You're wandering through the rainy woods of Faron, trying to find a shrine that keeps beeping on your sensor, when you see it. A small circle of stones in a pond. You throw a rock, miss, try again, and then—poof. A tiny creature with a leaf for a face appears, shakes its maracas, and yells "Ya-ha-ha!" It's cute. The first time. Maybe even the hundredth time. But when you realize there are 900 of these little guys scattered across Hyrule, the vibe changes. Breath of the Wild Koroks are, depending on who you ask, either a masterclass in open-world rewarding or the most disrespectful waste of a player's time ever coded into a Nintendo game.
Honestly, the sheer scale of the Korok hunt is what makes The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild feel so massive. You can't walk five feet without tripping over a puzzle. It’s dense. It’s overwhelming. And it was designed that way on purpose by Hidemaro Fujibayashi and his team at Nintendo. They didn't actually expect you to find them all. They just wanted to make sure that no matter which weird mountain peak you decided to climb, there was something there waiting for you.
The Weird Logic Behind 900 Korok Seeds
Why 900? It sounds like an arbitrary, cruel number. But if you look at the mechanics, it’s basically a math trick to ensure player progression. To max out your inventory slots for swords, bows, and shields, you only actually need 441 seeds. That’s less than half of the total population.
Nintendo knew most players would never see the credits, let alone scrub every inch of the map. By saturating the world with Breath of the Wild Koroks, they guaranteed that even a casual player who just follows the main road to Kakariko Village will stumble upon enough seeds to expand their inventory a few times. It’s about density, not completionism.
If there were only 100 seeds, you’d be searching for hours just to carry one extra claymore. By having 900, the game rewards curiosity constantly. See a suspicious brick pattern? Korok. See a lone pinwheel on a fence? Korok. It turns the entire landscape into a giant "I Spy" book. The problem, of course, is that some of us have a completionist brain that won't let us stop at 441. We need that 100% marker on the map screen. And that’s where the pain starts.
The Different Types of Korok Puzzles You’ll Encounter
Not all Koroks are created equal. Some are basically freebies, while others will make you want to hurl your Switch across the room.
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The "Diving" Koroks are usually the easiest. You find a circle of lilies or weeds in the water, jump from a high point, and aim for the center. Simple. Then you have the "Stone Circles." These are the classic puzzles where a ring of rocks is missing just one piece. You find the missing rock nearby, tuck it into the gap, and get your reward.
But then there are the "Golf" puzzles. These are the worst. You’ll find a boulder and a hole way down a hill, or across a ravine. You have to use Stasis to launch the boulder into the hole. If you hit it too hard, it flies into the abyss. If you hit it too soft, it rolls back into your face. You've probably spent twenty minutes on one of these, wasting three iron sledgehammers in the process, only to get the same "Ya-ha-ha!" you got for picking up a random rock in a field. It’s humbling.
Racing and Archery Challenges
Some Koroks require a bit of speed. You'll see a tree stump with a leaf icon on it. Step on it, and a yellow ring appears in the distance with a ticking timer. You’ve gotta glide, shield surf, or sprint to that ring before it disappears.
Archery ones are a bit more subtle. Look for balloons floating under bridges or hiding inside hollow logs. Sometimes they move in erratic patterns. If you see a pinwheel, stand near it. Usually, two or three balloons will pop up and start hovering around. Pro tip: use a Great Eagle Bow or any bow that fires in a straight line to save yourself the headache of calculating arrow drop.
The Reward for Finding Them All (The "Golden Poop")
We have to talk about Hestu’s Gift. If you actually go through the madness of collecting all 900 seeds and return to Hestu, the giant broccoli-looking spirit who upgrades your bags, he gives you a reward. It is a golden, swirling piece of excrement. Literally.
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The game's flavor text describes it as a "gift of friendship" that "smells pretty bad."
People were furious when the game first launched. They expected a secret weapon, an unbreakable shield, or maybe a permanent stamina boost. Instead, they got a joke. But in hindsight, it’s kind of brilliant. The developers are telling you: "We told you not to do this. You did it anyway. Here is a trophy that represents how much time you wasted." It’s a meta-commentary on the futility of 100% completion in modern gaming. It’s also a play on the Japanese "Kin no unko" (Golden Poop) which is a symbol of good luck.
Missing Koroks: The Hardest Ones to Find
Even with the Korok Mask from the Master Trials DLC, some of these guys are invisible. The mask shakes and makes a sound when a Korok is near, but it doesn't tell you where it is.
The most missed Breath of the Wild Koroks are often the "Sparkling Trail" ones. These aren't hidden under rocks. They are invisible entities running around in circles. You’ll see a trail of glitter moving across the ground or up a tree trunk. You have to intercept them and press 'A' to catch them. There’s one in the middle of the courtyard in Hyrule Castle that most people miss because they’re too busy dodging Guardian lasers to notice a tiny glitter trail on the floor.
Another tricky one is the "Offering Statues." You’ll see a row of small stone statues with bowls in front of them. One bowl is empty. You have to place the correct fruit—usually an apple, but sometimes a spicy pepper or a voltfruit—into the empty bowl. If you take the fruit back after getting the seed, the Korok doesn't mind, but it feels a bit rude.
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Tools to Help the Hunt
If you’re serious about the 900-seed grind, don't do it blind. You will lose your mind.
- The Korok Mask: Found in the Lost Woods (part of the DLC). It’s essential. It glows and pulses when you’re within range.
- Hero’s Path Mode: This shows you exactly where you’ve walked on the map for the last 200 hours of gameplay. If you see a massive blank spot on your map, there’s a 100% chance a Korok is hiding there.
- Interactive Maps: Websites like Zelda Maps or the Breath of the Wild Companion app are life-savers. You can check off seeds as you find them so you don't end up with 899 seeds and no clue where the last one is. That's a nightmare scenario.
The Legacy of the Korok Seeds
The Korok system changed how developers think about open-world rewards. Before Breath of the Wild, collectibles were usually just shiny objects on a map. But Breath of the Wild Koroks are tied to the environment. They force you to look at the world differently. You stop looking for "content" and start looking for "anomalies."
Is that tree slightly out of alignment with the other two? Is there a random metal cube in the mud? Why is there a single lily pad in this pond? It turns the player into a detective. It makes the world feel alive and intentional. Even if the reward is just a bit of golden poop, the journey of finding them makes you appreciate the landscape in a way no other game really does.
What You Should Do Next
If you're currently staring at a map of Hyrule feeling defeated, here’s the best way to handle the Korok situation without burning out.
- Stop at 441. Seriously. If you just want a better gameplay experience, stop when your inventory is full. There is no gameplay benefit to finding the other 459.
- Use the DLC Mask early. If you have the expansion pass, go to the Lost Woods immediately. Wearing the Korok Mask during your normal playthrough will help you find about 200-300 seeds naturally without ever "hunting" for them.
- Target the High-Density Areas. Hyrule Castle has a ton of them. The Great Plateau is also packed. If you need a few quick slots, go to the regions where the geometry is complex.
- Look Up. We often forget to look at the tops of pillars or the undersides of bridges. Many seeds are tucked away in vertical spaces you usually glide right over.
- Don't ignore the "Dull" Landscapes. The Hebra Mountains and the Gerudo Desert look empty, but they hide some of the most cleverly placed seeds in the game. Check every lone rock on a snowy peak.
The Korok hunt is a marathon, not a sprint. Whether you find ten or nine hundred, they remain one of the most iconic parts of the Zelda mythos, proving that sometimes, the smallest things in a game are the ones that leave the biggest impact. Or at least, the most annoying sound effects. Ya-ha-ha!