Simon the Sorcerer Origins Walkthrough: Spells, Hats, Owls, and Sordid

Simon the Sorcerer Origins usually stalls for a reason that is not visible in the inventory. A conversation may not have set the next event, a useful item may still be in its harmless form, or the right spell may be doing nothing because Simon is wearing the wrong hat. The route below follows all twelve chapters, but its real purpose is to identify the state that each puzzle expects.

This walkthrough was checked on August 10, 2026. It includes the base story route and accounts for the official December 16, 2025 Holiday Patch, which added an optional quest item to the Academy from Chapter 4 onward. That quest is not required to reach Sordid. If a label or interaction differs in a later build, trust the symbols on the rune fragments, the Magical Diary objective, and the current client before an old item nickname.

Diagnose the stall before sweeping every room again#

Most apparent dead ends fit one of four patterns. Use the failure signal, not the chapter number, to decide what to revisit.

The Map and Magical Diary arrive in Chapter 2. The Map reduces backtracking after Simon drops pins in the Village, Academy, and Swamp, while the Diary confirms the current objective. Neither replaces a required dialogue. If the requested object exists but the intended character refuses it, the missing state is usually a conversation.

Chapters 1–3: turn household junk into Academy access#

Chapter 1 — make the bedroom key before searching upstairs

Open Simon’s Cool Stuff box for the Toy with String and Packet of Bangers, then inspect Sewing Stuff upstairs for the damaged scissors. In the kitchen, open the refrigerator door and pull out the bottom drawer. That step raises Simon enough to take the Magnet.

Use the scissors on the toy to separate the String, combine String with Magnet, and apply the resulting Magnetic Hook to the sink. The object in the drain is the Bedroom Door Key. Return upstairs and use it on the locked door. Keep the Packet of Bangers: its delayed purpose is to distract a Dungeon guard in Chapter 5.

Chapter 2 — take the hat before the Flask

Leave the cave to the right, continue through the forest, and enter Calypso’s hut. Finish the conversation, climb the spiral stairs, and open the purple chest. Simon receives his robe, Magic Hat, Map, and Magical Diary. Pick up the Feather from the bed and then take the Flask from the desk. Simon refuses the Flask before gaining the hat’s storage, so collecting the chest first is the important state change.

Go downstairs, finish Calypso’s follow-up dialogue, and leave through the right-hand door. If the exit does not advance the chapter, the upstairs chest or the second Calypso conversation is still outstanding.

Chapter 3 — satisfy three separate tests at the gate

The Academy troll ultimately checks a Student Pass, a repaired Wand, and a performance. Trigger his first refusal early so the chapter’s needs are recorded. Then gather the reusable pieces around town:

• At the Bloated Goat Inn, take the Dubious Spring Onions, use the Feather on the Drunkard, and remove the Offerings Key after he shifts.
• At the X-marked abandoned shop, take Sealed Glue and the Oil Lamp. Both survive well beyond this chapter.
• At the Church, fill the Flask with Clean Water, open the offering box with the key, and collect the Small Change.
• At Mundus’ Magical Marvels, take the Slimy Tentacle and ask Mundus about buying a wand.

For the Student Pass, first speak to the frightened Academy student on the Church path. That conversation causes Chippy to appear outside the Inn with the pass. Buy the Well-Cooked Pork Knuckle from the Innkeeper with the Church money, give it to Chippy, and pick up the Gnawed Pass. If the dog is absent, talking to the student is the missing trigger.

For the Wand, ask Mundus about it, then ask the Innkeeper how to persuade Mundus to part with his stock. Return to the shop and offer the Broken Toy. Present it as an ancient wizard figure, claim it came from a distant mystical land, and finish by saying that it is cursed. Mundus hands over a Broken Wand. Open the Sealed Glue with the Slimy Tentacle, then repair the wand with the Glue.

Show the pass and wand to the gate troll. His final demand is a magic demonstration even though Simon has not learned a spell. Return to the Inn alley, put Chippy in the hat, and collect the Sharp Bone from the ground. Use Chippy on the troll. The dog is the trick; the Sharp Bone is a tool for the Academy mechanisms and should remain in the inventory.

Chapters 4–6: learn why spells and hats are different tools#

Chapter 4 — read the paintings as both positions and order

Speak to the Lady painting, go upstairs, and try the Headmaster’s door. Collect the Wind Picture from the stairwell, the Earth Picture from the Library Corridor, and the Water Picture from the Potion Chamber. Also take Eternis Infelicis and the Ladle in the Potion Chamber, the Magic Dictionary below the sleeping student, and the Glass Vial in the mechanism room.

Insert the Sharp Bone into the Magic Contraption. Use the Magic Dictionary on Simon, then inspect the three writings and the backs of the pictures. The wall and placement sequence is:

1. Start by fitting the Water Picture to the right-hand surface.
2. Next, mount the Earth Picture on the room’s left side.
3. Finish with the Wind Picture in the central position.

Activate the contraption to learn Flambergo. Take the Sharp Bone back, climb to the top floor, and cast Flambergo on the red crystal beside the Headmaster’s door. Enter and complete the conversation.

On a post-Holiday-Patch client, Chapter 4 is also the earliest point at which the Academy can contain the new bonus-quest item. It does not replace any painting, switch, or spell step above. Treat it as an optional Diary thread, especially if you are trying to preserve a clean first story route.

Chapter 5 — the White Hat creates the missing potion ingredient

Search Interesting Things in the Headmaster’s Study for the Sleeping Potion Recipe, and inspect the engraved fragment. Open the frozen Library with Flambergo. Pour the Flask Full of Water onto the tall stack of books so it freezes, slide it forward as cover, melt the ice blocking the ladder, and interact with the open winter book upstairs. This teaches Freezesneezius.

Use Freezesneezius on the blue crystal above the display cabinet. The fragment inside completes a five-cast instruction. Target Simon with:

Freezesneezius → Flambergo → Freezesneezius → Flambergo → Flambergo

The result is the White Hat. Its immediate job is to change Eternis Infelicis into Eternis Felicis. If the cauldron rejects your vial, check the hat and ingredient name before repeating the Library.

In the dark Dungeon, light the Oil Lamp with Flambergo and use it on Simon. Open the floor grate with the Sharp Bone. From the far side, cast Flambergo on the Packet of Bangers and place the lit result at the Guard Post. While the troll investigates, enter his room and take Fairy Dandruff and the Pack Lunch.

Read the Sleeping Potion Recipe, then operate the Potion Chamber cauldron in this order:

1. Ignite the cauldron with Flambergo.
2. Add Fairy Dandruff and Dubious Spring Onions.
3. Equip the White Hat, confirm that Eternis Felicis is present, and add it.
4. Stir with the Ladle and fill the Glass Vial.

Apply the Sleeping Potion to the Pack Lunch. Distract the troll again, return the Soporific Lunch to his desk, and leave the room. Talk to him after he returns and choose the line about how terribly hard he must work. Once he sleeps, collect the Fork and pull the wall lever. The Forbidden Swamp gate is now open.

Chapter 6 — solve the boat from town, not from the dock

The boat needs propulsion and a sail. Fast-travel to town, freeze the biohazard stream outside the Inn, and take the Pole from the high window. In the Church, cast Freezesneezius on the left relic and Flambergo on the right one to reveal the stone that teaches Windado. In the Priest’s Office, take the Expired Voucher and use the Pole to pull down the Censer.

Unlock the abandoned shop’s trapdoor with the Fork. Below it, use the lit Lamp on Simon, clear the ceiling cobwebs with Windado, and ignite the exposed hanging lamp. The chest ahead is a Mimic. Cast Flambergo on the Censer, equip the White Hat to bless the lit item, and use the Blessed Censer on the Mimic. Take the Cloth, combine it with the Pole, mount the Improvised Sail on the boat, and cast Windado on it.

Chapters 7–9: carry three versions of the same magic through the swamp#

Chapter 7 — defeat the Witch by refusing the interface

Move through the swamp, take the Marsh Cuttlefish near the Giant Skull, and open the gate south of the route to create a shortcut back to the Church. At the Witch’s Hut, exhaust the conversation until the spell presents apparently identical ingredient choices. Do not choose one. Leave the game untouched until the compulsion breaks.

Afterward, take Dried Algae, inspect the Witch for the key, speak with the freed Swampling, and accept the Friendship Stew. Before leaving, inspect the shelf above the fireplace for the final obelisk fragment. Those fragments describe the second transformation hat. The six-cast sequence on the current route is:

Freezesneezius → Flambergo → Windado → Windado → Freezesneezius → Flambergo

Some references call the result the Swamp Hat and others describe its dark effect; the inventory icon and transformation are the reliable checks. Equip it and confirm later that a normal whistle can become black. Freeze the Friendship Stew into Frozen Swamp Mud and deliver it to the Headmaster. He supplies the Poet’s password and directs Simon toward Sordid.

Chapter 8 — prepare Sordid’s drink in two independent halves

Tell the Poet painting, “My beard’s getting a bit itchy.” Use the passage to reach the Circle Hall and speak with Sordid and the other wizard. The requested Better Wetter Wizard consists of a tavern drink plus Essence of Wetness.

For the drink, find Calypso back in the opening cave, then search the right bookcase in his hut for the Well-Cooked Book and its Essence of Wetness Recipe. Combine the Feather with the Marsh Cuttlefish to make a Quill, alter the Expired Voucher, and exchange the Counterfeit Voucher with the Innkeeper for a Better Wizard.

For the essence, read the recipe to Simon. Add Dried Algae and Fairy Dandruff to the Academy cauldron, stir with the Ladle, cast Freezesneezius on the mixture, and collect it with the Flask. Combine the Essence of Wetness with the Better Wizard. Before giving the finished drink to Sordid upstairs, inspect the plaque behind the bookcase and take the Beard of the First Wizard.

Chapter 9 — use hat color to route each owl

Search the unconscious Sordid for his Notes and Strange Token. Use the token on the five-owl statue in the Academy corridor. The notes map each symbol to a spell; the nearby tapestry supplies the moon-phase order. Starting at the lower-left owl, the working pattern is:

1. lower left — Flambergo;
2. middle right — Windado;
3. middle left — Freezesneezius;
4. lower right — Flambergo;
5. top — Windado.

The statue reveals Sordid’s laboratory. Take the Ice Axe, Magic Whistle, Journal, and notes. The three owls fly away when the whistle is removed. Before chasing them, cross the swamp bridge beyond the Giant Skull, uncover the path marked Another Swamp?, and use the Ice Axe beside the Mysterious Door to obtain a Crystal Fragment.

• Normal whistle: in front of Baba Yaga’s home on the swamp map.
• White whistle: equip the White Hat and call the owl above the Village well.
• Black whistle: equip the Swamp Hat and call the owl by the Dungeon gate leading to the swamp.

Back in the laboratory, place the Crystal Fragment on the central pedestal. Upstairs there are four owl switches. Use the White Whistle at the left switch, the normal whistle at the center, and the Black Whistle at the second switch from the right; the far-right position stays unused. Retrieve the Charged Crystal downstairs, equip the Swamp Hat to darken it, and insert the Black Crystal into the Mysterious Door.

Chapters 10–12: switch cooks, commit to the crypt, then counter Sordid#

Chapter 10 — the Swampling retraces Simon’s earlier item trail

In Simon’s cell, freeze the Smelly Bucket and throw the Ice Sphere at the troll. Control then passes to the Swampling. In the Witch’s Hut, take the Special Mud and an empty Bottle, and read the Stew Recipe.

Return to the basement where Simon defeated the Mimic and fill the Bottle with Monster Drool. Search the rubbish outside the Bloated Goat Inn for the matured food item. After the Academy gate troll refuses entry, go back to the Witch’s pot and combine the three stew ingredients. Give the Special Stew to the gate troll.

Inside the Dungeon, enter the open floor grate and clear rubbish until the Biohazard pipe becomes visible. Apply the remaining Special Stew to that pipe. It corrodes the steel-gate mechanism, opening the way back to Simon.

Chapter 11 — save before the Mysterious Door

Return to the Mysterious Door. Simon warns that entering is a point of no return, so make a manual save outside if you still want to inspect objects, deliberately try wrong item combinations, finish the Holiday bonus thread, or clean up an earlier interaction achievement.

In the tunnel, read the diagram and Sordid’s notes. Set the console levers to yellow, red, blue, green. This activates a flammable crystal. The rubble sequence depends on preparing both the cart and the obstruction:

1. Cast Windado on the cart to move it uphill.
2. Cast Flambergo on the Active Crystal so the pipe system sprays the passage.
3. Freeze the now-wet rubble with Freezesneezius.
4. Cast Windado on the cart again and let it break the frozen blockage.

At the confrontation, take the Tome of the First Wizard and use it on Simon to learn Turnonrio. Sordid’s attacks are a counter puzzle, not a damage race:

Once the summoned-object sequence ends, do not keep cycling spells. Use the Repaired Wand from Chapter 3 directly on Sordid. Continue through Calypso’s dialogue after the battle.

Chapter 12 is the short return home: leave Simon’s bedroom, go downstairs, and open the front door. If the ending scene has not started, the remaining action is the door itself rather than another inventory puzzle.

Handle the clear missables where the route already passes them#

The official Steam listing contains 33 achievements, but several community references disagree about cumulative thresholds and post-patch unlock behavior. The safest first-run additions are the ones attached to a named object and a stable chapter:

• Chapter 3: after repairing the Wand, deliberately try it on an incompatible inventory item for Magical Accident.
• Chapter 5: search Interesting Things in the Headmaster’s Study again after receiving the recipe for Temporal Paradox.
• Chapter 8: take the beard from the Circle Hall plaque before serving Sordid for Improvised Cosplay.
• Chapter 11: use the manual save outside the Mysterious Door as the cleanup boundary. Do not rely on an undocumented exact count for broad “inspect many things” or “try many wrong items” achievements.

The November 14, 2025 official patch fixed the Marathon Runner unlock and a rare Sordid’s Laboratory blocker. The later Holiday Patch added the Academy bonus quest and repaired several presentation issues. If an owl, gallery, or achievement behaves unlike an older launch guide, update the game before rebuilding a long section from an earlier save.

Official game and route boundary

The official Steam page identifies App ID 1939890, Smallthing Studios as developer, ININ as publisher, the October 27, 2025 Steam release, save-anytime support, and the official screenshots used here. The official ININ announcement supplies the wider platform presentation. Puzzle order was rebuilt from two readable full-game walkthroughs and checked against additional community guide material; warning-marked, auto-translated, and video-only pages were not allowed to stand alone for disputed instructions.