Treasure Chest

Treasure Chests are recurring objects in the Legend of Zelda series which house items and are sometimes locked. The boxes differ in color and garnishment depending on their contents and in which game they appear. They contain many things, ranging from Rupees to Pieces of Heart and so forth. In several games, they are the main or sole provider for Link's necessary equipment, such as Hookshots or Bows.

The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
Treasure Chests are small, brown, wooden boxes with gold coiling around them. They contain Rupees, Small Keys, Compasses, or Dungeon Maps. Larger Treasure Chests, found in dungeons, contain items such as the Magic Hammer and the Moon Pearl. This is one of the few games in the series where a key is needed to open chests, since the Large Treasure Chest, holding the dungeon´s special item, requires a Big Key in order to be unlocked.

There is one purple-colored chest that Link finds in the Village of Outcasts, and cannot open no matter how hard he tries; however, if he takes it to the Lockpicker, he can have it opened to reveal a bottle.

The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening
Treasure Chests appear as brown wooden boxes with gold trimming and are about the same size as Link. They typically appear after all of the enemies in an area have been killed. Some will have enemies inside of them, rather than treasure or items.

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask
In these games, chests take on three different sizes/designs. The first is a small chest, containing small keys and Rupees. The second is a normal sized chest, containing items, dungeons maps, or compasses. The third is a metallic chest containing Boss Keys. Most chests are plain wood with an iron or gold frame. In both games, the boss key chest is highly ornate, with a blue body and golden laces around.

In Ocarina of Time, some Treasure Chests contain traps, such as summoning a Wallmaster or freezing Link for a short period of time; these are occasionally found in dungeons during the later stages of the game, and are most prevalent in the Spirit Temple. Wooden chests can serve as attachment points for the Hookshot.

The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages and The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons
Treasure Chests in both games appear with the same design. They are made with a red material, and have a gold frame.

The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords
Treasure Chests appear identical to those found in A Link to the Past.

The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
Treasure Chests that hold items of importance are more easily distinguished from others with various colors and shapes. Quest Items are no longer held in simple brown boxes, but instead are found in a large, red, spiked, metal version. These, sometimes, also hold Sea Charts. The design of the Boss Key chests is similar to that of Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask, in that they are blue with elaborate ornate gold decorations. Simple brown chests also retain most of their qualities from Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask. However, a few still lack the jingle and the light of importance. Interestingly, they now seem to be the same size and differ in the deepness of their colors.

Unlike most other games in the series, Treasure Chests can also be dredged from the bottom of the ocean. Most of these chests are regular sized and black in color with intricate designs. Most contain Rupees, some contain Pieces of Heart, and eight special chests contain pieces of the Triforce.

The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures
Treasure Chests appear identical to those found in A Link to the Past. There are also big Treasure Chests that require a Big Key to open.

The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap
Treasure Chests appear identical to those found in A Link to the Past, except there are no large-sized chest that require a Big Key to open.

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
Treasure Chests are much more detailed than in previous installments. Chests containing a Boss Key are made with what appears to be gold and a small red gem above the keyhole. There are smaller chests that contain normal items, and are made of what appears to be gold. There are other large chests that contain dungeon items and larger Rupees. For the first time in the series, when Link finds Rupees in a chest but has no room in his wallet for them, he will put them back in the chest for later, rather than leave the chest empty while not retaining the Rupees either. The Clawshot, the game's equivalent of the Hookshot, cannot be used to transport Link to a Treasure Chest, as it primarily grabs onto grates rather than embedding itself in wood.

The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks
There are four different types of Treasure Chests: the first type is brown and simple looking, and the second type is larger and white with yellow lining. The latter usually contains items important to Link's quest (such as Heart Containers or dungeon items), while the former usually contains treasure. The third type of Treasure Chest is a chest that only appears on the bottom of the sea floor in Phantom Hourglass. They appear to be exactly the same as the ones that Link finds at sea in The Wind Waker. The last type only appears in Spirit Tracks and is made of stone. This type of chest is hidden in the ground where, if Link stands near where the chest is buried and plays the "Song of Discovery" on the Spirit Flute, it will rise out of the ground.

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
There are four types of Treasure Chests. The first is a small brown chest that most often contains green, blue and Red Rupees. There are also blue chests that are a larger size than their brown counterparts. These blue chests contain random treasures, and in dungeons, they contain small keys, dungeon maps, or a main item like the Beetle or Gust Bellows. The third kind of chest is an ornate chest made of gold and precious materials, similar to that in Twilight Princess, which always holds the Boss Key, but is usually very close to the boss door. The last kind is a straight-edged one that only unlocks when the corresponding Goddess Cube is activated; its inactive state is dark purple, while active it glows light purple. These chests often contain an item of great value, such as a Gold Rupee, Silver Rupee, or an Adventure Pouch upgrade.

Other Chests
As noted before, some chests contain traps. A few are nearly invisible and need to be materialized with light. Others might be covered by plant enemies that must be defeated, and some chests even hang from ceilings from spider webs that need to be cut.

Apart from chests, there are other things that may hold treasure. Even though these are never key items, they still may contain things of great value, such as large sums of Rupees. These objects may be pots, knight armors, or sometimes even hidden in flora and underground.