The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time/Fire Temple

Goron City
The cloud on Death Mountain is red and flared up, which is a sign of danger. The sky near it is ashen and pale. The mountain is very violent and very active. It is time to see what is responsible for causing Death Mountain's big changes. Make your way to Goron City. You should find that it is deserted, except for one small, rolling Goron. Use your bombs to stop him. The Goron tells you his name. It is Link. He is Darunia's son. He explains that Ganondorf has captured all the Gorons and has imprisoned them in the Fire Temple. Darunia's son also reveals that his father is a descendant of an old Goron hero who killed Volvagia using a "Legendary Hammer." Darunia's son gives you a Goron Tunic to protect you from the intense heat of the temple and tells you of a secret passage to the temple from his father's room. Once you talk to him, he opens up the Goron Shop and Darunia's room.

The Frail Giant's Knife
Inside several bombable chambers on the same floor with Goron Link is Medigoron, a large Goron who has crafted a sword in seven years. You can buy it for 200 Rupees, but it is very frail. It is the Giant's Knife. It causes more damage than the Master Sword, but after a few strikes, it shatters! You can always buy more, but Biggoron, a Goron the size of a small mountain, can give you a better sword, but you need to go through a trading quest to get his powerful sword.

Death Mountain Crater
Move the statue centered on the wall in Darunia's room to reveal a passage to the Death Mountain Crater. Look around. You should see a bridge. Use your Hookshot to get to it. Sheik will appear at this time to teach you the "Bolero of Fire", the melody that will lead you to the Fire Temple.


 * The Bolero of Fire 

Darunia
Once you enter the temple just go straight and climb the stairs. Watch for the Fire Keese. Go through the unlocked door. You will see Darunia straight ahead. He tells you a short story about how Ganondorf locked up all the Gorons to feed to the Great Dragon. He goes to fight the dragon even though he doesn't have the "Legendary Hammer" (or the Boss Key!).

Freeing the Gorons
After talking to him go to your left and step on the switch to free the Goron. After you talk to him get the key. Each Goron has a key in his cell, which opens by hitting a switch. He will tell you that the pillar in this room is what you need to go to the room where Darunia went. Leave this room back to the first room. Now go through the locked door. In this next room cross the bridge to the other side. There are Red Bubbles here, skulls with red flames that pop out from lava. Also, avoid the Fire Keese that lurk here and all throughout the temple. After crossing the bridge, go to your right and cross the wooden plank and go straight. There is a funny looking wall. Strike it with your sword and you'll hear a strange clink instead of a clang. Bomb it to destroy it and then enter the door to find another Goron. Retrieve another small key from the chest. Don't forget to talk to the Gorons. They will tell you about switches in the temple, bombable walls, fake doors, strange dancing enemies, and even reveal secrets in the temple. Now go to the other side of the bridge. There you will find another Goron. Talk to him and get another key. Now go back onto the bridge and unlock the door. Cross the small lava river with the plank and climb the fence to the top. Kill the Keese and push the block onto the erupting lava that is burning below. When the block falls down, jump onto it and it will take you to the second floor. Unlock the door and move on to the next room.

There is a trapped Goron here. Ignore him for now because you can't do anything at this moment. Go to your left and climb the ledges on the side. Kill the Torch Slugs, slugs that are on fire. They take two hits to kill; one to extinguish them, one to kill them. Climb up to the top of the ledge and jump to the other ledge on the righ.t You will see a new switch, the crystal switch, but don't bother hitting it yet. Push the block on the ledge down and then jump down and pull it as far that it can go. Make your way around it and then jump onto it and then onto the fence. Climb up the fence. Up here, there is a fire preventing you from climbing any higher. Go to the level right above the crystal switch and drop a bomb, or hit it with the Hookshot. Quickly climb up the fence. When the bomb goes off or the Hookshot makes contact with the switch, it should trigger the crystal switch and make the fire go away for a limited time. Enter the door at the top.

There are two Gorons in this next room. There are boulders rolling around this room to keep you at bay. First turn left and stay along the wall to find the first one. Free him and take the key. Keep going around the perimeter of this room and you will find the second Goron. Get that key also. Then keep going around the perimeter until you find the locked door. Go through it. In the next room do not fall off the narrow ledge. If you do you will fall back into the first room you unlocked. To your right is a barred door. Look for an eye switch and shoot it with an arrow to open the door. Go to the door carefully. Inside the room behind it is a chest with the Dungeon Map. Go back to the narrow walkway and enter the locked door. Cross the narrow beam to the other side. Once you step on the metal grate at the end of the beam fire starts forming behind you and forces you to go forward. Cross until you are at the other side. Enter the door.

You are now once again in the room with the rolling boulders, but now you are on the top floor. Try not to fall. Jump to the platform with a crack in the ground. Navi will tell you she hears Goron voices below. Kill the Torch Slug and use a bomb and blow up the crack. Then jump down and you will be in the room where you once saw a Goron but couldn't reach him. Free the Goron and get the key. Go back from where you just dropped down. Now climb back up. Once you are at the top jump to the platform that has a switch and avoid the boulders, because they will knock you back to the floor below. Step on the switch to open a Goron's cell. Go to the gate that just opened. Free the Goron and get the key. If you fall, the Goron will leave but the key will still be there. Go back through the door that brought you to the upper level in this room. There is a door on the right in this room. Jump from the metal grates to the platform and open the locked door. Hurry, because the fire will now form and sweep by from behind you.

Be careful in this room. It is a large maze. If you get too close to some places, walls of fire appear. You'll get used to it after a while. There are some fake doors in this room, so before trying to open a door use a bomb on the door if it looks odd. Go through the maze and find a door on the left wall. Go in and get the Compass. Then go back into the maze room. Carefully navigate this room to the locked door. There is also a statue that shoots flames to avoid. Go into the locked door. Just go by the Goron for now and straight to the other door. You are now on the other side of the maze room. There is a switch that will extinguish the fire at the end of the maze. Step on the switch and then run towards the other door. Be careful since the fire walls are everywhere. This may take you a few tries to get the correct path down. Once you get up the ledge at the end of the maze, don't go in the door yet. Use a bomb first because the first one is fake. Then go into the real door behind. The sub-boss will appear here. It is a Flare Dancer. The Flare Dancer is not difficult to defeat but it may be hard at times to fight. When it is spinning around in one spot, throw or place a bomb next to him. After it explodes, it will knock its body out of its fire clothes. The small body will run around wildly. Chase it down and attack it with your sword. The spin attack works best as it has more power than just your sword alone. The timing may be difficult to get right. The Flare Dancer will respawn its clothing from the fire in the room. The color of the clothes shows the damage he has took. Red means little, blue means moderate, and green means large. Bomb it and then strike its body this until it is defeated. Hop onto the elevator in the middle of the room. It will take you to the top floor.

The Megaton Hammer
Once you are up there, climb the fence. Then throw a bomb at the crystal switch or hit with the Hookshot to trigger the switch to make the flames dissapear briefly, so climb up. Enter the next room. This next room is in the shape of a semi-doughnut. Climb the stairs and hit the switch. Above, there is a treasure chest that was surrounded by fire, but now that fire is out because of the switch. Run, quickly, up to the treasure chesrand open it. You have to hurry or the fire will go re-ignite. DO NOT FALL DOWN THE HOLE!! You'll fall back to the narrow ledge, or worse, even further to the room you unlocked first! To avoid this, use Farore's Wind to warp back and return here in case of an accident. Open the chest to get the Megaton Hammer. This is the Legendary Hammer. It takes both hands to hold since it's so heavy, but it can smash things and send a shockwave onto the floor Go back down the stairs and look for a block with a tiki face on it. It's by the switch, Smash it with the Megaton Hammer and it will fall down. Hit the statue with the hammer in this room to get rid of it. Enter the door behind it. Watch out for the Fire Keese in this room. Hit the switch, which looks like a stone column with the hammer. This makes the floor turn into a stairway. Grab a small box and put it on the blue switch at the bottom of the staircase to open the door. In this next room step onto and hammer the tiki block and it will drop down and become a block that leads to both the pillar you need to hit and a barred door. Don't hit the pillar yet. Instead, hop up to the barred door. There is a switch to open it, but it is rusted and won't budge. Hit it with the Megaton Hammer to press it and the door will unlock. In this next room is a Time Block on a ledge on the other side of the rooom. Play the Song of Time while still across from the Time Block. It now serves as a platform in the gap between the two sides of the room. Jump down onto the blue block and then onto the other side of the room. Pound the rusted switch down with your hammer. This will open the gate that holds a Goron. Jump down to where the Goron is and go and talk to him. Get the key and then leave from the same way you came in this room. You should be able to get up by using the Time Block. Exit this room and jump on the roof of the templelike structure in front of you. Hit the tiki block in the middle with the hammer. This is actually the pillar you needed to hit. You will fall down with the pillar and land in the middle of the lavapool between the 2 doors in the room where you met Darunia. Exit this room through the normal door so you are once again in the first room of the whole temple.

There is a statue to the right of the stairs when you are first walking into the temple. Use your Megaton Hammer to eliminate the statue. Enter the locked door. In this next room simply kill all the Fire Keese and Torch Slugs to make the next door unlock. In this room avoid the Like-Like. It will suck you in and take your shield and tunic. If it does, simply kill it and get your items back, but DO NOT LEAVE THE ROOM OR IT WILL DIGEST YOUR ITEMS FOREVER AND FORCE YOU TO BUY NEW ONES! In this next room is another Flare Dancer. This time, take your trusty Megaton Hammer and slam it right by the Flare Dancer to knock it from its clothing and then chase and strike it. Do this until it is defeated and explodes. A small chest will appear. There are bombs in the chest if you want them. Enter the next room. There is another rusted switch in this room. Hit it with the hammer and free the last Goron and get the Boss Key from the intricate chest. Go back to the room where you met Darunia and jump straight over onto the pillar in the middle and then to the Boss Door. If you want, stock up on Fairies in the room. There are two Fairies in jars on a platform to the far right. Use your Hookshot to get there. There are also bombs you can stock up on. Open the door to enter into the Boss Room.

Boss: Volvagia
In this room, hop onto the platform in the middle onto the large platform with nine lava holes. Suddenly, the middle platform collapses and the middle hole of lava erupts- and out of it pops none other than the Fire Temple boss.

The boss of the Fire Temple is - Subterranean Lava Dragon: VOLVAGIA. This boss can be really hard to beat at times. After the short scene with Volvagia flying around, he will go back in the ground. Then he will stick his head out of the ground. Run up and hit him with the hammer. This will stun him and allow you to strike him with your sword. At times, he will come out and fly around and shoot fire at you. If you Z-target him and shoot an arrow and hit him, he will go underground. He will also start throwing rocks at you while in the air. Instead of shooting him with an arrow and moving about to try to avoid the rocks, it is easiest to just weather the storm by slowly walking off the platform. This will leave you hanging off the side but you will not be hurt while doing this. When Volvagia goes back down a hole, you can get back on the platform and start looking for his head to come up again.

As you start beating him, he will only stick his head out there for a couple of seconds. He also goes and tries to trick you by blowing fire out of one lava hole and coming out of another. If you keep far enough to the side of the platform, you should be able to keep all the holes in view and thus see which hole he is coming out of. He may take a couple of tries to beat. After you defeat him he will go back into the lava, emerge one last time, and then disintegrate into bones, falling apart to the ground. His head will fall right by you and burn away, leaving a Heart Container. Get it and leave.

The Mountain's Explosion- A Sign of Peace Returning
With Volvagia gone and the Gorons freed, the fiery cloud orbiting Death Mountain returns to normal in a giant eruption. As a result, the ashy skies near the mountain and in Kakariko Village clear up. You will be transported to the Chamber of the Sages where Darunia will appear and speak to you. He reveals he is the Sage of Fire and the guardian of the Fire Temple. He gives you his thanks. He will then give you the Fire Medallion  which, contains his power. He will also tell you, that now you and him are true brothers!

After this, you will again be transported back to Death Mountain Crater. The bridge back to the Goron City is still out so you will have to cross with the Hookshot or you can play one of the Ocarina Songs to transport out.

Double your Magic Power
Near the entrance to Goron City from the Crater, you should find a cave blocked by two boulders. Destroy them with the Megaton Hammer. The cave turns out to be a Great Fairy's Fountain. The fairy inside will double you magic power.