The Goron Mines are the game’s fire dungeon [1], with everything that goes with that. The first section involves platforming over lava, there’s flame spouts Link has to be careful to not walk/jump into, and a lot of fiery enemies. Thinking back to Ocarina of Time, wooden shields and fire are a bad mix (and I feel bad enough about stealing Jaggle’s [2] shield – getting it destroyed and having to replace it with a generic wooden shield probably isn’t for the best), so… a careful Link could probably get through without the Hylian shield, but piece of mind is worth the rupees. The other core mechanic of the dungeon is far more interesting: there are magnetic surfaces Link can walk on with the Iron Boots. This lets him walk on ceilings or walls, or cling to platforms that flip over and wait for them to rotate back.
Throughout the dungeon, Link finds the three other Goron elders: Gor Amoto, Gor Ebizo, and… well, the third one didn’t say his name. They each give Link one third of the dungeon’s Big Key. They also entrust Link with the dungeon’s item, the Hero’s Bow, which belonged to a former hero (possibly the Hero of Time). However, the bow’s guard, Dangoro, doesn’t trust Link at first and turns into the miniboss fight. The fight takes place on an unstable magnetic platform floating in a bed of lava. Attacking Dangoro doesn’t do much good, because of his armor. However, when he prepares to attack Link, he leaves his belly open, so Link can get a few hits in and force Dangoro to roll into a ball, which Link can then throw into the lava. After three baths, Dangoro admits defeat, and allows Link to claim the bow if he promises to use it to help Darbus. There are also two heart pieces in this dungeon.
This dungeon introduced me to something new with Twilight Princess: If Link doesn’t have room in his wallet for a rupee he finds in a treasure chest, he puts it back. Discovering this quirk led me to try Ooccoo, and she’s even more useful than I hoped: She sends Link out with her son, Ooccoo Jr., and when Link’s ready to return to the dungeon, Ooccoo Jr. can bring him back from anywhere in the overworld. I didn’t find anything to spend rupees on, so I ended up having to leave a few chests behind. Ooccoo has one limitation that surprised me that shouldn’t have: When Link returns, it’s to the start of the room he left. So if you try it out after making your way through a big room and don’t even bother going through the next door and back… you get to do the whole room again.
As Link walks into the boss room, he finds Darbus in chains, still in the monstrous form the Fused Shadow turned him into: Fyrus. He’s asleep at first, but Link’s presence causes the gem on his helmet to light up, then he wakes up, catches fire (title: Twilit Igniter), and breaks free. About the hardest part of this fight is that Fyrus’ weak point is the helmet gem, but can’t be L-targeted, so Link’s got to hit it without help. Once it is hit, Fyrus stomps around the arena, trailing his leg chains behind him. Link can grab on, and wearing the iron boots to anchor him, cause him to fall over, bringing the gem in range of sword strikes. I’ve got no idea what kind of attacks Fyrus has because I never saw them.
As Link claims the second Fused Shadow, Midna decides she can be a little helpful and name the enemy: Zant. She says that as Link and Zant are now, Link wouldn’t stand a chance in a fight – but she doesn’t respect Zant. She’s not overly fond of Zelda, either, and wonders how the royal life is supposed to raise a ruler. Once Link grabs the heart piece, he and Midna warp back to Eldin’s spring, leaving a confused Darbus behind.
Eldin directs Link to the next nature spirit, Lanayru. (Goddess name #3, check.) It says that Link will find someone he’s looking for. If there’s any doubt who it meant, Renado and the kids come to see Link, and someone other than her father finally remembers Ilia exists. Colin says the monsters didn’t leave her when they left him, but he’s fine now, so Link can leave him and go find her. Renado promises to watch over the kids, and compares Link to the heroes of legend.
Next: Back into the twilight.
[1] Or at least the first one; it’s possible there’s another one.
[2] Talo and Malo’s father.
