The Hermitage

"Hermit" and "The Hermit" redirect here. For the opponent from the Deck of Every Card see Hermit (monster)

The Hermitage in The Big Mountains is home to the Hermit, who will trade your worthless trinkets, worthless gewgaws, and worthless knick-knacks for his stuff. Make sure you have a hermit permit with you.

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The Hermit rummages through your sack, and his eyes light up at the sight of your worthless trinket. He leads you deeper into the cave, and points at a collection of items spread out on a filthy carpet. It seems he wants to trade... You have X tradable items[sic]?

Items Traded

Items for Trade:
	seal tooth
	chisel
	petrified noodles
	jabañero pepper
	banjo strings
	hot buttered roll
	wooden figurine
	ketchup
	catsup
	volleyball
	figurine of an ancient seal (Seal Clubbers only)
	11-leaf clover (Limit 3 per day)

Text

• Without a hermit permit:

The Hermit looks at you expectantly, and when you don't respond, he points to a crudely-chalked sign on the wall reading "Hermit Permit required, pursuant to Seaside Town Ordinance #3769"^[sic]?

Stupid bureaucrats, always ruining everybody's fun with their permits and forms.

You glance behind him and see a bunch of items arrayed on a filthy carpet.

• With a permit, but without any worthless items:

The Hermit glances at your Hermit Permit, then rummages through your sack. He looks at you with a disappointed sigh -- looks like you don't have anything worthless enough for him to want to trade for it.

You look behind him and see a collection of items arrayed on a filthy carpet:

• When attempting to trade without selecting an item:

The Hermit looks at you with a confused gleam in his eye.

• When attempting to trade for more items than you have worthless trinkets:

You don't have enough stuff to trade for that many items.

• When attempting to trade for a non-numerical amount:

That doesn't make any sense.

• When making a trade:

You make a trade with the Hermit.

• When attempting to trade for more 11-leaf clovers than your daily allotment:

The Hermit looks at you with a sorrowful gleam in his eye. From this, somehow, you are able to infer that he doesn't have enough clovers to make that trade.

Notes

• One hermit permit is required for ALL trades, and it is not consumed.
• The figurine of an ancient seal is only available if you are a Seal Clubber.
• It was once widely (and falsely) rumored that the hermit can be killed.
• On St. Sneaky Pete's Day, the Hermit will always have 5 clovers available (or 6, if the hermit script is used). Adventurers in Ronin or Hardcore might have fewer clovers available, as stated above, but they will still have one or two more clover(s) available than they would have on any other day (might not be true after December 31, 2021's updates).
• In a Zombie Slayer run, the Hermit is not home. The first time you visit each day, you get the message:

The Hermit appears to have rolled up his filthy carpet and left for greener pastures.

You poke around in the corners of the cave for a bit, and find a patch of grass near the entrance, with a single ten-leaf clover growing in it. So that's where he gets them!

You acquire an item: ten-leaf clover

• Subsequent times, you get the message:

The Hermit appears to have rolled up his filthy carpet and left for greener pastures.

You poke around in the corners of the cave for a bit, but don't find anything of interest. Unless you're interested in long white beard hairs.

• In a Nuclear Autumn run, the Hermit is not home:

Looks like the Hermit took off just before the bombs fell. Curious...

References

• A hermitage is, appropriately enough, the cell of a hermit.
• The hermit doesn't talk unless hacked with the script. This may be a reference to the hermit in Monty Python's Life of Brian.
• The Dependence Day description suggests that the hermit may be, in fact, Frank Vivala. This seems unlikely, though, since Vivala lived back in the time of Ralph III, and we're currently up to Ralph XI.
• The ordinance number in the message for not having a permit is one of the many instances of 37 in the Kingdom, as well as a cheeky "69".

History

• The Hermit used to have fermenting powder available for trading. The August 17, 2004, announcement changed this.
• The Hermit used to trade for fortune cookies as well, but they were moved to The Market (now The General Store) on September 26, 2006.
• Prior to October 03, 2006, the hermit would have an infinite supply of clovers on some days.
• Before April 20, 2010, the hermit had the jabañero pepper and the petrified noodles in the wrong order.
• On May 1, 2012, the Hermit stopped stocking sweet rims, tightened the available 10-leaf clover range from 2-5 to 3-4, and stopped taking hermit permits during trades.
• On August 7, 2012, The General Store acquired the Hermit's dingy planks.
• The Hermit used to have 3-4 ten-leaf clovers available per day. This was changed on December 31, 2021, when the Hermit replaced them with 11-leaf clovers, with three being available each day to all players. However, players on the Zombie Slayer path still receive a single ten-leaf clover each day, not the 11-leaf version.
  • Adventurers who were under Ronin or Hardcore restrictions might have had fewer clovers available for trading than those who were not, depending on how many times they had ascended. Adventurers with 1-5 ascensions had the same number of clovers available, those with 6-10 ascensions had 1 fewer clover available, and those with 11 or more ascensions had 2 fewer clovers available.
  • Using a hermit script used to increase your daily allotment of clovers by 1. They are no longer obtainable (needs confirmation).