Soundtrack

4:41 The music of Valheim is written by Patrik Jarlestam, a Swedish composer based in Australia, and is built around one theme per place: each biome, each kind of location and each boss has its own piece, so the score tells the player where they are. The original early-access score was released as Valheim (Original Game Soundtrack) on Oct 29, 2021 and has since grown, update by update, into a 44-track album that spans everything from the Meadows to the Ashlands. Sound effects and the voice of Hugin are covered under Lore and Setting.

Quick facts

The composer

1:02 Jarlestam grew up in Lidköping, a small Swedish town with a Viking museum nearby, and has lived in Sydney since the late 2010s, traveling back to Sweden for game work. He has been Valheim's in-game composer since before its early-access launch and describes the score as an attempt to write how Scandinavia sounds to him rather than a stereotypical "Viking" sound. His stated inspirations are Swedish folk music and older classical writing (he cites the 16th-century composer Palestrina for how he shapes melodies), with metal acts such as Meshuggah and Dream Theater behind the boss themes (NME).

0:01 Jarlestam works through Solid Sounds, a three-person audio studio he co-runs. The music for Valheim's trailers and animated cinematics is not his: it is by Dennis Filatov, who with Inez Kontio forms the duo Ghostwood Empire and who also builds many of the game's creature sounds, as this Iron Gate Studio video on the Gjall's voice shows. Two Ghostwood Empire trailer pieces, "Deya Saga" and "Hearth And Home", sit on the album.

Writing the early-access score

15:29 The commission began with demos for the Black Forest and for Moder's battle theme; once Jarlestam had the contract, the Meadows was the first biome he wrote, working through an Australian summer while imagining Swedish forests. In a March 2021 AMA he said the whole launch score had been written in about four months, a schedule originally planned at two (MMORPG.com).

7:23 Iron Gate's founder Richard Svensson steered the sound closely. The Mountain and sailing themes each went through five rewrites, a first cinematic demo was rejected as "too Witcher", and a folk-flavored sailing sketch was turned down for sounding like Pippi Longstocking. Yagluth's theme was the last piece finished: an earlier Yagluth demo was reassigned to Bonemass, and the version in the game was written in three days and delivered hours before the build deadline.

The launch recordings mixed samples with a handful of live players: the 2021 release credits Jarlestam on guitars, bass and percussion, Philippa Murphy-Haste on clarinet and viola, Jenean Lee on cello and Michael H. Dixon on French horn (PCGamesN). Those four voices remain the thread that ties the later biomes back to the first ones.

How the music plays

29:12 Valheim's music system is simple: a track is attached to a place and plays there, with no dynamic layering. Jarlestam calls this his main criticism of the game's music and compensates inside the tracks; the Mistlands theme runs past eleven minutes because it carries its own stripped-down "ambient" restatements, so the full melody returns as an event. Boss fights, the main menu, the intro flight and the dawn and dusk transitions each have a cue, and location themes cover crypts, camps, ruins, traders' huts and the Raids and Events warning "The forest is moving", which has four escalating levels on the album.

Track titles follow the streaming release (Deezer tracklist); in-game placement follows the chaptered fan upload used for the moments on this page.

Meadows and the sailing theme

23:31 "The Meadows – A Place To Rest" is the piece Jarlestam is asked about most. He describes it as a spring dance in the Scandinavian manner: the guitar plays in 3/4 while the mandolin runs in 9/8, and the two pulses push against each other. His own favorite is the quieter "Village & Farm" cue that plays at abandoned Meadows settlements, a cello melody written to mourn the people who are no longer there.

26:31 "Out For A Sailing Adventure" plays whenever a boat leaves the coast, and reviewers keep returning to it; PCGamesN's 1.0 review recalls "that perfect, soaring score" on the longboat as central to the game's Viking feel (PCGamesN). Jarlestam's favorite fan story is a crew who played it over their speakers while sailing the Bahamas.

The 2021 soundtrack release

Iron Gate released the score as Valheim (Original Game Soundtrack) on Oct 29, 2021, with 20 tracks covering the launch game and the Hearth & Home Update, as a paid download on Steam and on streaming services (Wikipedia; Steam). The phonographic copyright is held by Coffee Stain Publishing AB (Apple Music), and Iron Gate confirmed that streamers may play it without risking copyright strikes (NME). The album has been extended after each content update and now lists 44 tracks and 2 hours 19 minutes on Spotify and Apple Music; the Steam edition lists 43.

Mistlands (2022)

0:00 The Mistlands Update of December 2022 was the first to add a full set of new music: a biome theme, a boss theme, location themes and a longer piece for Haldor, all named in the patch notes (Massively Overpowered). The Mistlands melody had existed since January 2021 as the third part of a three-movement "series theme" Jarlestam wrote on his own initiative; it found no home until the reworked Mistlands needed something that sounded magical and uncertain, which he achieves by writing in a major key with a minor sixth.

24:08 For the first time four live instruments share the melody: cello, flute, alto flute and a five-string double bass played in its solo register by Mattias Palm, principal bass of the Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra, with a harp entering midway. The two Dvergr location tracks (excavation site and tower) use clarinet, bass clarinet, marimba and glass marimba, deliberately unrelated to Haldor's folk tune; The Queen gets a heavier rock-based battle theme; and the Frost Cave sanctum received a short viola cue. It was the first update recorded with musicians in both Sweden and Australia.

Traders, Hildir's Request and the Bog Witch

9:25 Haldor's theme was Jarlestam's gamble on Swedish folk music, built around the nyckelharpa (key fiddle); it began as a demo, became a studio favorite, and was later doubled in length because players lingered at the trader far longer than expected. Hildir's theme, added with the Hildir's Request Update in 2023 alongside cues for the Smouldering Tomb, Howling Cavern and Sealed Tower, was written as a sibling piece to Haldor's. "The Dance Of The Witch In The Bog", the theme for The Bog Witch, is co-credited to Pablo Sorribes Bernhard and built from wooden percussion sounds.

Ashlands (2024)

18:02 The Ashlands Update (patch 0.218.15, May 14, 2024) again listed "new music" (Steam): a piece for the dangerous approach by sea, the 18-minute biome track "Ashlands – Transformed by Fire", three ruin themes, a fortress theme and Fader's battle theme "Fader Beckons", featuring vocalist J.R. Kensington. Jarlestam gives each biome a signature instrument; for the Ashlands it was a sampled "spiral cello", and from Mistlands onward he has layered more live players on single lines so that the sound changes over the course of a track.

Deep North and 1.0 (2026)

0:00 The Valheim 1.0 Release on Sep 9, 2026 brought the last block of new music, listed simply as "New music" in the 1.0 notes (Iron Gate): a theme for the Deep North, a battle theme for its final boss Kall Fimbulbringer, and an ending theme. Jarlestam began work on the biome in early 2025 wanting it to feel, like the Meadows, "enveloping and warm even though it's very cold", and to draw on his love of baroque music.

35:28 The Deep North is the first Valheim music with a choir: singers from the Swedish Radio Choir were recorded singing in Old Norse, alongside more session players than any earlier update. Speaking at ValCon in spring 2026, Jarlestam said the writing for the whole game was finished and singled out the last boss theme and the way the finale ties earlier themes together.

3:22 The ending cinematic that plays when Sacrificial Blood is returned to the stones leads into the game's first end-credits theme, co-written by Jarlestam with two collaborators and seeded with callbacks to earlier tracks. Postmode's 1.0 review described a "C418-like soundtrack" that "wraps you up in a warm sonic blanket" (Postmode).

The new music needed some tuning after launch. Patch 1.0.14 of Sep 17, 2026 rebalanced the Deep North and Winding Tunnels tracks and removed clicks where they loop, made Mörkhalla play its correct music, and mixed the music of the biome's locations better (Iron Gate, Patch 1.0.14; Patches Since 1.0).

0:00 Outside the game, Iron Gate asked Miracle of Sound for an official song inspired by the launch. "Fate In Your Hands", published on Sep 29, 2026, was composed, produced and performed by Gavin Dunne, the musician behind Miracle of Sound, with string arrangements and tagelharpa by Liz Lister, and its video cuts between game footage and the animated cinematics. Iron Gate shared it in its post of the next day, saying Valheim "really is about the stories that you have to tell" (Miracle of Sound; Iron Gate, Word from the Devs: What a Month!).

Concerts and the music that never was

11:21 A symphonic suite of Valheim music was first performed by the Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra on Sep 28, 2022 and repeated in each of the following two years, with footage from community streamers projected behind the orchestra. A contact with the orchestra's bass player is also how the double bass came to carry so many of the later melodies.

Valheim is getting concerts of its own. On Sep 30, 2026 Iron Gate announced two for 2027, one in Stockholm and one in Paris, with tickets and more cities to be announced and a mailing list for those interested (Iron Gate, Word from the Devs: What a Month!).

6:18 At ValCon 2026 Jarlestam played the demos that never shipped: the first pitch (whose opening became the intro music), an alternative Meadows track, a night-sailing sketch, a Frost Cave cultist theme judged too calm for a fight, a baroque string piece written for the Deep North, and "Old Meadows", a commission for a fan who had rebuilt his late father's home in the game. He would like to release them as an album, and notes that Valheim still has no night-time Meadows music.

Frequently asked questions

Who wrote the music for Valheim? Patrik Jarlestam, a Swedish composer based in Sydney, who has been the game's in-game composer since before its early-access launch. The trailers and animated cinematics are scored by Dennis Filatov of Ghostwood Empire instead.

Where can you listen to the Valheim soundtrack? Valheim (Original Game Soundtrack) is sold as a download on Steam and is on streaming services such as Spotify and Apple Music. Iron Gate has confirmed that streamers may play it without risking copyright strikes.

How many tracks are on the Valheim soundtrack? Twenty at its release on Oct 29, 2021, and 44 today, running 2 hours 19 minutes; the Steam edition lists 43.

What is the Valheim sailing theme called? "Out For A Sailing Adventure", which plays whenever a boat leaves the coast (Sailing and Ships).

Is there a Valheim concert? Iron Gate announced on Sep 30, 2026 that Valheim concerts will be held in Stockholm and Paris in 2027, with tickets and more cities to follow. Earlier, the Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra performed a symphonic suite of the music from 2022.

Did Valheim 1.0 add new music? Yes: a theme for the Deep North, a battle theme for Kall Fimbulbringer, an ending theme and the game's first end-credits music, seeded with callbacks to earlier tracks.

Sources

• Valheim – Wikipedia (Wikipedia)
• Valheim (Original Game Soundtrack) (Spotify)
• Valheim (Original Game Soundtrack) (Apple Music)
• Valheim (Original Game Soundtrack) tracklist (Deezer)
• Valheim Soundtrack (Steam)
• Valheim's soundtrack is here with Viking beats and bangers aplenty (PCGamesN, Oct 29, 2021)
• The official soundtrack to 'Valheim' has been released (NME, Oct 29, 2021)
• Valheim's Composer AMA Talks All About Music (MMORPG.com, Mar 18, 2021)
• The Music of VALHEIM – Interview with Patrik Jarlestam from #ValCon2025 (Val-Con, YouTube)
• The Music That Never Was – Valheim Composer Patrik Jarlestam #ValCon2026 (Val-Con, YouTube)
• Interview Valheim Composer Patrik Jarlestam – Podheim #50 (Jiroc the Viking, YouTube, December 2022)
• What's up gjall? – Behind the Scenes of a Valheim Sound (Iron Gate, YouTube)
• Valheim's Mistlands update is live (Massively Overpowered, Dec 6, 2022)
• Patch 0.218.15 – Ashlands (Steam news, May 14, 2024)
• Valheim 1.0 Has Arrived! (Iron Gate, Sep 9, 2026)
• Patch 1.0.14 (Iron Gate, Sep 17, 2026)
• Word from the Devs: What a Month! (Iron Gate, Sep 30, 2026)
• VALHEIM - “Fate In Your Hands” by Miracle Of Sound (Official Song) (Miracle of Sound and Iron Gate, YouTube, Sep 29, 2026)
• Valheim 1.0 review – The Deep North is gorgeous, if you can handle the journey (PCGamesN, Sep 8, 2026)
• Valheim 1.0 Review: The Deep North Is Brutal (Postmode, September 2026)
• Valheim press page (Iron Gate Studio)