Vanaheim Nornir Chests - God of War Ragnarok Guide - IGN (2024)

Nornir Chests are puzzle-based chests that ask you to locate and either activate or destroy three Runes in the nearby environment. Nornir Chests will alternate between giving Idunn Apples or Horns of Blood Mead, which can increase Kratos’ maximum Health and Rage, respectively. This page of IGN’s Ragnarok guide reveals all Nornir Chest locations and solutions in Vanaheim, the seventh realm you can visit.

The sections on this page are ordered by when you can visit them earliest in the game.

Use the list below to jump to a specific region of Vanaheim:

• The Southern Wilds
• The Abandoned Village
• Cliffside Ruins
• Goddess Falls
• The Veiled Passage
• SPOILER ZONE
• The Plains
• The Jungle
• The Sinkholes

The Southern Wilds - Nornir Chest 1

• Type: Switch

This Nornir Chest can be encountered close to the end of The Southern Wilds, shortly after you first encounter the acid-spitting plants. It’ll be on your right in a clearing and very difficult to miss.

The C Rune’s switch will be up the wall to the left of the Nornir Chest. Hit it once on the right paddle to turn it to the C.

The N Rune switch is to the right of the Nornir Chest, but is covered in Hel’s Bramble. Equip the Blades of Chaos, use L2 to aim, then press R2 to use the Blazing Surge skill, setting it alight. Now you can hit the switch once on the left paddle to spin it to the N.

The R Rune’s switch is actually back a bit to the South-East and up the wall. It too is covered in Hel’s Bramble, but it’s too far away to light. Luckily, the bramble has extended down the left-hand bank, which you can then light to clear it away. Hit the left-hand paddle once to spin it to the R!

The Abandoned Village - Nornir Chest 1

• Type: Torch

This Nornir Chest is found at the wooden bridge with the double-crane, one with a grapple point, and the other with a hanging fire bucket used to light Hel’s Bramble. To set things up, you’ll need to free the fire bucket from the Hel’s Bramble with the Blades of Chaos, then loop around and rotate the crane so you can yank the fire bucket into the Hel’s Bramble blocking the other side of the wooden bridge.

Once you’ve done all that, rotate the crane so you can use the grapple point to cross the bridge. On the other side, make a U-Turn to the right and find the Nornir Chest under the bridge.

The N Rune’s torch is directly across from the Nornir Chest, and reachable with the Blades of Chaos. The other two, however, are not, and must be hit with the crane’s fire bucket.

Return to the bridge and look East to the other side: to the right of the bridge you can see the R Rune on the rock wall to the right. Grapple across, then turn the crane once clockwise so that the fire bucket is close to you. Next, yank it left with the Blades of Chaos to light the torch!

From here, look West back across the bridge: you can see the C Rune’s torch among the tree roots to the left. Turn the crane back anti-clockwise once, setting both the fire bucket into place, and allowing you to grapple back across. Yank the fire bucket right with the Blades, and the Nornir Chest will unlock!

Cliffside Ruins - Nornir Chest 1

• Type: Switch

This Nornir Chest is found on the lower level of the Cliffside Ruins. After beaching at the shore, head forward through the rock columns and you’ll find it under a rusty window.

The F Rune is found in the rocks to the left of the Nornir Chest near a gold chain, but you cannot even see it from the ground level. To reach it, climb up the stone wall further left, then go left and hop onto the top of the rock columns.

Get onto the one closest to the gold chain, then spot the switch to the right of the gold chain. Hit it once on the right-hand paddle to turn it to the correct F Rune (the horizontal lines should be slanting upwards).

The R Rune can be found up on the rocks above the water to the right of the Nornir Chest, covered in Red Fungi Bramble. Set up a chain of Hexes using Sigil Arrows and light them with a Blazing Surge from the Blades of Chaos to destroy the bramble. Once that’s done, hit the right-hand paddle once to turn the switch to the R Rune.

The D Rune is technically on the Cliffside Ruins, but it’s only visible from the nearby shore where Brok and Lunda’s workshop is on the North bank of the river. Beach the boat there, then look South to see the switch on the rocks: hit it once on the right-hand paddle to turn it to the D Rune.

Goddess Falls - Nornir Chest 1

• Type: Torch

This Nornir Chest can be found at the top of Goddess Falls. Check to the right of the vine-covered door that leads to Vanir Shrine: it’ll be on its own little island you can reach with a grapple point.

The R Rune’s torch can be found just to the right of the Nornir Chest. The idea is to place three Hex bubbles: one close to the torch, and two on the rock outcroppings in the river.

You’ll need to expand the size of the bubble closest to the torch in order for this to work. To do that, fire a second Sigil Arrow at the Hex: this won’t break the Hex bubble limit of three. Light the closest one with the Blades of Chaos’ Blazing Surge to light the torch!

The N Rune is found at the top of the waterfall to the left of the Nornir Chest, and next to the viney door leading to Vanir Shrine. To light it, place two Hex bubbles, one under the torch, and another on the strip of rock below that. You’ll need to expand the upper Hex one size and the lower Hex twice in order for this to work.

The C Rune is found on the cliff to the left of the viney door to Vanir Shrine, and close to a Hacksilver Chest. Place some Hex bubbles leading to it and then light them with a Blazing Surge.

The Veiled Passage - Nornir Chest 1

• Type: Bell

This Nornir Chest is found inside The Veiled Passage, which you can enter from the South of the river to Goddess Falls. As you row through the cave, keep an eye out on the right-hand side for a small shore you can beach on.

Here will be a lava rock dispenser: grab one, then go right and throw it at the gold rocks to clear the way to the Nornir Chest.

The three Bells are visible here to the West on the far cave wall. The right-hand bell is covered in Red Fungi Bramble, but both it and the left-hand bell are behind cages, meaning they cannot be hit with the Leviathan Axe. Instead, you must use Hex Bubbles with Sigil Arrows.

• First, you’ll want to destroy the Red Fungi Bramble covering the right-hand bell. Set up a Hex Bubble on it.
• Grab a lava rock from the dispenser and throw it at the bubble to detonate it with fire, burning down the Red Fungi Bramble.
• With the bramble gone, place two Hex Bubbles close to the left-hand and right-hand runes.
• Next, place a third Hex Bubble in the middle: fire three times to expand it to its largest size.
• Finally, grab a lava rock from the dispenser pot and throw it at the middle Hex Bubble: this should set off all three bubbles, and ring all three bells at once!

Eastern Barri Woods - Nornir Chest 1

• Type: Switch

This Lore is found soon after you explore the new Eastern area of Eastern Barri Woods that you can access during your second visit. After you make a rock tunnel via a yellow Wind Fissure, go left at the split (right should go to a Coffin).

As you head down, keep an eye out on your left for some curved stairs with a Scroll on it: the Nornir Chest will be at the top within a circular ruin.

The D Rune is actually found on the stairs up here, close to the circular ruins. Look for it on the left-hand side at the base of a tree trunk. It’s covered in Hel’s Bramble: you can set up a Hex Bubble chain to reach it, but there’s also a spot to the left of the rock pictured above where Kratos can get close enough to reach it on his own.

Hit the switch once on the left to turn it to the D Rune.

The F Rune is also very close to the Nornir Chest. To the left of the Nornir Chest is an archway: look between this archway and the Nornir Chest to spot the spinner. Hit it once on the right-hand paddle to get it onto the F Rune.

The C Rune’s Spinner is through the archway to the left of the Nornir Chest. There’s a Wulver here dining on an unlucky Einherjar, so you’ll have to defeat it within incredibly tight quarters.

Once it’s down, stand at the end of the path looking South-West-ish, and you’ll spot the spinner in the distance in the ruin of a dome. Aim just a little bit above the right-hand paddle with the Leviathan Axe to spin it to the C Rune (the Draupnir Spear doesn’t have enough mass to turn it).

The Plains - Nornir Chest 1

• Type: Bell

This Nornir Chest is found in the North-Eastern corner of the initial starting area of The Plains, close to the Celestial Altar. However you cannot complete it until you’ve made your way up to the Celestial Altar from the South and cleared out the local Seidr. Once you have, look for a ledge on the Eastern edge and kick down the metal plate: that’ll let you ascend up from the West without having to go all the way back around.

The Nornir Chest itself is found to the left of the ledge you can use to get up to the Celestial Altar, in front of a small pool. The R Rune is up to the left of the chest, while the C Rune is off to the right, at the back of the pool.

The N Rune is the trickier one. Leap up the ledge to the Celestial Altar, then head all the way to the left to the edge. To your left will be the N Rune’s bell: use a Blazing Surge to clear away the Hel’s Bramble.

The R and C Rune bells will ring long enough for you to climb back up and ring the N Rune’s bell, but you can circle around the rocks to the left and hit it from the lower level as well if you wish (although it is a slightly tricky shot under time pressure).

The Plains - Nornir Chest 2

• Prerequisite: Nighttime
• Type: Idol

The second Nornir Chest in The Plains is found at the North-Western corner of the region, however getting to it requires some setup first. To start, it must be nighttime: this allows you to open a gate North of the main lake. You can find a Celestial Altar to change the time of day nearby. Once you’ve done that, the gate will further be guarded by an Ogre.

Once you’ve defeated it, head through the gate and down the explosive plant-laden path until you come to a split: take the left-hand path. If you’ve not been down here before, you’ll have to face down two Seidr Shadows and a nasty Traveller known as Vali the Oath Guard.

When they’ve been killed, head to the corner to the left of the Coffin and look below: you should see a Scorn Pole laying gas all over the entry gate. Throw your Leviathan Axe at it to remove this hazard.

With that done, return back to the first gate, then head right: you should vault over a fallen stone pillar, then drop down a cliff into a clearing. On the right is another gate: since you froze the Scorn Pole with the Leviathan Axe, you can safely open it!

On the other side, you’ll be fighting Seidr Reavers and Shadows, and a Viken, all backed up by more Scorn Poles. Luckily they’re the Seidr-buffing variety and not the gas-laying ones.

Once you’ve killed the Seidr, it’s time to smash the Nornir Chest’s rune idols.

The F Rune is located on the Western wall of the area, on top of a rock formation.

The R Rune is found inside the trunk of a tree close to the entry gate.

The N Rune is found close to the Nornir Chest itself: freeze the nearby Scorn Pole, then check behind the wooden bust statue to find it.

The Jungle - Nornir Chest 1

• Prerequisite: Complete the Return of the River Favor
• Type: Switch

This Nornir Chest is found in the Southern part of The Jungle near the Celestial Altar, meaning to access it, you need to complete the Return of the River Favor first, allowing you to row across.

Once you’ve done this, the Nornir Chest will be directly ahead from where you dock the boat on the shore.

The E Rune’s spinner switch is found to the right of the Nornir Chest, up a ruin and close to where you start the Casualty of War: The Toy Favor. Hit it once on the left-hand paddle to spin it to the E Rune.

The N Rune’s spinner is close to the nearby Celestial Altar. Standing there, face East towards the wall you can leap up, then look to the left of it. You should spot some Red Fungi Bramble you can burn down. Once you’ve done so, hit it once on the right-hand paddle to spin the switch to the curved N Rune.

The B Rune is located on top of the building that houses the Celestial Altar. It’ll be on the Eastern side; you can reach it from the ground, but you may find it easier to hit it from up the ledge instead. Hit it once on the left-hand paddle to spin it to the B Rune.

The Sinkholes - Nornir Chest 1

• Type: Torch

The first Nornir Chest in The Sinkholes is found at the beginning of the level. After taking the zipline down from The Plains, turn around and head forwards to find it in a small shaded area.

The C Rune’s torch will be to the right of the chest, sitting above a small pond.

The N Rune’s torch is to the left of the chest, on a cliff overlooking a battle area below. In order to reach it, you’ll have to set up a chain of enlarged Hex Bubbles using Sigil Arrows, which you can then set off with a Blazing Surge.

The R Rune’s Torch is found on the cliff above the Nornir Chest. Climb up the first ledge nearby as if you were returning to The Plains, then make a U-Turn to the left and look up: the torch will be visible high above. You can use another Hex Bubble Chain to reach it.

The Sinkholes - Nornir Chest 2

• Prerequisite: Complete the Return of the River Favor
• Type: Totem

The second Nornir Chest in The Sinkholes is found just before the lair of the local dragon, The Ash Tyrant. As a result, reaching it means you must first complete the Return of the River Favor in The Jungle, which restores the rivers and allows you to more fully explore the region.

Once you’ve done this, the Nornir Chest will be under a tree overlooking the river below, just before you climb up to the arena.

The B Rune’s totem is located on the white pillar that you need to climb to get up to The Ash Tyrant’s arena, at least when you first arrive here.

The E Rune is found on top of a square stone column to the right of the Nornir Chest, close to the gold chain down to the docks below.

The T Rune is found at the Northern edge of this area, on a ledge of the dirt cliff on the right.