Inside Jabu-Jabu's Belly
Requirements: Deku Nuts, Slingshot
Hints
BEFOREHAND
Another long journey is required to reach here. Recover the Bomb Bag from Dodongo's Cavern so you can blow the rocks blocking the way up Zora's River. Enter Zora's Domain and play the diving game so you can win the Silver Scale. Once you have it, you will be able to access the warp point between Zora's Domain and Lake Hylia. Go to Lake Hylia through the warp and nearby will be something in the water. Dive down and retrieve it to find a message in a Bottle. Show the message to King Zora back at Zora's Domain.
Phew! Still listening? Well, King Zora will give you access to Zora's Fountain once he reads the letter. By now, you should have at least one empty Bottle. Buy a Fish from the Zora Shop, or catch one for free from the shallow water near the shop. Now head up to Zora's Fountain and to Lord Jabu-Jabu. Stand on the altar near where Jabu-Jabu rests his head and drop the fish in front of him. He'll suck you into his mouth, and you can begin your quest.
By the way, you don't need to bring a fish with you if you plan on re-entering Lord Jabu-Jabu.
MOBY DICK, ZELDA STYLE
The first room inside the belly of the Zoras' Guardian Spirit has some bouncing Bubbles and a couple of Octoroks. KO the Octoroks if you like, but the Bubbles pose more of a threat and should be burst with Deku Nuts. At the back of this room is a blocked door; turn around and look up for an Epiglottis Switch. Hit it with the Slingshot to open the door and proceed. In the next room, follow the path around the rather conspicuous hole leading down; make sure you do not go down the hole, otherwise you'll have to climb all the way back up again in order to proceed. That's not a convenient thing to do, is it?
The next room is the main room, where there are many pitfalls in the ground. The falls can be spotted by watching for the moving floor. To get rid of the flying jellyfish, stun them with Deku Nuts then attack them with the sword. Anyway, you'll find and talk to (ie, lectured by) Princess Ruto in this room before she falls down one of the holes. Follow her down, but before you do so look around for the long moving pole called a Red Slimy Thing blocking one of the pitfalls. Remember that pitfall for future reference.
Jump down the hole after Ruto and talk to her twice. Now, pick her up and carry her through the door behind you: don't jump down to any of the other doors. Down this corridor will be some Bubbles, which you should probably take out. Put Ruto down and shatter a Deku Nut to take several of them out at once. When you reach the end of this passage, you'll find a ditch with shallow water. Beware, since flying stingrays will jump out of the water if you stand on one; blast them out of the sky with the Slingshot.
It's safest to take out all of the flying stingrays and Bubbles here, using Z-Targeting to spot them all. Now, toss Ruto to the far side of the ditch and step on the switch to raise the water level high enough for you to swim to the far side of the room. Hit the Epiglottis Switch to proceed. In the next room, you only have to be wary of attacks from a lone Octorok while you wait for the elevator to take you up to the next floor.
Ride up to the first floor and go back to the main room. Now, avoid the pits and run as fast as you can to the far side of the room; this will allow you to avoid any attacks. You'll find yourself in what I call the maze room, simply because all of the passages which lead off this corridor is so confusing it's like a maze. Don't worry about the electric snakes buzzing around; just toss Ruto at them! Look for the blue switch which requires both Ruto and Link to stand on it in order to activate, and hold Ruto as you step on it to activate the switch.
Enter the opening door and destroy all of the hostiles in the room. A chest will appear containing the Boomerang, which is the only weapon you should use from now on except for Octoroks. Now, go back to the maze room and look for a yellow hold-down switch. Use Ruto to hold it down and enter the room; in here will be a large Parasitic Tentacle which you must destroy. It's no picnic, however.
Lock onto the Tentacle with Z-Targeting and throw the Boomerang to hit the centre. After the first hit, it'll retreat into the roof and only come down when Link is in strike range. For the rest of the battle, use this technique: lock onto the Tentacle from a distance, then hold down C in readiness to throw the Boomerang. Now, get close enough to the Tentacle so that it starts coming down from the roof. Release C, then retreat. Once you have the rhythm going, it's as easy as pie.
Once the tentacle is down, sweep the rest of the passages leading off from the maze room. Most of them have more Parasitic Tentacles, but two of the rooms contain the Map and Compass. One room requires you to defeat all the Bubbles inside in a limited amount of time, but just keep tossing Deku Nuts and you'll make it in no time. As you knock out each Parasitic Tentacle, you'll note that a Red Slimy Thing barrier dissipates. Once every room leading off from the maze room has been swept, return to the main room.
In the main room, you'll note that the Red Slimy Thing guarding one of the pitfalls is gone. Fall down the now-accessable pitfall and you'll reach a platform that wasn't accessable any other way. Go through the door and Princess Ruto will spot the Zora Sapphire. Link can't reach the Spiritual Stone, so you'll have to toss Ruto up to the platform to reach it. Once Ruto grabs it, she'll be whisked away to some mysterious place and a Big Octo will be left to keep you company.
The ensuing battle isn't that difficult, it's just that you need to concentrate pretty hard if you want to get through it unscathed. The centre elevator will rise and reveal some sharp spikes, and the elevator will spin in a random direction but won't actually move. Big Octo will run laps around the room hoping to trample over Link. Big Octo will change direction every now and again.
Firstly, you'll need to come up behind Big Octo if you want to damage him. Run in the direction opposite to the spinning spiked elevator and you'll come up on his sixthé every time. Go as close to the spikes as possible (without touching them, of course) and you'll outrun Big Octo. When you're close enough, lock onto Big Octo with Z-Targeting and toss the Boomerang. When Big Octo is stunned, use a Jump Attack. After hitting Big Octo with the sword, retreat and wait to see which direction the spikes are going in before repeating the attack.
After KO'ing Big Octo, you'll be able to ride the elevator in the centre of the room. Go through the new passage and you'll come to....big red wobbling platforms. First, go right and behind the platforms to knock out the Octoroks there. Now go back up to the stable platform you were on before. Use the Boomerang to stabilize the platform (and prevent damage), then jump onto it when it looks like it's not moving. Do the same to the second one to reach the far side of the room. In the next room, when you jump onto the next platform, you'll find yourself in the second room of Jabu-Jabu's Belly.
Grab one of the wooden crates, carry it to the hold-down switch and enter the door. Here, use the Boomerang to knock out the jellyfish. Now, see that large wall there, sticking out of the shallow water? Climb the vines along it and you'll be able to see an Epiglottis Switch. Lock onto it with Z-Targeting, then throw the Boomerang so that it archs past the blocking wall and hits the switch. You will now be able to access the Keeper....
BARINADE: Bio-Electric Anemone
anemone (say a-nemm-a-nee) noun; 1. a small garden flower growing from a corm and resembling a poppy; 2. a non-mobile, marine animal, having a circular body with a ring of tentacles to trap food from the water (source: Heinemann Dictionary). And while the second definition seems to be what they had in mind, Barinade is very mobile indeed!!
About the only thing you need to know about destroying this boss is: lock on with Z-Targeting and keep moving (all the time!!) to avoid the electric attacks. When he turns blue, attack him with the sword. But there are people out there who simply need to have the entire sequence of this battle written down in step-by step instructions (like me), so I'll put in the full story. Ready?....(deep breath)
Lock onto the tentacles which anchor Barinade to the roof, tossing the Boomerang to sever them. Once the four of them are cut, Barinade will start moving, protected by an armour of jellyfish. The jellyfish will circle around Barinade as he comes towards you; lock onto Barinade's body and try to hit it with the Boomerang. That done, the jellyfish will detatch and you can lock onto them; toss the Boomerang to destroy them and deplete Barinade's armour. Remember to keep moving, as Barinade will still fire electricity.
You must go through an upper set and a lower set of armour before Barinade is completely defenceless. Once all the jellyfish are completely obliterated, just lock onto Barinade's body and, while you keep moving, toss the Boomerang. When Barinade is stunned, run in with the sword until he recovers, at which point you retreat then restart the attack. It's only a matter of time before Barinade goes down, you're rewarded with a Heart Container, and you can meet Princess Ruto in the warp.