Yharnam

Yharnam (pronounced /ˈjɑɹ̠.nəm/, YAR-nəm) is a fictional city that is the primary setting of Bloodborne, a 2015 video game developed by FromSoftware. Heavily featuring Gothic Revival architecture, the city is governed and eventually destroyed by an organization known as the Healing Church. The Church, which discovered miraculous, occult blood in ancient catacombs beneath the city that could cure any illness, triggered a massive influx of people into Yharnam. This sparked rampant xenophobia among the native Yharnamite population, resenting and mocking "outsiders". However, the use of the ancient blood had more severe unintended consequences, as it began to indiscriminately transform those who possessed it into beasts, a plague that the Church attempts to suppress. Despite this, a phenomenon known as the Blood Moon brings about the city's downfall. When the player encounters Yharnam, most of its surviving inhabitants are either in hiding or already becoming beasts. Yharnam was praised by critics for its architectural and level design, as well as the subversion of classic Lovecraftian tropes in its lore and characters.