Story Triggers

This page serves as documentation for the game's many triggers and flags. It goes over what they unlock, the requirements to unlock them, and sequence break information.

Prologue Triggers

  • Getting the Captain's Sword from the Blacksmith enables you to talk with the Castle Guard in front of Hyrule Castle
  • Talking to the Castle Guard in front of Hyrule Castle will let you encounter Dampe and Seres at the Sanctuary so that you can get the Sword
  • Opening the Tombstone in the Graveyard updates the Sanctuary interior to contain the loading zone for the Yuga cutscene (contrary to expectations, this doesn't happen just by talking with Dampe and Seres)
  • Obtaining the Lamp unlocks use of the Y Button
  • Watching the Yuga cutscene inside the Sanctuary will make:
    • Ravio appears in your house
    • The Fortune-Teller give you the Hint Glasses
    • The Street-Merchant start selling the Empty Bottle
    • The Item Seller and Lakeside Item Seller's Shops will open
  • Talking with Zelda and receiving the Special Charm will enable you to talk with Sahasrahla in Kakariko village
  • Talking with Sahasrahla in Kakariko Village will cause the Ravio Sign Triggers to appear in the Eastern Ruins

Special Charm

Zelda gives out the Special Charm when you encounter her in Hyrule Castle. This is needed for two reasons:

  1. To move the Hyrule Castle guards out of the way so Link can access the Inside Hyrule Castle Dungeon
  2. To advance the internal game state so that later when Link enters the Chamber of Sages he does not get softlocked. You will be trapped in the Chamber if you somehow reach this without the Special Charm.

It also enables you to talk with Sahasrahla in his house in Kakariko Village.

Defeating Yuga in Eastern Palace

Defeating Yuga in Eastern Palace activates the Barrier around Hyrule Castle.

It also causes the Irene Triggers to appear around Hyrule so that you can get the Bell, Gulley's Pouch to be available in the Haunted Grove, and Rosso's House to be open (with the rocks appearing around it) so that you can receive the Power Glove.

Pendant of Courage

Having the Pendant of Courage in your inventory opens the door leading to Inside Hyrule Castle. The loading zone will not be present otherwise.

Note that it is possible to complete Eastern Palace without obtaining the Pendant of Courage.

Pendant of Wisdom and Pendant of Power

Despite the game suggesting you need 3 Pendants to acquire the Master Sword, it actually only checks for 2. If you perform Pendant of Courage Skip and then complete House of Gales and Tower of Hera, you'll be able to enter the Lost Woods to retrieve the Master Sword with just the Pendants of Wisdom and Power.

Master Sword

As stated above, you only need the Pendants of Wisdom and Power to retrieve this.

Having the Master Sword in your inventory unlocks the ability to buy items from Ravio's Shop, and will cause him to give you the Quick Equip ability the next time you enter and leave the shop.

Hyrule Castle

Hyrule Castle acts like a giant combination lock guarding the entrance to its Dungeon, "Inside Hyrule Castle," which is the critical path forward to unlock Lorule.

There are several gates to pass in order to reach the loading zone to Inside Hyrule Castle:

  • The Castle Gate and Guard.
    • This gate will open and the Guard will leave after you've completed the Sanctuary.
    • If you skip Sanctuary, activate and later destroy the Barrier, this gate will still remain.
  • The Barrier
    • The Barrier will appear after defeating Yuga 1 in Eastern Palace
    • The Master Sword is required to break it
    • If the player somehow skips the Forgotten Sword and then obtains the Master Sword, they can break the Barrier by dashing into it with the Pegasus Boots
  • Hyrule Castle Interior Guards
    • These guards are blocking the loading zones leading to the upper exterior areas of Hyrule Castle
    • They will move after receiving the Special Charm from Zelda
  • The Door to Inside Hyrule Castle
    • This door will remain shut tight until the player has the Pendant of Courage.
    • The loading zone will not even appear behind the door until the player has the Pendant of Courage.
    • Defeating Yuga 1 in Eastern Palace and then performing Pendant of Courage Skip is not sufficient.
      • Triggers to reactivate the cutscene after it's been skipped will remain in front of Hyrule Castle and Eastern Palace (requires Bell and a previously activated Weather Vane to get past Sahasrahla)

Ravio's Shop Triggers

Ravio's Shop is actually activated in stages:

  1. Complete the Sanctuary. This causes Ravio to start crashing at your house and give you his Bracelet.

  2. View Ravio's Signs in Eastern Ruins. Watching the short cutscene of the signs and then returning to the Shop will cause Ravio to give you the Bow for free. The signs themselves will only appear after completing the relevant Prologue Triggers, detailed in an earlier section.

  3. Fully Activate the Shop. There are 3 ways to fully open Ravio's Shop:

    • Watch the Eruption Cutscene when entering Death Mountain for the first time
    • Give Oren the Smooth Gem
    • Activate the House of Gales Weather Vane

Ravio's Shop can be opened early, even if you haven't yet watched the Signs cutscene, in one of two ways:

  1. Power Glove Skip to reach Death Mountain early
  2. Get Flippers Early by using a Bee Boost to reach Zora's Domain without Merge

More information about the Shop and item sale prices is available on this page: Ravio's Item Shop

Hyrule Rupee Rush

You must visit Ravio's Shop at least once after it's been fully opened for the Rupee Rush minigame to open as well.

Hyrule Hotfoot

The Hyrule Hotfoot minigame guy is NOT available: - Before completing Eastern Palace - When the triggers to run into Irene are active - When Sahasrahla is standing by the Portal near Link's House.

Presumably this is because Irene and Sahasrahla's placements could interfere with the race.

The Hyrule Hotfoot minigame first becomes available after receiving the Bell from Irene. It will then disappear at the same time Sahasrahla appears: when the player first reaches Lorule and the Merge Portals open. To make Sahasrahla disappear and activate Hyrule Hotfoot permanently the player must talk to Hilda at one of the following locations:

  • Graveyard
  • Dark Ruins (but not Dark Maze)
  • Skull Woods
  • Death Mountain
  • Misery Mire
  • Turtle Rock

Shady Guy Trigger

Running into the Shady Guy as he runs out of Zora's Domain will cause the Street-Merchant in Kakariko to sell the Smooth Gem, and the Shady Guy himself will also be there for you to sneak up on to receive the Pegasus Boots.

Theives' Hideout and Thief Girl's House

There is a special trigger inside the boss door of Thieve's Hideout that checks that the player has the Thief Girl with them, and if they do it will spawn Stalblind and begin the boss fight.

The loading zone for Thief Girl's house will not appear until after Stalblind has been defeated.

Lorule Castle and Final Boss

You need 7 Sage paintings to activate the Hilda trigger outside of Lorule Castle. In addition to opening Lorule Castle and placing its loading zone on the map, it will also place the loading zone for the final boss battle.

Last updated 08/02/2023 – RickWithAnH