Earth Temple (The Wind Waker)


 * For the dungeon in Skyward Sword, see Earth Temple (Skyward Sword).

The Earth Temple is a dungeon featured in The Wind Waker. It is located leagues beneath the Great Sea, directly below Headstone Island, in the now-sunken realm of Hyrule. The main item obtained is the Mirror Shield, and its boss is Jalhalla.

Story
Both the Earth Temple and the Wind Temple were constructed to safeguard the power to repel evil within the Master Sword, by providing a place for the two Sages to offer up their prayers to the Golden Goddesses. The prayer song for the Sage of Earth was the Earth God's Lyric. When Ganondorf escaped to the surface of the ocean, he sought a way to deactivate the Master Sword. He invaded the Earth Temple and murdered the Sage of Earth, the Zora known as Laruto.

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.

Entrance to the Temple
Link comes to investigate what had become of the Sages of the Master Sword, and to restore the Master Sword’s power. He brings Laruto’s predestined successor, a Rito by the name of Medli, with him. Medli bears a harp identical to Laruto's, and they both play the Earth God's Lyric to break down the Sage Stone that blocks the entrance to the Earth Temple.

Inside the dark and eerie temple, Medli proves very useful in that she can fly, as well as reflect light off her harp. Her harp is Link's only way of reflecting light until he finds the Mirror Shield, after defeating a group of Stalfos deep within the temple's interior. The pair works together to cleanse the temple of the evil monsters infesting it, and works their way to its deepest recesses, where they discover the entrance to the shrine chamber of Sage of Earth. Link enters the room and defeats Jalhalla using the Mirror Shield.

After Link defeats Jalhalla, Medli enters the chamber and plays the Earth God's Lyric with Link, who conducts with the Wind Waker. This causes Laruto to appear one final time to play alongside them. This song restores part of the Master Sword's former power, and releases Laruto from her obligations, allowing her spirit to finally rest in peace. Medli remains in the Sage shrine and sends Link back above ground to seek out the Wind Temple, where he could restore the Master Sword to its full power.

Themes and Navigation
There is a great focus on the duality of light and darkness which is portrayed throughout the temple. Much of the temple appears to be nothing short of a large tomb, with many coffins (several of which contained ReDeads) adorning walls and hallways. This is a trait shared with the Shadow Temple of Ocarina of Time as it too was, for all intents and purposes, a large tomb (the "House of the Dead," by name). The temple was constructed of many blocks and tiles, and was riddled with statues related to the fusion of the Sun and Moon, perhaps hinting at the duality of light and darkness, or of day and night. There are also several rooms that have large, scorpion-shaped mirrors, which are used to reflect light onto some of the statues, in order to open the way forward into the temple's deepest recesses.

As Link and Medli make their way through the temple, they will encounter several Sage Stones similar to the one encountered at the entrance, which can only be destroyed when the young duo play together the Earth God's Lyric. The Command Melody is also heavily used by Link in order to control Medli to reach places that Link would otherwise be unable 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 the way that the item is required at certain points, since it may take more than one reflection to proceed forward, as well the fact that the ability to reflect light is key to defeating the evil boss of the temple, Jalhalla.

Theories

 * It is presumed that as with everything else within Hyrule at the time, the Earth Temple is destroyed by the water, along with Hyrule Castle and the Wind Temple. This is hinted by the fact that both the Sage of Earth and the Sage of Wind (formerly located on the Wind Temple) are seen within Tetra's Ship, instead of being in the aforementioned temples, at the end of the game.
 * Laruto was the Sage of Earth, while another Zora, Ruto, was the Sage of Water. It is not known why another Zora was selected as the Sage of Earth (especially since the species is usually associated with water), but some theorize that the Earth Temple is located near the former Zora's Domain or Lake Hylia. Furthermore, some have also theorized that due to their similar names, identical races, and common status as a Sage, that Laruto may be a descendant of Ruto.
 * The Earth Temple's undead inhabitants and tomb-like appearance are similar in some respects to the Shadow Temple from Ocarina of Time. The presence of mirror puzzles and a large statue that blocks an entrance is also reminiscent of the Spirit Temple from the same game. Some theorize that the Earth Temple may actually have once been either of these temples.
 * The Earth and Wind temples may also be connected to the Earth and Skyview temples seen in SS undefined. The prayers of the Earth and Wind Sages seem to mimic the blessing Zelda placed on the Master Sword, as before said prayers and blessing are invoked, the sword does not shine with the power to repel evil and its guard is folded. The fact that Zelda had to pray at these temples to regain her memories of her life as Hylia (which she presumably needed to invoke the blessing on the sword) also provides a functional connection between the temples. Given their identical names, the Skyward Sword incarnation of the Earth temple may have become its Wind Waker counterpart, though it is also possible that the Skyview Temple became the Earth Temple, given their structural similarities.

Trivia

 * In name, the Earth and Wind Temples cover the two elements not already represented by the temples in Ocarina of Time, although in design they are closer to the shadow-themed and forest-themed dungeons.