Rescuing the Hero Link begins after Hyrule Castle, but its main route continues only once you have completed Lands of the Goddesses and received Din’s, Nayru’s and Farore’s Sanctions. Return to Hyrule Castle for the clue leading to the Eternal Forest. There, place six Ancient Orbs on the forest pedestals, enter the Ancient Ruins and defeat Shadow Zelda to rescue Link.
Six Ancient Orbs use Tri’s full allowance
All six pedestals must hold an Ancient Orb at the same time. Learn the echo at the stone tablet and place one on each pedestal. Each costs one triangle, using Tri’s full allowance. Clear enemies before placing the orbs, or use Swordfighter Form so you do not dismiss an orb by summoning another echo. If a pedestal stops glowing on the tablet, return and replace its orb.
Requirements
You need all three divine blessings from the later main dungeons:
- Din’s Sanction from Eldin Temple
- Nayru’s Sanction from the Lanayru Temple
- Farore’s Sanction from the Faron Temple
The order of these three regions does not matter. After the third temple is completed, a story sequence follows. You will then receive the crucial clue to the Eternal Forest in Hyrule Castle. If you’ve had “Rescuing the Hero Link” in the quest log for a while but haven’t been able to do anything useful there, you haven’t missed anything: the mission will only continue at this point.
To Eternal Forest
The Eternal Forest is located northwest of Hyrule Castle Town. If you have already activated the Waypoint at the edge of the forest on the way to Hebra Mountain, you can travel there directly. Otherwise you can reach the entrance from Northern Sanctuary to the west. There is thick fog in the forest. First, follow the wide, circular path north. Finally you reach a clearing with soldiers and a large stone slab.
Optional: Lynel – one of the strongest echoes
Before you solve the main puzzle, you can get a particularly strong echo in the forest: Lynel. In the forest, pay attention to the noticeable hoof prints on the ground. Follow them consistently from one track to the next. They lead you to a secluded clearing. Lynel appears there. The opponent is extremely strong. Keep moving and put robust ranged echoes to work. Bind can help draw Lynel briefly from a favorable attacking position. After winning you can learn the Lynel Echo. It originally requires six triangles. If you don’t have six triangles yet, you can still learn the echo. It remains stored in the Notebook and becomes usable as soon as the budget is sufficient.
Echo: Ancient Orb
Examine the large stone slab in the clearing. A special ball appears in front of her. Immediately learn the echo of the Ancient Orb. It only costs one triangle. You can see a pattern on the stone slab. It shows you the rough arrangement of six bases, which are scattered throughout the forest. Your task is simple: summon an Ancient Orb on each of these pedestals.
Place all six Ancient Orbs in Eternal Forest
Pedestal 1 – directly on the stone slab
The first pedestal is directly in front of the large board. Summon an Ancient Orb on it.
Pedestal 2 – southwest
Go southwest from the panel. You will find the next pedestal near a stronger sword Moblin. Defeat the enemy or bypass him and place the ball on the base.
Pedestal 3 – further to the southwest
Follow the path further southwest until you reach a small clearing. There is the third base between the trees.
Pedestal 4 – southern edge of the forest
From there, move east along the southern forest section. The fourth base is hidden between trees.
Pedestal 5 – Southeast
The fifth pedestal is located in the southeastern area of the forest. There is also a partially buried chest near him. When you discover it, pull it out of the ground with Bind and take the Monster Stone with you.
Pedestal 6 – North West
The last pedestal is in the northwest area and is blocked by a Deku Baba. Remove or defeat the plant and then place the sixth ball on the base.
What happens after all six balls?
As soon as all bases are correctly occupied, the large stone slab responds. Return to the central clearing and examine it again. A previously hidden path to the north opens.
The Great Deku Tree and the Ancient Ruins
Follow the new path and talk to the Great Deku Tree. He tells you more about the Prime Energy and the place where it was hidden. Access to the Ancient Ruins then opens. Go in and follow the hallway north. There you get the false echo from Zelda. Null shows up and opens up a huge new gap. Tri opens an entrance afterwards.
Stilled Ancient Ruins
Enter the rift and follow the floating ruins. This section is not a classic Small Key dungeon with Dungeon Map. It’s a more linear path to the next boss. You now have almost all of the game’s important movement echoes. Particularly practical are:
- Cloud for freely placeable air platforms
- Water Block for vertical climbs
- Flying Tile for long horizontal gaps
- Frog ring for additional jump height
Use the solution that fits your Echo budget. None of them are mandatory. Defeat the shadow enemies along the way and work your way further north or upwards. Eventually you reach an arena with the false echo of Zelda.
Boss: defeat Shadow Zelda
Shadow Zelda floats above the arena and summons her own echoes. Use combat echoes to occupy the monsters while you aim the Bow of Might at her. When she falls, close in and attack with the sword. Later phases require more hits to knock her down.
Phase 1
First, Shadow Zelda summons comparatively weak opponents. Use a strong combat echo and then target Zelda yourself. The Bow of Might is particularly practical because the opponent often hovers outside the normal sword range. Don’t use up the energy completely. As soon as Zelda falls to the ground, switch to sword and cause as much damage as possible.
Phase 2
The summoned monsters become stronger. Don’t try to eliminate each one yourself in the Swordfighter Form. Use your strongest available Echo to keep the enemies busy. Ranged fighters and flying echoes are particularly suitable.
Phase 3
High-level enemies now appear, including very strong Moblins and Lizalfos. Keep moving consistently. The real priority remains Shadow-Zelda. As soon as she goes down again, use your entire safe damage window. Repeat the process until the echo is defeated.
Free Link
After the boss you will see Link trapped in a crystal. The crystal cannot be destroyed by echoes or normal objects. Activate the Swordfighter Form and take the Bow of Might. Shoot an arrow at the crystal. This causes the prison to break and Link to be freed. This completes “Rescuing the Hero Link”.
Prepare for the final dungeon
After Link’s liberation, the transition to “Null and the Prime Energy” immediately follows. However, the game gives you one last opportunity to return to Hyrule. Use it if you want to do something else. Before the last dungeon we recommend:
- open Pieces of Heart collect,
- get all the desired Fairy Bottles,
- for the Great Fairy buy additional accessory slots,
- catch up on strong echoes from the Notebook,
- Make Healing Smoothies,
- optional dungeons and Side Quests.
Complete
If you then confirm to Link that you are ready, the actual point of no return begins.