Zora's Domain

Zora's Domain is a location that appears in Ocarina of Time and Twilight Princess. It made its debut appearance in A Link to the Past under the name Zora's Waterfall.

Ocarina of Time

File:ZoraDomain.jpg

Zora Domain Entrance

Zora's Domain is the home of the aquatic race of the Zora. The large cavernous area is accessed from Zora's River or from a secret entrance hidden under water in Lake Hylia. Zora's Shop is also located here where items, such as the Zora Tunic, can be purchased. Zora's Domain is the home of King Zora and his daughter, Princess Ruto. To enter Zora's Domain, Link will need to play Zelda's Lullaby in front of the seemingly impassable waterfall at the end of the Zora's River trail. When trying to acquire the Spiritual Stone of Water early on in the game, Link is required to enter Lord Jabu Jabu's belly and rescue Princess Ruto. Zora's domain plays a key part in the game, housing one of the 6 sages, Princess Ruto.

When Link is able to enter as an adult, he will see that it is frozen over and the Lake Hylia entrance is blocked by ice. The only Zoras that inhabit it by then are King Zora and the shopkeeper, who are frozen over by Red Ice, which only Blue Fire can melt.

Twilight Princess

File:Zora's Domain TP.jpg

Waterfall in Zora's Domain

Zora's Domain consists of two main areas: The throne room, and what might possibly be Zora's Fountain, which connects to Snowpeak. A Zora at the bottom of the waterfall will offer to swim up it and take you to the Throne Room is you wish. It is necessary to fish here (between the Mother-and-Child Rocks) after getting the Coral Earring so that Link can get the Reekfish Scent. There are 3 ways to enter it:

1. Warping
2. Blowing up a rock in Hyrule Field, which blocks the entrance.
3. Playing Plumm's minigame (this takes Link to upper Zora's River, and from here, he can enter Zora's Domain by swimming.

Frozen Zora in Zora's Domain

When Zora's Domain is covered by Twilight, the Zoras are frozen solid. This time, Link must warp to Death Mountain in order to warp the Molten Shard to Zora's Domain and defrost the Zoras.

After Link obtains the Water Bombs and Zora Armor, Link can sink to the bottom of the throne room and blow up the shard, releasing a Goron that was trapped in it. By speaking to him, Link will receive a Bomb Bag.

Zora's Domain is the only place that Link can fish for Reekfish. It is also the only way the young hero can enter Snowpeak without warping. Link will not be able to immediately access this entrance until later in the game, since it is still frozen.

Trivia

• Hyrule Castle can be seen directly south through the "canyon" of Zora's Domain in Twilight Princess (especially when it is encased in the giant twilight pyramid).

• The process of unfreezing Zora's Domain as part of Link's quest in Twilight Princess may be a nod to Ocarina of Time. During the release of Ocarina of Time, gamers tried endlessly to figure out how to unfreeze Zora's Domain after they had obtained the Water Medallion by either using bombs, fire arrows or Din's Fire. Some people to this day still believe it can be unfrozen.

• Though, as many tend to not notice, Princess Ruto said it would take time. And it did, because in the ending credits of the game, you can see it has been thawed out.
• Part of the cause for the attempt to unfreeze Zora's Domain also stems from an April Fools prank which Nintendo pulled one year. They released several hoaxed images of Ocarina of Time which included a shot of the Triforce on the quest status screen filled in and an adult Link standing in an unfrozen Zora's Domain. These caused people to scramble frantically to find ways to unfreeze Zora's Domain, until Nintendo revealed that it was all a prank.

<seealso> Zora Zora's Fountain Sleepless Waterfall Zora's Waterfall Zora's River Water Temple Zora Hall Zora Village Mother-and-Child Rocks </seealso>