Jabu-Jabu's Belly Walkthrough: Ruto, the Boomerang and Barinade

Inside Jabu-Jabu’s Belly is the third child dungeon and the one where you escort Princess Ruto. It comes after Dodongo’s Cavern; the walkthrough hub has the full order.

What do you need for Jabu-Jabu’s Belly?

1. Show Ruto’s Letter to King Zora. Once he reads it, he shuffles aside and opens the path behind his throne to Zora’s Fountain.
2. Catch a fish in a bottle. Swing an empty bottle at one of the fish swimming in Zora’s Domain.
3. Release the fish in front of Lord Jabu-Jabu. He inhales the fish and pulls Link in after it.

How do you find Princess Ruto?

4. Open the first door with the Slingshot. Deal with the two Octoroks, then turn around and shoot the switch hanging from the ceiling to unlock the door.
5. Get past the Biri. The Slingshot does nothing to these jellyfish and a sword hit shocks you, so use a spin attack or walk around them.
6. Follow Ruto down the hole. She refuses your help and falls through a hole in the floor. Drop after her and talk to her twice; she then lets you carry her.

How do you carry Ruto through the water room?

7. Carry Ruto through the door behind her. A tunnel of Shabom bubbles leads down to a pool.
8. Clear the Stingers. They hide in the water until you step on their tails. Two Slingshot shots finish one.
9. Shoot Gold Skulltula #31. It is on the vines to the right; kill it now and collect the token after the water rises.
10. Throw Ruto onto the far ledge first. If she lands in deep water, she runs back to the room below the holes.
11. Press the switch in the pool. The water rises; climb to Ruto and grab the token on the vines.
12. Hit the next ceiling switch and ride the platform up. Shoot it or throw Ruto at it. Beat or avoid the Octorok, wait for the platform to come down, and step on with Ruto to return upstairs. A Business Scrub selling Deku Nuts hides through the underwater hole at the end of this pool.

Where is the Boomerang?

13. Cross Ruto’s first room to the far door. Avoid the small holes. Bari drop from the ceiling here, and each one splits into Biri when destroyed.
14. Take the right path at the fork and step on the switch while carrying Ruto. Link alone is too light for it; the combined weight opens the door at the end.
15. Defeat the four Stingers. A chest appears in the middle of the room with the Boomerang.

How do you beat the three tentacles?

16. Set Ruto down on the left-path switch. While she sits there, the door stays open.
17. Cut the red tentacle. Target it and hit it with the Boomerang four times while you dodge its swings. A chest with the Dungeon Map appears.
18. Pop every Shabom in 40 seconds. The room the red tentacle blocked is full of bubbles; the Boomerang, Din’s Fire or a Deku Nut in the middle clears them. Fail and you lose a heart and restart. The chest holds the Compass.
19. Cut the blue tentacle. It is in the room next to the Boomerang room. No chest appears, but the middle path opens.
20. Cut the green tentacle. Take the middle path, destroy the Biri guarding it first, then the tentacle. This unblocks a hole in Ruto’s first room.

How do you get the Sapphire and beat Big Octo?

21. Drop through the hole the green tentacle blocked. It is the northwest hole in Ruto’s first room. Take Ruto with you.
22. Collect Gold Skulltulas #32 and #33. Both cling to the walls where you land. Aim the Boomerang manually to kill them and again to pull in the tokens.
23. Throw Ruto onto the central platform. Through the west door she spots Zora’s Sapphire, grabs it, and the platform lifts her away. Big Octo drops in.
24. Defeat Big Octo. Hit it with the Boomerang to stun it and turn it around, then slash the weak spot on its back. On the Nintendo 64 version a jump attack with a Deku Stick kills it in one blow.
25. Ride the platform up. Pots on the upper level hold supplies and a fairy.

How do you reach Barinade?

26. Stun the red jelly blocks and hop across. Two Biri wait first. In the next room, hit the two jelly blocks with the Boomerang; stunned, they hold still as stepping stones.
27. Weigh the switch down with a crate. You are back in the second room. Jump across the gap to lower the ledge into a bridge, then carry a crate from the other side onto the switch.
28. Take Gold Skulltula #34. In the last room, clear the Biri with the Boomerang; the Skulltula is on the vine wall.
29. Boomerang the blocked switch. Climb the vines to the ledge. Something in front of the switch stops a straight shot, but the Boomerang’s curved flight reaches it. The boss door opens.

How do you beat Barinade?

30. Cut the three tendrils. Target each tendril tying Barinade to the ceiling and hit it with the Boomerang while strafing away from its electric beams.
31. Destroy the first five Bari. Barinade flings them outward to circle the room. Pick them off with the Boomerang or Deku Nuts, or stun the body with the Boomerang to leave them open.
32. Break the second ring of five Bari. Barinade rises and spins these in a tight shield. Wait until it stops charging them with electricity, then destroy them the same way.
33. Stun the bare body and slash. With all ten Bari gone, Barinade spins around the arena. A Boomerang hit knocks it to the floor for sword attacks. It burrows into the floor to recover, so dodge and repeat.
34. Take the Heart Container and step into the blue light. Ruto is waiting there, and outside she hands over Zora’s Sapphire as what she calls an engagement gift.

What do you get in Jabu-Jabu’s Belly?

Gold Skulltulas

Where next after Jabu-Jabu?

With all three Spiritual Stones, head to Hyrule Castle and the Temple of Time. The Boomerang also unlocks #35, on a log beside Jabu-Jabu’s spot at Zora’s Fountain at night, and several field tokens on the Gold Skulltula checklist. After the time jump, the first adult dungeon is the Forest Temple.