Ocarina of Time Remake: Bottom of the Well Walkthrough

This chapter connects the Water Temple to the Shadow Temple. Bring the child sword, shield, bombs and ocarina; keep magic available for the reward. The Boomerang helps with optional spiders. You should already know the Song of Storms from the Hookshot and windmill route. The chapter list shows the full progression. For why this dungeon has a reputation, see scary moments.

How do you return to childhood and drain the well?

1. Return to Kakariko as an adult after the Water Temple. Enter the village and finish the burning-village event with Sheik and Impa. Continue Sheik’s conversation and repeat the tune to learn the Nocturne of Shadow. The song reaches the graveyard’s upper temple entrance, but first you need the well’s hidden-sight item.
2. Check that you know the Song of Storms. If you skipped the windmill after getting the Hookshot, climb to the windmill now, speak to its musician and take out the ocarina. Learn the song while you are still an adult. Playing it here as an adult does not replace the childhood visit below.
3. Return to the Temple of Time and put back the Master Sword. Use the Prelude of Light if you have learned it. Otherwise, cross Hyrule Field to Castle Town and enter the temple through the path beyond the ruined market. After completing the Forest Temple, speak to Sheik by the pedestal to learn the Prelude of Light and about traveling through time. Finish the conversation, then interact with the pedestal to place the sword back and become a child.
4. Go to the childhood windmill and play the Song of Storms. Leave the temple, cross the field to Kakariko and climb the steps to the windmill. Inside, stand near the musician, take out the ocarina and play the song. Wait for the windmill and well scene to finish.

5. Climb down the village well and crawl through its tunnel. Return to the well, descend the ladder, swim the shallow passage and enter the low opening at its end. Inside the dungeon, climb down the first ladder and continue along the stone corridor.

How do you find the false wall and water control?

6. Defeat the hanging spider and pass through the wall behind the marker. Wait for the spider to turn its exposed underside toward you, then strike. Read the stone marker at the end of the passage. Walk straight into the wall behind it: it is an illusion, and you can pass through even before obtaining the Lenses of Truth.

7. Follow the right-hand corridor toward the warning marker. From the false wall, turn right around the central rooms, staying clear of the green flaming skull. Cross the narrow grate beside the water channel. Near the stone warning plaque, the apparently solid floor drops you into the B2 pool. The next steps take a map detour and return you to B1.
8. Follow the B2 shoreline to the green-lit chamber. Climb out beside the pots, follow the dry edge around the pool and swim the gaps between ledges. Bombs can clear the cracked boulders along the side routes; break pots and cut bushes for supplies. At the green-lit pool, fight the enemies from solid ground and follow the bank around to the visible chest in the recessed corner.
9. Collect the Dungeon Map and climb back to B1. Open the corner chest for the Dungeon Map. Return to the eye-marked door on the illuminated shore, defeat the enemy guarding it and go through. Climb the ladder in the stone shaft. Back on B1, follow the outer passage toward the large stone face and its falling water.
10. Play Zelda’s Lullaby on the Triforce tile. Stand on the triangular floor emblem directly in front of the stone face and play the song. The water stops flowing here, revealing a low opening beneath the face.

11. Crawl through the opening and reach the fog room. Drop from the emblem to the lowered channel, break the nearby pots if you need supplies and crawl into the small hole. Follow the sloping passage, defeat the hanging spider in the narrow hall and open the eye-marked door at the end. Continue into the foggy arena below.

How do you defeat Dead Hand and collect the Lenses of Truth?

12. Cut down the hands that emerge from the floor. Keep moving until a hand rises, target it and strike with the sword, then step away from its reach. Repeat when more hands appear. You do not need to deliberately let one grab you to make this route work.
13. Attack the body when it appears and lowers its head. Approach with the shield ready. When the head is within sword range, land a short series of hits, then retreat before its counterattack. When the body burrows away, return to dealing with the hands. Repeat until the body collapses and the barred exit opens.

14. Open the new chest for the Lenses of Truth. Take the item from the chest that appears in the cleared arena. Equip it and briefly activate it to see hidden openings and objects. It consumes magic while active, so switch it off whenever you can already see the safe route.

What should you do before the Shadow Temple?

15. Climb out of the arena and return to the main corridor. Take the opened exit and climb the ladder to B1. Follow the short corridor and climb the next ladder to the small chest alcove; the purple rupee here is optional. Go through the eye-marked doors, then crawl through the low passage back into the central area. Use the Lenses to distinguish false surfaces and pits while retracing your way toward the first entrance corridor.
16. Leave the dungeon through the original entrance. At the south side of the main passage, return through the first false wall. Follow the corridor back to its ladder and entrance door, crawl out, swim to the well ladder and climb to the village. Extra rooms can wait if your health or magic is low.
17. Become an adult again and prepare for the Shadow Temple. Return to the Temple of Time with the Prelude of Light, walk to the pedestal and draw the Master Sword. Check that you have the Lenses of Truth, magic, bow, Longshot and Din’s Fire. Play the Nocturne of Shadow and continue with the Shadow Temple entrance route.

The following are optional, not conditions for obtaining the Lenses or leaving the well:

The two small keys belong to these optional well rooms. They do not carry over to the Shadow Temple.