Tears of the Kingdom’s “Meat Arrow” Meme Is Real and Unspectacular

While there is so much to talk about when it comes to the new Tears of the Kingdom hands-on previews that were just released, I’d be derelict in my duties if I didn’t tell you that the legendary “meat arrow” meme is as real as it is unimpressive

First, some context. During a recent Tears of the Kingdom video preview, Zelda producer Eiji Aonuma revealed the game’s Fuse ability. As the name suggests, that ability allows you to combine two objects and turn them into a new item. So you can do something like attach a spike to a shield and turn it into a weapon. That’s just a very basic example, though. The possibilities are reportedly endless.

During that video preview, fans noticed that the game technically offered the option to attach a piece of raw meat to Link’s arrow. However, Aonuma failed to show what would happen if you followed through with that seemingly stupid action. Because we didn’t get to see what a meat arrow actually does, fans began to wildly speculate about the meat arrow’s functionality and possibilities. Before long, “Meat Arrow” became a legendary Zelda item on par with the Master Sword.

Obviously, the entire meat arrow concept is a bit of a meme. Beyond the…err…more erotic implications of that term, some fans simply started dreaming of beating the game using only meat arrows. To that end, though, there was genuine fascination regarding the functionality of the meat arrow and its implications for the entire Fuse system. Would the game really let you create entirely useless items, or does the meat arrow (if it exists) serve a purpose?

Well, IGN and other outlets actually bothered to assemble a meat arrow during their time with the Tears of the Kingdom demo. The good news is that the meat arrow is no longer just a meme. It does actually exist in the game. The bad news (potentially) is that the meat arrow isn’t a particularly exciting example of the Fuse ability.

For the most part, the meat arrow is indeed just an arrow with a piece of meat attached to it. Unlike many other items in the game, it doesn’t seem to significantly boost the arrow’s damage. You’re probably better off attaching an actually useful item to the arrow (such as an explosive device) and saving the meat for cooking.

However, the meat arrow isn’t completely useless. It turns out that you can fire it near an enemy (or group of enemies) in order to “lure” them. From there, you can use actually useful weapons to defeat them (or continue to pelt them with meat arrows). Interestingly, it sounds like you’ll also be able to just toss raw pieces of meat in order to lure enemies if you don’t want to waste the arrow.

Based on what we’ve seen and heard regarding the game’s Fuse ability, it seems like “meat arrows” are just the start of the chaotic creations available. It does seem that every possible Fuse combination in the game has some kind of purpose, even if that purpose isn’t particularly useful. Given how much of Tears of the Kingdom‘s entertainment value seems to be based on discovering what is possible and how to creatively complete common tasks, it feels like discovering variations on the entire meat arrows concept may indeed be a big part of the fun.