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Earth Temple Walkthrough

Skyward Sword 100% Completion Walkthrough18 chapters
Walkthrough overview
CoversThe Earth Temple at the foot of Eldin Volcano: the lava halls, the Lizalfos mini-boss, the boulder slopes, the Dragon Sculpture lock, the Scaldera boss fight and Earth Spring
You needThe Beetle, the Slingshot, the Digging Mitts and the five key pieces that open the temple door (see the previous chapter); the Goddess Sword’s Skyward Strike for the finale
RewardsBomb Bag, Dungeon Map, Dragon Sculpture (opens the boss door), Heart Container (1), Amber Tablet; treasures: Golden Skull, Blue Bird Feather, Amber Relic, Lizard Tail and Jelly Blob drops; no small keys

The Earth Temple is the second dungeon, a lava maze that you cross on rolling stone balls. A Mogma named Ledd gives you the Bomb Bag after you beat two Lizalfos, bombs open the rest of the temple, you carry a golden Dragon Sculpture up two boulder-filled slopes to the boss door, and you finish Scaldera by throwing bombs into its mouth. The Heart Container and the Amber Tablet wait at the end. There are no small keys here, and no Boss Key.

Scaldera's rocky shell and flaming legs fill the boss arena as Link fights it

Before you go in

Goddess Cube

Open the temple door

Collect all five key pieces on Eldin Volcano, as described in the Eldin Volcano chapter, and take them to the temple entrance. The key assembles itself and the door swings open. Walk through the arch into the first hall, where the name of the temple appears and the air glows orange from the lava below.

The Earth Temple name banner appears over the orange lava hall

Goddess Cube Two Goddess Cubes sit outside the temple on the volcano side, one near the entrance and one in the Bokoblin camp next to it. Strike each with a Skyward Strike if you have not already; their Goddess Chests in the sky hold a Gold Rupee on Bamboo Island and a Treasure Medal on a small island southeast of Beedle’s Island. The Goddess Cubes page lists every cube and chest.

Link runs through the Bokoblin camp as a red Bokoblin chases him between the patched tents
A Goddess Cube bursts with light on a rocky path above the lava, next to the Bokoblin camp

Entrance hall and the drawbridge

Cross the first lava platforms

Step off the entrance ledge and hop across the flat rocks that float in the lava. A Fire Keese and a Red Chuchu patrol here, so cut them down first; a Chuchu can leave a Jelly Blob behind, a treasure you can use for upgrades. Look for a patch of soft soil on the east side and dig it with the Digging Mitts. The air geyser that bursts out launches you up to a ledge, where a chest holds a Red Rupee (20 Rupees).

Link stands on a rock that floats in the orange lava of the first hall
Link holds up a Red Rupee, and the box reads that it is worth 20 Rupees

Talk to the worried Mogma

A Mogma named Cobal tells you that his partner Ledd has gone missing and that you should head home. Speak to him for the story; he gives you no item.

Mogma Cobal says his partner has gone missing, the red enemies are everywhere, and he should never have come.
Cobal the Mogma tells Link that if he wants to live, he should head for home, pal.

Lower the drawbridge

To the north a drawbridge is held up by ropes. Swing your sword at the ropes on the two mechanisms at either side of the bridge, then fly the Beetle to the third rope, to the right of the bridge, and cut it. The bridge drops and you can walk across to the central lava chamber, where the first Lizalfos waits. Strike it from the side that its arm guard does not cover, back off when it swings, and finish it with a few slashes.

A red and gold drawbridge stands raised above the lava in the Earth Temple, held up by chains.
Link battles an iron-armed Lizalfos in the Earth Temple; a battle message says he has defeated none of this enemy.

Rolling stone balls and the lava chamber

Shoot the Bomb Flower to release the ball

A Bomb Flower grows on a stone structure out in the lava. Aim the Slingshot with the pointer and shoot the flower. The explosion frees a large stone ball. Walk up to it and press the button shown on screen to pilot it, then steer with the Nunchuk stick across the lava and hop off when you reach a ledge. You use these balls for most of the temple, so take your time and keep away from the edges.

Link draws his Slingshot at a Bomb Flower in the lava, and the flower bursts into an explosion above him.
A large stone ball with bronze gears sits in the lava, and a Pilot prompt appears on screen.
Link rides a large stone ball across the lava in the Earth Temple, balancing on top of it.

Golden Skull and Blue Bird Feather

Roll the ball left until you reach a platform that sits low in the lava. Throw a Bomb Flower onto it; the platform rises and the flower explodes beneath a boulder, which breaks. Climb up to the opened ledge and open the chest for a Golden Skull, one of the rare treasures. Then roll the ball north-west to a second chest holding a Blue Bird Feather, another rare treasure. Both are needed for several upgrades listed on the bugs and treasures page.

A Bomb Flower explodes beneath a huge boulder over the lava, and the boulder breaks apart.
Link holds up a Golden Skull, a real rarity among skull ornaments, with its item description fully shown.
Link holds up a sky-blue Blue Bird Feather in the Earth Temple; few small birds have this plumage.

Press the lava switch

Roll the ball east onto the switch in the lava. It raises a platform that you need a little later. The area also has pots to break for rupees, and two spots of soft soil that you can dig for rupees and sometimes a fairy.

Link rides a rolling stone ball across the lava toward a glowing switch set in the molten rock.
Link on the rolling ball, drawing close to the lava switch with its glowing ring.
Ledd explains that a bomb bag carries bomb flowers and says he has lost his own.

Bomb Bag and the Lizalfos mini-boss

Meet Ledd

Ride the ball south-east to a ledge where a Mogma named Ledd is looking for his Bomb Bag. He lost it behind a pile of boulders and asks you to fetch it. Crawl through the low hole beside him, defeat the Bokoblin on the other side, and dig up the soft soil there for rupees and sometimes a fairy.

Roll a Bomb Flower into the boulders

Pick up a Bomb Flower, carry it into the hole and roll it ahead of you through the gap, then retreat before it blows. The blast shatters the boulder wall. If one flower is not enough, fetch another. This is the only way through, because you do not own bombs yet.

A heap of boulders fills a narrow stone passage with a blue-tiled floor in front of it.
A bomb blast throws up dust in the narrow passage where the boulder pile stood a moment before.

Lizalfos mini-boss fight

The door beyond leads to a statue hall with flame pillars, where two Lizalfos attack you together. Lock on to one, bash its shield with the Nunchuk if it raises its arm, and strike from the open side. Retreat when it swings its mace-tipped tail and attack again when it recovers. Defeat one, then the other. They can drop a Lizard Tail, a treasure used in Bomb Bag upgrades. Watch the flame pillars as you circle, since they burn you if you stand in them.

Two Lizalfos stand between flame pillars in the statue hall, with a carved stone face on the far wall.
Two Lizalfos close in on Link together in the statue hall, beside the lava pillars.
A Lizalfos swings its spiked, mace-tipped tail toward Link on the statue hall's tiled floor.

Get the Bomb Bag

A chest holds the Bomb Bag once both Lizalfos are down. Open it, and keep an eye out for treasures such as Amber Relics as you explore. Ledd lets you keep the bag.

Link holds up a blue Bomb Bag, and the box says Ledd was kind enough to give it to him.

Ledd’s advice matters: a Bomb Flower can be stored in the bag, and when the bag runs low you refill it from the Bomb Flowers that grow around the temple. You can now bomb cracked walls anywhere in the game. Two Pieces of Heart open up because of it, one in a rock-pile cave in Faron Woods and one behind a cracked wall in the north-east of Lanayru Desert; see the heart piece page.

A blue Bomb Flower sits on the floor of a grated temple corridor

Dungeon Map and the lava corridors

Go through the west door

Ride the ball back to the central platform. Throw a bomb at the boulder on the west side, defeat the Lizalfos that waits behind it and go through the west door. In the next room a Bokoblin and several Magma Spumes block the way. Slice away the fireballs that the Magma Spumes spit, and cut the Bokoblin down.

Link locks on to an enemy as a fireball flies past in the temple's lava room
Link raises his sword beside a stream of fire and clay pots in a grated room
Dungeon Map

Open the Dungeon Map chest

Across the room, wait for a platform to sink to ground level, jump on it and then jump to the ledge where the lava lifts you up. Beat the Bokoblin guarding the chest and open it for the Dungeon Map. The map marks an X on a wall to the east and shows the rest of the temple.

Link kneels beside an open golden chest on a checkered temple floor
Link holds up the Dungeon Map beneath a box that explains what the map shows

Blow open the marked wall

Go to the east wall marked with an X and place two bombs in front of it. A hidden passage opens. Roll through it, but stop at the first platform and restock with Bomb Flowers, because you will use more bombs soon. Beyond that, a statue spits lava; avoid its jets, find the cracked wall directly ahead of it and blow it up with two bombs as well.

Link stands in a lava cave as a bomb blast breaks open a cracked rock wall.
Link rolls a Bomb Flower across a metal grate by a wooden scaffold above the lava.
Beetle

Cut the gate ropes with the Beetle

Deal with the next Magma Spumes the same way, then cut the rope of the large gate with the Beetle. Fly the Beetle through the passage on the left and cut a second rope to open the gate fully. A Silver Rupee sits in a dragon statue’s jaws near here, where only the Beetle can fetch it.

A Beetle flies under the gear and rope at the top of the large red gate.

Save at the bird statue

Roll onward until you reach a platform with a bird statue, and save there. Cross the lava bridge beyond it at a steady pace. On the left a Lizalfos guards a chest with a Red Rupee, so defeat it and open the chest. Then roll over another lava switch in the floor to raise a platform, and go through the north door.

Link battles a Lizalfos on a stone walkway beside the lava.

Dragon Sculpture and the boulder slopes

First sprint room

A steep stone slope leads upward, and boulders roll down it. Run uphill while you dodge them and stop at the safe niche on the left whenever you are tired. Your stamina wheel empties as you run, so rest when it is low and run again when the next boulder has passed.

Link runs up a stone ramp lined with pillars inside the Earth Temple.
Link sprints uphill along a stone slope while a boulder rolls down toward him.

Second sprint room

The resting spot on this slope is blocked by a boulder. Crawl through the low passage on the right, refill your bombs from the Bomb Flowers inside, dig up the soft soil for an air geyser and ride it to a higher ledge. From the ledge, toss a bomb down the slope so that it explodes next to the boulder and clears it. Return to the bottom and sprint up, resting in the niche as before.

Link beside a large stone boulder on the lava-edged path up the Earth Temple slope

Take the Dragon Sculpture

Climb to the top of the slope and open the chest there. It holds the Dragon Sculpture, a golden carving that serves as the key for the boss door in place of a Boss Key. As soon as you take it, an enormous boulder starts to chase you. Sprint down the path and dive aside. The boulder rolls on into the statue that was spewing lava and stops it.

Link holds up the Dragon Sculpture, with its complete item box on screen
Link sprints along the Earth Temple slope as a huge boulder rolls after him

Set the sculpture in the lock

Walk back to the save point and save once more, then go to the great red-and-gold door. Its lock is a golden disc with a blocky recess. Hold the sculpture in front of it and turn it with the pointer until its outline matches the recess, then release it with the button shown on screen. The lock turns and the doors open.

The Dragon Sculpture sits in the golden disc lock on the red-and-gold boss door
Turning the golden disc until the sculpture outline lines up with the recess
The red-and-gold boss doors swing open after the golden disc turns
Scaldera with its legs spread in the boss area, and the name card Pyroclastic Fiend Scaldera on screen.

Scaldera boss fight

Before the fight

Ghirahim appears in the next hall and sneers at you, then sets a huge boulder on you that turns into the Pyroclastic Fiend Scaldera. The fight takes place on a long sloping arena littered with bones and edged with lava. Bomb Flowers and hearts grow at the top and bottom of the slope, so you can refill your bombs during the fight.

Link walks up the sloping boss arena edged with lava toward the fire at its far end
Link faces Scaldera in the boss arena with the Throw prompt on screen

Phase one: bomb the open mouth

Scaldera chases you up the sloped bridge and shoots fireballs. Throw a bomb at it to send it rolling back down, and when it gets up and inhales for a fireball, throw or roll a bomb into its mouth. It topples and its shell cracks, which exposes a glowing eye. Run in and slash the eye several times before it recovers. When it ignites itself, throw another bomb to force it back down. Sidestep its fireballs and run to a Bomb Flower whenever you need more bombs.

Link throws a bomb at Scaldera, the rock-shelled fiend, on the sloped bridge over the lava
Scaldera with its eye exposed, facing Link on the sloped bridge above the lava

Phase two: under the legs

As Scaldera takes damage its eye starts to move and its fireballs curve toward you. It also climbs to the top of the bridge, curls up and rolls down at you, so step to the side as it passes. Keep feeding it bombs when it inhales, and cut the eye each time it is exposed. Once its rocky armor is gone and the eye has taken enough damage, it falls. See the boss strategies page for the other bosses.

Scaldera spreads its legs as a fireball bursts at the far end of the bridge
Scaldera with its rocky armor gone and its maw wide open over the lava

Collect the Heart Container

When Scaldera falls, a Heart Container appears in the arena. Take it to raise your maximum health by one heart and refill your hearts. Then walk up the slope and through the door at the top to reach Earth Spring.

A Heart Container rises in a column of light in the temple after Scaldera falls

Earth Spring and the Amber Tablet

Amber Tablet

Get the Amber Tablet

A cutscene shows that Zelda has gone on ahead, and A woman who serves the goddess tells you that you were late and that you must face the trials laid out before you before you can help her. Then raise the Goddess Sword and aim a Skyward Strike at the Goddess Crest. Fi translates a message from the gods and you receive the Amber Tablet. Fi explains that Zelda is heading toward Lanayru.

The spirit maiden in a shaft of light tells Link it took him far too long to get here
Link raises the Goddess Sword for a Skyward Strike at the winged Goddess Crest by the pool
Link holds up the Amber Tablet, with its item box across the bottom of the screen

Walk out to the bird statue at the temple entrance, save, and choose “To the sky”. Fly to Skyloft and place the Amber Tablet in the Statue of the Goddess. A new column of light opens, which leads down to Lanayru.

A message box asks whether Link wants to return to the sky, beside a bird statue at the temple entrance
Link holds a stone tablet up to a carved slot in a stone wall beneath a purple crystal.

Chapter checklist

CollectibleTypeWhere
Red Rupee Red RupeeChestLedge reached by the air geyser in the entrance hall
Golden Skull Golden SkullRare treasureChest above the low lava platform, found by riding the ball west
Blue Bird Feather Blue Bird FeatherRare treasureChest to the north-west, reached by the ball
Bomb Bag Bomb BagItemChest after the two-Lizalfos mini-boss; Ledd lets you keep it
Amber Relic Amber RelicTreasureRandom treasure; look around as you explore
Lizard Tail Lizard Tail, Jelly BlobTreasure dropsDropped by Lizalfos and Chuchus
Dungeon Map Dungeon MapItemChest at the end of the west room’s lava platforms
Silver Rupee Silver RupeeRupeeIn the dragon statue’s jaws behind the large gate, taken with the Beetle
Red Rupee Red RupeeChestGuarded by a Lizalfos after the bird statue
Dragon SculptureKey itemChest at the top of the second boulder slope; opens the boss door
Heart Container Heart ContainerHeart ContainerBoss arena, after Scaldera
Amber Tablet Amber TabletStory itemEarth Spring, with a Skyward Strike at the crest
Goddess Cube Goddess Cubes 7 and 8Goddess CubesOutside the temple: near its entrance and in the Bokoblin camp beside it

With the Amber Tablet in place, the way down to Lanayru opens; continue with Lanayru Mine and Lanayru Desert.

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