ominous ashlands lore: valheim

i had made a community post with pics a few weeks ago but figured i would collect and edit together all the lore into a video. i think this is all of it, anyway, from what i can remember. i dont know anything about scandinavian myths, so i am just going off what i see in the game. the stones have 2 perspectives: historical, and modern. some are unclear, like bjorn the farmer. i put them in an order that makes sense in terms of how they set up the story, rather than just focusing on chronology.
summary:
ashlands was once a powerful and advanced civilization of people but ruled by a dragon king. one day, a scouting party in the deep north brought a foreign entity, the "winter child," back to the dragon's kingdom. the child had a corrupting influence on the king, and the civilization declined. when the dragon flew (south?) to meet with yagluth, the human leaders killed (or harmed) the winter child. when the dragon returned, he attacked in retaliation for the death or injury to the winter child, and civil war ensued. the kingdom was destroyed, and those killed by dragon fire were turned into undead, because reasons. modern valheim denizens Ulf and Astrid have also been here ahead of the player.
interpretations:
there is a lot going on here, as we approach the end of the game. up until this point, i had mostly disregarded the lore of the game as filler/easter eggs/jokes, but it seems like we might actually get some payoffs in deep north. the winter child lore strongly suggests he was discovered in the deep north, which raises the question of what species or faction he is, whether he is a unique entity or simply a future type of deep north mob, and whether his corrupting influence is the explanation for more than just the dragon's behavior (e.g., other bosses being aligned with evil).
the lore about the dragon flying south to meet yagluth is confusing. if the pre-ashlands civilization is already in the south pole, what is south of that? the entire rest of valheim is north of ashlands. this is possibly a typo or misunderstanding. it could also mean that this ancient lore stretches so far back that valheim's tectonic plates have changed orientation since (kidding). its also not clear why the the dragon was meeting yagluth, and whether this meeting was due to the winter child's bad influence, or if that was simply the noted reason for him to be out of town, giving the rebels a chance to cut off the bad influence.
it should be noted here that the bosses differ in their backstory. bosses like yagluth were always bad, and their current twisted form is attributable to having been defeated in life and banished to valheim. the queen is organic, seemingly not supernatural at all, and is just an opportunist who has taken over a dwarf kingdom. the dragon seemingly was already on valheim, was once good, and become bad due to foreign influence, but all within valheim.
regarding Astrid specifically, i feel there will be some kind of confrontation in deep north. Ulf is out there too, but Ulf seems like mainly comic relief as we follow his annoyance with the fishing conditions across biomes. in contrast, Astrid is specifically portrayed throughout lore as a warrior on the same quest as the player:
Astrid meadows:
"I was Astrid, a shieldmaiden of the forest. I know nothing of my life before I came here but my arm remembers the sword and my eyes see the course of the arrows.
Now the raven guides me and I fight the great beasts in Odin's name."
Astrid mountains:
"This stone was placed by me, Astrid, in my seventh year in Valheim. At this spot, the Allfather spoke to me. I awoke from a deep sleep to find his words scattered around me on the ground, frozen to pebbles by the deep cold. When I warmed them in my hands they thawed and spoke his message to me, one word after another.
Slay the Forsaken. Chain their heads. I will come."
since Astrid has the same quest as the player, and is ahead of you, perhaps Odin will declare that "there can be only one." we might fight Astrid as a miniboss in deep north, kind of like how lord reto was a humanoid miniboss in ashlands. she might also be a co-op ally, or maybe a quest-giver or trader. but i think we will meet her in some fashion. her ashlands lore is very foreboding, and mentions her "son" as motivation, and her willingness to die repeatedly (perhaps even to the player). i dont think we have enough information to connect her son as being the winter child.
there are references in some of these passages, and older lore passages to "dying many times" and "waking up in your bed," which seems to be a reference to valheim's respawn mechanic.
0:00 1 fader stone
0:21 2 historical overview
1:09 3 modern overview
1:39 4 winter child
2:16 5 corrupting influence
4:33 6 meet yagluth, kill winter child
5:09 7 civil war
6:58 8 bjorn the farmer's account
7:25 9 gods and men
11:00 10 gods abandoned
11:38 11 drake fire
13:24 12 war
13:51 13 Ulf
14:28 14 Astrid

[@hewhoisme4343]

The winter child is mentioned in one of the dreams you can have at the very beginning of the game:
"You dream you are walking in a snowy wood when you come upon a naked child, sitting against a tree with his eyes closed but his chest moving to breathe. As you kneel beside him, you know he has been sleeping here for many centuries, waiting for you. When you touch his shoulder, you both awaken. "

[@sittingforgetting9907]

no way, didnt know that. ive never slept in this game. thanks for sharing this.

[@hewhoisme4343]

@@sittingforgetting9907 Its interesting because that dream has been in the game for a while, as long as I can remember. It makes me wonder if any of the other dreams are connected to the ashlands/deep north.

[@sittingforgetting9907]

@@hewhoisme4343 it seems like we might get some payoffs as the game comes to a close. we shall see.

[@Insanity_TM]

Always nice with some Ulf, Astrid and Björn lore

[@enanundefeated7816]

so winter child is the last forsaken

[@sittingforgetting9907]

strictly speaking, there are no more forsaken. existing lore mentions "7 forsaken," which means the deep north conflict will be with something else.

[@geneve34]

@@sittingforgetting9907 :O

[@stefankojadinovic6198]

Maybe Moder was winter child

[@yoboikamil525]

Valheim is just viking edition dark souls now
the enemy designs for these creatures are so soulslike I love it

[@discountcrusader9773]

I hope the sacrificial stones get a redesign at the full release its getting a little crowded

[@grzegorzstaszel9732]

It only happens in the old worlds pre-ashlands. They cannot update the explored areas. I used a mod to restart the boss stones and they are evenly placed

[@discountcrusader9773]

@@grzegorzstaszel9732 I did generate a new world since then I'll have to check and see if it looks normal

[@sittingforgetting9907]

if the winter child was in the north, and yagluth was in the south, then who was phone?

[@djd00mshyer]

who was on first?

[@zhiwong8485]

Kinda unrelated (sorry) but do you still know if the dodge counter exploit still works? I tried to execute it after the update but I have not been able to do so

[@GhxstDz]

got patched it doesnt work with sword but it works with certain weapons tho its not as good as sword one

[@doctordoom9606]

I wonder what does mistlands hv to do with the lore of the game
I mean there is no lore runestone , no connection with the story.....nothing.

[@sittingforgetting9907]

there is a little lore in the mistlands, but its hard to find because of the environment.

[@yoboikamil525]

p sure it's just so the devs of DRG can make more bugs slaying stuff

[@janwszoek1578]

this is uk 100%

[@geneve34]

i though the winter child was the son of mother and Fader, but i was wrong. Was probably Loki?