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Usually, no. In The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, you can complete the central story without clearing ordinary Side Quests. For story progress, prioritize entries labeled Main Quest. Use the Adventure Log when a particular objective is unclear.
That answer applies to those two open-world games, not automatically to every Zelda installment. Quest categories, dependencies, and even the meaning of “completion” change between games.
What “finishing Zelda” can mean
Players often use “finish” to describe three different goals. Separating them prevents a great deal of confusion:
| Goal | What you do | Are ordinary side quests the deciding factor? |
|---|---|---|
| Reach the story ending | Complete the required Main Quests and defeat the final story objective. | No, in Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom. |
| Complete optional content | Take on Side Quests, Side Adventures, Shrine Quests, discoveries, and other activities at your own pace. | They add rewards, context, and activities but are not the same as the required story path. |
| Reach a 100% map or game-completion figure | Clear the tasks counted by that game’s completion system, which can include shrines, bosses, collectibles, and locations. | The target is broader than the ending and can require extensive optional work. |
In other words, seeing the ending and exhausting everything in Hyrule are separate projects. Decide which one you want before judging a quest as “necessary.”
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How to tell whether a quest advances the story
Open the game’s quest list and read the category attached to each entry. In Breath of the Wild, the quest reference separates Main Quests, Side Quests, and Shrine Quests. In Tears of the Kingdom, you will also encounter Side Adventures alongside Side Quests and Shrine Quests.
- Main Quest: the category to follow when your immediate goal is story progression.
- Side Quest or Side Adventure: optional objectives that can provide equipment, rupees, abilities, character stories, or world-building.
- Shrine Quest: an optional investigation that leads to a shrine; the resulting shrine can improve Link, but the quest is not automatically part of the narrative route.
Categories are a guide, not a promise that every objective must be completed in one fixed order. The open-world design allows players to approach many Main Quests differently, and some objectives become easier after exploration. When an NPC gives you a lead, compare the new entry’s category with your story objective instead of assuming every marked task is mandatory.
Breath of the Wild: the required story path
For Breath of the Wild, a community-maintained Zelda Wiki Main Quest reference identifies three Main Quests as required to complete the game: “Follow the Sheikah Slate,” “The Isolated Plateau,” and “Destroy Ganon.” That list is a useful classification reference, but it is not a Nintendo-published checklist.
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What those entries mean for a playthrough
- Follow the Sheikah Slate and The Isolated Plateau cover the opening sequence and establish the tools and setting needed to continue.
- Destroy Ganon is the final story objective. Reaching it is the point at which you decide whether to enter the endgame encounter or spend more time exploring first.
The game may present additional narrative prompts, memories, Divine Beast objectives, and character requests as you travel. Their presence does not turn every nearby Side Quest into a prerequisite for the ending. If you are trying to move the plot forward, return to the Main Quest section and follow its current objective.
What you can skip without losing the ending
You can leave ordinary Side Quests unfinished and still pursue the final story objective. Examples discussed in scholarship about the game include “Hylian Homeowner” and “From the Ground Up.” They can enrich Link’s life in Hyrule, but they are examples of content that can be skipped when the sole aim is to beat the story.
Skipping does have trade-offs. Optional tasks can award useful gear, currency, upgrades, or information that makes later combat and exploration more comfortable. “Not required” means the game does not require the quest for the ending; it does not mean the quest has no practical value.
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Breath of the Wild: story ending versus 100% completion
Nintendo describes the completion percentage that appears after the main story as a separate challenge. Its examples of work needed for a 100% result include completing every shrine, defeating every boss, collecting every Korok seed, and discovering every location. Those requirements go well beyond the three Main Quests.
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This distinction explains why two players can both say they “finished” the game while reporting very different playtimes. One may have defeated Ganon after following the primary route; another may have spent dozens or hundreds of additional hours clearing the map and collecting everything counted by the completion display. The percentage is not a retroactive claim that every Side Quest was required for the first ending.
Tears of the Kingdom: follow Main Quests for milestones
Nintendo’s Tears of the Kingdom guidance recommends using Main Quests to reach story milestones and checking the Adventure Log for reminders and hints. The same guidance emphasizes that “Every player’s exploration experience will be different.” That is an important qualification: there is a recommended story framework, but not one mandatory sightseeing route.
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How the categories are organized
A 2023 PowerPyx walkthrough lists 23 Main Quests, 31 Shrine Quests, 60 Side Adventures, and 139 Side Quests, for a reported total of 253 quests. These are walkthrough category totals, not Nintendo-published statistics, and they are not a list of 253 required objectives. Use them to understand the scale of the optional content rather than to calculate how much you must do before the finale.
Side Adventures often have more involved chains than short Side Quests, and Shrine Quests can lead to valuable upgrades. Neither label by itself changes the story-completion rule. If your goal is the narrative, select the active Main Quest and use the Adventure Log to see its current instruction.
Why optional tasks can still feel important
Tears of the Kingdom mixes story, exploration, and character activity across the same world. A Side Quest might ask you to collect mushrooms, take in-game pictures, investigate a regional problem, or help a recurring character. These activities can reveal lore, unlock rewards, or make traversal easier. They may be highly worthwhile even when they are not a gate on the critical path.
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Some players also complete optional objectives before a major story encounter because the rewards improve survivability or provide better equipment. That is a strategic choice, not evidence that the quest is a formal requirement.
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- Open the quest menu. Select the Main Quest section and read the active objective rather than choosing a nearby marker at random.
- Track the objective you intend to advance. If the map offers several destinations, choose the one tied to the selected Main Quest.
- Use exploration as preparation. Gather materials, activate useful travel points, improve equipment, or complete a shrine if you need more health or stamina, but treat those actions as preparation.
- Ignore optional markers temporarily. You can leave Side Quests, Side Adventures, and Shrine Quests in the log. They remain available for later unless a specific in-game warning says otherwise.
- Check the Adventure Log when stuck. Review started and finished quests, the current objective, and any hints or reminders before searching for an external walkthrough.
- Return to optional content after the ending. Both games support continued exploration, so an unfinished optional objective is not a reason to delay the finale unless you personally want to complete it first.
When a quest appears to be mandatory
A quest can feel compulsory for reasons that are not the same as a story requirement. Use these checks:
- The game blocks a route. You may need a tool, ability, or local puzzle solution. That is a gameplay obstacle, not proof that every Side Quest is required.
- An NPC says to return later. This usually indicates a condition or stage change. Read the log for the named condition instead of completing unrelated tasks.
- You need stronger equipment. A reward from optional content can make a fight easier, but difficulty and convenience are different from narrative dependency.
- A marker remains on the map. Persistent markers identify available work; they do not, by themselves, identify the critical path.
- You are following another player’s route. Nintendo’s reminder that every player’s exploration experience differs means a different order is not necessarily wrong.
How to avoid confusing completion goals
Before starting a long cleanup session, write down the result you want:
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- Ending only: stay with Main Quests and do enough preparation to handle their encounters.
- Stronger character: add selected shrines, upgrade activities, and reward-focused Side Quests.
- Complete the quest log: work through Side Quests, Side Adventures, and Shrine Quests systematically, recording finished entries.
- 100% map or completion display: follow the game’s stated completion categories, including collectibles and discoveries; do not assume a finished quest log alone is sufficient.
This approach prevents an optional checklist from silently replacing your original goal. It also makes it easier to stop after the ending and resume later without wondering whether you missed a hidden story requirement.
Does this rule apply to every Zelda game?
No universal franchise-wide rule has been established. The two open-world titles above use explicit quest categories and support substantial post-story exploration, but earlier and differently structured Zelda games may gate progress through dungeons, item quests, characters, or scripted objectives without using the same labels.
For another installment, identify that game by name, open its own quest or objective record, and verify which tasks advance the next required story event. Do not transfer the Breath of the Wild or Tears of the Kingdom structure to a different title automatically.
Quick Recap
Quick decision checklist
- Are you playing Breath of the Wild or Tears of the Kingdom? If not, check that game specifically.
- Is the entry labeled Main Quest? Follow it for story progress.
- Is it labeled Side Quest, Side Adventure, or Shrine Quest? Treat it as optional unless the game’s own log states a dependency.
- Do you want the ending or a completion percentage? Those are different targets.
- Are you stuck? Read the current Adventure Log entry before abandoning the objective.
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