After enduring the harsh heat of Goron Island in his quest to save Tetra and the world of the Ocean King, Link finds himself in the ironic situation of having to now endure the brutal cold of the secluded and mysterious Isle of Frost. The island promises to make every effort to avoid relinquishing its secrets and treasures, a fact made apparent by Link’s need to use bombs to shatter a wall of ice that surrounds the island before he can even set foot on it. At least the icy demolition work does a good job of teaching Link what hardships to expect from this frozen region.
As Link steps onto the frozen earth of the island’s docking station, his footsteps muffled by the blanket of pure-white snow, he prepares himself for what he assumes will be a rough time. He has always been more accustomed to tropic climates, and he’s understandably cautious about exploring in such an unknown climate.
This caution is put to rest, albeit only slightly, after he surveys the area and discovers that it is actually home to a quaint-looking village of seemingly peaceful creatures. The Anouki, as he learns they are called, have lived on this island for an untold amount of time, and they appear to have no interest in making Link’s visit a hard one.
The small and cozy igloo homes offer warm and peaceful escapes from the weather, but that respite doesn’t last long, as speaking with a number of the Anouki reveals that an unwanted beast known as a Yook had sneaked into the village, kidnapped one of the residents, and is now disguising itself as its unknown captive. Not wanting any part of that ordeal, Link, also knowing that one of the Pure Metals he seeks is somewhere on the eastern part of the island, heads to the edge of the village to begin his search for the prize.
But as he might expect, this is when he’s met with opposition, courtesy of an Anouki guard who will not allow him to exit the village due to the dangerous Yook, both the one hiding in town and the others that live beyond the town’s borders. The guard is a stickler for the rules, and he leaves Link with no other option but to seek permission to go east.
Having been in this situation before, Link begrudgingly accepts that the rules are the rules and returns to the village to find its chief. What’s this particular elder going to have in store for Link? Every leader, mayor, and other such senior figure Link has met has always found a way to send him on any number of random quests. Link hopes this Anouki will actually be of help to him.
At the chief’s home, a very “this is the chief’s home” version of the igloos the other Anouki live in, Link meets the political homeowner. The conversation plays out as Link had predicted, and it ends with him needing to make a deal with the chief in order to get what he wants. Link accepts the deal — which is to figure out where the sneaky Yook is and expose him — and journeys to the Anouki Estates to search the homes and interrogate the villagers.
There are six homes to visit and six Anouki to question. As Link begins his task and talks with the first couple Anouki, he begins to realize what kind of conundrum he’s facing. All of the Anouki only have things to say about their neighbors. One of them will say that another is always honest, a third will say that the fourth and fifth Anouki never lie, and so on. It’s a looping headache that Link wishes he could simply solve with a few bombs.
The annoyance continues, but after speaking with every resident, Link begins to piece it together. Puzzles have always been a specialty of his, so taking on a novel challenge like this has become fun for him. The fun factor speeds up the progress, and now Link has a lead on who the culprit is.
He questions one of the Anouki, Aroo, again, pressing him more and more with the accusation that he is the Yook. Link is confident, ignoring Aroo’s insistence of his innocence and pleas for Link to leave him be. They aren’t enough to persuade the young master of logic, leaving Aroo with no choice but to confess and transform into his original Yook form. It’s a great success for Link, until the Yook decides to play dirty by lying to Link one last time in order to make a slick escape. It’s not the resolution Link wants, but he has the information he needs, so he makes for the chief’s home to give a report.
The chief thanks Link for his help, but questions if Link was annoyed by the Yook’s trickery. He leads Link’s emotions with notions of revenge, ideas that Ciela happily encourages. She took the blow to their pride the hardest, and Link knows better than to try to calm her down. The chief’s goading does the job, so he grants them permission to enter the Great Ice Fields to track down their assailant.
The Great Ice Fields, though not actually great, are a stark contrast to the inviting homes of the Anouki Village. Several Anouki had told Link that they and the Yook had a massive feud long ago, and that the feud ended with a deal being made that the Anouki would live in the western side of the island and the Yook would live on the eastern side. And if the Yook have come to resent that agreement, it’s clear to see why. Every inch of these open and lifeless fields is covered in ice, and the harsh winds do their best to put any travelers down on their backs. It’s a wholly uninviting place, home to uninviting beasts. It doesn’t take long for Link to encounter his first local Yook, and the meeting is as pleasant as anyone should by now expect.
This Hylia-forsaken wasteland finally fulfills its purpose when Link finds the entrance to the Ice Temple, a place in which he’s sure to find one of the Pure Metals. Close to the entryway, he finds and reads a sign that tells him he must defeat all of the wasteland’s guardians, the Yooks living there, to gain entry. How fortunate for Link, though, that his revengeful rampage through the area had already helped him meet this requirement. Now he can simply walk into the temple.
Except not, because there’s still one Yook left to deal with. This Yook, he has a bit more going for him than the others, a little more gusto, but Link is Link, so to him, “a bit more” means “more wasted time.” This last Yook falls as the final slash of Link’s sword comes down, and the entrance to the temple opens. Link, with mixed feelings about his success, can now finally stop freezing his butt off out in a frigid tundra and instead start freezing it in a dark and dangerous dungeon.
