Zelda TOTK: Where is Selmie In The Duchess Who Disappeared?

Summary Finding Selmie in "The Duchess Who Disappeared" can be surprisingly difficult due to ambiguous hints and difficult terrain.

Selmie can be found in the East Biron Snowshelf Cave through exploration or by following Russ and Fin's clues in the Hebra Mountains.

The in-game coordinates and environmental challenges in Tears of the Kingdom can make completing the side quest a tricky and frustrating task.

"The Duchess Who Disappeared" is a side quest in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom which can be surprisingly tricky to complete. It focuses on Selmie, the titular Duchess of Downhill, who has gone missing amid the regional phenomena affecting Hyrule after the Upheaval. Although ostensibly a relatively short task to complete, the conditions in which Link must operate can make finding Selmie much harder than it may first seem.

Selmie’s nickname refers to her status as a famous Shield Surfer, although by the time of her first appearance in Breath of the Wild, she had retired from engaging in the sport herself. Despite this, she does still comment on the suitability of Link’s shield for surfing in Breath of the Wild, and also runs the Shield-Surfing mini-game from her small cabin in the Hebra Mountains. In Tears of the Kingdom, Selmie has even taken on two students, but when Link first visits Hebra, he finds that Selmie herself has vanished, much to the concern of those who know her.

Related The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Review - Building Excellence Tears of the Kingdom takes Legend of Zelda into mostly familiar ground, but it remains an excellent, must-play title with plenty of innovation.

Selmie Can Be Found In A Hebra Mountains Cave

East Biron Snowshelf Cave

Although Link can begin this side quest at Selmie’s Spot by talking to Russ, one of Selmie’s students, he is initially directed to the Biron Snowshelf. Traveling west, Link can then find Russ’ friend and fellow student, Fin, in a valley alongside the eastern edge of the Snowshelf. Finn muses that despite him setting up a smoke signal, Selmie appears to not have seen it. In actuality, the Duchess herself is not especially far from here, and has become trapped by a rockfall in a nearby cave.

Selmie can be found in the East Biron Snowshelf Cave, blocked off from the outside world by breakable walls of rocks. The cave’s entrance can be found by entering the valley just below where Finn has set up his campfire, and it is worth noting that a nearby Blupee can be used as a guide to find it. Additionally, this cave actually has two entrances; Finn is positioned near the eastern entrance, and there is another located further away in the west. The in-game coordinates for these are approximately (-3554, 3089, 0274) and (-3988, 3062, 0140) respectively.

Due to Tears of the Kingdom’s open-world design, it is perfectly possible to begin "The Duchess Who Disappeared" by directly finding Selmie through simple exploration. Doing so only skips the initial encounters with Russ and Fin. Additionally, due to the internal sloping of the East Biron Snowshelf Cave, the western entrance must be cleared so that Selmie can escape, while exploration of the cave in general will lead Link to a Bubbul Gem-carrying Bubbulfrog lurking below the eastern entrance.

Finding and rescuing Selmie will lead to her both gifting Link a Strong Zonaite Shield and opening up TOTK’s own shield-surfing mini-game.

TOTK’s Hint Towards Selmie’s Location Can Be Misinterpreted

Fin's Quest Dialog Isn't Specific

Close

Despite how close Selmie is to Fin, she can still be quite hard to find. There are several reasons for this, which mostly revolve around the environment that this side quest takes place in. For example, although Fin’s comment that Selmie must not be able to see his smoke signal is intended to point to her being in a cave, at first glance the wording is fairly ambiguous. The Hebra Mountains cover a large area, and the surrounding valley alone can easily obscure the signal from view. As a result, Fin’s hint may mislead people instead of helping them.

Related One Of Zelda: TOTK’s Best Side Quests Is Very Easy To Miss There are many side quests in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, but one of the most interesting is also notably hard for players to find.

Moreover, with no indication of how far Selmie may have traveled, and considering the fact that Fin is looking up at the Biron Snowshelf, it is possible to conclude that Selmie must be located somewhere high up on the snowshelf, or even on the other side entirely. This supposition is both natural and completely incorrect, but without further clarification from the game, it is still an easy mistake to make. This can then lead to the side quest taking far longer to complete than it rightfully should if Link does try to search the entirety of the Biron Snowshelf.

Another factor to consider in this is the weather: the Hebra Mountains are affected by a near-constant blizzard, which drastically reduces visibility. Both entrances are relatively small openings in dark rock, and these are illuminated by only dim lighting at nearly all times. Because of this, it can be very hard to find the cave in question, especially if somebody either misses the glow of the Blupee or does not know its significance and carries on further down the slope. As a result, it can be simpler to locate them directly through the use of coordinates.

Finding Selmie In Tears Of The Kingdom Can Be Surprisingly Difficult

TOTK's Open-World Design Is The Culprit

The use of the in-game map’s coordinates does not come up much in Tears of the Kingdom itself (aside from a strange case of divine intervention), making their use more prominent among the game’s community. Nevertheless, as the struggle to locate Selmie can demonstrate, it is immensely useful to have a clear reference for where to find certain locations and objects in the game, and sharing coordinates is an excellent way to help others experiencing difficulties in this area.

On the other hand, if people do struggle so much, this can reflect poorly on the design of TOTK’s environment. Depending on how Link approaches the area containing the East Biron Snowshelf Cave, it can be very easy not to see the entrance. This in turn makes completing "The Duchess Who Disappeared" more difficult than it truly needs to be, and, if resorting to coordinates sourced from outside the game, can cause frustration when somebody realizes how close they were to finding Selmie all along.

"The Duchess Who Disappeared" caters to those who have an interest in shield-surfing in Tears of the Kingdom, but completing it means facing an environment well-disposed to keeping things hidden. The main difficulties in resolving Selmie’s plight are successfully interpreting the smoke signal hint and then navigating the Hebra Mountains in just the right way to find the East Biron Snowshelf Cave. Because of the environment the side quest takes place in, it may arguably be one of the more difficult offered by The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, as well as one of the most frustrating.