Korok

Several Koroks from The Wind Waker.
Korok
Type	Forest Spirits
Debut	The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker

The Koroks are a tribe of small wooden creatures that have made recurring appearances in the The Legend of Zelda series after they were introduced in The Wind Waker. They are alternate forms taken on by the Kokiri.

Information

The Koroks resemble small wooden figures with stubby arms and legs. They wear leaves as masks and, due to their light weight, they are able to float through the air by using certain plants as propellers.

The Wind Waker

Following the Great Flood, the Kokiri migrated with the Great Deku Tree to living at the Forest Haven, one of the islands in the Great Sea. This shift in location caused the Kokiris' forms to change, and they became the Koroks. Koroks primarily lived in the Forest Haven under the protection of the Deku Tree. They used to live in the nearby forest island within stump-shaped homes (implied to possibly be the Kokiri Forest), until it became corrupted and infested with monsters. That island was called the Forbidden Woods, and the Deku Tree considered it off-limits for the Koroks.

Aside from the Forbidden Woods, the Koroks, unlike the Kokiri, were free to travel across the Great Sea. The Deku Tree actually gave them all seeds to plant on various islands of the Great Sea. This was because trees helped islands to grow, and this advanced the Deku Tree's dream of one day connecting all of the islands as one giant island where people could live in harmony. A few Koroks remained at the homestead with other tasks. Hollo ran a potion store, while Makar practiced his leaf cello to perform at the next ceremony. Most of the Koroks usually returned to Forest Haven only during the annual ceremony in which the Deku Tree produced new seeds for the Koroks to plant across the islands.

In The Wind Waker, Link arrived just prior to the annual ceremony and saved Makar after he had fallen into the Forbidden Woods.All of the island's Koroks except for Makar and Hollo then left to begin their next round of planting trees. Makar wound up being awakened as the new Wind Sage and succeeded the Kokiri Fado. As for the other Koroks, the trees that they planted suddenly began to wither, seemingly as an effect of the evil spreading through the dark sea. Link had to save the trees by using Forest Water from the Haven and using it on all of the trees before the water's potency expired, as if even one tree was left withering, it would cause the others to wither again as well.

Breath of the Wild/Tears of the Kingdom

In Breath of the Wild, the Koroks resided in Hyrule, within the Korok Forest located at the heart of the Lost Woods. Once again, they lived under the protection of the Deku Tree, and some of them ran businesses within his body. They were shown to be shy, and most of them hid from visitors. It was implied that not all people could see Koroks at all. There were also 900 Koroks who scattered themselves across Hyrule and hid themselves in different areas. Link had to perform certain actions to make the Koroks appeared, which often involved solving small puzzles or minigames. These included lifting solitary rocks, shooting special balloons that appeared when standing near a pinwheel, placing a rock missing from a circle of rocks and reaching a circle of lights within a time limit. Each discovered Korok would make the same laugh and chant at being found before giving Link their Deku Seed. These Korok Seeds could be given to an exceptionally large Korok named Hestu, who would give Link extra equipment slots within his inventory in exchange. Only 441 of the 900 Korok Seeds were needed to max out inventory spaces; collecting all 900 would only earn Hestu's Gift, which resembled cartoonish poop, as a joke on all of the Deku Seeds technically being Koroks' defecation.

The Koroks reappeared in the same fashion in Tears of the Kingdom. They were still shown to be inhabiting the Korok Forest, but after the Upheaval, the Deku Tree was infected by gloom that made him sick. This had an effect on all of the Koroks in the forest, as they all became still and unresponsive until the Deku Tree was purified, after which they became their normal selves. The Koroks outside of the forest were not subject to that effect, including Hestu, who only returned to Korok Forest after the Deku Tree was saved. This time, there 1000 hidden Koroks found throughout Hyrule, both on the surface and in the sky. Many of them were found in a similar fashion as in Breath of the Wild, but there were some new methods added for finding them. This included one new way to help Koroks in which a Korok with an oversized backpack needed help finding his friend. This would prompt Link to lead the Korok towards a camp with a green smoke signal where the Korok friend was waiting, which would often require the use of a constructed vehicle. Once the Koroks were reunited, Link would receive two Korok Seeds in exchange. In this game, 421 seeds were needed to max out the inventory, and collecting every seed in the game would once again earn Hetsu's Gift.

It was also possible to gain a Korok Mask in both games, which would shake when a hidden Korok was nearby. In Breath of the Wild, the mask was added with DLC and was found in the southern part of the Lost Woods. In Tears of the Kingdom, it was the prize for completing the Forest Coliseum.

In Other Zelda Games

In Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity, Koroks could be found hidden on battlefields, and they were discovered using some of the methods from Breath of the Wild. They gave out Korok Seeds, which in this game could be used as materials in Hetsu's quests to increase his skills and abilities. Hetsu appeared as a playable character in this game, and he would summon additional Koroks as part of some of his attacks.

Trivia

• They appear to be named after Koropokkuru, which are a race of small people from Japanese folklore who were said to live in butterbur plants.
• There have been two instances of playable Koroks: Makar was playable in a limited sense while guiding him through the Wind Temple in The Wind Waker, while Hestu was playable in Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity.
• In Tears of the Kingdom, it is also possible to obtain a Korok Fabric for the Paraglider.