Eboshi is a very strong and caring woman, who wants to help the people of Irontown. She uses her money to buy and free prostitutes. Eboshi also takes in lepers, treating them as humans instead of parasites, and helps them with their wounds.

Eboshi eventually brings her flock to Irontown, where the iron is taken from the mountains to make steel, and then high-quality weapons. The people had used up all the iron along the beaches, and they needed to move further up the mountains. However, there is a ferocious boar god in the mountains - Nago, the undefeated champion of the mountain. Many strong and brave men go into the mountains to challenge the boar, but none succeed. However, Eboshi and her men defeat the boar, shooting him with an ishibiya gun, mortally wounding him and turning him into a demon. This boar god is the same demon that curses Ashitaka.

Eboshi proceeds to lead Irontown, cutting down trees and using the iron beneath them to further the settlement. Eboshi wants to defeat the animal gods so that there will be nothing but "dumb beasts" without the god's influence, and thus the land would become a rich place for humans to live without animal interference. The harlots and lepers would have work, be able to live as people rather than animals, and have a good life.

Eboshi has plenty of enemies, both man and beast. The samurai warlords want to take control of Irontown, knowing the value of the ore surrounding it. Eboshi is able to get some ishibiya troops to defend Irontown, and being a very capable leader, she is able to stop the samurai lords from taking over. As for the beasts, practically every mountain god hates Eboshi, and they all vie for the opportunity to bite her head off. They want to protect the forest and their habitats. Despite the apparent ferocity of the beasts, Eboshi is wise enough to know that the true enemy is not beasts, but rather humans, for humans are deceitful, crafty, and intelligent enough to use nature to make the most horrifying of weapons: guns and explosives.