Changes: Ancient Cistern

Revision as of 01:04, 24 January 2017

Template:Dungeon

The Ancient Cistern is a dungeon located near Lake Floria featured in Skyward Sword. The dungeon's main item is the Whip, and its boss is Koloktos, the Ancient Automaton.

After Link defeats Koloktos, he can claim the first of the Sacred Flames.

Entrance to the Cistern

The dungeon is located behind the waterfall of the spring past the throne of Faron. Under her current condition, Faron is unable to stop the waterfall to give Link access to the dungeon, so she asks him to find a sample of Sacred Water, which can be found in the spring past the Skyview Temple (which is in fact remixed for the second visit). When this water heals her, she is able to help the young hero on his quest for the first Sacred Flame.

Themes and Navigation

A giant stone statue sits at the center of the dungeon, surrounded by water. Navigation through the Cistern is interwoven with water-themed puzzles, and Link must contend with areas containing streams, stream pools, lilypads, waterwheels, and water-filled high-pressure pipes to proceed.

Although at first the Ancient Cistern appears to be a serene, aquatic-themed temple - with distinctly far-eastern architecture - descent into the dungeon's lower level, which is inside the Statue Head in the main room, reveals that it is built on a sort of cursed abyssal underworld, populated with undead enemies. Dark, purple water which damages and curses anyone entering it can be found there, where a crowd of Cursed Bokoblin roam.

Corruption SS — Corrupted waters where Cursed Bokoblin roam.

The dungeon contains many drains and switches, due to its nature as a cistern. After Link obtains the whip (guarded by a Stalmaster), he can use it to activate many of the switches in the dungeon, including raising and lowering the central statue, and to flip over various lilypads with damaging, barbed undersides. The whip is also used often to unscrew the tops of tubes, creating geysers which can lift Link to other destinations. Many sections of the dungeon are submerged, which Link can navigate easily with the Water Dragon's Scale.

In the underworld section of the dungeon, all water is a purplish color that will curse and damage Link upon contact. This underground section seems to depart from the rest of the dungeon, showing puzzles and obstacles based on timing or skill rather than the manipulation of water. One underground section has Link fighting off Cursed Bokoblins as the dungeon's statue falls down from above. Another section forces Link to climb up along a thread as a horde of Cursed Bokoblin attempt to pull him down. In contrast, the upper dungeon levels prefer to use water-based puzzles and whip-activated switches as Link's main obstacles to overcome. The bestiary of the dungeon is loosely similar to that of the Skyview Temple, with the presence of Skulltulas, Deku and Quadro Babas, Bokoblins, etc. But new enemies appear as well.

Minor Enemies and Traps

BlueChuChuSS.png

Blue Chuchu
Burrs
Zombie Bokoblin.png

Cursed Bokoblin
DekuBabaH.png

Deku Baba
FireKeeseSS.png

Fire Keese
Fugu.png

Froak
Furnix.png

Furnix
GreenBokoblinSS.png

Green Bokoblin
Green Bokoblin Archer.png

Green Bokoblin Archer
GreenChuchuSS.png

Green Chuchu
QuadroBabaSS.png

Quadro Baba
Bokoblin4 SS.png

Red Bokoblin Archer
Skulltula SS.png

Skulltula
SS Walltula.png

Walltula

Trivia

The dungeon appears to be based on the short story, The Spider's Thread. In it, the Lord Buddha is walking through paradise and gazes into a pond, past the lotus petals veiling the water's surface, seeing into the depths of hell. There in the darkness, he sees a criminal, Kandata, who once intentionally avoided stepping on a spider. Moved to try reclaiming this man, the Buddha lowers a spider thread into hell, and Kandata starts climbing to paradise. However, other sinners begin climbing as well, and Kandata, worried that the thread will not support the weight, exclaims that it is his and his alone. At this point the thread breaks, because Kandata was worried only about his own salvation and not his fellow sinners.
Furthermore, the architecture of this dungeon also greatly reflects that of far-eastern temples. The statue head in the main room, the Blessed Idol key, and even Koloktos bear a striking resemblance to Buddha.

Etymology

Names in Other Regions
Language		Name	Meaning
	Japanese	古の大石窟 (Inishie no Daisekkutsu)	Ancient Stone Cavern
	French	Grande Caverne Antique	Grand Ancient Cavern
	German	Höhlenheiligtum	Cave Shrine
	Italian	Antico Sacrario	Ancient Shrine
	Spanish^LA	Gran Caverna Ancestral	Great Ancient Cavern

Gallery

Link against a Furnix
Link against a Stalmaster

External Links

Official Japanese webpage

Hyrule in Skyward Sword

Click on a location

Dungeons in The Legend of Zelda Series

The Legend of Zelda

Level 1 · Level 2 · Level 3 · Level 4 · Level 5 · Level 6 · Level 7 · Level 8 · Level 9

@@ Line 31: / Line 31: @@
 ==Minor Enemies and Traps==
 <gallery>
-File:BlueChuChuSS.png|[[Chuchu|Blue Chuchu]]
+File:BlueChuChuSS.png|[[Blue Chuchu]]
+File:No Image.png|[[Burr]]s
 File:Zombie Bokoblin.png|[[Cursed Bokoblin]]
 File:DekuBabaH.png|[[Deku Baba]]
-File:FireKeeseSS.png|[[Keese#Fire Keese|Fire Keese]]
+File:FireKeeseSS.png|[[Fire Keese]]
 File:Fugu.png|[[Froak]]
 File:Furnix.png|[[Furnix]]
+File:GreenBokoblinSS.png|[[Green Bokoblin]]
 File:Green Bokoblin Archer.png‎|[[Bokoblin#Skyward Sword|Green Bokoblin Archer]]
-File:GreenChuchuSS.png[[Chuchu|Green Chuchu]]
+File:GreenChuchuSS.png|[[Green Chuchu]]
 File:QuadroBabaSS.png|[[Quadro Baba]]
+File:Bokoblin4 SS.png|[[Bokoblin#Skyward Sword|Red Bokoblin Archer]]
 File:Skulltula SS.png|[[Skulltula]]
-File:SS Walltula.png|[[Skullwalltula|Walltula]]
+File:SS Walltula.png|[[Walltula]]
 </gallery>

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