Sword Upgrades

You get the Wooden Sword for free at the start, the White Sword from a cave in the northeast once you have 5 hearts, and the Magical Sword from a grave in the cemetery once you have 12 hearts. Each sword is found by walking into a cave or pushing a stone, so the hearts are the only real cost.

Quick reference

Wooden Sword

The Wooden Sword in the start cave

Start the game and walk into the cave on the starting screen. The Old Man inside gives you the Wooden Sword, your first weapon, and it goes into your A button slot. The Wooden Sword is the weakest of the three swords, but you need it to kill enemies and to open the way to the first dungeon.

White Sword

Collect five hearts first

The old man who holds the White Sword gives it only to a hero with at least five hearts in his life meter. The first heart is the starting heart count of three, so you need two Heart Containers or hidden hearts before you go. Check the life meter before you enter the cave, because the old man will not hand the sword over at fewer than five.

Find the waterfall cave

The White Sword cave is at K1, in the north of Hyrule, just above the waterfall screen at K2. Expect a Lynel guarding the approach, and climb up to the cave entrance above the waterfall to reach the old man.

Take the sword

Inside, the old man stands behind fires. Walk to the sword between the two outer fires and pick it up. The sword changes to a white blade in your A button slot, and it deals twice the damage of the Wooden Sword.

Magical Sword

Reach twelve hearts

The most powerful sword needs at least twelve hearts in your life meter. You start with three, so you need nine Heart Containers first, which is more than half of the 13 in the game. In the walkthrough order you reach twelve hearts after the Level 4 boss and the far-dock Heart Container, and only then will the old man under the cemetery give you the sword.

Push the tombstone in the cemetery

Go to B3, the screen of the cemetery in the north-west corner of the map, and push the movable tombstone on the right-hand side of the screen to reveal a staircase. It is in the upper right corner, but if it does not move, try the headstones on the right of the screen. You can walk into the cemetery from the east, along the same route that leads on to Level 6. The Old Man underneath gives you the sword, which deals four times the damage of the Wooden Sword and is the most powerful weapon in the First Quest.

Take the sword and leave the way you came. The Magical Sword is the weapon you need for the final fight with Ganon, where it takes only four hits to stun him before a Silver Arrow finishes the job.

Second Quest

In the Second Quest the Magical Sword is in a different place. It sits on J1, one screen to the left of the White Sword cave at K1, and you push the left boulder of the arrow-shaped group of boulders to find it.

Notes on damage and hearts

For the route order, the Money Caves chapter of the walkthrough places the White Sword before Level 1, once you have five hearts. The Magical Sword comes later, between Level 4 and Level 5, in the Magical Sword and Medicine Shop chapter.