Climbing Death Mountain

To the Mountain

You can stop at Lon Lon Ranch at this time if you want to, but you can’t finish everything there with your current inventory. The only real advantage to going now is to have an extra bottle before the next dungeon. Head across the river and up the staircase on the other side where Impa showed you to reach Kakariko Village. The entire Kakariko Village section below is optional. If you don’t need or want to do any optional things for upgrades feel free to skip ahead.

Kakariko Village

There’s a bunch of stuff to do in Kakariko Village. To start, grab the cucco you see at the entrance of the village and continue forward. Take the first right you can and it will lead you to a lady standing outside a pen. Throw the cucco into the pen and you can speak with her to discover that she has lost seven of them. Finding them all will reward you with a bottle, so it’s a good idea to do so.

• Right next to the pen.
• Behind the gated house. Use a cucco to jump over to the ledge to get behind it, then toss them both back over the short fence.
• Climb the ladder back here to find a fourth cucco at the top.
• Roll into the crate near the house by the staircase to uncover a fifth cucco.
• The sixth is near the gate leading to Death Mountain.
• Use one to float to the gated off section to reach the final cucco.

With the bottle in your possession you can head through the small pathway in the wall nearby to reach the graveyard. Once inside you should see a patch of grass on the right and a small rock near it. Lift this rock to uncover some bugs and catch them in your shiny new bottle.

[optional a=”graveyard-soil-skulltula” id=”graveyard-soil-gs” name=”Optional: Gold Skulltula”]

Drop some bugs near the soft soil in the graveyard to force the gold skulltula out of hiding. Once it pops out you can defeat it and collect another token.

At the back of the graveyard is a large tombstone with a triforce marking out in front. Stand on this marker and play Zelda’s Lullaby to destroy the tombstone and reveal a hole beneath it. Jump down this hole to the Royal Family’s Tomb and open the door you find there. In the next room there are 4 keese on the walls. If you don’t move too far into it you can pull out your slingshot and take them out before they become a problem. The next room can be a little scary as it’s full of redeads and acid pools. If you stay along the left side of the wall you should be safe and avoid taking damage from anything. Check the inscription at the back of the next room to learn the Sun’s Song.

While making your way out of the tomb you can use the sun’s song to stun the redeads and avoid, or kill, them. Once you’ve made it back outside it will be night due to playing the sun’s song. During the night in the graveyard you can move gravestones and even play Dampe’s Heart-Pounding Gravedigging Tour.

[optional a=”graveyard-piece-of-heart” id=”graveyard-poh” name=”Optional: Piece of Heart”]

When exiting the Royal Family’s Tomb there is a row of tombstones in front. The second one to the left of the pathway hides a hole where you will find a redead inside. Play the sun’s song near the redead to reveal a chest containing a Piece of Heart

[optional a=”dampe-piece-of-heart” id=”dampe-poh” name=”Optional: Piece of Heart”]

You can ask Dampe to dig up the soil locations in the graveyard. Each dig has a 1/10 chance of containing a piece of heart, with a guaranteed piece of heart after 14 digs if you don’t leave the area. If you get unlucky just keep trying and remember you can move other grave stones to find extra rupees. The digging game is only available from 18:00 to 21:00 so you’ll have to wait for the right time of day to do it. The first time you learn the sun’s song sets this to the right time and it’s a great time to do it. Any other time you play the sun’s song it will not be within the time frame. Also note that the double soil patches will only have a prize in the second patch.

There’s a grave near the front marked with flowers that you can pull to uncover a hole. Inside you will find a chest containing a Hylian Shield. This shield can be useful for the next dungeon and Death Mountain in general so your wooden Deku Shield doesn’t catch fire. With all that you’re done in the graveyard for now, so get some more bugs from under the rock and head back to Kakariko Village. Now that it’s night you can get some more gold skulltulas which will allow you to get the Adult’s Wallet.

[optional a=”construction-skulltula” id=”construction-gs” name=”Optional: Gold Skulltula”]

Head to the building under construction near the center of town and use your slingshot to kill the gold skulltula you find there.

[optional a=”kakariko-tree-skulltula” id=”kakariko-tree-gs” name=”Optional: Gold Skulltula”]

Roll into the tree near the entrance to Kakariko Village to knock a gold skulltula loose and collect the token it has.

[optional a=”kakariko-house-skulltula” id=”kakariko-house-gs” name=”Optional: Gold Skulltula”]

A not so well hidden gold skulltula on the side of a house near the entrance to Death Mountain. An easy one to spot and collect.

[optional a=”kakariko-tower-skulltula” id=”kakariko-tower-gs” name=”Optional: Gold Skulltula”]

There’s a skulltula on the ladder leading up the tower in Kakariko Village. Use the slingshot to defeat it and climb the ladder to collect the token.

[optional a=”spider-house-skulltula” id=”spider-house-gs” name=”Optional: Gold Skulltula”]

On the side of the Skulltula house is a gold skulltula that is easy to destroy.

If you’ve been following along with this walkthrough you’ll have 11 gold skulltulas by now. With just 10 you can enter the house with a large fence attached to it near the entrance to the village and speak with the person you’ve managed to rescue inside. You’ll receive an Adult’s Wallet in exchange for saving them, allowing you to carry up to 200 rupees at a time.

Up the Mountain

With all of that out of the way you can head up the staircases at the north side of the village and show Zelda’s Letter to the guard at the gate who will then let you through. He recommends you go up with a Hylian Shield, but if you went to the graveyard following this walkthrough you already have one so you can just equip it and you’re good to go.

The trail up Death Mountain is pretty straightforward. Just follow it up while dodging the tektites and gorons and take the path on the right where the gorons are rolling down the mountain. Enter Goron City at the top and make your way to the bottom of it – jumping down is the fastest way here. Stand on the carpet in front of the closed door and play Zelda’s Lullaby to open it. If you speak with the goron inside, Darunia, he’ll tell you he was expecting someone else and tell you to leave him alone. Break the pots in here for a deku stick and you’ll see that there’s a lit torch as well. Light the deku stick using the torch and run back out to the main area of the city. Use your burning stick to light the torches down here as well and set the giant vase in the middle of the room spinning. Lighting a torch causes the timer on the stick burning to reset so you don’t need to be putting it away and getting a new one out to prevent it burning out.

There’s a cool shortcut back to Kokiri Forest that you can use the burning deku stick to take advantage of. With the 4 torches at the bottom of the area lit you can light another stick and run up the stairs. Take an immediate right and light the torches you see by another hallway. With those lit, take your burning stick down the hallway and use it to knock one of the bomb flowers off the wall. Back up so you aren’t caught in the explosion and let it go off to destroy the rocks blocking the way. Head down the rest of the hallway and you’ll find yourself in the Lost Woods.

Lost Woods

Once you’ve entered the Lost Woods you’ll encounter Kaepora Gaebora once again. He tells you to follow your ears and you’ll be just fine. This means you can just follow the pathway that has the music coming from it. For those that don’t want to do that, from Goron City the correct path is left, left, forward, left, right. Following that will get you into the Sacred Forest Meadow where you’ll find your path blocked by an iron gate. To the left of this is a wolfos that you’ll need to defeat to open in. An easy way to do this is to let it attack you and just step backwards to avoid it, then jump slash its back when it’s turned around. This is because wolfos take 2x damage from the back and you can defeat it this way with just one hit.

Once the gate drops head through and take a right. Follow this path around using your shield to reflect the attacks from the Mad Scrubs. Eventually you’ll come to another pathway through the walls filled with some low grass. Head through this and you can take either the left or right pathways to continue on, though I prefer the left. Go through the narrow path through the wall again to climb some stairs taking you further into the meadow. Dodge or defeat the mad scrubs here as well and climb the other set of stairs to find Saria playing her Ocarina waiting for you.

After learning Saria’s Song you can make your way back out of the Sacred Forest Meadow. If you climb the ladder at the bottom of the stairs you can just go over top of the maze to get out more quickly. You can also jump down the hole to find a fairy fountain. If you got the extra bottle you can catch a fairy in it, but if you only have one and it’s filled with bugs you should hold on to those for now.

Back in the Lost Woods there is some more optional stuff you can do to finish off a heart container, upgrade your deku stick carrying capacity, and upgrade your slingshot ammo capacity again. If none of these interest you, simply go left, right, forward, right, then right again to return to Goron City and skip ahead. If these upgrades do interest you just walk straight ahead to leave the Lost Woods, then turn around and go back in.

[optional a=”skull-kid-piece-of-heart” id=”skull-kid-poh” name=”Optional: Piece of Heart”]

Jump up on the small tree stump to the immediate left when you enter the Lost Woods. Pull out your ocarina and play Saria’s Song and the Skull Kid here will reward you with a Piece of Heart.

[optional a=”lost-woods-soil-skulltula” id=”lost-woods-soil-gs” name=”Optional: Gold Skulltula”]

Just past the area with a skull kid and 2 tree stumps is an open area where there’s a patch of soft soil. Drop some bugs into the soil to force out the gold skulltula hiding there.

From the entrance of the Lost Woods, go left and left again to find a large open area. Jump down and head to the far side where you’ll find a business scrub. Use your deku shield to reflect the deku nut back at him and knock him out of his hole. Once he’s stopped attacking you speak with him and he’ll offer to sell you a deku stick carrying capacity upgrade for 40 rupees.

Taking the right path from the entrance of the Lost Woods you’ll see a log hanging off a tree branch. Pull out your slingshot and hit the center (100 points) of it three times in a row to cause a scrub to come out and reward you with a slingshot ammo upgrade. This isn’t as hard as it seems since you can just hit it once, then follow it with 2 more immediately without moving the slingshot.

[optional a=”simon-says-piece-of-heart” id=”simon-says-poh” name=”Optional: Piece of Heart”]

Down in the area below where you shot a log to obtain a slingshot ammo upgrade is a tree stump near a small tree. Pull out your ocarina here and play along with the Skull Kids here. You’ll need to play the game several times, but after the final one you’ll be rewarded with a piece of heart.

With the upgrades out of the way it’s time to head back to Goron City. From the entrance of the Lost Woods that’s a right, left, then straight ahead. Cut the grass right before the doorway to Goron City to catch some more bugs before you go.

Opening Dodongo’s Cavern

Back in Goron City head to Darunia’s room. He was grumpy with you before, but this time go play Saria’s Song in front of him. He’ll break out into dance because of your mad ocarina skills and feel so good after he’ll give you the Goron Bracelet. This lets you pick up the bomb flowers you’ve seen around the area. While it’s now possible to get a bomb flower into the vase in Goron City, it doesn’t provide any immediate gain and it’s far easier to do with the actual bombs after you’ve completed the next dungeon. Use the stairways to get back to the top of Goron City and out to the Death Mountain Trail once more.

Head through the archway to the right on the trail where you’ll find a goron and a bomb flower near the edge. Pick up the bomb flower and toss it over the fence so it lands near the boulder below and blows it up. Toss it just slightly left and you should land it without issue. You can get a piece of heart early here with a roll jump from the ledge, but we’ll cover the intended way to get it later in the walkthrough. Once the cutscene for the boulder has played out make your way back down the trail – or jump – and head inside Dodongo’s Cavern.

[optional a=”death-mountain-trail-skulltula” id=”dmt-gs” name=”Optional: Gold Skulltula”]

Drop bugs in the soft soil at the entrance to Dodongo’s Cavern to get the gold skulltula out and collect its token.