Earth Temple

The Earth Temple is one of the two main temples in, as well as the fifth dungeon in The Wind Waker. It is located leagues beneath the Great Sea, directly beneath Headstone Island, in the now-sunken realm of Hyrule.

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 from the Sacred Realm, he returned to Hyrule and 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. Long time has passed since then, and Link, the Hero of Winds, 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 the harp once used by Laruto herself, and they work together to solve the mysteries of the Earth Temple, and to purge it of evil. They faced many evil creatures within the temple, and destroyed Jalhalla, which freed Laruto of her obligations, and partially restored the Master Sword’s former power.

Construction
The Earth Temple was built in a tall mountain, similarly to the Wind Temple. It had one entrance at sea level, and another at the summit. The temple was built largely with gray blocks of stone, and was decorated with many statues depicting the sun and the moon fused together. A magical harp was constructed for the Sage of Earth, and that harp was the tool for carrying the Sage’s prayers to the goddesses. The harp had been passed down the line of Sages. The deepest chamber of the temple was a large, open chamber with a mosaic of the Triforce adorning its tiled floor, as well as many windows in the roof to allow light to flow into it. It was here that the Sage of Earth would play the Earth God's Lyric while being conducted by the King of Hyrule, which was said to carry their prayers to the goddesses. As long as there was a Sage was offering up their prayers to the goddesses in each temple, the Master Sword would continue to be blessed with its magical power to repel evil.

Entrance to the Temple
After returning to the surface of the Great Sea, and upon learning of the Master Sword's deactivation by Ganondorf, Link travels with the King of Red Lions to Headstone Island, the top of the Earth Temple. Link uses the Power Bracelets to open the entrance leading into a cavern, and discovers the mountaintop entrance of the Earth Temple. It is here that the spirit of Laruto appears to the young hero and relates the story of what had happened to both her and the temple she guarded.

Laruto tells Link that after Ganondorf's defeat at the hands of the Hero of Time, he was sealed away, but not for all time. She tells Link that Ganondorf had escaped his imprisonment, and returned to Hyrule in a wrath, attacked the Earth Temple, and murdering her in order to remove the power of the Master Sword. In order to restore power to the sword, Laruto instructs Link to seek out her descendant, and to conduct the Earth God's Lyric for them, as this would awaken the knowledge in them that they were the Sage of Earth. Link remembers seeing the harp in the hands of a young Rito named Medli, and returns to Dragon Roost Island to seek her out. After locating Medli, Link shows her how to playthe Earth God's Lyric. Medli says that the song somehow seems familiar to her, and collapses into Link's arms as she has a vision of Laruto, and learns of her true destiny as the new Sage of Earth.

Now awakened as the new Sage of Earth, Medli accompanies Link to Headstone Island in order to enter the Earth Temple, and cleanse it of evil. 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 enter the chamber alone, faces Laruto's murderer, Jalhalla, and defeats the monstrosity using Mirror Shield, since light is the Poe's greatest weakness. 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 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
The Earth Temple, along with everything in Hyrule at the time, is destroyed by the waters of the Great Sea, when the protective shield covering Hyrule collapses. However, with the aid of Tetra's pirates, the Sages escape the destruction of Hyrule, and meet Link and Zelda on the surface of the sea.

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. 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.

Enemies

 * ReDeads
 * Blue Bubbles
 * Red Bubbles
 * Keese
 * Floormasters
 * ChuChus
 * Stalfos

Trivia

 * The Earth and Wind Temples cover the two elements not already represented by the temples in Ocarina of Time, although they are closer to the shadow-themed and spirit-themed dungeons in design.
 * Throughout the dungeon, there are numerous horned skulls adorning the doorways. It remains unknown what kind of creatures these were.

Theories

 * A Zora, such as Laruto, was the Sage of Earth, while another Zora, Ruto, was the Sage of Water, and the caretaker of the Water Temple. It is not known why another Zora was selected as the Sage of Earth, but some theorize that it might 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; however, this has not been confirmed by Nintendo.
 * It is interesting that the Earth Temple's appearance is similar in some respect to that of a tomb, causing some to believe that the temple has a connection to the Shadow Temple from Ocarina of Time, or may even be the one and same remodeled, some fans also speculate it to be the Spirit Temple from the same game due to similar mirror puzzles and a large, main statue that originally blocks the path to the next area of the dungeon; However, this remains unconfirmed by Nintendo.