Loretta's Greatbow

Lore & Background

Loretta, the Moon Princess, was a figure of quiet, terrible power in the history of the Lands Between. As mother to Ranni the Witch, she embodied the Carian tradition of moon-bound magic, yet her weapon speaks of something deeper than mere sorcery. The Greatbow is a physical manifestation of devotion channeled through form—a weapon that does not merely shoot arrows but hurls the weight of prayer and celestial alignment at its target. Its size is staggering, dwarfing the standard bows of the Academy, and its ornate construction suggests it was crafted not for a soldier but for a sovereign of the moon's court.

The Academy of Raya Lucaria, where the bow rests, is a place of scholars and sorcerers, a floating citadel of blue light and ancient knowledge. That Loretta's weapon is found here, among the remnants of her daughter's domain, adds a layer of poignant absence. Ranni left the Academy, walked her own path of witchcraft and rebellion, but her mother's weapon remained—a relic of a devotion that Ranni herself would eventually question and reshape.

In the broader mythos of the Lands Between, the Greatbow represents the intersection of Faith and the Carian moon. It is not a weapon of war in the traditional sense; it is an instrument of will, of a princess who could call upon the moon's light and focus it into a single, devastating point. Its presence in the player's hands is less about combat efficiency and more about carrying a fragment of that celestial authority across the shattering world.

In Their Own Story

The corridor was silent except for the slow drip of condensation off the vaulted ceiling. Blue light pooled in the alcoves where the dead scholars still sat at their desks, quills frozen mid-stroke. You stepped over a body draped in Carian blue, its fingers still curled around a half-finished treatise on glintstone theory, and pressed your palm against the cold stone of the far wall.

And there it was. Loretta's Greatbow leaned against the pillar like a sleeping beast, its curve vast enough to span the width of the hallway. The wood was dark, almost black, threaded with veins of pale silver that caught the moonlight filtering through the broken window. The string hummed faintly, a sound below hearing, more felt in the teeth than heard with the ears. You reached for it, and the moment your fingers closed around the grip, the hum sharpened into a single, clear note—like a bell struck once in an empty cathedral.

The bow was heavier than it looked. Not the crushing weight of a greatsword, but a dense, living heft, as though the wood itself had a pulse. You nocked an arrow you'd looted from a dead soldier's quiver, drew the string back, and felt the moonlight bend around the shaft. For a breath, the corridor was gone. There was only the blue, the hum, and the quiet certainty that somewhere, a princess had drawn this same string and let the night fly.

Reader's Guide

You know that feeling. Three playthroughs of hunting bows, of stacking sorcery arrows, of fumbling with a weapon that feels like a toy in your hands. Then you step into that quiet, blue-lit chamber in the Academy, and there it is. Loretta's Greatbow. And it is NOT a toy.

The first thing that hits you is the size. This is not a bow you flick at a wolf. You draw it, and the string pulls with a slow, tectonic resistance, and when you release, the arrow leaves with a deep, resonant *thwum* that you feel in your sternum. It is a weapon of commitment. You aim, you commit, you release, and the world rearranges itself around the arrow's path.

Because it scales with Faith, it rewards a build that most players never consider for a bow. You are not stacking Intelligence. You are stacking the quiet, devotional power of the moon, and every point you pour into Faith makes that draw feel more like a prayer being answered. Pair it with a talisman that boosts Faith scaling or arrow damage, and suddenly your arrows are not just hitting—they are *arriving*, carrying the weight of celestial authority.

The animation is slow. That is the trade-off. You are not a skirmisher. You are the Moon Princess on a balcony, and you do not need to fire four arrows a second. You fire one. And it is enough.

Find it. Draw it. And for a moment, you are not a Tarnished. You are something older, something the moon made.

Did You Know?

• Loretta's Greatbow is one of the few greatbows in Elden Ring that scales primarily with Faith rather than Strength or Dexterity, making it a rare choice for a Faith-focused ranged build.
• The bow is found in the Academy of Raya Lucaria, the same institution associated with Ranni the Witch, Loretta's daughter, tying the weapon to the Carian moon tradition.
• Its massive size and slow draw animation contrast sharply with the lighter, faster bows in the game, emphasizing a playstyle built around precision and single powerful shots rather than volume of fire.
• Loretta, the Moon Princess, is referenced in the game's lore as a figure of significant power, and her weapon carries that thematic weight of celestial devotion into the player's hands.