Twilight Princess: Notable Events and Route Deviations

List of all notable game/overworld events that impact the progression of the game.

This is a list of (hopefully) every important event required to complete Twilight Princess normally that I'm dumping here. I've omitted a few events (such as the first King Bublin Fight) that don't appear to change the inventory or progress the game. Sometime in the near future I plan on making a list of odd deviant routes and subroutes to map out every possible sequence order.

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Normal Route Events

Day 1:
Collect Epona
Goat Herding

Day 2:
Rescue Basket
-Get Fishing Rod
Catch Fish
-Buy Slingshot
Train With Slingshot
-get Wooden Sword
-Rescue Talo event activates
Obtain Lantern
Save Talo

Day 3:
Goat Herding II
Lose Wooden Sword
Visit Ilia
-Become a Wolf
-Lose Epona
-Horse Reeds in Faron disappear
-Faron to Hyrule gate becomes Midna Text Barrier

Castle Twilight:

Raid Ordon:
Obtain Wooden Shield
Trigger Midna Dialog
Obtain Ordon Sword
Activate Twilight Portal in Ordon Spring
Pass Through Twilight
-Transform into Wolf

Faron Twilight:
Learn Charge Attack
Open South Faron Portal
Obtain Vessel of Light
Open North Faron Portal
Clear Twilight

Faron/Forest Temple:
Learn Finishing Blow
Forest Temple
-Obtain Gale Boomerang
Beat Forest Temple
-Disable Midna Text to Hyrule Field
-Faron Horse Reeds Re-Appear

Eldin Twilight:
Open Kakariko Gorge Portal/Unlock Free Warp
Open Kakariko Village Portal
Obtain Vessel of Light
Open Renaldo's Basement
Open Goron Mines Portal
Clear Twilight
-Goron Rock can now be teleported.
-Kakariko Gorge Messengers disappear

Kakariko/Goron Mines:
Attempt To Climb Death Mountain
Tame Epona Event
Obtain Iron Boots
-King Bublin Event Active
Goron Rock Lands at Death Mountain
Goron Sumo Wrestling
-Goron Mines Access Granted
Get Bow
Clear Goron Mines
-Bombs Obtainable from Barnes
Activate Kakariko Bridge Portal Event
Open Kakariko Bridge Portal, unusable

Laranyu Twilight:
Fight Kakaroc Miniboss
-Tunnel Sequence
Open Zora's Domain Portal
Warp Goron Rock
-Enable Light Spirit
Obtain Vessel of Light
Open Lake Hylia Portal
Open Hyrule Castle Portal
Fight Giant Bug
Clear Twilight

Laranyu Province:
Zora Prince Rescue Sequence can be activated
-Bublin Fight II
-Rescue Zora Kid
-Obtain Zora Armor
Buy Water Bombs

Lakebed Temple:
Obtain Clawshot
Clear Lakebed Temple
-Zant Cutscene Activates
--Midna Charge Attack Disabled
--Midna Warping Disabled
-Auru Appears

Saving Midna Event:
Time Stop in Hyrule Field
Meet Zelda
-Ganon Barrier appears
-Midna's full abilities return

Master Sword/Before Gerudo Desert:
Use Howling Stone to open Lost Woods
Solve Golem Puzzle
Obtain Master Sword
-Gain Ability to Transform/Warp
Obtain Auru's Memo
Cannon to Gerudo Desert
-City Cannon can now be fixed

Gerudo Desert:
Bublin Fight III
Escape Tent on Boar
-Activate map trigger between Camp & Colosseum

Arbiture's Grounds:
Defeat Four Ghosts
-Access to second Half of dungeon
Obtain Spinner
Beat Boss
-Access to Mirror Chamber
-Oocco lost after leaving dungeon
Activate Mirror Chamber Portal
Raise stone slab
-Ashei appears

Snowpeak:
Obtain Reekfish Scent
-Given ability to scale Snowpeak
Open Snowpeak Portal
-Blizzard disappears?
Obtain Ball and Chain
Beat Boss
-Rusl Appears

Temple of Time:
Clear Lost Woods (Human)
Open Temple of Time Portal
Open Temple of Time (Dungeon Entrance) Portal
Obtain Dominion Rod
Beat Boss
-Dominion Rod De-Charges
-Shad Appears in Renaldo's Basement

Shit Sidequest:
Stupid Trading Sequence BS
Dominion Rod Charged
Move Statue
-Shad moves into the chamber
Talk to Shad to tell him he's an asshole
Warp the Cannon
Obtain Double Clawshot
Beat Boss

Final:
Beat Palace of Twilight
Break Ganon Barrier
Beat Game

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Back In Time Save Subroute
Start After Event: None
Skip Events: Obtain Ordon Sword/Shield, Open Ordon Spring Portal, Tame Epona Event

Start: Faron Woods Day 1
Tame Epona (Automatically)
Equip Ordon Sword (Automatically, believed to disable Obtain Ordon Sword Event)
Obtain Lantern
Save Talo

Day 3:
Goat Herding II
Obtain Iron Boots
-Activate King Bublin I trigger
Continue Normal Route at "Day 3: Visit Ilia"
Return to Subroute at "Raiding Ordon: Obtain Ordon Sword"
SB: Activate Sword & Shield Skip
Pass Through Twilight
-Transform into Wolf

Notes: The King Bublin I fight trigger can be walked around. Early Laranyu can be done after Kakariko Twilight is cleared.

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Back In Time Equiped Warp Subroute
Start After Event: None. Earliest known locations to start are
-Ordon Ranch, before second round of herding
-Mayor Bo's House
-Faron Woods South Entrance, post-twilight but before the completion of the Forest Temple
Skipped Events: Finishing the Forest Temple*
Start: After Faron Twilight is cleared
Save in Faron Woods,
Head to Ordon Bridge
Do Back in Time Equipped
Fight King Bublin I

Notes: Tests have only been done with BiT Save during EMS A subroute. Subroute ends in a dead end for now. If Kakariko Twilight is cleared before Opening Kakariko Gorge Portal, the event is permanently skipped. In theory, it may be possible to enter and beat Goron Mines early with BiT Save without EMS A. More testing is needed

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Early Access to Master Sword Subroute
Start after event: Open South Faron Portal, though it's more practical to get the vessel of light first
Skip Events: None

Use Howling Stone to open Lost Woods
Solve Golem Puzzle

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Early Master Sword Subroute A
Start after: Early Access to Master Sword Subroute
Skip Events: Goron Sumo Wrestling (EMS breaks the event, making it impossible to win), Goron Mines, Obtaining Reekfish Scent

Obtain Master Sword
Return to Normal Route at Faron Twilight: Open North Faron Portal, Leave after Getting Iron Boots
SB: Enter Laranyu Twilight Early
SB: Enter Lakebed Temple Early to obtain Oocco
Return to Normal Route at Laranyu Twilight: Fight Kakaroc, Leave after Laranyu Twilight: Cleared
SB: Steal Iza's Bomb Bag, fill with water bombs
Get Goron Bomb Bag
Return to Normal Route

Notes: Goron Mines can be entered later with the spinner. Early Master Sword causes several game events to 'break'

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Early Master Sword Subroute B
Start after: Early Access to Master Sword Subroute
Skip Events: None (this subroute was created to obtain Bombs/Bow before Saving Midna)
Important: If the Goron Mines can be entered without wrestling Cor Goron that doesn't involve the spinner, this will be obsolete

Save warp, deathwarp to return to Normal Route, leave after Goron Sumo Wrestling
Obtain Oocco from Goron Mines (for easy access)
SB: Early Sacred Grove as a human
Obtain Master Sword
Return to Normal Route

Notes: On the Wii, Early Sacred Grove as a human is only possible with a bomb boost. This is the only Subroute that can temporarily escape from the Midna's Desperate Hour subquest.

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Endless Midna's Desperate Hour Subroute
Start after: Early Master Sword Subroute B
Skip Events: None
Important: Do not obtain Oocco from Lakebed Temple, or else it will disappear after the temple is complete.

Optional: Obtain Bow (for much easier Bublin II fight)
SB: Early Lake Hylia
Return to Normal Route until after event Clear Lakebed Temple
SB: Use Goron Mines Oocco to warp away from the Midna Barriers around Hyrule Castle

Notes: Midna cannot charge attack or warp. Also, Midna's Lament will play continuously in almost every situation. Entering Hyrule Field will force the time into a continuous night, and except for the enemies in North Hyrule, it's devoid of enemies. From here, your limited in what you can do. You can reach Gerudo Desert provided that you haven't warped the cannon before clearing Lakebed Temple. If you beat Arbiture's Grounds, you lose Oocco, which traps you in the Mirror Chamber.

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White Midna Sequence Oddity
Requires: Master Sword Obtained, Bomb Bag Obtained (and filled with waterbombs)
Starts After: Giant Bug Fight, but before collecting the final tear and Clearing Laranyu Twilight
Skips: Midna Warping Disabled

Clear Lakebed Temple
Clear Laranyu Twilight

Notes: Can progress through the game without Saving Midna until after Palace of Twilight is cleared. No known major event issues occur while Midna is in this state.

Wow I have a feeling this is going to help people enormously

So I have been playing Twilight Princess more and I think I have learned the basic requirements needed to beat the game not using Back in Time glitch through the moon jump AR code.  I'm not sure how much of this is already general knowledge of the game but I guess I will post it anyway.

1. Get Lantern to burn webs and needed to go through east/west room in Hyrule Castle
2. Talo and Monkey must be rescued to activate 2nd goats
3. 2nd goats required to tame Epona and activate castle twilight
4. Castle twilight needed to obtain wolf senses
5. Must talk to Midna when leaving Ordon Springs to get Midna on Z/Up
6. Battle S. Faron Twilt Messengers to get dark energy attack
7. Master Sword needed to reflect Puppet Zelda's orbs, turn into wolf to defeat Beast Gannon
8. Faron Tears required to make gold wolf appear
9. Learn hidden skill 1 from gold wolf to defeat Ganon in the final battle
10. Eldin Tears needed to make rock fall in Death Mountain to be warped to Zora's Domain
11. Eldin Tears required to tame Epona. If Epona is not tamed, game will freeze after Beast Ganon is defeated.
12. Warp rock from death mountain required to get Lanayru vessel of light
13. Lanayru tears needed to enter Hyrule Castle
14. King Bulbin 4 must be defeated to get small key to enter Hyrule Castle
15. Various enemies when first entering castle must be defeated to open doors in castle
16. If bow not in inventory, the only way to go is lighting the torches and fighting the armored lizards
17. Small key from Aeralfos (fight could be skipped) and big key
18. Defeat enemies leading to Ganon.  Darknut fight could be skipped
19. Beat Ganon

Estimated Completion Time with Min Requirements Only: ?

Bumping because i can.

Three comments:

1: Great resource, just like WW has the flags for barrier, TP has its own flags that need to be hit for its own progression at times.

2: In the Raid Ordon Route Event, you have as a sub event turning wolf, however, isn't this the case when you trigger the Ilia CS in the Ordon Spring on Ordon Day 3? Might just be misplaced, might be that it actually is after you enter Faron Woods properly (instead of in the Ilia CS). This is TP, so anything can happen.

3: During the Raid Ordon Route Event, you get Ordon Shield, then Ordon Sword. However, the Ordon Sword isn't present until a specific trigger. I thought this trigger was getting Ordon Shield, but a very interesting one-frame jump attack, and further evasion of the Midna Text that happens after you get the Shield showed me that this isn't the case- the Midna text AFTER Ordon Shield is what triggers the Ordon Sword to appear.
Went, got Ordon Shield, evaded the Midna Text trigger, escaped the house. Rusl CS occurred normally, dashed over, dug in, and the sword wasn't there. After checking to see if the Ordon Spring Portal trigger was active (it was not) and the Midna Text trigger at the entrance to Faron Woods (it was active still), I went back and got the Midna Text inside the house where you get Ordon Shield, then went to get the Ordon Sword. Lo and behold, it had appeared. Weird game sometimes.

2) You're right that I overlooked the first proper wolf transformation (visiting Ilia). However, I'm not entirely sure that going through the faron barrier the first time doesn't transform you.

3) Interesting observation. Added that in.

I'd like to point out that this list is quite old. I wrote it up well before people were serious about poking through the game on emulator (pretty much all of this came from memory from testing things on console) so there could be more things missing.