20 HIDDEN Zelda Quests You NEVER Found

20 Hidden Zelda Quests You Never Found

Welcome to MojoPlays, and today we’re looking at side quests across “The Legend of Zelda” we feel most players miss.

A lot of these games are extremely popular these days, so we’re looking at this from a perspective of when they were first released, as well as quests we feel are easily missed by first-time players in general without outside help. Also just to clarify, these are quests that are hard to find, not necessarily hard to complete.

Legend of the Great Sky Island

“The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom” (2023)

Before the Switch 2 versions allowed you to pinpoint exactly where you needed to go, there were more than a few quests in the open world entries that were easy to overlook. The Legend of the Great Sky Island hides in plain sight; one might think you’re done with the tutorial area after Link gains his abilities. And nothing tells you to go on top of the Temple of Time, where a steward construct awaits with a challenge. Even if you do find it, the traditional method of completion requires a lot more stamina and the Zora Armor. Link must light three torches around the area without touching the ground, and gets special Paraglider fabric for doing it within the time limit.

A Parent’s Love

“The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild” (2017)

‘From the Ground Up’ is one of the best side quests in “Breath of the Wild,” leading to the creation of Tarrey Town. Afterwards, Link can find a few other quests, but one is pretty well-hidden. Only by eavesdropping outside of the window of a specific house at nighttime will Link overhear a couple talking about their sick daughter. To cure her, you can give them a Monster Cake, the recipe of which is in Hyrule Castle (unless you look it up), but also requires Monster Extract, which can only be purchased from Kilton. But because starting this quest requires Link to be in a very exact location and window of time, it’s something many miss.

Plow Needed

“The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword” (2011)

On the long road of turning Batreaux into a human in “Skyward Sword,” Link collects a lot of Gratitude Crystals through a lot of side quests. Most of them are found in Skyloft. The one that isn’t also requires you to have completed several other side quests before it appears. Once Link breaks the chandelier at the Lumpy Pumpkin, he must complete three jobs to pay off his debt, each of which are available at different points. Only after he does this, and has beaten the game’s sixth dungeon, the Fire Sanctuary, will Kina offer a new quest back at the restaurant. She needs help plowing the pumpkin patch and asks Link to find someone for her. Although Fi can douse for the proper NPC, it’s still a trek going down to Eldin Volcano to find them. Regardless, the list of prerequisites makes this one the more well-hidden quests of the game.

Staying Up All Night

“The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask” (2000)

In “Majora’s Mask,” Anju’s grandmother drops lore in the form of stories. While she and her stories aren’t exactly hidden, what Link needs in order to complete her quest takes a bit of detective work. First, Link must save a completely different old woman from being robbed in North Clock Town at midnight on the First Day. This causes the thief, Sakon, to sell the All-Night Mask to the Curiosity Shop instead of the Big Bomb Bag. The item is only available on the night of the Third Day for 500 rupees. It allows Link to stay awake through both stories, and earn two Pieces of Heart. Since there’s such a brief, circumstantial window in which Link can get it, and the only hint about it comes from a Gossip Stone, it’s one of the game’s more secretive masks.

Searching for Cats

“The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess” (2006)

In any given village or town in “Twilight Princess,” Link can talk to the various animals while in his Wolf form. They don’t usually have any vital information to give you, but one Cucco in the Hidden Village does. After clearing the town of enemies and rescuing Impaz, Link will need to return for a later part of the story. However, if you’re just going about your business to complete the story mission, it’s entirely probable you’ll miss this quest. Upon returning, you’ll find the village full of cats. A cucco, located behind one of the houses, will challenge you with finding and chatting with all 20 cats throughout the area. Doing so will earn you a Piece of Heart.

Who Finds the Haven?

“The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom” (2023)

Some areas in the modern era of Hyrule are more difficult to navigate than others, and therefore lend themselves better to hiding side quests. With its steep peaks and frequent snowfalls, the Hebra region is definitely one of them. ‘Who Finds the Haven?’ is the final step in a three-quest long storyline of Nat and Meghyn, who are first found by a cave off a road, east of Rito Village. Although their first quest, asking for 10 Brightcap Mushrooms from inside, is easy, the terrain and weather makes them easy to pass over. Although they don’t tell you, Link next finds them at Snowfield Stable, where they send him after a group of monsters that stole their tent. Finally, they’ll give him a clue about a secret cave near Sturnida Basin that holds a treasure trove of mushrooms.

The Lakeside Lab

“The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time” (1998)

Although the lab by Lake Hylia isn’t a hidden location, it holds one of the harder Pieces of Heart to earn in the game. And it’s mostly because, without help or knowledge, it’s hard to know just what to do. First, you need to catch a fish that’s at least 10 pounds at the Lake Hylia Fishing Pond as a child, which gets you a Piece of Heart. Then, you have to go back to the Fishing Pond as an adult and catch an even bigger fish, which earns you the Golden Scale. With that, Link can dive deeper than normal, and down to the bottom of the tank inside the lab to get his Piece of Heart. Without any hint towards the existence of the Golden Scale in-game, though, it’s one first-time players understandably miss.

Wild Sandstorms

“The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom” (2024)

‘Wild Sandstorms’ is another quest that has a few prerequisites before it appears. In the Gerudo Desert, to the Northwest of the Oasis, Zelda can get caught in a sandstorm and attacked by a Lanmola, a sandstorm mini-boss. After defeating it, she can find a second one to the East of the Oasis. Only after defeating both, as well as completing the fourth dungeon, Hyrule Castle, will she find a new quest at the Gerudo Palace Barracks. One guard will give you the job of defeating a third and final Lanmola, which is again found in the Eastern part of the desert. Afterwards, the Princess is awarded the Gold Sash, which protects her from being windblown.

Zora Stone Monuments

“The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild” (2017)

If you don’t thoroughly investigate Zora’s Domain, with several floors and winding stairways, it can be easy to miss a quest or two. After completing Divine Beast Vah Ruta, Link can find Jiahto looking at a weathered stone wall on the floor underneath the Throne Room. He tells Link of ten others on the various paths outside of the Domain, which detail Zora history. And Link must track them all down to complete his quest and get a Diamond. Although Jiahto’s location makes him easy to miss, these walls also aren’t marked on your map, so you’ll spend a fair amount of time searching and digging into the corners of the surrounding area.

Malon’s Gift

“The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time” (1998)

The Lon Lon Ranch storyline in “Ocarina of Time” gets you Epona, a fantastic upgrade for traversing Hyrule Field. If you return, you can get an update on things from Malon, wrapping everything up neatly. But if you speak to her again, she offers you the chance to beat a time trial race around the ranch. If you do, she leaves you a gift inside your home in Kokiri Forest: a cow, meaning an unlimited supply of milk. Although it’s something a lot of us know about now, and there is a Gossip Stone that hints at this, it’s still a nice, hidden reward outside of items and Pieces of Heart that some first-time players might miss.

Secret Dondon Rewards

“The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom” (2023)

If you follow the ‘Potential Princess Sightings!’ questline, you’ll eventually find out about the Dondons, a recently discovered species that can eat luminous stones and…produce much rarer gems. While the sidequest about them isn’t that hidden, there are several NPCs who ask Link to tell them about these creatures should he find anything. And if you return to them after completing the quest, you can get some extra rewards. The little boys at Duelling Peaks Stable will give him a Swift Carrot, Breen at Woodland Stable gives him an Endura Carrot, and the owner of Wetland Stable gives him a Pony Point after looking at some Dondon drawings. These are all like little quests inside a larger one, that many players might not think to check up on.

The Cave of Shadows

“The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD” (2016)

Our next one, admittedly, gets in on a technicality. The Cave of Shadows is hardly hidden, as it was a marketed new inclusion in the HD remaster on the Wii U, available by scanning the packed-in Wolf Link amiibo. But as far as quests most players never found, we know for a fact most of us never played through it based on numbers alone. The Wii U was already on its way out in 2016; “Twilight Princess HD” only sold around 1.7 million units, making it one of the lowest selling mainline releases. The Cave of Shadows, a forty-floor combat dungeon designed for only Wolf Link, gets you the Colossal Wallet, which holds up to 9,999 Rupees. But it doesn’t seem many fans ever got a chance to get it.

The Goron Quest

“The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap” (2005)

This GBA adventure introduced Kinstones, items Link could find and fuse with those of NPCs to unlock various things. And some of them connected to very easily missed quests. Close to Lon Lon Ranch, there’s a Goron constantly wailing on a wall. To get inside, Link must go through multiple fusions, most of which are with walls in hidden locations, to get other Gorons to aid him in digging into the cave. Doing so will earn you the final empty bottle. But it doesn’t stop there. After, you can fuse one last time with one of the Gorons, prompting Biggoron to appear in Veil Falls. He can get Link the Mirror Shield, but this can only happen after you’ve already beaten the game.

The Missing Chef

“The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom” (2023)

“Tears of the Kingdom” has a fair amount of quests that aren’t listed in your menu, and some of which have no real rewards. You can find this one early on, though you might not think to look for it. First, you must give an apple to Burmano, the cook in Lookout Landing’s shelter, to complete an actual side quest. Later, this causes Deon to appear in the cooking area, who can tell Link that Burmano went to Hyrule Castle in search of a recipe. This is the part that’s unmarked, so some might not think to speak to him. You can find Burmano, safe inside the castle’s dining hall, trying to remember the ingredients to a recipe that’s posted on a wall…literally in the same exact room. This recipe is all you get from this, as Burmano stays here for the rest of the game.

Saving Gregal

“The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap” (2005)

Another quest hidden behind a specific Kinstone fusion is saving an NPC before it’s too late. Gregal is a member of the Wind Tribe that lives in the clouds above Hyrule. By the time Link reaches Gregal’s home under normal circumstances, he’s already dead. However, if you’ve found the proper Kinstone and fused it with the proper NPC, you’ll open a path to the Cloud Tops early. Once there, Link finds a bedridden Gregal under attack from a parasitic ghost. Saving him is as easy as pulling out the Gust Jar and sucking up the ghost. Grateful for the rescue, Gregal will give you the underwhelming reward of 100 mysterious shells. But when Link returns for the area’s dungeon, Gregal will then give him the ultra-powerful light arrows.

The Forest Stage

“The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time” (1998)

There’s a well-hidden area within The Lost Woods that’s easily overlooked by most players. Found in a room disconnected from the areas any other quest would take you to are two Business Scrubs. However, there’s also grass covering a hole that drops you into the Forest Stage, where a troupe of Deku Scrub performers await. They react differently depending on which mask from Young Link’s trading sequence you’re wearing. Some reactions are silly, but the Skull Mask earns you the Deku Stick capacity upgrade, while the Mask of Truth can increase how many Deku Nuts Link can carry. In the case of the latter, the original game featured a bug that made it impossible to earn if you had already reached a certain point in Adult Link’s trading sequence.

Riddles of Hyrule

“The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild” (2017)

Similar to the ‘Legend of the Great Sky Island’ that we opened the list with, ‘Riddles of Hyrule’ can also be easily missed if you don’t think to climb to the top of the Great Deku Tree. Hidden atop the guardian deity’s crown is a korok named Walton. He will give Link five riddles for different items that he must show him, after which, he’ll give him a Diamond. If you thought he wouldn’t hide in the same spot twice, well, you thought wrong. Walton can also be found in his secret spot on top of the Deku Tree in “Tears of the Kingdom.” And if Link finds the Forest Dweller's Sword, Spear, and Shield that he’s hidden around the branches, he’ll reward him with a Forest Dweller's Bow.

A Way to Trade, Washed Away

“The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom” (2023)

What makes this quest in Lurelin Village easy to miss is that it’s buried underneath a whole lot of other quests. First, Link must go through the process of ridding the village of Ganon’s minions. Then, he must collect all of the necessary resources to rebuild the town, bringing the community back together. Those are two pretty lengthy side quests that open up even more. Afterwards, Link can tell Garini at Lookout Landing that his home is safe to return to, where he’ll find him waiting on the docks with a job. ‘A Way to Trade, Washed Away’ sees Link retrieve a boat for Garini, which he uses as a merchant, and results in Link receiving some free produce whenever he visits the village. But because of how many steps are required before you ever find it, most people might not.

The Riddle Quest

“The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past and Four Swords” (2002)

“A Link to the Past” holds plenty of secrets, but there’s one quest that could only be found in its GBA port and it requires a lot of work. First, you’d have to earn 10 Medals of Courage in “Four Swords.” You could only earn these in multiplayer by being the Link with the most Rupees at the end of any given level. After earning 10 of them, you’d unlock the Riddle Quest in “A Link to the Past.” The lumberjack, Q. Bumpkin, would issue 10 riddles to Link, each connected to a different item you’d have to bring him. The quest would earn you the awesome Hurricane Spin attack. But given its multiplayer requirements and that it’s only found in this version, there are likely a lot of players who've never experienced it.

Knuckle’s Scavenger Hunt

“The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker” (2003)

After meeting Tingle in “The Wind Waker,” Link gained the Tingle Tuner, an item players could only use if they also had a Game Boy Advance and a link cable. Using it would let you access Tingle’s shop, but there was also a quest tied to it. Upon revisiting Outset Island and using the device, which the game doesn’t tell you, you’d finally meet Tingle’s mysterious brother Knuckle. He’d issue a scavenger hunt which, when completed, would earn you the hand-me-down Tingle Tuner and access to Knuckle’s shop. The device could also unveil 5 Tingle statues hidden throughout the world, for which Knuckle would pay you 50 rupees each and 500 for the set. Given the extra outside resources required, and that “Wind Waker” never tells you where to find Knuckle, there are probably many “Zelda” fans that missed all of this.

What’s a quest from “The Legend of Zelda” you feel most people don’t know about? Which one took you a long time to find? Share your thoughts in the comments, and we’ll see you next time!