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[Music]
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the souls Series has some truly
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Unforgettable boss fights with equally
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Unforgettable Boss music of all the
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souls games bloodborne soundtrack might
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get the most praise and of bloodborne's
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Boss themes Ludwig's theme might be the
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most beloved the boss this theme belongs
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to Ludwig the accursed is a horrifying
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creature it looks like if he turned a
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horse inside out but with extra limbs
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jutting out willy-nilly and a mouth
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crammed full of teeth and a twisted
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distorted face crawling out into the
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open in his blood soaked dungeon Ludwig
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is absolutely the stuff of nightmares an
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unsightly Beast indeed the music that
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accompanies this monstrosity leans into
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the terrifying spectacle by evoking some
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of the extreme tension You' typically
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find in a horror score but while it's
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more dissonant and chaotic than most
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Dark Souls Boss music Ludwig's theme
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never fully plunges into the atonal
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madness that it flirts with throughout
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the piece we are always riding that line
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barely keeping it together which we'll
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see is a perfect representation of the
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boss the theme is written for let's look
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at how this music manages to capture
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this Aura of Terror without fully
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descending into
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beasthood right off the top we see some
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horror mov strings creating an eerie
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tension with these high a flat and E
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flat notes over top of a d Bas pedal the
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flat Fifth and flat second are two of
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the most dissonant notes that you can
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put against a root note but they're
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played quietly and so far above the root
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note that it translates into an
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unsettling creepy feeling rather than a
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very harsh dissonance a strong cello
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Melody comes in underneath presenting a
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glimmer of
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humanity
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[Music]
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[Applause]
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the cello Melody immediately sets the
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gothic tone and also establishes the key
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of D Minor by walking up the D harmonic
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minor scale from the fifth to the root
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the harmonic minor scale features both
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the flat Sixth and the raised 7th which
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makes a very unusual augmented second
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interval between those two notes and the
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melody hits us with this distinctive
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sound right away as we jump from this B
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flat to this C
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sharp this defining feature of the
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harmonic minor scale has a cross between
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darkness and elegance in it especially
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presented with the rich sound of the
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cello that beautifully fits with
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bloodborne's aesthetic the piece quickly
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abandons the elegant Melody to pursue a
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more straightup horror music approach
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for a bit tremolo strings and a chir
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whoop giving way to shifting trones in
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the base that plot along as the strings
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build in volume volume these low trones
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evoke the feeling of heavy footsteps as
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if a great Beast is lumbering toward
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[Applause]
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[Music]
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[Applause]
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you the trone interval is famously
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dissonant and putting them in such a low
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range only makes them more so this
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Crescendo leads into our first theme a
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strong melody in D Minor but with plenty
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of out of key notes used to generate
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dissonance every second bar is
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chromatically stepping out with jarring
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note choices from our home D minor chord
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we drop down to a C minor major 7 chord
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the cello Melody outlining this change
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beautifully by anticipating the chord
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change with these gar and C notes that
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shift down chromatically to land on the
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chords major 7th barsh the fifth of the
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chord g sharp then resolves back up to
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the a where we started moving down to
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outline a D Minor triad over the C
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natural bass note and then this last D
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moves up a half step to an E flat the
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flat second of the key and resolves down
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to an A flat the note a trone away from
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our key of
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[Music]
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D
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[Music]
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the melody is strong written with
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purpose and Clarity but featuring these
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chromatic half steps between each bar to
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slide between different harmonic
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territories taints the Melody's strength
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with a sense of unease we're not trying
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to lose our sense of key we're just
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mixing in enough dissonance to keep the
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audience uncomfortable the melody
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repeats over over this continuous 3 beat
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Rhythm until it spins its way up to land
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on a g flat note to fit with the
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underlying E flat diminished seven chord
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that ends the phrase the following
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phrase continues the melodic motif of
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chromatic sliding moving with halfstep
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runs between G and G flat notes to fit
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with the underlying C minor to E flat
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diminished 7 chord progression moving to
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a C minor chord the minor flat 7 chord
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in the key of D Minor is a very dark and
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unusual Choice as it features an e flat
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note which is the flat second of the key
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but the following shift to an E flat
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diminished seven chord is even more
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[Music]
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dissonant
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[Music]
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if the trone is the devil's interval
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then the diminished seven chord must be
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his summerhouse constructed entirely of
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notes a minor third apart from each
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other the diminished seven chord
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features not one but two trone intervals
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within it and no other intervals besides
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that that could stabilize the cord these
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very dissonant chords are typically used
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as tension builders that can resolve up
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to where you want to go as I talked
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about in my recent video on Dark Souls
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music in general but Ludwig's theme
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tends to exploit the sound's demonic
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qualities by refusing to resolve them in
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the usual manner the section that
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follows the main Melody puts the choir
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at the Forefront making them sing an
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absolutely atrocious chord progression
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over half of the chords in these eight
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bars are diminished chords and none of
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them resolve the way diminished chords
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typically want to resolve and the chords
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that aren't diminished in this
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progression are minor chords that jump
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to other minor chords A trone away a
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completely jarring harmonic
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[Music]
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[Applause]
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move
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[Music]
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[Applause]
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[Music]
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[Applause]
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the effect of completely blowing up our
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sense of key like this is to create an
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unsettling atmosphere but notice how the
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dynamic is pulled way back and the
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orchestra stripped down to just the
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choir we're not going for full chaos
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here we're balancing out the chaos of
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the harmony by holding back in every
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other area to keep from going over the
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line into total Madness now everything
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that we've heard so far makes up the
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loop for the boss fight until you get
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halfway through Ludwig's health bar once
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you inflict enough pain on him the
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horrible Beast collapses down onto the
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ground only to notice a shining blade
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beside him as his face turns toward the
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pale green light you suddenly notice a
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side of it that looks almost human
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picking up the blade Ludwig seems to
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return to his senses to regain some of
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the humanity that had long since left
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him in true from software style Ludwig's
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story is hidden in little scraps of
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information sprinkled around the game
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but it turns out that he was once a
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hunter just like the player character
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who tragically lost his senses and
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descended into beasthood like so many
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other characters in bloodborne's world
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but clearly he isn't all gone he hasn't
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fully lost himself like so many others
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have he's on the brink just barely
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hanging on to himself even in his
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mutilated disgusting form everything in
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his design from the two-sided face to
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the two-phase boss fight to the title
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card that changes from Ludwig the
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accursed to Ludwig the holy blade points
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to this inner battle and this point gets
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emphasized by the music as well this
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transition cut scene between Ludwig's
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two phases is scored with oddly voiced
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choir chords the thinness of the
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voicings and extreme high range of the
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soprano voice Lending other worldliness
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to the music that gives us some sense of
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the strange alien power of Ludwig's
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Blade the choir brings us into the key
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of E minor but each chord is inverted in
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some way and the voices are so spread
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out none of the first three chords this
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E minor 6 to B7 augmented to E flat 7
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sharp9 have their roots in the base and
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almost every note is spread out a sixth
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or seventh interval away from each other
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in each chord the vagueness that thus
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gives the harmony perfect perfectly
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translates to the kind of Otherworldly
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quality this scene
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[Applause]
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[Music]
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[Applause]
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needed as the bizarre choir chords
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continue strings come in and begin a
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slow gradual Crescendo clarifying the
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new 34 time signature with this repeated
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a note as more and more members of the
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orchestra join in this a note grows into
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larger and larger chords ending up on a
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gigantic dsharp diminished seven chord
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that builds to a climax right as we move
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into the second phase of the boss fight
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resolving to the new key of E
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[Music]
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[Applause]
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minor once Ludwig draws his holy blade
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and and assumes his new slightly more
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human stance the music changes from the
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pounding heavy quarter note Rhythm of
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the last theme to this quick whirling
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Waltz feel especially in contrast to the
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lumbering beastly footsteps of the first
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phase the Walt time here gives a sense
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of Elegance to the music of lightness
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that reflects the changing Dynamic of
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the battle it's clear that you're no
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longer trying to put down a beast this
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is now a deadly dance between two
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Hunters the horns and Trum bones mirror
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this murderous minuette by giving us two
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independent lines that twist and weave
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around each other as the music outlines
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the form of the new section we get 16
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bars moving through four chords an E
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minor moving to a b over dsharp shifting
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to D minor and then moving back up to a
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dsharp diminished seven chord to set up
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a return to the tonic E
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[Music]
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minor
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to those of you who saw my recent video
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giving an overview of the souls series
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music you might recognize this kind of
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chord progression where the Bas descends
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chromatically from the one to the flat 7
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and back using both the five chord in
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first inversion here B over D sharp and
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the diminished 7 chord here D diminished
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7 this is a common Trope of the souls
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series music but here it has a Twist
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much like we saw in the first phase
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section we use the minor flat 7 chord to
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give the music a tragic quality when the
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main Melody comes in we see it once
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again starts by sitting on the fifth of
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the tonic chord and then chromatically
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embellishes that fifth with a sharp four
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to five to Flat 6 to five walk around
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this is a distinctive melodic figure but
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the rest of the phrase is made up of
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basic outlines of the chord progression
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a walk down a b Triad a 323
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embellishment of our D Minor's third and
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a resolution from this third up to the
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third of the following dsh diminished
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[Music]
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chord it's worth pointing out that this
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melody was foreshadowed by the choir Le
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transition music that we heard earlier
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the sharp 4 5 flat 65 embellishment over
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our E minor chord followed by a walk
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down to a flat 32 flat 3 embellishment
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over a D minor chord offering just a
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little hint of what was to come after
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this melodic statement the music kicks
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it into high gear the same chord
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progression quickens its Pace changing
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chords every two bars rather than four
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and a new Melody is belted out by the
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choir that shortens its phrases to two
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bars in length to match this new Melody
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alternates bars of simple arp OS of the
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underlying chords with bars of apuras
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this is where you land strongly on a
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dissonant outof cord note only to
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resolve down to a more appropriate note
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on beat 3 of the bar these accented
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dissonances are accented Harder by the
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big symbol crashes that land every
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second bar all of these elements
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together the quickened harmonic Rhythm
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the busy offbeat rhythms of the
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accompaniment and those symbol crashes
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push the piece into new heights of
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intensity
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those symbol crashes almost act the way
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a drum set would providing a BackBeat
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that we can actually bang our head to
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even though this is an orchestral piece
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I think that's a big part of why this
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piece is so popular online the melody
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continues boiling towards a climax and
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as the horns bring in a counter line
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harmonizing it a third below we finally
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get pushed over into full chaos whirling
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around in Walt's time like a merry-go
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round that we're barely hanging on to
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with the tips of our
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fingers
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this all culminates in a giant
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fantastically dissonant held chord A D
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sharp diminished seven chord without the
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flat Fifth and with a C major Triad kind
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of crammed inside so not only do we have
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the dissonance of a diminished seven
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type sound we also have two separate
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crunchy rubs between the f and g notes
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and E and dsharp notes
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this gives us the root the minor 3 the
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major 3D the sixth or diminished seven
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and the flat 9th so I don't really know
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what you would call this big chord a dsh
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diminished flat 9 flat 11 a dsharp 6
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sharp 9 flat 9 a c Shar 4 over dsharp
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it's a tough chord and a tough sound and
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sitting on it for such a long stretch is
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a perfect climax for such a horrifying
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boss fight as much as Ludwig might
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remember his manhood he is still a
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monster at the end of the day and we are
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here to
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hunt this piece somehow Nails the
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perfect balance of horror and tragedy
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moving from the creeping dread of the
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initial phase into the alien strangeness
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of the coral transition into the gothic
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Elegance of the final Walts that feels
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like a deranged celebration of death
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it's it somehow manages to feel like
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it's always just on the edge of breaking
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down barely keeping itself together
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without fully succumbing to Madness the
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music elevates this boss fight into an
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unforgettable moment and one of the best
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bosses of the Souls game canon and I
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hope you enjoyed my take on it if you
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want to support what I do you can check
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out my patreon page or just share these
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videos to anyone who you think would
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enjoy them thank you so much for
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watching and I'll see you all in the
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next
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one
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[Music]
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a
