for a brief bit of dialogue before attacking, trying to bar the way ahead to the Fishing Hamlet beyond. It's worth noting is that her sword can be found abandoned in a nearby well, suggesting Lady Maria regrets her past actions as a Hunter - a secret not many know of.
Impact On The Story
Though it may seem like she's quite at home in her towering hideaway, Lady Maria is in a prison of her own making. Though she once roamed the land as a skilled Hunter, she is now forever trapped in the Hunters Nightmare because of a curse. Lady Maria was part of a group of Hunters that was investigating signs of an Old One at an abandoned fishing village. But after finding the entire village mutated by the influence of Kos, a gigantic Old One that had washed up on a nearby beach, Lady Maria and her cadre exterminated the inhabitants along with their new unholy patron.
This act brought down a curse upon the group, forever trapping them in a pocket dimension known as the Hunters Nightmare, a twisted hellscape where monsters and other Hunters that became lost in the Dream roam. It’s a tormenting landscape of eternal Lovecraftian horror that she can’t escape from, and it’s hard not to feel sorry for her, even if it was self-inflicted. Just like how Gehrman is trapped within the Hunters Dream, so is Maria locked within the nightmare - truly the Apprentice is just like the Master.
The Connection Between The Two
It doesn’t take the most Eagle-eyed observer to notice the Doll and Lady Maria bear striking similarities. This is no coincidence, no mere Eldritch twist of fate as the two are linked - but not in the way you would think at first.
The Doll is a creation of Gehrman to “keep him company”, her resemblance to Lady Maria is chosen because Gehrman bears deep feelings for her. The two worked together closely as Hunters for a time, with Lady Maria taking the form of the student to the older Veteran. But those feelings were not returned, and after her mysterious disappearance whilst visiting the Fishing Hamlet, Gehrman constructed the Doll. An object he poured into all his obsession and hopes for a relationship that would never be.
Whilst being overjoyed with his creation for a time, Gehrman grew indifferent towards her - whilst the Doll may look and sound like Lady Maria, she bore none of her personality. And so he left here to sit in the Hunters Dream, a polite-spoken and almost stalker-ish representation of someone he would never see again. It’s a sad realization of Lore that, in typical Bloodborne fashion, sits in that suitably dark valley when it comes to its grim and depressing tone.