4.1 The Wind Shrine

After acquiring the boat sail from Windfall Island, Link can get on top of the King of Red Lions and sail east to Dragon Roost Island. The island is easily noticeable by the tall mountain in its center.

Once you’re within reach of Dragon Roost Island the King of Red Lions will assert that you’ve arrived. The spirit of the skies, Valoo, sits atop the mountain’s peak. The King of Red Lions will give you the Wind Waker when you disembark and he will teach you how to play it.

From where you land on the island there is a pathway leading straight through a tunnel to the back of the island. Run through the tunnel and you’ll find a small island out in the water. Swim over to the island to find a pair of stone tablets, one of which is broken. The one that is still standing has three notes on it. Pull out the newly acquired Wind Waker and play the song.

Link will be joined by one of the two Wind Gods, Zephos. He will tell you that your new song has the ability to control the wind, as well as give you some backstory about his fellow Wind God, Cyclos. Cyclos is upset that his tablet has been broken and is taking out his anger on people who are traveling along on the Great Sea.

Optional: Silver Rupee (200 Rupees)

There is an optional treasure chest we can get right now, worth 200 rupees. If you are playing the GameCube version you should definitely skip this, as we still have a smaller wallet. In the Wii U version, the wallet can hold up to 500 rupees, so if you are way short of that, you can get this now. You will need to have a Hyoi Pear, which can be purchased from Beedle’s Shop Ship, and can be found on the water right at Dragon Roost Island.

From where the King of Red Lions left you, turn to the left and walk all the way around along the coastline. Keep walking and a ways down, you’ll eventually run into a sign that simply has an arrow pointing up. If Link glances up, he’ll find a series of bomb flowers on the wall with a massive boulder. Backup and pull out a Hyoi Pear. This will cause a Seagull to come swoop down and pick it up, and you’ll temporarily have access to controlling the seagull. The controls are inverted, so carefully fly the seagull upward, and just fly it directly into one of the bomb flowers on the wall. This creates a ripple effect, blowing up the massive boulder, causing a treasure chest to fall to the ground. Run over and open it to get a Silver Rupee, worth 200 rupees.

From where the King of Red Lions dropped you off, turn and face the island, and you’ll see a large rock to the left. Nearby in the grass is a bomb that you can be picked up and thrown or dropped near the rock. After it explodes it will destroy the rock as well, allowing you to climb higher and higher.

Continue along the path and you will eventually reach a gap that is too large to jump. Sidle across to the other side, just like you did in the Forsaken Fortress and then drop down to the lower level. Use a bomb to blow up the rock and go through the tunnel on the other side.

You will find Quill and he’ll tell you he’s impressed that you’ve traveled so far. He’ll offer you help and fly ahead to speak with the Rito Chieftain who is waiting for you inside. Head up the platform to the left and go inside the doorway at the top.

4.2 The Rito Aerie

The chieftain will speak with another Rito and offers to help you… after they deal with their own problem first.

The Chieftain tells you that when a Rito reaches adulthood he or she journeys to the top of Dragon Roost and receives a scale from Valoo which gives them the ability to fly. But lately Valoo has become violent and unpredictable, making it impossible to approach him.

He asks you to meet his son so that they can deal with their problem and help you. The chieftain then departs and Quill approaches you, giving you the Delivery Bag. Head up the ramp on the left and go into the first room to the left. Speak with Medli, the girl inside. She is studying to be an attendant to Valoo and gives you the “Father’s Letter” to give to Prince Komali. Medli will also ask you to meet her at the entrance to Dragon Roost later after you have given the letter to the Prince. Head back down the ramp, through the hallway and enter the doorway to the left. Enter the door at the end of that hallway to speak with Prince Komali.

Once you are in his room, open the Delivery Bag and equip the Letter, then give it to Komali. He will get mad at you for being a nosy person and tells you that if you manage to calm down Valoo he’ll do anything you say.

Optional Side Quest: Part-Time Worker

Head back to the upper level and walk past the room with Medli to find Koboli, the Rito in charge of the Mail Center. Speak with him and he’ll tell you he’s looking for someone to help part-time in sorting the letters. Tell him you are there to help and he’ll ask you to sort letters for him, rewarding you with rupees.

He’ll reward you with one rupee for every two letters you sort, and he’ll progressively give you more rupees for the more letters you sort. He asks you to first sort 10, then 20, and then 25 letters. It may take a few tries, but continue at it until you successfully have sorted at least 25.

After sorting 25 rupees, he thanks you and mentions that he’s hired a helper and asks you to come by and give the new guy some pointers later. At this point you can simply head anywhere outside of the Rito Aerie, and then come back inside. Once you’ve done so, the new part-time worker, Baito will have arrived. Speak with him and he’ll want to see the amazing 25-letter sorting. Successfully do so once again and he’ll be amazed.

Baito wants to write a letter to his mother and will ask you to deliver it. Exit the Rito Aerie and head back down towards the King of Red Lions. You can drop the letter in the postbox here and it will cost 5-rupees to send. This is all we can do right now, but you’ll eventually get a response from Baito’s mother, which includes a Piece of Heart.

Nintendo Gallery: Kogoli

If you’ve already acquired the Deluxe Picto Box, this is a good time to start working on the Nintendo Gallery, if you are planning on completing game, including 100% of the side quest material. One of the quests involves the Nintendo Gallery, a location we will visit in a couple chapters. Throughout Link’s journey, he’ll need to take pictures of every character, enemy, and boss he counters. Link will find many of these characters throughout his quest.

However, there is one Rito character on Dragon Roost Island named Kogoli, who at a much later point in the game will fly off and won’t be see the remainder of the quest. This is one of the few ‘missable’ pictures. Head upstairs to where the Mail Sorting game is located and head outside the nearby door. Turn to the right and you’ll find Kogoli on one of the ledges. Stand at the middle ledge and take a picture. You will always want to see the ‘Good!’ appear in corner of the picture. We will use this photograph later.

4.3 Enter Dragon Roost Cavern

Head back inside and drop down to the lower floor. Walk through the doorway that has a guard posted next to it. Once outside, head left and jump down to where the bridge has broken. Speak with Medli and she’ll ask you to help her reach the other side of the bridge. When she’s finished talking, pick her up and stand on the small rock behind you.

If you learned the Wind’s Requiem earlier, you can pull out the Wind Waker and play the song. Change the wind so that it blows in the direction of the other side of the bridge. If you don’t have the Wind’s Requiem, no problem. Just pay attention to how the ashes are moving and throw Medli when it is blowing toward the other side of the bridge. She’ll tell you she’ll be able to climb Dragon Roost from here and gives you an Empty Bottle in return for helping her out.

Take the bottle out and use it to collect some water from near the rock. Climb the segment of broken ladder back up to where you entered the area and pour the water on one of the red plants to make it sprout into a bomb flower.

This next part can be a little bit tricky to perform correctly. You need to throw the bomb to the rock to blow it up without having the bomb land in the water. You can try to land the bomb on the rock, or try and wait a few seconds. Once the bomb starts flashing more rapidly throw it and it will explode the rock. Once you blow it up, water will fill the area and you can swim across and climb up the other side.

This is another tricky part. Pick up a bomb flower and try to throw it into the pot that the statue is holding. Be careful not to fall into the lava, as you will lose some life and be sent back to the entrance of this area.

Blow up the statue on the right first so that it falls into the lava. Then grab another bomb flower and jump to the newly created platform to throw the bomb into the second statue’s pot. Once you finish, enter Dragon Roost Cavern through the doorway.