The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time/Forest Temple

'Amongst the ruins of past and mysterious secrets lies the Forest Temple. It is a long forgotten dungeon, filled with undergrowth, monsters, and the remains of faded souls.'

A Changed Forest
Upon entering the Kokiri Forest, you should find that it is severely overrun with monsters. Because of this, the children have barricaded themselves in their homes. Head into the Lost Woods. On your way to the Sacred Forest Meadow, you should eventually find Mido blocking your path. Play Saria's Song for him. He will be convinced that you are a friend of Saria's, and he will let you pass. If you play the song to hear Saria, she will tell you she is in the Forest Temple and needs your help.

Remember the Song
If you decided to go to Lake Hylia as a child and play a song to the scarecrow Bonooru, go back to Lake Hylia and play it again. Bonooru will remember it and you will have the Scarecrow's Song  to play. Now the wandering scarecrow Pierre will appear if he hears your song in some places. He will become a stationary target that can be latched onto with the Hookshot. If Navi flies to a far away spot, try playing the song. You can actually get to places faster this way. It even lets you skip the maze in the Sacred Forest Meadow if you want to.

Sacred Forest Meadow
Instead of Mad Scrubs populating the area, there are Moblin Guards, monstrous, dog-like guards patrolling the corridors. If they see you, they will ram you into the wall. This time, there is no top-down view when navigating the area. To safely traverse the meadow, wait for a guard to pass you or change direction. When it does, sneak up behind it and use the Hookshot to kill it. If you are an advanced player, use the walking sideways technique (which Navi describes to you before navigating the meadow) to check to see if it is safe to progress though a certain spot. If you play the Scarecrow's Song, you can bypass the maze by using the Hookshot on Pierre at the start. When you finish navigating the maze, you will find a much larger guard, a Club Moblin, much more menacing because it holds a club. He will ram his weapon into the ground to send a vibration that will knock you down and injure you. Run straight towards him, but dodge the tremors that he sends. When you are behind him, attack him with your sword three times to receive a lot of Rupees upon his defeat.

At the end of the meadow, there is a silence as Link walks to the tree stump where Saria sat, only to find that she isn't there. Sheik then appears out of nowhere. He teaches Link a melody that will transport the player to the Forest Temple entrance at any given time: The Minuet of Forest.

The Minuet of Forest 

For now, Sheik will use a Deku Nut to disappear, but not for good, because for the rest of your quest, every time you are about to enter a new temple, Sheik will appear to teach you a song that will lead you to its entrance. The spot you will be transported to is a fairly large white platform with a marking of the Sage Medallion in the center. For instance, the large, white platform at the entrance to the Forest Temple is where you will be transported if you play the Minuet of Forest.

Take out your hookshot and aim it at the tree hanging over the broken stairs. You should see a red dot when you aim at it (if you can't, move closer). Hookshot to it and enter the temple. Occasionally you will land on top of the tree, and from there you can jump down into the entryway. However, if you jump forward far enough, instead of running in you'll fall through the floor!

Entering the Forest Temple
Immediately when you enter the temple, kill the two Wolfos and then climb the vines to the east. Climb up, run and jump across to the other tree, and open the chest to get the first small key. For all of the dungeons as an adult, you will use these keys to progress. Enter north into the next room.

Make quick work of the Big Skulltula and enter the next room. If you use the Hookshot to hit the Skulltula, you don't have to wait for it to drop and turn its underbelly towards you.

The Poe Sisters
This is the main room of the temple. You will see four poes, the Poe Sisters, who steal the fire from the torches surrounding an elevator, its power source. As a result, the elevator goes down and shuts off. You must re-light to the torches to reactivate the elevator, which leads to the Boss Room. In order to re-light the torches, you must kill the four Poe Sisters.

Miniboss: Stalfos
Go straight into the room in front of you. Kill the Blue Bubble (the flying skull surrounded by blue flames) by using your shield to defend against it (if it runs into you, it will lose its blue flames) and then attack it with your sword.

Enter the next room. Here you will fight two Stalfos, restless skeleton armored warriors. Z-target them and then use your shield (it's best to use the Master Sword for this fight). Their attacks will damage your health severely, so be careful when fighting them. When one attacks, dodge it, and then attack it (simply defending won't always work as they use an arced strike that can go behind your shield). They have shields, too, so don't let them counter your attacks. Your hookshot can also stun them if the shot is timed right. Kill both of them and retrieve the small key from the chest that appears and go back to the main room. There is a fairy in one of the pots in the back of the room.

The Abandoned Courtyards
Head to the northwest to find a Time Block with the symbol from the Door of Time on it. Play the Song of Time and it will disappear. Enter the room.

Avoid the Octorok and the Big Deku Baba (if you haven't seen them before, it's an enlarged Deku Baba). Go to the right side and use your Hookshot to kill the Skullwalltulas that are on the vines. You may have to step further away from the wall to reach the third. Or, if you really can't reach it, climb up the right side of the vines and avoid the top one; it's easiest to just ignore it (if it turns purple, it will attack you!). However, there is an alternate way. Did you remember to get Bombchus? Use one and aim it at the last Skullwalltula. That takes care of the third! Climb the vines to the door at the top. Enter the next room and kill the Blue Bubble inside to get the Dungeon Map and unlock the doors.

The next room is actually one of the balconies above the northeastern courtyard. Use your Hookshot to hit the black target with a crescent moon (it looks like two concentric circles from far away) on it on the northern wall (to your left as you come onto the balcony). You will be pulled toward the spot and fall down on another balcony. Step on the red switch to drain the water from the well. Now jump or climb the vine down to the ground and into the well (you'll be in the long hallway of B1). There is a small key in a treasure chest you need near the western wall.

After you get the key, climb up the vines behind the chest (this will take you back to the northwestern courtyard). Climb out of the well and head towards the Big Deku Baba and turn right into the door (the main room). Stay to your right, climb the little step and go up the stairs to the western door. It's locked, so you'll have to use one of the small keys you found to open it (just press in front of it like a normal door). Head through the door and kill the Big Skulltula.

Block Puzzle Maze
In the next room a Blue Bubble will come after you. Just go around it and walk forward (west) until you reach the ladder: climb up both of them. Head around the corner through the archway into a small room. There are three yellow arrows painted on the ground (Navi will remind you). Look to the left and you'll see a big greenish-blue block behind a yellow arrow. Pull the block until it can fit through the passage to the right. Walk around to the left side of it and push it along the arrow until it hits the wall (you'll hear a sound and it will no longer move). Head through the passage that the block was first sitting in, and run around to the right to the other side of the block, then push it from there until it falls a few inches into place (the puzzle success sound will trigger). Jump on top of the block, then up into the hallway on the right. Run to the end of it and you'll see more yellow arrows and a brownish-red block on the left like before. Drag it backwards until you can no longer pull it, then go back to the lower floor. Go back to where the greenish-blue block first was (by the yellow arrows) and look for a ladder inside. Head up the ladder, turn right, then take the first right into the corridor to reach the brownish-red block. Push it all the way into the wall, then head back down and around to the other side of the brownish-red block again and push it forward into place. Climb up onto the brownish-red block and then up to the pathway above. Run around the corner to the right and climb up the ladder. Up here are two Blue Bubbles (you don't need to fight them) and a locked door; if you can, just ignore both of them. Enter through the locked door into the next room.

The Evil Hand
Strangely enough, this corridor is twisted. Just walk straight through it and go into the twisted room at the end of the passageway. Be careful, a devious enemy called a Wallmaster lurks in this room. It will fall from above to capture you, and you'll be at the start of the dungeon afterward. Avoid it while it drops by running (you'll see a small shadow appear on the ground), then when you see it drop, kill it for a Rupee bounty. If you look around this room you'll notice an intricate chest is on the wall. Navi will comment on it if you target it. Don't try to latch onto it, though, as the Hookshot can't pull you towards chests like that and you might get snagged by a Wallmaster. Instead, jump across the three platforms to the locked door and enter it.

The Fairy Bow
Go down the two flights of stairs (make note that a Poe Sister appears in one of the three paintings randomly here) and enter the mini-boss room. Kill the first Stalfos in this room without falling into the hole (you can try to use your Hookshot to stun him from a safe distance). After you kill the Stalfos a platform will come down in the middle with two more Stalfos. After you kill one of them his remains are still on the ground. After about a minute he will get back up. You need to have them both killed at the same time. This can be tricky at times. A treasure will appear in the middle of the room once the Stalfos are gone. Open the chest, and you will receive the Fairy Bow! Now you can shoot arrows, which you need to get through this strange, mysterious temple.

The First Two Poe Sisters, Joelle and Beth
Go back to the previous room. In this room, there are three paintings of a Poe Sister on the wall. Two are blank. Use an arrow to shoot the painting with the Poe. If you get too close to it the Poe Sister will disappear and go to a different painting. Shoot the three paintings and then fight the real Poe Sister. This is Joelle, the Poe Sister who stole the red torch. When fighting her, she will often disappear and swing her torch towards you. Simply use your Hylian Shield to protect yourself until she reappears. You can use the Fairy Bow (your most powerful option), the Hookshot, or the Master Sword to defeat her. You can also get her in a corner and then repeatedly use the No-charge Spin Attack, which you use by spinning the analog stick once and then pressing the attack button really fast,in this way you can kill her in 4-5 seconds. Once she's defeated she will lose the red flame, so the red torch will light in this room and by the elevator in the main room of the dungeon. Upon Joelle's defeat you will see a chest appear that has a small key inside. Don't forget to grab it! Now go back through the mini-boss room where you got the Fairy Bow and into the room on the other side. Here you have to go through the same sort of fight again, but with the second Poe Sister. She is Beth, the Poe Sister who took the blue torch. Kill her and the blue torch will light like the red one did and a chest will appear which has the Compass. Don't go through the locked door at the top of the staircase in this room yet. You need another key first.

The Boss Key
Go all the way back out to the room you reached at the end of the block puzzle (right before the twisted corridor) with the two Blue Bubbles. After leaving the twisted corridor, turn around and shoot the silver eye with the Fairy Bow. The corridor will untwist. Walk back down the now non-twisted hall and jump down to the floor to find the beautifully decorated blue and yellow chest that you saw on the wall.

Inside it is the Boss Key. This key allows you to open the door to the Boss Room. For the remainder of the game, all the Boss Keys will be in this type of chest. Now you need to get another small key. Watch out for the Wallmaster, because it still lurks in the room. Jump down a hole in the floor to find a small room. Kill the two Blue Bubbles to open the door in the room and then go through it.

The Other Evil Hand
You will be in a familiar room (the large one to the northwest of the main room) but on a ledge. Be careful, because what ever you do, don't fall from the ledge!. Kill the Big Deku Baba and go in the door that is the furthest on the right side (if you check the Dungeon Map you'll see a chest inside). There will be another strange hand called a Floormaster in this room. Attack it with your sword but when it turns green it is invincible and will swoop after you, so hold up your shield. When you think you've killed it, it will split into three smaller Floormasters. Kill all the little Floormasters with Din's Fire and get the key from the chest that appears in the room. Do this quickly, because the mini-Floormasters will attempt to latch onto you and drain your magic power to regenerate themselves.

The Third Poe Sister, Amy
Leave the room and go through the door to your right (the southern door at end of the ledge). You'll once again be in the room with the block puzzles but at a different ledge (kill the Blue Bubble with a shot from your Fairy Bow or ignore it). Jump down, then head to the greenish-blue block. Climb up the ladder in the middle of this area, then when you see the little rope barrier, walk over to it and shoot the golden eye to get a small key (in version 1.0, a bundle of arrows). From there, go all the way up to the top of the corridors again and then shoot the silver eye above the door that leads through the corridor again to re-twist the hallway. Go through the twisted room, avoid the Wallmaster, jump across the platforms into the next room, and go down the stairs where Joelle was. Head through the mini-boss room, and then up the stairs where Beth was and unlock the door.

The Poison Puzzle
You will come out in another twisted room. There's a Wallmaster in here, so kill/avoid it and jump over to the platform on your right - it conveniently has a ladder you can climb if you don't make the jump. This will lead you to another corridor, although this one is not twisted...yet. Walk through the corridor carefully, because there is another enemy introduced here: the Green Bubble. It spins in a circle and tries to hit you if you get near it. Stun the two Green Bubbles with your Hookshot to eliminate their flames, and then kill them with an arrow and unlock the next door.

In this room there are four revolving pillars jutting out of a poisonous pit and rotating around a central column with a torch on it. Look to the right and you will see a platform with a frozen eye switch above it. There are two ways to melt the ice: jump onto the platform and use Din's Fire, or you can hop on one of the pillars and attempt to shoot an arrow through the the lit torch on the central column - the arrow will ignite and and melt the ice if timed correctly. If you use Din's Fire there is absolutely no need to shoot the switch once it thaws - doing so actually reverses the twisting of the corridor, so unless you feel like wasting magic or making trick shots with the bow, avoid this. If you happen to fall while traversing this room, there's a ladder on the frozen eye platform you can climb to get back up, or you can also use the hookshot on the torch on the middle column.

Maze of Doom
Go through the door and back into the twisted corridor to reach the twisted room. Drop down the hole in the floor to land in another weird room with a checkered floor. In this room the ceiling falls on the floor, but there are holes in the ceiling that you can safely stand underneath. You'll have to take advantage of these holes to make it across, but be careful because there are Big skulltulas around, and your shooting accuracy with the Hookshot and Fairy Bow is thrown off in this room. There is a chest with arrows halfway across the room if you want or need to restock while in this room. Reach the switch on the floor and hit it to enter the next room.

Amy's Puzzle
Here there is a big painting of the Poe Sister Amy. Pay close attention to its details. Then, shoot it with an arrow and five blocks will fall on the floor. Push and pull them so they fit together and match the picture of the Poe Sister above. One of them is a piece of Beth's picture, darker than the rest. Ignore it, because you have only one minute before they return to where they were. The block in the north west corner doesn't need to move. Push the north east one into place right next to the other, push the south west block up into the other one to form a L shape, then pull the darker block away from the group and push the final block into place.

If you arrange the picture correctly then the third Poe Sister will emerge from it. This Poe Sister is Amy, the Poe Sister who snatched the green torch. Kill her just like you killed the other two Poe Sisters. The green torch will light both here and in the main room.

Leave the room and kill the Big Skulltula in the next one.

The Last Poe Sister, Meg
Now in the main room again (but at a previously unreachable spot) you'll notice the fourth Poe Sister crying over the deaths of her sisters just below you. Drop down and approach her to begin combat.

Unlike the other Poes, you're in for a surprise; her name is Meg, the Poe Sister who snagged the purple torch. Because you killed her sisters, she wants revenge! She will make three copies of herself, so this can be tricky at times. The moment she and her clones appear, look for the one that briefly spins: that's the real one you need to destroy.

If you didn't see the correct Poe Sister (such as one of the two that appeared behind the camera), you need to quickly take them out with the bow. Turn towards the ones behind or entering the camera view, Z-Target, and fire the bow. Alternativly, you can use a charged spin-attack to kill the images, and quickly follow with an arrow.

After a few hits, she will be defeated; all the torches will light up, and the elevator will be reactivated.

The Final Puzzle
The elevator will come back up. Get on the elevator and go down. In this room, there are two barred passages on the blue sides. Look through them. Two giant sections of the wall stick out into the center of this room (they are sitting on the two red sections of the floor) and are pushable from either side (like giant levers). Go next to them and push until the room starts to shift, opening new passages. Go and look to see what new doors opened up. Three switches are down here, hidden behind the walls. First, head to the western lever and push it southwards. Hit the first switch to raise the bars blocking the second. From there, continue to push the wall south until you reach the second switch, which will raise the cage blocking the third. Continue spinning the wall until you hit it open up the path to the Boss room. On the Boss Door is a gold lock with horns. The Boss Key will open it, so hopefully you already got it.

Boss: Phantom Ganon
Enter the room and climb up the stairs. You will find that there is nothing in this room. If you try to leave, the boss will make his entrance. The exit gets blocked off by iron bars, trapping you inside the room. You will see someone who appears to be Ganondorf. It is not the real deal, but it is the boss of the Forest Temple: "Evil Spirit from Beyond: Phantom Ganon."

Dangerous Paintings
For the first half of the battle, you will watch Phantom Ganon and his horse enter one of the paintings on the wall. After Ganon reaches the end of the painting, he will turn around and two of him will be coming towards you. Identify the positions of the two and then look for the more colorful Phantom Ganon. A small, purple portal will form in front of the real Phantom Ganon when he reaches the front of the painting to allow him to emerge from it. He is your target. With your Fairy Bow ready, shoot him when he comes out of the painting. If you aim for the decoy, it will turn around at the last second. If you miss your chance to hit Phantom Ganon and he emerges, he will shoot a ball of magic onto the floor with his scepter. Stay clear of it. After you hit Phantom Ganon with three arrows, he will stop entering paintings and let his horse ride off. This is now the second part of the boss battle.

Magic Attacks
When the fight starts, Phantom Ganon will begin floating around the room somewhat close to the ground shooting bright yellow magic bolts at you. You can block them easily enough with your shield, but this is purely defensive and won't advance the fight - Navi advises that you need to counter these attacks with one of your own. Z-Target Phantom Ganon and while you're locked on, swing your sword as one of the bolts approaches - if you time it correctly, the bolt will reflect back towards Phantom Ganon! While he's close to the ground it's best to dodge his attacks - the reflected bolts will ricochet away from Phantom Ganon. However, after a moment or two he will float higher into the air, pause momentarily and then fire a slower moving magic ball at you: this is the time to fight! Strike the ball as it approaches, and you'll begin a batting war between you two - each time someone hits the ball it speeds up. If you can survive about four or five volleys Phantom Ganon will inevitably mess up and the ball will hit him, stunning him and dropping him to the ground, opening himself up for your attack! If you have the Biggoron Sword switch to it as fast as possible, do a jumping attack and then strike him several times. The same strategy applies with the Master Sword, although it will take more strikes to finish him - either way, keep this up until you win.

Keep in mind that when he's almost defeated, Phantom Ganon may launch a sparkling white ball of magic at you in a furious charge - you'll have to use the Spin Attack to counter it. If you aren't fast enough to defend yourself, you'll lose 3 hearts! However, Phantom Ganon does not always use this attack. Just be prepared if he does, and use the Goron sword if necessary.

A glitch that works almost every time is, when you hit Phantom Gannon with his attack, if he lands at the gate that blocks your way out, you can continuously hit him until he is defeated as if a barrier prevents him from recovering.

When you defeat him, you will find out that the real Ganondorf was watching. He becomes frustrated with his creation and banishes it to "the gap between dimensions." Enter the blue light that appears to leave the Forest Temple. That is, after you grab the Heart Container, of course!

Saria and the Forest Medallion
After stepping into the blue light, you will be transported to the Chamber of the Sages again, the place where you met Rauru. Saria will emerge from a green platform in front of you like the yellow one Rauru was standing on. She reveals that she is the Sage of the Forest and her duty is to protect the Forest Temple, so she and Link cannot live in the same world. After speaking with her, she will give you the Forest Medallion , which contains her power. As you leave the Chamber of Sages, she will tell you she will always be your friend.

Even though Saria is now a sage, you may still talk to Saria with "Saria's Song" at any point in the game. Right now, she will tell you she didn't want to become a sage at first, but that she is glad to be helping you on your quest.

The Deku Tree's Sprout
You will find yourself in front of the Deku Tree. Link notices a root. It suddenly sprouts from the ground, revealing a large sprout with a smiling face, the Deku Tree Sprout. He reveals to him that Link is not a Kokiri, but a Hylian. This makes sense because Link became older and was able to leave the forest, something the Kokiri cannot do. The Deku Tree Sprout reveals that Link was brought to the Deku Tree by his Hylian mother during a time of war before Hyrule was unified. The Deku Tree could sense that Link was the child of destiny, so he took him in and raised him as a child of the forest. As for his mother, she passed away from the injuries she took from the war. The Deku Tree Sprout tells you that you were always destined to leave the forest and to break the curses on the other temples. As for the Koriki Forest, it has returned to normal and the Koriki are back outside.

The Prelude of Light
Return to the Temple of Time. Sheik reveals that there will be a time where Link will need to return to the temple as quickly as possible, and so she teaches you the melody for when that time comes: The Prelude of Light.

The Prelude of Light 

Sheik will also tell you that you can return to the past by putting the Master Sword back in the Pedestal of Time. Sheik will disappear again, and the temple will suddenly be illuminated in light. You may now return to the past to complete any sidequests, although these may be performed when you head to the spirit temple.

Quest for the Biggoron's Sword
If you have received Cojiro from Anju the Cuckoo lady in Kakariko Village, you can continue the item trading sequence in the forest.


 * Odd Mushroom: Upon entering the Lost Woods, head to the left. You should find a strange looking man asleep. He is Grog. Awaken him using Cojiro. Apparently, he is the original owner of the bird. He will give you the mushroom to take the the potion lady in Kakariko.
 * Odd Medicine: You have only three minutes to deliver the mushroom to the potion lady. If you have Epona, this task will be a whole lot easier. To get to the potion lady's abode, find the potion shop that relocated from the market. There is a back door on the left. Now enter the barn on your right. Give the mushroom to the lady.

NOTE: You cannot use warping melodies to help you. If you do, the time will automatically drop to 0 seconds.
 * Poacher's Saw: Take the medicine back to the person who gave you the mushroom. He is gone. You will find Fado, a blonde Kokiri in his place. She claims that he is gone and that the medicine you carry belongs to the forest. After she demands it back, she will give the saw he left behind.

Quiver Upgrade
The Shooting Gallery relocated from the market to Kakariko Village. The building lies between the Windmill and the House of Skulltula. The game still costs 20 rupees and you still have 15 shots. They are in the same positions as last time, but their appearances have been scrambled. If you win, you will receive a quiver upgrade and be able to carry a maximum of 40 arrows.