Editing Blasphemous (video game) (section)

== Plot ==
=== Setting and characters ===
The game is set in Cvstodia, a land of religion, highly influenced by [[Catholic Church|Roman Catholicism]], its [[iconography]], [[Holy Week in Spain]] and [[Spanish culture]], particularly that of [[Andalucía]]. The land is hallowed by a force known as "The Miracle" (also referred to as "Sorrowful Miracle" or "Grievous Miracle"). This force manifests itself by sometimes blessing and sometimes cursing Cvstodia's inhabitants, transforming them into twisted creatures, subject to eternal torment.

The protagonist is The Penitent One, the sole survivor of the Brotherhood of the Silent Sorrow (called so because their members have agreed to a vow of silence). He wears a [[Nijmegen Helmet|mask]] and helmet that consists of barbed wire and a pointed helmet similar to a [[capirote]]. His sword originated when a woman, praying for punishment to ease her guilt, repeatedly hit her chest with an effigy of The Twisted One, who is in turn considered the First Miracle. The sword is adorned with spikes as of that of a rose and an effigy. At the beginning of the game, a thorn is given to the Penitent One to attach to the sword's handle, which allows it to feed on its wielder's sins.

During his pilgrimage, the Penitent One meets characters such as Deogracias, who is found in several key moments of the story and acts as a narrator for the game; Redento, a pilgrim who walks with his back bent and his hands tied as a form of penance; Candelaria, an old merchant who sells various items; and Viridiana, who offers assistance to the player in boss battles. There is a governing Church led by His Holiness Escribar, who was reborn as the Last Son of the Miracle long before the game's events.

=== Story ===
{{longplot|date=October 2022}}
''Blasphemous'' begins in the Brotherhood of the Silent Sorrow, a religious order opposed to His Holiness Escribar's authority, after all its members have been massacred. The last of their kind, the Penitent One, is resurrected by the Miracle and departs on a pilgrimage. After defeating the Warden of the Silent Sorrow, he finds Deogracias, who tells him about the Cradle of Affliction, a sacred relic that the Penitent One seeks, and the Three Humiliations he must perform to be deemed worthy to reach it. He also gives the Penitent One a thorn to add to his sword's handle, wounding and feeding off the user's guilt.

The Penitent One travels to different locations in Cvstodia, including the decaying town of Albero, the snowing hills Where Olive Trees Wither, and the underground Desecrated Cistern. He completes the Three Humiliations, each of them involving a trial against a different boss, to obtain the Holy Wounds of Attrition, Contrition and Compunction from the three Holy Guardian Visages. After defeating Esdras of the Anointed Legion on the Bridge of the Three Calvaries, the Penitent One gains access to the Mother of Mothers, the massive [[cathedral]] where Escribar and the Cradle of Affliction reside.

Throughout the journey, Escribar's voice is heard, telling his backstory: A long time before the Penitent One began his pilgrimage, His Holiness Escribar had turned his throne away from his congregation, believing that the Miracle had forsaken them. Gradually, the Miracle transformed Escribar into a massive tree which [[Spontaneous combustion|suddenly ignited]] one day, leaving behind a massive pile of ash, atop which stood Escribar's throne. The Miracle drove countless people to attempt climbing the mountain, but all of them failed, swallowed by the ash. As punishment, they re-emerged from the ash as mindless beasts (the game's enemies) cursed to carry out the Miracle's will. This included Escribar, who was reborn as the Last Son of the Miracle.

At the top of the Mother of Mothers, the Penitent One encounters Crisanta of the Wrapped Agony, the leader of Escribar's soldiers, also revealed in the prequel comic to be responsible for the Penitent One's first death and throwing his corpse to where the game began. The Penitent One defeats her, but she escapes. He proceeds to defeat Escribar and the Last Son of the Miracle and encounters the mountain of ash, where Deogracias encourages him to climb it and reach the Cradle of Affliction, leading to one of two endings:

*In the default ending, the Penitent One fails to reach the top and sinks into the ash, leaving nothing but his helmet, which Deogracias picks up and deposits next to a pile of countless identical masks, declaring the Penitent One's penance to be over.
*If Deogracias' thorn has reached its final form after completing optional dungeons, the Penitent One successfully reaches the throne, sits there, and stabs himself with the Mea Culpa. His lifeless body turns into a tree and becomes worshiped by the people of Cvstodia as the new Father and Last Son of the Miracle. In a post-credits cutscene, Crisanta reappears and draws the Mea Culpa from the Penitent One's body.

===Wounds of Eventide DLC===
The ''Wounds of Eventide'' DLC adds a new ending if certain conditions are met. Upon starting a new game over a completed save file, the Penitent One can access the tomb of Perpetva, a winged female warrior who is encountered as a miniboss in the original game and assists her brother Esdras in his bossfight. She reveals that the Perpetva the Penitent One had fought was nothing more than a replica created by the Miracle, and his utter devotion to his mission had convinced her to aid him in unraveling the truth. Giving him a [[scapular]] to show Esdras, it convinces him to help the Penitent One as well, granting him access to the prison of the Exiled Visage, the fourth Holy Guardian Visage. For learning the truth behind the Miracle, it was branded a traitor and imprisoned by its three brothers, its eyes removed so that it would be blind to the truth. By helping the Exiled Visage regain its eyes, the Penitent One is given the ultimate Sword Heart of the Mea Culpa that enables it to wound a soul, and knowledge that Crisanta was being enslaved by the High Wills, the true masterminds behind the Miracle. Using the true Mea Culpa to free Crisanta from the High Wills' control, she grants the Penitent One the Holy Wound of Abnegation, which in combination with the other three Holy Wounds allows him to enter the other side of the Dream, the realm where the High Wills reside. With Crisanta's aid, the Penitent One battles and defeats the Last Son of the Miracle yet again, killing Escribar for good.

With nothing standing before them, the Penitent One and Crisanta confront the High Wills, a trio of human faces with a single mind that constantly weep tears of gold. Having possibly manifested as a result of the Cvstodians' faith, they had created the Miracle in response to the pleas of a youth who would eventually become the Twisted One, a messianic figure in Cvstodian faith. The High Wills selfishly exploit the Cvstodians' guilt and desire for penance, using the Miracle as a means to gather the Cvstodians' faith for their own immortality and splendor. Their threats ultimately fall short on the Penitent One and Crisanta, who cut them down in order to end the Miracle and thus Cvstodia's suffering, freeing those trapped by the Miracle's power such as the Twisted One himself. Kept alive only by the Miracle's whim, the Penitent One finally passes away as the Mea Culpa crumbles into dust, with Deogracias and Crisanta laying his body to rest. In the post-credits cutscene, a massive womb descends from the clouds above into Cvstodia, bearing an unknown humanoid figure within.

===Stir of Dawn DLC===
In the ''Stir of Dawn'' DLC, the Penitent One can optionally meet Jibrael on a New Game+ playthrough, a giant, hunchbacked man with a [[bugle]] contorted around his arms. Finding Jibrael in different locations will allow him to play his bugle, releasing the crystal sarcophagi of the Amanecidas, four women created by the Miracle from the immense passion of Laudes, a devotee of the Twisted One. For revering the Twisted One more than the Miracle, the High Wills punished Laudes by sealing her and the Amanecidas away as [[undead]] warriors to be awakened only with the Saeta played through Jibrael's bugle. After defeating the Amanecidas, Jibrael can awaken Laudes, who battles the Penitent One with the combined abilities of the Amanecidas. After defeating Laudes, she dies peacefully and Jibrael, implied to have loved Laudes in life, is similarly able to find peace and pass on.

===Strife and Ruin DLC===
In the ''Strife and Ruin'' DLC, a crossover event with ''[[Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night]]'', the Penitent One encounters Miriam, the game's protagonist, trapped in Cvstodia on the Miracle's whim. Unable to return to her realm, the Penitent One has the option to aid her by finding crystal shards scattered throughout Cvstodia in order to repair the portal that will send her back. Reclaiming each shard requires the completion of challenging obstacle courses, each subsequent one more difficult than the last. After collecting the shards, Miriam is able to return home, but not before granting the Penitent One a powerful prayer that will summon her to attack alongside him.