The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past #31 - Thieves’ Town

1. Enter Thieves’ Town, Thieves’ Town

Perhaps the most annoying thing about leaving Skull Woods is that you are exiting the final section of Skull Woods. there is an entire third of the dungeon that stands between you and escaping back to a more normal section of the map. In order to get to get Crystal number four, you really have two choices:

• You can head back south through the tunnel of bones, past the two Ropa, and back into the second section of Skull Woods. Head east two rooms, bypassing all the enemies you meet, until you reach the next entrance. Escape, and then travel through the very familiar double section of bone tunnels in order to come back to the area comprising the first section. You should be able to head southwest from the cave entrance. you will see a pit leading back to the dungeon there, but you should be able to quickly sideskirt it if you cling desperately to the wall by holding right whilst walking down. From there it is a matter of avoiding the Pikit and then heading past the last Ropa as you continue west until you are clear of the woods.
• Or you can choose the more circuitous way. Use the Magic Mirror to warp back to the Light World. Use the Flute once again to take you to Point #3. Head northwest and walk up the westernmost entrance into the Lost Woods, just like you did to get to Skull Woods. Kill the Soldiers and enter the woods, immediately bearing east and then heading south when you cannot go east any more. Exit the woods, and then use the Magic Hammer to pop the stakes that will eventually lead to the Magical Warp Tile.

you will unfortunately leave Skull Woods very deep within the forest.

Either way, you will be just outside the Skeleton Woods in the Dark World. There should be a long line of bushes heading westward, so clear a path for yourself, bearing south when you find a long corridor heading out of the woods.

Probably the fastest way to get to Thieves’ Town is via Flute travel.

Once clear of the forest, you will find yourself in the Village of Outcasts, the Dark World representation of Kakariko. There are Moblins, Taros, and fox-like bandits called Pikku here, but you probably will not run into any on the way to the dungeon. You can find Thieves’ Town exactly where the duck wind vane and the compass rose would be, just southeast of your exit from the woods. There you will find a large statue of a gargoyle with a pitchfork serving as a gate preventing entry. But you are strong enough; pull on the pitchfork and it will open right up.

It will take a great feat of strength to yank open the entrance to Level Four.

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2. Grab all three dungeon items, Thieves’ Town

You might be surprised to find out that you will be collecting all three of the dungeon necessities right up front. Thieves’ Town practically hands them all to you from the get go because its challenges lie in completely different areas. But yes, it takes but four (albeit large) rooms to collect the Map, the Compass, and the Big Key.

Immediately upon entering you will be confronted with the dragon-like Zazak. These guys are relatively rough and frequently aggressive towards Link, though they usually will not give chase. The blue ones are mostly benign; they wander about the place with general disregard for Link. However, red ones will show contempt for Link whenever they see him, spitting out a large fireball that is unable to be blocked, even with the upgraded Red Shield. Zol, Sparks, and Winders will also be fairly common in these opening rooms, though again there are fairly avoidable. you will also find a few Rabbit Beams sporadically about, typically hiding beneath the catwalks out of sight, so you will have to be on your toes just in case you cannot avoid them.

Probably the fastest way to get to Thieves’ Town is via Flute travel.

First things first: Hop down from the ledge and head forward; at the four-way intersection, turn left, and you will find the Map within the opening room. From there, head all the way east and then bear north once you reach the eastern wall in order to transition to the next room.

Immediately turn right in the second room in order to enter the third room. Once there, immediately bear south into the fourth. You might get caught unawares by the Rabbit Beam hiding at the edge of the room right before the screen transition, so perhaps pause a little bit before making your way so it will fizzle out when it runs into the dungeon wall.

Continue southward in the fourth room and eventually head up a staircase to access the catwalks above. you will see a treasure chest to the southeast, but you will have to circle about the pit below you counterclockwise in order to reach it. Head over to that chest and you will be rewarded with the Compass.

Rabbit Beams abound as you close in on the Compass.

The Big Key is one screen over from the Compass.

Once you have the Compass, jump off of the catwalks heading to the left, continuing all the way back to the first room. A treasure chest will be waiting for you, and in it is the Big Key.

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3. Shine light into Blind’s lair, Thieves’ Town

From the Big Key, you will want to head east one room, then north one room back to the room north of the Compass. In the center of the room you should find a staircase leading up to the catwalks. It will lead east to a four-way intersection; head north and eventually you will find a Winder that is guarding the Big Door. Unlock it, and you will be in the next section of the dungeon.

You can find the first Small Key just outside the boss room.

you will arrive into a hallways lit with rows upon rows of lit lamps. A few Stalfos will be guarding the way. Technically, if you check the map, you will notice that the boss’ room is directly north; go in if you like, but strangely you will not find the boss there. However, you will need to head towards that end of the room anyway as the skull in the northeast corner of the room is hiding a Small Key. Grab it and then head back towards the start of the grand hallway. Unlock the door heading to the west and go through.

The next room will feel a little cramped due to the small alcoves, the Winder, and the two Zazaks. You do not need to fight them unless you have a strong inclination to, so you can keep heading to the west without delay.

Much of this dungeon will focus on these new enemies first seen here.

Gibo can only be damaged in their cores, and only when separated from their bodies.

The next room resembles something of a theme for most of the rest of the floor: conveyor belts. While this certainly is not the first dungeon featuring conveyor belts, this dungeon features many rooms with them, requiring a fair dosage of agile thinking to prevent damage or falls. This is the simplest of the rooms featuring a one-way conveyor belt heading down into a series of Traps. Blocking the way is an Anti-fairy and two red blobs called Gibo. Gibo are comprised of two halves, a body and a core, both of which will deal you damage. The outer body of the Gibo are completely immune to all attacks and will protect the core if it is inside; however, the core is vulnerable to sharp objects such as your sword. Every now and again, the core will leave the body, and the body will eventually trail after it after a short time. In all honesty, these guys are rarely worth fighting, so you can bypass them carefully and continue west.

The next room, naturally, kicks it up a few notches in the complexity. The conveyor now stretches for the entire room, and not only will you have to worry about three Gibo but also bouncing Traps and a wandering Winder. Again, however, the enemies here are probably more tedious to defeat than they are to just simply avoid, so skip the fighting and make your way against the grain until you reach the end of the conveyor belt. Head north once you reach the end of the room.

you will find yourself with a locked door, and thankfully there is a Small Key with that door’s name on it here. Not surprisingly, it is hiding underneath the skull in the center of the room. There is a Zol hiding just next to it, so make sure to get the drop on it before getting too comfortable. Collect the Small Key, and then flip the Crystal Switch over to blue as nowhere in this dungeon from this point on will you need it set to brown. It will loose all of the Traps, but if you trip the Crystal from afar, you will not have to deal with them… at least until the return trip. Use the key to open the door and head above ground for the first time.

it is best to trip the Crystal Switch as far away from the Traps as you can.

Upstairs, you will encounter a creature called a Buzz. It looks like a lizard, but really it functions very similarly to the Rats from the first dungeon… except for the fact that there are much hardier and deal a lot more damage. Be on your guard while around them. you will want to ignore the Pull Lever on the wall; instead, direct yourself to the skulls resting between the lowered blue blocks. Underneath the rightmost one you will find a switch, and that is the ticket to opening the door.

The next room is a long hallway broken up by a screen transition. Dash past all of the Buzzes until you make it through the doorway to the east. there will be three Buzzes here, and you should first kill all of them so you can do your more delicate business. you will need a Bomb for this, but, in case you did not bring any, there are some in the treasure chest in the corner of the room. you will want to toss a Bomb on top of the sunlit crack in the floor between the walls. Stand between the two tables, place a bomb, and then immediately pick it up and toss it. If it lands right, you will blow a hole into the ground, and the light will be shining into it. If you were to go and check now, you will find that there is now light shining down into the boss room below. But it is still not time to head to the boss yet; you need to find the boss first and lure her there.

you will need to bomb this patch of ground to dare bring light into Blind’s lair.

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4. Rescue the kidnapped maiden, Thieves’ Town

Return back to the staircase that brought you here, wandering back down to B1. you will have to dodge all of the Traps, now freely swinging side to side across the entire room. Continue heading south until you reach the long hallway with the conveyor belt. With the Crystal Switch flipped to blue, now you can take the shortcut exit out directly to the east.

The next room is simply an obstacle course that is patrolled by two red Zazaks and a Gibo. there are not really worth your time unless you want to plunder their corpses, so just keep on heading eastward.

Leave the Crystal Switch blue when leaving.

This will allow you to get to level B2.

This room then becomes perhaps the most complicated treadmill you will have seen thus far. All of the treadmills are designed to draw you towards the black pit deep within the center of the room. Three Zazak and a Stalfos block your path, but again you do not have to fight them, so there are not really the most important thing to deal with. Instead you will want to head down the staircase down to B2.

it is here, however, where you will need to kill your enemies. This is because even your Power Glove does not have the sheer might to lift the large block in the center of the room. Kill the red Stalfos and the red and blue Zazaks, and in due time the door will open and reveal the way forward.

you will have to face one more room of conveyor belts before everything is said and done with. The conveyor belts will be heading each direction and always towards a pit, so be careful and take your time along the way. A Zol will pop out of the ground the moment you set foot on the treadmills, and two Bari will be floating further along the way. Be careful and stick to the center until you reach the downward treadmills, and, once you reach the end, bear east.

This conveyor belt is difficult to cross, and the Bari are difficult to avoid and to kill.

The one Zazak in the next room really can be safely ignored, especially if you just sprint all the way to the door. Once you get there, you will be very close to the prisoner held deep within the dungeon.

Two Zazak and a Zol will be the guards of these final cells, and you can get rid of them as you go along. The Big Key will unlock all of the cell doors as you make your way through them. Do watch out as one of the skulls will be hiding a Rabbit Beam, and that will only serve to delay you along the way. you will reach the end, and there is a beautiful maiden there awaiting your rescue. You might be suspicious of this, seeing as how she has not trapped within a Crystal. But for now, agree to help her, and she follow you (just about) anywhere you choose to go.

Make sure you get this Small Key before leaving with the maiden.

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5. Grab the Titan’s Mitt, Thieves’ Town

Before you leave the prison, make sure to grab the Small Key hiding within the treasure chest in her cell. Then backtrack south and west all the way to the room with the conveyor belts. Instead of heading back north, continue west and unlock the door you see there. Before you head in, however, get your Magic Hammer ready.

Inside the room is the Big Chest; it is lovingly protected by a ring of Moles keeping adventurers like you out. As quick as you can, bop one of the Moles with your Hammer and head into the center, grabbing the prize within the Big Chest. you will have acquired the Titan’s Mitt, the leveled-up variant of the Power Glove. Those rocks and blocks that you could notlift before? Now they will submit to you.

you will need to be prepared if you want to reach the Big Chest.

you will also need to have your exit strategy planned.

If they have not already, tiles of floor will start crumbling away, starting from the northeast and working clockwise around the room, leaving a one-tile wide border on the outside. The way back will probably now be blocked by a pit, so quickly make your way out by bopping one of the Moles on the north side of the Big Chest. Even if you should happen to not be quick enough, you can try Hookshotting one of the statues, though you will probably still fall in. Worst case, you will take a heart of damage and end up in the doorway. Head back east.

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6. Return to the boss room, Thieves’ Town

Continue east past the conveyor belts until you get to the room with the sole Zazak. This time, head north. This will take you to the passageway that was blocked by a huge stone. With the Titan’s Mitt, you can lift and throw it out of the way. With that, you can head back up a level.

Back upstairs, you can lift the skull in the northeast corner of the room to find a switch under it. Step on it, and the door to the east will unseal itself. Enter the unsealed doorway, and you will be back in the hallway leading to the boss’ room. Since you happen to have a suspicious-looking maiden with you, take a raincheck on leading her outside. Bring her with you through the door to the north, straight into the boss room.

There you will find a bright light shining down from above. Walk straight into the light, and suddenly you will be sealed in. Yup, that maiden was suspicious after all.

The switch will open the door that leads you straight to the boss’ lair.

To the surprise of no one, the maiden will turn out to be Blind himself.

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7. Defeat Blind the Thief, Thieves’ Town

It will not be but a few moments until the innocent looking girl turns into Blind the Thief. Blind is a red-bodied demon wearing a large white sheet as a tunic. That big white sheet should have a bullseye painted on it because that is your very large target. Use your sword and hack and slash at Blind as fast as you can. Blind, for his part, will fly erratically abound from left to right, spitting fireballs across the room non-stop. Every once in a while he will pause momentarily, and then he will fire a laser beam from his eyes in your direction. If you take too much time, Blind will move from the upper half of the room to the lower half; he will change direction every now and again, forcing you to follow.

This boss fight will continually get increasingly frenetic as Blind takes damage.

As you deal damage to Blind, the white tunic will fall to the ground, leaving only the red head visible. That head will proceed to fly wildly about the room, spitting fireballs just like Blind himself. you will want to ignore that head to the best of your ability as the heads of Blind the Thief cannot be harmed; only the white body can take damage. The body will reform a few moments later, and a second head will rest upon those shoulders.

Blind will create two heads before dying; you must defeat his third body to win.

Continue your onslaught when this happens. Eventually, given enough damage, Blind’s body will crumple a second time, now causing two free-floating heads and one body spitting fire everywhere. Naturally, the body will rematerialize once again, adding a third enemy to the fray.

Keep up the work and eventually you will be successful. Blind will erupt in a flurry of explosions, and you will have received your fourth Crystal and yet another Heart Container. you are now halfway through the Dark World.

You might have thought that Thieves’ Town was uncharacteristically short for a dungeon. In many ways it was. Thieves’ Town is perhaps the shortest of all eight Dark World dungeons. Be ready for the unexpected coming up as the kid gloves come off in the fifth dungeon.

SEQUENCE BREAK

Dungeon #5 will only be accessible once all of the dungeons up until this point have been conquered. However, you can skip Dungeon #5 and head straight to Dungeon #6 so long as you have the Titan’s Mitt and the Hookshot.

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