Have a heart (container): How energy recovery has changed in Zelda

It is a situation that every Legend of Zelda player will find themselves in, without fail — you’ve taken a heavy beating in a major boss battle, or a bunch of minor enemies have gradually whittled your hearts down to almost nothing. And now, the game is making that annoying beeping sound that tells you that you’re dangerously close to falling in battle.

What do you do?

In most Zelda games, you have a few options. You can strike at a few minor enemies and pray that some hearts will be included in the item drops. You can run to a specific clump of bushes or group of pots that always have some hearts in them, or try to make a run to the nearest Fairy Fountain. Or you can check your inventory and pray that you’ve got a healing potion or a Fairy stashed away in case of emergency.

None of the above? Game over.

Breath of the Wild changed everything — well, almost everything — around. Instead of heart drops, being able to recover energy largely revolves around the game’s recipe and cooking system. And if you’ve cleared Divine Beast Vah Ruta, you have Mipha’s Grace as a safety net.

But if you don’t have any energy-restoring foods on hand, or Mipha’s Grace is still recharging… again, game over.

So, which energy recovery system is the best? This is a tough question, of course. Many players likely prefer the ease of getting heart drops and Fairies after defeating an enemy, while others may be more partial to the skills involved in preparing a meal.

I would like to take a look at the relative merits and disadvantages of some of the different life recovery methods over the course of the Zelda games.

Then and Now

In the original game, your recovery options were simple: Heart drops and the occasional Fairy, buying a Heart Container or medicine from a merchant in a cave, or getting a Heart Container after clearing a dungeon.

The Adventure of Link is the outlier among Zelda games, and its life recovery/level-up system is no exception. While Heart Containers were present in this game, you could also increase your life meter by gaining experience points in battle. We haven’t seen this particular leveling-up method in any of the mainline Zelda games since then. The Hyrule Warriors games, however, do allow players to level up in battle (and get their heart meters refilled) after they fill up their experience meters.

A Link to the Past, it seems, established a few of the heart recovery methods that became standard in most Zelda games going forward. In this game, you can get Pieces of Heart along with heart drops and Fairies. Not only could you buy a Red Potion, but you could also buy Green Potions to restore Magic or all-in-one Blue Potions — a hint at the different kinds of potions in subsequent games.

The Wind Waker was the first game in which you could get amped-up potions by trading in monster parts, specifically Chu Jelly. We saw this in more depth in subsequent games such as Skyward Sword and Breath of the Wild. Twilight Princess featured the Goron Hot Springs as a place to sit, soak, and bring back some hearts.

Take Your Medicine

In the majority of Zelda games, the ability to use a potion generally depends on three things: having enough rupees, having enough Empty Bottles, and being able to get to the Potion Shop if needed.

The very first game had two varieties of potion: a basic heart-restoring blue potion and a red potion with two helpings. A Link to the Past was the first game with three kinds of potion: heart (Red), magic (Green), and all-in-one (Blue). These potion offerings would remain consistent for much of the series.

In most games, you need to remember to equip the potion bottle from the inventory and drink it at the right time. (As I write this, I’m working on another playthrough of A Link to the Past; at one point I needed to give Link a potion during the Mothula battle, but I hit the Y button a split second too late … sorry, Link.)

But some of the later games made taking a potion easier, such as by eliminating the need to go hunting for bottles or allowing you to take a potion automatically as soon as your hearts run out.

As the series progressed, games began giving players the option to power up their potions using monster parts. The Wind Waker gave players the option of trading in Chu Jelly blobs in exchange for special amped-up potions, and Skyward Sword allowed players to hand in insects and monster parts at the Bazaar to give a potion an extra kick.

With Breath of the Wild, the potion system got yet another overhaul. You had to mix all your potions, using specific critters and monster parts. But with no need to find Empty Bottles, and with a fairly large inventory space, you could carry almost as many potions as you wanted.

Food, Glorious Food

It was in Breath of the Wild that the heart recovery system switched from heart drops over to meals. Instead of getting heart drops after defeating an enemy, the player learns how to gather different ingredients and cook them in the right proportions to get an energy-restoring meal or an Elixir. Special ingredients like Big Hearty Radishes or Hearty Bass can temporarily provide a huge supply of extra hearts.

My own thought is that besides being a way to recover energy and stamina, meals and cooking add a certain something to the game’s world. Think about it: Each region of Hyrule has certain regional specialties. Kakariko Village is farming country, with pumpkins, rice, and carrots being its staple crops; Hateno Village seems to be the dairy capital; Lurelin Village is where you go for really top-notch seafood; and you’ll have to visit Rito Village for wheat and sugar if you feel like baking cakes or pies.

Cooking, like any other skill in the game, requires some practice and experimentation. Finding the ingredients and trying them out can be fun, or they can be a challenge, depending on your skill level in the game.

With a generous number of inventory slots, you can carry lots of meals to see you through. As with the potions, though, you have to remember to stop and eat when necessary during battle. You can have enough Hearty Fried Greens or Creamy Hearty Fish Stew to feed a village, but it won’t do you much good if you forget to go into your inventory and have Link eat when the life meter gets dangerously low.

Healers, Fairies, and Mipha’s Grace

Fairies and their healing powers have been a mainstay of the Zelda games from the beginning. You can sometimes get Fairies by defeating enemies or by searching in specific trees or patches of grass. Having a Fairy in your inventory is very useful; they can pull you back from the brink of a game over and let you live to fight another day.

Where there are Fairies, there are usually Fairy Fountains. You can stop by one of these at any time to top off your life meter. They existed in the first game, but it was in A Link to the Past that they began to appear as they would in subsequent games, complete with the lovely tinkling harp music. However, in Breath of the Wild, the Fairy Fountains were used more for increasing the power of Link’s armor, through the use of different materials and monster parts, rather than for life restoration. That being said, you can still find free-flying Fairies around the fountains.

Breath of the Wild introduced Mipha’s Grace, which sort of fills the same purpose as a life-restoring Fairy. Obtainable on the completion of Divine Beast Vah Ruta, Mipha’s Grace refills your life meter, with a little extra, if you’ve been dealt what should be a fatal blow. Mipha’s Grace can be very valuable if you’re fighting a major enemy such as a Lynel or a Guardian Stalker. The main drawback is that Mipha’s Grace has a limited number of uses before it runs out of energy, and you need to wait for it to recharge.

In certain situations, you can visit a local healer, such as the village healing women in The Adventure of Link, or the old man on the mountain in A Link to the Past.

Twilight Princess introduced us to the benefits of soaking in a Goron Hot Spring, and the springs have made a few appearances since then, including the Maw of Death Mountain in Breath of the Wild. If you are waist-deep in the water, your hearts will gradually fill back up. However, do be careful if you go out at swimming depth, since you don’t want to run out your Stamina Meter.

Pieces of Heart, Heart Containers, and Spirit Orbs

Starting in A Link to the Past, players had the option of increasing their heart containers by finding Pieces of Heart around Hyrule. If you find enough of them, you get a new Heart Container added to the life meter.

Finding the Pieces of Heart can be fun, but they also can be kind of frustrating if you don’t know where to look. (The Piece of Heart in the Dark World treasure field in A Link to the Past usually tends to elude me.)

Breath of the Wild replaced the Pieces of Heart with Spirit Orbs, which are obtained at the completion of each Shrine. You can trade the Spirit Orbs at a Hylia statue for a new Heart Container or Stamina Container. (Additionally, completing a Shrine will refill the life meter.)

However, like the Pieces of Heart, obtaining the Orbs can be a joy or a nuisance, depending on the player. Personally, the Shrine puzzles have always been one of my favorite parts of the game, but it is easy to see how some of them can cause a player to throw their controller across the room in despair.

One thing that hasn’t changed throughout the series is that you receive a new Heart Container once you clear a major dungeon. Seeing the Heart Container materialize after an epic boss battle is like the cherry on the ice cream sundae; its appearance almost seems to say, “Good job. You fought really well, and here’s your prize.”

What’s Next For Our Favorite Healers?

It is anyone’s guess what the Breath of the Wild sequel will bring.

Maybe subsequent Zelda games will go back to the classic heart drops, Pieces of Heart, and refillable potion bottles of earlier games. Or perhaps the games will continue to use the recipes and cooking methods as seen in Breath of the Wild. Or there could be a hybrid healing system, combining elements of all of these.

One thing is clear, though. In every Zelda game, there will be dangers and there will be injuries. And where there is an injury, there must be healing by any means necessary or possible.