Votikawa Shrine

Region: Depths
Type: Puzzle
Difficulty: ★★☆☆☆ (2/5)
Reward: Light of Blessing

Overview

Votikawa Shrine is a puzzle shrine in the Depths region. This shrine challenges your creative use of Link's abilities — observe the room carefully before touching anything. The solution is rarely the most obvious approach. Look for environmental cues, moveable objects, and the interplay between mechanics.

Sound Navigation. The entire shrine is in complete darkness — no Brightbloom Seeds or fire sources illuminate it. Link navigates by sound only.

Region Notes

The Depths mirror the surface world below ground, filled with Gloom that permanently reduces maximum hearts until healed by Sundelions or Bright Elixirs. Lightroots illuminate sections of the map. The Depths contain Pristine weapons — uncorrupted versions of surface weapons at peak power.

Walkthrough

Step 1:

Enter the shrine and wait 10 seconds for your eyes to adjust. You will see nothing — this is intentional.

Step 2:

Listen for the altar's low harmonic hum; it emanates from the northeast corner. Walk toward the sound while tapping the wall with weapon attacks to detect obstacles by audio feedback (hollow walls produce a ring, solid walls a thud).

Step 3:

Three pressure plates are in the path. You cannot see them but stepping on each produces a distinct chime (C, E, and G notes). The order matters — step C then E then G to activate the gate sequence in correct order. Stepping out of order resets all three. The correct path along the north wall hits all three plates in the right sequence.

Step 4:

The gate opens with a warm amber light that fills the altar room — the only light in the shrine. Walk to the altar and claim Light of Blessing. The experience is intentionally designed as a meditation on Depths navigation. Chest to the left of the altar (now visible): Muddlefoot Mushroom x5. Ability needed: None. Pro tip: Play without game audio for a truly disorienting experience — or listen carefully with headphones for the subtle directional hum.

Strategy Notes

Puzzle shrines in Depths reward lateral thinking over raw ability. If your first approach fails, step back and reconsider what each object in the room can do. Abilities interact with the environment in non-obvious ways — Ascend through any solid ceiling, Recall can reverse any recently-moved object, and Ultrahand can rotate objects into configurations the designers intended but did not explicitly label.

Look for thin-floor sections (identifiable by slightly lighter stone color) as Ascend opportunities. These are often the key to bypassing seemingly impassable barriers.

Reward

Light of Blessing

Claim your Light of Blessing at the altar. Accumulate four Lights of Blessing and exchange them at any Goddess Statue for:

• Heart Container — increases maximum health by one heart
• Stamina Vessel — increases stamina wheel, enabling longer climbs, swims, and glides

Choose based on your current playstyle — hearts for survivability in combat, stamina for exploration and traversal efficiency across Hyrule's vast terrain.

Chest Summary

| # | Contents | Location | |---|----------|----------| | 1 | Muddlefoot Mushroom x5 | Left of the altar — visible once the amber light fills the altar room. |

Nearby Points of Interest

• Great Abandoned Central Mine — nearby Depths hub with Autobuild access
• Lightroot — nearest lightroot illuminates surrounding Depths area
• Central Hyrule Chasm — return route to the surface
• Abandoned Lurelin Mine — south, Depths mining area

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Part of the Depths Shrine Guide — Tears of the Kingdom shrine walkthroughs on Hyrule Archive.