The Lakebed Temple

Getting into the Lakebed Temple is tricky. You have to swim down to the the bottom of Lake Hylia (equipping your Iron Boots will make the journey a bit easier), then find the rocky wall in front of the temple. Lay down a Water Bomb on the little round thingamabob underneath the doorway; this will cause a mass of bubbles to rise up in front of it. Place a bomb on the bubbles, and it’ll rise up and blow open the door.

The B1 floor of the Lakebed Temple.	The 1F floor of the Lakebed Temple.
The 2F floor of the Lakebed Temple.

Oh lordy, six floors of action! Not to worry, a few of these are only one or two rooms. We’ll concentrate on the main floors for our maps here.

Room 1

Nothing complicated, just swim forward. You’ll come across oyster enemies, which can only be killed with a spin attack when they open their mouths, and jellyfishes, which can only be killed when you find the weapon that you'll pick up inside the dungeon later on. Make your way past the group, then surface up into a room at the far end of the tunnel. The chests here contain bombs and arrows, both of which you’ll be needing.

When you’re ready to move north, run up the stairs and jump to the handle that’s sticking out of the ceiling to open the lock on the door leading northward.

Room 2

Whip out your bomb-arrows and start firing at the stalagmites sticking down from the ceiling. Or are those stalactites? We could never keep those straight. Anyway, knocking them down will create a jumping pathway for you toward the north door. The slugs here are hard to kill, since they can only be attacked from behind, and you won’t have enough room to adequately perform a Back Slice. Just try to avoid them.

Room 3

This room is dominated by a staircase that rotates. It seems a lot more complicated than it is; from now on, you only have to leave via the eastern or western exits, and there are only two floors that really matter.

Get used to hanging on these handles. You’ll be doing a lot of it.

Begin by heading down the stairs in front of you and taking a right turn at the bottom of them. Move all the way around to the south side of the room, then jump out and grab the yellow handle. That’ll rotate the stairs around. Drop down and head up to the upper floor, move around to the eastern side of the room, then grab the handle there. That’ll prime you up to exit through the western door on the lower level here. Before you do, though, check the chest to the northeast of that door; the Dungeon Map is inside.

Room 4

There are two stalactimites suspended from the ceiling. Hit them both with bomb-arrows, then walk through the tunnel ramp to your right. The ralling rocks will have made a path for you to reach the central pillar, then wend your way around it to the point where you can see the other stalactigamite head bobbing up and down on a geyser. Leap across to reach the chest there, which holds a Small Key, then return to Room 3.

Head up the stairs and move around to the western door on the upper level of Room 3. You can find Ooccoo in a jar near the door here. Unlock the door to move on to Room 5.

Room 5

Knock down the stalactigamictites near the entrance here, then climb up on one of them to reach the vines. When you hit the top of the barrier, jump out to grab the handle and pull it, then move to the northwest. You can see a weakened wall to your west here, but ignore it and head through the door to the south. Hop onto the cog, kill the lizardman, then proceed through the southern door and open the chest with the Small Key inside of it. With that in hand, return to the north and bomb the weakened wall to open a passage leading on to Room 6.

Room 6

The little slug in the water bubble here is annoying; his shell protects him from all damage. You can destroy the water with a bomb or a bomb-arrow, if you like, or you can just ignore him and unlock the door that leads onward.

When you reach the sluice control room here, drop down into the hole in the middle of the room and find the vines leading up to the north side. Walk all the way up the ramp here until you reach the top of the room, then climb the ladders to reach the handle. Jump out and pull it to start the flow of water. (The chest here contains 20 rupees, by the way, but you can’t reach it until you have the Clawshot.)

With the water flowing into the room, jump all the way down into it, then look around for the other handle in the center of the water. Climb up to its little pedestal and pull that handle as well; that’ll cause the water to start flowing all the way back to Room 3. If you leave through the southern door here and walk underneath the waterwheel, you can find a fairy in one of the jars there.

Room 4

When you reach the room with the cog in it, drop down off the side of it to return to Room 4 below. The three platforms here are now rotating along with the cog, so hop onto one of them and get to the northern door here, which leads to Room 7.

Room 7

You’ll find a small chest with a Small Key inside of it. Return back to Room 4, hop on the rotating platforms again, then jump off to reach the western door, which will take you back to Room 7. Head through, unlock the door, and head down, down, down into the deeps.

Room 8

There are some offshoot corridors here, which you can explore if you wish with the Iron Boots. The usual assortment of rupees and bombs dwell within. At the end of this corridor, though, you’ll find a rock blocking a passage. Plop your Iron Boots on, drop a water bomb at its feet, and head on through.