Lens of Truth

The Lens of Truth in Ocarina of Time.
Lens of Truth
Type	Lens
Debut	The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

The Lens of Truth is a mysterious item known as the "eye of truth" which has appeared in several The Legend of Zelda games.

Information

The Lens is a small handheld looking lens which contains mysterious powers. By looking through it, one can "see the truth" and look through illusions. This usually reveals hidden passages, invisible treasure chests or invisible paths across seemingly uncrossable gaps. It also allows Link to see invisible figures and ghosts in Majora's Mask. This lens is very potent, but it exhausts magic power as it is used.

It has been said that people are capable of gaining this ability for themselves, but it requires an intense training of the mind's eye.

Appearances

In Ocarina of Time, the Lens of Truth was the treasure found Beneath the Well at Kakariko Village, and it was needed for the Shadow Temple. It apparently had belonged to a villager who lived where the well was later built. It is likely that this man was a Sheikah. Link found the Lens as a child and could use it in any time period. In Majora's Mask, the lens was hidden within the Lone Peak Shrine near the Goron Village at the northern mountain. This secret shrine could only be reached by crossing a series of invisible blocks, and Kaepora Gaebora had to guide Link across the blocks using his feathers so that he could get the Lens and determine such secrets for himself.

Trivia

• It bears the Sheikah eye symbol; that, and its associations with Kakariko Village and the Shadow Temple make it likely to be one of the Sheikah's old tools, along with the Mask of Truth and the Gossip Stone.
• The cross from Zelda II: The Adventure of Link performed a similar function, and Wolf Link's wolf senses in Twilight Princess also have a similar effect.
• The Lens can be used to "cheat" at the Treasure Chest Game in Ocarina of Time.