Inside the Deku Tree



Inside the Deku Tree is the first dungeon in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, and therefore the first 3D dungeon in the Legend of Zelda series.

Location
The dungeon is located inside the Great Deku Tree, who lives in the Kokiri Forest.

Story
Prior to the events of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Ganondorf cast a 'death curse' upon the Great Deku Tree in order to force him to relinquish the Kokiri Emerald. Realizing that he could not survive the curse, the tree sent his assistant Navi, a fairy, to find Link, knowing that only Link had the courage to challenge Ganondorf and that it was time for Link to discover his destiny. Navi located Link and became his partner, but Mido refused to grant Link access to the Deku Tree's meadow, jealous of the favoritism shown towards Link.

After collecting a sword and shield, Link was finally allowed to reach the tree, who explained his plight. However, he neglected to mention that he was already doomed to die from the curse. After asking Link whether he was courageous enough to help, the tree opened his mouth and allowed him to enter the dungeon, which would stand as a test of his bravery.

After defeating Queen Gohma, the parasite which had been infecting the tree, Link was warped back to the meadow and rewarded with the Kokiri emerald that Ganondorf had wanted. The Deku Tree finally explained that he would soon die, despite declaring that Link had been successful. He also told Link that he must leave the forest, venture to Hyrule Castle, and find Princess Zelda.

Dungeon
The first half of the dungeon takes places in the trunk of the Deku Tree. Here Link fights Skullwalltulas and Deku Babas in the "main room", and enters smaller side-rooms to find the compass, map, and Fairy Slingshot. Business Scrubs can also been found here.

Link climbs to the top of the trunk, kills a Big Skulltula, and jumps from a ledge with his sword out in front of him. He aims to slice through the web covering a hole at the base of the trunk, leading to the roots. This area is heavily water-logged and contains a platform unreachable at this time. It is here that the second part of the dungeon begins. Link fights more enemies and solves more puzzles, including destroying webs with burning Deku Sticks and shooting Eye switches with his new catapult.

He finally re-emerges into the main root room from a different entrance, and is now on top of the highest platform. This allows him to use another burning stick to break another web, which drops him next to the boss room. Here he is challenged by three Deku Scrub brothers. They can only be beaten if they are attacked in a certain order, but fortunately Link had happened across a fourth brother earlier in the dungeon who had told him of this. After he beats them in the order 2-3-1, they reveal the secret weakness of their master, Queen Gohma, and Link is able to enter the boss's chamber.

Items

 * The main dungeon treasure is the Fairy Slingshot.
 * Beating the boss earns Link a Heart Container.

Enemies
Note: this list is based on the original version of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time rather than The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time Master Quest''.


 * Big Skulltula
 * Business Scrub
 * Deku Baba
 * Gohma Larva
 * Golden Skulltula
 * Mad Scrub
 * Skullwalltula

Boss
Parasitic Armored Arachnid QUEEN GOHMA This is the parasite which Ganondorf used to attack the Great Deku Tree. Destroying it ends the curse. ''See main article: Queen Gohma

Trivia
This dungeon continues a trend in Zelda games of the first dungeon being forest themed. The first dungeon in Legend of Zelda was actually inside a tree like this one is. Also, the code to open the final door, 2-3-1, is most likely a reference to a code that was used once or twice in earlier Nintendo games, notably in Super Mario 64, in the Boo's Mansion level, in the mission when Mario runs through the library to find a star, and opens the door to the star by pushing in books in order 2-3-1.