Twilight Princess Walkthrough – Death Mountain

Back in Ordon Village, you can talk to all the villagers and they are all delighted to hear that the children are safe in Kakariko Village. Once you talk to everybody, walk to the south end of town to meet up with Mayor Bo. After he comments about Link’s attire, he will invite him inside. Then, Mayor Bo will ask about Ilia, and after hearing the news, will eventually ask if there is anything he can to do help. This will trigger the discussion about the Gorons, and Mayor Bo agrees to tell Link his secret.

The two will then appear at the back of Mayor Bo’s house in a sumo wrestling ring. While wrestling, Link can press A to grab, B to smack, or Left/Right to sidestep. This is a rock/paper/scissors game where a grab beats a slap (by dodging in place), a slap beats a sidestep, and a sidestep beats a grab. You should also immediately grab after any successful countermove in order to push your advantage, and spam A when grabbed or grabbing. And finally, any time you sidestep, make sure it is in the direction that leaves a larger portion of the arena behind you and a smaller portion behind your opponent. For the first fight against Mayor Bo, don’t bother pressing anything other than A. The first match with Mayor Bo is rather easy and serves as practice. Just spam A to grab him and you should be able to toss him out of the ring rather easily. The second challenge is a tad more difficult but again, a simple strategy is to just use the grab method over and over until you defeat Mayor Bo.

After defeating the Mayor twice, he will tell you his secret about how he defeated the Gorons. Open the treasure chest to receive his gift of the Iron Boots. These boots will weigh Link down, making it hard for even a Goron to push him aside.

NOTE: After collecting the Iron Boots, you can make your way back to Kakariko Village. However, there is an optional goody here in Ordon.

Make your way over to the Ordon Ranch and speak with Fado. The first time you talk with him, he will be glad the kids are safe. The second time, make sure you are riding Epona when you talk to him. If Epona is not with you, use the horse grass to call her over. He will ask you if you can herd the goats one more time. Agree to do so and as long as you complete the task in less than 3 minutes, Fado will award you with Piece of Heart #6.

One funny note is that if you glance into the actual barn, you can see the Postman kneeling down. The Postman can actually be found in random locations throughout Hyrule. Odd…

Next, jump back on Epona and make the long journey all the way back to Kakariko Village.

Once you arrive back to Kakariko Village, a cut-scene will trigger, where Beth and Talo can be seen hanging around in the center of the village. King Bulblin and his band of bulblins will appear dashing through the village. Talo makes a run for it, but Beth is frozen like a deer in headlights. Colin sees this and makes a heroic effort to push her out of the way, but in turn, he gets captured by King Bulblin. King Bulblin exits the village to the north, and once you regain control of Link, follow suit and hop over the fence.

King Bulblin will blow into his horn, summoning bulblins riding on bullbos. These enemies have bows and will shoot at Link. The horseback battle begins and King Bulblin will ride away. Chase after him on Epona and when you draw near, slash away with your sword to deal damage.

King Bulblin actually moves rather quickly and sometimes is hard to catch up to, requiring that you spend every last one of your carrots for maximum speed. For a possibly easier method, try to angle yourself so you are not directly chasing him and instead try to predict which way he will turn next. If you keep trying, you will often be able to cut him off and deliver a few sword slashes before he speeds out of reach. Keep chasing after King Bulblin until you’ve hit him a number of times. At this point the King will ride towards the Bridge of Eldin and Link will come chasing right after.

Once you arrive, one of the Bulblins will light the entrance on fire, leaving you stuck with King Bulblin. King Bulblin will begin charging towards you and you should charge right back at him. Stay on the left side of the screen and once he draws near, dodge to the right and swing your sword. If you time it right, you will hit King Bulblin. If your timing is off, you could get knocked off the bridge completely and you’ll lose a heart, or you might just miss King Bulblin. Just keep at it until you’ve hit him twice, ending the battle.

After an epic scene atop of the bridge, Link will appear back at Kakariko Village with Colin now back with the other kids. After a passionate speech by Colin, he passes out and needs to rest.

NOTE: This section is completely optional. Nothing here is required and if you’d like to progress with the main quest, jump ahead to section 6.4.

There are two more Golden Bugs for us to collect here in this area and the first one is in the Graveyard to the southeast of Kakariko Village. Once you enter the graveyard you’ll notice there are two gravestones that can be pushed back, and one of them contains a yellow rupee, so be sure to grab it.

Make your way to the northeast portion of the Graveyard and you’ll find the golden bug lying around. Walk up to it and collect the Male Ant.

If you look directly above this tree and the adjacent one, there are a number of enemy birds known as Guay. Use your boomerang to bring them within range and then slash away with your sword. There are a bunch of them, but after defeating them all, a handful of rupees will appear, so be sure to collect them.

Also, if you look at that second tree, there is a beehive hanging from it. If you hit it with your slingshot a few times, it will come crashing down. Swipe your sword at and/or run from the bees, but once they’re gone or dealt with you can return to the beehive and scoop up some Bee Larvae with an empty bottle. This can be used for Bait when Fishing, as it will attract a wider variety of fish.

Just below where the beehive is located, there are two torches on the ground level. Use the lantern to light up these two torches and a treasure chest will appear. Open the treasure chest to get a purple rupee.

Backtrack to Kakariko Village and you’ll find Talo standing around in the middle of town. He mentions that his brother Malo has been working at the General Store, getting it back up and running. If you look outside the shop, there are signs with Malo’s face all over them. Malo has cleaned up the shop and is selling a number of items. Most notably he is selling shields, both a Wooden Shield and a Hylian Shield.

The next area we are headed to is a fire-based area, and if you keep your Ordon Shield equipped, it will more than likely burn. If it does, the Wooden Shield can serve as a replacement, but it can also burn just as easily. Malo also will not let you buy a Wooden Shield if you already have one or the Ordon Shield. The Hylian Shield, while more expensive, will never burn, and you can go ahead and buy it even if you still have the Ordon Shield or a Wooden Shield. You should have a decent amount of rupees, so pick up the Hylian Shield if you can afford it. If not, make note of the location and return once you do get enough rupees.

There are a few buildings boarded up along the east part of town. Link can enter the third building, so go ahead and do so. Inside you will find the Female Ant lying around, so be sure to snatch that up as well.

There are a few other places to explore in town. You can enters Barnes Bomb Shop, but because of the poor relationship with the Gorons, Barnes does not have the material needs to open up shop. There is also the the Elde Inn and it is another place where the Postman can be found, just kneeling by the fireplace. There is also a treasure chest on the first floor, just under the staircase and it contains a red rupee. Upstairs you will find Renado, along with Beth, Luda, and Colin, who is still resting.

With that out of the way, it’s now time to progress up to Death Mountain.

Once again climb the fencing here and you’ll meet up with that same Goron that knocked you down earlier. This time equip the Iron Boots and when he comes rolling at you, hold the A button to grab the Goron and toss him aside. Take off the Iron Boots and continue progressing onward. As you scale the mountain more Gorons will appear, so quickly equip the boots and toss the Gorons aside.

At one point you’ll come across an area where there are a number of bulblins shooting arrows at you. You can knock them out with your Slingshot, but your best bet is to just avoid them and run by. Continue onward until you reach the opening and a scene plays, showing the top of Death Mountain.

Walk around and you’ll see a massive burning rock fall down. Where exactly did this thing come from? It will come in handy a bit later, so make a mental note of this flaming rock.

The area has a few Gorons and they will try to box you. Fight back, and after only a hit or two, or even simply blocking their attack, you will defeat it and it will curl into a ball. Once it does so, you can quickly jump on its back and when the Goron stands back up, it will launch you upward and you can use this to reach higher ledges.

Use one of the two Gorons to reach the higher ledge, and then travel to the northeast. Defeat this Goron and have him launch you up. Continue along this corridor and you’ll come across some wind geysers. Be careful not to allow them to blow you off the cliff. Equip the Iron Boots and you can walk right past the geysers. Here you will find another Goron, defeat him and have him launch you up even further.

Continue progressing along this linear path, avoiding wind geysers, tossing rolling Gorons aside, and when needed, using Gorons to launch yourself upward. At the top of this area, enter the cave which will lead to the Goron Mines.

Once you enter you will be confronted by a number of Gorons, but they will be stopped by the Goron Elder, Gor Coron. After some small talk this will eventually lead to a sumo wrestling match. Gor Coron will lay waste to you almost immediately. Put on your iron boots and then challenge him again.

This sumo wrestling match is significantly more difficult than the ones with Mayor Bo. I would again advise using A to grab more often than not, as it is possible to win without needing to press anything else, if you’re lucky (although it may take several attempts to be that lucky). However, I find sidestepping to work very well, if you notice him being just as grab-happy as you are; if he is slapping a lot, though, don’t sidestep, just keep grabbing. If you do sidestep, be strategic, making sure you are angling Gor Coron closer to the edge, and yourself farther from it. I wouldn’t bother using the slap method, as I don’t think it’s necessary to win, since Gor Coron doesn’t sidestep much. This can be rather frustrating, but just keep at it and you’ll eventually succeed.

After Gor Coron has been defeated, he will grant you access to the Goron Mines. However, he tasks you with saving the Goron Patriarch, Darbus. Once you ready, enter the second dungeon of the game, the Goron Mines.