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Heart Container

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Heart Container
Heart Container
A Heart Container
First appearance The Legend of Zelda(1987)
Appearances The Legend of Zelda
The Adventure of Link
A Link to the Past
Link's Awakening
Ocarina of Time
Majora's Mask
Oracle of Ages
Oracle of Seasons
Four Swords
The Wind Waker
Four Swords Adventures
The Minish Cap
Twilight Princess
Phantom Hourglass
Found Boss battles, collecting Pieces of Heart
Use Increase Link's life meter
"You got a Heart Container! Your maximum life energy is increased by one heart. You also get a full refill of life energy!"
— In-game description

Heart Containers are recurring items in the Legend of Zelda series. These heart-shaped containers are visual representations of Link's current health. The more Heart Containers the player collects, the more health Link can have and the more "hit points" he has. The number of Heart Containers Link has is the maximum amount of health he could have at that time, not the amount he actually does have. In The Legend of Zelda, the name for these items is Container Heart.

Heart Containers are traditionally displayed in the upper-left corner of the screen in The Legend of Zelda games. When Link's health is full, the Heart Containers are filled with a red color. As Link loses hit points, they lose their color or disappear. In some games, Link can lose quarter hearts or half hearts.

A Heart Container as seen in Twilight Princes

Link usually starts his adventure with three Heart Containers, and can eventually gather up to 20 Heart Containers or lower depending on the game. Whole Heart Containers are usually found when a boss is defeated. Certain containers that contain a quarter of a heart can be found scattered throughout the game worlds and are known as Pieces of Heart or Heart Pieces. When 4 of these are collected, Link receives an additional Heart Container. The exception to this is The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess where 5 must be collected.

In Ocarina of Time, they appear exactly in the spot where the boss died, or, more specifically, in the spot where the last body part of the boss was destroyed. (Ex. after the battle with Volvagia, the container appears where Volvagia's head was before exploding.)

Contents

[edit] Exceptions

  • In Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, Link has a health meter instead of a string of heart images, and heart containers extend this meter. Instead of losing whole, half, or quarter hearts, damage simply decreases a continuous bar. The health meter begins with four bars, and an additional four heart containers may be found in the course of the game, extending the bar to a maximum of eight units.

[edit] Other 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.

[edit] Super Smash Bros. series

Heart Containers appear in the Super Smash Bros. series as healing items. There are a few differences between how much they healed in each game.

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

[edit] Gallery

A Container Heart from The Legend of Zelda

A Heart Container from Four Swords

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