Great Flood

The Great Flood was a war of apocalyptic measures centuries after the Imprisoning War, in the timeline set during the imprisonment of Ganon. The war would result in Hyrule being completely destroyed, becoming the Great Sea.

The Legend of the Hero of Time
Long ago, a man of great evil, the Dark Lord Ganondorf of the Gerudo tribe, schemed to enter the Sacred Realm of legend and to take the all-powerful relic known as the Triforce that dwelt within the Sacred Realm for his own evil ends. Through manipulation and treachery, the Dark Lord succeeded in entering the Golden Land of the Triforce by means of manipulating the Princess of Hyrule, Princess Zelda, and a young heroic boy from the forest that sought to keep Ganondorf from his goal. After the boy had collected the three Spiritual Stones from Hyrule's various races as well as the Ocarina of Time from Princess Zelda, he was able to open the barrier between Hyrule and the Sacred Realm, the Door of Time, and discovered the legendary Blade of Evil's Bane, the Master Sword, just beyond the Door of Time. The boy removed the sword from the Pedestal of Time and opened the way to the Sacred Realm, but he was placed in suspended animation for seven years until he was old enough to properly handle the Master Sword and claim the mantle of the Hero of Time. In an event that came to be known in history as the Great Cataclysm, Ganondorf was able to enter the Sacred Realm and laid his blood-stained hands on the sacred Triforce, but because his heart was not in balance, the Triforce split into its three component pieces, leaving Ganondorf with only the Triforce of Power. The other two sacred triangles, the Triforce of Wisdom and the Triforce of Courage, were transported to Princess Zelda and the newly-minted Hero of Time respectively.

After ruling Hyrule for seven dark years, Ganondorf was confronted with the return of the now-grown up Hero of Time, who now wielded the Master Sword with ease. The Hero of Time cast down Ganondorf's evil monsters throughout Hyrule and awakened all of the legendary Seven Sages, who then fought alongside the Hero of Time to defeat Ganondorf and restore peace to the land of Hyrule. After all of the Sages had been awakened, Princess Zelda revealed herself to be the seventh Sage and Leader of the Sages to the Hero of Time, but Ganondorf captured her and took her to his tower, Ganon's Tower. Using her as bait, he hoped to lure the Hero of Time to his lair in order to reassemble the one true Triforce and reclaim its full power. The Hero of Time did indeed follow to the fiend's tower, and entered with the help of the remaining Sages. The Hero worked his way up through the dark castle, all the way to the top of the castle's keep, Ganon's Tower. At the top, he found Ganondorf and the imprisoned Princess Zelda awaiting him. Ganondorf then fought a great battle with the Hero of Time atop the tower, but he was ultimately bested by the Hero of Time and the Master Sword he wielded. Zelda was released, but the tower began to crumble as Ganondorf attempted to crush the two in the collapsing structure's wake using his last breath. The Hero of Time escaped the castle with Princess Zelda just in time before the structure collapsed entirely, leaving only a pile of rubble. Ganondorf, still in possession of the Triforce of Power, exploded out of the rubble of his own castle, seemingly immortal with it in his possession. Using the sacred triangle's full power, he transformed himself into the monstrous Dark Beast Ganon, a boar-like terror that rained death and destruction wherever he went. The Hero of Time once again defeated Ganon with the Master Sword's power however, and the Seven Sages opened the doorway to the now-tained Sacred Realm (the Dark World) and sent Ganon through it, sealing the gateway in the process. As he drifted away into the void, Ganondorf screamed to his captivators that he would return and exterminate their descendants one day when the seal was broken since the Triforce of Power was still in his possession. Following Ganondorf's sealing in the Dark World, Princess Zelda used the Ocarina of Time to send the Hero of Time back to his childhood to regain his lost seven years, leaving only his legend behind. Upon his departure, the Master Sword was returned to the Pedestal of Time and the Triforce of Courage was split into eight shards that scattered across Hyrule, only to be found one day by another Hero who would have need of its power. This conflict, one of the most famous in Hyrulean history, came to be known as the Imprisoning War.

Reconstruction
Following the Hero of Time's departure through the flows of time back to his childhood, the Kingdom of Hyrule began the long process of healing and reconstruction in the wake of Ganondorf's evil reign. Hyrule Castle was rebuilt near the center of Hyrule with a large moat surrounding it that was fed by Zora's River. The Master Sword, left behind when the Hero of Time returned to his childhood, was returned to the Pedestal of Time and remained there for a certain number of years. Likely as was the case with its counterpart in the other branch of Hyrule's history, the Temple of Time likely fell into ruin as well over the following years, having likely taken structural damage from the years of Ganondorf's reign, and likely collapsed eventually, as evidenced by the ruins seen near Hyrule Castle where the Temple of Time would have been. In any event, it was eventually decided that the Master Sword and the Pedestal of Time, the two surviving relics of the Temple of Time, be accorded a special place of honor in a secret room in Hyrule Castle's basement following the Temple of Time's demise. The chamber was decorated with stained-glass windows of the Sages awakened by the Hero of Time as well as both the Triforce and Ganon. This hidden chamber was sealed by a mighty stone statue of the Hero of Time that stood tall in the halls of Hyrule Castle. The land finally began to return to a state of peace and prosperity for a good many years following the Imprisoning War's end, and all seemed well thanks to the efforts of the Hero of Time and the Seven Sages. It was then decided that to safeguard the Master Sword's power to repel evil and to make sure that it would always be ready should Ganondorf ever return from his exile in the Sacred Realm, two new temples would be constructed for two new Sages, the Sages of the Master Sword. These two new Sages, the Sage of Earth and the Sage of Wind, would be primarily responsible for praying to the Goddesses that the power to repel evil would forever remain within the enchanted blade of the Master Sword. That power would always be present as long as these two new Sages continued their prayers to the Goddesses. Hence, the two new temples, the Earth Temple and the Wind Temple, were constructed inside two very large mountains in the south and north of Hyrule respectively. Three special instruments were then crafted for the purpose of carrying the Sages' prayers to the Goddesses: a harp to be used by the Sage of Earth, a violin to be used by the Sage of Wind, and a magical conductor's baton that would lead the other two instruments known as the Wind Waker, which would be wielded by the King of Hyrule. So Hyrule was finally restored to its former beauty, and peace reigned for a time.

Return of the Dark Lord
Many years (possibly centuries) following the Imprisoning War's end, the seal on the Dark World began to weaken for an unknown reason (possibly because the Master Sword and the Pedestal of Time had been taken from their original place near the portal to the Sacred Realm), and the Dark Lord Ganondorf saw his opportunity to finally break free of his prison. Using the might of the Triforce of Power, Ganondorf was able to fully break the seal on the Dark World and returned to Hyrule in a red wrath, meaning to make good on the threat he'd made many years earlier to the Hero of Time and the Seven Sages that he would make their descendants as well as all of Hyrule pay for his imprisonment.

The Dark Lord used the might of the Triforce of Power to reconstruct his tower not far away from the new site of Hyrule Castle. From here he launched the beginning phase of an invasion to conquer the land of Hyrule. Ganondorf soon learned that Master Sword's power was safeguarded by two new Sages, the Sage of Earth and the Sage of Wind, and knew that the only thing that could truly harm him was the Master Sword itself, the evil-destroying blade that had defeated him during the Imprisoning War. Thus, he sought a way to deactivate the sword's true power and discovered that he need only root out these two Sages to remove the power to repel evil from the sword's blade. To this end, he used the Triforce of Power to craft two horrible monsters, a giant Poe named Jalhalla and a great sand worm named Molgera. He then ordered Jalhalla to take a legion of his troops and invade the Earth Temple to the south and Molgera to take another legion of troops to invade the Wind Temple to the north. Ganondorf ordered the two beasts to destroy the Sages of the Master Sword and to inhabit the temples to prevent new Sages from being installed. Obeying their master's orders, the two monstrosities left for their destinations, each with a platoon of Ganondorf's monsters in tow.

Jalhalla arrived at the Earth Temple with Ganondorf's soldiers, and they quickly overtook the temple, killing all in their path. As the troops invaded the temple's chambers, Jalhalla moved to the heart of the temple and found the current Sage of Earth, a female Zora named Laruto (possibly a descendant of Princess Ruto, the Sage of Water during the Imprisoning War), praying to the Goddesses for the Master Sword to always have the power to repel evil at the temple's main shrine made for the Sage's prayers. The giant Poe then assaulted Laruto and murdered her, stealing her soul and taking control of the temple's shrine. Laruto's harp, the only thing to escape the assault on the Earth Temple, was passed on to her family and down her family line following these events. Meanwhile, Molgera arrived at the Wind Temple inside one of Hyrule's northern mountains along with another legion of Ganondorf's troops, and the army quickly overran the temple, flooding its halls with evil creatures. Molgera proceeded into the temple's depths, to the deepest chamber of the entire structure. Finally, the beast arrived at a large, cylindrical chamber half-filled with sand that surrounded the temple's main shrine down in the sandy pit. And there, also praying to the Goddesses for the Master Sword's power, was a Kokiri named Fado (possibly a descendant of Saria, the Sage of Forest during the Imprisoning War), the current Sage of Wind. The great worm overwhelmed the small Kokiri Sage and murdered him, stealing his soul and taking up residence in the shrine chamber of the temple. The only thing to survive the invasion of the Wind Temple was Fado's magical violin, which was passed on to his family and down their line thereafter.

Once this was done, Ganondorf assumed his Dark Beast form of Ganon and attacked the Kingdom of Hyrule head-on, leading the bulk of his army in an invasion of the Kingdom and raining death and destruction all around him. As he wreaked havoc on the Kingdom, the people prayed that the legendary Hero of Time would reappear to save them again from Ganon as he had done during the Imprisoning War, but despite their desperate pleas, the Hero of Time was unable to answer their cries for help due to the fact that he and his descendants were no longer in that branch of Hyrule's history as a result of Princess Zelda sending the Hero of Time back to his childhood at the conclusion of the Imprisoning War. Hence, they had no choice but to appeal to the Goddesses for their help in saving them from destruction at the hands of Ganon.

The Divine Deluge
The desperate cries of the people of Hyrule eventually reached the ears of the Golden Goddesses Din, Nayru, and Farore. Seeing that there was no Hero to take up the Master Sword against Ganon and knowing that they could not sit idly by and let Ganon once again take over the land of Hyrule, the Goddesses instructed the people to take refuge on Hyrule's mountaintops. They had decided upon sealing not only Ganon but Hyrule itself away, but knew that to seal Hyrule's people away with the Kingdom would only grant the King of Evil's wish for the destruction of the land. Ganon's army had reached the gates of Hyrule Castle and were in the process of invading the structure when the Goddesses answered the peoples' cries. After Hyrule's people were safely away, the Goddesses created a great storm that swept the skies over the land of Hyrule and brought down never-ending rains that began to flood the kingdom in an event that would come to be known as the "Great Flood." The Zoras, being expert swimmers, saved many from the flood as the land was overtaken by water and helped them escape to the mountaintops as well. As the land was drowned beneath the great deluge of rainwater, an enchanted air chamber was cast over the entire kingdom, preventing the water from destroying the land and merely sealing it beneath the large body of water that was formed. At the same time, the entire land and everyone still in it were frozen right where they stood, kept in stasis by a seal cast upon the Master Sword and the Pedestal of Time. As long as the Master Sword was not removed from the Pedestal of Time, Hyrule, Ganon and his army would remain frozen in time, forgotten at the bottom of the vast ocean that now covered Hyrule and left it a forgotten memory at the bottom of the sea. Hyrule's mountaintops became as islands on the surface of the newly-created ocean, and the people that had escaped the deluge formed a new country upon the surface of the sea, eventually forgetting about the ancient land of Hyrule that still existed at the bottom of the ocean and the evil that had been sealed away with it. The Goddesses crafted an immense tower to test the courage of possible Heroes that wished to wield the Master Sword and ultimately destroy the evil that haunted Hyrule one day and sealed the tower at the bottom of the sea as well. They each created a pearl and gifted them to Hyrule's surviving races, the pearls being the keys that would, when placed in the proper places, raise the Tower of the Gods from the bottom of the sea and open the way to the Master Sword at the bottom of the ocean. The people created a new civilization on the surface of the sea and its islands (Hyrule's former mountaintops), and with the passing of time, the memory of the land of Hyrule was all but forgotten, with only its legend surviving on the wind's breath. On Outset Island, it became customary to garb young boys in green when they came of age as a homage to the Hero of Legend (the Hero of Time), with the islanders hoping for these young men to know courage like that of the Hero of Time himself.

The Dark Lord Ascending
After a millenium of being trapped beneath the sea in the forgotten world of Hyrule, Ganondorf was able to find a way around the air chamber's seal and create a portal inside his tower that would transport him and some of his army to the surface of the Great Sea. The portal deposited Ganondorf and his army in the Forsaken Fortress, a pirate stronghold. Ganondorf disposed of the pirates inhabiting the fortress and made it his base of operations on the surface of the Great Sea. He then commanded his pet, a giant bird known as the Helmaroc King, to circle far and wide to find a girl with long blonde hair and pointed ears (the new Princess Zelda). The giant bird did as instructed, capturing young girls from all over the Great Sea that matched the description given to it by Ganondorf and bringing them to the Forsaken Fortress for Ganondorf to inspect. But none of those that had been captured thus far had been the one he was looking for, so the search continued, and the captured girls were locked in the tower of the Forsaken Fortress. Meanwhile, far away across the sea, a young boy named Link and his sister Aryll were celebrating Link's birthday with their grandmother on Outset Island. Link's grandmother gave him a very special gift on this occasion, a tunic and cap of green that was customary for all boys coming of age to wear on the day they came of age. Almost no time after this, Link and his sister spotted a strange and curious sight not far off their shores: a huge pirate ship that appeared to be pursuing a giant bird that was clutching something or someone in its talons. The ship fired shot after shot at the monstrous bird until it finally hit its mark, and the bird dropped a blonde haired girl with pointy ears into the island's forest, known to be infested with monsters. On Aryll's urgings, Link acquired a sword and learned a few techniques that would aid him in rescuing the girl that had fallen into the forest. As the young hero makes his way into the woods, he spots the girl hanging from a tree branch and rescues her from a group of monsters. After she recovers, one of her crew members arrives and reveals her name, Tetra. Tetra, who wanted to leave immediately to pursue the bird and "repay" it for its actions, took almost no notice of Link. As Link followed the pair out of the woods, they looked across the bridge that separated the woods from the rest of the island and spotted Aryll waving to them. As she gleefully moved to cross the bridge and meet them, the Helmaroc King swooped low over the bridge and made off with Aryll, having mistaken her for Tetra. These events set into motion a quest that unbeknownst to Link would stretch far beyond merely saving his sister from the Forsaken Fortress, but would affect the fate of the entire world.

Rise of a New Hero
After some persuasion, Tetra agrees to allow Link to stow away aboard her ship to reach the Forsaken Fortress. After an eventful voyage, they reach the foreboding structure at the far end of the ocean, where the sun almost never shines. Link was launched into the Forsaken Fortress in a barrel fired from the ship's cannon, although it did not go quite as planned due to a botched aim on Tetra's part. The young hero infiltrates the heavily fortified complex however and makes his way to the tower room where all the young girls that had been captured over time including his sister were being held. However, the Helmaroc King notices his arrival and descends to grab him before he can act to release the girls. The bird flies to the top of the tower to a balcony where a dark figure stands looking out over the sea. The bird dangles Link in front of the dark stranger, and the two look upon each other for the first time (in a long time in Ganondorf's view) as Ganondorf motions for the bird to throw the boy far out into the sea, and Link is sent flying, crash-landing in the sea and fainting as he drifts for a while until a mysterious red boat pulls up beside him.

Quest for the Pearls of the Goddessess
When Link awakens, he finds himself in a small red boat and hears a voice talking to him. Looking around for the source of the voice, Link is stunned when the lion's head on the bow of the boat turns around to face him and speaks. The boat introduces himself as the King of Red Lions and tells Link the story of Ganondorf's escape from his imprisonment. He also tells Link that in order to save his sister, he will have to defeat Ganon. In order to do that, he tells Link that he will have to acquire power that can only be ascertained after much hardship and toil. Link, determined as ever, resolves to follow the mysterious boat's instructions to defeat Ganon and save his sister. First, the boat directs Link to Dragon Roost Island (formerly Death Mountain), where he tells Link to request the first of three pearls, Din's Pearl, necessary for their quest from the guardian spirit of the skies, the dragon named Valoo. Before leaving to complete his task, the King of Red Lions gave Link a magical conductor's baton known as the Wind Waker, which had the ability to borrow the power of the gods and control the wind. Link would later learn that the baton had been used ages ago by the King of Hyrule to conduct the Sages in their prayers to the Golden Goddesses of the Triforce. The Rito tribe that inhabit the island reveal that Valoo has been violently shaking the island and is now unapproachable, and Link is made privy to the plight of Prince Komali, who happens to possess Din's Pearl and promises it to Link if he can somehow calm Valoo down so that he, like all other Ritos coming of age, can acquire one of Valoo's scales, which is necessary for the Ritos to grow their wings. Link pursues Komali's attendant, Medli, into Dragon Roost Cavern and finds Medli being held prisoner by monsters near the summit of Dragon Roost. After slaying the monsters guarding her, Medli informed Link that Valoo was being tortured by a beast in the chamber beneath him because it was doing something to his tail. Link ventured into this chamber and discovered Ghoma, a monstrous, centipede-like creature torturing Valoo's tail. Armed with the Grappling Hook, Link slew the beast and freed Valoo of the monster's grip. As a result, Link earned Din's Pearl along with a new friend in Prince Komali, who went straightaway to get a scale from Valoo and earn his wings.

Link's next stop was the Forest Haven (formerly the Kokiri Forest in ancient days), where the King of Red Lions instructed him to request Farore's Pearl from the Great Deku Tree (the Deku Tree Sprout of Ocarina of Time), the guardian deity of the Forest Haven. Link ventured into the great tree (possibly the dead remains of the original Great Deku Tree of Ocarina of Time) and found the Great Deku Tree under attack by an army of Chu Chus. The young hero destroyed the monsters plaguing the tree and spoke with the guardian of the forest about Farore's Pearl, which the Deku Tree agreed to give to Link once a certain ceremony took place that allowed him to produce seeds that his children, the Koroks (the evolved form of the Kokiri of Ocarina of Time), would then take and plant on islands all over the Great Sea in the hopes of one day merging the islands together and forming a single grand continent once more. However, grave news was brought by Lindner, one of the Koroks, who reported that Makar (the foremost of the Koroks) had flown with Lindner over the Forbidden Woods (the former Lost Woods of Ocarina of Time) despite the Deku Tree's warnings never to do so and had fallen into the Forest Haven's corrupted neighboring isle. The Deku Tree, knowing the ceremony could not commence without Makar, requested Link to go into the evil forest and rescue Makar from the monsters that were now holding him captive. Using a magical leaf given to him by the Deku Tree, Link was able to use the Wind Waker to control the direction of the wind and fly over to the foreboding Forbidden Woods. Once inside, Link was confronted by a host of plant-like enemies and dangerous traps. This did not phase him however, and he cleansed the isle of the monsters that had overtaken it, eventually reaching the final chamber deep within the Forbidden Woods where he found Makar standing on a strange flower-like plant. However, the plant swallowed Makar whole and rose up to attach itself to the ceiling as Kalle Demos revealed itself and prepared for attack. Link used a magical Boomerang he discovered in the Forbidden Woods to detach Kalle Demos from the ceiling and attack its power source, a Boko Baba. Once Link destroyed the Boko Baba, the plant exploded, releasing Makar and leaving behind a Heart Container for Link. Stepping into a wind portal generated by the defeat of Kalle Demos, Link warped back to the Forest Haven with Makar in tow. Upon arrival, the Deku Tree surrendered Farore's Pearl to Link, and Makar led the Koroks in their ceremony before the majority of them departed once more for the Great Sea. Link returned to the King of Red Lions and headed for his next destination: Greatfish Isle.

Upon arrival, the pair discovered the island had been completely destroyed. Quill, a Rito postman, arrived and informed them that Ganondorf's minions had attacked the island, but Jabun (the guardian spirit of the sea and descendant of Lord Jabu-Jabu) had been tipped off before the attack and fled to Link's home island, Outset Island. Using some bombs taken from Tetra's pirates, Link returned to Outset and blasted open the cave behind the island where Jabun was in hiding. After a short conversation between Jabun and the King of Red Lions, Jabun gave the final Pearl of the Goddesses, Nayru's Pearl, to Link, and together the King of Red Lions and Link traveled to the three Triangle Islands and placed the Pearls into the hands of three ancient statues. Once Link set the final pearl into the final statue, the statue exploded to reveal itself as a statue of one of the Golden Goddeses, and sent a beam from the Pearl it was holding to the two other statues, which followed suit. Once all three were activated, they formed a Triforce symbol which sped downward into the depths of the Great Sea and caused a seismic disturbance that resulted in the raising of an enormous tower out of the depths of the Great Sea. The King of Red Lions described it as being called the Tower of the Gods and said that it had been created to test the courage of prospective heroes. Link entered and cut down the enemies that awaited him within, eventually climbing the tower to its highest chamber, where a strange statue named Gohdan awaited to give Link his final test. Upon defeating the statue, it opened a way to the roof of the tower. On the roof, Link spotted an enormous bell. Latching onto it with his Grappling Hook, Link rang the bell several times, and as its sound verberated across the sea, a portal of golden light appeared in the watery courtyard of the Tower of the Gods. The King of Red Lions took Link into the portal in the waves, and the pair began to sink into the ocean's depths.

Rediscovery of Hyrule
As they drifted downward, they passed through the air chamber and found an entire world frozen in time at the bottom of the ocean. They landed in the courtyard of an enormous castle that had the herald of the Triforce displayed everywhere. The King of Red Lions told Link to waste no time asking questions and to enter the castle and find a mighty weapon housed within it. Link ventured inside the castle to find it full of enemies, but they were all frozen in time like statues and drained of any color as were their surroundings. After solving a puzzle that involved a floor symbol of the Triforce, a giant statue of a great hero (the Hero of Time) wielding a powerful-looking sword (the Master Sword) began to move and revealed a hidden chamber that led into the castle's basement. Link entered the chamber and found a pedestal (the Pedestal of Time) resting in the center of the room within a symbol of the Triforce, and embedded inside the pedestal was finely-crafted sword. The King of Red Lions telepathically congratulated the young hero on solving the mystery of gaining access to this chamber and told him to take the sword before him. Link grasped the sword by its decorated blue handle and pulled upward. The sword slid gracefully out of the Pedestal of Time, and at that moment, a bright light flashed from the Pedestal of Time. Color began to come back to the world, and the statues of the Knights of Hyrule overhead all began to tilt their swords together over the place where the Master Sword rested, signaling the breaking of the seal that had been placed upon Hyrule. The army of enemies that had been attacking Hyrule Castle (the castle Link was now standing in) at the time of the Kingdom's sealing all came back to life, and Link was forced to battle and destroy them all to return to the courtyard and the King of Red Lions. Once they were reunited, the pair stepped into the portal once again and were returned to the surface of the sea, where the portal once again vanished. The pair then headed for their intended final destination: the Forsaken Fortress.

Reunion Atop the Forsaken Fortress
Link once again fought his way through the fortress and returned to the tower room where his sister was being held along with all the other kidnapped girls, being more cautious this time not to alert the Helmaroc King too soon. At this point, Tetra reappeared with her pirates, and they helped Link to get the girls out of the tower and returned to their homes, including Aryll. Tetra revealed they had drawn the bird away for Link when they learned he was returning to the Forsaken Fortress, but when she saw the blade Link was carrying, Tetra's eyes grew wide in surprise for a moment before she brushed aside any sign of knowledge. The pirates then left Link to deal with the approaching Helmaroc King, with Tetra promising Link she would be back. As Tetra exited, the tower door locked and the room began to flood with water as the Helmaroc King made its entrance. Link evaded the gigantic bird and made it to the roof of the tower (after knocking the bird out), where the door on the roof began to close shut. Just as it was about to close however, the Helmaroc King came spiraling out of the tower, visibly angry. Link battled monstrous bird with the Hammer he had discovered inside the building and dealt the bird its death sentence. Once the bird exploded in mid-air, the spiked barrier blocking Link's way to the final part of the fortress dropped, granting him access to Ganondorf's chamber. Upon entering the chamber, Ganondorf had his back turned to his enemy, although he was very much aware of Link's presence. Ganondorf started their encounter by stating "It's been a while, boy," referring to the hero that had defeated him ages ago, the Hero of Time. Ganondorf then went on to taunt the young hero about things he had not been been privy to, such as the seal on Hyrule also applying to Ganondorf's powers as well. He also revealed to Link that the Master Sword had since lost its Power to Repel Evil and that by withdrawing the blade from the Pedestal of Time, he had completely reactivated Ganondorf's full power. Refusing to believe this, Link charged at Ganondorf, only to be knocked to the floor. As Ganondorf withdrew two blades and prepared to kill Link, Tetra reappeared and distracted him. Ganondorf caught her by the throat and was about to strangle her when he realized his Triforce of Power was resonating. At long last, he realized, he had found Princess Zelda, who held part of the Triforce of Wisdom that was causing Ganondorf's Triforce of Power to react with it. Before he could capitalize on this discovery howerver, Quill and Komali flew through the room and whisked Link and Tetra away into the night while Valoo appeared and sent Ganondorf's chamber atop the Forsaken Fortress up in flames.

The Lost Princess is Found
The King of Red Lions took both Link and Tetra and returned them to the bottom of the sea at Hyrule Castle. He then instructed them both to return to the chamber where Link had acquired the Master Sword. Upon returning to the basement chamber, Link and Tetra found an imposing-looking man, bearded and wearing a crown, waiting for them. He introduced himself as Daphnes Nohansen Hyrule, the King of Hyrule, and also revealed himself to in fact be the King of Red Lions as well. He explained to the both of them about Hyrule's history and how it had been flooded to stem Ganondorf's invasion. He then called Tetra forth, and took from her the necklace her mother had given her to wear and guard with her life, and he produced the missing piece to it, and as the two pieces recombined into one to form the complete Triforce of Wisdom, a bright light engulfed the chamber. When Link turned back toward them, he saw Tetra in the clothing of a princess and saw a glowing Triforce symbol appear on the back of her hand, with the lower left triangle glowing brightest. The King of Hyrule then introduced her to both Link and to herself as Princess Zelda, the heir to the Hyrulean throne and holder of the Triforce of Wisdom. Zelda apologized to Link for dragging him into the whole affair and for his sister's involvement as well. The King of Hyrule then suggested that Zelda remain there in the castle to hide from Ganondorf now that he knew who she was. As Link departed with the King to restore the Sages of the Master Sword, Zelda waved goodbye to Link and awaited his return.

Restoration of the Master Sword
Link's next destination was the Earth Temple, home to Laruto, the Zora Sage of Earth. The King of Red Lions revealed that the Earth and Wind Temples both had more than one entrance, and both had entrances upon Hyrule's mountaintops. Upon arrival, at Headstone Island, Link discovered the entrance to the Earth Temple blocked by a stone barrier that showed directions to playing a song. Link used the Wind Waker to play this song (the Earth God's Lyric), and the spirit of Laruto appeared. Laruto went on to explain that after his defeat at the hands of the Hero of Time, Ganondorf had been sealed away in the Sacred Realm, but not for all time. He escaped the Sacred Realm and returned to Hyrule in a red wrath. She explained that she had been praying in the Earth Temple to the Goddesses that the Power to Repel Evil would forever remain within the Master Sword, until one day Ganondorf appeared and murdered her by means of one of his monsters (Jalhalla). She instructed Link to find her descendant and to bring her there. Link remembered seeing Laruto's harp in the hands of Medli on Dragon Roost Island and traveled there. Link played the Earth God's Lyric and awakened Medli to the realization that she was the new Sage of Earth. The pair returned to Headstone Island and played the Earth God's Lyric together, which caused the stone barrier to crumble, opening the way into the Earth Temple. Link and Medli fought their way through the infested temple (where Link found the second of the Hero of Time's three weapons, the Mirror Shield), until they reached the Temple's deepest chamber. Link went on alone into the chamber and found Laruto's murderer, the giant Poe Jalhalla. Link defeated the massive Poe, and Medli entered the chamber. Link placed the Master Sword in the center of the Triforce symbol that was in the center of the chamber's floor, and the pair played the Earth God's Lyric, joined by Laruto's spirit. This action restored part of the Master Sword's power, and Medli urged Link onward to the Wind Temple, to find the Sage of Wind and fully restore the Master Sword's power.

Link traveled to Gale Island and discovered the entrace to the Wind Temple blocked by a stone barrier much like the one he encountered at Headstone Island, upon which was inscribed the Wind God's Aria. After conducting the song with the Wind Waker, the spirit of the Kokiri Sage of Wind, Fado, appeared and revealed that Ganondorf had him killed by a monstrous sandworm named Molgera while he had been praying to the Goddesses in the Wind Temple that the Power to Repel Evil would forever remain within the Master Sword. He instructs Link to find his descendant that possessed his violin and to awaken him as the new Sage of Wind with the Wind God's Aria. Link recognized Fado's violin as being the same one held by Makar, and he made his way back to the Forest Haven to find him. Once there, Link found Makar and played the Wind God's Aria for him, awakening him to the knowledge that he was the new Sage of Wind. The pair then made their way back to Gale Island and played the Wind God's Aria together to cause the stone barrier to crumble, opening the way into the Wind Temple. They fought their way through the massive temple and made their way to the bottom room of the temple, which proved to be a massive circular chamber filled with sand. After Link dealt the sand worm Molgera its final defeat, Makar and Link (accompanied by the spirit of Fado) played the Wind God's Aria once more to fully restore power to the Master Sword once again.

Reassembly of the Triforce of Courage
Link set out to find the third and final of the Hero of Time's weapons, the Triforce of Courge. After criss-crossing the Great Sea to find eight ancient sea charts revealing the locations of the eight fragments of the Triforce of Courage, Link raised the eight fragments from the bottom of the ocean and reassembled the third long-lost piece of the Triforce, which had split apart upon the Hero of Time's departure from that age back to his own. Returning to the Tower of the Gods, Link presented the Triforce of Courage to the Goddesses, and they once again opened the way to Hyrule in front of the Tower. It was then that the Triforce of Courage merged with Link, marking him as the Hero of Winds and the true successor of the Hero of Time. Link and the King of Red Lions stepped into the portal and returned to the land beneath the sea. Link returned to the basement chamber of Hyrule Castle where Zelda appeared to still be waiting for him. However, Ganondorf had discovered her whereabouts in his absence and had abducted her. What Link saw was merely an illusion created by Ganondorf to lure Link back into the chamber. When Link stepped toward Zelda, she vanished, and Ganondorf's laugh of triumph rang through the castle's halls, revealing he had taken Princess Zelda to his tower. Two Darknuts appeared and dueled Link in the basement chamber of the castle until he deftly defeated them. Link then used the Master Sword to shatter the barrier Ganondorf had placed around Hyrule Castle and proceeded down a small canyon toward Ganon's Tower.

The King of Evil vs. The Hero of Winds
Once inside Ganon's Tower, Link found the main chamber filled with lava, platforms and rope bridges that led off into five different rooms. The door straight ahead that led up the tower was blocked by a barrier door that depicted the four bosses Link had battled throughout his adventure that served Ganondorf (Ghoma, Kalle Demos, Jalhalla, and Molgera). He journeyed through the four other outlying chambers only to face each of the bosses again in black and white. After he defeated each boss again, the symbol representing each boss on the door leading up the tower lit up. Once all four were lit, the door disintegrated and allowed Link to continue on up the tower. Link discovered the dark portal Ganondorf had created that linked the tower with the Forsaken Fortress, and used it to return to the surface and prepare for his final battle with the King of Evil. Once he was ready, Link was forced to face Phantom Ganon for the last time (he had to face the Phantom in the Forsaken Fortress) and destroyed him utterly using the Light Arrows he found inside the tower. After the Phantom's defeat at the hands of the Hero of Winds, Link found the doorway to the staircase that led on up the tower was open, and he continued upward. Following a blood-red carpet up the stairs (much like his predecessor did in Ocarina of Time) and fighting enemies as he went, Link reached the top of the staircase and entered Ganondorf's chamber.

Inside, Link found Ganondorf standing over the bedside of a large bed, inside which was lying an unconcious Princess Zelda. As Link moved toward Ganondorf, the King of Evil held up his hand and spoke to Link, telling him how he saw Zelda's dreams of oceans as far as the eye could see. He went on to state how the Goddesses had destroyed the world and that he had been waiting for the Hero to appear. After telling Link not to betray his expectations, Ganondorf disappeared with Zelda, and Puppet Ganon appeared, with Ganondorf controlling it from the rafters high above. Link dueled the Puppet and eventually destroyed it. After the long battle, Ganondorf's voice boomed from above, proclaiming that Link was most surely the Hero of Time reborn. After this statement, Ganondorf ascended to the roof of the tower with Zelda in his arms. Link, using his Grappling Hook, followed Ganondorf to the roof, where he found Ganondorf looking out over the beautiful land of Hyrule with the unconcious Princess Zelda laying at his feet.

Ganondorf went on to reveal to Link why he had wanted to take over Hyrule in the first place and how the winds that blew across the Gerudo Desert brought death. But the calm winds that blew across Hyrule brought life and happiness, and Ganondorf coveted that wind. Once again, Ganondorf had succeeded in gathering the three pieces of the Triforce at the top of his tower. After his revealing story, Ganondorf bounded across the roof and knocked Link out in several swift blows, knocking the Master Sword out of his reach. Unable to move, Link was picked up by Ganondorf, and Ganondorf stated that he would not kill Link or Zelda but merely wanted the power that dwelt within them. With that, the three Triforces resonated, and leaving the hands of their bearers, reunited to form the one true wish-granting Triforce at the top of Ganon's Tower. Ganondorf dropped Link and triumphantly walked toward the Triforce, asking the Goddesses to expose Hyrule to the rays of the Sun once again by draining the Great Sea and to give Hyrule to him forever. However, just as he was about to reach out to touch it again, the King of Hyrule appeared and touched it mere seconds before Ganondorf could. The King of Hyrule wished for the Goddesses to wash away Hyrule, for Link and Zelda to have a future, and for Ganondorf to drown along with Hyrule. The Triforce pieces drifted upward and vanished as the enchanted air chamber protecting Hyrule began to collapse, allowing the Great Sea to pour into Hyrule. Ganondorf laughed insanely, finally having lost what bit of his sanity was left. He turned on Link and Zelda and withdrew his two twin blades, meaning to slaughter the two of them. So there, in Hyrule's final moments at the top of Ganon's Tower, the three bearers of the Triforce performed in one final battle. Link wielded the Master Sword against Ganondorf while Zelda took up the Hero's Bow and the Light Arrows to battle the King of Evil. Ganondorf put up a good fight, but with Zelda's help, Link was able to penetrate Ganondorf's defenses and drove the Master Sword through the jewel Ganondorf wore on his forehead. With the Blade of Evil's Bane embedded in his skull, Ganondorf gave a final shocked chuckle and said, "The wind....it is blowing," and turned to stone.

As the water began to reach up to the tower's top, the King of Hyrule approached Link and Zelda, apologizing for having held onto Hyrule for so long, making him no different from Ganondorf in his eyes. Zelda pleaded with the King of Hyrule to come with them, promising that they would find a new land that would be the next Hyrule. The King closed his eyes, smiled and said, "Ah, but child, that land will not be Hyrule. It will be your land!" With that, the water finally overtook the entire world, and Link and Zelda were sealed within magical air bubbles, protected by the Triforce's magic. Link reached out for the King of Hyrule, but the King refused to take his hand and stayed at the bottom of the sea with Ganondorf. Link and Zelda (once more in her Tetra guise) awoke at the surface of the Great Sea and were picked up by Tetra's crew and the two Sages, Medli and Makar. The story ended with Link (still sailing in the now-lifeless King of Red Lions) and Tetra setting sail from Outset Island to find the new land that would become the new Hyrule, with the wind as their guide.