Vanaheim is the biggest realm in God of War: Ragnarok so it can be difficult to locate all the Nornir Chests. This realm has 11 Nornir Chests that are to be opened to reach 100% completion.
This article will guide you step-by-step to find all the Nornir Chests locations and how to solve the puzzles related to these Nornir Chests.
Key Takeaways:
- Vanaheim contains 11 Nornir Chests that are even placed all over the map.
- To open them, you need to complete different types of puzzles.
- To reach some of the chests, you need to finish their pre-requisite Favors first.
Nornir Chest Locations
All the 11 Nornir Chests in Vanaheim are distributed at 9 different locations which are:
- The Abandoned Village
- The Southern Wilds
- Cliffside Ruins
- The Veiled Passage
- Goddess Falls
- Eastern Barri Woods
- The Plains
- The Sinkholes
- The Jungle
To open Nornir Chests, you need to solve puzzles first. Different types of puzzles are to be solved. You may be required to light up torches where Kratos will be using his Blades of Chaos. We call this the Torch Puzzle. We will be using Sigil Arrows or Fire Buckets as well.
Other than that, you can also face another puzzle where you spin the golden paddles of a spinner by throwing your axe on it. We have to spin these paddles until they show the required letter. We will call this the Switch Puzzle. Solving leads you to opening Nornir Chests.
Another situation you might face will need you to ring 3 bells placed discreetly around your location to solve the puzzle. This is the Bell Puzzle. Completing it will get you to open the Nornir Chests.
The last puzzle you might cross will be the Totem Puzzle. You locate 3 runes in your surrounding area, mostly hidden behind waterfalls or different objects. Use your spear and throw them at all the 3 runes. Locate the chest and detonate it to destroy all 3 runes at once.
The Abandoned Village
As visible on the Vanaheim map, The Abandoned Village lies on the Northeast side. You can reach there by climbing the cliffs on your way. You will see a crane in the middle of the village that can be rotated by hitting the spinning paddles under it.
To open the Nornir Chest that is under the wooden bridge, you need to release the fire bucket stuck in Hel’s Bramble. Then, you will swing the fire bucket using your Blades of Chaos to light up the torches behind Hel’s Bramble.
N Rune’s Torch
Cross the bridge by swinging to the crane and look under the bridge where you will find the Nornir Chest. To the left of it, you will see the ‘N’ Rune’s Torch. Light it up with your Blades of Chaos.
The other two torches are unreachable by your Blades of Chaos so we will swing the fire bucket on them.
R Rune’s Torch
Go back up on the wooden bridge and face East to see the ‘R’ Rune’s Torch. Swing back to the other side of the bridge facing the golden paddles under it.
Rotate the crane so the fire bucket is in front of you. Then swing the fire bucket to the left with your Blades of Chaos to light up the ‘R’ Rune’s Torch.
C Rune’s Torch
When still on the bridge, face West and you will see the ‘C’ Rune’s Torch. Rotate back the crane so you can swing to the other side.
When you reach the other side of the bridge, you will see the fire bucket in front of you. Swing it rightwards to light up the last Torch and voila! You have unlocked your first Nornir Chest. You will hear a sound effect when this happens. Go under the bridge again to open it.
Also Read about Niflheim in God of War: Ragnarok.
The Southern Wilds
Reach the Southern Wilds by moving Southeast. The Nornir Chest is located around the end of Southern Wilds. You will see it in the open just before entering Freyr’s Camp. This is one of those switch puzzles where you have to hit 3 paddles around your location.
C Rune’s Switch
When facing the Nornir Chest, look to your left and upwards to locate the ‘C’ Switch. Toss Kratos’ axe on the golden paddle to complete step 1.
R Rune’s Switch
Face the Nornir Chest again. Then look to your right and on the cliff, you will see the ‘R’ Switch, but it will be behind Hel’s Bramble. Use your Blades of Chaos to burn the Hel’s Bramble. Then Hit the Switch with your axe until it shows R.
N Rune’s Switch
This switch is at some distance from the Nornir Chest. Face the ‘R’ Switch and then move to its right in the Southeast direction to locate the ‘N’ Switch. It will also be covered in Hel’s Bramble which is set on fire from its root which is to the right of Big Tree.
Use your Blades of Chaos again to burn it and turn the golden paddle to make it display ‘N’.
Cliffside Ruins
Till now we have collected 3 Nornir Chests.
The region is more towards the Northwest of Vanaheim. You will see the Nornir Chest across the Mystic Gate in the opening under a window. This is again the Switch puzzle, so you find the golden paddles and match the alphabet.
Be cautious of enemies around you which need to be cleared first.
R Rune’s Switch
When facing the Nornir Chest before crossing the waters, you will see the ‘R’ Switch hidden behind Red Bramble. The chest is not in range of your Blades of Chaos, so you have to make use of Sigil Arrows to make a path.
After using Sigil Arrows, throw your Blades of Chaos on it to burn the Red Bramble off of the Switch. Finally, rotate the golden paddle until it displays R.
F Rune’s Switch
The ‘F’ Switch is not visible from ground level, so you need to climb the broken bridge columns to see it. The ‘F’ Switch is the one closer to a golden chain to the left of Nornir Chest.
Face the Nornir Chest from behind the waters. Then go a little toward the Southeast so you climb up. Jump towards the bridge column closest to the golden chain and the ‘F’ Switch. From there, you can hit the golden paddle so that it displays F.
D Rune’s Switch
From the same point, move Northeast towards your boat. Get in the boat and move further North. Get off the boat and when you face Southwest, the third golden paddle will be in front of you. Toss your axe on it to rotate it to ‘D’.
Get back in your boat and swim towards the Nornir Chest to open it.
The Veiled Passage
Before entering Goddess Falls, take a left on the river to enter The Veiled Passage. Travel further in your boat. Row Eastwards inside the cave where you will see the Nornir Chest on your right. Leave the boat on the dry land in front.
This is a Bell puzzle where you ring 3 bells around you quickly to unlock the Nornir Chest.
When moving toward the Nornir Chest on your right, your path will be interrupted by a blockage. To remove it, pick up a firebomb in front of you and throw it on the blockage.
Stand directly in front of the chest where you will be facing the Northwest wall. All the Bells are hanging on that wall, and they should be rung together to solve this puzzle. We will make use of Firebombs and Sigil Arrows together.
Firstly, throw a Firebomb on the right bell which is covered in Red Bramble. You have access to more than 1 Firebombs so don’t worry about it.
Then, throw 1 sigil arrow towards the left bell and 1 to the right. Shoot it 3 times in the middle to make a bigger purple bubble in a way that overlaps with the ones on the right and left. Throw the firebomb in the middle so all the bubbles are detonated.
You will hear all the bells ringing followed by a sound effect.
Goddess Falls
We have reached the count of 5 Nornir Chests.
After taking the Nornir Chest at The Veiled Passage, head up South towards Goddess Falls. As the name suggests, the Goddess ‘Falls’ is at the clifftop which is surrounded by 3 rivers. Your Nornir Chest will also be at the top.
This puzzle requires you to light up all the 3 torches to open the Nornir Chest. Previously on Abandoned Falls, we didn’t use Sigil Arrows on our Torch-Lighting puzzles but this time we will need them.
When at the top, look Northwest to see the Nornir Chest. Make use of the hook above and your Blades of Chaos to swing to it.
R Rune’s Torch
Face the Chest. Now look to your right or North to see the ‘R’ Torch. Blades of Chaos can’t directly reach the torch so we will use Sigil Arrows. You will notice two rocks or broken pillars in front of you.
Shoot 1 arrow at the rock closest to you. Then shoot another at the rock behind it. And then shoot 2 Arrows on the torch to expand the bubble size. Make sure all these pink bubbles are overlapping with each other. Hit the closest bubble with your Blades of Chaos to light up the ‘R’ Torch.
N Rune’s Torch
Face the Chest again. Look to your left to see the hook. Swing by the hook to reach the other side by crossing the waterfall. Look up Northwest towards the top of the waterfall where you will see the ‘N’ Torch. There is no direct way to reach the torch and light it.
The gaps between rocks are large so we will use 3 Sigil Arrows to make bigger bubbles. Deploy 3 Arrows on the torch. Then look directly under it to see a piece of rock; shoot 3 Sigil Arrows on it as well to make another big bubble.
These bubbles will be overlapping. If not, deploy them again in a way that they overlap. Use blades of chaos on the lower pink bubble to explode it and light up the ‘N’ Torch.
C Rune’s Torch
Face the ‘N’ Torch. Move East toward the end of the cliff to see the ‘C’ Torch. It can be set on fire by placing 3 pink bubbles in line to the left of it. Use your Blades of Chaos to light up the ‘C’ Torch and open up another Nornir Chest.
A sound effect will give you confirmation that you are ready to open the Nornir Chest.
Eastern Barri Woods
This place is more towards the East of Vanaheim under Abandoned Village. The area where the chest is placed is accessible to you on your second visit. To open the chest, you need to solve the Switch puzzle which requires you to swing the 3 golden paddles.
To find the chest, head up the curled stairs by first walking from East to North. At the end of these stairs, you will see the Nornir Chest.
D Rune’s Switch
Stand on the end of these curled stairs and look at your hard left to see the ‘D’ Switch. It’s clear in the open but covered in Bramble. Firstly, light it up with Blades of Chaos and then hit the spinner with your axe until it displays ‘D’.
If you stand at the very end of these stairs, your Blades of Chaos might not reach the paddle. So, move 3 to 4 steps back and then go for it.
F Rune’s Switch
The ‘F’ Switch is rather closer to the Nornir Chest than the ‘D’ Switch. Move up the stairs and get closer to the chest. Look to the left of it to locate the golden paddle and rotate it to ‘F’.
To bring up the ‘F’ in one hit, make sure you are hitting the rightmost paddle.
C Rune’s Switch
Facing the ‘F’ Switch, look a little to your left and you will see a pathway in front. Walk on the path and reach the end of it. Facing Southwest, you will see the third golden paddle a little far away. Reach it with Kratos’ axe to finish the puzzle and get the Nornir Chest.
The Plains
Two chests are located in this region.
First Nornir Chest
There can be two ways to reach this Nornir Chest. If you are coming from the West of Vanaheim, then you have to move Northeast towards the entrance of The Plains.
If you are more towards the Sinkholes, move left before entering the Sinkholes and kill some enemies on your way. You must have reached the point where you see a hut-looking design made of marble. This is called a Celestial Alter.
If you are unable to reach it, see our positioning on the map below. Mark this point on your in-game map and reach it if it works for you.
This is the Bell Puzzle where you will ring all 3 bells in a short period.
Look to its right and descend to lower ground where you will see the Nornir Chest to your North. Two of the bells will be easily visible to you above the chest. The third bell is trapped in Hel’s Bramble.
To burn the Bramble, climb back from the point you came back. Move a little to the North to locate the Bramble on your left. Burn it with Blades of Chaos then go back down again in front of the Chest.
Hit the 2 bells that were already visible to you.
Then run North towards the tree in front. Just after crossing the tree, look above the rocks to your right to see the third bell. Hit it quickly to finish the puzzle and get the Nornir Chest.
Second Nornir Chest
Part One
After opening the first chest, move Northwest to get close to the second one.
This puzzle is similar to the bell puzzle but instead, you destroy runes just by throwing your axe. Reaching the exact location of this chest holds a couple of conditions.
- You should be opening this chest when it’s dark.
- You need to open the closed gate leading to it
To fulfill the first condition, you either wait until it gets dark or go to a Celestial Alter closer to you where you can change the time of day which is a shortcut. The road leading to the closed gate is blocked by a pole sprinkling poison all around it. We need to cut its supply.
Following the plan, you will be seeing an open pathway or an open gate with two torches in the wall. It is guarded by a brute looking like a gorilla known as an Ogre. After killing the Ogre, move through and follow the path to the left.
Stick to the left side until you see a reddish glowing object. At this point, you will have a crucial fight with Vali the Oath guard protecting the surrounding area. After you defeat the Guard, reach the left end just before the glowing object.
You will see a greenish poisonous tower. Throw your axe on it to cut its supply and clear the path. Follow back the path you came from.
Part Two
Go right and jump over a line of rocks. Look right one more time to see the closed gate.
After opening the gate, you will see multiple poisonous towers and also face some enemies. These enemies will not spit poison on you so don’t worry about it. Defeat them and clear the area by freezing the poison.
Stand at some distance from the opening of the gate. Face west to destroy the ‘F’ Rune.
Keep standing there and face East to destroy the ‘R’ Rune inside a tree.
If you haven’t already frozen the pole toward the North, freeze it now to reach the ‘N’ Rune.
Move North behind that pole and look to your hard left. Behind a tree, you will the ‘N’ Rune.
Destroy it to finally open the Nornir chest that required so much effort.
The Sinkholes
First Nornir Chest
The Chest is placed right after you enter the area of Sinkholes. This is a Torch Puzzle so you will be finding 3 torches at discreet locations. When you reach The Sinkholes, you will see a rope going downwards.
Slide down the rope and then walk towards the West by making a 180-degree turn. Move straight into a dark alley where you will see the Nornir chest on your right.
N Rune’s Torch
Move South to the end of the path. The torch will be on the cliff towards the left side of your chest. Make use of multiple Sigil Arrows and make a line of enlarged purple bubbles that reach the Torch. Now use Blades of Chaos, and light up the ‘N’ torch.
C Rune’s Torch
Face the ‘N’ Torch. Now turn North and start walking. You will see the ‘C’ Torch on the right of Nornir Chest at some height. Use a single Sigil Arrow and explode it to light up the ‘C’ Torch.
R Rune’s Torch
Keep your direction towards the ‘C’ Torch. Look a little to your right and climb up the cliff. Stand directly above the ‘C’ Torch. Then face Southeast to see the torch on high ground. Make 3 enlarged purple bubbles using Sigil Arrows.
Make sure these bubbles are overlapping with each other and the ‘R’ Torch so when you explode the bubbles, the torch lights up. After the ‘R’ Torch is lit, you will hear the sound effect which means you are ready to open the Nornir Chest.
Second Nornir Chest
Before you are allowed to open this Chest, you need to complete the Favor Return of the River, which you have to choose from the Jungle Area. After you have finished the Favor, the river will start to flow in the area so you can swim in the boat to reach Nornir Chest’s exact location.
Inside the Sinkholes, just before the lair of The Ash Tyrant, you will see the chest above the river. To reach over here, stand before the rivers where you will see a boat. Get in the boat and move North to the piece of land with the Blue Flag.
Climb up the chain and walk South to see the Nornir Chest. As this is a Totem Puzzle, we will be searching for 3 of those around us.
B Rune’s Totem
When facing the Nornir chest, look to the left where you will see a broken white pillar with the ‘B’ Totem. Throw the spear on it.
E Rune’s Totem
When you are facing the Nornir Chest, look to the right. On the marble pillar beside a marble statue of a crow, you will see the ‘E’ Totem. Stick your spear in it.
T Rune’s Totem
Face the ‘E’ Totem. Now turn North and start walking. You will see the ‘T’ Totem in front of you on the edge of a cliff. Aim your spear at it
After getting all the Totems, go back to the Nornir Chest to detonate all the spears to destroy all the Totems. After doing this, you can open the chest.
The Jungle
To get this chest, you need to complete the Return of the River Favor first which will allow the river to flow so you can use a boat and row to the other side. The chest is located in the South of the Jungle close to where you will leave your boat.
This is the last switch puzzle of Vanaheim which leads you to open one of the Nornir Chests.
E Rune’s Switch
Look up a little to the right of your chest to see the ‘E’ Switch. Rotate the golden paddle by throwing Kratos’ axe on the left paddle to show ‘E’ in a single hit.
N Rune’s Switch
Look North towards the Celestial altar. Walk past the stairs leading to the Altar where you will see the ‘N’ Switch on the edge of the wall to the right. The Switch will be trapped in Bramble so firstly, use Blades of Chaos to burn it.
Then hit the right side of the golden paddle to make it show ‘N’.
B Rune’s Switch
Face the ‘N’ Switch. Now look to your left. On the same height level, on the wall of the Altar, you will see the ‘B’ switch. Hit its left golden paddle to end the puzzle.
Go back to the Chest to open it and receive either an Idunn Apple or Horn of Blood Mead.
Ending Notes
The realm of Vanaheim contains 11 Nornir Chests which are opened by solving different puzzles like the Bell Puzzle. Puzzles are easy to solve by following simple clues given around the chest.
Sometimes, you might be required to complete some Favors before you are given access to Nornir Chests. Other situations might require you to fight off some enemies before you reach the exact location of the chests.
That’s it! We have successfully opened all 11 Nornir Chests of Vanaheim and got one step closer to completing the realm. If you enjoyed this guide and found it useful, visit VeryAliGaming to see more guides on God of War: Ragnarok.
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