Zelda BotW How to Get True and Alternate Endings

SPOILER WARNING: There’ll be some major spoilers here, so tread carefully if you want to go in blind. The new Legend of Zelda game, Breath of the Wild, has several different endings. Which ending you get depends on your actions, specifically which missions you complete. In this guide, we’ll tell you how to get alternate endings in Breath of the Wild.

Zelda Breath of the Wild How to Get Alternate Endings
Zelda Breath of the Wild How to Get Alternate Endings

There are two endings that you can get in Zelda Breath of the Wild. They all depend on how many and which missions you’ve completed. The missions in question are freeing all of the Divine Beasts from Ganon’s hold, which are main story missions, and getting all of Link’s memories, which is more of a side quest. We’ll list how these actions affect the ending that you’ll get below. One final spoiler warning – turn back if you don’t want the endings ruined for you.

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Alternate Ending in Zelda Breath of the Wild

This is likely the first ending that you’ll get. You can expect to get this one if you just breeze through the game. There’s not much to it – visit a few shrines to get your heart container count up, and don’t collect all Link’s memories. Just run through the story towards the last boss Ganon.

Zelda BotW True Ending

The True Ending is the hardest one to get, as it should be. For this one, you’ll have to free all Divine Beasts and get their help in the battle against Ganon, finish all main story missions, and get every memory as well. This will unlock the full ending – additional story after THE END cut scene.



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Author JoeTheBard profile picture
A language teacher and video game enthusiast turned rogue, Joe is on a quest to become the ultimate gaming journalist. This is somewhat hampered by his belief that the golden age of gaming ended with the PlayStation One, but he doesn't let that stop him. His favorite games include Soul Reaver and Undertale. Other interests are D'n'D, dad rock, complaining about movies, and being the self-appointed office funny man, which nobody else agrees with.

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60 COMMENTS

  1. M
    morgan

    do you have to complete the DLC main quest too?

  2. H
    Hunter Coleman

    no you dont

  3. N
    Nick

    Age of calmity is better than note because in age of calamity there are more charcters cause In breath of the wild I kinda get bored playing as link for the whole game

  4. M
    MEMAD

    I’ve done everything it said to do and it still wont give me the true ending

  5. R
    RevaliFan

    On my first playthrough, I got all memories (Including the 13th one) and divine beasts, master sword, and that other stuff (also the DLC) but I got the alternative ending. why?

  6. W
    Waldult

    For some reason I did all memories, divine beasts, story and master sword but I didn’t get the scene of Hyrule Castle. Why?

  7. E
    Elijah Miyake

    I think there should be a longer end

  8. L
    large lad

    i agree buster boy

    1. J
      JoeTheBard

      You responded to yourself? Really?

  9. B
    buster boy

    the true ending is just…
    mwa

  10. S
    Sam

    Does the second half of the true ending play after the credits?

  11. E
    Eric

    To tell you the truth, I liked both endings but the true ending was really beautiful.

  12. B
    Blubbermans

    I can’t find the “alternative” ending anywhere, everyone just show the true ending which I’ve already seen. Can somebody show me the other ending? Really strange I can’t find it anywhere but the true ending is everywhere

    1. L
      Linon

      The “alternative” ending is just the true ending but only the part before the credits. its probably called this because people are expected to collect the divine beasts and memories before attempting the final boss

  13. D
    Duncan

    I did all 120 shrines, all memories and all divine beasts and got a basic ending……?

    1. 1
      12312

      That might be becasue you only have 12 memories. Visit impa for the 13th.

  14. A
    Alexx

    Okay, so I’ve gotten the scene at the end where they’re going to check on the Divine beast, but I never get the scene where the king and champions are looking over them, why is that?

    1. D
      Daniel

      That scene is in the end credits so if you skip that you just get the last scene

    2. G
      Giulio

      You need to free all 4 beasts to se all the champions

    3. A
      Allena

      if you skip the credits thats what happens

  15. W
    Wyatt

    I like how no one here has mentioned they got all the Korak seeds lmao

    1. L
      Lordblacky

      Nobody’s doing 900 korok seeds?

  16. 1
    1101

    Is it possible to neat the game with no divine beasts defeated

    1. B
      Bailey

      You can defeat Ganon without the divine beasts, although there is a boss rush and calamity Ganon has full health

  17. C
    CellarisAvis

    I think I initially got the true ending without even realizing i did anything special because i always have this need to collect EVERYTHING, and when i beat it, I didn’t even realize what I was seeing was extra xD I do really like it though. Also, where did Zelda find her previous clothes again? Wasn’t she wearing the same dress for the past 100 years waiting for Link?

  18. J
    JD

    Pretty lousy ending..

  19. R
    Rafa

    I only did 3 of the Divine beasts and still got this ending

  20. B
    ben

    its not working for me, do you need the nintendo switch?

    1. C
      CellarisAvis

      I play on Wii U and got most shrines, all divine beasts, must have done all the main quests including all memories because i ended up with the true ending as well.

    2. K
      Karbunkel

      Don’t think so.. I managed to get the full ending on my SNES. After beating all the 4 bosses with 8 stars and without any continue. And I played with Dhalsim!

      1. D
        DiamondMiner74

        Pfft I beat it using only an old box tv and a guitar hero controller and got a 3rd alternate ending

  21. C
    Christian

    I have all the memories and beat Ganon but only got the regular ending. Anybody know why? A little annoying that I don’t get to witness the true ending in my own playthrough.

    1. P
      PsychoNoodle

      Christian did you get all the divine beasts with you? You need all four as well.

      1. P
        PsychoNoodle

        Along with having done every single main quest.

        1. L
          LuckyCat

          I think that you need to complete story missions as well. That means that you need to tell Impa once you’ve conquered the divine beasts, and again once you’ve retrieved all memories. Not yet confirmed.

        2. A
          Adam

          My son finished the game and got the ‘true ending’ contained in the video you posted. When that happened, the autosave icon came on, but when we go back into the game the most recent autosave file is much older. Any idea why this is?

          1. T
            Terry

            the autosave icon is to save the progress at the point where the game is completed, but when you load the game it will always take you back to the point just before the Ganon fight so you can either fight him again or explore the world more.

    2. M
      Michael Barberry

      This happened to me too. I completed all main quests, including freeing all of the divine beasts and securing the master sword; and also caputured the mem.

    3. D
      Danny Hernandez

      Free all the divine beasts

    4. T
      TF123

      Could be becasue you only have 12 of the memories, you need to get all 13. Visit Impa and then she will tell you.

    5. S
      Stars

      You can’t skip credits

  22. C
    Charles xavier

    Man I did the full package of main stuff
    I beat Gannon with maxed out armor of the wild using the master sword with the hylian shield in my first playthrough and my next will probably be using the new hard mode when they add it with maxed out tunic of twilight

    1. E
      elerick

      I did that too I fought ganon with maxed out soldier armor and the master upgraded once thanks to to the trials of the sword and I had the hyian shield

  23. K
    Kykenindinho

    I just do all the memories from the pictures then I got the true ending scene, battling all ganon blights and calamity at hyrule castle without the master sword, full shrines or any divine beast !!!

  24. A
    Andrew Hoyt

    Lame there is only two endings. I got the true ending on my first play through.

    1. M
      Mohammed

      I got all the memories and everything else but didn’t get all the shrines do I have to do that to get the true ending

      1. M
        Madeline Ortiz

        All you need are the memories and divine beasts, not the shrines. I only have 57 shrines completed, and I got the ending on only my second Ganon boss fight.

        1. J
          Jaxson

          I only have 108 shrines and I got the true ending complete all the memories including the 13 one the ash swamp one free the divine beasts from ganon’s control and/or the true ending will play and im pretty sure the credits won’t I got that on my first playthrough I don’t remember because I haven’t played since april 2017.

      2. M
        Mike 616

        No I let 7 unfinished and I got the true ending

      3. K
        Koen

        If you have champions ballad downloaded haven’t done it that could the reason.

    2. S
      Samantha

      how did u get the true ending?

      1. D
        Danny Hernandez

        Didn’t you read?

          1. J
            Jack

            I got the true ending first playthrough, on my 3rd rn and im not sure if i want to do all memories again lol

    3. P
      Pinhead

      I finished all of the main story and it just went straight to the credits

      1. N
        Nando

        Its after the end of the credits that the mentioned ending starts

      2. J
        Jaxson

        Im pretty sure at the end of the credits the true ending starts im pretty sure

      3. V
        Volas

        I thort i had missed somtheing (reading the explanaition as the credits rolled on my game) what inant mentiomed here is that the extra bits play after the credits