Zelda Tears of the Kingdom: How to upgrade & revive Horses with Horse God Malanya
Most of your horse-bound antics in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom will take place at stables - but just like in this title's predecessor, sometimes you'll need a bit of divine intervention. That's where the Horse God Malanya comes in - but you'll need to find this unique great fairy in order to make use of his abilities.
Malanya is vital if you intend to do a lot of horse-riding in TOTK, as he'll allow you to upgrade the skills and stats of your horses and additionally revive dead horses if you get unlucky and lose one of your beloved steeds. On this page, we explain how to find - and use - this benevolent god.
Where to find & how to use the Horse God Malanya in TOTK
Players of the previous Zelda will likely remember Malanya, the mysterious great fairy - or, well, not great fairy. This god of all things horse-related is your one-stop shop for help with your horses - at least, for things that stables can't help you with. That covers things that are decidedly supernatural.
If you return to where Malanya lurked in BOTW in Tears of the Kingdom you'll be left wanting, however. Like the proper Great Fairies, the Horse God has moved - up into northern Akkala, deep in the far north-east of the map of Hyrule - tucked away behind Death Mountain, and not far from the old Akkala Ancient Tech Lab, which in TOTK has been taken over to become a Yiga Clan outpost.
Here's where to find Malanya as shown on the in-game map:
When you first approach Malanya, you'll need to offer up Endura Carrot food items in order to get him to come out of his cocoon. Endura Carrots grow across Hyrule, are available in a handful of shops, can sometimes be found near stables, and also drop from amiibo scans at random.
Hand over an Endura Carrot and you'll be able to access the Horse God's inventory. This looks just like a shop, but it allows you to do two vital things:
Revive Dead Horses
Sometimes, Link gets unlucky. Sometimes, you'll get ambushed in combat and your precious steed gets caught in the middle. Sometimes, there's nothing you can do - and you lose a horse. Luckily, this is where Malanya comes in.
A quick visit to Malanya will allow you to bring any deceased horses back to life - so long as they were first registered at a stable. If you lost any that weren't first registered at a stable, you'll be out of luck. But for those that you've registered, including Epona, should you have the right amiibo to unlock her, can be revived.
Upgrade your Horses
In addition, this time around, Malanya can actually upgrade and improve the attributes of your horses - meaning you can finally improve a specific favored steed if they're your preference to take out across Tears of the Kingdom's iteration of Hyrule. Each horse has four core stats - Strength, Speed, Stamina, and Pull - which will impact its performance both as a stand-alone ride and also when it's pulling carts and other add-ons that you might hitch to your steed with Ultrahand.
While your Bond with your horse still must grow naturally, the other stats can be improved by handing materials over to Malanya. This functions very similarly to upgrading your clothing and armor items.
It's worth noting that while all 'normal' horses can be upgraded, 'special' steeds cannot. This includes the Giant Horse you can tame - and Epona, who is obtained via amiibo.