At the far west of Hyrule lies a desert, and at the far north of that desert sits a prison. A massive coliseum with ominous pillars lining a lengthy staircase leading to the entrance. The Wingcrest of the Royal Family of Hyrule is displayed prominently above the door and on pillars extending from inside the coliseum itself. Upon first glance, this could almost look like a temple or an arena for events, a place to celebrate successes and cheer for the champions of the kingdom.
But a closer approach tells us this is no place of celebration, nor a place to revel in glory. This decadent structure is a prison, elaborate and overwhelming, designed to keep the most dangerous people in the kingdom locked away.
The Arbiter’s Grounds is the fourth dungeon you come across in Twilight Princess, and it’s a hammer-like introduction to the latter half of the game. As you enter, you see that this building has been left to ruin. Sand fills in every crevice, forming in some area’s dangerous sinkholes as the desert tries to reclaim what once belonged to it. The walls are falling, pillars are torn down, and skulls litter the area rather than pots. These ruins can make parts of the temple difficult to navigate, but that’s nothing compared to the supernatural trouble the prisoners and guards left behind.
The Gerudo, introduced in Ocarina of Time, were a harsh and secretive people, born from the desert that housed them. I’m guessing when they were tasked with or decided to build this fortress, they did it to withstand a siege from outside or from within. When you speak with Auro before entering the desert, he mentions that the prison was built “to hold the worst criminals this land has ever known.” From the look of the inside of the dungeon, it appears the fortress worked.
But housing the worst criminals the land has ever known would not come without consequence. As you continue to search the ruins, you’re met with a variety of spine-chilling enemies. Strange worms that leap out of the sand to tear flesh from your bones, ghostly rats that can only be sensed in wolf form, mini skeletons and mummified Gibdos that cause Link to tremble in his boots. Let’s also not forget the Poes you’re seeking for clues that amalgamate into one of the most frightening and interesting mini-bosses in the series. All this coupled with booby traps, gates that come crashing down if you don’t move through them fast enough, and a maddening descent deeper and deeper into the labyrinthine jailhouse makes for an exhilarating and spooky experience.
And the thrills don’t stop coming as you exit the temple. After an encounter with Zant and a thrilling final boss battle with Stallord, Link is able to ascend at last to the center of the coliseum and see what it holds: a statue of a woman, her hands cradling flame and a snake-like track winding around her from foot to crown of her head. On her head sits a platform, and when Link travels his way up the statue to stand on the precipice, he uses his newly found Spinner to raise the hidden secret of the temple.
As the statue descents underground, a monolithic black stone rises. Wrapped in massive chains, it’s hauled into the air until it’s suspended in front of a stone dais on which sits a small, gold structure designed to hold a circular disk. It’s the Mirror of Twilight, though at this point in the game, only one piece remains of this artifact.
One of my favorite things about Twilight Princess is how the atmosphere and design seem larger than life. Every creature is big, every boss is colossal, and every structure is massive. Link feels so small on his adventure, and so small in the world, that it drives home the fact that he really is just this kid from a farm on a larger-than-life adventure. The Arbiter’s Grounds is one of my favorite dungeons in the series, from the temple design to the bosses within. It’s ominous, spooky, but filled with the same mystery that brings me back to the Zelda series time and time again. Everything about Twilight Princess has a darker tone, yes, but for me, this dungeon ramped that dark atmosphere up to 11.
