Fully corrupted Miriam - Theories about the shards

I wished to see that discussion for a while.

I would like for this to signify a bad end (bad choice route)...
That said, it would mean that Miriam would be impossible to save.

Would she be an alternate rival boss or final one?

I have something to say about this too.

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 IGA said years ago in a interview, that when they were creating Symphony of the Night, they had a plan to create two paths for Alucard. Being a half-vampire, they wanted him to either be corrupted turning into a full vampire or be cleansed (if he would turn into a human, that is not clear). What would happen would be dependant on how the player would use Alucard. If you played Alucard mostly using his own dark magic (Dark Metamorphosis, Hell Fire, etc) Alucard would be corrupted, but if you played him focusing on the holy sub-weapons, Alucard would be cleansed. That idea was scrapped due to time constraints.

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Order of Ecclesia has a special Glyph (Shanoa's powers) called DOMINUS, that has a special origin (not gonna spoil for those who didn't played yet). At a certain part of the game, a certain character gets corrupted by it. The game explains that Shanoa didnd't get corrupted because she absorbed so many Glyphs that they created a magical protection against that corruption inside her body.

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Now, thinking about Bloodstained, i believe Bloodstained is a game where IGA is trying to put several things he wanted to put at games before. Let's think about what we know regarding Bloodstained's mythology.
The Magi-Curse: A curse that turns a human into a beacon to attract demons from hell itself. The curse crystalizes the body and gives you magical powers.
The Shards: A Shard is a demon power that happened to be crystalized upon that demon's death. It cannot be handled by an ordinary person and Miriam can absorb Shards to harness their power. 
The relation between those two things can be the same or opposite.
Collecting more Shards (aiming for the 100% Shard collection) can either corrupt Miriam even more, because they are demon in nature and close related to the Magi-Curse, or they could help protecting her from the curse itself, due to their magical prowess.
So, i believe that the game can have a very interesting mechanic regarding this.
Miriam's body has runes written by Johannes to stop the curse's progression. You could get a piece of equipment, or a Shard, that cancels those runes and, if used at a certain plot-relevant part of the game, lets Miriam gets corrupted. That would be a simple one-sided option of Yes or No, akin to Soma wearing a certain equipment at Dawn of Sorrow to not get corrupted.
A more interesting mechanic could be close to what Symphony of the Night intended, not focusing on picking up, but usage. If you abuse the use of Shards instead of, let's say, weapons, Miriam could eventually either be corrupted because Shards and Magi-Curse are related, or that could actually save her due to Shards warding her off against the corruption itself due to their magical abilities.
It seems that Miriam may have magical skills unrelated to Shards (a very old Kickstarter update talks about Voltic Chain being a "Seventh ability, not a demonic one" and there have been rumors about command abilities), so, if that is true, then maybe they would be the ones to protect her. If you focus on using Magical abilities unrelated to Shards, Miriam could be saved from corruption, but if you focus on using Shards, maybe Miriam would, then, be corrupted in the end.

Well, "Pure Miriam" exists as a concept, maybe more than just arbitrarily as an extra costume.

I didn't know (or didn't remember) that about being the plan with Alucard, which is pretty similar to something I had thought a while ago - Miriam's fate being determined by how far she takes the curse's power/not using it. My case for this kind of thing was so that I could specifically get more use out of hypothetical "holy subweapons" (or non-curse powers at least), and I worded it that way exactly, pretty sure lol. Great minds think alike, I guess...

We talk a little about this in BCB 14 too. When I had brought up that Dominique was an exorcist to make a case for her possible ability to extract shard powers to put into weapons (similar to how Yoko used to do), he mentioned that maybe a high level of her exorcism could be removing/curing the curse from Miriam. I imagine that would require some relics, Johannes' help, some other conditions...

gunlord500 absolutely.
That said, I would love for it to be much more elaborate, if not different from what we got in Aria of Sorrow.
This would be tied to the story progression... How will Miriam counter the curse, will she be able to?
Would she go insane after succumbing to the curse and go against the rest of the good guys/the great evil or would she die outright? (bad endings)
Will Gebel be able (yes, pun time) to be saved? Will he sacrifice himself?
Etc.

Pure Miriam
Thanks for the CSOTN info! I never heard of such things and I am sad it never came to fruition. Imagine otherwise!
Corruption via abuse would make me a bit sad, but it would make much sense, as Miriam would be tapping into demonic powers. That said, relying  on too much shard power due to habit would make the game unwinnable in terms of good ending... unless the treshold is really high.

 I still wish for three Miriam states:

• The normal one, which is her current;
• The dark/corrupted one, involving the fact that she is beyond purification (and the subject of this very thread);
  
• The purified one, which would make her not rely on shards but be much stronger. Saved by the Church and removed of all demon influence.
  

I get how, from a storytelling perspective, collecting and/or using shards could lead to the curse growing and spreading. There are a few glaring issues though.

1) Those who play with a heavy focus on mage style will have a harder time getting a non-evil ending.
2) A Fighter Style will have a rougher time to get the corrupt path.

One thing I HATE is forcing players to have a certain ending/path based on playstyle.

What I propose is a middle ground. You can collect and spam shards and the curse will grow... to a certain point. Certain plot decisions will push Miriam over the edge. Said plot decisions could be the catalyst to a warrior style to get the evil ending.

I'm a shard/soul/glyph collector. I want to get 100% in a single playthrough but I don't want to be arbitrarily locked into the evil path because of how I love to play my Iga games.

Well, considering everything that has been said and everyone's opinions, i actually have some new ideas for this too, several ideas to be honest. Beware that this may be a bit long (but has images and it is colorful to make it less boring to read).

MIRIAM'S THREE STATES (Lestaroth )

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We could assume that Miram has three states, or layers of herself, two extremes and the middle-ground. Let's consider for a moment that these three layers could all be playable at some point.
Pure Miriam: Miriam before the curse. A dedicated Knight servant of the Alchemist Guild that adopted and raised her. 
Cursed Miriam: The Miriam we all know, that is the main state we will play. A woman cursed with the Magi-Curse, turned into a beacon to attract demons from hell. The curse gave her the ability to absorb Shards, crystalized demonic power. 
Corrupted Miriam: Miriam completely engulfed at the Magi-Curse, turned into a evil being, robbed of her sanity and plotting the "downfall of men" just like Gebel. 

MIRIAM AS A VICTMIN

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Miriam was used by the Alchemist Guild to became a beacon to attract demons, after Gebel (the exact reasons for that are still unknown). Gebel destroyed the guild, became insane and started to plot the downfall of men. Miriam is a victmin but her resolution is strong and she is determined to use the curse for her own benefit to destroy Gebel's intentions. This is the most basic (a bit cliche) scenario that most people are expecting. 

MIRIAM AS A WILLING CURSED WOMAN (Galamoth )

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Miriam was cursed at a young age and became 10 years in slumber. She is 18 now, so, she was 8 when she was cursed. Unless she was 18 when cursed and time has stopped for her during her slumber, she just wouldn't have enough maturity to decide being willingly cursed.

MIRIAM BEING CLEANSED (purifyweirdshard ), CURSED, SHARDS USAGE (BalancedHydra ) AND A PLOT IDEA

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In Aria of Sorrow, when Soma finishes Graham, if you didn't used the Souls that represent Dracula's main powers, "the fabric of time" starts to crush and the game ends there. If you used, the last remaining power of Dracula flows into Soma and turns him into Dracula itself. Plot-wise, this doesn't have much sense, but that's how it works.

Now, in order for my suggestion / speculation to work, let's consider for a moment that the game will actually have two castles / dimentions / layers whatever they may be AND that Miriam will have both Shards and her own abilities (i'm calling them "Seventh Abilities" since this is the name used by Kickstarter for the single non-demonic ability the revealed, Voltic Chain). Shards are obtained by killing demons and Seventh Abilities are obtained by picking up scrolls around the castle.
After beating the first part of the game, you either fight against a glorified Boss (maybe Gremory or Alfred?) or even against Gebel himself and then the second part of the game MAY unlock. What will happen to Miriam now is dependant on what you did at the first part. THis could have three branches. Miriam can either stay as she is, she can be cleansed, turning into Pure Miriam or she can be corrupted. 


Miriam stays cursed: The game unlocks it's second part. After finishing the Boss, Miriam's resolution and determination is so strong that she avoids being clenased, because that would mean losing her powers (see below) and avoids being corrupted to maintain her sanity. The gameplay stays the same and you follow the second part of the game to the end.


Miriam is cleansed: The game unlocks it's second part. After finishing the Boss, Miriam is cleansed from the curse and becames Pure Miriam. The main gameplay change is that Shards are lost, you cannot use them anymore. Miriam's own powers (alchemy in nature) are unlocked, and any Skill / plot-related / progression shards changes into her own magic ("Seventh ability") somehow. You can obtain all lasting Seventh Abilities (that are obtained at scrolls or something like that) at the second part of the game.
You cannot make 100% Shard collection anymore. Try again at a new game+ or a fresh new save file!


Miriam is corrupted: The game unlocks it's second part. After finishing the Boss, Miriam is corrupted completely from the curse and becames Corrupted Miriam. The main gameplay change is that Miriam's Seventh Abilities are lost and you cannot obtain them anymore (they all vanish / grays out at the second part of the game and anyone you didn't picked up at the first part). But now, you can obtain all lasting Shards from the second part of the game and any you didn't obtained at the first part of the game.
You cannot make 100% Seventh ability collection anymore. Try again at a new game+ or a fresh new save file!

So, in short terms, the game has three main  branches, two of them automatically cancel half of Miriam's powers. The only true way to obtain everything is to play "Miriam stays cursed" branch that could be the hardest to achieve. But each branch noneless has it's own ending and special / visual effects.

An alternative to this would be making the first branch NOT unlocking the second part of the game. The only way to really obtain everything would be to replay the game at a new game+ after obtaining everything you could at the first part (this was actually my main idea, but i decided to put it as an alternative idea).

How to reach the "Miriam Stays corrupted" branch: to achieve this branch, you need to avoid being corrupted or cleansed.
How to reach "Miriam is cleansed" branch or "Corrupted" branch: to achieve either of these branches, i have two ideas for this:
FIRST IDEA (gameplay hindering idea): focus your gameplay at "seventh abilities" and weapon usage (cleanse path) or on Shards (corrupted path). You can have an idea of what are you doing by talking with Dominique. A option (called simply "Talk") may give you hints of that, with Dominique saying things, such as:
(if you are overusing shards, you are at the corrupted path): "I can see a evil aura within you", "your cursed powers may engulf you one day", "your path is a dangerous one to yourself and makind".
(if you are neglecting shards / using seventh abilities and weapons, you are at the cleanse path): "I can feel your pure heart", "your magical powers are part of nature".
(you are balanced between shards and others things usage, you are at the stays cursed path): "Your determination seems to be really strong", "You have a balance between ying and yang".
You can change the path you are by paying attention to Dominique's hints and grinding yourself out of the current path, using abilites to kill enemies and reach the other path. 

SECOND IDEA (non-gameplay hindering idea): each branch has specific things you need to do at the first part boss. Play whatever you want to stay Cursed, use specific Shards to corrupt yourself and focus only on seventh abilities and weapon usage to reach the cleansed part. Or maybe, Dominique gives you a quest to cleanse yourself AND you can corrupt yourself by using certain "evil in nature" shards at the first part boss, among other things.

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Wow! that was a long brainstorming ride, that i hope you all liked.

I like the concept of 3 states Miriam. However, I would like to have the ability to switch to any version of Miriam I want in game after a few playthroughs, going through new game+ to switch to other states is too tedious.

I still feel that if being a completionist in Bloodstained will only grant the Corrupted Miriam path (and thus a bad end), it is more of a punishment than a perk, unless if of course, progress is saved... but how and why?

Still, thanks for the brainstorming. These are great thoughts.