Kakariko Village

First appeared in The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, but it has since reappeared in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures, and remakes thereof. It may have been inspired by various towns in Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, and in turn may have served as the inspiration for such future towns of the series - Mabe Village, Clock Town, Lynna City, Horon Village, Windfall Island, Hyrule Town, and various minor villages (i.e. Symmetry City). Kakariko Village's geographical and historical situation seems to change in each game, and so many fans assert that these villages are not the same, but merely share the same name.

A Link to the Past
In  A Link to the Past,Link first visits Kakariko Village, which is west of Hyrule Castle, north of the Desert of Mystery, south of the Lost Woods, and southwest of Death Mountain Foothills, on the advice of the monk working at the Sanctuary. Hoping to meet with reputed sage Sahasrahla, Link can incquire about the local celebrity throughout the village, though guards are stationed all around (or in the vicinity) to capture Link, accused of abducting Princess Zelda. Sahasrahla's presumed wife, however, informs Link that the wise elder has left for the region around Eastern Palace. Exploring the village anyways is still profitable; many side quests are tied into the village. Later in the game, Link takes the Book of Mudora from the library to the south, though Link is not required to return to the village after clearing the Desert Palace until much later in the game - before Misery Mire. This is because Link must awaken the bird trapped within the weather vane in the village by playing the Flute (which is given to him by the son of a villager in the Haunted Grove section of the Dark World). Once this bird is awakended, Link can use the Flute to warp about the Light World.

As stated before, Kakariko Village is south of Lost Woods, which is notorious for the thieves who reside there, and so it's not surprising that one thief, Blind, had a permanent residence in the village. By the time Link sees it, it has been abandoned, though treasures can still be found within. Blind turns out to be boss of the fourth Dark World dungeon, Blind's Hideout (notably, Blind's allegiance to Ganon seems to imply that the Lost Woods thieves are related to the Gerudo, though this is not the case in later games).

The Dark World equivalent of Kakariko Village is the Village of Outcasts, overrun with thieves, gambling establishments, and Moblins. The weather vane has been replaced by a demon statue, and several trees now talk.

Ocarina of Time
Kakariko Village of  Ocarina of Time is radically different from the village of A Link to the Past. Now located direclty at the foot of the Death Mountain Foothills, quite distant from the Lost Woods and the Haunted Wasteland (the OoT equivalent of the Desert of Mystery), Kakariko Village seems to have been founded recently. Villagers there recall that Impa, Zelda's nursemaid, opened the formerly Sheikah-exclusive village to the poor commoners of Hyrule (presumably not rich enough to live in the Market outside Hyrule Castle). Dominating the landscape is a windmill, which is used to draw water up from the Well of Three Features (Dark! Narrow! Scary!), the source of water for the villagers. Sheikah legend has it that Impa sealed a great evil in the Bottom of the Well. Later, when Link learns the Song of Storms as an adult, playing it can overwork the windmill, making it draw up all the water, and in effect drying up the well. This opens it up for exploration as a child to find the Lens of Truth. (Other local legend has it that a wise man with an eye that could see the truth lived where the well is located now.)

In Link's adulthood, the great evil imprisoned in the Well of Three Features escapes, setting fire to the village (fortunately, it was extinguished by rain) and beating Link and Sheik considerably before retreating into the Shadow Temple, the entrance to which is found in the Graveyard adjoined to the village. Impa then goes off to imprison the great evil again, but she fails, in so doing becoming the Sage of the Shadow Temple. Link must rescue her by defeating this great evil, which turns out to be an invisible "Phantom Shadow Beast," Bongo Bongo. Link uses the Lens of Truth to see the monster and slash its vulnerable eye.

During the seven-year period of turmoil in Hyrule between Link's drawing of the Master Sword and his awakening, many residents of the Market fled to the village to escape persecution. Although not in the game itself, the ReDead trophy in  Super Smash Bros. Melee states that no residents of the Market died. Talon, the previous proprietor of Lon Lon Ranch, also runs off to Kakariko Village when Ingo kicks him out.

Four Swords Adventures
Kakariko Village was the setting of a level in FSA, too. The village was overrun by theives, and the four Links were required to capture them in order to advance north of the city to a place where they could summon rain, thus quelling the fire (parallel to OoT's fire?) started by arsonist Shadow Link. This time, Kakariko Village had no prominent features, but was a collection of houses with few residents within. A stream outside the city led the Links to fight a Big Dark Stalfos, and in so doing recover the Green Royal Jewel. The numerous thieves in the city is obviously a nod to A Link to the Past's Village of Outcasts, and the Cucco population in the village may relate to the Cucco-tracking challenge in the Ocarina of Time rendering of Kakariko Village. We may also attribute the excessive thief problem to the village's new location - directly within the Lost Woods. Some fans have suggested the Lost Woods merely expanded in support of the "One Village Theory." A similar retraction of the woods, or placing OoT on the timeline before FSA, may account for the distance between Kakariko Village and the Lost Woods in OoT.