Every Bloodborne Boss and Its Lore, Explained
Every boss in Bloodborne, The Old Hunters and the Chalice Dungeons, with who or what each one was and why the hunter has to fight it. Each entry keeps what the game states apart from what players infer.
Bloodborne's bosses are mostly people: hunters who went too far, clerics who turned into beasts, and scholars who reached for the Great Ones. This guide covers every boss in the main game, The Old Hunters and the Chalice Dungeons. Item text and dialogue are quoted as the game; anything beyond that is marked as interpretation. For where each fight falls in the plot, see the story explained, the timeline and The Old Hunters story. Spoilers throughout. (Bloodborne; Bloodborne: The Old Hunters)
Main game bosses#
Cleric Beast#
An optional beast on the Great Bridge. The Sword Hunter Badge says the Church's hunters were often clerics, and that clerics became "the most hideous beasts". (Bloodborne)
Father Gascoigne#
A hunter lost to blood. His garb says "Father" is a foreign clerical title, and a music box carries the names "Viola and Gascoigne". See Father Gascoigne. (Bloodborne)
Blood-starved Beast#
The beast at the bottom of Old Yharnam, guarding the Church of the Good Chalice and the Pthumeru Chalice that opens the Labyrinth. (Bloodborne)
Vicar Amelia#
The Healing Church's vicar, praying in the Grand Cathedral before she turns. Her trophy calls her "the beast that once was Vicar Amelia". Her Gold Pendant is a reminder of the adage whose words open the gates of Byrgenwerth. See Vicar Amelia. (Bloodborne)
The Witch of Hemwick#
An eye-collecting witch at the top of Hemwick Charnel Lane who calls up mad ones to fight for her, blocking the road to Cainhurst. (Bloodborne)
Shadow of Yharnam#
Three robed figures guarding the Forbidden Grave before Byrgenwerth. Their name is usually read as service to Queen Yharnam, but the game never says so. (Bloodborne)
Rom, the Vacuous Spider#
A Great One in Byrgenwerth's lake. Notes say "the spider hides all manner of rituals". Killing her turns the moon red. See Rom. (Bloodborne)
Darkbeast Paarl#
A skeletal beast crackling with lightning. The Spark Hunter Badge mentions "the blue sparks that emanate from the hides of the darkbeasts". (Bloodborne)
The One Reborn#
A mass of bodies raised in Yahar'gul by Bell-ringing Women, blocking the way to the Mensis ritual. (Bloodborne)
Micolash, Host of the Nightmare#
The School of Mensis leader, wearing a Mensis Cage. He prays to Kos for eyes, then dies saying "Now I'm waking up, I'll forget everything". See Micolash. (Bloodborne)
Mergo's Wet Nurse#
A Great One guarding the infant Mergo. Its death silences the crying and brings dawn near, setting up the endings. (Bloodborne)
Amygdala#
A many-armed Great One in the Nightmare Frontier, to which Patches the Spider prays for mercy. (Bloodborne)
Martyr Logarius#
Leader of the Executioners who slaughtered the Vilebloods. He sits on Cainhurst's roof having donned the Crown of Illusions to stop anyone finding "the vile secret". The secret is usually read as Queen Annalise herself, hidden behind an illusion. See Martyr Logarius. (Bloodborne)
Celestial Emissary#
A Great One hiding among the Upper Cathedral Ward's blue-skinned patients. The Milkweed rune speaks of "a celestial attendant"; players link the two. (Bloodborne)
Ebrietas, Daughter of the Cosmos#
The "left behind Great One" studied by the Choir. She waits at the Altar of Despair. See Ebrietas. (Bloodborne)
Gehrman, the First Hunter#
The old man of the Dream. His Burial Blade says he saw the hunt as "a dirge of farewell". Refuse his mercy and he fights you. See Gehrman. (Bloodborne)
Moon Presence#
The Great One behind the Hunter's Dream, "beckoned by Laurence", fought only after three cords are consumed. See the Moon Presence. (Bloodborne)
The Old Hunters bosses#
Ludwig, the Holy Blade#
The first Church hunter, now a beast. Recovering, he asks: "Are my Church Hunters the honourable Spartans I hoped they would be?" See Ludwig. (Bloodborne: The Old Hunters)
Laurence, the First Vicar#
The Church's founder, burning in the Nightmare's Grand Cathedral. His skull says he "became the first cleric beast". See Laurence. (Bloodborne: The Old Hunters)
Living Failures#
Blue-skinned patients in the garden above the Research Hall. The trophy calls them "the failed attempts to become Great Ones". (Bloodborne: The Old Hunters)
Lady Maria of the Astral Clocktower#
Gehrman's student, guarding the way to the Fishing Hamlet: "A corpse, should be left well alone." See Lady Maria. (Bloodborne: The Old Hunters)
Orphan of Kos#
The child of Kos, on the beach of the Fishing Hamlet. Afterwards the priest says the child has "returned to the ocean". See The Orphan of Kos. (Bloodborne: The Old Hunters)
Chalice Dungeon bosses#
The Labyrinth was "carved out by the Pthumerians", whose early members "were mere humble guardians of the slumbering Great Ones". Rom, Amygdala, Ebrietas, the Celestial Emissary and the Blood-starved Beast also return there. (Bloodborne)
Watchdog of the Old Lords#
A huge burning hound. "Old Lords" is usually read as the Pthumerian rulers it serves. (Bloodborne)
Keeper of the Old Lords#
A Pthumerian guardian in bone-ash armour, keeping watch for the same masters. (Bloodborne)
Pthumerian Descendant#
A tall, fast Pthumerian with a curved blade, deep in the Pthumeru Labyrinth. (Bloodborne)
Pthumerian Elder#
A hunched Pthumerian with a flaming staff, met in the Hintertomb. (Bloodborne)
Yharnam, Pthumerian Queen#
The trophy names her "Blood Queen of the Old Labyrinth". She is pregnant, and a child cries as she fights. (Bloodborne)
Merciless Watcher#
The Hintertomb Chalice says "the Watchers continue to expand the hintertombs". These are their armed overseers. (Bloodborne)
Undead Giant#
A rotting giant with blades or guns grafted to its arms. (Bloodborne)
Forgotten Madman#
A hunter driven mad in the Hintertomb, casting Choir spells, with an escort who joins the fight. (Bloodborne)
Bloodletting Beast#
A hulking beast split open down the back. (Bloodborne)
Abhorrent Beast#
A Loran beast. The Afflicted Beggar in Yharnam turns into one when attacked. The Ailing Loran Chalice says Loran's tragedy "is said to have its roots in the scourge of the beast". (Bloodborne)
Loran Silverbeast and Loran Darkbeast#
Stronger relatives of the beasts in Loran's sands, the second a twin of Paarl. (Bloodborne)
Beast-possessed Soul#
A horned beast wielding fire. (Bloodborne)
Brainsucker#
A tentacle-faced creature that drains Insight from the hunter's head. (Bloodborne)
Maneater Boar#
An oversized boar, the most ordinary animal in the Labyrinth. (Bloodborne)
Frequently asked questions
- How many bosses are in Bloodborne?
- Seventeen in the main game counting the secret Moon Presence, five more in The Old Hunters, and around fifteen that only appear in the Chalice Dungeons.
- Which Bloodborne bosses are Great Ones?
- The trophies name Rom, Amygdala, the Celestial Emissary, Ebrietas, Mergo's Wet Nurse and the Orphan of Kos. The Moon Presence has no trophy, but a note names it a moon presence and players treat it as one too.
- Who is the final boss of Bloodborne?
- Gehrman, the First Hunter, unless you have consumed three Third Umbilical Cords. Then the Moon Presence follows him as the true final boss.
- Which bosses used to be human?
- Father Gascoigne, Vicar Amelia, Ludwig and Laurence were all hunters or clerics who became beasts, and their trophies say "the beast that once was". Micolash, Logarius, Lady Maria and Gehrman fight as humans.
Sources
- GameBloodborne, FromSoftware, 2015
- GameBloodborne: The Old Hunters, FromSoftware, 2015 (expansion)
Spotted a factual error or a primary source we missed? Email a correction. Every flagged claim gets reviewed.
Followed from this entry
Bloodborne Story Explained: Yharnam, the Old Blood and the Great Ones
The whole Bloodborne story in order, from the blood transfusion that brings your hunter to Yharnam to the three endings in the Hunter's Dream. What the game actually tells you, what fans have pieced together, and where the two part ways.
Father Gascoigne: the Hunter, Viola and the Tiny Music Box
Father Gascoigne is the first required boss in Bloodborne, a hunter lost to the blood who turns into a beast mid-fight. His wife Viola, his daughter and a tiny music box tell a family story that ends badly whatever you do. Here is the whole of it, with the game's own words.
Gehrman, the First Hunter: the Old Man Bound to the Hunter's Dream
Gehrman is the old man in the wheelchair who greets you in the Hunter's Dream, and the first hunter of Yharnam. He built the first workshop, trained the first hunters, and at the end of the night offers to free you, or fights you. Here is what the game states and where the theories start.
Lady Maria of the Astral Clocktower: Gehrman's Student and the Nightmare's Guardian
Lady Maria is the hunter waiting in the Astral Clocktower in The Old Hunters. She was one of Gehrman's first students, a distant relative of the Cainhurst queen, and the keeper of the Nightmare's real secret. Here is what the game states about her, and what players infer.
Laurence, the First Vicar: Founder of the Healing Church and the First Cleric Beast
Laurence was a scholar of Byrgenwerth who left his master, founded the Healing Church and became its first vicar. He also became the first cleric beast. In The Old Hunters he burns in the Nightmare, looking for a skull that can never give him back his memories.
Ludwig, the Holy Blade: the First Hunter of the Healing Church
Ludwig was the first Church hunter, the man who started the Healing Church workshop and the hero Yharnam's Holy Blades descend from. In The Old Hunters he is Ludwig the Accursed, a horse-like beast in a pit of corpses, until he finds his sword again. Here is what the game states.
Mentioned in6 entries
Father Gascoigne: the Hunter, Viola and the Tiny Music Box
Father Gascoigne is the first required boss in Bloodborne, a hunter lost to the blood who turns into a beast mid-fight. His wife Viola, his daughter and a tiny music box tell a family story that ends badly whatever you do. Here is the whole of it, with the game's own words.
Gehrman, the First Hunter: the Old Man Bound to the Hunter's Dream
Gehrman is the old man in the wheelchair who greets you in the Hunter's Dream, and the first hunter of Yharnam. He built the first workshop, trained the first hunters, and at the end of the night offers to free you, or fights you. Here is what the game states and where the theories start.
Lady Maria of the Astral Clocktower: Gehrman's Student and the Nightmare's Guardian
Lady Maria is the hunter waiting in the Astral Clocktower in The Old Hunters. She was one of Gehrman's first students, a distant relative of the Cainhurst queen, and the keeper of the Nightmare's real secret. Here is what the game states about her, and what players infer.
Laurence, the First Vicar: Founder of the Healing Church and the First Cleric Beast
Laurence was a scholar of Byrgenwerth who left his master, founded the Healing Church and became its first vicar. He also became the first cleric beast. In The Old Hunters he burns in the Nightmare, looking for a skull that can never give him back his memories.
Ludwig, the Holy Blade: the First Hunter of the Healing Church
Ludwig was the first Church hunter, the man who started the Healing Church workshop and the hero Yharnam's Holy Blades descend from. In The Old Hunters he is Ludwig the Accursed, a horse-like beast in a pit of corpses, until he finds his sword again. Here is what the game states.
The Chalice Dungeons: Bloodborne's Pthumerian Labyrinth Explained
The Chalice Dungeons are Bloodborne's optional underground ruins, opened by Holy Chalice rituals in the Hunter's Dream. They are the Labyrinth the Pthumerians carved beneath Yharnam, which Gehrman calls the tomb of the gods. Here is how they work, the four lands inside, and what the chalices reveal.
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