Great Cataclysm

The Great Cataclysm, a battle of the conflict known as the Imprisoning War, was arguably one of the most important and yet most tragic events in Hyrule's history. It occurred when the evil King of the Gerudo Thieves, Ganondorf Dragmire, broke into the fabled Sacred Realm with the unwitting assistance of Link and Princess Zelda. After Link cleansed the evils Ganondorf had cast upon the Great Deku Tree, the Dodongo's Cavern, and the Zora deity Lord Jabu-Jabu, Link gained possession of the three Spiritual Stones, three of the necessary keys to open the Door of Time in the Temple of Time and enter the Sacred Realm, the resting place of the wish-granting Triforce. Following Ganondorf's Attack on Hyrule Castle, Zelda threw the Ocarina of Time, another of the keys to the Sacred Realm, to Link and left with him the knowledge of the Song of Time, the tune necessary to be played on the Ocarina and to open the Door of Time. Link placed the Spiritual Stones upon their altar and played the Song of Time on the Ocarina to open the Door of Time. Behind the Door, in a private chamber of its own, lay the legendary Blade of Evil's Bane, the Master Sword, the final key to the Sacred Realm that could not be touched by those impure of heart. Link pulled the sword from the Pedestal of Time and opened the portal to the Sacred Realm, but he was too young to become the legendary Hero of Time and was thus put into an enchanted slumber in the Temple of Light, the Triforce's home at the heart of the Sacred Realm. Meanwhile, Ganondorf used the portal Link had opened in the Temple of Time and entered the Sacred Realm. He laid his tainted hands on the Triforce, but it split apart into its three components, leaving Ganondorf with only the Triforce of Power. The Triforce of Wisdom went to Princess Zelda, and the Triforce of Courage was housed within the Hero of Time himself. The Sacred Realm was reflected into Ganondorf's heart and became a reflection of it, transforming the once-beautiful Golden Land into a realm of darkness and despair. Still not satisfied, Ganondorf returned to Hyrule and easily conquered the land with the might of the Triforce of Power. For seven years, he would rule the land largely unopposed, always on the lookout for those two special people chosen by destiny to hold the other two Triforce pieces. Over the course of those seven dark years, Ganondorf would eradicate the Knights of Hyrule and infest Hyrule's temples to prevent the awakening of the Seven Sages and forestall the prophecy of the Hero of Time.

The Hero's Triumph On Cataclysm's Eve
Although Ganondorf had conquered Hyrule Castle and Zelda had fled, Link had triumphed over the evils laid out by Ganondorf over the Kokiri, Goron, and Zora races and now had in his possession all the necessary keys to open the Door of Time. Heeding Zelda's order to get to the Sacred Realm and to protect the Triforce, Link headed to the Temple of Time off the town square of Hyrule Castle Town while Ganondorf seemingly disappeared to pursue Zelda and Impa. Link entered the sacred structure and gazed upon an altar with three small depressions, and behind the altar, a tall door of solid stone with the symbol of the Triforce above it. Link placed his three symbols of virtue, the three Spiritual Stones, upon the altar and played the Song of Time on the Ocarina of Time. Once completed, the stone symbol of the Triforce above the Door of Time shined gold, and the Door of Time slid open to allow the young hero access to the chamber that lay beyond it. Link proceeded with Navi into the chamber behind the door and found the legendary Master Sword, the Blade of Evil's Bane, embedded within the Pedestal of Time. Link stepped forward, grasped the enchanted blade's handle, and pulled upward. Recognizing Link's strength of heart and his righteousness, the Master Sword slid gracefully out of the Pedestal of Time, and a wave of powerful energy engulfed the platform the pedestal lay on as the portal to the Sacred Realm was opened. Link, however, was too young to wield the Master Sword and take up the title of the Hero of Time. Thus, his spirit was sealed within the Temple of Light, the home of the Triforce, for a period of seven years until he could properly handle the Master Sword.

The Spoiling of the Sacred Realm
Ganondorf, meanwhile, had secretly guessed that Link held the keys to the Door of Time and followed him into the Temple of Time. After the boy had pulled the Master Sword from the Pedestal of Time, the last barrier to the Sacred Realm was removed, leaving Ganondorf able to enter the Sacred Realm through the portal Link had opened. Ganondorf proceeded through the Door of Time and into the portal with a party of his Gerudo followers. What they found on the other side of the portal was an awesome sight: a realm of peaceful serenity whose midday skies shined gold, not blue. It was a strange and yet incredibly beautiful place that no one had set foot in for ages, and Ganondorf and his followers were the first to enter this mystical place in all that time. And there, shining down upon the world from the summit of the Temple of Light, was the Triforce in all its glory. Thus began a long running battle to the heart of the Sacred Realm between Ganondorf and his followers. During that battle, Ganondorf slew all of his followers that had accompanied him into the Realm so that he could claim the Triforce uncontested and have absolute power. Coming to the base of the pyramidal-shaped Temple of Light, Ganondorf ascended the Temple via the many steps that led up its sides until he arrived at the topmost platform and stood triumphantly over the Triforce. Ganondorf heard a voice call to him, telling him that if there was a wish he had in his heart to touch the Triforce with that wish in mind. Ganondorf's wish, of course, was to rule the world forever, and, laughing so hard that his voice echoed across time and space to reach even Hyrule itself, he laid his tainted, blood-stained hands on the sacred Triforce. At that moment however, an ancient prophecy regarding the Triforce came true:

''If you would seek the Sacred Triangle, listen well. The resting place of the Sacred Triangle, the Sacred Realm...It is a mirror that reflects what is in the heart...The heart of one who enters it...The Triforce, the Sacred Triangle...It is a balance that weighs the three forces: Power, Wisdom, and Courage...If the heart of the 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 would seek the True Force, that one must acquire the two lost parts...Those two parts will be held by those chosen by destiny, who will bear the Triforce mark on the backs of their hands.''

Thus, when Ganondorf touched the Triforce, this legend came true, and the Triforce split apart. The Triforce of Wisdom and the Triforce of Courage rose into the air and vanished as Ganondorf screamed in anger. Only the Triforce of Power remained in the newly-minted King of Evil's hand, since that was the one thing he most believed in and desired most. Meanwhile, all around him, the Sacred Realm began to change utterly as it withered and died. Malevolent dark clouds plagued the skies, and light shined no more on this magical realm as it was plunged into darkness and became a land of evil and despair. It became the Dark World, a twisted copy of Hyrule that was meant to serve Ganondorf's wish for conquest. At that moment, Ganondorf himself changed as well, changing into a form that reflected what was in his heart. He became the Dark Beast Ganon, a boar-like creature bent upon conquest and destruction. This was the form he would forever take within the Dark World. Nevertheless, Ganondorf was not satisfied, and he returned to Hyrule to subjugate it with the strength of the Triforce of Power, transforming back into his Gerudian form in the Light World.

Hyrule's Plunge Into Darkness
The land of Hyrule quickly fell into the clutches of the King of Evil and his new army of evil creatures that swarmed from the tainted Sacred Realm. The Knights of Hyrule, knowing that the world's only hope now lay in the power of the Sages and the Hero of Time that was supposed to assist them, rallied to defend the five temples that resided within Hyrule: the Forest Temple, the Fire Temple, the Water Temple, the Shadow Temple, and the Spirit Temple. The Temple of Time was not defended because they had believed that Ganondorf was so close to it that they would easily be overwhelmed by his forces. Ganondorf, knowing that the largest threat to him lay in the Prophecy of the Hero of Time, sent several of his loyal monsters to overtake the temples and wipe out the Knights of Hyrule.

Phantom Ganon arrived to haunt the Forest Temple and prevent the Sage of Forest from awakening, along with a whole brigade of Ganondorf's monsters. The beasts overwhelmed the Knights that were protecting the temple and wiped them out. Those monsters that did not stay at the temple migrated to the thinner area of the woods, where they terrorized and destroyed the Kokiri Forest. A lone Kokiri girl named Saria was captured by the strange beasts and was forced into the heart of the temple.

Meanwhile, up on Death Mountain, Ganondorf revived the evil ancient dragon Volvagia and ordered it to take over the Fire Temple while imprisoning the Gorons. The mountain became overly active, and became a volcanic threat not only to the Gorons, but the Kakariko Villagers on the slopes below. To stop this impending threat, the Goron chief Darunia entered the temple, searching for a way to free his people.

Ganondorf then used his newly found power to freeze Zora's Domain and trap its Zora populace beneath a sheet of enchanted ice that would never melt so long as the monster he placed in the Water Temple, Morpha, remained there, slowly draining Lake Hylia of its water. Princess Ruto, the daughter of King Zora, was unfrozen by a mysterious Sheikah and headed south to Lake Hylia to defeat the monster and unfreeze her watery home.

In Kakariko Village, Ganondorf released the evil shadow beast Bongo Bongo from its prison at the Bottom of the Well and ordered it to terrorize the residents of the village and take over the Shadow Temple. Impa, who had watched over her native village in the past and was the one who had sealed Bongo Bongo in the well originally, headed to the temple to save the last village of Hylian resistance.

Finally, Ganondorf sent his surrogate mothers Kotake and Koume, collectively known as Twinrova, to take over the Spirit Temple in the Desert Colossus at the far end of the Gerudo Desert. Nabooru, the second in command of the Gerudo, had been living there, trying to find a way to defeat the evil Gerudo King. She was captured by the hags and brainwashed, leaving any Gerudo rebellion at a stand-still.

Thus, with the five temples now infested with his monsters, the Sages would be unable to awaken and assist the Hero of Time as legend said they must should he appear. Ganondorf eventually learned somehow at some point that Zelda held the Triforce of Wisdom, and although he searched Hyrule high and low for her, he could not find her as she had donned the disguise of Sheik, a survivor of the Sheikahs. The Triforce of Courage also remained safely hidden from Ganondorf within the Hero of Time, who was held in stasis for a total of seven years within the Temple of Light. Ganondorf's monsters overtook and largely destroyed Hyrule Castle Town, forcing the few survivors of the attack to flee to Kakariko Village. He ordered Hyrule Castle torn down and constructed a castle of his own in its place, the menacing Ganon's Castle. From his Throne Room atop the castle's keep, Ganon's Tower, he looked out over the land of Hyrule, watching and waiting, as dark and violent clouds forever circled the tower's summit, serving as a reminder of the darkness that resided at the tower's top. For those seven dark years, Ganondorf ruled largely unopposed over the land as the Usurper King of Hyrule, and he kept an ever watchful eye out for any sign of the Hero of Time or Princess Zelda, knowing that they were out there somewhere and would sooner or later return to challenge his rule.