Ice Cavern

Not to be confused with the Ice Cave, a cave in A Link to the Past.

The Ice Cavern is a recurring location and Dungeon in The Legend of Zelda series.^[1]

Overview[]

Ocarina of Time[]

Entrance to the Cavern[]

The Ice Cavern is a frozen cave behind Zora's Fountain. After his seven year sleep, Link finds Zora's Domain frozen and the Zoras encased in ice. King Zora is encased in a mysterious Red Ice, as is the entrance to the Zora's Shop. Lord Jabu-Jabu is missing from the fountain and is replaced with a path of ice floes leading to a previously inaccessible cavern, the Ice Cavern.

Themes and Navigation[]

With the Gerudo's Training Ground, the Ice Cavern is the smallest dungeon in the entire game: it only has one floor and, unique among all the other dungeons in The Legend of Zelda series, each room (with the exception of the individual mini-boss room) is connected by hallways instead of doors, giving the illusion of one extremely large room divided into rooms and hallways. It is ice-themed, and inside Link finds Blue Fire, an unnaturally occurring fire only found within the cavern and the Water Barrier in Ganon's Castle (although it can also be bought in the Medicine Shop for an exceptionally high price). Blue Fire melts Red Ice, and as such, Link uses Bottles to carry the fire and melt the Red Ice that is found throughout the cavern to unblock certain paths and rooms.

Link receives the Iron Boots in the Cavern after defeating a White Wolfos. Sheik appears to tell the young hero about the Zoras frozen beneath Zora's domain as well as telling Link he saved Princess Ruto, who headed to the Water Temple underneath Lake Hylia. Afterwards, Sheik teaches Link the Serenade of Water, the warping song of the Water Temple, before disappearing again.

In Master Quest, many of the elements of this dungeon have been removed or replaced. The spinning scythe is gone, and there are very few Freezards and Ice Keese. Instead of the ice block puzzle, the Song of Time can be played to make a block appear, which gives access to the Blue Fire. Some Switches need to be activated to make some platforms disappear. However, they are very well hidden. One switch is camouflaged between some diamonds, another is behind a stalactite and the last one's tip is protruding from the floor. Because there is Red Ice blocking several ways, the first time Blue Fire is seen is where the Piece of Heart originally was (it has been moved to the other room with Blue Fire). New features include Boulders rolling in connecting rooms and two White Wolfos throughout the dungeon. The mini-boss is now a Stalfos.

Minor Enemies and Traps[]

Ocarina of TimeMaster Quest

Tri Force Heroes[]

Entrance to the Cavern[]

The Ice Cavern can be accessed through the Triforce Gateway in Hytopia Castle.

Themes and Navigation[]

The Ice Cavern is a frozen, mountainous Area in the Drablands. It consists of snowy mountain peaks, as well as a frozen temple. It contains the Levels Frozen Plateau, Snowball Ravine, Silver Shrine, and Ice Temple. The Fire Gloves and the Magic Hammer are introduced and used prominently here.

Many areas in the Ice Cavern contain platforms made of hexagonal tiles of Ice held above dangerous pits. These tiles can be melted by the Link standing on them too long, or by using the Fire Gloves or Magic Hammer, though the ice will freeze over again after a few seconds. Snowballs and Boulders appear often, usually as obstacles to be avoided, while in some areas they will roll in front of gusts of cold air, allowing the Links to quickly pass the gusts.

Common Enemies in the Ice Cavern include Freezards, Mini Freezards, Ice Keese, Terrorpins, and Deadrocks.

In the Coliseum, the Ice Cavern arena takes place on a frozen platform held high in the sky, which the Links can fall off of if they are not careful. The platform is covered in hexagonal tiles of Ice, which can be broken or melted away, leaving several holes in the arena that the Links can fall through. Rocks can also be found near the item pedestals, where two pairs of Fire Gloves and a Magic Hammer can be obtained.

Nomenclature[]

Names in other regions
Language		Name	Meaning
	Japanese	氷の洞窟 (Kōri no Dōkutsu) ^(OoT)^[2] 氷雪エリア (Hyōsetsu Eria) ^(TFH)^[3]	Same as English. Ice and Snow Area
	French^CA	Grotte ^(TFH)^[4]
	French^EU	Glacier ^(TFH)^[5]
	German	Schneeland ^(TFH)^[6]
	Italian	Ghiacciaio ^(TFH)^[7]
	Spanish^EU	Caverna ^(TFH)^[8]
	Spanish^LA	Caverna ^(TFH)^[9]
This table was generated using translation pages. To request an addition, please contact a staff member with a reference.