| Total in the game | 16 hearts maximum: 3 at the start plus 13 Heart Containers |
|---|---|
| From dungeon bosses | 8, one for each boss in Levels 1 to 8 (see Boss Guide) |
| Hidden in the overworld | 5 (4 gift caves and 1 on a far dock; see the list below) |
| Biggest trap | Some gift caves offer a Heart Container or a Red Potion. Take the potion and that Heart Container is gone for good. |
You can collect 13 Heart Containers in the First Quest: eight from the bosses of Levels 1 to 8 and five hidden in the overworld. Three of the hidden ones are reachable early, with bombs or a Candle. One needs the Raft from Level 3, and one needs the Stepladder from Level 4. Together with your three starting hearts, they bring your maximum to 16 hearts.
Table of Contents
Quick reference
| # | Location | Requirement | How to reach it from the start screen |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | L8: cave in the lower row, east of the start | Bombs | Head four screens east. Bomb the wall to the left of the north path. |
| 2 | M3: cave under the large boulder, north-east | Bombs | Head four screens east, five north and one east. Bomb the boulder. |
| 3 | H5: staircase behind a bush, north of the start | Blue or Red Candle | Head three screens north. Burn the fifth bush from the right. |
| 4 | P3: small island in the eastern sea | Raft | Head eight screens east and four north to the dock at P4, then sail one screen north on the Raft. |
| 5 | P6: far dock on the east coast | Stepladder | Head eight screens east and two north. Use the Stepladder to cross to the dock. |
The five hidden Heart Containers
The eight boss Heart Containers
Each of the eight dungeon bosses drops a Heart Container when it dies, in the room where the fight takes place. Level 1 gives the first, Level 2 the second, and so on through Level 8. Each one raises your maximum by one heart. The boss strategies are on the Boss Guide page. Dungeon routes, with each boss room, are in the walkthrough, starting with Level 1 The Eagle.
Gift caves: the potion trap
Some hidden hearts sit in caves where an Old Man lets you take one item. The left choice is a Red Potion and the right choice is a Heart Container. You can only take one. If you take the potion, the Heart Container is lost for good and the cave never offers it again. Take the heart. Red Potions can be bought later from a medicine woman, so the potion is never the only way to get one.
The order in the walkthrough
| # | Heart Container | Hearts after | Walkthrough chapter |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hidden 1: lower-row cave | 4 | The Gathering |
| 2 | Hidden 2: boulder cave | 5 | The Gathering |
| 3 | Hidden 3: burned bush | 6 | Money Caves |
| 4 | Level 1 boss | 7 | Level 1 |
| 5 | Level 2 boss | 8 | Level 2 |
| 6 | Level 3 boss | 9 | Level 3 |
| 7 | Hidden 4: island and east-coast cave | 10 | Level 4, on the way |
| 8 | Level 4 boss | 11 | Level 4 |
| 9 | Hidden 5: far dock | 12 | Level 4, after the boss |
| 10 | Level 5 boss | 13 | Level 5 |
| 11 | Level 6 boss | 14 | Level 6 |
| 12 | Level 7 boss | 15 | Level 7 |
| 13 | Level 8 boss | 16 | Level 8 |
This is the order the walkthrough follows, and it keeps every health requirement in step: you hold five hearts when you take the White Sword before Level 1, and twelve hearts when you take the Magical Sword after Level 4. Each chapter states the heart count it reaches, so you can check your life meter against this table.
Second Quest hidden hearts
The Second Quest has the same eight boss Heart Containers, but the five hidden ones are in different places, and two of them need the Recorder. Look for a Heart Container under a headstone in the north-west corner of the graveyard, at A3: push the second headstone from the left in the middle row. Next is a staircase at K4, in the north-east corner of the desert, which you reveal by playing the Recorder. The third is a staircase at G1, just to the right of Spectacle Rock, also opened by the Recorder. The last two are in the same places as the First Quest: the island at P3 reached by Raft, and the far dock at P6 reached by Stepladder. The three gift caves among them follow the same rule as the First Quest, so take the heart and leave the potion.
Quick checklist
Bring bombs for the first two hidden hearts and a Blue Candle for the bush staircase. The Raft and the Stepladder are needed for the last two. Each boss Heart Container then comes as you clear its level, so the 13 are all within reach in the First Quest.
The Second Quest also has Old Men who put a Heart Container at risk. In Level 4 one of them asks for either 50 rupees or a Heart Container before he lets you pass, and Level 7 has two more. Pay the rupees every time so you keep your hearts, which means carrying at least 50 rupees into each of those rooms. Nothing like that exists in the First Quest, so all 13 hearts there are yours to take.
