The Riverways of Hyrule

Zora King Sells The Flippers

Before we make our way to the dangers that lie on the summit the Hylians call Death Mountain, there are a few things we need to collect.  In Zelda I as well as this game, the two titles in which the Zora have appeared so far, this race has protected the waterways of Hyrule: but they consider Link to be a danger!  Well, I suppose, if Link weren't around, neither would Ganon be there either.  Nice circle logic, fishies!  One way or another, after you make your way to the northeastern most point of Hyrule, you will find the Zora king who will sell you the flippers, an item which will make it possible for you to swim in the dark blue waters of Hyrule.  Before this point, falling into this water was as good as falling into a pit (Link's not much of a swimmer, I guess).  This is an interesting synergy between the games, though.  The next game which features the Zora (although they are friendly the entire time) positions the Zora's hub location in the northeastern corner.  Later they shift to be directly north of Hyrule castle, but the Zoras always choose a location that is in the northern reaches of the kingdom, and are always the deigned sentinels of Hyrule's water.  This synergy creates a nice flow between the games, making part of the story appear in several titles thereafter.  One way or another, the flippers open up a great deal of the game to us as we can now traverse water.

The Bridge Hobo Gives Us A Bottle

So first things first, we dive underneath the bridge which is near lake Hylia.  This river seems to snake its way all the way through Hyrule.  In subsequent adventures (like Ocarina of Time) the water scheme seems similar as I said: a northern source, a snaking river through Hyrule itself and then a lake will dump somewhere.  This is even found in the first two adventures, suggesting synergy in those two games as well though it is not as well-defined.  Underneath the bridge we find a hobo setting up camp (more realism, I guess that this guy couldn't afford the king's taxes or something, but to be less real, though this is the first time we've run across him, he seems to know us...) and he gives us a bottle.  Little does he know that bottles are awesome to us (in future games, it is the same case when an NPC parts with a bottle...they don't think it's much, but we know its true value).

The Waterfall of Wishing

Up the waterway a bit is a waterfall that we can walk into.  Here we find another of the great fairies that is living in Hyrule.  There actually aren't many, and most of them simply just want to restore our life energy.  This one, however, upgrades our boomerang to something useful (before this point, the boomerang has a terrible range and a terrible vortex but that changes when it becomes the Magical Boomerang).  She also upgrades our shield, making it possible for us to block fireballs and other projectiles...which is awesome, since most of the enemies we now face are able to shoot those kinds of weapons.  Funny, you know, how the fairy doesn't say "ooo, this is nice and shiny...finders keepers!" but then we wouldn't be able to finish the game, I suppose. ^_^.