The Legend of Zelda is a series known for its innovative puzzles and dungeons, which take the same precedence as other staples, such as its boss fights and narrative. It’s not uncommon to find yourself stuck at a dead end in a Zelda game, unsure of how to open a specific door or figure out a puzzle’s solution.
Solving these puzzles is often more satisfying than the reward itself, especially when the solution slots into place and you realize what you must do. The best Zelda puzzles use their specific game’s mechanics and require you to use logic when solving them.
8 Ice Temple Big Key Ice Block Puzzle - The Minish Cap
Ice blocks are a signature puzzle in The Legend of Zelda series, with different iterations appearing throughout the games. The Minish Cap’s Ice Temple dungeon utilizes lots of ice-related puzzles in its theming, as you’d expect from the name.
One particular puzzle that you have to complete to obtain the Big Key involves pushing ice blocks in a certain order. You’ll need to transport the frozen Big Key to a puddle of light on the other side of the room to melt the ice encasing the key. While it may be obvious that you need to melt the ice, the challenge comes in arranging the ice blocks correctly so that the Big Key lands in the right place. The floor is also frozen over, so you’ll slip and slide as you attempt to solve the puzzle.
7 Press The Sacred Crest - Phantom Hourglass
On your third visit to the Temple of the Ocean King in Phantom Hourglass, you’ll find a sea chart, and Ciela, your fairy companion, will tell you that you need to press the Sacred Crest onto it.
This puzzle perfectly utilizes the Nintendo DS’ hardware by making you close the screen, which literally presses the crest onto the map. It’s one of those puzzles where the solution seems simple once you know what to do, but it will still stump you on your first playthrough of the game.
6 Earth Temple Mirror Room - The Wind Waker
The Earth Temple’s main mechanic is working together with Medli to reflect light on enemies and mirrors. This mechanic is encapsulated in the biggest puzzle in the temple, which involves arranging mirrors in the correct place around the room to reflect light.
Once the mirrors are in their designated places, Link and Medli must each stand on a platform to reflect the light onto the sun statue on the wall, which opens the locked door. Solving a puzzle alongside Medli is a change of pace when compared to other dungeons in the series, making both it and The Wind Waker’s Earth Temple memorable.
5 Opening The Well In Kakariko Village - Ocarina Of Time
In order to obtain the Lens of Truth in Ocarina of Time, you must explore below Kakariko Village by going down the well. However, the well is inaccessible to both young and adult Link. To drain the water flooding the well when you’re a child, you must learn the Song of Storms as an adult by talking to Guru Guru in the windmill and then play it to him as a child.
The puzzle winds up being a time paradox, as you learn the song from Guru Guru, but he learns the song from young Link in the first place when you travel back in time. It’s a fun way to incorporate the game’s time motif into a puzzle.
4 Desert Palace Ball Puzzle - A Link Between Worlds
Within the Desert Palace, Link can use the Sand Rod to create pillars of sand that he can walk across that can be used to redirect objects. In one of the dungeon’s rooms, you must use this power to redirect large balls rolling across the room so that they hit obstacles blocking Link’s path.
This ultimately results in one of the balls freeing a stream of sand to help you progress through the rest of the dungeon. Using the Sand Rod like this is a fun way to interact with the dungeon’s environment and use it to your advantage. A similar concept was even used in Breath of the Wild four years later, with certain shrines requiring you to use Cryonis to make pillars of ice appear to redirect objects.
3 Stone Guardians Sacred Grove Puzzle - Twilight Princess
To retrieve the Master Sword and break the curse placed on him in Twilight Princess, Link must complete the puzzle offered to him by the stone giants that guard the entrance to the Sacred Grove.
This puzzle involves moving either up, down, left, or right, with the stone giant’s following Link’s movements. To solve the puzzle, you must guide both of the stone giants to the correct pedestals. Although it might seem simple at first glance, figuring out the correct path to move the giants can prove difficult. It’s unlikely you’ll successfully do it on your first try (unless you’re extremely lucky), but once you complete it, it’s rewarding nonetheless.
2 Stone Tower Temple Flip The Room Puzzle - Majora’s Mask
This puzzle, located in Majora’s Mask’s Stone Tower Temple, is an excellent example of a puzzle using the dungeon’s main mechanic in its execution. Similar to how you flip the entirety of the Stone Tower Temple, this puzzle uses that idea on a smaller scale.
On the surface, this puzzle is simple - you just have to push the block to the indent on the other side of the room. However, the layout of the floor means you won’t be able to push it there this way. Instead, you must shoot the red gem with an arrow to flip the room, push the block as far as you can, and then continue this cycle until you can push the block into the right place. Although not a difficult puzzle to solve, it captures the dungeon’s essence succinctly.
1 Sky Keep - Skyward Sword
When entering Sky Keep in Skyward Sword, you immediately get access to the dungeon’s map; however, it’s not like the maps you’re used to. The main gimmick of Sky Keep is that you have to move the rooms around using a control panel, making the layout of the dungeon a puzzle in itself.
You have to make sure that the doors to each room align so that you can pass through them, which involves progressing and switching the rooms around as you go. It’s an interesting way to tackle the concept of the dungeon map, as the layout constantly changes as you work your way through the dungeon.