Dark Palace Walkthrough

A Link Between Worlds 100% Completion Walkthrough18 chapters

Opening and SanctuaryWake in Link’s House, deliver the captain’s sword, cross the Graveyard passage with the Lamp and meet Yuga.
Hyrule Castle and Kakariko VillageRavio’s Bracelet, Zelda’s Pendant of Courage, Kakariko shops, Sahasrahla and the free Bow rental.
Eastern PalaceEvery key, chest and rupee, the Compass, Big Key, Yuga boss fight and your first Heart Container.
Pegasus Boots and Zora’s FlippersGet the Pouch, Irene’s Bell, Power Glove, Pegasus Boots, Zora’s Flippers, Ravio’s rentals and Hyrule Heart Pieces.
House of GalesRent the Tornado Rod, swim to Lake Hylia’s island, beat Margomill and take the Pendant of Wisdom.
Death MountainClimb the boulder caves, find two Heart Pieces and a Bottle, and reach the Tower of Hera.
Tower of HeraEvery floor, both Small Keys, Compass, Big Key, Moldorm boss fight, Heart Container and Pendant of Power.
Master Sword and Lost WoodsWalkthrough for pulling the Master Sword in the Lost Woods, breaking the Hyrule Castle barrier.
Lorule and Dungeon OrderHilda, the Blacksmith, fissures, Ravio’s Shop, Thieves’ Town side content and the dungeon order.
Dark PalaceThe guard maze, every key, the Compass, Big Key, Master Ore, Gemesaur King, Heart Container and Sage Gulley.
Skull WoodsKeys, Compass, Big Key, Master Ore, Knucklemaster boss fight, Sage Seres and the Master Sword upgrade.
Ice RuinsThe Hookshot route to Lorule’s Death Mountain, every floor, keys, the Stamina Scroll and Dharkstare.
Thieves’ HideoutThe password song, the Thief Girl escort, Master Ore, Stalblind, Sage Osfala and the Sand Rod.
Swamp PalaceBig Bomb Flower, Hookshot, water levels, keys, Compass, Blue Mail, Big Key, Arrghus and Sage Oren.
Turtle RockRescue the baby turtles, use the Ice Rod, find every key, beat Grinexx and free Sage Impa.
Desert PalaceReach it with the Sand Rod, find the Titan’s Mitt, beat Zaganaga and rescue Sage Irene.
Lorule CastleThe Triforce of Courage, all four mini-bosses, the Compass, Red Mail and the way to the Throne Room.
Final BossBeat Yuga Ganon with the Bow of Light, see Hilda’s choice, make the Triforce wish and unlock Hero Mode.

Covers	Lorule’s Dark Ruins guard maze and the Dark Palace (1F, B1, 2F), up to Sage Gulley
You need	Bombs (rented or bought from Ravio), the Lamp, and Ravio’s Bracelet for wall merging
Rewards	Heart Container, Master Ore (1 of 4), Compass, Big Key, 4 Small Keys, Sage Gulley, Lorule Weather Vane; after the dungeon: Heart Piece #23 and 2 Lost Maiamai

The Dark Palace is the Lorule counterpart of the Eastern Palace, and Bombs are the key to all of it. You cross a fissure south of the Eastern Ruins, sneak past Lorule Soldiers by merging into walls, then bomb your way through a dark, light-and-shadow dungeon. Its prizes are the Compass, the Big Key, a piece of Master Ore and a Heart Container from the Gemesaur King, who guards the painting of Sage Gulley.

The Dark Palace name banner above the palace entrance, with Link at the bottom edge

The Gemesaur King crystal boss fills the Dark Palace arena, with Link at the bottom edge

How to reach the Dark Palace

Items to bring to the Dark Palace

Check your gear before you cross over. Get Bombs from Ravio’s Shop, either rented or bought, because you need them to open the palace door and for almost every puzzle inside. Equip the Lamp as well, since many rooms are pitch black. Rented items go back to Ravio if you lose all your hearts, so if you are knocked out inside the palace you will have to rent the Bombs again.

Rented Bombs message box, warning that the blast hurts if Link is caught in it

Lamp message box, explaining the light also lets Link scorch enemies

Fissure to the Dark Ruins

Use the fissure south of the Eastern Palace in Hyrule and merge into it to cross into Lorule, where you come out in the Dark Ruins near the palace. Princess Hilda speaks to you as you arrive and warns that the soldiers here guard the palace and will lock you up if they see you.

Princess Hilda speaks to Link on his arrival in Lorule, asking him to hurry to the rescue

Hilda says the soldiers were once from Lorule Castle and now serve a foul being

Dark Ruins guard maze

Sneaking past the Lorule Soldiers

The Dark Ruins are a maze of hedge walls patrolled by Lorule Soldiers, each sweeping a red cone of sight. If a cone touches you, the soldiers throw you in a holding cell, but you can escape by merging into the cell wall and sliding out between the bars. Nothing is lost by being caught, so treat every guard as a timing puzzle rather than a danger.

A red sight cone sweeps over a Lorule Soldier in a hedge-walled room of the Dark Ruins

Link beside a stone wall in the Dark Ruins, with the Merge prompt on screen

Route through the maze

Work your way through the maze toward the palace at its far end. At each guard, merge into the nearest wall as he turns away and slide past on the wall instead of the path. Where two guards face each other, wait on the wall until both look elsewhere. Step out only when the next stretch of path is clear.

Link merging into the edge of a maze path beside a wall as a guard turns away

Link beside a maze wall while red guard sight lines sweep across the path

Dark Palace 1F

Entrance room and Blue Rupee chest

The first room is dark, so keep the Lamp lit. Bomb the cracked wall in the north-east corner to open a small side room with a chest holding a Blue Rupee (5 Rupees). Then look for the crystal switch on the left side of the room; the palace is full of switches that Bombs can hit from a distance, and this one is your first.

Link with the Lamp lit in the dark first room, a Bomb blast beside the cracked wall

Link holds up the Blue Rupee from the chest in the small side room

Pit room and window bomb

In the room with the pit, drop a Bomb beside the crystal switch on the left, then hurry to the platform in the south and stand on it so it carries you across the gap. Throw a second Bomb up at the boarded window on the right. When the wood blows away, a beam of light falls on the eye switch below and unseals the door to the north.

Link standing on the square platform in the pit room of the Dark Palace

Light beams streaming through the boarded window across the pit room floor

Small Key on the invisible platform

Beyond the sealed door, a Helmasaur patrols the room. Knock it off the ledge or bomb it, then step on the floor switch in the north-west corner. A Small Key drops onto a platform you can only see in the dark, so merge into the wall and slide along it to reach the key without falling. Take the Small Key and unlock the north door.

Link flattened into the brick wall as a painting, sliding along toward the Small Key ledge

Link moving through the dark room toward the Small Key, lit only by a faint glow

Dark Palace Compass

The Compass chest sits in the north-west of 1F, in a room where a platform crosses a pit between two crystal switches. Each switch has a wall of gems that blocks it, so toss Bombs over the barriers and hit both switches within a few seconds of each other. The chest appears, and the Compass shows chests and locked doors on the map.

The Compass chest sitting in the purple-tiled room of the Dark Palace first floor

Link on the bridge platform over the pit, with both crystal switches lit yellow

Fairies are worth catching in an empty Bottle if you spot any in the dungeon, because a fairy revives you once if your hearts run out.

Link in the hidden chamber's small pool, with pink fairies drifting around him

Monster Horn and second Small Key

Bomb the cracked floor in the north-east of that area and drop through to B1. Open the chest there for a Monster Horn. Merge into the painting wall in the corner, slide to the next corner, step out and pick up the second Small Key. Then climb the stairs in the north-west back up to 1F and use the key on the locked door that leads up to 2F.

Link holding up a Monster Horn under the 'You got a monster horn!' message box

Link holding up a small key under the 'You got a small key!' message box

Dark Palace 2F and the Master Ore

Rotating walls and collapsing floors

On 2F, a crystal switch spins sections of wall, so hit it with a Bomb and slip through while it turns. Several rooms have floors that crumble once you step in. Bomb the switch quickly, then run for the door before the floor falls. Cracked floors in the corners drop you back to 1F, where hidden chests hold 50 Rupees, so jump down for them and walk back up.

Link beside a glowing crystal switch in a room with rotating wall sections

Link in a Dark Palace corridor beside a cracked floor tile and a rotating wall column

Lighting the eye switches

The main puzzle of 2F is light. Several windows are boarded up, and each one you bomb lets a beam of daylight fall through to a floor below. Bomb the boarded window on the platform route, then throw a Bomb up at the window in the north-west. These beams will later light the four eye switches that open the boss door, so open every window you can find.

Link on a ledge in a beam of daylight falling from a bombed window

Link beside a lattice window with daylight streaming through it

Dark Palace B1 and the Big Key

Third Small Key

Drop to the lower part of B1 through the cracked floors on 2F. In the east room a torch lights the whole area. Put it out with your sword, switch off your Lamp, and a hidden path of floor appears; follow it to the north-east corner for the third Small Key. A cache of Rupees is also hidden behind a cracked wall nearby, so bomb the corners if you want more.

Link in a dark lower B1 room under the B1 floor banner

Link among green Rupees in a dark tiled B1 room

Fourth Small Key

In the north-west room, invisible walls block the way until you snuff the torch. Follow the maze that appears, then press the floor switch beneath the skull in the north-west corner. A chest rises containing the fourth Small Key. Spend the keys on the locked doors on B1; the mirror-moving enemies in the room beyond are beaten the same way as the Goriyas.

Link in the north-west room beside the skull switch and the chest that rises

Link holds up a Small Key beneath the 'You got a small key!' message

Dark Palace Big Key

The Big Key room lies in the south-west of B1. Light the brazier in the north, then ride the moving platform along three ramps. From the platform, throw a Bomb down each ramp so that it rolls down and hits a crystal switch: first the one on the left slope, then the middle, and last the northern slope. When the third switch is struck, the Big Key chest appears. Open it to take the key.

Link on the moving platform about to throw a Bomb down a ramp in the Big Key room

The Big Key chest appears in the purple-tiled room after the crystal switches are struck

Boss door

Four eye switches guard the way to the boss. Each one opens when the daylight from a window you bombed on 2F falls on it. If any eye is still shut, climb back and bomb the windows you missed. Once all four are lit, the gate to the boss door opens. Use the Big Key on the door and step inside.

Two eye switches glow in the walls beside the boss gate on the upper floor

Link stands in the open boss gate, a red door with a skull emblem

After the Dark Palace: Heart Piece and Maiamai

Dark Ruins Maiamai

Two of the Dark Ruins’ ten Lost Maiamai are stuck to walls here: one on the wall straight ahead of the maze entrance, and the other on the wall north of the green flames. Slide into the wall and step out behind each one to knock it down. Return the Maiamai to Mother Maiamai later; the Maiamai guide lists every one.

Link holds up a caught lost Maiamai in a bubble beside the round-canopied trees

Link holds up a caught lost Maiamai in a bubble beside a cliff wall

Chapter checklist

Collectible	Type	Where
Blue Rupee (5)	Chest	1F, cracked wall in the entrance room
Small Key 1	Key	1F, floor switch in the north room
Compass	Dungeon item	1F, north-west room, two crystal switches
Purple Rupee (50)	Chest	1F, behind the south wall of the platform room
Monster Tail	Material	1F, south-west chest
Monster Horn	Material	B1, chest below the cracked floor
Small Key 2	Key	B1, corner reached by merging
Monster Guts	Material	2F, large south room
Master Ore	Big chest	2F, room behind the rotating wall
Small Key 3	Key	B1, east room, north-east corner
Small Key 4	Key	B1, north-west room, skull floor switch
Big Key	Big chest	B1, south-west room, three bomb switches
Heart Container	Boss reward	Gemesaur King
Sage Gulley	Sage	Painting in the boss room
Heart Piece #23	Heart Piece	Dark Ruins, raised beam in the north
2 Lost Maiamai	Maiamai	Dark Ruins walls, ahead of the entrance and north of the green flames

Gulley is freed, and the next stop is Skull Woods, where you need the Lamp and a fissure entrance to reach a second piece of Master Ore.

The Skull Woods title card above Link at the entrance to the woods

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