The Arbiter’s Grounds is a combination of features of the best dungeons from Ocarina of Time. Like the Spirit Temple, it’s set in the desert and requires Link to have mastered both forms (in this case, human and wolf) to progress. (Okay, maybe this one is a bit of a stretch.) Like the Shadow Temple, it’s filled with undead and a general aura that this is a place where Bad Things happened. And the general progression is reminiscent of the Forest Temple. And the dungeon item is a cool new addition to the franchise. This is a very strong contender for my favorite dungeon in the franchise to date.
Much of the dungeon is filled with quicksand, so Link is left to cling to the few solid areas where he can stand. New enemies include Stalchidren and larger Stalfos, the latter finally providing a foe Link can practice Helm Splitting against. As in A Link to the Past (sort of), they need to be exploded with a bomb to be truly killed – one time I got lucky and dropped a bomb to kill the Stalfos I’d knocked out, then turned to fight the second one and oops! It got caught in the explosion and died anticlimactically. ReDeads make their appearance, and instead of draining life by grabbing Link, they instead try to thwack him with a sword while he’s stunned. And there are two types of enemies that exist to slow Link down by jumping on him: Poison Mites and Ghoul Rats, the latter only visible to wolf senses. As has been standard for this game, there are two heart pieces in the dungeon.
The first part of the dungeon is right out of the Forest Temple: There are four lanterns required to open the way forward, and four Poes steal their light and Link has to track them down, using the scent from the one who stayed in the central chamber as a guide. These Poes are different from the ones Link has fought for pieces of Jovani’s soul (although they still drop Poe Souls): much scarier-looking, and only becoming vulnerable when they’re about to attack. As with the Forest Temple’s Poe Sisters, the last Poe even splits into false doubles before attacking. Also like the Forest Temple, there are several puzzles in the dungeon where Link needs to spin rooms around to align the exits to the ways he needs to go.
The dungeon’s miniboss is Death Sword, a ghost wielding a giant sword. The first phase of the fight is like the other Poe fights in the dungeon, but after enough damage, it becomes visible without wolf senses. At this point, Link needs to shoot it with an arrow to draw it closer, then whack it with the sword. Beating it lets Link claim the dungeon’s prize, the Spinner. Link can ride the Spinner to glide over quicksand, but more importantly, he can latch onto the rails on the walls and ride. After a room teaching the player how to use the Spinner en route to the Big Key, Link finds one more use for the Spinner: sitting in indentations in the ground and spinning to open the way forward.
The final area is a giant sand pit. In the center of the pit is a skeletal dragon, and Zant appears and stabs a giant twilight sword into the skull, animating the twilit fossil, Stallord. In the first phase, the outer wall of the sand pit is ringed with a spinner track, so Link needs to hop on, get up speed, and charge at Stallord. After the first time, Stallord summons flunkies to guard him, so Link needs to bounce off them, taking enough out to get back and hit Stallord again. After three hits, the sand drains and the arena changes. Link finds himself in a ring pit, the inner and outer walls lined with rising spinner tracks. Stallord is reduced to its skull, but that’s still able to breathe fire. Link needs to jump between walls to avoid fireballs and traps to hit Stallord, knocking it down and letting Link pummel the twilight sword animating it. After enough hits, Stallord crumbles, the sword dissolves into a heart container, and the way out opens. Excellent boss fight.
After leaving the dungeon, Link makes his way to the mirror chamber atop the ruins. He first has to fight five shadow beings at once, then use the spinner to reveal the Mirror of Twilight… or what’s left of it. It’s broken.
Next: Some long-awaited backstory.
