Hidden below the Grand Cathedral of Bloodborne sits Ebrietas, Daughter of the Cosmos, one of the game's most interesting and most difficult secret bosses. Many players will likely never even encounter Ebrietas. What makes Ebrietas most interesting is its placement, not being hidden for a mandatory reveal at the end of the game like the Moon Presence, but instead buried deep underground with the only access point being a hidden elevator.
Everything from the path to Ebrietas to the strange arena where the fight takes place makes for an impressive presentation that makes good on the godly claims of the Great Ones. The long trek towards the bottom of the Grand Cathedral is a perfect payoff for the way the lore builds up these cosmic deities, showing the rotting underbelly of the entire world of Bloodborne buried under the surface.
Bloodborne: Finding Ebrietas Underground
In order to find Ebrietas, players first need to enter the optional area above the Cathedral Ward that leads through both an Orphanage and eventually back into the Grand Cathedral, right above the location of the Vicar Amelia fight. The area isn't available until late into Bloodborne's story, likely being one of the last places players will explore before heading to the Nightmare Frontier and reaching the end of the game. Strangely, though, getting to Upper Cathedral Ward and through to the top of the Grand Cathedral requires players to find a key in the Hyperion Gaol and backtracking all the way back to an elevator in a side room in Oedon Chapel.
So, not only is the area itself a secret, it is hidden in a side area that players would have already passed by hours beforehand and likely forgotten in light of the night progressing through to the reveal of the Blood Moon. On top of the backtracking, the path then leads to one of the highest locations in all of Bloodborne's city of Yharnam, only to find an elevator at the top of the Grand Cathedral that drops lower and lower for a long trip down. Just this motion of rising before falling sets the idea that the game is starting to rise into the cosmos of the night's sky on the way to finding the Celestial Emissaries followed soon by Ebrietas, Daughter of the Cosmos.
Bloodborne: The Payoff of a Brutal Fight with Ebrietas
After the long trip that will finally take the player to the Altar of Despair under the Grand Cathedral where Ebrietas waits, there is little for the player to do aside from attacking the otherwise docile Great One. It's one of few encounters that is up to the player to start, as the boss doesn't attack until being attacked first. However, the result of starting the fight is one of the hardest encounters outside of Bloodborne's optional Chalice Dungeons, which might make players reconsider attacking peaceful beings in the future.
Being a late-game boss, Ebrietas has a wide variety of attacks that all reach out or lunge across the large arena in the Alter of Despair. On top of her range, Ebrietas will also dish out enough damage that any player running one of Bloodborne's lower Vitality builds could easily be killed in one or two swings. It makes for a nail-biting encounter that requires the player to keep track of the boss's giant limbs, as well as the weak point on its head. This is made even more daunting once the player deals enough damage to start the second phase.
A combination of enhanced aggression and spells similar to some of Bloodborne's stronger Hunter Tools makes the second phase an even more intense encounter than the first. The most difficult of these to deal with being A Call Beyond, which sends lasers beaming down towards the player from around Ebrietas' head. Getting caught in this attack can quickly end the fight, especially if the player is also being drained by the constantly damaging aura that appears around Ebrietas at melee range at the start of the second phase.
The Unclear and Unresolved Bloodborne Lore of Ebrietas
To wrap up what makes Ebrietas such an interesting boss among the several Great Ones in Bloodborne that players can face off against is her implications into the lore. Ebrietas doesn't appear much in the backstory hidden among item descriptions or dialogue trees, although the fight likely isn't the first time players will see her name. The first appearance of the name is actually from the Augur of Ebrietas tool that allows players to summon a series of tentacles to attack and even parry enemies.
However, between the initial item and the boss fight itself, there is a mysterious presence around Ebrietas, as her inclusion in the game itself or her placement at the Altar of Despair goes completely unanswered by the end. For some fans who enjoy digging into the lore of FromSoftware's titles, this might initially come off as unsatisfying. That being said, this fits perfectly with the motif of Great Ones and the Cthulhu Mythos that they are inspired by, as much of the horror and intrigue of Lovecraftian stories comes from the inability to understand beings on the cosmic scale of Ebrietas. In this way, the strange lack of resolution is perfect for cosmic madness.
Bloodborne is available now for PS4.