Oracle of Ages Walkthrough – The Black Tower –

9.1 The Maku Tree Restored

 ~ Past ~ 

Just after exiting the Ancient Tomb, jump off the ledge and head right a screen. Continue down a scren and use the Power Gloves to lift the large blue statue. Work your way around and open it to get a Magical Ring. When appraised, this ring becomes the Blue Ring, which doubles the amount of damage Link can withstand. Use a Gale Seed and warp to the South Shore of Lynna Village. Walk up three screens and play the Song of Time to warp to the present.

 ~ Present ~ 

There are two remaining pieces of heart left to acquire and they are two of the most annoying ones to get. One can be acquired by bumping into Maple, in which she sometimes will randomly drop a Piece of Heart. If you have the Maple Ring, you should wear it, as it will cause Maple to appear at select screens each time Link has defeated 15 enemies.

The final, and perhaps most annoying of all the heart pieces in the game is found within a Gasha Nut. Link will need to plant a Gasha Seed and defeat enough enemies so that it blossoms into a Gasha Nut. The more enemies that Link defeats, the more rare the item that is within the Gasha Nut. Furthermore, if Link wears the Gasha Ring, it will also increase the chance of acquiring a rare item. From my experience, the rarest of items are often times other Magical Rings and not the Piece of Heart. In any case, just keep planting and trying to find one. I recommend saving your game before slashing a Gasha Nut. If it isn’t the Piece of Heart, reset your game and try again. This way you won’t have to endlessly plant Gasha Seeds.

Head back to Lynna City and head up to visit the Maku Tree. She will thank Link for all he has done and grant him the Maku Seed! This item can penetrate the evil forces blocking access to the Black Tower

After recieving the Maku Seed, the old hag will appear again and reveal herself as Koume and Kotake, two witches collectively known as Twinrova. The witches will tell Link that his efforts, though seemingly successful, will have no affect on their plan to cast sorrow about the land of Labrynna, which seems to be their goal in some greater plan.

Exit the Maku Tree’s area down one screen back to Lynna City, then head left three and down two screens. Play the Tune of Time to warp back to the past, where the final showdown with Veran must take place.

 ~ Past ~ 

Walk down one screen into the Black Tower area, where Ralph has already beat Link to the scene in the fight against Veran. Knowing the Veran has taken over Queen Ambi’s body, Ralph will opt to destroy the evil sorceress anyway and run off to the tower. Start to walk down after Ralph, to which Impa and Nayru will come to Link and reveal that Ralph is actually a descendant of Queen Ambi, and that destroying her will mean Ralph will never exist.

After a last few words of encouragement, head down, right, and up one screen to the entrance of the Black Tower and enter it.

9.2 The Black Tower

Each section of the tower will now be crawling with enemies which Link may choose to ignore or defeat to stock up on items they may drop. Head through the areas of the first floor by going right and up one screen each, then left twice and down one last screen. Take the staircase up to the second floor of the tower, then head up one screen, right two, and down one last screen to another staircase. Go up the stairs to the third floor, then head up one, left two, down one, and right one screen to the entrance at the top of the tower.

Link will walk in front of the entrance and the Maku Seed will rise into the air. Accompanied by the eight Essences of Time, the Maku Seed will draw power to make the three doorways ahead one. Enter through the doorway into the Black Tower Turret.

 ~ Black Tower Turret ~ 

There is a Fairy in each of the vases to the right and left if needed. The Black Tower Turret is comprised of two levels with many staircases lying about in a maze-like fashion, guarding one staircase on the second floor which leads up to a third floor.

Start by heading left along the path and up the staircase at the end. Walk down the staircase above the one Link just came up, then head up the staircase above at the top-left corner of the room. Follow the path down and take the first staircase on the right, then walk along the path on the right all the way up to a staircase at the top of the room. Descend the staircase just below of the one Link came up, then walk up the staircase in the middle at the top of the room to reach the staircase leading to the third floor.

On the third floor, four flames will surround Link and spread out. Take the next-to-last one in the bottom horizontal row to access a ledge on the fourth floor. On this ledge, walk up and enter the stairwell which leads to the top of the Black Tower. Here, walk down the steps and down one screen, then head right, up, and left one screen each. At the top, enter the tower again through a large, ominous entrance, where Ralph will be seen drawing his sword on Veran.

After an unsuccessful attempt at slaying the evil sorceress, Veran will knock Ralph aside and disappear. Head up one room into Veran’s chamber, where the final battle will ensue.

 ~ Queen Ambi ~ 

This battle will be the same as it was when Veran had possession of Nayru’s body at Ambi’s Palace. Chase Veran throughout the room and shoot her with a Mystery Seed when she stops to shoot an attack. Latch onto Veran’s essence with the Long Hook when it rises from Ambi’s body, moving it away and causing Veran to take shape, then slash Veran and repeat the process. Sometimes, instead of shooting an array of orbs, Veran will attack by dropping a purple spider-creature that will chase Link but can be defeated for more health.

After three hits, Queen Ambi will be free from Veran’s grasp and run off to her duties. Veran’s essence will fly back towards Link, attempting to take over his body to no avail. After some words, Veran will transform into a larger version of herself with wings and create four Dark Links within the room.

 ~ Veran ~ 

The Dark Links will move opposite the direction of Link, only damaging him if contact is made. Their primary use is for additional health as they can be defeated with only a few slashes from Link’s sword. As Veran flies around the room, she will shoot an array of attacks at Link, including small blue orbs and sometimes stopping to launch red orbs from one large orb in all directions. Slash Veran when she nears Link until her first form is defeated.

Believing the evil sorceress has been vanquished, Nayru and Ralph will rush into the room to greet and praise Link. The three will then begin to leave the Tower, only for Veran to begin crumbling it with her powers just before they get out. Ralph and Nayru will make it out of the Tower safe, but Link will get caught in the rubble and end up in an open room with Veran in her final and true form.

 ~ Veran’s True Form ~ 

Veran will being in her “turtle” form and often transform to and from two other forms throughout the battle. In her “turtle” form, Veran will bounce high into the air and attempt to land wherever Link is, momentarily causing the floor surrounding where she lands to be covered in acid. Speed is key here, so use Pegasus Seeds to stay far away from Veran as she attempts to land on Link. Veran will do this a few times before poking her head out of her shell, which is when Link needs to slash away on the sorceress.

Her “spider” form will crawl around the room and attempt to run Link down. She will also shoot a web from her mouth towards Link which, if he is caught in, she will use to pull him to her mouth and slam him into the ground a couple of times. Finally, “spider” Veran will sometimes shoot a web into the sky and climb up it before falling down onto Link wherever he stands. To damage Veran in this form, Link must throw a bomb to explode on her, weakening her momentarily and making her vulnerable to attacks from Link’s sword.

Veran’s “bee” form will fly around the room shooting orbs at Link. Sometimes, she will fly off and back on screen, flying from one side to the next at the top of the room and shooting stingers down as she goes. She will also drop smaller bee creatures that will chase Link and can be defeated to regain health. At any time in this form, Veran can be slashed with Link’s sword to damage her, though a Pegasus Seed may be needed to move quickly out of her way.

Once Veran has been defeated, the scene will cut to Nayru and Ralph waiting patiently outside a caved-in entrance to the front of the Black Tower. Link will come busing through the rubble, safe and sound, where the three will then leave the tower area and be greeted by Ambi and her guards, who she had called to aid Link in the battle. Labrynna will be shown returning to normal again with Veran’s influence being lifted from the land. However, Twinrova will be shown in front of the now lit Flame of Sorrow, thanks to Veran’s efforts. With a bigger plan apparently unfolding, Twinrova will gleefully laugh at their accomplishment.

Link and the others will be transported back to the present in the Maku Tree’s area, where a statue of Link is shown that will later replace the mermaid statue in Lynna City. As the credits roll, scenes of peace and happiness returning to Labrynna will be shown before granting you, the player, a secret code to the land of Holodrum, with which Link can uncover the true plans of Twinrova in The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons…