Imprisoning War

The Imprisoning War (Seal War in Japan) started after Ganondorf entered the Sacred Realm and laid claim to the Triforce, becoming Ganon and transforming the Realm into the Dark World, from which he launched an invasion against Hyrule, which was repelled by the Knights of Hyrule and the Seven Sages. The Knights fought and eventually perished during the invasion, but the Seven Sages successfully sealed Ganon within the Dark World with the assistance of the Hero of Time, a descendant of the Knights of Hyrule, who delayed Ganon long enough to allow the Sages the time they needed to cast him into the Dark World. Ganondorf was left "imprisoned" in both branches of the time paradox created at the war's end (in the Dark World in the Adult Timeline and in the Twilight Realm in the Child Timeline), hence the war's title as the "Imprisoning" War.

The Imprisoning War was first mentioned in A Link to the Past. It was covered in detail in the manual, but the American translation differed in several key places from the original Japanese, making it inconsistent with the story told in other parts of the series.

Ocarina of Time seemingly covers the Imprisoning War and the events in the run up to its outbreak, namely the Great Cataclysm.

The Return of the Gerudo King
Roughly ten years following the Hyrulean Civil War, the King of the Gerudo Thieves, Ganondorf Dragmire, 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.

The Boy Without a Fairy
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.

The Quest for the Spiritual Stones
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.

The Temple of Time
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.

The Great Cataclysm
Ganondorf meanwhile had followed Link into the Temple of Time and accessed the Sacred Realm through the portal Link opened when he took hold of the Master Sword. In a long running battle to the heart of the Sacred Realm where the Triforce rested atop the Temple of Light, Ganondorf murdered those of his followers that had accompanied him into the Sacred Realm. Finally arriving at the Triforce’s resting place, he stood triumphantly over it and grasped it with blood-stained hands. However, at that moment 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, is a mirror that reflects what is in the heart, the heart of one who enters it. If an evil heart, the Realm will become full of evil; if pure, the Realm will become a paradise. 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 seeks the True Force, that one must acquire the two lost parts. Those two parts will be held within others chosen by destiny, who will bear the Triforce mark on the backs of their hands.''

Thus, when Ganondorf touched the Triforce, the legend came true, and the Triforce split apart into its three components, causing the event known to legend as the Great Cataclysm to come to pass. Only the Triforce of Power remained in Ganondorf’s hand since that was the force he most believed in. In this mystical place, Ganondorf’s personality was reflected in his outer appearance as he took on a new form, that of the Dark Beast Ganon, a boar-like horror that was bent upon destruction and conquest. The Sacred Realm was reflected into Ganondorf’s soul, and it became a world of evil, darkness, and despair. It became the Dark World, one that was meant to serve Ganondorf’s wish of conquest and destruction. However, Ganondorf was not satisfied. He returned to Hyrule (now restored to his Gerudian form back in Hyrule) and overtook Hyrule Castle Town, forcing its populace to flee as his Re-Deads took over and destroyed the main parts of the town. Ganondorf then ordered Hyrule Castle torn down and constructed a castle of his own in its place, Ganon's Castle. In order to prevent the Prophecy of the Hero of Time from coming true, Ganondorf sent his loyal monsters to overtake the five other temples throughout Hyrule that were home to the Sages that were supposed to assist the Hero of Time. The Knights of Hyrule valiantly defended the temples knowing that the world’s only hope against Ganondorf lay in the power of the Sages. However, the Knights of Hyrule were all but wiped out in the battle against Ganondorf, and his monsters succeeded in seizing control of the temples, thus preventing the Sages from being able to awaken and do anything to help the Hero of Time should he appear. For seven long, dark years, Ganondorf would rule largely unopposed over the land of Hyrule, always looking for those two chosen by destiny that were supposed to hold the other two Triforce pieces. Somehow, he learned that Princess Zelda held the Triforce of Wisdom, and though he searched high and low, he could not find her. The third Triforce, the Triforce of Courage, remained hidden from Ganondorf as well, dwelling within the newly christened Hero of Time.

Seven Years Later
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 Courage 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.

The King of Evil vs. The Hero of Time
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.

A World Split in Two
Hyrule was left in ruin following the aftermath of the Imprisoning War. Their once great capital was nothing but rubble, and the various provinces were left recovering from the curses. Nevertheless, the people of Hyrule began to rejoice at the center of their newly freed country, Lon Lon Ranch, knowing that the darkness was over thanks to the small boy that became a hero. The tales of this boy would go down in legend and be passed on for generations.

With Ganondorf now imprisoned within the Dark World, Link and Princess Zelda floated in the sky high above Hyrule together. Zelda apologized to the Hero of Time for allowing the tragic events of the Imprisoning War to occur by trying to control the Sacred Realm and for dragging Link into the events of the war. To make up for his involvement in the war, Princess Zelda took the Ocarina of Time from Link and used it to return Link to the past in order to regain his lost childhood. With this action, she inadvertently created a parallel universe in two differing timelines, the first being the dark future with Hyrule left in ruins and recovering from Ganondorf’s wicked reign and the second being Hyrule’s pacified past before Ganondorf was able to successfully take over the land. As Link arrived back in the past, he returned the Master Sword to the Pedestal of Time and closed the Door of Time. As Link left the great temple, his trusted fairy and best friend flew out of the open window in the Temple of Time. As Link headed to Hyrule Castle, the bell atop the Temple of Time, the grandest temple in all of Hyrule, rang out for the boy who saved the glorious land.

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.

"Adult" Timeline
In the future, Hyrule knew peace for a time as it slowly but surely recovered from Ganondorf’s evil reign as ruler of Hyrule. The Triforce of Courage, upon the Hero of Time’s departure from that age, shattered into eight fragments and was scattered across the land to be recovered by another hero that would one day have need of it. However, Ganondorf somehow escaped the Sacred Realm and returned to Hyrule in a red wrath some centuries later, intending to make good on his threat to the Hero of Time and the Seven Sages that he would make their descendants pay for their actions and retake Hyrule as his own. Due to the Hero of Time’s return to the past, he nor any of his descendants were present at the time to stop Ganondorf’s onslaught. Ganondorf sought to deactivate the Master Sword, the only weapon that could truly hurt him, by removing its power to repel evil. He did this by sending two of his loyal monsters (Jalhalla and Molgera) to the Earth Temple and the Wind Temple to take out the sages that had infused the blade with its power and prayed for that power to remain within it (Laruto and Fado). With the Master Sword now powerless to harm him, Ganondorf continued his conquest of Hyrule. When the Hero of Time did not reappear, the people were forced to leave their fate in the hands of the Goddesses and prayed. The Goddesses instructed the people to take refuge on the mountaintops and brought down a torrential downpour, flooding the kingdom and sealing it within an enchanted air chamber as the water turned Hyrule’s mountaintops into islands on the surface of a vast ocean that came to be known as the Great Sea. The land of Hyrule and Ganondorf, along with his army, were frozen in time at the bottom of the sea, held in stasis by the Master Sword and the Pedestal of Time (which had been moved to a special chamber in Hyrule Castle). The sword would act as a key to seal away Ganondorf’s powers and keep the land of Hyrule frozen in time until a new hero would pull it once more from the Pedestal of Time.

"Child" Timeline
In the past, however, all was different. 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.

Continuity Errors and Theoretical Explanations
Many believe the events of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time chronicle the Imprisoning War spoken of in The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. The main events of the Imprisoning War do seem to occur within Ocarina of Time, such as the opening of the Sacred Realm, the scattering of the Triforce, the Sacred Realm’s transformation into the Dark World, Ganondorf’s imprisonment within the Dark World, and the involvement of the Seven Sages. However, there are several continuity errors that come into question between the games. Some of these errors appear below:


 * The King’s commanding of the Seven Sages in the legends of the Imprisoning War, and his presumed death in Ocarina of Time following Ganondorf’s assault on Hyrule Castle.
 * The human descendants (the Seven Maidens) of the Seven Sages (three of which were of near or fully non-humanoid appearance) and the diverse races of the Seven Sages.

While there are several other questionable events, these two prominently stand out since they were present within A Link to the Past, the first game to give an overview of the Imprisoning War and mention the war at all. The exact reasons for these supposed errors are of course not known for sure, leaving many gamers to merely speculate on the differences between the games. Possible theories explaining the continuity errors appear below.

The King of Hyrule
It is not known for sure whether or not the King of Hyrule is killed in Ocarina of Time, although this is heavily implied by his absence following Ganondorf’s siege of Hyrule Castle. Some speculate that the Hyrulean Civil War was fought over the Triforce, as has been implied by A Link to the Past and The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. If this was the case, then the King of Hyrule may well have commanded the essences of the Sages (the ethereal Sages of Twilight Princess that may be the possible source of the Seven Sages' powers in Ocarina of Time) to seal the Sacred Realm shut if some evil entity should gain entry into it and cause evil power to start flowing from it shortly after the conclusion of the Hyrulean Civil War (seeing as it caused the previous war). This would be in keeping with the King’s command spoken of in A Link to the Past since gamers are not told explicitly that the King commanded the Sages to seal the Realm at the particular moment of Ganondorf’s invasion of the Sacred Realm.

Another more likely possibility however is that the King of Hyrule was obviously not killed in Ganondorf's Attack on Hyrule Castle when the Hero of Time warned he and his daughter Zelda about it ahead of time. Ganondorf was sentenced to death by the order of the King as seen in Twilight Princess, so the King must have survived the attack. Since Ganondorf still had the Triforce of Power, by extension, the Dark World was still tainted in the child timeline, meaning that monsters would still be swarming from the newly created Dark World. It would seem logical that the King of Hyrule would command the Seven Sages/Ancient Sages to seal the Dark World off after Ganondorf's capture to stem the flow of evil from the Golden Land. This would also explain the King commanding the Sages to seal the Realm shut due to the flow of evil from it.

The Sages
The Seven Maidens of A Link to the Past are supposedly the descendants of the Seven Sages of Ocarina of Time, and yet while the Seven Sages are of differing races, the Maidens all appear to be human. This could possibly be due to the fact that A Link to the Past occurs many centuries (if not millennia) after Ocarina of Time. As such, the races of Hyrule have been known to integrate and evolve over time. One such example would be Telma, who appears to be of Gerudo descent in the absence of the Gerudo race in Twilight Princess, which occurs roughly a hundred years after Ocarina of Time. This would seem to indicate that the Gerudo (who were humanoid) integrated into the Hylian race at some point in that hundred years. Another such example would be the Rito and the Koroks of The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker. Both races are heavily implied to have descended respectively from the Zoras and the Kokiri due to the ancestors of Medli and Makar (Laruto and Fado) being of those races. This would seem to indicate that the Zoras and the Kokiri evolved at some point following the Great Flood into the Rito and the Koroks. With such drastic evolutions occurring in that timeline, it makes it plausible that the different races of Hyrule could have evolved into humanoid figures as well, or possibly integrated into Hylian society like the Gerudo. Four of the Seven Sages (Rauru, Impa, Nabooru, and Princess Zelda) were all humanoid, making it very easy for their races to integrate into the Hylian race over time. The others, as stated before, could have either evolved or also merged into the Hylian race over time as well. These explanations could account for the descendants of the Seven Sages being the Seven Maidens, who all appear human.

The more likely case scenario however is that the Sages referred to in A Link to the Past are the Ancient Sages seen in Twilight Princess. We are told that the Sages were all "wise men" originally and visually in the mural shown in ALttP's opening. It is also most likely that the Ancient Sages are the spiritual counterparts to the physical Sages seen in the other timeline. This would mean that the spectral Ancient Sages (originally human beings and most likely the very first group of Sages) are the source of power for any succeeding Sages and would thus imply that the Ancient Sages were the power source for the Sages seen in Ocarina of Time. This being said, this would explain the Sages being "wise men" and would still be in keeping with them being a part of the Sages seen in Ocarina of Time.

Arbiter's Grounds
Another error includes that Ganondorf was executed at the Arbiter's Grounds. Since they were not present during Ocarina of Time, it is a popular theory that the grounds were in fact the Gerudo Spirit Temple-turned Hylian prison. If this is true, the temple must have been completely renovated and restructured for the Hylians' needs before Ganon was executed, which would fit given that Eiji Aonuma has stated that Ganondorf was not actually executed until several years after his failed attack on the Hyrulean capital. A Hylian invasion is a very convincing reason as to why Gerudo can not be found in Twilight Princess; they were either killed, assimilated into the humanoid races, or driven out of Hyrule.