| Total | 3 bottles |
|---|---|
| Where | The Mabe Village fishing pond, the Ghost’s grave near the Witch’s Hut, and the Chamber Dungeon challenge “Heart Shortage” at Dampé’s Shack |
| Requirements | Fishing pond: 10 rupees per round. Ghost: Angler’s Tunnel cleared. Chamber Dungeon: earlier Dampé challenges done |
| Use | Catch a fairy in an empty bottle, then use the full bottle to refill your hearts |
Link’s Awakening has three empty bottles. You get one by reeling it up from the bottom of the fishing pond in Mabe Village, one from a ghost who wants to be taken home and then to its grave, and the last from Dampé for beating the Chamber Dungeon challenge called Heart Shortage. Each bottle holds one fairy, and drinking it from your item menu refills your hearts, which is why the bottles are worth the trouble before the late dungeons and the Wind Fish’s Egg.
Quick reference: the three bottles
| # | Bottle | Region | Requirement | How to get it |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Fishing pond bottle | Mabe Village | 10 rupees per round | Keep fishing and reel in the bottle lying on the pond floor. |
| 2 | Ghost’s bottle | Martha’s Bay house, then the grave by the Witch’s Hut | Angler’s Tunnel cleared | Take the pink Ghost to its house, then to its grave. |
| 3 | Chamber Dungeon bottle | Dampé’s Shack | Earlier challenges done | Finish the Heart Shortage challenge with only three hearts. |
How to get each bottle
1. Fishing pond bottle
The fishing pond is in the northwest of Mabe Village, near Madam MeowMeow’s house. Talk to the Fisherman and play a round for 10 rupees. Look at the pond floor: a bottle glints at the bottom left, behind the big seaweed. Cast past it, drag your lure along the bottom and reel it in; the Middleweight Lure from your first Lunker is the one to use. Fish can knock it off the line, and it then drops back where it fell, so catch the nearby fish first and try again. The route picks it up in the Toronbo Shores, Mabe Village and Tail Cave chapter.
2. The Ghost’s bottle
After you clear Angler’s Tunnel, a pink Ghost begins to follow you and mutters about its house. Walk it to its house in Martha’s Bay, just east of Toronbo Shores, and let it go in; it weeps over its old things and asks to be taken to its grave. Then go to the Witch’s Hut and look southwest of it for the lone grave covered in flowers, which sits outside the cemetery proper. The Ghost rests there and gives you the bottle. The Martha’s Bay and Catfish’s Maw chapter follows this errand.
3. Heart Shortage at Dampé’s Shack
Dampé sets Chamber Dungeon challenges that unlock one after another, and Heart Shortage comes only after you have finished the earlier ones. You arrange a bottle-shaped dungeon and clear it while limited to three hearts. Bring your other bottles and Secret Medicine, because there is little margin for error. Dampé rewards the clear with the third bottle. Two guides call the challenge “Heart Storage”, but the name used by most sources is Heart Shortage. The shack and the challenges are covered in the Dampé’s Shack and Chamber Dungeon guide,.
How to catch fairies
Equip an empty bottle on the X or Y button, stand very close to a fairy and use it: the swing has a short reach. The bottle turns into a fairy bottle. Fairies turn up in a few places, and a bottled fairy does not revive you on its own, so use it yourself:
- Fairy Fountains: small fairies float around the pool. The Great Fairy Fountains are listed on their own page.
- Cutting grass, lifting pots and beating mini-bosses or certain enemies can drop one.
- Small fairies also flutter above the ground in a few spots.
- Dropped fairies vanish quickly, so catch them straight away.
What a bottled fairy does
Use a full bottle from the item menu and the fairy flies out and refills a large part of your hearts. The bottle is then empty again, so you can refill it at the next fairy. Keep all three bottles full before big fights and before you enter the Wind Fish’s Egg.
Other bottle uses and look-alikes
In the Switch remake bottles only carry fairies. Secret Medicine and Magic Powder are separate items, not bottle contents, so do not spend a bottle looking for them. Secret Medicine comes from Crazy Tracy’s Health Spa or certain chests, and you can hold only one dose; it restores your hearts when you use it. Magic Powder comes from the Witch’s Hut. The Fairy Queen in the Color Dungeon swaps your tunic colour and does not use a bottle. See Secret Medicine for the medicine locations and Color Dungeon for the Fairy Queen.
