Arrow

Description

Overall

Next to the famous Bombs, Arrows are one of the most common secondary items used by Link. They appear in almost every Zelda game except for the Oracle series and AoL. Arrows are mainly used to attack distant or flying enemies, they are also handy for activating distant eye-switches attached to walls. Arrows can usually be bought in some shops, found by defeating enemies, breaking pots and cutting grass patches. Often you will find that the arrows come in packs, these Bundle of Arrows are in most commonly in sets of 5, 10 or 15 Arrows.

Legend of Zelda

Although you can find the Bow in the first dungeon, you could not use it until you bought arrows in some of the underground shops. After buying the arrows once, you can shoot an arrow at any time for the price of one Rupee. So basically you rupees are the amount of arrows you have in stock. Arrows were mainly used on certain enemies; Pols Voice for instance are very strong against the sword attack, but an arrow can take one out in one go. Others enemies like Gohma are only affected by an arrow, making this item very useful.

Also the arrows could be upgraded into Silver Arrows in the Level 9 Labyrinth. These sacred arrows are the only weapon that could cause damage on Ganon in this game.

A Link to the Past (SNES & GBA)

After the absence of Arrows in AoL, you can find them in this game with the Bow in the first real dungeon; Eastern Palace. Link could use them to take out enemies or crystal switches from a distance and also on rare occasions to trigger craftily hidden eye switches.

After obtaining the Bow Link can find arrows as regular items that are hidden in pots or bushes. Initially he carries up to 30 arrows. Visit the "Pond of Happiness" and toss money in the well for a total value of 100 rupees. After doing so a Great Fairy comes to visit you and you can choose to carry more Arrows. The upgrade is 5 arrows per 100 rupees, this can be done until you have a total of 70 Arrows.

The regular arrows deal a bit more damage than your first sword. Near the end of the game the arrows could be upgraded to Silver arrows by visiting the Great Fairy located in the Pyramid of Power. These Silver arrows substitute your regular ones, meaning that every arrow you find afterwards is considered to be a Silver arrow. The Silver arrows were just like in LoZ the key item to beating the evil Ganon.

A small additional feature in the GBA version of ALttP is that the ciphers showing how many arrows you have turn yellow when your stock is completely filled.

Link's Awakening (DX)

As soon as you start the game you could see the Bow and Arrow Set in the shop to the east of Mabe Village after buying the Shovel. At an insane price of 980 Rupees it would take a lot of time to get the right amount of rupees for the set. After buying the Bow & Arrow Set it will be replaced with 10 arrows for 10 rupees. The Quiver would hold up to 30 arrows in the beginning, but later on in the game you could double this amount.

The upgrade can be found under a rock in the Western Tal Tal Mountains. Lift it and a stairway will appear. Inside is a secret cavern were you have to sprinkle magic on a statue to make a bat appear also called "Mad Batter", this strange creature will "curse" you by letting you carry twice as much arrows. Up to 60 in total.

There is however a little devious trick allowed you to get the bow without paying for it. If you pick up the Bow & Arrow Set in the shop walk around the shopkeeper as fast as you can, then when he loses track of you immediately exit the shop. This gives you the item for free, but two things will change. Your name in the registry will become "Thief", and when you enter the shop again the shopkeeper will be so mad at you that he resets the game. Also in the DX version you get a special picture for your Photo Album.

Then again why bother getting them so early; you could go through almost the entire game without arrows. Up to the part in the Turtle Rock Dungeon were you need arrows to shoot an eye for a Small Key.

Other than that arrows can be used to hit distant crystal switches and you can hit enemies with them. Also using an arrow in combination with a bomb creates a "Bomb-Arrow" combo or Missile which is a whole lot more powerful than a regular arrow.

Ocarina of Time

The arrows are for sale in the present and future times, but only the Adult Link is able to use them after finding the Fairy Bow in the Forest Temple. Link could also use the bow while riding on the back of his horse Epona leading to new challenges in the Horseback Archery and hunting down Big Poes in Hyrule Field.

Once again the arrows are useful for triggering switches and defeating enemies, however there are also three special upgrades that would give your arrows some special powers. These are the Fire Arrow, Ice Arrow and Light Arrow. Ice arrows could be skipped in this game however, since they hold no specific power required to finish the game.

You start with a Quiver of 30 Arrows, that could be upgraded twice by 10 arrows giving you a maximum of 50 Arrows.

Hit all 10 targets in the Shooting Gallery Game in Kakariko Village as an Adult. After getting the bow from the Forest Temple.
Beat the Horseback Archery two times with a score over 1500.

First upgrade gives you a Big Quiver for 40 arrows, the second upgrade gives you the Biggest Quiver holding up to 50 Arrows.

As you can see at the price table below they are a little cheaper when bought as a set of 50, on the other hand you can find these almost everywhere in the game meaning that you don't really ever need to buy them. Usually by beating enemies or destroying pots and so on. The bundles come in three sizes 5, 10 and 15 arrows. They are marked with 1, 2 or 3 Arrows respectively.

Majora's Mask

Opposed to OoT, Young Link is now able to use arrows as well, with the aid Hero's Bow found in the Swamp Dungeon that is. Again Bow and Quiver come together as one treasure, in this game the qualities of the arrows are exactly the same. With the only difference that Fire, Ice and Light arrows were much more important in each of the following dungeons that Link comes across.

Just as in OoT the Quiver can be upgraded twice from 30 to 40, and again to 50:

Beat the Southern Swamp Shooting Gallery Game with a Perfect score.
Beat the Clock Town Shooting Gallery Game with a new High Score.

First upgrade gives you a Big Quiver for 40 arrows, the second upgrade gives you the Biggest Quiver for 50 Arrows.

In chests Arrows were always found in bundles of 10/30/40/50 arrows. You could buy them at several location in the game, with Clock Town Trading Post being the cheapest place to buy. Due to 3 day cycle of Termina, you sometimes had to buy a set of arrows at the beginning of a new cycle if you wanted to get going right away. Just as in OoT packages of 5, 10 and 15 arrows can be found in the field for beating enemies or cutting bushes.

Four Swords

Since the Four Swords Dungeons are randomly made up, it is not possible to say where you will find the Bow and Arrow Set. Just like the other items they can be found on Item Pedestals. A new feature of these arrows is that when you hold down "A" you can charge up a shot for more damage. Other than defeating enemies it is in some cases required that you and your companions shoot 2 to 4 eye switches simultaneously with arrows to open a door. On a side note: in this game the supply of Arrows is endless.

The Wind Waker

Once again the Arrows make their appearance in the Legend of Zelda. This time Link can obtain them from the Tower of the Gods by defeating an enemy you encounter for the very first time in this game: The Darknut. You start out with a basic quiver that holds 30 arrows, this can be upgraded twice to 60 and then 99 arrows.

Visit Western Fairy Island's Great Fairy.
Visit Thorned Fairy Island's Great Fairy.

First upgrade gives you a Big Quiver for 60 arrows, the second upgrade gives you the Biggest Quiver for 99 Arrows.

Once you reach that point you never need to worry about getting short on ammunition anymore, so basically collecting arrows is not so important in this game. As in OoT Link can get three different types of Magic Arrows, when you meet the Fairy Queen inside the mountain that is Mother Island. You get the Fire and Ice arrows as a gift from her. The Light arrows are located deep in the bowels of Ganondorf's Tower.

The Minish Cap

In this game the arrow are available after you retrieve the bow from Castor Wilds. It comes with a Quiver that can hold 30 arrows in total. This time round there are three capacity upgrades:

Buy it from Stockwell's shop for a mere 600 Rupees.
Talk to the Great Dragonfly Fairy and answer all her questions correctly in order to receive an upgrade.
In the Wind Ruins perform a Kinstone Fusion with the Minish around here. The rest of the directions are obviously given, hence you can easily find the last upgrade.

The first upgrades lets you hold up to 50 Arrows, the second Quiver goes up to 70 Arrows and the last upgrade gives you a stock of 99 Arrows.

Also in this game you can upgrade your Arrows to Light Arrows, similar to the Silver Arrows in LoZ and ALttP. These Arrows are twice as strong and can even destroy pots! In order to get these you need to visit the sick Gregal and cure him of his disease. Initially he will only give you 100 Secret Seashells, but later he'll give you the Light Arrows as a reward.

Miscellaneous Notes

Link uses Bow and Arrow in almost every game he is in, even the games that are outside the Legend of Zelda. A few examples are Super Smash Brothers: Melee and Soul Caliber II (GCN version). In these games the bow and arrow is used as an offensive weapon allowing Link to quickly hit an enemy from a distance. In SSB:M Young Link doesn't use regular Arrows, but the more powerful Fire Arrows.

Link's arrows appear to be made of wood, since they can catch fire, when shot through a flame. These days arrows are often made of Carbon, and have about four or more layers for an optimal weight and accuracy. The four vanes are very small and accurately shaped, since the slightest twitch will send the arrow in the wrong direction. (Something Link doesn't need to worry about)

Archery is an Olympic sport even though it is not practiced by many people. The origin of the Arrow is unknown to me, but I know that they exist for quite a long time.

Price Table

Game	Arrow Set	Price
Legend of Zelda	80 Rupees (1 time only)	-
A Link to the Past	-	-
Link's Awakening	10 Arrows	10 Rupees
Ocarina of Time	10 Arrows	20 Rupees
	30 Arrows	60 Rupees
	50 Arrows	90 Rupees
	30 Arrows	70 Rupees (Deku Scrub)
Majora's Mask	30 Arrows	30 Rupees
	50 Arrows	50 Rupees
	10 Arrows	40 Rupees (Goron Shop before beating Goth)
	10 Arrows	20 Rupees (Zora Shop / Goron Shop (After beating Goth))
The Wind Waker	10 Arrows	10 Rupees
	30 Arrows	30 Rupees
The Minish Cap	? Arrows	? Rupees

Translations

Country	Name
Japanese	?
English	Arrow
French	Flèche
German	Pfeile
Spanish	Frecca
Italian	Flecha

Notes

Naturally all translations are correct.

Acknowledgements

Credit to Michael Gonzalez for the location of the Arrow Upgrade in LA (DX).