Shadow Temple

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Entrance to the Temple
The entrance is found in the back of the Kakariko Village Graveyard in a little alcove only accessible using the Nocturne of Shadow. Said song is taught to Link by Sheik after Bongo Bongo is freed from its imprisonment in Kakariko Village.

Themes and Navigation
The Shadow Temple was historically a place used by the Sheikah to interrogate and torture enemies of the Royal Family of Hyrule. Because of the dark stain on Hyrule's history that it represents, it is taboo for the Royal Family to speak of the Shadow Temple. Consequently, some of the walls and floors are stained with blood, and torture equipment is located in several rooms.

In comparison to other temples, the Shadow Temple guides Link through a straight route, except in some parts where the young hero has to deviate in order to find keys or an item. It has four descending floors, following a similar trait to the Bottom of the Well, and it looks like an enlarged catacomb. The temple is filled with undead creatures, deadly twisted traps, and mind-bending puzzles everywhere all designed to trap anyone who enters the crypt. It is also filled to the brim with invisible walls and passageways only visible using the Lens of Truth. Many concealed Skulltulas hang in rooms and corridors within the temple's walls. Link's goal is to go to the bottom of the temple, where Bongo Bongo is found; because of the temple's mostly linear structure, its difficulty is based on the numerous enemies, silver Rupee collections, invisible obstacles and traps within. There is also a Bomb Flower puzzle similar to those seen in Dodongo's Cavern.

These are the two keys to finishing the Shadow Temple: being able to see through illusion and the adjusting of one's weight, from lighter than air to being heavy enough to walk on the ocean floor. Without being able to do either, the Shadow Temple cannot be finished. A little used strategy in the Shadow Temple is when Link comes across the active fans in a corridor, the Iron Boots can be used to resist their push. The Hover Boots, the temple's treasure item, are known by all to be used to cross large gaps otherwise uncrossable.

The Lens of Truth reduces the difficulty of the Shadow Temple drastically, particularly against Bongo Bongo. It allows its user to see through fake walls and holes, as well as invisible obstacles, platforms and even enemies.

The ferry to the other world sales away when you play "Zelda's Lullaby" on the ocarina. Once the ship sinks, you won't come back.

The mini-boss of this dungeon is Dead Hand; it is unknown whether or not this is the same one as at the Bottom of the Well, but it's known that it's guarding the Hover Boots in the temple. The boss of the temple, as mentioned above, is Bongo Bongo; it's an undead monster consisting of a giant torso, one protruding eye, and two huge disembodied hands beating on a giant drum. It is never sufficiently explained why there is a giant drum in the basement.

Compared to other dungeons, the Shadow Temple presents much less of a challenge. The main changes to the dungeon involves the type and number of enemies encountered. The number of Beamos and Keese has been increased, and there are fewer Skulltulas than before. The order in which the rooms are visited is still the same, and the Hover Boots are less useful than in the original quest. Instead of a Floormaster, there are now Blue Bubbles and a Like Like in the room with invisible walls. There is now a silver Rupee puzzle in the invisible reaper room, and one of the reaper statues constanty changes the speed of its swirling scythes. One of the rooms with giant rotating skulls now contains Stalfos, which give a reward of 20 Rupees when defeated. The most notorious change is a room with several Bomb Flowers. Instead of an invisible Floormaster, a second Dead Hand with no hands now appears, defeating it awards the young hero with a bundle of Arrows.

Trivia

 * According to The Great Hyrule Encyclopedia, the Shadow Temple was built using the bones of Hyrule's "evil dead" and the traps within were designed to add more bodies to the crypts.