The fissure Link can take to Lorule’s Death Mountain is on the southeastern side of the mountain. Hilda describes the Sage imprisoned in the area as having “a soul as formidable as a boulder,” which probably means Rosso; he’s already connected to Death Mountain, so that makes sense. The enemies in the area are ice and snow themed; Hinox and Zirros have snowballs instead of their normal ammunition, and Gimos (Lorulean Armos) are made of ice. The path to the dungeon, the Ice Ruins, is the inverse of the path to Rosso’s Ore Mine, with Link platforming up rather than down. Signs along the way warn that the Ice Ruins aren’t for the faint of heart, so this is probably intended to be one of the last dungeons. There’s a heart piece Link can get along the way by fissuring back to Hyrule.
The other highlight of Death Mountain is the Treacherous Tower minigame. This is reminiscent of Spirit Tracks’ Take ‘Em All On! game, with a gauntlet of enemies Link needs to clear. There are three levels of difficulty, and completing one unlocks the next. From what the Devilish Girl [1] who hosts the game says, it seems dying in the game counts against dying for real. But Link can bring fairies or potions in, and there’s nothing too challenging on either Beginner or Intermediate difficulty. When Link completes a run, the spectators throw rupees to him, and for completing Intermediate for the first time, Link gets a heart piece. There are six Maiamais in the area, and Link can get four (two on walls, one en route to the Ice Ruins, and another under a skull).
The final area for Link to explore is Eastern Hyrule. Hilda describes it as a “truly evil place,” and says there’s a Sage in the Dark Palace in need of rescuing. As Link enters the area near the Dark Palace, Hilda contacts him again to warn him about the inhabitants of the area: corrupted Lorulean soldiers who worship the beast in the dungeon. Link can’t fight the soldiers (who are reminiscent of the Poe Collector from the N64 games), so that means stealth mission. Hey, merging into the wall is the perfect stealth mechanic (as long as no one notices the painting is moving), so they weren’t going to let that go to waste. There are two Maiamais along the walls and a heart piece along the way to the dungeon, and Link can get the other eight Maiamais in the region (one on a wall, two in trees, one on a rock, three underwater, and one in grass). Link now has enough Maiamais to upgrade the remaining three items: the Nice Hookshot has longer range and deals damage, the Nice Ice Rod drops four icicles instead of one, and the Nice Fire Rod’s flame is larger and lasts longer.
By this point, I’d created several Shade Shadow Links to fight, and there are fifty challenges for defeating them. Multiple challenges can be completed in a single run so it doesn’t actually take fifty wins to complete them all. There are a few I can’t get just yet, but most of them can be done now. The challenges are:
1-4: Win once/five times/ten times/twenty times
5-26: Win using items. The eleven items are Ravio’s nine (including the Sand Rod that Osfala has), the Lamp, and the Bug Net, and there’s separate challenges for the normal and upgraded versions of each (using the upgraded version completes both challenges, however). For damage-dealing items, Link has to use them to deliver the final blow. Mother Maiamai can’t upgrade the Lamp and Bug Net, so Link will need to find a different way to do that.
27: Wear the Hint Glasses.
28-31: Use various potions. Blue Monster Tails and yellow Monster Horns have begun dropping, and 10 of each can be used to create a potion of the correct color. Blue potion restores all of Link’s hearts, and yellow makes him invincible for a short time. Blue and red potions just need to be used during the match to count; yellow must be active when Link wins, and purple must be used to deliver the final blow.
32: Use milk. Same as potions. Thankfully, all consumables used during the Shadow Link fights are not actually consumed.
33: Use a fairy. Same again.
34-35: Use a bee and Golden Bee to deliver the final blow. Golden Bee does both. Some Shadow Links have the Bee Medallion, so it’s pointless to try against them.
36-37: Use an apple/green apple during the fight. Green apple completes both.
38: Use a Foul Fruit (purchased from merchants) to stun the opponent during the match.
39-40: Use a shield/Hylian Shield during the match. Block an attack, easy enough. Hylian Shield’s something to keep an eye out for.
41-43: Use a dash attack/spin attack/sword beam to deliver the final blow.
44: Level 3 Master Sword to deliver the final blow. Don’t have this yet.
45: Merge with a wall during a fight. Walls can be created by freezing lava.
46-48: Win without taking damage/without moving/within 10 seconds. Against a weak enough opponent, these three combine nicely with the purple potion challenge.
49: Win without using items.
50: Win without using items or sword attacks. Only dash attacks can be used. Tricky. I managed to get this one without also getting “win with a dash attack,” because the Shadow Link fell off the platform and took the last bit of damage that way.
Next: Starting Lorule dungeons.
[1] They put names on dialogue boxes now. This is the best addition ever.
