During the event that came to be known as the Upheaval, Hyrule was dramatically changed. Not only did ancient islands become visible in the skies, and gaping chasms open up to the Depths below, but a large number of caves opened up all over Hyrule’s surface. Including the caves on the Great Sky Island, there are a total of 147 caves in Hyrule, each containing valuable materials and Bubbulfrogs, and some containing chests, shrines, monsters or other secrets. Nestled away in the Hebra Mountains, the Sturnida Spring Cave hides a secret that, in my mind, puts all other caves to shame.
Located north-west of Rito Village, Sturnida Secret Hot Springs is tucked away at the base of Sturnida Basin in the snowy Hebra region. You can find it at the coordinates -4096, 2759, 0025. The Hebra region has always been one of my personal favorite locations in both Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom, for its secluded nature and the surprise and joy it brought me to find some warmth in the freezing cold. In Breath of the Wild, the hot springs were close to the Maka Rah Shrine, but in Tears of the Kingdom, the closest points of interest are the caves nearby, particularly the Sturnida Springs Cave. Upon entering the spring, the player can follow a thin branch of the spring that heads south, towards Lake Kilsie. At the end of this stream of hot water, you will find a small waterfall and a torch, with the cave entrance on the left. In Breath of the Wild, there was nothing on this side except for a few Rusty Shields).
When you enter the cave, you will come across a wide chamber with a pile of boulders in the middle, with mushrooms and lizards and an ever elusive Hearty Truffle. There’s not much to write home about what is in here, apart from the chest hidden underneath the pile of boulders, containing a rusty Knight’s Claymore, that can be accessed from the other side by moving the loose boulder with Ultrahand. Moving forward, you enter a short but winding tunnel that splits into three paths. The right-hand path winds round to a small chamber with several Ore deposits, and the middle path will take you to the same place. The path of interest, however, is the left-hand path, partially blocked by a bombable wall of the brown variety, so a single bomb flower will easily give you space to squeeze through. At the end of this sloping path, you will come to yet another chamber with a pile of boulders in the middle (surprise, surprise!) and another bombable wall on the opposite side of the chamber, behind which the Bubbulfrog lurks.
It’s at this point that you’re probably wondering, “I’ve come this far but I haven’t seen any crystals!” And that would be fair. The crystal cave is perhaps one of the most well-hidden locations in the game. In order to enter it, stand by the small ledge you dropped down from to enter this chamber, on the opposite side of the Bubbulfrog room. Turn around so that you are facing the ledge, where you will see a boulder covering a small crawl space, which Link will have to crouch to get through. Simply use Ultrahand once more to move the boulder, and crouch walk through the tunnel until it opens out into the cave itself.
The cave is tall, and lined floor-to-ceiling with long crystals, some of which seem to glow with their own inner light. These crystals are reminiscent of, and most likely inspired by, the Cueva de los Cristales (Cave of the Crystals) in Mexico; one of many examples of this Hyrule taking direct inspiration from locations in the real world, and easily my favourite example. The crystals in this cave are interesting to me in that they are similar to the Luminous stones, and yet go unexplained; in the game’s lore, Luminous stones are said to glow blue with the souls of the dead. The glow of the cave crystals, however, remains a fascinating mystery.
Something else that drew my interest to this cave is that it truly is a unique location not just within Tears of the Kingdom itself, but also within the Zelda series as a whole. To me, it reminds me very much of Ocarina of Time‘s Ice Cavern, which is one of my favorite locations from that game. There is something special about being reminded of older Zelda games even in what seems to be a new era for the franchise; even if Nintendo continues to make games more alike to Breath of the Wild than Ocarina of Time, the memories of those older games will stay with players and will inevitably come up again, even when they’re least expecting it.
Of course, and forgive me for sounding like a Hobbit here, but one of the best things about the crystal cave is that it is an excellent source of mushrooms. I’m sure many players like myself were saddened to discover early on in Tears of the Kingdom that the availability of certain valuable materials, particularly Hearty foods like truffles and radishes, are heavily diminished, if not completely missing from the game (I miss you, Hearty Durians). As such, it is harder to find materials that give Link a significant boost in health – though this may be by design. Caves tend to house Hearty Truffles and Hylian Shrooms, but there is often little variety. The crystal cave, however, is an ideal place to visit if you want to stock up on Hearty Truffles (of the regular and Big varieties), Stamella shrooms (to boost the stamina we lost all over again), Chillshrooms, Brightcaps, and Rushrooms. Out of all the secrets hidden in caves, in some ways, this one may be one of the most useful of all.
This, in a nutshell, is why the Sturnida Springs Crystal Cave is one of my most favorite Tears of the Kingdom locations. It has so many things that make exploring the overworld enjoyable: mystery, beauty, valuable materials. The introduction of caves to Hyrule took an already massive world and gave us more to discover, more to collect, and more to love. Some players might say that some of the caves are repetitive, and that may well be true, but the Sturnida Springs cave is the Hyrule cave system at it’s absolute best. It proves that Tears of the Kingdom succeeded in giving the players more of that sense of wonder we hoped for.
