Ocarina of Time Remake Lost Woods: Route, Mido and Sacred Grove

The Lost Woods is a maze of small clearings joined by hollow-log tunnels between Kokiri Forest and the Sacred Grove (the Sacred Forest Meadow of the original). You walk it as a child to find Saria and learn her song, and again as an adult on the way to the Forest Temple. This page follows the Switch 2 remake: how to find the way, what changed for adult Link, and the games and upgrades hidden in the woods.

How do you find the way through the Lost Woods?

The owl, Kaepora Gaebora, meets you at the start and tells you to listen as you go deeper. The remake gives you three clues:

• Listen. Saria’s melody plays through the woods. In front of the right tunnel it keeps playing; in front of a wrong one it fades.
• Look for music notes. Glowing notes float in the passages on the right route.
• A wrong turn is cheap. You come back out in Kokiri Forest and can walk in again.

The turn order is said to be unchanged from the original: from the Kokiri Forest entrance, right, left, right, left, straight, left, right reaches the Sacred Grove. Trust the music and notes at each junction rather than the list.

What is on the way, clearing by clearing?

The clearings are listed by landmark rather than by turn; the music and notes take you between them.

The Skull Kid melody game. Stand on the stump in front of the Skull Kids and take out the ocarina. They play a phrase and you copy it; each session has three phrases that get longer. A mistake restarts the session. The first clean session pays a blue rupee, the second a red rupee (20), and the third a Piece of Heart.

The target. It costs nothing. When you hit the target without a single miss, a Deku Scrub pops up to praise your 100 percent accuracy and gives you the biggest Deku Seed bag. The 40-seed bag comes from the Castle Town Shooting Gallery; see items and upgrades.

What is in the Sacred Grove as a child?

1. Beat the Wolfos in the courtyard. Keep your shield up against its bites and strike after each lunge. When it falls, the way on opens.
2. Work through the stone corridors. Mad Scrubs spit nuts at you. Block them with your shield, then close in and strike, or hit them with the Slingshot from a distance.
3. Climb the long staircase to Saria. She sits on a stump at the top and teaches you Saria’s Song. Copy it on the staff until it is in your song list. The notes are on the ocarina songs page.

Saria’s Song is what wins Darunia over in Goron City; the main route covers this in the Dodongo Cavern chapter.

What changes in the Lost Woods as an adult?

You need the Hookshot and some bombs. Enter from Kokiri Forest by climbing the ivy wall past the tree houses and going through the hollow log.

1. Play Saria’s Song for Mido. He blocks the path deeper into the woods and refuses to believe a grown-up is Link. Play the song in front of him. After a short scene with Saria, who has gone ahead into the Forest Temple, he lets you pass.
2. Keep going to the rock face. If you planted a Magic Bean here as a child, the grown plant carries you up to a ledge with a Gold Skulltula.
3. Ride the yellow Deku Flower into the grove. In the dark cave nearby, deal with the Business Scrub, then stand on the yellow flower behind it. It launches you over the wall into the Sacred Grove.
4. Get past the Moblins. They charge at whatever is in front of them, but their backs are unprotected. Wait behind a wall until one turns away, throw a bomb at its back and strike while it staggers. Dive through the low water channels to cross the maze.
5. Beat the Great Moblin. Its club sends shockwaves down the corridor. Stay off the line of each slam, use bombs to knock it down and attack while it is open.
6. Learn the Minuet of the Forest from Sheik on the warp platform at the top, then open the crystal door with the Song of Time and use the Hookshot target above the stone gateway to reach the temple.

The full adult route, step by step, is in the Forest Temple walkthrough. The Skull Kids are said to attack adult Link instead of playing.

What else can you do in the Lost Woods?

• The Forest Stage. A hidden hole in the bushes of a clearing deeper in drops you onto a stump in an underground stage full of Deku Scrubs. Wear the Mask of Truth and talk to the larger Scrub there for the biggest Deku Nut bag (40 nuts); wearing the Skull Mask there earns the biggest Deku Stick bag (30 sticks). The masks guide covers how to borrow them.
• Selling the Skull Mask. The Skull Kid on the stump by the stream buys it for 10 rupees, a 10-rupee loss against the shop’s price.
• The trading quest. As an adult, a clearing in the woods is where you hand over Cojiro and later the Odd Poultice. See Biggoron Sword.
• Gold Skulltulas. Several soft soil patches in the woods hide one when you release a bug. See the Gold Skulltulas checklist.

What should you read next?

• Forest Temple walkthrough: what waits at the end of the adult route
• Ocarina songs: the notes for Saria’s Song and the Minuet of the Forest
• Pieces of Heart checklist: the two Skull Kid pieces
• Items and upgrades: the seed bag, stick and nut upgrades
• Walkthrough hub: the main story order