The Untold Story of Zelda's Great Fairies

The Great Fairies in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom breathe new life into a classic element of the series, offering players a fresh take on their functionality in the open world of Hyrule. While they operate similarly to their Breath of the Wild counterparts, Tears of the Kingdom's Great Fairies introduce unique mechanics that players must navigate to access their powers. Since their debut in A Link to the Past, Great Fairies have been known to provide Link with healing and upgrades, and their role in Tears of the Kingdom leans heavily towards the latter, making locating them a crucial aspect of gear progression for players.

Great Fairies Play a Crucial Role in Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

Players can upgrade their armor by visiting the Great Fairies in Tears of the Kingdom, just like in Breath of the Wild. By spending enough rupees and gathering the required materials, players can upgrade their armor by one rank for each Great Fairy they find throughout Hyrule. Unlike in Breath of the Wild, finding the Fairy Fountains is not as difficult in Tears of the Kingdom as the locations have become well-known to the citizens of Hyrule. Once players discover their first Fairy Fountain naturally, they will be marked on the map for easy access. The first Great Fairy players will encounter is located near the Woodland Stable in the northeast of Hyrule Castle. The Fairy Fountains in Tears of the Kingdom are all situated near a stable and a shrine, making them easy to travel to once discovered. Other Fairy Fountains can be found just north of Snowfield Stable in the Tabantha Tundra, near the Dueling Peaks Stable in West Necluda, and near the Outskirts Stable on the southwestern border between Hyrule Field and the Gerudo Highlands.

Accessing the Great Fairies in Tears of the Kingdom requires more effort than simply locating them in the open world. Instead, each Great Fairy is hidden within their respective fountain and will only emerge upon hearing the music of Hyrule's traveling Stable Trotters band. To recruit the band, players must first locate and bring back each instrumentalist, as each Great Fairy has a specific musical preference. However, even after recruiting the necessary musicians, players must utilize unique abilities such as Ultrahand to construct modes of transportation in order to safely escort the band to the Great Fairy's location. These quests to unlock access to the Great Fairies are seamlessly incorporated into the game's core building mechanics, which sets Tears of the Kingdom apart from Breath of the Wild. Although fully upgrading armor can be a significant investment, the payoff of improved survivability in the post-Upheaval version of Hyrule is well worth the effort.

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is available now for Nintendo Switch.