The wall that blocked the way into the Shadow Temple turns out to be fake, just like in the well. The first puzzle is a maze of fake walls, which hint that the Shadow Temple is a symbol of Hyrule’s dark past. It’s not clear what it was used for historically, but given the location and the decor and the number of undead enemies throughout and the fact that it’s walled off from the rest of the cemetery, it probably wasn’t anything good. There’s another dead hand miniboss here, still creepy but easier to kill with Biggoron's Sword. It was guarding the dungeon’s treasure: hover boots, which allow Link to walk on air for a short time. Walking while wearing them is like walking on ice, but while they don’t have limitless range, they let Link go far enough to cross some gaps too far to jump across when there’s nothing for the hookshot to latch onto.
In sharp contrast to the Water Temple, the Shadow Temple is mostly a straight path through. There’s one potential shortcut, a false floor that drops Link down a few floors; doing that means missing out on skulltulas and seeing the dungeon, of course. The tricks are mostly reserved for puzzles and Lens of Truth tricks, and sometimes both at once (having to figure out to equip hover boots and let a giant fan blow Link through a false wall). The most memorable part of the dungeon is a giant boat that Link can activate with Zelda’s Lullaby. During the short ride, a couple stalfos drop on to fight him, then the boat reaches its destination and begins falling and Link has to jump off before going down with the boat.
The boss is the phantom shadow beast that escaped from the well, and it bears the unfortunately silly-sounding name Bongo Bongo. It’s a little less silly in context, because it’s fought on a giant drumhead, which its two disembodied hands tap constantly throughout the battle. The beats send Link flying into the air as the hands strike at him, so Link has to stun the hands to get the main body to fly over the drum and become vulnerable to having its eye poked. I got a good rhythm going with dodging the hands’ attack, hitting the hand that didn’t attack (not counting the clap attack, obviously), then the other hand when it got back in place, and hitting the eye with the hookshot. I even managed to hit the eye with a desperation shot when I didn’t have time to turn on the Lens of Truth. Then I noticed the battle was taking an inordinately long time, and I remembered bosses aren’t just hit the weak point, they’re hit the weak point to stun them and then whale on them with the sword. Silly name or no, Bongo Bongo is probably my favorite Zelda boss to date, so I don’t mind that the battle lasted far longer than it should have; it’s too much fun to wrap up too quickly.
Link is transported to the Chamber of Sages, where he meets with Impa. Impa expresses admiration for the hero that Link has grown into and reassures him that Princess Zelda is safe and that they’ll meet again soon enough. She gives him her medallion, and now there’s only one sage left to find, the one in the desert temple.
Gerudo Valley
The situation in Gerudo Valley is more or less the same as when Link and Epona hopped over and got Biggoron’s Sword: the bridge is out and the head carpenter can’t fix it by himself so he asks Link for help. The Gerudo aren’t really any more welcoming of Link as an adult: as soon as he’s spotted, he’s thrown in their prison. They leave him his longshot, however, so he sneaks out of the cell and then around the Gerudo Fortress, stunning the guards with the longshot and rescuing the carpenters. This means the bridge will get fixed, not that it being broken was a significant obstacle. Anyway, after the last carpenter is safe, a Gerudo woman comes to Link and congratulates him on the skill he displayed and makes him a member of the tribe, saying that Nabooru has gone on to the Spirit Temple.
Next: Crossing the desert.
