Sinakawak Shrine in Tears of the Kingdom makes many doubt themselves 

The Sinakawak Shrine puzzle in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom has many players thinking “Something tells me this wasn’t the intended solution.” 

*Please note that this article contains spoilers for the Sinakawak Shrine. 

Thanks to Link’s new abilities, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom offers a lot more ways to solve shrine puzzles than the previous title, Breath of the Wild. The Sinakawak Shrine, which many players likely come across early on in the game, is no exception. 

The theme of this shrine is “An Uplifting Device.” Inside the shrine are balloons which the player is supposed to use to solve the puzzle. The player is supposed to make a hot air balloon using candles which can be found in the shrine as a heat source. The hot air balloon is constructed by attaching the candle to the balloon using Ultrahand. 

What has players scratching their heads is the final puzzle of this shrine. At the last section of the shrine, the player needs to open doors by fitting spheres into their correct positions. There are two spheres that open two doors, one large and one small. The door opened by the small sphere leads to the goal of the shrine, and the door opened by the large sphere leads to a treasure chest, so if you want to retrieve the treasure chest, you have to find and bring both of the spheres to their respective doors. 

This puzzle area consists of an upper area, where the doors are located, and a lower area where the two spheres are. The foothold of the upper area is at a considerable height from the lower area, so players have to think of a way to carry the spheres to the upper level.

Players struggling to transport the larger sphere in particular can be seen all over social media. Many players struggle to come up with a solution of any sort, while those who were able to solve the puzzle are baffled as to how they did it – though they achieved the main goal of raising the sphere using a hot air balloon, something about the method they used doesn’t seem to be what was intended. 

What makes this puzzle so difficult is the weight of the large sphere. The heavy sphere can’t be lifted into the air using only one balloon and one candle, so you need to get crafty if you want to get it to work. The easiest way to solve this problem may be to attach several balloons together. One can either prepare several balloon-and-candle sets or use a single candle to inflate several balloons. 

But, if you attach the objects in this way, it can end up looking very bulky. Also, if you use only one candle to lift multiple balloons, the movement is going to be so slow that you will question if it’s going to work out at all. It’s a puzzle you are likely to solve while halfway doubting if your solution is correct.  

Some players settled for the solution of simply stacking boards and balloons to raise the sphere high enough to reach the foothold above. This kind of brute-force strategy of solving puzzles by stacking a large amount of objects was also seen in other shrines (related article). 

On the other hand, there exists a comparatively simple solution to this shrine, and it calls for the use of the Zonai Device “Flame Emitter” which is located inside the shrine. The Flame Emitter is a Zonai Device that spits flames which are more powerful than the flames of a candle. Therefore, by using it, it is possible to lift even the large sphere using only one balloon. It also allows you to lift the large sphere at a higher speed. 

Why, then, do so many players attempt to solve the puzzle without using the Flame Emitter? One possible reason is that many simply don’t know of the Flame Emitter and how it is used. There are four Flame Emitters in the shrine, and they are arranged so that they surround the large sphere, so they might seem like they are just decorations in the shrine, leading many not to notice them and the fact that they can manipulate them with Ultrahand. 

Some users on social media said they didn’t know how the Flame Emitter is supposed to be used and feared that the balloon might catch fire and burn. However, unlike wooden planks and the like, the balloons don’t burn, so it can be said that boldly aiming the flame at the balloon without fearing it will burn is what leads you to this solution. 

As is the case with other shrines, the Sinakawak Shrine also has numerous possible solutions. Comparing your own solution with what others came up with may be one more way to enjoy the game. 

Written by. Amber V based on the original Japanese article (original article’s publication date: 2023-05-23 11:45)