Simeon, the Good Doctor: Who He Is & the Truth

Doctor Simeon is the name at the center of The Blood of Dawnwalker’s best murder mystery - and the game’s clearest lesson in why a solved case is not always a true one. On paper he is the A Study in Crimson killer: a physician who became a vrakhiri, cornered in a warehouse basement, dead by the end of a boss fight. But the evidence trail Coen assembles afterward reframes everything about who Simeon was and what he was actually doing. Spoilers throughout for the quest and its real culprit; if you have not finished the arc, start with the Vicho guide instead.

Who Simeon Is

Simeon is a doctor in Svartrau City - “the good doctor” in name, a man whose medical reputation gives him the perfect cover for the arc’s central secret: he has become a vrakhiri himself. When Vicho, the mild-mannered curio dealer who runs the investigation with Coen, follows the evidence trail through the jeweller’s house and beyond, every clue points to Simeon. The trail terminates in a warehouse where the basement confrontation reveals the truth of his condition - and the fight begins.

The encounter is a proper boss fight: Simeon closes distance fast, favoring aggressive lunges that punish passive play. Community guides recommend sidestepping left against his primary attack string and staying aggressive enough that he cannot reset the exchange. Vicho joins the fight, but Simeon prioritizes Coen as his main target, so positioning matters more than body-blocking.

What the Case Gets Wrong

Kill Simeon and stop, and the journal marks A Study in Crimson complete with the doctor named as the murderer of Eli and Devora. That version of events is wrong - and the game lets you discover it.

Two loot actions in the warehouse begin the correction. First, loot Simeon’s body for a key before leaving the basement. Second, take that key back to the hidden chest on the warehouse’s first floor. Inside is a reply letter from a man named Ivo, written to calm Simeon’s worries. The letter changes the meaning of the whole quest: Simeon was not the murderer - he was a man who knew what Vicho was and was trying to manage the danger. Ivo writes that Vicho is always composed and in control, that he is staying put on his farm and keeping his guard up - reassurances meant for a worried friend, not a confession.

The implication lands hard: the killer Coen was hired to find is the client. Vicho, a vrakhiri who blacked out his own feeding, murdered his own friends Eli and Devora and retained no memory of it. Simeon, turned and cornered, died trying to keep that secret contained - or, read another way, died because the investigation he was never asked to survive converged on him. Community theory threads (including on r/Blood_of_Dawnwalker) debate whether Simeon was protecting Vicho, studying him, or preparing to expose him; the game never confirms a motive, and honest guides should mark all three as speculation.

Where the Truth Leads

The letter sends Coen to Ivo’s farm south of Svartrau City, and the A Study in Crimson quest - marked complete - quietly reopens with a single new objective: confront Vicho. That confrontation, night-locked and dialogue-driven, is where the arc’s real choice lives: tell Vicho the truth and talk him out of the sunrise, or lose him forever. The full sequence, including the exact dialogue chain that keeps him alive, is documented step by step in the Vicho guide; the key point here is that Simeon’s hidden chest is the trigger - miss the key, miss the letter, and Vicho’s storyline ends at “case closed” with its owner still oblivious and still dangerous.

Fight and Loot Summary

• Location: warehouse basement, reached during the A Study in Crimson investigation in Svartrau City.
• Pattern: fast gap-closers, punishable strings; sidestep left, keep pressure on.
• Mandatory loot: Simeon’s key (body) and Ivo’s letter (hidden first-floor chest). Both are quest-critical for the truth path.
• Aftermath dialogue (post-fight, to Vicho): community guides recommend the lines “Immortality, it’s a gift,” “That’s a cruel fate,” and “It does make sense” to keep the arc on track.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Simeon the real killer in A Study in Crimson? No - he is the case’s red herring. The evidence trail names him, but Ivo’s letter reveals Vicho was the actual murderer, acting during memory blackouts.

Is Doctor Simeon missable? The fight is mandatory for the quest, but his key and the hidden chest are not marked - skip the looting and you permanently miss the truth path on that save.

What does Simeon drop? Beyond quest items, the fight pays standard boss-tier rewards; the unique value is narrative - the key and letter that reopen the quest.

Was Simeon protecting Vicho? Unconfirmed. The letter shows he knew about Vicho and worried about him, but his motive - protection, study, or exposure - is never stated. Treat Reddit theories as theories.