At the end of Link’s bizarre and trance-like journey, emerge to find a room that’s eerily similar to before. Exit through the door to the right. Continue right all the way along this menacing balcony (dash with the Pegasus Boots if you’re impatient) and, at the end, go through the door leading up. An important cutscene will play, heralding the second half of the game.

Afterwards, Link will be asleep (for the third time) and awaken in the Blacksmith’s house… or is it? Head outside to step into the dark world of Lorule; at the same time, Link will receive a telepathic message from Hilda. His task now is to recover the paintings of the Seven Sage from the seven dungeons of Lorule. Furthermore, due to the gaping chasms, to reach every area of Lorule, you will need to return to Hyrule and find a way in from there.

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The land of Lorule bears great resemblance to the Dark World from A Link to the Past, both visually and thematically. Many of the areas are the same too, but there are some key differences, like Lorule Castle replacing the golden pyramid in the centre and most key areas can only be reached via the portals (so you can’t run from Kakariko Village to the Lost Woods equivilant in Lorule - unlike in A Link to the Past).

Not long ago, you had the choice of doing the second and third dungeon in either order; now the stakes are raised, because you can do the next seven dungeons in any order you please. Although, one of the dungeons (the Desert Palace) does require another completed to access.

For reference, here are the dungeons and their corresponding location in Hyrule, plus the gear you can acquire:

In this guide, we’ll start with the Swamp Palace, because there’s an item there (the Blue Mail) that will make the rest of your adventure much easier. However, the choice is completely up to you. In any case, before we head for the next dungeon, it might be fun to briefly sight-see around Lorule.

For the record, to return to Hyrule, simply find a mysterious gap that looks exactly like the one in Zelda’s room. Then merge into the wall, next to the gap, and then walk into the gap. Additionally, while in Lorule, you can still use the bell to travel between weather vanes, but only the ones in Lorule.