Scattered through the crumbling halls of the kingdom are torn pages from a fairy-tale grimoire, and piecing them back together is one of the most satisfying pursuits in Well Dweller. Every Well Dweller grimoire pages pickup tells a slice of the world's story, and collecting all of them is a hard checkpoint for completionist runs. The pages also gate three of the trickiest achievements in the game, so knowing their layout in advance saves hours of backtracking.
What Grimoire Pages Are and Why They Matter
Grimoire pages in Well Dweller are single parchment sheets torn from three separate fairy-tale books hidden across the kingdom. They double as environmental storytelling and as collectible objectives, and Glimmer can physically carry them once she finds each one. According to the official Steam store page for Well Dweller, the game packs 32 trinkets that mix and match to shape your build, and the grimoire pages sit alongside trinkets and spirits as a parallel completion track.
The pages split into three named books, each tied to a different region of the map. The Lookout Tower's book is reached by climbing the tallest spire in the upper kingdom, while the Dollmaker's House book lies inside a soft-lit workshop filled with porcelain figures. The Witch's book is the most isolated, hidden in the deepest section of the well where few players wander on a first playthrough.
The Three Story Books and Their Themes
Each grimoire tells a self-contained fairy tale, but the three weave into a larger narrative about the kingdom's fall. Pages glow faintly when Glimmer's matchstick is held near them, and reading one triggers a short narration overlay. Players who collect all pages from a single book unlock a region-specific achievement, while collecting any page from any book unlocks the baseline story milestone.
| Book | Region | Total Pages | Region Achievement | Story Milestone |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Lookout Tower | Upper Kingdom | 4 | Above the Kingdom | Once Upon a Time... |
| The Dollmaker's House | Workshop District | 4 | The Tattered Doll | Once Upon a Time... |
| The Witch | The Deep Well | 4 | The First-Born Daughter | Once Upon a Time... |
Reading even a single page is enough for the Once Upon a Time... achievement, which is the easiest of the four page-related milestones. The three region-specific achievements, by contrast, demand every page in that book and reward players with cosmetic dialogue and an extended ending cutscene.
How Grimoire Pages Connect to Other Collectibles
Grimoire pages are one slice of a much larger collectible ecosystem, and a clean 100% run touches every category at once. The most efficient routes treat grimoires, spirits, siblings, and trinkets as a single checklist rather than four separate hunts. Players who plan a 100 percent collectibles path usually follow the natural single-playthrough route pioneered by community guide writer GabeAndTheGoat, whose 100% video walkthrough on Steam Community time-stamps every pickup.
The Spirit and Grimoire Overlap
Spirits are the most numerous collectible in the game, and their return points often sit in the same rooms as hidden grimoire pages. The Solo Spirit achievement triggers after returning a single spirit, while Halfway There fires at 10 and Full Flock at 20. Glimmer can carry up to 20 spirits before the flock scatters, so the return trips double as grimoire page sweeps. The Well Dweller all collectibles breakdown maps this overlap region by region.
| Collectible Type | Count | Primary Achievement | Best Farming Route |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spirits | 20+ | Full Flock | Region-by-region with return benches |
| Siblings | 4 | Together at Last | Endgame reunion questline |
| Trinkets | 32 | Trinket slots | Matchstick-lit hidden rooms |
| Grimoire Pages | 12 | 3 region books | Climbs, doll rooms, deep well |
Players who chase only grimoire pages first often miss the spirits tucked in the same alcove, and vice versa. The grimoire pages sit on elevated platforms, behind breakable walls, and in boss-flanked chambers, so the act of reaching one almost always exposes other pickups. Treat the 12-page run as a guided tour of every hard-to-reach spot in the kingdom, then sweep the same route a second time for spirits and trinkets.
The Lookout Tower Pages Path
The Lookout Tower is the first grimoire players encounter, and its pages sit high in the upper kingdom. The tower itself is a vertical challenge that combines wall-climbing, glide-puff timing, and matchstick-lit switches. Each page forces Glimmer to master a new traversal ability granted by defeated beasts, which is why the Lookout Tower book is also a soft tutorial for late-game movement.
Page-by-Page Route Notes
The first page is a freebie on the tower's main staircase, so most players pick it up without realizing it's part of the grimoire set. The second page requires Glimmer to light a row of braziers with her matchstick, opening a hidden door. The third page sits on a crumbling exterior ledge and demands a precise glide-puff from the adjacent rooftop. The fourth and final page is the hardest, locked behind a mini-boss encounter with a winged beast.
| Page | Location | Traversal Skill | Nearby Checkpoint |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tower staircase | None | First bench |
| 2 | Brazier hallway | Matchstick ignite | Mid-tower bench |
| 3 | Exterior ledge | Glide-puff | Rooftop bench |
| 4 | Watchroom alcove | Mini-boss clear | Top bench |
The tower's compact vertical layout means a clean page run takes under 20 minutes once the player knows the route. Players who grab pages out of order usually waste time on the brazier section because the matchstick burns out faster than expected. Lighting only the four required braziers keeps enough flame reserve for the puzzle at the top.
The Dollmaker's House Pages Path
The Dollmaker's House book has a softer horror tone than the other two, and the pages are tucked among porcelain figures, music boxes, and half-finished doll parts. The workshop is a mid-game zone that doubles as a healing hub, so most players pass through it several times before realizing the grimoire pages are scattered through its sub-rooms. The Tattered Doll achievement for collecting all four pages is one of the more commonly missed, since the pages blend into the off-white walls.
Page-by-Page Route Notes
The first page sits on the workshop's central workbench and is impossible to miss. The second is behind a movable shelf, which can only be shifted after Glimmer unlocks the beast-granted strength ability. The third page hides in a music-box room that only opens once a hidden crank is turned. The fourth is the most isolated, deep in the back storage room where dolls are repaired.
| Page | Location | Unlock Condition | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Central workbench | None | Story-locked pickup |
| 2 | Movable shelf | Strength ability | Requires defeated beast |
| 3 | Music-box room | Hidden crank | Audio cue triggers access |
| 4 | Back storage | Dollmaker side quest | NPC-gated |
The grimoire pages in the Dollmaker's House are an excellent test of side-quest progression. The back storage room in particular requires the player to have advanced the Dollmaker's rescue subplot, so chasing pages without doing the side quest first means a wasted trip. Players who keep the side quest active while hunting pages find the run takes about 30 minutes from first page to last.
The Witch Pages Path and 100% Completion
The Witch's grimoire is the rarest and hardest of the three, which is why the First-Born Daughter achievement has the lowest unlock rate on the public Steam stats page. The deep well's pages sit in chambers that require every traversal ability Glimmer has unlocked, and one page is locked behind a difficult platforming gauntlet that wipes most players on their first attempt. For anyone aiming for 100 percent collectibles, the Witch book is the final hurdle.
The Deep Well Route
The well itself is a spiraling descent through flooded corridors, with each page placed deeper than the last. The first Witch page is on a flooded ledge that requires the swim ability from the river beast. The second sits in a collapsed library room accessed by glide-puffing across a bottomless shaft. The third is hidden behind a wall that only breaks when Glimmer lights a special sconce using her matchstick. The fourth is the gauntlet page, a long sequence of disappearing platforms that punishes imprecise timing.
| Page | Location | Required Ability | Risk Level |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Flooded ledge | Swim | Low |
| 2 | Library shaft | Glide-puff | Medium |
| 3 | Sconce wall | Matchstick ignite | Medium |
| 4 | Platform gauntlet | All traversal | High |
The Witch book is the natural capstone for a 100 percent collectibles push, and finishing it usually coincides with the final boss path opening. Players who want a clean route to everything in the game should pair the Witch grimoire hunt with a full spirit sweep, since the deep well's lower chambers hold 6 to 8 spirits that are easy to miss on a non-completionist run. The Well Dweller completion collectibles checklist tracks all of these together in a single sweep.
Building a Full 100% Route
A full 100% run in Well Dweller takes about 18 to 22 hours for experienced players and closer to 30 for newcomers. The trick to staying efficient is treating grimoire pages as a routing layer rather than a separate objective, since they force the player to visit every high-skill chamber in the game. The Lookout Tower book teaches climbing, the Dollmaker's House book teaches puzzle solving, and the Witch book teaches late-game platforming, so the three books double as a personal skill curriculum.
Suggested Run Order
The fastest confirmed routes put the Lookout Tower book first, the Dollmaker's House book second, and the Witch book last, matching the natural ability unlock order. The community's interactive collectible map on Steam annotates screenshot markers for every page, which compresses routing time considerably. Pair the map with the all collectibles breakdown linked earlier and a full 100% sweep is achievable in a single playthrough without a cleanup pass.
| Run Phase | Duration | Grimoire Pages | Spirits | Siblings | Trinkets |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lookout Tower | 4–5 hrs | 4 | 6 | 0 | 8 |
| Dollmaker's House | 5–6 hrs | 4 | 7 | 1 | 10 |
| Deep Well | 6–8 hrs | 4 | 8+ | 3 | 14 |
| Cleanup | 2–3 hrs | 0 | Remaining | Final | Remaining |
Cleanup is rarely needed if the main run follows the chart above, but a few spirits and trinkets have a chance of being missed on a first sweep. The Well Dweller collectible map guide is the fastest way to confirm whether a cleanup pass is required, and it also flags the few truly missable pickups that require a save reload to recover. For a 100% path, expect a short mop-up session after the credits roll.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many grimoire pages are there in Well Dweller?
There are 12 Well Dweller grimoire pages in total, split into three books of four pages each. The Lookout Tower book, the Dollmaker's House book, and the Witch's book each contribute four pages, and finishing all three is required for the deepest ending cutscene.
Do grimoire pages respawn or carry over to New Game Plus?
Grimoire pages stay in your save once collected, but they do not carry forward to New Game Plus runs. A fresh save file starts with zero pages, and the achievements must be re-earned, which is why most players delay starting NG+ until the original file is at 100%.
Can I miss a grimoire page permanently?
Only one page is genuinely missable: the back storage page in the Dollmaker's House, which requires the Dollmaker's side quest to be active. The other 11 pages remain reachable as long as you return to their chambers after unlocking the required traversal ability, so saving before the deep well section is enough insurance.
How do grimoire pages tie into Well Dweller completion collectibles?
Each book unlocks a region-specific achievement when fully collected, and the entire grimoire set counts toward your 100% completion collectibles total. The pages are a routing layer for the rest of the collectible hunt, since the same chambers also hide spirits and trinkets that round out the full Well Dweller all items checklist.
Do I need every grimoire page for the secret ending?
Yes, the extended ending cutscene requires every page in every book, plus all 20 spirits, all 4 siblings, and the full trinket set. The grimoire pages are the final requirement after the sibling reunion, so they are the last step before the credits roll on a true 100% file.