You’re standing on a pedestal in the rain. It’s annoying. You’ve got a trident, a massive waterfall behind you, and a riddle that sounds like it was written by someone who had one too many Hylian shrooms. The ceremonial song breath of the wild quest—formally known as "The Ceremonial Song" shrine quest—is one of those moments where the game stops being a playground and starts being a logic puzzle that might actually make you yell at your Nintendo Switch.
It happens in Zora’s Domain. It’s beautiful there, sure, but the verticality is a nightmare if you don't know where you're going. Most players stumble into this because they’re trying to find every shrine, and Laruta, a tiny Zora girl, starts singing a song about scales falling from the heavens. It sounds poetic. In reality, it’s a set of physics instructions.
What the Ceremonial Song Breath of the Wild Actually Asks You to Do
The riddle is simple on the surface but mechanical in practice. "A scale from the sky duly placed, lights a lamp at the Sunshrine's waist." Basically, you need to hit a specific floor switch with a specific weapon from a specific height. If you miss, you’re climbing back up that bridge for the fifth time.
First, you need the tool. You can’t just use any spear. You need the Ceremonial Trident. It’s a knock-off version of Mipha’s Lightscale Trident, but for the purposes of this quest, it’s the only thing the pedestal recognizes. You find it in the water under the west bridge of Zora's Domain. Use Magnesis. It’ll glow pinkish-purple in the muck. If you’ve already broken it or lost it, don't panic. Treen can remake it for you, provided you have a Zora Spear and five pieces of flint.
The "Sunshrine" the song mentions is Veiled Falls. It's just west of the city. There’s a pedestal submerged in the water at the base of the waterfall. You’ve probably seen it and tried to stand on it, wondering why nothing happened.
The Physics of the Plunge
Here is where people get stuck. You don't just poke the pedestal. You have to strike it.
You need to get high. Not "climb a small rock" high, but "gliding from the top of the waterfall" high. Use the Zora Armor to swim up Veiled Falls. Once you launch out of the top, deploy your paraglider. Aim yourself directly over that glowing orange circle in the water.
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When you are directly above it—and I mean vertically aligned—press the attack button. Link will transition into a plunging attack. If you’ve timed it right, the Ceremonial Trident hits the center of the pedestal, and the Dagah Keek Shrine emerges from the ground like a mechanical god.
Why This Quest Trolls Players
Honestly, the biggest hurdle isn't the jump. It’s the inventory management. If your weapon slots are full, you can’t pick up the trident. If you’re playing on Master Mode, the enemies near the bridge might knock you into the water before you can even use Magnesis.
There's also the confusion between the Ceremonial Trident and the Lightscale Trident. You can use the Lightscale Trident to finish this quest. It works. But most people prefer to keep Mipha’s actual weapon on a wall in their house in Hateno Village because it’s a sentimental relic. Using the "fake" one found in the lake is the standard way to do it.
The game doesn't tell you that you need to be at a certain height. If you just hop from a tiny ledge, the impact isn't "strong" enough to trigger the sensor. You need that momentum. It's a classic Breath of the Wild move—using gravity as a key.
Finding the Trident if it's Missing
If you go to the west bridge and Magnesis shows nothing, you might have already picked it up and dropped it somewhere else in Hyrule. Items in this game don't just stay where you drop them; they despawn.
- Head back to Zora's Domain.
- Find the blacksmith's apprentice, Dento.
- He’s usually in the back of the general store area.
- He’ll give you the "this isn't the real one" speech and make you a new one.
It’s a bit of a fetch quest within a fetch quest. But that's the Zora region for you. Everything involves a lot of swimming and talking to people who remember things from 100 years ago.
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The Lore Behind the Song
The ceremonial song breath of the wild uses is more than just a puzzle. It’s world-building. The Zora are obsessed with their history. The song is a "celebration of the Champion," specifically Mipha. Every year, they hold a festival, but because the Divine Beast Vah Ruta was causing a constant downpour, they couldn't actually do the ceremony properly until Link showed up.
Laruta, the kid who gives you the quest, is basically the keeper of the oral tradition. It shows that even a century later, the culture of the Zora is stuck in the past, mourning a hero they lost. When you complete the quest, you aren't just getting a Spirit Orb; you're completing a ritual that has been broken for a hundred years. It’s a nice touch of narrative weight for a game that often feels lonely.
Technical Nuances of the Dagah Keek Shrine
Once you actually get the shrine to pop up, you might expect a grueling trial. Nope. It’s a "Rauru’s Blessing" shrine. The puzzle was the song. You walk in, grab the chest—usually containing a Silver Rupee (100 bucks, not bad)—and take your Spirit Orb.
The real reward is the fast travel point. Veiled Falls is a strategic location if you’re hunting for certain fish or need to get up to Ploymus Mountain quickly to farm shock arrows from that Lynel.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
Don't use Cryonis to build a pillar next to the pedestal and jump from there. It rarely works because the angle is too shallow. You need the vertical drop.
Don't try to use a bow. Some people think "scale from the sky" means an arrow or a dragon scale. It doesn't. This is strictly a melee business.
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Check the weather. If it’s lightning—which it often is in Lanayru—and you’re holding a metal trident while gliding through the air, you are going to get fried. Switch to a wooden bow or unequip your metal gear until the very last second before you dive.
Step-by-Step Action Plan
If you are looking at that empty pedestal right now, do this:
- Locate the Trident: Go to the bridge leading west out of Zora's Domain. Use Magnesis in the water below. Pull up the Ceremonial Trident.
- Wear the Zora Armor: You need it to swim up the waterfall at Veiled Falls.
- The Climb: Swim up the falls. You’ll launch into the air.
- The Glide: Immediately pull out the paraglider. Look down.
- The Strike: Once Link’s shadow is over the pedestal, press Y (or your attack button).
- The Result: Watch the cutscene. Enter the shrine.
This quest is a perfect example of why Breath of the Wild changed open-world games. It didn't give you a waypoint on the floor. It gave you a poem and some physics. Solving it feels like earned progress, even if it's just for one more orb on your way to getting the Master Sword.
If the trident breaks during the fight or the jump (which shouldn't happen if it's new), just remember that Zora weapons are essentially "disposable" versions of the real Champion gear. Grab another Zora Spear from the pools around the domain and talk to Dento. Keep moving. Hyrule isn't going to save itself, and that song has been playing in Laruta's head for far too long.
Go get the shrine. It's one of the 120 steps to true completion, and honestly, it’s one of the more satisfying ones because of how the music swells when the stone rises from the water.