You can’t have a Zelda game without the Master Sword being involved in some form, and Tears of the Kingdom gives it to Link right from the start of the game—with one major catch.
Instead of being able to use the legendary Master Sword known for sealing evil, it becomes corrupted after the opening cutscene and shatters. This leaves the blade in a weakened, near-useless state up until a certain point in the opening hours of the game where Link “loses” the blade for some time.
After that point, the Master Sword is no longer in your inventory and won’t be part of your journey until much later in the game, unless you go out of your way to find Link’s signature weapon. Much like in Breath of the Wild, obtaining the Master Sword is not an easy task and has some clear limitations in place to make it a challenge.
You will also need to complete at least one quest before you can even reach The Blade of Evil’s Bane. It took us quite a while to finally get the Master Sword in a usable state, so be prepared for a little bit of a grind as you journey through Hyrule on a quest to find it once again.
Master Sword location in Tears of the Kingdom
Just like in Breath of the Wild, there are dragons flying around in Tears of the Kingdom, but the game makes it clear early on that one specific dragon will play an important role.
When you lose the Master Sword by sending it to Zelda right before leaping from the Great Sky Island, there is a dragon that splits the clouds and reveals Hyrule underneath the sea of clouds—some Monolith Soft influence for sure. It looks similar to Farosh, Dinraal, and Naydra, but has its own distinct white color scheme and appears in the sky rather than around areas of Hyrule.
You will later learn that this is the Light Dragon, and it is your final destination in this quest. That’s right, the Master Sword isn’t hidden in the Lost Woods, it is on a dragon.
Where to get the Master Sword in Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
In order to even reach the Master Sword, you will need to enter the Lost Woods—which is just the first stage of the trial.
Once you make it to the Lost Woods, or Korok Woods within the Great Hyrule Forest, speak to the Great Deku Tree, who is dealing with being corrupted by the Gloom spread around Hyrule. The mission then turns into a throwback to Ocarina of Time because you need to go inside the tree and fight a mini-boss that we won’t reveal here for spoiler reasons.
After you beat the mini-boss, you will exit the Deku Tree and it will be healed. Your talk will turn to discussing the Master Sword and he will mark an area on your map and say that “the Master Sword’s presence” is strong in that part of the sky and seems to be moving.
This will unlock the “Recovering the Hero’s Sword” quest. Just be aware you need at least two full Stamina rings for what is about to go down, which is about 20 Shrines worth of Stamina upgrades.
How to complete Recovering the Hero’s Sword quest in Tears of the Kingdom
Once you know where the Light Dragon is, which is what the Deku Tree marks on your map and why the Master Sword is moving, you have your next objective. You need to get above the dragon and drop onto its back.
Link can ride dragons in TotK, and the easiest way to ride the Light Dragon is by launching yourself up from a Skyview Tower and paragliding over it to drop. Alternatively, you can drop off a Sky Island in the area above the dragon too, since it flies in the skies of Hyrule and not above the Sky Islands themselves.
Unlike the other dragons in TotK, the Light Dragon’s flight path encompasses basically the entire map, and a full cycle takes about two hours. Thankfully, the path lines up with basically every Skyview Tower in the game and even a few Sky Islands, so you have plenty of options to reach its back.
Once you manage to land on the dragon, make your way toward its head where the Master Sword rests. If you fall off, just quickly open your paraglider and you might be able to get back above it using wind currents instead of having to drop back to the ground and try again.
How much Stamina do you need to pull out the Master Sword?
Pulling out the Master Sword works just like it did in BotW, though this time you will use your full two rings of Stamina rather than needing 13 Hearts. You just need to hold down the A button until a cutscene starts—don’t let go or try button mashing once you start.
After the cutscene ends, you will have access to the Master Sword again at its full power, though it still runs out of energy after prolonged use.
How to get the Master Sword early in Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
If you are impatient or don’t want to go through the Lost Woods and other quests to reclaim your blade, you can actually get the Master Sword early depending on how you play TotK.
Related: All Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom amiibo and their rewards
As long as you have two full rings of Stamina, which again is around 20 Shrines worth of completed trials and Stamina redemptions at a Goddess Statue, you can get the job done. You just need to keep an eye out for the Light Dragon and make your way up to its back.
The following map details the entire Light Dragon path as mapped out by a dedicated Reddit user, with specifications for how high it is in the sky in the thread.
You can get the Master Sword at any point as long as you can land on the Light Dragon and have the necessary Stamina.
Can you pull the Master Sword with bonus stamina in Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom?
Knowing how Zelda players operate, some may want to bypass the challenge, cook up some food, and try to get the Master Sword early with temporary Stamina boosts.
Unfortunately for those players, Nintendo thought ahead and made it so temporary Stamina won’t be taken into account when pulling the Master Sword. This was also the case for temporary Hearts in BotW.
You have to actually have two full rings of Stamina from upgrading Link’s base abilities through finishing Shrines and praying at Goddess Statues to exchange Light of Blessings.
