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God of War guide: Veithurgard and Stone Falls walkthrough and collectibles

Hidden area and Stone Falls collectibles

By Jeffrey Parkin
God of War Hammer Fall Favor walkthrough and collectibles guide SIE Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment
Jeffrey Parkin (he/him) has been writing video game guides for Polygon for almost seven years. He has learned to love just about every genre of game that exists.

God of War’s Veithurgard is a hidden area. This guide will get you to 60 percent completion in the Stone Falls region of Midgard and 100 percent completion in Veithurgard. In Stone Falls, you’ll find one favor, one legendary chest, and one artifact. In Veithurgard, you’ll find six artifacts, one mystic gateway, one favor, one shop, six lore markers, one legendary chest, one Nornir chest, and three of Odin’s ravens.

A note on God of War spoilers

God of War is full of surprises, and that makes guides particularly tricky to write. We want to help you with the game. We don’t want to spoil it. So we want you to know that we’ve written every guide with spoilers in mind. 

If our guide doesn’t appear to get you every item (a chest, for example), there’s a reason for that. Rather than spoil that reason, our tables of contents and a big image in the guide indicating spoilers ahead will tell you when and why you find yourself in that situation — in the least spoilery way possible. 

Stone Falls

Location of Stone Falls in God of War
Location of Stone Falls
SIE Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment

To get into Veithurgard, you first have to stop at Stone Falls. The beach is east-northeast of Tyr’s bridge, just past the Alfheim tower. You have to stop here to open the gate to Veithurgard anyway, so you might as well pick up the few collectibles while you’re here.

Opening the Veithurgard gates

  • SIE Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment
  • SIE Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment
  • SIE Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment
  • SIE Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment
  • SIE Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment
  • SIE Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment
  • SIE Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment
  • SIE Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment
  • SIE Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment
  • SIE Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment

There’s a bit of a puzzle to getting around Stone Falls on your first visit, so here’s how to open the gates (and grab some loot while you’re at it):

  1. Once you beach the canoe, smash through the planks on your left to reveal the mystic gateway.
  2. Go through the gate directly ahead of you. Note — but ignore for now — the chain on your left. Handle the enemies inside the next area.
  3. Turn to your right and throw your axe at the disk and chain holding up the bridge.
  4. Go back through the first gate, then pull the chain next to it. This will close this gate, but open another.
  5. Jump across the bridge you just lowered on your right.
  6. Immediately after the bridge, use the wheel on your right to open the huge gates to Veithurgard.
  7. Continue past the angry spirit — we’ll come back to him in a second — and open the gate leading back to the area where you fought the revenants.
  8. Go through the now-open gate on your right. Open the legendary chest inside for a golden talisman of protection and “open” the wooden chest.
  9. Head back out and turn toward the angry spirit. To the left of the gate is an area where you can climb up. Do that.
  10. There is a tomb here that you can’t open yet. On your left, you’ll find a ship head from the Abandon Ship artifact set.

That’s everything you can collect in Stone Falls (until later in the game). There’s one more thing to do before you leave.

Talk to the spirit

Talk to the spirit you passed earlier to (finally) pick up the Hammer Fall favor (or side quest, if you prefer). Head back to the boat and paddle through the huge gate you just opened.

Depending on how far you are in your game, this visit won’t get you to 100 percent completion for Stone Falls. (Consider the tomb that you couldn’t open.) You’ll have opportunities to return and collect the rest later.

Veithurgard Pass

Veithurgard Pass isn’t quite Veithurgard, but there are still a couple things to pick up and find.

The beach

  • SIE Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment
  • SIE Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment
  • SIE Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment

When you first park at Veithurgard Pass, you can find the following:

  • A lore entry directly ahead of you when you beach the canoe.
  • Brok has a shop on your left.

That’s it.

Crossing Veithurgard Pass

  • SIE Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment
  • SIE Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment
  • SIE Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment
  • SIE Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment
  • SIE Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment
  • SIE Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment

There are two areas where you’ll fight enemies and find goodies on your way to the other side of the Pass.

Squeeze through the narrow passage just past Brok’s shop, where you’ll find the following:

  • A few enemies
  • Head to the far side of the area and smash through the planks on the left for a chest.
  • Throw your axe at the spiked door to open it to find a glowing, red sarcophagus (we’re just going to refer to these as red chests from now on).

Duck into the tunnel next to the spiked door to continue on to the second area. Here’s what you’ll find there:

  • More enemies
  • A lore entry directly ahead of you
  • A lore entry just to the right of that one

Now it’s time to get to the Veithurgard proper.

To the boat

  • SIE Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment
  • SIE Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment

Now it’s time to continue on to Veithurgard proper, so go back down to the main area and crawl under the toppled pillar. Throw your axe to free the boat.

Hammer Fall

To complete the favor for the spirit in Stone Falls, you’ll have to destroy that giant, green statue of Thor on the island in the middle of Veithurgard’s lake.

  • SIE Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment
  • SIE Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment
  • SIE Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment
  • SIE Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment
  • SIE Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment
  • SIE Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment
  • SIE Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment
  • SIE Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment
  • SIE Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment
  • SIE Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment
  1. Paddle into the lake and beach on the island. It’s the one with the giant statue of Thor on it. There are a few enemies to handle right on the beach. Go into the cave directly ahead of you (underneath the Thor statue) for a chest.
  2. To start to topple the statue, climb onto the ledge on your right, then turn to look at the statue. Throw your axe at the glowing chain-like symbols on the statue to begin destroying it.
  3. While you’re standing right here, you can get the Odin’s raven that’s circling the statue. Aim to the left of the statue at about the leftmost point of the raven’s loop. Wait for it to disappear behind the statue. Right when you see it again, do an overhand throw. Your axe should meet it and kill it.
  4. Continue along the path to the front side of the statue. Keep hitting the glowing points until it topples.
  5. Walk straight toward the statue (or where it used to be, rather) to find the spirit’s father’s grave. You’ll dig up a legendary axe pommel.
  6. Now you just have to head back to Stone Falls and talk to the spirit again to complete his favor. When you do, you’ll get one Offering to Tyr crafting resource and a couple thousand XP. But there’s more to do here in Veithurgard first.

Otr’s Imprisonment

The evil dwarven king of Veithurgard had a monstrous animal hoarding habit, so the first thing you’ll notice in Veithurgard (after you clear the baddies off the beach) is the giant dragon. He’s trapped here, so your job is to free him. There’s a lot to pick up along the way, too, and an unnamed side quest you’ll stumble on. We’ll start with the beach and make our way up to Otr (the dragon). After that, you’ll have to destroy three shrines. They each get a section below.

The beach

We’re going to use the beach where you parked your canoe as your first landmark. There are a few things to do here before you move on.

  • SIE Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment
  • SIE Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment
  • SIE Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment
  • SIE Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment
  • SIE Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment
  • SIE Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment
  • SIE Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment
  • SIE Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment
  • SIE Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment
  • SIE Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment

There’s a mystic gateway on the left as soon as you land. That will get unlocked as you clear out all the enemies that come to meet you.

Run all the way to the end of the dock on your left to find one of the six horns in the Horns of Veithurgard artifact set.

The chain, the gate and the hidden area

Head back to the beach and turn right. Follow the shore to a chain, and pulling it is the first step to accessing a hidden area.

  • SIE Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment
  • SIE Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment
  • SIE Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment
  • SIE Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment
  • SIE Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment
  • SIE Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment
  • SIE Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment
  1. Pull the chain all the way down, then look to the right. There’s a dimly lit gear you can hit with your axe.
  2. Run around to the left and climb into the cage you just opened. Climb up the wall on the left side.
  3. Close the realm tear at the top of your climb — you don’t even have to fight anything (this time) — and get some dust of realms.
  4. Turn to the right and drop down. There’s some planks on your right to smash. Inside, you’ll find another artifact for the Horn of Veithurgard set.

Back down to the beach

Drop all the way back down to the area near the beach.

  • SIE Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment
  • SIE Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment

Ahead of you on the left side, there’s a chest.

Head toward the stairs (and the dragon). Right before the stairs, turn right. There’s a lore marker for the boy.

That’s everything to find in this first area. Now you can start climbing the stairs.

Climbing the stairs

Use the alcoves on the left and right to avoid Otr’s lightning breath as you climb the rest of the way up.

God of War guide Otr’s Imprisonment SIE Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment
God of War guide Otr’s Imprisonment SIE Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment

Directly behind the pedestal anchoring Otr’s chain, there are some planks in the wall. Toss your axe to destroy them and kill another of Odin’s ravens. (The other planks are holding in a draugr.)

Now, you need to destroy three shrines to break the chain holding Otr in place. There are two paths you can take from the pedestal beneath the dragon: right and left. We’ll tackle them in that order.

The first dragon shrine (right)

  • SIE Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment
  • SIE Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment

From the pedestal in front of Otr, turn right and climb up the ledge. At the end of the path, you’ll find some reavers and the first dragon shrine. Hit them all with your axe until they fall down.

The second dragon shrine (left)

  • SIE Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment
  • SIE Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment
  • SIE Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment

Go back to the main pedestal, then take the left path. Turn left at the gravestones, then left again. Follow that path up the hill to find more reavers and the second shrine.

The third dragon shrine (left)

Finding (and smashing) the third shrine takes a lot more work. You’ll open up a new shortcut to the beach, find this region’s Nornir chest and open up a castle to explore. For now, let’s focus on finding and smashing the third shrine.

  • SIE Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment
  • SIE Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment
  • SIE Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment
  • SIE Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment
  • SIE Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment
  • SIE Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment
  • SIE Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment
  • SIE Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment
  • SIE Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment
  • SIE Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment
  • SIE Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment
  • SIE Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment
  1. Staring at the second shrine, turn around and start back down the hill. There’s a wooden bridge on your left — take it.
  2. Turn left after the bridge and drop down.
  3. There’s a big open area with a lot of reavers here. There’s nothing to collect, but on the far side, there’s a chain to drop that will create a shortcut.
  4. Turn right (east) from the chain and go up the stairs.
  5. Smash the planks for a chest.
  6. Turn right at the top of the stairs, then lift open the gate on the right. This is where you’ll find the Nornir chest (below). You can either solve it now — our walkthrough is in the next section — or come back to it later.
  7. Now that the gate is open, back out and go through the opening to the left of the gate. Drop down and follow the path until you can jump to the bridge.
  8. Toss your axe at the red pot burning on the bridge to clear the debris.
  9. Jump across the gap and pick up the Horn of Veithurgard on your right.
  10. Head back toward the huge doors and deal with the reavers and viken there.
  11. There’s a lore marker to the left of the door.
  12. From that lore marker, turn around so the door is ahead of you and to your left. There’s a very easy to miss Odin’s raven hiding in the rocks to the left of the door.
  13. If you picked up the Hunter’s Kingdom treasure map back at the Lookout Tower in the Shores of Nine, you’ll find the treasure buried along the wall to the left of the doors. (Check out our Hunter’s Kingdom treasure map guide for all of the details.)
  14. Smash all the crates in the area around the door to find the two missing runes. Match the runes on the pillars to the runes on the door to open it.

There’s a lot to do inside the castle, so it gets its own section below. We’re just going to walk through enough of it to free the dragon right now.

  • SIE Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment
  • SIE Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment
  • SIE Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment
  • SIE Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment
  • SIE Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment
  1. As soon as you walk in, turn right and use the flaming pot to take out the reavers.
  2. There’s a More than Myth shrine just inside.
  3. Follow the hallway on your right to the end, then turn right again. Toss your axe at the red pot to destroy the rocks.
  4. Go through the tunnel you just opened to find the final dragon shrine.

Freeing Otr

With the third shrine destroyed, you can return to the pedestal in front of the dragon and release Otr.

  • SIE Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment
  • SIE Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment
  • SIE Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment
  1. Use the gate behind you to return to the main area of Veithurgard, then head back to Otr.
  2. As you’re approaching the anchor, watch on your left for a wooden platform near the waterfall. Destroy the crates, then pick up the Horn of Veithurgard next to the body.
  3. Have the boy destroy the anchor to free Otr. You’ll get an enchantment, a dragon tear crafting resource and some XP for your trouble.

Nornir chest

Just like every other Nornir chest, there are three nearby rune seals you have to hit with your axe to get this one open.

  • SIE Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment
  • SIE Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment
  • SIE Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment
  • SIE Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment
  • SIE Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment
  • SIE Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment
  1. The first rune is to the right of the chest. It’s right next to the one-way gate you opened earlier.
  2. The second rune is directly behind the chest. Head around to the left, then face north.
  3. From the second rune, turn left and cross the wooden bridge. Turn right on the other side and head up the hill to where the second dragon shrine was. Look north to see the third rune on top of some ruins. Toss your axe to smash it.
  4. Backtrack to the chest to get a Horn of Blood Mead.

Death Happened Here

Now it’s time to head into the evil dwarven king’s castle. There are a few more collectibles, but mostly you’re headed here for a boss fight, some serious loot and a trophy.

Entrance

  • SIE Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment
  • SIE Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment
  • SIE Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment
  • SIE Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment
  1. Head back through the main doors you opened earlier.
  2. Instead of immediately turning right, head past the shrine. Handle the enemies, then pick up the Horn of Veithurgard artifact.
  3. Go through the passage on your right — where the reavers came from — and look down the stairs. Throw your axe at the pot to destroy the rocks, then head down that tunnel.
  4. Pull the lever at the end of the tunnel to open the cage ahead of you so you can finally open that chest you saw earlier.

Draining the water

Turn left from the chest and continue through the hallway. Where you turned right earlier to find the third dragon shrine, look directly ahead of you instead. Turn the crank to open the gate and drain the water out of the room, then head around to the left and drop down to where the water was. Turn right and keep descending. You’ll pass right by the final Horn of Veithurgard — you’ll get some XP for completing the set.

Another room and Daudi Hamarr boss fight

  • SIE Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment
  • SIE Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment
  • SIE Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment
  • SIE Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment
  • SIE Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment
  • SIE Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment

Go through the door, then turn left to find the final lore marker. After you handle the reavers, grab the chest on the left before you go into the final room.

Release (and then murder) the troll Daudi Hamarr. You’ll get a bunch of loot including the Horn of Heimdall talisman. You’ll also get the Death Happened Here trophy.

Open the other doors to exit the room. The final legendary chest is right on the other side with the Leviathan’s Wake light rune attack inside.

Climb up the wall on your right and kick down the chain on the cliff at the top to return to the main area of Veithurgard.

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