Bow of Light

This article is about the recurring item. For the similar item, see Light Arrow.

Bow of Light
The Bow of Light from Twilight Princess
First appearance	Twilight Princess (2006)
Appearances	Twilight Princess Spirit Tracks A Link Between Worlds Breath of the Wild Hyrule Warriors Hyrule Warriors Legends Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition
Found	(Spirit Tracks) Sand Temple (A Link Between Worlds) Lorule Castle (Breath of the Wild) Hyrule Castle
Use	Damaging enemies Activating Eye Switches
Effective against	Ganondorf Malladus Yuga-Ganon Dark Beast Ganon

The Bow of Light (光の弓矢, Hikari no Yumiya^?) is an recurring item in the Legend of Zelda series. It is a powerful bow obtained late in Link's adventures with the capability to shoot Light Arrows and is often wielded by Princess Zelda.

Appearances

Spoiler warning: Plot or ending details follow.

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

Zelda acquires the Bow of Light from the Light Spirits during the penultimate fight with Ganondorf. Unlike the Hero's Bow, the bow has a golden coloration and appears to produce an aura of light. It is unknown whether or not this "Gift from the Gods" was imbued with any magical properties, though it is possible that the bow is creating Light Arrows due to the fact that Zelda is not wearing a quiver.

Since the Bow of Light is never obtained by Link it cannot officially be identified in-game.

The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks

Link obtains the Bow of Light after defeating Skeldritch in the Sand Temple. It is necessary for defeating Malladus in the final battle. Its appearance is similar to the "wings" on the Lokomo Sword, as well as those on the statues in the boss chamber of each realm's temple. Once Link obtains the Bow of Light, he can never use his other bow again.

If an Arrow is held down for a short while, the arrow is charged with light, effectively becoming a Light Arrow; if not, the bow will fire a regular Arrow instead. Link and Princess Zelda both use this against Malladus; Link to free Zelda's body from Malladus, and Zelda to weaken and stun Malladus in his final form.

Light Arrows are an improvement on regular Arrows in several aspects. For one, they go through enemies instead of only delivering one hit. Second, they cause much more damage. Third, they can be used to help Princess Zelda possess Phantoms, similar to the effects of the Tears of Light and the Lokomo Sword. Finally, they can activate the Golden Eye Switches, which regular Arrows cannot.

The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds

Link obtains the Bow of Light from Princess Zelda in the final battle against Yuga. It is the only weapon that can damage Yuga while he is merged with a wall and in turn can only be used while Link is merged with a wall.

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

"Princess Zelda gave you this bow and arrow for the battle with Dark beast Ganon. When wielded by the hero, it fires arrows of pure light strong enough to oppose the Calamity."

— Hyrule Compendium

In Breath of the Wild, Link obtains the Bow of Light from Princess Zelda at the beginning of the battle against Dark Beast Ganon on Windvane Meadow, a meadow in Hyrule Field southwest of Hyrule Castle that is located between the Hyrule Garrison Ruins and Exchange Ruins.

As Link cannot leave the battle outside of using glitches, and as the Dark Beast Ganon fight is the last in the game, the Bow of Light may only normally be used at the end of the game. It has an attack power of 100 and maximum durability. It has the second highest attack range of any bow.

The Bow of Light can be seen as Princess Zelda's coresponding Champion weapon as it is acquired from her and official artwork by illustrator Takumi Wada depicting the Champions wielding their respective weapons even features Princess Zelda wielding the Bow of Light.

Twilight Bow

"A bow used by the princess who fought the beasts of twilight alongside the hero. It's said to contain the spirits of light's power. It fires arrows straight and true, as if beams of light."

— In-game description

Additionally, by using the amiibo Rune and the Princess Zelda amiibo of the Super Smash Bros. series, Link can obtain the Twilight Bow which is based on the Bow of Light as it appeared in Twilight Princess. Interestingly it uses different Light Arrows than the Breath of the Wild Bow of Light, which are based on the ones used by Zelda in Twilight Princess. In order for a Treasure Chest containing it to randomly spawn when the amiibo rune is used, Link must free one Divine Beast. It has no Hyrule Compendium entry like all amiibo exclusive armaments.

While its base attack power of 30 is inferior to the Bow of Light's 100 attack power it has the greatest attack range of any bow and has the same durability as the Bow of Light which is the highest of all bows. Thus it can be seen as a weaker but more easily acquired version of the Bow of Light with maximum attack range and durability.

Spoiler warning: Spoilers end here.

Non-canonical appearances

Non-canon warning: This article or section contains non-canonical information that is not considered to be an official part of the Legend of Zelda series and should not be considered part of the overall storyline.

Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS / Wii U

Zelda and Sheik both use the Twilight Princess version of the Bow of Light to shoot a Light Arrow for their Final Smash. The Light Arrow travels across the stage very quickly in a straight line and deals heavy damage to anyone it hits.

Non-canon warning: Non-canonical information ends here.

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

Princess Zelda's Rapier transformed into the Bow of Light from Hyrule Warriors

As part of her Rapier moveset, Princess Zelda can transform her sword into a Bow of Light allowing her to attack enemies with Light Arrows during her special attack and certain combos.

Subseries warning: Subseries information ends here.

Gallery

Official Artwork of Princess Zelda wielding the Bow of Light on the cover of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild - Creating a Champion

See also

• Bow
• Crossbow
• Fairy Bow
• Hero's Bow
• Iron Bow
• Nice Bow
• Sacred Bow
• Twilight Bow