Legend of Zelda: The Twilight Princess
Walkthrough — XV. Into the Heart of Darkness and the Palace of Twilight

Upon exiting the portal run down the hill to find some agonized Twili at the courtyard below. Follow the path to the building on the right and enter.

The first phase of this dungeon follows a predictable pattern: raid one half of the Palace to the last room, grab a certain item, defeat a certain enemy and dodge another kind of enemy as you bring said item to the courtyard with the Twili. To get to the item you need to pass one of three rooms. Passing through the first two involve getting a small key by defeating all the enemies in the room. Well, let's start.

Move forward and take out all the Twilit enemies in the room, and the giant Zant head that appears. When the head dies, a chest with a small key will appear. Use the claw to get up the ledge with the door and head north through it.

In this next room, step forward into the shadowy fog, which will turn you into Wolf form (don't worry, you can switch back when outside of the fog). Once again, defeat enemies and collect the key. You'll also find the Compass in a chest on the western side of the room. Head north through the door to the third room.

MINI-BOSS: Phantom Zant

This guy follows a familiar pattern. He'll initially open a portal and release a swarm of Twilit Keese (sometimes crawlers) and zip around the room whenever you get too close. Eventually you'll catch him mid-cast and get the chance to lay into him. A few rounds and he disappears.

Quickly draw your Claw-shot and give the hand three good hits, which will stun it for about 10 seconds. Run up the stairs and grab the Sol with the Claw-shot to bring it to you. Exit south through the door.

Back in this room you'll need to do much the same as the last—place the Sol in the depression to raises stairs—with the hand in hot pursuit. Run with the Sol to the far end of the room, under the ledge and place it there. Dispatch all the enemies that are currently swarming you, and then stun the hand. Place the Sol in the depression and run up the stairs. Quickly grab the Sol with the Claw and run up the stairs and jump to the door below. Head south through the door.

Here quickly take the Sol past the enemies while again avoiding the hand and exit through the south door and back to the courtyard outside. Run the Sol over to one of the two depressions in the central area (be sure to run around the agonized Twili to restore them). A platform will appear to carry you to the building to the west.

This run follows the same pattern of the last—get to room three, grab the Sol, go back to courtyard. As such I'll be brief and give you a few hints to make the task easier:

In the first room you'll need to hit the target on the ceiling and lower yourself down onto the moving platform to get to the other platforms. Keep in mind for your return trip with the Sol that the two black orbs on either side of the ledge you stand on before the four moving platforms, when hit at the same time, will create a moving platform that will lift and carry you to the south door. Because the ground under the south door is sloped, the Sol will just roll down to the fog. So, leave the Sol on flat land where you can spot it from the ledge and stun the hand a few times so that you have time to get onto the ledge, pull the Sol up to you, put the Sol down, and then activate the black orbs to get back to the south door. It's very stressful to say the least. (Oh, and there's no depression to put the Sol in here).

In the second room once the chest will the small key appears (by defeating all the enemies/Zant heads) you can find it in the alcove in the middle left of the room (the southwest-most alcove). Across the way in a similarly sized chest is the Dungeon Map. On the way back with the Sol, the big trick of this room is the stun the hand so that its north of the ring of stairs that pops up when you put the Sol in the floor depression. The AI makes it try to pass through the stairs (it can't) and it won't be able to float high enough to go over. Time this right and this room will be very easy for you!

The third room follows the same set of rules as the same, with a Phantom Zant appearance, and the claiming of the Sol, and escaping with it. Just remember to stun the hand like the dead vote in Chicago, early and often.

Back in the courtyard with the Sol, place it in a depression and the Master Sword will be charged with light, giving it the power to cleaver the shadow fog. As such, head north to the central building to where the fog flows like a waterfall. Do a spin attack to stop the fog briefly, and jump the gap.

Head north into the building and scale the interior while defeating the various Zant heads so you can claim the small key in the chest that appears and continue through the door on the top floor to the balcony area of the Palace. Here, firstly defeat as many of the Twilit Rocs as you can so that you can comfortably ride a few platforms around. Head over to the middle of the balcony and activate the orbs to make a platform appear. Ride it to the west where a Zant head will appear, and when you get to its ledge defeat it. Hit to the orbs there to ride back to the balcony where three more Zant heads appear. Defeat the others and a chest with a small key appears. Before continuing on, though, cleave the fog falls and jump through where they obscured a ledge behind them. Use the Claw-shot to scale the interior to find the Big Key in a chest. Return back down to the balcony, and go through the locked door on the east half of the balcony.

In this next area, the goal is again to scale to the locked door above and defeat the Zant heads along the way for a small key to unlock said door. To get the ball rolling you need to hitch a ride on the first platform, which is generated by a quartet of orbs hidden in the fog in the back of the room. Use a spin attack to activate them all and ride the platform up.

Eventually three more platforms will appear (with only one actually continuing the journey), which is the north-most one. Jump on that and continue up. The next time the platforms split you want to take the right one. Continue your ascent and soon you'll be at the door to 4F.

Continue on through the fog and the various enemies until you reach the big door. Smash the pots for health and the like and proceed through for a really sweet cut scene and the boss fight you've been waiting all game for.

BOSS: Usurper King, Zant

This is a humorous fight to say the least. The fight is split into six parts, each taking place at a certain location with the first five being dependent on using an item obtained in that location.

1st: Forest Temple – Use the Boomerang to pull Zant to you and give him a good whack or four. Three rounds and we move on.

2nd: Goron Mines – Zant will comically jump up and down on this large platform, which will attemptedly knock you off. Instead, equip the Boots to stay put. When Zant takes a breather, close in for the kill.

3rd: Lakebed Temple – Equip the Iron Boots and Zora Armor (to stay put and not drown, respectively). A large Zant head will appear and the mouth will open. Use the Claw-shot to pull Zant from the helmet's maw and knock him around. The second round will have you choose his location from two Zant heads. After round two we move on.

4th: Forest Temple (again) – A repeat of the baboon fight, except much funnier, with Zant hopping around like the deranged monkey. Use the same tactics (roll into the pole twice to knock him off) and use the quality time he's spending upside down to get your licks in.

5th: Snowpeak Ruins – use the Ball and Chain to hit his foot when he drops from the ceiling. He'll hop around on the other foot and slowly shrink. Quickly close in and knock him around. A few rounds and it's on to the last round.

6th: Hyrule Castle – Dodge Zant's knives (be he chopping or spinning) and land in your strikes when he dizzies from spinning around. After a few rounds he'll be done for good.