Fire Temple (Ocarina of Time)

The Fire Temple (炎の神殿) is the fifth dungeon in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, and the second dungeon in the adult portion of the game. It is found inside the Death Mountain Crater, and the dungeon treasure is the Megaton Hammer. Volvagia is the boss of the Fire Temple, and Darunia is the sage of the temple. The Goron Tunic is essential for surviving in the Fire Temple, as the temperature is at a lethal level.

Story
When Link returns to Goron City as an adult, he finds it to be deserted, save for a single rolling Goron. This Goron is Darunia's son, who Darunia named after Link for his valiant display in Dodongo's Cavern. After Link calms him down, Darunia's son gives Link the Goron Tunic and opens the doors to the Goron Shop and Darunia's room, allowing Link to enter a new area of Death Mountain Crater via the passage in Darunia's Room. On the bridge leading toward the temple, Sheik appears and teaches Link the Bolero of Fire, allowing him quick access back to Death Mountain Crater.

Once inside the temple, Link quickly finds Darunia, who tells him that Ganondorf has imprisoned the Goron people throughout the temple, and intends to feed them to the mythical dragon, Volvagia, as a warning to other races who try to resist him. He requests that Link free his fellow Gorons while he confronts Volvagia himself. As he prepares to enter, he mentions to Link that it would be easier to defeat Volvagia with "the legendary hammer".

Link then works his way through the temple, releasing the imprisoned Gorons, who each give him a hint and a Small Key as a thank-you for saving them. Link obtains the Legendary Hammer of the Gorons, the Megaton Hammer, and uses it to knock a pillar on the fifth floor of the temple down into the room where he met Darunia, allowing Link to follow the Goron leader into Volvagia's chamber. As Link steps on to the large circular platform, Darunia is nowhere to be seen. The ground begins shaking and Volvagia bursts from the ground. After defeating it, Darunia is awakened as the Sage of Fire, and Link obtains the third medallion, the Fire Medallion.

Dungeon
The Fire Temple is a Goron temple where the Gorons pray to the mountain and fire spirits. Being in the crater of Death Mountain, it is filled with lava and rooms with scorching hot temperatures. It is filled with a fire maze and flames which must be put out by hitting switches. It consists of many cells where the Gorons are held captive. A unique feature of this temple are the fake doors which slam down when approached. The dungeon features a towering 5 floors, and two central chambers, one of which spans all 5 floors. The shape and location of the dungeon heavily indicates that these central chambers are the interior of Spectacle Rock.

The dungeons puzzle structure centers around finding caged Gorons to gain keys, and using these keys to get to the chamber above the boss door. The dungeon's special item, the Megaton Hammer, is then used to knock a pillar into the room allowing access to the boss room. The boss of the dungeon is a fire-breathing dragon named Volvagia. The Temple also features prominent illustrations of a face on many blocks and temple elements.

The dungeon's special item, the Megaton Hammer, can be found at the very top of one of the tower's central chambers. According to the Goron legends, it was used by the Hero of the Gorons to seal away the dragon once before.

Sage
Darunia

Items

 * Megaton Hammer
 * Heart Container
 * Fire Medallion

Enemies

 * Door Mimic
 * Fire Keese
 * Flying Tile
 * Gold Skulltula
 * Keese
 * Like Like
 * Red Bubble
 * Torch Slug

Mini-bosses

 * Flare Dancer (x2)

Boss

 * Volvagia

Master Quest
In the Master Quest re-releases, several changes have been made to the dungeon, including puzzles and the order in which rooms are visited. Din's Fire or Fire Arrows are necessary for many of the new puzzles in this dungeon. The Megaton Hammer is also found quite early and is needed to explore most of the dungeon. It also features more powerful enemies such as Lizalfos, Stalfos and even an Iron Knuckle. Interestingly many of the rooms in this dungeon do not need to be visited in order to reach the boss. These rooms instead hold several Gold Skulltula that can only be obtained after solving difficult puzzles.

Controversy
thumb|200px|right|The original music featured in the Fire Temple In earlier versions of Ocarina of Time, the musical score for Fire Temple featured what sounded like Islamic chanting. Later versions of the game had the chanting removed, as well as the Gerudo Symbol found on various blocks, Foot Switches, and the Mirror Shield with no official explanation given. Later ports of the game feature the altered version.

These changes were wrongfully believed to be a result of an outcry from Muslim groups, forcing Nintendo to make changes. However, recent findings prove that all builds of the game were completed before its official release date; this means that versions both with and without alterations were made before the official release date, and as such the alterations predates any possible controversy. The real reason behind the alterations remains unknown, but it is possible that the changes were made to avoid such controversy to begin with; despite this, versions both with and without the alterations were officially released, even after the changes were made.

Theory
It is possible that the totem pole-like statue found all over the Fire Temple symbolizes the dungeon's patron deity. This statue is never mentioned, but it is seen quite often throughout the temple. Also, all of the other adult dungeons seem to have their own representations.

It is also possible that the Temple becomes the Goron Mines at some point.

Another possibility is that the temple becomes Dragon Roost Cavern, as there are paintings which resemble Volvagia.