Preparations: You must have Bombs and the Bow in order to proceed here.
When you enter, you will find the palace is dark, so be sure to have your Lamp equipped. Light the lantern and go east, then north to a cracked wall in the corner. Bomb it and enter the north room to reach a chest containing
5 Rupees. Return to the entrance and head to the west side now, where you will find a crystal switch. Place a Bomb next to it, then quickly stand on the square platform in the middle of the room. When the switch is triggered, the platform will move across the pit briefly. Get off on the other side, then place another Bomb. There are two windows above, with the right one being blocked. Take a Bomb and throw it so it explodes in front of the window in the air, which will open the door.
In the next room, defeat the Helmasaur (use the Hookshot to remove its mask to make attacking easier). In the northwest corner, use a Bomb to clear the cracked floor panels to shine some light into the pit. Also, step on the floor switch to make a Small Key appear. Unequip your Lamp and merge onto the wall, then follow the glowing arrows around the room to a hidden platform. Pop out there to get the
Small Key. Return to the north side and unlock the door to proceed.
In here, go right and light the unlit lantern. There will be large orbs rolling along the narrow middle path, so you need to wait until one passes before you head northward. At the opposite end, first light the lantern by the northern doorways, then go into an alcove to the right of the orbs to find a cracked floor. Bomb it to reveal a pit you can jump into. Jump in and you will land on a ledge with the
Small Key. Take it, then go back upstairs via the northern steps for now.
Up here again, enter the western room. There are two crystal switches and a moving platform in the middle. Throw Bombs at the switches when you move upward, then open the chest that appears to get a
Compass. For another secret, wait for the platform to start moving upward, then place a Bomb on the southern end of it. It should detonate when it goes back down, revealing a hidden fairy room. Otherwise, ride the platform upward and go into the middle room to the east, and cross the catwalk into the east room.
In here, first bomb the south wall and enter the room there. Open the chest on the upper level to get
50 Rupees, then exit. Drop into the room below and defeat the green and red enemies in here using your Bow (greens can be killed by your sword, but the red requires arrows). After they are gone, the platform across the room will move up and down. When it moves downward, run into a hidden room to the south. There, place a Bomb in the northeast corner to blow open a hole (if you fall through the hole, you will land by a chest containing a
Monster Horn. Open the chest to get a
Monster Tail, then exit to the west.
From here, go back into the east room, and head down the stairs at the north end to B1. Down here, avoid or defeat the ghosts, then enter the east room. In there, go forward and extinguish the lantern and unequip your Lamp. That way the path becomes illuminated. Make your way around to the northeast corner to grab a
Small Key, then go all the way southwest into the next room. The way to the boss room is locked for now, so all you can do is walk around the perimeter. For right now, follow the perimeter around and enter the northwest room.
In here, unequip your Lamp and the walls will become illuminated as well. You can even see small gaps where you can merge and pass through. Get to the northwest corner of the room while avoiding the fire snake, and break the pots to find a floor switch. Step on it to make a chest appear in the southwest corner. Open it to find another
Small Key.
Now, return to the large room to the east. First, unlock the southwest door and enter that room. Inside, you will see a moving platform with three crystal switches to the left. Ride the platform back and forth, lining up with the switches and tossing Bombs down at them (the walls are actually ramps). Trigger all three switches to make the big chest appear; open it to get the
Big Key.
Exit this room, and unlock the opposite door now. In the southeast room, you will face another set of green and red enemies. The trick is they are above you but they mimic your movements, so move around so they fall through the hole in the ceiling, then defeat them normally. After you do that, the entrance portal will appear and the center platform will move up and down. Ride it upward and exit to the left.
Back in the big room, merge with the wall and move clockwise around to the far west ledge. Hit the crystal switch there and a floor panel will peel upward, revealing another eyeball that needs to be illuminated. Only two of the four are lit up so far. So, make your way back to the north room and upstairs to 1F. From there, unlock the adjacent door and proceed to 2F.
There will be a crystal switch in this room which rotates the walls to the side. If you place a Bomb by the switch, then merge on the middle of either wall, you will be flipped to the other side. Both corners have cracked floors you can fall through. The right one leads to the chest on the high ledge of 1F containing
50 Rupees. The left hole leads to another crack you can bomb, which leads to a ledge on B1 with some more rupees.
Anyway, you can go west or east on 2F. Both rooms have crystal switches (the west room can be hit with your sword, east one with a Bomb), and floor tiles that start to fall out shortly after you arrive. Pick a room, then quickly hit the switch and get through the south door before it closes again. As a note if you go through the east room: quickly throw a Bomb onto the ledge next to the switch, then merge onto the east wall and move to the northeast corner. The switch will trigger and you will flip into a hidden rupee room. Anyway, in the large southern room, defeat the ghosts and make your way to the center. You will find two crystal switches which move the corresponding platforms up and down. First, go to the southeast corner and merge with the wall to reach the semi-hidden chest containing
Monster Guts.
Next, get to the west side of the room and you will see a boarded up window above. Toss a Bomb onto the ledge above to open it, lighting up another of the eyes in the basement. Head to the south side this time and trigger the switch while standing on the platform to rise upward. Merge with the wall and go east to a long platform in front of the windows. Bomb the northeast window to activate the fourth and final eye in the basement. Get back to the central platform one more time. Place a Bomb by the southern switch, then quickly run to the north and trigger the north switch to raise the platform. Merge onto the wall before the Bomb detonates, and you will be flipped into a hidden room. Open the big chest to get another
Master Ore!
Bomb the crystal switch and merge with the wall to exit. You can do this same trick in the opposite way (place a Bomb next to the northern crystal switch, run onto the southern platform and hit the switch next to it to rise up, then merge onto the south wall), in order to reach a hidden room with
300 Rupees inside. When you are done here, make your way all the way downstairs to B1. In the large southern room, all four eyes will be lit, so the way to the boss room is open. Walk right up and enter the room to face the boss, Helmasaur King. Light the two lanterns in the northwest and southeast corners to make the boss appear.
Boss: Helmasaur King
While it may look similar, this boss is definitely different from its earlier incarnation. For the first phase of battle, it has a large mask protecting it from damage. The boss attacks by flashing its tail before shooting three beams in your direction. Avoid them and place Bombs so they detonate in front of the boss to damage its mask, knocking some rupees free. After several Bomb blasts, the mask will be broken off, knocking a lot of rupees for you to collect.
For the second part of the battle, Helmasaur King will now be vulnerable as shown by a red jewel on its head. Attack it directly with your sword to cause damage, while avoiding the boss as it runs around. Periodically, the lights will be blown out and the boss will run around the room super fast. Quickly light the lanterns with your Lamp/Fire Rod while avoiding the charging boss (using the Pegasus Boots may help). When the room is lit up again, the boss slows down and you can attack with your sword again. It will take a bunch of sword attacks to win, but if you can survive the darkness phase, you should be fine here.
Once the battle ends, take the
Heart Container and touch the painting. You will meet Sage Gulley at this point. After you leave the chamber, you will be outside of the palace.
NEXT: Before Skull Woods
