The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time #2 - Lost Woods
Lost Woods - Information
The Lost Woods is a maze-like area of a confusing forest that has made several appearances throughout The Legend of Zelda series. Its layout is usually designed to make anyone who enters to become irreversibly lost, and the only way to exit the forest is by navigating it in specific directions. In certain games, it is said that if people wander in the forest for too long, they can turn into a monster such as a Skull Kid, a Stalfos, or a Deku Scrub.
In Ocarina of Time, the Lost Woods are laid out like a map, with each screen having something unique about it. Also, the goal in these Lost Woods is to stay inside, rather than to escape; if Link takes the wrong doorway, he will be warped back to the Kokiri Forest. By following the music of "Saria's Song," Link can navigate through the hollow trees and get to the Sacred Forest Meadow, which is located in the northernmost portion of the Lost Woods and Saria's "secret place." The Forest Temple is located here.
Alternative methods can also be used to determine if a path leads to another part of the woods or back to the Kokiri Forest. The main method is to simply analyze the holes in the trunks. If there is gradually increasing light in the center of the tree trunk (as if it were a tunnel out), it will lead back to the Kokiri Forest, but if it is a flat wall of blackness, it will continue through the woods. The Lost Woods is home to the only Moblins in Ocarina of Time, as well as many Business Scrubs, Mad Scrubs and the only collection of average Deku Scrubs in the game, the Deku Community.
Hidden within the Lost Woods is the Forest Stage, where Link can be rewarded with item upgrades by showing off specific Masks in front of Deku Scrubs. Moreover, scattered throughout the woods are two portals that lead to Goron City and the upper part of Zora's River near the Sleepless Waterfall.
It is said that those who become lost in the woods will become Stalfos. The Skull Kids that inhabit the forest are implied to be children who were lost as well.
1. Forest Stage, Lost Woods
The stage is an underground niche filled with young Deku Scrubs who appear to be waiting to be entertained. The stage is at the bottom of a hole concealed by flowers in a clearing beneath a single tree hidden within the Lost Woods. A cluster of butterflies fly above the hole to the forest stage, serving as a marker.
To entertain the Scrubs, Link puts on a mask borrowed from the Happy Mask Salesman and stands in front of them. Depending on the mask he is wearing, they will do one of five things:
- They will be amazed and give Link a reward. (Skull Mask)
- They will hate Link's mask, but give Link a reward for trying. (Mask of Truth)
- They will hate Link's mask and will shoot nuts at him. (Spooky Mask)
- They will start dancing around.
- They will just stare.
If "Saria's Song" plays when Link presents his mask and the Deku Scrubs crowd around him, the young hero will receive an award. Wearing the Skull Mask will cause the Deku Scrubs to be delighted, and the young hero will receive an upgrade which allows him to carry more Deku Sticks. If he wears the Mask of Truth, the young Deku Scrubs will not like the mask, but Link will be given the upgrade to carry more Deku Nuts; however, this can only be done before he receives the Poacher's Saw from Fado during the Trading Quest due to a bug within the game.
2. Sacred Forest Meadow, Lost Woods
The most sacred area of the Lost Woods, the Sacred Forest Meadow is divided into two areas: a maze-like area in the south and the Forest Temple's entrance to the north. It may be found in the northern region of the Lost Woods; however, its entrance is blocked by a large gate that can only be opened by defeating a Wolfos which appears before it. According to Saria, anyone can speak to the spirits of the forest just by playing the Ocarina in the meadow.
Just as the rest of the woods are shrouded in mystery, so is the Forest Meadow. Few people know the way to the meadow by heart. Nonetheless, it is Saria's favorite haunt, and she will go to the meadow to have some alone time. During such a time, someone familiar with the tune Saria plays may find it easier to find the meadow and their way through by following the sound of her ocarina.
History
When Link first enters the meadow as a child, it is infested with a high population of Mad Scrubs. Here, he visits Saria, who is sitting in a tree stump right below the entrance to the Forest Temple. She confesses to Link that she feels the Sacred Forest Meadow will be an important place for the two of them some time in the future, and goes on to teach Link "Saria's Song."
After becoming an adult by pulling the Master Sword from its pedestal, Link returns to the Sacred Forest Meadow in order to enter the Forest Temple and awaken Saria as the Forest Sage. However, some time during the seven years that Link was asleep, the Mad Scrubs were flushed out, instead being replaced by Moblins, giant sentinels of Ganondorf's army. At the end of the maze is a Club Moblin blocking the narrow path that connects the labyrinth with the Sacred Meadow, which Link easily defeats and thus access the outside of the Forest Temple's entrance. Unfortunately, he discovers that Saria is nowhere to be found. Instead, Sheik shows up and teaches the young hero the "Minuet of Forest" to allow Link to transport back to the meadow any time he wants by playing the Ocarina of Time.
Trivia
- There are two caverns known to lie beneath the maze area of the meadow. One happens to be a Fairy Fountain; the other one is an unusual looking cavern that is home of two Wolfos. Defeating them with reveal a small chest with a Purple Rupee. There is also an additional one on the opposite side of the Gossip Stone next to the entrance of the Forest Temple that contains two Business Scrubs.
- This is the only area in which Link encounters Moblins in Ocarina of Time.
- Some guides claim that this area cannot be accessed until Link obtains Zelda's Letter,but this is blatantly false. Link can enter the Sacred Meadow at the beginning of his quest, and can even reach Saria's "secret spot."
3. Forest Temple, Lost Woods
The Forest Temple is the first Dungeon that Link is directed to as an adult in Ocarina of Time. He must journey here to save his childhood friend, the Kokiri named Saria, only to awaken her to her role as the Sage of Forest. The primary item of the Temple is the Fairy Bow, and its boss is Phantom Ganon.
Entrance to the Temple
Deep within the Sacred Forest Meadow in the Lost Woods lies the mansion-like Forest Temple, inhabited by many fierce foes. Since the stairway leading to the Temple is now broken, the only way to gain access to the Temple is by obtaining the Hookshot from the Kakariko Village Graveyard and using it to grab onto a Tree branch hanging off of the entrance platform.
The Forest Temple is an eerie, complex Temple filled with strange puzzles and other features designed to confuse its explorers, such as an array of Switches which have the ability to twist entire hallways in an unnatural manner, rearranging the very Dungeon, making walls become floors. It one of the few Dungeons in The Legend of Zelda series whose structure can be altered in this manner. The Dungeon's interior design is reminiscent of a mansion or castle, with portraits hanging in certain rooms and quaint red carpets decorating the floor. This is also one of the few Dungeons that has open-air elements, walled gardens are found on the east and west sides of the Dungeon, connected by two wells. Most of its rooms and corridors are covered with moss and Vines, and many hold enemies. However, most of the threats Link will encounter in this Dungeon are undead.
The Temple is also home to the four Poe Sisters that first appear by stealing the flames from four multicolored Torches in the center of the main room of the Dungeon. This becomes the primary puzzle that the Dungeon is centered around: Link must hunt down and destroy them to restore the flames and complete the Temple. The first two Sisters can be found on the upper levels of the Temple, in passageways with staircases; the third Sister appears in the eastern end of the upper levels after Link solves a jigsaw puzzle, and the final Sister returns to the Dungeon's main chamber after the other three are defeated.
The Temple's music uses a mix of haunting, eerie sounds and a slow, gentle melody driven by wind instruments. Its boss is Phantom Ganon, a ghost of Ganondorf's creation.In The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time Master Quest, the locations of Small Keys and Locked Doors have changed. The two Wolfos are no longer at the entrance of the Temple, but rather at the room where the first Stalfos was fought. The Stalfos now appears in a small connecting room and rewards Link with the Dungeon Map. More Skulltulas and Skullwalltulas throughout the Dungeon. The room with the Floormaster has been altered to host a single ReDead whereas the Floormaster has been moved elsewhere. There are two extra blocks in the jigsaw puzzle room, but they serve no purpose other than to obfuscate the puzzle further. The first twisted room is straightened when it is first found, and is twisted by activating a Shock Switch instead of an Eye Switch. Puzzles involving Time Blocks have been added throughout the Dungeon as well. The wells are now emptied by shooting an Eye Switch with an Arrow.
Small Keys
There are five small keys.