What is going on with Orphan of Kos?
Ah, yeah, the newborn oldman!
This post is an ask reply to @deathrooteater! It was sent on my @katyspersonal but I've decided to relocate it in this blog, I hope that's okay!
For starters, I think that Orphan of Kos indeed was "aging" while being core of the Nightmare, because the model behind a shadowy figure we cut down to truly kill them and get 'NIGHTMARE SLAIN' message is much smaller in comparison:
I feel like the first image must be the infant form of OoK, when he was stolen and killed in the real world.
I also think that he might be a son specifically, because his differences with his mother mirror deformations of the Fishing Hamlet citizens! Whereas women are all Snail Women or Slug Women, very similar to Kos herself, men are the Fishmen! For whatever reason, the kind of Great One that Kos is suggests very visible levels of sex dimorphism? 🤔
The thing about Great Ones is that their death in the real world is not a final thing for them!
For example, Flora is missing all of her guts! It seems like she herself was killed and consumed in the real world, but it wasn't the final! My biggest guess about it is Loran, which was said to be a civilisation that faced the same kind of downfall as what Yharnam is going through now!
Not only she died in the real world yet continued to exist in another plane, but also died way more spider-like and similar to her children yet transformed into a more caterpillar-like creature past death! (and grew those beautiful tails!) And yeah, I believe the Altar of Grief spider IS Rom! Occam's Razor suggests as much because lyrics in the theme of Ebrietas, who mourns the spider, are referring to Mensis Ritual that Rom is hiding now!
Death is not the end for the Great Ones yet: not only their astral entity lingers on, but they can grow and develop past death! But despite that, their death in the real world is a big deal! Ebrietas mourns Rom, and Choir is even aware enough to put many candles on her petrified corpse. The reason of the Hunter's Nightmare is grief of Kos, even though her baby is literally right there and very much alive I'd say...? Allegedly, at least:
It might simply be what Fishing Halmet citizens genuinely believe. But I think assumption that 'this is how the person would feel' can also be a reasonable evidence, as it would not come from nowhere! Great Ones in Bloodborne are unlike the unsympathetic types from Lovecraftian myths.
I think it suggests that the 'real world' death must then have irreversible consequences!
Miyazaki suggests in the interview that the reason Great Ones (tend to) lose their children is because from evolutionary standpoint, they don't need to give births! They are already perfect, advanced and immortal beings... so, something in their bodies doesn't agree with the concept based around mortality and passing genes along for improvement.
Whereas humans in Bloodborne are eager to throw away their humanity like shackles, Great Ones, on the other hand, yearn for what humans have! Ability to birth and care for babies is the main focus and difference that "imperfect", mortal lifeforms that humans are have and Great Ones don't. So, perhaps, death in the real world is a way to kill the "imperfect" part of a Great One that makes them closer to humanity? Great Ones continues to live on in some sort of astral plane, but their connection with "humanity" that they yearned for is killed, and it is a strong tragedy for them.
But this makes Kos strange. She is certainly dead and the Hunter's Nightmare only shows her corpse, but why is she different? The simplest explanation I could think of is that something similar was the intention from the start!
It is as simple as seeing that the only way to not let her baby die is to die in their place. Typically, marine creatures end up on the beach to die. In her case, it was pregnancy, and OoK would begin where she ended. Perhaps, he was unfortunately doomed to be an orphan regardless of the actions of the Byrgenwerth and Old Hunters, but the context matters, folks!
For one, OoK has the umbilical cord, even though it was seemingly taken away in real life. This must be a metaphor for not being able to move on from what happened. Not only that, but OoK himself bears the weight of the pain of Fishing Halmet's people that were just nice worshippers of his mother!
The only Great One that "has no blood" we've seen is Mergo's Wet Nurse, actually!!
And, coincidentally, she is nurturing Mergo, who is the core of Nightmare of Mensis! And this, nurtures the Nightmare itself. It is a conversation for another lore post so here ( x ), but in simplest terms: she is an Eldrich Velka fdshhfsdfds
There is a connection between the crows (which Wet Nurse also is) and taking the Hunters straight into astral plane (where Dream and Nightmares are). So, they are praying to this type of Great Ones to continue the Hunter's Nightmare by endlessly taking any Hunter forever here, or, at least, they believe this is what happens! However, pain of OoK is still the key factor. Fishing Hamlet's people hurt for him and he hurts being reminded that what happened is hurtful and so on, endlessly.
You see, even if Kos decided to give her life to have a baby, there is a very big difference between "an orphaned child is raised by nice worshippers his mother entrusted" and "an orphaned child was stolen and massacred by the people that murdered his mother when she was still pregnant and the nice worshippers she entrusted and is forever reminded about it even LONG past the point where the people who were guilty for it got their punishment". A Great One can grow inside the Nightmare, and OoK grew knowing nothing but this pain, grief and being the recipient of multiple people's yearning for vengeance (his own included). He is an "adult" by now, but one completely incapable of letting go of the fate he faced even before being properly pushed out of the womb, thus remaining attached to it.
He will also never have a child himself either, despite being born with such a strong connection to mortals as the most humanoid Great One we've seen; this system was cheated only by Oedon who resides in the Old Blood in secrecy, and by Rom whose "children" are not even her own but Blood Echoes reborn by her (Romlings drop Madman's Knowledge and her Altar of Grief's corpse is covered by mold that only grows from the Old Blood). It adds another layer to him beating us with the mother's womb - symbolically, the things that will never be. Again, having children is something Great Ones desperately want. Perfection of being ascended beings brings nothing but loneliness and emptiness.
So yeah sdfjfdhdf As fun as mental image of Kos whispering in Maria's ear is, from canon standpoint? I don't think this is what is happening at all! :>
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