Before Adult Link heads back to the Spirit Temple with the Silver Gauntlets, there are some other things to wrap up. First, in the corner of Zora’s Fountain, there’s a silver rock hiding a hole. Going down the hole leads to a bunch of big skulltulas, and at the end, a gold skulltula. That brings Link’s total to 97, with the last three being in and around the Spirit Temple. Also, with the silver gauntlets, Link has all the items he needs to take on the Gerudo Training Grounds. This is a mini-dungeon full of puzzles that test just about everything Link’s learned up to this point, and requires items from all five adult dungeons, plus the Iron Boots and Lens of Truth, to get all the keys. The reward for completing all these challenges is a bit underwhelming: ice arrows, which I’m pretty sure I never used. On the other hand, my completionist soul can rest easy knowing I got them, so there’s that.
Now it’s time to go back to the Desert Colossus. The magic bean has matured into an elevator plant that will deliver Link to the last heart piece and a skulltula. This portion of the dungeon is mostly puzzles, including a lot of tricks reflecting light onto sun faces. The adult treasure, guarded by another iron knuckle that’s considerably easier with Link’s big boy sword (still hits hard, though), is the mirror shield, which plays a key role in some of the puzzles, including melting the temple’s central statue’s face and allowing Link to progress to fight the boss.
The witches Link saw earlier acknowledge his presence upon his entry into their lair, but before they fight him, they sic their loyal minion on him. The loyal minion is a super iron knuckle; after it’s defeated, it’s revealed to be what’s become of Nabooru. Being beaten clears her mind, but the witches send her off to be brainwashed again after they deal with Link. In the cutscene before the boss battle, Koume displays her fiery powers, and Kotake her icy powers. Together, they’re the sorceress sisters, Twinrova. Kaepora Gaebora’s hint was fairly useful, but between the obvious fire/ice dynamic and mirror shield, what to do here is quite obvious. Z-targeting makes it easy for Link to reflect one sister’s attack to hit the other, and eventually the two combine into one big witch. This segment of the fight is a little different: the mirror shield absorbs the power from the attacks, and after absorbing three of the same element, gives off a beam that can be used against Twinrova. Then they’re down and Link beats on them with his sword. And then I totally forgot that Biggoron’s sword has to be put away before a shield can be properly used again, so getting another attack on Twinrova took a while, but that put them down. As the sisters prepare for the next round, they notice that they’re dead. They poof off to the afterlife with some amusing banter, and the final temple is cleared.
The Sage of Spirit is, of course, Nabooru, who is happy to fight back against Ganon as a sage after what Twinrova did to her. Then Rauru shows up and tells Link someone’s waiting for him at the Temple of Time, but there’s one last errand to run before that meeting. At the skulltula house in Kakariko Village, the father’s curse has been broken, and he rewards Link with a huge rupee worth 200 rupees. Now, that may seem almost pointless given how little there is to actually buy in this game, but he’ll repeat the reward endlessly, which can help Link stock and restock potions if he has trouble with the final dungeon. There are other ways, of course, but this is about as quick and painless as they come.
Anyway, off to the Temple of Time, where Sheik explains what’s happened. When Ganon claimed the Triforce, his heart was imbalanced, so he only got the Triforce of Power. The Triforce of Courage went to Link, and the Triforce of Wisdom went to the seventh sage… Sheik’s true self… Princess Zelda. She teaches Link to shoot Light Arrows which will harm Ganon, and then prepares for a final confrontation where Ganon will be sealed in the Sacred Realm. Except Ganon has still been watching Link all this time, hoping he’d lead him to Zelda, and now he has. He traps Zelda in a crystal and drags her off, taunting Link to come rescue her if he can.
So, I have two questions about this sequence. First, the Triforce of Wisdom went to the person whose reckless planning let Ganon get his hands on the Triforce in the first place? Is it mocking her? [1] Second, if Ganon could kidnap Zelda from afar like he did, why couldn’t he do the same to Link? He’s been so smart so far, letting Link and Zelda do all the work and then sweeping in to snatch victory away from them at the last minute, so what was he thinking here? Well, whatever, Link’s not a prisoner, and the sages make a bridge so he can cross the lava lake to Ganon’s Castle.
Next: The final confrontation.
[1] To be fair, she was a kid, and as Gandalf said, “Even the very wise cannot see all ends.” I just wish I had a good counterexample to show that she should be the bearer of the Triforce of Wisdom, especially when two of Ganon’s – the guy who was unworthy of it – biggest moments are outsmarting her.
