Ganon has an interesting habit of getting locked up in the strangest places. He's been doing it all his lives. He is sealed immediately prior to AlttP, tWW, and TP resealed by the conconclusions of OoT and FSA. Unfortunately, these varying imprisonments are immensely difficult to co-ordinate, and give birth to a number of Sealed Ganon Conflicts so frusteratingly confused that many theorists refuse to debate them. You've entered into timeline theory's darkest depths. Be wary!
Debate Basics
In general problems arrise when games appear to imply that "their" Ganon is enirely the same entity as a Ganon featured in a previous game, or in the complete opposite situation when a game manages to completely isolate its particular Bad Guy.
Shared Ganon
- Ocarina of Time was originally intended to show the origins of the the one and only Ganon, and detail his Sealing as originally described in AlttP.
- The Wind Waker was originally intended to describe the actions Ocarina of Time's Ganon took after being released from his Seal and finding no Hero to oppose him. It ends with Ganon's death.
- Twilight Princess may be intending to describe the actions Ocarina of Time's Ganon took after being released from his Seal to stand trial. It ends with Ganon's death.
- Attempting to reconcile these caonical points is extremely difficult
Isolated Ganon
- Four Swords Adventure inroduces what is undeniably a new incarnation of Ganondorf, and ends with this new Ganon sealed in the Foursword.
- Twilight Princess may be intending to describe a new Ganondorf, from his initial invasion of Hyrule, to his death.
- Attempting to place these games in without interfering with the lives of Ganon's other incarnations is very difficult.
Resulting Arguments
Could Hyrule ever recover from the flood?
This is a relatively new subject of debate, as far as timeline theorizing goes. Up until recently, it was almost universally accepted that OoT and ALttP were undeniably linked, with OoT perhaps serving as a retelling or "retconning" of the Seal War legend in ALttP. Upon TWW's release, however, this connection was largely put into doubt. After all, in TWW's ending, Hyrule is completely washed away, apparently for good. This led many to speculate that perhaps TWW is meant to be the last game in the timeline. This suggestion has largely been debunked, however, as TWW retains very strong ties to OoT (though connections to TP may also be present, unbeknownst to the general public). There is also Aonuma's word on the subject, who went on the record as saying TWW takes place hundreds of years after OoT, not mentioning other games.
With TWW separating OoT and ALttP, theorists came up with several suggestions. Some claimed the sea waters eventually receded, or the mountain tops came together, as evidenced by FSA's overworld map featuring a coast line not seen in either OoT or ALttP. Both of these theories are supported by a quote from the Deku Tree, which describes a "single island" realm as his biggest ambition, and the purpose for the spreading of the forests across the Sea. Another theory claims Link and Zelda succeeded in finding another land similar to the Hyrule of old, and called it Hyrule as well. Both of these theories have their fair share of criticism, however, as some find it unlikely that, whether the old Hyrule came back or a new one was founded, the locations and their names, geography, and the legends would all remain largely intact. As a result, these skeptics have either settled for leaving the issue alone until it's cleared up, or went with a Double Timeline that leaves TWW and PH as the last games in one timeline, with the rest of the games, including ALttP, in the other.
If indeed Hyrule is destined to rise again, it will not be readily apparent until at least PH. However, even that has been put into question, as Aonuma promises PH to be a side story of sorts, and will not really continue TWW's story. In fact, he has gone so far as to say PH may be the first of a sub-series on the Nintendo DS. So, if Nintendo does have plans to bring back Hyrule, it might not be for a while. Of course, we also heard word about a Four Swords sub-series in the planning for the DS, so this may be the beginning of that. Only time will tell.
Was ALttP's sealed in OoT?
Of all the tales spoken of in ALttP's manual, one of the most heavily scrutinized and debated is that of the Seal War. This legend tells of Ganondorf the Thief's accidental entry into the Sacred Realm, followed immediately by him laying claim to the Triforce, and becoming Ganon, the Demon King, which further resulted in transforming the Sacred Realm into the Dark World. The legend then goes on to relate Ganon's invasion of Hyrule (whether it was his minions, his evil power, or Ganon himself that invaded is still up for debate), to which the King of Hyrule responded by calling upon the Knights of Hyrule and the seven Sages. It is said the Knights perished during the invasion so as to give time to the Sages to cast a seal on the entrance to the Dark World, sealing Ganon within.
This legend, to many, bears an uncanny resemblance to the events of OoT, and not without reason. Sometime before OoT's release, an interview with several developers involved with the game's creation were quoted as saying OoT's story is not really original, and that it's meant to be a representation of ALttP's Seal War. Miyamoto also mentioned that Ganondorf in OoT is the same Ganon we see in ALttP. Though even back then some differences were apparent between the Seal War and OoT, it was universally agreed, at least as far as creator intentions went, that OoT was meant to be a retelling of ALttP's seal war at best. Even skeptics agreed that if anything, they at least drew much inspiration from that legend to create OoT's story.
During this time, before later arguments spawned by OoT's time travel mechanics, TWW's flood, and FSA's sealing of Ganon were brought up, it was easy to see why OoT made a great prequel to ALttP. OoT marked what seemed to be Ganondorf's first appearance and rise to power, as well as his sealing, during which he swears to exterminate the descendants of Link, Zelda, and the Sages, a clear allusion to ALttP. Another characteristic of OoT that suggests its status as a prequel was the prominence of the Hylian race throughout the game, which is said to have diminished by ALttP's time in said game. It also appeared to be the first time the Master Sword and the Triforce were laid hands on. The whole game, storyline-wise, seemed like an elaborate effort to set-up for ALttP. Any differences between the Seal War and OoT were chalked up to be due to the creators' creative freedom, and perhaps an effort to "retcon" the Seal War as the events of OoT.
However, a big problem with this connection, an increasingly large number of people argue, lies within those differences. Though the core result between both events is largely the same (Ganon is sealed in the Sacred Realm by seven Sages), the details sometimes don't match up; some even seem to contradict one another. An often-debated example deals with the Triforce. In ALttP's Seal War account, it is assumed Ganon gained the whole Triforce, though arguments have been made that suggest he may not have gotten it all at once. The description depicts him making a wish, but never says whether the wish was granted, just that evil power began flowing into Hyrule from the Golden Land. In OoT, he only gets the Triforce of Power (which he remains with until TWW, where he completes the Triforce, but does not get to wish on it). Then there is the actual battle against Ganon himself. In the Seal War, the Knights of Hyrule protected the Royal Palace, which is somewhat suggested to have happened while the Sages formed the seal, while in OoT, the Royal Palace has already been destroyed and replaced with Ganon's Tower by the time the Sages cast their seal. It could be argued, however the battle in which the Knights perished took place before Link awakened from his slumber. Lastly, there is the Master Sword, which is mentioned in ALttP's manual, but is never given to a hero, unlike in OoT. Given the Sageless retelling of OoT's events in the introduction to TWW, however, this may simply be shrugged off as a similarly incomplete retelling of the casting of the seal, especially given the lack of detail in general surrounding the sealing itself as portrayed in the manual.
Whether the OoT-ALttP connection holds water to this day is a subject of intense arguments that can last for days at a time. Skeptics of the connection rarely hesitate to bring up unmatching details between both accounts of the event to justify their views, with more conservative theorists defending it, stating that despite the differences, the Seal War and OoT are too similar to be different events. And that's not taking into account TWW and FSA, which have proven to add even greater headaches into the process of preserving the connection.
Was ALttP's Ganon sealed in FSA?
Curiously enough, the "Seal War" mentioned in ALttP's backstory is never referred to by name within the context of ALttP itself. While it has been generally accepted that the introduction of ALttP, which mentions the key events that surround the Seal War--1) the door to the Golden Land being discovered and opened; 2) evil power flowing from the Golden Land; 3) the door to the Golden Land being sealed--the references to the "war with the demons" (pure translation from the Japanese version) make no mention of the Golden Land, Triforce, or Ganon at all. They do, however, reference Seven Sages, magic portals to the Dark World, and the extermination of the Knights of Hyrule. There is some degree of contrast to be had, here, because the Seal War story mentions only one doorway to the Sacred Realm-turned-Dark World, while the demon war story mentions multiple magic portals.
A few theorists have decided that, since FSA includes these three elements--seven Maidens who can serve the purpose of sealing, portals to [a] Dark World, and the extermination of the Knights of Hyrule--FSA can actually assume the role of "demon war". Of course, how it is that Ganon makes his way from the Four Sword seal into the Golden Land to prepare for ALttP is a matter in question, but in a pre-ALttP placement of FSA, this is inevitable. It is important to note that those who believe that FSA represents the demon war do not believe that there was any additional war or Sages' Seal necessary for Ganon to be stuck in the Sacred Realm in ALttP, because the game itself says that after he rediscovered the Sacred Realm, he couldn't get back to the Light World.