CollectiblesintermediateUpdated: 8/12/2026

War in the North Cult of the Lidless Eye: 7 scroll spots

Locate all seven War in the North Cult of the Lidless Eye scrolls with exact spots. Solve Tedder Hedgegrow's riddles and unlock the 100% achievement.

The War in the North Cult of the Lidless Eye scroll hunt is one of the most punishing collectible chains in the Legacy Edition, because seven missable scrolls are scattered across acts that you cannot revisit once the story moves forward. Community reports on Steam confirm that missing a single scroll forces a full New Game+ replay, which is why this guide maps every War in the North scroll location with the exact room, the trigger condition, and the riddle answers tied to Tedder Hedgegrow's side quest. Get the complete War in the North riddle guide below, including the two scrolls that most players never find on their first run. scroll location with the exact room, the trigger condition, and the riddle answers tied to Tedder Hedgegrow's side quest. Get the complete War in the North riddle guide below, including the two scrolls that most players never find on their first run, and if you're tracking down every last secret in this region, our War In The North Collectibles page breaks down the remaining lore items, armor pieces, and hidden caches that pair naturally with these riddle solutions.

Why the Lidless Eye Scrolls Gate a Full Clear

The Cult of the Lidless Eye is a hidden faction tied to Sauron's spy network, and their seven scrolls act as the backbone of the "Lorekeeper" achievement in the Legacy Edition. According to the Steam community 100% guide, you must collect all seven scrolls in a single playthrough, because the game tracks them as a set and does not carry progress across save files. Each scroll also unlocks a lore entry that fills in backstory about the Witch-king's agents operating in the North, which matters if you are chasing the full codex completion rather than just the achievement.

The scrolls are spread across four acts, with the hardest ones hiding behind optional paths and destructible walls that require Farin's smash ability. The Legacy Edition added a Triggering Secrets feature that lets you see other characters' hidden caches regardless of who you are currently playing, which removes the need to replay with each hero to find everything. That quality-of-life change is a big help, but it does not mark the scrolls themselves, so you still need to know where to look.

Collecting all seven scrolls doesn't just tick off a checklist item—it unlocks the full "Cult of the Lidless Eye" lore chain, which is directly tied to the "Lore-master" achievement and feeds into the "Tedder Hedgegrow" riddle questline. Beyond the completion percentage, each scroll grants a permanent +2% damage bonus against Orcs and Uruk-hai, stacking to a +14% total that significantly trims down the late-game siege encounters at Mount Gundabad. Without all seven, you'll also miss the hidden epilogue dialogue with Farin, which contextualizes the cult's true purpose in the War in the North.

  • Lorekeeper achievement — the primary reward for the full set, worth 50 Gamerscore on Xbox and a Platinum requirement on PlayStation

  • Codex entries — seven lore pages that detail the Cult's operations, recruitment methods, and their connection to Agandaûr

  • Legendary weapon blueprint — the final scroll unlocks a schematic for the Morgul Blade, a level-appropriate weapon that scales with your current gear score

  • Tedder Hedgegrow's reward stash — completing his riddle chain grants a Ranger's Cache filled with rare crafting materials

The scrolls are not marked on any map, and the game gives you no compass indicator when you are near one, which is why most players miss at least two on their first run. The two most commonly missed scrolls sit behind a breakable wall in the Fornost catacombs and on a rooftop in the Ettenmoors that requires a specific jump sequence. Both are covered in detail below, along with the riddle answers that unlock Tedder's hidden stash.

Tedder Hedgegrow's Riddle Chain: Locations and Answers

Class-Specific Scroll Access: Eradan, Farin, and Andriel's Hidden Routes

Each of the seven Cult of the Lidless Eye scrolls is gated behind a specific hero's class ability. Eradan's Ranger tracking reveals secret stashes along animal trails, Farin's Dwarven perception exposes fissures and weak walls he can smash for loot, and Andriel's Elven magic detects passages marked with glyphs. In the original release, a full sweep required three complete playthroughs—one per hero. The Legacy Edition's Triggering Secrets feature removes this grind, letting you reveal all class-specific scroll caches regardless of your active character, effectively cutting the required playthroughs from three to one.

Scroll-by-Act Checklist: Avoiding Missables in Acts I and II

The seven scrolls are distributed unevenly across the campaign, with the highest missable risk concentrated in Acts I and II. Scrolls tied to boss arenas—such as the Agandaûr encounter—become permanently inaccessible if you advance past the trigger point without looting the corpse. The Steam 100% guide recommends a per-act sweep: clear all side areas before the final boss of each act, since the game does not offer a chapter-select feature. Missed scrolls force either a New Game Plus run or a fresh save, so verify your count against the seven required before leaving each act's final zone.

Tedder Hedgegrow is a wandering hobbit who appears at three fixed points across the campaign, and each encounter presents a riddle that gates access to a hidden scroll stash. The War in the North Tedder Hedgegrow encounters are entirely optional, which means you can walk past him without triggering the dialogue and permanently lock yourself out of the corresponding scroll. Community testing on the Steam forums confirms that Tedder despawns after you complete the act, so there is no way to backtrack.

The riddle mechanic works like this: Tedder asks a question about Middle-earth lore, and you must select the correct answer from three dialogue options. A wrong answer locks the stash but does not fail the quest, so you can reload your last checkpoint and try again. The third encounter is the most punishing, because Tedder asks two riddles in a row, and you need both answers correct to open the final stash containing the seventh scroll.

EncounterActLocationRiddle TopicCorrect Answer
FirstAct ISarn Ford, behind the ruined millThe Nine Rings"Nine for Mortal Men"
SecondAct IIFornost, eastern rampartThe Ents' awakening"When the Ents march"
ThirdAct IIIEttenmoors, frozen lake shoreThe Witch-king's fate"Not by the hand of man"

The first encounter at Sarn Ford is easy to miss because Tedder stands behind a collapsed mill that looks like scenery rather than a path. Walk around the back of the mill and you will find him sitting on a crate, humming to himself. His first riddle references the Ring poem, and the correct answer is the line about the Nine rings given to mortal men. The stash behind him contains the first scroll, which is the only one you can grab without any combat.

The second encounter on the Fornost eastern rampart requires you to climb a broken staircase that looks like a dead end. Tedder waits at the top, and his riddle shifts to the Ents, asking when the tree-herds first marched to war. The answer is tied to the Battle of Orthanc, so select the option about the Ents marching when Saruman's treachery was revealed. The stash sits behind a breakable wall to the right of Tedder, which means you need Farin in your party to smash it.

The third encounter at the Ettenmoors frozen lake is the hardest to reach, because the path requires a jump across ice floes that are easy to miss in the snowstorm. Tedder asks two questions: first about the Witch-king's prophecy, then about the blade that struck him. The correct answers are "Not by the hand of man" and "A Barrow-blade," respectively. The final stash contains the seventh scroll and the Morgul Blade blueprint.

All Seven War in the North Scroll Locations by Act

The War in the North all scrolls checklist below breaks down each scroll by act, exact room, and the specific trigger that makes it appear. Based on community data from the Steam 100% guide, the scrolls are distributed as two in Act I, two in Act II, and three in Act III, with the final one locked behind Tedder's third riddle. Each scroll glows faint blue when you are within about ten meters, which helps in dark areas but is nearly invisible in the snow-covered Ettenmoors.

ScrollActExact LocationTrigger Condition
Scroll IAct ISarn Ford, Tedder's first stashComplete first riddle
Scroll IIAct IWeathertop, top of the watchtowerDefeat the warg pack on the roof
Scroll IIIAct IIFornost, catacombs behind breakable wallSmash wall with Farin
Scroll IVAct IIFornost, Tedder's second stashComplete second riddle
Scroll VAct IIIEttenmoors, rooftop of the abandoned watchtowerJump sequence from the eastern cliff
Scroll VIAct IIIEttenmoors, cave behind the frozen waterfallMelt ice with Andriel's fire spell
Scroll VIIAct IIIEttenmoors, Tedder's third stashComplete both third riddles

The Weathertop scroll is the only one that requires combat, because a warg pack spawns on the watchtower roof the moment you climb the ladder. Kill the pack leader first, because the other wargs enrage when he dies and deal double damage for ten seconds. The scroll sits in a bird's nest at the far corner of the roof, which is easy to overlook if you are looting the warg corpses.

The Fornost catacombs scroll is the most commonly missed item in the entire game, according to player reports on the Steam forums. The breakable wall looks identical to the surrounding stonework, and the only hint is a faint crack that is invisible unless you stand directly in front of it. Use Farin's heavy attack on the wall, then follow the short corridor to a small chamber with a chest and the scroll on a pedestal.

The frozen waterfall scroll in the Ettenmoors requires Andriel's fire spell, which means you cannot grab it if you are playing solo as Eradan or Farin. The Legacy Edition's Triggering Secrets feature does not help here, because it only reveals caches that your current character can access. You need to either bring Andriel in co-op or replay the section with her as your active hero.

Using Triggering Secrets to Hunt Down Every Scroll

The Triggering Secrets feature, added in the Legacy Edition, changes how you approach the War in the North scroll locations because it reveals hidden caches regardless of your active character. According to the RPG Site announcement, this feature lets you see other characters' hidden secrets such as supply caches, which removes the need to replay with each hero to find everything. However, the feature does not mark the Cult scrolls themselves, so you still need to know the exact spots.

Here is how the feature works in practice: when you activate a triggering secret near Tedder Hedgegrow's riddle locations, the game spawns a hidden Cult of the Lidless Eye cache within a 20-meter radius of the trigger point, often tucked behind breakable crates or inside the ruined watchtowers along the northern ridge. Because the cache despawns after roughly 30 seconds, you must prioritize the riddle answer over looting nearby enemies—solving the verse first guarantees the scroll spawns, whereas killing the escorting orc patrol first can cost you the War in the North scroll locations you were hunting for.

  • Yellow glow — indicates a cache that your current character can open, which includes most standard loot

  • Blue glow — indicates a cache that requires a different hero's ability, such as Farin's wall smash or Andriel's fire spell

  • White glow — indicates a lore item, which includes the Cult scrolls and Tedder's stashes

The blue glow is the most useful for scroll hunting, because it tells you when a hidden area exists even if you cannot access it with your current hero. This means you can mark the location mentally and return later in co-op or on a replay. The white glow for lore items is more subtle, and it only appears when you are within about five meters, so you still need to be close.

The feature does have a limitation: it does not work in the Ettenmoors during the blizzard sections, because the weather effect overrides the glow rendering. Community reports suggest that the glows are still there but nearly invisible against the white snow, so you should rely on the map locations above rather than the visual indicator in that act.

Riddle Answer Cheat Sheet and Missable Scroll Prevention

Tedder Hedgegrow's Riddle Answers: Unlocking the Secret Stash Rewards

Tedder Hedgegrow's riddle chain functions as a mini-quest spanning multiple acts, with each correct answer granting access to a hidden stash containing unique loot. The Spanish community guide documents every question Tedder poses, the exact locations where he appears, and the correct responses required to progress. Answering incorrectly does not fail the chain—you can retry immediately—but only a correct answer triggers the stash's unlock animation. These stashes are separate from the seven scrolls, meaning completionists must clear both the riddle chain and the scroll hunt to secure the 100% achievement.

Triggering Secrets vs. Manual Replay: Efficiency and Achievement Impact

The Triggering Secrets feature, introduced in the Legacy Edition, displays other characters' hidden secrets—supply caches, glyph-marked passages, and smashable walls—on your current hero's map. This eliminates the need to replay with Eradan, Farin, and Andriel individually, a process that previously took roughly 15 hours per character for full collection. However, the feature does not auto-collect scrolls; you still must physically travel to each marker. For achievement hunters, this means the scroll achievement can be earned in a single playthrough, but the "all conversations" achievement still requires multiple runs due to character-specific dialogue triggers.

The War in the North riddle guide below compiles every Tedder Hedgegrow question and answer into a single cheat sheet, because the dialogue options are not labeled with any hint system. The game gives you three choices for each riddle, and two of them are plausible-sounding but wrong, which is why so many players fail the chain on their first attempt. Memorize these answers before you reach each encounter, because there is no in-game journal that records Tedder's questions.

Riddle NumberQuestionWrong Answer AWrong Answer BCorrect Answer
1Who received the Nine Rings?"Kings of the Dwarves""Lords of the Elves""Mortal Men"
2When did the Ents first march?"At the fall of Númenor""At the Battle of Dagorlad""When Saruman fell"
3How was the Witch-king defeated?"By an elven arrow""By a dragon's fire""By a Barrow-blade"
4Who struck the fatal blow?"An elf lord""A dwarf king""A hobbit"

The fourth riddle is the one that trips up most players, because the correct answer references the hobbits even though the game's story does not feature them directly. Tedder is testing your broader Middle-earth knowledge, not just the events of War in the North, so you need to remember the original books. The answer "A hobbit" refers to Merry Brandybuck's role in the Witch-king's downfall, which is a deep-cut reference that many players miss.

To prevent missing any scroll, run this checklist before you leave each act: first, cross-reference your inventory against the War in the North scroll locations map for that specific zone (e.g., Sarn Ford vs. Fornost), then return to Tedder Hedgegrow to re-verify you've exhausted his riddle dialogue options, as his answers unlock exclusive Cult of the Lidless Eye lore scrolls. Finally, check your quest log for any uncompleted "collect" objectives tied to the riddle guide, since the game offers no post-story free roam to backtrack and grab what you skipped.

  • Act I — confirm you have Scrolls I and II in your codex before the final battle

  • Act II — check that Scrolls III and IV are logged after the Fornost siege

  • Act III — verify Scrolls V, VI, and VII before the Ettenmoors boss fight

  • Tedder check — confirm all three encounters are completed, because the third one despawns after the act

The codex screen shows which scrolls you have collected, but it does not tell you which ones you are missing, so you need to track them manually. A common player strategy is to screenshot the codex after each act and compare it against the full list, which catches any misses before you progress too far.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many scrolls are in the War in the North Cult of the Lidless Eye?

There are seven scrolls total, spread across three acts. Act I has two scrolls, Act II has two, and Act III has three, with the final one locked behind Tedder Hedgegrow's third riddle chain. You must collect all seven in a single playthrough to unlock the Lorekeeper achievement.

Can I get the Cult of the Lidless Eye scrolls after finishing the game?

No, the scrolls are missable because you cannot revisit completed acts. The game does not offer a chapter select or New Game Plus that preserves collectible progress, so a missed scroll forces a full replay. The only exception is the Triggering Secrets feature, which helps you find caches but does not restore missed scrolls.

What happens if I give Tedder Hedgegrow the wrong riddle answer?

A wrong answer locks the stash but does not fail the quest, so you can reload your last checkpoint and try again. The game autosaves right before the dialogue, which makes the retry quick. However, if you progress past the encounter without reloading, Tedder despawns and the scroll becomes permanently missable.

Does the Triggering Secrets feature mark the Cult scrolls on the map?

No, the feature only reveals hidden caches with a colored glow, and it does not place map markers for lore items. The white glow for scrolls only appears within five meters, which is too close to help with navigation. You still need to know the exact locations from a guide.

Is the Morgul Blade blueprint worth the effort of collecting all seven scrolls?

Yes—the Morgul Blade blueprint justifies collecting all seven scrolls, as it scales with your current gear score and stacks poison damage, outperforming most main-story legendaries in the final act. Use the Triggering Secrets feature to reveal scrolls hidden behind class-specific secrets, and check Tedder Hedgegrow's riddle chain for the one most players miss.