Ice Palace

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This article is about the Dungeon in A Link to the Past. For other similar Dungeons, see Ice Temple (Disambiguation).

Ice Palace,[1] also known as Level 5,[2] is the fifth Dungeon in the Dark World in A Link to the Past.

Entrance to the Palace

Carved out of a massive Iceberg,[3] the Ice Palace is located in the middle of Ice Lake, the Dark World counterpart of Lake Hylia. Access to the dungeon is granted by swimming to the largest island in the Light World. Lifting up the black rock (which requires collection of the Titan's Mitt in Thieves' Town) reveals a portal; Link must step on it to be transported to the middle of Ice Island, where he can enter the dungeon.

Themes and Navigation

The Ice Palace is possibly the first ice-themed dungeon in The Legend of Zelda series, followed six years later by the Ice Cavern from Ocarina of Time. As such, the ground is frozen in most rooms, making Link's traction more difficult. It contains numerous floors as well, although none of them have too many rooms, and the main objective is to descend to the last floor, where the boss resides. Link frequently has to move blocks that obstruct his way, and some creatures can only be defeated with the Fire Rod or the Bombos Medallion. This dungeon is considered to be one of the most difficult in the game, although one of its rooms has its complexity lowered in the Game Boy Advance port.[4] A similar location called the Ice Ruins exists in Lorule in A Link Between Worlds, though it is on Death Mountain while Lorule's version of Turtle Rock is located in the middle of a swamp.

Enemies and Traps

Other Appearances

A Link to the Past (Ishinomori)

Non-Canon Information
The Ice Tower in the comic

The Ice Palace is also featured in the A Link to the Past comic by Shotaro Ishinomori, although it is referred to as the Ice Tower. During Link's search for a map of the Dark World to know the whereabouts of Turtle Rock, the young hero travels to the Ice Tower, where they are confronted by Kholdstone. Link reveals that all he wants is to see the map of the Dark World,[5] but Kholdstone mentions that the map is his greatest treasure and will not let anyone see it.[6] The monster unleashes two Stalfos to attack Link, but when the young hero sees that they keep respawning even after defeating them, he begins to focus his power on the Master Sword,[7] which causes for the tower to begin to collapse. Kholdstone warns Link that if he destroys the tower, then he will destroy the map as well, making him realize that the map is etched on the tower's floor.[8][9] However, the tower collapses shortly after, with Link landing near the location of Turtle Rock.

Nomenclature

TMC Forest Minish Artwork.png Names in Other Regions TMC Jabber Nut Sprite.png
LanguageNamesMeanings
Japan
Japanese
氷の塔 (Kōri no Tō)[11]Ice Tower
The Italian Republic
Italian
Forte Ghiaccio[10]Ice Fortress
This table was generated using translation pages.
To request an addition, please contact a staff member with a reference.

References

  1. ↑ Encyclopedia, Dark Horse Books, pg. 147 (ALttP)
  2. ↑ "Level 5
    Ice Palace    " — N/A (A Link to the Past, Game Boy Advance version)
  3. ↑ The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past — Nintendo Player's Guide, Nintendo of America, pg. 94
  4. ↑ "The Ice Palace (in the Dark World) has been revamped in an area, making it twice as easy as it used to be. Instead of having to push a block from the floor above and onto a switch to hold a door open like in the SNES version, the GBA version has been revamped so this entire process can be skipped over." — N/A, Remake Changes - The Legend of Zelda A Link to the Past Wiki Guide, IGN, published December 14, 2013, retrieved October 6, 2018.
  5. ↑ "I don't want any trouble! I just want to see the map of the Dark World!" (A Link to the Past manga, VIZ Media, pg. 5)
  6. ↑ "This map you speak of is Kholdstone's greatest treasure! I will never let you gaze upon it! Arise, Stalfos! Destroy him!" (A Link to the Past manga, VIZ Media, pg. 6)
  7. ↑ "It's impossible to keep them down! Aaaargh!! I've had enough!" (A Link to the Past manga, VIZ Media, pg. 7)
  8. ↑ "You've got quite a temper... If you bring the place down, you will destroy the map also! [...] Look down, fool!" (A Link to the Past manga, VIZ Media, pg. 8)
  9. ↑ "Ah...the floor is the map?! Now...where's Turtle Rock?!" (A Link to the Past manga, VIZ Media, pg. 8)
  10. ↑ "5 Forte Ghiaccio" — Credits (A Link to the Past, Italian localization)
  11. ↑ Nintendo Official Guidebook—The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past Vol. 2, Shogakukan, pg. 3


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