‘Messages from an Ancient Era’ quest steps, all stone tablet locations in Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

The “Messages from an Ancient Era” quest will take you to the skies in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. Stone tablets are falling down from the sky, scribed in ancient Hyrulean. It seems Duolingo isn’t a thing in Hyrule just yet, but a historian can provide translations for them instead.

If you’re wondering where to find all 12 stone tablet locations in Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, this guide covers the full list and everything you should know along the way to complete the “Messages from an Ancient Era” side adventure.

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How to read ancient Hyrulean and start the ‘Messages from an Ancient Era’ quest

As you explore Hyrule, you might come across stone tablets featuring ancient Hyrulean text you cannot read. In order to do this, you need to start a specific side adventure named “Messages from an Ancient Era.”

To begin, first of all, you need to complete at least one of the four temples as you progress through the “Regional Phenomena” main story quest — either the Wind Temple, Fire Temple, Water Temple, or Lightning Temple. It doesn’t matter which one.

Once you’re done, return to Lookout Landing. Around the courtyard, to the side of the main entrance, you’ll see a group of people gathered in front of a statue that seems to have fallen from the sky.

Get close and chat with Wortsworth, who will tell you about the stone tablets. In short, they’re written in ancient Hyrulean — while Link can’t read them, Wortsworth is here to help.

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The task is for you to locate all stone tablets, and take a picture using the in-game camera. You can then take the photos to Wortsworth over at Kakariko Village at the coordinates (1835, -0957, 0116) for translation.

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The exact spot didn’t appear until I spoke to one of the people examining the stone tablet until after Wortsworth had left, in case it helps. Regardless, heading over to his location will likely do the trick either way.

After your chat, the steps are fairly simple. For each photo you bring, Wortsworth will give you the lore rundown. If you want to run through down, you can, as they’ll be displayed in the room next door for you to revisit at any time once the quest is done.

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‘Messages from an Ancient Era’ stone tablet locations

There’s a total of 12 stone tablets related to the “Messages from an Ancient Era” side adventure. You don’t need to take a picture of the one in Lookout Landing, as that’s accounted for by default. Wortsworth will help you to translate the ancient Hyrulean scriblings on the other 12.

In essence, stone tablets are located on the Sky portion of the map. Specifically, they are found on star-shaped islands, which are visible on the map.

At a glance, here are the 12 stone tablet locations in Tears of the Kingdom:

Graphic: Jeffrey Parkin | Source images: Nintendo EPD/Nintendo via Polygon

Before we begin, I highly recommend you first tackle the “Tulin of Rito Village” main quest, as well as search for the Glide Armor set. The ability for completing the Wind Temple, as well as the specific set will help quite a bit for some of the trickiest islands.

Let’s take a look at the specific locations for each of the stone tablets in Tears of the Kingdom below:

Stone Tablet #1

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This stone tablet is at the coordinates (-4034, 3196, 0447), located on the north-western corner of the map, west of the Hebra Mountains in the Hebra region. I highly recommend using the Rospro Pass Skyview Tower here.

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Lift Link up to the air, and head toward the islands above the West Hebra Sky Archipelago (while looking at the map). We’ll be using these islands to gain some altitude.

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As you’re using your paraglider, I recommend falling down on the square-shaped island, which is right before the main island.

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There, you’ll find a Zonai cube-shaped structure with an air balloon on top at the coordinates (-3812, 2600, 0641). There’s already a flame emitter underneath it, so all you need to do is hit it with a weapon and lift yourself up.

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Once you’ve moved to the main island, here’s the gist. Use the lever at the center of the island to align the pushing platform with the star-shaped island.

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If you open the map, you’re basically aiming it to point north west, but you don’t need to be extremely precise. As long as it gives you a push toward the island, you’re set.

Then, open your paraglider as soon as you can, and slowly descend to the star-shaped island. Take the pic and you’ll be set.

Stone Tablet #2

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This stone tablet is at the coordinates (-1369, 3575, 0904), located northwest on the Hyrule map, north of the Tabantha Tundra, and east on the Hebra region.

In order to get to its correspondent sky island, the Pikida Stonegrove Skyview Tower is a perfect shortcut.

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Lift yourself up and head toward the East Hebra Sky Archipelago. The idea here is to get to the second to last island, where the Taninoud Shrine and the Zonai dispenser are.

Keep an eye out for the Aerocludas nearby — you can just move to a side to dodge them.

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If you have enough stamina, or the items to recover stamina, you can just glide your way there. If not, there are different platforms to use to move around. Ultimately, building a Zonai device will help as well.

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Once on that island, you’ll see there’s a platform that’s constantly retracting and pushing. Without moving the island itself — since there’s a lever to do just that in its center — just hop on the platform and wait for the push.

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Then, activate your paraglider as soon as you’re able to, and slowly descend on the start-shaped island. This one doesn’t seem to fall down to the ground, so you can take your time with the stone tablet.

Stone Tablet #3

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This stone tablet is at the coordinates (-0041, 2993, 1491), located up north on the Hyrule map, in between the Thyphlo Ruins and Drenan Highlands, northwest of the Great Hyrule Forest.

I recommend heading over to the Thyphlo Ruins Skyview Tower. From there, you’re going to want to head southwest (using the map as reference) toward the star-shaped sky island.

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This one is fairly straightforward. Since the island itself is on a lower elevation, you can just glide and skydive your way to it.

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Something to keep in mind is that, if you don’t take the picture as soon as you hop on the platform, it will fall down into the Drenan Highlands Chasm. Thankfully, there aren’t any enemies lurking nearby or anything.

Worst case scenario, you can just dive into the chasm, take the pic, and then fast-travel yourself out of it.

Stone Tablet #4

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This stone tablet is at the coordinates (3573, 1744, 1357), found south of Akkala Highlands and northwest of the Hudson Construction Site and Tarrey Town.

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I recommend using the Ulri Mountain Skyview Tower here to gain altitude. From there, ignore the islands that are at a higher altitude.

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The one you’ll be landing on is the first one, which has the Flux Construct II roaming the plateau. Feel free to ignore them, and head over to the eastern side of the island instead, around the coordinates (3776, 1876, 0992), give or take.

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You’ll see a few Zonai devices up for grabs, as well as an already-made construction. We’re going to be using this as is, but with some modifications.

In essence, I attached all of the batteries nearby onto the vehicle, for a total of six. Then, I attached two rockets on each side, glueing them to the fans. If you don’t have any in your inventory, our rocket locations guide will help. Also, if you have more of them, by all means add to the vehicle. Four should be enough for a good kickstart.

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Then, all you need to do is hop on the vehicle and use the lever to slowly start making your way to the star-shaped island. The alternative is to get it closer with Ultrahand, dragging it through the bridge just enough so you don’t alert the Flux Construct II on the other end.

Using six batteries did the trick for me. Keep in mind that if you attach more fans, those will inevitably consume more energy. Four did the trick for me.

Once you’re on a higher elevation than the star-shaped island itself, leap from the vehicle and take the photo.

Stone Tablet #5

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This stone tablet is at the coordinates (2209, 0993, 1145), located southeast of Eldin Canyon and northwest of the Zora’s Domain. I recommend using the Eldin Canyon Skyview Tower here.

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Once you’re up in the air, head over to the South Eldin Sky Archipelago. The key here is to make it to the main island, which is shaped as a cross, and holds the Kadaunar Shrine.

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There, I used the push mechanism in the center. I didn’t have to move the lever at all — by default, it should be pointing towards the island on the southeastern corner of the archipelago. Hence, it’ll push you toward the star-shaped island as well.

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Once I was able to use the paraglider again, I just pushed forward toward the stone tablet location. Upon landing, grab your photo and continue with the rest.

Stone Tablet #6

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This stone tablet is at the coordinates (2908, 0197, 0797), located west of the Zora’s Domain in the Lanayru region. I recommend using the Upland Zorana Skyview Tower here for a handy shortcut.

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It’s a straightforward island to get to. Once you’re up in the air, make sure to head south — you’ll be able to spot the star-shaped structure almost immediately.

Then, go ahead and glide your way toward the stone table location. It’s likely you won’t even need any stamina items here. Grab the photo, and let’s continue.

Stone Tablet #7

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This stone table is at the coordinates (-3597, -0927, 1597), located east of Gerudo Highlands, toward the southwestern part of Hyrule. I recommend using the Gerudo Highlands Skyview Tower.

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Once you’re up in the air, paraglide toward the North Gerudo Sky Archipelago. Specifically, you’re going to want to aim for the first medium-sized island there. If you zoom in, you’ll notice the star-shaped island to the right side.

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From here, the process is fairly simple. Land on the eastern side of the island, and then take another leap.

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Paraglide yourself to the star-shaped island, and take the picture.

Stone Tablet #8

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This stone tablet is located at the coordinates (-2457, -3252, 0997), found toward the southwestern corner of the map. It’s slightly south of the East Gerudo Chasm, and northwest of the South Lomei Labyrinth.

It’s a tough one. There aren’t any particular obstacles, but the distance you need to travel is quite long. There are two ways to go about this. If you already have access to the sky part of the South Lomei Labyrinth, fast travel there and use your paraglider to get to the island.

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If you don’t, start by using the Gerudo Canyon Skyview Tower. Then, you’ll have to just use your paraglider all the way to the star-shaped island.

For this, you’ll need stamina. If you don’t have elixirs or need to resupply, you can find endura carrots around cherry blossom trees. Over at Faron, southeast of Highland Stable and the Utsushok Shrine, you can follow the main path that leads to the Horse God Bridge all the way east.

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At the very end of it, you’re going to find a special horse. If you look around, you’ll also spot a few endura carrots there.

A quick and easy recipe is the Enduring Fried Wild Greens, which requires three endura carrots and two Hyrule herbs.

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Once you’re set, eat the dish and just slowly glide your way to the island.

Stone Tablet #9

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This stone tablet is at the coordinates (-1248, -1942, 0982), found over the River of the Dead, southeast of the Outskirt Stable, and northwest of Lake Hylia.

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To get here, I recommend using the Gerudo Canyon Skyview Tower once more. When you’re up in the air, head over to the East Gerudo Sky Archipelago, specifically the bigger islands in the center.

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From the main island — which has the Zonai Dispenser and the Rakashog Shrine — use the lever to move the push mechanism.

The star-shaped island is visible from there, but in case you can’t spot it, use the map as a reference so you know roughly where to aim.

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Remember it doesn’t have to be super precise. We’ll just use this to gain a leap forward in the direction of the island.

Then, prepare to slowly glide your way to the island. Once on top, grab your photo.

Stone Tablet #10

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This stone tablet is at the coordinates (0487, -2243, 0397), found over Deya Lake, west of Popla Foothills, and northeast of Lake Hylia over at the Faron region.

Thankfully, getting to this stone tablet is fairly simple. Popla Foothills Skyview Tower will be your starting point here.

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Once you’re up in the air, open your map and aim toward the star-shaped island, which is floating southwest of the Tower itself.

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Simply glide your way toward it and don’t forget to take the photo.

Stone Tablet #11

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This stone tablet is at the coordinates (2086, -2729, 1334), located around the East Necluda area. I recommend heading over to the Rabella Wetlands Skyview Tower.

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Lift yourself up to the air, and head toward the circle-shaped sky island with a pool of water in its center. I used the Zora Armor to use the waterfall that sprawls from it.

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Once there, you’re going to need to build a Zonai device to get to the star-shaped island. I used the air balloon schematic included by default with the Autobuild ability.

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You’re going to need some fire. If you don’t have anything that can help, I recommend using any wooden weapon (or better yet, a torch if you have one). Then, make a campfire using flint and wood to torch it up.

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Hop on the air balloon, and wait until you’ve gained enough altitude to get to the island. It’s a slow ascend, but it’ll get the job done.

Once there, you can try and take a photo as soon as possible. But if not, just fall down to the ground and grab the pic there.

Stone Tablet #12

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This stone tablet is at the coordinates (3918, -2462, 1197), floating southeast of Hateno Village and west of Hateno Bay. If you look at the Necluda Sea, it’s close to the last patch of the main road that comes from Hateno Village and ends up in Hateno Bay.

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Getting to this star-shaped island is going to take a ton of stamina. I recommend using the Mount Lanayru Skyview Tower to gain altitude.

As you’re up in the air, you’ll be able to spot the island in the distance. You just need to glide there. If you completed the Wind Temple, use the ability you gained from it to push you forward as often as possible.

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Then, it’s a matter of keeping your stamina in check. You can use endura carrots, or more common ingredients like bright-eye crabs, and mix them with something as simple as Hyrule herbs.

Once you’ve finally made your way to the island, grab your photo.

You can now return to Wortsworth and show him all the pictures for him to translate the ancient Hyrulean stone tablets.

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‘Messages from an Ancient Era’ quest rewards

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Once you have read all stone tablets, the rewards for completing “Messages from an Ancient Era” are 1,200 rupees (100 rupees per photo - better than Peter Parker’s usual rate), and the Zonai Survey Team Fabric for your paraglider.