- "This is the Ether Medallion! Its magic controls the upper atmosphere and polar wind! Watch your Magic Meter!"
- — In-game description
The Ether Medallion is an item from The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. It creates a blast of intense cold, freezing or even killing all enemies on screen, and briefly displays the invisible crystal paths in some dungeons. It is needed to stop the rain at the Swamp of Evil opening the Misery Mire, one of the dungeons in the Dark World. It cannot be used without the Master Sword, however, as Link will discover if he tries to use it while his Master Sword has been left at the Dwarven Swordsmiths' Smithery for tempering.
To obtain the Ether Medallion, Link must have both the Master Sword and the Book of Mudora. To the left of the Tower of Hera in the Light World, there is a stone statue. If Link deciphers the text on the stone slab with the Book of Mudora, the Ether Medallion descends from the heavens to aid the hero.
Other appearances[]
Subseries warning: This article or section contains information on a subseries within the Legend of Zelda series and should be considered part of its own separate canon.
Hyrule Warriors Legends[]
Though the Ether Medallion itself does not appear in Legends, its name is used for an additional effect to Water Elemental Attributed-Companion Fairies' Fairy Magic which it gains as it grows stronger. The Ether Fairy Magic effect raises the defense of allied troops within the Fairy Magic's attack range. It is one out of three of the five additional effects for Fairy Magic (the other two being Shine and Shade which represent Light and Darkness, respectively) to be named after one of the Medallions from A Link to the Past.
Subseries warning: Subseries information ends here.
Etymology[]
It is possible that its name was derived from aether (commonly referred to as "ether"), which in ancient and medieval science was a term used for the material that fills the region of the Universe above the terrestrial sphere. "Ether" is also a short name for diethyl ether, which evaporates easily and reduces the surrounding temperature, thus the freezing effects of the medallion.