Hyrule Castle

Hyrule Castle is a recurring location in the Legend of Zelda series. It is the home of the Royal Family of Hyrule. The castle's first appearance was in The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, the third in the series. Each game that contains a Hyrule Castle either features a different layout, or denies the player access to parts that are available in other games. There are grounds for speculation that the castle is actually a different castle in each game, or that it is the same castle but was changed in each game for aesthetic or gameplay purposes.

The castle itself is prone to conflict not only because it houses the head of Hyrule's government, but also because its security is often less than impenetrable. In fact, in many of the games Link took advantage of this and was able to sneak into the castle despite all of the security. Hyrule Castle is fairly important in most of the games where it has appeared, and is often shown as a dungeon or a level within these games.

The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
The third game in the series was the first to name and give a location to Hyrule Castle. It is situated in the middle of Hyrule and appears to be the seat of power of the government as well as the home of Princess Zelda. During the course of the game, Link must break into the castle on more than one occasion. He manages to find entrance via a secret passage on the eastern side of the castle. It has a total of six floors and features a courtyard and a moat.

When Link first enters the castle via the secret entrance, he finds his uncle mortally wounded near the entrance. He gives Link the Sword and Shield just as he dies. After navigating the rest of the castle, Link finds Princess Zelda who is guarded by a Ball & Chain Trooper. After it is defeated, she and Link escape to the Sanctuary through the Secret Passage in the sewers.

Later in the game, after Link retrieves the Master Sword from the Sacred Grove, he must return to Hyrule Castle to save Princess Zelda. At this point, Link gets to explore the rest of the castle that wasn't explored in the beginning of the game. After reaching the top of the castle, Link arrives at Agahnim's room, just as he is sending Zelda to the Dark World. At this point, Link must fight Agahnim. After his defeat, Link is teleported to the Dark World as well, arriving at the Pyramid of Power. Sahasrahla then contacts Link, telling him to free the Seven Maidens.

In the Dark World/Sacred Realm, Hyrule Castle becomes the Pyramid of Power where Ganon flees to after Link defeats the boss of Ganon's Tower.

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
The castle is first seen during the opening credits. The castle is situated west of Death Mountain and just directly north of Hyrule Castle Town. The entrance to Hyrule Castle Town alone is protected by another moat and a drawbridge which lowers only during the day. Beyond Hyrule Castle Town is a path which leads to Hyrule Castle, but features a gate and several guards along the way. In order to infiltrate the castle, Link must sneak past each guard until he gets to the castle itself, surrounded by a moat. Link never directly enters any "important" parts of the castle, but he does manage to enter the courtyard (where he meets Zelda) using a secret entrance on the east side (similar to his infiltration in A Link to the Past.) Hyrule Castle is later destroyed and replaced by Ganon's Castle. However, it was apparently rebuilt, as Hyrule Castle is seen in The Wind Waker, which continues from adult Link's time.

The castle and its surrounding area is the arguably most prominent and important place in the game, housing the Temple of Time, a town, many of the game's plot twists, and the game's final bosses, Ganon and Ganondorf. Surrounded by a small village, drawbridge, and moat, it models the stereotypical monarchial or feudalist castle. The King of Hyrule is never seen in the game, although Ganondorf is seen inside the castle at one point, apparently pledging his "loyalty" to the king.

Most of the castle is never seen or explored. The extensive castle gardens and the castle courtyard are the only areas available to explore. The castle courtyard serves several purposes, both as introducing Princess Zelda and Impa into the game, and as a staging point for embarking on the next series of quests. One curious feature of the courtyard is the paintings of several Nintendo characters, including Mario and Yoshi, which can be seen through one window.

The Beta Quest, a game mode unlockable through usage of a Gameshark, reveals the complete Triforce hidden under the courtyard. This find, although not an answer to obtaining the Triforce sought by gamers, was an interesting twist to players' understanding of the game's possible original intent to make the Triforce an obtainable item.

While Link is in Jabu-Jabu's Belly, Ganondorf and presumably his fellow Gerudo take over Hyrule Castle and kill the King of Hyrule. Most of the Hyrulean Soldiers are killed as well, and one can be seen dying in the Back Alley of the town. Princess Zelda and Impa escape on horseback just as Link is approaching the castle and Zelda throws the Ocarina of Time back into the moat for Link to find.

The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
Hyrule Castle, at first frozen in time, is situated under the Great Sea and accessible at the site of the Tower of the Gods. Only the main hall, which contains a secret passage to a room where the Master Sword is found, and a small courtyard may be visited. When Link takes the Master Sword, the castle and the land around it unfreezes. Enemies who were assaulting the castle at the time it was frozen reawaken and must be defeated. As time continues in the game, an area outside the castle is made accessible for Link to explore.

The area in and around Hyrule Castle has changed quite a lot since the earlier games. Although it is common for each game to have different settings (so as not to have the same kind of games), the changes here are worth noting. First of all, Ganon's Tower is not only a different tower from Hyrule Castle, but is only a short walk away from it. Furthermore, the Master Sword is kept in a secret passage under the main chamber, whereas it is normally kept in a fairly known (though unreachable) place (behind the Door of Time). It is also seen to be situated on an island at the heart of a lake (possibly Lake Hylia) and connected to the mainland via one bridge.

The change in interior from Hyrule Castle is very well possible if one follows the Split Time Theory. The original castle was destroyed in Ocarina of Time, so the new one could have been any shape and size. This also poses the possibility that the Temple of Time was finally destroyed, since the Master Sword has changed locations.

The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures
Hyrule Castle is the third and final stage of the Whereabouts of the Wind. Geographically, it is located just south of Death Mountain.

As the level begins, Link, having just exited the Cave of No Return, is in the exterior courtyard of Hyrule Castle. Two bomb-throwing soldiers patrol the top of the castle walls, and Link must traverse an underground cave to gain access to the top of the wall. There Link can activate the switch, opening the gate to the castle.

Upon entering the inner courtyard, Link is faced with a Chief Soldier and sixteen Hyrulean Soldiers.

The interior of the castle is very similar to Hyrule Castle from A Link to the Past. After exploring the inner chambers and the roof, which contain many items such as the Fire Rod, Bombs, the Bow, Boomerang, Blue Bracelet, and four Heart Containers, Link will appear at a large arena where he must fight a Ball and Chain Trooper and numerous Hyrulean soldiers. After they are defeated, Force Gems fill the arena.

After finding the two River Zora in the next area, they combine to form the Queen of Fairies. She helps Link by destroying the barrier blocking the way to the first maiden. After traveling through the rest of the castle, Link is faced with the final boss of the Whereabouts of the Wind, Phantom Ganon. After he is defeated, the first maiden is released.

Hyrule Castle is later re-visited in the third and final stage of Level 4 - Near the Fields, Infiltration of Hyrule Castle. This time it is set at night, and uses the searchlight system used in the Forsaken Fortress in The Wind Waker.

The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap
Hyrule Castle has a fairly large presence in the game. To restore power in the magic sword broken by Vaati, Link must find four elemental artifacts and imbue the blade with their essence at an Elemental Sanctuary, which can be found in Hyrule Castle. As the story progresses, Vaati disguises himself as the king, making getting into the Elemental Sanctuary more difficult, requiring some stealth to make it in successfully. Finally, toward the game's completion, Vaati transforms the entire castle into Dark Hyrule Castle. Dark Hyrule castle is larger in size, and more puzzling in interior, and is considered the most difficult dungeon in the game.

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
Hyrule Castle plays a fairly important role in Twilight Princess. Hyrule Castle looks similar to the Wind Waker’s version of the castle with small pointy spires jutting out from its roof and a large bridge connecting it with the surrounding area. It is also the source of the Twilight that is infecting Hyrule. Inside the castle is Princess Zelda, who is being held prisoner by Zant. Early in the game, Link is transformed into a wolf by Twilight and is thrown into the castle dungeon by Shadow Beasts. He escapes, though, with the help of Midna. Ganondorf's spirit overtakes the castle after he escapes the Twilight Realm through Zant. The castle is surrounded with a force field that blocks any access. After Zant's death, Ganondorf uses Zant's power to resurrect himself, giving himself his body back. The Castle is the last dungeon of the game, with the boss being Ganondorf himself, in two different forms: Possessed Zelda, and Dark Beast Ganon, his boar form. After Link defeats Ganondorf in his dark beast form, Midna warps Link and Zelda to Hyrule Field before she and Ganondorf battle in the castle; much of the castle is destroyed in a subsequent explosion. Ganondorf rides out into Hyrule Field on horseback with Midna's helmet, the Fused Shadow she always wears, in his hands to show that he has defeated her. Link and Zelda then fight him on horseback and, in the climactic sword duel, Link runs the Master Sword into Ganon's chest. The castle is last seen during the credits sequence, revealing that it was rebuilt.

If one looks closely, the area outside of the castle is, in truth, exactly the same as it appeared in The Wind Waker, except developed. The music that can be heard inside the castle is a reinstrumentalized version of the music inside of The Wind Waker's Hyrule Castle. Also, before one goes into the room where Link fights Ganon, if one looks in the direction of the south part of the scenery with the Hawkeye, one can see a total of four identical towers with strange runes shining on it.

The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks
A new Hyrule Castle is constructed in New Hyrule, and acts as the home to Princess Zelda.

Super Smash Bros.
Hyrule Castle appears as stage in Super Smash Bros., but was replaced by Hyrule Temple in the sequel Super Smash Bros. Melee. Super Smash Bros.s Hyrule Castle was based on the design of Ocarina of Times Hyrule Castle.

The third game in the series, Super Smash Bros. Brawl features the Bridge of Eldin as a stage, where Hyrule Castle is visible in the background.

Soulcalibur II
On the GameCube version of Soulcalibur II, a picture of Hyrule Castle appears in the end credits when the player beats Arcade Mode as Link.

The Legend of Zelda animated series
Link lives in Hyrule Castle with Princess Zelda. It is from here that King Harkinian rules over all of Hyrule. Hyrule Castle has many residents, including the castle handyman, Doof, and it is often a hot spot for attempted sieges by Ganon and his minions.