Don’t let locked doors stop your progress in Bloodborne — find where to locate every pesky key and how to open those previously-unreachable areas.

The cursed city of Yharnam’s native population don’t seem to like outsiders much, because every alley and area is barred with locked gates. Some keys don’t take the form of metal, and not every door needs a simple key. Certain areas of the region require stranger methods to reach. To make life a little easier for paleblood hunters, keep scrolling for explicit tips to get your hands on every key.

Keys will help in the main game, but there are always Chalice Dungeons to explore. These strange randomized areas only unlock with the proper chalices in hand. If you’re looking to reach the final optional boss, check out our 1.

Key Locations Guide

Oedon Tomb Key

• Unlocks: Just as it says, the key unlocks Oedon Tomb and opens the way to the chapel.
• How to Get:

• The key is dropped by Father Gascoigne once he is defeated. Find him by crossing the sewers and climbing up to the bridge guarded by a mob with a flaming boulder.
• The path leads straight to Gascoigne’s cemetery arena. Talk to the girl in the window near the Central Yharnam shortcut to collect a special music box that weakens Gascoigne temporarily.

Hunter Chief Emblem

• Unlocks: Open the large gate blocking the way to the Grand Cathedral. It’s located up the stairs from the Cathedral Ward lamp.
• How to Get:

• The emblem is sold by the Hunter’s Dream Bath Messengers for 10,000 Blood Echoes. A steep price early in the game.
• This key is completely optional and only unlocks after defeating the Cleric Beast. Use the massive hole in the Healing Church Workshop to circumvent the Grand Cathedral gate.

Lunarium Key

• Unlocks: Unlocks the doors to the balcony on the second floor of Byrgenworth.
• How to Get:

• To reach Byrgenworth, the Hunter must defeat Vicar Amelia in the Grand Cathedral and interact with the altar. With the passphrase, travel down to the locked gates near the Cathedral Ward plaza near the Hunter Chief Emblem gate.
• Give the phrase and the doors to the Forbidden Woods will open. Deep within the woods, past the Shadows of Yharnam, enter the college and travel up to the top. There’s a ladder leading to a microscope with a counter containing the key.

Tonsil Stone

• Unlocks: This strange stone unlocks the Nightmare Lecture Hall 1F and allows access to the Nightmare Frontier — if you let a terrifying monster kill you in the Cathedral Ward.
• How to Get:

• The Tonsil Stone is given by one of several strange voices replacing NPCs in their homes. Defeat Vicar Amelia in the Grand Cathedral, then travel to the Forbidden Woods. There’s a home with a lamp light nearby.
• The stone can also be collected from any red lamp doors to the left as you exit the Grand Cathedral. Collect the stone, then enter the old chapel past the executioners. Step into the blue light and you’ll reappear in the Lecture Hall.

Lecture Theatre Key

• Unlocks: Unlocks the double-door entrance to the lecture theatre on the right.
• How to Get:

• Enter the Lecture Hall by following the instructions above in the “Tonsil Stone” entry. Enter the left-hand doors and check the desk inside the lecture threatre. The key is on the desk or in the hands of an enemy.
• The key and the door it unlocks are both on the first floor of the Lecture Hall. It won’t be until much later that the second floor becomes available.

Cainhurst Summons

• Unlocks: Instead of unlocking a door, collecting the Cainhurst Summons makes a cart appear at Hemwick Crossing.
• How to Get:

• Cainhurst Summons is found after opening the back entrance to Iosefka Clinic. Follow the underground path near the Forbidden Woods village — watch out for poison water and giants.
• One path inside the cave leads to a giant ladder. Climb it and get to the rooftops to reach the clinic’s back rooms. Open the locked doors to the starting area to find the summons.

Upper Cathedral Key

• Unlocks: Opens the locked doors at the top of the Healing Church Workshop.
• How to Get:

• This rare key can only be found after the doors to Yahar’gul, Unseen Village are open. Defeat Rom, the Vacuous Spider in Byrgenwerth to appear in the Unseen entrance.
• At the Yahar’gul Chapel lamp, turn around and head up the steps guarded by screeching mobs. Stay against the left railing until you spot a crack, then step through it.
• Enter the dark interior with a bell witch and fall into the central cage. The key is on a sitting corpse in the cell.

Orphanage Key

• Unlocks: The massive first floor front doors of the Orphanage, allowing the Hunter to pull a switch and open the front gate.
• How to Get:

• The Orphanage is a large two-story structure past the Upper Cathedral gate. Scroll up to see how to access the Uppe Cathedral.
• The keys are on the second floor above the front entrance. Defeat the brainsucker near the balcony doors to get this key.

Iron Door Key

• Unlocks: This mysterious key opens a gate to the central bridge of Mergo’s Loft — it’s the only way to access Blood Rock in the Frenzy Brain’s tower.
• How to Get:

Enter the Nightmare of Mensis by interacting with the corpse at the lowest level of the Unseen Village, an area that becomes available once Rom, the Vacuous Spider is dead.
• In the giant castle, you’ll encounter Micolash. After leaving the first area, go down the spiral staircase and explore the lowest floor to find a corpse with the key. The Iron Door is found in Micolash’s final boss room.

Source: [1]

Kevin Thielenhaus is a freelance writer for The Escapist. Find him on Twitter here.