If you’ve spent any time wandering the rain-slicked docks of the Research Hall or getting your skull crushed by an Orphan of Kos, you’ve probably asked yourself the big one: why did the hunters go to the fishing hamlet in the first place? It’s the central tragedy of Bloodborne. It is the "Old Sin." Honestly, it’s the reason the entire nightmare exists.
Most people think it was just a simple monster hunt. It wasn’t. It was a massacre fueled by academic greed and the desperate need to understand the Great Ones.
Gehrman and Lady Maria didn't just show up to kill a few fish-men. They went there on orders from Byrgenwerth to find a god. And they found one.
The Call from Byrgenwerth: Seeking the Kosmos
The story actually starts far away from the coast, in the dusty, spider-filled halls of Byrgenwerth. Master Willem was obsessed. He didn't care about blood; he wanted eyes. He wanted to elevate human consciousness to the level of a Great One.
When rumors reached the college about a "Great One" washing up on the shore of a remote fishing village, Willem didn't see a miracle. He saw a specimen.
He sent the first hunters, Gehrman and Maria, along with a group of scholars. Their mission was simple: find out if the rumors were true. Is there a god in the water? Does it have the "Old Blood"? More importantly, does it have the umbilical cords that Willem believed were the key to transcendence?
The Discovery of Kos
When they arrived, they found Kos. Or rather, her corpse.
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Kos (some say Kosm) was a Great One who had washed ashore. The villagers of the hamlet had already begun to change because of her presence. They were worshipping her. They were mutating. They were becoming something not quite human, but not quite Great One either.
The hunters didn't see people. They saw obstacles.
This is the pivotal moment when answering why did the hunters go to the fishing hamlet becomes a story of horror rather than adventure. They weren't there to protect anyone. They were there to pillage.
The Violation of the Hamlet
The "Old Sin" isn't just a metaphorical term. It refers to a literal, physical violation. The hunters and the Byrgenwerth scholars fell upon the villagers with a brutality that still echoes through the game's lore.
They weren't just killing. They were searching.
- Searching the Skulls: If you look at the "Accursed Brew" item description, it mentions that the hunters searched the skulls of the villagers for "eyes." They were literally cracking open heads to see if the mutations had granted the residents the internal eyes Willem so desperately wanted.
- The Orphan: They found the unborn child of Kos. This is the Orphan of Kos we fight at the end of the DLC. The scholars took the child, or at least its umbilical cord, back to Byrgenwerth for experimentation.
Lady Maria was so disgusted by what they did—what she did—that she threw her beloved weapon, the Rakuyo, down a well and spent the rest of her life (and afterlife) guarding the secret. She couldn't live with the memory of the blood on her hands.
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Why the Nightmare Exists
The Fishing Hamlet isn't just a level. It's a memory.
Because the hunters committed such a heinous act against a Great One and her child, a curse was placed upon them. "Curse the fiends, their children too. And their children, forever true."
The Orphan’s soul, trapped in a state of eternal sorrow and rage, created the Hunter’s Nightmare. Every hunter who becomes drunk with blood is eventually pulled into this realm to pay for the sins of Gehrman and Maria.
When we ask why did the hunters go to the fishing hamlet, the answer is ultimately the catalyst for the entire game's cycle of misery. If they had stayed in their library, the nightmare might never have been born.
Misconceptions: Was it an Accident?
Some lore hunters argue that the hunters went there because the village was an "outbreak" of a plague. That’s a common misconception.
While the villagers were definitely mutated, they weren't aggressive until the hunters arrived. They were just living their lives, tending to the "parasites" of Kos. The scholars of Byrgenwerth didn't go there to "cure" anyone. They were the aggressors. They were the ones who turned a quiet fishing village into a slaughterhouse.
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The Role of the Healing Church
It’s easy to blame Laurence and the Healing Church, but remember: this happened before the Church even existed as a separate entity. This was Byrgenwerth at its peak.
This tells us that the foundation of Yharnam's power—and its eventual downfall—was built on the desecration of the Fishing Hamlet. The "holy" blood the Church eventually worshipped was a direct result of the experiments that began on that beach.
The Aftermath and Your Journey
Understanding the motivation behind the hamlet raid changes how you view the "heroes" of the story. Gehrman isn't just a kindly old man in a wheelchair; he’s a man who once led a raiding party that murdered a god and her worshippers.
When you finally reach the shore and see the pale, weeping Orphan standing over the corpse of its mother, you realize you aren't the hero. You're just the latest in a long line of hunters coming to clean up a mess that should never have been made.
Actionable Insight for Lore Hunters:
To fully grasp the weight of the Fishing Hamlet, you need to read the item descriptions for the Accursed Brew, the Kos Parasite, and the Rakuyo. These items explicitly link the "eyes on the inside" philosophy of Willem to the physical atrocities committed in the village. Pay close attention to the ghost-like figures in the hamlet who mutter about "lay-abouts" and "blasphemous murderers." They aren't talking about the monsters; they are talking about you and the hunters who came before you.
Next time you're in the Research Hall, look at the patients. They are the living legacy of the Hamlet. The scholars took what they learned from the village and tried to replicate it on the poor souls of Yharnam. The cycle of trauma never actually stopped; it just moved inland.