You’ll be hunting down more than Treasure Stash maps and Pop-Up Plunder this Community Weekend! A cryptic riddle needs cracking, and the community worked together to solve it! We’ve put the pieces together here so you can follow along.
The riddle has been solved! Skip to the Solution section for the code, or read on to see how the pieces fit together.
Season 21 Community Weekend Riddle
Near the start of the Season 21 Community Weekend, the official Sea of Thieves account posted a word search for the community to solve. However, it isn’t your average word search. You’ll need to scour the official Sea of Thieves website for mysterious pumpkins that reveal clues for unlocking the word search. Solving the riddle will give you a code you can redeem for a reward, the Night-Touched Makeup!
Ship Wyche Doll clue
One pumpkin that reveals a clue is on the Sea of Thieves Community Weekend page. It is hidden in the text referring to the riddle.
We’ve heard rumours of strange jumbles of letters making their way through the Sea of Thieves, but no one can quite seem to figure out what they mean. Will you have better luck? There might be a reward in your future if you can…
You can find it here! The clue reads as follows:
It appears to be a parchment featuring the words ‘Ship’, ‘Wyche’ and ‘Doll’. What could this mean?
Damned Fort Bell clue
One pumpkin that reveals a clue is on the Sea of Thieves Season 21 page. It is hidden in the text below the And More section.
In addition to these, each Season comes with its own Community Weekend, Gold & Glory opportunity and Renown Rally for that final push. There are also ongoing experiments to keep the sandbox interesting, and of course the ability to build your own game modes with the Custom Seas toolset! To ensure you don’t miss anything, stay tuned to Sea of Thieves social channels or sign up for our regular newsletter.
You can find it here! The clue reads as follows:
It appears to be a parchment featuring the words ‘Damned’, ‘Fort’ and ‘Bell’. What could this mean?
Damned Ship Cannon clue
One pumpkin that reveals a clue is on the Sea of Thieves Pirate Emporium page. It is hidden in the text below the Pirate Pets section.
Every Voyage is better with creature comforts, so grab yourself a pet to share your adventures. Whether your newfound friend is furry or feathered, pets are a classic part of the pirate look – you might even give them an outfit that matches your pirate’s style.
You can find it here! The clue reads as follows:
It appears to be a parchment featuring the words ‘Damned’, ‘Ship’ and ‘Cannon’. What could this mean?
Kraken Altar Candle clue
One pumpkin that reveals a clue is on the Sea of Thieves Event Hub page. It is hidden in the text below the Compass of Chaos section.
Seeking inspiration for adventure? Consult the Compass of Chaos to get randomised prompts that you and your crew could pursue!
You can find it here! The clue reads as follows:
It appears to be a parchment featuring the words ‘Kraken’, ‘Altar’ and ‘Candle’. What could this mean?
Mercy Fort Bed clue
One pumpkin that reveals a clue is on the Sea of Thieves Custom Seas page. It is hidden in the text below the Legendary Locations section.
Within Custom Seas, you have the ability to access several environments not normally available within standard Sea of Thieves play. These include in the interior of the Glorious Sea Dog Tavern and Tribute Peak, amongst others, all of which can act as unique, thematic backdrops to your custom creations.
You can find it here! The clue reads as follows:
It appears to be a parchment featuring the words ‘Mercy’, ‘Fort’ and ‘Bed’. What could this mean?
Faithful Skull Wind clue
One pumpkin that reveals a clue is on the Sea of Thieves Partner Directory page. It is hidden in the text below the Join section.
If you meet the criteria and your application is successful, you could gain access to a whole host of benefits!
You can find it here! The clue reads as follows:
It appears to be a parchment featuring the words ‘Faithful’, ‘Skull’ and ‘Wind’. What could this mean?
Strange jumbles of letters
Several hours after the Season 21 Community Weekend started, the official Sea of Thieves account posted a strange jumble of letters for the word search. Subscribed pirates also received a Season 21 Community Weekend email with more strange letter jumbles. Each email carried one of five scraps.
The six strange jumbles of letters we found are:
- HGDGUH
- NAKCEN
- RPLYNW
- WAVZMJ
- XFPUUS
- QBTBKD
How the riddle works
The Season 21 Community Weekend Riddle is a cipher. The word search is the key, the pumpkins hide the password, and the strange jumbles of letters are the message. You’ll need all three to crack it.
Take a closer look at the word search, and you’ll notice it isn’t a normal word search. The scrambled alphabet across the top edge repeats down the left edge, and every row contains each letter of the alphabet exactly once. That makes the grid a lookup table. Hidden phrases like Fort of the Damned and Sea of the Damned nod to the theme and hint at the password, but you won’t find the answer by circling them.
The password is DAMNED, and each pumpkin parchment hides one letter of the word. Every parchment names a location and an object. Count that object in-game, then convert the number to its alphabetical position. The Kraken Altar Candle parchment points to the 14 candles at the Kraken’s Fall altar, which gives you N.
The Mercy Fort Bed parchment points to 13 beds at the fort, which gives you M, as long as you remember the one tucked inside the jail cell. Work through all six, and the letters spell DAMNED.
Decoding a jumble
Each jumble of letters is six letters long, and you decode it one letter at a time by pairing it with the six letters of DAMNED.
- Find the jumble’s first letter on the left edge of the grid and follow that row across.
- Stop when you reach the first letter of the password, D.
- Look straight up to the top edge of the grid. The letter there is the first letter of your answer.
- Repeat for the jumble’s second letter, this time stopping at A, then M, N, E, and D for the rest.
Here is how HGDGUH works:
- Row H, find D, read F at the top.
- Row G, find A, read F.
- Row D, find M, read O.
- Row G, find N, read R.
- Row U, find E, read T.
- Row H, find D, read F.
HGDGUH becomes FFORTF. On its own, that looks like gibberish, but it’s the middle of a sentence: “…of eFFORT For…”. That’s why you need every jumble before anything makes sense.
Run all six jumbles through the grid with DAMNED and you’ll have six fragments. The drawing on each scrap hints at where it belongs, but the quickest way to settle the order is to arrange the fragments until they read as a sentence.
- XFPUUS = WELLTH
- NAKCEN = ATWASA
- RPLYNW = LOTOFE
- HGDGUH = FFORTF
- QBTBKD = ORAMER
- WAVZMJ = ETREAT
Line them up, and you get your answer: Well, that was a lot of effort for a mere treat.
Solution
You can enter the following code on the redemption page to unlock the Night-Touched Makeup:
WELLTHATWASALOTOFEFFORTFORAMERETREAT
Type it as one word with no spaces. Once the code is accepted, you can use the makeup the next time you log in.
3 thoughts on “Sea of Thieves: How to solve the Season 21 Community Weekend Riddle”
The code is:
WELLTHATWASALOTOFEFFORTFORAMERETREAT
thanks for solving the riddle 🙏
Credits? => XeSlime