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The world of Hyrule in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is absolutely brimming with vibrant, quirky, and interesting characters.
And none fit that description quite as well as the Great Fairies do. The Great Fairies who dwell in the Great Fairy Fountains have been recurring characters in most games throughout Legend of Zelda franchise, and The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is no different.
They are, however, a lot larger in this game than in previous installments, but they do need a place to store all that incredible power, so I suppose it makes sense.
The Great Fairies have the ability to upgrade your armor to increase their defensive stats and even apply certain set bonuses if applicable. This is an invaluable power in the game, so unlocking each of the four Great Fairy Fountains should definitely be at the height of your in-game to-do list.
But, of course, nothing in Tears of the Kingdom comes without at least some sort of challenge, and there are several hoops you need to jump through to coax the Great Fairies out of hiding.
The whole Great Fairy Saga includes embarking on several different Side Quests and Side Adventures, so grab yourself a snack because it’s going to be a long process. In this Tears of the Kingdom Great Fairies Guide, we are going to walk you through every step of the way so you can unlock each of the four fountains and take advantage of the Great Fairies’ incredible powers.
Bottom Line Up Front
The Great Fairies are located near and around stables in the four corners of Hyrule. The first Fairy is in the Eldin region, the next in Necluda, another in South Hyrule Field, and the last is hiding in the chilly depths of the Hebra region.
The Great Fairies upgrade your armor for you in exchange for monster parts and Rupees. If you upgrade each piece of a set four times, you unlock that specific set’s bonus.
These bonuses differ depending on what set you’re upgrading, and not all sets have a bonus. The bonuses usually grant you some sort of immunity to flame or ice attacks or allow certain skills, like your attack or stealth abilities, to reach new heights.
At the beginning of the game, the Great Fairies are in hiding. Releasing them all from their slumbers requires visiting the Lucky Clover Gazette to begin the Potential Princess Sightings Side Adventure, as well as saving each member of the traveling music group, the Stable Trotters, in their own unique Side Quests.
Then, and only then, can you visit each Fairy and unlock its fountain.
What Do I Need to Do Before I Unlock The Great Fairy Fountains in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom?
This adventure isn’t quite as straightforward as many others you will find around Hyrule. There are a couple of prerequisites you must meet before you can embark on your journey to unlocking all of the Great Fairy Fountains around Hyrule.
Getting a Job
The first thing you need to do is get a job. And no, I’m not joking. You need to become a journalist before you can gain access to each of the four Great Fairy Fountains. But don’t worry, as far as jobs go, it can get a lot worse.
If you have visited any stables at this point in your adventure, you may or may not have noticed that there is a Hylian reading a newspaper at each one of them. If you talk to them, you can ask them to recite some of the most exciting news happening around Hyrule.
And at the end of their speil, they always mention the fact that the newspaper, the Lucky Clover Gazette, is a little short-staffed. So I’m sure you already know what’s coming next. You are going to have to head over to the Lucky Clover Gazette headquarters and bag yourself that job.
The Lucky Clover Gazette headquarters are located in the Hebra region at what used to be Rito Stable back in the Breath of the Wild days. But instead of dealing with horses, they now deal with news. You can find the stable just to the left of the broken bridge leading toward Rito Village.
If you are embarking on this quest before you have completed the Hebra leg of the main Regional Phenomena Quest, the stable itself will most likely be enveloped in a raging blizzard, so make sure you keep your peeled as it is easy to miss it through all the folds of snow.
Once you reach the Lucky Clover Gazette headquarters, head inside and speak to the Rito pelican named Penn, a perfect name for a journalist that happens to be a pelican.
Eventually, he will let you inside, where you can speak to the head honcho, Traysi, and land yourself the gig. Your main quest as a journalist in Hyrule is to travel around all of the stables investigating the many potential sightings of Princess Zelda that have been reported.
There are 12 of these quests altogether, and your prize for completing them all is the complete Froggy Armor set, which allows you to climb when it’s raining. It’s not always sunny in Hyrule, so the Froggy Set is an incredibly handy asset to have in your inventory if you are a big fan of exploring.
You are also compensated with Rupees ranging from 50 to 100 upon the completion of every quest, which is yet another added bonus to sweeten the deal.
Pony PointsÂ
Now that you’re a newly aspiring journalist and have successfully unlocked the ability to trigger the Great Fairy Fountain Quests, you are almost ready to go. There is just one more thing you need to get started, and that’s at least three Pony Points.Â
Pony Points are a new form of collectible currency in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. You collect them at stables in exchange for boarding new horses or staying the night in the stable’s accomodation.
Pony Points can be collected and then redeemed for certain prizes like new saddles, bridles, and more horse slots so you can add new members to your team of loyal steeds.Â
The first reward you will receive for collecting three Pony Points is the Towing Harness, which is absolutely essential for the missions you are about to embark on. So get yourself some new pony companions, or just sleep over at the stable for a few nights to collect enough points to get your hands on that harness.
The last essential thing you will require is a horse that’s capable of towing. This will most likely be a non-issue, as most horses in the game are capable of towing already.
There are, however, some exceptions, like Epona, which you can get from the Twilight Link Amiibo, or the Giant White Stallion and the Giant Horse from the Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. So if you only have the special or rare horses in your squad, you might need to catch a regular horse to do your towing for you.
Horses can be found roaming the fields all over Hyrule. But if you’re looking for one with the best stats possible, try looking around the Taobob Grasslands when you’re at Highland Stable in the Faron region.
When you find one you like, crouch down by pressing the left joystick down and move toward the horse as slowly as possible so you don’t scare it away. When you’re close enough, you will be prompted to press A to mount the horse.
Button mash the left trigger to calm the horse and stop it from bucking you off, then ride it to the closest stable to register it and equip your Towing Harness.
Serenade to a Great Fairy
Now that you have everything you need to embark on your epic Great Fairy mission, it’s time to head off to Woodland Stable in the Eldin region. Woodland Stable is in the Southwest Eldin region and is reasonably close to Hyrule Castle.
If you want to get there quickly, the fastest way is to take the road West from Lookout Landing and turn left once you cross the second bridge.
Once you reach your destination, head over to the small stage outside the stable, where you will meet up with Penn. Penn has heard rumors from his sources that a mysterious figure identified as Princess Zelda visited all the Great Fairies and told them that they were in danger and should hide inside their buds.
Princess Zelda is incredibly respected by everyone across Hyrule, so the Great Fairies listened, and they won’t come out for anybody. Not even Hyrule’s Hero, Link.
The Great Fairies do have one weakness, however, and that’s music. Each of the Great Fairies has her own favorite instrument, and hearing its tune is the only way you can coax them out of hiding. So this is quite the news scoop for the Lucky Clover Gazette, but Link isn’t much of a muso, so it doesn’t help your overall mission that much.
Thankfully, there is a stage to the left of a stable door. Head over there and speak to a short Hylian named Mastro, who will introduce himself as the lead musician of the Stable Trotters.
The Great Fairy of the Woodland Stable loves violins, so Mastro believes that if they could play for her, she would come out of her bud. Sadly their wagon is broken, so they are unable to reach her.
Repair the wagon by picking up some wheels from the nearby building supplies station and reattaching them to their wagon using Ultrahand.
Then take out your horse from the stable, ensuring that it has the Towing Harness equipped, and attach their wagon to the back of the horse’s harness. Then speak to Mastro, and get them to hop in the wagon.
Once the musicians load into the wagon, ride them up to the Great Fairy so Vionlynne can serenade her with the sweet sound of her violin.
The Great Fairy Tera simply cannot resist the sound of the music and will come busting out of her bud, completing the Serenade to a Great Fairy Side Quest and allowing you full access to the first Great Fairy Fountain.
Honey, Bee Mine
Once you have rescued the first Great Fairy from Woodland Stable in the Eldin region, you can do the others in whatever order you would like. But the next closest Fairy is in the Necluda region, so it makes sense to visit that one first before heading to the other side of the map.
The Great Fairy Cotera is hiding in her bud around the Dueling Peaks Stable next to the Squabble River in Necluda. Her favorite instrument is a drum, but at this point the only band members you have collected are Mastro and the violinist.
So instead of heading straight to the Great Fairy, you’re going to need to head toward Kakariko Village to pick up the bands drummer, Beetz.
Take the road heading North from the Dueling Peaks Stable until you reach a small rocky alcove along the right side of the road. Its exact coordinates are 2125, -1375, 0105, but if you’re having trouble finding it, turn your volume up on your Switch. You can trace him by following the sound of his beats ringing through the mountainside.
If you played the Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, you may already recognize the alcove as the location where you first came across Hestu, so that may help you track him down faster as well.
Once you find the alcove, head in there and speak to Beetz. Beetz left the band because he wanted desperately to make Mastro a nice stack of Honey Crepes, but he wasn’t able to find any Courser Bee Honey.
Beetz needs three Courser Bee Honeys before he will head back to the band. You may have some already, but if not, the best place to find some is in the trees around Fort Hateno, which is just West of Ash Swamp, or in Bubinga Forest next to the Dueling Peaks Stable.
The honey is, as you could imagine, guarded by bees. So the easiest way to collect it without getting stung is by using a bomb or fire arrow so you can kill the bees at the same time as knocking the nest out of the tree.
Serenade to Cortera
Once Beetz has his Courser Bee Honey and you’ve completed the Honey, Bee Mine Side Quest, he will return to meet up with the rest of the Stable Trotters at Dueling Peaks Stable. Fast-travel back to the Eshos Shrine to meet up with them and begin the next quest, Serenade to Cortera.
Serenade to Cortera
Throughout the Great Fairy quests, you will begin to notice a pattern. There is always something wrong with the Stable Trotters wagon, and you have to repair it in some way and deliver them to the Great Fairy yourself.
Thankfully every stable has a stash of building supplies, and the Great Fairies are always located somewhere close to a stable. In this case, the Great Fairy is across the river. But since the bridge is broken, the Stable Trotters need your assistance to reach her.
Build a boat out of the nearby supplies and attach the wagon to your creation using Ultrahand. Then tell them to hop on by speaking to Mastro and ride them over to the other side of the river.
The best way to build a boat is to get the biggest plank, place the wagon in the center, pop a fan, and a battery on the back, and fuse the nearby handlebars to the front so you can control it.
Once you reach the Great Fairy Cortera, the band will play, and she will emerge from her bud, giving you access to yet another Great Fairy Fountain.
The Flute Player’s Plan
The next Great Fairy that needs your help is at Outskirt Stable in South Hyrule Field, but her favorite instrument is the Flute. So the next stop on your agenda is Highland Stable in the Eastern Faron region to pick up the flute player before releasing her from her bud-shaped prison.
Once you make your way to Highland Stable, head over to one of the trees to the left of the building and climb up there to meet the flute player himself. The flute player is hiding up a tree following an unfortunate mishap where he purposely lit a tree on fire to impress a girl.
The girl in question just wanted to see a tree that glowed, so after some gentle coaxing from Link, the flutist settles on letting you collect 10x Sunset Fireflies instead of setting another tree on fire and endangering everyone within a three mile radius.
There are a couple of ways you can collect the Sunset Fireflies the flute player needs. The first is by collecting them at night time from within the depths of the Faron rainforest to the West of Highland Stable. You have to sneak up on them quietly so they don’t fly off, but they are very plentiful there.
You can also buy some from Beedle at the Highland Stable for 10 Rupees or from the merchant Eryk who travels the roads between Highland and Lakeside Stable for another 10 Rupees.
Once you have collected your Sunset Fireflies, give them to the flute player and wake up his friend Haite to meet him at the tree at night time. Once he shows Haite the glowing tree, he will meet back up with his troupe, and you will be free to make your way to Outskirt Stable in South Hyrule Field to begin the next leg of your journey.
Serenade to Kaysa
The Great Fairy Kaysa is up the mountain to the right of Outskirt Stable just opposite Outskirt Hill. Unfortunately, the road has been blocked by fallen rubble that collapsed during the Upheaval.
Since the road is so rocky, it’s not possible to head up there on the Stable Trotter’s wagon alone. This mission calls for a giant off-roading vehicle.
And thankfully, there is already one partially built to the left of the stable. Take the wagon and attach it to the large stone slab with three large tires attached to it.
Then all you have to do is attach the last tire, add some handlebars so you can control your beast, load the group into their wagon, and set off toward the Great Fairy Kaysa.
As soon as you drive your beast of a vehicle within range, the Stable Trotters will begin their performance to the Fairy, allowing her to finally emerge from her bud and unlock the third Great Fairy Fountain.
The Hornist’s Dramatic Escape
The third and final band member that needs saving is Eustus, the horn player. He has somehow found himself stuck at the bottom of a great hole in the ground on the road leading from the Tabantha Bridge Stable to the Lucky Clover Gazette.
You can spot the smoke from his fire rising from the hole near the bend in the road as you’re traveling through Piper Ridge.
Hop down into the hole and craft a balloon with Ultrahand to lift both Eustus and his precious wagon out of the pit and back to safety. Once you do, you are free to head to Snowfield Stable to set the last Great Fairy free.
Serenade to Mija
The last and final Great Fairy can be found in the snowy peaks surrounding Snowfield Stable in the Tabantha Tundra. For this rescue, the wagon is actually in working order, but the team demands a roof be put on it to protect them from the blizzard that is constantly raging on in the Tundra.
The wagon is parked up right next to some building materials. Join two rectangular platforms together using Ultrahand and stick them to the top of the wagon to create a makeshift roof.
Mastro is quite particular about the roof he wants, so although there are a lot of supplies and many different styles of roof you could make, this one was the only roof structure that he would accept for me.
Once the roof is firmly planted atop the wagon, speak to Mastro so he can load his crew into the vehicle and take out a horse with a Towing Harness attached. Attach the wagon to your Towing Harness using Ultrahand, and set off toward the Great Fairy Mija to treat her to the ultimate performance with all band members present.Â
Once you free the last Great Fairy, Mastro will thank you for getting his band back together and rename the group the Stable Heroes instead of the Stable Trotters in your honor.
How Do I Upgrade My Armor in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
Upgrading your armor is simple, provided you have the correct ingredients. Simply visit one of the Great Fairy Fountains, and interact with the bud to wake up the Giant Fairy lurking inside.
They usually say something vaguely flirty once they emerge, but once you get through that, you will be presented with a list of all your available armor.
Some of your armor pieces will be greyed out, while others will be displayed in full color. If your armor piece is greyed out, it means you don’t have the necessary materials required to upgrade it.
To upgrade one of your armor sets, hover over the icon and review the ingredients it calls for. They will usually be something like monster parts, certain bugs and lizards, and sometimes rare gems and minerals. If you’re happy with the trade, confirm by pressing A and sit back to watch the Great Fairy upgrade your armor.
You can upgrade each piece of equipment four times to reach the maximum level. If you fully upgrade all three pieces of a matching set, like the Flamebreaker Armor from the Eldin region, for example, you will unlock a set bonus.
In the example of the Flamebreaker set you would achieve the Fireproof ability, making you immune to fire damage. Each set offers its own unique bonus if it has one, although some sets don’t have a set bonus at all.
As well as requiring materials to upgrade your armor to the next level, you are also charged Rupees. The Great Fairies rates are as follows:
- Level 1: 10 Rupees
- Level 2: 50 Rupees
- Level 3: 200 Rupees
- Level 4: 500 Rupees
Max Out Your Stats at the Great Fairy Fountains
Saving the Great Fairies is one of the most important tasks to complete in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. As you progress through the game and start to take on harder and tougher bosses, the combat can start to become pretty challenging, and your 2x defense Archaic Tunic and Archaic Legwear aren’t going to cut it.
If you don’t want to start going up against massive beasts like the triple-headed Gleeoks wearing nothing but scraps to protect you, you are going to want to unlock at least one Great Fairy Fountain as soon as you possibly can.
And while you’re out there exploring Hyrule, make sure you collect as many critters, gems, and ingredients as you can because you never know what you might need to upgrade your favorite piece of armor next.
Tears of the Kingdom Great Fairies Guide: FAQs
Question: How Long Does it Take to Unlock All the Great Fairy Fountains?
Answer: There is a lot to the quest, and it has many other branching tasks involved, so it is not a quick mission, by any means.
It will probably take you at least an hour or two to rescue all the Fairies from start to finish, but you don’t have to do it all at once.
You can feel free to unlock each of the Great Fairies at your own pace as you come across them on your travels.
Question: What are the Best Armor Sets in the Game?
Answer: The Snowquill and Flamebreaker sets are brilliant in terms of giving you elemental resistances and allowing you to access all areas of the map, but in terms of the best armor sets in the game full stop, the Barbarian Set and the Fierce Deity Sets both look the best and give you massive attack upgrades.
Question: Where can I Find the Barbarian and the Fierce Deity Armor Sets?
Answer: Both the Fierce Deity and Barbarian Armor sets are hidden in treasure caves throughout Hyrule, making it all the more essential that you explore every nook and cranny you find along your travels.
If you’re looking for the Fierce Deity set in particular, make sure you explore all the caves in Akkala. As for the Barbarian set, that one is scattered around the North Hyrule Field, Necluda, and Faron regions.
What Do I Get for Rescuing All the Great Fairies in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom?
If you followed the guide from start to finish, you will have a job as the Lucky Clover Gazette’s brand-new journalist. This is a whole adventure in itself that consists of 12 different Side Quests at every stable around Hyrule, for which you will be handsomely compensated with the Froggy Armor set and a healthy paycheck.
You also would have got the Stable Trotters back together so you can enjoy their tunes every time you visit a stable, as well as pocket the 100 Rupees you get from Mastro for reuniting each member.
And last but certainly not least, you get access to each of the Great Fairy Fountains, so you can upgrade your gear and add more defense to all your favorite items.
You also would have had the chance to explore four new areas on the map, leading you to all sorts of other Side Quests, Shrines, and secrets hidden around Hyrule.
Read More: Tears of the Kingdom Abilities Guide