| Where | Sacred Grove, in front of the Temple of Time ruins, on your first visit to claim the Master Sword |
|---|---|
| Form | Wolf Link (you cannot change form here) |
| Start | Howl Zelda’s Lullaby on the Triforce symbol to wake the two Giants |
| Solution | 13 jumps (Normal Mode: Right, Down, Left, Left, Up, Right, Up, Up, Right, Down, Down, Left, Up) |
| Reward | The way to the Master Sword opens (main story) |
The Guardian Statue puzzle is the lock on the path to the Master Sword. As Wolf Link you jump around a grid of platforms and the two stone Giants copy your movements. Both must end on their own pedestals. It takes 13 jumps from the starting platform: in Normal Mode jump Right, Down, Left, Left, Up, Right, Up, Up, Right, Down, Down, Left, Up. In Hero Mode, where the world is mirrored, swap Left and Right throughout.
Table of Contents
How the puzzle works
Rules the statues follow
After you have howled Zelda’s Lullaby while standing on the Triforce symbol, the Giants awake and ask you to guide them back to where they once stood. You play on a grid of square platforms laid out in a heart shape, hopping from one platform to the next with the jump button. Each time you jump one square, both statues try to jump as well: one moves in the same direction as you and the other moves the opposite way. A statue facing an edge cannot move, and if the two jump toward each other they clash and both return to their starting positions. You cannot jump onto a statue, and if one lands on you the puzzle restarts. Because the statues drift apart and get stuck at edges, the solution makes a long loop.
Which version to follow
Normal Mode in Twilight Princess HD keeps the original left-handed layout of the GameCube version, so use the Normal Mode sequence. Hero Mode mirrors the world, as the Wii version did, so use the mirrored sequence. If the sequence you picked leaves the statues in the wrong places, you are probably in the other mode, so walk back to the start and try the mirrored list.
Step-by-step solution
Normal Mode (original layout)
Start from the platform on which you were standing when the statues woke. Make the first six jumps in this order: Right, Down, Left, Left, Up, Right. You are now back on the platform you began on, but the statues have shifted to new places. Then make seven more jumps: Up, Up, Right, Down, Down, Left, Up. The statues drop onto their pedestals on the last jump and the way to the Master Sword opens.
Hero Mode (mirrored)
Mirror every direction: Left, Down, Right, Right, Up, Left to return to your starting platform, then Up, Up, Left, Down, Down, Right, Up.
If it goes wrong
There is no time limit and no penalty. If a jump leaves the statues in a place you did not expect, walk back to the start and begin again; you can also solve it by working out your own route, as more than one exists, but this one is dependable.
Related notes
Where the puzzle fits in the story
The puzzle only appears on your first trip to the Sacred Grove (the Legendary Master Sword chapter). On the second trip, in the Sacred Grove chapter, there is no statue puzzle: you play hide-and-seek with Skull Kid and then push the Master Sword into the pedestal to remove the statue that blocks the Door of Time. The statue puzzles inside the Temple of Time use the Dominion Rod instead and are covered in the Temple of Time walkthrough.
