Great Fairy

Great Fairies are large humanoid fairies that have appeared in various Zelda titles. Their main purpose is to heal Link whenever he is wounded and will also recover his magic power in certain other titles. In some titles, they also bless Link with new items, powers or upgrades of his existing equipment. The Great Fairies' appearances differ vastly between games.

The Legend of Zelda
While not reffered to as a Great Fairy and are in the appearance of a normal Fairy, there are a few areas in the Hyrule overworld where a pond housing a fairy can be found. These specific fairies have the same role as later Great Fairies, they will only appear if Link approaches their pond with injury and will instantly recover all of his hearts. As such, these fairies are probably what inspired the Great Fairies in later Zelda titles.

A Link to the Past
Several Great Fairies appear in A Link to the Past.

Great Fairy

The Great Fairy in the Waterfall of Wishing will power up your Shield and Boomerang. She will also fill empty bottles with Green Potion (or Magic Medicine).

Fat Fairy The Fat Fairy can be found within the Pyramid of Power in the Dark World. To gain access to her hidden fountain, Link must use the Super Bomb to blow a hole in the lower levels of the Pyramid. She will grant Link the Silver Arrows required to defeat Ganon, and will also power up the Tempered Sword into the Golden Sword. Incidentally, the Fat Fairy's appearance can be blamed on Ganon's magic.



Venus Venus, the Queen of Fairies, will upgrade Link's quiver or bomb bag once for every 100 rupees he drops in her fountain, up to a certain point. The max amount of arrows Link can carry is 70, while the max amount of bombs he can carry is 50.

Link's Awakening
In Link's Awakening, Great Fairies are in the form of large fairies with bug-like wings and have black hair tied in a ponytail. They are scattered throughout certain areas of Koholint Island, usually in a cave that houses a small pond and two fairy statues. If Link arrives wounded they will appear and recover all of his hearts. Not all Great Fairies in Link's Awakening live in a cave, for one of them lives in a small pond of the Mysterious Woods.

There is also the Fairy Queen who only made an appearance in Link's Awakening DX, and resides in the last room of the Color Dungeon, a dungeon exclusive to Link's Awakening DX. As thanks for visiting her, she rewards Link with the 'power of color', a choice between the red tunic, which increases the power of weapons, or the blue tunic, which increases Link's defense. Link can visit the Fairy Queen again to swap between the two tunics, but he can never get back his green tunic once he has swapped it for another tunic.

Ocarina of Time
In Ocarina of Time, the Great Fairies are depicted as giant women who wear ivy vines as clothes and leather boots, and have red hair that is tied into three pigtails. This also marks the first time that Great Fairies are seen without wings. Their locations are scattered throughout Hyrule, where they live in certain Fairy Fountains that has the Triforce symbol engraved on the floor in front of their fountain. By playing Zelda's Lullaby on this symbol, they will be summoned. Great Fairies, when first summoned, will bless Link with either a new item or an upgrade. The color of their fountain's walls will also vary from either blue or red to signify what kind of blessing they will give. The Great Fairies who give out Din's Fire, Nayru's Love and Farore's Wind will have red walls. The Great Fairies who simply upgrade Link's powers will have blue walls instead. The Great Fairies can also be summoned again at their fountains to recover Link's lost hearts.

Though during the development of Ocarina of Time, The Great Fairies were not the same ones we have today, they were more of a crystal, with long white wings, their crystal appearance is reminded of the ones from Windwaker and slightly of the one in Twilight Princess. Though wondering why the drastic change in appearance at the last stage of development, no one will really know the answer. However, the Beta Great Fairy, surprisingly, shares the same model file as our ingame Great Fairy. Originally uploaded first by Cooliscool, replacing trees, the Fairy model was intact, but later on was restored correctly by Zeth, replacing our Great Fairy, he is still waiting on releasing her til the mod has been completed.

All three of the Great Fairies who give out Din's Fire, Nayru's Love and Farore's Wind refer to themselves as The Great Fairy of Magic, and possibly may be the same Great Fairy. The Great Fairies however who bless Link with a magical sword spin attack, a larger magic meter, and a defense upgrade are referred to as The Great Fairy of Power, The Great Fairy of Wisdom and The Great Fairy of Courage, respectively.

The Great Fairies' locations in Ocarina of Time: Great Fairy of Power Great Fairy of Wisdom Great Fairy of Courage Great Fairy of Magic

Majora's Mask
The five Great Fairies in Majora's Mask have been torn apart into 15 Stray Fairies by the evil power of Majora's Mask. The only Great Fairy that needs to be recovered in order to progress in the game is the one in North Clock Town, which grants Link the ability to use magic. The other four Great Fairies, which are located in the four cardinal directions of Termina, reward Link with other upgrades, such as a Magic Meter or Spin Attack upgrade, or even sometimes a powerful sword.

Oracle of Ages and Oracle of Seasons
Many Great Fairies appear throughout these games to heal Link at their fountains, and two of them participate in password secrets.

In Oracle of Ages, the Stray Fairies of the Fairies' Woods at first jumble up the topography of the forest and force Link to play a supernatural game of hide-and-seek to be granted access to the Wing Dungeon. Later, Link encounters the Fairy Queen, guardian of the seas, who was cursed by Veran into an Octorok shape, so that she could poison the seas and kill the Zora without the Queen's interference. She asks Link to find the Fairy Powder hidden in the nearby Library to heal her, and once he does, she removes all of the pollution from the Zora Sea, allowing unhindered travel around it.

Four Swords
After Link defeats each boss, a Great Fairy will speak to him, and if his performance during the dungeon was well enough, she will give him one of the Great Keys.

The Wind Waker

 * See also: Fairy Queen

There are seven Great Fairies in The Wind Waker, five of which have their fountain under a giant shell. Another must be rescued from inside a Big Octo, and the last, the Goddess of Fortune, lives in the Forest of Fairies above Link's home and gives Link a larger Wallet. Other upgrades include Bomb Bag upgrades and Quiver upgrades.

Four Swords Adventures
The Fairy Queen first appears in the Hyrule Castle level, where Phantom Ganon has split her into two River Zora-like creatures. When the Links find one of these creatures, she asks them to find her other half, and when he does, they reunite and obliterate the barrier and soldiers guarding the entrance to the castle. She then thanks the Links, and promises to tell the other Great Fairies to help the Links whenever he needs them. From then on, when the Links discover a Great Fairy's Fountain, the Great Fairy will refill their hearts and upgrade their item, if they choose. This is an important part of many of the puzzles in the game.

The Minish Cap
Great Fairies are hidden throughout the land of The Minish Cap and upgrade your Quiver, Bomb Bag, and Wallet. They also heal you when you are hurt.

The three Great Fairies featured in this game are the Great Butterfly Fairy, the Great Dragonfly Fairy and the Great Mayfly Fairy. In each case they possess wings resembling those of the insect from which they take their names.

The first fairy, the Great Butterfly Fairy, is found in the northern section of the Minish Woods. She says she is in need of rupees and asks Link for all of his. If he agrees, she tells Link that she doesn't really need any rupees and rewards Link's generosity with a bigger wallet.

The second fairy, the Great Mayfly Fairy, is found on Mount Crenel. If Link throws a bomb into her fountain, she will ask him if he threw a gold or silver one. If Link gives an honest answer, she rewards him with a bigger bomb bag.

The final fairy, the Great Dragonfly Fairy, is found in the Royal Valley. She asks Link to tell her of his adventures, and asks a series of questions regarding several key details of his journey. If Link answers all of her questions correctly, she will reward him with a bigger quiver.

Twilight Princess
"Welcome, Hero, to the Cave of Ordeals. I am the Great Fairy. I reign over all fairies of this realm as their queen."

- Great Fairy

The Great Fairy only appears in Twilight Princess within the Cave of Ordeals, with a fountain every ten floors. Each time Link reaches a new fountain, the Great Fairy will send pink healing fairies to the Spirit Springs across Hyrule. The first time Link reaches the last fountain, the Great Fairy will send a Great Fairy to each of the springs. She will also fill a bottle with Great Fairy's Tears. When Link completely runs out of these tears, the Great Fairies at the Springs will refill one. If Link completes the cave again, the Great Fairy will give him a bottle of tears even if he already has one with him, provided of course that Link has an empty bottle. The Great Fairy also warps Link out of the Cave of Ordeals if he asks her to.

Phantom Hourglass
While not explicitly called a Great Fairy, the Secret Island in the Southwest Great Sea in Phantom Hourglass contains a "Shrine of the Sacred Fountain", where the "Goddess of the Servant Spirits" resides and helps to empower them.