How to complete Messages from an Ancient Era side adventure in Zelda Tears of the Kingdom
Here are all 12 Ancient Tablet locations for Wortsworth.
Messages from an Ancient Era is a side adventure in Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom that sends Link across the sky above Hyrule looking for tablets that have ancient Hyrulean on them. These tablets can be translated by a researcher called Wortsworth and the tablets themselves tell an interesting story.
Like many other side adventures in Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, once you start this quest, you can complete it in one sitting or you can have it lingering in the background to complete as and when you want to.
Without further ado, we're here to show you how to complete the Messages from an Ancient Era side adventure in Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.
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If you'd like to learn more about Link's adventure, visit our Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom walkthrough.
How to start Messages from an Ancient Era in Zelda Tears of the Kingdom
To start the Messages from an Ancient Era side adventure in Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, you need to have completed at least one of the Regional Phenomena around Hyrule.
It doesn't really matter which one you choose to do, or you can choose to do all of them before doing this quest like we did. If you only want to do one, however, we recommend completing the Tulin of Rito Village quest as the reward at the end of this will make this quest easier.
Go to Lookout Landing
Once you've completed at least one of the Regional Phenomena quests, you need to head to Lookout Landing. When you get there, head to (-0263, 0069, 0018) to a group of people looking at a large stone structure in a pool of water.
When you get here, speak to Wortsworth and they'll reveal that their speciality is Ancient Hyrulean, the language that was used at the time Hyrule was founded and this is the language that's written on Ancient Tablets across the land.
They will then also reveal that they can translate the scripture on the stones but they need their notes which are back at their lab in Kakariko Village.
This is the 'Official' beginning of the quest, but there's something else you need to do to get the quest rolling.
Go to Kakariko Village
After talking to them, Wortsworth will leave to go to their lab in Kakariko Village and this is where you need to go to find them.
The village itself is north east of Sahasra Slope Skyview Tower, west of Mount Lanayru Skyview Tower, south east of Morok Shrine and south of Lanayru Wetlands. If you've found the Makasura Shrine, then you can simply fast travel there to get to the village quickly.
We've marked its exact location on the map below for you and the coordinates for Kakariko Village are (1807, -1038, 0112).
Once you're in the village, you need to head to Wortsworth's Lab at (1834, -0959, 0016) which is marked down as the 'Zonai Survey Team Base' when you look at your map.
In here, speak to Wortsworth again and you'll be tasked with finding the 12 remaining tablets across Hyrule.
Preparing to find all Messages from an Ancient Era Tablets in Zelda Tears of the Kingdom
After speaking to Wortsworth in Kakariko Village, you can start to find the rest of the Ancient Tablets across Hyrule. When you find a table with Ancient Hyrulean on it, you need to take a photograph of it for Wortsworth.
Each tablet can be found in the sky above Hyrule, which means you're going to spend a lot of time in the air hopping from island to island or rocketing yourself from Skyview Towers. Therefore, there's a few things we recommend having before trying to find the tablets:
- Camera - If you haven't unlocked it already, then you must complete the Camera Work in the Depths quest to unlock Link's camera. This is how you'll take photos of the Ancient Tablets for Wortsworth.
- Stamina Upgrade - You'll spend a fair amount of time using your Paraglider to get to places while hunting the tablets, so we highly recommend visiting Shrines to collect Lights of Blessing to spend on stamina wheel upgrades at Goddess Statues. We managed to find all 12 with two and a half wheels plus stamina elixirs/meals.
- Stamina Boosts - As we just mentioned, we highly recommend rustling up some meals and elixirs that can boost your stamina. The last thing that you'll need is Link face planting into the ground after running out of stamina. If you need some help with figuring out what to cook, check out our recipes list.
- Tulin - If you've not got them already, we strongly advise completing the Wind Temple to get Tulin as an ally. Their sage ability will help you get between sky islands faster and easier.
- Cold Resistance - Whether it's through meals or wearing cold-resistant armor, you'll need cold-resistance to survive on a few of the sky islands where some of the tablets are located.
- Zonai Devices - We recommend visiting a few Zonai Gacha Machines to collect a plethora of different Zonai Devices that can help you build machines and devices that can help you get to the tougher islands.
Once you think you're prepared enough, you can start hunting around Hyrule for the tablets.
All 12 Ancient Tablet locations in Zelda Tears of the Kingdom
As we said previously, all of the 12 Ancient Tablets for the Messages from an Ancient Era quest in Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom can be found on the Sky Islands. More specifically, they can be found on the islands in the sky that look like little stars or flowers (depending on how you think of them).
We recommend pinning each island listed below before you head to it, that way when you're gliding around you won't get lost.
Here's a list of all 12 Ancient Tablet locations and how to get to them:
West Hebra Sky Archipelago (-4044, 3204, 0444)
We found that the easiest way of getting to this island is to fast travel to Kahatanaum Shrine on the Rising Island Chain (somewhere you visit during your main quest with Tulin) and then gliding across from the edge of the platform next to the Shrine.
North Gerudo Sky Archipelago (-3614, -0936, 1597)
Launch Link from Gerudo Highlands Skyview Tower and then glide across to the island. Be careful, when you stand on the middle of this island to get the photo of the tablet the ground will fall out from under you. Don't worry though, simply dive down and follow the tablet to the ground and take the photo of it there.
South Hyrule Sky Archipelago (-1241, -1934, 0979)
Head to In-Isa Shrine on the Great Sky Island and from here, glide across to the island that has two ponds on it. On this island, you'll find some Zonai Wings and Fans at (-1013, -1718, 1018).
Use the equipment here to build a flying machine and fly across to the target island.
East Gerudo Sky Archipelago (-2446, -3239, -1001)
Launch from Gerudo Canyon Skyview Tower and glide across to the target island. Again, the floor will fall once you land on this island but simply dive down after it and take your photo once it lands.
East Hebra Sky Archipelago (-1377, 3566, 0907)
Launch Link from Pikida Stonegrove Skyview Tower and glide over to the island marked on the map below at (-1762, 3391, 0954).
Go to the middle of this island to find a launcher. Turn the wheel in the middle so that the launcher is facing the higher island to the left. Launch Link over here and land on the higher part of this island.
Once here, head to the eastern edge of the island at (-1648, 3541, 0987) and you'll find a floating platform with a Zonai Fan. Use Ultrahand to connect the fan to the rear of the platform so that it will propel it forward and activate the device to start floating towards the target island.
Keep riding the floating platform across to the target island until you can confidently glide over to it and land on it.
North Hyrule Sky Archipelago (-0042, 2997, 1509)
Launch Link from Thyphlo Ruins Skyview Tower and glide across to the target island. If you're lucky, you might even encounter the Dragon Dinraal while doing so.
When you land on the island, the Ancient Tablet will fall down into the Depths below you. Again, simply follow it down and take the photograph once it has landed.
South Eldin Sky Archipelago (2213, 0991, 1142)
Launch from Eldin Canyon Skyview Tower to the sky island directly above you and head to where the rail tracks begin at (1680, 1168, 1164).
Using one of the provided carts, ride the rails to the next island then use Ascend to get to the very top level of this island then ride the rails here to the third island.
When you get to the next island, make your way to the launcher in the middle of the island at (1948, 1212, 1255) and turn the launcher so that it's facing the target island.
Then, simply launch Link from it and glide over to the location of this Ancient Tablet.
Lanayru Sky Archipelago (2912, 0210, 0809)
This is a rather easy one, simply launch Link from Upland Zorana Skyview Tower and glide across to the target island. As with some others, the tablet will fall once you land on it but you just need to follow it down and take a photo of it once it's grounded.
Sokkala Sky Archipelago (3578, 1748, 1354)
There are probably a few ways you can get to this island, but we found it easiest to land on the edge of the Water Temple and build a flying machine using a Zonai Wing and Fans to get across to the target island.
Necluda Sky Archipelago/Lanayru Sky Archipelago (3923, -2465, 1209)
Launch from Mount Lanayru Skyview Tower and glide across to the target island. This one took a lot of stamina and stamina boosting elixirs to get to. Once you land on the island, the tablet will fall to the ground below again.
Necluda Sky Archipelago (2081, -2724, 1349)
Equip Link with the Zora Armor (if you don't have it then we recommend getting at least one piece of it) then launch from Rabella Wetlands Skyview Tower.
In the air, face the target island and glide to the lower island near it that has the waterfall coming off the edge at (2112, -2627, 1263).
When you're on the island, stand at the edge facing the target island and build a flying device that can lift you up to the island.
We made ours using:
- A Zonai Wing
- x2 Zonai Balloons
- x2 Flame Emitters
- x1 Large Zonai Charge
We attached a balloon on each wing of the Zonai Wing and place a Flame-Emitter facing upwards within each one so it acts like a Hot Air Balloon. Then, we swallowed the Large Zonai Charge, hopped onto our creation and rode it up until we were high enough to glide across to the island.
West Necluda Sky Archipelago (0474, -2246, 0409)
Head to the Great Sky Island and stand on the very top of the island above the Room of Awakening. Once up here, stand on the edge and face the direction of the target island.
When ready, jump off the Great Sky Island and glide over to the target. We found this a lot easier with Tulin equipped but we did need to consume a few Elixir's to get there.
How to complete Messages from an Ancient Era in Zelda Tears of the Kingdom
To complete the Messages from an Ancient Era side adventure in Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, you need to take all 12 photograph of the Ancient Tablets to Wortsworth in their lab in Kakariko Village.
You can do this each time you get a photograph of an Ancient Tablet if you want to collect them while completing other tasks around Hyrule, or you can do what we did and collect them all at once to give to Wortsworth in one go.
However you choose to do it, once you have the image/images, speak to Wortsworth and hand them over. Wortsworth can only translate one image at a time, so if you're doing them in bulk then it's a good time to grab a cup of tea and kick back as they do each image.
For each image that you give them, Wortsworth will give you 100 Rupees. Once you have given them all 12 Ancient Tablets, you will also be rewarded with the Zonai Survey Team Fabric.
After completing the Messages from an Ancient Era side adventure, all of the translations from the tablets will be displayed on the wall in Wortsworth's Lab in order and it makes for some pretty interesting insights into what's been happening in Hyrule.
That's it for this side adventure! If you need a break or change of pace, check out our Phantom Armor or Royal Guard Armor guides to get Link some new outfits. We can also show you how to get a Giant White Stallion or Golden Horse if you want to add a new friend to the Stables.