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| “ | I tell you, I will not forget our adage. | „ |
| ~ Laurence |
Laurence, also known as the First Vicar, is a major antagonist of the 2015 action role-playing game Bloodborne, appearing as an optional boss in its DLC pack, The Old Hunters.
He was the founder and first Vicar of the Healing Church, who sought to use "Old Blood" for medicinal purposes, making him responsible for the usage of blood ministration as a common practice in Yharnam. This led to the advent of the Beast Scourge, with Laurence himself eventually succumbing to it and becoming a Cleric Beast.
Appearance
It is unknown what Laurence looked like before his transformation. As a Cleric Beast, he mostly resembles a regular Cleric Beast, albeit covered in flames.
Personality
Though seemingly mindless and feral like a typical Cleric beast during his fight. This might not be the case as shown when the player first approaches him he is completely passive not attacking until the player approaches with his human skull.
The description of the skull and his reaction in his introduction cutscene implies he wishes to regain his humanity. Prior to his transformation, he was shown to be ambitious almost to the point of arrogance when he decided to use the Old Blood to found the Healing Church despite being warned of how dangerous it was. Though it appears he might have changed of heart at some point before he transformed.
Despite his disagreements with his former mentor Master Willem, he did still have a profound respect for the elder, basing the Healing Church uniforms off of Willem's uniform and including the idea of blind-folding oneself to gain insight.
Powers and Abilities
Like the Cleric Beast, Laurence has enhanced strength and agility. Unlike the Regular Cleric Beast, his attacks are infused with fire and his capable of creating explosions, granting him immunity to the beast's common weakness to fire.
Once Laurence has 40% of his health remaining, he tears himself apart and begins crawling towards the player, destroying his legs in the process. He constantly 'bleeds' lava out of his torso and gains the ability to spew fire from his mouth.
Biography
Before Bloodborne
Laurence was once a close disciple of Master Willem at Byrgenwerth College. He and his fellow scholars found the Chalice Dungeons below Old Yharnam where they found evidence of the Pthumerian civilization and the mysterious Old Blood, believing it to be a holy medium to the Great Ones. Laurence believed that partaking in the Old Blood would be the key to evolving mankind into Great Ones, but Willem feared what this could bring, implying to have known about the beastly effects it had on others, and that they must explore alternatives.
Master Willem led the research on the various objects they found in the old Labyrinth, and concluded that one must not seek above, but inward so that they may "line their brains with eyes" and achieve enlightenment.
Unsatisfied with his Master's solution to the use of blood, Laurence left the college and would soon use the blood to create the institution known as the Healing Church to spread the message of blood-healing, using the blood as a means of curing any and all diseases that ail the public.
The Church would then experiment with this blood in an attempt to create a new "good blood" without the side-effect of the scourge. Meanwhile, Laurence helped Gehrman establish an institutionalized set of hunters to defend the public from beasts, creating the Hunter's Workshop. Laurence was desperate to halt the spread of the beast scourge, and this lead to him ordering the Healing Church hunters to torch the Old Yharnam district to the ground after a massive outbreak occurred there.
At some point, Laurence's use of the old blood turned him into a savage Cleric Beast, which resulted in hunters being sent to kill him. His head was later salvaged and placed on an altar in the Healing Church Grand Cathedral as an object of worship. Laurence's soul was transported to the Hunter's Nightmare after his death as punishment for his misdeeds in life. He he was cursed to forever suffer in the Nightmare as a horrific flaming beast.
Bloodborne
When the Hunter reaches the Grand Cathedral, they find Vicar Amelia praying to Laurence's skull laying on an altar. She prays to it before she becomes a beast, after which she tries to kill the Hunter.
After Vicar Amelia is killed, the Hunter examines the skull. When they touch it, the Hunter receives a vision of Laurence's departure from Willem, who in-turn warns him to "fear the old blood."
Old Hunters DLC
The Hunter encounters Laurence in the Hunter's Nightmare. His body is laying on a stone throne in a replica of the Grand Cathedral. When the Hunter first approaches him to acquire the Eye Pendant, he remains motionless.
Once the Hunter returns to Laurence's room with his skull, he awakens and attacks the Hunter. Partway through the battle, he rips off his legs and starts violently bleeding lava. After a long and grueling battle, the Hunter manages to defeat him.
After the Hunter defeats the Orphan of Kos, Laurence and everyone else in the Hunter's Nightmare are freed from their torment and finally put to rest.
Gallery
Images
Videos
Trivia
- In the Chalice Dungeons, there exists a Bloodletting Beast missing a head. This has led many fans to believe that this was Laurence, since his skull can be found in the Healing Church Grand Cathedral. However, this could actually be the Bloodletting Beast found earlier in the game in a different Chalice Dungeon.
- Laurence is similar to Manus, the overarching antagonist of FromSoftware's previous series, Dark Souls. Both were once normal humans who accidentally transformed themselves into monstrous abominations due to some sort of fatal flaw (fear for Manus, pride for Laurence), and whose actions led to some kind of corruption consuming their respective lands (the Abyss for Manus, the Beast Scourge for Laurence).
 Villains
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Great Ones Beasts Hunters Other | ||