Show King Zora the message in the bottle by equipping it and L-targeting the King. He'll allow Link to pass into the altar of Lord Jabu Jabu, but first there's a ridiculously long cut scene of the huge King shifting over…millimetre by millimetre…to make room for Link to pass.
What makes up for it is that he lets Link keep the bottle, which is really nice for what needs to be done right about now. Go to the shallowest part of the water, located by the shop. Scoop using A at the water until a fish is caught – this is going to be an offering for Jabu Jabu.
Go up the ramp to the right and head on through the entrance beside the King.
This is Zora's Fountain! It's a rather lonely-looking place with a giant fish resting its oversized head on a platform of sorts. He's fairly docile.
Ignore the royal subphylum Craniata (i.e, Jabu Jabu) for now; instead, jump into the water and swim to the island located in the right corner of the map. There's a Gossip Stone here so enchant a fairy out if you wish – there's also a Gold Skulltula in the lonely tree here – otherwise bomb the brown boulder also on this island (everything we're looking for seems to be crammed into one tiny space). This reveals the opening to another Great Fairy's Fountain. Go in, play Zelda's Lullaby and receive Farore's Wind. This is a very useful piece of magic – with this, you don't have to worry about having to restart somewhere or other throughout the adventure, e.g dungeons (that's a real pain). Just create a warp point, and the next time you make one you can choose to either warp to the first warp point or make a new one. Really handy!
Go back to the platform Jabu Jabu has his head on and drop a fish in front of him. The giant fish opens his mouth, and poor Link is sucked right in.
Inside Jabu Jabu's Belly
Link ends up in what looks like a red, pulsating tunnel. There are two Octorok here that act like Mad Scrubs, so equip the Deku Shield before rebounding their missiles. There are also Shabom floating about here – they're essentially giant bubbles that hurt, but they can be fairly safely ignored.
Use the Slingshot on a strange white-yellow egg-thing hanging from the ceiling. Shoot it to open the door and open it.
There's a Biri here – it's an electrified jellyfish of sorts, and one failsafe way of killing them is to allow Link to get electrified by them, which isn't fun. So, in short, avoid them for now. Continue to the other door where there are now three Biri. There's also a rather odd-looking fish-like creature that looks suspiciously like a Zora. Talk to her to find out that she's Princess Ruto.
Well, that's cool. But wait…
Princess Ruto turns out to be an obnoxious, pampered fish-creature who manages to fall into a black hole-like thing two minutes into the conversation. Jump in after her – if she survives, surely Link should too.
Talk to her again to get her to talk about her ‘precious stone', which really can't be the Spiritual Stone of Water. Talk to her again so that she says that Link can carry her. Pick her up with A, being careful not to get hit by a Biri.
These are the rules of carrying Princess Ruto:
- If Link gets hit, she's going to be dropped.
- If Link leaves the room without her, she's going to reappear in this room, otherwise the room with the black holes.
- If Link drops her in water that's too deep to wade in, she's going to reappear in this room.
The Boomerang
Still carrying Ruto, hurry over to the other door on this ledge. Wait for the Shabom to float idly down the corridor, then kill the Stinger here. You can either use the Slingshot or the Princess, but I personally prefer the Slingshot. I find it difficult using princesses as missiles.
There's a switch in the middle of this room, and the area around it is sunken into the ground. This switch raises the water level in the sunken area. If the player wishes to, there's a Gold Skulltula on a vine over here to defeat. Shoot the Gold Skulltula until only its token remains, and then step on the switch. Link can now reach the vines, so climb them, collecting the token along the way. There are three pots at the top, and one of them contains a fairy. It's a very good idea to catch it.
You may wish to defeat the Stingers first so that they don't hinder Link while he swims. Jump down with Ruto into the sunken area when the water is low. Throw her to the other side, and then raise the water. Swim across, pick Ruto up again and carry on through.
There are two Shaboms here, but more importantly there is another egg-thing. Hit it with the trusty Slingshot and kill the Octorok in the next room. Unfortunately, Ruto doesn't act as a shield so hiding behind her won't do any good.
There's a hole that's clearly visible underwater. There's a Business Scrub selling Deku Nuts in there, so do business if the player must. Either way, hop onto the rising platform and head over through the door with two crates. Go through the opposite door – be careful, a Bari falls down here – to end up in a crazy set of hallways/corridors with strange, centipede-like monsters. It's a Tailpasaran, and it's a pain to kill at the moment. Just hurry through the corridor to the right and step on the switch. Link has to be carrying Ruto for the switch to go down. Go through the door that opens.
This is a new pulsating chamber full of Stingers. As mentioned previously, Link can toss Ruto at the ones that aren't flying around, but personally the Slingshot is more effective. It takes two shots to kill them.
Once the Stingers are all gone, a chest appears. Link receives…the Boomerang! Congratulations! Leave the area.
The Compass
Go back to the start and this time head to the left room. You can kill the Tailpasaran with ease now by using the Boomerang.
There's another switch on here, but this time only one person's weight is required. However, the weight must remain on it. Well, Ruto…
Link encounters a red Parasitic Tentacle, which is quite gross to think about. It has a twisted, narrow part roughly around the middle of its ‘body', so just keep the Tentacle L-targeted and toss the Boomerang. Goad the Tentacle into attacking by staying near the centre, then hit it with the Boomerang as it lunges for you. It really can't hit Link – he can just stay in one place the entire time.
Once the Tentacle is defeated, another chest appears. This one contains a Dungeon Map. Leave the area.
Ruto is understandably peeved that Link left her, but she lets him pick her up again. Head left through to the next room, which had previously been blocked by the red tentacle Link had defeated. There's a forty second time limit here to pop all of the Shaboms, but if you just keep L-targeting and hitting with the Boomerang they'll quickly be gone. What I mean is, the player doesn't have to rush too much – take your time.
Once Link is successful, he receives yet another chest. This one carries the Compass, so now the player can see where Link is!
More Parasitic Tentacles
Go to the opposite side of the hallway and turn left from here. Link ends up in a blue place with a door, so go through to meet another Parasitic Tentacle, this time in blue. Kill it in the same manner as the first one, and then leave. Go to the middle room to the north, seen clearly on the map, to fight the last, green Parasitic Tentacle. This one has Biri minions bobbing about in the room as well, so make short work of them using the Boomerang before showing the Tentacle who's boss. After it's defeated, return to where Ruto was first found (the place filled with black holes) via the entrance door at the bottom of the map.
The player may notice that the tentacles that had been poking out of the numerous black holes around the place have disappeared. Drop into the one just left to the door at the other end – it's near the left corner. Link and Ruto will end up in a place with a Gold Skulltula to the left, and another one just a little further along. Pretty generous, no?
Kill them using the Slingshot and/or the Boomerang, and then collect the tokens using the Boomerang. Head over to the bottom left as shown on the map for a fairy. Climb back up the vines in this room if you're stuck, and Ruto will have appeared there. In any case, go through the door to the right, where Ruto starts to become restless and slippery as a fish (I had to).
Throw her onto the platform, where she wishes to be reunited with her precious stone (which isn't the Spiritual Stone of Water). Step forwards, only to have the platform rise dramatically with Ruto still on it. Link understandably does nothing to help, and becomes confronted by a giant…Octorok?
Mini-Boss: Bigocto
This mini-boss is called Bigocto. There's a couple of ways to hit the purple bulb thing on its behind, thus defeating it, one being chasing it. Link can follow the direction the spikes on the sides of the platform are spinning to know which way Bigocto is going, but that's no fun and Bigocto's way too fast. The player could also decide to sacrifice some hearts for the sake of a speedy win: allowing Link to be mowed over by what must be at least two hundred kilograms, recover as quickly as possible and run after it to smack the bulb. But really, Link could just wait for Bigocto to gain on him and then stun it with the Boomerang. Once it begins spinning, usually one more stun ensures that the creature is facing away from our hero, allowing a lot of sword-hitting and inevitably an even faster win.
Nearing the Boss
Whichever way that's chosen, Bigocto will soon be defeated and the game will progress. Climb onto the platform Ruto had just disappeared up with to be raised to a new level. There's a fairy in a jar here as well as two Biri in the corridor. Head to the door and go down the ramp, killing the annoying Octorok. There are two odd red jelly-like substances that can be frozen for a short period of time using the Boomerang. Freeze one, jump on and then quickly freeze the next. They turn blue, then purple, and then red again, so ensure that Link's well on his way before they turn purple.
Jump to the next door and head on through the corridor. Hop onto another ledge and watch as a nearby platform sinks. Use the crates on the other side of the room to weigh down the switch to open the next door.
This is a weird green place. Climb the vines to the right to end up on a platform. A switch behind a web can be observed from here, and by using the ever-useful Boomerang Link can hit it. It may take a few tries but eventually the distance will be right.
The boss door to the north of the room will open. Once you're ready, head on in.
Bio-Electric Anenome: Barinade
Meet the Bio-Electric Anenome, Barinade. It's a vibrantly coloured, giant Bari-like creature with tentacles stuck to the ceiling. Don't worry about how frightening (or odd) it looks – this is a very simple boss. L-target a tentacle stuck to the ceiling and hit it using the Boomerang. Just keep circling Barinade as you hit the tentacles and Link will stay electricity-free.
Barinade will start to spin after all of its tentacles are successfully hit off the ceiling. The jellyfish that are a part of it begin to extend, trying to hit Link. If you like Link can defeat the jellyfish first using the Boomerang to have a hazard-free anenome body to target, but it's not impossible to go straight to the body. Barinade will turn blue to indicate that it has been stunned, in which case Link should run over and hit its body using his sword. After Barinade is back to normal, it begins spinning again. It's not as easy to hit its body anymore, but if Link just keeps moving or stays in a corner he'll be fairly difficult to hit. Just keep throwing the Boomerang until Barinade is stunned once more (useless creature), run towards it and hit it with the sword again. Keep this up until Barinade partially burrows itself into the ground, its tentacles developing a new power to have electricity shoot out of them at Link. The tentacle in question will flash before it does this, so it's safe to say that there's a bit of warning. Never cease using the Boomerang - every time is a stunning time. Just remember that and Barinade is as good as yours.
At last, Barinade will be defeated.
Congratulations, you've defeated the third boss! Step into the portal with Ruto, who's actually blushing. The two will end up in the water of Zora's Fountain, which is a little suspicious considering Jabu Jabu's mouth in on the other side. Carrying on…
Princess Ruto presents Link with the Zora's Engagement Ring, otherwise known as her precious stone, otherwise known as the Spiritual Stone of Water. It's a little suspicious that Ruto is giving Link an engagement ring, but now is not the time to dwell on such petty matters.
Part 6: Zora's Domain Part 8: Temple of Time
