How to get a free Hylian Shield - The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

You can pay rupees for a Hylian Shield, but there’s a way to get one for free in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.

Link can use the Hylian Shield as a child (although he can’t lift it) and as an adult. You can buy one in Hyrule Castle Town, but what if I told you that you could find one for free?

Check out our THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: OCARINA OF TIME INTERACTIVE MAPS.

How to get a free Hylian Shield

There are two ways to get a Hylian shield. The first is from the shop in Hyrule Castle Town. If you go into the shop and inquire about it, the merchant will offer to sell it to you for 80 rupees. That’s a steep price, even if the guard stationed in Kakariko Village near Death Mountain Pass uses his discount for you to drop the price down to 60.

Instead of paying such high prices—rupees are harder to come by in the Ocarina of Time remake than they were in the 1998 original—go to Kakariko Village and enter the graveyard. Make sure night falls before you complete this next step; the kid patrolling the ground during daylight hours won’t let you mess with the graves. What a buzzkill.

Dampe the Gravedigger is making his rounds, but he won’t mind you doing a little graverobbing. Go to the last row of gravestones; there should be five in a row. Go behind the second from the top and pull it backward to reveal a hole. Drop into the hole and prepare to face a tough enemy—a ReDead (aka zombie) guarding a treasure chest.

Don’t let him get close! He’ll freeze you in your tracks and start munching on your flesh. Instead, play the Sun’s Song to turn the tables and freeze him. If you don’t have the Sun’s Song, which you also get in the graveyard, take the long way around the zombie and attack its back.

Once the zombie is defeated—or, if you’re really brave, lure the zombie away from the chest—open the treasure. Inside is a Hylian Shield, just what you’re looking for.

You’ll want to return to the graveyard when you’re older in order to get the hookshot. Find out how to do that here.

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