# Could a Zelda-style hookshot be built? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 13, 2004, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-zelda-style-hookshot-be-built/228972 "2004-02-13T02:26:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![emekthian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecae2f/32.png) [@emekthian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/emekthian)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2004, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-zelda-style-hookshot-be-built/228972/1 "2004-02-13T02:26:24Z")
Is it possible to actually build a Zelda-style hookshot (in the game, the hookshot is a long spring powered chain with some kind of barb on the end. You can fire it at certian things to make them come to you, or at other things to pull yourself over there)? If it’s not, is that because the physics are wrong, or because the technology needed to build one doesn’t exist? ---
**Author:** ![Achernar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e274bd/32.png) [@Achernar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Achernar)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2004, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-zelda-style-hookshot-be-built/228972/2 "2004-02-13T02:41:16Z")
I imagine the trick is getting it to spring out and retract without having to wind it every time, or having some sort of power source. Then again, in Ocarina of Time the Hookshot came with a Fairy Laser Site ™. ---
**Author:** ![emekthian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecae2f/32.png) [@emekthian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/emekthian)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2004, 7:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-zelda-style-hookshot-be-built/228972/3 "2004-02-15T07:15:15Z")
I didn’t think this would be a question so tough that only one person would reply. ---
**Author:** ![something\_clever](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3bc359/32.png) [@something\_clever](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/something_clever)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2004, 7:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-zelda-style-hookshot-be-built/228972/4 "2004-02-15T07:19:12Z")
no, its impossible. think about it, the thing is the size of a coke can… but it contains 50 feet of chain. kind of self explanatory. ---
**Author:** ![owlofcreamcheese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/97f17d/32.png) [@owlofcreamcheese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/owlofcreamcheese)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2004, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-zelda-style-hookshot-be-built/228972/5 "2004-02-15T17:08:43Z")
it doesn’t even make sense in the games! think about it, you shoot something directly in front of you 50 feet away… then levitate towards it along the rope. in real life you’d drag along the ground and fall into the pit you were hookshoting over. in the game you always go directly towards where you shot, in real life you’d fall/swing while the rope was pulling you ---
**Author:** ![AndrewL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@AndrewL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AndrewL)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2004, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-zelda-style-hookshot-be-built/228972/6 "2004-02-15T17:36:05Z")
In order to both eject under power and return under power, the device would need some kind of significant power source. There would have to be essentially some kind of winch motor and battery to reel the chain in with enough force to pull someone along with it. Building some kind of spring-loaded harpoon device that reloads automatically woul dnot be impossible, but I expect it would be a much larger, clumsier, and less reliable machine than presented in the game. The batteries would need periodic recharging, too. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2004, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-zelda-style-hookshot-be-built/228972/7 "2004-02-15T17:50:31Z")
Opposing Force made good use of the Barnacle creature to this effect. ---
**Author:** ![Achernar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e274bd/32.png) [@Achernar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Achernar)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2004, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-zelda-style-hookshot-be-built/228972/8 "2004-02-15T18:15:39Z")
> [@owlofcreamcheese](#): > > it doesn’t even make sense in the games! > > think about it, you shoot something directly in front of you 50 feet away… then levitate towards it along the rope. in real life you’d drag along the ground and fall into the pit you were hookshoting over. in the game you always go directly towards where you shot, in real life you’d fall/swing while the rope was pulling you I think it’s supposed to be shown in slow motion in the games. If the Hookshot were actually as slow as it appears, the chain itself would fall under the influence of gravity and miss the target. The same is true of Arrows that you shoot, at least in Link to the Past. Or, I imagine it takes the same magic that allows the Boomerang to return to you after knocking into an enemy, or those mirrors in the Spirit Temple to shine light in the direction they’re facing, instead of following the laws of optics. ---
**Author:** ![emekthian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecae2f/32.png) [@emekthian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/emekthian)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2004, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-zelda-style-hookshot-be-built/228972/9 "2004-02-15T19:27:48Z")
Another related question. It seems logical that if Link fires the hookshot at something that weighs more than him, he will be pulled towards it. Likewise, if he fires it at something smaller than him, the smaller object will be pulled towards him. But assuming that someone in real life tried that with AndrewL’s machine, would that happen? ---
**Author:** ![AndrewL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@AndrewL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AndrewL)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2004, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-zelda-style-hookshot-be-built/228972/10 "2004-02-15T19:39:23Z")
What happens will depend on a lot of factors. Not only the relative weights of the person with the device and the target, but also how well each is held in place (Sitting on ice? Stuck in mud? Bolted down? Is the person firing it on roller skates, or bracing himself against something?) and angle to vertical at which you’re using the device (It’s a lot easier to pull somethig towards you if it’s starting at a higher level than you, gravity helps). Presumably, since the person using the device know what effect he’s trying to achieve, he canhelp things along by either holding onto something or pushing himself along in the direction he’s being pulled. I suspect that trying to pull yourself horizontally across a pit would run a high change of both yourself and the object you’ve harpooned ending up in the pit, however. ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2004, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-zelda-style-hookshot-be-built/228972/11 "2004-02-15T19:53:58Z")
> [@emekthian](#): > > Another related question. > > It seems logical that if Link fires the hookshot at something that weighs more than him, he will be pulled towards it. Likewise, if he fires it at something smaller than him, the smaller object will be pulled towards him. But assuming that someone in real life tried that with AndrewL’s machine, would that happen? I think it’s a little more complicated than that. You would have to consider friction as well. (if Link hooked onto a large piece of velcro that was dragging along the ground, it would probably “dig in” more than Link’s feet could, so Link would be pulled towards it.) Also, you would have to build some kind of harness to attach the hookshot to your body. Otherwise, if you hooked it onto a huge boulder, the hookshot would probably be yanked out of your hand and sail across the chasm without you :o ---
**Author:** ![Superblessed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a698b9/32.png) [@Superblessed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superblessed)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2012, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-zelda-style-hookshot-be-built/228972/12 "2012-04-13T17:03:17Z")
Wouldn’t any variation without body harnessing of sorts rip your arm off? ---
**Author:** ![Superblessed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a698b9/32.png) [@Superblessed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superblessed)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2012, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-zelda-style-hookshot-be-built/228972/13 "2012-04-13T17:19:50Z")
[https://physics.le.ac.uk/journals/index.php/pst/article/viewFile/442/283](https://physics.le.ac.uk/journals/index.php/pst/article/viewFile/442/283) ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2012, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-zelda-style-hookshot-be-built/228972/14 "2012-04-13T18:40:46Z")
FYI: This is an 8 year old thread and you’re unlikely to get any substantive responses.