The Lyngvi Wardens

Three immortal skeletal Wardens who patrol, protect, resurrect, and grow stronger with your saga.

Death is not the end in Valheim.

Some warriors linger not because they fear the halls beyond, but because an oath still binds them to the living world. Three such souls have answered your journey.

The Wardens

Bodvar — The Shield-Bearer

Inspired by Bödvar Bjarki, the legendary warrior of Hrólfs saga kraka associated with the spirit and strength of a great bear.

Bodvar is the Wardens' tank: a hulking skeletal guardian based on the Rancid Remains body, armed with a mace and shield. He holds the line and adds Poison damage to his attacks.

Starkad — The Berserker

Inspired by Starkaðr, the giant-born legendary warrior whose life was marked by battle, strength, glory and tragedy.

Starkad is the aggressive melee Warden: a burning skeletal berserker based on Brenna's form, wielding a fixed flaming greatsword. He adds Fire damage to his attacks.

Orvar — The Marksman

Inspired by Örvar-Oddr ("Arrow-Odd"), the legendary Norse hero associated with the magical arrows known as Gusir's Gifts.

Orvar fights from the rear with a fixed bow and adds Frost damage to his arrows.

Together they are The Lyngvi Wardens.

They do not merely follow. They patrol around you, guard you while you build and explore, enter forgotten tombs at your side, and throw themselves into battle when enemies approach. If one falls, the bond tying their soul to yours eventually calls them back.

Your saga is now theirs.

Features

• Three persistent named companions: Bodvar, Starkad and Orvar.
• Autonomous honor-guard behaviour: the Wardens patrol in a loose bubble around the player instead of standing directly on top of you.
• Automatic combat: vanilla Valheim AI takes over when enemies are detected.
• Distinct combat identities:
  • Bodvar — tank, mace + shield, Poison.
  • Starkad — berserker, flaming greatsword, Fire.
  • Orvar — archer, bow, Frost.
• Fixed loadouts: resurrection does not reroll their intended weapons.
• Boss-progression scaling: power grows with your saga rather than simply with the biome under your feet.
• 20-second resurrection: a fallen Warden reforms and returns.
• 2% maximum-health regeneration per second, including during combat.
• Dungeon/interior transfer: designed to keep the Wardens with you when entering and leaving interiors.
• Anti-stuck / catch-up logic: distant or stranded Wardens can return to the player.
• No companion drops.
• Designed for Valheim 1.0.x.

Progression

Entering a later biome early does not instantly power up the Wardens, and returning to an old Meadows base late in the game does not reduce them to early-game strength.

Requirements

• BepInExPack Valheim 5.4.2333
• Jötunn 2.30.1

When installed through Thunderstore/r2modman, declared dependencies can be installed automatically.

Installation

Thunderstore / r2modman

Install The Lyngvi Wardens and its dependencies through your compatible mod manager, then launch Valheim modded.

Manual installation

1. Install BepInExPack for Valheim.
2. Install Jötunn.
3. Place TheLyngviWardens.dll in Valheim/BepInEx/plugins/TheLyngviWardens/.
4. Launch Valheim through BepInEx.

Compatibility & Multiplayer

• Developed and tested against Valheim 1.0.12.
• Developed with Jötunn 2.30.1 and BepInEx 5.4.23.x.
• Single-player is the primary tested environment.
• Multiplayer/network-aware code is present, but hosted multiplayer and dedicated-server behaviour should currently be considered experimental.

Upgrading from Soulbound Companion

Version 1.0.0 is the public identity release of the project formerly developed privately as Soulbound Companion. The migration replaces the old generic entourage with the named Wardens so their new bodies and fixed loadouts can be created cleanly.

Do not install the old SoulboundCompanion.dll alongside TheLyngviWardens.dll.

Known limitations

• No configuration menu yet.
• Full multiplayer/dedicated-server behaviour has not yet been exhaustively tested.
• Later-game balance may continue to be tuned as progression is playtested.

Credits & Development

Created as an independent Valheim mod using BepInEx and Jötunn.

The Lyngvi Wardens was developed with substantial assistance from OpenAI ChatGPT, including programming, debugging, documentation and design iteration.

The characters are fictional Valheim companions inspired by figures from medieval Norse legendary literature; the mod is not presented as a historically exact adaptation of those figures.

Bug Reports

Useful reports include:

• Valheim version
• BepInEx version
• Jötunn version
• single-player, hosted multiplayer or dedicated server
• LogOutput.log
• what happened immediately before the issue

Changelog

1.3.0

• Added a configurable summon/dismiss hotkey. Default: Left Alt + Z.
• Added wardens summon, wardens dismiss, wardens toggle, and wardens regroup console commands.
• Added per-character persistence for the summoned/dismissed state.
• Warden health percentage is stored when dismissed and restored when summoned again.
• Remaining resurrection time is preserved when a dead Warden is dismissed.
• Added player-to-Warden collision ignoring.
• Added Warden-to-Warden collision ignoring.
• Added compact interior collider profiles for Bodvar and Starkad.
• Bodvar and Starkad now use the standard Skeleton pathfinding agent.
• Added faster stuck detection and recovery inside interiors.
• Added manual Warden regrouping through the console command.
• Increased Bodvar's outdoor patrol range to 12–18 metres.
• Added an 8.5 metre peaceful personal-space threshold for Bodvar outdoors.
• Starkad retains the closer 8–14 metre melee patrol range.

1.2.0

• Changed Egil from the Charred Marksman body to a normal Skeleton body.
• Changed Egil to a Finewood Bow appearance.
• Increased Egil's firing frequency.
• Removed Egil's constant forced flanking loop.
• Reduced Egil's unnecessary side-to-side combat movement.
• Egil's custom movement now focuses mainly on retreating from close threats.
• Changed Orvar to a large Charred-style longbow appearance.
• Orvar's bow remains mechanically normalized for Warden balance.
• Added migration handling for the updated Orvar and Egil prefabs.

1.1.0

• Added Egil, the fourth Lyngvi Warden.
• Added Lightning elemental damage for Egil.
• Increased Bodvar's base health from 70 to 150.
• Replaced Bodvar's Bronze Buckler with a Nord Greatshield.
• Added active shield-blocking behaviour for Bodvar.
• Added progression-scaled shield block strength.
• Removed inherited Rancid Remains blunt and fire weaknesses from Bodvar.
• Improved Orvar's combat awareness.
• Added ranged kiting and minimum-distance behaviour.
• Changed Orvar to a Finewood Bow appearance.
• Added shared Warden threat awareness.
• Added distinct long-range Marksman and closer Skirmisher ranged roles.

1.0.0

• Initial public release of The Lyngvi Wardens.
• Added Bodvar, Starkad and Orvar.
• Added autonomous honor-guard patrol behaviour.
• Added character-based boss progression scaling.
• Added persistent companions.
• Added individual 20-second resurrection.
• Added 2% maximum-health regeneration per second.
• Added dungeon and interior transfer support.
• Added anti-stuck and emergency catch-up behaviour.
• Added fixed Warden loadouts.
• Added Poison, Fire and Frost elemental identities.