The first time Hyrule opened up, Link had just completed the trial of the gods, and the gods allowed him enter Hyrule in order to get the Master Sword. Then, after he saves Aryll from the Forsaken Fortress, he goes into Hyrule again with Tetra, and the King of Hyrule reveals that Tetra is Zelda and that she has Triforce of Wisdom. Why is it just now that you need the Triforce of Courage to go back there again?
It seems that going into Hyrule requires either the approval of the gods, or the ownership of one of the 3 triforce parts. This explains why Ganon can enter Hyrule at will since he has the Triforce of Power. When you entered with Tetra, she had the last missing piece of the Triforce of Wisdom.
Link's triforce quest had already started even in the middle of the 2 sage awakening quests. The 8 triforce pieces are scattered across the entire overworld, and finding them all without a guide requires you to explore nearly every square of this massive Great Sea.
Treasures are hidden all over this huge ocean. Some might contain rupees, sidequest items, heart pieces, or a treasure chart that marks one of those items on the map... But some treasures might contain one of the 8 triforce charts, which are needed to find the 8 shards of the triforce of courage.
The triforce quest really gets you in the exploration mood. It's the perfect opportunity to explore the many islands and underground caves that normally would be overlooked.
Even if you obtained Tingle's IN-credible chart which shows the location of each triforce chart on the map, you'll still come across many suspicious looking areas that might just have something exciting hidden in them.
However, finding the triforce charts isn't quite as simple as going to 8 spots marked on the map and picking them up. The game makes sure you have to work for them and do some puzzle solving. In addition, the charts aren't readable when you get them. You have to pay Tingle 398 rupees per chart to get them deciphered, and only then can you see where the triforce shards are buried.
You can think of the triforce quest as a whole dungeon on its own... and it's the biggest dungeon of all... the Great Sea! The dungeon itself is made up of the island puzzles, cave mini-dungeons, and ocean enemies. The dungeon items include:
Sea chart = dungeon map
Triforce charts = compass
Tingle's deciphering fee = locked doors
Rupees = keys
Main weapon/equipment = bombs
Triforce of Courage = boss key
The only thing it's missing is a boss, it's all just to lead up to the real final dungeon, Ganon's Castle.
First of all, you got the dungeon map (sea chart), only because the dungeon is so big, the map is separated into smaller square pieces, and you can only look at the map one square at a time.
Then you have the compass, which in this case is the treasure charts and the triforce charts. Like the compass, these charts mark down the where the treasures are on the map. The triforce charts mark down this dungeon's boss key (Triforce of Courage), which is needed to get into the boss room (Ganon's Castle).
The compasses that lead to the boss key also need to be unlocked with keys, which Tingle's 398 rupee fee is meant to be. Each silver rupee (200 rupees) is 1/2 a key, orange rupees (100) are 1/4 of a key, and there are also smaller pieces of keys you can collect all over the dungeon.
Due to the size of the map, locating the marked treasure is kind of a puzzle in itself. You only get to look at small pieces of the map at a time, and have to figure out which part of the sea chart matches up with the treasure location.
Every Zelda dungeon has its own special item/weapon that is needed to solve the dungeon's puzzles. The Great Sea's weapon is the bombs.
You get them at Windfall Island, when looking for the Nayru's Pearl. The bombs belong to any level in the game, it's the Great Sea. Bombs are needed for many of the ocean's important hidden treasures. All of the groups of warships and wall cannons found on the ocean have a treasure as a reward for destroying them. One of the triforce charts is actually held by a gold warship, found within a group of regular warships.
Another triforce chart involves destroying all the warships surrounding this steel tower, which opens up the entrance...
And there just so happens to be a nice view of the sunset...
And that leads directly into another triforce chart.
But dungeons wouldn't be that good if you could just go to where all the treasures are, pick them up and move on without any obstacles. As mentioned in a previous post, one of the triforce charts requires you to give 20 joy pendants to Ms. Marie, and for that you get access to the private cabana. Hidden inside the cabana is a little rat maze with enemies leading to a triforce chart. This would be one of the dungeon's puzzles.
Like any good Zelda game, WW rewards you just for exploring its vast overworld, without even having to do a sidequest or anything...
Link: (Hellooooo jackpot!)
The overworld has many other distractions completely unrelated to the completion of the game, but might be useful in collecting the rupees needed to decipher charts.
These sea platforms are scattered around all over the place. There's even a chart showing where all of them are. What the chart doesn't tell you is what items these places hold, or even if you've gotten the item on them or not. That high platform to the left can only be reached with the Deku Leaf, so I'm assuming it must have something good...
Another big sailing distraction is the Big Octos. These guys are found wherever seagulls are gathered around. These are ridiculously hard to spot, but luckily there's a chart showing all of their locations. For killing them you get certain treasures like heart pieces, other charts, and...
A Great Fairy was attacked by one of the Big Octos and gives you a magic upgrade as a reward for saving her.
One of the triforce charts involves controlling a seagull and hitting all 5 switches on top of these rock structures.
It's easier if you snipe the birds with arrows first though...
And this would be the fabled ghost ship...
This is one of the most well-executed hidden areas in the Zelda games. Even finding it might just be purely luck.
But when you try to go close enough to enter it, the ship vanishes, like a mirage... As far as I know, there aren't any in-game clues that tell you how to get into this ship. You actually need the Ghost Ship chart to be able to enter it... and where might that be? Hmm...
On one of the islands marked by the IN-credible chart, there's an hole that's accessible with fire arrows. This place seems to be where a bunch of wrecked ships came together. Perhaps the Hylians used these to escape to higher ground during the flood...
To the living:
Light the six torches and dive down to the sea floor.
Guide the lost spirit of the boat that forever wanders in darkness.
This certainly seems like a clue to finding the Ghost Ship chart! Wait what does it mean dive down to the sea floor? You can't dive in this game...
Okay I lit the six torches... for that I get an orange rupee... umm I seem to be missing something here.
On another nearby island, there are high platforms you need the hookshot to get onto, and here's a hole that leads to a very similar area:
Yeah remember those magic teleportation jars in the other dungeons? Now there's a whole maze of them...
And there are floormasters, just to give it more of a dungeon feel... After flipping back and forth through jars like a genie, I finally arrived at the ghost ship chart. I still don't know what that "dive down to the sea floor" bit was about...
Now, using the ghost ship chart I can easily find and enter the Ghost Ship...
You were expecting any less from a ghost ship? This place is pitch black and has a monster-summoning Wizrobe and poes that can only be defeated by light...
You get a triforce chart for defeating the ghost ship and laying all the dead souls to rest.
The last 3 triforce charts are easy to locate, but require mastery of your sword skills. Let's pay Orca a visit...
Giving him 10 Knight's Crests gets you the Hurricane Spin, a kamikaze sword spin attack that makes you dizzy... You can also train with him to win a heart piece...
I wonder how long one can theoretically go at this... is there a maximum score that can be achieved, like 9999, or higher? Maybe then he'll give you the title of "Master" or something, lol I bet there are people out there with enough time to try this..
Link's grandma is still sick, but fortunately Orca's brother (who I recently discovered is an older incarnation of Tingle) has some wisdom to pass onto you.
Link gives a fairy to his grandma, and she finally snaps out of it and notices him again.
Grandma: Link... My dear, sweet Link. You're safe... That's wonderful... Just wonderful.
Did you do this? Did you heal me? Oh, you're such a sweet child... Ohh... That's right... You and your sister, Aryll, are trying so hard to be strong, and I've just been sitting here, moaning and worrying...
I'm your grandmother... I'm the one who should be taking care of you... I'm so sorry, Link. I haven't even considered what you must be going through. I'm a terrible grandma...
Link, this is all I have to give you right now. You can keep it in your empty bottle!
You got Elixir Soup! This healthy soup your grandmother makes replenishes all of your life energy and magic power!
wow, that's alright...
Your attack power also doubles until the first time you take damage!
... badass!
And your kind old grandmother filled your bottle so full that there's two helpings inside! Isn't she the sweetest?
... does it print money, too?
Grandma: You and your sister love this soup, don't you? If you run out, I can make it for you any time you like. Grandma's going to try to be strong, too.
But don't do anything reckless. Alright?
Now that Link has awakened his grandma and can once again drink her delicious soup, this quest has come to an end... oh wait, weren't we in the middle of searching for the Triforce of Courage? heheh
The Savage Labyrinth, a mini-dungeon on Outset Island, contains another triforce chart. It's 50 floors of increasinly tougher and tougher enemy groups...
At first you might think it's easy. The enemies are the same ones you fought before, you have plenty of hearts and fairies... but then they start to group together in really annoying ways...
Redeads and kamikaze stalfos in the same room? With no way to stun any of them? It gets pretty intense...
The 2 other triforce charts are also found in kill room areas, where the room with the chart doesn't unlock until you defeat the monsters in every other room.
Finally, with all the triforce charts found, and enough rupees to unlock them, you just need to visit Tingle one last time, pick up the triforce shards off the ocean, and enter the final dungeon of the game.
wow cool but, uh, i have the gamecube version so i dont have to do the savage laybrinth. :)
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