Highlights
- Finding all 120 Lightroots in Tears of the Kingdom rewards players with the Dispelling Darkness Medal, which slightly illuminates The Depths and provides a clear view of the surroundings.
- The Dispelling Darkness Medal is a useful tool for exploring The Depths, as it eliminates the pitch-black darkness and helps with navigation.
- Revisiting underground exploration to find all Lightroots may be worthwhile, as it not only contributes to 100% completion but also allows players to discover Schema Stones, armor pieces, and collect Zonaite for upgrading Link's battery reserves.
Getting all Lightroots in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom comes with one helpful perk that makes exploring The Depths a bit easier. And although tracking down Lightroots is among the main reasons for braving Tears of the Kingdom's Depths in the first place, the reward for finishing that activity should still prove to be helpful for reaching a 100% completion rate in the game.
In total, there are 120 Lightroots to be found across Tears of the Kingdom. Apart from lighting up its surrounding area, each of these giant plant organs also marks the location of one of the game's surface shrines, as it's located directly underneath it. Getting all Lightroots will see the player obtain the Dispelling Darkness Medal, which can be found in Link's inventory, with its description stating that the item "commemorates blessings received."
However, it turns out that the Dispelling Darkness Medal doesn't merely act as proof of one's underground exploration efforts, but actually illuminates The Depths. Reddit user Vekkul recently pointed out how getting all Lightroots in Tears of the Kingdom infuses The Depths with faint ambient light that provides the player with a clear view of their surroundings in all directions. While The Depths are decently lit around activated Lightroots, many pockets of the underground map are still permeated with pitch-black darkness that requires Link to use Brightbloom Seeds or similar items to see far, at least until the protagonist procures the aptly named Dispelling Darkness Medal.
Seeing how hundreds of fans voted to send Vekkul's tip to the front page of the r/TearsOfTheKingdom subreddit, it would appear that many players were unaware of this reward for tracking down all Lightroots in the game. The info might help motivate some fans to revisit the idea of trying for a 100% completion, which necessitates extensive underground exploration even beyond tracking down Lightroots.
Namely, all Schema Stones and many armor pieces happen to be located in The Depths, so trying to find them all before activating all 120 Lightroots requires quite a bit of light-bestowing item farming that some might find discouraging. Ditto for upgrading Link's battery reserves in Tears of the Kingdom, which can only be done by collecting tons of Zonaite throughout The Depths.
Fans who still haven't fully explored The Depths in hopes for Nintendo to provide some additional motivation for doing so probably shouldn't hold their breath for any such additions. That's according to Eiji Aonuma, the series' long-time producer, who recently revealed that there are currently no plans for Tears of the Kingdom DLC.
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is available now on Switch.
