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Locationmajor

Popla Foothills Skyview Tower

Popla Foothills Skyview Tower stands on a grassy rise south-east of Hyrule Field and east of Lake Hylia.

Importancemajor

Key takeaways

  • The tower is repaired by freeing Elmerson, who is trapped in the excavation site beneath the hill.
  • The direct entrance is the Popla Foothills North Well, but the well does not lead to Elmerson’s cell from the correct side.
  • Enter the excavation site from the southern cave entrance, then use a movable stone on a floor switch to release him.
  • The reward is 50 Rupees from Elmerson and a Topaz in a chest inside the cave.
  • Activating the tower reveals a broad area containing parts of Faron Grasslands, Lake Hylia and southern Necluda, rather than only the immediate foothills.
  • The surrounding area contains several shrines, wells, caves, Korok puzzles and access points to the Depths. These are associated with the wider Popla Foothills exploration area, not all with the tower itself.

About this guide

Game: The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Scope: Base game, Surface and immediately associated caves, wells and nearby activities Region: Necluda, on the western edge of the broader Popla Foothills area Status: Open-world location, available after the opening Skyview Tower sequence

Overview

Popla Foothills Skyview Tower stands on a grassy rise south-east of Hyrule Field and east of Lake Hylia. It is one of the fifteen Skyview Towers in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, but unlike the first tower at Lookout Landing, it cannot be activated simply by reaching the terminal. The terminal has no power because the tower’s repairman, Elmerson, is trapped underground in the nearby Popla Foothills Excavation Site.

The tower is therefore both a regional map facility and the centre of a small exploration cluster. Its immediate surroundings include the Popla Foothills North Well, the Popla Foothills Excavation Site, several minor wells, the Hills of Baumer Chasm, and routes towards Deya Village Ruins, Lake Hylia, Faron Grasslands, Kakariko Village and the Dueling Peaks. The wider tower-covered area is considerably larger than the tower hill itself, extending across parts of Faron, Lake Hylia and southern Necluda.

The tower hill

The tower is built on a rounded grassy hill with a small collection of construction materials and Zonai-related equipment nearby. The entrance is open, but the terminal inside flashes without functioning. There is no hostile camp guarding the tower and no special weather requirement to reach it.

The hill should be treated as the central landmark of the area, not as the entire Popla Foothills region. From here, the ground falls towards the Faron Grasslands and Lake Hylia to the south and west, while the terrain rises towards the Dueling Peaks and Kakariko approaches to the north-east. The tower’s map reveal consequently covers a substantial portion of southern Hyrule rather than a small circular patch around the structure.

Included nearby places

For the purposes of this guide, “Popla Foothills Skyview Tower” includes the tower, its immediate access caves and wells, and the directly connected local exploration sites. It does not treat every location revealed by the tower as part of the tower itself.

Nearby exploration area

The boundaries between these places matter. For example, the Popla Foothills Excavation Site is a named cave and mission location, while the Popla Foothills North Well is a separate named entrance leading into the underground passage beneath the tower. The Hills of Baumer Chasm is also a separate map location rather than a second name for the tower’s underground area.

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Core tower cluster

Walkthrough

Practical tips

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The excavation site is the most important associated subarea. It is a small cave system beneath and south of the tower, apparently being investigated or worked by Hyrule’s repair personnel. Its practical role is to provide the route through which Link reaches Elmerson.

The cave is designed to teach a simple environmental puzzle rather than present a combat challenge. The important objects are the pressure switches, the movable object used to hold them down, and the bars separating Link from the chest and Elmerson.

Walkthrough: steps

  1. 01
    Reach Popla Foothills Skyview Tower. The tower is on a grassy hill south of the Sahasra Slope area and east of Lake Hylia. If approaching from Hyrule Field, travel south-east through the open grasslands. If approaching from Kakariko Village, follow the roads and lower slopes south-west.

Walkthrough: steps

  1. 01
    Inspect the terminal. Link can enter the tower, but the terminal is not operational. This confirms that the problem is not a locked entrance or a missing key item.

Walkthrough: steps

  1. 01
    Drop into the Popla Foothills North Well. The well is immediately beside the tower. It is the most obvious route into the underground passage and contains Elmerson, who calls for help from behind a barrier.

Walkthrough: steps

  1. 01
    Talk to Elmerson. He explains that he entered the underground area from another direction and became trapped. The well route places Link on the wrong side of the barrier, so simply looking for a switch in the first chamber will not complete the rescue.

Walkthrough: steps

  1. 01
    Leave through Ascend or backtrack, then travel south of the tower. The correct entrance is at the Popla Foothills Excavation Site, down the southern side of the hill. Several guides describe the site as having two openings, with the southern entrance providing access to Elmerson’s cell.

Walkthrough: steps

  1. 01
    Enter the excavation site. The cave contains a chest behind bars and a pressure switch. Use Ultrahand to move a nearby metal object or suitable object onto the first switch so that the barred section opens.

Walkthrough: steps

  1. 01
    Collect the chest. The chest contains a Topaz. The chest is optional for tower activation, but it is the main fixed treasure in the excavation-site sequence.

Walkthrough: steps

  1. 01
    Reach the second switch. Continue through the cave until you find the switch controlling Elmerson’s cell. Move the loose stone onto the pressure plate. Once the switch is held down, the barrier opens.

Walkthrough: steps

  1. 01
    Free Elmerson. Speak to him after opening the cell. He leaves the cave and goes to repair the tower.

Walkthrough: steps

  1. 01
    Return to the tower and activate the terminal. Elmerson’s repair restores power. Use the terminal, then launch from the tower to reveal the surrounding map.

Walkthrough: steps

  1. 01
    Receive the reward. Elmerson gives Link 50 Rupees after the repair sequence.

Practical tips: The site has two useful functions

  1. 01
    Mission progression: freeing Elmerson restores the tower.
  2. 02
    Treasure hunting: a chest contains Topaz.

Named directory: excavation-site contents

The game does not present every internal chamber as a separately named map location. The named location is the excavation site itself; the chest and switches are internal features rather than independent map entries.

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The tower area is unusually useful for underground exploration because several wells are concentrated around the southern foothills and Deya Village Ruins. Some are simple resource rooms, while others act as alternate entrances to caves or contain notes, enemies and treasure.

Popla Foothills North Well

This is the well beside the tower and the first place to visit when solving the tower problem. It leads to Elmerson’s trapped position but does not, by itself, provide the correct route for freeing him. The well’s main importance is that it establishes the location of the repairman and points Link towards the southern cave entrance.

Popla Foothills South Well

The southern well lies below the excavation area and is part of the wider foothills network. It should be checked if you are completing the local well checklist, although it is not required to activate the tower. Published location lists place it near approximately 0606, -2261.

Other nearby wells

The following wells are close enough to be useful during a full Popla Foothills sweep:

Not all of these belong to the immediate tower compound. They are included here because the tower’s surrounding exploration zone overlaps the Deya Village and Baumer Hill approaches. A complete well hunt should therefore follow the map’s own names rather than assume every nearby shaft is part of the tower location. The wider game contains 58 named wells, so the tower’s two Popla Foothills wells should not be confused with the several Deya Village wells nearby.

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The tower’s map coverage includes a number of shrines across southern Faron, Lake Hylia and Necluda. They are not all immediately beside the tower, but they are useful destinations after launching from it.

A published regional list identifies the following shrines in the broader Popla Foothills tower area:

The list covers the tower’s wider discovery region rather than only the tower hill. For example, Joju-u-u Shrine is near Lakeside Stable, while Ishokin Shrine is much farther south. Treat these as regional connections revealed or made easier to reach by the tower, not as a compact shrine cluster around the tower entrance.

Other nearby wells

Susub Shrine

Susub Shrine is particularly relevant to the local tower sweep because it lies in the Popla Foothills area and is associated with an underground route. Its approximate coordinates are listed as 0348, -2050, -0026. The shrine itself is a fixed location and should be recorded separately from the tower, wells and chasm.

Jochisiu Shrine and “Keys Born of Water”

Jochisiu Shrine is associated with the Shrine Quest “Keys Born of Water”. The shrine is in the wider Popla Foothills exploration zone, north-east of the tower, rather than directly at the tower site. The quest requires a skyward investigation and should not be mistaken for part of Elmerson’s repair mission.

Utojis Shrine and the Giant White Stallion

The wider southern Faron route also connects with the quest and exploration chain surrounding the Giant White Stallion. This is associated with the former Horse God area from Breath of the Wild and is a separate activity from the tower’s repair sequence. The tower is useful as a launch point for reaching the southern grasslands, but the horse activity is not a tower requirement.

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Hills of Baumer Chasm

The Hills of Baumer Chasm is the main nearby named entry to the Depths. It is east or south-east of the tower area, depending on the route taken, and should be treated as a separate location from the Popla Foothills North Well and Excavation Site.

A complete area sweep should check the chasm after activating the tower. The new map information makes it much easier to identify the surrounding surface landmarks and plan a return route from the Depths. The chasm is also useful for discovering the corresponding underground terrain and Lightroot network, although the available evidence does not establish that every nearby Depths landmark belongs to the tower’s formal location boundary.

Important distinction

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Important distinction

NameDetails
Popla Foothills North Wellsurface well beside the tower, used during the Elmerson rescue.
Popla Foothills Excavation Sitecave and repair mission location.
Hills of Baumer Chasmseparate Depths entrance in the broader surrounding area.

Elmerson

Elmerson is the only named character directly associated with activating Popla Foothills Skyview Tower. He is a repairman trapped inside the excavation site. Link must reach him from the southern entrance and open his cell using the pressure-switch puzzle.

After being freed, Elmerson returns to the tower and restores the terminal. He then pays Link 50 Rupees. His role is entirely connected to this tower repair event, and he does not function as a general shopkeeper or permanent regional service NPC.

Other people in the wider area

The tower itself does not form a settlement and has no permanent shop district, inn, stable or guard post. Travellers, monsters and occasional passing NPCs may appear on nearby roads, but they should not be treated as residents of the tower location.

These are neighbouring destinations, not subareas of Popla Foothills Skyview Tower.

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From Lookout Landing and Hyrule Field

Travel south-east from Lookout Landing through Hyrule Field, then continue towards the lower Faron approaches. This is a relatively open route with few mandatory obstacles. The tower is visible from a distance once Link reaches the surrounding grasslands.

From Kakariko Village

Travel south-west from Kakariko Village, descending from the village’s surrounding slopes. This is a practical route if you have already activated Makasura Shrine or explored the Sahasra Slope region.

From Lake Hylia

Approach from the north or north-east side of Lake Hylia and climb towards the grassy tower hill. The lake itself is not part of the tower compound, but the tower is an excellent launch point for reaching the southern and western shores.

From the Great Plateau

The Great Plateau lies farther west. You can travel across the Faron-side grasslands and approach the tower from the south-west, but this is a longer route than coming from Hyrule Field or Kakariko Village.

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The tower area has no unique boss encounter tied to its activation. The main dangers are ordinary overworld enemies, cave hazards and the possibility of becoming disoriented among the low hills and underground entrances.

Likely hazards

Bring a few Brightbloom Seeds if entering the wells or the excavation site before activating the tower. A hammer-type fused weapon is useful for the cave’s breakable stone, although mining is not necessary to solve the repair puzzle.

The area also contains ordinary resource deposits, plants and random overworld drops. These should not be confused with fixed rewards. The fixed, verified rewards connected directly with the tower event are:

The Topaz is a fixed chest reward, while ordinary ore, monster materials and overworld items are variable or respawning content.

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For map completion, do not stop after the tower launches. The broader region contains separately named wells, caves, shrines, chasms and Korok puzzles, and activating the tower only reveals the map. It does not automatically register or complete those locations.

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Likely hazards

SourceReward
Excavation Site chestTopaz
Elmerson after repair50 Rupees
Tower activationSurface map reveal and fast-travel access

For an efficient first visit

  1. 01
    Activate or mark a nearby shrine if one is already available.
  2. 02
    Reach Popla Foothills Skyview Tower.
  3. 03
    Inspect the inactive terminal.
  4. 04
    Drop through Popla Foothills North Well and speak to Elmerson.
  5. 05
    Use Ascend to return to the surface.
  6. 06
    Circle south around the hill until you find Popla Foothills Excavation Site.
  7. 07
    Solve the pressure-switch puzzle.
  8. 08
    Collect the Topaz.
  9. 09
    Free Elmerson and let him repair the tower.
  10. 10
    Activate the tower and launch.
  11. 11
    From the air, mark the Hills of Baumer Chasm, nearby wells, shrines and any unexplored cave entrances.
  12. 12
    Return later for a full Deya Village, Lake Hylia and southern Faron sweep.

Wider local sweep

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Popla Foothills is a returning surface region from Breath of the Wild, but the tower is a Tears of the Kingdom addition. The game’s wider world takes place after the events of Breath of the Wild, retaining many surface landmarks while adding Skyview Towers, caves, wells and the Depths. The tower therefore illustrates one of the sequel’s main changes: familiar terrain now contains new vertical routes and underground layers.

The excavation site also reflects Hyrule’s reconstruction effort. Elmerson is not defending a military outpost or operating a shop. He is part of the practical repair work needed to restore the kingdom’s new surveying network. The tower’s small rescue story consequently fits the broader post-Calamity rebuilding theme.

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Is Popla Foothills Skyview Tower in Faron or Necluda?

The tower is generally listed under Necluda, while its map coverage extends across parts of Faron and the Lake Hylia area. This is why different guides describe the tower as a Necluda, South Faron or southern Hyrule location. The safest distinction is that the tower’s physical location is in the Popla Foothills area of southern Necluda, while its reveal region is broader.

Why is the terminal not working?

Elmerson, the repairman sent to fix the tower, is trapped underground in the Popla Foothills Excavation Site. Free him through the southern cave entrance and he repairs the terminal.

Can I rescue Elmerson through the well?

The well gets you to Elmerson’s location, but not to the correct side of the barrier. You must leave and enter the excavation site from the southern entrance.

Do I need to complete a main quest first?

No special regional story quest is required. You need the normal early-game access to the Skyview Tower system and the Ultrahand ability used to manipulate the switches and objects.

What does the chest contain?

The fixed chest in the excavation-site sequence contains a Topaz.

What does Elmerson give Link?

Elmerson gives Link 50 Rupees after the tower is repaired.

Is the Hills of Baumer Chasm part of the tower?

No. It is a separate named chasm in the wider Popla Foothills exploration area. The tower is a convenient way to reveal and navigate towards it, but the chasm should be recorded independently.

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The exact boundary of the Popla Foothills tower-reveal region is a gameplay mapping convention rather than a clearly defined in-game administrative border. Reliable guides agree that it includes parts of Faron Grasslands, Lake Hylia and southern Necluda, but they differ in how they label the area and which nearby shrines they group under it.

The available evidence does not support claiming that every cave, Korok, enemy, ore deposit or Depths landmark within the revealed map is formally part of the tower location. Those entries should be catalogued under their own in-game names when completing a full regional directory.

Sources