Image Credit: SelinaB / GamifiedLife, LLC

Light and Dark

A Portal to the Dark Castle. Enchanted Doors. Puzzles to Solve. An angry Forgotten. All this and more await you in Merlin’s Dark Castle Adventure in Disney Dreamlight Valley.

The Darker Side of Dreamlight Valley

The Dark Castle takes you to the Dark Side of Dreamlight Valley. It’s a place that you’ve only caught glimpses of up until now. As you hunt for The Forgotten, in an attempt to stop them from destroying your world, you’ll come across many puzzles. If you love solving them on your own, we don’t want to spoil the fun. You’ll want to skip the sections of this post, labeled “Solution…”.

However, it you’d like a little help with a particularly puzzling puzzle, the “Solution” sections of the post are for you!

Prepare yourself for a journey to… the Dark Side…

Image Credit: SelinaB / GamifiedLife, LLC

Forgotten Relics

It took a little searching, but you now have all of the Forgotten Relics in your inventory. According to Merlin, they are needed for the enchantment that will help you reach The Forgotten. No time to waste. You need to get these items to Merlin.

Quest Task: Bring the Forgotten Relics to Merlin

  • The Blanket
  • The Drawing
  • Beach Toys
  • The Storybook

Image Credit: IzziBGran / GamifiedLife, LLC

A Dark Portal

To spin the enchantment, Merlin leads you to the Plaza. It appears that there is a hidden doorway here, that takes you to the dark side of Dreamlight Valley.

There’s no time like the present to give this a try. You need to reach the Forgotten, literally and figuratively, before the rips in the sky become more unstable.

With a little coaching from Merlin, focus your magic and the portal appears. Ready or not, here you go.

Quest Task: Follow Merlin to the Plaza.

Quest Task: Talk to Merlin.

Image Credit: SelinaB / GamifiedLife, LLC

A Path Opens

Passing through the portal, a Dark version of Dream Castle looms before you. The Forgotten is somewhere inside. Head boldly up the path to the Castle’s front door.

Quest Task: Pass through the portal to the Dark Castle.

Image Credit: SelinaB / GamifiedLife, LLC

The Dark Castle

As you step inside the Dark Castle, you see The Forgotten, standing on the top balcony, spinning an enchantment. This is so, not good! You need to get to The Forgotten quickly, but the path is blocked.

There must be a way!

Quest Task: Enter the Dark Castle.

Image Credit: IzziBGran / GamifiedLife, LLC

Investigation on the Main Floor

The Dark Castle entryway is both familiar and sadly broken. Rubble and Night Thorns surround you. The staircases on both sides are blocked.

There is a path through the rubble to the right. It looks like The Forgotten used this as a sort of bedroom, but there is no way forward here. The path through the Night Thorns to the left is also a dead end. Although, there are a few interesting pieces of furniture worth checking out on both sides.

Pro Tip: Take note of the Fox statue in The Forgotten’s main floor living space to the right. We’ll come back to this in another adventure!

Pro Tip: Check out the area to the left of the main entrance as well. An item found here will come in handy at a little later.

Image Credit: SelinaB / GamifiedLife, LLC

Image Credit: IzziBGran / GamifiedLife, LLC

The First Door

The path to the center door on the main floor is oddly clear. In the Dream Castle, this door was one of three and took you to Moana’s Realm. Here, it appears to be the only door and emanates a strange light.

With no other options, the door must hold the key to moving forward. As you approach, the door speaks!

Now that is something you didn’t expect.

Quest Task: Pass through the first door to explore deeper into the Dark Castle.

Quest Task: Something is weird about this door.

  • Investigate it.

Image Credit: IzziBGran / GamifiedLife, LLC

Twin Wings

The Door appears to recognize you. Or, it sort of recognizes you. Well, it’s not sure.

Obviously, The Door is confusing you with The Forgotten. This is going to work to your benefit. You just need to find a way to convince The Door that that is actually who you are, and it will let you through!

Quest Task: Find something around here to trick the door into letting you in.

Quest Task: Talk to the door.

Image Credit: SelinaB / GamifiedLife, LLC

Solution – Opening the First Door

The First Door Solution:

Change your clothes. Put on a pair of wings and a crown.

If you don’t have anything suitable in your inventory, check out the wardrobes in the left and right alcoves on the entry floor. There are cardboard ones in there, that will work just fine.

Image Credit: SelinaB / GamifiedLife, LLC

A Door Opens

A little convincing later, and the door swings open.

After removing a few Night Thorns, you reach the stairs to the second-floor balcony and head up.

Here too, the path to the staircase going further upward is blocked off. There are a few things to check out on the balcony, however. And once again, there is a door in the hallway giving off that same strange glow.

This door has a fierce face on it!! Does it bite?!

Quest Task: Go through the door.

Quest Task: Explore deeper into the Dark Castle.

Image Credit: SelinaB / GamifiedLife, LLC

Table of Ingredients

As you investigate the second-floor balcony, you find a few notes. The door on this floor appears to have a name. Doorine.

It looks like The Forgotten was cooking… for the door. Yup, that’s right. They left some ingredients behind, conveniently. Especially since the ingredients on the table are, shall we say unique.

Hopefully Doorine is hungry, and for something other than a bite of you, because you need to continue upstairs. Times a-wasting!

Quest Task: Figure out how to get past the second door in the Dark Castle.

Image Credit: IzziBGran / GamifiedLife, LLC

Image Credit: SelinaB / GamifiedLife, LLC

Dark Castle Ingredients

Image Credit: IzziBGran / GamifiedLife, LLC

Solution – Opening the Second Door

The Second Door Solution:

Grab some ingredients from the table on the balcony. They are free, but there is no need to stock up. These unique items stay in your Inventory only while you are in the Dark Castle.

Head to the cooking station next to the table and cook a Night Thorn Sprout Salad using the recipe below.

Give the Night Thorn Sprout Salad to Doorine and see what happens!

Night Thorn Sprout Salad Recipe:

  • Dark Castle Lettuce-1
  • Dreamlight Salt-1
  • Thorn Sprout-1

Image Credit: IzziBGran / GamifiedLife, LLC

Through the Second Door

Once Doorine is satisfied with her meal, she swings open so you can head through to the next area.

You’re moving up, but the progress forward is slow.

Quest Task: Pass through the second door in the Dark Castle.

Quest Task: Explore deeper into the Dark Castle.

Image Credit: IzziBGran / GamifiedLife, LLC

A Missing Door

This time, you encounter only an outline of a door. The door itself seems to be missing. There must be a clue around somewhere to help you move on!

In this case, it’s a very good thing you always carry your Royal Tools with you!

Quest Task: This door seems to be missing.

  • Search for a clue.

Quest Task: Pass through the third door in the Dark Castle.

Image Credit: SelinaB / GamifiedLife, LLC

Solution – Opening the Third Door

The Third Door Solution:

The solution to this door is easy to accomplish. Simply take a picture of yourself in front of the “missing door” with your Royal Camera. As soon as you do, the door appears.

Image Credit: SelinaB / GamifiedLife, LLC

The Locked Door

Pass through the third door and follow the path forward.

Reaching the next landing, you encounter a lot of ice! There is also another door, but this door is barred with chains and a huge lock.

You’ll need to clear away the ice, if you hope to find the key for unlocking this door. The torches you find during the ice removal process start to give you an idea of just how you’re going to release the key for the door.

Oh no! The key dropped into the water!!

Quest Task: Make your way to the next Door.

Image Credit: SelinaB / GamifiedLife, LLC

Solution – Opening the Fourth Door

The Fourth Door Solution:

The solution to this door comes is a little more complex. You need to get the key, but it’s suspended in ice above a well or fountain in the center of the balcony.

Look closely at the setup around the well. It’s a clock, of sorts. Place the 4 torches you found when clearing the ice from the balcony, into the pedestals around the well.

Facing the locked door, the torches will go in the following pedestals:

  • Right pedestal (3 o’clock): Dawn Torch
  • Pedestal farthest from the door (6 o’clock): Noon Torch
  • Left pedestal (9 o’clock): Dusk Torch
  • Pedestal closest to the door (12 o’clock): Night Torch

When the torches are all placed correctly around the well, the ice holding the key melts. That’s all well and good, pun intended, but the key just dropped into the water and out of reach…again.

You Royal Tools to the rescue! Use your Royal Fishing Rod and go fishing for a key. In no time, the Dark Castle Key is yours!

Image Credit: IzziBGran / GamifiedLife, LLC

Confront The Forgotten

With the Dark Castle Key in your possession, unlocking the Huge Lock is a simple thing.

As soon as you step through the door, a cut scene unfolds. The Forgotten has already started casting their spell. Nothing you can say is working to convince them to stop. Catastrophe is imminent!

It seems a fight, magic to magic, is the only way to get through to The Forgotten!

Image Credit: SelinaB / GamifiedLife, LLC

Image Credit: SelinaB / GamifiedLife, LLC

The Battle Begins…

Image Credit: SelinaB / GamifiedLife, LLC

What Happens Next?

Previous Quest

Image Credit: SelinaB / GamifiedLife, LLC

Next Quest

The Remembered

Image Credit: SelinaB / GamifiedLife, LLC

How does the battle end? The adventure continues in The Remembered.

Share This Story, Choose Your Platform!

About the Author: IzziBGran

IzziBGran started gaming in her mid-twenties, and it quickly became one of her favorite pastimes. Currently her favorite games include Disney Dreamlight Valley, Dragon Quest Builders II, and Zelda Tears of the Kingdom but she dabbles in other RPGs regularly. When she retired, she became a curator for GamifiedLife to add some additional excitement to her gaming life.

Get the latest news & updates

Subscribe to Our Newsletter