Ancient Sages

The Ancient Sages are a group of characters from The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. The Ancient Sages are wise men who protected the Mirror of Twilight, held at the Arbiter's Grounds.

Each of the Ancient Sages bears a symbol of one of the Six Medallions found in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. This is often taken to mean that they are the Seven Sages from that game. However, unlike the ones from Ocarina of Time, they are all old Hylians, while most of the sages from Ocarina of Time were female, and some were a different race. This does however bring them into line with the story presented in The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, in which the Sages were all male.

Biography
The Sages present themselves to Link after he defies the enemies in the Arbiter's Grounds. They explain to him the entire story of Ganondorf's failed execution; The Ancient Sages were the ones that were set to execute Ganondorf and sentenced him to death at the Arbiter's Grounds. They chained him to a boulder and impaled him with a blade of light, but the Triforce of Power revived him. Ganondorf broke his chains and killed the Sage of Water; In a hasty act, the surviving sages activated the Mirror of Twilight and banished Ganondorf to the Twilight Realm.

They also tell Link that Zant tried to destroy the mirror completely, but cannot as only the true ruler of the Twilight Realm may destroy it. Link is given the task to collect the remaining mirror shards and enter the Twilight Realm. The sages already had a piece of the Mirror with them. After Link completed the Arbiter's Grounds, he received it.

Theories Surrounding the Ancient Sages
The Ancient Sages first appear officially in Twilight Princess, during Zant's Invasion of Hyrule, but it is implied they have existed since Hyrule's beginning. They are said by Rauru in Ocarina of Time to have constructed the Temple of Time, and Princess Zelda says in Twilight Princess that they were the creators of the Master Sword. They also bear the symbols of the Seven Sages, seen during the Imprisoning War, bringing many to believe there is a connection between the Ancient Sages and the Seven Sages. It is likely these spectral beings were once of the Hylian race, amongst the first of that race to have been created by the Goddess of Courage, Farore. They were likely chosen by the Goddesses to forever retain the power of the world's elements and to live on after physical death to assist their successors. In A Link to the Past, gamers learn that the Seven Sages, shown to be predominately male in an ancient mural, were the ones that placed a seal on the Dark World to keep the evil Ganon from destroying Hyrule with the might of the Triforce of Power.

This is confirmed by Ocarina of Time, which chronicles the events of the Imprisoning War, but the Seven Sages were of various races and most were female. While this would seem contradictory, the Sages had to be awakened in Ocarina of Time, meaning that their power had to be attained somehow, from somewhere. The Ancient Sages are implied to have always existed and represent the elements of the world. Hence, it is likely they are the sources of the power of all subsequent Sages, especially since Rauru obviously knew of them and spoke of them in Ocarina of Time. This would seem to imply that the Ancient Sages were the source of the Seven Sages' power and that they bound their spirits to their successors in Ocarina of Time as part of the Seven Sages' awakening. This would make the Ancient Sages still be part of the Seven Sages and make their story in A Link to the Past fit. This would also mean that the Ancient Sages were likely to have been the ones to seal the Dark World closed in the child timeline, likely at the King's behest after Ganondorf's capture and evil began flowing from the Dark World due to Ganondorf's shattering of the Triforce. This would also be in keeping with the Seven Maidens, who are all Hylian, being the descendants of the Ancient Sages, who were also Hylian.

Alternatively, it's possible that the Ancient Sages only exist in the "child" ending of Ocarina of Time, as Adult Link has not awakened the Six Sages to replace them.

Trivia

 * The masks worn by the Sages resemble those worn by chorus members in Ancient Greek dramas.