Ocarina of Time Remake Zora's Domain: Route, Shop and Diving

Zora’s Domain is the home of the Zora people, a cavern of pools and waterfalls at the head of Zora River. The remake’s English interface calls these places Zora Domain, Zora River and Zora Fountain (spelled Zora’s Domain, Zora’s River and Zora’s Fountain in the N64 original). This page covers how to get to Zora’s Domain, what to do there as a child and as an adult, the diving game and the shop, and a summary of the region’s collectibles. For the main quest step by step, see the Jabu-Jabu walkthrough and the Ice Cavern walkthrough.

How do you get to Zora’s Domain?

Bring Bombs and Zelda’s Lullaby from Hyrule Castle.

1. Enter Zora River from Hyrule Field. The river opens off the eastern side of the field. A sign at the entrance warns that the rapids can wash you away, so stay on the banks.
2. Talk to the owl statue and bomb the boulders. At the first waterfall, Kaepora Gaebora speaks through an owl statue and tells you to head upstream and play the royal family’s melody at the gate. Two large boulders block the trail; a bomb at their base clears both.
3. Follow the river upstream. You pass the Bean Seller by an iron gate, the frogs on their stumps and a series of ledges, vines and bridges. A Cucco near the gate is used for two optional Pieces of Heart.
4. Play Zelda’s Lullaby at the waterfall. At the top of the long staircase, a stone in front of the falls is titled Sleepless Waterfall: the falls serve the royal family and sleep when the princess sleeps. Stand on the platform with the royal crest and play the lullaby. The waterfall parts and the path leads inside.

Other ways in and out. Once you have the Silver Scale, the deep pool on the domain’s lower level leads through an underwater passage to Lake Hylia, and you can swim back the same way. The pool outside the waterfall entrance is said to lead to the Lost Woods once you can dive deep enough. As an adult you return the same way, playing the lullaby again.

What can you do in Zora’s Domain as a child?

This is the order the main quest takes you through the domain. The Jabu-Jabu walkthrough has every step in detail.

1. Talk to the Zora by the lower pool. One of them admits he slipped off the diving ledge and woke up in Lake Hylia, a hint about the passage under the water.
2. Climb to King Zora’s chamber. Stand on the round platform in front of the throne and talk to him. Princess Ruto, who carries the Spiritual Stone of Water, is missing, and the king hesitates to ask a non-Zora to search underwater. The story updates with “Spiritual Stone of Water.”
3. Win the diving game. The instructor stands on the high ledge by the top of the waterfall. Win the Silver Scale (see below).
4. Dive to Lake Hylia for the bottle. Swim through the passage at the bottom of the lower pool. A bottle lies on the lake floor nearby; inside is Ruto’s letter asking for help from inside Lord Jabu-Jabu’s belly, and asking you to keep it from her father.
5. Show the letter to King Zora. He keeps the letter, lets you keep the bottle, asks you to keep the matter secret and moves aside to open the way to Zora Fountain.
6. Catch a fish. A Zora in the shallow pool on the lower level is trying to catch fish for Lord Jabu-Jabu. Scoop one up with the empty bottle, or buy one at the shop.
7. Go on to Zora Fountain and release the fish in front of Lord Jabu-Jabu.

The torch Piece of Heart. Two torches burn at the entrance to the king’s chamber. Light a Deku Stick on one and run down through the domain lighting each unlit torch on the way. Behind the waterfall on the lower level, light the last two braziers and a chest with a Piece of Heart appears. The stick burns out after a while, so keep moving.

How does the diving game work?

The instructor asks you to dive off his ledge and collect the five scales he throws into the water before time runs out. The timer starts at 40 seconds. Hold the dive button to sink to each scale; swimming over them is not enough. Collect all five and he gives you the Silver Scale, which lets you dive deeper than before. The passage to Lake Hylia needs it.

The deepest dives need the Golden Scale, the adult prize at the Fishing Pond. Other minigames are listed in side quests and minigames.

What does the Zora Shop sell?

The shop is a short way up from the shallow pool on the lower level, where a Zora shopkeeper stands behind the counter.

The tunic is on the shelf from your first visit, but 600 rupees is more than the Adult’s Wallet holds. You get the same tunic free from King Zora after the Ice Cavern, so there is no need to buy it. See tunics, boots and shields.

What is at Zora Fountain?

The path behind King Zora’s throne leads to Zora Fountain, where Lord Jabu-Jabu, the Zora’s guardian deity, floats in the water.

• Lord Jabu-Jabu. Release your bottled fish at the small round pool in front of him to enter the dungeon.
• The Great Fairy. Bomb the cracked rock wall along the outer path, play Zelda’s Lullaby on the crest inside and offer 100 rupees for Farore’s Wind, a spell that sets a return point inside a dungeon. See Great Fairy Fountains.
• Gold Skulltulas. Roll into a narrow tree in the shallows for one; another appears at night on a slanted stone ruin and needs the Boomerang from inside Jabu-Jabu.

What changes when you return as an adult?

Seven years later a cold wind blows down Zora River. You enter the same way, by playing Zelda’s Lullaby at the waterfall, and the event “Disaster in Zora Domain” begins.

• The domain is frozen. The pools are solid ice and the Zora are trapped beneath it. King Zora sits on his throne inside a block of pink ice that ordinary weapons cannot break.
• Zora Fountain is frozen too. Ice floes cover the water, and a ridge of ice leads across to the Ice Cavern.
• Inside the Ice Cavern you find Blue Fire, the Iron Boots and Sheik, who teaches the Serenade of Water. Sheik could free only Princess Ruto, who has gone on to the Water Temple, and says the freeze comes from the monster inside that temple.
• Thaw King Zora. Carry Blue Fire back in a bottle and use it on the ice around him. He recognises you as the Link who saved his domain and gives you the Zora Tunic, which lets you stay underwater as long as you want. He tells you the Water Temple is at Lake Hylia; the Serenade of Water warps you there.
• The trading quest. Once he is free, King Zora reads the prescription and hands over the Eyeball Frog, which you must deliver to the Lakeside Laboratory within 2 minutes 30 seconds. See Biggoron Sword.

What can you collect in the Zora region?

Full steps for each item are on the Pieces of Heart and Gold Skulltulas checklists.

Magic Beans are sold by the Bean Seller on Zora River; the first costs 10 rupees and each one after costs 10 more. See Magic Beans. The Ice Cavern’s own Gold Skulltulas are in its walkthrough.

What should you read next?

• Jabu-Jabu walkthrough: the child quest from Zora River to the Spiritual Stone of Water
• Ice Cavern walkthrough: Blue Fire, the Iron Boots and the Zora Tunic
• Water Temple walkthrough: where the Zora Tunic is needed
• Ocarina songs: Zelda’s Lullaby and the Serenade of Water
• Walkthrough hub: the main story order