NPCs

Almost everything in Valheim wants to kill you. These are the exceptions: the traders who take your coins, the ravens who explain the game, a god who watches from the trees, the valkyrie who dropped you here, and the companions the traders keep.

Merchants

Each trader is locked to one biome when the world is generated, and every camp sits inside a protective dome that enemies cannot enter. They all deal only in coins, which come from chests, trolls, fulings and dvergr, or from selling them amber, rubies and silver necklaces.

Once you walk close enough, the camp icon stays on your map for good. Haldor is the practical early trader. Hildir focuses on clothes and appearance, and recovering her three stolen chests expands her stock and also unlocks new base-raid events. The Bog Witch supplies the specialised ingredients that make high-tier feasts and some meads possible.

Trader	Biome	Location	Sold Goods	Expansion
Haldor	Black Forest	A camp somewhere between 500 m and 2 km out, marked with a bag on the map once you have walked near it.	Fishing rod and bait Megingjord Dverger circlet Ymir flesh and thunder stones Eggs and barrel hoops	Boss kills. Thunder Stones wait on The Elder and Eggs on Yagluth.
Hildir	Meadows	Her own camp out in the grass, on the map as a bench once found.	Capes, tunics and dresses Caps, hats and headscarves Barber kit Fireworks and the iron pit	Her three chests. Each one recovered from a smouldering tomb, a howling cavern or a sealed tower opens more of her stock.
The Bog Witch	Swamp	A hut under a shimmering dome, three to eight kilometres from the middle of the world, marked with a cauldron.	Corked vials and candle wicks Pungent pebbles and fragrant bundles Spice powders for feasts Serving tray	Some of her stock waits on a boss. The spices and the tray are what make a feast possible at all.

Haldor is a Dvergr merchant whose camp always sits in the Black Forest, usually within about 1 500 m of the world centre. His most important early sale is the Megingjord for 950 coins. It raises carry weight by 150 and is the single biggest quality-of-life purchase most players make. The Dverger Circlet gives hands-free light for dungeons, and the Fishing Rod and bait open up fishing. Later unlocks include Ymir Flesh, Thunder Stones (after The Elder), inventory-row upgrades after Moder and The Queen, and Eggs after Yagluth. He also buys amber, amber pearls, rubies and silver necklaces, which bring in solid coin.

Hildir is Haldor's sister, and she sets up further out in the Meadows, roughly 3 000 to 5 100 m from the centre. Most of her stock is cosmetic clothing that reduces tool stamina use when worn around base, and the Barber Kit lets you build a station to change your hair and beard. Her real content unlocks through three quests: use the map table at her camp to mark the dungeons, then recover one chest of each type.

Brass Chest: dropped by Brenna in a Smouldering Tomb in the Black Forest
Silver Chest: dropped by Geirrhafa in a Howling Cavern in the Mountains
Bronze Chest: dropped by Zil (with Thungr) in a Sealed Tower in the Plains

Each chest weighs 200 and cannot pass through a wood portal. Bringing back one of each type expands her clothing line and also unlocks new base invasion events featuring those same minibosses.

The Bog Witch lives in a protected hut in the Swamp, usually 3 000 to 8 000 m from the centre. She sells the specialised spices, the vials and the Serving Tray you need for Feasts. Different spice blends unlock after specific bosses, and they are the only way to craft the long-duration shared meals that sit on top of normal cooking. She also carries ingredients for certain late meads and a few utility items such as ivy seeds and candle wicks.

Other Characters

The rest are scenery with something to say, and only one of them can be killed.

Character	Location	Actions
Hugin	Anywhere you go for the first time	Odin's raven, and the game's tutorial. He lands on a rock the first time you meet a biome, a boss altar or a mechanic, says his piece and leaves.
Kvastur	The Bog Witch's hut	The witch's pet, and neutral: it leaves you alone unless you hit it, and it fights whatever comes at the hut.
Munin	Mistlands	Hugin's brother, who takes over the advice in the mist and is a good deal ruder about it.
Odin	Appears at a distance at night once The Elder is dead, and disappears when approached.	A black cloaked figure with one blue eye who stands and watches, then is gone when you look again. He cannot be reached, hit or spoken to.
Valkyrie	The sky above your first spawn	The bird-shaped creature that carries every new Viking into Valheim and drops them in the Meadows. She appears once per character.

Hugin (Thought) is the main tutorial raven. The first time you meet a new biome, boss altar, crafting station or major mechanic, he appears, delivers a short message from Odin and flies off. Once you no longer need the reminders, you can switch him off in the world settings. Munin (Memory) takes over in the Mistlands and later biomes, and he is noticeably blunter and more focused on lore.

Odin himself appears as a distant black-cloaked figure with one glowing blue eye. After certain progression points he watches from afar, and he vanishes if you get too close. You cannot interact with him. The Valkyrie is the winged figure that carries every new character into the tenth world and drops them in the Meadows. She appears only once per character, at the very start.

Kvastur is the Bog Witch's broom-wielding companion. It stays neutral unless attacked and will fight anything that threatens the hut. Haldor's tame Lox, Halstein, and Hildir's two Lox, Blåbär and Hallon, also live at their camps, but they have no dialogue or shop function.

Notes

A trader's camp is placed when the world is made, so its position is fixed for that seed and different in the next one.
Finding a camp puts a permanent marker on your map. Until then, all you can do is search.
Coins weigh 0.1 each and stack to 999, so a full purse costs you almost nothing to carry.
You can turn Hugin off in the world settings if you have heard it all before.
Hildir's chests cannot pass through wood portals, so you need a stone portal or a boat to bring them back.
Returning Hildir's chests expands her shop and also unlocks new invasion events at your base.
The protective dome around each trader camp cannot be destroyed, and it keeps enemies out while you trade.
Feasts need both the Bog Witch's spices and her Serving Tray, and the recipes stay locked until you buy them.