Turtle Rock (Disambiguation)

Turtle Rock is a dungeon found in both A Link to the Past and Link's Awakening. In its first appearance in A Link to the Past, it was the next-to-last dungeon of the game, and housed the final crystal containing Princess Zelda. In Link's Awakening, it is the eighth and final dungeon of the game and houses the Thunder Drum.

Entrance to the Rock
In A Link to the Past, Turtle Rock is the seventh dungeon of the Dark World, and eleventh in the main game. It can only be accessed by using a warp point on the eastern peak of Death Mountain. This will warp Link to the roof of the dungeon, where he must use the Quake Medallion to open the entrance.

Themes and Navigation
This dungeon is unique in that its interior looks more like an incredibly extended cavern, instead of having a man-made architecture; likewise, the Cane of Somaria (previously won in Misery Mire) shows a new function here: it creates platforms that can travel across floating rails, which help Link to fully explore this dungeon, as well as to find torches that must be lit; this also means that a lot of magic power is required (in fact, that's an advice given to Link by Sahasrahla at the start of the dungeon).

Some interesting references to the Mario series occur here as well: Chain Chomps make their debut, and warp pipes carry Link from spot to spot. Similar to the Skull Woods, there are multiple exits, one of them even leads Link to an apparently empty dead end, but guards a Piece of Heart in the Light World. But there's more: this is the only location in the game with lava, and it's harmless since Link cannot fall into it. This dungeon houses the Mirror Shield, useful to repel more powerful projectiles, and the final crystal (containing Princess Zelda) is guarded by Trinexx.

After Link clears this tough dungeon, he can access the final dungeon, which is only a few steps west (where the Tower of Hera would be in the Light World).

Link's Awakening
"...OCARINA... The music of the Ocarina leads..."

- Link's Awakening

Turtle Rock is the eighth and last of the main dungeons in Link's Awakening, and the location of the Thunder Drum. The entrance to the dungeon is located in a cave at the far west of Koholint Island's Tal Tal Mountain Range. The mini-boss of this dungeon is Blaino; in addition to this new mini-boss, numerous mini-bosses from previous dungeons in the game reappear. The main item of the dungeon is the Magic Rod, and the boss is the fiery Hot Head.

Entrance to the Rock
To reach the dungeon, Link has to travel through several caves from the center of Tal Tal Mountain Range. He eventually encounters a cannon spewing out an endless supply of fireballs, preventing Link from going any further. However, by using the Mirror Shield, obtained from the seventh dungeon, Eagle's Tower, Link manages to get past the fireballs unharmed. Upon reaching Turtle Rock's entrance, he finds that its entrance is a cave guarded by two Takkuri and a stone head of a turtle, which also has stone arms sticking out of the mountain walls. By playing the Frog's Song of Soul, the stone head springs to life and becomes the dangerous Turtle Head, who attacks Link. Defeating Turtle Head opens the entrance to the dungeon.

Themes and Navigation
The dungeon appears to be a volcano, as there are many lava pits scattered throughout it. The walls are red and the floors are yellow. There are two rooms which connect to the peak of the western Tal Tal Mountain Range, and exiting and reentering the dungeon is necessary to proceed. A recurring puzzle in this dungeon involves the use of flashing blocks which create land when pushed over holes or lava. In some rooms, it is only necessary to create a path, while in others, covering all of the holes makes a chest appear.

This dungeon is notable for the fact that it features many previously encountered mini-bosses as enemies, many which have to be defeated for a small key or to move on. These include Rolling Bones, Hinox, Dodongo Snakes, and Smasher. These mini-bosses act like normal enemies, as they will reappear at a later time. Fire Cephalopod, which is a copy of Cueball, a previous mini-boss, also appears, and does not reappear. However no portal appears upon its defeat. The true mini-boss of this dungeon is Blaino, a creature which uses its boxing gloves to hurt Link and warp him to the entrance of the dungeon.

Some passageways defy the predominant fire theme of the dungeon, as they are frozen and have ice blocks. The main tool of this dungeon is the Magic Rod, which is necessary to burn away the ice blocks and to defeat the dungeon's boss, Hot Head, a giant fireball that lives in a pool of lava.

When viewed on a map, the dungeon is in the shape of a turtle, which fits the appearance of the exterior of this dungeon. As with A Link to the Past, this dungeon's name is a reference that the outside mountain walls has two feet and a head, giving it the impression of a turtle.

Enemies and Traps

 * Arm-Mimic
 * Beamos
 * Blade Trap
 * Dodongo Snakes
 * Gibdo
 * Goomba
 * Hinox
 * Peahat
 * Rolling Bones
 * Rope
 * Smasher
 * Spark
 * Vacuum
 * Vire
 * Zol

A Link to the Past comic
Turtle Rock is also featured in the A Link to the Past comic. Like in the game, Turtle Rock is the dungeon where Princess Zelda has been imprisoned in a crystal by Agahnim.

After learning the location of Turtle Rock, Link heads there and strikes the top of it with the Master Sword to allow a lightning bolt to hit it, revealing the entrance. Inside the lava-infested dungeon, Link finds Zelda imprisoned in a crystal, but he is then attacked by a three-headed dragon. However, Roam, who had been following Link, arrives just in time to save the young hero from one of the dragon  head's attacks. Roam and Link then cut off the dragon's ice head, causing its ice and fire to mix and explode. The explosion shatters Zelda's crystal, and with the princess now rescued, the group quickly escapes Turtle Rock as it begins to collapse.

Trivia

 * In the Game Boy Advance remake of A Link to the Past, Link can warp to the Light World equivalent of the dungeon's entrance. Thanks to this, he can backtrack from Turtle Rock or even Ganon's Tower without having to traverse the body of Death Mountain again.
 * The Link's Awakening version of this dungeon is the only dungeon in the Zelda series that has a boss directly guarding its entrance.
 * The Strategy-game Warcraft III - The Frozen Throne featured a map for multi-player matches called Turtle Rock, though it is never stated officially that this is a reference to the dungeons.