Shadow Temple

"Shadow Temple... Here is gathered Hyrule's bloody history of greed and hatred..."

- Mysterious skull in the Shadow Temple

The Shadow Temple is the seventh dungeon in Ocarina of Time and is considered one of the scariest temples in the game. The foes found in the temple include ReDead, Gibdos, Stalfos, Skulltula, Keese, and Wallmasters. Some of the walls and floors are stained with blood, and torture equipment is located in several rooms. The counterpart to the Shadow Temple during young Link's journey is the Bottom of the Well, sharing similar rooms and the same background music.

Entrance to the Temple
It is found in the back of the Graveyard in Kakariko Village in a little alcove only accessible using the Nocturne of Shadow. Said song is taught to Link by Sheik after Bongo Bongo is freed from its imprisonment in Kakariko Village.

Themes and Navigation
In comparison to other temples, the Shadow Temple guides Link through a straight route, except in some parts where the young hero has to deviate in order to find keys or an item. It has four descending floors, following a similar trait to the Bottom of the Well, and it looks like an enlarged catacomb. The temple is filled with undead creatures, deadly twisted traps, and mind-bending puzzles everywhere all designed to trap anyone who enters the crypt. It is also filled to the brim with invisible walls and passageways only visible using the Lens of Truth. Many concealed Skulltulas hang in rooms and corridors within the temple's walls. Link's goal is to go to the bottom of the temple, where Bongo Bongo is found; because of the temple's mostly linear structure, its difficulty is based on the numerous enemies, silver rupee collections, invisible obstacles and traps within. There is also a Bomb Flower puzzle similar to those seen in Dodongo's Cavern.

These are the two keys to finishing the Shadow Temple: being able to see through illusion and the adjusting of one's weight, from lighter than air to being heavy enough to walk on the ocean floor. Without being able to do either, the Shadow Temple cannot be finished. A little used strategy in the Shadow Temple is when Link comes across the active fans in a corridor, the Iron Boots can be used to resist their push. The Hover Boots, the temple's treasure item, are known by all to be used to cross large gaps otherwise uncrossable.

The Lens of Truth reduces the difficulty of the Shadow Temple drastically, particularly against Bongo Bongo. It allows its user to see through fake walls and holes, as well as invisible obstacles, platforms and even enemies.

"Make my beak face the Skull of Truth. An alternative route is a descent into the darkness."

- Bird Statue

"One who gathers the Eye of Truth will be able to see what is hidden in the darkness."

- Mysterious Voice in the Shadow Temple

The mini-boss of this dungeon is Dead Hand; it is unknown whether or not this is the same one as at the Bottom of the Well, but it's known that it's guarding the Hover Boots in the temple. The boss of the temple, as mentioned above, is Bongo Bongo; it's an undead monster consisting of a giant torso, one protruding eye, and two huge disembodied hands beating on a giant drum. It is never sufficiently explained why there is a giant drum in the basement.

Master Quest
Compared to other Master Quest dungeons, the Shadow Temple presents much less of a challenge for veteran players. The main changes to the dungeon involves the type and number of enemies encountered. The number of Beamos and Keese has been increased, and there are fewer Skulltulas than before. The order in which the rooms are visited is still the same, and the Hover Boots are less useful than in the original quest. Instead of a Floormaster, there are now Blue Bubbles and a Like Like in the room with invisible walls. There is now a silver rupee puzzle in the invisible reaper room, and one of the reaper statues constanty changes the speed of its swirling scythes. One of the rooms with giant rotating skulls now contains Stalfos, which give a reward of 20 rupees when defeated. The most notorious change is a room with several Bomb Flowers. Instead of an invisible Floormaster, a second Dead Hand with no hands now appears. Because of this, the Lens of Truth is necessary for defeating it. However, it gives no reward whatsoever.

Trivia

 * Because the Quest Status screen lists the Shadow Medallion last, as well as the Nocturne of Shadow, the Shadow Temple perhaps was intended to be the final temple of the game (excluding Ganon's Castle). Regardless, this temple can be completed before or after finishing the Spirit Temple, but can only be accessed after obtaining Forest, Water, and Fire Medallions.
 * The Shadow Temple, the Spirit Temple, and Dodongo's Cavern are the only dungeons that can be entered by both Adult Link and Young Link without the use of glitches. However, Young Link cannot progress through the Shadow Temple due to his inability to use the Hookshot.
 * The music for the Bottom of the Well is reused in the Shadow Temple.
 * The boat in the temple resembles the Ghost Ship in Phantom Hourglass due to the head and hands holding the bells.
 * A painting describes the boat as a "ferry to the other side." This could be a reference to the boat that the ferryman Charon uses to cross the river Styx to take souls to the other side.
 * The fire symbol outside of the Shadow Temple is actually a reference to what the Fire Medallion did in beta Ocarina of Time. Hence the need to use Din's Fire (formerly the Fire Medallion) to open the entrance to the Shadow Temple. This Symbol is removed in the 3DS version.
 * The fans inside the Shadow Temple are believed to have originally belonged to Ocarina of Time's removed Wind Temple. This is supported by the fact that there are fans in the Forest Temple portion of Ganon's Castle.
 * This is the first major dungeon where Silver Rupees are collected, as they first appeared in the mini-dungeons Ice Cavern and the Bottom of the Well.
 * In Japanese, this dungeon has the same name as the Palace of Darkness in A Link to the Past.
 * Statues of some sort of large bird can be seen throughout the Shadow Temple, most notably near the entrance. These statues may be a reference to a patron deity of the temple, or otherwise just a reference to birds themselves. Interestingly, the birds bear a slight resemblence to Loftwings, which is fitting given that the Sheikah who presided over the temple once served the goddess Hylia, who presumably created the Loftwings. Alternately, they could be depicting ravens, birds traditionally associated with death and darkness, just as the temple is.