Heart Container


 * This article is about the item that increases Link's health. For the health meter, see Life Gauge.

Heart Containers, also known as a Bowl of Hearts in, are recurring items in. They increase Link's Life Gauge, which is represented by a set of Hearts, excluding The Adventure of Link, where his health is symbolized by a life bar. Collecting enough Pieces of Heart assembles a Heart Container and increases Link's maximum health.

Location and Uses
As Link progresses through the games, he will require more and more health in order to survive the greater challenges. This additional health is acquired in the form of Heart Containers, with each Heart Container adding one whole heart to the amount of hearts Link has. A Heart Container is awarded after every major boss in most games. Most games finish with Link having gained a total of 20 hearts. It is possible to finish some games without collecting any Heart Containers.

and break from the series standard since Heart Containers are not permanent upgrades. In these titles, stages contain Heart Container upgrades, but the Links begin the next stage without them. also breaks from the series standard as there are no obtainable Heart Containers. Instead, the Links can temporarily increase their total number of hearts by entering a Level while wearing the Jack of Hearts, Queen of Hearts, or Lady's Ensemble Outfits. Both the Jack of Hearts and Lady's Ensemble increase the Links' shared Hearts by one, whereas the Queen of Hearts Outfit increases their Hearts by three.

Heart Containers can apparently form when people display deep affection for each other, as seen in where Yeto and Yeta create Hearts and a Heart Container in their embrace. Twilight Princess also considers Pieces of Heart to be sources of love, as seen with Madame Fanadi when she asks Link for what type of prediction he wants to see.

In, Link receives a Heart Container after defeating each of the four bosses found in the Divine Beasts. Link can also earn Heart Containers by choosing them over a Stamina Vessel after trading in four Spirit Orbs to a Goddess Statue anywhere in Hyrule. Spirit Orbs are rewarded to Link at the end of every Shrine. Link can obtain up to 23 Heart Containers from Goddess Statues, allowing him to have a maximum of 30 hearts. If Link instead uses his Spirit Orbs to achieve three full Stamina Wheels from the Goddess Statue, he will only have enough Spirit Orbs left to obtain a total of 27 hearts.

By visiting the Horned Statue in Hateno Village, Link can exchange his Heart Containers for Stamina Vessels and vice versa. This is achieved by selling either a Heart Container or a Stamina Vessel to the Horned Statue in exchange for 100 Rupees. The Horned Statue then allows Link can then buy one of either item at a higher price of 120 Rupees. This allows Link to change how he spent his Spirit Orbs at the total cost of 20 Rupees for each conversion.

Philips CD-i Games
In and, Heart Containers are called Life Hearts. Link and Zelda both start out with three, and gradually earn more as they complete errands and defeat certain bosses. In The Faces of Evil, more Life Hearts can be obtained from the Fairies in Spearfish Falls, by defeating Goronu, and by rescuing the Blacksmith's Daughter in Shipwreck Cliff. In The Wand of Gamelon, Life Hearts can be obtained by the Fairies in the Fairy Pool, by defeating the Iron Knuckle in Tykogi Tower, and by defeating Hektan in Dodomai Palace.

In, Heart Containers appear as heart-shaped jewels called Crystal Hearts. Zelda initially starts out with three, and earns more as she defeats the Shrine Keepers of Tolemac. Four Crystal Hearts can also be found hidden throughout the land, and will increase Zelda's heart meter by one when she finds one.

Super Smash Bros. Series

 * See article on  for more information.

In every game within the, the Heart Container appears as a healing item. In, it reduces all damage to 0%. In every subsequent game, however, it reduces only 100% of damage. In Super Smash Bros. and, the player that grabbed the Heart Container cannot receive any damage from opponents while the item is restoring health. In, any damage that is taken will be subtracted from the 100%.

Heart Containers also appear as Trophies.