Skeleton Runes

Skeleton Runes, or Skeleton Glyphs, are the written symbols of an arcane language used by Skeletons and Skeleton Lords. They were first seen on the Box of Wondrous Secrets and are used on a number of items, and locations.

Season Three teasers[]

Season One Glyphs Teaser — Teaser from March 24, 2021

Leading up to the release of Season Three, Duke embarked on a quest which led to the discovery of several rune tablets with unknown runes in-game. In conjunction with this narrative, cryptic messages and images also containing unknown runes were posted to various Sea of Thieves social media pages.

Translated runes[]

These are runes with definitions that are mostly stated through clear direct translations.

(Note: † denotes "presumed" translations arrived by context or clues, but have not been officially confirmed. Many of which originated from Season Three teasers.)

Numbers[]

1
2
3
4
5
6
7

Words[]

A-E[]

All
"Ashen" †
Beach
"Below" †
"Blade" †
Bone
Cage
Camp
Captain
Cave
Chalice
Chest
Crew
"Curse(d)" †
"Death" †
Dig
East
Eternity

F-N[]

Face
Flame
For
"Fortress" †
From
"Ghost/Phantom?" †
Gold
Heart
Hits
"Inside?" †
King
"Kingdom" †
Kraken
"Life" †
Lord
"Merfolk" †
North Star
North

P-S[]

Pirate
"Prisoner/Trapped?" †
Reaper(s)
(Reaper's Bones logo)
Resurrection
Rising Sun
Ritual
Rock
Sea
Setting Sun
Shark
Ship
"Silver" †
"Siren?" †
Skeleton
Skull
"Sleep?" †
"Song" †
South
Sun

T-Z[]

"Time?" †
Alternate example of "Time?" †
To
"Treasure" †
Tree
"Waking" †
Walk
Water
West
When

Unknown runes[]

These are runes that have no known translation.

No translations[]

An alternate orientation for "Waking" †
Similar to "Curse"
Seen on sketches of Reaper's Heart Pets. (Spell?)
Similar to "Ritual"
Seen on sketches of Reaper's Heart Pets. (Awakening ritual?)
Similar to "Flame"
Seen on Flameheart's sarcophagus. (Extinguished flame?)
Similar to "Flame"
Seen on the new Masked Renegade Hull
Seen on Reaper's Bones Set ship pieces and the Reaper's Bounty
Seen on the Reaper's Bones Hull
Seen on Gifts and the Reaper's Bones Hull
Seen on the Reaper's Bones Hull. (Capsized/sinking ship? Shipwreck?)
Seen on the Reaper's Bones Hull
Seen on the pedestal at the entrance to the Heart of Fire
Seen at the entrance to the Heart of Fire and on Masked Renegade Cannons
Seen on sails used by the Reaper's Bones
Seen on The Servant of the Flame's Journals
Seen at the start of Chapter 5 in the Heart of Fire novel
Seen at the start of Chapter 7 in the Heart of Fire novel
Seen at the start of Chapter 9 in the Heart of Fire novel
Seen at the start of Chapter 11 in the Heart of Fire novel
Seen at the start of Chapter 13 in the Heart of Fire novel
Seen at the start of Chapter 15 in the Heart of Fire novel. (Ship on fire?)

Commonly used by the Order of Souls
Commonly used by the Order of Souls
Similar to previous, seen on the Masked Renegade Cannons
Similar to previous, seen on the Masked Renegade Cannons
Seen on the Masked Renegade Wheel
Seen on the Masked Renegade Cannons
Seen on the Masked Renegade Cannons
Seen on the Masked Renegade Cannons
Seen on the Masked Renegade Cannons
Seen on the Masked Renegade Cannons
Seen on the Masked Renegade Cannons

Unconfirmed runes[]

These runes bear similarities to Skeleton Runes, but have less concrete connection to the language and therefore may not be Skeleton Runes at all.

Appears on the Frostbite Cannon
Appears on the Frostbite Cannon

Gallery[]

In-game examples[]

A cipher found during Revenge of the Morningstar translates several runes.
Box of Wondrous Secrets
"Skeleton", "Lord", "Beach", "Flame" "to" "Heart"
Ashen Chest
"(Ashen?)" & "Resurrection"
Tomes of Curses
(Cursed?) & "Chest"
Tomes of Power
"(Ashen?) Lord"
Tomes of Fire
"Flame Heart"
Tomes of Resurrection
"Resurrection"
Generous Gift
(???)
Reaper’s Bounty
(???) & "Gold"
Mysterious Key
"Flame"
Stitcher’s Chest of Rage
(Cursed?) & "Chest"
Good Orders Emote & Bad Orders Emote
"King Flame To Heart Resurrection"
Notorious Reaper Cannons
"Chalice", (???), (???)
Reaper’s Bones Hull
"Resurrection" & several unknown runes.
(???) & "Sea King Ship"
Rear sail: (???) & "Crew",
Front sail: (???) & "Captain"
Carved on the floor of The Reaper’s Hideout
"Pirates For All Eternity" ^[1]
Similar runes appear at the Reaper's Shrines
"Crews (Cursed?) For All Eternity"
Banner for Reaper's Bones Emissaries
(???) (???) Eternity (???)
Sketch of the Reaper's Heart Parrot, found in The Reaper’s Hideout. "Reaper's", "Heart", "All", "Ritual" and "Gold"
Sketches of Reaper's Heart Pets, found in The Reaper’s Hideout
Sketches of Reaper's Heart Pets, found on the Reaper's Bones Emissary Tables
The Sarcophagus in The Seabound Soul.
In Stitcher Jim's Lair
"Flame"
In Stitcher Jim's Lair
"Ritual"
In Stitcher Jim's Lair
"King"
In Stitcher Jim's Lair
"Heart"
In Stitcher Jim's Lair
"Gold"
In Stitcher Jim's Lair
"Lord"
Flameheart's Lair in Heart of Fire
"Pirates For All Eternity"
Pedestal at the entrance to the Heart of Fire
(???), "To", (???)
Inside Flameheart's Lair
Pirates For All Eternity Cursed to Fire

Teasers[]

Flame Ritual: Flame from Pirate to Camp; Skull to Flame Skeleton Lord Resurrection; Lord to Face Captain Flame to Heart; Cage Flame to Heart for Eternity.
(Silver?) (Blade?) Ship (Below?)
(Treasure?) (???) Sea (???)
(Waking?)
Kraken
(Below?) Face (Death?)
(Merfolk?)
Pirate Ship (Treasure?) Chest
(Cursed?) (Bone?) (???)
North & Bone, East & Sea, South & Silver, West & Gold