Essences of Time and Dungeons - Zelda: Oracle of Ages Guide

Essences	8 Essences of Time, one in each numbered dungeon (Level 1 to Level 8).
Unnumbered places	Maku Path (the way to the young Maku Tree) and the Black Tower (the final dungeon, with Veran).
Linked Game only	Hero’s Cave (present, Lynna City) and the Room of Rites (the final area, with Twinrova and Ganon).
Reward for all 8	The Huge Maku Seed, which opens the Black Tower.

Oracle of Ages has eight numbered dungeons, and each one holds one of the eight Essences of Time. Clear a dungeon, beat its boss, and take the Essence from the altar or shrine at the end. Once you hold all eight, the Maku Tree gives you the Huge Maku Seed, and the Black Tower opens. Every numbered dungeon has a mini-boss before its boss, and every boss drops a Heart Container. The table below lists the dungeons in order.

Dungeons at a glance

Level	Dungeon	Era	Entrance requirement	Dungeon item	Mini-boss	Boss	Essence of Time
1	Spirit’s Grave	Present	Graveyard Key, from the cave in Yoll Graveyard	Power Bracelet	Giant Ghini	Pumpkin Head	Eternal Spirit
2	Wing Dungeon	Past	Bombs, to blast open the entrance in the Deku Forest	Roc’s Feather	Swoop	Head Thwomp	Ancient Wood
3	Moonlit Grotto	Present	Crescent Island, reached with the Shovel, Roc’s Feather and Power Bracelet	Seed Shooter	Subterror	Shadow Hag	Echoing Howl
4	Skull Dungeon	Present	Repaired Tuni Nut in Symmetry City, then the cave behind the waterfall	Switch Hook	Armos Warrior	Eyesoar	Burning Flame
5	Crown Dungeon	Present	Crown Key from the Goron Elder, after you bring a Bomb Flower from the past	Cane of Somaria	Smasher	Smog	Sacred Soil
6	Mermaid’s Cave	Past and present	Old Mermaid Key (present door) or Mermaid Key (past door)	Mermaid Suit	Vire	Octogon	Bereft Peak
7	Jabu-Jabu’s Belly	Present	Permission from King Zora in the Zora Seas	Long Hook	Angler Fish	Plasmarine	Rolling Sea
8	Ancient Tomb	Past	Sea of No Return maze, reached with the Zora Scale and the Mermaid Suit	Power Glove	Blue Stalfos	Ramrock	Falling Star

Maku Path and the Black Tower

Maku Path (past)

Maku Path is a short block-pushing practice dungeon. You reach it by digging through the loose soil at the north entrance of Lynna Village with the Shovel. It leads to the young Maku Tree, and it holds no Essence. Its rooms teach the block puzzles you will use later, and it has one Small Key and a Piece of Heart.

Link in the sandy Maku Path passage beside the dark cave entrance

Link in the Maku Path block room beside a red block and yellow floor tiles

Black Tower (past)

The Black Tower is the final dungeon. It opens once you carry the Huge Maku Seed, which the Maku Tree gives you after all eight Essences. The boss is Veran, who fights in three forms. First, Veran is inside Queen Ambi’s body, and Mystery Seeds and the Long Hook pull her out. Next, she takes a shadow form with four Dark Links. Last, she becomes an insect that changes between beetle, spider and bee forms, and Bombs reveal her face in the spider form.

Veran speaking from inside Queen Ambi in the Black Tower boss room

Veran warning Link that he will vanish if slain while inside Queen Ambi

The eight dungeons in order

Level 1: Spirit’s Grave (present)

Spirit’s Grave is in Yoll Graveyard. Burn the bushes in your way with an Ember Seed, and open the graveyard gate with the Graveyard Key you find in a dark cave. Inside, you will find the Power Bracelet, which lifts pots and stones. Giant Ghini is the mini-boss, and Pumpkin Head is the boss.

Giant Ghini on the yellow carpet of the mini-boss room with Link at the top wall

Link holding up the Power Bracelet over his head with the lift heavy objects message

Pumpkin Head drops a Heart Container where it falls. The Eternal Spirit sits on the altar in the statue room beyond the boss. It is the first of the eight Essences.

Link slashing Pumpkin Head with his sword in the Spirits Grave boss room

Pumpkin Head ghost attacking Link with sword in the Spirits Grave boss room

Level 2: Wing Dungeon (past)

The Wing Dungeon is in the Deku Forest in the past. Trade Mystery Seeds for Bombs, then use a Bomb to open the entrance. Inside, you will get the Roc’s Feather, which lets you jump across pits. Swoop is the mini-boss, and Head Thwomp is the boss.

Link swinging his sword at Swoop in the Wing Dungeon miniboss room

Link holding the Roc's Feather over his head with the complete item box in the Wing Dungeon

Head Thwomp drops a Heart Container when it falls. Go down the right ladder and walk to the essence chamber, where the Ancient Wood waits on the altar.

Link walking through the grey stone essence chamber toward the altar stairs

Ancient Wood, an Essence of Time name box on the glowing pedestal screen

Level 3: Moonlit Grotto (present)

The Moonlit Grotto is on Crescent Island in the present. Reach it with the Shovel, Roc’s Feather and Power Bracelet. Its dungeon item is the Seed Shooter, a slingshot whose seeds bounce off walls. Subterror is the mini-boss, and Shadow Hag is the boss.

The palm-covered stone face entrance to the Moonlit Grotto on Crescent Island

Link holding the Seed Shooter over his head with the complete item box

Shadow Hag drops a Heart Container. The Echoing Howl is in the essence room, reached by the stairs past the red hall and the green statues.

Link walking up the red hall past green statues toward the essence room

Echoing Howl, an Essence of Time name box on the essence room screen

Level 4: Skull Dungeon (present)

The Skull Dungeon is beneath the volcano above Symmetry City. Repair the Tuni Nut in Symmetry City first, then walk to the pond in the city and enter the cave behind the waterfall. Bring Bombs, the Roc’s Feather, the Power Bracelet and plenty of Ember and Scent Seeds, since all of them are used inside.

Link beside the pond with the waterfall cave entrance in Symmetry City

Link in the red lava room of the Skull Dungeon with enemies nearby

The Switch Hook is the dungeon item. It swaps you with a stone diamond or a pot. The Armos Warrior is the mini-boss, and Eyesoar is the boss. Eyesoar drops a Heart Container. The Burning Flame sits in the shrine north of the boss room.

Blue Armos Warrior standing at the top of a diamond-tiled room with Link below

Burning Flame, an Essence of Time name box on the shrine screen in the Skull Dungeon

Level 5: Crown Dungeon (present)

The Crown Dungeon is on Rolling Ridge. Get the Crown Key from the Goron Elder, who gives it to you after you bring a Bomb Flower to the Gorons in the past. Use the key on the keyhole door on the ledge.

The Goron Elder speaking to Link in the sand pit about the keyhole

The Goron Elder thanking Link for the Bomb Flowers in the sand pit

The Cane of Somaria is the dungeon item, and it makes a solid block wherever you point it. Smasher is the mini-boss, and Smog is the boss. Smog drops a Heart Container. Walk up the aisle into the shrine north of the boss room to take the Sacred Soil.

Link holding the Smasher ball overhead in the Crown Dungeon boss room

Sacred Soil, an Essence of Time name box on the shrine screen

Level 6: Mermaid’s Cave (past and present)

Mermaid’s Cave has two entrances, one in each era, and the dungeon is the same layout in both. The present door takes the Old Mermaid Key, which you win from the Big Bang game with the Goronade. The past door takes the Mermaid Key, which you win from the Goron Dance in the past. Each half has its own Dungeon Map and Compass.

Link holding up the Old Mermaid Key with the complete item box after the Big Bang game

Link holding the Mermaid Key over his head with the complete item box in the past

The Mermaid Suit is the dungeon item. You find it after the Vire fight in the present half, and it lets you swim the flooded past half. Vire is the mini-boss in the present half. Octogon is the boss in the past half. Fight it from below the water with the Mermaid Suit, where its face is always exposed.

The Mermaid Suit item box in the purple room, reading B to dive and A to use it

Link on an olive platform beside Octogon in the flooded boss room

Octogon drops a Heart Container. Go right, and the Bereft Peak sits on the dais in the dark brick chamber with skull tiles at the top of the boss area.

A heart rising above Link after Octogon is defeated on the water floor

Bereft Peak, an Essence of Time name box on the essence room screen

Level 7: Jabu-Jabu’s Belly (present)

Jabu-Jabu’s Belly is inside Lord Jabu-Jabu in the Zora Seas. You can enter once King Zora gives you permission, which follows the Fairy Powder quest. The first pink rooms hold a Like Like Ring in a chest, which you should appraise with Vasu later.

Link in the first pink room of Jabu-Jabu's Belly

Link walking through the pink room of Jabu-Jabu's Belly beside a green stone block

The Long Hook is the dungeon item, an upgraded Switch Hook that reaches farther. Angler Fish is the mini-boss, and it swoops at you with bubbles in the side-view rooms. Plasmarine is the boss. Its drop is a Heart Container, and the Rolling Sea waits on the altar in the essence chamber north of the boss room.

Link with the Long Hook; the box reads places with objects from a distance

Rolling Sea, an Essence of Time name box on the altar room screen

Level 8: Ancient Tomb (past)

The Ancient Tomb is the last numbered dungeon. You get to it from the Sea of No Return maze in the past, after you have the Zora Scale to pass the Zora guard and the Mermaid Suit to swim. The Tokay Eyeball from the pirate ship points the way. The first room of the tomb is empty, and the puzzles start from there.

The Level 8 Ancient Tomb title card above the tomb doorway

Link entering the first purple room of the Ancient Tomb

The Power Glove, the dungeon item, lifts heavy objects such as blue statues and coffins. Four Slates are needed to open the way to the boss, and you collect them throughout the tomb. Blue Stalfos is the mini-boss in the first half. Ramrock is the boss, and it has four phases. The Falling Star is on a pedestal in the essence chamber past the boss room.

The Power Glove item box in the Ancient Tomb reading You can now lift heavy objects

Falling Star, an Essence of Time name box on the altar screen

Linked Game dungeons

Hero’s Cave (present, Linked Game)

Hero’s Cave appears only in a Linked Game. Its entrance is in the present, south-west of the Maku Tree in Lynna City, near the Maku Road. It is a linear cave of puzzles and locked doors, with warp points partway through. You can finish it only after you have the Mermaid Suit. It has no Essence and no boss.

Link in the sand area near the Hero's Cave gate with the Lynna villager nearby

Link among the pots in the first sand room of Hero's Cave beside the red pillars

Room of Rites (present, Linked Game)

The Room of Rites is the final area of a Linked Game. It holds the Twinrova fight and the Ganon fight, and it has no Essence. See the boss page for both fights.

The Room of Rites altar room with the purple carpet and lit flames

Ganon arriving on the blue diamond floor of the Room of Rites with the line I am the Evil

The Huge Maku Seed

Getting the Huge Maku Seed

After the eighth Essence, the Maku Tree in the present gives you the Huge Maku Seed. With it, you can enter the Black Tower and face Veran.

The Maku Tree speaking to Link after the eight Essences are collected

Link holding the Huge Maku Seed with the complete item box in the Maku Tree room