In its passing, however, the lore was often distorted or lost altogether

If it were only a symbol of the Goddesses, the Triforce would be coveted by many. But a particular verse from the Book of Mudora made the Triforce even more desirable:

"In a realm beyond sight,
The sky shines gold, not blue.
There, the Triforce's might
Makes mortal dreams come true."

Many aggressively searched for the wish-granting Triforce, but no one, not even the Hylian sages, was sure of its location; the knowledge had simply been lost over time. Some said the Triforce lay under the desert, others claimed that it was in the cemetery in the shadow of Death Mountain, but no one ever found it. That yearning for the Triforce soon turned to lust for power, which in turn led to the spilling of blood. Soon the only motive left among those searching for the Triforce was pure greed. To protect the Triforce from such a person, a great sage named Rauru took it upon himself to build the Temple of Light to safeguard the entrance to the Sacred Realm. Using a few magical items, he made a large and complex seal that could only be opened by one who was worthy enough to receive the relic.

Rauru's efforts may have been noble, but centuries later they would prove to be not quite as infallibe as originally thought... As the kingdom of Hyrule - at this time united as a single country - entered into a bright age, the sovereign King of Hyrule led his subjects fairly and just, the Triforce in his possession to ensure peace was maintained. As all ultimately do, however, this king one day died. His youthful son, the prince, who should have become king and inherited everything his sovereignty should offer as Hyrule's monarch, could only inherit part of the Triforce. The prince search far and wide for the missing parts, but could not find them. It was then that a magician formerly close to the King brought him some unexpected news.

Before he died, it seemed the late King had spoken something about the Triforce to only the younger sister of the prince, a young Princess Zelda I. The prince immediately questioned the defiant princess, but she would tell him nothing. After the prince, the magician threatened to put the princess into an eternal sleep if she did not talk. Even still, she stood her ground before her brother, saying nothing.
In his anger, the magician tried to cast a magic spell on the princess. The surprised prince tried to stop him, but the magician fought off the prince and continued casting the spell. Then, when the spell was finally cast, Princess Zelda fell on that spot and entered a sleep from which she might never awake. At the same time, the magician also fell down and breathed his last.
In his grief, the prince placed the princess in a room in the castle. He hoped that someday she would come back to consciousness. So that this tragedy would never be forgotten, he thus decreed that every female child born into the royal household shall be given the name "Zelda."
It is with this tale of the sleeping princess, Princess Zelda the First, that "The Legend of Zelda" is written, recounted and told for eras to come in Hyrule.
Tears after the Legend of Zelda faded into the stuff of Hyrulean legend, in the blowing sand and the harsh climate of the desert, the cunning King of the Gerudo Thieves, Ganondorf Dragmire, found the way to break the mystic seal of Rauru.

He discovered he would need three sacred stones - one held by the Kokiri, one by the Goron, and one by the Zora. He then would require the magical Ocarina of Time to open the seal, which was held by a member of the royal family. Climbing upon his black Gerudo steed, Ganondorf went to each of the tribes and attempted to get their stones by destroying them - he poisoned the Kokiri's guardian tree, he infested the cave which held the Goron's food source with monsters, and he made the protective deity of the Zora, Lord Jabu-Jabu, go mad and swallow the daughter of King Zora XVI, Princess Ruto. He then went to hold an audience with the King of Hyrule, in an attempt to find which royal family member had the Ocarina. Ganondorf knew that it was only a matter of time before he had all the pieces to his plan complete.
Time, however, definitely did not seem on Ganondorf's side...

Meanwhile, in the middle of an ensuing war in Hyrule, an exhausted Hylian woman entrusted her infant to the Deku Tree in Kokiri Forest before dying. Named Link - Link the First - the boy was raised as one of the enigmatic elven Kokiri without any knowledge of his parents (as it is known, Kokiri have no parents). Even by age 10 he was still unlike all the other Kokiri - they all had faerie guardians. All except Link. One night, he had a nightmare that would haunt his dreams for many months - during a rainy night, in front of a magnificent castle, a young girl would be riding away on horse in the arms of a woman. She would give Link a stare of helplessness, and looked like she needed to say something. Behind them rode an evil-looking man with green skin in black armor. He would frighten Link, who would stir and awake uneasily.
One night, after his dreams, a faerie came to Link. Her name was Navi, and she told him that the Great Deku Tree, the guardian of the Kokiri, needed his help. Link went to the Tree, who explained to Link he was cursed. Upon entering the Tree, Link vanquished the source of the curse. But the Deku Tree was nearly gone.
Giving Link a green gem, he told Link with his dying breath to visit the Princess of Destiny in Hyrule Castle. Negating the myth that a Kokiri would die if they were to leave the village, Link departed with Deku Shield and Kokiri Sword in-hand, to the reluctance of his childhood companion Saria.
After a short journey, Link and Navi found the Princess - Princess Zelda II, the first known descendant of the Zelda put into an enchanted sleep - and the girl from Link's dream. She told Link of the evil man from his dream, who wanted the Triforce. She told Link the only way to stop him was to find the other two Spiritual Stones and with her Ocarina of Time, open the door to the Golden Land in the Temple of Time.
After traveling and curing the curses of the Goron and the Zora, Link brought the stones to the castle. But, just like in Link's dream the man in black armor was chasing Princess Zelda in the arms of her nursemaid Impa on a horse. Zelda threw the Ocarina of Time to Link, who caught it and fled to the Temple of Time. There, he played the Song of Time, which opened the gate to a bleak Hyrule seven years into the future. As fate would have it, the evil man tricked the young hero, and he stole the Triforce from the Golden Land before the lad could enter.
The name of this king of thieves is Ganondorf Dragmire, but he is known by his alias, Mandrag Ganon, which means "Ganon of the Enchanted Thieves."
Then, the whole world as Link knew it, ended. It is not known what Ganondorf Dragmire wished for from the Triforce. However, in time evil power began to emanate from the Golden Land and greedy men were drawn there to become members of Ganon's army. Black clouds permanently darkened the sky, and many disasters beset Hyrule. The lord of Hyrule sent for the Knights of Hyrule, summoning them for an audience before ordering the warriors to seal the entrance to the Golden Land.

The power of Ganondorf Dragmire's power was just too great, and he swiftly took over the land of Hyrule. The Triforce, being an inanimate object, cannot judge between good and evil. Therefore, it could not know that Ganondorf's wishes were evil; it merely granted them.

Evil things beset the land of Hyrule in short order, and the leaders of the six races tried to prevent the ongoing war. Their efforts, however, were unfortunately also in vain.
Seven years after Ganondorf first touched the Triforce Link awakened in the Temple of Light. Rauru, who had built the Temple, explained to Link of the evil that occurred. Rauru was only one of seven sages who would, if brought together, seal Ganon in the Golden Land. Link found five more - Saria the Kokiri, Darunia the Goron, Ruto the Zora, Impa the Shiekah, and Nabooru the Gerudo - all of whom became sages.
Princess Zelda II, who remained in the disguise of a boy under the name "Sheik" for the past seven years, was to be the seventh.

When Link finally found Zelda - along the way befriending the horse Epona, with whom he rode and traversed the land no longer by foot alone and pulled the legendary Master Sword (also known as the "Sword of Evil's Bane" and the "Magical Sword") from its stone sheath in the Lost Woods - it was revealed the Triforce had split due to Ganondorf's corruption. He held the Triforce of Power, Zelda II held the Triforce of Wisdom, and Link himself held the Triforce of Courage.

Upon hearing of this, Ganondorf was quick to kidnap Zelda and challenge Link to face him.
Link took the full brunt of the fierce attack, and although he fought courageously, at some points he nearly lost. However, his efforts were not in vain, for Ganondorf was slain by Link's sword. Upon escaping his crumbling tower, Ganondorf arose, and, using the power of his Triforce he turned himself into the Prince of Darkness, Ganon. Battling Ganon seemed futile, but he bought precious time for the Seven Sages to magically seal Ganon in the Sacred Realm (more commonly known as The Golden Land, or Land of the Golden Power). All of Hyrule rejoiced at the victory that upheld peace and order over Ganon's evil and chaos.
Link was returned to his land, in his time seven years before, a young boy once more riding Epona back toward Kokiri Forest. This epic war, which had claimed many lives, became known as the "Imprisoning War" in stories told in later centuries Link I , without even having time to savor his victory over Ganon in the Imprisoning War, found he must tend to the plight of Talmina. The kingdom of Hyrule had been peaceful and in a state of rebuilding after Ganondorf's dark reign. Returning just a few months after his time travel adventures, young Link I, Hero of Time, rode home on the back of his trusty (and equally young) horse, Epona. As he cautiously made his way through the foggy, dark woods of the home he had returned to in Kokiri Forest, two faeries appeared out of nowhere.

Startled by the quick-moving, glowing creatures, Epona reared up and sent Link flying to the ground. As Link lay unconscious, a third stranger appeared out of the mist: a mask-wearing impish Skull Kid by the name of Stalkid. Looking for valuables, Stalkid soon found Link's Ocarina of Time, took it, and made his escape on Epona.

Link, of course, quickly followed and soon came upon a doorway in a large tree. He slowly stepped inside - and fell into a bottomless pit that transported him into a weird, yet oddly familiar world full of familiar faces. But while the landscape may have looked familiar, one thing was clearly different: In the sky above loomed a gigantic moon, slowly descending onto this world...

"In a few more days, this world will end," so spoke those living there. Even as they waited, time passed mercilessly. "If you can find the masked one, you may find a clue to saving this realm."

And so Link embarked on a new adventure to halt the setting of the moon on this strange world and to find his way back to his own land.

Link must stop the catastrophe in the new world, or at least return to his own world. The world he found himself trapped in (called Talmina), as Link learned, existed in a parallel dimension. The passage of time seemed a factor from the start - Link was aware that if he spent too much time in the other world, the moon would impact the planet to apocalyptic result. Without the help of the faerie Navi, Link joined up with the brother and sister faeries Trail and Chat that had startled Epona at the beginning of his quest (who consistently would warn Link of Stalkid's recurring presence), then set out on his new journey.
The new key element of Link I's second adventure was the newfound ability to transform into new characters by wearing the different masks. By donning a variety of masks, Link assumed the form of a Goron, a Zora, and even a Deku Scrub.
Each of these fantastic forms had its own abilities, as one would expect. In Goron form, for example, Link could roll up into a ball for some wild Goron rolling. When it cane time to make music (a key piece to the puzzle), the Goron Link whipped out a set of bongos and started to beat them repeatedly. As a Zora, Link gained fantastic swimming abilities, and in the musical department, he could play an aquatic guitar as if second nature. Although becoming a Deku Scrub sounded rather undesirable to Link, in this form Link could hover like a helicopter and play an quintet's share of horns.

It is in each of these forms that Link explored different worlds full of danger and wonder anew. He made a great many new friends and battled an all-new army of enemies along the way until his confrontation with Stalkid. When it was revealed that Stalkid was actually good-hearted and that it was the Mask of Majora he wore (stolen from the Mask Maker in Hyrule) that was evil, the Mask of Majora itself had to be confronted. In the aftermath, Link I returned to his homeland of Hyrule, his second victory then behind him as he returned Majora's Mask to the Mask Maker, its rightful owner.
Many centuries have passed since the Imprisoning War and the exploits of the Hero of Time across the lands of both Hyrule and the realm of Talmina alike. The kingdom of Hyrule healed its wounds and the people lived in peace for a long time, a new era of peace dawning. Memories of the vicious Imprisoning War faded over the generations...

So it is no surprise that no one was prepared for the new disasters that had recently struck Hyrule. Pestilence and drought, uncontrollable even by magic, ravaged the land. The King of Hyrule, after council with his sages, ordered an investigation of the imprisoned Golden Land, which was now appropriately called the "Dark World" under the twisted dominon of Ganon, but the Seven Sages' seal was apparently intact. He offered rewards for anyone who could find the source of these troubles. In answer to these summons a stranger named Agahnim came and quelled the disasters with a previously unseen form of magic. As a reward, the King gave him a new position as chief advisor and heir to the Seven masses proclaimed him their hero.

Peace had returned to Hyrule... or had it truly? To the ignorance of all, Agahnim was but a puppet figure, Ganon pulling the strings from the Dark World. Agahnim moved quickly - he secretly murdered the King, took over and isolated himself in Hyrule Castle, took control by way of his magic the Knights of Hyrule, and ruled the entirety of the kingdom as a shadow sovereign and monarch... but no one outside the castle knew of it.

Agahnim didn't stop there - he then carried out his plot to magically banish all the descendants of the Seven Sages to the Dark World, so that the lifeblood of the Sages would no longer be in Hyrule, and the seal placed on the Dark World would be rendered broken. After Agahnim was finished sending six of the seven descendants, Zelda III, the late King's daughter and princess of Hyrule as well as the final descendant, sent out a telepathic message to Link, a descendant of the Hero of Time.
Sixteen year-old Link II, his parents having been gone years and presumed deceased since being banished into the Dark World by Ganon because they were descendants of the Knights of Hyrule, heard the plea in his sleep. He awakened to see his Uncle with the family's sword and shield, preparing to set out into the night. He told Link not to leave the house until morning, for he had heard the plea as well as Link.

Link, knowing the plea was for him and not his Uncle, waited a while and left towards the gates of Hyrule Castle, where Princess Zelda III was imprisoned.

In the castle, taking a "back door," Link found his Uncle seriously wounded. He didn't want Link involved, but knew the telepathic message was meant for his nephew. He briefly explained how to use the sword and shield before giving them to Link, passing away shortly thereafter. Arming himself with them, he found Zelda locked in the dungeons of the castle. He took her to the nearby Sanctuary, a temple where she would be safe in the care of a sage.
At the Sanctuary, Zelda expressed her belief that Link II was "the legendary hero who appears in Hyrule once every hundred years," while the sage explained that the only weapon that could slay Agahnim was the Master Sword, the weapon that the original Link used against Ganon during the Imprisoning War.

Successfully tracking the recluse down, the wise man Link soon met in the desert named Sahasrahla further explained that to claim and wield the Master Sword, hidden for centuries now in the depths of the maddening Lost Woods, he would require three enchanted pendants before anything.
As it became clear to Link, one pendant was hidden in each of Hyrule's three dungeons - the Eastern Palace, the Desert Palace, and the Tower of Hera.
Setting out, Link was quick to obtain these pendants, champion their respective labyrinths/dungeons, and systematically slay their guardians.

After Link recovered the pendants he made haste to the Lost Woods and retrieved the Master Sword ("The Sword of Evil's Bane"), and with the power of the pendants, wrenched the blade from its stone.
It was after he withdrew the sword that he got the grim telepathic message from Zelda. She had been found by Agahnim's minions and had been recaptured. Link raced to the castle only in time to see Agahnim send her to the Dark World, fully breaking the Sages' seal. Link then battled Agahnim by using the Master Sword to reflect Agahnim's black magic. But before Link could defeat him, Agahnim banished Link to the Dark World.

Once in the Dark World, Link got a telepathic message from Sahasrahla. Sahasrahla told Link that the seven descendants were in crystal cocoons in seven dungeons. To stop Ganon from returning from the Dark World to conquer Hyrule, Link set out to find all of the descendants.

Link traveled to all the dungeons and, after many a hard battle, he finally found Zelda in the final Dark World dungeon. After rescuing all the descendants, Link went to Ganon's Tower atop Death Mountain. In the Tower he battled Agahnim again, only this time he struck Aganhim down, who was revealed at last as Ganon. Ganon changed himself into a bat and flew off to the Pyramid of Power, where Ganon kept the Triforce. Link did not give up, and followed the Prince of Darkness.
It was within the walls of the ominous Pyramid that Link did his final duel with Ganon. With the combined effort of the Master Sword and his Silver Arrows, Ganon was defeated.

Touching the Triforce with a wish of goodness in his heart, all evil was vanquished from the Dark and Light Worlds alike and the Dark World was returned to its former state of being as the Sacred Realm/Golden Land. Upon returning the Triforce to Hyrule, he found the King of Hyrule and his Uncle had returned to life, and peace had wholly returned to the kingdom.
Not long after his return, however, the King of Hyrule stepped down from the throne, turning it over to his daughter, the newly-crowned Queen Zelda III. As one of her first tasks after ascending the throne, Zelda knighted Link, appointing him Master of the Knights of Hyrule.

Soon, as a final task, Link returned the Master Sword to its former place of resting in the Lost Woods.

While Hyrule was at peace, however, other lands would soon need Link's help...
After his first great victory, defeating Ganon and returning things to order in all of his beloved Hyrule, Link II set out on a lone mission of training, to hone his skills, sharpen his wits and master techniques of battle from around the world.
Presumably leaving his leadership of the Knights of Hyrule in the hands of another while he was to be away, Link sailed to foreign lands where he disciplined his mind and body alike. When he at last he felt ready to return to Hyrule, he bought a small sailboat and headed across the Great Hyrulean Sea. The journey ended abruptly in a storm that crushed and sank Link's ship.

Clinging to a piece of flotsam, the hero of Hyrule floated toward a mysterious tropical shore, unconscious and barely alive.

When Link washed up on the beach of a mysterious island, he had no energy to stand or cry for help. Through half-closed eyes, he gazed out on a tropical forest with a tall volcano's stunted peak visible in the distance, and he thought it was odd that the volcano was topped by a giant, spotted egg.

At one point, it seemed to him that Queen Zelda III herself was speaking to him and that he was in a soft bed. At times, he thought he was caught in a bizarre dream.
Indeed, Link awoke in a soft bed, but the young woman who tended him was not Zelda, but a young girl by the name of Marin. She had found him and brought him home to heal. From Tarin, Marin's father, he learned that evil creatures had appeared shortly after his arrival. Then, when Link returned to the beach to retrieve his sword, an old, wizened owl flapped down beside him and told him the strangest story he'd ever heard. According to the wise old bird, Link was the hero who had come to wake the Wind Fish, and he couldn't leave until that task had been done. In the adventures that would inevitably follow, the lot of them taking Link to every corner of the island, Link learned that Koholint Island existed only in the dreams of the Wind Fish... and he was a part of that dream.

According to a wise old owl that would frequently provide him with helpful information, Link had to collect 8 Instrument of the Sirens from the Nightmares. Link collected the Cello from the Tail Cave, The Conch Horn from the Bottle Grotto, the Sea Lily Bell from the Key Cavern, the Surf Harp from Angler's Cave, the Marimba from Catfish's Maw, the Coral Triangle from the Face Shrine, the Organ of Evening Calm from the Eagle's Tower, and the Thunder Drum from Turtle Rock.
After collecting all the Instruments, Link sought out the Egg on top of the volcano on Mount Tamaranch. Once there he played the Ocarina, using a song Marin taught him, and a hole opened in the egg. Link went in side and found a maze. After correctly going through the maze Link dropped into a room where he found the Evil Shadows. Link fought each of the shadows with out having any respite between battles. After Link defeated the Evil Shadows he climbed the stairway up to a platform, where he met the Wind Fish and he played the Song of Awakening again. After playing the song the island disappeared and Link woke up on a piece of driftwood. Link then looked up after hearing a sound and he saw the Wind Fish flying away.

Knowing his friends he had met on his journey were gone, alive now only in memory, Link's victory was a sad one...

"To the Finder. . .
The Isle of Koholint is but an illusion. . .
Human, Monster, Sea, Sky. . .
A scene on the lid of the sleeper's eye. . .
Awake the dreamer, and Koholint will vanish much like a bubble on a needle. . .
Cast-away, you should know the truth!"-
-Plaque on the Wall of the Southern Shrine

Some say it never existed. Others say that it was but an illusion. The island of Koholint... was it a dream or reality? In this essay we will discover the secrets of Koholint and the mystery of its disappearance.

Link II, descendant of the Hero of Time and Master of the Knights of Hyrule following his battle with Ganon, went a voyage around the world to increase his wisdom, courage, and power. However, a storm tossed his ship and lighting destroyed it deep within the Great Hyrulean Sea. He grabbed a piece of his ship and hoped for the best.

He awoke in the bed of a beautiful girl. She discovered him on the shore of the island, the island of Koholint. This was no normal island, for a giant egg lay atop the tallest mountain. The Hero enjoyed the company of the girl, Marin, but knew he had to return home and fulfill his duties as the Legendary Hero of Hyrule. But he could not leave the island by normal means. He had to collect the Eight Instruments of the Sirens, hidden in eight dungeons all around Koholint, and play them in front of the egg. Inside, the Wind Fish would awake and allow him to go home.

As Link II traveled around the island, collecting the instruments, he soon discovered Koholint was not the island he believed. Clues, such as the plaque in the Southern Shrine, proved his theory - that Koholint would disappear forever if he awoke the Wind Fish. But he had no choice.

Link awoke the fish, and the island disappeared. But what if he didn't? What if he just let the Wind Fish sleep and he lived with Marin forever?

He could not, due to events in Koholint's past. While the Wind Fish slept, an evil creature called The Shadow entered the dream. At first, it took over the inside of the giant egg. Then The Shadow sent its eight strongest minions, the Nightmares, to guard the instruments in the dungeons so no one could wake up the Wind Fish. The Shadow placed weaker minions inside the dungeons to help the Nightmares. Then it started to place its minions on the overworld.

That is when Link II arrived.

The Shadow began to place more of its creatures to destroy the Hero, because The Shadow knew that Link had the potential to destroy itself. Nevertheless, Link destroyed the Nightmares, collected the instruments, and destroyed The Shadow. He then awoke the Wind Fish, which destroyed the island.

Some say it was a tragedy that Link awoke the Wind Fish. But what would happen if he didn't? It was obvious that The Shadow had been building up its power. Sooner or later, The Shadow would have amassed enough power to send his minions to take over the island's two villages. Even a Legendary Hero cannot hold back endless amounts of monsters. Koholint would have been overrun, and ruled by The Shadow with an iron fist.

Link destroyed The Shadow and the island, but he saved it from a fate far worse than death. So in the end, he was still a hero.

One last note before the end of this essay. At the end of Link's Awakening, if beaten with no lives lost, you can see Marin flying off the island with wings. Her dream was to fly like a seagull, and she wished this wish to the Wind Fish before he awoke. Perhaps, this can be taken as a sign that the piece of the island Link held most dear was preserved.
Some time after Link II had set sail once more after the bitter resolution of the nightmare that had been his Koholint debacle, the hero of both Hyrule and Koholint found himself presented with a new dillemma. Perhaps afraid to chance again the Great Hyrulean Sea - the same sea that had nearly claimed him - it was not Hyrule he returned to. By chance or by fate, Link ventured to the land of Calatia, a kingdom to the west of central Hyrule not too unlike his homeland.

After Link II settled and eventually passed away in Calatia, the years began to pass with increasing pace. A woman by the name of Medila, wife of Arn, one of Link II's blood-descendants, gave birth to their first child. By simple coincidence or fate, this child was named "Link," the third known to bear the name in Hyrulean history.

As he grew to adolescence, Link III quickly became known in Calatia as a courageous young man who was more than skilled enough in the ways of swordplay. It seemed inevitable when the young man one day began to yearn for fame, fortune, and romance, and left Calatia to search for adventure elsewhere.

He wouldn't have to go far to find it.

After a short journey, Link arrived in the neighboring land of Hyrule, and while searching for signs of adventure he took notice of an old woman surrounded by evil minions. Links felt compelled to assist the woman, and ran towards the villainous monsters, hoping he could defeat them and help the woman.

To the gratitude of the elderly woman, Link did well to ward the monsters off. She introduced herself as Impa, a descendant of the ancient Shiekah and the original Impa. Then she told Link the woeful tale of Hyrule and Princess Zelda IV.

Link had almost thought his short adventure was over. He had no way of knowing this was to be only just the beginning... Hyrule had declined, becoming a rustic land with few remaining signs of its earlier glory and splendor. The land was overrun, and Ganon was to blame. At the heart of the conflict lay a missing piece of the Triforce and Zelda. Of how Ganon came by the Triforce of Power no tale is told. When she discovered that Ganon had acquired a piece of the Triforce, though, Zelda broke the Triforce of Wisdom into eight pieces and hid them. She knew a hero was needed to challenge Ganon, so she sent her nurse, Impa, to search throughout the land, even as Zelda IV herself was captured.

During her quest, Impa long evaded Ganon's reach, but in a forest glade she too fell into his clutches and would have been carried off if it not for the heroic actions of a passing youth named Link, the third to bear the name. Once the villains had been driven away, Impa told the young man about Zelda's secret. Then, unable to hold back her tears, she told him how Zelda had been taken captive. No sooner had Link heard the tale of Zelda's sorrow than he pledged to defeat Ganon and rescue the Princess. He set off at once, knowing only that he had to collect the eight pieces of the Triforce of Wisdom. At every turn in the path he met monsters and other evil soldiers of Ganon who challenged him in battle.

As Link began to tire, he tried a last, desperate strategy, putting the Silver Arrow to the test. The bowstring sang and the arrow flew straight. Ganon was destroyed. With the defeat of Ganon, Link's mind turned to the purpose that had driven him here - the rescue of Princess Zelda IV.

One chamber remained to be explored and Link went ahead. Here Zelda greeted him and the pieces of the Triforces of Power and Wisdom were reunited.

With the destruction of Ganon and the power of the Triforce restored, peace reigned once more in Hyrule. Princess Zelda ruled over the land beside her father, and the country prospered. It seemed as if the shadow of Ganon had been destroyed forever. But the youthful hero of the age remained ever vigilant. Wherever Link roamed, he looked for signs of Ganon's return, for he could not believe that he had truly banished evil from the land.

Two years after Link III's first adventure through Hyrule, Princess Zelda IV still ruled the kingdom of Hyrule beside her father, King Harkinian, and things seemed to be at ease from within... yet evil still loomed over the land from without. Hyrule seemed fast on the road to ruin. The power that the vile heart of Ganon had left behind was causing chaos and disorder in Hyrule. What's more, even after the fall of Ganon, many of his underlings remained, awaiting their master's return.
Link III, who had remained in Hyrule to lend his hand to its restoration in this time of healing, found that circumstances did not look good. Link III was destined to become a hero still, but in the peaceful days that ensued, he would ultimately grow restless.

He wandered the forests, crossed the deserts and delved into the caverns of Hyrule, looking for any clues that might explain his feelings of unease. In time he became aware of a whisper that passed between the birds, beasts, and even through the blades of grass: there was a new magic in the land, nameless and terrifying.

One day, a strange mark, exactly akin to the crest of the kingdom, appeared on the back of Link's hand as he approached his 16th birthday. The worried Link went to Impa, who was shocked and frightened when she took notice of the birthmark.

Taking him to the North Palace, Link was led to a door within called "the door that does not open," a door that would open upon contact with the birthmark on Link's hand. As Link III unlocked and opened this mysterious door, Impa immediately told Link at last the Legend of Zelda; how the sister of an ancient prince - Zelda - withheld the Triforce from him, was placed into an enchanted, timeless slumber by the prince's magician, and how this woeful princeful decreed every female child born into the royal household was decreed to be given the name "Zelda."

Lying as still as marble, the original mythical Princess Zelda I from ages before slept her dreamless sleep of enchantment within the room before them, just as the Legend said she would be.

When Link found her thus arrayed in the North Palace, he saw at once that she was spellbound indeed. Link III's mission seemed clear enough from the beginning. By refusing to reveal the secret power of the Triforce to a magician, this Princess Zelda had brought on her own downfall. But all was not lost.

If Link III somehow unlocked the mystery of the Great Palace, he could save this ancient Zelda and the newly-realized Triforce of Courage Impa spoke of. He set off.
Again Link found himself taking to the fields and forests, but these places had become wild and dangerous, inhabited by enemies of old. Link found himself relying on his wits and swordplay at every step.

Creatures he had never before seen also waylaid him: spiders called Deelers that dropped from trees, tall Geldarms that rose from the sands of the Tantari Desert, and Daira armed with axes and hatred.

Link's mission was to enter each of six palaces and restore a missing crystal to its proper statue. Together, the statues created a magical lock on the Great Palace and only by replacing the six crystals could Link open the final door. In each palace, however, he had to battle a Statue Guardian of great strength: Barba the Dragon, Ironknuckle the Knight, Carock the Wizard, and others

As he closed the palaces one by one, Link crossed nearly the entire expanse of Hyrule, from Ruto in the northwest to Death Mountain in the south, from the Island Palace in the Stormy Straights to Maze Island in the Far Eastern Sea. He helped villagers when he could, but he never lost sight of his ultimate goal. Finally, after uncovering the secrets of Old Kasuto, Link pushed on to the Great Palace where he encountered what he thought to be the final obstacle in his quest - the Thunderbird. Once the Thunderbird was vanquished, Link thought that Zelda I and Hyrule would be saved, but it was not to be... not yet.
Exhausted from his journeying, Link had one more enemy to defeat - an enemy so unexpected that he did not know what to do, for the enemy was his own self... his own shadow Link III defeated his own Shadow and awoke the original Princess Zelda I from her seemingly eternal sleep. But it would seem that evil was not entirely banished from Hyrule for suddenly, without warning, Ganon, the Prince of Darkness, returned to Hyrule.

Previously it was thought that only the blood of the hero who killed Ganon could revive him. It became known, however, that Ganon can revive himself and any other of his monster minions from the "Evil Jar" (the otherworldly place where all the dead monsters go) if he isn't slain by a silver arrow. It seems that one of Ganon's minions discovered this after Link III's quest to awaken the original Princess Zelda from her enchanted slumber and recover the Triforce of Courage, and helped Ganon revive himself.

Although he was not restored to all of his original power, Ganon got his hands on the Triforce of Power again, which had been bestowed to the people of Hyrule as a sign of goodwill. Link III and Zelda IV, the same Zelda he rescued from the clutches of Ganon on his original quest, knew that Hyrule would not be at peace with Ganon still alive, for Ganon still yearned for the dominion of the land of Hyrule.

Soon Ganon would throw clever plan after clever plan at Link and Zelda, but the hero and the Princess never gave in. Link and Zelda foiled every plot at dangerous lengths to defeat Ganon. However, they were helped along the way. The faerie princess, Spryte; the mysterious Sing, with her pet unicorn; Bagu, Hyrule's strongest man; Impa, Zelda's ever-loyal, yet aging nursemaid, just to name a few of the illustrious people who helped Link, Zelda, and Zelda's father, King Harkinian. Throughout their various adventures, Zelda trained under Link, becoming somewhat skilled in the ways of battle.

At every chance he got, Ganon tried to capture the Triforce of Wisdom. Link and Zelda, at every chance they got, tried to reclaim the Triforce of Power. The Triforce of Courage dwelt in Link's heart since his last journey, and was the secret of his greatest power. At one point, Link was even tempted over the edge of corruption by Ganon and the temptation of the Triforce of Power, causing him to turn against Zelda until he could break the hold the corruption had over his psyche.

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Ganon and his minions had seized the peaceful island of Kordai and imprisoned Princess Zelda IV for the second time. It was written, "only Link can defeat Ganon." To do so, he must conquer the hideous Faces of Evil... each one more diabolical than the last. Against all odds, Zelda was to be freed and Koridai returned to harmony.

Taking for granted his adventuresome exploits of late, Link III grew bored. He complained to King Harkinian, who spoke that a land of rest and peace is good for the people. Fortunately for Link, the spoken of peace wouldn't last for long.

In an often repeated modus operandi, Ganon came out of hiding and once again captured Zelda. Now, Link had to use his turbo carpet to recapture Zelda and crush Ganon. Going through Fire Dairas, Abominams, traversing Crater Cove, and obtaining a "powersword," he did so and became the hero of the Koridai. King Harkinian traveled to the land of Gamelon to unite and join forces with Duke Onkled against the stirring Ganon. A month passed with no word, so the heroic Link went after the King... and also disappeared.

Princess Zelda did the only thing she could - she went after them. The damsel in distress princess no longer, she made the decision to take the fight to the enemy. A good place to start seemed to be "Sakado." The enemies on the street of this town seemed pretty easy to kill with her sword, and the rupees they yield could be used as money at the local shop. It seemed clear from the beginning - she would have to find the whispered-of Wand of Gamelon... it was her best bet against Ganon.

After going through Tygoki Tower and Kobitan, among other locales, Zelda made her way to the Shrine of Gamelon. Retrieving the Wand of Gamelon after slaying its werewolf guardian, utilizing her new Goriya and the "powersword" of her own she acquired at Tygoki, Princess Zelda's quest would ultimately lead her to Reesong Palace. Using her purple magic cloak when necessary and boomerang, she eventually came face to face with Ganon, using the Wand of Gamelon against him to great effectiveness.

Evading the Prince of Darkness, she made her way up a chain until she found and rescued her father, King Harkinian. Princess Zelda IV, the taste of adventure now in her blood from her recent solo outing, once again must set out upon news that Ganon - the dark being's Gerudo-thievery heritage resurfacing, no doubt - had stolen not only the seven sacred "Heaven signs," but abducted his hated enemy, Link. Gathering her wits and weapons, Zelda set off again.

The adventure started with Gaspra, the noble stars-scientist of the palace. This evening he had got to do something better than looking through a big telescope. Thence, Gaspra had to help Shurmak in helping Princess Zelda in her efforts to save Link and save the world from a dark future.
The first goal of Zelda was to find a whispered-of magical rod, to be able to vanquish her enemies with ease. Her ultimate goal seemed obvious: find the seven Heavensigns and defeat Ganon.

Journeying across the land once more Zelda did just that, rescuing Link and becoming the heroine for the second time. Despite all these adventures, Link III's struggle with Ganon did not conclude. In fact, it continued still...

Time for rest and relaxation for the battle-weary Link III was not to be had. Princess Zelda IV, responsible for managing the four seasons of the Land of Hyrule, and the Triforce of Power, have both been taken by Ganon and his minions. Link learned of this and set out to save the Princess once again.
Ganon, however, learned of Link's quest and split the Triforce into eight pieces (as Zelda had before with the Triforce of Wisdom in Link's original quest), and scattered them throughout the land of Hyrule. In addition, the Rod of the Four Seasons (a device that controls the seasons), along with its hiding place in Hyrule Castle, were promptly whisked off to another dimension. As a result of this calamity, Hyrule's four seasons were thrown into chaos and the order of the seasons became jumbled. In order to save Princess Zelda and find the "Rod of the Four Seasons," Link knew he must travel back and forth between Hyrule and this alternate dimension, while receiving help from the spirits residing in the "Tree of Mystery" and also the strange "Uura Tribe" found in this other dimension.

Two beings that helped Link on his quest were soon introduced. The first was a kangaroo named Ricky. When Link climbed into Ricky's pouch, he was able to jump and, using a pair of boxing gloves, was able to punch out enemies. The other being was Maple, a woman who suddenly appeared flying on a broomstick and crashed into Link, bringing about various events in his quest.

Along with using various mystical acorns, the new item, the Rod of the Four Seasons, would be proven pivotal in solving a number of riddles along the way. Link rightly guessed the winter snow covered a secret entrance to a dungeon or two for which he'd need to alter the seasons to uncover it, to name just one example.
Throughout his quest to gather the shards of the Triforce of Power, Link found he was embarking on a journey that would require him to challenge mother nature and champion the laws of physics, wielding the four seasons of the year, understanding the significance of the infinite colors in the world of Hyrule and manipulating them, and even using time itself as a tool for the completion of his mission. He had to have Power, Wisdom, and Courage.
When Link III, having mastered then the four Seasons, Colors, and Time, reached the end of his long quest and once again stood face to face with the Prince of Darkness, Ganon couldn't stand against him. Slaying Ganon once again, Link rescued Princess Zelda and retrieved the entirety of the Triforce of Power.

Unless it truly ended here, no further tale is told on how either Ganon or Link III was conquered. Perhaps the two never ended their struggle, and Ganon survived to terrorize the next descendant of the Hero of Time in Link's bloodline. Until that tale is told, we may never know the ultimate fate of Hyrule...