The Legend of Zelda Timeline

Written and compiled by Lex of ZeldaInformer

The Creation of the World

Also known as “The Genesis Preface”1
Placement: At the very beginning of everything2

Figure 1: The goddesses breathe order and life into the world

State of the Triforce

The Triforce is whole, having just been created and left behind by the goddesses to govern the
world.3

Description

Before time began, before spirits and life existed, three golden goddesses descended upon the
chaos that was Hyrule: Din, the goddess of power; Nayru, the goddess of wisdom; Farore, the
goddess of courage. Using their various abilities, they brought order and life to the world. Din,
with her strong flaming arms, cultivated the land and created the red earth. Nayru poured her
wisdom onto the earth and gave the spirit of law to the world. Farore, with her rich soul, produced
all life forms who would uphold the law—the animals that crawl the land and the birds that soar
in the sky, and all of the living creatures of the world.

1
A Link to the Past, “The History of Hyrule”
2
Ocarina of Time, The Great Deku Tree
3
A Link to the Past, “The History of Hyrule” ; Ocarina of Time
 Figure 2: The goddesses return to the heavens

The three great goddesses, their labors completed, departed for the heavens. They consummated
the land with a symbol forged of their own powers, in the form of sacred golden triangles which
remained at the point where the goddesses left the world: the Triforce. The three goddesses hid
the Triforce containing the power of the gods somewhere in Hyrule, a beautiful kingdom
surrounded by forests and mountains, to govern the land. Since then, the sacred triangles have
become the basis of our world's providence. And the resting place of the triangles has become the
Sacred Realm. They would shine in the Sacred Realm until one who was worthy of inheriting
those powers appeared.1

The Ancient Sages

Also known as “The Construction of the Temple of Time” and “The Forging of the Master Sword”
Placement: Several millennia after the Creation

State of the Triforce

The Triforce is whole and resting in the Sacred Realm, and has not yet been touched.2 The seals
of the Temple of Time are cast by the ancient sages on the entrance to the Sacred Realm in order
to protect it from evils.3

Description

The Triforce itself cannot judge between good and evil. That is because only the gods can do
that.4 If someone with a righteous heart makes a wish, it will lead Hyrule to a golden age of
prosperity. If someone with an evil mind has his wish granted, the world will be consumed by

1
A compilation of the stories told in A Link to the Past, “The History of Hyrule” and by the Great Deku Tree
in Ocarina of Time
2
A Link to the Past, GBA instruction manual
3
Ocarina of Time, Princess Zelda
4
A Link to the Past, “The History of Hyrule”
evil.1 The stronger the wish, the more powerful the Triforce's expression of that wish2. So, the
ancient Sages built the Temple of Time to protect the Triforce from evil ones. The entrance was
sealed with a stone wall called the Door of Time.3

Figure 3: The Door of Time and the Spiritual Stones

It could not be assumed that only a good person would get their hands on the Triforce. For that
reason, the people of Hyrule were told by the gods to make a sacred blade which evil ones may
never touch that would repulse any evil that may kidnap the Triforce: the blade of evil's bane, the
Master Sword.4 The Master Sword—the evil-destroying sword5—was crafted by the wisdom of
the ancient sages6 and was the final key to the Sacred Realm.7 According to the tales handed
down by the Hylians, only the Hero who has destroyed three great evils and won three crests can
wield the sword.8

The Prolonged Wars

Also known as “The Fierce Wars” 9
Placement: Fighting continues until less than a decade before Ocarina of Time10

State of the Triforce

The Triforce is whole and resting in the Sacred Realm, and has still not yet been touched. The
seals of the Temple of Time on the entrance to the Sacred Realm continue to protect it from
evils.11

State of Ganon
1
Ocarina of Time, Sheik
2
A Link to the Past, Essence of the Triforce
3
Ocarina of Time, Princess Zelda
4
A Link to the Past, “The History of Hyrule”
5
Ocarina of Time, Rauru
6
Twilight Princess, Princess Zelda
7
Ocarina of Time, Rauru
8
A Link to the Past, Sahasrahla
9
Ocarina of Time, Deku Tree Sprout
10
Ocarina of Time, Deku Tree Sprout
11
A Link to the Past, GBA instruction manual
The original Ganondorf is born sometime before the termination of the Prolonged Wars in Gerudo
Fortress and ascends to the Gerudo throne.1

Description

Here is gathered Hyrule's bloody history of greed and hatred...2

For ages, the people lived at ease, content in mind and body. But soon, word of the Sacred Realm
spread through Hyrule.3 One such example is an old saying about the Triforce.

“In a realm beyond sight,

The sky shines gold, not blue.
There, the Triforce's might
Makes mortal dreams come true."

The people, seeking the Golden Power, began searching for the Sacred Realm. Some said the
Triforce lay under the relics of the desert or inside the graves of the race of people in the high
mountains, but no one ever found it. That yearning for the Triforce soon turned to lust for power,
which in turn led to the spilling of blood. Soon the only motive left among those searching for the
Triforce was pure greed.4 The people began to quarrel and fight,5 and friendly people had to live
with unrest.6

Among those living in the light, interlopers who excelled at magic appeared. Wielding powerful
sorcery, they tried to establish dominion over the holy land of Hyrule. A great battle ensued. It
was then that the goddesses ordered the three light spirits to intervene. They sealed away the great
magic those individuals had mastered.

Figure 4: A representation of the shadow clan who tried to conquer the Sacred Realm

The interlopers, in turn, were banished, chased across the sacred lands of Hyrule and driven into
another realm, a world of shadows. The goddesses left behind but a single link between the
1
Ocarina of Time
2
Ocarina of Time, Shadow Temple inscription
3
Twilight Princess, Lanayru
4
A Link to the Past, “The History of Hyrule”
5
Twilight Princess, Lanayru
6
A Link to the Past, “The History of Hyrule”
worlds of light and shadow: the Mirror of Twilight, which passed into the hands of the protectors
of Hyrule.1

In the midst of the violence and bloodshed, a Hylian mother and her newborn baby boy wandered
into the forbidden Kokiri Forest. The mother was critically injured and soon passed away, and the
Great Deku Tree, sensing the boy was a child of destiny, whose fate was intertwined with that of
the entire world, took the child in and raised him as a Kokiri. The boy’s name was Link.2

The conflicts ended when the King of Hyrule unified the kingdom and maintained order using the
Triforce.3

The Adult Timeline

Ocarina of Time
Also known as “The Imprisoning War” 4
Release date: November 23, 1998
Platform: Nintendo 64, Nintendo GameCube, Wii Virtual Console
Director/Writer: Toru Osawa
Placement: A few years after the final cessation of the Prolonged Wars and the unification of Hyrule5

State of the Triforce

When Ocarina of Time begins, the Triforce is still resting in the Sacred Realm in the custody of
the royal family. Once Ganondorf touches it, however, it splits into its three constituent parts,
Power, Wisdom, and Courage, which come to rest in Ganondorf, Zelda, and Link, respectively. It
remains separated as such even after Ganondorf is sealed in the Sacred Realm.

State of Ganon

Ganondorf touches the Triforce and the demon king “Ganon” is born6 through his use of the
Triforce of Power. At the end of the Imprisoning War, the seven sages seal him and his Triforce
away in the Sacred Realm.

Description

Ganondorf, the leader of the Gerudos who hail from the desert far to the west7, ceaselessly used
his vile, sorcerous powers in his search for the Sacred Realm.8 He was known as a demon thief,
an evil-magic wielder renowned for his ruthlessness.9 With his followers, he stole from women

1
Twilight Princess, Lanayru
2
Ocarina of Time, Deku Tree Sprout
3
The Adventure of Link, Instruction Manual
4
Toru Osawa, 1998 interview
5
Ocarina of Time, Deku Tree Sprout
6
A Link to the Past, “The History of Hyrule”
7
Ocarina of Time, Princess Zelda
8
Ocarina of Time, The Great Deku Tree
9
Twilight Princess, Ancient Sages
and children, and even killed people.1 His band of thieves invaded Hyrule in the hopes of
establishing dominion over the Sacred Realm. 2

In the forest of Kokiri, he placed a death curse upon the guardian spirit of the forest, the Deku
Tree; on Death Mountain, the ancestral home of the Gorons, he sealed off the Dodongo’s cavern
rock quarry, resulting in a rock famine that threatened the very existence of the mountain people;
he cursed the water spirit Jabu-Jabu, who resided in Zora’s Fountain, the sacred water source
guarded by the Zoras.

Two individuals—children, as it were—foresaw the coming danger: Princess Zelda of the Hylian
royal family, the princess of destiny3, and the young Link, the boy without a fairy, taken in almost
a decade before by the Deku Tree.4 The Deku Tree, as he neared death, decided that the time had
come for Link to accept his destiny, and so he sent Navi the fairy to deliver the lad a summons. In
order to test young Link’s courage, the Deku Tree bade Link venture inside his hollow and break
Ganondorf’s curse. Link did so without hesitating, but, of course, his efforts were fruitless—the
Deku Tree’s death was sealed in the pages of fate before he even began. With his last breath, the
Deku Tree bestowed upon Link the spiritual stone of the forest and entreated him to travel to
Hyrule Castle to seek an audience with Princess Zelda.

Figure 5: Link battles the evil Gohma in order to break the curse

Zelda told Link of her dreams, that she had seen him come from the forest and break through the
veil of darkness, bearing hence a green and shining stone, accompanied by a fairy. She also
warned Link of Ganondorf and his evil intentions to steal the Triforce of legend, and insisted that
Link track down the other spiritual stones so that they might get to the Triforce first and put an
end to his plot. Link set out for Death Mountain and Zora’s Domain, where he assisted the
Gorons and the Zoras in quelling the calamities that Ganondorf had wrought in his pursuits and
1
Ocarina of Time, Nabooru
2
Twilight Princess, Ancient Sages
3
Ocarina of Time, The Great Deku Tree
4
Ocarina of Time, The Deku Tree Sprout
they bestowed upon him the other two stones. He then returned to Hyrule Castle to inform Zelda
of his success just in time to witness the second half of his dream come to pass—Ganondorf
attacked Hyrule Castle in an attempt to steal the Ocarina of Time, and Zelda was forced to flee in
order to keep the sacred relic from Ganondorf’s hands. She passed on the Ocarina to Link as she
made her way from the castle.

Link made his way to the Temple of Time and used the four keys to open the Door of Time.
Behind it lay the Master Sword, the blade of evil’s bane, resting in the Pedestal of Time. Link
withdrew the blade, unlocking the gateway to the sacred lands. But then something no one could
have anticipated happened—the Master Sword, though it accepted Link as its master, the chosen
hero, sealed him away in the Sacred Realm.

Though the Door of Time had been opened in the name of peace, Ganondorf used it to enter the
forbidden Sacred Realm! The land was like no other.1 In the Temple of Light2, the Triforce shone
from its resting place high above the world. Ganondorf fought his way past his followers in a lust
for the Golden Power. After vanquishing his own, the leader stood triumphant over the Triforce
and grasped it with his blood-stained hands.

The emblems' spirits began to whisper: "If there is anything you desire, then I shall desire it too."3
Ganondorf had only one wish: to merge shadow and light, and make darkness.4

The Triforce, the sacred triangle, is a balance that weighs the three forces—Power, Wisdom, and
Courage. If the heart of one who holds the sacred triangle has all three forces in balance, that one
will gain the True Force to govern all, but if that one’s heart is not in balance, the Triforce will
separate into three parts—Power, Wisdom, and Courage. Only one part will remain for the one
who touched the Triforce—the part representing the force that one most believes in. If that one
seeks the True Force, that one must acquire the two lost parts. Those two parts will be held within
others chosen by destiny, who will hold the Triforce marks on the backs of their hands.

When Ganondorf the King of Thieves laid his hands on the Triforce, the legend came true—the
Triforce separated into three parts, and only the Triforce of Power remained in Ganondorf’s hand.
The strength of the Triforce of Power enabled him to become a mighty, evil king.5 Indeed, Ganon,
the Demon King of Darkness, the one who has threatened Hyrule, was born at this time.6 He went
on to invade the Sacred Realm, and it became a world of evil. But his dark ambitions were not
satisfied. To gain complete mastery of the world, Ganondorf started looking for those chosen by
destiny to hold the two other Triforce parts.7

1
A Link to the Past, “The History of Hyrule”
2
Ocarina of Time, Rauru
3
A Link to the Past, “The History of Hyrule”
4
Twilight Princess, Zant
5
Ocarina of Time¸Sheik
6
A Link to the Past, “The History of Hyrule”
7
Ocarina of Time, Princess Zelda
 Figure 6: Ganondorf wielding the Triforce of Power

In time, evil power began to flow from the Golden Land. Greedy men were drawn there and
consumed by this power, and disappeared. Black clouds permanently darkened the sky, and many
disasters beset Hyrule.1

An order of knights protected Hylian royalty.2 The King of Hyrule called upon the seven sages of
Hyrule as well as the Knights to seal the source of this evil.3 It has been said that whenever
disaster waylays the royal family, a Hero shall emerge from the bloodline of the Knights of
Hyrule.4 The sages first had to search for the existence of the Master Sword and a hero to use it.5
Because of the evil power in the temples, however, they could not hear the awakening call from
the Sacred Realm.6

Ganondorf’s powers of darkness, enhanced by the Triforce of Power, ran unchecked. His hunt for
the other two Triforces was in vain, for their bearers had all but disappeared. His search for
Princess Zelda was similarly futile, for she had gone into hiding. Still, Ganondorf’s powers were
ever-advancing, and his evil army swarmed from the tainted Golden Land into Hyrule and
attacked the castle. The Knights took the full brunt of the fierce attack, and although they fought
courageously, many a brave soul was lost that day.7 His evil power radiated from the temples of
Hyrule, and in seven short years, it transformed Hyrule into a world of monsters.8

But then, just as all hope had died, and the hour of doom seemed at hand, a miracle came in the
form of a young man clothed in green9, the long-lost Link, who appeared as if from nowhere.
Wielding the blade of evil’s bane, he awakened those called to be sages, who dwelt in the five
temples: one in a deep forest, one on a high mountain, one under a vast lake, one within the house
of the dead, and one inside a goddess of the sand. The sages’ seals contained all the evil power in
the void of the Realm.10
1
A Link to the Past, GBA “The History of Hyrule”
2
A Link to the Past, Sahasrahla
3
A Link to the Past, “The History of Hyrule”
4
A Link to the Past, Maiden
5
A Link to the Past, “The History of Hyrule”
6
Ocarina of Time, Sheik
7
A Link to the Past, “The History of Hyrule”
8
Ocarina of Time, Rauru
9
The Wind Waker, “Legend of the Hero”
10
Ocarina of Time, Sheik
Link exposed Ganon in his keep, where a climactic battle unfolded. Without a strong, righteous
mind, Ganondorf could not control the power of the gods, and so he was subdued at Link’s hands.
The sages, their power now awakened, cast the evil incarnation of darkness into the void of the
evil realm . Princess Zelda herself, the leader of the sages, then sealed the gateway, and, thus,
Ganondorf the dark lord vanished from Hyrule. Zelda then instructed Link to lay the Master
Sword to rest and close the Door of Time, and he returned to his original time.

Figure 7: Link and Sheik do battle against Ganon's hordes

All of Hyrule rejoiced at the victory that upheld peace and order over Ganon's misuse of the
Triforce's power. This war, which had claimed many lives, became known as the Imprisoning War
in stories told in later centuries.1 Link, who traveled through time to save the land, was known as
the Hero of Time. His tale was passed down through generations until it became legend. 2

The Triforce of Wisdom was kept within the Royal Family of Hyrule by Princess Zelda to protect
it from evil’s grasp. A piece of the Triforce was given to the Hero of Time and he kept it safe,
much as Zelda kept hers—that sacred piece is known as the Triforce of Courage. When the Hero
of Time journeyed through the flows of time and left the land of Hyrule, he was separated from
the elements that made him a hero, and the Triforce of Courage remained behind.3

And the seal would remain for all time, or so the people hoped.4

1
A Link to the Past, “The History of Hyrule”
2
The Wind Waker, “Legend of the Hero”
3
The Wind Waker, Daphnes Nohansen Hyrule
4
A Link to the Past¸ Introduction
The Sleeping Zelda
Also known as “The Legend of Zelda”1
Placement: A few years after the Imprisoning War

State of the Triforce

The Triforce of Power still dwells with Ganon and the Triforce of Wisdom dwells with the royal
family of Hyrule, but the Triforce of Courage has by now split into eight fragments and been
hidden throughout Hyrule.2 Part of the Triforce of Wisdom passes to the prince.

State of Ganon

Ganon is sealed away in the Sacred Realm by the sages’ seal and possesses the Triforce of Power.

Description

After the king died, the prince of the kingdom should have become king and inherited everything,
but he could only inherit the Triforce in part. The prince searched everywhere for the missing
parts, but could not find them.

Figure 8: The legendary King of Hyrule

A wizard close to the king said that, before he died, the king had said something about the
Triforce to the younger sister of the prince, Princess Zelda. The prince immediately questioned
the princess, but she revealed nothing. The wizard threatened to cast the princess into eternal
sleep if she did not talk, but, still, Princess Zelda said nothing. The wizard, fighting off the
startled prince, cast his spell. The princess fell on that spot, entering a deep sleep, and at the same
moment the wizard collapsed, too.

In his grief, the prince placed the princess in the North Castle. The prince hoped that someday
Zelda would awaken from her slumber. So that this tragedy would never be forgotten, he ordered
every female child born into the royal household be given the name Zelda.3

1
The Adventure of Link¸ “The Legend of Zelda”
2
The Wind Waker, Daphnes Nohansen Hyrule
3
The Adventure of Link¸ “The Legend of Zelda”
The Great Flood
Placement: A few generations after the Imprisoning War

State of the Triforce

The Triforce of Power remains in Ganon’s hand, and the Triforce of Wisdom is split up amongst
Daphnes, the King of Red Lions, and the Princess, Zelda. The Triforce of Courage remains
hidden, even when Hyrule is covered by floodwaters.

State of Ganon

Ganon somehow escapes the sages’ seal and terrorizes Hyrule once again with the Triforce of
Power. Some time before the Great Flood actually occurs the Master Sword invokes a seal on him
and his magic, preventing him from accessing his full power until the sword is withdrawn from
its pedestal.

Description

But then a day came when a fell wind began to blow across the kingdom. The great evil that all
thought had been forever sealed away by the Hero once again crept forth from the depths of the
earth, eager to resume its dark designs.1 Ganondorf returned to Hyrule in a red wrath,2 and the
land of Hyrule was once again turned into a world of shadows.3 He attacked the temples and stole
the sages’ souls, knowing he had to remove the power within the enchanted blade of evil’s bane.4

The people believed that the Hero of Time would again come to save them, but the hero had
journeyed into the flows of time, and did not appear. Faced by an onslaught of evil, the people
could do nothing but appeal to the gods. In their last hour, as doom drew nigh, they left their
future in the hands of fate.5

Figure 9: The people plea to the gods to deliver them from Ganon's darkness

When the gods heard their pleas, they chose to seal away not only Ganon, but Hyrule itself, and
so, with a torrential downpour of rains from the heavens the fair kingdom was soon buried
beneath the waves, forgotten at the bottom of the ocean. Yet all was not lost. For the gods knew
that to seal the people away with the kingdom would be to grant Ganon's wish for the destruction
1
The Wind Waker, Daphnes Nohansen Hyrule
2
The Wind Waker, Laruto
3
The Wind Waker, Daphnes Nohansen Hyrule
4
The Wind Waker, Fado
5
The Wind Waker, Introduction
of the land. So, before the sealing of the kingdom, the gods chose those who would awaken
Hyrule and build a new country and commanded them to take refuge on the mountaintops.

So long as Ganondorf was not revived, Hyrule would remain below, never waking from its
slumber. Hundreds of years passed.1 The memory of the kingdom vanished, but its legend
survived on the wind’s breath. On a certain island, it became customary to garb young boys in
green when they come of age. Clothed in the green of fields, they aspire to find heroic blades and
cast down evil. The elders wished only for the youths to know courage like the hero of legend.2

The Wind Waker

Release date: March 24, 2003
Platform: Nintendo GameCube
Director/Writer: Eiji Aonuma/Mitsuhiro Takano
Placement: Hundreds of years after the Great Flood

State of the Triforce

The Triforce of Wisdom is reunited and passes to Tetra, the Princess, and the Triforce of Courage
is reformed by Link, the Hero of Winds. Ganon unites these Triforces with his Triforce of Power,
and Daphnes touches the complete Triforce, becoming its master. What precisely happens to the
Triforce after the ending of The Wind Waker is unknown—this theory presumes that Daphnes’s
wish leads to the circumstances present in The Legend of Zelda and The Adventure of Link,
whether directly (the Triforce of Courage would be hidden in the Great Palace at this time) or
indirectly (the Triforce would pass into the hands of the royal family).

State of Ganon

Ganon is free of the seal of the gods cast along with the seal on Hyrule, curiously without having
broken the seal. Link destroys him with the Master Sword after he loses his Triforce piece, and
his corpse is left at the bottom of the ocean.

Description

On that island, a young boy named Link finally came of age to wear the green of the hero.
Unfortunately, his birthday plans were about to be dashed. A giant bird flew over his island,
carrying a young girl in its talons. Hot on its tail was a pirate ship, sending a catapult barrage after
it in an attempt to force it to touch down. One of the projectiles caused the bird to drop the girl,
who landed in a tree in the forest atop the island.

Link grabbed a sword and rushed off to find the girl. Her name was Tetra, and Link learned that
she was captain of that band of pirates. As Link led her back to her ship, the bird swooped down
and kidnapped Link’s younger sister, Aryll, mistaking her for Tetra. A Rito postman informed the
stunned Link and the unsympathetic Tetra of stories of a large bird who kidnapped young girls
with long ears and took them back to the cursed Forsaken Fortress.3 He charged Tetra with
helping young Link rescue his sister from that wicked place. Tetra reluctantly accepted, and with
her help, Link was able to infiltrate the fortress and reach the cell where his sister was being kept.

1
The Wind Waker, Daphnes Nohansen Hyrule
2
The Wind Waker¸ Introduction
3
The Wind Waker, Quill
But the great bird discovered him, and, at the command of a sinister shadowy figure, it hurled
him into the sea.

Figure 10: Tetra lands on Outset Island

He was recovered by a talking boat, who introduced itself as the King of Red Lions. The King
told him of the story behind that shadowy figure, and the threat that that wrongdoer posed. The
shadow was Ganon. Somehow, someway, the seal of the gods had failed. Ganon had returned, and
the world was once again in danger. According to the legends, Ganon could not be defeated by
human hands—the key to defeating Ganon was locked away in a great power that could only be
wielded after much toil and hardship.

Only one who was able to overcome the trials that awaited in the Tower of the Gods—a place that
the gods of the ancient world prepared so that they might test the courage of men—would be
acknowledged a true hero. Only then would that hero be permitted to wield the power to destroy
the great evil. That power was none other than that of the Master Sword, the blade of evil’s bane,
and it could banish Ganon from the world above.1 Or, at least, so the King of Red Lions believed.

Before entering the Tower of the Gods, Link had to gather the three pearls from various deities
across the Great Sea—the Spirit of the Skies, Valoo; the Spirit of the Earth, the Deku Tree; and
the Spirit of Water, Jabun—which he accomplished with the help of an ancient conductor’s baton
called the Wind Waker. Though he did, indeed, succeed in the trials of the gods and claim the
Master Sword from Hyrule below, when he returned to the Forsaken Fortress, destroyed that
monstrous bird, and proceeded to challenge Ganondorf, he learned of the unfortunate fate that
had befallen the Master Sword, that it no longer sparkled with the power to repel evil. He also
gathered that by withdrawing the blade from its place in Hyrule Castle, he had broken the final
seal placed by the gods on Hyrule and on Ganondorf’s demon tribe, stirring all the monsters
frozen in time in the kingdom below from their centuries-long slumber.2

Tetra rushed to his rescue, and yet another revelation transpired. When Tetra approached Ganon,
his Triforce of Power resonated. This could only mean one thing—Tetra possessed the Triforce of
Wisdom, none other than the sacred power of the gods that the royal family had kept from
Ganon’s clutches for so many long years. Her mother had instructed her to keep it close, and to
safeguard it always. The Triforce of Wisdom was proof of her birthright—Tetra was the true heir
to the royal family of Hyrule, the last link in the bloodline. Tetra was Princess Zelda.3 Of course,
Ganon caught wind of this immediately, and so he tried to seize the Triforce of Wisdom then and

1
The Wind Waker, Daphnes Nohansen Hyrule
2
The Wind Waker, Ganondorf
3
The Wind Waker, Daphnes Nohansen Hyrule
there. Luckily, a pair of Rito managed to swoop down and rescued them from Ganon’s grip, and
the sky spirit Valoo set fire to Ganon’s chambers, creating enough of a disturbance to permit their
escape.

Zelda was brought to Hyrule Castle below the waves, and the King of Red Lions imparted news
of her identity and her role in these events before giving her the missing shard of the Triforce of
Wisdom. He then instructed her to remain in Hyrule and sent Link back to the sea above to
reawaken the Master Sword’s power and reunite the still-split Triforce of Courage—until then,
the portal to the world below the waves would be sealed, and he would be unable to return again
to Hyrule.

Figure 11: Tetra is Princess Zelda

To complete his task, those who carried on the blood of the sages had to be found to take the
stead of the old in the temples and ask the gods for their assistance.1 With their power and
prayers, he was able to restore the blade of evil’s bane. He then hunted down the scattered shards
of the Triforce of Courage and brought the completed piece back to the Tower of the Gods to
present it to the gods. The Triforce piece then dwelled within him, proving that he was the true
hero, the Hero of Time, reborn. Because Link had used the power of the Wind Waker to travel the
Great Sea, the King of Red Lions declared him the Hero of Winds.

When Link descended beneath the waves, he discovered that Ganon had kidnapped Zelda and
taken her to his headquarters, Ganon’s Tower, a daunting fortress that even the legendary Knights
of Hyrule had been unable to assail in ages past. Link made haste for the tower, and, when he
scaled it, Ganon was waiting for him. Ganon caught Link off guard and, since he had once again
gathered the three crests, he managed to summon the full Triforce. His wish was that the rays of
the sun might expose Hyrule anew2 so that the kingdom, nay, the world, might be his.

But the King of Red Lions touched the Triforce first. The King’s wish was that Hyrule might be
buried beneath the waves and that he, Ganondorf, and the ancient land might drown under the
torrents. But he was not about to make all of Link’s efforts to help restore the world end in vain—
he also wished for hope for his descendants, that they might be able to create a better world.

1
The Wind Waker, Daphnes Nohansen Hyrule
2
The Wind Waker, Ganondorf
 Figure 12: Link duels with Ganon, assisted by Zelda

In a fit of madness, Ganondorf attacked Link. With the blade of evil’s bane at its full power, Link
dealt the final death blow to Ganon. He and Tetra were spirited away to the surface of the sea, and
the floodwaters came crashing down, burying Hyrule beneath the sea. Tetra and Link, hell-bent
on bringing the king’s wishes to fruition, set out to find a new land.

Phantom Hourglass
Release date: October 1, 2007
Platform: Nintendo DS
Director/Writer: Daiki Iwamoto/Hajime Takahashi
Placement: A few months after The Wind Waker

Description

In their travels, Link and Tetra happened upon seas protected by a great spirit, the Ocean King. In
these seas, the locals whisper rumors of a mysterious Ghost Ship. Suddenly a thick fog surrounds
Tetra’s vessel and the pirates spot a creepy, rickety old ship. Brave Tetra leaps on board to
investigate, but the Ghost Ship begins to sail away. Link makes a valiant attempt to follow Tetra
into the Ghost Ship, but he loses his grip and plunges into the ocean.

He awakens on an unfamiliar island with a curious fairy fluttering overhead. Her name was Ciela
and she had lost her memory. The only person she seemed to know was a mysterious old man
named “Oshus,” who she called “Grandpa.” Oshus pleaded with Link not to pursue the Ghost
Ship, but Link was determined, and so Oshus lent him a sword and bade him good luck on his
travels. He suggested that Link find a sailor named Linebeck who shared his desire to hunt down
the Ghost Ship.

Link went to the harbor in search of Linebeck, but found that he was not there. The people of the
island told him that the captain had entered the Temple of the Ocean King, so Link, with sword in
hand, set off for the mysterious temple. There he rescued Linebeck from one of the temple’s traps,
and dove into the temple’s cursed fog to retrieve a map that would lead him to one of the three
Ocean Spirits who could help him find the Ghost Ship. All the while, he collected a mysterious
substance called the Sand of Hours to fill an artifact known as the Phantom Hourglass, which
could protect him from the temple’s curse with the power of Force.

Linebeck agreed to help Link as long as he could help himself to the heaping treasure rumored to
be on board the ship. Together they rescued all three spirits, one of whom was an alter-ego1 of
Ciela, and rescued Tetra from the Ghost Ship’s depths. She had been turned to a lifeless form, her
Force stolen by the Ghost Ship. Oshus appeared as if from nowhere and explained that a demon
named Bellum was responsible, that the demon sought to devour all the Force in the Ocean
King’s sea, and that it was drawn to Tetra because of her bold, vibrant soul.2
.
The old man also revealed that he was in fact the very Ocean King himself, that he had created an
alter-ego of his own to escape imprisonment by Bellum. Bellum had stolen much of his own
Force and used it to create alter-egos of itself known as the Phantoms. To defeat Bellum, Link
would need the power of a sacred blade, the only weapon that could harm the Phantoms. Bellum
dwelt in the lowest depths of the Temple of the Ocean King, and if Link purged it of the demon’s
evil, the Ocean King would be restored to his former glory.

Link hunted down the three Pure Metals required to forge such a blade, traveling to the home of
the Gorons, an icy paradise to the north, and an abandoned and lost kingdom in a forgotten sea,
and brought these metals to the swordsmith, Zauz. He forged a blade for Link, which he took to
Oshus, who blessed it with the power of the Phantom Hourglass, creating the Phantom Sword.

With the Phantom Sword, Link was able to defeat Bellum and its Ghost Ship and restore Tetra’s
life force, as well as that of the Ocean King. The Ocean King’s sea restored, Link and Tetra were
sent back to their ship to continue their journey in search of new lands, left with only the now-
empty Phantom Hourglass as evidence of Link’s heroic deeds.

The Restoration of Hyrule

Placement: Several centuries spanning the gap between Phantom Hourglass and The Legend of Zelda

State of the Triforce

The Triforces of Wisdom and Power are in the hands of the royal family of Hyrule. The Triforce
of Courage awaits a new king to collect it from the Great Palace3 on the eastern island of the
former Cobble Kingdom.

Description

The following is fan speculation, based in theory and on parallels between certain elements
seen in The Legend of Zelda, The Adventure of Link, The Wind Waker, and Phantom
Hourglass, as well as between the backstories of Twilight Princess, Four Swords Adventures,
and A Link to the Past.

As a means of building a new kingdom and ordaining a new king, Daphnes left the Triforce of
Courage in the ancient Great Palace and cast a spell that would cause a mark to appear on the
1
In this context, “alter-ego” means “clone”, Jumbie, LegendsAlliance Forums
2
Phantom Hourglass, Oshus
3
The Adventure of Link, instruction manual
hand of one worthy of the kingship after the pattern of the heroes of legend. He wrote a scroll
detailing his plan and entrusted it to the Impa family that had served the royal family and even
then protected the Sleeping Princess resting in the North Castle.

The land that was once the ancient Cobble Kingdom served as a new home for the descendants of
the Hylians as they spread to all parts of the world1, and they named their country “Hyrule” after
the land of their ancestors. The tradition of sages passed back into the hands of the Hylians, and
the ancient sages who sealed away the evil that plagued their ancestral homeland long ago were
revered anew.

The Deku Tree and his Korok children spread forests over the islands on the Great Sea. Forests
hold great power—they can transform a small island into a much larger island.2 The Deku Tree
had planned to use this power to create a great island where the ancient land once stood. Over the
next several centuries, the islands slowly expanded until the Deku Tree’s dream was realized—
Hyrule was restored, and the great island became a part of the new country the people had built.

The Legend of Zelda

Also known as “The Age of Chaos”
Release date: August 22, 1987
Platform: Nintendo Entertainment System, Nintendo GameCube, GameBoy Advance, Wii Virtual Console
Director/Writer: Shigeru Miyamoto
Placement: Some generations after the New Hyrule is founded

State of the Triforce

The Triforce of Power has been stolen by Ganon, and the Triforce of Wisdom, which was in the
hands of the Princess, Zelda, has been split into eight fragments and hidden in underground
labyrinths throughout Hyrule.3 The Triforce of Courage dwells in the Great Palace on the large
island to the northeast of mainland Hyrule4, and plays no part in the story of The Legend of Zelda.
Both Triforces, Wisdom and Power, are in Link’s hands by the story’s end.

State of Ganon

Ganon appears in his demon beast form, which is associated with his possession of the Trident
first seen in Four Swords Adventures. The release of BS-Zelda 1 for the BS-X system also showed
this incarnation of Ganon wielding the Trident, which has led this concept to be seen as universal
for this form of Ganon. Ganon has stolen the Triforce of Power when the game begins and is
destroyed by the Silver Arrows in the final battle.

Description

The World entered an age of Chaos. Among this chaos, in the tranquil Kingdom of Hyrule, the
legend of the Triforce—golden artifacts holding untold mystical powers—was handed down over
generations.

One day, a dark army attacked the peaceful kingdom and seized the Triforce of Power. This army
1
A Link to the Past, “The History of Hyrule”
2
The Wind Waker, The Great Deku Tree
3
The Legend of Zelda, “The Age of Chaos”
4
The Adventure of Link, instruction manual
was led by Ganon, a powerful warlock bent on reigning over a dynasty of fear and darkness.
Fearing his nefarious designs on the throne, Zelda, the princess of Hyrule, split the Triforce of
Wisdom into eight fragments and scattered them throughout the realm to keep them out of
Ganon’s reach. She then commanded her trustworthy nursemaid, Impa, to flee the castle and seek
a champion with the courage to battle Ganon. Ganon, infuriated by the news of Impa’s escape,
imprisoned the princess, and ordered a horde of henchman to hunt down the elderly nursemaid.

Figure 13: Link comes to Impa's aid

Desperately running through forests and mountains, Impa fled for her life. Just as her strength
began to fail, Impa found herself surrounded by Ganon's underlings. She was certain all hope was
lost, but a young lad appeared and drove off the wicked attackers, saving her from a fate worse
than death. The boy explained that his name was Link, and that he’d stumbled across Impa and
her attackers as she traveled through the area. Grateful for his assistance, Impa told young Link
the story of Princess Zelda’s predicament and Ganon’s vile grip on the kingdom.

Upon hearing this heart-wrenching tale, Link vowed to save Zelda—but he knew that as long as
Ganon held the Triforce of Power, he was a fearsome foe that could not easily be defeated. In
order to vanquish him, Link would have to collect the scattered Triforce fragments and fuse them
into the Triforce of Wisdom. Without the Triforce of Wisdom, Link would have no hope of
slaying Ganon.1

Link ventured across fields, through valleys, and into the Underworld dungeons of Hyrule in
order to reform the Triforce. Then he fought his way to Death Mountain, destroyed Ganon with
the demon-slaying Silver Arrows, and saved Princess Zelda.

1
The Legend of Zelda, “The Age of Chaos”
 Figure 14: Link slays Ganon with the Silver Arrow

The Adventure of Link

Release date: December 1, 1988
Platform: Nintendo Entertainment System, Nintendo GameCube, GameBoy Advance, Wii Virtual Console
Director/Writer: Tadashi Sugiyama
Placement: A few years after The Legend of Zelda

State of the Triforce

Link possesses the Triforces of Power and Wisdom1, and seeks the Triforce of Courage in the
Great Palace to wake the sleeping Zelda. In the end, he claims all three Triforces and uses their
full power to awaken the princess. Presumably he goes on to become king, as the Triforce was
left for the time when “a great king will come.”2

State of Ganon

Ganon’s minions are attempting to revive him after his destruction in The Legend of Zelda. The
blood of one who defeated him is needed to restore him, so they are hunting Link to use Link’s
blood to satisfy the ritual.3

Description

Though the Hero, Link, defeated Ganon and rescued Princess Zelda, Hyrule remained plagued
with evil. In the passing seasons, the powers that Ganon had left behind, as well as his remaining
underlings, were causing chaos and disorder throughout the kingdom. Ganon’s servants hoped to
revive their master by sacrificing Link and sprinkling his blood on Ganon’s ashes.

One day, as Link approached his sixteenth birthday, a strange mark shaped like the crest of the
kingdom appeared on the back of his hand. The worried Link consulted Impa, Princess Zelda's
elderly nursemaid. Shocked and frightened, Impa took Link to the North Castle to explain the
legend behind the mark. Only the descendants of the Impa family who had served under the king
knew how to open the door to the North Castle. On an altar in the middle of the room lay a

1
The Legend of Zelda
2
The Adventure of Link, NES instruction manual
3
The Adventure of Link, instruction manual
beautiful woman, the sleeping Princess Zelda from ancient Hyrule. Impa began to explain the
legend of the sleeping princess.

Figure 15: Impa shows Link the Sleeping Princess

From the stand next to the sleeping princess, Impa gave Link six crystals and a scroll with the
same crest as the one on his hand. She explained that the items had been given to her ancestors by
the King and handed down for generations in their family for when a time of need would come.
The scroll, which contained the key to uniting the Triforce, was written in an ancient script that
only those with the crest would be able to read.

Link glanced at the scroll doubtfully, but found that he understood the words as clearly as if they
were being spoken to him. The scroll revealed that the key to unlocking the Triforce’s power was
uniting all three: Power, Wisdom, and Courage. The last king of Hyrule had left Power and
Wisdom in the kingdom, but had hidden Courage, because only an individual with a strong
character and special inborn qualities could use it without disastrous results. Because the king had
not found such a person during his reign, he cast a spell on Hyrule so that the crest would appear
on the chosen one. But, if it were used beforehand, the Triforce would produce many evils.

The scroll went on to reveal that the Triforce of Courage was in the Great Palace in the Valley of
Death on the largest island in Hyrule. To enter the Great Palace, however, Link would fight have
to fight the guardians protecting each of the six palaces in Hyrule, place the crystals in crystal
statues, and undo the binding force protecting the Valley of Death.

Surely with the Triforce of Courage Link could awaken Princess Zelda from her eternal slumber.
With a magical sword in his left hand and a magical shield in his right, he set off alone on his
travels. At that very moment, Ganon’s underlings were calling up new allies from the realm of
evil and working devilishly towards the revival of their leader.1 With the help of Power and
Wisdom, and with his magical sword, Link entered the Valley of Death, where he fought his own
shadow.

1
The Adventure of Link¸ instruction manual
 Figure 16: Link battles Shadow Link for possession of the Triforce of Courage

After a battle that shook the world, the Triforce of Courage, along with the other two parts, came
into his possession. With the Triforce at his disposal, Link awakened the Sleeping Princess and
brought an end to the Age of Chaos, and the kingdom of Hyrule was restored to its original
splendour.

Oracle of Seasons
Release date: May 14, 2001
Platform: GameBoy Color
Director/Writer: Hidemaro Fujibayashi
Placement: Some time after The Adventure of Link

State of the Triforce

The full Triforce rests in Hyrule Castle, and sends Link on his adventure.1

State of Ganon

Twinrova is undertaking a Ganon resurrection plot throughout the entirety of the Oracles series.
In Oracle of Seasons, they use the actions of Onox to light the Flame of Destruction, one of three
flames needed to revive Ganon.2

Description

One day in Hyrule, a strange force drew Link deep within Hyrule castle, where he found the
Triforce resting, glittering brilliantly as it awaited him. “Link... Link... Accept the quest of the
Triforce!” Suddenly, Link was enveloped in a circle of light, and the next moment, he vanished.

When Link awoke, he found himself in a forest he had never seen. Confused, he looked around
blankly at the unfamiliar surroundings. He heard pleasant music and laughing voices echoing
from deep within the woods. Link followed the inviting voices until he came upon a traveling
troupe of actors. He was immediately struck by the beauty of a young woman who was dancing

1
Oracle of Seasons/Ages, Introduction
2
Oracle of Seasons, Twinrova
about in circles. When the girl noticed Link, she smiled brightly, took him by the hand, and he
reluctantly began to dance.

Figure 17: Link meets Din, the Oracle of Seasons

Unfortunately, this blissful moment did not last long. The sky suddenly went dark, and there was
a loud crash of thunder, followed by a resounding, thunderous voice, which declared itself as the
voice of Onox, General of Darkness, and claimed Din as the Oracle of Seasons.

Then a great tornado dropped from the sky and drew near Din, as if to engulf her. Link was blown
back by the tornado as he struggled against its awesome force, and Din was swept away in the
wind, and then strange things began to happen throughout the land. When Onox carried off the
Oracle of Seasons from the land of Holodrum, the seasons fell into chaos and the land was
deprived of the bountiful gifts of nature. Life was slowly being drained from the land, and all
living things began to wither. And so Onox set in motion his plan to gather the power from the
withering land and create a world of total darkness.1

Link claimed a sword and shield and started on a quest to restore Holodrum. He found the
mystical Rod of Seasons and used its power to change the seasons, along with the power of the
eight Essences of Nature, to defeat the evil General Onox and rescue the Oracle of Seasons.
Holodrum was saved, and the seasons returned to normal. But this would not be the end of Link’s
adventures.

Oracle of Ages
Release date: May 14, 2001
Platform: GameBoy Color
Director/Writer: Hidemaro Fujibayashi
Placement: A short time after Oracle of Seasons

State of the Triforce

The full Triforce rests in Hyrule Castle, and sends Link on his adventure.

State of Ganon
1
Oracle of Seasons, instruction manual
Twinrova lights the Flame of Sorrow using Veran’s actions in Labrynna’s past as a catalyst.1 They
then kidnap Princess Zelda, triggering the Flame of Despair, and attempt to offer her as a sacrifice
to revive Ganon. They are forced to sacrifice themselves instead, resulting in a botched revival
that fails to restore Ganon’s mind. Link defeats Ganon with the reforged Master Sword.2

Description

Not long after his trials in Holodrum, Link awoke one day to find himself deep in a strange forest.
As he started to walk through the woods, he heard cries for help coming from just up ahead of
him. Link hurried toward the voice, only to find a group of monsters surrounding the woman who
was screaming. When the monsters saw Link, they immediately fled. The woman who was being
attacked was none other than Impa, nurse to Hyrule's Princess Zelda. Impa said she had come to
the forest to search for a singer named Nayru, and she requested Link’s assistance. Despite the
strange look she gave him, Link could not refuse her request.

As they traveled even deeper into the forest, they found a young woman singing. Invited to sit by
the group of animals that listened to the girl's song, Link joined in the circle and let the beautiful
song fill his ears and penetrate his heart. This was surely Nayru, the singer Impa was searching
for.

Figure 18: Nayru, the Oracle of Ages, in her grove in Labrynna

Just then, Impa erupted in a cackling laugh and a frightening shadow lifted from her body. The
shadow called itself Veran, Sorceress of Shadows, and began swooping about the forest before
flying straight into the body of the frightened singer. Her face became veiled in shadow, and her
bright smile had vanished—a piercing, evil gaze had replaced it. Veran had taken over Nayru’s
body, and before vanishing into the ether, she declared that she planned to thrust the world into an
age of darkness. 3

It was soon revealed that Nayru was actually the Oracle of Ages who controlled time in this land
of Labrynna. When the oracle was kidnapped, the flow of time in Labrynna was distorted, and
1
Oracle of Ages, Twinrova
2
Oracle of Seasons/Ages, linked ending
3
Oracle of Ages, introduction
strange things began to happen. Veran’s plan was to travel to the past and gather power from the
sorrows of the people of Labrynna so that she could create her age of shadows. Link set out to
stop her, and, in his trials, he found Nayru’s Harp of Ages, used it to travel back in time and
restore Labrynna’s past, and, with the eight Essences of Time at his command, defeated Veran
atop her Black Tower. Labrynna was saved from Veran’s plan to spread the power of the Dark
World and cast the land under a pallor of darkness.

But then Princess Zelda was kidnapped by the evil Gerudo witches, Twinrova. Twinrova had used
Onox and Veran to light the Flames of Destruction and Sorrow. Now, with Hyrule’s princess
captured, the Flame of Despair burned, and she would be sacrificed to complete the dark rites of
the Gerudo. The Evil King Ganon would return!1

Link defeated Twinrova and halted the completion of the rites that would have revived Ganon.
Since they could not sacrifice Zelda in their final rite, the powers of darkness could only revive a
mindless, raging Ganon, whom Link defeated with the guidance of the Triforce. Now hope and
peace could return to the hearts of the people.2

Figure 19: The revived King of Darkness, Ganon

The Hero of Men

Placement: At least one hundred years after the events of Oracle of Seasons and Oracle of Ages

Description

Long, long ago, evil spirits descended upon the land of Hyrule. Just when it seemed that the
world was to be cast into the darkest of shadows, the tiny Picori appeared from the skies and
bestowed on a courageous human a shining golden light and a single sword. This bravest of men
used his wisdom and courage, his golden light, and his sword to fight off the demons and restore
1
Oracle of Seasons/Ages, linked ending
2
Oracle of Seasons/Ages, Princess Zelda
peace to the world. The people were so grateful for the Picori’s help that they held an annual
celebration in their honor.

Figure 20: Monsters attack the people of Hyrule

The tradition of the Picori Festival continued, but over the generations, the Picori themselves
passed into legend. The legend of the Picori tells of a mystic doorway that opens just once every
hundred years. When the door is open, the Picori can cross from their world into Hyrule.1

The Minish Cap

Release date: November 12, 2004
Platform: GameBoy Advance
Director/Writer: Hidemaro Fujibayashi
Placement: At least one hundred years after the events of “The Hero of Men”

Description

One year, on that year in one hundred, the festival was unusually grand. Hyrule Castle was
hosting a tournament of sword-fighting skill, recalling the great battles of legend. That year’s
champion was a man by the name of Vaati. He won the tournament with an almost magical ease,
and all of Hyrule was abuzz with rumors about this shadowy figure.2 The young Link, who
attended the festival that year with his childhood friend, the princess, Zelda, was charged by his
grandfather, a Master Smith, with delivering a sword that would be presented to the champion.

During the ceremony following the sword competition, Vaati shattered the sacred Picori blade and
opened the Bound Chest, which, for an age, had been sealed by the Picori blade, trapping evil
monsters within. Vaati was after the sacred Force, that golden light that was once wielded by the
hero of the Picori legend. He subdued the castle guard and turned Princess Zelda to stone before
making a speedy departure. Link was then asked by Master Smith to seek out the Picori and ask
them to reforge the sacred blade, and traveled to the Minish Woods.

1
The Minish Cap, instruction manual
2
The Minish Cap, instruction manual
 Figure 21: Ezlo and Link arrive at the Minish Village

There he met Ezlo, a curious creature who he rescued from a group of monsters. Ezlo hopped on
his head like a hat and offered to help him find the Picori. He also helped Link shrink down to a
miniscule size—the size of the Picori people, who called themselves the Minish. Link met with
the elder of the Minish village, who told him that in order to reforge the sacred Picori sword he
would require the four Elements, sacred jewels which embodied the power of the elements—
earth, fire, water, and wind.

Once he had gathered the four Elements, he brought the Picori blade—renamed the White Sword
by a Minish swordsmith—to the Picori Shrine beneath Hyrule Castle. There he infused the White
Sword with the Elements, turning it back into the full sacred blade—the Four Sword. It had the
power to split one warrior into four.

Meanwhile, Vaati had brainwashed the King of Hyrule and shrouded Hyrule Castle in darkness.
He had discovered that the sacred Force had actually been passed down through Hyrule’s
princesses, and so he prepared to extract the Force from Princess Zelda. Link rushed to her
rescue, and, after subduing Vaati, he used the Four Sword’s power to restore Zelda. He then
proceeded to destroy Vaati.

Figure 22: Link duels one of Vaati's monsters in the darkened Hyrule Castle
Vaati had been a Minish, an apprentice of Ezlo, who was also a Minish. Ezlo had made a magical
cap with the power to grant wishes, but Vaati had stolen it and used it to become a powerful
sorcerer. He had transformed Ezlo into a hat himself, then proceeded to hunt down the powerful
Force mentioned in the legends.1 Now that Vaati had fallen, the wishing cap could be used to
restore Hyrule. Princess Zelda put on the cap and wished with all her heart that Vaati’s cruelty
might be undone. With her righteous wish and the power of the Force that still dwelled within her,
many miracles happened as a result.

Now that the land of the humans had been saved, Ezlo ventured back into the world of the
Minish, not to return until perhaps the next day, on that year in one-hundred, when the doorway to
their world opens once again.

Four Swords
Release date: December 2, 2002
Platform: GameBoy Advance
Placement: Some time after The Minish Cap

Description

Vaati emerged once again, this time as a wind sorcerer who could bend the wind to his will. He
used this awful power to terrorize many villages of Hyrule. In his assaults on the villages, Vaati
would kidnap any beautiful girls who caught his fancy. Many knights from the castle and other
brave men set out to subdue the sorcerer and rescue the girls, but each one fell to Vaati’s awesome
power. Just as the people had begun to lose hope, a lone young boy traveling with little but a
sword at his side appeared.

When the young lad took out his sword, he split into four separate beings. The legends say these
four beings worked as one and defeated Vaati. The wanderer, united once again, imprisoned Vaati
deep in Hyrule and sealed the prison with his own sword. This place became known as the Realm
of the Four Sword. The boy then went deep into the forest and disappeared. The people did not
believe the story, but they called it the Four Sword nonetheless. As rumors of the blade’s power to
divide a person into four entities spread, the people built a shrine to protect it.

Figure 23: The Shrine of the Four Sword, hidden deep in Hyrule

1
The Minish Cap, Ezlo
Princess Zelda of the land of Hyrule was a beautiful young girl born with the mysterious power to
sense approaching forces of evil. For this reason, she was assigned with the sacred duty of
protecting the shrine of the Four Sword and the blade itself. One day, Zelda was in Hyrule Castle
when she sensed that something unusual was occurring at the Four Sword Shrine. She asked a
boy named Link, whom she trusted above anyone else, to accompany her to investigate the
happenings at the shrine.1

Then, the wind sorcerer Vaati broke out of his prison and then snatched Princess Zelda. Link
claimed the strange power of the Four Sword and fought Vaati fiercely. In the end, he succeeded
in sealing Vaati away once again. And so, peace was restored to Hyrule once again. Or so
everyone thought...2

Four Swords Adventures

Release date: June 7, 2004
Platform: Nintendo GameCube
Director/Writer: Toshiaki Suzuki/Aya Kyogoku
Placement: Some time after Four Swords

State of Ganon

A second incarnation of Ganondorf claims the Trident used by Ganon and becomes the King of
Darkness, assuming the same demonic persona as the ancient demon. He is sealed in the Four
Sword by the maidens, who then seal the Four Sword in the Pyramid of Power in the Sacred
Realm.

Description

Swiftly and suddenly, dark clouds covered all of Hyrule. Ominous clouds that filled all those who
saw them with fear. A sense of dread swept across the land.3 Princess Zelda, worried about the
seal that bound the wind sorcerer Vaati, called Link and the six maidens who guard Hyrule and
the Four Sword Sanctuary to make sure Vaati’s seal remained strong. 4Princess Zelda and the six
maidens were taken by dark forces, and, in order to save them Link drew the mystic blade,
accepting the destiny of the Hero and setting Vaati free once more.5

Figure 24: The Four Links combine their efforts to battle evil

1
Four Swords, instruction manual
2
Four Swords Adventures, instruction manual
3
Four Swords Adventures, introduction
4
Four Swords Adventures, Princess Zelda
5
Four Swords Adventures, Kaepora Gaebora
The four Links rescued Zelda and the maidens and defeated the wind sorcerer Vaati. But there
were still monsters about, the tower was crumbling, and Zelda sensed a tremendous power
approaching. It was Ganon, King of Darkness, ancient demon reborn, the wielder of the Trident!
His goal had been to use Vaati to remake Hyrule into a land of darkness.1

Ganondorf, of the Gerudo Tribe, once destined to be the mighty guardian of the Gerudo and the
desert, had stolen the Dark Mirror, which had the power to reveal the wickedness within a person
and bring it to life2, cast the Knights of Hyrule into the Dark World3, and used the power of
darkness granted to him by the Trident to smother the light.4 Zelda, the maidens, and the four
Links combined their powers and sealed Ganon away from the world.5

A Link to the Past

Also known as “The Great Cataclysm”
Release date: April 13, 1992
Platform: Super Nintendo Entertainment System, GameBoy Advance, Wii Virtual Console
Director/Writer: Takashi Tezuka/Kensuke Tanabe
Placement: Some time after Four Swords Adventures

State of the Triforce

The Triforce rested in Hyrule Castle until it was stolen by Ganon’s minions, who brought it to
him in his prison in the Dark World. Link reclaims the Triforce in the ending and uses it to right
the wrongs wrought by Ganon.

State of Ganon

Ganon shatters the Four Sword into fragments which he scatters throughout the Pyramid of
Power and steals the Triforce, using its power to transform those who enter the Sacred Realm. He
seeks to break the Sages’ Seals on the Dark World so that he can fulfill his wish.

Description

The land of Hyrule healed its wounds and the people lived in peace for a long time. So it is no
surprise that no one was prepared for the new disasters that struck Hyrule. Pestilence and drought,
uncontrollable even by magic, ravaged the land. The king of Hyrule ordered an investigation of
the imprisoned Dark World, but the seal was apparently intact. The people had nothing else to do
but pray to the gods.

He offered rewards for anyone who could find the source of these troubles. In answer to these
summons a stranger named Agahnim came and quelled the disasters with a previously unseen
form of magic. As a reward, the king gave him a new position as chief advisor and heir to the
Seven Sages. The masses proclaimed him their hero. Once more, peace appeared to have returned
to Hyrule.

1
Four Swords Adventures, Princess Zelda
2
Four Swords Adventures, Red Maiden
3
Four Swords Adventures, Blue Knight
4
Four Swords Adventures, Red Maiden
5
Four Swords Adventures, Princess Zelda
Left in charge of the country, Agahnim began to govern Hyrule in place of the King and abuse his
political power as he saw fit. Of late, rumors have traveled their whispering path with alarming
frequency. Rumors saying Agahnim planned to remove the King and take the crown for himself
—rumors of strange magical experiments in the castle tower at night... 1He cast spells on the
soldiers and kidnapped young maidens descended from the Sages in order to break the seal. This
destiny fast approached the final maiden, the princess, Zelda.2

Figure 25: Agahnim, the evil priest

The only weapon potent enough to defeat Agahnim was the legendary Master Sword. Legends
say only the Hero who has won the three Pendants could wield the sword3:

“The Hero's triumph on Cataclysm's Eve

wins three symbols of virtue.
The Master Sword he then retrieves,
keeping the Knight's line true.” 4

That hero was supposed to emerge from the descendants of the Knights of Hyrule who had aided
the seven sages during the battle against evil in which the sages’ seals were cast. But the Knights
had nearly been wiped out in that battle, and so it was thought that the hero would never rise
again.5 Luckily, Link was the last remaining member of their bloodline, the one destined to
become the legendary hero6, and he managed to obtain the three pendants from the temples in
Hyrule and found and withdrew the Master Sword from its resting place in the Lost Woods.

Figure 26: Link draws the Master Sword in A Link to the Past

1
A Link to the Past, “The Coming of the Wizard”
2
A Link to the Past, Introduction
3
A Link to the Past, Sahasrahla
4
A Link to the Past, Master Sword pedestal inscription
5
A Link to the Past, Sahasrahla
6
A Link to the Past, Maiden, Thieves’ Town
But Link claimed it too late, and by the time he arrived to challenge Agahnim at Hyrule Castle,
the priest had already offered Zelda to the Dark World, thereby breaking the sages’ seal, then
opened a gate to link the worlds. Link then learned that Ganon, the evil King of Darkness, had
rediscovered the sacred land and claimed the mystical Triforce.1 Ganon wished to conquer the
world, and so demonic power transformed the sacred land into the Dark World.

After building up his power, Ganon had planned to go on to the light world to completely fulfill
his wish, but he was unable to return from there. His evil power remained with him, trapped there
by the sages’ seals. 2 Now that the sages’ seals were broken, however, it was only a matter of time
before evil power covered the land.3 If Ganon was allowed to return to the world of light, nothing
would be able to stop him. As long as he remained in the Dark World, however, Hyrule’s hopes
remained as well.4

Using a magical mirror, Link traveled between the worlds of light and darkness and rescued the
maidens from evil monsters in palaces scattered throughout the Dark World. With their power, he
was able to penetrate the barrier surrounding Ganon’s Tower in the Dark World. He ascended the
tower, where he again discovered the priest Agahnim. This time he managed to defeat Agahnim,
who finally revealed himself as the alter-ego5 of Ganon.6

Figure 27: Link and Ganon face off in the final battle

Ganon fled to the Pyramid of Power, now ready to make his way to the world of light, but Link
was hot on his heels. Armed with the legendary Silver Arrows and the Master Sword, he faced off
with the King of Darkness. With the Silver Arrows, he was able to deal a fatal blow to Ganon and
recover the Triforce. Thus was the Sacred Realm purged of Ganon’s evil power, and thus did Link
become the new master of the Triforce of legend.

Link’s Awakening
Also known as “The Journey of Enlightenment”
Release date: August 1, 1992
Platform: Nintendo GameBoy, GameBoy Color
Director/Writer: Takashi Tezuka/Kensuke Tanabe
Placement: Some time after A Link to the Past

Description

1
A Link to the Past, Swamp Palace Maiden
2
A Link to the Past, Essence of the Triforce
3
A Link to the Past, Agahnim
4
A Link to the Past, Princess Zelda
5
In this context, “alter-ego” means “clone”, Jumbie, LegendsAlliance Forums
6
A Link to the Past, Ganon
But the people of Hyrule were still apprehensive. They feared the dangers that could arise from
Ganon’s ashes. Ever vigilant, Link left on a journey of enlightenment, in search of wisdom that
would help him better be able to withstand the next threat to his homeland.

Figure 28: Link sets out by sea to prepare for new threats

After months of difficult—but fruitful—travel, Link was returning home to Hyrule when a squall
suddenly struck his ship. Link valiantly fought off the waves, but a lightning bolt reduced his ship
to splinters. Link drifted with the wreckage of his ship, and awoke in the care of—Zelda? No,
Link discovered, he was on Koholint Island, in the care of a woman named Marin. In the
distance, on Koholint’s central mountain, loomed a gigantic egg. Link learned from a mysterious
owl that in order to get off the island he had to recover eight sirens’ instruments and awaken the
Wind Fish sleeping in the giant egg. The owl also gave him a warning: “The isle of Koholint is
but an illusion. Human, monster, sea, sky—a scene on the lid of a sleeper's eye. Awake the
dreamer, and Koholint will vanish much like a bubble on a needle.”

Figure 29: A tablet describing the true nature of the Wind Fish's dream

Link gathered the instruments from all over Koholint and approached the egg, and when he
played them before it, it opened to admit him. Inside he challenged DethI, the ruler of a band of
demons known as the Nightmares. DethI took on the forms of many of his most powerful
enemies, but Link’s courage persevered, and he defeated the fiend.
With DethI gone, the Wind Fish awoke, and it spoke to him: “I am the Wind Fish. Long has been
my slumber. In my dreams, an egg appeared and was surrounded by an island, with people,
animals, an entire world! But, verily, it be the nature of dreams to end! When I dost awaken,
Koholint will be gone—only the memory of this dream land will exist in the waking world.
Someday, thou may recall this island. That memory must be the real dream world. Come, Link,
let us awaken together! Play the eight instruments! Play the song of awakening!”

The two dreamers awoke, and Link found himself adrift off the coast of Hyrule, the Wind Fish
flying overhead. His adventures on Koholint were finally over. A seagull passed by, and he
wondered what became of Marin when the Wind Fish’s dream ended.

The Child Timeline

Majora’s Mask
Release date: October 26, 2000
Platform: Nintendo 64, Nintendo GameCube
Director/Writer: Eiji Aonuma/Mitsuhiro Takano
Placement: Some months after Ocarina of Time

Description

After Link returned to the past to relive his lost years, he elected to set out to find Navi, with
whom he had parted ways after completing his quest to save Hyrule. Princess Zelda, with whom
he had become close friends, gave him the Ocarina of Time with a promise that, if he used it in
time of need, the Goddess of Time would come to his aid. She also told him that she knew, deep
in her heart, no matter where his journey led him, that their paths would someday cross again.

Figure 30: Link arrives in Clock Town in the center of Termina

Link’s secret journey away from Hyrule led him into the parallel world of Termina, where the evil
Majora’s Mask, abusing and feeding off of the loneliness of the forest Skull Kid Link had met
during his previous adventures, had summoned a terrible demonic moon that threatened to
descend and annihilate all existence. With only three days until Armageddon, Link gratefully took
advantage of the divine protection of the Goddess of Time, manipulating the flows of time in
order to succeed in his endeavor to stop the moon from destroying Termina. After awakening the
Four Giants, the guardian deities of Termina, Link managed to confront Majora, and in a duel of
the ages he defeated the evil imp, obliterating that accursed moon and saving Termina from ruin.

Twilight Princess
Release date: November 19, 2006
Platform: Wii, Nintendo GameCube
Director/Writer: Eiji Aonuma/Aya Kyogoku
Placement: Some generations after Majora’s Mask

State of the Triforce

The Triforce is once again split among the chosen wielders as in Ocarina of Time and presumably
for the same reasons.

State of Ganon

Ganon is captured by the sages and they attempt to execute him, but he manages to survive
thanks to the Triforce of Power. Thus, in haste, the sages banish him to the Twilight Realm
through the Mirror of Twilight, and he is sealed away until the events of Twilight Princess.

Description

When Link returned to the past, the Triforce of Courage mark appeared on his hand, indicating
that the Triforce has again split into its three parts. Suspecting that Ganondorf was inside the
Sacred Realm and has touched the Triforce, just as before, he traveled to Hyrule Castle and warns
Princess Zelda of what he fears will come to pass. With the knowledge of Ganondorf’s invasion
of the Sacred Realm exposed before he can attack Hyrule, the sages sprang into action, catching
him off-guard and subduing him. They brought him to justice in an attempt to put an end to his
evil magic.

But Ganondorf’s abiding lust for power turned to purest malice.1 He drew deep of the malice of
the ancient Twili and became strong again.2 Realizing they were no match for Ganondorf’s power
of the gods, the sages were forced to seal him away in the Twilight Realm using the Mirror of
Twilight. Little did they know that, in the Twilight Realm, the greedy Zant sought out power such
as that which Ganondorf once again possessed. After being denied the kingship of the Twili, Zant,
in a thrall of hatred, encountered Ganondorf, who appeared to him as a god, Ganon, who bore
power with which Zant could become a king. As long as Zant obeyed him, Ganon promised to
revive Zant without cause.3 And so Ganon’s evil power was passed on to Zant.4

1
Twilight Princess, the sages
2
Twilight Princess, Ganondorf
3
Twilight Princess, Zant
4
Twilight Princess, the sages
 Figure 31: Ganondorf being pierced by the sages' sword

The Mirror of Twilight was fragmented by this mighty magic. Only the true leader of the Twili
can utterly destroy the Mirror of Twilight, so Zant could merely break it into pieces. Once broken
by magic, the Mirror of Twilight became fragments, which lay hidden across the land of Hyrule.1
Zant, now a king of darkness, transformed the blessed kingdom of Hyrule into a world of
shadows, ruled by creatures who shun the light. Zant’s goal was that his tribe might take back the
world of light when light and darkness met at last and darkness blotted out the light.
The light spirits in Hyrule had had their light stolen by fell beasts, and the entire kingdom was
reduced to a netherworld ruled by the cursed powers of darkness.

Twilight covered Hyrule like a shroud, and without light, the people became as spirits. Within the
twilight, they lived on, unaware that they had passed into spirit forms. All the people knew was
fear, fear of a nameless evil. The blight would not stop with Hyrule. Before long, the entire world
of light would fall into the hands of the king who ruled the Twilight. To save the land from the
king of Twilight, the lost light had to be recovered. The three light spirits who lost their light
needed to be revived. There was but one who could revive them and redeem the land—the hero
chosen by the goddesses.

That hero was a young man named Link who hailed from Ordon village to the south of Hyrule.
Those transformed by twilight usually cannot recover their original forms, but, however, in the
land covered in twilight, where people roam as spirits, Link was transformed into a blue-eyed
beast. It was a sign that the powers of the chosen one—the powers of the ancient hero chosen by
the gods—rested within him, and that they were awakening.2 Link needed to use his courage to
seek power—only then could he become the hero for whom the world despaired. He had need of
the forbidden power that the spirits of light locked away. Because of its nature, it was a power
that should never be touched by any who dwell in the light. But the world wept beneath a mantle
of shadows, and so there was no choice—he had to match the power of the king of shadows.

1
Twilight Princess, the sages
2
Twilight Princess, Light Spirit Faron
 Figure 32: Link and Midna battle shadow beasts in the Twilight

With the help of an imp named Midna, he restored light to the three light spirits and gathered the
Fused Shadows. Even with the power of the Fused Shadows, however, Link and Midna were no
match for Zant. The evil power granted Zant by his ‘god’ was too powerful to overcome. In a
show of his might, Zant mortally wounded Midna. In his wolf form, Link bore Midna to Hyrule
Castle to seek the aid of Princess Zelda, who bestowed her power upon Midna in order to save
her from death. In exchange, however, Zelda took on Midna’s malady and passed into a spirit
form. Before she passed her power to Midna, however, Zelda bade Link travel to the sacred grove
in Faron Woods, the ruin of the Temple of Time, and collect the Master Sword, the blade of evil’s
bane, the only sword that could cleave the evil power that threatened the land and shrouded Link
in darkness.

After he drew the Master Sword from the pedestal in the Temple of Time, as the hero of old once
had, Midna asked him to help her find the Mirror of Twilight. As it turned out, Midna was a
descendant of the Twili, the tribe that was banished to the Twilight Realm. The Mirror of Twilight
served as the link between the worlds of light and shadow that might help her to save her people
from Zant. Together they traveled to the Arbiter’s Grounds in the ancient desert, where they
discovered the broken Mirror. The sages told them of what transpired at that place during the
execution of Ganondorf and charged Link with recovering the shards of the Mirror before their
dangerous power wrecked havoc on the land.

Link and Midna gathered the shards of the Mirror of Twilight and returned them to Arbiter’s
Grounds, reassembling the ancient relic. The sages revealed Midna’s true identity as the princess
of the Twilight Realm, transformed into an imp by Zant’s evil magic. Midna then confessed to
Link that she had intended to use him to help her save her world, and her world alone, but that,
over time, she had decided that the world of light deserved to be saved, too.
 Figure 33: The ancient sages inform Link and Midna of their folly

She and Link entered the Twilight and confronted Zant, breaking the curses on all the Twili in the
process. After defeating Zant, the two of them discovered that Ganondorf himself had managed to
escape to the world of light, and that he now held Princess Zelda captive in Hyrule Castle. Using
the magic of the Fused Shadows, Midna penetrated the magical barrier Ganondorf had
constructed around the castle, and she and Link proceeded to scale the royal palace and face
Ganondorf.

After subduing Ganondorf in a series of trying struggles, Zelda was revived. Now that the
Princess had recovered, Midna transported Link and Zelda out of danger with her shadow
magicks and confronted Ganondorf alone with her magic as the Twilight Princess and the magic
of the Fused Shadows to back her. She failed to defeat Ganondorf however, and the battle was
taken to the fields of Eldin province. With the help of the legendary light arrows, Zelda and Link
toppled Ganondorf from his Gerudo stallion. In a final face-off, sword against sword, Link
managed to strike a fatal blow against the king of darkness. The power of the sacred blade
repelled Ganondorf’s own magic, and Ganondorf breathed his last breath.

The light spirits revived Midna, breaking the final curse that Zant had cast on her, and, together,
she, Link, and Princess Zelda departed for the Arbiter’s Grounds so that she could return to the
Twilight Realm. As she crossed the threshold, Midna used her power as the true ruler of the
Twilight to utterly destroy the Mirror of Twilight,1 severing the link between light and shadow
and ridding the world of the Mirror’s cursed power.

1
Twilight Princess, the sages