You’re exploring a cave. Maybe you’re just trying to find a stray Bubbul Frog in a cramped crevice near the Lanayru Wetlands. Then, it happens. The camera jitters. Link’s model clips through a jagged rock face. Suddenly, you aren't standing on solid ground anymore. You’re staring up at the underside of the map, and the panic of i am trapped under the water totk sets in. It’s a claustrophobic, weirdly eerie experience that has plagued players since The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom launched.
Hyrule is massive. With three layers of verticality—Sky, Surface, and Depths—the physics engine is doing a lot of heavy lifting. Usually, it’s flawless. But when it breaks, it breaks hard. If you’ve found yourself swimming in a void beneath the lake bed or stuck behind a waterfall with no collision, you aren't alone. It’s a specific brand of digital purgatory.
Why the Water Glitch Happens in Tears of the Kingdom
The "Trapped Under Water" phenomenon usually stems from a collision error. In Tears of the Kingdom, the water isn't just a texture; it’s a volume. When Link enters this volume, the game switches his animations to swimming. However, if the game pushes your character model into a space where the "top" of the water volume is blocked by a solid object—like a low cave ceiling or a piece of Zonai debris—the game gets confused.
It thinks you're swimming, but it won't let you surface because there’s a "solid" ceiling above you.
Sometimes it’s a physics interaction. You might be using Ultrahand to move a heavy chest out of a river, and the chest pins you against the floor. Because the game prioritize "crushing" physics or "clipping" prevention, it might shove Link through the floor geometry entirely. Now you’re swimming in the "underworld" ocean that exists beneath the entire map of Hyrule. It’s dark. It’s lonely. And your stamina bar is ticking down.
The Physics of Despair
Most players encounter this during the "Siren Song" of loot. You see a chest submerged. You dive. But the buoyancy of certain objects in TOTK is surprisingly aggressive. If a wooden crate pops up while you are over it, it can "ground" you into the terrain.
I’ve seen clips from the community where players get stuck under the ice in the Hebra region. That’s arguably the worst version of the i am trapped under the water totk nightmare because the cold damage starts ticking away your hearts alongside the drowning mechanic. It’s a race against two different death timers.
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Real Ways to Get Out (Before You Drown)
Don't just sit there watching Link struggle. You have options. Most of them feel like "cheating" the game’s logic, but since the game’s logic cheated you first, it's fair game.
Fast Travel is your best friend. Seriously.
Open the map immediately. It doesn't matter if you're mid-swim or mid-drown. Unless you are in a very specific boss encounter or a scripted sequence that locks the map, you can warp to any Shrine or Lightroot. This is the only 100% effective "Reset" button. If you’re worried about losing progress in a long cave, just warp to the nearest Shrine. It’s better than losing your temporary hearts and food buffs to a glitch.
The Ascend Ability trick.
This is hit or miss. Ascend requires a relatively flat ceiling within a certain distance. If you are trapped "under" the water but still within the game's playable boundaries (like under a bridge or a low dock), try to trigger Ascend. Sometimes the game won't let you because you're in a "swimming" state. But if you can find a tiny bit of footing—maybe a pixel of a rock sticking out—spam that L-button.
What if you’re out of Stamina?
If your stamina wheel is in the red and you’re trapped under a ceiling, you're basically toast. When Link runs out of breath, the game usually respawns you on the last piece of "solid ground" you touched. This is actually a feature, not a bug. If you are i am trapped under the water totk and can't warp, just let the stamina run out. The game’s safety net should teleport you back to the shore.
However, there is a rare "Void State." This is where you clip through the world and fall into the infinite water plane below the map. If this happens, letting your stamina run out might just respawn you... back in the void. If that happens, you must load an earlier save.
Common Trouble Spots to Avoid
The community has mapped out a few "danger zones" where the geometry is a bit flaky. Knowing these can save you a headache.
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- The Zora’s Domain Waterfalls: Specifically the ones with hidden caves behind them. If you try to Zora-Swim up a waterfall and hit a piece of falling debris, the game can wedge you behind the "water curtain" and the rock.
- Lake Hylia’s Whirlpools: The physics here are intense. Getting caught between a Zonai device and the center of the vortex is a one-way ticket to Glitch-ville.
- Hebra’s Secret Hot Springs: There are some tight crawlspaces where the water level rises. If you’re in a crouch-walk and the water triggers the "swim" animation, Link can get stuck in the ceiling geometry.
Honestly, the Zonai Wing is a secret culprit too. People try to launch them from underwater or in shallow pools. If the Wing spawns "on top" of you while you’re in a swimming depth, it can pin you to the lakebed. It’s hilarious for a YouTube fail compilation, but frustrating when you’re three hours into a no-save run.
Why We Can't Just Dive Forever
A lot of players ask why Link can't just dive deeper or swim under obstacles like in Ocarina of Time or Twilight Princess. The truth? Tears of the Kingdom doesn't really have a "diving" mechanic beyond the initial plunge. Once you're in the water, you're horizontal.
Nintendo opted for a surface-swimming system. This is why being i am trapped under the water totk feels so broken; the game literally isn't designed for you to be "under" the surface for more than a second. There is no "Zora Armor" that lets you breathe underwater this time around. You're a Hylian, and Hylians have lungs.
The "Save Scum" Insurance Policy
If you're doing something risky—like building a complex underwater harvesting machine with Ultrahand—manual save first.
The auto-save in TOTK is generous, but it can be a double-edged sword. If the game auto-saves while you are glitched under the water, that save file is effectively corrupted. You’ll have to go back to a previous save, potentially losing thirty minutes of farming Lynel parts or finding Korok seeds.
Check your "Load" menu. The game keeps about five or six recent saves. If you're stuck, don't keep trying to wiggle out for ten minutes, or you might overwrite all your "good" auto-saves with "glitched" ones.
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Specific Steps for Recovery
If you are currently staring at Link’s drowning animation or stuck under a bridge:
- Pause immediately. Do not let the animation finish if you are low on hearts.
- Check the Map. Try to warp to the "Room of Awakening" or any Shrine.
- Check your Save Files. Look for the "Auto-save" that happened 2 minutes ago.
- The "Emergency" Air Refill. If you have stamina-restoring food (anything with "Endura" or "Energizing" in the name), eat it now. It won't get you out of the geometry, but it gives you time to think and try to find an Ascend point.
Looking Forward: Will Nintendo Fix This?
Nintendo has released several patches for Tears of the Kingdom, mostly targeting item duplication glitches (RIP Easy Diamonds). However, world-geometry glitches are much harder to squash. Because the game uses a dynamic physics engine, it's nearly impossible to find every single "seam" where Link could potentially clip.
Most veteran players have just accepted that being i am trapped under the water totk is part of the "Wild" experience. It’s the trade-off for having a world where you can glue a rocket to a shield and fly to the moon.
If you find a new spot where this happens, the best thing you can do is clip it and share it with the community on Reddit or Discord. It helps others avoid the same trap. Plus, some of those clips are genuinely fascinating from a technical "how did the game even do that?" perspective.
The most important takeaway? Stay calm. You are never truly stuck as long as the "Map" button works. If you're exploring the Depths and it happens, remember that Lightroots are your beacons.
Next time you’re diving into a murky pond in the Faron region, maybe keep your finger near the L-button. Just in case the world decides it wants to swallow you whole. Hyrule is a beautiful place, but the space between the pixels is a dark, wet void that doesn't care about your quest to find Princess Zelda.
What to do right now
If you're currently stuck, open your quest log. Sometimes, selecting a new quest and tracking it can force the UI to refresh, which might give you the split second of "standing" physics you need to jump or Ascend out of the water volume. If that fails, hard-load your second-most-recent auto-save. It’s the only way to ensure your position data is completely reset to a safe coordinate on the map.