The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past #31 - Palace of Darkness

1. Travel to the Dark Palace Garden, Palace of Darkness

When you first appear in the Dark World, you will be high atop the Pyramid of Power overlooking the sheer, twisted depravity of this figment of the Light World. Sahasrahla will contact you to congratulate you on the wizard’s defeat but to also say that all is not finished yet; the seven maidens are not free, and the wizard’s defeat only hastened the completion of unsealing of the Dark World. he will tell you that the first of the seven maidens is off towards the east, and so with that it is time to finish what you have started.

From high atop the pyramid, head south, jumping off of cliffs in order to get to the grand staircase leading to the ground. This being the Dark World practically all of the enemies will be brand new and unfamiliar, and you should definitely be on your guard (especially if you have not been collecting many Pieces of Heart) as easy mode is now turned off; these guys will do quite a bit of damage. You need to be careful.

do not take the enemies of the Dark World lightly; they each do multiple hearts damage.

The first enemy you will encounter are Ropa, green plantlike anemone with a yellow flower on top. They will make dramatic hops towards Link; they are not threatening by themselves, but they will deal two hearts’ worth of damage if they hit you. Next up are Moblins, the dog-like soldiers that throw spears and otherwise wander around aimless at the pyramid’s base and beyond; they will also deal two hearts of damage. Third are the musclebound Hinox; they might be slow, but not only do they deal THREE hearts of damage, they also throw bombs when provoked. It will also take multiple hits with the Master Sword to kill them, so adventurers beware! Lastly, Snap Dragons are mobile blue and white plants that wander about in a diagonal pattern; there are extremely quick and agile, and they also will deal three hearts of damage per hit.

PIECES OF HEART

You can now obtain the eleventh and twelfth Pieces of Heart, one of which is far off in the Light World whilst the other is right here within easy reach.

The Dark Palace Gardens largely has many of the same Dark World enemies you have seen so far. Once you see the east/west dirt path, follow it eastward. you will see a pathway leading northward between statues of horned skulls, and you can follow that if you want to learn some of the history of Hyrule, but it is not required. What you are really looking for is a set of tiles in the shape of an arrow pointing north. This is the entrance into the Eastern Forest, and this is how you will get to the first Dark World dungeon.

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2. Enter the Dark Palace, Palace of Darkness

By this point, you should see the large tiled entrance to the Palace of Darkness, and it should be fairly obvious which way to go. There are enemies about, of course; be careful with the enemies here because, if you take damage, Kiki will run away. If that happens, you will have to coax him out again with another 10 Rupees. Defeat or dodge the remaining Ropa and Moblin should they be in the way and continue round the pathway towards the front of the palace until you reach a small clearing leading northward through the thicket. Pass through the thicket and you will finally have arrived at the palace entrance.

Except the entrance is unfortunately closed, and you will not be able to get inside. But there is someone who can get inside, and he is right behind you! Kiki will offer you a deal of a lifetime; he will offer to open up the palace for you, but in return he is going to require 100 Rupees. there is unfortunately no other way to get in, so you need to pay the monkey. he will hope up towards the roof and step on a switch. The palace will open, and you are ready to face your first Dark World dungeon.

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3. Collect a Small Key and return, Palace of Darkness

The Dark World dungeons are much more convoluted than their Light World counterparts. Not only will many of the themes that appeared in the Light World dungeons be replicated here, but new concepts will also be introduced, and it will require some careful thought to deduce how to proceed through these dungeons. The Palace of Darkness is a dungeon requiring Small Key management. There are six Small Keys in this dungeon, and every single one needs to be used.

To start, you will be in a room with three doorways heading north. Go down the left fork of the room, stepping on the hidden switch as you proceed to open the door forward. In the next room, you will discover a Helmasaur, a little rodent that is protected his face with a thick, metal mask; you can only attack it from the rear, but this is usually difficult as it is frequently charging straight toward you. However, you can throw one of the skulls at it and kill it from any direction. Speaking of the skulls, these serve as pots of the Dark World. Feel free to dodge it if you like and head down the staircase to the basement.

Helmasaurs are tricky beasts to defeat, but skulls work well.

Medusa forces you to stay on the move; thankfully you do not need to stay long.

Here you will encounter a room with several skulls along with two square enemies in the center of the room. These are Medusa, and at regular intervals they will shoot fireballs in Link’s direction. Keep being on the move as you make your way to the lower-left skull. Throw it away to reveal a switch, and step on that to reveal a treasure chest. Open it up to get your first of six Small Keys. Head back upstairs when you are done. Once upstairs, proceed southward back into the main room.

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4. Locate the Map, Palace of Darkness

This time, take the right fork, again stepping on the secret switch to open the sealed door. Since both secret switches control both doors, you might have to press it twice to get to the right state. The right third of the next room will be similar to the left third; there will be skulls and one Helmasaur. Explore as you wish and then head northward down the staircase to the basement.

The next room will have an Anti-fairy in it, which you can either convert to a real Fairy with Magic Powder or ignore as you wish. there will also be a Magical Warp Tile. Step into it, and you will appear somewhere else on the lower level. This room will have another Warp Tile (which you can safely ignore), two Anti-fairies, and a suspiciously cracked wall to the south.

there is also a Telepathy Tile that you can use to contact Princess Zelda. Use it, but then use the dash attack to run into the south wall to open a pathway southward.

you will have to be patient when battling Bari as your sword will conduct their electricity.

you will step into a U-shaped room that contains three blue floating blobs called Bari. Bari are particularly nasty enemies as, every now and again, they will charge their bodies full of electricity. Striking them with your sword whilst there are doing so is not advised, more so since it will not kill them. you will need to wait until there are uncharged to destroy them. Dispatch those three and continue around. you will see two cracks in the northern wall, but only one of those is legitimate; use the Pegasus Boots against the crack on the right-hand side, and you should open up the way forward.

Here you will uncover three Goriya—two green and one red. Goriya are quirky enemies in that they mimic Link’s movements except in reverse, although not quite. The green Goriyas will mirror Link’s movements vertically whereas the red one will mirror both horizontally and vertically. Because of this, the green ones are fairly easy to trap along one side of the room, where you can proceed to hit them with your sword until dead. The red one, however, is more complicated, and not just because of its movement patterns. If ever it has line of sight with you, it will shoot a fireball at you. Furthermore, it is only vulnerable to arrows, not the sword. The easiest way to kill them is to be just out of alignment with the Goriya, shoot an arrow, and then move in the direction of the Goriya so that it will move into the arrow’s path. Two shots and the door will open forward.

Goriya are strange enemies; they move only when you move.

Red Goriya are more annoying; you need to move them into your Arrows.

you will then enter into one of the more profoundly annoying rooms in the entire dungeon. Before you will be a long moving walkway that, at least for the first half of the room, will be moving against your forward momentum. Along the way, you will encounter a trio of Bari—the first two being familiar blue ones with the last being a new red variety. There will also be several Traps—spiked blocks—bouncing back and forth from left to right across the moving walkway. You can try to do your best to dodge everything (and you might succeed), but if you have the damage to spare, just use the Pegasus Boots to dash along the length of the corridor. Even if you get hit and lose momentum, just start another dash, and you should make it most of the way in a few sprints. Once you reach the other side, there will be a staircase up.

There you will need to deal with the red Bari that you encountered just before. The primary difference between red and blue Bari is that the red ones, when defeated, will split into two miniature versions of itself called Biri. These Biri, just like Bari, will occasionally pulse with electricity, so only strike them with your sword when deactivated. Once you have defeated the three Bari and their children, you can open the chest for the Map.

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5. Collect the Big Key, Palace of Darkness

While you are near the Map room, you will see cracks in the walls to both the east and the west. Bomb both of them. To the east, you will find a room with three Fairies, which you can capture or use if you need to. To the west, you will find a small parapet with a chest containing a Small Key. Once you get the key, there is nothing to do in this entire wing of the dungeon. Since the way back is relatively convoluted, the easiest path back is to use the Magic Mirror to return to the dungeon entrance.

After you get this small key near the map, it is easiest to just mirror back to the beginning.

Now that you are back at the entrance, it is time to take the third fork. Head straight north through the open door. The next room should be very familiar to you as well; the only thing blocking you from moving forward is the locked door, so use one of your keys to proceed forward.

you will enter a large room filled with a large pit to the room below and a handful of enemies and traps: two Medusa, two Bari, and two new enemies called Terrorpins. Terrorpins look like armored turtles and will slowly march in your direction; the worst part is that you cannot defeat them yet, so just avoid them and move on. you will want to head towards the left side of the room, crossing the bridge that you find. As you cross the bridge, you will see cracks on the floor as you cross. This is your sign that you should bomb it, just as you would a crack in a wall. The floor will crumble, giving you access to the pit below. Hop on in.

Getting to the Big Key is pretty easy provided you know which way to go.

you will hand high on a ledge overlooking the rest of the room. Whatever you do, do not hop down. Instead follow the ledge up and to the right to find a locked door. Unlock it with the last of your keys and head upstairs.

Once upstairs, you will find a treasure chest. Open it up, and you will have the Big Key in your possession.

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6. Grab the Magic Hammer, Palace of Darkness

So with the Big Key in your hand, either take the stairs back down or hop down using the gap in the wall to your right. Down in the basement, there will be a few invincible Terrorpin, and eventually four Stalfos will jump down on you. do not bother trying to fight them, but do be quick about your business. you will want to lift up the skull at the end of the long line of blocks to reveal a switch; that will cause a treasure chest to appear, and you will find yet another Small Key under it. Collect it, and then you are done here. You could use the Magical Warp Tile and make your way back to the entrance, but using the Magic Mirror is slightly quicker, so use it to return to the beginning of the dungeon.

Be quick to pick up this key before the enemies overwhelm you.

You can slide this block out of the way when you get back here.

Back at the dungeon entrance again, take the center fork yet again, heading north until you get to the room with the Terrorpins. This time, instead of taking the left bridge, you will want to take the right bridge. The right bridge will be obstructed by two blocks, but you can push the lower one rightward into the pit in order to continue heading north through the open door above.

there is a treasure chest ahead, and you should open it up to get your fourth Small Key. You should now have two keys in your inventory, and you will need both of them to get the dungeon item. Further on, you should see an arrow pointing north on the floor. Scoot around the chest and walk northward over the arrow, fearless of the black pit before you. This will make you jump over the pit onto the platform beyond it. Every time you see such an arrow here, you will be able to jump over the gap to the platform beyond. The blue blocks will obstruct your progress left and right, but the lowered brown blocks will let you head north, so head up the stairs that direction. Take the left fork, which will take you past a Hardhat Beetle and then around to a locked door. Unlock it and continue on.

The Dark Palace has its share of traps and unique design elements.

Before you will be a room with a narrow catwalk over a black, bottomless pit. Lift up the skulls that deny you access to the catwalk and then immediately use the Pegasus Boots to dash attack to the other side. you will find two Helmasaurs along the way, which will hopefully get knocked into the pit as you cross. you will want to dash because the floor will gradually fall away one tile at a time after a set amount of time, and you do not want to fall in and take damage. Lift up the skulls at the far end in order to reach safe ground. Your next destination should be unlocking that locked door to the west, returning you to zero keys.

The room ahead is a maze enshrouded by darkness. do not bother grabbing your Lantern as there are not any torches to light the way. There are four Kodongo in the room, so if you run across any, you might as well kill them since everything is such close quarters here. There are two treasure chests for the taking. The one of lesser importance is in the northwest of the room, which will net you three Bombs. However, you will absolutely need to get the one in the southeast, which will give you the fifth Small Key. Once you get the Small Key, just to the north of the eastern wall is a crack in the wall; use a Bomb on it to get to the Big Chest you saw whilst crossing the catwalk in the previous room. Open it up, and you will have the Magic Hammer!

you will have to navigate a maze of darkness to find the Magic Hammer.

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7. Obtain the Compass, Palace of Darkness

With the Magic Hammer in your possession, head back into the dark maze and return the way you came in through the northeastern door. you will see another open door along the eastern wall, and you will want to head through there.

In this next room, you will see a treasure chest surrounded by four angry Terrorpins. Now that you have the Hammer, you can finally defeat these guys. Select your Hammer in the inventory screen and wait for them to approach you. Pound your Hammer on the ground, and any Terrorpin within a certain radius will flip over, revealing their soft stomachs. While there are flipped over, there are vulnerable to the sword, so you should slash at them mercilessly. Do be warned that if you do not dispatch them within a certain time or you use the Magic Hammer near them yet again, they will flip back over and be much angrier, advancing to Link at a faster rate. Kill the four Terrorpins and then claim the chest before you, which is the last of the major dungeon items: the Compass.

You can finally defeat the Terrorpin that are guarding the Compass.

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8. Reveal the secret passage, Palace of Darkness

You almost have everything collected; there is just one small errand you have to do before making your way to the boss’ lair. Thankfully, that errand is fairly close at hand. In the Compass room, there are two staircases heading down; take either one of them as they go to the same place. Below you will find a dark room composed of two sections, an outer U-shaped channel that you are in and an inner section which you cannot reach. Ignoring the inner section, you will find two Anti-fairies guarding a total of 270 Rupees. Collect as much money as you can hold while making your way to the bottom of the room. There you will find two chests containing an Arrow and, more importantly, the last of the Small Keys.

Have plenty of room in your wallet when you come down here.

The real treasure is the last of the six keys.

Once you are done hoarding, head upstairs back to the Compass room, and then proceed south through the locked door. There is a treasure chest in this room, but it is nothing big; it is just five more Rupees to add to your wallet. However, the path through the Traps bouncing back and forth does make the straightforward path treacherous. If you travel to the left side of the room, you can push the statue within the center wall to the right to trap the Trap in a smaller space and open the way forward. Otherwise, there is nothing of real interest in the next room, so continue proceeding south, and you will eventually be back in the room with the large pits and the jump arrows.

The door will seal itself behind you, but no matter. Head along the left fork when you reach the brown blocks, but instead of continuing along to the catwalk, use the south facing arrow to jump across to the main arena in the center of the room. There you will find five Hardhat Beetles awaiting you. You will not have much breathing room to do what you need to do until you defeat them, so ruin their day. Once done, use either the Boomerang or an Arrow to hit the Crystal Switch that exists just off to the south of the center of the main arena. Doing so will make the blue blocks lower, allowing yourself to head through the door to the east.

you will need to use all your items and ingenuity to defeat the many puzzles in this dungeon.

you will enter the room that you were in back when you collected the Map, but you will be on the lower landing this time. Hit the Crystal Switch so that it shows brown and then head to the north end of the room. The door is sealed shut, but there is a way to open it. The topmost skull on the right hand side hides a switch; however, somewhat annoyingly that switch will only activate if there is a weight actively on it, so once you step off the door will seal once again. To weigh the switch down, push the top-right statue over against the right wall, then push it all the way up towards the switch to weight it down. The door will open, so head up the stairs to proceed.

Within the next room, you will find yourself dealing with Goriya once again. there is no new trick here compared to the last time; kill the two green ones first and then use Arrows to eliminate the red one. The door will then open, and you can continue onward.

Be careful when stepping out into this last room on the first floor; there is a Trap bouncing back and forth directly ahead of you. As it swings left, quickly duck through the hallway on the right in order to approach the green statue at the end of the hallway. You might notice that the floor of the room seems to have tile that extends further into the wall just to the right of the statue. that is your clue that there is a secret here. Shoot an arrow into the eye of the statue, and that will trigger an earthquake. Similar to the Desert Palace, the room will expand eastward, eventually revealing a staircase down into the basement.

This is the puzzle that started the trend of using eyes as switches.

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9. Reach the boss’ lair, Palace of Darkness

When you get downstairs, you will be completely surrounded by Moles. You might have noticed these earlier in the dungeon, but you couldn’t do anything about them then. Now with the Magic Hammer, you totally can. Use the Hammer on the Moles to open a path, though be wary as there are Terrorpins on the other side, though hopefully you will turn over one or more with your Hammer at the same time. There are only two Terrorpins, so defeat them so you can return to the puzzle within the room. There is a Crystal Switch in the upper-right corner of the room; if you left it brown upstairs, you should be able to get most of the way to the left, but you will need to turn it blue while standing to the left of the brown blocks. You can do this with the Magical Boomerang (if you have it), an Arrow, or a Bomb. However you decide to do it, unlock the door to the west once the path is clear.

The next room is a narrow corridor between rooms, but there is a Terrorpin lurking the dark hallways, so be ready to deal with him when you get the chance. Head on south through the door once you are ready.

The doors will seal shut once you enter, leaving you in this trap. Six Terrorpins lurk in this room, so make sure your Hammer is ready to knock over as many as you can. You can choose to switch to the Lantern to light one of the two torches to help with the visibility aspect, though the Terrorpins will no doubt find you one way or the other. Defeat all six to open the door to the right.

The last few rooms are swarming with Terrorpins.

Terrorpins are all that stand between you and the boss.

This room will thankfully be a short reprieve in the run down to the boss; no enemies lurk within the dark. There is a Magical Warp Tile within the center of the room surrounded by blocks. The block one space up and one space right of the Magical Warp Tile is the one that can be moved to allow you access. Step into the tile, and you will be warped to a new location.

You might remember this new location from just after you got the Compass. you will be in the inner segment of the U-shaped room where all the Rupees were located. Head north, but keep your Hammer handy as four Terrorpins will be marching down to keep you from the boss’ lair. Defeat them and then finally unlock the Big Door to access the boss’ lair.

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10. Defeat the Helmasaur King, Palace of Darkness

The Helmasaur King is by far the biggest boss you will have fought in this game to date. The Helmasaur King feels like it takes up over half of the room, and its movements will definitely keep you on the defensive. Outside of damaging you just by wandering into you, the boss has two basic attacks. Every so often, the giant Helmasaur will spit out a fireball that will travel a short distance; this fireball will eventually separate into three distinct fireballs, each of which will then separate into four fireballs that will head to the ends of the screen along the diagonals. Those are not too difficult to avoid on their own as the fireballs are predictable and you generally will have enough time to move.

The first goal with the Helmasaur King is to remove his mask with Bombs or the Hammer.

However, the Helmasaur King will also more frequently sweep his long tail left and right before quickly striking to one side. It can be hard to predict which direction the attack will come from, but one thing is for sure: being on the far sides of the screen is not the ideal place for this. The safest place to stay will be remarkably close to the King’s face as its tail cannot strike that close to himself.

Dodge the Helmasaur’s attacks and finish him off with Arrows to the face.

In order to defeat this boss, you have to perform two tasks in order. First, you need to remove the mask that is covering the King’s face. There are two ways to do so. First, you can use Bombs, throwing them into him or placing them in strategic positions that the Helmasaur King will wander over in hopes that they will explode under him; if you manage to explode three bombs under him, his mask will fall right off. If you are low or out of Bombs, you can also use the Magic Hammer; this is technically the faster option but also the riskier one.

Once the mask falls off, it will reveal a giant green eye right atop the Helmasaur King’s forehead. That is the obvious weak spot. Preferably you can use the Bow and Arrow to strike the eye, but you can also use your Sword to waylay upon him. Once you do enough damage, the boss will explode from tail to head, and it will leave behind a Heart Container and a Crystal.

you will uncover that one of the Seven Maidens has been encapsulated within it. She will tell you that Ganon is behind the Dark World and that he is trying to take over the Light World in addition to the Dark World. She has a plan to thwart him, but to do so she will need all of the maidens to come together. She will mark their positions on your map and urge you onward. One down and six to go.

SEQUENCE BREAK

The dungeons of the Dark World do not have to be done in order. After defeating Dungeon #1, you can now open and defeat Dungeons #2, #3, and #4.

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