Ice Cavern (Ocarina of Time)

Not to be confused with the Ice Cave, a small but similarly important cave in A Link to the Past. For other uses, see Ice Cavern.

Template:Dungeon The Ice Cavern is a mini-dungeon in Ocarina of Time.^[1] This dungeon acts as a prerequisite to the Water Temple for the Iron Boots.

Entrance to the Cavern

The Ice Cavern is a frozen cave behind Zora's Fountain. After his seven year sleep, Link finds Zora's Domain frozen and the Zoras encased in ice. King Zora is encased in a mysterious Red Ice, as is the entrance to the Zora's Shop. Lord Jabu-Jabu is missing from the fountain and is replaced with a path of ice floes leading to a previously inaccessible cavern, the Ice Cavern.

Themes and Navigation

With the Gerudo's Training Ground, the Ice Cavern is the smallest dungeon in the entire game: it only has one floor and, unique among all the other dungeons in The Legend of Zelda series, each room (with the exception of the individual mini-boss room) is connected by hallways instead of doors, giving the illusion of one extremely large room divided into rooms and hallways. It is ice-themed, and inside Link finds Blue Fire, an unnaturally occurring fire only found within the cavern and the Water Barrier in Ganon's Castle (although it can also be bought in the Medicine Shop for an exceptionally high price). Blue Fire melts Red Ice, and as such, Link uses Bottles to carry the fire and melt the Red Ice that is found throughout the cavern to unblock certain paths and rooms.

Link receives the Iron Boots in the Cavern after defeating a White Wolfos. Sheik appears to tell the young hero about the Zoras frozen beneath Zora's domain as well as telling Link he saved Princess Ruto, who headed to the Water Temple underneath Lake Hylia. Afterwards, Sheik teaches Link the Serenade of Water, the warping song of the Water Temple, before disappearing again.

Master Quest

In Master Quest, many of the elements of this dungeon have been removed or replaced. The spinning scythe is gone, and there are very few Freezards and Ice Keese. Instead of the ice block puzzle, the Song of Time can be played to make a block appear, which gives access to the Blue Fire. Some Switches need to be activated to make some platforms disappear. However, they are very well hidden. One switch is camouflaged between some diamonds, another is behind a stalactite and the last one's tip is protruding from the floor. Because there is Red Ice blocking several ways, the first time Blue Fire is seen is where the Piece of Heart originally was (it has been moved to the other room with Blue Fire). New features include Boulders rolling in connecting rooms and two White Wolfos throughout the dungeon. The mini-boss is now a Stalfos.

Minor Enemies and Traps

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Nomenclature

Names in Other Regions
Language		Name	Meaning
	Japanese	氷の洞窟 (Kōri no Dōkutsu)	Ice Cave
	French^CA	Caverne polaire ^(OoT3D)	Polar Cave
	French^EU	Caverne Polaire	Polar Cave
	German	Eishöhle	Ice Cave
	Italian	Caverna di ghiaccio
	Spanish^LA	Caverna de hielo ^(OoT3D)	Cavern of Ice