The Hero's Cave in a Linked Game of Oracle of Ages is the cave south and to the right from the Maku Tree in the present. To obtain all of the items from the Hero's Cave, you have to have all of the items obtained in the eight dungeons of the game. The reward, if you complete the Hero's Cave, is an Armor Ring L-3, which reduces the damage that your sword inflicts, but also reduces the damage that enemies inflict on you.

Get a Key

From the entrance to the cave, go to the north part of the room, pick up the pots, then light the two torches next to the north door to unlock it. Go through.

Go to the pot on the left side of the room and push it right once. Then go north and push the block north. Go back to the pot that you pushed a moment ago. Push it left once, then up three times, then right three times, then up so it's on the switch.

Go to the right side of the room. You don't need the pot on the right side of the room, so get rid of it. Use the Cane of Somaria to put a block on the rightmost switch. Open the chest to get a key, then exit east.

Get a Second Key

Use a Pegasus Seed and the Roc's Feather to jump over the gap east of you. Go to the east side of the room, where there are two pots. Stand immediately to the left of the leftmost pot. There is a block south of you. Push that block to the right. Get rid of the two pots and stand immediately to the right of where the rightmost one was. Walk straight down to push that block down. Go back to the first block you pushed in this room and stand directly below it. Walk to the right to push that block to the right.

Go south and west, and throw a bomb at the cracked block such that the bomb explodes before it falls into the hole, breaking the cracked block. Go around so you're standing north of the block that is above where the cracked block was. Push that block down. Finally push the statue onto the switch and open the chest to get a key. Exit north.

Get a Third Key

Go up to the upper part of the room. If there is no bridge here, go back and hit the switch, then return to the bridge. Stand two squares left of where the bridge starts. Shoot a seed toward the southwest, then immediately use a Pegasus Seed and run across the bridge. If you aimed the Seed Shooter correctly, it hit the switch and changed the bridge so that you can now walk south and reach the chest. Open it to get a key.

Go to the block above the chest and push it left, then exit west.

Get a Gasha Seed

Get rid of the enemies in this room. Then stand below the rightmost statue and shoot a seed southwest, then quickly use a seed from your Seed Satchel on the statue above you. If you manage to activate all four statues, a chest will appear. Open it to get a Gasha Seed. A warp point appears when you open the chest. Use the warp point.

Get a Fourth Key

Go to the right side of the room and do the following:

• Push the upper-right statue down three times.
• Of the two northern statues, push the leftmost statue down twice, then right three times.
• Push the other northern statue right, down, left, then down.
• Push the leftmost statue right twice, up twice, then right three times.
• Go to the statue that is now the leftmost statue. Push it up four times, then right twice.
• Push the southernmost statue left once, up four times, then right once.
• Go to the set of statues on the left side of the room. Jump between the two southermost statues, and push the rightmost statue to the right until the chest appears.

Open the chest to get the key. Jump to the upper door and go through.

Get Rupees

This room's chest contains rupees. If you wish, you can skip this room and exit east. But if you want to get the rupees here, go to the northwest corner of the room and push the pot down. Use the Long Hook on the pot to the right. Go to the right and stand to the right of the switch, then go one space down. Walk left to push the block to the left so that it's below the switch. Then push the block above you up. Step on the switch, then use the Long Hook on the pot to the left. Go down and open the chest. Exit east.

Get a Fifth Key

Use a Pegasus Seed and the Roc's Feather to jump over the gap near the entrance.

Go to the southwest corner of the room, stand to the north of the stone diamond, and use the Long Hook on the stone diamond. Now go to the bottom-right corner of the enclosure and use the Long Hook on the diamond to the right. Now go to the northernmost statue and stand on the space just above and to the left of it, and use the Long Hook on the diamond below you.

You're in the lower enclosure again, next to the tile. Use the Long Hook on the leftmost diamond. Now stand above and to the right of the tile in the middle of the room (it's to the right of the northernmost statue) and use the Long Hook on the diamond to your left. Go and stand above the diamond that you just moved, and use the Long Hook on it. Now stand to the right of the enclosure to the right of that diamond, and use your Long Hook on it.

Now push the northernmost statue through the gap in the upper right so it's below the stone diamond. Use the Long Hook on the diamond and push the statue south onto the tile.

Move the uppermost diamond so it's one space above and three to the left of the tile in the middle of the room. Go to the bottom-left and use the Long Hook on the diamond below you, then walk to the right and use the Long Hook on the uppermost diamond. Go to the leftmost diamond and use the Long Hook on it, then push the statue to the right, onto the tile. Use the Long Hook on the diamond to the north, then go get the key. Exit north.

Get a Second Gasha Seed

Stand south of the block that is below the leftmost switch, then use the Cane of Somaria to create a block on the switch (you can create a block "through" the solid block between you and the switch).

Go to the right and stand below the block that is below the rightmost switch. Push that block up then create a block on the switch using the Cane of Somaria. Again, you can create a block "through" the block as mentioned in the previous paragraph.

Go to the upper-right of the room and use a Pegasus Seed, then stand above and to the left of the northernmost block. Jump downward, then push right so you land in the gap between blocks. From there, jump left and down and right to end up on the area with the chest. Open it to get a Gasha Seed. Doing so also creates a warp point to the entrance of the dungeon, but you should ignore it for now. Go to the block to the left of the chest and push it down. Then exit west.

Get a Sixth Key

This is a tile puzzle, but there is a trick to it! It's impossible to turn all tiles red. There will be a blue tile left over no matter what you do. See below for the steps to solve it, in order to fully solve the puzzle, you have to use the Cane of Somaria to cover the one remaining blue tile with a block. Then the chest will appear and you can get the key. You can solve the room by going in the following order. The xxx represent statues, the ccc is the space where the chest will appear, and the COS is where to create a block with the Cane of Somaria.

025 026 027 028 029 030 031 032 033 034 035 036 037
024 069 070 095 096 097 xxx 109 108 107 106 105 038
023 068 071 094 093 098 099 100 101 102 103 104 039
022 067 072 xxx 092 091 ccc COS xxx 043 042 041 040
021 066 073 078 079 092 091 090 089 044 045 046 001
020 065 074 077 080 083 084 085 088 049 048 047 002
019 064 075 076 081 082 xxx 086 087 050 051 052 003
018 063 062 061 060 059 058 057 056 055 054 053 004
017 016 015 014 013 012 011 010 009 008 007 006 005

After you solve the tile puzzle, open the chest and use the key to exit north.

Get a Seventh Key

Go into the deep water in front of you and dive. Swim to the bottom-left corner and go to the surface. Hit the crystal switch above you and go through the space that you opened when you hit the crystal switch. Stand above the crystal switch and hit it. Now go to the top right of the room and go to the block above the floor switch. Push that block to the left.

Go down and step on the floor switch to reveal a chest. Now deliberately fall into the hole to end up in the water at the bottom-left. Hit the crystal switch, go past the space that you just opened, then go left and hit the switch from above. Open the chest to get a key.

Get an Eighth Key

Still in the room with the four deep water spots, go to the bottom-right corner and use your newly acquired key on the key block there. Dive into the deep water and use the Long Hook on the diamond above you, then go left and use the Long Hook on the diamond below you.

Go to the west side of the room. Move one of the top two diamonds to the switch in the top middle, then go south from that diamond until you are directly above the block below this area. Use the Long Hook to move the uppermost stone diamond down to be above the block. Now move the other upper stone diamond onto the upper middle switch. Swim to the space directly above the stone diamond that you moved to the bottom. Use the Long Hook on the upper stone diamond. There should now be two stone diamonds blocking the exit from the square area with the four switches.

Use the Long Hook on the bottom left and bottom right stone diamonds to place them on the left and right switch. Then swim onto the upper switch and use the Long Hook on one of the stone diamonds below you. Finally, swim onto the bottom switch and use the Long Hook on the stone diamond below you. This makes a chest appear. Open it to get a key.

Get More Rupees

Unlock the underwater key block and swim past where it was. Go to the surface, then walk to the left and into the warp point.

Jump over the lava to reach the wall switch near the top-right. Throw a bomb onto the tile to the right (but it will bounce into the lava, so throw it after a delay) to break the cracked block. Do the same in the bottom-right corner of the room, throwing the bomb onto the space below and to the right of the other cracked block.

Now use the Power Glove to pull down the lava switch, but be warned that if you fall into the lava at any point, you will be sent back to the warp spot in the northwest corner of the room, which will send you to the other room and restart your progress in the lava room. Each time you pull the lava switch, you have to push the colorful block that starts in the bottom-left corner. Note that you can also try to pull the switch back down before it returns to the wall. This will prevent the lava from reappearing. The following list says what to do every time you get rid of the lava:

• Push the colorful block to the right twice (onto the tile).
• Push the block left twice, then up.
• Push the block left, then up.
• Push the block up three times, then to the right (onto the tile).
• Push the block down twice.
• Push the block right six times (so it's below the lava switch) then up twice (to allow you to go north of it without jumping over the lava), then down four times.
• (Before pulling the lava switch, bomb the two cracked blocks if you haven't already.) Push the block right three times.
• Push the block up, then left.
• If you ended up surrounded by lava, use a Pegasus Seed and the Roc's Feather to jump to the left. Then pull the lava switch and push the block left, then up four times.
• Push the block right twice.
• Push the block up onto the tile.

Go down the stairs that you revealed to the left of the pouring lava. There is a spark moving around the wall. It helps if you won the boomerang in the Goron Shooting Gallery in Rolling Ridge, because you can use it to kill the Spark. If not, go to the bottom of the room and use the Cane of Somaria to make a block touching the blocks that the Spark is going around. Then get rid of the block after the Spark will starts going around the outer edge of the room.

Stand on the leftmost floating block next to the ladder, and jump to the right, then press left while you fall, to try to get into the gap to the left of the pot across the way. Use the Long Hook on the pot. Then jump up where there is a gap in the ceiling and quickly use the Cane of Somaria to make a block below you. Jump up to get the Rupees. Hit the Cane of Somaria block with your sword to get rid of it. Then go up the ladder on the right side of the room.

Get a Third Gasha Seeed

Get in the mine cart. Go up and open the chest to get a Gasha Seed.

Get the Armor Ring L3

Ride the mine cart to the top-left of the room. Then take out a bomb and quickly get back into the cart, then before the cart turns the corner, throw the bomb down so it ends up to the right of the cracked block. (You can't take a bomb out while you're in the cart, so you have to do so before getting in.)

After you have successfully bombed the cracked stone, get back into the mine cart to go to the top-left of the room. Use the Long Hook on the stone diamond at the bottom-left of the room.

Now you have to use Pegasus Seeds and the Roc's Feather to jump around the gaps on the bottom and right sides of the room to reach the warp point in the top-left. Be sure to jump diagonally. Otherwise you won't move quickly enough toward the end. The Roc's Ring is very useful here to prevent the cracked floors on right from crumbling. Again, use Pegasus Seeds and jump diagonally to go north. If you fall, ride the mine cart to the empty treasure chest and stand below it, then use the Long Hook on the stone diamond. This lets you go back to the jumping area.

After using the warp point, be extremely careful of Wallmasters. There are two. Gale Seeds don't get rid of them permanently, so you have to hit them with your sword until they are gone. Kill all of the enemies in the room to make stairs appear. Then go up the stairs and open the chest to claim your well-earned Armor Ring L-3! You will automatically be warped outside. Go south and get the ring appraised!

Then, if you haven't already, you should go to the Black Tower.