Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree: Ymir NPC quest walkthrough

Here is a full walkthrough of Ymir's questline in Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree, as the Carian Count and his protector Jolán can be quite confusing to decipher.

Where to find Ymir

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Ymir and Jolán can be found in the Cathedral of Manus Metyr, which is in the eastern section of Scadu Altus.

You can see the full path in our areas walkthrough above, but in short, you'll need to head down a hole just south of Moorth Ruins, then continue through Bonny Village in order to reach the Cathedral.

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Thankfully neither NPC move outside of this location for the duration of the questline, but you'll have to do some globetrotting of your own in order to fulfil some of Ymir's more unusual requests.

Quest walkthrough

Meeting Ymir

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Like any quest, you'll have to meet Ymir to get the ball rolling, and he'll be sitting all alone in his chair at the back of the Cathedral of Manus Metyr.

Speaking to him, however, starts things more immediately than most other NPCs, as he'll give you the Hole Laden Necklace key item and the first Ruins Map, imploring you to hunt down a Hallowed Ruin and ring a mysterious bell there.

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If you head back to the Site of Grace and rest, a new NPC named Jolán should now be resting against one of the pillars to the right as you walk into the main Cathedral area. Make sure to exhaust her dialogue too. You'll also want to speak to Ymir after you've spoken to Jolán, as you can ask him about her too.

It might appear on the second rest, or you might need to rest again, but Ymir should also eventually cradle Yuri - his finger 'child' - in his arms. There isn't too much in terms of new dialogue here, but it certainly illuminates the strangeness of this situation. 

Finding the first Hallowed Ruins

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The first Hallowed Ruins - Finger Ruins of Khia - can be found in between the Cerulean Coast and Jagged Peak, and you'll need to take a path on the southern Cerulean beach in order to reach it.

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You'll first want to start from the Cerulean Coast Cross Site of Grace, and then head east down to the beach. From there, continue heading east down a somewhat linear path until you reach the Finger Ruins, and the bell is right at the centre of the clustered fingers on the map. Having the Map Fragment for the Southern Shore area is really helpful in doing this also.

You'll need to be careful as there are lots of leech-like enemies and giant fingers in this area, so make sure to utilise Torrent and head around the sides in order to avoid the worst of the danger.

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Once you reach the bell, a prompt to 'Sound hanging bell' should appear, so go ahead and do that. Once you've finished the animation you'll get the Crimson Seed Talisman +1 as well - a nice bonus!

After you've done that, head back to Ymir and exhaust his dialogue. He will then give you the second Ruins map - but you're not to head there quite yet.

Make sure to speak to Jolán again on the way back to the Site of Grace, and then you'll want to rest. Ymir should now not be sat in his chair, and instead be in the graveyard to the left, so go ahead and speak to him. Then, return to the vacant chair.

Heading down the ladder

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When standing in front of the empty chair you should be able to interact with it, prompting your character to press a button and move the chair, revealing a ladder underneath.

This will lead you to the Finger Ruins of Miyr - which we will need to visit again later - but there's something you can do now. Head all the way down the ladder, and walk forward until you are invaded by Swordhand of Night Anna.

Defeating Anna will give you the Claws of Night, and then you'll want to make sure that you speak to Jolán. Continue through her dialogue until the option to 'Tell her you were attacked by a Swordhand of Night underground' comes up - you might need to rest again in order for it to appear if her dialogue becomes exhausted.

Finding the second Hallowed Ruins

The second Hallowed Ruins - Finger Ruins of Dheo - is found in the Hinterland, in the northeast of the map. Reaching here is certainly not a simple task though, and requires you to head through the Shadow Keep Church District, then the Shadow Keep, and down to the Back Gate, which I've detailed fully in the areas walkthrough.

Once you get to the Shadow Keep Back Gate though, use the 'O Mother' gesture in front of the Statue of Marika and it will move, revealing the entrance to the Hinterland. This gesture, if you've not yet found it, is to the north of the Bonny Village Site of Grace.

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Once you're in the Hinterland, head down to the heart of the Finger Ruins to find the bell and ring it. There are more enemies on the path down to this one though, and you'll want to make sure to avoid the pink projectiles too as they'll stunlock you. Ringing this bell will give you the Cerulean Seed Talisman +1.

Now that you've rang the bell, head back to the Cathedral and speak to Ymir once more. He'll give you the final Ruins map, which details a place we've already been to! You'll need to rest again to get Ymir to move from the chair, and then interact with it again and head down to the Finger Ruins of Miyr.

Beating the boss(es)

This time you'll be able to ring the hanging bell at the end of the Finger Ruins of Miyr, but instead of being granted an item, you'll be teleported to a new area - with Metyr, Mother of Fingers waiting as a boss.

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Once you've defeated Metyr, make sure to travel back to the Cathedral and walk up to the empty chair. You should then get invaded by Jolán after interacting with the chair. After defeating Jolán, Ymir will appear at the chair, and a new boss fight will start - Ymir, Mother of Fingers.

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After beating Ymir, you can head back out to the graveyard and pick up the Cherishing Fingers spell from Yuri's grave.

Final conversation with Jolán

While Ymir's quest has finished, there is one last thing you can do with Jolán, giving you two alternate endings.

Head back to the spot where she usually stands and you'll be able to find her lying against the pillar, close to death. Make sure to exhaust her dialogue until the option appears to give her the Iris of Grace or the Iris of Occultation. This depends on the availability of the respective items in your inventory too, so the option won't appear if you have one or neither of the Irises.

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Giving Jolán the Iris of Grace will grant you her Spirit Ash as a summon, whereas giving her the Iris of Occultation will gift you the Sword of Night. Both options give alternate dialogue as well, so you might want to consider the consequences of your actions beyond what item you get at the end.

If you're currently running a Dexterity build then the Sword of Night is one of the strongest that you can use, but the prospect of calling Jolan into battle at any opportunity is certainly appealing too.