The Elder

0★
Trophy

First of the Forest, King-in-the-Wood, Lord over those who dwell at his feet. His roots will grow where cities once stood, their blood his wine, their flesh his meat.

Trophy

The Elder trophy

Internal ID

gd_king

Type

Boss

Details

Faction

Boss

Main biome

Black Forest

Tameable

No

Drops

Stats

0★

Health 0★

Damage 0★

2500

35 Pierce, 20 Chop, 20 Pickaxe
60 Blunt, 1000 Chop, 1000 Pickaxe

Abilities

Vine Shoot
Stomp
Spawn Roots

Resistances

The Elder is the second boss. He appears as a towering humanoid tree-like entity with multiple thin branches sprouting out of his slender, bark-covered body.

Summoning[]

TheElderAltar — The Elder's Forsaken Altar.

The Elder's Forsaken altar is located in Black Forests. His location can be revealed when visiting Burial Chambers and sometimes ruined structures around Black Forests, where a Vegvisir will reveal his nearest summoning location on the map.

He is summoned by placing three Ancient seeds in his Forsaken altar in Black Forests. Like all bosses, the Elder can be summoned as many times as desired, provided the required materials are met.

Attacks and abilities[]

The Elder has an environment aura that removes darkness and raining.

Vine shoot[]

Ranged vine attack directed at a target player (35 Pierce, 20 Chop and 20 Pickaxe damage per hit).

Stomp[]

A close range stomp over a large area (60 Blunt, 1000 Chop and 1000 Pickaxe damage).

Spawn roots[]

The Elder will raise an arm in the air to summon hostile Roots in a large area around a player, which can attack players in melee range but are otherwise immobile. Roots disappear after some time (or when the boss is defeated) but can also be destroyed.

Aftermath[]

Defeating the Elder allows the player to unlock and enter swamp crypts (which are the primary source of scrap iron in the game) with the swamp key.

Drops[]

Item	0 Star
The Elder trophy	1
Swamp key	1 per player

Forsaken power[]

Mounting The Elder’s trophy upon his respective stone will allow the player to claim his Forsaken Power. This ability will allow the player and nearby allies to deal 60% more damage to trees with an axe for a five-minute period.

Events[]

Defeating The Elder affects the following events for that world:

Disables: "The forest is moving..."
Enables: "A foul smell from the swamp..." (if Bonemass hasn't been defeated)
Enables: "The ground is shaking." (if a Troll has died in the world)

Creature spawning[]

Defeating The Elder unlocks several creatures to spawn at night in unusual biomes. They can only have 0 stars:

Greydwarf brute in Meadows.
Greydwarf shaman in Meadows.
Draugr while it is "Misty" in Meadows, Black Forest, Mountain, Plains.
Odin in Meadows, Black Forest, Plains.

Gallery[]

Notes[]

The altar provides a few hints on what items are used to summon him. First, the altar reads "Burn their young" referring to Ancient seeds. In addition, the top of the columns are topped by statues that look similar to Ancient Seeds in shape.
Because of The Elder's location in the Black Forest, additional enemies such as Trolls or Greydwarfs may join the battle and increase the difficulty significantly, especially at night.
The Elder's high-damage ranged attack can be effective in quickly gathering resources such as Wood, Core wood, Stone, and Copper ore, without the use of tools.
In the in-game trophies menu, there is another description of The Elder, "Even in death, it seems to grin with secret knowledge."

The many names of The Elder:

In the game files, The Elder is also known as "gd_king" as well as "theelder". Likely to be interpreted as "Greydwarf King".
Warnings inscribed in a few of the runestones found in the Black Forest refer to The Elder as "the One Who Walks" once, and "the Old One" twice:

Beneath the ground, the roots of the forest twine together on a great loom. Pluck one thread and the whole weave will move. Chop down one tree and all the wood will know. Make yourself known to the One Who Walks, and he will seek you out.

Beware the Old One. The ravens say that in ages past he was a shoot of great Yggdrasil itself and a force of wisdom in the days when men and trees were friends. Now he scorns the axe and sets himself against the works of the Gods themselves. Odin banished him here for his pride but his roots are deep.

Seven were the creatures banished to this world by mighty Odin in the first days of his kingship. Seven gods and monsters too proud to bear his yoke. I have heard the tread of the Old Ones in the forest and have crouched in the shadow of the Mountain Mother when she flies. Of the others I know little. I will add to this stone when I have seen more.