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Lore
The Befuddled Villager is one of the villagers of the violated Fishing Hamlet. He wanders, apparently aimlessly, calling down curses under his breath against the Byrgenwerth scholars and their children, and their children’s children for evermore. The Byrgenwerth scholars committed a terrible sin in the Fishing Hamlet. Simon, the Harrowed will tell us that the Nightmare sprouted from the very misdeeds of the old hunters and that their forefathers sinned. We know for certain that the heads of the fishing villagers were forcibly searched for eyes as evidenced by innumerable scratches and indentations in their skulls mentioned in the Accursed Brew description. The Befuddled Villager calls the scholars “Blasphemous murderers, blood crazed fiends.” and begs for mercy for the “wizened child” amidst the curses he incites. Blasphemy is an act or offence against God or a god (in this case) or something sacred. We know that the occupants of the village worshipped Kos, and that the Great Ones are often regarded as gods in the world of Bloodborne, which implies that an offence was committed against Kos. Whether it was murdered is unclear, Kos is certainly dead by the time the player encounters its carcass, but the scholars may have murdered something else… This dialogue also points out that the scholars by this point in the timeline were “blood crazed fiends”. We know that the hunters are otherwise known as echo fiends from the Blood Dregs item description, which may mean the dialogue is a clever reference to this, but what this mainly tells us is that the scholars have already discovered blood, which places this event after the breaking open and entering of the tomb of the gods beneath Yharnam, and the discovery of a holy medium therein. The Befuddled Villager makes repeated reference to a “wizened child” and in the final cutscene voice-over will call the Orphan of Kos the “Sweet child of Kos”. If it wasn’t obvious enough, this dialogue certainly indicates the “wizened child” the villager wishes mercy for is the Orphan of Kos.
So, we come back to the accusation of murder. Who or what did the scholars murder? It may be that they murdered the occupants of the Fishing Hamlet. Considering the methods of inquiry Byrgenwerth undertook in that village, it seems very likely that many of the villagers would have died under examination. But is this sin great enough to cause a curse? The Defiled Chalice description tells us that to be cursed, one must incite the wrath of the Great Ones. The villagers regarded Kos as their mother, and it may be that Kos or some Great One was sympathetic to the villager’s outrage and heard their cries, but this doesn’t account for the blasphemous behavior the scholars were accused of, as the villagers as far as we know were not deities or sacred.
It may be that the scholars murdered Kos. There is certainly evidence to suggest this. The presence of Kos’ carcass at the Hamlet, and the lore note found at Byrgenwerth which reads; “Hunt the Great Ones, Hunt the Great Ones” seems to imply that this was a methodology adopted by those at Byrgenwerth. But the Kos Parasite description seems to contradict this, it reads “when the carcass of Kos washed up on the coast, its insides were teeming with tiny parasites, unlike any found in humans.” The language here strongly implies that Kos was not murdered, or at least was murdered at sea if anything, for its carcass to have washed up on the coast. Interestingly, we know that Kos washed up at a fishing hamlet. Behind its carcass is a harbour full of ships, with a town full of villagers who wield harpoons and even anchors. Kos seems to have been ocean dwelling, and what else do fishers do but kill creatures of the ocean? They may not have realised what Kos was and killed it just as they would any other sea creature. A critical point of lore hangs on the Kos Parasite description, so we can only hope it was well translated…
Even taking all the above into consideration, what seems most likely is that the Byrgenwerth scholars killed the Orphan of Kos, and this is what warranted the curse. We know that Provost Willem sought the Cord of the Eye, an umbilical cord of a Great One, and this was a perfect opportunity. Provost Willem sought the Cord in order to elevate his being and thoughts to those of a Great One. At Byrgenwerth, Master Willem had an epiphany: "We are thinking on the basest of planes. What we need, are more eyes." Disillusioned by the limits of human intellect, Master Willem looked to beings from higher planes for guidance, and sought to line his brain with eyes in order to elevate his thoughts. The Eye rune symbolises the truth Master Willem sought in his research. The eye covering of the Choir, the highest ranking branch of the Healing Church, indicates their debt to the teachings of Master Willem, even though their paths diverged. We know that the Byrgenwerth scholars searched for eyes in the heads of the villagers, and this fate certainly seems to have happened to the Befuddled Villager, which may explain the condition he is in, and we know that a cord was sought by Byrgenwerth. It may be that the Orphan died because the scholars dissected Kos and the cord was taken from it. But what seems more likely is that the cord had to be forcefully taken. This seems more likely because the version of the Orphan we fight in the Nightmare wields its placenta like a weapon, and a placenta is connected to a baby by the umbilical cord. If this was the case, the Byrgenwerth scholars would have to murder the Orphan of Kos, showing it no mercy. To overcome a being as powerful as the Orphan, it would take more strength than is commonly wielded by ordinary scholars, it would take hunters. We know that both Gehrman and Maria were hunters at this time, and that Maria was present in the Fishing Hamlet. We also know that Maria tossed her weapon into the well of the Fishing Hamlet in disgust (or when she could "stomach it no longer"). Perhaps it was killing the Orphan of a Great One that brought about this change in Maria? We also know that the Orphan of Kos or at least the fragment of it that remained is the source of the Hunter's Nightmare from the fact that defeating the Orphan doesn't give us the Nightmare Slain text, but rather we see that text after banishing its ghost to the sea. If the Orphan is the source of the Nightmare, then it is likely that whatever role it played was incredible vital to the events of the Fishing Hamlet.
When the Befuddled Villager cries for “mercy” for the “wizened child” it may be that the Orphan somehow lives, as we do not really know what happens to Great Ones when they ‘die’, but it may be that he speaks as one entranced, repeating sentiments he and the banefully chanting villagers had been saying since the Byrgenwerth Scholars arrived…
Theories
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Dialogue
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