Master Sword

The Master Sword, occasionally referred to as the sword of evil's bane or the blade of evil's bane, is a unique, powerful sword that first appears in The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. Since its debut, the Master Sword has become one of the most iconic weapons of The Legend of Zelda series. The Master Sword is a double-edged longsword with no fuller and a purple or blue hilt. The sword's crossguard is large, and its pommel is small in comparison. The Master Sword is often paired with the Hylian Shield. When Link is not holding the Master Sword, he keeps it in a scabbard across his back.

In the main series, the Master Sword permanently rests in a pedestal, which is located within a sacrosanct area of Hyrule, usually the woods. The lore behind the Master Sword is different in most of the games, although it retains a somewhat consistent role. Similar to, Link is the only person who can pull the Master Sword from the pedestal and wield it. In some games, the Master Sword is the only weapon that can defeat Ganon. In several games, the Master Sword can be tempered or magically enhanced to increase its power, which sometimes changes its appearance and turns it into a different sword.

The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords subseries revolves around a different yet comparable legendary sword, the Four Sword. Other blades have appeared with a similar role.

The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
In The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, the Master Sword makes its first appearance. The manual for the Super NES version elaborates on its background. According to legend, the people of Hyrule were given orders from the gods to forge the Master Sword long ago in the event of the Triforce's theft by an evil-hearted person. During the Imprisoning War, the seven wise men initially sought to confirm the existence of the Master Sword and then find a valiant hero needed to wield it.

In the game, the Master Sword is located in the Lost Woods. It rests in a pedestal within the Sacred Grove. The Lost Woods has several Fake Swords, which further obscure the location of the Master Sword. Link cannot pull the Master Sword unless he has all three Pendants of Virtue. When Link has obtained the Master Sword, he can shoot sword beams from it if his health is full. The Master Sword does twice as much damage than the sword, although the sword beams are still the same strength.

The Master Sword can optionally be upgraded twice: the dwarven swordsmith can turn the Master Sword into the Tempered Sword, and the Great Fairy in the pyramid can turn the Tempered Sword into the Golden Sword. Furthermore, in the Japanese version, the Tempered Sword and Golden Sword are respectively named the "Level 3" and "Level 4" Master Sword.

The Master Sword to destroy the Lightning Lock on the upper floor of Hyrule Castle, allowing Link to continue and fight Agahnim. In the ending, after Link defeats Ganon, he returns the Master Sword back into its pedestal, where it is said to sleep forever.

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
In The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, the Master Sword is located in the Temple of Time and rests in a room sealed off by the Door of Time. Link can only enter the room after obtaining the three Spiritual Stones and playing the Song of Time on his Ocarina of Time. The Master Sword is an entryway to the Sacred Realm. It rests in the Pedestal of Time, and the first time that Link pulls out the Master Sword, Ganondorf sneaks in and claims the Triforce of Power. Seven years later, Link wakes up in the Chamber of Sages, where Rauru explains to Link that he was sealed there until he became old enough to wield the Master Sword.

In his adulthood, after Link clears the Forest Temple, he can return to the past by placing the Master Sword into the Pedestal of Time. This allows Link to do back and forth time travel.

The Master Sword does twice as much damage than the Kokiri Sword. The Master Sword has the ability to perform the Dead Man's Volley technique, as shown during the boss fight against Phantom Ganon and later Ganondorf. The Biggoron's Sword is the only sword that can do more damage than the Master Sword. In the final battle against Ganon, regardless of how many hits he takes, Ganon cannot be defeated until the final blow is dealt by the Master Sword. The ending is similar to The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past's, as both involve Link returning the Master Sword into its pedestal. In the ending, Link returns the Master Sword into the Pedestal of Time and closes the Door of Time, per Zelda's instruction, thus sealing the path to the Sacred Realm. The game slowly zooms on the Master Sword right before it fades.

The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons and Oracle of Ages
The Master Sword is an upgrade to the Noble Sword, and it can only be obtained in the Linked Game. By default, each game has the Noble Sword as the last trading sequence item, although if a certain password-linked event occurs between the two games, the Master Sword is found in place of the Noble Sword's default location.

The Master Sword does four times more damage than its first form, the Wooden Sword. Like The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Biggoron's Sword is the only sword that does more damage than the Master Sword. Both are the only swords that allow Link to damage General Onox and Ganon without performing a Spin Attack. When combined with the Red Ring, the Master Sword can defeat any enemy in one strike, except blue Lynels, which are defeated from two strikes.

In The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons, if Link talks to a Zora in Hero's Cave, he gives Link a clue and a password to upgrade his sword in The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages. When the password transfers to that game, Link can visit King Zora to get his sword upgraded to either the Noble Sword or Master Sword, depending on which sword he had previously. King Zora then provides a password, which can be used in The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons for Link to obtain the same sword upgrade from Farore. The Noble Sword (or Master Sword) is found in the Lost Woods, echoing its location in The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past.

In The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages, Link can directly obtain the Noble Sword (or Master Sword) from Patch on top of Restoration Wall after completing Patch's Crazy Cart. Alternatively, after completing Skull Dungeon on a Linked Game, Link can get a password from a woman near Lynna City. Afterward, in The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons, Link must dig into an underground chamber behind the Clock Shop. In the chamber, Link must enter the password and defeat enough enemies within the time limit to receive a sword upgrade and another password. In The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages, the password can be taken to Farore to receive the same sword in that game.

The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
In The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, the Master Sword is found in Hyrule Castle, which is preserved at the bottom of the Great Sea. The Master Sword is located in a chamber hidden under the Hero of Time statue. The Master Sword rests in its pedestal as a seal to stop the flow of time in the sunken land of Hyrule. When Link pulls the Master Sword, the flow of time returns to Hyrule. Consequently, this restores Ganondorf's magic powers and several of his minions. After Link pulls the Master Sword, it replaces the Hero's Sword for the rest of Link's adventure.

With the Master Sword, Link returns to the Forsaken Fortress to confront Ganondorf. Link tries to attack him but is unsuccessful. This is because Ganondorf killed the original Earth and Wind Sages, who infused their power into the Master Sword. As such, the sages are the only characters who can restore the Master Sword's power. With Medli as the new Earth Sage and Makar as the new Wind Sage, Link takes them to the Earth Temple and Wind Temple respectively. At the end of each temple, Medli and Makar respectively restore a half of the Master Sword's power, by praying to the gods over the Master Sword and its wielder. Medli's prayer extends the Master Sword's crossguard, and Makar's prayer causes a Triforce symbol to appear on the Master Sword's blade and changes its black gem to gold. When the Master Sword is restored entirely, its blade starts to glow.

Once the Master Sword's power is restored, Link must return to Hyrule and use the Master Sword to shatter a magical barrier, allowing him to access Ganon's Tower. The final boss battle against Ganondorf is on the roof of the tower, where Link can fight him using the Master Sword's power. At the end of the battle, Link strikes the Master Sword into Ganondorf's forehead, turning him into stone. In the ending, King Daphnes Nohansen Hyrule wishes for Hyrule to flood, leaving Ganondorf and the Master Sword, which remains in his forehead, to be lost in the ocean.

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
In The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, the Master Sword is located deep within the Faron Woods. It has a longer appearance than in earlier games.

After Zant turns Link into a wolf, Princess Zelda tells Link that the Master Sword is the only object that can return him to normal. When Link obtains the Master Sword, he can willingly transform between his normal form and his wolf form. The Master Sword also becomes Link's main sword for the rest of his adventure. When Link returns to the Sacred Grove, he briefly inserts the Master Sword into its pedestal to open the Temple of Time. Inside the restored temple, Link briefly inserts the Master Sword into its pedestal again, this time to reveal a hidden path to the temple's dungeon portion.

Later, when Link returns the Sols to their locations in the Twilight Realm, their power is infused with the Master Sword. This allows the Master Sword to cut through shadow crystal fog and defeat Twilit enemies from one hit. With the power of the Sols, the Master Sword radiates a fierce, golden light, except for indoor areas of the Palace of Twilight, where the Master Sword has a fainter glow.

During the final battle against Ganondorf, Link can perform an Ending Blow to impale Ganondorf and defeat them. Like The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, the game ends with Link returning the Master Sword into its pedestal.

The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Anniversary Edition
In The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Anniversary Edition, if the Links complete the exclusive dungeon, Realm of Memories, they can unlock the Master Sword as their new sword. Like The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, the Master Sword has the ability to shoot sword beams.

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
The plot of The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword heavily concerns the original creation of the Master Sword. Early in the game, Link obtains the Goddess Sword, which gets upgraded throughout the game. Once the three Sacred Flames are recovered, the Goddess Sword becomes the Master Sword, gaining its trademark appearance and power to repel evil.

The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds
In The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds, the Master Sword has its same basic appearance and role as in A Link to the Past. The Sacred Grove now cannot be reached until the Pendants of Virtue are all collected, however. The same upgrades from before are obtainable, but are now gotten by giving Master Ore to the two separate Blacksmiths.

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
In The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, the Master Sword again rests in the Lost Woods, specifically right in front of the Great Deku Tree. Pulling the sword in this game actually slowly deplete's Link's life energy, and as such, he must have a large enough amount of health to successfully do it without dangerously overtaxing himself. The Master Sword is completely unbreakable, unlike all other weapons in the game. However, using it too frequently drains its power to repel evil temporarily, rendering it dull. When near a large source of malice, such as a Blight Ganon, the sword will glow blue with energy.

Super Smash Bros. series
In every Super Smash Bros. game, Link uses the Master Sword as his main weapon.

Super Smash Bros. Melee
In Super Smash Bros. Melee's Adventure Mode, the Underground Maze stage involves the player searching for the Triforce in a labyrinth. There are seven rooms in the labyrinth where it may be found at which point the stage ends. The location is random; instead of the Triforce, one is more likely to come across the Master Sword set into a small pedestal. It vanishes when approached, at which point Link appears and forces a battle. There are five such swords in this stage, and thus up to five battles with Link (in every possible color, unless the player's fighter is Link).

The description of the Master Sword trophy in the NTSC version states that the Master Sword appears in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. In order to not mislead players expecting it to list the first appearance, this was changed to The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past in the PAL and NTSC Player's Choice releases.

Super Smash Bros. Brawl
In Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Link's introductory cutscene in The Subspace Emissary shows him pulling the Master Sword from a pedestal in the woods. It is the first game with Toon Link as a fighter, and like Link, he wields the Master Sword as his weapon. This is also the case for subsequent Super Smash Bros. games.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Link's Master Sword can fire sword beams when Link uses his forward smash at 0%.

Soulcalibur II
In Soulcalibur II, the Master Sword is Link's basic and most balanced weapon and companion to the Hylian Shield. The Magical Sword from the original The Legend of Zelda is also available as a weapon. The Master Sword is also used as the sword when the Mirror Shield is selected.

Mario Kart 8 / Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
In Mario Kart 8 and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, the Master Sword rests in a pedestal at a crossroad inside the Hyrule Castle in Hyrule Circuit. It acts as a Spin Boost Pillar, but is initially inaccessible. On the track leading to the sword, there are three spin boost crystals that, when activated, cause the sword to rise up from the pedestal along with a Dash Panel ramp that allows racers to go through it and receive a spin boost. The Master Cycle bike is heavily based off of the Master Sword.

Link also pulls out the Master Sword during two of his tricks.

Super Mario Maker 2
The Master Sword was added in the version 2.0 update in Super Mario Maker 2, where it serves as a power-up only available in Super Mario Bros.-styled levels. The Master Sword is obtainable as an alternate form of the Super Mushroom. When the item comes out of a ? Block, it plays the "item appear" sound effect from the Disk System version of the first The Legend of Zelda. When the item is collected, it plays the "item get" sound effect from the same game and turns Mario into Link, enabling him to use his shield to block enemies and projectiles, bombs to hit switches and blow up blocks, and a bow and arrow to collect items or attack enemies. He is also able to use the sword to hit enemies, and use a dash attack with said sword and a down thrust in similar fashion to a Ground Pound. When Mario, Toad, or Toadette grab the power-up in Multiplayer mode, they turn them respectively into red, blue, and purple Link, while Luigi still turns into green Link, matching the Link colors from The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords and The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures. In night ground levels, Link's bombs will sprout legs and walk in the direction they were thrown. The sprite of the Master Sword power-up is an edited version of the White Sword from the original game.

When using the Master Sword in the ground, sky, forest, underwater, desert, and snow themes, the music is replaced by The Legend of Zelda's overworld theme; in the underground and Ghost House themes, the game's dungeon theme plays; and in the airship and castle themes, the game's Death Mountain theme plays. Sound effects are also borrowed from the game. The boss theme sound effect while under the Master Sword's effect is the battle theme from the Disk System version of Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, while the final boss sound effect is Shadow Link's battle theme from the same game. The bonus game theme uses an 8-bit remix of the horse race music from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, and the Peaceful theme uses an 8-bit remix of the Great Fairy music from The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past and onward (also used in many The Legend of Zelda games in the file selection menu).

Once Link beats a level, it plays Zelda's rescue theme from the original game with a slightly lower tempo. In castle-themed levels, Link holds a Triforce shard after touching the axe with the "Triforce collected" theme playing from the original game. The death theme from the original game plays when Link falls in a pit, however Link lacks a "defeated" sprite (if crushed/falls in lava) similar to the Mystery Mushroom costumes of the previous installment. Several sound effects are also modified when playing as Link. These are all based on the original Disk System versions.

References in other media

 * There is a piece of furniture called the Master Sword in the first Animal Crossing and Animal Crossing: Wild World. In the latter game, if the player character touches the Master Sword, the trademark "new item" sound from The Legend of Zelda plays.
 * There is a microgame in WarioWare: Smooth Moves where the player has to re-enact the drawing of the Master Sword in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. The scene plays out normally in level 1, but in level 2, Link is turned into an old man, and in level 3 Link is turned into a Cucco.
 * In the Kirby series, the Sword Copy Ability, which is based on Link, features a blue-hilted sword with a golden gem similar to the Master Sword. In Kirby & The Amazing Mirror, Meta Knight gives Kirby his sword, which is referred to as the Master Sword (shortened to Master in the English release). Later games rename Meta Knight's sword Galaxia.
 * In , there is a character named Linken, a left-handed Gnome dressed in a green hat and tunic. Through the quest "It's dangerous to go alone" (a reference to the iconic quote from The Legend of Zelda), it is possible to obtain "Linken's Sword of Mastery", a nod to the Master Sword.
 * The Master Sword appears in , where it can only be wielded by Warrior and Ninja classes.
 * In , a dark cave with paths leading back to the beginning (similar to the Lost Woods) hides a pedestal with three missing jewels (marbles) in the center (resembling the Spiritual Stones of Ocarina of Time), and when all three are placed, a sword can be removed from the pedestal, revealing it to be but a spoon with a fancy hilt.
 * The Master Sword is an unlockable item in the Nintendo Switch version of .
 * A Master Sword appears in . However, the sword looks nothing like its Zelda counterpart. This Master Sword is the third most powerful sword in the game behind the Flamee Sword and the Sword of Light, but it also serves the purpose of removing the "Cursed" status on Jim.

Physical appearance
The Master Sword is a double-edged, one-handed sword. The blade cross-section is hexagonal with no fuller. On the flats of the blade near the hilt is a Triforce symbol, etched into the steel or emblazoned in gold. The section of the blade nearest the hilt (between the Triforce and the crossguard) is narrowed, possibly for use as an extra grip though Link never uses it this way. The crossguard is blue and curved slightly away from the hilt. In The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess and Super Smash Bros. Brawl, the crossguard is purple. A yellow jewel is set where the hilt meets the crossguard. The hilt is often padded red with a non-ornate blue pommel. The Master Sword's metal does not corrode over long periods of time.

In The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker, the Master Sword is considerably shorter in length, fitting with the designs of the characters. When the Master Sword is first acquired, its hilt guard is locked upwards, and a small, black gem is in its center. When the Master Sword reaches its full power, its guards are extended outwards, the gem becomes yellow, and the sword glows when unsheathed.

In The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, the Master Sword received some cosmetic changes similar to the Temple of Time's aesthetics. The Master Sword is comparatively longer than in earlier games. There appears to be zig-zagging gold trim upon the blade, near the Triforce symbol. The glowing effect is retained from The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker but to a lesser extent.

Instruction booklet description
"This legendary sword resides in the Temple of Time."

Trivia

 * Around the time when The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess was released, Target sold miniature replicas of the Master Sword and Hylian Shield with the The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess soundtrack.
 * At E3 2004, Shigeru Miyamoto came onstage brandishing a replica Master Sword and Hylian Shield.