Collect blue fire, solve the sliding-block room and recover the Iron Boots before the Water Temple.
Reach the frozen fountain
Travel up Zora's River and play Zelda's Lullaby at the waterfall. In the frozen domain, go behind King Zora into the fountain. Jump across the ice floes toward the Ice Cavern entrance at the side of the lake.
Open the first silver-rupee door
Clear the Freezards in the entrance chamber. In the room with a rotating ice blade, collect all five silver rupees, including the raised one reached from the ledge. Avoid the falling icicles and continue through the opened passage.
Bottle blue fire
In the next chamber, fill an empty bottle from the blue flame. Release it against red ice to melt it; ordinary fire will not substitute. The map chest is beneath red ice here. Refill the bottle before returning to the rotating-blade chamber.
Open the route to the block puzzle
Melt the red ice across the other blocked passages. One side branch contains the optional Compass and a Piece of Heart. The required branch reaches a room with a large sliding block, silver rupees and another blue flame.
Slide the block between the ledges
Kill the Ice Keese before starting. Push the block against the fixed ice pillars, climb it and jump to each silver-rupee ledge. A push continues until an obstacle stops the block. If it becomes unusable, push it into the abyss: a fresh block appears at its starting position.
Melt the last silver rupee
Use the block to reach the blue-fire ledge and refill your bottle. Bring blue fire to the rupee sealed in red ice, in the alcove to the entrance's right. After collecting all five rupees, reset the block by pushing it off the edge. For the exit, keep directions relative to looking into the room from its entrance: push the new block left, away from the entrance toward the blue flame, right, back toward the entrance, then right again beneath the exit. Climb it and leave through the raised passage.
Defeat the White Wolfos
Melt the final red ice in the passage. In the last chamber, guard against the White Wolfos and counterattack after its swipes. Open the chest for the Iron Boots. Sheik teaches the Serenade of Water.
Thaw King Zora
Equip the boots to sink through the pool behind the chest and use the underwater exit. Before leaving the cavern, refill at least one bottle with blue fire. Release it at King Zora's red ice and speak to him for the Zora Tunic.
Ready for the next horizon?
Check steps as you go, or mark this entire chapter complete when you finish it in the game.
Notes from the archive.
- Keep one bottle free for blue fire. More bottles reduce trips, but one is enough.
- The boots sink Link; the Zora Tunic removes the underwater breathing timer. These are separate pieces of equipment.
- The sliding-block room is resettable. A mistaken push never permanently locks the dungeon.
Walkthrough references
This independent route covers the original Nintendo 64 main story. Consult the credited guides for alternate paths and additional collectibles.
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