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Between running around the tower and dodging attacks, you may have heard Lady Dimitrescu say this line during her boss fight. But what does she mean by that? Why is Rose important to her? What hope does she represent to Alcina?

Now, I think it is pretty obvious that whatever Miranda promised Alcina was a lie. We know Miranda needed her Lords dead to awaken the Megamycete so she could proceed with the ceremony, but none of the four Lords were aware of that. They didn't even see the slaughter of the villagers as a red flag. So, what did Miranda tell them?

Here is what we do know. Miranda told Ethan after the fight with Heisenberg how Rose is Eveline’s true, complete form and how she would control the masses – as the “reborn” Eva, of course. Because of those lines, I think Miranda’s plan was to spread the Cult of the Black God far beyond the village once she had what she wanted.

Thus, it’s possible she told the Lords they’d still be by her side after the ceremony. Maybe she told them how integral her “family” would be in leading the new religious community she and Eva were going to forge. It would explain Heisenberg’s line in the factory:

“It’s a test. To see if you’re strong enough to join Miranda’s family.”

The weak villagers would be purged, and only the strongest, the chosen, would be allowed to remain in the “family” and become part of Miranda’s new order.

Now, Alcina definitely believed she was strong and worthy enough. She writes in her diary about how special she is, how Miranda surely must favour her since she gave Alcina near immortality, powers and her “obedient daughters”. And seeing how Alcina originally came to the village as an outsider, she probably loved the idea of finally getting out again – perhaps she looked forward to mingling with the rich & noble, rather than the “riffraff” she was forced to call her siblings.

But there is also Alcina’s condition, her House’s curse, if you will. She suffered from a hereditary blood disease, which the Cadou did not properly heal. Instead, Alcina had to consume human blood and flesh to maintain her powers and prevent herself from mutating uncontrollably.

Interestingly though, it would seem the “Sanguis Virginis” does not originate with Alcina. The Dimitrescus have produced wine since at least the 15th century, and the note we find tells us Alcina used her family’s “legendary, yet peculiar technique” to achieve the “thick bouquet”. This implies the House Dimitrescu has used blood for generations. Which means they may have killed people for their blood for generations as well. But why?

Historically, blood has occasionally been used to treat diseases or conditions, for example as an ingredient – it could be the blood of an animal or even of a human, depending on what was treated. Small quantities were commonly used, but House Dimitrescu may have gone beyond that.

I believe it is possible House Dimitrescu attempted to treat their affliction with blood taken with bloodletting or by straight-up killing people to completely drain them; after all, Alcina is based in part on the story around Countess Elizabeth Báthory.

Since the Dimitrescus’ disease is hereditary, each generation would likely have had a few family members who needed “treatment”, and perhaps even some of the unafflicted drank the same “medicine” just in case. Perhaps the healthy members of the family convinced them the treatment worked. And this could have been the origin of the “Sanguis Virginis”. This is, however, speculation on my part.

Still, in turn, these actions could have inspired rumours around House Dimitrescu, leading people to believe they were real vampires, long before Alcina was even born. These rumours could be the reason why someone created “the Dagger of Death’s Flowers”. It is described as looking antique, mediaeval, and being coated in a concoction of poisons from across the continent. Meant to kill demons and monsters.

Which makes me wonder; could the dagger have weakened Miranda as well? Imagine Ethan showing up at the factory and countering Heisenberg’s idea of using Rose with the poison that can break down the mutamycete.

Now, the concept art says an assassin tried and failed to kill Alcina with it. But was it an outsider who somehow learned about Dimitrescu or a villager who somehow got their hands on plants from across the continent or those poisons?

My theory is the dagger was created sometime between the 15th and 19th century. As far as their motivation is concerned, I deem a political rival to House Dimitrescu as the most likely option, given the elaborate design of the dagger and the nature of the poison-coating. This just isn’t the weapon of a simple villager. In any case it was someone who was well aware of their bloody reputation and took it seriously.

If so, the dagger could have killed a Dimitrescu in the past or was used in earlier failed attempt, but one way or another it ended up in the castle. The tale spread to the villagers and was retold until Alcina became the new head of the House, as the regional line had died out at some point. She then took girls from the village for her staff, but none of them ever returned, and she drained every outsider who set foot in that castle.

I like to think the assassin was a villager, someone who knew the stories around the castle and the Dimitrescus well. Perhaps someone from his family, a loved one, had been taken, or maybe he just had enough. He went looking for the dagger and it’s his note Ethan finds in the attic. This villager found it, but they ultimately failed, and Alcina sealed her would-be assassin away in a coffin with the dagger. Where Ethan found it decades later.

Anyway, coming back around to the original question, I think Miranda made Alcina a special promise. With Rose as Eva’s vessel, having even greater power than Miranda alone, perhaps she told Alcina she would finally be cured, that she would no longer need to consume blood and flesh.

The freedom to leave the backwater village, power as Miranda’s right hand and a cure to once again enjoy all the pleasures of life. While this is just speculative, I could see how one or all of these reasons made Alcina so desperate to keep Ethan away from Rose. Why Rose was, in Alcina’s eyes, her only hope.

“That’s what I’m supposed to do?”

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I have this odd headcannon that Alcina was not a big fan of drinking blood at all, hence why she added it to her wine to dilute it and eventually got used to it.

I also figured the first time she fed would have been just awful. They would’ve been testing to see what worked, all the time they wasted on things that didn’t, when finally they found a solution, She would’ve been starving or on the brink of mutation.

Another part to this headcannon would be that Miranda possibly shamed her for not wanted to drink blood, basically saying “ all this work and you don’t want to survive like this?”. Knowing Miranda’s manipulation, she probably gave her some backhanded praise, while shaming her at the same time.

Keep in mind, I am projecting like an IMAX when I say this:

Sometimes, I wonder if Alcina’s blood consumption is a DMT of sorts, in that it slows down her growth/mutations, but it doesn’t stop it. Nothing can, so she’s just managing it and band-aid solutioning as best as she can, knowing all the while that in the long run, she’ll eventually succumb to what is essentially her body destroying itself.

I also think that she has, for lack of better phrasing, gotten worse the longer she’s been alive. I will die on the hill that her cadou was implanted in her head and it has done things to her brain. Initially, she was reluctant to feed on blood and flesh, but as the cadou got more settled into her, burrowing in and growing (as parasites do) she became…well, what we see in-game. I will also die on the hill that she’s always been Just a Little Fucked Up™️ and her inhibitions have been lowered just enough to let her worst impulses run to their most extreme. There are times when even Miranda herself no longer recognizes who Alcina has become, though she refuses to acknowledge this for a variety of reasons.