Phantasm (Bloodborne)

Overview

The Healing Church calls its discovered invertebrates phantasms rather than describing one uniform animal species. The Empty Phantasm Shell is said to have belonged to a Great One's familiar, and retained slime allows a hunter to strengthen a weapon with arcane power. The Augur of Ebrietas provides a different use: invertebrate augurs enable a partial summons of the abandoned cosmic being. Small size therefore coexists with substantial ritual importance, without proving that every specimen is a fragment or offspring of a Great One.

The Pearl Slug description places strange slug life in the old labyrinth and treats its presence as a sign of the left-behind Great Ones; the item also serves in Isz rituals. That sign is an association, not a complete taxonomy merging every slug and shell. The Old Hunters adds a more specific host relationship. Adeline's Milkweed rune describes a lumenwood feeding phantasms, while the Kos Parasite is said to stimulate those inhabitants. Kos's corpse carried unusual parasites, but the text distinguishes the stimulating organism from the phantasms it affects. These linked items show varieties, familiars and hosts without supplying a closed lifecycle or asserting that all are the same creature.

First appearances & development

The selected collective appears in Bloodborne's 2015 tools and materials, with further host details in the same year's Old Hunters expansion. The name covers a fictional category of invertebrates. Shell, slug, augur and parasite evidence is kept distinct where the texts provide association without an explicit species identity.

Canon & continuity

The reproduced Empty Phantasm Shell and Augur descriptions establish the familiar and summons roles. Pearl Slug supplies a labyrinth sign, while Milkweed and Kos Parasite supply the expansion's host interaction. The texts are useful biological and magical witnesses; they do not establish real-world ancestry, a single named species or direct Great One parentage.

Selected bibliography

Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.

1. 01

   Bloodborne

   FromSoftware; Sony Computer Entertainment · 2015

   Shell, Augur and Pearl Slug item descriptions.

2. 02

   Bloodborne: The Old Hunters

   FromSoftware; Sony Computer Entertainment · 2015

   Milkweed and Kos Parasite descriptions.

Family & connections

A source-supported family tree or inspiration record has not yet been compiled for this profile. Related reading below indicates a connection in subject matter, not a proven lineage or creative influence.

References

Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.

1. ReferenceEmpty Phantasm Shell: game textResearch access: 2026-10-05
2. ReferenceAugur of Ebrietas: game textResearch access: 2026-10-05
3. ReferencePearl Slug: game textResearch access: 2026-10-05
4. ReferenceMilkweed: expansion textResearch access: 2026-10-05
5. ReferenceKos Parasite: expansion textResearch access: 2026-10-05

Image credits

A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.