Lakebed Temple

Lakebed Temple
The Temple's central area
Location(s)	Lake Hylia
Game(s)	Twilight Princess
Main Item	Clawshot
Mini-boss(es)	Deku Toad
Boss(es)	Twilit Aquatic: Morpheel
Quest Reward(s)	Fused Shadow Heart Container
Theme Music

Lakebed Temple, also known as the Zora Temple,^[1] is the third Dungeon in Twilight Princess.

Entrance to the Temple

The dungeon is located at the bottom of Lake Hylia. Link can only gain access to it after both acquiring the Zora Armor in Kakariko Village and purchasing Water Bombs, as the entrance itself is blocked by a boulder.

Themes and Navigation

The Lakebed Temple is based around water and appears to be a spiritual successor to the Water Temple of Ocarina of Time, but instead of level manipulation, the dungeon's functionality is actually based on the transport of water from its sources to dried rooms. Notably, several rooms contain large ancient gears and waterwheels, which, albeit not to the same extent as the complex machinery found in the Goron Mines, seem to show an advancement in technology since the events of Ocarina of Time.

This Temple's greatest feature is its rotating central staircase, which must be turned to move streams of water in the dungeon. Using different handles and mechanisms, Link must bring the flow of water to move waterwheels and platforms to advance deeper into the Temple. Link's main goal is to get the water level in the rotating central staircase room high enough to reach the boss door. During the exploration, he must frequently shoot Bomb Arrows to bring down stalactites on the ceiling, so that he can use them to climb up to higher ground.^[2] In this Temple, Link receives the Clawshot, which is needed to reach otherwise inaccessible areas. It is acquired after defeating the Temple's mini-boss, the Deku Toad.

The final boss of the Lakebed Temple is Morpheel. The boss is found after Link descends while swimming through a long shaft leading to the battle arena. Upon clearing the dungeon, Link receives the third and final Fused Shadow and another Heart Container.^[3]

Minor Enemies and Traps

Trivia

When Link speaks to Midna, she initially admires the beauty of the dungeon and considers the place to be better than the Goron Mines; however, after some time, she changes her mind and complains about the complexity of the Temple.^[4]^[5]^[6] This may be a reference to how previous water-themed dungeons in the series were similarly complex in structure or in the need of manipulating water, as well as directly referencing the number of keys needed in Ocarina of Time's Water Temple. Despite her complaints, there are no grand searches for Small Keys beyond the first.

Nomenclature

Names in Other Regions
Language		Name	Meaning
	Japanese	湖底の神殿 (Kotei no Shinden)	Lake Bottom Temple
	French^EU	Temple Abyssal	Abyssal Temple
	German	Seeschrein	Lake Shrine
	Italian	Santuario del Lago	Sanctuary of the Lake
	Spanish^EU	Santuario del Lago	Sanctuary of the Lake

Gallery

The entrance to the Temple
Map of the Lakebed Temple

References

↑ "The place beyond this rock is sacred to my people. It was once called the Zora Temple." — Zora (Twilight Princess HD)
↑ "Whoa! Don't you think you ought to knock down those stalactites hanging off the ceiling first? They don't look to be very stable. I'd bet they'd break pretty easily if you hit them with enough force, don't you think?" — Midna (Twilight Princess)
↑ "There it is! The last Fused Shadow... I'll just take that, thanks! Now, don't resent me for all I've put you through. I NEED this thing!" — Midna (Twilight Princess)
↑ "This place is much nicer than those stuffy, hot Goron mines!" — Midna (Twilight Princess)
↑ "This is one huge temple. Just trying to find a single key is going to take a lot of effort..." — Midna (Twilight Princess)
↑ "Why did those Zoras think it was a good idea to build such a huge temple?!" — Midna (Twilight Princess)