Bloodborne Characters & NPCs#

NPCs in Bloodborne work differently from most RPGs: they aren’t recruitable companions, they have no stat sheet with levels, health, or attack power, and there is no affection meter. Every NPC’s value is written into their questline — show up in the right place at the right time, say the right things, deliver the right people to the right destinations, and the rewards follow naturally. This page organizes the key NPC questlines by area, along with their branch conditions and reward criteria; every entry reflects actual in-game triggers and drops.

The night is long, and so is the dream. And the people still awake in Yharnam’s night are a stubborn lot, each more than the last.

Ground Rules for NPC Interaction#

Before breaking down individual questlines, memorize four underlying rules of Bloodborne’s NPC system — they decide the fate of every side quest:

Survivor placement is the single most important branching decision in the game. Citizens, a nun, and a singer who survive Cathedral Ward can all be sent wherever you choose, and the two routes play out very differently:

Hunter’s Dream: Gehrman and the Doll#

The Plain Doll#

The Doll is the only being in the Hunter’s Dream who can spend Blood Echoes to raise your stats, yet when you first arrive she is just an inert mannequin. There is exactly one condition to wake her: you must be holding at least one point of Insight — whether from laying eyes on your first large monster or consuming items like Madman’s Knowledge. If your Insight drops back to zero, she reverts to a lifeless doll.

There is no fixed cost table to copy for leveling: the price of each stat climbs with your current level, so treat any claim of a “flat cost per level” as false and defer to the Doll’s in-game dialogue menu. Story-wise, the Doll is closely tied to Gehrman and to Maria, the hunter she was modeled on; if you reach the third ending, she is the one holding you at the end.

Gehrman, the First Hunter#

The First Hunter, master of the Hunter’s Dream, and the point where the whole story converges. After beating Mergo’s Wet Nurse and returning to the Hunter’s Dream, the flower-lined path beyond the workshop ends at the final conversation — sitting down in the chair starts the ending sequence and there is no going back to explore, so make sure nothing is missing before you sit.

The refusal route drops the Old Hunter Badge, which unlocks the Burial Blade and Gehrman’s outfit from the bath messengers — the only way to get either. Locations of the three umbilical cords are covered in the endings guide.

Central Yharnam: The People at the Windows#

Gilbert#

A sick out-of-towner behind a small window near the Central Yharnam lamp, Gilbert can be talked to through the glass several times from the very start of the game. He is one of the most important guides during your early hours, telling you what Yharnam’s hunters actually hunt. His questline is only two steps:

1. After beating Father Gascoigne, return to the window and talk again — he gifts you the Flamesprayer;
2. Visit after the Blood Moon and he has fully devolved into a small beast; killing it drops the Clawmark Rune.

The Gascoigne Sisters#

The elder daughter waits at a Central Yharnam window and entrusts you with the Music Box, meant to call your father’s memories back when needed — ringing it during the Gascoigne fight staggers him, which matters most against his axe-wielding second phase. Return after he falls and she asks about her father, at which point a placement choice appears:

The younger sister’s fate is decided entirely by what happens to her elder. To keep both girls alive, the core criteria are: place the elder daughter safely, and watch how the chapel’s residents change after the Blood Moon — not everyone sharing a roof means well.

Cathedral Ward and Oedon Chapel#

Eileen the Crow#

The best side quest in the game, and the face of the hunter’s covenant of “hunter of hunters.” She stalks hunters gone mad, and her questline runs in three strict, time-sensitive stages:

The finale’s reward criteria are unambiguous: the Crow Hunter Badge — which unlocks purchase of the Blade of Mercy and the Crow Feather Garb — plus the Hunter Rune, the covenant rune of the hunters.

The risk criteria are just as clear: attacking Eileen at any stage turns her permanently hostile; killing her yourself still drops the Crow Hunter Badge, but the Hunter Rune and all gestures are gone forever. If you stand by at the Tomb of Oedon and let Henryk finish her, you walk away with nothing either — if you want that rune, don’t let the crow fall.

Arianna#

A woman of the night in a dark alley of Cathedral Ward, with a suspicious man living in the window across from her. Once you persuade her to move to Oedon Chapel, she regularly gifts you Arianna’s Blood.

Two criteria make or break this line:

• The jealousy conflict: if Adella the Nun is also staying at the chapel and you keep taking Arianna’s blood in front of her, Adella will murder Arianna out of jealousy. If you must pick one, don’t drink Arianna’s blood in front of Adella if you want Arianna to live.
• The final stage: after beating Micolash, Host of the Nightmare, Arianna moves to the sewer beside the Cathedral Ward lamp and gives birth to an alien thing there; killing it yields One Third of Umbilical Cord — a node you cannot miss if you’re chasing the Great One ending.

Adella the Nun#

A nun found weeping in a corner of the basement of Yahar’gul, Unseen Village. Talking to her requires wearing the Black Church Set — without it she won’t say a word. Once sent to Oedon Chapel like the others, she regularly gifts Blood of Adella.

Her other side is the second half of the jealousy tragedy above: the two women sharing the chapel cannot coexist, and whose blood you drink decides whether the other survives.

Oedon Chapel Dweller#

A soft-spoken man sitting on the chapel pews who claims he can no longer walk, yet happily shelters every survivor you send. Just bring people to Oedon Chapel — he asks for nothing in return; come back later and you’ll find those he took in gathered around him. Yharnam is full of windows without kindness; he is one of the few that have it.

The Executioners and the Vileblood Queen#

Alfred#

First met at the Cathedral Ward gate leading to the Forbidden Woods, Alfred is a fanatic of the Executioners whose life’s goal is exterminating the Vilebloods. His questline revolves around Cainhurst Castle:

1. Beat Martyr Logarius and claim the Crown of Illusions;
2. Wear the crown and slip behind the throne into the Vileblood throne room, where a small table beside the throne holds the Unopened Summons;
3. Carry the letter back to Cathedral Ward (near the Forbidden Woods entrance) and hand it to Alfred — he gifts the Wheel Hunter Badge, unlocking purchase of Logarius’ Wheel and the Gold Ardeo.

If you carry out Annalise’s execution for him — or hand him what the execution yields — this executioner ends his own life once his long-held wish is fulfilled. What faith looks like at its very end, he will show you.

Annalise, Queen of the Vilebloods#

The queen of the Vileblood throne room and the source of one of the game’s three covenants. The flow:

The Cainhurst Badge unlocks purchase of the Reiterpallasch, Chikage, and Evelyn. From then on you can offer Blood Dregs to deepen your loyalty; kill her and she drops Queenly Flesh — bring it back to the throne room and offer it up, and the queen returns. Covenant details are in the covenant guide.

Old Yharnam and the Forbidden Woods#

Djura#

The old hunter behind the gatling gun atop Old Yharnam’s tower no longer hunts beasts — he protects the ones left in the city. There are two ways to settle things with him, and both end with the same badge:

The badge unlocks purchase of the Rifle Spear and Stake Driver. If you want the talking route, don’t slaughter beasts in Old Yharnam, or the meeting opens with gunfire.

Valtr#

Master of The League, the camp deep in the Forbidden Woods — the odd man with a bucket on his head. Talk to him and swear the oath to join The League and receive its covenant rune; while wearing the rune, take part in co-op summons and, once a hunt ends, you may pick up Vermin — the creatures The League blames for every calamity.

Handing Vermin back to Valtr earns rewards and a gesture. The ins and outs of this “hunt together, bear witness against one another” playstyle are covered in the covenant guide.

A footnote along the way: a terminally ill resident lives at the window of a small house in the Forbidden Woods, and talking to him gifts the Tonsil Stone — at a certain spot it lets you hitch a “ride” to the Nightmare Frontier.

The Hunter’s Nightmare: Legacy of the Old Hunters#

Saint Adeline#

From The Old Hunters DLC: a wheelchair-bound patient below the elevator shaft on the third floor of the Research Hall. She asks for exactly one thing — Brain Fluid — across three rounds:

Pacing is where this questline most often goes wrong: each time she first demands a few vials of Blood of Adeline as a “consultation fee,” and only after you’ve drunk them — then warped out or died once to reset the area — will she accept the next Brain Fluid. Complete all three rounds to earn the Milkweed oath rune; equip it together with the parasite weapon obtained in the Fishing Hamlet to take on the form of a Celestial Mob, with details in the rune guide.

Simon the Harrowed#

A dying hunter you encounter more than once in the Hunter’s Nightmare, kept alive by his obsession with an old comrade. Watch for him as you push through the Nightmare; at the journey’s end he finally succumbs to his wounds, leaving behind his bowblade — Simon’s Bowblade.

Reward Criteria at a Glance#

Finally, every questline worth the detour, compressed into one table and ordered by “which milestone, which reward”:

Why Questlines Fall Apart#

The traps new hunters step on most often, ranked by how frequently they show up — all verifiable:

1. Pushing the main story too early — Eileen’s third stage only exists after Rom dies, and the Blood Moon locks or rewrites several side quests; side quests first, map progression second is the iron rule;
2. One careless swing at an NPC — a single strike can lock an entire line into hostility; Yharnam’s streets are narrow, so keep your Saw Cleaver in check;
3. Choosing the wrong placement — the clinic and chapel routes are mutually exclusive, and residents sharing the chapel have jealousy conflicts besides; think before you escort anyone;
4. Forgetting to revisit — most rewards hide behind the second and third conversations; drink the gifted blood, warp out to reset, and come back — standard procedure;
5. Missing badges — hunter badges come almost entirely from NPC questlines or specific fights and directly gate the weapon shop lists; miss one and it’s next playthrough’s problem.

To keep going deeper, the full walkthrough marks when every NPC appears by area, the boss guides cover the key fights that interleave with NPC questlines, and the endings guide lays out Gehrman’s three branches in full.