Cave of Ordeals

The Cave of Ordeals is an optional Dungeon in Twilight Princess.^[1]

Themes and Navigation[]

The Cave of Ordeals is located below the Gerudo Mesa, and can be accessed any time after restoring the Bridge of Eldin, as warping the Bridge back to its original location will reveal the Cave's entrance. The Dungeon contains a total of fifty floors; however, to make it into the deeper floors, Link will need several Items from further along in the game. Within the Cave, Link has to fight his way through hordes of enemies, and only by defeating each enemy within a floor will he be able to progress to the next floor.

After every ten floors, there is a Fountain in which the Great Fairy appears and rewards Link's efforts by releasing Fairies into the respective Spirit Spring,^[2] before offering to Warp him outside to the surface.^[3] Upon reaching the final floor, the Great Fairy there will reward the young hero with a Bottle full of Great Fairy's Tears.^[4] The Great Fairy will also grant Link unlimited Great Fairy's Tears from the Spirit Spring, but only when he does not already have some in a Empty Bottle.^[5]

In addition to ordinary enemies, Link can also find three Imp Poes in total on certain floors. Once they are defeated, the Imp Poes will no longer appear on their respective floors. Certain floors also contain recovery Hearts or valuable Rupees which can be found using Wolf Link's Senses.

Minor Enemies[]

Floor	Content(s)		Notes
1	1×	Bokoblin
2	3×	Rats
2	3×	Keese
3	4×	Baba Serpents	One Heart is buried on this floor.
4	3×	Skulltulas
5	3×	Bulblin Archer
6	9×	Torch Slugs
7	2×	Dodongos	Three Hearts are buried on this floor.
7	5×	Fire Keese	Three Hearts are buried on this floor.
8	2×	Blue Tektites
8	4×	Red Tektites
9	2×	Bulblin Archer
9	2×	Lizalfos
10	Great Fairy
11	3×	Helmasaurs	The Spinner is required to proceed past this floor.
11	13×	Rats	The Spinner is required to proceed past this floor.
12	1×	Large Purple Chu
13	4×	Chu Worms
14	15×	Bubbles	An Orange Rupee is buried on this floor.
15	10×	Bulblins
16	6×	Rats
16	6×	Keese
17	1×	Imp Poe
17	10×	Stalhounds
18	8×	Leevers	One Heart is buried on this floor.
19	1×	Yellow Chu	It is possible for a Rare Chu to appear on this floor.
	1×	Red Chu
	2×	Blue Chus
	36×	Purple Chus
20	Great Fairy
21	5×	Bokoblins	The Ball and Chain is required to proceed past this floor.
21	5×	Ice Keese	The Ball and Chain is required to proceed past this floor.
22	5×	Keese	Three Hearts are buried on this floor.
	7×	Rats
	10×	Ghoul Rats
23	25×	Stalchildren
24	5×	Gibdos
25	3×	Bulblin Archer
25	8×	Bulblins
26	3×	Stalfos
27	3×	Skulltulas	One Heart is buried on this floor.
27	6×	Bubbles	One Heart is buried on this floor.
28	2×	Lizalfos
28	6×	Bokoblins
29	2×	Stalfos
	3×	Fire Bubbles
	12×	Stalchildren
30	Great Fairy
31	5×	Beamos	The Dominion Rod is required to proceed past this floor.
31	8×	Keese	The Dominion Rod is required to proceed past this floor.
32	2×	Dodongos
	6×	Torch Slugs
	6×	Fire Keese
	6×	Fire Bubbles
33	1×	Imp Poe
33	4×	Gibdos
34	10×	Ghoul Rats	One Heart is buried on this floor.
	1×	Yellow Chu
	1×	Red Chu
	7×	Purple Chus
35	1×	Freezard
35	6×	Ice Keese
36	4×	Chilfos
37	8×	Leevers
	4×	Bubbles
	4×	Ice Bubbles
38	2×	Freezards
	3×	Ice Bubbles
	3×	Ice Keese
	4×	Chilfos
39	2×	Darknuts	A Silver Rupee is buried on this floor.
40	Great Fairy
41	9×	Armos	The Double Clawshots are required to proceed past this floor.
42	6×	Baba Serpents
42	6×	Bokoblins
43	3×	Lizalfos
43	6×	Bulblin Archer
44	1×	Imp Poe
44	4×	Dynalfos
45	2×	Bulblin Archer	Three Hearts are buried on this floor.
	5×	Gibdos
	1×	Blue Chu
	2×	Red Chus
	8×	Purple Chus
46	2×	Freezards
	3×	Chilfos
	10×	Ghoul Rats
47	1×	Bokoblin
	9×	Stalchildren
	17×	Rats
48	1×	Darknut
48	2×	Aeralfos
49	3×	Darknuts
50	Great Fairy

Rewards[]

Reaching the 10th floor releases Fairies into Ordon Spring.
Reaching the 20th floor releases Fairies into Faron Spring.
Reaching the 30th floor releases Fairies into Eldin Spring.
Reaching the 40th floor releases Fairies into the Spring of the Spirit Lanayru.
Reaching the 50th floor fills a Bottle with Great Fairy's Tears.^[4] It also allows Link to collect more Great Fairy's Tears by revisiting any of the Spirit Springs, so long as he does not already have some in a Bottle.^[5]

Trivia[]

The Cave of Ordeals plays the same role as the Savage Labyrinth from The Wind Waker; the difference being that the Cave of Ordeals requires the main items from the Lakebed Temple, Arbiter's Grounds, Snowpeak Ruins, Temple of Time, and the City in the Sky in order to explore all of the floors and fully clear it. Another difference is that the Cave of Ordeals is completely optional, while the first 31 rooms of the Savage Labyrinth must be completed in order to progress in the game.
The second time completing the Cave, on the last ledge before the Great Fairy, the Postman can be found squatting down trying to read a Letter.
A cheat used for debugging purposes was accidentally left in the North American Wii 1.0 release of Twilight Princess. If Link uses the Gale Boomerang to extinguish the Torchlights on almost any floor of the Cave of Ordeals, the following room's door will be opened without the need to defeat any enemies. This cheat was disabled in all other regions and revisions of the game.^[6]^[7]

Nomenclature[]

Names in Other Regions
Language		Name	Meaning
	Japanese	試練の洞窟 (Shiren no Dōkutsu)	Cave of Trials
	French^EU	Caverne de l'ordalie	Cavern of the ordeal
	German	Drillhöhle	Drill Cave
	Italian	Grotta della prova	Cave of the trial
	Spanish^EU	Caverna de las Pruebas	Cavern of Trials

References

↑ "Twilight Princes
The Great Fairy is found in the Cave of Ordeals and reigns over all fairies as their queen." (Encyclopedia, Dark Horse Books, pg. 23^(TP))
↑ "Welcome, Hero, to the Cave of Ordeals. I am the Great Fairy. I reign over all fairies of this realm as their queen. In praise of your efforts thus far, I will release fairies to Ordon Spring." — Great Fairy (Twilight Princess)
↑ "If you want to give up the fight for now and go reequip yourself, I can return you to the surface. You need merely to speak to me." — Great Fairy (Twilight Princess)
↑ ^4.0 ^4.1 "It is impressive that you have made it this far. Your trust in your skills is your greatest asset. You cleared many ordeals... How impressive. In praise of your courage, I will give you this blessing. Drink this and you should be able to clear any difficulties that you might encounter ahead." — Great Fairy (Twilight Princess)
↑ ^5.0 ^5.1 "If ever you need my assistance again, visit any spring." — Great Fairy (Twilight Princess)
↑ "Cave of Ordeals Debug Routine" — The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess/Debug Content, The Cutting Room Floor, retrieved Nov. 8, 2021.
↑ jgc8fan, Twilight Princess Cave of Ordeals Boomerang Trick, YouTube, published Jan. 10, 2007, retrieved Nov. 8, 2021.