No more games, no more pretense — this is our list of the top 25 Zelda items of all-time. Whether they were weapons or shields or utility items, these are the panel’s selections for the coolest or most useful inventory slots in the series. We’ll be counting down one by one until we reach the #1 pick on Jan. 31.
16) Light Arrow – 3 votes, 131 points
Shaun: I shouldn’t like these arrows as much as I do. Like we’ve established before, they are really just Walmart brand silver arrows, and to make matters worse, you never seem to get them in time to do anything with them. “Oh, you’re midway through the final boss? Have these broken ass arrows!” Look, I understand it from a gameplay perspective, but I resent it every time.
Despite all that, they are just so COOL. They look cool in the quiver, they look awesome streaking through the air, but when they hit? It’s the coolest damn thing in Zelda. The arrow connects, and a flurry of binding light radiates and then implodes on the target, with a satisfying sound effect to boot. The Light Arrows just make me immensely happy, which is why I voted them so high.
Chris: This is probably the Zelda item that makes me the most bipolar. It’s weird.
So in Ocarina of Time, Princess Zelda is doing the whole Sheik thing, and it’s working great. She’s helping out Link, teaching him songs with her harp and being his only friend in a desolate world. Everything is fine. But then she blows her cover to give Link the Light Arrows, and gets captured in a pink crystal almost instantly. You couldn’t have left them somewhere, Zelda? Like, I don’t know, Hyrule Castle Town, where only ReDeads might accidentally stumble onto them?
That’s teenage angst speaking, though. The Light Arrows also represent the moments where Zelda starts helping Link directly, like the epic final battle in Wind Waker or the less-epic-but-still-cool penultimate fight in Twilight Princess, or that one time in Spirit Tracks where…okay, I haven’t played Spirit Tracks. Still, Zelda and her bow prove to be a formidable distraction to Ganon every time.
As I mentioned earlier, the Silver Arrows are cruise control for cool in my book. But I can’t hate on these either.
Joseph: The Light Arrow was not just useful against Ganon. If you were willing to wager your magic, it destroyed other enemies. Why not equip it and make the minor enemies more manageable? You might have to use a potion or two, but your rupees will not be spent on anything else. And they make their appearance whenever you get help with the final boss. Someone else finally step up and help Link save the planet? You can bet they will probably shoot Light Arrows so you can swoop in for the kill.
Michaela: The Light Arrow has never been introduced in a Zelda game until around the end, which has always disappointed me because of its sheer power. It’s one of the essential items to kill Ganondorf, and yet Link hardly ever has a chance to use it. Do you know how much I would love to use the Light Arrows freely outside of a battle with Ganondorf? That would be amazing, and the option needs to become available in a future Zelda game soon or else.
Cary: Insta-kill arrows? Yes, please! In Wind Waker, they aren’t very easy to obtain, but once Light Arrows are in your arsenal, you can pretty much defeat anything. Did it matter that I sucked as using the bow and arrow in every Zelda game that I ever played? Well, yeah…it did. Nothing like wasting a Light Arrow on a stone wall. Stupid wall. Probably deserved it anyway.
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Gray Areas 
The Light Arrow and bosses failing to protect their enormous eyeballs (seriously, guys, buy some glasses!!) are the two factors separating Hyrule from utter chaos, destruction, and death.
Yeah, between giant eyeballs and those who you can only hurt with either parts of themselves or the environment, Hylian bosses need to step their game up. They’re embarrassing themselves.
Absolutely! ahahahah