The INSANE Music Of Bloodborne's Final Boss Fight 

I've been digging into the music of the FromSoft games and WOW. What's your favorite? What else should I cover?? Also, if you're looking to start learning, pick up the Intro to Piano course for 50% off!! betterpiano.com/intro-to-piano

I see Bloodborne I comment like and subscribe.

"Good Hunter, you've done well, the night is near its end. Now I will show you mercy. You will die, forget the dream, and awake under the morning sun. You will be freed from this terrible Hunter's Dream."

"It's in D minor, which I always find is the saddest of all keys." - Nigel Tufnel, Spinal Tap

“He kills you to save you from a fate worse than death” Damn, that hit harder than I expected

if you're digging into fromsoft music man, i dont think any of us would complain if you made a whole series covering their games. you got a lot to get through and its basically all bangers

You should do Ludwig's theme from Bloodborne, i'd love an analysis on that.

Well now your have to do Gwyn, Lord of Cinder aka "Plin Plin Plon"

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE Do Ludwig The Accursed and Holy Blade next.

Bloodborne is my favorite game of all time. How refreshing to see some love thrown its way.

In Bloodborne alone I'd recommend the following bossthemes: - "Ludwig the Accursed/Holy Blade" for a much more fight-y feeling, especially the transition from phase 1 to 2. - "Laurence, the first Vicar" an incredibly tragic soundtrack with a hauntingly sad violin solo about 5 minutes in that gets drowned in a choir as the song progresses, mirroring Laurence's pain of which you are freeing him. An interesting listen for storytelling and nostalgia is "Soul of Cinder" from Dark Souls III. Canonically you fight a reincarnation of other players of the first Dark Souls, and when that doesn't work (i.e. Phase 2) the bosses moveset and the theme change to resemble that of Gwyn, the first Lord, who was the final boss of Dark Souls I. This is doubly nice because Gwyn's theme alone shows the same sadness, hopelessness and dread so common in fromsoft. Talking about the video: I also want to point out how funny it is to me, that the guy I found doing piano memes harmonizing cardi b videos 5 years ago now analyzes a soundtrack from my favourite game series, giving me chills in the process. You enjoying listening and talking about music really shows.

Bloodborne's soundtrack alone deserves endless praise, but in my view the game itself is truly a serious contender for Greatest Game Ever Made for all that it has accomplished.

FromSoftware knows the power of prioritizing your art teams. One of the few publishers whose titles could be kept in a museum.

Gwyn, Lord of cinder is the Soundtrack of the final Bossfight of DARK Souls 1. Its quite iconic and has a similar Tone to this. You gotta check it out

What I love is that it still sounds like a fight. It’s melancholy and dark and foreboding, but if I close my eyes I can see reluctant yet unhesitating clashes of steel, blasts of gunfire that ring out, and hear the silent battle cries of two warriors cursed with forbidden knowledge

I gotta say, the double-layer view of your hands on the keyboard with the notes you're actually playing highlighted above it is probably the best visual of "what I'm playing and how" that I've ever seen on RU-vid. Good shit man.

Please, PLEASE do more fromsoft music breakdowns. Bloodborne, Dark Souls, Elden Ring, Sekiro... *chefs kiss*

Definitely one of my favorite boss themes. Everything you said justified how heart-wrenching this piece is to me. From what you said about the constant pedal tone on D, lingering while other instruments change, I interpret that underlying chord as Gehrman's unimaginable weariness. That simple i chord paints an incredibly ancient, miserable existence. Like someone who saw too much, lived too long, dragging their old, rotting husk of a body through each agonizing second of living. Yet, they are cursed to never rest. This track doesn't energize you like other traditional boss fights; it drains the player. As you repeatedly die from him as you have died hundreds of times throughout the game, this track haunts you even more because you've also become weary. Your eyes are tired, your brain is fried, your palms are all clammy, and you just want to end this fight. It's a battle of two worn out souls, which I think the call-and-response theme could symbolize that conversation. The choir in the last part, and also the climax of the boss battle, makes me imagine Gehrman finally pouring out his torrential anguish that he's kept bottled up since he was first trapped in the dream.

Another video game track I love that does a lot similar to this is 'The End Of The Battle' from Shadow Of The Colossus. Most of the actual boss themes are your usual epic fare, nothing new, but the moment you kill each Colossus it goes not to a triumphant swelling victory song to congratulate you, but to a slow and sombre track that almost seems to lament each creature you've killed. Which, ultimately, makes sense. When you take a step back and separate yourself from the basic game structure of "My current objective is to go here and kill this guy", you really have no reason to go after the Colossi other than "Dormin told you to". They're not rampaging, the land isn't even particularly inhabited by anyone who could feel threatened by their presence. They're just innocent peaceful creatures who only ever turn violent in self-defence, and once the adrenaline rush of fighting them wears off that realisation is all you're left with.

I had never noticed the similarities with Adagio for Strings… but now I can’t un-hear it, and I LOVE IT!!

Reminds me the end of Metal Gear Solid 3, the fight against The Boss. "No victory, no defeat."

Bloodborne is a masterpiece. My favorite boss theme of all time (for how the theme itself tells the character's tragic story) is from the DLC - Ludwig the Accursed / Ludwig the Holy Blade. The haunting, lumbering first section mirroring his walk, the dramatic choral transition, and the epic waltz as he finds a remnant of his humanity.

I’ve never played any of these more darker games (I’m just not that type of person) but I do appreciate how well they captured the feeling of this fight. Epic!! And it’s gorgeous too!

These should be the latin lyrics of the final part: "Venator Ah mi sumo vela mala Anima do res mihi somne restas Luna insidiosa Mira tenebrarum Di vises mi miserere aeterna" It can be roughly interpreted as: "My Hunter Let the evil be hidden (from you) My life devoted to sustaining the Dream The insidious Moon The wonderful darkness (or "These mysterious nights") Great One, look upon me and grant eternal mercy"

11:49 crying in Great Greywolf Sif

Ludwig's theme is iconic, and I would say even better. It's godlike.

I commented months ago requesting this and I got so excited when I saw this video pop up on my feed. This is my favorite piece of music from any video game, I hope more people can learn of its beauty from your amazing video.

Bloodbourbe mentioned!!!

Oh, dude, not Fromsoft, but you've gotta check out the Shadow of the Colossus soundtrack. It has a similarly tragic After the Battle theme, but SotC has such an untouchable soundtrack for the boss fights. I'm thinking of songs like The Opened Way specifically.

Absolutely loving all the calls for Charles to do an analysis of the Ludwig the Accursed/holy blade music. Let's hope he sees rhe comments and then does a video on it!

Love your breakdowns of themes and pieces. You do an amazing job of not just explaining the music structures but also illuminating just how integral the music is in connecting us with the stories they are bound to. I can almost always find inspiration after watching your videos and just hearing about the infinitely many ways to approach composing music. TLDR I love your videos dude!

I will always appreciate more music RU-vidrs covering one of my favourite VGM tracks. Bloodborne is truly special and helped me out of a dark place both personally and musically. ❤❤

I think it's fantastic that you keep harping on about modes, other examples to the one presented in the video etc. Learning the scale degrees where half steps occur and drilling that stuff on the keyboard is one thing, but you gotta have someone deeply familiar with modes to give you real-world examples that really convince you of the emotional potential of each mode - y'know something to LISTEN to and experience. Rick Beato does that using original compositions, which is cool and pretty good (if a little indulgent imho), but it's these mainstream cultural examples that pack that extra punch and relevance for me. This is gold, thank you.

Oh my god, you have to check out Slave Knight Gael’s theme from Dark Souls 3. It has four phases lol. And they somehow manage to elevate it every time. And it really combines the “epic boss theme” with the tragedy you talked about in blood borne. That and its counterpart “For The Dark Soul,” which wasn’t even in the game, I truly believe are two of the greatest pieces of music ever written for media.

You’re the reason I started playing piano (and post 1 video on youtube at the moment). Thank you!!

Beautiful. Thanks for covering more content like this. There are so so many slept on masterpieces in modern video game music

Cello is the boss of instruments so I’m not surprised it works for a boss battle. 😉 Thank you so much for the break down!!

Love to see someone with a new way of sharing how wonderful Bloodborne is. Your enthusiasm is so infectious. I really NEED a video of you listening to the score from The Reflecting Skin!

Another thing that's really cool is that the choir in Bloodborne is semi-diagetic. In Yahar'Gul, there's a choir piece that sort of evokes Olivier Messiaen, called "Hail the Nightmare". Depending on where you are, it sounds like it's being sung off in the distance, by the in-game faction known as The Choir. Often when this choir is used, it's fairly crunchy and dissonant. So in the climax of Gehrman's theme, by contrast, it really sounds like an invocation of the sublime, this demented choir finally getting its act together to usher in their god.

Love love love this. Thank you so much for making a video about this song/boss battle, it's incredible.

I love that your channel makes us see beautiful intricacies in what we often see as the mundane

No way im so hyped you’re covering thisLEGENDARY PIECE In terms of more fromsoftware music, I’m so excited you want to cover more, darkbeast is my favorite and most intriguing from bloodborne, and it has the weirdest theory I’d love a breakdown on

Ah yes. This gem.

I was fighting this exact boss an hour ago and you posted this now. Mind-blowing coincidence.

This has been one of my favorite songs ever for a while. I’m so glad that you got into it and showed why it’s so amazing and tragic.

I had to comment because the music reminded me of Barber's "Adagio" as well, and I had that thought perhaps about a minute before you mentioned it in this video. It feels very validating to me that I made the same observation as you, and I consider you to be quite an exceptional musician with a massive musical vocabulary of the great works of Western music. I feel quite honored to have shared such an observation with you. 😁

My TOP piece from Bloodborne! ❤ Enjoyed your video a lot mate. Thank you for this.

Thank you for this. I've been a FromSoftware fan for ages and ages and a musician for even longer, and while I absolutely adore their soundtracks, Bloodborne's is definitely the one I've heard least because of the general inconvenience of accessibility. You've given me a real appreciation of this track and I hope to see you do more FS music in the future. They really do have one of the greatest video game soundtrack collections of all time. One of the most interesting ones to me, where being a musician actually gave me an edge, is the Dancer of the Boreal Valley from Dark Souls 3. Many, many people cite having trouble with this boss and figuring out her attack patterns, but I picked it up quite quickly because of her theme. It's very common for FS bosses to have themes that tie into their combat, and the Dancer's theme is atypical in that it is written 5/4. Odd meter throws a lot of people off, especially non musicians, but once I figured that out it became easy for me to learn her patterns. She takes 5 or 10 steps between attacks, and her double-sworded flourishes keep in time with the "dance" she's performing as you fight her. Making these connections between music and gameplay is something only a musician could do, and it's one of the many reasons FromSoft is one of my all-time favorite development studios.

Awesome man. Another FS favourite of mine is Dancer of the Boreal Valley, from the dancer bossfight in DS3. Japanese orchestral music in games is just otherworldly.

I’d LOVE to see you react to “Ludwig the holy blade”!

This is quite possibly my favourite piece of video game music. The cello melody especially just cuts into my soul. It just so perfectly encapsulates the reluctance of the characters having to fight eachother like this. It's like a sombre, tragic dance. Thanks so much for covering it. You do such a good job of not just providing musical context, but narrative context as well.

Dancer of the Boreal Valley from Dark Souls 3 because the time signature, if you will, of the boss herself is a different time signature than the music, which adds an extra challenge to the fight. But yeah, the music for that encounter is spectacular

Your enthusiasm is infectious 😀 I loved the video.

A true masterpiece that hasn’t received enough recognition. Thank you 🙏🏻

Great video, it helped me understand what iv liked about the music. Would love to see your take on Ludwig next!

Gwyn, Lord of Cinder from dark souls 1 is definitely worth your time. Absolutely stunning. Love your content keep it up!

Your analysis is brilliant and achieved its purpose, to have us be interested in music. Awesome job!

Gehrman the first hunter is one of my favorite songs in any game. The way that the music helps tell the story is immaculate. FromSoftware's music as a whole is very good at this, but this song mixed with the atmosphere and the story of the game. Created one of the greatest final boss themes of all time. So much emotion oozing out of every part of this.

The First Hunter was one of melodies I first learned on violin. Not the very first, but the one that I put the most time into, coming back to it again and again for the weight that it carried.

thank you for this great analysis.

You always give me inspiration to make music, I have always loved video game music and it's ability to capture a mood or setting. One day I hope to produce tracks like these. I'm self taught, but your analyses and the passion you show always help in my writing, and I just wanted to thank you for that.

You never miss with my all time favourite piano tunes… DS era pokémon, Zelda, Hollow Knight, Bloodborne, Minecraft… I launch out of my seat whenever I see another one and seeing you appreciate them to the fullest extent just tickles my brain 😁 I’d love to learn more about TLOU or Outer Wilds because those two pull on my heartstrings like nothing else and they do so in completely different ways

I've been waiting for you to analyze this piece for a while.

Aah. Never clicked on one of your videos fast. And I'm usually pretty quick when I see them. Keep being amazing! Your enthusiasm and openness to all types of music is incredible.

So glad you decided to cover this score from Bloodborne. By my favorite fromsoftware scores

As a massive music and fromsoftware fan, i salute you! This is an amazing video and i appreciate your overall enthusiasm in analyzing this masterpiece. Take care! ✌🏼

I love Bloodborne. Everything about it is so quality, top tier awesome. I love seeing you break down video game OSTs and couldn't believe my eyes seeing you talk about this one!! Definitely one of my favorite tracks in the game and all time. (also, in case you haven't already heard it, "Ludwig, The Accursed & Ludwig, The Holy Blade" are completely stellar tracks.)

this one is my favorite fromsoftware song. amazing video, amazing class

Man, I am so glad I could finish this game. It is amazing. Thanks for the great analysis. I loved the music in the game. Always got me into atmosphère.

I'm really enjoying this appreciation of vgm even though I don't play the games. And I love it when Charles throws together a bunch of jazzy chords!

Hey man, loved this video! And yes, Bloodborne is my most played game of all time, therefore easily one of my top 3 games (I'd say it's probably No. 1 right now). I would only like to point out that I would love for you to mention the composers of each song you review at the beginning. Not sure if I missed it but I did not heard you mention that this song is composed by Tsukasa Saitoh. I know sometimes is hard to validate music composers, arrangers and lyricists but whenever possible it would be great to recognize their talents. Keep up the good work!

Love this. Would also love to see you discuss the Ludwig the holy blade theme. When it changes in phase 2 to that 3/4 waltz feel - really makes you feel like you're dodging (dancing) for your life.

Love your style Charles!! So cool

I really like that you talk about yhe lore and show people's comments.

My favorite boss theme in general from bloodborne is Ludwig's theme (which you should DEFINITELY check out), but nothing beats the narrative piece this song serves as. When I beat Gherman for the first time it was a hollow victory, it was a battle and struggle, but the emotions this piece puts in you even subconsciously can't be ignored, even in the heart of battle.

_THE SADDEST OF ALL KEYS_

Hearing you talk about and reacting to music is soo great ^_^ Also looovee Bloodborne

You really gotta do Ludwig's theme, the chord progression that they use to modulate into his second phase and the resolution at the end of that phase back into the loop is amazing. Also, love that you went for a kingdom hearts boss theme and immediately picked the best one in the series. Takes a while to get going, but damn does Darkness of the Unknown have some beautiful phrases amongst some really intense organ playing

damn jazz piano and fromsoft games are my biggest hobbies. fun to see them come together. thanks charles :)

Subbed. Fantastic explanation

That was an awesome video. It makes me want to play Bloodborne and practice music, thank you.

Dark souls 1 gwyn theme intk dark souls 3 soul of cinder My favorite for sure especially the way 3 hits at the end of the saga

"The Night... and the Dream... were long." This is one of the my favorite moments in gaming ever, from maybe my favorite game EVER, and one of the best pieces in an amazing score. Would love to see you break down "Ludwig, the Accursed/The Holy Blade," "Father Gascoigne, The Hunter" (awesome brass call and response!), or "Ebrietas, Daughter of the Cosmos." As always, thank you for your insight.

Gwyn's theme from Dark Souls 1 and it's reiteration in the final boss theme of Dark Souls 3 is goosebump territory

Excellent breakdown! Why do I like the music in “The Greenhouse Jungle” so much?

Great connection to Samuel Barber's Adagio for Strings! Love that song

THANK you for bringing up Barber's Adagio for strings because that is exactly what it reminded me of but I couldn't put my tongue on it for the LONGEST time 😂👌

Love to see an in-depth analysis of a truly beautiful yet heartbreaking theme that sits at the resolution of an equally magnificent and heartbreaking game.

Great pick! And i'm glad you delved into a bit of the reasons behind this fight and the lore. It sounds like you've either played the game before or have a lot of respect for it already?

This theme makes me cry every single time... I didn't believe Gherman ... And I got stuck in the dream.... Forever.

Please do more Fromsoftware music, you are the first person I've watched that actually breaks down the lore behind the music. Thank you, cause It's such a big part of what makes the music great.

YES MORE FROMSOFT MUSIC PLEASE

Hearing you play random chords while analyzing the song makes me wanna hear a jazz remix

Great video! If you want the complete opposite in regards to Boss music, I cant recommend Raphael's Final Act from Baldur's Gate 3 enough!

Something really clicked for me when you mentioned how the two half-step resolutions the Aeolian mode has without moving into the harmonic minor are both descending: 3-2 and 6-5.I never really understood how modern composers create strong directional motion in just natural minor, but that little bit of info makes so much sense.

Loved the video AND super happy to see some Kingdom Hearts acknowledgement here, I would absolutely love to see you make a whole video on the music from Kingdom Hearts someday. So much goodness there!!

This is such an unexpected surprise. This whole OST is such a masterpiece, fitting perfectly with the game. Crafting the perfect ambience to the perfect gane. |o_

I had a feeling you were going to mention Barber's Adagio for Strings. The most haunting piece I've ever heard.

It's funny you would bring up Darkness of the Unknown from KH2 cause the final phase is surprinsingly sombre and tragic sounding as well. That entire fight, including the music, is such a rollercoaster, and I love it. Hope you dive some more into other Fromsoft titles cause man their music truly tells stories.

Bloodborne is my absolute favorite game, and the music that accompanies all the other aspects of its design really brings it all together! Love to see you covering this, Elden Ring or anything else from the Souls series deserves your attention too!