Shadow Temple - The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time Guide - IGN (2024)

Now that you have acquired the Lens of Truth, you are ready to take on the Shadow Temple. As an Adult, play the Nocturne of Shadows to be transported to the entrance to the Shadow Temple. Walk down the stairs and stand on the pedestal. Use Din's Fire to light all the surrounding torches at once, which will open the door to the Shadow Temple.

Shadow Temple

You will be using the Lens of Truth frequently, so have it set to a button for quick access (make sure you have a full enough Magic Meter to use it. If not, you can forage for magic pots to replenish your magic reserve). Walk down the hallway, crossing the gap with your Longshot. You activate the Lens of Truth, you'll see that the wall with the face on it isn't real. Pass through this wall.

Getting the Dungeon Map

In the room with skulls and a giant bird statue in the center, there is one other wall that can be walked through. Head through this door in the corner. As soon as you enter this new room, head right and enter the first room that you can find with your Lens. Kill the ReDead and both Keese to get the Dungeon Map.

Getting the Hover Boots

Leave here and find another hidden pathway to the right, leading into a similar-looking room. There's another hidden pathway in this room that takes you to a sealed room with hands sticking out of the ground, a sight you've seen before at the Bottom of the Well.

That's right, another Dead Hand, although this time you're more powerful, especially if you have Biggoron's Sword. Use the same strategy as before (let a hand grab you, escape, and attack its head). Alternatively, if you just attack the hands, the Dead Hand will eventually pop up from the ground as well. Each strategy works just as well as the other. After being defeated, the Dead Hand will leave behind a chest with this dungeon's treasure: the Hover Boots.

With these you can float off the ground for a while, but at the same time they offer little traction, causing you to slide around on the ground.

Set the Hover Boots to a button and return to the room with the giant circle of skull torches and the bird statue. Use your Lens to find the one, real skull on a pike (the one that doesn't disappear), and push the bird statue until it's facing the real one (do not stop pushing the bird statue until it's facing the correct skull, otherwise the floor will open up and send you back to the entrance of the room.) This will unlock the door to the east. Float over there with the Hover Boots (be sure to get a running start) and continue further into the temple.

Getting the Compass

There is a Beamos in the center of the next room with diverging pathways. The Lens reveals that two of them are only illusions, so proceed to the right and enter the door to encounter two Gibdo enemies. Use the Longshot, or Sun's Song to stun them, then eliminate them with your sword. This prompts another treasure chest with the Compass to appear. Return to the previous room.

If you want a Big Fairy to replenish all of your energy, destroy the Beamos, go to where it stood, and play the Song of Storms. You can do this as many times as you want by re-entering the area.

Enter the door on the opposite side. Be careful about the large rotating scythes and maneuver your way around the room, collecting all the silver rupees. They're pretty easy to find; the trickiest one requires you to use your Longshot to reach a platform above. Go through the now opened passageway and grab a Small Key from the chest.

Return once more to the room with the Beamos and use a bomb to destroy the easthern wall. Enter the locked door. You'll now be in a long passage that is littered with Skulltulas and dropping guillotines. The shadows cast by the Skulltulas give away their positions. Work your way through, watching out for Wallmasters near the end.

Falling Spikes

Finally, you'll reach a large room with platforms and more guillotines. You won't need the Hover Boots for this; in fact, they only make this part harder. Run and jump through the guillotines, watch out for the Fire Skull that bursts from nowhere at the last blade and tumble under the blade to the safety of the last platform. That safety is fleeting, however, when a single Stalfos enemy appears. While you fight him, be careful not to fall off the platform. (When he's defeated, you can play the Song of Storms to summon another big Fairy).

Equip your Hover Boots and walk onto the large, fluctuating platform to the right (make sure its in it lowest position when you start to run). From there, wait until the platform is in its highest position and hover over to the next platform, toward the guillotine to reach solid ground safely. A Beamos and Blade Traps dominate the big platform ahead. The idea is to collect the silver rupees around them, including the one underneath the Beamos, to open the locked door.

The next room features sets of falling spikes. The sign nearby hints at some kind of object that would protect you from them. Using the Lens, and you will see a big block in the wall nearby. Pull it out onto the face tile on the floor and push it along the outlined path. when you reach the point where the block stops both sets of falling spikes, stop pushing it and begin pulling. In the cells on the sides you'll find a Gold Skulltula and a bundle of arrows.

Continue pulling the block until it can't budge and use it to climb on top of the cells. Now use the spikes to get to the other side of the room. Hit the switch and grab the Small Key from the treasure chest that just appeared on the other side of the room (you can reach it with your Longshot.

The Phantom Boat

Return to the large room and head toward the falling guillotine blade. The Lens of Truth reveals hidden platforms that lead to the locked door on the other side. Using your Lens in this room, you'll see hidden spikes on the floor. Defeat the ReDeads and collect the silver rupees by using a combination of the Lens of Truth and the Longshot.

Go through the now unbarred door and it'll close behind you. Kill all four of the Keese in this room to re-open the door. Climb the big steps, pluck a bomb flower, and toss it into the giant skull to obtain a Small Key.

Go back to the room you came from, use your Lens and check out the hidden target above the platform with the locked door. Longshot to it and go through door to enter the next room.

Be careful about the fans in this room. To avoid falling down, you're going to have to equip your Iron Boots to walk firmly on the ground. Rely on the Iron Boots to get you through this whole fan section. Watch out for the eye that shoots fire at you. Enter the door to the next rooom and destroy the ReDeads. You'll find an invisible chest with arrows in it.

Now leave the room, and use your Lens to see an opening in the wall to your right. Equip your Hover Boots, and run towards that opening when the fan behind you starts to blow. Go through the door. Look to your right for a mound of dirt that looks out of place. Blow it up with a bomb and, using the Lens of Truth, open the chest for a Small Key. Take out the Gibdos and head through the locked door.

In the next room, pull the block onto the marked tile under the ladder or use the Longshot to pull yourself up the ladder. Jump onto the ship and play Zelda's Lullaby on the Triforce marker to make the ship move. Careful, there are two Stalfos you'll face as you sail. When the boat stops, it'll start sinking, so quickly jump off the left side onto a platform and go through the only door you can.

Getting the Boss Key

Using the Lens, navigate this invisible maze, carefully avoiding the Wallmasters. There are three other doors in this room. The south room contains a Small Key that appears when you kill all the invisible enemies. The west room contains a lot of rupees after you blow the three pots up, as well as a Gold Skulltula. The room to the north contains the Boss Key after you use Din's Fire to burn the wooden spiked walls.

After you're done, go back to the area from which you came (where the boat sank). You'll see another platform on the other side with a locked door, but it's across a very wide abyss. Take out your bow and fire one arrow into the bomb flowers to topple the giant gargoyle statue, creating a bridge for you to cross.

Go through the locked door, and use the Hover Boots and Lens of Truth to reach the Boss door.

Enter and fall into the pit.

Dungeon Boss: Bongo Bongo

Keep the Hover Boots on, as they keep the vibrations of the drum from messing you up too much. Bongo Bongo can be a bit of a pain. He uses his disembodied hands to most of the damage; he'll slap you, pound the ground, constrict you, and many other brutal things. The key is to freeze both his hands by shooting them with your bow (you must hit both within reasonable time of each other or they will un-freeze).

Once the hands are out of commission, use the lens to see Bongo Bongo's eye charge at you. Time a sword swipe or shoot another arrow quickly into the eye to stun it. Hack away at the eye and repeat. This boss fight is made much easier by the Biggoron's Sword.

Grab the Heart Container and enter the portal to be on your way to receive the Shadow Medallion from Impa.

Gerudo Valley

The entrance to the Gerudo Valley is on the west side of Hyrule Field.

The bridge connecting Hyrule Field to the rest of Gerudo Valley is currently under repair, so you need either Epona or the Longshot to cross it.

Gerudo Valley Heart Pieces

The first Heart Piece is located on a small cliff above the water. On the side opposite the carpenter's tent, drop off the ledge (as far to the left of the "no diving" sign as you can get). Walk to the grey boulder, than Longshot to the box on the opposite side. Break the box to uncover a Heart Piece. The only way out of here is to dive down into the waterway below, which leads to Lake Hylia.

Return to the Gerudo Valley. On the same side as the carpenter's tent, drop off the north most portion of the ledge, onto the ledge below. Jump into the water and immediately equip the Iron Boots. Walk north towards the waterfall, and Longshot up to the ladder. Climb the ladder to reach a Heart Piece.

After collecting everything in the area, you can continue on your main quest.