The Heroine’s Secret side quest in Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, as the name suggests, is a quest that requires you to uncover a couple of secrets, specifically, the ones involving Gerudo’s ancient warrior culture.
The quest is given to Link by Rotana of Gerudo, who is an archeologist keen to find the Monuments of the Seven Heroines. As such, in this quest, you will be required to find and take pictures of these Monuments/Stelae and give them to Rotana.
How to start The Heroine’s Secret quest in Zelda: TotK
Before setting out to start the Heroine’s Secret side quest, you must first complete Josha and Robbie’s questline at the Lookout Landing in Tears of the Kingdom. This is a crucial requirement to unlock this quest.
The Heroine’s Secret quest can be started by talking to Rotana at Gerudo Town. Since this is the first quest of the Gerudo Town quest series, you will first have to access this place.
The Gerudo Town is a large settlement that’s located straight down the path leading away from the Gerudo Desert Gateway.
Although in the prequel Link wasn’t allowed to enter the Town, the town’s people have fallen back into the shelter under the throne room, so Link is safe to enter.
To enter the shelter, you must first make your way to the throne room, which is quite easy to discover with its large entrance and stairs just across the town’s center.
You will soon find out that you cannot enter the room, so you will have to take an alternate approach to reach the shelter. Head to the courtyard east of the throne and enter the small room that is just down the stairs to the right of the courtyard.
Inside this room, there is a desk in the front that can be moved to reveal a hole in the wall. You can crawl through this hole to reach the shelter on the other side of the wall.
Once inside the shelter, you must find Rotana, who is reading scripture on the wall – the stelae. You must talk with Rotana to start The Heroine’s Secret side quest in Zelda: TotK.
How to complete The Heroine’s Secret quest in Zelda: TotK
After talking to Rotana, she informs you that she is trying to uncover the mystery of the Seven Heroines by finding four different Monuments/Stelae. You will be tasked to find these stelae and take a photo of them to complete this quest.
First Stelae Location
To find the first stelae, you must walk through the pillars right in front of Rotana and head left. Right in front of you should be an obvious pile of rock that is breakable.
Break through these rocks to uncover the first hidden Stelae. You must take a picture of this Stelae and show it to Rotana – or you could hold onto it for now and move on to the next one.
Second Stelae Location
To find the second Stelae, we must first go back to Rotana. This time, instead of taking the path in front of her, we shall take the path to her left. As you walk through the first entrance, you will find a classroom on the right and another entrance on the left.
Take the left across the second entrance and you will reach yet another break. You must walk through the entrance on the left this time as well – the one that has crates lying around it.
Right across the entrance to this area is the second stelae, but it has a piece missing. The missing piece is lying hidden in a pile of sand directly in front of the stelae.
To remove the sand, you can either use a Zonai fan or a weapon made by combining a Stick with a Korok Frond. You can strike the sand with the weapon to remove it.
When the missing piece is uncovered, you can use Ultrahand to grab it and place it into the corresponding slot on the stelae. Once that’s done, you can take a picture of the stelae.
Third Stelae Location
The third stelae is a little bit tricky to find, as it is located inside a jail cell that’s got its entrance blocked. To reach this stela, you will have to find an alternative way to reach the ell.
To find the third one, go back to Rotana and take the path to her right this time. Right across the entrance, you will find the jail cell on your right, the hotel on your left, and a small opening in between them.
Through this opening is the cantina. Once inside, you must head right to come across a wall with six shelves on it. Notice that the shelf on the bottom left with two jars on it has another area behind it.
You can displace the two jars to clear the way. Then, you can crawl through the opening. Upon arriving in this new area, you can use Ascend to reach the jail cell, which is right above you at this point.
After entering the jail cell, look towards the rear wall and you will see the third stelae. After taking a picture, you can leave the area using Ascend or simply walk out of the door.
Forth Stelae Location
To find the fourth and final stelae of this quest, you must head back over to the classroom you came across while looking for the second stelae. You must wait till there is no one in the classroom to proceed.
Once the classroom is empty, you can go about your business. The fourth stelae is divided into two halves, with each half on a separate wall. To take the picture, you must line yourself in such a way that both halves combine to appear as one.
Once in the appropriate position, you can take a picture of the stelae. Once all four stelae are captured, you can head back over to Rotana and show the pictures to her.
With that, The Heroine’s Secret side quest will be complete in Tears of the Kingdom and you will be rewarded with an orb that will be necessary to start The Mysterious Eight quest.
