Kakariko Village

Get a bottle, the Sun's Song, and the Hylian Shield before heading up Death Mountain

Get the Cucco Lady Bottle

There are a few useful things you can do in Kakariko Village before heading up the mountain to Goron City. First, you can grab the bottle from the Cucco / Chicken lady by finding all 7 of her chickens.

Get the Sun’s Song from the Graveyard

After that, head for the graveyard. Head towards the back of the graveyard to the giant tomb with the Triforce on the ground in front of it, and play Zelda’s Lullaby on your Ocarina.

Play Zelda's Lullaby to explode this tomb — Play Zelda’s Lullaby to explode this tomb

Now fall into the hole under the exploded tomb. You have to first kill all the bats in this room to unlock the door.

Kill all 4 of the bats to unlock the door

I would recommend running past all the zombies in the next room, and then eventually you’ll reach a giant mural that you can read, to learn the Sun’s Song.

Read this mural to learn the Sun's Song — Read this mural to learn the Sun’s Song

After getting the Sun’s Song, head back out of the grave (you can use the Sun’s Song to stun the zombies now).

Get the Hylian Shield

Depending on what time of day it is, you might need to play the Sun’s Song to turn it back into night time, so you can pull grave with flowers in front of it in the middle of the graveyard.

Now head back out to Kakariko Village, and go to the right side up the stairs towards Death Mountain.

Give Zelda’s Letter to the Guard

There will be a guard on the way to Death Mountain, so you will need to use Zelda’s Letter to get past him.

Show Zelda's Letter to the Guard on the way to Death Mountain — Show Zelda’s Letter to the Guard on the way to Death Mountain

After showing the guard the letter, he will talk to you about a side quest to get a Mask for him. Then, you can go through the gate up to Death Mountain.