Genshin Impact’s On One Side a Palace Questline Guide

Genshin Impact’s 2026 update introduced the sprawling Snowgrave region, a frigid, lore-rich area packed with hidden quests, puzzles, and high-stakes story beats. Among its most critical questlines is On One Side a Palace, On the Other a Tomb, the final series required to collect all three fragments of the Eye of Graeae—an ancient artifact tied to the region’s forgotten royal history. This questline is split into two interconnected quests, each designed to test players’ puzzle-solving skills, combat prowess, and understanding of Snowgrave’s tragic lore.

The first quest in the line, To Gaze Upon the Dreaming Pale Crown, kicks off with a seemingly simple interaction: players speak to the disembodied Eye of Graeae, which resides in a train carriage at Snowgrave’s central station. The artifact guides Travelers on a journey deep into the region’s frozen wilderness, leading them to the edge of the Pale Crown Palace—a once-grand royal residence now half-buried in snow and shrouded in mystery. The quest’s core goal is to find a way into the palace, a task that requires navigating icy cliffs, avoiding blizzard-induced stamina drains, and solving minor environmental puzzles to unlock hidden paths. The quest concludes when players reach the Tsar’s tomb, a somber, frost-covered structure that hints at the tragedy of the Belyi Tsar, Snowgrave’s former ruler.

The second quest, The Stone Beasts, Like Ghoul Seated, picks up immediately after players arrive at the palace’s perimeter. Unlike the first quest’s focus on exploration, this one centers on intricate puzzles and a climactic boss fight. It begins with players exploring the palace’s exterior, searching for a way to breach its sealed gates. The first major puzzle involves the Statue of the Cemetery Guardian, a towering stone structure depicting a two-headed beast. Players must push smaller versions of this statue to specific, hidden locations around the palace grounds, but the task is far from straightforward: icy terrain slows movement, and hidden riddles carved into the palace walls provide cryptic clues about the statues’ correct positions.

Beyond moving the statues, players must also master two additional mechanics to progress: building Prime Ice Constructs and adjusting the state of the Prototype Kresnik's Torch. Prime Ice Constructs are temporary, ice-based structures that can be shaped to block wind, create platforms, or activate hidden switches, requiring players to experiment with different forms to overcome obstacles. The Prototype Kresnik's Torch, meanwhile, is a relic that can be toggled between “frost” and “flame” states; each state interacts differently with the palace’s environment—for example, the flame state melts ice barriers, while the frost state activates frozen pressure plates. These mechanics combine to create a series of layered puzzles that reward careful observation and creative problem-solving.

Once players solve all the puzzles and unlock the palace gates, they ascend to the upper floors, where they face the quest’s final challenge: a battle against Zver, the two-headed beast depicted in the Statue of the Cemetery Guardian. Zver is revealed to be the loyal companion of the Belyi Tsar, tasked with guarding the Tsar’s tomb and the Eye of Graeae fragment within. The boss fight is a brutal test of combat skill, as Zver alternates between ice-based ranged attacks and powerful melee strikes, with both heads capable of launching separate, coordinated assaults. Players must adapt to Zver’s attack patterns, exploit elemental weaknesses, and manage their party’s health to emerge victorious.

Defeating Zver rewards players with the final Eye of Graeae fragment, completing the On One Side a Palace, On the Other a Tomb questline. However, this is not the end of the story: the fragment unlocks access to the Her Palace Collapses Into the Blizzard questline, which delves deeper into Snowgrave’s lore. In this final series, players learn the true identity and purpose of the Goggles—a mysterious item introduced earlier in the region—and the motives of Aksinya, a key NPC tied to the Belyi Tsar’s tragedy. The questline also reveals the fate of both Aksinya and Zver, and offers a rare glimpse into the persona of the previous Cryo Archon, shedding light on the events that led to Snowgrave’s frozen, isolated state.

For players looking to fully explore Snowgrave, the On One Side a Palace, On the Other a Tomb questline is a must-complete, offering not only a valuable artifact but also a deep dive into one of Genshin Impact’s most tragic and compelling regions. Beyond this questline, players can continue their exploration by seeking out Precious and Luxurious Chests in Snowgrave, Fellfrost Peak, and Everfrozen Earth, or optimizing teams for the new character Vesna, all of which add to the rich content of the 2026 update.