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Wind Temple

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Gale Isle: Opening the Wind Temple

Travel to Gale Isle (located north of Windfall Island) to find the Wind Temple’s entrance. As soon as you arrive, equip the Iron Boots to withstand the powerful gust blowing out from the island’s cave. With the extra weight, you can approach the stone idol blowing the wind and smash it with the Skull Hammer. This clears the gale, revealing a hidden cave entrance on Gale Isle.

Link uses the Iron Boots and Skull Hammer on Gale Isle’s stone idol (left), then conducts the Wind God’s Aria (right).

Inside the cave, you’ll find a large stone tablet marked with musical notes. Examine it and take out the Wind Waker to play Wind God’s Aria (the melody is Up, Up, Down, Right, Left, Right). The ghostly sage Fado appears and instructs you to find his violin-playing successor. Sail to Forest Haven, where you’ll discover the Korok Makar playing his fiddle behind a waterfall. Once you teach Makar the Wind God’s Aria, he awakens as the new Wind Sage and hops aboard your boat. Return to Gale Isle with Makar in tow. Stand with him before the stone seal and perform a duet of the Wind God’s Aria. The magical melody causes the stone door to shatter, opening the way into the Wind Temple. (Cue epic high-five with your little leafy buddy!)

Entering the Wind Temple (Partnering with Makar)

Upon entering the Wind Temple, pick up Makar and jump down into the main chamber. This dungeon is built around a massive central shaft with multiple levels (1F, 2F, B1, B2). Many puzzles here involve wind currents, and you’ll be using the Iron Boots, Deku Leaf, and later the Hookshot, often in combination. Throughout the temple, you can use the Command Melody on your Wind Waker to take control of Makar. You’ll need his help to plant trees in soft soil patches, which activate switches and create new Hookshot targets. Get used to swapping control between Link and Makar – teamwork is the name of the game!

Map of the Wind Temple – showing the layout of each floor, key item locations, and warps. (From the official Wind Waker guide.)

Clear the first room by defeating a hovering Wizzrobe (use your bow or sword when it appears) and a bone-rattling Stalfos that drops into the pit. With the room safe, use the Command Melody to control Makar. Waddle him over to the two dirt patches and press A on each to plant a seed. Two little trees pop up, triggering a chest to appear (it holds some Rupees). Have Makar flutter up to a ledge and step on a switch to disable the cyclone traps in the room. Switch back to Link, open that chest if you want loot, then find the springy floor switch (it looks like a round piston). Step on it and wear the Iron Boots to push it down – when you release, it launches you upward! Use this to catapult Link back up to the entrance door level. From there, hop onto the next floor switch with Iron Boots, then unequip the boots to get propelled into the air and glide across with the Deku Leaf to reach Makar’s ledge. Grab your stubby friend and head through the door.

In the next hall, take out two Armos statues blocking the way. These hopping statues open their mouths – toss a bomb or shoot an arrow into each to destroy them. Use the Deku Leaf on the pinwheel fan to spin it, which raises a heavy stone gate ahead. Carry Makar through and then use him to plant two more trees in the soil patches, which unlocks the door forward. Proceed into the tall, cylindrical chamber. Here, Makar needs to plant trees on three high platforms. Fly him to each platform one by one (watch his magic meter!) and sow the seeds. Once the third tree is planted, the dungeon acknowledges your gardening prowess… by siccing a group of giant hands on poor Makar! Floormasters burst forth and snatch Makar away before your eyes. Don’t panic – he’ll be okay (for now), but you’ll have to finish a chunk of the dungeon without him. The doors unlock, but Makar is imprisoned behind bars elsewhere, peeping “Help!” from afar.

Solo Exploration: Iron Boots and Wind Puzzles

With Makar temporarily out of reach, Link must press on alone. In the big central chamber, you can’t climb Makar’s platforms by yourself, so exit through the side door that just opened. In the next room, step forward and you’ll hear Makar’s voice. You can spot him locked in a jail behind a giant stone statue across a gap. Makar hints that you need to become “as heavy as the Great Deku Tree” to free him – meaning those Iron Boots will be needed. But something more is required to move that statue… ?

Head through the east door to start retrieving the necessary tool. In this chamber, fluttering Peahats attack – slice them up or shoot them down. Drop to the lower level and quickly defeat the lurking Floormaster (avoid its shadow and strike fast to prevent being grabbed!). Use the Deku Leaf on the fan to raise another gate, then step on the spring switch with Iron Boots to launch back up. You’ll find a chest with a Joy Pendant on the ledge. Continue to the next door.

You enter a tall room with vertical wind currents (little cyclones). Time for some fun air travel! Jump and glide into the whirlwind on the right, which lifts you upward. Steer onto the small ledge on the left wall. Step on the floor switch here to rotate part of the grating in the center, creating a platform. Ride the cyclone again and land on the now-horizontal grate. A Wizzrobe appears; quickly shoot it with an arrow (or use Deku Leaf gusts to stun it and then slash). Jump south and ride another cyclone up to a ledge with a chest – open it to snag the Dungeon Map. Catch a breeze back into that cyclone, then angle west through the opening in the grate. Hop into the next updraft which carries you to another high ledge. Defeat a couple of pesky Peahats and another Wizzrobe up here. Finally, float with the leaf into the last cyclone and ride it to a western balcony door.

In this small room, break the blue warping pot (if you’ve activated the one at the start, you can now warp between them). Climb onto the tall metal stake in the floor and put on the Iron Boots – your weight drives it down like a switch, opening a section of the floor. Drop through the revealed hole (use the Deku Leaf at the last second to soften your landing and avoid fall damage). You crash into a basement filled with Red ChuChus – take them out. In this room, there’s a big spring block in the center and a block you can move. Drag the spring block over to the south under a high ledge, and place the small block next to it. Climb up and then stomp the spring with Iron Boots. When you release, the spring launches you upward to a ledge with a chest holding a Small Key. Yay, progress! This also lowers nearby spikes so you can leave. (Optional: There are some cracked floor tiles here; stomp through them with the Iron Boots to drop into mini-fights for extra goodies. One yields a Treasure Chart if you clear all the enemies.)

Climb back up to the previous room and unlock the opposite door with your new key. Inside awaits the temple’s mini-boss: a Red Wizzrobe Sorcerer. This cackling mage will teleport around and summon other monsters (Keese, Bokoblins, etc.) to harass you. Focus on the Wizzrobe: shoot it with arrows whenever it appears on a ledge out of reach. If it teleports low, you can also slash it or use an Ice Arrow followed by the Skull Hammer for an instant kill. After a chaotic battle, the fiery Wizzrobe falls. When the smoke clears, a big chest materializes – inside is the dungeon’s key item, the Hookshot! ?￢ﾀﾋ

Hookshot in Hand: Rescuing Makar

The Hookshot opens up a lot of possibilities. Test it out immediately: target the bullseye emblem on the high wall and fire the Hookshot to yank yourself up to the ledge. Step on the floor switch there to unbar the door back to the central shaft. Now, along the left (west) wall are a series of wooden targets above platforms. Hookshot from one to the next, climbing your way up the tall central room. Halfway up, glide with the Deku Leaf to a ledge on the opposite side to find the Compass in a chest. Continue hookshotting upward. You’ll reach a ledge with a big stone statue – behind it, you can see poor Makar jailed. Time for a prison break! Stand firmly (put on the Iron Boots for good measure) and Hookshot the statue itself. Thanks to your weight, the statue is yanked off its base and shatters, freeing Makar at last. Reunited and it feels so good! Inside his cell, open a little chest for another Joy Pendant as a reward.

With Makar back, the dynamic duo can reach new heights. Drop down to the base of the shaft together. Use Makar to plant two seeds in the dirt on the east side of the bottom floor – this causes a giant upward cyclone to form in the center of the shaft. Have Makar hop into the cyclone; it will carry him waaaay up to the top of the room. Land him on the south upper ledge. Switch to Link, leap into the same updraft, and ride it up (using the Deku Leaf to guide your float). At the very top, drift onto the eastern ledge to find a chest with a Joy Pendant. Then ride the wind again to join Makar on the south ledge. Grab your buddy and go through the door.

Upper Floors and Big Key

The next chamber is loaded with enemies. You’ll face a gauntlet of Armos statues (both standard small ones and the larger Armos Knights). Keep moving to avoid getting cornered and take them out with bombs or arrows to the crystal in their backs. Once the room is clear, a gate opens revealing a chest with a Small Key. Grab it. Before leaving, there’s a side passage on a higher ledge: control Makar and fly him to a platform on the east side, one level below the exit. Then have Link use the Deku Leaf to glide over to that same platform. Pick up Makar again and use the small key on the locked door here.

In this next windy hall, defeat a couple of Peahats and drop down to smash a Floormaster. Use the Deku Leaf on a fan to shift a stone block gate, then quickly don the Iron Boots to walk against the wind and get back up to the door area. Run across with Makar and you’ll find another large stone tablet blocking the way. Play the Wind God’s Aria with Makar and Link together, which shatters this tablet just like the entrance one. Go through the newly opened path.

Now you’ll face three armored Darknuts in a wide room – an ambush! ? Use parry attacks or bomb arrows to knock off their armor, then engage each one-on-one. The fight is intense but manageable with space to dodge. When the Darknuts are defeated, a big treasure chest spawns containing the Big Key (Boss Key). Take it and celebrate – you’re nearing the end!

Exit back to the previous windy hall. (If the gate blew back down, spin the fan again with the leaf.) Carry Makar across and through the now-open middle door on the north side of the hall. In this room, immediately a Wizzrobe appears; shoot it down before it causes trouble. Then have Makar fly up to the highest ledge above and plant a tree in the soil there. Switch to Link and use the Hookshot on the newly grown tree to pull yourself up to Makar’s level. Pick him up and head through the north door (if you’re checking your map, we’re getting closer to the boss!).

The next area is another tall vertical space, quite similar to the last. Nasty Blue Bubbles (flaming blue skulls) float about. Use the Hookshot to snag two of them out of the air and slash them to clear a path. Then command Makar to fly to the first couple of platforms and plant seeds in the soil patches. Each planted tree deactivates a barrier further up. Hookshot Link to the tree on Makar’s platform and take out the final Blue Bubble. Use Makar once more to plant a tree in the last patch, removing the last barrier. Now Link can Hookshot up to that highest ledge. Carry Makar through the door.

You emerge at the top of the massive central shaft, right above the giant fan that’s been blowing below. There are two switches on the floor here. Place Makar on one and Link on the other, which powers down the big fan temporarily. With the wind stopped, you can drop straight down the shaft (don’t worry, you won’t take damage if you fall into the fan’s opening). Fall past the now-idle fan into the lowest level. Use your Small Key to unlock the boss door. It’s time to face the Wind Temple’s boss!

Boss Battle: Molgera, the Sand Serpent

Enter the arena: a circular sand pit with an ominous silence. Step forward onto the sand and suddenly a titanic sand serpent erupts – meet Molgera, the boss of the Wind Temple! This giant worm has a nasty maw with a purple tongue, and it’s hungry for hero.

Molgera swims through the sand like water, so you’ll mostly see its fin circling beneath the surface. When it pops its head out and opens its huge jaws, don’t get too close or it will lunge and chomp you. The sand acts like quicksand, slowly pulling you toward Molgera, so keep moving (you can backflip or run opposite to escape the drag). Target its tongue, which is pink and wriggling about, and use your Hookshot: latch onto that tongue and yank Molgera towards you. When the beast flops out of the sand, whack the tongue with your Master Sword as many times as you can! After a few hits, Molgera will retreat back into the sand.

Now Molgera summons its offspring – a few mini sand worms will emerge and attack. These little Molgera larvae can be annoying, so it’s smart to eliminate them while Molgera is hidden. Target and Hookshot the mini-worms out of the sand, then slice them up. With the babies gone, keep an eye on Molgera’s next move. It will usually resurface right under you (look for a circle of swirling sand as a warning sign of where it will come up). Get out of the way, then repeat the Hookshot-to-tongue routine to deal more damage. In later phases, Molgera might launch itself fully out of the sand and fly around the room with its jaws open – stay on the move to avoid getting rammed. You can even try to Hookshot its tongue mid-air if you’re brave, but it’s risky. Generally, stick to the safe strategy: wait for it to land and open wide, then pull its tongue and strike. After about three cycles of tongue-yanking punishment, the colossal sand monster will be defeated. Molgera thrashes and then explodes in a cloud of sand.

Collect the Heart Container from the sands and step into the glowing blue warp. Makar will reappear in the boss room and join Link on the warp pad. In a heartfelt scene, Link conducts as Makar plays the Wind God’s Aria one more time, restoring the Wind Sage’s power. The spirit of Fado briefly manifests to play along, and the Master Sword in Link’s hand regains its full power, glowing with a renewed energy. Congratulations – you’ve cleared the Wind Temple and fully powered up the Master Sword with the wind element!

The fearsome Molgera soars through its sand-filled lair, ready to strike.

As the light returns you to the entrance of the Wind Temple, Makar remains behind to pray and keep the Master Sword’s power strong. Give our little violinist a thankful wave. With the Wind Temple complete, you now have the awakened Master Sword, capable of defeating Ganondorf. Time to set sail for the next adventure – onward to destiny, Hero of Winds! ?￯ﾸﾏ?