#use later

Hey! Sorry for the late response to this, I legitimately could not find some posts that I needed for this ask! Tumblr is clowning with search feature often. But, I've found them! :>

Admittedly, I actually do not go far into analysing real world's geographical, historical or cultural inspiration for the Soulsborne worlds and instead try to analyse it with the "clear" look. xD I'd say that Yharnam is a mesh of several things but could never fall 1:1 for either! England IS there partially because of very characteristic Gothic aesthetic, but I think Central Europe, especially Czech and Poland, are the strongest pointers! Here is why:

1) There is literally Polish language found on Hemwick graves!

This one I owe to @jarognieva, actually, who instantly recognised the "language that looks like a keyboard smash" as she put it fdshhdsfds Here is the full post, and I will also reblog it again after this reply:

I don't know how else to address it besides resharing sorry fdshhfd Jara would not mind though!

2) The (Astral) Clocktower is inspired by Prague Astronomical Clock!

Technically it is not a new thing to point out, as many have noticed this one! However, another interesting detail about it is that the clockmaster's name was Mikuláš! Sounds familiar, right? xD

Me and the girls had a better discussion about the legend of the curse surrounding the Prague Astronomical Clock here ( x ) earlier too!

3) Multiple names are actually Czech, Hungarian or Polish variants!

So, some time ago, in the fandom was a guy obnoxiously fluent in Japanese, to the point he ended up speaking it better than his native (English) language and got paid to translate mangas and all. A guy that abandoned the Bloodborne fandom for a new one and I honestly lost hellish amount of his references, but I saved some of the records:

🇨🇿

Adella → Adéla | アデーラ (adēra)

(Czech variant of Adela/Adella)  Right name, wrong variant. Adella = アデラ (adera)

Caryll → Karel | カレル (kareru)

(Czech variant of Charles) Same name, wrong variant. Caryll = カリル (kariru)

Damian → Damián | ダミアーン (damiān)

(Czech variant of Damian) Right name, wrong variant. Damian = ダミアン (damian)

Izzy → Jiří | イジー (Ijī)

(Czech variant of George) Completely different name.

Micolash → Mikoláš | ミコラーシュ (mikorāshu)

(Czech variant of Nicholas) Right name, alternate/phonetic spelling.

Vitus → Vít | ヴィート (vīto)

(Czech variant of Vitus) Right name, wrong variant. Vitus = ヴィトゥス (vitusu)

Willem → Vilém | ウィレーム (wirēmu)

(Czech variant of William) Right name, wrong variant. Willem「 ウィレム 」 (wiremu) is Dutch.

Yurie → Julie | ユリエ (yurie)

(Czech variant of Julia) Misinterpretation. “Yurie” doesn’t appear to be a real name. + basically the 'e' in name Yurie is NOT silent, it doesn't read like 'yuri', it reads like 'yu-ri-yee'.

🇭🇺

Amelia → Emília | エミーリア (emīria)

(Hungarian variant of Emily) Completely different name. Amelia = アメリア (ameria)

Logarius → Rogériusz | ローゲリウス (rōgeriusu)

(Hungarian variant of Roger) Misinterpretation. “Logarius” doesn’t appear to be a real name.

Paarl → Pál | パール (pāru)

(Hungarian variant of Paul) Misinterpretation. “Paarl” is Afrikaans (not Dutch, contrary to popular belief!) for “pearl” but is completely different. Pearl = パルル (paruru) Paarl = パールル (pāruru)

🇵🇱

Iosefka → Józefka | ヨセフカ (yosefuka)

(Diminutive of Józefina, Polish variant of Josephine) Right name, alternate spelling.

Rom → Roma | ロマ (roma)

Rom = 「ロム 」 (romu)

As you can see, many of these were adapted to become completely different! Granted, names like Paarl or Logarius sound WAY cooler. xD Using retranslated names is fine, especially when they're iconic, but I think keeping the original intention behind them should matter still! You will hear rumours that English script for Bloodborne was written before Japanese, and it is not correct; English voice acting was done before Japanese one, not script!

Interestingly enough, Karel and Jiří (yir-zhee) are male names! A fact that kept me occupied back then to the point of making my female Izzy interpretation a she/he instead and doubting the 'Caryll is the third Witch of Hemwick' theory...... until I've learned that Ciaran is a masculine name and Gwyn is a feminine one, so Fromsoft literally doesn't care sometimes. xD Make more women out of obscure blorbos. Do it, coward. Apparently, Jiří can also be interpreted as Izzy from Japanese on multiple occasions? I am watching anime Monster now, and there literally was a boy from Czechia called Izzy, pronounced as 'yi-zee' in the dub I am watching!

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Okay, so I swear I remembered that Micolash only did his mocking laugher before the 'Oooh, majestic!' if you played as 'male' Hunter. However, I started to wonder whether it was a Mandella effect (like rumour about Maria hugging only 'female' Hunters which turned out to be a lie ( x ))

Well! It wasn't!!

Here is 'female' Hunter fight (watch since 1:30):

And here is the 'male' Hunter fight (watch since 2:00)

They're talking about a Young cheerful and maybe childish sweetheart in their childhood, both are marveling themselves at the cherished memories.

They're taking about the same person in different time periods, that person changed so much from their memories, they laugh bittersweetly looking at each other