Bottom of the Well Walkthrough: Lens of Truth and Dead Hand

Ocarina of Time 100% Completion Walkthrough20 chapters

Walkthrough overview

• Kokiri Forest and the Lost WoodsKokiri Sword, Deku Shield, both Skull Kid Heart Pieces, upgrades, Saria’s Song, Skulltulas.
• Inside the Great Deku Tree (Dungeon 1)Map, Slingshot, Compass, all 4 Gold Skulltulas, Queen Gohma, Heart Container and the Kokiri’s Emerald.
• Hyrule Field and Hyrule CastleEvery field grotto, Pieces of Heart, Skulltulas, Din’s Fire, Zelda’s Letter and Lullaby.
• Kakariko Village and Hyrule MarketBottle, Sun’s Song, Heart Pieces, masks, mini-games, shops and Skulltulas.
• Death Mountain, Goron City and Hyrule MarketBracelet, Big Bomb Bag, Heart Pieces, Gold Skulltulas, the Great Fairy, Richard and Din’s Fire.
• Dodongo’s Cavern (Dungeon 2)Every room, Dungeon Map, Compass, Bomb Bag, 5 Gold Skulltulas, King Dodongo tactics and the Goron’s Ruby.
• Zora’s River and Zora’s DomainBean seller, frogs, Heart Pieces, Silver Scale, Ruto’s Letter, Lake Hylia, Farore’s Wind and Jabu-Jabu.
• Inside Jabu-Jabu’s Belly (Dungeon 3)Carrying Ruto, Boomerang, Map, Compass, 4 Gold Skulltulas, Big Octo, Barinade and Zora’s Sapphire.
• Transition to AdulthoodThe Ocarina, Song of Time, Door of Time, Sacred Realm, Light Medallion, Sheik, age change and the ruined Market.
• Lon Lon RanchEpona’s Song, Lon Lon Milk bottle, tower Heart Piece, 4 Skulltulas, Ingo’s races, Epona and the cow.
• Forest Temple (Dungeon 4)Minuet of Forest, all 5 Small Keys, 5 Gold Skulltulas, Fairy Bow, the four Poe Sisters and Phantom Ganon.
• Fire Temple (Dungeon 5)Goron Tunic, Bolero of Fire, 8 Small Keys, 5 Gold Skulltulas, Megaton Hammer, two Flare Dancers and Volvagia.
• Ice CavernReach it across Zora’s Fountain, Blue Fire, 10 Silver Rupees, 3 Gold Skulltulas, a Heart Piece and the Iron Boots.
• Water Temple (Dungeon 6)Three water levels, 6 Small Keys, 5 Gold Skulltulas, Dark Link, the Longshot, the Boss Key and Morpha.
• Bottom of the WellDrain the Kakariko well, beat Dead Hand for the Lens of Truth, then get the Map, Compass, keys, Skulltulas.
• Shadow Temple (Dungeon 7)All 5 Small Keys, Map, Compass, Hover Boots, Boss Key, 5 Gold Skulltulas, Bongo Bongo and Shadow Medallion.
• Gerudo’s Fortress and the Haunted WastelandFree the 4 carpenters, get the Gerudo Card, win the archery prizes, then cross the Haunted Wasteland.
• Gerudo Training GroundEvery room, all 9 Small Keys, the Silver Rupee puzzles and the Ice Arrows in the central treasure room.
• Spirit Temple (Dungeon 8)Child and adult routes, 5 keys, Map, Compass, Boss Key, 5 Skulltulas, Silver Gauntlets, Mirror Shield, Twinrova.
• Ganon’s Castle and Ganon’s TowerLight Arrows, six trials, Golden Gauntlets, Double Defense, the tower climb, Ganondorf and Ganon.

The well in the middle of Kakariko Village is a child-only mini-dungeon. It is short, but it hands you the Lens of Truth, which you need for the Shadow Temple, for the Gerudo Training Ground and for a long list of hidden chests, walls and enemies later in the game. This chapter takes you through the draining of the well, the Dead Hand fight, and then every side room in the order that keeps backtracking to a minimum.

What to bring

You enter as child Link, so keep the Fairy Slingshot, the Boomerang (it is the tool for all three Gold Skulltula tokens) and a supply of Bombs on hand. Deku Sticks are needed once, to light a torch in the coffin room. Zelda’s Lullaby drains the dungeon, and Sun’s Song is worth having because it freezes the ReDeads and Gibdos in place. Fire Keese burn a Deku Shield, so wear the Hylian Shield if you own one; two rooms also hold replacement shields. The Lens costs magic while it is on, so arrive with a full meter and a potion in a bottle.

Timing: you can come here as soon as you have learned the Song of Storms as an adult, which is possible any time after the Master Sword. Most players do it after the Water Temple, when Sheik has taught the Nocturne of Shadow. That song warps you straight to the Kakariko Graveyard, which is a short walk from the windmill.

Draining the well

Learn the Song of Storms as adult Link

Walk into the windmill in Kakariko Village as an adult and talk to Guru-Guru, the man cranking the music box. Hold out your Ocarina and he teaches you the Song of Storms (A, Down-C, Up-C, A, Down-C, Up-C). If you already learned it elsewhere, skip this stop. The song matters here because it makes the windmill run wild, and the windmill is what draws the water into the well.

Play it in the windmill as child Link

Go to the Temple of Time and put the Master Sword back in its pedestal to become a child again. Return to Kakariko, enter the windmill and play the Song of Storms in front of Guru-Guru. The machinery goes wild, the water level outside falls, and the well is left empty for good. You never need to drain it a second time.

Entrance and main room

Down the shaft

Climb down the ladder into the well. At the bottom there is a short crawl-through tunnel and then another drop with a ladder. A Big Skulltula hangs from the ceiling near the foot of the ladder, so wait for it to turn away and cut it down. A skeleton lies against the left wall. Talk to it with Navi and it whispers about the eye of truth. That is the dungeon telling you that fake walls are everywhere.

Through the fake wall

Walk into the wall between the skeleton and the pile of dirt. It is an illusion, and behind it lies the outer trench of the main room. The room is a ring with a hidden centre, a stream of shallow water running around it, and a Green Bubble patrolling the stream. Stun the Bubble with the Boomerang when its flame dies down and then finish it with the Slingshot. Many holes are hidden in the floor around the ring and in the middle, and each one drops you into the basement. Staying inside the trench keeps you safe until you have the Lens.

Zelda’s Lullaby on the Triforce

Follow the trench left or right around the ring (right is easier because the Bubble comes at you less directly) to the far side, where a Triforce mark is painted on the floor in front of a small alcove. You can also take the shortcut straight ahead through two more fake walls and across the middle, but the floor there is full of pits and a Wallmaster waits in the north half. Stand on the Triforce and play Zelda’s Lullaby. The water in the whole dungeon drains away.

Dead Hand and the Lens of Truth

Drop into the drained pool

Go back to the entrance of the main room. The pool you walked past is now an empty pit. Drop in and open the small chest opposite the crawl space (Bombs), then crawl through the hole. A second Big Skulltula hangs on the other side, so kill it, climb the vines and go through the door ahead.

Mini-boss: Dead Hand

The room is lined with pale posts that are really arms. When you come close, one grabs you and the body of Dead Hand rises out of the floor. Mash A and B to break free, then stay in front of the creature. It leans in to bite, and that is the moment to cut its face. After a few hits it sinks into the ground and sends a shockwave through the dirt (shield or jump it), and then you must lure it up again by walking next to an arm, or by bombing an arm two or three times. About nine sword hits finish it. The arms cannot hurt you directly, but they hold you long enough for the body to attack.

Basement: Dungeon Map and Silver Rupees

Drop through the middle

Back in the main room, look at the ring with the Lens on and walk through the fake walls into the central area, where a large X of wooden beams marks the floor. Step off into one of the pits (the middle one is the easiest) to fall into the basement. This is a big cave with a pool of poisonous green water, several dead-end passages and one lone ReDead wandering around.

Dungeon Map chest

Most of the side passages lead nowhere useful: one holds grass, one holds pots, and one has a spot where Navi turns green and Sun’s Song summons a healing fairy. The passage you want has two burning torches at the entrance. Bomb the two boulders that block it, play Sun’s Song to freeze the ReDead beyond, kill it, and open the chest for the Dungeon Map. The pause screen then shows the dungeon as three levels, B1 to B3, with its chest icons.

Five Silver Rupees to climb out

Return to the poison pool and defeat the ReDead if you have not already. Collect the three Silver Rupees lying near the wooden planks, climb the ladder, take the rupee at the top, climb the second ladder and take the fifth one. The door opens and puts you back in the main room. Falling into the basement again later is harmless, but you will have to repeat the climb.

Compass and the three Small Keys

Compass chest in the cell

The large chest you see inside the fenced cell of the central room is the Compass. A pit guards the front, and you cannot jump it. Use the Lens to find the false section of side wall on that cell and walk around to enter through it.

Small Key 1: the coffin room

On the west side of the ring, a grating covers a pit that used to be under water. Drop in, open the small chest (a Recovery Heart), climb the wall and go through the door to the room with six coffins. A Gibdo is already out and walking, so play Sun’s Song, then cut it down. Each coffin has a torch beside it, and lighting that torch with a Deku Stick opens the coffin. The one in the south-west corner (far left as you enter) holds the Small Key, plus two Keese. The others hold Keese or another Gibdo, so you can leave them shut.

Small Keys 2 and 3: hidden alcoves

Walk the trench again near the entrance side with the Lens on. In each of the two corners of the ring on that side there is a small recess behind a fake wall with a small chest, and each holds a Small Key. That gives you all three keys, one for each locked door in the next section.

Gold Skulltulas

West central room: the Deku Baba and flying pots

Open the left locked door of the central room. Inside, a single Deku Baba sits in the middle and pots fly at you. Keep your shield up while you advance, kill the plant, and use the Boomerang on the Skulltula on the back wall.

East central room: the Keese pit

Open the right locked door. Stand at the door and shoot or slash the Keese as they come. A big pit fills the floor, and with the Lens you can see the invisible path along the right-hand side. Walk it to the far wall and Boomerang the token.

North-east: Fire Keese and the Like Like

Squeeze through the crawl hole in the north-east corner of the ring and unlock the door with your last key. The floor of this room is full of hidden pits. Bring out the Lens and shield, kill the Fire Keese, then bomb the Beamos. A small chest in the corner has a Deku Shield if yours burned. Cross to the far door and enter the cell block with the Like Like. It swallows shields, so stun it with the Boomerang and strike while it is dazed. The chest in this room holds a Hylian Shield if you lost yours. The third Gold Skulltula is on the wall here.

Leftover chests

Three more chests are worth the ammunition. In the north-west corner of the ring, bomb the rubble on the floor to expose a chest of Deku Nuts. Inside the central room, the cell on the right is guarded by a Skulltula, and its chest holds more Deku Nuts. Near the entrance of the main room, a mound of dirt on the left breaks with a Bomb and reveals a hole that drops into a side room with a chest of Bombchus. That hole does not lead to the basement.

Leaving the well

Return to the entry corridor, climb the ladder and go back out to Kakariko Village. The dungeon stays drained, and the Lens is yours for good. Your next dungeon is the Shadow Temple, where the Lens is not optional.

After the dungeon: Hyrule Market Treasure Chest Shop

Heart Piece with the Lens

Go to the Hyrule Market as a child at night and pay 10 Rupees to play the Treasure Chest Shop. In each room, put on the Lens and see which of the two chests holds the Small Key; the other holds a trap. Clear every room and the last chest holds a Piece of Heart. See Mini-Games and Secrets and Heart Piece Locations for the rest.

Chapter checklist