Ocarina Songs

You learn the Song of Time at the end of your first three days. After you chase the Skull Kid and take back the Ocarina of Time, Link remembers a moment with Princess Zelda, who taught him the song; the game tells you that the melody, lingering on the edges of your mind, is a song of memories of Princess Zelda. He plays it to return to the First Day. From then on it works anywhere and at any hour, including the last minutes of the Final Night when the Moon is about to fall. Playing it takes you back to Dawn of the First Day at the Clock Tower, saves your game in the N64 version, and removes everything that does not carry over: your rupees, ammo, bottle contents, Title Deeds, keys and Stray Fairies. The rupees you have deposited with the banker are the one thing you can send to the next cycle. The masks, songs, heart pieces and boss rewards you earned all stay.

The Inverted Song of Time is the Song of Time played backwards: C-Down, A, C-Right, C-Down, A, C-Right. A scarecrow in the Astral Observatory or the Trading Post in Clock Town hints at it by saying that playing a song backward slows the flow of time, without naming it, and it never appears on the Quest Status screen. When you play it, a message tells you that you played the Inverted Song of Time, and clock-based events run at one third of normal speed, so the three days last about three times longer in real time, while enemies and Link move at their usual pace. Playing it again returns time to normal. It is the most useful trick for a time-limited quest, such as the Anju and Kafei quest or any long chain of errands. The 3DS version only halves the speed, one of the differences on Version Differences.

The same scarecrow hints at the Song of Double Time by saying that playing each note twice moves a half day forward, again without naming it. It is the first three notes of the Song of Time, each played twice: C-Right, C-Right, A, A, C-Down, C-Down. After you play it, the game asks whether you want to proceed to the night or the day that follows. If you play it during the day, you jump to 6:00 PM, and if you play it at night, you jump to 6:00 AM, so each use skips up to half a day. Use it to wait for an event rather than standing around, for example to reach the First Night in the Ikana Graveyard.

The Happy Mask Salesman teaches you the Song of Healing at the Clock Tower after you return from your first three days and reset to the First Day. He plays it, you repeat it, and he explains that it is a melody that heals evil magic and troubled spirits. It frees Link from the Deku curse, and you get the Deku Mask as a keepsake. Afterwards you play it for troubled spirits, and each healed spirit leaves a mask behind. It is how you earn the Goron Mask from Darmani, the Zora Mask from Mikau, Kamaro’s Mask and the Gibdo Mask. See the Mask Collection Guide for every mask that uses it.

The Sonata of Awakening is taught by the captive monkey in Deku Palace. Talk to him through the bars of his cage, and he explains that the princess taught it to him and that he must sing it quietly so the guards do not hear. You watch the notes appear on the staff and play them back. The game describes it as a melody that awakens those who have fallen into a deep sleep. You learn it long before you finish Woodfall Temple. Use it to raise Woodfall Temple out of the swamp by playing it as Deku Link at the temple entrance, and to wake Captain Keeta at the far end of Ikana Graveyard. It is also one of the three songs that open the Gossip Stone grottos with a Deku mask (see the end of this page).

In the N64 version, you learn the Song of Soaring on your way up to Woodfall. Kaepora Gaebora speaks to you at the top of the Deku shortcut, and the notes are carved on a stone tablet at his feet. Play them back and the game says that the melody swoops you up and sends you soaring to a stone bird statue in an instant. The song warps you to any Owl Statue you have activated by hitting it with your sword, such as those in South Clock Town, on Milk Road, in the Southern Swamp, at Woodfall, in Mountain Village, at Snowhead, on Great Bay Coast, at Zora Cape, in Ikana Canyon and at Stone Tower.

You learn the Oath to Order once, when you defeat Odolwa and free the Giant of Woodfall: the Giant teaches it to you in the chamber where you meet him. It has a single use, at the very end of the game. At the top of the Clock Tower on the Final Night, play it to call the Four Giants who hold up the Moon. Clear all four temples before you get there. The song stays on the Quest Status screen as the last entry of the list. See the Final Confrontation.

You learn the Goron Lullaby in two parts. First, visit the crying baby Goron in the Goron Shrine. Then, wearing the Goron Mask, find the Goron Elder, who is frozen at Twin Islands, and melt him with Hot Spring Water from the cave where you earned the Goron Mask. Because you have already met his crying son, the Elder teaches you the six-note Lullaby Intro, which he describes as the soothing melody of a thoughtful father, the same one that was often played for you when you were small. Return to the Goron Shrine and play the intro for the baby Goron. He teaches you the last two notes, and the intro becomes the Goron Lullaby. Played in full, it makes the baby stop crying and fall asleep. You also use it for the Gossip Stone grottos as Goron Link and to calm the Goron Elder’s Son in the Shrine so that you can reach the Don Gero’s Mask.

Romani teaches you Epona’s Song at Romani Ranch. On the First Day, between 6:00 AM and 6:00 PM, get past the boulder that blocks the way to the ranch (a Powder Keg clears it) and talk to Romani. She sets up 10 ghost balloons around the ranch as practice. Shoot all ten with the bow from horseback within two minutes, and she teaches you the song; the game says it is the song of two who are bound by trust. Playing it calls Epona wherever she can reach in Termina Field, which lets you jump the high fence that blocks the road to Great Bay. It also fills an empty bottle with milk when you play it near a cow. The Clock Town, Termina Field and Romani Ranch chapter covers the route.

The Song of Storms is available on the First Night only. In Ikana Graveyard, the Stalchildren circle a different grave each night, so you need the grave they circle on Night 1. Wear the Captain’s Hat (you win it from Captain Keeta after waking him with the Sonata of Awakening), talk to the Stalchildren and order them to open the grave. Drop down and work through the crypt to reach the ghost Flat, who plays the tune for you and asks you to keep it in your heart; play it back and you remember the Song of Storms. If it is already daytime when you get to the graveyard, play the Song of Double Time to reach the night. The song makes it rain, and when you play it for Sharp in the Spring Water Cave it brings back the Ikana River.

Igos du Ikana teaches the Elegy of Emptiness after you defeat him in the Ancient Castle of Ikana. He plays it note by note while the staff fills in, telling you that you will remember it. The game describes it as a mystical song that lets you shed a shell shaped like your current form. By playing the song while wearing different masks, you leave up to four empty shells, one for each form (Link, Deku, Goron and Zora). The statues hold down switches for you, which you need to climb Stone Tower and to get through Stone Tower Temple.