Spirit Temple

The Spirit Temple, dedicated to the Goddess of Sand, is located in the westernmost area of the Desert Colossus in the Gerudo Desert. It lies past the Gerudo's fortress complex. In The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, it is used by Ganondorf's surrogate mothers as a base of operation. It is the only place in the game where Link encounters Anubis and White Bubbles.

Like the Shadow Temple, the Spirit Temple has two portions, each requiring a different age of Link. However, instead of being in a separate dungeon, Link's child form explores the actual temple. The Spirit Temple carries a theme of the relation between past and future, and many statues in the temple tell poems relating to such.

The climax cinematic of the Spirit Temple is notably present in the opening cinematic in the game, before the player presses Start.

The Spirit Temple, though generally considered the denouement to Ganon's Castle, can be completed before the Shadow Temple. It shares this trait with the temples in The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask.

Spirit Temple as a Child
The Spirit Temple as a child can only be accessed via the Requiem of Spirit. As a child, Link explores the western wing of the temple through a crawl space. This is the only time in this age that he encounters Nabooru, who asks him to fetch her the Silver Gauntlets.

Upon defeating an Iron Knuckle and finding the Silver Gauntlets, Link has his final meeting with Kaepora Gaebora and witnesses Koume and Kotake abduct Nabooru.

Spirit Temple as an Adult
The adult portion of the temple is not accessible until after Link obtains the Silver Gauntlets. Link is able to explore the eastern wing of the temple as an adult by moving Marble Blocks. As an adult, he must solve several puzzles involving light until ultimately he finds the Mirror Shield behind an Iron Knuckle.

Before battling the boss, Koume and Kotake, Link must first battle a third Iron Knuckle.

After defeating Twinrova, it is revealed that Nabooru is the Sage of Spirit.

Master Quest
In the Master Quest version of Ocarina of Time, there Wallmasters in several rooms of the dungeon. Some enemies, like Beamos, Red Bubbles and Stalfos are found in greater numbers, but there is only one Anubis now. There are more Silver Rupee puzzles; and there is a room with a spinning platform where a Stalfos is fought. Bombchu are used several times in the first half of the dungeon and, just like other Master Quest dungeons, Din's Fire and the Song of Time are also used. Instead of Lizalfos, Dinolfos are fought, and instead of White Bubbles, giant Green Bubbles are found. Armos are no longer found in the dungeon. It is now required to play the Scarecrow's Song to progress, and to go through the first half of the dungeon as an adult to make a chest with a Small Key appear. However, it can only be opened as a child. There is a black Ironknuckle in a room with two Gold Skulltulas and is needed to break some stone thrones to collect them. New enemies include a Like Like, Fire Keese, several Gibdos, Leevers, the previously mentioned Dinolfos and even a club Moblin. The latter is found in a room where several songs must be played, a clue telling which one to play (Time Block for Song of Time or a sun for Sun's Song). The second half of the dungeon is pretty much played backwards.

Minor Enemies and Traps

 * Armos


 * Anubis


 * Gold Skulltula


 * Beamos


 * Lizalfos


 * Keese


 * Stalfos


 * Red Bubble


 * Wallmaster


 * Wolfos


 * Floormaster


 * Blue Bubble


 * Flying Pots


 * Blade Trap


 * Skullwalltula


 * White Bubble

Trivia

 * On the giant statue roughly in the middle of the Spirit Temple, if you aim the Longshot at one of the stars on it's chest, you will grapple on to it. However, you cannot grapple any other part of the statue besides the gate hidden inside its face.
 * The first room of the Spirit Temple resembles the first room of the Fire Temple, though there is not a known connection between the two, other than Stallord, who is theorized to be the dead remains of Volvagia from the Fire Temple, appears in the Arbiter's Grounds, which is theorized to be the Spirit Temple.
 * It is possible to reach the left side of the Temple as an Adult by using the Longshot at the chest that contained the Silver Gauntlets.
 * Both this dungeon and Forest Temple feature the highest number of mini-boss battles in the game: Three in total. However, all three battles in Spirit Temple are against Iron Knuckles, whereas the first two battles in Forest Temple are against Stalfos and the third fight is against the last Poe Sister, Meg.

Theory
There is a possibility that the Arbiter's Grounds from Twilight Princess could be in fact the Spirit Temple due to their similar themes, the presence of the Goddess of the Sand, and their identical locations at the far end of the desert. Also, there is a large round mirror (the main mirror that reflects the light Link needs to reach Twinrova's lair) that greatly resembles the Mirror of Twilight, another indicator of their connection to each other.

It is possible that at some point during the development of Ocarina of Time that the Spirit Temple was supposed to be explored before the Shadow Temple. This is supported by the fact that on the File Select Screen and the Quest Status Subscreen the Spirit Medallion is clearly placed before the Shadow Medallion, and the Requiem of Spirit is placed before the Nocturne of Shadow in the song list. Also, in the beta of Ocarina of Time, the Spirit Medallion had the effect of the Lens of Truth, which is used heavily in the exploration of the Shadow Temple, and so the Spirit Temple would have needed to be placed before the Shadow Temple.