Throughout your adventures in the land of Alefgard you’ll run across the bard Zalen, who seeks inspiration from the past to guide his art in the present. There’s plenty of incentive for you to search for Zalen, as you can find a piece of Erdrick’s gear by pursuing this game-long questline, but you can also unlock the trophy/achievement A New Song of Erdrick if you see things through. To that end, this page will provide all the locations where you can find Zalen in Dragon Quest 1: HD-2D Remake.
All Zalen Locations¶
| Location | Description |
|---|---|
| Forgotten Ruins | The first spot you can find Zalen is in the Forgotten Ruins, which is located northeast of Tantegel. Just cross the bridge east of the Wayfarer’s Chapel and search the forest for these ruins. Zalen will be strumming a lute(?) north of a pond. |
| Nameless Ruins | Guy has a taste for ruins, what can we say? You’ll find these ruins a fair ways south of the Roadside Inn, enroute to the Craggy Cave during your quest to recover the Thief’s Key. You’ll find him in the middle of the town square. |
| Damdara | In the desert northeast of the Citadel of the Monarch of Medals. You can find Zalen inside, just south of the one intact, enterable building in the ruins. |
| Cantlin | Zalen won’t be here on your first visit, but check back after clearing the [Weeping Isle] and he should appear on the bridge in the park in the middle of the city. |
| Galenholm | This one is cake - Zalen even tells you where he’s going! Return to Galenholm and search the beach along the southeastern edge of the city to find Zalen standing there. |
| Field of Flowers | For the next few steps you’re not actually looking for Zalen, but rather for the information Zalen thinks. Complete the [Shrine of Rain] and then return to the Field of Flowers, whereupon you’ll immediately end up chatting with the Over-Seer. |
| Shrine of Rain | Follow the Over-Seer’s advice and return to the Shrine of Rain to find Dream-Whisperer. Talk to her and she’ll teleport you to the Western Isle, triggering some scenes. After they’re done, be sure to pick up Erdrick’s Helm from the grave. |
| Rimuldar | To wrap things up, return to Rimuldar and head to the island on the western edge of town to find Zalen again. Talk to him and you’ll complete this quest. |
These steps aren’t super involved, but you do have to progress through most of the game to complete this questline. That said, it doesn’t matter when you talk to Zalen - you can skip this quest until the end of the game, then take care of everything in one fell swoop, so don’t worry about “missing” anything. In most cases, all you have to do is find Zalen (he’s not hard to spot - he’ll be standing out in the open with an exclamation point over his head) and talk to him, then move onto the next location. Zalen will remain at old locations until you advance the story enough for him to appear elsewhere, so don’t worry if he doesn’t seem to be moving on.
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