Ashlands Runestones
The 13 runestones the Ashlands holds, about 825 words of them, in the order the game numbers them. Read together rather than one at a time in the dark, they stop being flavour and start being an account.
Runestone 1
Know, child unborn, that this was once the greatest kingdom in all Valheim. Here lived the Sons and Daughters of the King of the Emerald Flame. Beneath his wing, we knew strength and security. In his sight, we grew like green shoots.
Now we set this stone among rubble and turn our backs on the land of our birth. May future ages take warning from us.
Runestone 2
In the forests of the far North, our scouts came across a sleeping boy, sitting naked in the deep snow with his back to a tree. They wrapped him in furs and brought him back to the king, asleep all the while with only his eyelids moving.
We named him the Winter Child and we took him to be a good omen. May the gods have mercy on fools.
Runestone 3
It was known throughout the land that the two would often sit together as if in talk, the king coiled about the sleeping child with his face close, straining to catch any murmured words.
Nobody knew what passed between them but all saw the change in the king. Justice flared into wrath and caution deepened into fear. Laws were passed that must be broken and each time the lawbreakers were punished more harshly.
Tyranny came in a spiral, like a great storm.
Runestone 4
When the King of the Emerald Flame flew away to visit the wizard king of the Fulings, his own thegns rose against him and torched the palace with the Winter Child inside. All of us who were alive at that time heard the shriek that sounded for the nine days of the fire and echoed in the city's streets for many weeks longer.
Those were the last good days any of us knew, before the return of our king.
Runestone 5
When the king saw the charred remains of his great hall, he swore to show his foes a fire far greater than the little spark they had kindled. With his breath, he razed our city to the ground and then brought war to all the land. Some of the people stayed faithful to the king but many sought to quench his fury.
Brothers fought against brothers, sisters against sisters. The Kingdom of the Emerald Flame tore itself apart. Now only these charred ruins remain, within which not even the dead can find rest.
Runestone 6
The stones tell of a great tragedy in this land, many centuries ago. It is hard to believe the creature who stalks this ruined city was once a noble beast and a wise king. Yet we will not stay our hands on this account. When we kill him, we will count it a mercy.
Runestone 7
I have not been happy for more than a day in any place since I came here but this place is the worst of all. Most things are on fire and the fishing is not good. These are the words of Ulf.
Runestone 8
The pure fire of a grand drake has the power to give life and quicken the dead earth. Once, they blessed the land and seas with their cleansing flame, bringing new life wherever they passed.
But for those who are burned by a drake's fire, the blessing is a curse. They are killed and quickened at the same time, caught forever between death and life. Such are the unfortunate souls who wander this ruined land, with flames for flesh and agony in every moment. They cannot be destroyed, only pitied.
Runestone 9
If the tales are true, the gods long ago abandoned this world. The King of the Emerald Flame was the closest to a god we knew but our prayers to him have turned to ashes in our mouths.
This is the last of our strongholds and in the morning we will die defending it. We offer no more prayers and wish only for clean, free deaths, unburned by the flame.
Runestone 10
It is folly for the free folk to say they need no gods. Nobody needs gods and the gods need no one. They owe nothing to men.
But still the wise will seek the powerful as vines will seek a mighty tree to climb. We give our swords to the King of the Emerald Flame because without him there is only death.
Runestone 11
War is a fire And men are fuel.
When the heart-blaze kindles Their bodies are dry wood.
Runestone 12
I am Astrid of the Long Arm. I came here after much hardship to fight the beast and break the curse that keeps me here. The raven has returned a memory to me and it will not let me rest. I will die as many times as I need to die to see my son again.
Runestone 13
I have watched many warriors throw themselves against the beast again and again, losing a little of their will each time until their beds lie empty. If this is my fate, so be it. These are the words of Björn, who was once a farmer.
These 13 stones are what Valheim chose to write down about the Ashlands, and reading them in one sitting is not something the game lets you do — they are scattered by the world generator, so your world shows them to you in whatever order you happen to walk. The text is Iron Gate's own, in your language, reproduced in full rather than summarised.
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Ashlands lore
Where do you find runestones in the Ashlands?
They are placed by the world generator, so there is no fixed spot — but every one of the 13 the Ashlands holds is reproduced above, so you do not have to find them to read them.
Do runestones do anything besides tell a story?
No. Reading one records it in your compendium and nothing else — no buff, no unlock, no map marker. They exist to be read, which is why having them all on one page costs you nothing in the game.
How many runestones are there in the Ashlands?
13 here, running to roughly 825 words of text. That is the whole of what the game says about this place in its own voice, gathered into one page rather than scattered across a map you would have to re-walk to read.
Are the runestones translated?
Yes — Iron Gate wrote them and ships them in 9 languages, and this page reproduces whichever one you are reading in rather than paraphrasing the English. A summary of a runestone would be strictly worse than the runestone, so nothing here is rewritten.
Do runestones have to be read in order?
No, and in play you will not find them in one. They are placed by the world generator, so the 13 in the Ashlands arrive one at a time and usually at a bad moment. Read together they make a continuous account of the people who were here before you, which is the order this page puts them in.