Secret Stone

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	To put it simply, secret stones amplify the power their owners possess.
— Mineru to Zelda.

Secret Stones ^(TotK) are artifacts introduced in Tears of the Kingdom. Originating from the Zonai, those bestowed with a Secret Stone are often known as Sages.

Overview

Secret Stones are artifacts said to be treasures from the Gods, which the Zonai brought with them to Hyrule. They have the ability to amplify their users' inherent powers. Otherwise, these artifacts have no known powers of their own. When possessed by individuals with special powers, the Secret Stones gain an attribute and a corresponding Zonai inscription. A Stone's attribute and inscription can change if it receives a new owner. Originally, there was a total of seven Secret Stones brought by the Zonai to the surface. These stones obtained the following attributes after coming into the possession of seven individuals:

Secret Stone of Light — Founding King of Hyrule, King Rauru
Secret Stone of Time — Founding Queen of Hyrule, Queen Sonia / The Sage of Time, Princess Zelda
Secret Stone of Wind — The Sage of Wind of the Rito, Tulin
Secret Stone of Fire — The Sage of Fire of the Goron, Yunobo
Secret Stone of Water — The Sage of Water of the Zora, Sidon
Secret Stone of Lightning — The Sage of Lightning of the Gerudo, Riju
Secret Stone of Spirit — The Sage of Spirit, Mineru

The Stone would be placed in specific body parts: Light-Right wrist, Fire-Stomach, Water-Left hand, Electricity-Right ear, Time-Neck, Spirit-Collarbone, Wind-Left ankle, and lastly, Darkness-Forehead. Originally, only King Rauru, Queen Sonia and Mineru were blessed with the power of their respective stone. But following the birth of the Demon King and the imminent collapse of Hyrule, Rauru gathered the four best warriors of the kingdom, each one of them coming from a specific region. The Rito, Zora, Goron and Gerudo would respectively be granted the Secret Stones of Wind, Water, Fire and Lightning.

In Tears of the Kingdom, only five of these artifacts are to be recovered since Princess Zelda obtains King Rauru's Stone during the Upheaval, while Ganondorf already took Queen Sonia's Stone in the past. The two Stones gain new attributes after the change in ownership. Princess Zelda's powers transforms King Rauru's Stone of Light into another Stone of Time, amplifying her powers and sending her back in time. This results in eight Secret Stones in the past, with two of them being the same stone from different periods of time. In the past, Ganondorf's theft of Queen Sonia's Stone of Time brought forth an unprecedented attribute which transformed both the stone and him into the following:

Secret Stone of Darkness — The Demon King, Ganondorf

Draconification

Wielders of Secret Stones are capable of undergoing a forbidden process known as draconification by swallowing their stones. The act transforms them into immortal dragons, beings blessed with eternal life at the cost of the essence of their heart and mind, thus becoming mindless creatures. However, both the Light Dragon and the Demon Dragon are shown to have retained glimpses of their former selves during the final battle.

So far, only two known wielders are known to have undergone draconification:

Princess Zelda — Transformed into the Light Dragon.
Ganondorf — Transformed into the Demon Dragon.

Draconified Princess Zelda.
Draconified Ganondorf.

Despite the act is said to be irreversible, the spirits of King Rauru and Queen Sonia were able to transform the Light Dragon back to her original form by channeling their powers through Link, albeit with leaving Zelda with slight amnesia afterwards.

Despite their similarities to the Light Dragon and Demon Dragon, Dinraal, Farosh, and Naydra are only referred to as spirits that have taken the form of dragons. It is never explicitly stated that they were once mortals who underwent draconification or whether they owned any Secret Stones.^[1]

Trivia

The Zonai inscription on the Secret Stones are based on the Japanese Kanji for the corresponding attributes:
- 光 for Light (Rauru), 時 for Time (Sonia and Zelda), 風 for Wind, 火 for Fire, 水 for Water, 雷 for Lightning, 魂 for Spirit (Mineru), and 闇 for Darkness (Ganondorf).
- Furthermore, an Eye Symbol, reminiscent of that of the Sheikah, can be seen in each glyph.
After Ganondorf steals the Secret Stone of Time, he uses his dark magic to artificially make it bigger. Such act is implied to be a violation of the laws of nature, which is further corroborated by the corruption he pours into his prize.
- On a similar note, not counting Draconification, Ganondorf's Secret Stone of Darkness is the only instance of a Secret Stone bestowing its user with a new form upon being worn (his Demon King form).
The Secret Stones are reminiscent of the six Sage Medallions in Ocarina of Time, although the Wind and Lightning elements weren't featured in this game. Interestingly, since Ganondorf took over the Secret Stone of Time, one could argue that there are only six Sages as well in Tears of the Kingdom.
Another parallel can be made with the Spiritual Stones, as Ganondorf once sought to possess them in order to gain access to the Triforce within the Sacred Realm.
Secret Stones resemble the Amber Relics and Dusk Relics from Skyward Sword. All three are based on Magatama, ornamental and ceremonial beads created in ancient Japan.
Ganondorf and Rauru's right arm both lacked Secret Stones in the 2019 teaser.
After finding all 32 Shrines of Light in the Sky, the map screen shows that they form a shape similar to that of a Secret Stone.