Hogwarts Legacy A Bird in the Hand; How to solve the ruins' light and shadow puzzle in the Poppy Sweeting side quest

If magical beasts from the Wizarding World have always enthralled you, then Poppy Sweeting is a name that you’re already familiar with. Poppy Sweeting is a character in Hogwarts Legacy who takes you through most of your adventures with magical beasts in the game. You are first introduced to her in the Care of Magical Beasts Class, at the start of Chapter 9- Prepare for your search for the Final Keeper. 

One of the most challenging quests in Poppy Sweeting’s questline is “A Bird in the Hand”. This is the eighth relationship quest in her story, and players have expressed how the ruins puzzle has left them stumped. Here’s where you can find out how to solve it. 

A Bird in the Hand Side Quest- Details

A Bird in the Hand follows you and Poppy into a search for the snidgets. The snidgets are birds that inspired the Golden Snitch, and are known to be extinct in the story. However, this quest crops up new information that supports their existence which is now threatened by the poachers. You and Poppy will have to deliver the birds to the centaurs for their safety. 

The Quest starts with you and Poppy learning about the location of a certain moonstone in a cave from the centaur Dorran. Once you’ve retrieved the moonstone, you follow Dorran’s instructions and deliver it to the henge which reveals the location of the snidgets. They are in a ruins at The Gilded Perch. Once there, you’ll find the door leading to the ruins, blocked by some mechanism, or rather a puzzle. It is what players are calling the Light and Shadow because the clues lie in them. 

How to enter the ruins?

Here’s what you do. You first place your moonstone in the central structure at the designated place. This will illuminate the light on the two pillars placed on the circles around it. The lights cast a shadow through the central structure, much like a moondial. Fun part is, since you can move the pillars around, the shadows are movable too. 

You will also notice that placing the moonstone has made two of the rune symbols around the entrance to the ruins glow. All you need to do is make sure that the shadow in the form of the pointed hands of a clock are on the two symbols on the ground that have been indicated on the door. Use Accio to draw the pillars around the circle in a way that their lights cause the shadow to be cast on one of the symbols. As soon as you place the shadows on the symbols, the doorway opens up on its own. 

Thereon, you enter the ruins, and you will have to solve one more puzzle involving another doorway. You’ll find two symbols of ice and fire on the floor. You’ll also find cubes containing the corresponding symbols nearby. Use the crate and get to the first floor to find the cube with the ice symbol. The cube with the fire symbol can be found behind the tree. 

Now the two symbols represent the spells Glacius and Incendio. Cast the spells on the two cubes once placed on their designated spots. A doorway will lead you straight towards the snidgets and here’s where you’ll be intercepted by the poachers. Fight your way through, with a little help from Poppy and Dorran ofcourse, and that’s you’ll get to rescue the snidgets. 

Do check out our other official guides for the gameplay of Hogwarts Legacy, tips and tricks and more right here.