Valheim's Lore So Far... and How Will it All End? 

me: loves valheim, hundreds hours played, never paid one bit of attention to lore and story me after watching this video: i am awakened

The Loki theory actually makes quite a bit of sense considering Loki is a child of the ice giants.

I never knew the story of Valheim was actually so in depth :o Amazing video and summarization of the lore, looking forward to the next lore video when the Deep North is finally here :D

I love Embr vids! Fabulous pacing, great edits without being ostentatious, never a wasted syllable, and always an injection of humor! AHEM *humour! I must concur that we'll meet the winter child at some point, likely as a boss. A powerful enemy that lacks the imposing stature of all the dragons and tree-kings will make for some interesting contrast, but I wouldn't be surprised to see it take some "final form" as well. I lean more heavily toward Odin than a sudden entrance by Loki, but I'm definitely leaving room for something altogether different as well! Thanks for the great analysis!

Warning: This is super long. TLDR: Valheim is an enthralling, immersive world and it will always hold a special place in my heart. There’s one runestone in Valheim that lives rent free in my head. Some context: Before I started my first real play through with my friend, a little over a year ago, I had already played a little bit and gotten up to the Black Forest. I was already starting to really like the game, so when we started our own world together, I decided to name my Viking Harald. I always thought that name sounded bad ass and I wanted to get immersed in the world. Our playthrough went really well, the only problem was, he was busier than I was most of the time and he’s usually not a big fan of survival games (but he ended up really liking the late game). So whenever I was playing by myself, I would always sail around and explore the world, trying to reveal as many islands on the map as possible and look for runestones to understand the lore (I’m a pretty big nerd when it comes to lore in games). By the time we got to the plains tier, we were both enthralled and I was already starting to consider Valheim one of my favorite games of all time. My friend was working out of town and we were planning on fighting Yagluth when he got back. The day before, I wanted to go looking for runestones. So I used the portal, got on the boat and started looking. It wasn’t too long before I saw a distant plains biome and in lied a runestone. I came up to it and started reading: “Good friend, lay your hand on this stone and remember Harald, who carved it. In Midgard I lost my life on the battlefield but in Valheim it was restored to me. Yet still my battle continued. In the green meadows I fought Eikthyr the Great Stag and lost an eye to his horns. In the deep woods I gave my shield hand to the Old Man of the Forest, and took a draugr arrow below my ribs that my fingers can still feel. On the mountainside I fought the Mother Drake and she bit off my leg at the knee so that I must walk always with a staff. Now my last battle must be at hand. When I sleep this time, where will I wake?”. Valheim wasn’t subtle before with it’s feelings of despair, loneliness and hopelessness, but when I read that, I just kinda froze for a second. Not only was the name Harald, but it strongly reminded me of Dark Souls and how you can become hollow, if you lose your conviction and will. It made me question the journey we are set on at the start of the game. It made me wonder, along with all the other runestones, how many Vikings came before us and failed? It makes me question, will Valheim become our prison? Will we ever go to Valhalla? There was one thing I knew for certain, that I would do my best to finish the fight the others started. I don’t want to get into details, but before I started playing Valheim, I was struggling mentally. To the point that nothing felt enjoyable anymore, not even my instruments or other games. But one day, I remembered that a few months prior, my brother talked me into buying a game called Valheim. So I decided to finally try it and now a days, Valheim is my home away from home.

Thanks for the video. But we all know Ulf the Brave is the true god of Valheim. He traveled from edge to edge and must have defeated even the mighties foes to get there. His runestones are the proof and he's the one watching you sometimes. All hail Ulf!

I'd like to think that winter child is Loki/Children of Loki disguising and sent to destabilize and dethroning Fader as part of Odin's plot

This is an amazing breakdown! Great stuff Embr!

I'm waking up to 0:04

I still to this day don't think that the Deep North is the end. I feel like we are gonna get wings from the deep north to fly into the sky up to the root. Also in past updates there were mini updates such as new traders even small biomes could be added into the world still, or even ocean biomes or structures. I feel people just assume that the game is just gonna end at the Deep North but there is much that could be added. A paint update has also been theorized for years.

I remember sitting down after the update and filling out the wiki with all the runes, im glad you made this video too, now people who dont read the runes or the wiki can understand the lore as well

Didn't expect Embr to create a lore video but I am all here for it. At this point if you upload anything regularly you should get at least 100k subs . You are amazing.

Omg never knew i was gonna be interested in valheims lore , Great vid

Great video, it summed up all the things stewing in my subconscious concerning the story. I've been gaming since the mid 80's, Valheim is my G.O.A.T.

Rune: "Seven were the creatures banished to this world." *Valheim: Deep North drops Rune: "EIGHT were the creatures banished to this world." Edit: Something tells me that there would be nine biomes. Nine seemed to be a sacred number.

At first I deduced that Deep North will be the endgame and we'll face final boss there, expecting either Odin himself throwing a final test upon us or some other greater "Non-Forsaken" entity like Yormungand, Surtr or Nidhogg. After learning the winter child lore, it's most likely Loki.

This was really interesting! I haven't read all the runestones in Ashlands yet, largely because the hordes of enemies would barely give me enough of a break to read them, but I find it really cool that they're actually incorporating that one dream into the lore, which is great foreshadowing if the Winter Child ends up having some importance. I wonder if any of the other dreams have meaning too.

My bet: we’re going to fight our ways thru frost giants right to loki or something of it’s creation. Thank you for your video

That acrually just inspired me ah right now. I'm trying to write my dnd campaign based around elden ring for the entire summer. And yet i'm starting to feel the thrill only after reading the dune and diving into valheim lore. Yeah, maybe it definetly won't be elden ring at all as i'm planning on different approach to the plot, but i'm willing to bring the same depth to it. The story of Fader and his kingdome correlates a lot with mine undeveloped idea of a fallen dwarfen kingdom in the heart of Mount.Gelmir. I'm definetly gonna add it there and therefore get rid of my plans on different endings rather than sticking to just 3 - the bad, the mid and the true good one. And i'm already sure that this fallen dwarfen kingdom of Modimus will be the main key to the last one. Thx for the video and inspiring me right now

Would be fitting if the Winter Child was an aspect of Loki.

That was illuminating, I remember that dream with the child and it always intrigued me, I'm glad they decided to incorporate it into the game. I'm looking forward for the deep north though I can't fully explore ashlands yet since valheim seems to overheat my pc ever since that update.

Damn, I think I got to get back into the game! I've always loved your videos always such a great storytelling and narration really pulls you in and get you hooked on the story. I can't wait to play again but unfortunately at the moment I am relieving one of my favorite game series the Darksiders

Literally the day I Plan to research the games lore you return lmao

only embr could make me care this much about valheim's lore now, cant wait to see how they end it all in the deep north

I love this video, very well done. While playing I have seen many of same dreams over and over again, including the sleeping child dream. During one play session in the I got a dream I had never seen before. It specifically mentioned Loki and something about a ring. It caught me off guard and I was unable to screen capture. I wanted to read the full text because I was only able to skim it (I was probably sipping my beer and not paying attention). I tried to look it up online, but I can’t seem to find it. Have you ever seen that dream? And yes, I think the final boss is Loki.

Best lore video of Ashlands. You should do more like these with Mistlands, Plains, and etc biomes lore behind the zones and creatures of valheim.

Great video and very good editing also commented for the algorithm.

Embr with another fantastic video of course!!!

hmm, the thing about loki is that the representation of him being a villain is pretty new, before he was either odin/loki who did shenanigans or the one who got to clean the mess thor and the other gods specially odin left, so he *might* be the winter child, which is interesting if we take into account how he got burned in the fire of the castle and his name loki is derived from logi(fire) all in all i think we killed the forsaken, but who's next we might not even take the head off of...or maybe there's like an eight forsaken but its actually a lie and right after the fight the winter child appears and talks to us, maybe like, choose between completing the game and going to valhalla, or continuing the game with harder enemies or something like so

I love tour videos! The edits are well done, the pacing is spot on, the music is perfectly ambient and not distracting, and your content is thought provoking and informative. I look forward to more videos!

Always love a new video from Embr! Fantastic work as always!

I really enjoy your streams, but I genuinely like it when you do these videos and guides. I would love to see more of them... Thanks a lot as always and keep up the great work.

Great lore vid! I never really paid attention to the lore and it seems deep compared to what I felt playing the game. The Deep North kinda makes sense with Fimbulvetr as the final, terrible cold death of the world after Ragnarok. The game depicts Ragnarok in Muspellheim as Ashlands and Fimbulvetr in Jotunheim as Deep North. I'd love to hear more lore and theories on the game lore!

I can't even imagine hom many hours it has taken to get the footage for all the stuff you talk about. Interesting, well-researched topic and great editing, tremendous job overall

Thanks for making this. It was a fun watch and has got me hyped to see where the end game goes. I had no idea I'd missed so much lore on the stones!

I love the story is exciting and dramatic. I completely forgot to play the game while listening to your story.

I've been too lazy to find and read the lore. This was very interesting.

Thank you for sharing all this lore with . I missed stones and story in ashlnds. Happy to find that there is so much lore behind.

I never knew there was so much story to this game! I’ve never really read all the stones lol

"We'll find out soon enogh." I wish I had your optimism Embr. Great lore video and look forward to see what you come up with next.

Honestly you're unmatched. I appreciate your hard work and great story telling.

Awesome! Thank you very much. I had never paid much attention to the lore and connected all the dots. I also think the Winter Child is going to be the last boss. The last biome being the Deep North is another clue. And it is very likely he is Loki or somehow related to him. Thor being in Valheim might be another clue, maybe he is there looking for him. Maybe Loki was not banned to Valheim, but is there manipulating the Forsaken that were banned so they reach Yggdrasil and bring Ragnarok.

I personally belive that Odin is the winter child for sure. He was a trickster god himself. Or could be a Jötunn. While most just call them "giants", the Jötunn where more or less just nature gods. The winter child could very well be a being simular to Ullr, Hodr or Gerðr.

Love your content! Keep it up!!

Very nice video, and interesting thoughts at the end. It got me thinking about the loose ends in current biomes and how they could relate to the endgame. I come to the conclusion that the endgame will all be about Angrboda, the "bringer of grief" (and love-interest of Loki). My thoughts: - The Deep North is not a regular expression, otherwise it would be Far North. The name Deep North is a well-considered name by the devs. I believe the North will literally have depths. It makes sense that the freezing depths of the North will be Helheim. The Winter Child might refer to Hel (the winter child of Angrboda or Loki). - The cult of the Wolf is a strange name for the mountains update. Sofar the cultists are a loose-end that can easily be negated. According to the title they worship the Wolf. Yes, the cave markings say that they cultists manage to transform into wolves. But the Wolf is still missing. The obvious candidate is Fenrir. So the game hints at Hel and Fenrir. They are brother and sister and have another brother: Jörmungand, the Midgard Serpent. Well, how about that ocean update that will be included in a future update? Valheim Serpent WIki already refers to Jörmundgand. Thus the children of Loki and Angrboda all play a role behind the scenes. Will they play a prominent role in the next update? And will Loki or Angrboda be present? I opt for Angrboda because her role can be connected to the presence of the giant remains in the mistlands.

In actuall Norse mythology Odin is as much treacherous as Loki. Odin is shape-shiffting, he is breaking his word, he is a necromancer, he make good people die only to get them into his army in Valhalla... Literally, in every single myth about Odin we know of today, whenever Odin apperas some people will die. So I wouldn't be surpised by any posibility in Valheim. Personally, from the very begining of the game I have this strange feeling that I, the player, am just a tool to Odin. And it may be very well the case that we are only used by Odin to keep him in power and help him defeat his enemies, who simply don't want to be under his rule. After that Odin will destroy us as well just to be sure we won't grow too strong to become a threat to Odin, the worst and power hungry a*hole in all Ten Worlds.

i love the lore of this game and how deep it can go I'm really exited for more lore and content drops. also really great video explains it well and changes a few of my perspectives keep it up

Was just watching your stream vod from the first adventure into the ashlands when this popped up! Loving your videos and streams!

I’m betting it’s Loki, there isn’t any mention of Ragnarök but the rune stones that mention Yggdrasil cracking and breaking make me think we will be tasked by Odin to prevent Ragnarök. What if the Winter Child isn’t even the final boss but a herald of the doom to come? What if he is Loki trying to bring the Jotuns back? I’d love if the End Game for Valheim involved hunting down giants. Could end with a final climactic wave of giants, defeating the sons of Muspel and defeating Surtr.

watch the winter child just end up being a jpeg of the yeti from the Himalayas in Monsters Inc.

A lore video? From Embr?!? Yes please and thank you!

Started watching this before killing Fader and had to stop to avoid spoilers. Well, we did it last night so I'm back. Embr, you are a WONDERFUL storyteller. I love your Valheim videos. I loved this one. :)

Such a great effect @3:47 i can't even imagine how you pulled this off.

Thank you Embr. Incredible video as always.

This is really informative and well-edited! I should really get back into valheim

I love the idea that the winter child might be odin, it would make for a really interesting twist ending!

Great video, very useful to put all inline, the lore is certainly more clear now. And Loki seems likely, yeah. We’ll see, can’t wait to play the north biome. Such a good game, I love it ! 😊

This was a great video! I like reading the runestones, but it's hard to connect their stories together. Thank you!

Modar and Fader? Could the Winter Could the Winter Child be theirs? Well Something to that Possibility?

So much talent in that brain of yours

Great summary, Embr. Thanks for always producing solid content!

I always wanted a valheim lore video, thank you so much.

Loki is the bastard son of a God and a Jotun, half brother to Odin. Would not be surprised if that somehow is intertwined with the Valheim lore.

Looks like I had missed a lot of runestones. Not easy to read when you are constantly harassed by twitchers

maybe the winter child could be a form of ymir, the first frost giant ? id like to think there will still be some jotuns/frost giants in the deep north, thats just me tho. i wouldnt know how it all could be tied together

I love Valheim so much, me and my friends stream this and play it so often, I really wish Valheim was more recognized for the amazing game it is. (i.e was more popular bc it deserves it)

if there is gona be a eigths boss to the winter lands, it is certain we gona have ninth boss

Its absalute "Hell: trying to get through it 😂 Please do more lore videos, there great

I'd like to think it's all connected to Loki and his frost Giant kin, but then Valheim is not always connected to Norse mythology. That said, being severed from the world tree, so we could end up with some form of magical being that is in space honestly. Either way, I hope it leads to some DLC to continue the journey or Valheim II

This was so great! Thankyou 😊

Nice video, thanks for sharing that lore to those who don't really read the runestones lol

I loved your theory, i'm definitely reading all the runes now 😬

Excellent summation.

Video its awesome! great info compilation! Until recently, the child dream didn´t make sense and always thought it was a dream from we were alive in Midgard or lost memory but after the Runestones in Ashlands i have the suspicion that the Winter Child its some sort of personification of Fimbulvetr or a prelude to Ragnarok, perhaps Odin is trying to stop or delay Fimbulvetr in Valheim before it lands on Midgard or Asgard that could be why he entrusted the defeating of the Forsaken. It seems fit for Odin to exile Fader to Valheim just because he knew what the Winter Child is and Fader didnt (maybe?) but take him to his kingdom anyways, either Fader confabulate with te Child and Yagluth to take down Odin or the Child used Fader to weak the realm in other to facilitate Ragnarok but no matter wich one was Fader was on the end of the stick so Odin

Hippity Hoppity Odin looks with great disappointment how me and my friends build a church on our property

I love Valheim Endgame title and first thing come to my mind is, we fight all the bosses all at once. It should be freaking epic

Yes! New video finally!

Perhaps the true final boss of Valheim was the friends we made along the way... Or it was my framerate after trying yet another mega-build. One or the other.

THE LORE ! The Valheory !

Very cool video thanks a lot! My 2ct are on Loki.

Amazing video theres so much i didnt know about the games story

Idea: Could finding the child cause you to become evil without knowing it and cause you to fight Odin as the end game final boss fight?

I absolutely love the idea that the winter child is oden who is jealous of valheim's civilization. It's the God of War megalomaniac Odin vibes

Incredible video as always. Was thinking about doing a lore video myself but doubt I could top this. WELL DONE!

This is amazing. Very detailed and well edited. Thank you for sharing. I learned a lot of lore from this video. I can't wait to see what we find out in the Deep North! I think (hope) it is Odin and we have to fight Odin. I'd be OK with that. I have long said that Odin is evil and that we shouldn't worship or follow him. lol

So Fader is King Theoden in Two Towers

Amazing lore video, never cared about the lore until this vid

I hope they expand on the ocean biome after Deep North.

Winter child = Loki

Another peek has been made

Babe wake up new Embr video just dropped

I love your work SO MUCH

Perhaps, Winter Child/Sleeping Child is some sort of original "ruler" of Valheim? The seven Forsaken were send there as Odin prisoners but perhaps Winter Child was there from the beginning?

Well done!

Great video as always. I always did enjoy the lore, but I never really took the time to compile it all. One theory I have about the final boss springs from the naming of the other bosses. With Ashlands, Moder has her counterpart, the Fader, and I think the last boss will be the Queen's counterpart. The King of Winter.

My money is on the child being a sort of decedent of Ymir, maybe even a reincarnation. he was unwittingly trapped in Valheim and now is looking to conquer the realm and unite the worlds that was once the corpse of their forebear.

What if... we get Godfrey, First Elden Lord as the final boss as he went to the forbidden lands in Elden Ring to kill the Fire Giants?

God I love this game... Well done.

Amazing work, i love these vids omg

just gonna add that we know of the existence of Fenrir (AKA Fenrisúlfr), son of Loki, so ... the trickster is definitely on the table