You’ve probably spent hours scouring the map, looking for that one last empty slot in your secret stone collection. It’s frustrating. Most people assume they just need to finish the four main regional phenomena and the credits will roll, or at least the path to Ganondorf will be wide open. But Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom likes to play with your expectations. Finding the fifth sage isn't just a side quest you can stumble upon while picking mushrooms in Hyrule Field; it is a massive, multi-step narrative pivot that requires you to stop thinking like a tourist and start thinking like a detective.
Finding the fifth sage is Mineru. She’s the Sage of Spirit. Unlike Tulin or Sidon, she doesn't have a giant city with a neon sign pointing toward her. Honestly, if you aren't paying attention to the dialogue in Lookout Landing after a specific mid-game boss fight, you might wander around for twenty hours wondering why your ability wheel still has a gap.
Why the Crisis at Hyrule Castle Changes Everything
Before you can even think about the fifth sage, you have to deal with the phantom in the room. Or rather, the Phantom Ganon. You can’t just fly into the Thunderhead Isles—well, you can, but you won't see a thing—until you've completed the "Crisis at Hyrule Castle" main quest. This happens after you've finished the Wind, Fire, Water, and Lightning temples.
Purah will send you to the castle. You’ll chase a fake Zelda. You’ll fight waves of enemies. After that showdown, the game shifts. The search for the "missing" fifth sage officially begins because the previous four realize they aren't enough to take down the Demon King. This is where most players get lost. They go back to exploring shrines. Don't do that. Talk to Paya and Tauro in Kakariko Village.
The Mystery of the Ring Ruins
Kakariko Village is the literal gateway here. You've probably seen those giant floating rings and had the NPCs tell you to stay away. Now, they'll let you in. This kicks off the "Secret of the Ring Ruins" quest.
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Tauro is the key. You'll find him obsessing over the ruins, and he’ll eventually lead you to the Popla Foothills Skyview Tower. This part of the game feels much more like Indiana Jones than a standard RPG. You have to find a specific set of armor—the Charged Armor set—hidden in chests along the Dracozu River. It looks like a dragon's head from above. See it? Great.
Basically, you wear the sparky suit, drop a Large Zonai Charge on an altar at the end of the river, and the sky literally changes. The eternal thunderstorm over the Faron region clears up. This is the moment "finding the fifth sage" goes from a rumor to a reality. The clouds part to reveal the Thunderhead Isles and Dragonhead Island. It’s a massive structure. It's intimidating. Bring stamina food.
Navigating the Thunderhead Isles
If you tried to go here earlier, you were flying blind. Now that the storm is gone, the visibility is clear, though the platforming is still a bit of a nightmare. You’re looking for a giant set of doors at the very end of Dragonhead Island. These doors require ten hearts to open. If you’ve been trading all your orbs for stamina, you might need to visit a goddess statue and swap things around temporarily.
Behind those doors is a Zonai mask. It shoots a green beam of light. This is your GPS. It points toward the Tobio's Hollow Chasm. You have to carry this mask—yes, carry it like a piece of luggage—down into the Depths.
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The scale of the "Finding the fifth sage" questline is actually much bigger than the other temples. Once you reach the Construct Factory in the Depths, Mineru reveals her situation. She’s a soul without a body. You aren't just finding a sage; you’re building one.
Building the Construct: The Four Depots
This is the "Temple" portion of the quest. You have to visit four different locations surrounding the Construct Factory:
- The Left-Arm Depot
- The Right-Arm Depot
- The Left-Leg Depot
- The Right-Leg Depot
Each one is a physics puzzle. The Left-Leg Depot involves using rockets to blast a crate over a series of lava pits. The Right-Arm Depot is a bit more finicky, requiring you to use wheels and a bridge to guide the part back to the center. There isn't a "correct" way to do these. If you want to glue ten fans to a crate and hope for the best, the game usually lets you.
Once you snap all four limbs onto the central chassis, Mineru’s construct comes to life. Now you have a giant robot. It’s awesome. You can attach cannons, emitters, and spiked iron balls to her hands and back.
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The Spirit Temple and the Seized Construct
You aren't done. Mineru needs her Secret Stone. You have to ride the construct through the Depths to the Spirit Temple. You'll feel powerful until you hit the boss: The Seized Construct.
This is essentially a boxing match. You're in a ring surrounded by electric wire. The trick is to block its attacks and then punch it into the ropes. Do not try to fight this on foot. You will die. Stay on Mineru, use your attachments, and keep the pressure on. When the boss is down, Mineru regains her stone and you finally, officially, have the fifth sage.
What Most People Miss About Mineru
Finding the fifth sage early is actually possible, but it’s a "sequence break." If you have enough hearts and you can navigate the fog in the Thunderhead Isles manually, you can trigger the mask sequence before even finishing the other four temples. It’s incredibly difficult because you can't see five feet in front of your face, but speedrunners do it all the time.
However, doing it the "right" way gives you the lore context that makes the ending of the game hit much harder. You learn about the connection between Mineru, Sonia, and Zelda. It fills in the gaps that the Dragon's Tears memories leave behind.
Actionable Steps for Your Playthrough
- Check your Heart Count: You need 10 hearts to open the Dragonhead Island door. Don't show up with 3 and expect to get in.
- Clear the Fog: Don't struggle through the Thunderhead Isles while the storm is active. Finish the Hyrule Castle event first so you can actually see the platforms.
- Resource Management: Before heading to the Construct Factory, stock up on Zonai Charges. Mineru’s limbs require you to power various machines to move them through the depots.
- The Depths Navigation: The area around the Spirit Temple is dark. Bring at least 50 Brightbloom seeds. You’ll be navigating a giant robot through tight corridors and over gloom-covered floors.
- Combat Prep: Keep a few "Cannon" Zonai devices in your inventory. Attaching a cannon to Mineru’s arm makes the Seized Construct fight significantly easier as it creates distance and deals massive stagger damage.
Once Mineru joins your party, your traversal in the Depths changes completely. You can walk over gloom without taking damage while riding her. You can mine ores without wasting your own weapon durability. Finding the fifth sage is the turning point where the game stops being about survival and starts being about total Hyrule domination.