Lost Woods


 * For the maze-like area in, see Sacred Grove.

The Lost Woods is a maze-like area of confusing forests that has made several appearances throughout the Zelda series. Its layout is usually designed to make anyone who enters to become irreversibly lost, and the only way to exit the forest is by navigating it in specific directions. If anyone gets lost or wander for too long in the forest, they turn into a Skull Kid (if they are a child), Stalfos (if they're an adult), or a Deku Scrub.

The Legend of Zelda
Its first appearance, in, is as a simple-looking cross-section of dead Trees. However, once Link enters it, he finds that exiting the forest in any direction will cause him to simply appear back at the same spot. The only way to clear the forest is to follow a specific pattern through it. This special pattern is revealed when Link pays an Old Woman for information. She tells him that the proper directions to escape the forest are north, then west, then south, then west again. Successfully navigating through the Lost Woods leads Link to the Graveyard.

A similar puzzle also appears in the Lost Hills of Death Mountain.

A Link to the Past
In, the Lost Woods are greener than in The Legend of Zelda and is more like a maze than a puzzle. Many notable things can be found here. Most importantly, it is the location of the legendary Master Sword, which is held in a hidden northwestern portion of the woods filled with Animals. Several Fake Master Swords can also be found, resulting in a humorous line if Link picks one up. When Link first enters the Lost Woods, it is covered in a thick fog that makes it hard to navigate; however, once the young hero retrieves the Master Sword after acquiring the three Pendants of Virtue, the mist will disappear.

A secret hideout for a gang of Thieves is located in the eastern portion of the woods, with a Piece of Heart found in a secret entrance under a bush. Other Thieves run amok in the forest, bumping into Link in an attempt to steal his Rupees, Bombs, and Arrows. The Magic Mushroom can also be found here scattered throughout the woods. If picked up and given to Syrup the witch, Link can receive the Magic Powder.

Ocarina of Time
In, the Lost Woods are more like the version in The Legend of Zelda than in A Link to the Past. The noticeable difference is that instead of having one screen that is repeated until Link successfully exits, it is laid out more like a map, with each screen having something unique about it. Also, the goal in these Lost Woods is to stay inside, rather than to escape; if Link takes the wrong doorway, he will be warped back to the Kokiri Forest. By following the music of "Saria's Song", Link can navigate through the hollow trees and get to the Sacred Forest Meadow, which is located in the northernmost portion of the Lost Woods and Saria's "secret place." The Forest Temple is located here.

Alternative methods could also be used to determine if a path led to another part of the lost woods or back to the Kokiri Forest. The main method was to simply to analyze the hole in the trunks. If there was gradually increasing light center of the tree trunk (as if it were a tunnel out), it would lead back to the Kokiri Forest, but if it was a flat wall of blackness, it would continue through the woods. The Lost Woods is home to the only Moblins in Ocarina of Time, as well as many Business Scrubs, Mad Scrubs and the only collection of average Deku Scrubs in the game, the Deku Community.

Hidden within the Lost Woods is the Forest Stage, where Link can be rewarded with item upgrades by showing off specific Masks in front of Deku Scrubs. Moreover, scattered throughout the woods are two portals that lead to Goron City and the upper part of Zora's River near the Sleepless Waterfall.

It is said that those who become lost in the woods will become Stalfos. The Skull Kids that inhabit the forest are implied to be children who were lost as well.

Majora's Mask
Though only refered to as a "mysterious forest" in canon, the opening to is speculated to take place in the Lost Woods. The fact that the Skull Kid is found here may support this idea, as Skull Kids are born from children who become lost in the Woods. Moreover, this same Skull Kid may have been the one whom the Hero of Time taught Saria's Song to during Ocarina of Time, and as this took place in the Lost Woods, it would again lend some credence to the idea. However, the fact that Link apparently wandered these woods for months prior to the game's start, yet did not become a Skull Kid or Stalfos, casts some doubt on this idea.

Oracle of Seasons
In, the Lost Woods are in northwestern Holodrum, connecting to the Tarm Ruins. Near the Lost Woods, there is a Deku Scrub in a cave. If Link has obtained Guru-Guru's Phonograph, the Deku Scrub will say that he likes the song and tell him to go in some specific directions in the Lost Woods. If he does this he will find the Noble Sword (or, if he already has the Noble Sword in a linked game, the Master Sword) in a pedestal. This is the final part of the game's trading sequence.

Four Swords Adventures
In, the Lost Woods appears as the first stage in The Dark World level. It was originally known as the Forest of Light, and under the White Maiden's control, until a thick cloud of darkness covered northwestern Hyrule and corrupted it into its present state. The cursed woodland is covered in bones and skulls, giving it a look closely resembling the Skeleton Forest from A Link to the Past. It is populated primarily by Deku Scrubs, who all swear allegiance to Ganon. The Links arrive to the forest to search for the Dark Mirror, which is believed to be hidden away in a temple in the heart of the woods. They eventually make their way through the wood, and find themselves at Kakariko Village where they continue their search.

According to the Deku Scrubs, those who wander and become lost in the forest turn into Deku Scrubs, mirroring the myth how the Lost Woods in Ocarina of Time turns people into Stalfos. They also mention that Ganon's darkness will cause the Lost Woods to spread all over Hyrule's forests, turning them into Lost Woods as well. This may suggest that the 'Lost Woods' is not the name of one location in particular, but any forest which is enchanted in such a way to grant it the qualities of a 'Lost Wood'.

The Minish Cap
In The Minish Cap, the Lost Woods are located within the Royal Valley and are required to go through in order to gain access to the Royal Crypt, similar to the original Legend of Zelda. Unlike previous games with the woods, signs indicate what path reaches the next area.

Spirit Tracks
In, the Lost Woods make another appearance, in which Link must navigate through to reach the Forest Sanctuary to open a path to the Forest Temple by performing a song with Gage using the Spirit Flute. When he first enters the woods, Link is sent back to the entrance, and must speak with the residents of the nearby Whittleton to find out how to navigate them. He learns that by following the directions that certain trees point (save the last one, which supposedly has "no sense of direction"), he'll make it to the Forest Sanctuary. Once the Lost Woods are solved for the first time, they disappear.

A Link Between Worlds
In, the Lost Woods houses the Master Sword, much like in A Link to the Past. To obtain the Master Sword, Link must retrieve all three Pendants of Virtue. When Link enters the Lost Woods, he is met with nine Poes. One Poe offers to bring the young hero deeper into the Lost Woods if he can follow the correct one. If Link goes in the proper direction, he will be met again by the Poes. Two of them test him by attempting to mislead the young hero and instruct him to go in the direction that they did not. Afterwards, three Poes will attempt to mislead Link in the same manner. After this, Link will be lead to the meadow housing the Master Sword. Once Link obtains the Master Sword, Sahasrahla will telepathically speak to Link, telling him to use the newly-obtained Sword to destroy the Barrier at Hyrule Castle.

Similar Forests

 * In, a forest is located just north of Mabe Village. It is called the Mysterious Woods and is similar to A Link to the Past's Lost Woods. Not much can be found here, but it serves an important role in the beginning of the game. In the Mysterious Woods, Link must find a Mushroom to create Magic Powder at the Witch's house, much like in A Link to The Past. The Powder is then used to be sprinkled on a raccoon in the Woods who was preventing Link from accessing the next screen where the Tail Key for the first dungeon, Tail Cave, was kept. If Link tries to progress to the next screen without sprinkling the powder on the raccoon, he will be warped to a different part of the Woods.
 * In, the Fairies' Woods are similar to the Lost Woods in that the area changes according to the direction that Link decides to go. Here, the young hero must play a game of Hide n' Seek with three fairies in order to restore the woods back to its normal state.
 * In Majora's Mask, woods similar to the Lost Woods can be found in the Southern Swamp, known as the Woods of Mystery, which act in an identical way to the Lost Woods of Ocarina of Time. However, they are now home to Monkeys and Snappers, large, turtle-like enemies, rather than the Deku. A Monkey will guide Link through the woods, showing him the correct path, which will change depending on the day. Koume can be found here, injured from her encounter with the Skull Kid.
 * In, the Lost Woods do not directly make an appearance. Instead, the Kokiri Forest appears to have been overrun by monsters and became the Forbidden Woods, a reference to the Lost Woods. It serves as the second dungeon of the game, the home of the Boomerang, and Ganondorf's minion, Kalle Demos. After defeating Kalle Demos and rescuing the Korok, Makar, The Great Deku Tree's Ceremony is played out, and Link receives Farore's Pearl.
 * In The Minish Cap there is a forest in the south east of the map called the Minish Woods. Originally, "Saria's Song" was going to be played in this portion of the map, but the music was scrapped for the Minish Woods theme.
 * In, the Sacred Grove appears to have replaced the Lost Woods, featuring "Saria's Song" as the theme, and a Skull Kid as Link's guide (first as a wolf, to find the Master Sword and again as a human and a wolf to reach the Temple of Time). The Sacred Grove is the location of the Master Sword, a reference to A Link to the Past, and the Temple of Time which serves a new role as a dungeon as opposed to Ocarina of Time where it was simply the holding place of the Master Sword. It seems likely that the Sacred Grove and Lost Woods are the same place under two different names.

A Link to the Past comic
The Lost Woods are also featured in the A Link to the Past comic. After obtaining all three Pendants of Virtue, Link enters the Lost Woods and, while speaking telepathically with Sahasrahla, the young hero begins to have his   doubts about whether or not the Master Sword will select him as his bearer. Link then finds the Master Sword and seizes it from its pedestal, readying himself to have his final battle with Agahnim and rescue Princess Zelda. Afterward, Link is ambushed by several Ball and Chain Troopers, although he easily defeats them with a single Spin Attack from the Master Sword.

Link decides to lie down and rest in the woods, only to be awoken by Zelda via telepathy. Although the young hero tells Zelda that he must rest, Zelda reminds him that only a single night remains until Agahnim, casts his final incantation on her and causes the entrance to the Dark World to open and overwhelm Hyrule with its evil. With this in mind, Link leaves the Lost Woods and heads to Kakariko Village to prepare himself.

Trivia

 * According to Nintendo Power volume 103, the original name of the Lost Woods was "Maze Woods."
 * In the German version of Ocarina of Time, those who become lost in the Lost Woods are said to become plants, instead of Stalfos. In the French version, Fado merely states that one who wanders in the forest will become "a monster."