The ascent up Mt. Tamaranch starts the same as the journey to the waterfall for Angler’s Tunnel. Link even passes by the same heart piece he saw but couldn’t get earlier. During the ascent, the owl comes back to tell Link that his final two dungeons are in the mountains, and since he’s probably not into misleading Link about critical information about the Wind Fish, we can assume he’s telling the truth here.
Up in the mountains, there’s a man living in a hut who’s thoroughly excited to see a flying rooster. In keeping with the general theme of the game, he resembles Luigi, so I’m going to assume he’s Tarin’s brother. Exploring the caves around the mountain, Link can finally get that heart piece [1] and finds the Bird Key to unlock the next dungeon, Eagle’s Tower.
Eagle’s Tower
Eagle’s Tower is designed around a central puzzle: throwing a heavy ball into four support pillars to bring the fourth floor crashing down to merge with the third floor. This is a really cool puzzle, slightly marred by the fact that controlling the ball can be a pain in the ass sometimes. There’s also several times where Link has to jump down to the floor below to land on ledges, and a sequence of walking on top of switch blocks.
The one failing of the dungeon is that the mirror shield doesn’t feel connected to anything; Link finds it rather early, and it can be useful against the boss, but it’s actually quite possible to complete the dungeon without it [2]. Rather than a separate miniboss and boss, Link goes up against the minions of the Grim Creeper twice. The first time, he summons groups of six bats to attack Link until Link can defeat an entire group. The second, and more memorable fight, takes place on top of the tower. There, the Grim Creeper rides an Evil Eagle and attacks Link. It starts with just making flybys, but after taking three hits, it starts divebombing Link, and hovering above the tower trying to push Link off. Falling causes no damage, but it does reset the fight.
On the other hand, if you realize a secret about the fight, it gets much easier. The eagle switches tactics after taking three hits, not losing a certain percentage of its life. So, if Link has the level 2 sword and hits the Eagle with spin attacks, the Eagle dies in those three hits and the harder phase never starts. As he dies, the Grim Creeper tells Link that he’s part of the dream, too. The seventh instrument Link gains is the Organ of Evening Calm. Link knows where he’s going next, so the voice tells him that the ocarina will be important instead.
Link comes out of Eagle’s Tower to discover his rooster friend is gone. Not to worry, he’s safe with Tarin’s brother, who’s holding onto the rooster’s ankles as it flies around his house. As Link continues on westward, he discovers Marin stranded on a broken bridge. Link pulls a pretty awesome maneuver, hookshotting across the bridge and grabbing Marin along the way, dragging her to safety. After thanking Link, Marin starts trying to stammer something to him, but Tarin shows up looking for her and she decides not to say it after all and leaves with Tarin. She doesn’t bring it up again if Link visits her in Mabe Village before completing the quest, either.
The owl comes back once she’s gone and says that she’d sang the Ballad of the Wind Fish in front of the egg, and that’s why the monsters took her and left her on the bridge. He reiterates that Link’s got to go west for the final instrument, and hints that he’s going to have to play Frog’s Song of Soul for something. Link passes through a cave to the western part of the mountains, and finds yet another home of the Mad Batter. Link continues his quest to annoy the poor creature, and this time is rewarded by having his arrow capacity doubled.
Next: Turtle Rock
[1] Although the cave that it’s in is the one leading to the western part of the mountains, and it won’t give a full heart, so maybe it’s better to wait.
[2] But you won’t get to Turtle Rock without it.
