The reason that a lot of these fail at being "temples" is probably due more to localization issues than anything. The original term for the temples was Shinden which as far as we can tell is roughly analogous to temple but more broad and can include a number of sacred spaces. Think of them more like a remote shaolin monastery on top of a mountain than a public church in the center of town.

I was always under the impression that none of the temples had monsters until ganondorf used his evil magic to curse each of the temples. Thus creating the monsters.

It would've made more sense to rank the Fire Temple based off it's intended audience being the Goron, like you did with the Water Temple and the Zora. Gorons can live in absurd temperatures, and even walk in Lava no problem like in Breath of The Wild, they go to Lava Pools to relax.

The Gorons seem to worship what they call Fire Spirits, and the Zora likewise Water Spirits. Considering certain pieces of dialogue in Ocarina of Time, the Fire Temple and Water Temple could be gathering spots for these spirits, which would explain both their cultural significance and their naming. Saria also talks about Forest Spirits, particularly when you learn her song from her in front of the Forest Temple, and if you play Saria's Song as Adult Link before you complete the Forest Temple, Saria says she entered the temple at the urging of the Forest Spirits.

The Water Temple has been theorized to be a Training Place for the Zoras, the puzzles they have to solve and so on can be seen as a way to worship the Goddess Nayru as they have very strong connections to her, for Example them usually living in the Region of LANAYRU, which is named after her, the Zora Saphire is shaped like the Symbol of Nayru and so on.

A mansion in the center of a haunted forest. Well I mean it's not really a temple it's a facade for a laboratory that made bio-weapons an.....oops wrong game.

Rogue, random thoughts and analysis of my own here-

I give you points for noting the Water Temple as being primarily used by the Zora, but I've got to take points off for not accounting for the Fire Temple likely being primarily used by the Gorons, and the Spirit Temple mostly being used by the Gerudo. With the Gorons physical abilities, many of the downsides of the temple would be similarly null compared to the Water Temple for the Zora, and I imagine most adult Gerudo have passed the trials required to access the Spirit Temple, so the same applies there.

A historical note about temples:

Your temple of light entry is actually just the chamber of sages, a location in the sacred realm specifically for the sages. The actual temple of light we dont have access to as Rauru simply gives you the medallion.

The temple of time is literally a church. Even the chanting sounds like a church chorus.

I don't think the Zelda series talks enough about how the Lost Woods is able to just straight up move around. I didn't even think about this just now until you were talking about the Forest Temple. That was a manor, which probably had people living in there, who got caught in the Lost Woods when it moved.

Your shadow follows you up to the tree, but once you pass it the shadow stays behind.

I think the Fire Temple would be a lot more accessible to it's intended audience- the gorons

The water temple could be considered a real temple. Is a temple to sharp the mind and clean the spirit, the last part explains the battle against Dark Link and why Navi describes it as "conquer yourself", meaning he had to fight the darkness in his spirit to progress.

I'd be really interested to hear your take on Twilight Princess, since almost every dungeon is given an explicit purpose within the game's lore, design and architecture included. Definitely fewer places of worship to compare, but a lot more design choices to consider regarding intent and effectiveness. Plus the ambience and atmosphere in that game is just great I think there are only a few other good examples across the other games (maybe a couple in TWW or SS)