Valheim Deep North: How to Use Ancient Altars for Rare Essences

Ancient Altars sit scattered across the Deep North, the final biome added in Valheim’s 1.0 update. Interacting with one summons an aggressive Ancestor spirit that you fight for rare crafting materials. The catch is the fuel: you cannot activate an altar without Memorial Coal pulled from deep inside a Deep North dungeon.

Quick answer: Bring at least three Memorial Coal, stand in front of an Ancient Altar with the coal in one of your eight inventory slots, then interact to spend it. An Ancestor spawns and must be defeated for its drops.

What Memorial Coal is and why you need it

Memorial Coal is the only material that powers an Ancient Altar. It is unusual for a Valheim resource: Traders will not buy it, no recipe consumes it, and eating it grants no buff. Its single purpose is fueling altars. Each activation requires the coal to be present in your inventory when you interact with the altar.

You need three Memorial Coal for one Ancestor summon. The material is found only inside the Deep North fortress of Mörkhalla, so reaching the altars is the easy part compared to gathering the fuel.

How to get Memorial Coal from Mörkhalla

Locate a Fortress of Mörkhalla. These structures are spread across the Deep North, and their entrances are awkward to reach. A Grappling Hook makes getting inside far easier and helps you move through the dungeon once you are in.

Craft an Intricate Key to open the lower chambers. Mine Ice, build a Frost Kiln, and produce Liquid Frost to run the Frost Foundry. You also need a key mould, which drops from Elaking or the Eyeless One, or you can fight Hexen to obtain the finished key directly.

Use the key to open the chained door and enter Mörkhalla. Inside, gather Memorial Coal by mining it, by breaking the dungeon’s firepits, or by clearing the Krigen, the Jotun warriors that patrol the halls. Collect at least three before heading back out.

Image credit: Coffee Stain Publishing / Lysen

Since Mörkhalla is long and dangerous, stock up on more than three coal per trip so you can summon multiple Ancestors without returning to the dungeon each time.

How to activate an Ancient Altar

Find an Ancient Altar in the Deep North. They often appear near Abandoned Homesteads, though there are no fixed locations. Depending on your world seed, one may sit close to where you land or deep inland.

Approach the altar with Memorial Coal placed in one of your eight quick inventory slots. Interact with the altar and select the coal to spend it.

An Ancestor spirit appears and immediately turns hostile. Defeat it to claim its drops. You know the summon worked the moment the Ancestor spawns and attacks.

You can spend enough coal to summon several Ancestors at once, but every spirit you call attacks you at the same time. Summon one at a time unless you are confident in the fight.

Rewards from defeating Ancestors

Beating an Ancestor can drop Thunderblood Essence or Frostfire Essence. Melee Ancestors yield Thunderblood Essence, while magic Ancestors yield Frostfire Essence. Both are used to empower Nord weapons with elemental damage, which is important preparation for the biome’s final boss, Kall Fimbulbringer.

Ancestors come in different loadouts. Some carry a ranged weapon, some pair a melee weapon with a shield, and others wield a single axe. The essence drop rate is low, so expect to repeat fights before the materials appear.

Reusing altars and where they spawn

An Ancient Altar can be used repeatedly as long as you keep bringing Memorial Coal.
Altars exist only in the Deep North and do not appear in any other biome.
They have no fixed positions; placement depends on your world seed.
A vegvisir marking the Aesir Passage can appear beside an Ancient Altar, helping you track down the final boss.

Because the essences feed directly into your strongest Deep North gear, farming Ancestors at these altars is a core step before challenging the biome’s boss. Keep a steady supply of Memorial Coal on hand, and each altar becomes a repeatable source of the materials that push your Nord weapons to their highest tier.