The Picori Festival Begins
You wake up in Link’s cozy house in Hyrule Town to find Princess Zelda eagerly waiting for you. Smith (Link’s grandfather and the blacksmith) has prepared a blade for the winner of the annual tournament, and he entrusts you with Smith’s Sword to deliver to Hyrule Castle. Zelda is thrilled and invites you to join her at the Picori Festival in town before the award ceremony. Don’t forget to open the chest in Link’s house for a free 20 rupees (optional, but a nice head start). When you’re ready, follow Zelda outside.
In Hyrule Town, the Picori Festival is in full swing. Colorful banners flutter and lively music plays as Zelda excitedly drags you from booth to booth. Take a moment to soak in the atmosphere – you can chat with festival goers for fun (optional), learning about the legend of tiny Picori who only children can see.
Zelda will lead you to various attractions; simply follow her each time she skips ahead. Eventually, she stops at a prize drawing stand. Zelda wins the grand prize and, out of three options, she picks a gift for you – a Small Shield! Link may be a bit embarrassed by its petite size, but this little shield will come in handy soon. After thanking Zelda, it’s time to head north through town to Hyrule Castle to present Smith’s Sword.
Item: Small Shield
Link’s first shield, gifted by Zelda at the Picori Festival. Use R to block and even reflect basic projectiles (like rocks and arrows) from enemies.
From Castle Ceremony to Quest
Proceed north with Zelda toward Hyrule Castle. As you exit the festival area, a Business Scrub ambushes the princess, spitting Deku Nuts at you from the bushes. Lock onto it and raise your new shield; when the nut hits your shield, it will bounce back and stun the Scrub, causing the creature to flee. With the path safe, continue into the castle gardens. Minister Potho greets you at the entrance. Speak with him, and he escorts you inside for the awards ceremony.
A cutscene will play as you join King Daltus and Princess Zelda in the throne room. The champion of the sword-fighting tournament – a mysterious young man named Vaati – is present to receive the sacred Picori Blade. As the legend goes, this blade was gifted by tiny Picori heroes and sealed away monstrous evil long ago. However, Vaati has other plans. In a sudden betrayal, he shatters the sacred blade with dark magic. The sword’s chest seal breaks open, releasing monsters across the land. Vaati then turns Princess Zelda to stone with a blast of energy, laughing as chaos erupts. Guards are knocked aside effortlessly, and Vaati realizes the light force he sought is not in the chest after all. With a swirl of wind, he vanishes, leaving the throne room in ruin.
Link wakes up afterward in a bed at Hyrule Castle. The king, Minister Potho, and Smith are at your side. Despite the danger, Link insists on helping Zelda. King Daltus explains that only the Picori (also known as the Minish) can reforge the broken Picori Blade and lift Zelda’s curse – but humans can’t normally see the Picori. Fortunately, the Picori only reveal themselves to children, so you have been chosen to seek them out.
The king entrusts you with the Broken Picori Blade (the shattered sword) and returns the Smith’s Sword for you to use in your quest. You also receive the Map of Hyrule, marked with your destination in the Minish Woods. It’s time to set out on your journey to save Zelda.
Item: Smith’s Sword
Link’s grandfather-forged blade, your first—and weakest—sword. Press A to slash, breaking pots, cutting grass, and defeating basic foes.
Journey to the Minish Woods
Leave the throne room and head south through the castle garden to exit the castle. As you reach the castle gates, you’ll notice the path back into Hyrule Town is blocked by rubble from Vaati’s attack. A crew of carpenters is already working to clear the debris, but for now you cannot return to Hyrule Town this way. Instead, turn east into North Hyrule Field. Here, you’ll encounter your first enemies: some red Octoroks spitting rocks and perhaps a few diving Crows. Use your sword to dispatch them (one hit each) and keep moving. You can slash bushes or defeat enemies for rupees and hearts if you need them (optional). In the southeast corner of North Hyrule Field, cut through the small shrubs blocking a path and continue east into Lon Lon Ranch.
In Lon Lon Ranch, a trio of mischievous Acro-Bandits pops up from the ground to attack. These thieving enemies stack on top of each other – swing your sword rapidly to break the stack and hit them one by one. After clearing them out, proceed directly south into the Eastern Hills. Continue southward until you find a bridge, then cross east over the stream into the Minish Woods.
Once in Minish Woods, the atmosphere becomes lush and green with tall trees and soft light filtering down. As you move east, a Piece of Heart is visible on a high ledge to the north, but you won’t be able to reach it just yet – make a mental note and press on. Head right (east) into the woods, dealing with a few more Octoroks along the way. Soon you’ll come upon a narrow wooden bridge. Cross it to the other side and step down into a clearing where adorable green ChuChus hop about. These jelly-like enemies are much larger than you but relatively harmless; two sword slashes will take down a Green ChuChu. Keep following the winding path down and to the left through the woods, slicing through any ChuChus that bounce in your way.
Before long, a short cutscene triggers – you hear a faint cry for help echoing from deeper in the woods. Ezlo, a strange, sentient green cap, is being attacked by two Octoroks! Once the scene ends and you regain control of Link, don’t rush over there immediately.
Piece of Heart #1
First, take a quick detour west into a small clearing just south of a large hollow tree entrance. Here you can claim your very first Piece of Heart (#1/44). It’s sitting in the grass near the tiny doorway of what looks like an oversized tree stump.
A hidden clearing in Minish Woods holds your first Piece of Heart. Collecting four will increase your life energy. With Piece of Heart #1 in hand, backtrack east toward the wooden bridge where you heard the cries.
Cross back over the narrow bridge and you’ll find the odd creature being harassed by those Octoroks. Quickly defeat the two Octoroks (a couple of well-timed sword strikes or shield deflections will do) to rescue the mysterious talking cap. The strange being introduces himself as Ezlo, and he’s no ordinary hat – he can speak!
After some humorous grumbling (he’s a bit grouchy about you walking off without him), Ezlo hops up and perches on your head, forming a green cap with eyes. He’ll serve as your guide and companion for the rest of the journey, often chiming in with advice (you can press Select to ask Ezlo for hints at any time). With Ezlo’s help, you can now access the realm of the Minish.
The Road to the Minish Village
Continue south from the Octorok clearing and you’ll arrive back at that peculiar tree stump you passed earlier – Ezlo suddenly pipes up. This old tree stump is actually a Minish Portal, a gateway that can shrink you down to the Minish’s tiny size. Follow Ezlo’s instructions: stand on top of the stump and press the R button. In a swirl of magic, Link shrinks down to the size of a bug! Now the world around you looks enormous – grass towers above your head and mere puddles seem like vast lakes.
Head west into the small log tunnel, which you can now fit through at Minish size. On the other side, you’ll come to a shallow pond blocking the way. You can’t swim while tiny (even small puddles are too deep), so hop onto a lilypad floating near the edge. Walk carefully on the lilypad and it will drift across the water. Step off onto dry land at the north end. The camera will zoom in closer due to your diminutive size. Continue north into the next area, and soon you’ll step into Minish Village.
The Minish Village is a quaint, miniature settlement hidden in the woods. Mushroom-like houses and tiny wooden bridges are scattered around a sparkling pond. As you enter, a few Minish (Picori) villagers approach and greet you excitedly – but their language sounds like cheerful gibberish. Link can’t understand a word yet, so for now you can’t converse with the locals. Ezlo suggests finding someone or something to help bridge the language gap. You’re on a mission, so let’s get to it.
Piece of Heart #2
First, there’s another collectible to grab here. From the village entrance, head to the far northeast corner of the village, past the central pond. You’ll see a house with a blue, shimmery roof (this is the Minish Abbey where a scholar named Festari resides).
Before going inside, walk to the right of the blue-roofed house and take the wooden path through the trees on the upper right side of this area. This narrow walkway leads to a dead end overlooking the village, where a Piece of Heart is waiting for you. On a ledge beyond the Minish Village, Piece of Heart #2 is hidden among the treetops. Pick up Piece of Heart #2 (#2/44) and then return to the main village area.
Now enter the house with the blue roof in the northeast corner (the one you just passed – it looks a bit shinier than the others). Inside, you meet Festari, a member of the Forest Minish who watches over the nearby shrine. Thankfully, Festari speaks your language! He explains that most Minish can’t speak to humans directly. To communicate with the other villagers, you’ll need to find a Jabber Nut, a special nut that allows humans to understand Minish speech. Festari tells you there’s a Jabber Nut stored in a barrel house just south of the village.
Exit Festari’s house and head to the south end of the village. You’ll see a large barrel-shaped house on the eastern side. This is the storage building where the Jabber Nut is kept. Go inside and climb down the ladder into the barrel’s lower level.
There’s a simple little puzzle here: a large crate is blocking your path. Push the crate to the left or right out of your way (either direction works) to clear a path. Now walk up and pick up the Jabber Nut from the table at the top of the room. Inside the barrel house, push the crate aside to reach and eat the Jabber Nut. Link automatically eats the nut on the spot. Tasty! As soon as you consume the Jabber Nut, you find you can suddenly understand the Minish language.
Feel free to chat with the Minish villagers now (optional but fun). The tiny Picori people are very excited to meet a human hero, and they’ll share bits of lore and tips. For example, some mention that only children can see the Minish, and hint at secret routes throughout the village. When you’re ready to proceed, our next step is to seek out the village elder.
The Minish Elder, Gentari, resides in a yellow-roofed house at the northwest corner of the village. Enter his house and speak with him. Elder Gentari is thrilled that you’re here to reforge the Picori Blade. He reveals that to restore the blade’s power, you must retrieve the four Elemental Artifacts (Earth, Fire, Water, and Wind) hidden across Hyrule. One of these elements – the Earth Element – lies in a shrine deep within these very woods. The elder marks the locations of all four elements on your map and asks you to recover the Earth Element first, which is in the Deepwood Shrine just north of the village.
Before you leave, the elder and other Minish express hope that you will succeed in restoring the blade and saving Princess Zelda. Now that you have permission to visit the shrine, head back to Festari’s house (the blue-roofed abbey in the northeast). Speak with Festari again, and upon hearing that the elder has sent you, he will move aside, opening the path to Deepwood Shrine. Exit through the back of Festari’s house into a hollow log tunnel. Follow this short passage northward, and you’ll emerge right in front of the grand tree stump entrance to the shrine.
Step forward and enter the Deepwood Shrine, the first dungeon of your adventure. Prepare yourself – inside you’ll face puzzles, creatures, and the guardian of the Earth Element. Good luck in the Deepwood Shrine! (This dungeon will be covered in the next section of the walkthrough.)