Palace of Darkness

Not to be confused with the Temple of Darkness in Four Swords Adventures or the Dark Palace in A Link Between Worlds.

The Palace of Darkness,^{(ALttPA Link to the Past | ALttP (Ishinomori)A Link to the Past (Ishinomori))}^[1]^[2] also known as Dark Palace,^{(ALttPA Link to the Past)}^[3] and Level 1,^{(ALttPA Link to the Past)}^[3] is the first Dungeon of the Dark World in A Link to the Past.

Overview

A Link to the Past

Entrance to the Palace

The Palace of Darkness is located in the east, in the area where the Eastern Palace stands in the Light World. Access to the dungeon is granted by walking through the Dark Palace Grounds. Eventually, a Monkey named Kiki follows Link and asks for 10 Rupees. Link must give him the requested amount and continues towards the dungeon. There, the monkey will offer to reveal the dungeon's entrance for 100 more Rupees. Link must give him these as well before the monkey opens the dungeon for the young hero by hopping onto an otherwise inaccessible switch.

Themes and Navigation

The Palace of Darkness was once the home of the King of the Golden Land. However, it was abandoned once Ganon took control of the Sacred Realm and turned it into the Dark World.^[4]

This dungeon introduces a greater level of danger than those found in the Light World, introducing Blade Traps and Medusa among a new host of enemies such as Helmasaurs, making their first appearance in the series. Link will encounter special ledges that allow him to perform an autojump when he runs off of them. In addition, some statues can be pushed Link if he touches them, which he must do to pass through dangerous areas and solve puzzles. Strange, eerie creatures known as Goriya mimic Link's moves (similar to Mask-Mimics and Arm-Mimics in later games), and should some of these enemies face Link directly they will fire a bolt of fire at him. The treasure is the Magic Hammer, which is used to remove Moles and defeat Terrorpins so that Link can reach the Dungeon Master. The boss is the Helmasaur King, a gigantic Helmasaur. After defeating him Link receives a Heart Container and the first Crystal in A Link to the Past.

Minor Enemies

Other Appearances

A Link to the Past (Ishinomori)

Non-Canon Information

The following section is not part of the Zelda canon and should not be taken as such.

The Palace of Darkness is also featured in the A Link to the Past comic by Shotaro Ishinomori. After being told by Zora that a Maiden is imprisoned in the nearby palace, Link decides to go and rescue the maiden. Before leaving, Zora allows Link to take Epheremelda as a guide and grants him the Zora's Mask to disguise himself and not look so conspicuous as he is sneaking around the palace.^[5]

The duo arrive to the Palace of Darkness and eventually reach the storeroom with the Firecorn explosives,^[6] and although Link had been able to sneak around with the Zora's Mask without being noticed,^[7] he is discovered by a Rocklops.^[8] The Rocklops warns Link of what could happen if he set off the firecorns in the palace,^[9] but the young hero disregards his warning and takes a Hinox's bomb belt that was wrapped around it.^[10] Link then stumbles into the imprisoned crystal, but is attacked by a Gleeock that was called upon by the Eyegore. Although he defeats it easily with the Master Sword, soon more Hinoxes riding Gleeocks begin to head towards him.^[11] Link gives Epheremelda ones of the bombs from the Hinox's belt, which eventually denotes the firecorn stockpile and destroys the entire palace. This allows the maiden to be freed from the crystal, who thanks Link and grants him a relic called the Comm-Fork.^[12]

Trivia

As with the Light World dungeons, this dungeon is translated as a Palace; from Ocarina of Time onwards, 神殿 (Shinden) is always translated as "Temple".
The Palace of Darkness shares its Japanese name with the Shadow Temple of Ocarina of Time.

Nomenclature

Names in Other Regions
Language	Names	Meanings
Japanese	闇の神殿 (Yami no Shinden)^[14]	Dark Temple
Italian	Palazzo Cupo^[13]	Gloomy Palace
This table was generated from Zelda Wiki's translation data.

References

↑ Encyclopedia, Dark Horse Books, pg. 147
↑ The Palace of Darkness, which you destroyed, must somehow be connected to Hyrule's Eastern Palace! — Sahasrahla (A Link to the Past (Ishinomori), VIZ Media, pg. 7)
↑ ^3.0 ^3.1 Level 1
Dark Palace — Game Screen (A Link to the Past, Game Boy Advance version)
↑ The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past—Nintendo Player's Guide, Nintendo of America, pg. 74
↑ If you mussst go, take my Epheremelda for your ggguide... Also, your gggrotesssque face isss too conssspicuousss... You musst wear Zzzora's Masssk!! (A Link to the Past (Ishinomori), VIZ Media, pg. 6)
↑ The storeroom of the palace! If this went off, they wouldn't call it the Palace of Darkness! (A Link to the Past (Ishinomori), VIZ Media, pg. 8)
↑ Now I know why Zora put this thing on my face! (A Link to the Past (Ishinomori), VIZ Media, pg. 9)
↑ I can see another face behind the mask! The face of an intruder! Death to the interloper! (A Link to the Past (Ishinomori), VIZ Media, pg. 9)
↑ You fool! you know what will happen if you use the firecorn here?! (A Link to the Past (Ishinomori), VIZ Media, pg. 10)
↑ We'll all go up in smoke! But if you guys are going to get me...we'll all go together! (A Link to the Past (Ishinomori), VIZ Media, pg. 10)
↑ Link!! There's more on the way! (A Link to the Past (Ishinomori), VIZ Media, pg. 12)
↑ Thank you, Link! Because of you I can escape this crystal prison! Now, here is something that will help you--the Comm-Fork! — Maiden (A Link to the Past (Ishinomori), VIZ Media, pg. 16)
↑ 1 Palazzo Cupo — Credits (A Link to the Past, Italian version)
↑ Nintendo Official Guidebook: The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past Vol. 2, Shogakukan, pg. 3