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. After the triumph of the Hero of Time over the Dark Beast Ganon at the end of Ocarina of Time and his subsequent journey back to his own age, it was decided that two new temples (the Earth Temple and the Wind Temple) would be constructed to safeguard the power to repel evil that dwells within the enchanted blade the Master Sword, by means of 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 the Dark Lord Ganondorf somehow escaped from his exile in the tainted Sacred Realm, he returned to Hyrule in a red wrath and found that there was no Hero present to oppose him, causing him to seek a way to deacvtivate the Master Sword. In turn, 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 the land of Hyrule beneath a vast ocean that came to be known in time as the Great Sea. The entire kingdom and all still in it (namely Ganondorf and his army) were sealed within an enchanted air chamber that prevented the water from destroying the kingdom, and the entire kingdom was left frozen in time. 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
After the sealing away of the Dark Beast Ganon within the corrupted Sacred Realm by the legendary Hero of Time and the Hero’s journey through the flows of time back to his own age at the end of Ocarina of Time, it was decided that two new temples for two new Sages, the Sages of the Master Sword, would be constructed in order to safeguard the power to repel evil that dwells within the enchanted blade of the Hero’s weapon, the Master Sword, so that it would always be ready to be used should Ganondorf ever return from his exile in the corrupted Sacred Realm. One of these two temples was the Earth Temple, a structure built to honor the spirits of the earth and that would provide a place for the Sage of Earth to offer up his or her prayers to the Golden Goddesses for the Master Sword to forever retain its power within the Sage shrine deep at the heart of the temple.

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 Return of Ganon and the Great Flood
Many long years passed by for the land of Hyrule and its people, and the land knew a peace and prosperity that allowed it to flourish thanks to the efforts of the Seven Sages and the Hero of Time. However, it was not meant to last, for the great evil that had been defeated by the Hero was on the move once again. The Dark Lord Ganondorf somehow discovered a way to break the Seal of the Seven Sages and returned to Hyrule in a red wrath, intending to make good on his final threat to the Seven Sages and the Hero of Time that he would make their descendants pay for his imprisonment. Ganondorf soon realized that the Hero of Time was not present to oppose him, nor apparently were his descendants (having been sent back to his own age, the Hero of Time and his descendants were no longer present in this branch of Hyrule’s history). Upon this realization, the Dark Lord sought a way to deactivate the only real threat left to him: the Master Sword. He soon discovered the existence of the Sages of the Master Sword and came to the realization that to achieve this goal, he needed simply to dispose of them in order to render the blade useless against him. To this end, he ordered one of his loyal monsters, the great Poe known as Jalhalla, to invade the Earth Temple and murder the Sage of Earth. The great King of Poes did as instructed, laying siege to the Earth Temple and attacking the sitting Sage of Earth, a Zora by the name of Laruto. Jalhalla killed Laruto and took over the latter’s shrine chamber, rendering the Master Sword powerless against the Dark Lord in conjunction with Molgera, a great sandworm whom Ganondorf had ordered to simultaneously invade the Wind Temple and kill the Wind Sage as well.

After he was quite sure that the Master Sword could no longer pose a threat to him, Ganondorf assumed his bestial form of the Dark Beast Ganon and attacked the kingdom of Hyrule head on with his evil army, leaving a trail of death and destruction in his wake. Hyrule’s people prayed for the legendary Hero of Time to once again come to save them from Ganon, but due to his journey back to his own time, he nor his descendants could answer the cries of the people in this branch of Hyrule’s history. Left with no Hero to take up the Master Sword against Ganon, King Daphnes Nohansen Hyrule and his people prayed to the Golden Goddesses for deliverance from destruction at the hands of Ganon, and when their prayers reached the goddess’ ears, their prayers were finally answered. The goddesses instructed Hyrule’s people to take refuge on the mountaintops and brought down a torrential downpour that came to be known in time as the Great Flood, a deluge that soon buried the fair land of Hyrule and all still in it at the time (namely Ganondorf and his army) beneath a vast ocean that came to be known as the Great Sea. They also sealed Hyrule within an enchanted air chamber that prevented the waters of the Great Sea from leaking in and destroying Hyrule completely as well as casting a spell over the land that left it frozen in time. The Earth Temple (along with the Wind Temple) was left intact as the water was unable to leak into it due to its two entrances being safely out of the water’s reach, one on the mountaintop now above the waves and the other down in Hyrule itself. It was here that Laruto’s spirit lingered on, awaiting the day when a new Hero would come with a successor Sage to destroy the evil that now haunted the Earth Temple and return the power to repel evil to the enchanted blade of the Master Sword.

The Coming of the Hero of Winds
Many centuries after the Great Flood, Ganondorf discovered a way to circumvent the seal of the Golden Goddesses and was able to unfreeze himself and part of his army. Using his now-limited magic (limited by the seal of the Master Sword), Ganondorf was able to create a portal within his lair to take he and his army to the world now above the waves of the Great Sea, eventually arriving in the foreboding isle known as the Forsaken Fortress. After disposing of the pirates inhabiting the island, Ganondorf took it over, making it his base of operations on the surface of the sea and sending both his army and his pet, the Helmaroc King, to search the entire world for the descendant of Princess Zelda, who would be the new holder of the Triforce of Wisdom. These events eventually swept a new hero up into them, a young boy the name of Link, who ended up seeking Ganondorf's defeat when the Helmaroc King mistook his sister Aryll for a young pirate captain named Tetra (who was actually the new Princess Zelda in disguise) and brought her to the Forsaken Fortress to be inspected by Ganondorf himself. Link eventually met a talking boat named the King of Red Lions (the alter ego of King Daphnes Nohansen Hyrule), who told him that he could only defeat Ganondorf and save Aryll after he had attained an ancient power that could only be obtained after much toil and hardship. Link then went on a quest to locate the three Pearls of the Goddesses (obtaining each from the Rito Prince Komali, the forest spirit known as the Great Deku Tree, and the sea spirit Jabun respectively) and used them to raise the mythical Tower of the Gods from the depths of the Great Sea. Here he battled the Great Arbiter Gohdan, and after proving his worth by defeating the tower's guardian, the goddesses opened a portal to the land of Hyrule beneath the sea and allowed Link to obtain the Master Sword from the remains of Hyrule Castle. After removing the sword from its pedestal, 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. Tetra attempted to help Link but was discovered by Ganondorf to be the descendant of Princess Zelda as a result. The pair were rescued from the Dark Lord's grasp, and they returned to the castle at the bottom of the sea, where they met the spirit of King Daphnes Nohansen Hyrule and learned the truth of what happened to Hyrule. 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
After purging the Wind Temple of evil and restoring the Master Sword to its full power, Link turned his attention to finding and the Triforce Shards and reassembling the Triforce of Courage, which had broken apart and scattered upon the Hero of Time's departure. Now armed with a fully powered Master Sword and the third piece of the Triforce that had last been held by the Hero of Time, the young Hero of Winds returned to the land of Hyrule beneath the sea to confront the Dark Lord himself. The Hero of Winds conquered the trials of Ganon's Tower beneath the Great Sea and faced Ganondorf (who had captured Zelda and was holding her captive) on the roof of the tower, where the Dark Lord reformed the one true wish-granting Triforce and attempted to use it to drain the Great Sea and force the goddesses to give Hyrule over to him. King Daphnes Nohansen Hyrule appeared however and touched the golden relic before Ganondorf could, instead wishing for Hyrule to be washed away, for Link and Zelda to be given a future, and for Ganondorf to finally drown with Hyrule. The three pieces of the Triforce rose upward and vanished as the magical air chamber covering Hyrule began to collapse, allowing the Great Sea to pour into Hyrule. It was there in Hyrule's final moments that Link and Zelda engaged Ganondorf in a final battle that resulted in Link plunging the Master Sword into Ganondorf's forehead, turning him to stone. After speaking to the King one final time, the water finally overtook the entire land of Hyrule. Link and Zelda floated to the surface under the Triforce's protection while the King remained behind with his doomed kingdom and Ganondorf. 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, after which the pair took off on a new adventure to find a new land that would be the next Hyrule, with the wind as their guide.

Dungeon
The Earth Temple is often described as an eerie and spooky dungeon, and acts as Wind Waker's "shadow-themed" level, which may be taken literally to an extent. The dark temple is characterized by a constant turquoise-blue hue, which when lit up becomes more of a bright lavender, revealing a construction of grey stones. A few rooms are filled with a cursed fog that behaves similar to the flame of a Blue Bubble. The fog may be blown away with the Deku Leaf or can be disintegrated by light. Much of the temple resembles a large tomb, with many coffins (several of which contain ReDeads, Stalfos, or Red Bubbles) adorning some rooms as well as lining the walls of two hallways. Its music features a church organ, serving to re-inforce the tomb association. Even its location--Headstone Island--alludes to some manner of burial.

Light plays a very important role in the temple. A recurring theme in the Earth Temple is the duality of light and darkness, primarily symbolized by the relationship between the sun and the moon. To complete the temple, Link and Medli must master 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 it quickly becomes necessary to chain the light reflected by Medli's harp to proceed forward, as well the fact that the ability to reflect light is key to defeating the evil boss of the temple, Jalhalla.

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 utilize her harp's ability to reflect light.

A prominent characteristic in the temple is its statues. At least two large rooms house giant statues of a humanoid creature with a moon for a head. By shining light onto half of their faces, the moon can be turned into a sun, brightly lighting up the room that they are in. There are also several smaller statues resembling scorpions, which may be pushed like blocks and can be treated like mirrors. On at least one occasion, Link and Medli are required to make a chain of light via the scorpion mirrors to proceed into the temple's deepest recesses.

Enemies
ReDeads Blue Bubbles Red Bubbles Keese Floormasters ChuChus Stalfos Moblins Poes Darknuts

Trivia

 * 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.
 * Though the Earth Temple covers one of the two elements not already represented by the temples in Ocarina of Time (Stone), in comparison it is far more analogous to a "shadow-themed" dungeon (it shares this trait with the "spirit-themed" Wind Temple). Many fans have compared it to the Shadow Temple.
 * Probably one of the more curious areas in Wind Waker, the many statues, skulls, and other pieces of scenery in the Earth Temple, unexplained in the game, are the focus of great speculation by fans. Of greatest note are the Sun/Moon people, as well as the dual-horned skulls adorning several large doors, which bear resemblance to Phantom Ganon's head from Ocarina of Time.