Subterranean Lava Dragon Volvagia is the boss of the Fire Temple in N64 game The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. He is woken by bad guy Ganondorf in order to create trouble for the Gorons who live near the Temple at the top of Death Mountain. Originally Darunia (the Goron leader) entered the Temple to try and defeat the dragon himself, but with his limited powers and without the aid of the legendary Megaton Hammer that is hidden elsewhere in the Temple, he failed to do this. As Link, you have to beat him yourself and thus rescue Darunia.
Volvagia is ostensibly a fire dragon, but he is incredibly long and looks more like a snake. He is fiery all the way along his length (if you touch him you sustain damage because of this). He also has fiery tassels attached to his head that swing around and are equally dangerous. He lives quite happily in molten lava.
The arena is a large round raised platform standing in the middle of a lake of lava - if you fall, you won't die instantly, but you will get hurt repeatedly until you make it to the stairs near the arena entrance. There are seven small round holes in the platform which contain more lava. Volvagia lives inside the platform. Periodically one of the holes will bubble flame, then Volvagia will emerge from it, perform one of three attacks, then disappears back into another hole. Sometimes more than one hole may bubble to throw you off: Volvagia comes from the last one that bubbles.
The first kind of attack is simply circling above the arena, trailing his tail behind him like a streamer at just over head height. If you run underneath his body you sustain damage from the flames, and try to stay away from his head too, as he will try to flame you.
The second attack is to disappear upwards into the ceiling and start dislodging rocks of various sizes, which fall down and damage you. You can spot where rocks are going to fall by watching their shadows on the ground. Don't get crushed or fall in the lava.
The third attack isn't really an attack. He just pokes his head out of the hole, swirling his head tassels briefly, and sits for a few seconds. This is when he is vulnerable.
How to beat Volvagia:
(Take a reasonably good shot at doing this yourself before you read this guide. You'll get much more satisfaction from this game if you can do it without help.) Like all bosses in LoZ:OoT, Volvagia must be stunned before he can be damaged. In this case, that's with the Megaton Hammer.
Stand near the bubbling hole at a safe distance and wait for Volvagia to emerge. For either of the first two attacks, simply go to the edge of the platform and hang off the side until it finishes. This will leave you completely unhurt in 100% of cases! Simple, hey? The third "attack" is when Volvagia is vulnerable. Get out your Megaton Hammer and clonk him smartly on the head once. This is enough to stun the dragon. Now you need to damage him, so whip out your Master Sword (or Biggoron's Sword if you have it) and slash the head. Do a jumping attack (double damage) or a spin attack if you can. You actually have time for a fully charged spin attack if you hurry. Run away before he disappears, because he swings his tassels around and you might take damage.
Continue to wait for the third attack, then use the Hammer to stun the dragon and the sword to damage him, until he is dead. The death sequence (like all boss deaths in this game) is pretty spectacular. Don't forget to collect the Heart Container, and walk into the shining blue warp that now appears. You will now receive the Fire Medallion, and Darunia will awaken as the Sage of Fire.
This was the fifth boss from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.
Previous boss: Phantom Ganon.
Next boss: Morpha.