The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

The Master Sword is one of the most iconic weapons in gaming history, and so of course it had to be included in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. You even start with the Master Sword this time, but as you’ll see, you don’t get that privilege for long.

However, there is a way to get the sword back into your hands, and we’ll show you how to do that here. It’s quite a process to get the weapon again, but there aren’t as many requirements as in Breath of the Wild, so you may be able to get it earlier than during your first adventure. If you want to avoid spoilers, we won’t give you direct story content here, but be warned that some gameplay elements will be spoiled to give the best possible guide.

To the Korok forest

First of all, before we can even think about getting that big shiny sword, we have to reach the Korok forest and have a good talk with our old friend the Deku tree. However, we do not get a free pass into the Korok Forest in Tears of the Kingdom, and although we are a hero of Hyrule, we will still have to search around the fog of the Lost Woods.

Since The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is all about verticality, this obviously plays a role in getting through the Lost Woods. If you follow the path into the woods from the Woodland Stable, you’ll see an entrance to the Depths on your right. Jump down there and make sure you have the paraglider to make a safe descent to the Minishi Grove of the Depths. From there, follow the path north until you reach a point where you have to navigate ahead using treetops. From there, you should be able to see a tower in the distance to the west. Reach the bottom of the tower and use Ascend to shoot up through it. There you will find yourself in the heart of the Korok forest.

Relieving Deku tree of his stomach problems

When you enter the Korok forest, you can’t talk to any of the Korok’s or the Great Deku tree either. The huge tree face only mutters something about its stomach feeling terrible. Here we recommend checking how many hearts you have and how strong your armor/weapons are, because when you enter the lower chamber of the Deku tree and slide down into the depths of its stomach, you will find a pretty tough fight. I beat the fight quite comfortably with 10 hearts, and so I would recommend somewhere around that time for anyone wanting a little legroom with the upcoming boss.

There’s a cooking pot set up just before you go in, and even if you’re sure of the amount of health you have, we also recommend preparing some dishes that reverse the effects of gloom. Anything with a sunflower is a good shout, but you want to make sure you have as many active hearts as possible.

When you dive into the stomach of the Deku Tree, you’ll be met by five of those pesky Gloom Hand enemies you may have seen before in a cave or on the map. Avoid their grabs as much as you can, use AoE damage to take down a few at a time, and bring plenty of arrows for critical shots at their eyes. These guys alone are enough of an annoyance, especially if they catch you with their chain grappling attacks, but once you’re done with them, a new enemy appears, with the health bar of a boss.

Phantom Ganon is surrounded by a puddle of Gloom, but hit him a few times and you’ll get rid of that. You have to be careful when you give him a good hit, though, because he can also do a lot of damage. This is where the food you have prepared comes in handy, as you can tank a few hits if needed. Fortunately, Phantom Ganon’s attacks are quite slow and can be dodged or parried quite easily if you get your timing down. It may take a few tries, but keep your cool and learn his moves and you’ll take him down. Once that is done, the gloom is gone from the Deku tree and the Korok forest so you can talk to the little guys and the huge tree.

Getting the Master Sword

With the hardest part of collecting your favorite letter opener out of the way, we can now return to the Great Deku Tree, who thanks us for our hard work in getting rid of his extreme indigestion. He then tells us where the Master Sword is and gives us some vague hints on how to use the air to find it. You get a main quest marker here to find the sword, but if you see it moving across the map, you’ll probably figure out what’s going on here.

The Master Sword is inside a dragon’s head. If you want to know why that is, you need to find some of the memories scattered around Hyrule. Fortunately, we made a guide about that as well. Check it out here. But if you don’t care about the story behind the sword’s whereabouts, you’ll want to teleport to a Sky Island near the marker and dive on top of its head. The Wind Sage Avatar skill is useful here, as it can give you some extra mileage on your glider. What is vital to pulling the Master Sword from the dragon’s head is a minimum of two Stamina Wheels. That means you need 5 Stamina Vessels of shrine upgrades to get the Master Sword. It’s not a big ask, but you need it to hold on while the dragon tries to cast you off.

Once that is done, however, you are treated to a cutscene that tells you some story details surrounding the Master Sword and you have the weapon in your inventory to fight the darkness in Hyrule.