The skyscraping Eagle’s Tower is the seventh dungeon in Link’s Awakening. Shortly after defeating the pathetic final boss of the Face Shrine and collecting the Coral Triangle, the Legendary Hero is called to the mountains in order to locate the last two instruments and finally awaken the Wind Fish. After Link makes a few stops to resurrect a dead chicken, talk to a man who looks like Luigi, and collect some spare Seashells, it is time to head to Tal Tal Mountain Range and enter the Eagle’s Tower.
The Tower is considered by some — myself included — to be the most difficult dungeon in the game, because there are so many rooms that need to be navigated and explored. If you don’t use a walkthrough, you will get lost easily and need to do a lot of backtracking. But this is also the reason why the Eagle’s Tower is my favorite dungeon in Link’s Awakening: getting lost is what makes it such a fun and challenging adventure!
In order to complete this dungeon, Link has to literally resort to vandalism. You see, the entire third floor of the tower is blocked off and can only be accessed by destroying the four weak pillars that hold the third floor above. Once you demolish them, the third floor comes crashing down, allowing you to access the final segment. However, it is not as easy as just placing some bombs at the base of the pillars (though when I stop to think about it, I am not sure why that does not work). Instead, Link must equip the Power Bracelet, an item that enhances his physical strength, in order to carry a giant ball around the tower. This is the part of the adventure that more people should be talking about. Zelda is not always about slaying monsters and finding treasure. Sometimes, it is about carrying a huge wrecking ball on your back and knocking out a bunch of load-bearing walls.
Another thing I love about the Eagle’s Tower is just how tricky it is to navigate. Even though the tower is shaped like an ordinary cylinder, the interior still has odd twists and turns that make is a bit confusing; good spatial awareness is a must if you want to complete the dungeon in a reasonable amount of time. Orange and blue barricades, holes in the floor, and walls with hidden weak spots are just some of the obstacles that require you to think carefully and plan things out in advance. But not every puzzle needs to be difficult or challenging in order to be enjoyable. Even though they’re easy, I also really like the puzzles that involve throwing chess pieces into holes in the ground. (In fact, I think that every Zelda game should have at least one dungeon with a chess puzzle in it.)
And of course, a Zelda dungeon would not be complete without an army of monsters to block your way forward. You have your typical Keese, Gels, Goombas, a Hinox, and those dreaded Sparks that I hate so much. But in this dungeon, my favorite enemy in entire Zelda universe makes its first appearance: the Anti-Kirby. Why is it my favorite enemy? Because it is just a dumb little Kirby! He does not belong in this series, and I feel a little sorry every time I am forced to kill one. But it still makes me smile when I see an Anti-Kirby waddling around on-screen.
For the mini-boss, we have a guy named the Grim Creeper, who I assume only gave himself that name because he wanted to be extremely corny. The Grim Creeper looks a lot like a regular Stalfos, but this one is intelligent enough to speak and play music. When you enter his room he immediately challenges you to a fight. He plays his flute to summon six Big Keese that all attack you at once, and he will continue summoning them until you manage to defeat all six in one go. He then ends the fight by flying off-screen, but if you were hoping that you would never have to deal with him again, you had better think again. Sure enough, the Grim Creeper makes his return at the very end, riding atop the dungeon’s final boss: the Evil Eagle. (I wonder how long it took them to conjure up that name.) While most of the game is viewed from a top-down perspective, this boss fight switches things up by using the side-scrolling format, which is pretty cool. Atop the now much-shorter Eagle’s Tower, Link fells the fowl creature in an epic battle, and he is rewarded with both a Heart Container and a new instrument: the Organ of Evening Calm. Now there’s just one more instrument for him to collect!
