Palace of Darkness

Not to be confused with the Temple of Darkness in Four Swords Adventures or the Dark Palace in A Link Between Worlds.

Template:Dungeon The Palace of Darkness,^[1] also known as Level 1: Dark Palace,^[2] is the first Dungeon of the Dark World in A Link to the Past. It is found where the Eastern Palace is located in Hyrule.

Entrance to the Palace

Both incarnations are located in the east, in the area were first stood the Eastern Palace. Access to the dungeon is granted by walking through the maze in A Link to the Past. Eventually, in the former, a monkey named Kiki follows Link and asks for ten Rupees. Link must give him the requested amount and continues towards the dungeon. There, the monkey will offer to reveal the dungeon's entrance for one hundred more Rupees. Link must give him these as well before the monkey opens the dungeon for the young hero by hopping onto an otherwise inaccessible switch.

Themes and Navigation

This dungeon introduces a greater level of danger than those found in the Light World, introducing Blade Traps and Medusa among a new host of enemies such as Helmasaurs, making their first appearance in the series. Link will encounter special ledges that allow him to perform an autojump when he runs off of them. In addition, some statues can be pushed Link if he touches them, which he must do to pass through dangerous areas and solve puzzles. Strange, eerie creatures known as Goriya mimic Link's moves (similar to Mask-Mimics and Arm-Mimics in later games), and should some of these enemies face Link directly they will fire a bolt of fire at him. The treasure is the Magic Hammer, which is used to remove Moles and defeat Terrorpins so that Link can reach the Dungeon Master. The boss is the Helmasaur King, a gigantic Helmasaur. After defeating him Link receives a Heart Container and the first Crystal in A Link to the Past.

Enemies and Traps

Non-canon Appearances

Non-Canon Information

A Link to the Past (Ishinomori)

The Palace of Darkness is also featured in the A Link to the Past comic by Shotaro Ishinomori. After being told by Zora that a Maiden is imprisoned in the nearby palace, Link decides to go and rescue the maiden. Before leaving, Zora allows Link to take Epheremelda as a guide and grants him the Zora's Mask to disguise himself and not look so conspicuous as he is sneaking around the palace.^[3]

The duo arrive to the Palace of Darkness and eventually reach the storeroom with the Firecorn explosives,^[4] and although Link had been able to sneak around with the Zora's Mask without being noticed,^[5] he is discovered by a Rocklops.^[6] The Rocklops warns Link of what could happen if he set off the firecorns in the palace,^[7] but the young hero disregards his warning and takes a Hinox's bomb belt that was wrapped around it.^[8] Link then stumbles into the imprisoned crystal, but is attacked by a Gleeok that was called upon by the Rocklops. Although he defeats it easily with the Master Sword, soon more Hinoxs riding Gleeoks begin to head towards him.^[9] Link gives Epheremelda ones of the bombs from the Hinox's belt, which eventually denotes the firecorn stockpile and destroys the entire palace. This allows the maiden to be freed from the crystal, who thanks Link and grants him a relic called the Comm-Fork.^[10]

Trivia

As with the Light World dungeons, this dungeon is translated as a Palace; from Ocarina of Time onwards, 神殿 (Shinden) is always translated as "Temple."
The Palace of Darkness shares its Japanese name with the Shadow Temple of Ocarina of Time.

Nomenclature

Names in Other Regions
Language		Name	Meaning
	Japanese	闇の神殿 (Yami no Shinden)	Temple of Darkness
	French^EU	Palais des Ténèbres	Palace of Darkness
	German	Palast der Dunkelheit	Palace of Darkness
	Italian	Palazzo Cupo	Gloomy Palace
	Spanish^EU	Templo de Sombras	Shadow Temple