Walkthrough

This walkthrough takes you through A Link Between Worlds from the Sanctuary to the final battle in Lorule Castle. It sticks to the main path but points out the Heart Containers, Pieces of Heart and Master Ore along the way. For complete lists, see the Heart Pieces, Lost Maiamai, Items and Bosses pages.

A few basics before you start:

Merging: after the Eastern Palace, Link can merge into walls as a painting and walk along them. It's the key to most puzzles, and it drains your energy gauge.
Ravio's shop: most items come from Ravio, not from dungeons. Renting is cheap, but you lose rented items if you fall in battle. Later you can buy them to keep.
Weather vanes: touch them to save. Once you have Irene's Bell, she can fly you to any weather vane you've touched.
Fissures: the cracks in walls that let you travel between Hyrule and Lorule. You merge into the wall to pass through.

1. The Sanctuary

After Link wakes up, touch the weather vane by his house. At the blacksmith's, take the sword the Captain left behind and deliver it to Hyrule Castle. The guard says the Captain has gone to the Sanctuary.
In the graveyard beside the Sanctuary, push the big gravestone surrounded by a wall to find a passage. The first chest holds the Lamp. Light the two braziers to open the door, then beat the three ghosts to open the way.
Pull the lever to open the Sanctuary. The sorcerer Yuga appears and turns the priest's daughter, Seres, into a painting.
Ravio, a traveling merchant, asks if he can stay in Link's house. Agree, and he gives you Ravio's Bracelet.
At Hyrule Castle, Impa lets you in to see Princess Zelda. Look at the paintings of the Hero on the walls. Zelda gives you her charm, the Pendant of Courage, and sends you to Sahasrahla.

2. The Eastern Palace

In Kakariko Village, buy a Shield at the shop. Sahasrahla, in the north of the village, tells you the legend and sends his pupil Osfala to the Eastern Palace.
Ravio's sign quiz lends you the Bow for free. Shoot the switches on the steps to open the Eastern Palace.
Shoot switches to lower bridges and open doors. Wait for the pauses in the giant rolling balls. On the moving platform, shoot the left switch when it's low and the right one when it's high. Find the Compass and the Small Keys, and beat the three Stalfos for the Big Key.

Boss: Yuga. Stun him with an arrow when he steps out of the wall, then slash him. He turns Link into a painting, but Ravio's Bracelet lets you merge into walls and walk along them as a painting. Merge through the crack to escape, and take the Heart Container.

Outside, Sahasrahla finds that Hyrule Castle is sealed by a barrier. Only the Master Sword can break it, and to claim the sword you need the other two Pendants of Virtue, in the House of Gales and the Tower of Hera.

3. The House of Gales

Irene the witch gives you the Bell, so you can call her for a ride to any weather vane you've touched.
In the Haunted Grove, pick up Gulley's Pouch from the stump. The blacksmith's wife lets you keep it, so you can assign a second item.
The Zora Queen, Oren, has lost her Smooth Gem to a shady guy in Kakariko. Buy it back from the street merchant for 200 Rupees. The shady guy gives you his Pegasus Boots to make up for it. Throw the gem into Oren's pool for the Zora's Flippers.
Ravio has opened his shop in Link's house. Rent the Tornado Rod (20 Rupees). Mother Maiamai's cave, behind a cracked wall near the Lake Hylia entrance, opens with a bomb; she upgrades your items in return for her lost children.
On the island in Lake Hylia, use the Tornado Rod to reveal the switch that opens the House of Gales.
Inside, smash pots to find the buttons that turn on the fans, and ride the fans up with the Tornado Rod. Put out the fire skulls' flames with the Tornado Rod before attacking them. Find the Compass and the Small Keys. On the upper floor, pull the lever to drop a chest, beat the Armos, and take the Big Key.

Boss: Margomill. Use the Tornado Rod to get on top of it and slash its eye. Take the Heart Container and the Pendant of Wisdom.

4. The Tower of Hera

Rent the Hammer from Ravio (20 Rupees). Rosso, in the house near the Lost Woods, gives you the Power Glove once you've cleared the rocks around his house.
Climb Death Mountain through the caves, merging into the walls to dodge the falling boulders and smashing rocks with the Hammer. Touch the weather vane outside the tower.
In the Tower of Hera, use the Hammer to pound pegs and moles, and to launch yourself up with the springs. The Compass is on the second floor, Small Keys are on the third and seventh floors, and the Big Key is on the eleventh floor.

Boss: Moldorm. Slash its tail and don't get knocked off the edge. Take the Heart Container and the Pendant of Power.

5. The Master Sword and Hyrule Castle

Enter the Lost Woods north of Kakariko. In the clearings, ghosts shuffle around to confuse you. Keep your eye on the right ones to find your way through. At the end, with all three Pendants, pull the Master Sword from its pedestal.
Break the barrier on Hyrule Castle with the Master Sword. Inside, dodge the Ball and Chain Soldier's swing and strike him, and beat the Armos to unseal the doors.

Boss: Yuga. He makes two copies of himself; attack the one with the flaming staff. He escapes with Zelda. In the room behind him, cut down the hanging cloth on the wall to reveal a fissure, then merge through it to follow him.

You arrive in Lorule, Hyrule's dark mirror world. Yuga uses the Seven Sages to bring back Ganon and merges with him. You wake up in the Lorule blacksmith's house. Princess Hilda of Lorule asks you to rescue the Seven Sages, who are trapped in paintings in Lorule's seven dungeons.

6. Lorule

Fissures in the walls link the two worlds. Go back to Hyrule through the one near Link's house. Ravio now lets you buy items outright (the first one is half price), so you won't lose them if you fall.
You can do the seven Lorule dungeons in almost any order. Each needs a particular item from Ravio. Here's a good order, since some dungeons hold upgrades that help with others: the Dark Palace (Bombs), Swamp Palace (Hookshot), Skull Woods, Thieves' Hideout, Desert Palace (Sand Rod, available after the Thieves' Hideout), Ice Ruins (Fire Rod) and Turtle Rock (Ice Rod).
Four pieces of Master Ore are hidden in Lorule. There's one each in the Dark Palace, Skull Woods and the Thieves' Hideout, and one in the Lorule Graveyard. Take two to the blacksmith in Hyrule to upgrade the Master Sword, and two more to the blacksmith in Lorule to upgrade it again.

7. Dark Palace

The Dark Palace is in the southeast of Lorule. Reach it through the fissures near the Eastern Palace in Hyrule; one is hidden behind a cracked wall you bomb open. In the hedge maze outside the palace, soldiers patrol. If they spot you, they throw you in a cell, so merge into walls to slip past. A Piece of Heart is hidden in the maze.
Bomb the cracked wall to reveal the entrance. The palace is often dark, so have the Lamp ready.
Bomb the window boards to let in light, which opens the eye-shaped switches. Bomb switches from moving platforms and roll bombs down slopes to reach them. Find the Compass, the Small Keys, the Big Key (three switches) and the Master Ore.

Boss: Gemesaur King. Light the torches, bomb its mask and slash its forehead gem. Take the Heart Container and free Gulley the Sage.

8. Swamp Palace

The Bomb Shop in Lorule rents a Big Bomb Flower for 200 Rupees. Use it to blow up the big cracked rock in the Southern Ruins, which drains the water. Use the Hookshot on the posts to reach the entrance.
Inside, pull the levers with the Hookshot to raise and lower the water. The Compass is in a side room. The big chest in the room with the spiked roller holds the Blue Mail, which halves the damage you take.
Collect the Small Keys. Smash the skulls to find a hidden button, lower the water and take the Big Key.

Boss: Arrghus. Pull its eyeballs off with the Hookshot and slash them, then attack it between its jumps. Take the Heart Container and free Oren the Sage.

9. Skull Woods

The Lorule Skull Woods are cut off, so go in from Hyrule, through the fissure behind Sahasrahla's house in Kakariko. Enter the woods from the southeast and touch the weather vane.
Wallmasters drop from the ceiling and carry you back to the entrance, so keep moving. You can lure one onto a cracked floor to smash it, or use a bomb. Push the statues onto the pressure plates to make walls.
Find the Compass and the Small Keys. Throw the eyeball into the empty eye socket to reach the Big Key. The big chest nearby holds the Master Ore.

Boss: Knucklemaster. Merge into the wall when it makes a fist, then slash its eye. Take the Heart Container and free Seres the Sage.

10. Thieves' Hideout

In Thieves' Town, talk to the townspeople to learn the thieves' song. At the statues in the north of town, give the answers "a narrow path", "really despair" and "to thievin'!" to open the hideout.
Inside, push the statues onto the switches and use Bombs on the conveyor belts to hit switches. The Compass is near Thief Girl's cell. Beat the enemies for the Small Key, open her cell and ask her to follow you.
Thief Girl knows where the leader hid the painting. Keep her safe from the Zazak; if they grab her, you go back a room. Have her wait on one switch while you stand on another to open doors. Together you reach the Master Ore and the Big Key.

Boss: Stalblind. Merge into his shield and attack his back. Take the Heart Container and free Osfala the Sage. Ravio's shop can now sell you the Sand Rod.

11. Desert Palace

The Desert Palace is in Misery Mire. Use the Sand Rod to raise paths of sand across the desert and through the dungeon.
Pull the gargoyles onto the tiles to open the doors. Pull the levers to flow sand through the rooms. The Compass and the Titan's Mitt are on the first floor; the Mitt lets you lift big rocks.
Collect the Small Keys and the Big Key on the upper floors, and climb to the boss door.

Boss: Zaganaga. Raise sand pillars to reach it and slash it. Take the Heart Container and free Irene the Sage. With the Titan's Mitt you can now reach the last Master Ore in the Lorule Graveyard.

12. Ice Ruins

On Death Mountain, use the Hookshot to cross the broken bridge and go through Rosso's Ore Mine to a fissure into Lorule. Touch the weather vane and enter the Ice Ruins.
Melt the ice with the Fire Rod and pull the statue's tongue to ride the lift down to the bottom floor, where the Big Key is.
Work your way back up, melting ice and collecting the Compass and the Small Keys. A big chest holds the Stamina Scroll, which makes your energy gauge bigger.

Boss: Dharkstare. Melt its ice with the Fire Rod and slash it. Take the Heart Container and free Rosso the Sage.

13. Turtle Rock

Swim from Lake Hylia to the fissure into Lorule. Mama Turtle has lost her three babies. Find them all and she'll give you a ride across the lake.
Freeze the lava with the Ice Rod to make stepping stones to the entrance.
Hit the four switches with ice to drop the Compass. Collect the Small Keys. A big chest on the lower floor holds the Hylian Shield. Find the Big Key.

Boss: Grinexx. Drop ice on it through the holes in the floor, then slash its head. Take the Heart Container and free Impa the Sage. The Sages combine their power and the Triforce of Courage appears.

14. Lorule Castle

With all Seven Sages freed, Hilda removes the barrier from Lorule Castle. Bring the Hookshot and Bombs, and the upgraded Master Sword if you can.
Inside, four mini-boss rooms must be cleared, in any order: a Moldorm, a giant Bari, a Ball and Chain Soldier and another Arrghus. Each holds a Small Key. Put out the torches to reveal safe paths across the pits. The Compass and the Red Mail are in chests on the fourth floor. A Fairy Fountain is hidden in the castle.
With all four cleared, the big door opens.

Boss: Yuga Ganon. Strike him when he uses his trident. When he becomes a painting, hit his energy balls back. Princess Zelda gives you the Bow of Light, so you can shoot him out of the wall and attack him. After the battle, Hilda reveals that she wanted Hyrule's Triforce to save her own dying kingdom. Ravio comes forward, and Hilda sees she was wrong and sends Link and Zelda home. Back in Hyrule, Link and Zelda make a wish on the Triforce together to restore Lorule.

Congratulations, you've finished A Link Between Worlds! Clearing the game unlocks Hero Mode.