The hunt for the Master Sword in Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom might be secondary to finding Princess Zelda and defeating Ganondorf, but it still stands high in the series. With a history of Master Swords and quests to obtain them throughout the franchise, it is strange how equipping Link with a powerful, legendary weapon is often a stepping stone rather than its own impressive storyline.
SPOILERS For Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom AHEADFinding the Master Sword in both Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom and its predecessor Breath of the Wild are both notably optional, since getting to the end credits only really requires beating the last boss in both open worlds. However, while the first title makes it a notable spectacle, the new Master Sword Quest is the end of multiple questlines that converge to reward Link with more than just a powerful weapon.
The Master Sword Quests of Legend of Zelda
One thing to note about the history of the Master Sword throughout the Legend of Zelda series is that the weapon is made important by the fact that it repeatedly shows up from game to game. As a result, few titles really have to do the heavy lifting of explaining the Master Sword, since it is the same Blade of Evil's Bane from A Link to the Past, Ocarina of Time, and most other titles in the series. While the original interpretation goes through the legwork of telling the player how legendary the Master Sword is, later games continue to rest on those laurels.
The result of this previous fanfare for the series is that titles like Ocarina of Time will make a quick mention of the weapon and give it some emphasis, but its place as a required part of the plot makes getting the Master Sword a single bump in a much longer road. This is where Breath of the Wild countered the quest for the Master Sword by having it be an optional objective that the plot of the game doesn't hinge on. Sidelining the Master Sword does have the benefit of making receiving the weapon into a more personal task, but it only really boils down to a trip to the Korok Forest and doing enough shrines to earn 13 Hearts.
All Roads Lead to the Repaired Master Sword
Starting off strong, the game opens with the reveal of the mummified Ganondorf that had been shown off from some of the earliest Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom trailers, as well as the destruction of the Master Sword. Then, after completing the tutorial section in the Garden of Time, the Master Sword is whisked away from the player and granted to Zelda. For the rest of the game, however, the idea of finding the Master Sword again is apparently far from Link's mind, as it doesn't become a quest until other characters hint that it might have somehow returned to another location in Hyrule.
From this point, there are a number of ways that the player can stumble onto the path for the Master Sword, either by finding Mineru on the Sky Islands, saving the Deku Tree in Korok Forest, or simply completing Impa's The Dragon's Tears main quest. Any of these options can lead the player towards eventually finding the Master Sword that has been restoring itself ever since the ancient past. However, they all come off initially as just being extra content meant to build out the lore of Tears of the Kingdom.
The finale to these many roads is to lead Link to finding all the Dragon's Tears, which shed some light on the ancient past of Hyrule. Then, once the tracking quest is completed and the lore has been uncovered, players find Zelda as a Sacred Dragon and pull the Master Sword from her head. It's an evolution of requiring enough hearts to draw the sword that leads to a more impactful story beat and an impressive spectacle.
Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is available now for Switch.
