The expansive world of Tears of the Kingdom leaves much to be explored. Tucked away in the little pockets of Hyrule many stories emerge. They may not be about heroes conquering evil or riding dragons but they bring a warmth to the heart and give a reason to the player to be the hero and protect everything precious. Over at the Highland Stable, the notes of the flute lure the player to a tree, where the beginning of a new story begins.
Up in a tree, Link discovers an NPC named Pyper who invites Link to listen to his song. Pyper is one of five stable trotters that can be found across Hyrule. Like all the other trotters, they’re named after the instrument they play (Or did they choose their instrument based off their name?). The short Hylian plays his flute with a dance in his step. In only five seconds of interaction, Pyper’s passion for music is shown. A skillful animation of Pyper moving his feet and bobbing his head as he plays the flute emits enjoyment and love for what he is doing.
His story is not all sunshine and rainbows. Upon talking to Link, Pyper lets slip that he might have done something a little dangerous. Moving out of the tree, he explains that he may have burned a patch of flowers. An accident, for sure, but still his fault.
In his quest to make people happy, he heard his friend Haite had been down in the dumps recently and wanted to see a glowing tree. Pyper made the mistake of promising to show her one—despite fully knowing that they did not exist. His first attempt involved fire as you can predict, it didn’t end well. A little singed, Pyper comes up with another idea to make the tree glow and begins Link’s next side adventure.
Pyper requests ten Sunset Fireflies. A fetch quest can be quite taxing, especially if the item is not the easiest to get. Yet, the motivation that this quest could end with a glowing tree and making not one but two people happy made me wish that I had the bug net from Skyward Sword so I could catch not just ten but a hundred fireflies. Fortunately, Pyper can attract many with just the ten fireflies Link finds. As night falls, Haite is brought to the tree for the magical reveal. Upon the sweet notes of his flute, many fireflies pulse with light, fluttering through the leaves of the trees and for a moment the tree glows a luminescent green until the fireflies disperse, disappearing into the night.
“Happy.. Did you hear that? Yep, finally happy. What a relief. I knew there was a bright smile in there somewhere.” – Pyper, Tears of the Kingdom
With a song and a glowing tree, Pyper finally brought a smile to Haite’s face. But, wait, the story is not finished yet. Pyper knows he must do more if he would like to continue spreading happiness to Hyrule and keep Haite smiling. With his flute he quests to re-join the Stable Trotters, perfect his flute playing skills, and play to all that need their spirits lifted. Link continues to find Pyper with the Stable Trotters (if the others have been found too) from this point on, with a quest to help some Stable Trotters biggest fans: The Great Fairies. All across Hyrule, Pyper’s music helps bring out the Great Fairies from hiding, proving a little bit of music has great power.
Once all Great Fairies have come out of hiding, there is a piece of dialogue from Pyper that could be easily missed and yet gives a deeper insight into Pyper’s heart. Out of nowhere, Pyper asks if Link can see dragons. While Link can see all four dragons flying through the sky, the average Hylian cannot, regarding them as nothing more than a legend. Pyper expresses seeing long shapes up in the clouds moving around, convinced they are the dragons from legends, but his bandmates and friends tell him that dragons aren’t real. Yet, Pyper is convinced they’re real and wonders why he’s the only one that can see them. It is said that only those with a pure heart can witness the magnificent creatures of the sky. It is rare for an adult to see the creatures for mainly children comment on seeing glowing dragons.
Which begs the question, why can Pyper, who is not a child, not the Hero of Light nor a princess of great power, see the legendary dragons? That pure heart of his, of course. The one that burnt a patch of flowers to make a girl’s dream come true, to see her smile again. The soul that saw what his music could do and promised to get better so he could bring smiles to all in Hyrule. What doesn’t get more pure than that?
