Ancient Shrine

*Shrine redirects here. For other uses, see Shrine (Disambiguation)*

The Oman Au Shrine, one of the many Ancient Shrines

**Ancient Shrines** are dungeon-like puzzles in *Breath of the Wild*.

## Overview

After the Sheikah helped to seal away Calamity Ganon, they built the **Ancient Shrines** to serve as training grounds for the hero as he prepared for the revival of Calamity Ganon. There are initially 120 Ancient Shrines scattered throughout Hyrule Kingdom. Many of the Ancient Shrines where uncovered during King Rhoam's excavations for Ancient Technology, but they only began to glow after Link activated the Great Plateau Tower following his Slumber of Restoration. In order to enter an Ancient Shrine, Link must unlock the entrance by pressing his Sheikah Slate to the Sheikah Slate Terminal at a Shrine's entrance. Shrines that have not yet been unlocked glow an orange light, and glow orange and blue once their entrance has been opened, but not yet completed. Upon completion, Ancient Shrines only glow blue.

During the beginning of the fifth Recovered Memory, Zelda's Resentment, Princess Zelda attempts to use the Sheikah Slate to try to access the one of the shrines, but to no avail and seeks to find a loophole before Link arrives, much to her displeasure.

Once an Ancient Shrine has been opened with a Sheikah Slate Terminal, its Travel Gate will activate. This will allow Link to Warp to the Ancient Shrine from his Map.

Link is lowered into each Ancient Shrine by an Elevator Platform, and each Shrine contains a series of traps and obstacles to be overcome as part of a trial. At the end of every Shrine is a Monk, who are the creators of the trials inside. They rest upon Monk's Pedestals. The Monks will present Link a Spirit Orb for successfully reaching them. The first four Ancient Shrines also contain Guidance Stones that will distill Runes, which add functionalities to the Sheikah Slate and bestow Link with new abilities. Each Shrine contains various amounts of Treasure Chests alongside the Spirit Orbs bestowed by the Monks. A Treasure Chest icon will appear next to the Shrine's name on the Map once all Chests have been collected.

After completing all 120 Ancient Shrines, Link is instructed to head to the Goddess Statue in the Forgotten Temple, where he will find Treasure Chests containing the Wild Set.

After completing all four Divine Beasts and beginning *The Champions' Ballad* DLC Pack, Link can access 16 new Ancient Shrines across Hyrule Kingdom. This expansion raises the total number of Shrines to 136. These Shrines have a tall pillar on their top to differentiate them from regular Shrines and their Map icon is likewise slightly edited to match. Four of them are found on the Great Plateau, while the four Regions coinciding with the Champions contain three Shrines each. Link must complete a Trial to access each of these Shrines. Link is rewarded with Spirit Orbs as usual at the end of the four Great Plateau Shrines, but is instead given emblems related to the Region's respective Divine Beast for the rest of the Shrines.

## Trivia

* The design of the Ancient Shrines was inspired by art from the Japanese Jōmon period.

## Nomenclature

*See here for the names of each particular Ancient Shrine in* Breath of the Wild*.*

## Gallery

* Link entering an Ancient Shrine
* Link in combat with a Guardian Scout II inside the Ta'loh Naeg Shrine
* An Ancient Shrine rising from the ground
* The exterior of an Ancient Shrine as seen in *The Champion's Ballad* DLC Pack
* Concept art of the lift entrance of Shrines

## Notes

1. ↑ Ancient Shrines were referred to as **Shrines of Trials** on Zelda.com. However, as this contradicts the name given in *Breath of the Wild*, it is not considered Canon.

## References

1. ↑ "*Ancient Shrine*" — A Gift from the Monks (*Breath of the Wild*)
2. ↑ *"There are more than 100 Shrines of Trials scattered throughout Hyrule. Link must solve the puzzles inside to prove his heroism and earn in-game rewards."* — Nintendo, Features, Official Zelda Website, published n.d., retrieved May 27, 2017.
3. ↑ *Creating a Champion*, Dark Horse Books, pg. 370
4. ↑ "*Countless ancient structures are being discovered across Hyrule...but all attempts to enter them have failed. Records indicate that these are facilities designed to train the hero who is fated to combat the Calamity. But the crucial activation mechanism remains a mystery. Is the Sheikah Slate the key to activating them? That is Purah's theory, and I concur. And yet, my experiments so far have been fruitless. Still, we must exhaustively investigate all means of opposing the Calamity. We must not give up, no matter what!*" — *Zelda's Research Notes* (*Breath of the Wild*)
5. ↑ "*See that glowing structure there? That light appeared at the exact moment those towers rose from the ground.*" — Old Man (*Breath of the Wild*)
6. ↑ "*Travel Gate registered to map.*" — N/A (*Breath of the Wild*)
7. ↑ "*I am Keh Namut, the creator of this trial.*" — Keh Namut (*Breath of the Wild*)
8. ↑ "*In the name of Goddess Hylia, allow me to bestow this gift upon you... Please accept this Spirit Orb.*" — Monk (*Breath of the Wild*)
9. ↑ "*In the name of Goddess Hylia, I bestow upon you this Spirit Orb.*" — Monk (*Breath of the Wild*)
10. ↑ "*You've conquered all of the shrine trials. The monks have prepared a gift for just such an occasion. Head to the Forgotten Temple where the oldest statue of the Goddess stands to see what they have left for you there.*" — Adventure Log (*Breath of the Wild*)
11. ↑ "*Inside, you found a special green outfit made especially for the hero who braved the wilderness alone.*" — Adventure Log (*Breath of the Wild*)
12. ↑ "*In the name of the Goddess Hylia, I bestow upon you this gift... Naboris's Emblem.*" — Monk (*Breath of the Wild*)
13. ↑ "*In the name of the Goddess Hylia, I bestow upon you this gift... Rudania's Emblem.*" — Monk (*Breath of the Wild*)
14. ↑ "*In the name of the Goddess Hylia, I bestow upon you this gift... Ruta's Emblem.*" — Monk (*Breath of the Wild*)
15. ↑ "*In the name of the Goddess Hylia, I bestow upon you this gift... Medoh's Emblem.*" — Monk (*Breath of the Wild*)
16. ↑ *"Indeed, I briefly mentioned in an interview that I drew inspiration from the art of the Japanese Jōmon prehistoric era to create the appearance of the ancient ruins in Breath of the Wild."* —Satoru Takizawa (The Art of Legend of Zelda Series Masterclass)