Zora’s Domain

Big Bomb Bag

This section is optional and will have two gold skulltulas, a piece of heart, x additional rupees, and an upgraded bomb bag in it. If you don’t need or want any of these you can skip ahead to the magic.

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

At the entrance to the Death Mountain Trail there is a bombable wall hiding a gold skulltula. Destroy it now that you have bombs and defeat the skulltula with the slingshot. Climb the wall to retrieve its token. This Gold Skulltula can be gotten during the daytime.

Head back towards Goron City from Dodongo’s Cavern. Just outside the city and before the raised platform with rocks on it there is a cracked wall that you can destroy with a bomb. Behind this is a chest with 50 rupees in it you can collect. Once you’ve done that head inside the city.

There’s a giant goron rolling around one level below the entrance to Goron City. Head to the part of the level that is behind the pillar and covered. If you hit him with a bomb in this area he will stop rolling and give you a Big Bomb Bag in honor of your courage. If you stop him anywhere else he will simply tell you that you can’t stop his wild rolling and start going again.

[optional a=”goron-city-vase-heart-piece” id=”gc-vase-hp” name=”Optional: Piece of Heart”]

Light all the torches on the bottom floor of Goron City to make the large vase in the center spin around and move. Once it’s spinning you can toss a bomb, or bomb flower, into it and make it stop. It will spin wildy for a couple seconds and refeal either a happy, angry, or neutral face. If it lands on the happy face it will shoot out a piece of heart to collect. While possible to do with a bomb flower, we recommend waiting until after Dodongo’s Cavern and using normal bombs to accomplish this. The screenshot shows where we recommend throwing the bomb from to get the happy face to appear.

Return to the top level of Goron City and you’ll find three boulders just past the entrance blocking the path to another doorway. Destroy them with a bomb and enter this doorway to find a room with several brown and gray boulders. You can’t blow up the gray boulders with bombs, so you’re limited to only being able to get through where the brown ones were. You’ll want to blow up the one on the right to start, then the one immediately in the way. From there destroy the one on the left, then turn right and blow up the one in the middle. At the end of the room you’ll find two chests holding a total of 100 rupees.

[optional a=”goron-city-boulder-room-skulltula” id=”gc-boulder-room-gs” name=”Optional: Gold Skulltula”]

At the end of the room with gray and brown boulders in Goron City there is a crate behind the two chests. Destroy it by rolling into it or blowing it up with bombs to uncover a gold skulltula hiding beneath.

Magic

After completing Dodongo’s Cavern the cutscene places you so you’re going up the Death Mountain once again. Head up the path and turn left at the top. Continue up along the slope to the left of where you entered Goron City and you’ll find your way blocked by some boulders. Using the bombs you can destroy these boulders and clear the path so you can continue up the mountain. The second boulder may be a bit tricky as it requires timing your bomb throw so it explodes as it’s passing by. You can also try angling the throw so the bomb sits just up on the ledge next to the boulder to blow it up.

Once you’ve cleared the boulders you can continue up the trail where you’ll find a pathway leading to a large wall. When you start down this path the volcano will begin a small eruption, causing some flaming rocks to fall on you. If you have the Hylian Shield you can block these by holding R and waiting out the eruption. If you don’t have the Hylian Shield or just aren’t that worried you can roll quickly through the area. These rocks won’t burn your Deku Shield.

On the giant wall at the end of the trail are some skullwalltulas that make climbing it a little difficult. If they see you while you’re climbing they’ll rush at you and knock you off the wall. Use the ledges on the wall and the slingshot to safely knock them off the wall so you can climb up without trouble. At the top you’ll find Kaepora Gaebora again, but ignore him for now. Instead blow up the cracked wall on the left and head inside the Great Fairy’s Fountain.

Walk up to the Triforce symbol on the floor and play Zelda’s Lullaby. The Great Fairy will appear and grant you access to the spin attack, as well as the ability to use magic. She’ll also refill all your health and magic, what a nice fairy! Once you’ve finished you can head back outside.

Head back outside and you can lift the rock here to catch some more bugs in a bottle for later gold skulltulas. There is an optional gold skulltula to get here before talking to Kaepora Gaebora to quickly get back down the mountain and into Kakariko Village.

[optional a=”death-mountain-crater-skulltula” id=”dmc-crate-gs” name=”Optional: Gold Skulltula”]

Immediately inside Death Mountain Crater there is a crate you can destroy that is hiding a gold skulltula.

Zora’s River

After Kaepora Gaebora drops you off in Kakariko Village you’ll be on a roof. Turn around and head to the left towards the graveyard and you should be able to see a small balcony. Drop from the roof to this balcony and head inside the house to find a piece of heart in the cow pen within.

Head out of Kakariko Village towards Hyrule Field and turn left at the bottom of the stairs. Follow the wall here to a stone arch with a sign where the river is flowing from. Enter through here to reach Zora’s River.

[optional a=”river-tree-skulltula” id=”river-tree-gs” name=”Optional: Piece of Heart”]

There is a tree near the entrance of Zora’s River. Roll into it to cause a gold skulltula to fall out so you can defeat it for its token.

Start traveling along the path and Kaepora Gaebora will speak to you again, this time telling you that the Zoras will only open their door for someone with a connection to the royal family. Use your bombs to blow up the rocks blocking your way forward and continue up to the man chowing down near the fence. Speak with him and he’ll tell you about the magic beans he’s selling and ask if you want some. If you aren’t interested in any of the extra pieces of heart or gold skulltulas in the game you don’t need any, but if you are you may want to buy some. Buy as many as you can, but make sure you have at least 20 rupees leftover. The price increases by ten with each one you buy, so if you have 200 rupees you can buy five and still have 50 rupees left.

If you bought beans you can plant one right next to the salesman. These won’t grow until later in the game, but they’re useful when they do. Grab the nearby cucco when you’re ready and jump across the river to get around the fence.

Follow the trail around some more, jumping back across the river and then down to the lower area. You can try to carry the cucco a bit further to get a piece of heart early, but it’s easier to just get it after the next dungeon. Continue along the path while climbing the small ledges and crossing the wooden bridge up to a large waterfall. Navigate the small walkways here until you’re right in front of the waterfall. There’s a stone set into the grass with the Triforce symbol on it, so play Zelda’s Lullaby on the ocarina to create a gap in the waterfall that you can jump through.

[optional a=”zoras-river-ladder-skulltula” id=”zoras-river-ladder-gs” name=”Optional: Gold Skulltula”]

At Zora’s Waterfall there is a ladder on the small walkways in case you fall. Wait for night or play the Sun’s Song and a gold skulltula will appear on it. Use the slingshot to defeat it and climb up the ladder to collect the token.

Zora’s Domain

Head to the top of Zora’s Domain where you’ll see King Zora. If you speak to him you’ll discover he’s worried about his daughter, Princess Ruto. Go down the hallway to the left and speak with the Zora you find there to play the diving game. Pay the 20 rupees and jump down the waterfall to collect the blue rupees that were thrown down. Press A to dive down and grab them. Use Link’s shadow to line up above the rupees if you need to. Once you’ve finished the zora will tell you they’ve got something very nice for you. Return to the top of the waterfall and get the Silver Scale. This allows you to dive further underwater than before.

You can play again to try to get more rupees if you’d like, but you don’t get anything else notable by playing more games. With the Silver Scale in hand you can dive off the waterfall once more. In the water you’ll see a hole with a small pillar on either side of it. You can dive down and reach this now, so head through to quickly get to Lake Hylia.

Out near one of the pillars in the lake you should see a glass bottle on the bottom of the lake. Dive down to grab it and you’ll discover it’s got a letter in it. That’s all you need to do here so you can head back through the hole you emerged from and return to Zora’s Domain.

[optional a=”scarecrows-song” id=”scarecrows-song” name=”Optional: Scarecrow’s Song”]

In Lake Hylia there are two patches of dirt near where the shortcut to Lake Hylia lies. In the lower patch is the scarecrow, Bonooru. You can pull out your ocarina in front of him and create your own song with any eight notes on the ocarina. This is useful later on in the game as it will call his buddy, Pierre, to help you out in certain areas.

Back in Zora’s Domain you’ll need to head to the top once more. Stand on the raised platform in front of King Zora and pull out the bottle with the letter in it. He will read it and grant you permission to pass so you can rescue Princess Ruto. Before you go though you’ll want to head to the bottom of Zora’s Domain again. To the east down here is some shallow water where you’ll see some fish swimming around. Head into the water and catch a fish in your bottle. Now you can head back to the top and past King Zora into Zora’s Fountain.

[optional a=”zoras-domain-heart-piece” id=”zoras-domain-hp” name=”Optional: Piece of Heart”]

Throughout Zora’s Domain there are five unlit torches. One at the bottom of the staircase to King Zora’s room. Another in front of the shop. The third is in the shallow water near the school of fish. The final two are behind the waterfall. You can light a deku stick with the torch in King Zora’s room and use it to light the remaining torches. The one at the bottom of the stairs will stay lit, but you’ll have to move fast to light the other four without them going out. If successful a hidden chest will appear behind the waterfall. Open it for a piece of heart.

[optional a=”farores-wind” id=”farores-wind” name=”Recommended: Farore’s Wind”]

Farore’s Wind is an item useable only in dungeons that will let you return to the room you set it in. While it’s not required to beat the game, it can be very useful. It will allow you to leave a dungeon to get items like potions or fairies if you need them and return to the room you were in. Because of this we highly recommend you get it.

In the southeast corner of Zora’s Fountain there is a small area of land sticking out of the water. Bomb the large wall where gray and brown boulders are to uncover a Great Fairy’s Fountain. Play Zelda’s Lullaby on the Triforce symbol inside to receive Farore’s Wind from the great fairy.

The final step to being able to reach the third dungeon is to stand on the raised platform in front of the large fish you see in Zora’s Fountain. Once there use your bottle with the fish in it to release it. It will flop around for a second before Jabu himself will open wide and suck it down, you included!