Inside the Deku Tree 

In the Legend of Zelda : Ocarina of Time, there is a great tree of wisdom that dwells safely within the magical land known as Hyrule; this Deku Tree has existed for ages and ages, on end, until one day his very existence --- and that of all the land --- is threatened by a new evil that arises, showing itself in a new form that has never been seen before. Being cursed from the inside out, the Deku Tree knows that his time is short, and as such, he summons a fairy named Navi to go and choose a boy whose fate is to save Hyrule from this terrible, present disaster that is ever - growing. And that’s when a young boy, the only one is his area of residence who holds no fairy of his own, enlists Navi as his fairy, picks up his first sword and shield, and embarks on the adventure of a lifetime…..starting by entering the Deku Tree itself. 

 

Inside the Deku Tree, he finds many new foes and challenges --- his first, of course, in this great adventure. Along the way, he picks up his first weapon, known as the Slingshot, and uses it to fend off his foes, in addition to employing his sword and shield, some deku nuts (which stun his enemies upon impact), and even a few deku sticks (which he can set fire to the tips of, and use to light torches along the way). There inside the Deku Tree, he also finds his very first skulltulas, which are small spiders that he can easily locate and kill off with his sword, collecting their corpses as tokens of value for his journey. The interior of the tree itself is quite massive, and there’s lots to explore, so let’s start back at the very best place to start --- the beginning……

Once Link enters the Deku Tree, he notices a large spider web right in the middle of the floor in front of him, taking note of it for future reference (which as I may have already slightly hinted, will definitely come in handy). He first encounters some evil Deku Baba plants, which he must strike down and watch out for their attacks. He then attempts to climb the vines inside the tree, in order to go higher and higher, and hopefully deeper and deeper, within the tree…...the end goal being of finding and eradicating the curse that lies inside the tree.

After climbing all the way up the vine successfully, Link then leans to his right and comes upon a treasure chest containing a Dungeon Map within it, the first of many he’ll come upon during his quest; this map holds a full and accurate layout of all the rooms and other areas within the tree, showing where everything is at. 

But it’s far from over --- the next step is for Link to acquire his Fairy Slingshot, which he manages to do after much trial and error, dodging falls, not to mention attacks, from the foes in every room. He also has to jump, swim, climb, crawl and slash his way to make it to the room that holds this special slingshot. Upon acquiring it, he uses it to shoot down a ladder that’s at the top of the other side of the room he’s currently in, which falls down and makes itself available for him to use as he climbs it and escapes the room. 

He then returns to the vine and climbs onto it, this time making a stop at one of the catwalks that he sees on his right - hand side. He enters a door, steps on a gold ground switch, and finds himself in the room where the tree’s compass is found; he then opens the treasure chest that holds it and now has greater navigational access than before. Armed with map and compass, not to mention slingshot, he continues to find his way around the inside of the tree, knowing that what he must do next will require more courage than ever before…..

He looks down and sees that large spider web that he encountered when he first entered the Deku Tree, which now lies several feet at the bottom. He knows that to further advance, he must get inside and under that web. So what he does next blows everyone’s minds……

He lights a deku stick, takes many steps back (as far close to the back of the wall as he can be), and runs forward with his full momentum, jumping at the edge of the runway in front of him….only to fall several feet, with increasing speed and a flaming torch in his hand, landing right on the spider web and breaking through it in order to get to what’s under it. Then, more challenges and surprises await. 

Link has to step on more switches, slash down more enemies and finally make his way to the large spider named Gohma, which so happens to be the major internal curse sickening the Deku Tree.

And fighting off Gohma, to the death, will be no easy challenge. But if Link has made it this far, he knows that perhaps anything really is possible. So he lunges forward into action, pinpointing his slingshot and following Gohma around closely as she approaches him from the roof and seeks to end him first. When her eye turns red, for a brief moment, however, he unleashes his shot and stuns her….right in her one eye! 

In fierce, agonizing pain, she falls to the ground. And then, it’s Link’s turn, once more, to attack. He takes his window of opportunity and slashes her eye with his sword, as many times as he can. And she doesn’t like that, so she gets back up on the roof. 

The process repeats itself. After enough strikes, Gohma is no more. And Link advances, having defeated the curse…..