There are 120 shrines on Hyrule. Some are “blessing” shrines, because, having already gone through various trials and tribulations to enter the shrine, the monk inside blesses you with a spirit orb without further ado. But there was one such shrine we thought we’d never be blessed in. We’re talking about Korgu Chideh on Eventide Island.
When we first tried Eventide, Demelza pitched it as a nostalgic venture: We’d be playing once again as Link when he first rubbed his sleepy eyes awake in the Shrine of Resurrection. On island, Link would be stripped of his accumulated weapons, armor, and foodstuffs. Thus, he would have to forage to feed himself and scavenge for the wherewithal to defend himself. It would be just like old days!
We’d long since activated the map of the region, and we had enigmatic hints from NPCs in Lurelin about a mysterious place across the water that one would need wings (hint: paraglider) to reach. The path seemed clear. We found a high point off the east coast of the Necluda sea and set off paragliding for Eventide. Sure enough, as soon as we landed on the beach, we lost everything we owned. No weapons, no food, not even the shirt on our back; poor Link was shoeless and in his underwear.
We did keep the hearts we had, so unlike Link at the Shrine of Resurrection, we had more than three. We’d defeated Divine Beast Vah Ruta at that point and thus had Mipha’s Grace. And the Sheikah slate remained, so we had our runes.
What could go wrong? Apparently, everything.
We were under attack immediately by Octoroks, Chu Chus, and Bokoblins. Even a goat ran us over and took his slice of our rapidly diminishing hearts. Mipha’s Grace kicked in, sure, but it takes a while before it’s available for use again, and in the meantime, what’s a Link to do but die?
As is our wont when flustered and besieged, we forgot about the assets still left to us, mainly, the runes. We should have used Bombs to defeat enemies and gather up their dropped weapons. Shoot, we could even have Stasis-ed the goat and run away. We didn’t.
Back then, Itzal-Link was somewhat spoiled when it came to food, too. He was accustomed to Demelza’s hearty home-cooked meals, so when a crab scuttled across his path, did Itzal snatch up that crab and eat it raw, to fill up his heart coffers? He did not.
When we did manage to grab a weapon, we forgot that lightning makes Link drop metal. When twilight descended and brought Stalkoblins, we forgot that we could sit by a fire and make it day. (That would have required us to take out the Bokoblins guarding the fire to have access to it, but, had we done so, surely we would have forgotten.)
Did we attempt getting the orb from the Hinox?
Well, sure. He was sleeping, which is more than one could say for the Bokoblins. But we had only a few tree branches in our arsenal, not exactly suited to pummeling a giant hairy ogre. We hadn’t learned the trick of climbing into a slumbering Hinox’s hand to be deposited on his chest near the orb. Nor did we think to use our paraglider to land on his belly.
In short, we forgot everything we knew. Our scouting skills vanished. We were blubbering and blundering fools, not accomplished warriors living off the land.
We didn’t give up immediately, of course. We tried more than a few times.
Eventually, Demelza recognized the signs in Itzal: a furrowed brow, gritted teeth, increasingly sloppy moves. Throwing down the controller was not long behind.
So, we left the island.
Weeks passed. Periodically, as we completed more shrines and closed in on the magic number of 120, Demelza would gingerly broach the topic of Eventide Island.
“Hard pass,” snapped Itzal, once, twice. A third time. He’s a champion snapper, our Itzal.
Then came the day when we had 116 shrines in our ledger. The remaining shrines didn’t hold any items we wanted, so unless we were going for Eventide, there was no point to completing the other three; it takes four orbs to get a heart container. Gently, Demelza noted that if we completed all 120, we would not only obtain a final heart container, we would also unlock the Armor of the Wild set.
Plus, Demelza had done her homework. And – credit to those who went before us – she’d learned that, although Link is stripped of everything on his person and in his pockets when he sets foot on Eventide, he can drop or leave something close to shore before activating the quest, then retrieve the item(s) after. We could skip the paragliding and take a raft instead, then select a thing or two to leave on the raft before we stepped onto the beach.
We decided to return to Eventide Island.
That morning, we completed the three other remaining shrines in short order. Then it was time for Eventide. We spent the night at the Lurelin Village inn, springing for a fluffy bed that provided an extra temporary heart and started our day at 5 a.m. (It’s not just that we’re early risers, we wanted as much daylight as possible.)
Next, we teleported to the Chaas Qeta Shrine, located on a small island northwest of Eventide, and took the raft and Korok leaf there.
For the trifecta we wanted on Eventide, we had decided on the Twilight Bow (no arrows necessary, but available only via Amiibo); a Forked Lizal Spear (good for close-up wet work, as bloodthirsty Demelza would say); and a Lynel Shield (Itzal loves him some Lynel gear). Not sure of when we needed these items out of our inventory, we first tried dropping them on the raft before we began the journey from Chaas Qeta. Erm, it’s not a large raft. Thus, given Itzal’s vigorous waving of the Korok leaf, the sword and the shield landed in the sea more than once, requiring a couple of save-reloads before he learned to get far aft on our trusty vessel before dropping them.
Zelder Tip #1: You can wait until you get right up to the island’s shores to deposit items on the raft. It’s setting foot on shore that triggers the quest and strips you bare.
Zelder Tip #2: If you land near the Bokoblin camp, you can shoot them all dead from the safety of the raft before going to shore.
We stepped ashore. Once again, the ominous message loomed: Our trial was about to begin.
Our weapons were gone. Our food was gone. We had only our wits to survive.
Well, only our wits and the Twilight Bow, Lynel Shield, and Forked Lizal Spear waiting on the raft. And that made all the difference.
Zelder Tip #3: Without the Twilight Bow, you’ll need arrows for any bow you save on the raft. There’s a trove of five in a chest in the island’s northeast, or you can let the Bokoblins you encounter shoot at you a few times to recover any arrows that, erm, don’t strike you. Hmm, come to think of it, could we have shot off a few arrows into the sand, from the raft, before stepping on island???
We gathered melons and crabs and relished them raw. Remembering our runes this time, we used Cryonis to rescue a sledgehammer from a poisonous bog. We crowed when we earned a humble traveler’s sword and proudly switched out our Lynel shield for a rusty one. And we raised that old shield to parry an Octorok’s attack, yielding an Octo balloon that proved useful to remove the metal slab from one of the shrine orbs.
Before long, we had all three orbs corralled in in their respective slots. Moreover, for completing all 120 shrines, the monk inside Korgu Chideh granted us the Armor of the Wild, which we promptly went to retrieve from the Forgotten Temple.
Zelder Tip #4: Demelza later read that we could have dropped more items within wading distance of the island instead of fussing around trying to make everything fit on the raft. Whatever. There has to be some challenge, right? Indeed, we suggest trying Eventide a few times the hard way without the contraband-items-on-raft trick.
And now to the most important question – what adult beverage(s) to enjoy with your adventure. Let’s discuss!
You can’t save on Eventide Island, have we mentioned that? Was it apparent in Itzal’s temper tantrum and the snapping described earlier? That means that every time you die, you start over. Accordingly, for your first, non-aided forays, we recommend shots. Tequila, vodka, rum – your choice. One attempt, one shot. (Or rename this Everclear Island, and have that!)
We’re responsible Zelders here. Don’t try it more than a half-dozen times before loading up the raft with weapons. Then treat yourself to a hearty portion of Navy Grog in recognition of the sailing skills exhibited in the journey to Eventide.