The Legend of Zelda
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XI. The
Captive
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.
Link's first task was to find the hidden dungeons where Zelda had
secretly hidden the divided Triforce. Many of the entrances were
disguised, and only by using all of his wits and the scraps of
hints that he picked up along the way was he able to succeed.
Inside the dungeons, he met countless enemies, for Ganon's
minions had taken hold of even the most remote chambers.
After countless adventures along the way, cutting through endless
octoroks, moblins, leevers, and stalfos, Link gathered all eight
pieces of the Triforce of Wisdom from their eight respective
dungeons and pulled the legendary Master Sword, "The Sword
of Evil's Bane," (more commonly called "The Magical
Sword" in this era) once used by Link I and II from its
place of resting in the Lost Woods. He then scaled Death Mountain
and gained entrance to Spectacle Rock, where the final leg of his
journey lay. Ganon's great labyrinth - the ninth he had traversed
thus - dwarfed any that Link had yet encountered. In a hidden
chamber, he discovered a magical Silver Arrow and, taking the
prize, he traced his way through the maze until he came face-to-face
with Ganon himself. The battle between youthful hero and
villainous foe raged across the chamber, but Ganon remained
invisible, seemingly unaffected by the cuts of Link's sword.
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.