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.

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. Many centuries later, Link, the Hero of Winds, comes to investigate what became of the Sages of the Master Sword and to restore the Master Sword’s power to repel evil. He brings with him Laruto’s predestined successor, a Rito by the name of Medli, who 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, freeing Laruto of her obligations and partially restoring the Master Sword’s former power.

Construction
The Earth Temple was built within one of the tall mountains similarly to its counterpart, the Wind Temple, with one entrance on the ground 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 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 while being conducted by the King of Hyrule As long as a 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.

The Coming of the Hero of Winds
After returning to the surface of the Great Sea upon learning of the Master Sword's deactivation by Ganondorf, Link travels 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 uses 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 is here that the spirit of Laruto appears to the young hero and relates 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 murdering her 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 instructs Link to seek out her descendant, who holds 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 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 conducts her in playing the Earth God's Lyric, to which Medli states that the song somehow seemed familiar to her before collapsing into Link's arms as she had 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 both that she could fly as well as reflect light off her harp. She is able to help Link reflect light until he finds the Mirror Shield after defeating a group of Stalfos deep within the temple's interior. The pair work 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 enters the chamber alone and faces Laruto's murderer, Jalhalla, and defeats the monstrosity using Mirror Shield since light is the great Poe's weakness. After dealing Jalhalla its deathblow, Medli enters the chamber and plays the Earth God's Lyric while being conducted by Link, who wields the Wind Waker, causing Laruto to appear one final time to play alongside them. This action 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.

Destruction
It is presumed that, as with everything in Hyrule at the time, that the Earth Temple (along with the Wind Temple and Hyrule Castle) is destroyed by the waters of the Great Sea when the protective shield covering Hyrule collapsed. The Sages escape the final destruction of Hyrule however with the aid of Tetra's pirates and greet Link and Zelda on the surface of the sea.

Dungeon
The Earth Temple appears to be an eerie and spooky dungeon, even hinting of shadow-related themes in addition to its earth-related theme. There is also a great focus on the duality of light and darkness that is portrayed throughout the temple. Much of the temple appears to be nothing short of a large tomb, with many coffins (several of which contain ReDeads) adorning walls and hallways. This is a trait that is shared with the Shadow Temple of Ocarina of Time in that it too was for all intents and purposes a large tomb even in name (the "House of the Dead"). The temple is constructed of many blocks and tiles of solid grey stone and is riddled with statues related to the fusion of the Sun and Moon, perhaps hinting at the duality of light and darkness or day and night. There are also several rooms that have large scorpion-shaped mirrors in which light must be reflected onto some of the statues in order to open the way forward into the temple's deepest recesses. 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 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 that the item is required after a certain point since it eventually takes more than just Medli's harp to reflect the necessary light 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 elements not already represented by the temples in Ocarina of Time, though they are more analogous to shadow-themed and spirit-themed levels in comparison.
 * Throughout the dungeon, there are numerous skulls adorning some of the doorways that possess two long horns on top; It remains unknown what kind of creatures these were and what importance they had to merit being used to decorate such a place of honor as the Earth Temple.

Theories

 * It is curious to note that a Zora such as Laruto would be the Sage of Earth, considering that another Zora, Ruto, was the Sage of Water and caretaker of the Water Temple located beneath Lake Hylia; 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.
 * 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; This has not been confirmed by Nintendo or associates however.
 * It is interesting to note the Earth Temple's appearance as a tomb, causing some to theorize that the temple has a connection to the Shadow Temple of Ocarina of Time or may even be the one and same remodeled; This however remains to date unconfirmed by Nintendo and associates.