User:Power courage wisdom and time/Timeline Theory

In this book I ,Power Courage Wisdom and Time, will keep record of all of the history of Hyrule in accordance to my beliefs.

The Creation
In the beginning, amidst the darkness of eternal space, from a distant nebula, three Goddesses were sent upon a formless chaotic waste of a world, Long ago, before what is now the beautiful kingdom of Hyrule surrounded by mountains and forests... Din with her strong flaming arms, cultivated the land and created the red earth she also forged the mountains and great plains from the fiery bowels of desolation. Nayru poured her wisdom onto the earth and gave the spirit of law to the world and separated the waters of the sky and between the land she also set into motion the everlasting cycle of birth, life, death, and afterlife. Farore, with her rich soul, gave birth to all the living inhabitants in the world to uphold the law that Nayru gave earlier.

Before these beautiful Goddesses traveled onward to create anew their masterwork, they bestowed a manifestation of their essence within a mighty artifact called the Triforce, an object that would be sought by many and attained by only one. The Triforce took its place within its heavenly annex within a Sacred Realm where the spirits roam free. And so began the odyssey of Hyrule

Hyrulean Civil War
Soon, the other tribes of the land of Hyrule including the Hylians, the Gerudo, the Zoras, the Gorons, and most other tribes learned of the intentions of these dark magicians and began to quarrel and fight as they knew what it would mean if one tribe gained the Triforce and could use it to dominate all others. It was not long before a fierce battle erupted between the Dark Interlopers and the other tribes of Hyrule and between the other tribes themselves for control of the Sacred Realm. As the fighting spread across the entire realm and threatened to destroy all that had been built, the Golden Goddesses decided it was time to step in. They decided to remove the group that had sparked this civil war and to punish them for attempting to take the Triforce for selfish reasons of domination. They summoned the four Light Spirits Lanayru, Eldin, Faron, and Ordona to the land of Hyrule to seize the Fused Shadow from the Dark Interlopers and ordered them to chase these dark magicians out of the realm of light into another realm they created where only perpetual twilight prevailed, a realm that came to be known as the Twilight Realm. The Light Spirits did as they were instructed and chased the Dark Interlopers across the land of Hyrule and into this netherworld the Goddesses had spoken of. There, the Dark Interlopers slowly began to change into new shapes that would be more adaptive to their new lifestyle in the Twilight Realm, and they took on the name of the Twili. In time, they would grow accustomed to their new home and would become a gentler and less selfish race. However, the Goddesses did not completely seal off the Dark Interlopers from the world of light. They created a mirror that had the power to link the two worlds and open a portal between them, a mirror that came to be known as the Mirror of Twilight. They left this mirror in the care of the Ancient Sages, a group of spirits that represented the elements of the world and retained great power. And thus, the Dark Interlopers vanished from Hyrule, removing some of the war’s biggest contributors.

One day, to escape from the fires of the war, a Hylian mother and her baby boy entered this forbidden forest. The mother was gravely injured... Her only choice was to entrust the child to the Deku Tree, the guardian spirit of the forest. The Deku Tree could sense that this was a child of destiny, whose fate would affect the entire world, so he took him into the forest. After the mother passed away, the baby was raised as a Kokiri.

Meanwhile, as the fighting continued between the other races of Hyrule, the Gerudo, a group of largely female thieves from the Gerudo Desert far in the west, forged an alliance with the Hylian race as they struggled merely to unite the tribes and stem the bloodshed. The Gerudo leader, Ganondorf, called for a ceasefire between the tribes and a meeting of the tribal leaders that included himself and the leader of the Hylians. This meeting would conclude with a formal end to the conflict that would come to be known in history as the “Hyrulean Civil War” as well as the unification of the land of Hyrule under the banner of the Hylian Royal Family. The tribal leaders pledged their allegiance to the new King of Hyrule, and the realm was united at last with the assistance of the Gerudo King. Little did anyone realize that this was all a ruse: Ganondorf had no intention of subjecting himself and his people permanently to the rule of a group of what he saw as malleable and weak-minded individuals. Having learned of the sacred Triforce through the Hyrulean Civil War, he made it his mission to discover all he needed to know of how to gain entry into this mystical Sacred Realm he had learned of and to eventually seize the Triforce for his own to better the lives of his people. And for a decade, Ganondorf would wait until he learned all he would need to break through the seal on the Sacred Realm and enter it

The land of Hyrule was finally united under one banner, and the tribes of Hyrule celebrated the end of the brutal and bloody conflict. A capital for the new nation was selected by the newly-ordained Royal Family of Hyrule. A city was built that would become the nerve center of the new nation and serve as its source of culture. This city would come to be known as Hyrule Castle Town, with the home of the Royal Family, the majestic Hyrule Castle, standing tall within its boundaries. The Golden Goddesses instructed the Light Spirits to remain in the land of Hyrule and to protect it from darkness. The Light Spirits broke the Fused Shadow into four fragments, allowing the Dark Interlopers to keep one fragment as a reminder of their broken power and their crimes. The remaining three fragments were taken respectively by Lanayru, Eldin, and Faron. They each sealed their respective fragments within certain locations within the provinces the Goddesses had instructed them to remain within and protect. Lanayru took his fragment of the Fused Shadow and sealed it deep beneath the waters of Lake Hylia within the Lakebed Temple (a place many suspect to have originally been the Water Temple). Eldin took his fragment of the Fused Shadow and locked it away deep within the mighty Death Mountain in the Goron Mines (a place many suspect may have originally been the Fire Temple). And finally, Faron took his fragment of the dark relic and sealed it deep within the Forest Temple (a place many suspect to have originally been the interior of the Great Deku Tree himself). The tribal leaders pledged allegiance to the Royal Family, and the land once more knew peace. Darunia, the big boss of the Goron race, made the King of Hyrule his sworn brother and pledged his enduring allegiance to the Hyrulean Throne. King Zora, the ruler of the Zora race, also maintained close ties to the Royal Family and pledged his allegiance to the King in alliance. However, far to the west, in the Gerudo Desert, the would-be “hero” of the war, Ganondorf, was already starting to research the legends of the Sacred Realm in search of what was needed to open the gateway between Hyrule and the Sacred Realm. Although Ganondorf had helped to install the Royal Family of Hyrule as the ruling body of the new nation of Hyrule, his efforts had not yielded nothing: he had gained the complete confidence of the King of Hyrule, which would prove instrumental in his scheme to eventually take over the land of Hyrule in good time. For ten years, the Gerudo King would research and plot for his overtake of both Hyrule and the Sacred Realm, and for his seizure of the so-called “Golden Power” that was said to rest within the Golden Land

The War of the Bound Chest
The world was on the verge of being swallowed by shadow, until the Minish (also known as the Picori) came from the sky to bring the current Hero of the land, the Hero of Men, a sword known as the Picori Blade and the magical Light Force, a golden triangle resembling one of the three golden triangles that make up the Triforce. The Light Force was a source of limitless magical power, and combining its power with that of the Picori Blade, the Hero of Men was able to drive the Army of Evil back and lock all of its members within an enchanted chest, binding the chest with the Picori Blade itself. This chest, kept locked by the Picori Blade, came to be known in Hylian lore as the Bound Chest, and thus, the conflict came to be known as the War of the Bound Chest.

The Light Force was then magically sealed within Hyrule's princess and magically passed down to her heirs in succession, a secret that not even the best historians in Hyrule knew. The secret of the Light Force was only depicted in one place, in a series of stained glass windows within the Elemental Sanctuary that links the Minish World to the realm of Hyrule.

The Hero of Men
This Legend first beguins when Princess Zelda is turned into stone. In Hyrule Castle the King of Hyrule and his counselor Potho are desperate to bring Zelda back home. They place all their hopes in the tiny Picori who had been invaluable allies, and send Link to seek the legendary beings' help. It is an old belief in Hyrule that the Picori show themselves only to children.

On his way to Minish Woods, home of the Minish, The Hero of Men rescues Ezlo, a strange being resembling a green cap with a bird head, who joins him in his quest and can make The Hero of Men shrink to the size of the Minish themselves through a ritual he can perform on Minish altars. Link then meets the Forest Minish elder Gentari, who tells him that to restore power in the magic sword broken by Vaati, he must find four elemental artifacts and imbue the blade with their essence. He directs The Hero of Men and Ezlo to Melari on Mt. Crenel, as Melari is the only one who can fix the broken sword. When Link meets Melari he gives the sword to him and goes on to a human mine for the second element. When he comes back Melari tells him about the Elemental Sanctuary found in Hyrule Castle. Only after he fuses the four elements can he face Vaati and defeat him.

It is revealed that both Ezlo and Vaati were once Minish, Ezlo being a renowned sage and craftsman and Vaati his apprentice. Vaati eventually became corrupted by the madness and egotism of men and took a magic hat Ezlo had made for the humans in Hyrule. The hat granted the bearer any wishes, and Vaati chose to become a powerful sorcerer. He then turned his old master, who had tried to stop him, into a hat. Devoured by his desire for power, Vaati took a twisted, vile appearance and set out to search for the mystic Light Force of Hyrule, which would make him even stronger.

When The Hero of Men completed the Picori blade (which was then re-named the Four Sword), Vaati turns Hyrule Castle into Dark Hyrule Castle. The Hero of Men gets to Vaati just before he drains Zelda of all the Light Force (this would kill her), but the Wind Sorcerer states that he already has enough power to defeat him. The hero of Men then fights Vaati in two different forms, the first being a larger form of himself and the second being a large sphere with an eye, and prevails. He frees Zelda from her curse as the castle is collapsing, and then he and the Princess go to the elemental shrine to avoid being crushed. Vaati was waiting there for Link, and faces him one more time. His final form is like his previous form but with arms, and seeming to be indestructible at first. He managed to defeat the evil Minish again. Vaati disappears, after saying that he is confused as to how he beat him, claiming he has the power of a god. Ezlo floats off of Link's head and is returned to his original form. He finds the cap of wishes he created and gives it to Zelda, since she has a pure heart, saying "Let your wishes come true!" The cursed people are cured and the castle is turned back to normal. The doorway to the Minish world is closing and Ezlo states he must go. He says he enjoyed his time with Link, and in return provides him with a cap, saying, "I have never seen you with a cap until now, it fits you, little hero." He shrinks down and goes through the doorway, just as it vanishes

The Hero of Time
Roughly ten years following the Hyrulean Civil War, the King of the Gerudo Thieves, Ganondorf, returned to Hyrule in search of a way into the fabled Sacred Realm that is connected to Hyrule in order to claim the Triforce as his own. He knew he would need a unique collection of items in order to open the mighty barrier in the Temple of Time that led to the Sacred Realm, the Door of Time. His first targets were the three Spiritual Stones possessed by the various races that populated Hyrule: the Kokiri's Emerald, the Goron's Ruby, and the Zora's Sapphire. To acquire these three keys to the Sacred Realm, Ganondorf threatened each of the leaders of the tribes with catastrophes if they did not turn the stones over to him. After each of the leaders refused him, he plagued the Great Deku Tree with an army of Gohma, the Dodongo's Cavern with Dodongos, and the Zora deity Lord Jabu-Jabu with Bari. Ganondorf's next target (while these curses exacted their intended tolls) was the Ocarina of Time, a key to the Sacred Realm kept by the Hylian race in the hands of the Royal Family of Hyrule. Ganondorf traveled to Hyrule Castle to pledge false allegiance to the King of Hyrule in the hope of finding out where the King kept the Ocarina of Time. The Princess of Hyrule, Zelda, immediately became suspicious of Ganondorf's intentions due to dreams she had been having about a darkness covering Hyrule that would be repelled by a boy possessing a shining green stone and accompanied by a fairy. Zelda communicated this knowledge to her father, but Ganondorf had his full confidence, and he refused to do anything against Ganondorf without there being any wrongdoing.

Meanwhile, the Great Deku Tree, dying from the curse Ganondorf had cast upon him and knowing his time was short, called upon Navi the fairy to find the boy known as Link (an orphan of the Hyrulean Civil War left under the Deku Tree’s protection after the deaths of his parents) and to guide him to the Great Deku Tree's Meadow. When Navi returned with Link in tow, the Deku Tree related his plight to Link and asked Link to venture inside him and to slay the monster that was the source of the curse on him, Queen Gohma. Link succeeded in this task, but it was too late to save the Deku Tree however. Before he died, the Deku Tree told Link the story of Hyrule's creation and the Sacred Realm that was connected to it. He related to Link the story of the Triforce and how the "desert man in black armor" named Ganondorf was after it. With his dying breath, the Deku Tree gave Link the Spiritual Stone of Forest, the Kokiri's Emerald, and told him to seek out Princess Zelda at Hyrule Castle. With that, the Deku Tree passed out of being, and Link and Navi began their long journey to save the land of Hyrule, first heading toward Hyrule Castle as the Deku Tree had instructed. After infiltrating Hyrule Castle and sneaking into the castle courtyard, Link met with Princess Zelda herself, where she confided in Link her vision of the future and the need to beat Ganondorf to the Sacred Realm. She told Link to find the other two stones so they could get the Triforce before Ganondorf could do so while she protected the Ocarina of Time from him, and her nursemaid and guardian, Impa, guided Link out of the castle, pointing him in the direction of Death Mountain to find the Spiritual Stone of Fire.

Link traveled up Death Mountain and met with the leader of the Gorons, Darunia. Darunia told Link of Ganondorf's previous visit and how he had infested the Dodongo's Cavern (the food source of the Gorons) with Dodongos and had sealed the cavern shut in order to starve the Goron race. Darunia agreed to give the Goron's Ruby to Link on the condition that he reverse the evil Ganondorf had wrought upon his people by destroying the Dodongos inside the cavern. Link succeeded in doing this, even destroying the great King Dodongo in the process. With their food source restored, the overjoyed Darunia made Link his sworn brother by presenting him with the Spiritual Stone of Fire, the Goron's Ruby. The final stone, the Spiritual Stone of Water known as the Zora's Sapphire, was held by King Zora, the ruler of the aquatic Zora race in Zora's Domain. Link traveled to the watery grotto and learned of the King's plight regarding the disappearance of his daughter, Princess Ruto. Link discovered a message from Ruto in a bottle at the bottom of Lake Hylia, stating she was inside the belly of Lord Jabu-Jabu, the guardian deity of the Zoras, and awaiting rescue. Link gained entry into Jabu-Jabu's belly after relating the message to King Zora (who revealed that Jabu-Jabu had appeared ill following Ganondorf's visit to Zora's Domain) and presenting Jabu-Jabu with a fish. Inside Link found the Zora Princess, who refused to leave until she found her mother's stone (the Zora's Sapphire) which she had dropped inside when Jabu-Jabu accidentally swallowed her. The pair continued on into the giant fish's belly and found the stone, but Ruto was captured along with the Zora's Sapphire, forcing Link to continue on alone to rescue both Ruto and the stone. Eventually, Link came upon the largest chamber of Jabu-Jabu's belly and confronted the giant anemone Barinade. Upon destroying the creature, Link broke the curse on Jabu-Jabu and freed Princess Ruto. Outside, Ruto offered the stone to Link on the condition he agree to marry her as the stone was the "Zora's Engagement Ring." Having no choice in the matter, he received the stone and became Ruto's fiancee. With all three Spiritual Stones in tow, Link headed back to Hyrule Castle.

Link returned to Hyrule Castle Town to find it in flames. Princess Zelda flew past him on horseback with her attendant Impa, with Ganondorf on his black steed in hot pursuit. Just before Zelda vanished into Hyrule Field with Impa, she tossed the Ocarina of Time into the Hyrule Castle Town moat meaning for Link to acquire it. After a brief exchange with Ganondorf himself, Link retrieved the Ocarina and learned the Song of Time, the tune necessary to open the Door of Time. He then proceeded to the Temple of Time and placed his "three symbols of virtue" onto the temple's altar. Standing before the altar, now complete with the three Spiritual Stones, Link played the Song of Time using the Ocarina and opened the Door of Time. Behind the door, he found the private chamber of the legendary Blade of Evil’s Bane, the Master Sword, with the sword embedded in the Pedestal of Time. Stepping forward, Link placed his hands on the enchanted blade’s handle and pulled upward. The blade, recognizing Link’s courage and strength of heart, slid gracefully out of the Pedestal of Time, and powerful energy radiated around Link as the portal to the Sacred Realm was opened. However, Link was too young to wield the Master Sword at his current age (around 10 years old), and so his spirit was sealed within the Temple of Light at the heart of the Sacred Realm for seven years until he was old enough to claim the mantle of the Hero of Time and thus handle the Master Sword.

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 thee small holders, 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.

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, trasforming back into his Gerudian form in the Light World.

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 newfound 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 surivor 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.

Once seven years had passed, Rauru, the Sage of Light, reawakened the Hero of Time (now around seventeen years old) and told him of all that had happened from the moment he had pulled the Master Sword from the Pedestal of Time. After giving him the Light Medallion, Rauru returned Link to the Temple of Time, where he was greeted by the mysterious Sheik, survivor of the Sheikahs, who eventually guided him to the Forest Temple to free the first Sage. Inside, Link defeated the monsters that had infested the temple and came face-to-face with a cloned version of Ganondorf himself, Phantom Ganon. Upon destroying the Phantom, the real Ganondorf telepathically congratulated the Hero of Time but warned him that the real battle with him would be far more difficult. Link returned to the Chamber of Sages within the Temple of Light to find his childhood friend, Saria, ordained as the Sage of Forest. After giving him the Forest Medallion, she sent Link on to aid the next Sage, the Sage of Fire. Link returned to Death Mountain to find the Goron race awaiting execution by means of being fed to an ancient dragon named Volvagia, whom Ganondorf had resurrected. He meant to execute them all as a warning to other races that might oppose his rule. Link ventured into the Fire Temple and freed the Gorons one-by-one until he came to the dragon’s chamber. After a fierce battle with the dragon, Link defeated it with the mighty Megaton Hammer he found within the temple that had been used to defeat the dragon in the past. He was then returned to the Chamber of Sages to find Darunia was the Sage of Fire. After receiving the Fire Medallion, Link ventured on to Zora’s Domain to find it completely frozen over and the Zoras trapped under the ice. Sheik revealed that he had managed to save Princess Ruto from under the ice and that she had headed to the Water Temple at the bottom of Lake Hylia to slay the monster Ganondorf had placed there to curse Hyrule’s water supply. Link followed Ruto to the temple and managed to destroy the amoeba known as Morpha, breaking the curse on Lake Hylia and Zora’s Domain in the process. Another trip to the Chamber of Sages revealed Princess Ruto to be the Sage of Water, and she grudgingly put her engagement to the Hero of Time on hold due to her duty as the Sage of Water. Receiving the Water Medallion, Link returned to Kakariko Village to find it in flames. A dark monstrosity from the Bottom of the Well broke the seal that Impa used to confine it and it attacked Link and Sheik before fleeing to the Shadow Temple and taking up residence there. Sheik revealed that Impa had gone to the Shadow Temple to battle the shadow beast and sent Link in after her. Link successfully navigated the dark and eerie temple behind the Kakariko Graveyard and found his way to the lowest chamber of the temple, where he met the shadow beast known as Bongo Bongo. After an intense battle, Link destroyed the creature and was returned to the Chamber of Sages, where he found Impa awaiting his arrival as the Sage of Shadow. After asking Link to look after Princess Zelda (who would reveal herself to him soon) and giving him the Shadow Medallion, Impa returned him to Hyrule, where he proceeded to the Gerudo Desert, the former home of Ganondorf himself. There, Link matched wits with the Gerudo Thieves and navigated the Gerudo Desert to the Desert Colossus, where the Spirit Temple lay. Inside, he met the Gerudo leader Nabooru, who was subsequently captured by the Gerudo witches and surrogate mothers of Ganondorf himself, Kotake and Koume, collectively known as Twinrova. The witches brainwashed Nabooru into serving Ganondorf, and for seven years she was forced to do his bidding until Link returned as an adult to fight the witches and save Nabooru. After turning their magic against them and subsequently killing them, Link was returned to the Chamber of Sages one final time to meet with Nabooru, the Sage of Spirit. After receiving the Spirit Medallion, Link returned to the Temple of Time, where Sheik revealed himself to in fact be Princess Zelda, the seventh Sage, the Sage of Time. After revealing that Link held the Triforce of Couage within himself and granting him the Light Arrows to battle Ganondorf with, the temple began to rumble and shake violently. Princess Zelda was imprisoned within a rose-colored crystal before Link’s eyes and rose into the air as Ganondorf’s voice boomed triumphantly through the Temple of Time, telling Link that if he wished to rescue Zelda to come to his castle. In reality, this was a ploy to gather both of the remaining two Triforces and to recombine the one true Triforce in order to have absolute power.

Link traveled from the Temple of Time through the remains of Hyrule Castle Town (incapacitating Ganondorf’s Re-Deads along the way) toward the place upon which Hyrule Castle had once stood, only to find the menacing Ganon's Castle in its place. The remaining six Sages created a bridge across the moat of molten lava so the Hero of Time could enter the castle and save their leader, Princess Zelda. The castle’s keep, known as Ganon’s Tower, was protected by six magical barriers representing the six Hyrulean temples: Forest, Fire, Water, Shadow, Spirit, and Light. Link brought each of these barriers down, opening the way up the tower to Ganondorf’s chamber. As Link continued up the tower, he was confronted by Keese, Lizalfos, and Iron Knuckles. Finally, Link reached a blood-red carpet that led up the final staircase of the tower. Link followed this carpet to a large door which led into Ganondorf’s chamber. Proceeding through the door, Link gasped as he saw Ganondorf playing his own unique theme on an organ as Princess Zelda was suspended above him. Ganondorf turned, demanded that Link hand over the Triforce of Courage and attacked him. A great battle then ensued between the two combatants as the King of Evil and the Hero of Time faced off to determine the fate of Hyrule and the balance of the Triforce. Link repelled Ganondorf’s powerful magical attacks with the might of the Master Sword and dealt Ganondorf a death blow. As Ganondorf spat blood, he screamed out in rage and brought the whole of the top of the tower down around all of them as he fell to the ground, seemingly dead. Princess Zelda drifted downward and was released from her crystal prison. Shortly afterward, the tower began to shake violently as Ganondorf, with his last breath, was attempting to bring down his own castle in an attempt to kill Link and Princess Zelda in retribution. However, the pair escaped the collapsing castle just in time as the tower came crashing down, leveling the castle.

Just when Princess Zelda and Link thought it was all over, a deep rumbling sounded from deep within the remains of Ganon’s Castle. The Hero of Time ventured back into the remains only to have a fiery barrier spring up around the site, separating Princess Zelda from himself. Link turned back toward the castle only to see Ganondorf explode out of the rubble, apparently unable to truly die as long as he possessed the Triforce of Power. In his rage, Ganondorf used the Triforce of Power to transform himself into the form he had taken in the Sacred Realm, the Dark Beast Ganon. Ganon knocked the Master Sword from the Hero of Time’s hands, and it landed out of his reach near Princess Zelda. The Hero was forced to use a combination of other weapons to battle the creature and eventually subdued him, giving Link the time he needed to retrieve the Master Sword. After another round with the rejuvenated Ganon, Link delivered the final blow to the creature, and Ganon roared in anger and pain as the Seven Sages re-opened the door to the Sacred Realm (now the Dark World or Evil Realm) and cast Ganon back into the Realm. As he drifted away into the void, Ganondorf (once more in his Gerudian form) screamed in anger as he swore vengeance on the descendants of the Hero of Time and the Seven Sages if the seal on the Dark World was ever compromised or broken.

Hyrule B
The Hero then proceeded to sneak back into Hyrule Castle and once more found himself meeting the young Princess Zelda in the courtyard. He then told the Princess of all that was about to come to pass in an attempt to prevent it from happening as he had previously experienced.

Due to the young Hero of Time’s warning, Ganondorf was subdued and his plot to assassinate the King of Hyrule was thwarted, preventing him from successfully conquering Hyrule Castle. Though he launched his attack to claim the Ocarina of Time and overthrow the Royal Family of Hyrule (as depicted by the ethereal Ancient Sages), he was ultimately thwarted and taken into the King of Hyrule's custody. The King of Hyrule tried Ganondorf for high treason, deemed him too dangerous to be kept alive, and sentenced him to death by impalement. He then handed Ganondorf over to the ethereal Ancient Sages (possibly the essences of the Seven Sages that were awakened in them by the Hero of Time in the future era) to be taken to the Arbiter's Grounds (the Spirit Temple-turned-Hyrulean Prison) to await execution. The Ancient Sages took Ganondorf to the roof of the ancient prison and chained him to a boulder near the Mirror of Twilight, the lone link left between Hyrule and the Twilight Realm. The Sages took a glowing sword of light and impaled Ganondorf, leaving a glowing wound on his chest. However, due to the events of the Imprisoning War, the Triforce remained scattered amongst its three holders across the dual time paradox, leaving Ganondorf with the Triforce of Power, Princess Zelda with the Triforce of Wisdom, and the Hero of Time with the Triforce of Courage (the latter two Triforces being passed down to the descendants of Princess Zelda and Link). Due to this fact, Ganondorf survived his execution and broke free of his bonds, temporarily killing the ethereal Sage of Water in the process. The other sages, in a hasty attempt to prevent Ganondorf from killing them all and escaping, activated the nearby Mirror of Twilight and flung Ganondorf (along with the Sword of the Sages) into the Twilight Realm, where he was reduced to spiritual matter. For a hundred years, Hyrule would know a delicate peace while Ganondorf was imprisoned within the Twilight Realm. During this time the Temple of Time would eventually become isolated and fall into ruin, most likely because Hyrule Castle Town and Hyrule Castle itself had been rebuilt elsewhere following Ganondorf's failed attack on the heavily damaged Hyrulean capital or perhaps because the temple itself had been moved somehow. Either way, the Faron Woods grew up around the temple's remains (and what appears to have once been the square of a city), hidden from the world and eventually falling into ruin. And so the land knew peace and prosperity for a century, until Ganondorf manipulated Zant of the Twilight Realm in a scheme to take over Hyrule once more a century later.

The 3 Days
After the defeat of Ganon, Link set out on a journey with his horse, Epona, to find a friend he lost after his battles with evil. This is believed to be Navi, his fairy companion from Ocarina of Time. While travelling deep inside the Lost Woods, he is ambushed by the Skull Kid, a strange imp wearing a peculiar mask and his two friends, the fairies Tatl and Tael. While Link is unconscious, the Skull Kid and his friends steal his Ocarina of Time. Link wakes up, only for the Skull Kid to ride away with Epona into the woods. Link follows him, and on his way falls into a hollow tree, seemingly a portal to Termina, a strange parallel world. Link is confronted and transformed into a Deku Scrub by the Skull Kid's evil magic. However, when the Skull Kid makes his exit, Tatl is separated from her brother, Tael, and has no choice but to ask Link for help to return to them.

In the caves beneath Termina, Link eventually meets the mysterious Happy Mask Salesman, who has the power to change him back into his true shape. The Happy Mask Salesman needs for Link to retrieve his Ocarina of Time in order to change him back. In exchange for this, he asks of Link to retrieve Majora's Mask from the Skull Kid. Exiting the caves beneath Termina, Link and Tatl find themselves in the middle of Clock Town, the geological and economical centre of Termina. They discover that they have arrived while the city is in full preparation for its annual festival, the Carnival of Time. Little by little, Link learns that a looming catastrophe is threatening Termina: the Moon in the sky has abandoned its orbit and is travelling towards Termina; in three days, it will crash into Clock Town and destroy Termina. Link eventually tracks down the Skull Kid and gets his Ocarina of Time back. Upon touching his precious instrument, Link is overcome by a memory of Princess Zelda learning him the "Song of Time", which has the power to turn back time. Before he turns back time to the First Day, he learns from Tatl's brother Tael that in order to defeat the evil of Majora's Mask, he must rescue the Four Giants, the guardian gods of Termina, from their imprisonment within four masks held by four of Majora's servants in four respective temples, found in the four compass directions of Termina.

Link eventually helps the troubled inhabitants of Termina, overcomes traps, enemies, obstacles and completes dangerous tasks throughout Termina and successfully frees the Four Giants. He confronts the Skull Kid on the night of the Final Day, and plays the "Oath to Order" to summon the Four Giants. They manage to halt the Moon's descent to Termina. However, the spirit inside the mask, an evil entity known as Majora, abandons its now useless host, the Skull Kid, and retreats into the Moon. Link chases after it into the strange core of the Moon, and after a long and heated battle against the three incarnations of Majora, the entity is finally defeated and the menacing Moon disappears. After returning the mask to the Happy Mask Salesman, Link leaves his new friends and continues his journey, while the people of Termina once more celebrate the Carnival of Time, hoping for a good harvest and peace in Termina

Zant's Invasion of Hyrule
During the Imprisoning War, Ganondorf gained hold of the Triforce of Power and became the Usurper King of Hyrule. Link, the Hero of Time, using the power of the Master Sword and the support of the Seven Sages, confronted Ganondorf. Ganondorf transformed into Ganon, and during the final battle, Ganon was stabbed in the face. Though not killed, the Sages sealed him away in the Sacred Realm.

However, Zelda sent Link back to his original time and created a massive time paradox, and as such Ganondorf's imprisonment in the Sacred Realm occurred only in the adult timeline of the Imprisoning War. In the child timeline, things were a bit different. Link returned to the still tranquil Hyrule of the past as a child to warn Princess Zelda and her father of Ganondorf's plot (leaving for Termina shortly thereafter for his adventure in The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask), which he knew was about to happen due to his experience in the adult timeline. Ganondorf was captured by the King's soldiers before he could successfully conquer Hyrule Castle, and was found guilty of treason by the King.

Ganondorf was then taken by The Ancient Sages to await execution at the Arbiter's Grounds (the Spirit Temple-turned-Hyrulean Prison) in Gerudo Desert by the order of the King. Ganondorf was executed via impalement while chained to a rock. The Triforce (still shattered amongst its respective holders due to the events of Ocarina of Time nonetheless) revived him, and he escaped, malicously murdering the Sage of Water. In a hasty response, the sages activated the Mirror of Twilight, reducing Ganondorf to a spirit and throwing him into the Twilight Realm.

A century later, Zant was a candidate to become the Twilight King, the ruler of the Twilight Realm. He was passed over, and instead, Midna became the ruler. Zant went into an emotional breakdown and became insane.

As he fell to his knees, praying to the gods, Ganondorf's spirit answered his prayers as a false god and, in exchange for support in escaping the Realm, gave him kingship and sorcerer's powers. With these new powers, Zant ursurped the throne from Midna and sealed the powers of the Sols, which are mystical orbs that protect the Twilight Realm from the darkness. With the Sols rendered useless, Zant morphed the Twili into Shadow Beasts and unleashed Twilight into Hyrule.

Near the conclusion of the Imprisoning War (in the child timeline), the King of the Gerudo Thieves, Ganondorf, had plotted to overthrow the King of Hyrule and establish dominion over the fabled Sacred Realm, home of the legendary Triforce, which was said to grant it’s holder his or her heart’s desire. Ganondorf, who originally wanted to rule the land of Hyrule in order to establish a better way of life for his people, the Gerudo, felt that it was unfair that he and his people were forced to live in the harshness of their home, the Gerudo Desert, while the other races of the realm of Hyrule enjoyed the gentle breezes and rolling fields that made up Hyrule proper. To this end, he sought to launch an invasion of Hyrule in order to overthrow the King of Hyrule and enter the Sacred Realm so that he could claim the Triforce for his own and rule the land. Soon, however, his lust for the Triforce’s power corrupted Ganondorf’s mind and made his lust for power and conquest outweigh his mere desire to better his tribe’s means of living until there was nothing left in him but greed and pure evil. He traveled to the land of Hyrule and pledged false allegiance to the King of Hyrule at Hyrule Castle, the seat of Hyrule’s government.

It was during this time that the King’s daughter, Princess Zelda, had become increasingly suspicious of Ganondorf’s intentions due to her dreams of a darkness covering Hyrule (Ganondorf) whose reign would be split by a boy from the forest (Link) and saw fit to spy on the Gerudo King through one of the castle’s courtyard windows as he bowed before her father. It was then that a boy clothed in green appeared behind Zelda, and though she had not met him before, she knew him from her dreams as the boy that would save Hyrule from evil.

The boy, the Hero of Time, had just returned from seven years in the future to warn Princess Zelda and her father of Ganondorf’s treachery and to help turn the tide in Ganondorf’s invasion. He proceeded to tell the Princess of all that he had experienced during the major events of the Imprisoning War, which left Ganondorf imprisoned within the Dark World (the former Sacred Realm) in the adult timeline. Together, the pair warned Zelda’s father of Ganondorf’s true nature, and the King prepared for Ganondorf’s invasion, which soon followed just as Link and Zelda had told him. While the Gerudo invasion left much of the Hyrulean capital in ruins, Ganondorf’s Gerudo Army was ultimately defeated thanks to the Hero of Time's warning, and the Gerudo King was taken into the custody of the Royal Family of Hyrule.

The King of Hyrule, seeing Ganondorf’s true colors and having lost all trust in him, deemed the Gerudo King too dangerous to be left alive and sentenced him to death by impalement. The King’s servants, the Ancient Sages, took the form of ethereal wise men and were tutors to Princess Zelda by the King’s order. They also served as guardians of a relic known as the Mirror of Twilight and were the King’s administrators of justice. The King handed Ganondorf over to the Sages to be taken to the newly minted Hyrulean Prison, the Arbiter's Grounds (a place many suspect to be the former Spirit Temple), in the heart of Ganondorf’s homeland, the Gerudo Desert, to await execution. There, the Sages chained the King of Evil to a large boulder on the roof of the ancient prison, quite close to the Mirror of Twilight. The Sage of Water wielded a glowing blade of light, the Sword of the Sages, and drove it through Ganondorf’s chest, leaving a glowing wound on his chest and seemingly killing him.

At that moment, however, the symbol of the Triforce of Power appeared on the back of Ganondorf’s hand. Due to his future self’s actions (namely the unleashing of the Great Cataclysm), the Triforce remained split amongst its three holders across both branches of the time paradox, leaving the Triforce of Power with Ganondorf, the Triforce of Wisdom with Princess Zelda, and the Triforce of Courage with the Hero of Time. Upon being fatally wounded, the Triforce of Power activated within Ganondorf to prevent him from dying, and he was revived. As Ganondorf strained against his chains, they eventually gave way, and he broke free, temporarily killing the Sage of Water in the process. The other Sages, knowing no better solution to keep Ganondorf from killing them all and escaping, activated the Mirror of Twilight, opening the gateway between Hyrule and the Twilight Realm and sending Ganondorf through it.

Ganondorf was reduced to spiritual matter as he was sucked through the portal created by the Twilight Mirror, and the portal closed, causing him to vanish from Hyrule. Although Ganondorf survived, the execution would still leave a mark on him nonetheless. The Sword of the Sages left a glowing wound on his chest (ironically, this wound would ultimately be his undoing). The Sages mourned the loss of their friend and colleague, the Sage of Water, but the King of Evil had vanished, making it possible for Hyrule to enter a period of peace and prosperity.

A century after the banishment of the King of Evil to the netherworld that is the Twilight Realm, the Twilight Realm was in a period of political tumult. The King of Twilight, head of the Royal Family of the Twilight Realm, had just passed away, leaving the throne empty and the Twilight Realm without a ruler. It was at this time that one of the Twilight King’s advisers, a Twili named Zant, was one of the candidates that stood to succeed the Twilight King to the throne of the Twilight Realm. Zant had served the Royal Family loyally believing that he would be the next ruler of the Twili, but he had always resented the fact that the Twili (descendants of the Dark Interlopers that had tried to establish dominion over the Sacred Realm during the Hyrulean Civil War and were subsequently banished to the Twilight Realm by the Golden Goddesses) were imprisoned within the Twilight Realm like animals trapped in a cage while the beings of the land of Hyrule lived in a peaceful world of light and freedom. Zant’s lust for power however caused the populace of the Twili race to distrust him, and they opted in favor of allowing the Twilight King’s strikingly beautiful daughter, Princess Midna, to take her father’s throne, proclaiming her the one true Twilight Princess and ruler of the Twilight Realm.

This action caused Zant to have an emotional breakdown, costing him his sanity in the process. One day, Zant ran to one of the high balconies of the Palace of Twilight and fell to his knees, pounding his fists against the ground in frustration and anger. And then, as though in answer to his prayers, Zant turned his head toward the heavens, and his eyes met a stunning sight. An orb of devastating and dark energy was hovering over Zant, and it slowly descended upon the balcony, engulfing Zant in the process. Inside the orb, Zant saw a fiery head, the head of the King of Evil that had been banished to the Twilight Realm a century in the past, Ganondorf. Ganondorf saw his chance to escape the Twilight Realm through Zant, and he posed as a god to Zant, promising to house his power (the Triforce of Power) within Zant and to grant him kingship in exchange for one thing: Zant would release Ganondorf from the Twilight Realm back into Hyrule once Zant had taken over the Twilight Throne. Zant agreed to this, and Ganondorf slowly began to further manipulate Zant into launching an invasion of the Light World (Hyrule) in order to mix light and shadow to make pure darkness by appealing to his resentment of the imprisonment of the Twili.

Ganondorf placed Zant under the delusion that he (Ganondorf) would revive him forevermore should he somehow be killed, in essence promising him immortality as long as he (Ganondorf) was alive. In reality, however, Ganondorf was merely using Zant to escape the Twilight Realm and take over Hyrule as he had originally intended a century before, when the Hero of Time and Princess Zelda spoiled his plans. In truth, Ganondorf never had any intention of ever reviving Zant if he were killed, because he believed the entire Twili race to be foolish and malleable. Zant, in his insanity and shock, did not question Ganondorf’s motives however, and he was easily bent and shaped into the tool Ganondorf needed to further his own ends. So Ganondorf hid in the background while Zant initiated the plan Ganondorf had crafted and prepared to enact the first phase: usurping the Throne of the Twilight Realm.

Zant used his power to seize control of the Palace of Twilight and confronted the Twilight Princess, Midna, on one of the Palace’s balconies. As she backed away in fear, Zant struck her down, transforming her into an imp-like creature in the process, with no hint or trace of her former beauty. Horrified, Midna fled the Palace with Zant’s minions in hot pursuit, unable to understand how Zant could possibly have attained such power. She took one of the four broken pieces of her ancestors’ power, the Fused Shadow, with her as she fled to Hyrule. Zant used his newfound power to transform the Twili into Shadow Beasts that were forced to do his bidding. He then took the two sacred orbs that were the source of light within the Twilight Realm, the Sols, and sealed them away within the Palace of Twilight, leaving the land susceptible to darkness.

While the Twilight Realm suffered under Zant’s wicked rule, Midna fled to Hyrule in search of her ancestors’ ancient magic, the Fused Shadow, something that would enable her to have a chance of defeating Zant and restoring peace to her world as well as her people. Zant meanwhile was preparing for the next phase of Ganondorf’s plan: the conquest of Hyrule and the merging of the two worlds into one so that the Twili could once again be free of the Twilight Realm and rule Hyrule as well. With the Palace of Twilight now under his control and the Twili now under his control as well, he wasted no time in opening the portal between the worlds as the self-proclaimed King of Twilight, allowing Ganondorf to escape once again into the world of light, although without his physical body. Zant and his army proceeded through the portal at the Arbiter’s Grounds and began the event that would come to be known as “Zant’s Invasion of Hyrule.”

After his takeover of the Twilight Realm, Zant proceeded to put the next phase of his master plan into action: the invasion of Hyrule. With the Twilit Throne now under his control, Zant now had the authority to open the portal between the worlds (although he did not have the power to permanently close it off since he was not the true ruler of the Twilight Realm) and proceeded to open the portal created by the Mirror of Twilight, an ancient relic housed within the Hyrulean Prison known as the Arbiter's Grounds that linked the two worlds and served as a sort of prison for the Twili race as punishment for their ancestors' actions in the Hyrulean Civil War. Zant and his army passed through the portal created by the Twilight Mirror and arrived on the top of the Arbiter's Grounds, where Zant spread twilight matter so that his warriors could walk freely once more in the world of light without being reduced to mere shadows. It was at this time that Zant released Ganondorf's spirit from the Twilight Realm back into the world of light as well, and he escaped to oversee the invasion and manipulate events through Zant. Now that Zant and his army (along with Ganondorf) had now escaped their prison, they descended upon the land of Hyrule and conquered province after province, bathing each in perpetual twilight and turning their residents into lost spirits. Zant's ultimate goal in the beginning stages of the invasion however was the takeover of the one thing visible from almost anywhere in the land of Hyrule: Hyrule Castle.

Zant's forces made quick work of any resistence that stood in their way as they proceeded from the Arbiter's Grounds toward the seat of Hyrule's government at the heart of the busy capital of the country, Hyrule Castle Town. Situated at the heart of Hyrule Field, Hyrule Castle Town was a bustling metropolis that served as the nerve center of the land of Hyrule, and the majestic Hyrule Castle stood tall within its boundaries, Hyrule Castle Tower being visible from almost any point within Hyrule proper. The Twilit Army eventually made its way to the very gates of the capital, quickly conquering the city in one fell swoop and proceeding to gates of Hyrule Castle itself. The residents of the city were powerless to defend themselves against the Shadow Beasts commanded by Zant, surrendering with little to no resistence as the monsters raided the streets and brought the city to a standstill as they surrounded Hyrule Castle, the home of Hyrule's matriarch, Princess Zelda. Zelda ruled from her Throne Room in the citadel of Hyrule Castle, perched at the summit of Hyrule Castle Tower. After swiftly conquering the city around the castle, Zant turned his full attention to the castle itself and ordered his army to invade the castle and corner Hyrule's young ruler.

The Twilit Army swarmed into the well-manicured courtyard of Hyrule Castle and quickly seized control of the areas encompassing the castle grounds. With the castle grounds now under his control, it only remained for Zant to ascend Hyrule Castle Tower and capture Princess Zelda to have the land of Hyrule at his feet. Shadow Beasts flooded the stately halls of Hyrule Castle and forced the Hylian Knights to retreat up the tower toward the Throne Room and their Princess, killing several of them as they went. When it became apparent there was little chance of stemming the invasion of the castle, the few remaining soldiers fled to the Throne Room at Hyrule Castle Tower's summit to protect Princess Zelda from the impending threat that was even then ascending the tower toward her Throne Room. The remaining soldiers attempted to fortify the Throne Room, and Princess Zelda took up her rapier sword to command her protectors in the coming attack. Almost immediately after the remaining soldiers fortified the Throne Room, twilight billowed into the chamber through its large, open doorway, and Shadow Beasts emerged from the clouds of twilight as fast as lightning, incapacitating several of the remaining soldiers in the process. In doing so, they cleared the way for their commander and king, Zant, to make his entrance into the Throne Room. After all threats in close proximity were taken out, a tall, dark figure marched up the central blue carpet through the Throne Room and faced Princess Zelda and her few remaining protectors. Zant offered the Princess of Hyrule an ultimatum: to surrender and have her life spared along with the lives of her people, or to die fighting. Zelda, not wishing to risk the lives of her people, dropped her rapier sword and surrendered Hyrule's Throne to the Usurper King of Twilight. With this, twilight radiated from Hyrule Castle and covered the rest of the realm like a shroud, blotting out the sun's rays and reducing the Light Spirits that protect Hyrule to little more than powerless vapor. Zelda, not affected by the twilight thanks to the Triforce of Wisdom inherited from her ancestor in Ocarina of Time, was imprisoned within one of the many small towers surrounding Hyrule Castle Tower. Midna, a small impish creature that was a resident of the Twilight Realm and whose identity remained a closely guarded secret, came to the castle and posed as an attendant to the Hylian Princess in her captivity. Zelda eventually sent Midna in search of a hero that could save her kingdom and restore light to the land of Hyrule.

Zant turned his attention first to the province in which the conquered Hyrule Castle stood, Lanayru Province. Twilight covered the province and blotted out the sun, leaving it easily navigable by Zant's Shadow Beasts. Zant sent his Shadow Beasts to Zora's Domain and ordered them to execute the Zora ruler, Queen Rutela as an example to the rest of the Zoras and the other races of Hyrule that may oppose his rule over them. Before Zant's forces reached the watery grotto, Rutela sent her young son, Prince Ralis, to go to Hyrule Castle and warn Princess Zelda of the impending threat now facing Zora's Domain, unaware that the Princess herself had already fallen victim to his malice. Meanwhile, Zant used his power to freeze Zora's Domain over and trapped the Zoras in both ice and twilight. This in turn, caused Lake Hylia's water level to severely drop, almost drying up in the process. Ralis fell ill during his journey to Hyrule Castle Town due to the length of time he had been out of the water. While the Zoras could survive outside of the water for a time, they sooner or later had to return to the water due to their physiology. This normally would have not been a problem in lush Lanayru Province, but all of the rivers ran dry because Zant had frozen their source. He was found by Telma and the recently rescued Ilia (whose memory had been lost due to the blow she received to her neck by the Bulblins that kidnapped her). Zant also robbed the Light Spirit Lanayru of his power and gave his Tears of Light to his loyal Shadow Insects, which scattered all over the Lanayru Province. With the Zoras frozen within their own home, Lake Hylia near disappearing, and Lanayru incapacitated, it was indeed a dark time for Lanayru Province.

The next target for desecration by Zant was the Eldin Province, home to Death Mountain, Kakariko Village, and the Spring of the Light Spirit Eldin. Zant used his power bestowed upon him by Ganondorf to cover Eldin Province in twilight and made the province safe for travel for his Twilit Army. He then ordered his troops to descend upon Kakariko Village and to slaughter all who dared to step into their path. This was to put great fear into the people of Hyrule and to dash any thoughts of rebellion against their the strange king. The Shadow Beasts, ever obedient of their new king, made for the village and viciously attacked the settlement, killing several people in the process. The few that survived the attack fled inside their homes or shops and turned into lost spirits soon afterward due to the twilight that now afflicted the province. Not even the mighty Gorons escpaped the effects of the twilight as they too were turned into lost spirits, completely unaware of what was happening around them. As with Lanayru, Zant robbed the Light Spirit Eldin of his Tears of Light and gave them to another horde of his Twilit Insects that scattered throughout the village and over the mountainside. As a further show of his strength, Zant removed the bridge that spanned Kakariko Gorge and sent it all the way to the Faron Woods, making any attempt to rescue the province from the twilight next to impossible. It was indeed a dark hour for Eldin Province, and especially Kakariko Village, which had lost a good portion of its residents (save for the village shaman Renado, his daughter Luda, and the village bombmaker Barnes) to Zant's Shadow Beasts and now lived in constant fear for their lives.

The next place on Zant's list for world domination was the province protected by the Light Spirit Faron, the Faron Province. This province was encompassed by a vast forest, the Faron Woods, and was home to a colony of monkeys headed by their leader, a baboon named Ook, that lived in the nearby Forest Temple (widely suspected to be the remains of the deceased Great Deku Tree). As with the last two provinces that fell victim to his power, Zant blanketed the province in perpetual twilight, and thus his soldiers could walk freely through it. He ordered them to bind the residents of the province, the monkeys, and to imprison them within their own home. He also took control of Ook by sending one of his Twilit Insects to attach itself to his head and brainwash him. Thus, the mighty Ook became merely a puppet servant for the Usurper King of Twilight and (contrary to his good nature) acted as warden for his fellow monkeys that were now imprisoned throughout the Forest Temple. Zant left the lost bridge of Kakariko Gorge near the Forest Temple, believing it would never be found and even if it was that it would never be able to be restored to its proper place. He then robbed Faron of his Tears of Light, as he had done with Faron's colleagues Lanayru and Eldin, and divided them up amongst yet another horde of Twilit Insects that soon scattered throughout the Faron Province. Now, with the major parts of Hyrule proper under his control, he decided to make an attempt to subjegate the last remaining province of the land of Hyrule, the Ordona Province that was guarded by the Light Spirit Ordona and was home to a small village called Ordon Village as well as an aspiring young hero named Link.

Rusl, Ordon Village's best smith, crafted the Ordon Sword, while Jaggle made the Ordon Shield. These items were intended as gifts for the Royal Family of Hyrule (namely the Princess of Hyrule, Zelda). As the time drew near for the gifts to be delivered to Hyrule Castle, the seat of Hyrule's government and home of Princess Zelda in the bustling Hyrule Castle Town, Rusl decided to ask Link to take the gifts in his stead and to present them to the Royal Family at Hyrule Castle the following day. Link, a headstrong and courageous young man that was poised to perhaps one day succeed Bo as the Mayor of Ordon Village, consented to making the journey on his horse, Epona. Unbeknownst to Link, he was the descendant of the Legendary Hero (the Hero of Time) that had journeyed the flows of time and saved Hyrule at the height of the Imprisoning War, as well as the new bearer of the Triforce of Courage, inherited from his ancestor. Link had become quite a popular figure and hero amongst Ordon's children, and they constantly requested Link to show off his fighting skills for their entertainment. While Link was a model figure amongst the village's children, he also had a more intimate friendship with his childhood friend, Ilia, Bo's daughter. A short time later, a group of the village children pursued a female monkey into the forest after she had approached them near Link's house on the outskirts of Ordon Village. One of the children, Talo, was abducted by monsters from Ganondorf's Army and held hostage at the entrance to the nearby Forest Temple (a place many suspect of being the deceased remains of the Great Deku Tree). Link journeyed across the gorge and through the Faron Woods to the gigantic temple's entrance, where he found Talo imprisoned along with the female monkey he and the other children had pursued into the forest. Link defeated the monsters and released the two hostages, restoring the boy to his family. Link met up with Rusl on his return trip from the forest, who thanked him for his endeavors in the forest and prepped him for his journey to Hyrule Castle Town the following day. Link returned home to rest up for the long trip ahead of him the following day, unaware of the historic events he was about to be swept up in (ironically similar to his ancestor's status just prior to the start of his journey to save Hyrule a century ago).

The following day, Link went about his duties as a ranch hand herding goats in from the pasture with the help of Epona. After he succeeded in rounding them all up, Link practiced jumping fences while riding Epona for a while until he felt he had mastered the technique and jumped the main gate of the Ordon Ranch to return to the village. Once there, Bo met up with Link to discuss his task in delivering the royal gifts to Hyrule Castle. While they were discussing these matters, Ilia noticed that Epona's leg had been injured while Link was jumping fences and became visibly angry with Link as well as her father for defending Link. Ilia took Epona to the Spring of the Light Spirit Ordona that lay just off the trail leading to the gorge that separated the Ordona Province from the Faron Province. Although the gate was locked by Ilia, Colin, one of the village children, had managed to get her to let him inside. Link found a secret way into the spring and discovered that Colin was relating to Ilia the story of Link's rescue of Talo the day before, drastically altering Ilia's image and behavior toward Link. When she saw Link, she requested that he have a safe journey and to return home as soon as possible. As the two of them shared an emotional moment together and gazed into each other's eyes, neither of them had any idea of knowing that danger was lurking just around the corner, literally, nor that Link's coming journey was about to become drastically altered from its original intent of merely delivering a gift to saving the entire realm from the greatest evil it had ever faced

The trio heard the pounding of hooves just outside the gates to the Spirit Spring and getting closer. Finally, a group of monsters crashed through the gates to the spring mounted on boar-like animals called Bullbos. Before Link could catch up with his senses, events had moved past him, and he was quickly knocked unconscious by one of the Bulblin riders with a club to the head while Ilia and Colin were incapacitated with arrows. The riders gathered up Ilia and Colin and absconded with the rest of the children of Ordon Village, fleeing into the now-twilight-covered Faron Woods with the aid of their allies, Zant's Shadow Beasts. Link slowly recovered and set off in hot pursuit of the kidnappers, only to come face-to-face with a strange, dark force-field that now covered the entrance to the Faron Woods. One of Zant's Shadow Beasts reached through the dark barrier and pulled the young hero through the barrier and into the twilight. On the other side, the beast attempted to strangle the hero until the Triforce of Courage activated to protect its bearer and forced the Shadow Beast to relinquish its hold on Link. After he was dropped by the Shadow Beast, Link transformed into the form of a divine wolf, unlike most other people that were now imprisoned within the twilight that became merely lost spirits, marking him as the hero chosen by the Goddesses to save Hyrule from the threat it now faced. Following his transformation, Link fell unconscious and was subsequently dragged away by a pair of Shadow Beats while a small, impish creature named Midna watched the scene nearby, formulating a plan in her mind to use the hero to restore her own realm at whatever cost.

The original reason for the Bulblins' arrival at Ordona Spring was in fact to call upon Zant to send Shadow Beasts to attack the spirit Ordona and plunge Ordona Province into twilight, along with the rest of central Hyrule. Although they failed in this task, they set into motion the events that would in the end bring about the downfall of Zant and his master.

Link was brought to Hyrule Castle and thrown into the castle dungeon, where he was aided by Midna (in secret the true Twilight Princess and rightful ruler of the Twilight Realm) in his escape from the castle dungeon. She then took Link to meet Princess Zelda in her tower prison. There, Zelda explained Hyrule's plight to Link and urged him to flee with Midna as the guard was about to make his rounds and discover them. After evading the guard, Link was warped back to Ordona Province by Midna, who remained with him from this point forward in his adventure to purge Hyrule of the twilight. He was stuck in his wolf form during this time, and he was not able to transform back until he freed the Light Spirit, Faron.

Ilia was brought to the Hidden Village (a place many suspect to be the Kakariko Village of Ocarina of Time), where she met Impaz, the sole resident and descendant of Impa the Sage of Shadow seen in Ocarina of Time. Eventually, Impaz would give Ilia an heirloom statue from her ancestors, the Sheikahs, and help her escape the village to Hyrule Castle Town, where she was then taken in by a kind woman named Telma, who appeared to be of Gerudo descent. Ilia lost her memory of her life prior to her capture due to the blow she suffered from the Bulblin's arrow, and it would be some time before she would finally regain it and remember her happy life back in Ordon

The rest of the children were brought to Kakariko Village, which was now covered in twilight. They were taken in by Renado, the village shaman, who took them into his home and protected them from the Shadow Beasts that now roamed the deserted streets of Kakariko Village. While their situation appeared hopeless, some (namely Colin) retained hope that Link would eventually come to their rescue and that they would eventually return home to Ordon Village.

Link and Midna's first task in the war against Zant would be to free the land of Hyrule from his power, namely the twilight he had now cast over it like a shroud. In order to do this, Link would have to seek out the four magical Light Spirits that dwell within the land of Hyrule and protect it from harm at the behest of the Golden Goddesses. Knowing that something had to have happened to them for the lands to be cast into darkness like they were, Link set out to find these mystical beings and to restore them to their full power and thus return light to the provinces of Hyrule. Before leaving Ordona Province on this mission, Link heard a voice calling to him from the nearby Spirit Spring where just recently the Ordonian children had been abducted. Upon re-entering the spring, twilight barriers sprang up around the spring, and a twilight portal opened from above to release a group of Zant's Shadow Beasts. Link and Midna worked tirelessly to defeat the beasts and succeeded. And then, a bright light rose up out of the pool and materialized into the shape of an Ordonian goat, the likes of which Link himself tended in Ordon Village. The being introduced itself as Ordona, the Light Spirit charged with protecting the Ordona Province. Ordona explained that the beasts had come to steal his light, just as they had done to his colleagues in the other provinces of Hyrule. Ordona explained that Link was destined to save the land from the twilight and that he should seek out the other Light Spirits and rescue them along with their provinces from the twilight. Before setting out on their mission, Midna made Link seek out a sword and shield that she could use in combat (although she never actually ends up finding use for them). With much stealth and cunning, Link successfully infiltrated the now fear-stricken Ordon Village and acquired the Ordon Sword and the Ordon Shield. The pair then headed across the gorge to their first destination, the now-twilight-covered Faron Province. However, returning light to Hyrule was not the only task that was set to Link. Midna made it clear that the Light Spirits protected the pieces of her ancestors' magic, the Fused Shadow (one piece of which she already had in her possession and wore openly), and that the missing pieces guarded by the Light Spirits would be necessary to combat Zant. Hence, Link was set with two tasks at once in his mission to rid the land of Hyrule of the King of Shadows.

Link and Midna entered the twilight-covered Faron Province, where Midna attempted to wear the Ordon Shield on her face and to wield the Ordon Sword. Seeing they did not suit her, she stowed them away for later use, and the pair continued on to find Faron, the Light Spirit charged with protecting the Faron Province and the vast forest it encompassed. Eventually, they came upon Faron's spring and heard Faron's weak voice calling to them, telling them to take his Vessel of Light and to recover his lost Tears of Light, which were now in the possession of several Twilit Insects that had now scattered throughout the province. After learning the locations of the Twilit Insects from Faron, Link and Midna ventured deeper into the province and slew the many Twilit Insects, recovering Faron's lost Tears of Light one-by-one. Upon recovering the final Tear of Light and returning to Faron's spring, the Vessel of Light melded into Faron's spring and restored light to the Faron Province, blinding Link in a sudden bright flash of light. When he regained his vision, Link found that he was wearing a tunic of green with a matching cone-shaped hat and a pair of thick leather boots, an outfit befitting of a forest dweller. The Light Spirit Faron rose up out of his spring in the form of a large, spectral monkey, and he explained to Link that this outfit was the very same one worn by the Hero of Time, the Legendary Hero of the Imprisoning War (and Link's ancestor, unbeknownst to him). It was a priceless treasure kept by the Light Spirits of Hyrule from the days when the Hero of Time roamed the land of Hyrule and performed his heroic deeds that saved Hyrule from a great evil. Faron explained that the Hero of Time's power, the Triforce of Courage, was now Link's to command as the true successor to the Hero of Time. Faron went on to tell the pair of the history of the Dark Interlopers and the Fused Shadow's history, including how it had been broken into four pieces at the height of the Hyrulean Civil War. He told them that for many ages, the tribes of the land of Hyrule were content in mind and body, until word of the fabled Sacred Realm and its wish-granting Triforce spread throughout the world. The Dark Interlopers, the ancestors of the Twili, were a group of magicians skilled in dark magic, and their power was concentrated in an artifact known as the Fused Shadow. The Interlopers attempted to seize control of the Sacred Realm and take the Triforce for the own, sparking a massive civil war between the tribes of Hyrule for control of the Triforce. In response, the Golden Goddesses sent the four Light Spirits to drive the Interlopers into an alternate dimension known as the Twilight Realm and to confiscate the Fused Shadow from them. The Fused Shadow was then fragmented by the Light Spirits. Three of the fragments were locked away within various places around Hyrule by three of the Light Spirits while the fourth was kept by the Twili race as a relic of their ancestors. Faron gave the pair a great warning to beware of the dark power that resided within the Fused Shadow, for those who do not understand how to wield power will sooner or later be ruled by it. He then told Link and Midna to proceed to the nearby Forest Temple (widely suspected to be the Great Deku Tree's deceased remains) to find the fragment of the Fused Shadow he had sealed there long ago.

Link proceeded on into the Faron Woods until he came upon a meadow shrouded in a strange mist. Just as he got his lantern out and was about to step into the mysterious fog, a female monkey appeared behind him and took the lantern right out of his hands. However, she waved for him to follow her, and she cleared the way for him to cross the meadow to the Forest Temple by swinging the lantern and driving the dark mist away from them. Once on the other side of the meadow, she ran on ahead to the temple while Link recovered his lantern, which she had dropped. As Link proceeded through a tunnel, he ended up on a path that led up to what appeared to be a massive tree. Mustering his courage, Link followed the path up to the entrance and into the Forest Temple. Inside, he was confronted by a host of deadly monsters (most being plant-related), but he met back up with the female monkey, who once again waved for him to follow her. He followed her throughout the temple, where she led him to her fellow monkeys that were being held captive within the temple's depths. Eventually a group of them helped him reach the chamber of their leader, Ook the baboon, whose mind had been overthrown by one of Zant's Twilit Insects. After battling Ook and destroying the insect controlling him, he fled the room in shame, dropping the Gale Boomerang in the process. Link took possession of the boomerang and proceeded on through the temple, freeing the rest of the monkey colony. When all of them had been successfully rescued, they led Link to a large, open chamber with a seemingly bottomless pit separating Link from the door to the chamber where the Fused Shadow fragment was said to be held. The monkeys chained together and formed a sort of "swing" for Link to use to cross over the divide and get to the chamber of the Fused Shadow fragment. On the other side, Link placed the Big Key he had found within the temple into the door's heavy lock, and the lock and chains surrounding the door fell away. Taking a deep breath, Link opened the large door and entered the chamber beyond.

Inside the large chamber beyond the door, Link found a large pool that was fed by several small waterfalls. However, the water appeared poisonous and foreboding, as though something were infecting it. Stepping toward the water's edge, the ground began to shake as two huge Deku Babas rose up out of the water and prepared to attack this unwelcome visitor. Sending Bomblings into the two babas' mouths, Link seemingly defeated the monster, until once more the ground shook even more violently than the previous time. The Twilit Parasite Diababa's central head reared up and roared in anger at the hero, along with the two babas he had fought previously, which now acted as limbs for the evil plant. It was at this point however that Ook returned to help his savior and swung across the room holding Bomblings for Link to use against the monstrosity he was facing. Link used the Gale Boomerang to send the Bomblings into the mouths of the two babas once again and did the same to the plant's central head, causing it to collapse to the ground and exposing its vulnerable eye, which was attached to the interior of the plant's mouth. Link attacked the eye numerous times and continued battling the plant in this way until he destroyed its eye, killing it. The massive plant exploded in a shower of twilight and rematerialized as the Fused Shadow fragment Link had been searching for. Midna claimed the fragment and revealed the name of the King of Shadows that had cast Hyrule into darkness, Zant. Light returned to the chamber they were standing in, and the water became crystal clear, free of the Twilit Parasite's evil influence. It turned out to be one of the most beautiful chambers Link had ever visited, and he took one last gaze upon it as he stepped into a twilight portal Midna created and returned to Faron's spring. There, Faron urged the pair onward to assist the Light Spirit Eldin and to free his province of the twilight.

Moving on to the next area that was now in the grip of Zant and his Twilight, Link and Midna came to the Eldin Province, home of Kakariko Village, Death Mountain, and the Light Spirit Eldin. Arriving at the entrance of the province, Midna passed through the curtain of Twilight and pulled the young Hero through the barrier. Inside, Link reverted to his divine wolf form, and Midna resumed her place on Link's back. Not far into the province, the pair came upon a familiar looking Wooden Sword that Link had let the Ordonian children play with just shortly before they were abducted. Link learned the Youths' Scent from the sword and used his senses to track them further into the Eldin Province. Soon however, they came upon a deep gorge, Kakariko Gorge, whose bridge was now missing. Remembering seeing a bridge-like structure abandoned near the Forest Temple, Midna warped Link back to the Faron Province, where she used her powers to transport the bridge back to its rightful place in the Eldin Province. Upon setting the bridge back into place, Link and Midna now had access to the rest of the province, and by extension Kakariko Village and Death Mountain. Link arrived in the deserted and desecrated Kakariko Village to find its streets devoid of people and yet overrun with monsters of the Twilight. Finding his way to the Spring of the Light Spirit Eldin, he found Eldin just as weakened as he had found Faron not but a few days before. Using the last of his strength, Eldin gave Link his Vessel of Light and instructed Link to find his lost Tears of Light now scattered throughout the village and over the mountainside, marking their locations in the process. Link scoured the village's ruined buildings looking for the Twilit Insects holding the Tears of Light. Eventually, he found his way into a building where he found the spirits of the village shaman Renado, his daughter Luda, the village bomb-maker Barnes, and the Ordonian children. Link noted that Ilia was not amongst them, which worried him, but it gave him renewed strength to hear the children state their beliefs that Link would come to rescue them, even in the face of hopelessness. Link continued scouring the village for the Tears of Light and even journeyed up Death Mountain Trail to find the few remaining ones. Upon finally finding the last Tear of Light, Link was returned to Eldin's spring, where he returned the now-filled Vessel of Light to the Light Spirit, dispelling the Twilight and returning light to the province in the process. Eldin rose up out of his spring in the form of a great glowing bird, and he spoke to Link with great thanks for his assistance in restoring his power. The Light Spirit informed Link of an evil that now radiated from within the interior of Death Mountain, where long ago, he (Eldin) had sealed away a fragment of the Fused Shadow within the Goron Mines, a sacred area within the mountain guarded by the proud Goron race. He then sent Link and Midna on to fetch that Fused Shadow fragment and to heal the evil that now festered within the heart of Death Mountain. Link attempted to scale the mountain, but was rebuffed by the Gorons, who were now openly hostile to outsiders for some strange reason. Renado found Link and encouraged him to seek out Bo, the mayor of Ordon Village, who had bested the Gorons at their own game of Sumo Wrestling and had earned their trust long ago. At this point, Epona reappeared within Kakariko Village and began to jump wildly about the place as though crazed. Link was able to grab hold of her and soother her back under his control, and together, they headed back to Ordon to seek Bo's help. There, Bo instructed Link in the art of Sumo Wrestling and revealed his secret to defeating the Gorons in the matches: the Iron Boots. He gave these boots to Link and pleaded with him to rescue his daughter, Ilia, at all costs. Link returned to Kakariko, where he witnessed the re-abduction of Colin at the hands of King Bulblin and pursued Ganondorf's General into Hyrule Field and onto the Bridge of Eldin in what came to be known as the Battle of Eldin.

Eventually, Link caught up with King Bulblin, who had stopped a short distance out in Hyrule Field, and saw Colin tied to Bulblin's staff. After staring at each other for a brief moment, the Bulblin king blew his horn and called his boar riders in to aid him in his battle against the hero. Link opted to dispose of the invading riders before attacking Bulblin himself, and so he turned and charged the line they had formed. Many of the Bulblins were thrown from their mounts as the Hero of Twilight charged them and struck them with his sword. Some were successfully slain by the hero's blade, but the line eventually broke apart into a rabble of chaos and disorder, making it more difficult for the hero to fight the attackers. Each of the riders took turns fighting Link, and each was either thrown from their mount or slain by his sword. Link soon realized however that the more he killed or incapacitated, the more came and joined the fray it seemed. He tried pushing some over the edges of the nearby cliffs, but still more and more came, overwhelming the young hero. Finally, Link decided to lead to Bulblins in a circle to confuse them and then to charge King Bulblin himself. The pair began a sort of cat-and-mouse game across Hyrule Field, with Link catching up with Bulblin at certain points and slashing away at his protective armor, all the while with the king's Bulblin riders in pursuit. After successfully removing all of the Bulblin king's armor, he steered in the direction of the great Bridge of Eldin that spanned over a massive gorge in Hyrule Field that linked Eldin Province with the nearby Lanayru Province. Although there were barricades on either side of the bridge, Bulblin easily jumped the one nearest him and rode to the northern side of the bridge. Link also jumped the barricade, but stood where he was and faced his enemy at the opposite end of the bridge, readying for a final battle between himself and the Bulblin king that would decide Colin's fate.

pair of Bulblin archers appeared on both sides of the bridge and fired two flaming arrows into the two barricades, setting them ablaze. This did not overly concern Link really, but King Bulblin took this opportunity to charge his mount toward Link, lowering his staff (with Colin still attached to it) and offering Link a jousting match to determine who would leave this battle with the young boy. Seeing this, Link followed suit and charged Epona toward his opponent, staying as close to the left side of the bridge as possible without falling over the side and plummeting into the deep chasm below. When King Bulblin got close enough, Link moved to the center of the bridge with lightning speed and struck the Bulblin king's unprotected side, now exposed due to the loss of his armor. Repeating this strategy a total of three times, Link finally sent King Bulblin and his mount Bullbo over the edge of the bridge and into the chasm below, reclaiming Colin in the process. Link brandished his sword high over his head while Epona reared on her hind legs, and for a moment, he looked uncannily like his ancestor, the Hero of Time, in all his glory. Picking up the still-unconscious Colin, they made their way back to Kakariko Village and reunited with Renado and the other Ordonian children. Colin slowly came to and thanked Link for his rescue while expressing his growing strength of heart. Link then began his journey up Death Mountain in search of the third fragment of the Fused Shadow.

After defeating Bulblin and reuniting Colin with the other Ordonian children, Link continued on his mission up Death Mountain, where he matched wits with the Gorons and even defeated the Goron Elder Gor Coron in a Sumo Wrestling match to gain access to the Goron Mines. He also learned of the plight of the Goron Patriarch, Darbus, who had been transformed into a monster by the Fused Shadow fragment within the mines and had been sealed deep within them by the Goron Elders to stop his stampede of destruction. Taking a deep breath, Link proceeded through the entryway into the Goron Mines to rescue Darbus and claim the Fused Shadow fragment.

Link had succeeded in restoring light to the provinces of Hyrule, Zant fled to the Gerudo Desert, to the site of the invasion's origin, the Arbiter's Grounds. There he stayed, debating over his strategy and whether to continue his conquest of Hyrule or to just be satisfied with ruling the Twilight Realm. He did not have long to decide, because Link and Midna soon followed him to the Gerudo Desert in search of the Mirror of Twilight and a confrontation with him. Zant watched from afar as the pair made their way across the Gerudo Desert and eradicated the Bulblin encampment that lay in front of the Arbiter's Grounds. Soon, he realized they had entered the ancient prison and were slowly but surely making their way to the roof, where the Mirror stood. When the pair found their way to the chamber directly beneath the Mirror Chamber, Zant appeared within the chamber and was greatly surprised to find that Link was still alive despite all the obstacles he had put in his path. He stabbed a sword of twilight into a gigantic skeleton he was standing on and reanimated the Twilit Fossil Stallord as a distraction while he fled to the roof and the Mirror Chamber. Zant returned to the Twilight Realm, having decided he would be satisfied with just the Twilight Realm for the time being. To make sure Link and Midna could not follow him to the Twilight Realm, Zant fragmented the Mirror of Twilight just before he left for the Twilight Realm, leaving one fragment within the Mirror's stand, one sent to the summit of Snowpeak Mountain, one sent to the Sacred Grove and back through the flow of time itself into the Temple of Time, and one blasted all the way to the City in the Sky high above Hyrule. With this, the road between the worlds would be closed, and the true ruler of the Twilight Realm could not return to challenge his rule.

As Link neared the end of the vast Gerudo Desert, he noticed that there were many shabby wooden structures built around the Arbiter's Grounds. As he approached them, he realized that it was, in fact, a fortress constructed by the Bulblins directly in front of the abandoned prison. He had to use some bulbos to break through the high fences built by the fiends, but ultimately entered safely. He saw several archers standing atop high lookout posts, and found that if he shot them down with arrows before they saw him, they would not alert others to his presence. Once he made it to the center of the fortress, he had a short battle with King Bulblin, resulting in the primitive monarch setting the central part of the building on fire. Link escaped using a bulbo, and gained access to the entrance of the Arbiter's Grounds.

When Link entered the old ruins, he could tell immediately that there was evil in the air. Not only was the place dark and full of traps, but there were many restless spirits and remains that wanted Link to join them. The temple was full of quick sand and collapsed structures, but he would soon find a tool that would help him bypass all those obstacles.

When Link entered a locked chamber, he found a mysterious sword tied down to the floor. After cutting just one of these ropes, the sword seemed to come to life. After a brief fight in wolf form, revealing that the sword was wielded by a ghost, Link defeated the wraith with a combination of swordplay and arrows. The monster burst into locusts that flew out through the ceiling, leaving behind the spinner. This could help Link navigate through the many obstacles found in the temple ruins

As Link entered the final chamber of the dungeon, he found the fossilized remains of a giant beast, half buried in the sand. Zant then appeared in the room, and commented on the fact that Link was still alive. He then struck the the massive skeleton's skull with his sword and vanished from the room. This simple strike brought the bones to life, animating them with one purpose: to destroy Link. Link quickly activated his Spinner, rolling around the track that dug onto the sides of the sand pit. He ingeniously used this device to knock out segments of the beast's spine, whilst avoiding the undead warriors that spawned out of the pit. As the fossil breathed rancid flames around the room, Link quickly spun to his backside and continued his strategy until the demon's spine was so short that it couldn't support him, leaving him fallen in the sand. The sand then drained from the room, revealing a spinner-gear that Link activated into raising a circular platform in the center of the room.

Both the hero and the skull were lifted, and once the platform reached the top, the head raged back to life. Link was immeadiately knocked down, and used his spinner to start back up the sides of the pillar that was the base of the platform. He jumped from the side of the pillar to the wall several times to avoid the floating head's fire breath, until he could strike it with the spinner. After repeating the strategy a few times, the monster was defeated and lied dead for good.

Proceeding up the stairs outside Stallord's chamber, Link found himself coming upon a strange, circular chamber atop the prison. This was the Mirror Chamber, the home of the Mirror of Twilight. Link saw a statue of the Gerudo Goddess of the Sand in the center of the chamber and used the Spinner to ride up a track that rose to the top of the statue. At the top, he fitted the Spinner into a gear slot and turned it to raise a giant boulder out of the sand along with the Mirror of Twilight. However, the pair realized at this point that the Mirror had been broken, and only one fragment remianed. The Mirror's guardians, the Ancient Sages appeared and related the story of Ganondorf's failed execution in the Mirror Chamber a century earlier. They also told the pair that the Mirror had been broken by Zant, and the three other fragments now lay scattered across Hyrule: one in the snowy mountain heights, one in an ancient grove, and one in the heavens. They encouraged the pair to seek out the Mirror's lost fragments and reconstruct the relic if they wished to enter the Twilight Realm and confront Zant.

After learning of Ganondorf's failed execution, Link and Midna set off to find the next shard of the Mirror. Link talked to the members of The Group for guidance, and learned of a disturbance near Zora's Domain. Traveling there, they found Ashei, another member of The Group. She showed Link a sketch she drew of a monster that had been seen in Zora's Domain recently fishing for a red fish. The nearby Zoras explained that the fish was the Reekfish, which they thought only Prince Ralis could catch. Link then traveled to Kakariko Village to talk to Ralis, who revealed his secret to catching these fish: a Coral Earring. Entrusting Link with his valued possession, he begins to realize that his people need him and thinks about returning home.

Link was able to catch the Reekfish with his Fishing Rod. He then transformed into his wolf form so that he could follow the scent. He then fought to the top of Snowpeak, where he met a strange being.

Link spoke to the strange being, learning that it was a Yeti. The Yeti, named Yeto, learned of his quest for the shard of the mirror, and told him of a similar shard his wife, Yeta had found recently. Link followed the Yeti home riding a frozen leaf. Yeto invited Link inside his house, the Snowpeak Ruins. When he entered, he met Yeta, who was sick at the time. She remembered where the shard was put: their Bedroom. But it was locked, so Link had to find the Bedroom Key. Yeta led him on two wild goose chases, during which Link found lots of treasure, and even a new weapon, a Ball and Chain. Finally, she remembered the right room. Finding the key, Link then proceeded to the Bedroom. Yeta met him on the stairs, saying that her husbands soup cured her. However, when she looked at the mirror shard, she had a "change of heart".

When Yeta looked at the mirror shard, she was corrupted by its evil. She transformed into a fearsome monster, the Twilit Ice Mass, Blizzeta. She was powerful, but Link overcame her using his new Ball and Chain and ultimately transformed her back to Yeta. However, this transformation was hard to take. With her lying on the floor, Yeto entered. He screamed out, and rushed to his wife. Dozens of hearts fell out of them due to their love, and finally a Heart Container. Link took the Heart Container and the mirror shard and left the two Yetis by themselves.

Returning from the ice-cold Peak Province, Link again turned to The Group for advice. They told him that Rusl, a member of the group and Link's friend, had returned to his home to follow a lead. Link met him near the Forest Temple. Rusl introduced his pet, a golden cucco. This cucco helped Link fly across the gap to enter Lost Woods, even though he could have jumped across in his wolf form as he had done previously. Link reached the foreboding woods and entered bravely.

Entering the woods, Link spotted the Skull Kid whom he had outwitted a before. The Skull Kid started another "game" with him, creating Puppets to fight Link while playing a song. He warped to different places than he did last time, but this time Link was not in his wolf form, so by using his ranged weaponry he was able to defeat him a second time. The Skull Kid then left, but this time Link ended up at a different entrance to the Sacred Grove than he had before.

From his new position in the grove, Link could see that the grove was the ruins of a temple, the Temple of Time. An old door lay in front of him. Returning to where he obtained the Master Sword, Link replaced the sword. A strange power seemed to emanate from the old door, so Link retrieved his sword and went to investigate. When he opened the door, he was astonished. He ended up in a time in which the temple was not ruins. He proceeded to the room where he had found his sword, and struck the pedestal a second time. A magical staircase appeared in front of him. Link and Midna climbed the stairs and entered a hidden doorway.

The doorway held another area of the temple. Midna noticed immediately the apparent symmetry of the temple, which was not upheld in one spot. One statue was placed on a pedestal next to a large door, and on the other side was just a pedestal. Using Link's wolf powers, they found a sort of "afterimage" in scent of an identical statue on the empty pedestal. They decided to search for the other statue. They found it at the top of a tower, on the eighth floor. But Link was not able to take it away easily. He had to face and defeat a Darknut, which gave him a new item: the Dominion Rod. Using this rod, he could control statues, like the one which he had to take back to the entrance room.Once he finally got the statue to the entrance room, he replaced it on its pedestal. The door opened, and Link prepared to take the third shard of the mirror.

Waiting for him in the next room was a monster, the Twilit Arachnid, Armogohma. Using his new Dominion Rod and his Bow and Arrows, he was able to slay the monster. The battle won he put his sword away. But soon he realized that his work was not done. Thought the spider's exterior had been destroyed, the eye, which was more than it seemed, survived. It ran away from Link, scurrying around the room, until finally Link was able to defeat the spider once and for all. Knowing now that the battle was truly over, he sheathed his sword and took the next piece of the mirror.

Link was called back to Kakariko Village by Renado shortly thereafter about Ilia’s memory. He instructed Link to question Telma in Hyrule Castle Town about how Ilia had come to be with her, and Telma put Link on the trail to finding one of Ilia’s belongings that had been stolen from her when Telma found her, a strange wooden statue. With the aid of Telma’s cat, Louise, Link was able to locate the statue and returned to Kakariko Village with it. Upon seeing it, Ilia began to remember having been abandoned by the Bulblins and being rescued by a kind woman that helped her escape eventually and gave her the statue as a parting gift. The Goron Elders, also present, recognized the statue as a relic of the Sheikahs, the race of shadow warriors that had once protected the Hylian royalty. Darbus went with Link to the location of the Hidden Village (widely suspected to be the Kakariko Village of Ocarina of Time) and opened the blocked tunnel leading to the largely abandoned village. Link found the village severely damaged and infested with Bulblins. After destroying the Bulblins, Link met Impaz, the last remaining resident of the village, who told Link she was a descendant of the founder of the village (Impa, the Sage of Shadow from Ocarina of Time) and gave him a Horse Call Ilia had left when she escaped. Impaz revealed she was still in the village under the orders of the Royal Family awaiting the “Messenger to the Heavens” that possessed the “Rod of the Heavens.” Link showed her the Dominion Rod, and the overjoyed Impaz gave him the Ancient Sky Book, the key to deciphering the ancient Sky Writing left behind in Hyrule by the Oocca. Link returned to Kakariko Village and showed the Horse Call to Ilia, who at that moment completely regained her memory and remembered her life with Link in their childhood. Having made the Horse Call for Link and having meant to give it to him at the start of his adventure, Ilia finally was able to formally present it to him and promised that she'd be waiting when Link completed his journey. With some help from Shad, a member of The Group greatly fascinated by the Oocca and their Sky Writing, Link was able to restore power to the Dominion Rod using the Ancient Sky Book and traveled around Hyrule filling in the book’s missing characters, which in turn opened the way to the dilapidated Sky Cannon beneath Renado’s home in Kakariko Village. Midna warped the cannon to Lake Hylia, where Link hired Fyer to fix the cannon and launched himself (with Ooccoo and Ooccoo, Jr. in tow) up to the City in the Sky, a collection of impressive buildings floating high above the land of Hyrule that was home to the Oocca race. Upon his arrival in the city, Link learned from the Oocca that a dragon was terrorizing the city, and an army of monsters had invaded, forcing the Oocca to retreat to the city’s southernmost parts. Link ventured deeper into the damaged city (sighting the dragon several times along the way) and discovered a second Clawshot. Using the combination of the two Clawshots, Link worked his way up to the highest point of the city and faced the Twilit Dragon Argorok. After a long and dangerous battle that took them high above the city’s tallest tower, Link vanquished the dragon and reclaimed the fourth and final Mirror Shard.

Link and Midna then made their way back to the Mirror Chamber atop the Arbiter’s Grounds and reassembled the Mirror of Twilight, which activated and opened the portal to the Twilight Realm. Before Link and Midna stepped through the portal, the Ancient Sages appeared and revealed Midna’s true identity as the Twilight Princess and begged for her forgiveness for underestimating Ganondorf and sending him away into her realm, which now suffered due to their actions. Link and Midna then stepped toward the Mirror of Twilight and were teleported to the Twilight Realm. Link and Midna arrived in the plaza of the Palace of Twilight, where they saw what appeared to be Shadow Beasts, until Midna identified them as not being enemies but merely her people, the Twili, transformed by Zant's evil power. After inspecting the few Twili that remained in the plaza, Link turned to face the massive Palace of Twilight and noticed it was composed of three separate buildings linked together: the left wing, the right wing, and the central structure. Link chose to explore the left wing of the palace first, seeing as it was the only one accessible to him at the time.

Inside, Link faced an array of dark creatures created by Zant: Zant's Masks, Twilit Keese, Twilit Vermin, and the Shadow Crystals that had the power to transform Link into his wolf form. Using all the weapons and Hidden Skills he had learned thus far, Link navigated his way through the building and came upon a large, open chamber, where it appeared a large hand, a Zant's Hand to be exact, was holding an object that shone brightly with light. As Link advanced toward the hand, twilight barriers surrounded the chamber, and a doppleganger of Zant himself, Phantom Zant, appeared. Link worked tirelessly to defeat this spectral version of Zant and finally succeeded, causing the Phantom to disappear in a shower of Shadow Crystals. Once the twilight barriers vanished, Link approached the hand and struck it with the Master Sword, causing it to drop the brightly shining orb it was holding. Midna explained that this was one of the two sacred Sols, the source of light in the Twilight Realm and similar to Hyrule's Sun. Link picked up the Sol, but no sooner had he gotten to the doorway than the Zant's Hand that had been holding it rose up and began to pursue them, even having the power to pass through the walls of the palace's chambers. Using the Sol's power, Link was able to summon twilight stairs and platforms and escaped just in time to avoid losing the Sol to the pursuing Zant's Hand.

Outside, Link took the Sol to the Sol Shrine at the center of the plaza of the Palace of Twilight and placed it in one of the two holders that resided there. This action caused the nearby Twili to revert to their original forms, and activated a twilight platform that granted Link access to the right wing of the palace. Within the right wing, Link once again faced many similar enemies and puzzles he confronted in the left wing of the palace and once again came upon another large, open chamber, where he saw another Zant's Hand holding the second Sol. As he moved to claim the second Sol, twilight barriers shot up around the chamber, and Phantom Zant appeared again to offer Link a rematch of their battle in the left wing of the palace. Once again, Link defeated the Phantom, and he exploded in a shower of Shadow Crystals. Striking the Zant's Hand, Link recovered the second Sol and proceeded to leave the chamber when once again the Zant's Hand began to pursue Link through the palace, attempting to steal back the Sol. Using the Sol's power, Link summoned the necessary twilight platforms and stairs to escape the Zant's Hand and return to the plaza of the Palace of Twilight. Link placed the second Sol in the other holder, and the two Sols joined together to infuse the Master Sword with their power and turned it into the Light Sword which shone with a bright light within the Twilight Realm. Midna stated that this was a symbol that the gods of the Twilight Realm were also on Link's side and were assisting him in his efforts. Now wielding a sword capable of cutting through twilight itself, Link proceeded toward the central structure of the Palace of Twilight to confront Zan

Link came to what appeared to be a waterfall of Shadow Crystals that was blocking the way into the central structure of the Palace of Twilight. Using the power of the light-infused Master Sword, he cut through the Shadow Crystals and jumped across the divide that separated the main path leading toward the building from the building itself. Proceeding into the palace's central building, Link once again faced many of the enemies he faced in the two wings of the palace and used the Light Sword to activate twilight platforms to ascend to the Throne Room of the Palace of Twilight. Link had to take a path outside the palace to find the key to the Throne Room, which he found on a high ledge hidden behind another waterfall of Shadow Crystals. Finally, after having ascended to the top of the structure, Link came to a large door with a heavy lock and chain. Placing the key in the lock and turning it, the lock and chain fell away. Taking a deep breath in preparation for the battle that lay on the other side of the door, Link opened the door and walked into the Throne Room of the Twilight Realm

Inside, Link and Midna found Zant sitting on the Twilight Realm's Throne, which had once been Midna's before Zant usurped the Throne for himself. As the pair confronted Zant, he removed his helmet and began to muse about how events had come to this and proceeded to tell his unwelcome audience the tale of how he attained his power. Bending and shrieking in a tone that betrayed a hint of insanity, Zant stated that he had served the Royal Family of the Twilight Realm (a "do-nothing" Royal Family to use his own words) loyally for as long as he did believing that he would be the next ruler of the Twili, seeing that the King of Twilight only had his daughter, Princess Midna, and no sons to succeed him to the Throne. Zant deeply resented the fact that the Twili had been confided to the Twilight Realm like animals trapped within a cage while the other residents of the land of Hyrule lived in a land of light and peace. The citizens of the Twilight Realm grew to distrust Zant due to his lust for power and his violent nature, and they opted to allow Princess Midna to succeed her father to the Throne of the Twilight Realm, proclaiming her the one true Twilight Princess and ruler of the Twilight Realm. This action sent Zant into a crazed frenzy, costing him what remained of his sanity in the process.

One day, while Zant was out on one of the Palace of Twilight's high balconies pounding his fists into the ground in anger and frustration, he turned his head toward the heavens, and his eyes met a stunning sight: a gigantic orb of dark, devastating energy was hovering over the balcony and slowly descended upon it, engulfing Zant in the process. Inside the orb, Zant saw the fiery head of what appeared to be a god to him. This was the head of Ganondorf, the King of Evil that had been banished to the Twilight Realm by the Ancient Sages following his failed execution 100 years earlier at the conclusion of the Imprisoning War. Ganondorf posed as a god to Zant and told him that he would house his power (the Triforce of Power) within him (Zant) and that he would give Zant the power to seize the Throne of the Twilight Realm in exchange for one thing: Zant would release Ganondorf from the Twilight Realm once he had usurped the Throne.

In his shock and insanity, Zant easily agreed to this, not stopping to question Ganondorf's motives. Ganondorf also placed Zant under the delusion that he would forever revive Zant if he somehow was killed or died, in essence promising him immortality as long as he (Ganondorf) was alive. In reality, however, this was a lie, as Ganondorf had no intention of ever reviving Zant once he had fulfilled his purpose (helping Ganondorf escape the Twilight Realm) because he believed the entire Twili race to be foolish and malleable. Zant did not question any of this however, and he was easily shaped into the tool Ganondorf needed to carry out his scheme of taking over the land of Hyrule, which had been his original intent a century earlier when the Hero of Time and Princess Zelda spoiled his plans for the domination of Hyrule. With this new power granted by Ganondorf, Zant was easily able to overthrow Midna and take over the Twilight Realm. After finishing his tale, Zant straightened himself and donned his helmet once again. Drifting into the air, Zant extended his arms, and the long and exhausting battle between the King of Shadows and the Hero of Twilight began.

Zant teleported Link and himself to the boss arena Link had fought in which Link had fought earlier in the story when he faced the Twilit Parasite Diababa. The King of Shadows hovered above the poisonous water and fired blasts of powerful energy at the young hero, which Link was forced to deflect in order to evade injury. Link remembered how the Gale Boomerang had aided him in his first battle in this very chamber and chose to try it once again. Hitting Zant with the boomerang, he was drawn near to Link, and he took the opportunity to slash at Zant with the Master Sword. After taking several hits in this fashion, Zant decided to change the battle environment once again, extending his arms and teleporting the two of them to a new location in Hyrule: the Goron Mines.

The two combatants appeared on the giant, floating platform of magnetic rock that Link had fought Dangoro on within the Goron Mines. Zant jumped high into the air and pounded down hard on the platform to tilt it in the hopes of causing the hero to fall into the boiling lava beneath them. Link countered this by donning his Iron Boots to maintain his position on the unstable platform. Zant opened fire several times at the hero, to no avail, and was forced to stop to catch his breath at several intervals. Link took this opportunity to take off the boots and speed toward Zant to deliver blows with his sword. When it became apparent that his strategy in this environment was not working well, Zant again chose to alter the playing field by warping both of them to a new location: the Lakebed Temple.

Link found himself once again at the bottom of the Lakebed Temple, in the very chamber where he had previously battled the Twilit Aquatic Morpheel, and donned his Zora Armor and Iron Boots. Several giant versions of Zant's helmet rose up out of the sandy floor, and one of them contained the King of Shadows himself. When the door to the mask he was hiding inside of opened, he hammered away at Link with his dark magic. However, Link remembered how useful the Clawshot had been to him the last time he had been inside this chamber. Keeping a close eye on the giant helmets for when Zant would reveal his location, Link waited until the opportune moment to use the Clawshot to pull Zant out of the helmet he was inhabiting and slash away at the Usurper King of Twilight. Seeing this approach was not working to his advantage either, Zant again changed the landscape of the battle in search of one that would favor himself, this time choosing to return to the Forest Temple again to the chamber of Ook, the mini-boss Link had fought in the temple near the beginning of the story.

Upon regaining his senses, Link immediately recognized their new battlefield as the chamber where he had first gained the Gale Boomerang from the baboon named Ook. Zant hopped from totem pole to totem pole just as Ook had done and occasionally rained blasts of twilight energy down upon Link from above. Remembering how he had defeated the first master of this chamber, Link tracked Zant's movements and, when the time was just right, rolled into the base of the totem pole Zant was standing on to knock him off-balance and cause him to fall to the ground, temporarily stunned. The hero then took this opportunity to slash at Zant with the Master Sword while he was incapacitated, and he repeated this process several times over before Zant finally got the idea that this was not working out to his advantage either. Desperate to find a battleground suited to himself, Zant again teleported them to a new location in Hyrule, this time the location being the frozen bedroom of the Yetis in the Snowpeak Ruins.

Getting his bearings, Link witnessed Zant growing to an enormous size and starting to float above the bedroom in a manner similar to the first boss he had faced in this chamber earlier in the story, Blizzeta. Looking down at his feet, he noticed (just as he had done with Blizzeta) that the icy floor was a perfect mirror to see above himself. Link ran around the chamber, all the while keeping an eye on Zant in the mirrored floor, and waited for Zant to drop to the floor. Once he did, Link used his Ball and Chain that he had found within this very dungeon to hit one of the Twilight King's feet, which in turn caused him to shrink to a tiny size. As Zant tried to run while hopping on one foot (holding his injured foot all the while), Link caught up to him and dealt him several blows with the Master Sword. As Link continued to gain the upper hand in the battle through this process, Zant made one last desperate attempt to shift the scales of the battle in his favor, warping them both finally to an area in front of Hyrule Castle.

The combatants reappeared in front of Hyrule Castle in an arena surrounded by a twilight barrier, and Zant decided to pull out all the stops in an all-out attempt to kill Link. Zant proved to be a competent swordsman and employed a lightning-speed spinning attack meant to confuse the young hero and damage him with one of his twin blades or to push him into the barriers. However, for a few moments after he stopped spinning, Zant was far too dizzy himself to fight, and Link took the opportunity to deal Zant several blows with the Master Sword until he regained his senses and began his attacks anew. After a while, Zant began performing a new kind of attack that had him slashing at Link like a villain in a slasher film. Link blocked this attack using his Hylian Shield and waited for an opening in Zant's attacks to deal him more damage. Eventually, Link delivered the final blow to the King of Shadows, and they both reappeared back in the Throne Room of the Twilight Realm, where Zant lay dying on the Throne. In his last moments, Zant ridiculed Midna, stating that Ganondorf would revive him without end and that the curse on Midna would never be broken so long as Ganondorf remained alive. This enraged Midna, who took back the fragments of the Fused Shadow Zant had stolen from her at the Spring of Lanayru and used only a fragment of their power to turn her hair into large spikes before plunging them into Zant's body, impaling him and causing his body to explode as he cried out with a final shriek. The death of Zant however delivered the power Ganondorf had given Zant back to Ganondorf himself (who had by this point taken over Hyrule Castle), giving him his Gerudian body back and restoring him to full power. With Zant gone, peace was now restored to the Twilight Realm, but Midna had long since had a change of heart about her selfish desire to save only the Twilight Realm. After seeing the selfless sacrifices of Link and Princess Zelda, she was determined to save the land of Hyrule from Ganondorf as well. The pair then returned to Hyrule via the Mirror of Twilight and made for Hyrule Castle to confront the King of Evil and save Princess Zelda.

Together, the pair cleansed Hyrule Castle's courtyard of the enemies that had now infested it and eventually came upon King Bulblin one final time. Link faced Ganondorf's general once more in hand-to-hand combat, a contest which Link once again won hands down. After he was defeated and he recognized Link's strength, Bulblin stopped the battle and surrendered the key to the castle to Link, stating that he had only ever known to support the strongest side. He then left the castle, deserting Ganondorf's Army and leaving Link free to enter the castle and confront the King of Evil.

Link and Midna proceeded into the castle and found their way to one of the outer towers where the key to the Throne Room was being guarded by a group of Bulblins. With some help from The Group, Link was able to claim the key and ascend the castle's keep, Hyrule Castle Tower. Defeating Darknuts and Bulblins as he ascended the tower, Link finally reached a door with chains and a heavy lock. Fitting the key into the lock, the door opened and allowed Link access to the castle's citadel, the Throne Room of the Royal Family of Hyrule. The door opened to reveal an outside ledge with pathways leading up to the citadel of the castle just above the door Link had passed through. Dark and violent clouds surrounded the top of the tower, and lightning flashed constantly as Link approached the large, open doorway that led into the Throne Room. Bracing himself for an epic battle, Link walked through the doorway and into the Throne Room.

Inside, Link and Midna's eyes first met an ominous sight in the form of the decapitated head of one of the statues of the Golden Goddesses from above the Throne, lying on the floor. Suspended in the center of the statue of the Triforce and its Creators that served as the main decor of the Throne was the lifeless body of none other than Princess Zelda herself. Link was about to stride forward to get to Zelda until Midna restrained him and he finally saw what she was looking at: Ganondorf, the King of Evil and former King of the Gerudo Thieves that had been banished to the Twilight Realm at the conclusion of the Imprisoning War, was sitting on Hyrule's Throne, with a dark and foreboding smile on his face as he gazed at the pair that now stood before him. Ganondorf extended his dark greetings to the pair as a sign of welcome to his castle. He proceeded to taunt Midna and her people, stating that they were a malleable and foolish race that had nonetheless served their purpose to him by helping to restore his power. Midna responded that she would risk all to deny Ganondorf his wish of being the ruler of the world. Ganondorf, recognizing Midna's affection for Link, responded humorously that "it appears shadow has been moved by light." Ganondorf transformed into twilight matter and rose into the air while Midna moved to block him access to the body of Princess Zelda that was suspended above them. This proved futile however as Ganondorf passed right through Midna into the body of the Princess of Hyrule. Midna touched the Princess's face, and her eyes shot open, red with fire. Midna was blasted backward clear out of the Throne Room, and a twilight barrier sealed off the doorway, locking Midna out of the coming battle. Link turned to see the possessed Zelda confronting him, her rapier sword in hand. Thus began the battle between the King of Evil and the Hero of Twilight, with Ganondorf's first form being Ganon's Puppet Zelda.

Zelda drifted through the air and used her sword to send powerful balls of energy Link's way. Link, in a fashion similar to his ancestor's first battle with the King of Evil, returned these orbs of energy to Zelda using the power of the Master Sword. After three hits, Zelda was stunned, and the twilight barrier blocking the doorway to the Throne Room was temporarily deactivated. Midna returned and used the power of the Fused Shadow to purge Princess Zelda's body of Ganondorf's spirit.

Ganondorf reconstituted himself in the form of the Dark Beast Ganon, and he proceeded to rampage around the room, destroying everything in his path. Link transformed into his divine wolf form and battle Ganon using Midna's twilight powers, attacking the glowing wound on his chest that had been left by the Ancient Sages an age ago. After several hits, Ganon was felled, and his body began to decompose on the floor. Midna returned the Triforce of Wisdom to Zelda, and her eyes flickered open as she was finally restored to her physical form. The trio's reunion was short-lived however, as Ganondorf's soul (in the form of the fiery head that had appeared to Zant in the Twilight Realm) now confronted the three of them. Midna took out the fragments of the Fused Shadow, and as they rotated around her, she warped Link and Zelda away to the safety of Hyrule Field while she transformed into her arachnid-like form and battled Ganondorf's soul in the Throne Room.

As Link and Zelda reappeared in Hyrule Field, they turned back toward the castle to see a massive explosion engulf the entire structure. As the dust cleared, they saw a dark figure riding out of the wreckage on horseback. As he neared, Ganondorf's horse reared on its hind legs as he held the fragment of the Fused Shadow Midna had always worn high over his head and crushed it in his hands, symbolizing his defeat of Midna with the strength of the Triforce of Power. Ganondorf rode out into the field with his Phantom Riders to make yet another attempt on the lives of Link and Princess Zelda. Zelda entreated the Light Spirits of Hyrule to protect them and to give her the power to banish evil, the Light Arrows. Link and Zelda mounted Epona and pursued Ganondorf into Hyrule Field in a great horseback battle. Link steered Epona so that Zelda would be within firing range to shoot Ganondorf with a Light Arrow using the Hero's Bow. While stunned by the Light Arrows, Ganondorf was struck numerous times by the Master Sword wielded by Link. Eventually, Ganondorf fell from his mount and landed hard on the ground. Link and Zelda dismounted, and Link approached the King of Evil as he rose from the ground. A twilight barrier sprang up around the area, blocking Zelda out of the fight.

Ganondorf then offered Link one final sword duel in the form of the Dark Lord Ganondorf, using the very same sword the Ancient Sages had attempted to kill him with an age before, the Sword of the Sages. Although Ganondorf put up a great fight and proved to be a talented swordsman, Link overpowered Ganondorf using the Hidden Skills he had learned from his mentor, the Hero's Shade, and drove the Master Sword through the glowing wound in Ganondorf's chest using the Ending Blow. Ganondorf stood and stated that Link and Zelda should not think events ended there, for the history of light and shadow will be written in blood. However, at that moment, the symbol of the Triforce of Power faded from Ganondorf's hand, implying that the Triforce of Power seemingly abandoned him. Looking upward, he saw Zant's spirit observing these events, and Zant cracked his own neck, causing Ganondorf's eyes to gloss over and seemingly killing him (although there is considerable reason to doubt this). On a nearby hilltop, the Light Spirits gathered around a small figure, and a blinding light flashed with such brilliance that it blinded Link and Zelda for a moment. Link ran up the hill to see a tall, slender figure standing up and straightening herself, gazing out over the land of Hyrule and turning to face Link. After a few moments of humorous silence, the restored Midna retorted, "What? Say something! Am I so beautiful you have no words left?" Hyrule Castle was also restored to its original state following the end of the battle. With this, the Twilight Princess was restored, the King of Evil was defeated, and peace returned to Hyrule and the Twilight Realm.

The Four who are One
Princess Zelda has a bad feeling about the seal holding Vaati, the evil Wind Mage. She takes Link to the sanctuary and explains its history to him.

"We have arrived. That is the sacred blade I spoke of, the Four Sword. Sealed away in its forged steel is Vaati, the wind mage. Lately I have been sensing weakness in the seal. It worries me. That is why we have come here... Be careful. It is said that the body of one who touches this blade will be shattered to pieces. It has mysterious powers. Legends say that when mighty Vaati attacked, a hero arose and saved the people from destruction. They go on to say that by using this sword, the one was as four, and the four combined their strength! Let's check the seal... Step back a moment."

Zelda then approaches the sword, and it moves to one side! Suddenly it grows dark and an evil laugh comes from somewhere. While they look around for the source of the laughter, a hand comes down and grabs Zelda. Link looks up to see her held in the grasp of an indescribable monster. Then it speaks.

"Hoh hoh hoh hoh. Have you some business with me? So, you noticed that the seal was weakening?"

"How rude! Release me!" Zelda demands.

"Eh? I sensed a great power approaching, so I hid myself. But my, what a lovely catch! Surely you must be some noble maiden. My name is Vaati. I am the great wind mage! The seal is broken... so I shall rage yet again! Hoh hoh hoh hoh! And what a gift awaits my return! I shall make you my bride! Onward we go, to my palace of winds! Hoh hoh hoh!" Vaati flies away, then suddenly makes a return pass and knocks Link out cold. Then three fairies appear and call out to him.

"Open your eyes... Young hero... The Princess Zelda has been carried off to Vaati's Palace. Hurry! You must go to her... But you cannot go alone... You have need of the Four Sword... Draw out the blade..."

Link does so, and splits into four, Red, Blue, Purple, and his original Green self. The fairies continue.

"No matter how mighty the enemy, with the power of four, you can defeat it... The Great Fairies ahead know the path to his palace... If the Great Fairies acknowledge your abilities, they will show you the way. If you are able to gather many Rupee along the path to the Great Fairies, they will likely acknowledge your courage... Please rescue the princess..."

After many adventures the Links saves Princess Zelda and replaces the seal on Vaati.

The Revival of Ganon
After being called by the Triforce, Link traveled to Hyrule Castle to see it. When he arrived, it began glowing and he almost lost consciousness. A voice spoke to him: "Accept our quest, hero!" He landed in an unknown region. He decided to travel north. He soon met Impa, who described herself as Princess Zelda's nursemaid. Impa said she was on a mission to meet with an woman named Nayru. Link accompanied her. They soon came across a rock with a triangle on it. For some reason, Impa was hesitant to touch it. Shrugging, Link pushed it out of the way. They continued on.

They heard a sweet song. They saw a beautiful woman singing, surrounded by animals. Link approached her, but a man stopped him. Introducing himself as Ralph, he said that whatever danger came to Labrynna, he would be able to protect Nayru without Link's help. They were interrupted by a chuckle. After he turned around, Link saw that it came from Impa. She collapsed, and a spirit came out of her. A strange darkness descended on the land. The spirit turned into a woman, who introduced herself as Veran, Sorceress of Sorrow. She turned back to her spirit form and lunged at Nayru. Using Nayru's voice, she proclaimed that she would create an age of sorrow in Labrynna. She revealed that Nayru was not a mere diva, but the Oracle of Ages. Using her newfound powers, she opened a Time Portal and dived into it.

Ralph was devastated. He said that he had always known that Nayru was the Oracle of Ages. He decided that he must save Nayru. He ran off, screaming Nayru's name. Impa then awoke. She apologized to Link, saying that Veran had ambushed her on her way to Labrynna. She said that she was weary from Veran's possession of her. She entrusted Link with the quest of saving Labrynna, and with it a Wooden Sword. She told Link to speak to the Maku Tree. With that, she left to rest at Nayru's house.

Link headed to the nearest town, Lynna City. Once there, he headed to the Maku Tree as Impa had advised. But soon after he had met the tree, she started fading away. The Maku Tree exclaimed that Veran must have done something to her in the past. Link was overcome by light. When he could see again, there was nothing left but weeds. He returned to the Time Portal.

He met Ralph again at the portal. Ralph jumped into it, and Link followed. He ended up in a darker time. He soon learned that Nayru, who was really Veran, had set Labrynna into an eternal day, so the workers never had to rest. There was also construction in Lynna Village, what Lynna City was. A tall tower was being built in the center of the country, once named Ambi's Castle, but renamed by the villagers as the Black Tower. Link hurried to the Maku Tree.

In this time, the Maku Tree was but a sprout. Link arrived just in time to save the sprout from an early demise. The sprout promised to help Link when she was older. Returning to the present, Link went to see the fully grown tree immediately. She informed Link that most of her memory was stolen. It was put into the Essences of Time, eight mystic relics that hold the power of ages. And thusly Link quest for the Essences begun.

Twinrova decided to leave Hyrule so that Link would not meddle in their plot. They sent Veran, the Sorceress of Shadows, to Labrynna to capture Nayru and create an age of darkness. This would light the Flame of Sorrow. They sent Onox, a Dark Dragon, to Holodrum to capture Din and wreak havoc with the seasons, destabilizing the world. This would light the Flame of Destruction. This accomplished, they would then capture Princess Zelda and sacrifice her to light the Flame of Despair. With these three magic flames lit, the Dark Lord Ganon would be revived and ready to attack Hyrule once more.

After gaining the essence of Time and defeating Veran Link travels back to Hyrule but is yet again called in by the Triforce and transported to Holodrum.

General Onox, emerging from the Dark World, invaded the land and harvested the power of Din to cast the seasons into dissarray. The Temple of Seasons was sunk into the underground utopia of Subrosia, and the damage it caused would threaten the entire country. Link was called to Holodrum by the Triforce to combat this threat.

The Maku Tree ordered Link to gather the Essences of Seasons in order to open a path into Onox's palace, where Link would kill Onox, now the Dark Dragon.

The entire incident was all a ploy by Twinrova, along with the incident in Labrynna, in order to light the flames of Sorrow and Despair to revive the King of Evil, Ganondorf.

Now finally Twinrova sacrifice themselves and Link destroys Ganon once more.

The Awakening of the Wind Fish
The Awakening of the Wind Fish was a conflict between the forces of Koholint Island and of the Nightmares, who were holding the magical deity known as the Wind Fish captive within an enchanted slumber atop Mt. Tamaranch, within the Wind Fish's Egg. The conflict came to a head with the arrival of Link, who had journeyed the sea on a training mission to protect Hyrule following the conclusion of the Revival of Ganon. A storm destroyed Link's boat while he was on his way home to Hyrule from Labrynna and Holodrum, and he washed ashore on the strange Koholint Island. He learned from a wise owl that the only way for him to leave the island was to awaken the Wind Fish, who slept in the Egg that rested high atop Mt. Tamaranch. So Link set off to find the Instruments of the Sirens and awaken the Wind Fish so that he could return home to Hyrule and Princess Zelda.