Earth Temple

The Earth Temple is one of the two main temples and the fifth dungeon to be explored in The Wind Waker, located leagues beneath the Great Sea down in the now-sunken land of Hyrule, beneath Headstone Island.

Following the defeat of Ganon at the end of Ocarina of Time, the Earth Temple and the Wind Temple were be constructed to safeguard the power to repel evil within the Master Sword, by providing a place for the two new Sages to offer up their prayers to the Golden Goddesses (the prayer song for the Sage of Earth being the Earth God's Lyric.) When Ganondorf escaped from the Sacred Realm, he returned to Hyrule and sought a way to deacvtivate the Master Sword. He ordered the great Poe, Jalhalla, to invade the Earth Temple and murder the then-sitting Sage of Earth, the Zora known as Laruto. After Laruto’s death and the following invasion of Hyrule orchestrated by the Dark Lord, the Golden Goddesses brought down a torrential downpour known as the Great Flood that buried Hyrule beneath a vast ocean that came to be known in time as the Great Sea. The water did not leak into the Earth Temple, as its two entrances were safely out of the water's reach.

It was here that Laruto’s spirit lingered on, awaiting the time when a new Hero armed with the Master Sword would come with a successor Sage to restore its power and destroy the evil that now haunted the temple. Many centuries later, Link, the Hero of Winds, came to investigate what became of the Sages of the Master Sword and to restore the Master Sword’s power to repel evil. He brought with him Laruto’s predestined successor, a Rito by the name of Medli, who bore the harp once used by Laruto herself, and they worked together to solve the mysteries of the Earth Temple and to purge it of evil. They faced many evil creatures within the temple (defeating a set of Stalfos along the way) and destroyed Jalhalla, freeing Laruto of her obligations and partially restoring the Master Sword’s former power.

Construction
The Earth Temple was built within one of the tall mountains to Hyrule’s southern borders (similar to its counterpart, the Wind Temple, to Hyrule’s northern borders), and two entrances to the temple were created for it: one at the ground level and one at the summit of the mountain. The temple was built largely with gray blocks of stone and was decorated with many statues depicting the sun and the moon fused together, perhaps to demonstrate the duality of light and shadow or day and night. A magical harp was constructed for the Sage of Earth that would be the tool for carrying the Sage’s prayers to the goddesses, and the harp would pass down the line of Sages in succession. The deepest chamber of the temple was a large, open chamber with a mosaic of the Triforce adorning its tiled floor and many windows in the roof to allow light to flow into it. It was here that the Sage of Earth would go to play the Earth God's Lyric to carry his or her prayers to the goddesses for the Blade of Evil’s Bane, and the Sage would typically be conducted by the sitting ruler of Hyrule, who would wield the magical conductor’s baton known as the Wind Waker. As long as a sitting Sage was placed in each temple, offering up their prayers to the goddesses, the Master Sword continued to be blessed with its magical power to repel evil, and so it was for a time following the Hero of Time’s disappearance into the currents of time.

The Coming of the Hero of Winds
After removing the Master Sword from its pedestal within the the remains of Hyrule Castle, Link broke the seal on the land of Hyrule and caused both color and time to resume normally within the underwater kingdom. Returning to the civilization above the waves, Link traveled to the Forsaken Fortress and faced Ganondorf himself. When he attempted to strike the Dark Lord with the Master Sword however, he found that it had no effect upon him whatsoever. Ganondorf then revealed that the blade had lost its power to repel evil and that by withdrawing the Blade of Evil's Bane from its resting place, Link had also broken the seal on his powers as well, meaning that Ganondorf was now no longer bound by the sword's seal.

After Tetra was awakened to the knowledge that she was the new Princess Zelda, the King went on to state his belief that the Master Sword had lost its power because something had happened to the Sages of the Master Sword, who should be somewhere in Hyrule praying to the goddesses in the Earth Temple to the south and the Wind Temple to the north. After ordering Zelda to hide in the castle until their return, the King urged Link to return with him to the land above the waves in order to locate the temples and discover the fate of the Sages.

After returning to the surface of the Great Sea, Link traveled with the King of Red Lions first to Headstone Island, the top of the mountain that was home to the Earth Temple in ancient times and had now been turned into an island as a result of the Great Flood. Link used the Power Bracelets to open the entrance leading into a cavern on the island and discovered it to be the mountaintop entrance of the Earth Temple. It was here that the spirit of Laruto appeared to the young hero and related the story of what had happened to both she and the temple she guarded.

Laruto tells Link that after his defeat at the hands of the Hero of Time, Ganondorf was sealed away, but not for all time. She goes on to tell Link that Ganondorf escaped his imprisonment and returned to Hyrule in a red wrath, thereafter attacking the Earth Temple and causing her death at the hands of a monsterous creature in order to remove the power contained within the enchanted blade of the Master Sword. In order to restore power to the sword he held, Laruto instructed Link to seek out her descendant, who would hold the harp Laruto herself possessed, and to conduct the Earth God's Lyric for them, which would awaken in them the knowledge that he or she was to be the new Sage of Earth. Link remembered seeing the harp in the hands of a young Rito named Medli and returned to Dragon Roost Island to seek her out. After locating Medli, Link conducted her in playing the Earth God's Lyric, to which Medli stated that the song somehow seemed familiar to her before collapsing into Link's arms as she had a vision of Laruto and learned of her true destiny as the new Sage of Earth.

Now awakened as the new Sage of Earth, Medli accompanied Link to Headstone Island in order to enter the Earth Temple and cleanse it of evil. Inside the dark and eerie temple, Medli proved very useful in both that she could fly as well as reflect light off her harp. She was able to help Link reflect light until he found a most useful tool in the Mirror Shield after defeating a group of Stalfos deep within the temple's interior. The pair worked together to slowly but surely cleanse the temple of the evil monsters infesting it and worked their way all the way to its deepest recesses, where they discovered the entrance to the shrine chamber to be used by the Sage of Earth. Link entered the chamber alone and faced Laruto's murderer, Jalhalla, and defeated the monstrosity using Mirror Shield as light was the great Poe's weakness. After dealing Jalhalla its deathblow, Medli entered the chamber and played the Earth God's Lyric while being conducted by Link, who wielded the Wind Waker, causing Laruto to appear one final time to play alongside them. This action restored part of the Master Sword's former power and released Laruto from her obligations, allowing her spirit to finally rest in peace. Medli remained in the Sage shrine and sent Link back above ground to seek out the Wind Temple, where he could restore the Master Sword to its full power.

Destruction
It is presumed that, as with everything in Hyrule at the time, that the Earth Temple (along with the Wind Temple and Hyrule Castle) was destroyed by the waters of the Great Sea when the protective shield covering Hyrule collapsed. The Sages escaped the final destruction of Hyrule however with the aid of Tetra's pirates and greeted Link and Zelda on the surface of the sea.

Dungeon
The Earth Temple appears to be an eerie and spooky dungeon, even hinting of shadow-related themes in addition to its earth-related theme. There is also a great focus on the duality of light and darkness that is portrayed throughout the temple. Much of the temple appears to be nothing short of a large tomb, with many coffins (several of which contain ReDeads) adorning walls and hallways. This is a trait that is shared with the Shadow Temple of Ocarina of Time in that it too was for all intents and purposes a large tomb even in name (the "House of the Dead"). The temple is constructed of many blocks and tiles of solid grey stone and is riddled with statues related to the fusion of the Sun and Moon, perhaps hinting at the duality of light and darkness or day and night. There are also several rooms that have large scorpion-shaped mirrors in which light must be reflected onto some of the statues in order to open the way forward into the temple's deepest recesses. The Command Melody is also made heavy use of by Link in order to control Medli and use her to reach places that Link himself would otherwise find difficult to reach as well as to use her harp's ability to reflect light. One very important element to completing the temple is the ability to reflect and control the flow of light. This underscores the importance of the temple's primary treasure, the Mirror Shield, in that the item is required after a certain point since it eventually takes more than just Medli's harp to reflect the necessary light to proceed forward as well the fact that the ability to reflect light is key to defeating the evil boss of the temple, Jalhalla.

Enemies
ReDeads Blue Bubbles Red Bubbles Keese Floormasters ChuChus Stalfos

Trivia

 * The Earth and Wind Temples cover the elements not already represented by the temples in Ocarina of Time, though they are more analogous to shadow-themed and spirit-themed levels in comparison.
 * Throughout the dungeon, there are numerous skulls adorning some of the doorways that possess two long horns on top; It remains unknown what kind of creatures these were and what importance they had to merit being used to decorate such a place of honor as the Earth Temple.

Theories

 * It is curious to note that a Zora such as Laruto would be the Sage of Earth, considering that another Zora, Ruto, was the Sage of Water and caretaker of the Water Temple located beneath Lake Hylia; It is at present unknown just why a Zora was selected as the Sage of Earth, but some theorize that it could have to do with the temple's location or possible close proximity to Zora's Domain or Lake Hylia.
 * Some have also theorized that due to their similar names, identical races, and common status as a Sage that Laruto, the Sage of Earth, may be a descendant of Ruto, the Sage of Water; This has not been confirmed by Nintendo or associates however.
 * It is interesting to note the Earth Temple's appearance as a tomb, causing some to theorize that the temple has a connection to the Shadow Temple of Ocarina of Time or may even be the one and same remodeled; This however remains to date unconfirmed by Nintendo and associates.