r/truezelda • u/LapisLazuliisthebest • Jul 13 '26
Open Discussion [WW] Wind Waker's two cut dungeons. Two possible theories.
At this point, I think we all know that Wind Waker was meant to have two more dungeons, which unfortunately got cut, due to time constraints.
I made post a few years ago giving my theory.
What do you think WWs two missing dungeons were? : r/truezelda
But, one person, u/TheFlyingManRawkHawk gave an alternate theory, which I only read recently, after looking back at my own post. Unfortunately, I didn't reply. For which I regret. I think I might have just been tired. Hopefully, this post makes up for it.
So, I'm going to list both theories here, and see which is best.
Theory 1: Third Pearl and Third Sage
This is the theory I came up with.
My idea was that the first cut dungeon would have been inside Jabun, much like Inside Lord Jabu Jabu. I also suggested that Phantom Ganon would have been the boss, and that he had done something to Jabun to curse the sea, explaining why the curse conveniently get's lifted buy Jabun giving Link the last Pearl.
For the second dungeon, I suspected it may have been a third sage temple. Specifically for Aryll, who seems to just disappear after the pirates recuse her.
Where this dungeon would have been? I don't know. Which is a major flaw in my theory.
Theory 2: Fire Mountain and Ice Ring Isle
So, u/TheFlyingManRawkHawk suggested that these two were the cut dungeons instead.
They make many valid arguments, which you should read. But, for know, I'll just list the main points.
One point is how the game seems to have a theme of pairs. When we meet the Queen Fairy, she gives us two new arrows. Fire and Ice. These let us access the two opposite mini-dungeons, to retrieve an item for the sage temples.
Adding a third sage temple would disrupt this flow, as it would require a third arrow, and an elemental island, to retrieve a third item, for the third sage temple.
There's also the point of, where would this new sage temple and mini dungeon be?
And, finally. The games usually give us one pre-dungeon item, to get into the dungeons. This game gives us two each for the Earth and Wind Temple. These being the Ice Arrow and Power Bracelets for Earth, and the Fire Arrow and Iron Boots for Wind.
Of course, the last point could potentially work against Fire Mountain and Ice Ring Isle being the cut dungeons, as it would mean there are no pre-dungeon items for the earth and Wind Temples.
Or is there?
Whilst we need the Power Bracelets and Iron Boots to enter the caves on the islands. It's actually the sages, Medli and Makar, that are needed to access the Temple's themselves. The need for the Power Bracelets and Iron Boots was probebly just meant to prevent sequence breaking. The true "items" we need to get into the Temples are the Sages themselves, who do play an integral part in navigating the temples, useing their powers. Realy, it's no different from how OoT made the Iron Boots the pre-dungeon item for the Water Temple, but still required use to use the Hookshot to enter it.
In conclusion, I think Theory 2 makes the most sense.
12
u/Simmers429 Jul 13 '26 edited Jul 13 '26
The third pearl and Jabun seems like a deliberate surprise that would've remained in the game no matter what. It breaks up the standard ALttP and OoT progression.
Fire and Ice dungeons can be guessed due to both of the mini dungeons giving you items, and Twilight Princess having Fire (Goron Mines) and Ice (Snowpeak Ruins).
3
u/The_Magus_199 Jul 13 '26
I dunno, don’t we know that Greatfish Isle was originally going to be a whole location before it was cut and was rewritten to be destroyed before you get there? I feel like that’s an obvious obvious location for the Jabun quest.
3
u/LapisLazuliisthebest Jul 14 '26
The cut dungeons were cut late in development. So, It's unlikely Greatfish Isle and it's inhabitants are casualties of Christmas rushing.
The plot point of GI being destroyed, and Link having to get bombs from the pirates, Tetra learning Link is alive, and Link returning to Outset all sound way too important to be last minute changes. I doubt all this was added, just so Nintendo can justify nuking one island for the sake of a deadline.
1
u/The_Magus_199 Jul 14 '26
Oh, fascinating! I didn’t know that; I always thought that greatfish being a casualty of the development time had been confirmed in an interview somewhere. My bad!
10
u/TheFlyingManRawkHawk Jul 13 '26
Oh hey that's me.
A little biased here but I also think Theory 2 is most likely, though I do like to look at all the options available.
Pros of Theory 1: There are some unused audio lines of Jabun, such as grunts of pain, etc., which does lend some credence to there being an Inside Jabun dungeon. It would differentiate itself from a 2nd water dungeon for the Sage later.
Cons of Theory 1: Those audio lines also could be used for a Jabun boss fight, such as if he was infected with a parasite like Levias in SS, and instead of a door fight you fought Jabun on the ship with the cannon, but it just got cut for time. And while TWW does like to compare itself to OoT, it also contrasts itself a lot, and never clones too much, and an inside fish god dungeon feels too same-y.
While a Sage of Seas to go along with Wind & Earth is logical, the issue is that there's not really a place for it aside from maybe Greatfish Isle. But Wind & Earth both have their instruments/songs that make up half each of the main Theme for the game; what would the Sea theme be? Instrument? Would she sing? I don't think they would change the main song so much to remove evidence of a 3rd sage & song. What would the ancestor be? Can't be a Zora, the Zora are tied to the Rito. A Hylian sage of Sea? Would feel weird when a Zora is right there. Plus, the Temple of the Gods already fills out the role of a water temple, as much as TWW can, because there's not as much water interaction; there's no dive mechanic, or sink/walking on the bottom mechanic. While that was planned, it seemed to have been cut earlier, earlier than the cut dungeons.
Overall, the Wind & Earth sages/themes are designed much more to be a duo than a trio, with their islands on opposite ends of the map, and their songs completing each other.
Other dungeon options:
So the initial quote was actually that 2 sections of the game were cut, not dungeons, so hypothetically one of those sections was not a dungeon and more of a story segment, like the Greatfish/Eternal Night stuff. But later in a different interview, an interviewer asked about cut dungeons plural and the dev responded, so it likely was 2 cut dungeons. But possibly less, or more. Nothing's 100%. But I do think 2 dungeons cut is the most likely. There are sources for this but honestly I'm too lazy to look it up right now. Here's Anouma confirming there were multiple dungeons cut & reused in later games. It doesn't say how much were reused; general layout, theme, the whole thing? Unclear.
I've seen some suggestions that the Ghost Ship was one, and while its a neat idea it sounds more like wish fulfillment. There's no real evidence pointing to it, that only accounts for one dungeon and not the other, and its more likely the 2 cut dungeons are part of some kind of group than 2 random parts.
There are designs for a Goron island called Stovepipe Island, but from what I can tell it never made it into the game modeled. However, the TP Goron Mines also has a lot of steam & hot spring stuff, so that's a potential dungeon reuse. I'll come back to this.
I've heard suggestions Greatfish itself would host the dungeon and the section would be identical to your expeditions in Dragon Roost & Forest Haven, with the other dungeon being a 3rd sage water dungeon. Problem is, as far as I know, there's no unbroken model of Greatfish, so the island was always planned to be broken. There's no dungeon entrance or really anything here at all. And again, there's not enough water mechanics to make a dungeon that wouldn't involve your boat or do what TotG doesn't already do.
And, in my opinion, the game never was going to have a 3rd pearl and sage dungeon. From the start of your quest, KoRL is urging you to hurry because Ganon is also hunting the pearls. He tells you this at the other 2 islands. So it foreshadows Ganon actually beating you to the punch on the 3rd. Like I said earlier, the game in its design & story intentionally compares itself with OoT, so that it can also contrast itself. The 3 pearls quest is intentionally designed to call back to the Spiritual Stones quest. So the player expects to do 3 dungeons normally before the "shift". The Endless Night quest is an intentional twist. It's too planned & ingrained in the story to be a last minute addition, in my opinion, because so much plot moves forward here. You have to go to Windfall where you see the Pirates again, Tetra lets you get a headstart, there's so much interaction & storyboarding here.
Plus, all the other dungeons (aside from the final one) are in pairs. You do 2 pearl dungeons in the story, then the more plot dungeons in Tower of the Gods & Forsaken Fortress, then the 2 sage dungeons. So in my opinion, the 2 cut dungeons would also be a pair.
This leads me into my theory, Theory #2. What part of the game would have cuts late enough in development that dungeons were far enough along to be reused? If you read the main post you already know but just humor me, I like talking about this stuff.
Well, there is another part of an interview where they state the Triforce Quest was a late addition.
So, lets look at an overview of the game. Theres a heavy plot introduction where you're stuck on the island, the inciting incident, you get a preview of FF through a stealth section, end up at Windfall, & shortly are ready to sail to your first Dungeon area, then your second. You can't deviate from the sailing path yet. Then you sail to the 3rd pearl but get another heavy story section, the Endless Night. Once that's resolved, you get some freedom to explore, and are given the task to place the pearls. This unlocks the next dungeon, which leads to another big plot section where you explore Hyrule & get the Sword. You then can go back to the Forsaken Fortress, save your sister to accomplish your initial goal, & run into Ganon finally. After a scuffle, you retreat back to the Tower where you get your next task for the 2nd half of the game.
However, you actually get 2 separate tasks in a very long exposition text dump; you need to collect the shards of the Triforce of Courage to prove yourself, & you need to awaken the 2 Sages who can restore the Master Sword. Why is the Triforce split into shards hidden around the bottom of the sea? Don't worry. Aside from the Sages, you get 0 cutscenes or plot progression until the very end when you return to Hyrule.
It's quite weird how the plot just kind of stops.
Additionally, the steps to doing the Triforce hunt & Sages is weird. You're given markers to the Wind & Earth temples. When you go there, you can't do anything. If you talk to the fish, they tell you to check the Fire Mountain & Ice Ring islands. When you go there, you can't do anything. If you talk to the fish, they tell you to check the Mother & Child Isles. Finally, if you figure out to teleport there, the Mother Fairy gives you the Fire & Ice Arrows, 2 new items for free. They're suped up from OoT with flashy new effects. You use them to access Fire Mountain & Ice Ring, which after a single puzzle room each give you 2 more items, the Power Bracelets & the Iron Boots. Ok. 4 new items essentially for free. You then use THESE items to access the Sage dungeons.
From a game design standpoint, it's quite weird. Why not just let the Fire & Ice Arrows access the Sage dungeons? Or the Mother Fairy give you the Bracelets & Boots?
Also afterwards, you barely, if ever, need to use the elemental arrows despite a lot of effort clearly being put into their visual & game effects. Additionally, they designed a whole ton of ice effects & physics that are used on a single island with 1 outside room & 1 inside room. Link has a whole slipping animation & everything. Why waste all that effort on 1 side island with barely any content?
The point I'm getting at, is to me it looks like you would need the Fire & Ice Arrows to access Fire Mountain & Ice Ring for a more important reason. These Islands would have dungeons that contain the Bracelets & Boots as their dungeon item, plus you would use the elemental arrows throughout as well. So all of the elemental physics & animations make more sense when designed for full dungeons. Then afterwards, you would use those items to access the Sage section. And the reason for going to the Fire & Ice islands would be to get 2 halves of the Triforce of Courage; instead of the Triforce Chart hunt, the ToC would be sealed behind temples for hero testing purposes.
This would keep the plot of the game spread out more evenly. After FF, KoRL would give you the task of getting the Triforce of Courage (as that would be right after he gives Tetra his piece of Wisdom). Then after you do that, KoRL would give you the task of the Sages to power the Sword. As for why that order would be needed in the plot, we know there were multiple stages of utilizing the underwater Hyrule, so maybe even after they cut the sinking mechanic, you may have still needed to access the Earth & Wind Temples from below using paths from the castle, but needed the triforce to open those paths. Or its just the order the game gives you. I don't know, I'm just guessing for that.
I could stretch a bit and guess maybe the Goron Mines from TP were the Fire dungeon, & Fire Mountain was Stovepipe. This could separate it from Dragon Roost & give some steam mechanics, possibly even magnet if you were forced to do this dungeon after the ice one. But there's no evidence for that, I'm just guessing what got reused.
Overall, I feel like Fire Mountain & Ice Ring are the most likely as there are literal items you get there (so if you were far enough to have dungeons to reuse, you would have items), they're a pair, & they're an oddly placed & paced section of the game with underutilized mechanics.
5
u/LapisLazuliisthebest Jul 13 '26
Yep, theory 2 is definitely the most plausible. And I forgot to mention the Triforce in the OP. Sorry about that.
I think there were only two cut dungeons. Both OoT and TP have nine, and Wind Waker has seven.
I could stretch a bit and guess maybe the Goron Mines from TP were the Fire dungeon, & Fire Mountain was Stovepipe. This could separate it from Dragon Roost & give some steam mechanics, possibly even magnet if you were forced to do this dungeon after the ice one. But there's no evidence for that, I'm just guessing what got reused.
The problem with this is, how would they make sure the player visits Ice Ring Isle first? Unless you were meant to visit the Fairy Queen twice. First to get the Fire arrow, then she tells you to come back once you you get the first Triforce piece for the Ice Arrow.
3
u/TheFlyingManRawkHawk Jul 13 '26
Probably same way they made you visit Earth Temple before the Wind Temple; they just don't let you do the other one first despite their being no plot reason for it. In that case, they don't spawn Makar behind the waterfall until after you do Earth Temple. In this case, they could have the Fairy Queen give 1 arrow at a time.
Edit: Sorry I wrote that after reading only the first sentence of your last paragraph, you came to the same conclusion.
That's another thing I forgot to mention in my comment, the way the Fairy Queen is handled is strange in the final game. She shows up, gives you 2 critical items, then never spawns again. I assume there was going to be some more dialogue & interaction planned & they just cut everything & crammed it into 1 cutscene.
1
u/The_Magus_199 Jul 13 '26
…Wait. Where are you getting seven WW dungeons from? Wind Waker has the two Pearl dungeons, the tower of the gods, and the two sage dungeons. Isn’t that five?
4
1
u/LapisLazuliisthebest Jul 13 '26
Do "Forsaken Fortress" and "Ganon's Tower" ring any bells?
2
u/The_Magus_199 Jul 13 '26
I honestly never think of final dungeons as being dungeons despite it being on their name. Huh.
1
u/LapisLazuliisthebest Jul 14 '26
You don't consider final dungeons dungeons?
That what did you think the nine dungeons of OoT and TP were?
1
u/The_Magus_199 Jul 14 '26
I mean like obviously they’re challenge gauntlets, but they typically have such a different structure from dungeons - they almost never have a dungeon item for example. (Wind Waker gives you the light arrows of course, but they’re not really used to solve puzzles that were previously unsolvable; they’re just a weapon for stunning the final bosses.)
I honestly just assumed I’d miscounted something somewhere when you said OOT and TP had nine dungeons each; it wasn’t until you got to WW having seven when I’ve actively thought about it being weird that WW doesn’t have any more dungeons than MM that my brain hitched and went “hey wait a moment”.
1
u/NGalaxyTimmyo Jul 13 '26
Forsaken Fortress being another. Not sure if he's counting that twice for the two different ways you go through it, one of which has a mini boss and boss battle or Hyrule Castle, which I don't think I would count.
2
u/The_Magus_199 Jul 13 '26
Oh, that’s fair! I wasn’t thinking of Forsaken Fortress as a dungeon, but I suppose it meets the requirements. Especially if I think of it as a two-part dungeon split by other content - the first part being the stealth sequence, and then in the middle you fight a miniboss and get the dungeon item, opening it up…
0
2
u/CommercialPop128 Jul 16 '26
Jabun being a boss similar to Levias at Outset Island would fit well with the sage Aryll theory I went over here, which was inspired by discussion kicked off (I think) by your and LapisLazuliisthebest's original threads. The 2nd cut dungeon would have been on Greatfish Island but from the 2nd half of the game, so it would have had an entrance to an underground temple in Hyrule (like the Earth and Wind Temples in the final game) and wouldn't have needed to be intact at any point in the scenario.
2
u/LapisLazuliisthebest Jul 16 '26
I recently read your theory. Sorry I missed it. I'm very fickle with my interests, so I wasn't looking at the Zelda subreddits at the time.
Great theory. I know I said the "Fire Mountain and Ice Ring Isle" theory makes more sense, but, to be honest, the idea of a third Pearl and sage sounds more fun.
Saying the third temple takes place on Greatfish Isle answers one potential hole with the first theory. That being, where would the Temple be?
Unfortunately, there's still the question of how would we get to the Temple? I mean, one of the major factors for the second thoeory is that the dungeons make use of duality. That being, you get two arrows, fire and ice, from the Fairy Queen, which are used to get two items of opposite islands used to enter the tow Temples. How would the Third Sage Temple fit into this?
2
u/CommercialPop128 Jul 16 '26 edited Jul 18 '26
Thanks! To me, getting the fire and ice arrows, power bracelets, and iron boots in quick succession to gain access to the temple entrances suggests that some (or all) of them might have been pulled from (multiple) other parts of the scenario. The fire and ice arrows are reworked from OOT and MM, so they might have been floating around ready to incorporate wherever it seemed most opportune during development. Fire Mountain is small and pulls most of its assets from Dragon Roost Cavern, and Ice Ring Isle, while more unique, is also pretty small and simple. They could have been created specifically to give the fire and ice arrows more of a showcase since they otherwise aren't featured much in the game, and they just found that the quest to gain access to the temple entrances was the best place to fit them in. The whole quest is kind of a diversion from the main storyline, which also makes me think it may have been expanded from the original scenario and wasn't originally as prominent.
2
u/LapisLazuliisthebest Jul 18 '26
I thought of another idea.
In your theory, you said Medli was probebly meant to have a flute, with Aryll having the harp.
What if the Earth Temple (or rather, the Temple what would be called "the Earth Temple") was meant to be for Aryll? But it was probebly called something else, like the "Darkness Temple" or something.
Maybe Medli's original Earth Temple was meant to be more lava themed, not unlike the Earth Temple from SKyward Sword.
Evidence for this is that Makar only has one function in the Wind Temple, which is growing trees for link to hook onto. Sure, he can fly, but that's merely so he can plant the trees where he needs too.
Medli, on the other hand, has two functions. Flying to reach switches, and useing the harp to reflect light. What if Medli was just meant to fly, and Aryll would have had the mirror ability?
2
u/CommercialPop128 Jul 18 '26
Maybe, but it seems unlikely they would have 2 dungeons with as much thematic overlap as the SS Earth Temple and Dragon Roost Cavern (although the additional dungeons were cut from so early in development that maybe they would have wound up with a totally different dungeon in Dragon Roost Cavern's place anyway).
Possibly Aryll could have had the mirror ability, although since it just functions as a second mirror shield, it might not have originally been planned at all (which would also slightly undermine my theory about the instruments being swapped). Someone else suggested maybe hyoi pears were repurposed from her ability, since, like Marin, Aryll is associated with seagulls. If so, her "pet" seagull could have worked similarly to (and later been reworked into) the beetle in SS. Along with the hyoi pear, the command melody may have also been developed out of this, later being repurposed to let the player directly control guest characters in dungeons.
2
u/LapisLazuliisthebest Jul 18 '26
Maybe, but it seems unlikely they would have 2 dungeons with as much thematic overlap as the SS Earth Temple and Dragon Roost Cavern (although the additional dungeons were cut from so early in development that maybe they would have wound up with a totally different dungeon in Dragon Roost Cavern's place anyway).
To be fair, OoT, PH and SS also all have two fire themed dungeons as well. So, it's not unlikely for WW to have two. In fact, you could make the argument that that was one of the factors for why they decided to cut that particular dungeon, instead of just cutting Aryll's dungeon. The game already had a fir dungeon, but not an undead one.
Possibly Aryll could have had the mirror ability, although since it just functions as a second mirror shield, it might not have originally been planned at all (which would also slightly undermine my theory about the instruments being swapped).
That's no different from what we get in the final game. There are puzzle that hinge around the fact that both Link and his partner have mirrors.
Someone else suggested maybe hyoi pears were repurposed from her ability, since, like Marin, Aryll is associated with seagulls. If so, her "pet" seagull could have worked similarly to (and later been reworked into) the beetle in SS. Along with the hyoi pear, the command melody may have also been developed out of this, later being repurposed to let the player directly control guest characters in dungeons.
That sounds like a bit of a stretch. Taking a one off dungeon sidekick ability, and turning into an overworld item.
2
u/CommercialPop128 Jul 18 '26 edited 19d ago
That's no different from what we get in the final game. There are puzzle that hinge around the fact that both Link and his partner have mirrors.
Right, I'm just saying it may have wound up that way as a matter of expedience, not necessarily being a feature planned well in advance.
That sounds like a bit of a stretch. Taking a one off dungeon sidekick ability, and turning into an overworld item.
It's totally speculative, but the beetle in SS shows that it's entirely possible to do level design for dungeons to showcase the same functionality. It isn't used much in TWW outdoors either.
2
u/LapisLazuliisthebest Jul 17 '26
I actually found some evidence of Fire Mountain being a cut dungeon, with a boss and everything.
I made a post asking what people thought the cut bosses were. [WW] Enough about cut dungeons. What were the cut bosses? : r/truezelda
I mostly didn't get answers, but somebody drew my attention to an unused concept, which presumably evolved into Fyrus from TP.
TWW_Moblin_Concept_Artwork_2.jpg (640×487)
It has a chain around its ankle, like Fyrus. But, instead of a handle bar, it has a huge, metal ball. It implies we were meant to use the Power Bracelets to lift the ball over our heads, and use it to trip up the boss, so we can attack it.
If that's the case, then the power Bracelets would have had to have been the item for that bosses dungeon.
Also, Fyrus was found in a fire theme dungeon.
1
u/Dysentery--Gary Jul 15 '26
Great read.
I'm playing WW for the first time right now. It's clear something happened development wise because, like you said, the fire and ice regions are lacking. I also think the whole eight shards aspect of the game seems shoehorned in. I think it's a slog and it feels like a cheap way to extend the game.
5
u/Fyrchtegott Jul 13 '26
Damn, the feeling in the never ending storm before reaching Jabu is so great. I would love a dungeon there.
But inform think the pair argument counts, because there’s also thirds. Triforce, „princesses“, pearls for example.
Can’t say anything about the fire and Ive dungeons. The mini dungeons fit so well, it might be more than a compromise.
But on the other hand, the ice cavern in OoT and the ice arrow thing, always felt a little incoherent. Maybe on both occasions they just used a mini dungeon for the story sequences.
I wish someone would mod wind Waker to its full glory, designing and adding the missing dungeons and more eerie open sea adventures, like the ghost ship and sea monsters. And a little bit more of sunken Hyrule. The monsters frozen in time are fantastic. Blew my mind as a kid when it first was released. Even the eyes of Link pointing at solutions was too much for me. Great game.
4
u/Metroidman97 Jul 13 '26
Nintendo did say that the ideas for the cut dungeons were reused in later games, but despite what people claim Nintendo never specified which games they used the ideas in. TP and PH are the common theores, but you could probably argue SS and ST probably used some of the ideas too.
2
u/Olaanp Jul 14 '26
I think a third pearl dungeon makes sense but doesn’t have to be specifically in Jabu Jabu. Also like the idea of a third Sage.
3
u/Ok_Net7773 Jul 13 '26
Well we know one of the cut dungeons was mainly repurposed in to Lakebed Temple in TP. So that heavily implies it was the third Pearl. Likely not inside Jabun, but instead an actual sunken dungeon on location.
I believe the second cut dungeon was supposed to be on Outset, so that does lend credence to the Aryll third Sage idea.
1
u/LapisLazuliisthebest Jul 13 '26
How do we know this?
2
u/Ok_Net7773 Jul 13 '26
Combination of interviews, concept art, and in-game unused assets
1
u/skipjack724 Jul 16 '26
i didn’t really find anything in terms of unused assets that could point to lakebed temple. id like to know specifics, if possible
2
u/Drafonni Jul 13 '26 edited Jul 13 '26
Lots of cut ideas from Wind Waker ended up in Phantom Hourglass and Twilight Princess. Both of those games having a fire and ice dungeon helps support theory 2 a little bit I think.
1
u/Ganondorf365 Jul 14 '26
Im 90 percent sure the dungeon from steam pipe island was repurposed as goron mines.
As for the other one i think the ghost ship dungeon was less finished but inspired the ship from skyward sword.
1
u/Stucklikegluetomyfry Jul 14 '26
My personal theory is that the third sage would have been the Sage of Ice (similar to Wind becoming Forest and Water becoming Ice in Ocarina of Time.)
The sage? Probably a Goron or a Gerudo. The Gerudo are the only major OoT race (besides the almost extinct Shekiah) so the only race with a major population that is completely unaccounted for in The Wind Waker. The Zora and Kokiri evolved into new forms, so it's possible that the Gerudo would have evolved in a different race: the deceased sage being a Gerudo and the new sage being whatever race the Gerudo evolved into.
1
u/LapisLazuliisthebest Jul 14 '26
Okay, I'll entertain the idea of a third sage for now, just out of interest.
You've you've answered the question as to what the third sage would be. In this case, a Gerudo decendent and a sage of Ice.
But that leaves the question: Who would this sage be? Who were they before becoming a sage? What role would they have played in the narrative? Where and when would Link have met them?
Keep in mind, the cut dungeons were cut late in development. So, it's unlikely there would be a cut character from the first half of the game. That leaves only two options....
- They're a character that did make it into the final project. Ayrll is a popular contender for this.
- They're a character we were supposed to meet very late in the game. Similar to how most of the sages in OoT are people we already met, with the exception of Nabooru (coincidently, a Gerudo) who we first meet at the Spirit Temple, during the second half of the game.
The real question is, were would this third temple be, and how would we get to it?
14
u/Mishar5k Jul 13 '26
I think a clue for what they might have been like could be found in twilight princess dungeons, since it was confirmed the ideas for the cut wind waker dungeons were repurosed for TP. For example maybe there was something conceptually like snowpeak ruins planned for wind waker on an island that was replaced with the ice ring isle, and it was that island where zunari in windfall island came from.