Kokiri Forest and the Lost Woods Walkthrough

This is where the game starts, and it already holds a lot of a 100% file: a sword, a shield, two Pieces of Heart, upgrades for Deku Sticks, Deku Nuts and Deku Seeds, Saria’s Song and your first Gold Skulltulas. Most of it needs things you do not own at the start (the Fairy Ocarina, the Slingshot, a bottle, Bombs), so the chapter works in two passes. Do the village now, finish the Great Deku Tree, and then come back to the Lost Woods with the Ocarina and the Slingshot. The turns through the maze are written out below so you do not have to wander.

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Kokiri Forest

Start in Link’s house

You wake in your tree house, and Navi, your new fairy, says the Great Deku Tree wants to see you. The village is a ring of tree houses around a small pond. Saria waits outside, and Mido stands in front of the path to the Great Deku Tree’s meadow. He will not let you pass until you carry a sword and a shield. Navi gives advice whenever “Navi” appears at the top of the screen and you press C-Up, and the signs in the village teach the controls, so read as much or as little as you like.

Get the Kokiri Sword

The Kokiri Sword is in the Forest Training Center, the fenced area in the south-west of the village beside the Know-It-All Brothers’ house. Walk through the fences (the signs teach targeting, thrusts and backflips) and crawl through the small hole in the wall at the far end. Beyond it is a short maze with a huge boulder rolling through it. Duck into a side nook while it passes, then follow it down the corridor. Two Blue Rupees (5 each) sit in nooks along the way, and walking through the clover patch gives a couple of Green Rupees (1 each). The chest at the end holds the Kokiri Sword. Wait for the boulder to go by again before you crawl back out.

Open the Start menu, go to the equipment screen and choose the Kokiri Sword so that it appears on the B button. Mido checks for it, so do this before you go back to him.

Earn 40 Rupees for the Deku Shield

You start with no money, and the shield costs 40 Rupees. These are the easy sources. Any mix gets you there.

The pond crossings come back every time you leave a house and re-enter, so if you are a few Rupees short, hop again.

Buy the Deku Shield

The Kokiri Shop is the building with the red roof next to Mido’s house. Buy the Deku Shield for 40 Rupees and nothing else for now, because Deku Sticks, Nuts and Seeds are free from enemies and grass. This is the full stock:

Equip the shield on the equipment screen as well, then talk to Mido again. He grumbles, but he steps aside. See Shops and Prices for every other shop in the game.

The houses and people of the village

Nothing in Link’s house or Saria’s house is worth collecting. Saria is simply there to talk to until you learn her song. The Know-It-All Brothers explain items and controls, and the back of their house is where the village’s first Gold Skulltula appears at night. Mido’s house holds the four chests listed above, and the Twins’ house has an adult-only token on its back wall. Only the Training Center and the shop matter for story progress.

Walk to the Great Deku Tree

With the sword and shield equipped, the path to the Great Deku Tree’s meadow is open. Withered Deku Babas wiggle out of the ground along it. Kill them with the sword to collect Deku Sticks (you can carry 10 at the start). They return, so this is an easy place to refill. The Great Deku Tree tells you about the curse and you enter his mouth. When you come out, he gives you the Kokiri’s Emerald, and Saria waits for you at the bridge that leaves the village and gives you the Fairy Ocarina. All of that is in the Deku Tree chapter, and the road beyond the bridge is in Hyrule Field and Castle.

Kokiri Forest Gold Skulltulas

The village has three tokens. The first is a child task at night: go behind the Know-It-All Brothers’ house, kill the Skulltula on the back wall with the sword, and pick up the token. The second works at any time as a child but needs a bottle holding a bug (you get the bottle in the Kakariko chapter). Release the bug onto the patch of soft soil beside the Kokiri Shop and a Skulltula crawls out. The third is an adult task at night: stand by the Twins’ house, which is the one nearest the Lost Woods entrance, and shoot the Skulltula on its back wall with the Hookshot.

Come back later: the Storms grotto

Near the Gossip Stone just before the Lost Woods entrance a hidden grotto opens when you play the Song of Storms (an adult song, so this is a later visit). It holds a chest with 20 Rupees, a Gossip Stone, bugs and a fish, which makes it a handy place to catch a bug for the soil patches in this chapter.

Lost Woods

How the maze works

The Lost Woods entrance is on the cliff above the village. The woods are a chain of small rooms, and every room has several exits. The correct exit has Saria’s Song drifting out of it. An exit with a tiny star of light at the end leads back to the village, and an exit that looks like flat darkness leads deeper. A wrong turn just drops you back in Kokiri Forest, so you cannot get truly stuck. The turns below are always counted from the first room.

A second shortcut links the woods to the top of Zora’s River. Both shortcuts are used later: see Death Mountain, Goron City and Hyrule Market and Zora’s River and Zora’s Domain. In front of the Goron City tunnel there is also a boulder; blow it up with a Bomb and drop into a small grotto with a chest of Rupees (5), bugs, a fish and a Gossip Stone, which is a convenient place to catch a bug for the soil patches here.

Skull Kid: Piece of Heart for Saria’s Song

Take the first exit to the left. A Skull Kid sits asleep on a stump and does not respond when you walk up to him. Instead, climb on the lower stump across from him, take out the Ocarina and play Saria’s Song. He is so happy that he gives you a Piece of Heart. You need Saria’s Song first, which means you must finish the Deku Tree and visit the Sacred Forest Meadow. Later, once he has seen the Skull Mask, this is also the Skull Kid who buys it (see the Mask Trading Sequence).

Target practice: Bullet Bag upgrade

Take the first exit to the right. A wooden target hangs from a tree, and a Deku Scrub waits at the top. With the Fairy Slingshot, hit the centre of the target three times in a row. The Scrub comes out and gives you a Bullet Bag upgrade. It holds 40 Deku Seeds, or 50 if you already took the Market Shooting Gallery prize, because the two upgrades can be done in either order.

Two Skull Kids: memory game for a Piece of Heart

Climb down the ladder beside the target tree and walk round to the stump below it. Stand on it and two Skull Kids appear. Take out the Ocarina, and they play a short tune twice; play it back note for note. Each round the tune gets longer. The first round pays a Green Rupee, the second a Blue Rupee, and the third, an eight-note tune, pays a Piece of Heart. Writing the notes down helps, because the on-screen staff shows each one only briefly.

Deku Stick upgrade (20 sticks)

Go left twice to the bridge room. A ladder at the side takes you down to a lower ledge, and a Business Scrub stands against the far wall. Defeat him by reflecting his nuts with the shield, or by hitting him with a Deku Nut or a Seed. After that he offers to raise your Deku Stick limit from 10 to 20 for 40 Rupees. Buy it.

Forest Stage: masks for more sticks and nuts

Go right, left, right, left, left. Walk around under the butterflies in the clearing until you fall through a hole into the Forest Stage, where a crowd of young Deku Scrubs waits to be entertained. Put on one of the masks borrowed from the Happy Mask Shop and step onto the stage. Their reactions:

Each reward is paid once. The masks come from the Happy Mask Shop in the Market, and the whole chain is in the Kakariko and Market chapter. Take the Mask of Truth reward before you deliver the Odd Potion in the adult trading quest, because after you receive the Poacher’s Saw the Scrubs no longer offer the nut upgrade (this is fixed only in the 3DS version). Wearing the same mask again gets you nothing or an attack.

The Sacred Forest Meadow and Saria’s Song

Follow the last turns in the table, or the music, to the Sacred Forest Meadow. A gate blocks the way, and a Wolfos jumps out when you step toward it. Back away as it winds up and cut or jump-attack at its tail, or use a Deku Stick. Once it is dead it does not return. Beyond the gate a narrow tunnel is lined with Mad Scrubs who shoot nuts, and the end of it is a short stairway guarded by two more. Reflect the nuts with your shield. In the meadow Saria sits on a stump playing her Ocarina. Talk to her and she teaches you Saria’s Song (N64: C-Down, C-Right, C-Left, C-Down, C-Right, C-Left). You can play it anywhere to call her, and she hands out hints.

Before you leave, look for the ladder near the start of the maze that takes you onto the walls. At the top there is a hole in the middle of the platform. Drop into it to reach a Fairy Fountain with healing fairies, and carry a bottle if you want to keep one. In the open ground where the Wolfos stood, a Bomb dropped in the middle opens a hole with a pair of Wolfos; kill both and a chest of Rupees appears. A third hole in the upper meadow opens when you play the Song of Storms and leads to two Business Scrubs who sell small supplies.

Deku Nut upgrade (40 nuts)

In the last room before the meadow, a large boulder stands against one wall. Blow it up with a Bomb and drop into the grotto behind it. Two Business Scrubs live there, and the one nearest the entrance sells the Deku Nut upgrade (to 40) for 40 Rupees once you hit him. You need the Bomb Bag from Dodongo’s Cavern first.

Lost Woods Gold Skulltulas

There are three tokens. The first two are child tasks that work at any time, but you need a bottle with a bug. The first is the patch of soft soil in the bridge room; release the bug on it and a Skulltula crawls out. The second is the soft soil in the Forest Stage room, the same way. The third is an adult task at night: as a child, plant a Magic Bean in the Forest Stage room’s soil (see Magic Bean Soft Soil Locations), then come back as an adult and ride the plant to the nearby ledge, where you kill the Skulltula with the sword or Hookshot.

Sacred Forest Meadow Gold Skulltula

At the end of the maze, climb the lone ladder, turn left and look at the wall in front of you. An adult Skulltula appears there at night. Shoot it with the Hookshot and collect the token. The meadow is also where you learn the Minuet of Forest as an adult, on the way to the Forest Temple.

Adult Link in the forest

Once you are an adult, the village is overrun with Deku Babas and Big Deku Babas and the Kokiri hide indoors, until you free the forest. Mido now stands guard in the Lost Woods on the way to the meadow. The Skull Kids shoot needles at adults. In the trading quest, the man sitting in the room to the left of the Lost Woods entrance takes the Cojiro for an Odd Mushroom, and the Poacher’s Saw is given in the same room later (see the Biggoron Sword Trading Sequence). Only the three adult tokens and the Forest Stage nut upgrade are worth the trip.

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