Zelda: Difference between revisions

{{Hatnote|This page is about the princess. For the game, see  [[The Legend of Zelda]]. For the series, see [[The Legend of Zelda (Series)]].}}

Like in most games, Zelda is the princess of all of [[Hyrule]] in ''[[The Legend of Zelda]]''. When [[Ganon]] attacked Hyrule and took the [[Triforce of Power]] and led his army into Hyrule, Zelda took the [[Triforce of Wisdom]] and broke it into 8 [[Triforce Shard|pieces]] and told her servant, [[Impa]], to find someone with enough courage to find the pieces and use it to destroy Ganon; the evil king found out about this and imprisoned Zelda. While searching for this hero with courage, Impa gets surrounded by Ganon's minions. They circle in on her, when suddenly, Link comes and slays all the monsters. Impa tells Link of Zelda's plight, and Link goes off in search of the Triforce Shards. Eventually, [[Link]] assembles the Triforce of Wisdom, defeats Ganon, and saves the princess.

Even though ''[[Zelda II: The Adventure of Link|The Adventure of Link]]'' happens right after ''[[The Legend of Zelda]]'' and even has the same Link, the game has a very different Zelda. This Zelda sleeps in a chamber and cannot wake until someone finds the [[Triforce of Courage]] and brings it to her sleeping body.

A long time ago, the [[King of Hyrule]] died, and passed the [[Triforce]] down to his son, the next king. But, the Triforce was incomplete, missing a third of its power, the [[Triforce of Courage|Courage]]. A wizard told him that the only one who knew where it is was Princess Zelda; they questioned her, but she wouldn't say, so the wizard put her in an endless sleep. When the wizard died afterwards, the prince ordered every princess born in the [[Royal Family of Hyrule|Royal Family]] to be called Zelda, so the tragedy would never be forgotten, thus started the tradition to bestow this name upon her in every Zelda title.

Seven years later, Link appears on the [[Pedestal of Time]], all grown up and equipped with the Master Sword. Sheik appears before him, and tells him who he is, where the other sages are located, and where to get a useful item for the first dungeon. Sheik appears later in the game to teach Link the last 6 [[Ocarina Songs]] right before each dungeon: [[Minuet of Forest]], [[Bolero of Fire]], [[Serenade of Water]], [[Nocturne of Shadow]], [[Requiem of Spirit]], and [[Prelude of Light]] (the last one is not taught before a dungeon). Sheik appears several other times throughout the game: at the Temple of Time, after the [[Forest Temple (Ocarina of Time)|Forest Temple]], where he tells Link how to go back to the past,  how to fight beaten bosses again (3DS version), and teaches him the Prelude of Light; at [[Lake Hylia]], right after the [[Water Temple (Ocarina of Time)|Water Temple]], where he witnesses the lake's restoration and speaks with Link for a few seconds; and at [[Kakariko Village]], a bit after the Water Temple, where he tries to fight the Evil Spirit of [[Bongo Bongo]] sealed inside the [[Bottom of the Well|well]], and teaches Link the Nocturne of Shadows.

In this game, Zelda is not a princess, but a normal girl with a grave destiny. She is Link's closest friend and rides around on a [[Zelda's Loftwing|Blue Loftwing]]. Her father, [[Gaepora]], the headmaster of the Knight Academy, along with Instructors [[Instructor Owlan|Owlan]] and [[Instructor Horwell|Horwell]], chose her to act as the goddess in the [[Ceremony of the Goddess]] for the winner of the [[Wing Ceremony]], an annual race in which Link is competing. She sends a letter to Link on the day of the ceremony, asking him to visit her at the [[Statue of the Goddess]]. When he comes, she shows him her costume of the goddess and her new [[Goddess's Harp]]. After a conversation with Gaepora about Link's ceremony, Zelda throws Link off [[Skyloft]] so that his [[Crimson Loftwing]] can catch him. But after a few seconds, Zelda and Gaepora notice that his bird isn't coming. Zelda rescues Link, and Gaepora tells him that something is wrong and that he needs to inform [[Instructor Horwell]], the general in charge of that year's Wing Ceremony, to delay the race for him.

After Zelda tends for her bird that got tired from carrying both Link and Zelda, she goes to the [[The Plaza]] where she finds that Link and [[Groose]], the school bully, are having an argument in which Link has suspicions about Groose kidnapping his bird. After Groose and his lackeys, [[Cawlin]] and [[Strich]] leave, Zelda searches for Link's bird in the skies, hoping to find him before the race. After a few minutes, she finds Link with a sword looking in an area below the waterfall, also known as Groose's hideout. They search around there and find the Crimson Loftwing locked up in a cave. After Link saves him, Zelda starts talking to him about the "surface world" beneath the clouds and how she wants to see it. She also speaks with Link about a mysterious voice that keeps talking to her in her head. After talking, they mount their Loftwings for some last-minute review flight practice, and then Zelda goes off to tell Gaepora that they can start the ceremony.

After Link wins the race, Zelda joyfully jumps off Skyloft for Link and his bird to catch her, and then they go to the top of the statue to continue on with the ceremony. Zelda hands him the [[Sailcloth]], a legendary parachute used as the prize for that year's race. She then pushes Link off the statue and tells him to land on the circle in the ground with his new sailcloth. After that, Zelda asks Link out on a date in the sky. While flying, a black tornado appears out of nowhere and sucks Zelda in while it throws Link off his bird unconscious. Link later has a dream of Zelda being swallowed by a huge black monster with scales.

Zelda wakes up in the [[Sealed Grounds]] in the surface, and is found by an [[Impa|old woman]]. She takes her inside into the [[Sealed Temple]] and tells her that she has been waiting for her for a long time. She explains to her about [[Demise]] and the goddess [[Hylia]], how they fought, how she defeated him and sealed him away, and how she believed that he will escape his prison. She tells the story of Hylia's two plans that she thought of and set in motion almost immediately: first is [[Fi]], the spirit of a sword that Link, as Hylia's chosen hero, will use in his mission to defeat Demise. Fi was made to guide him through his journey on the surface. The second plan was to give up her immortality and reincarnate into a human to hide from the evil forces that still walk on the surface.

The old woman says that Zelda is the reincarnation of Hylia, and that to regain her memory of her past life she must travel to the two springs to pray and purify herself, and travel to the past through a portal in time. She later mentions that Zelda must go into a deep sleep and wait for her chosen hero to finally defeat Demise. She also explains that Link must be tested to see if he can be the chosen hero, and to do that he must go through many challenges to prove himself worthy. She devised a plan to travel to the two springs and to the past so that Link can follow her and can prove himself worthy of that title. The next day Zelda, with her new clothes, sets out into the [[Faron Woods]] to find the first spring.

 

While Link lands on the Sealed Grounds with his new clothes and sword, Zelda is trying to find the [[Skyview Temple]]. She got some help from the [[Kikwi]]s, but they also mentioned that it was dangerous to go there, but she still goes anyways. She somehow made it to the temple and to the spring, and she prayed and purified herself there. As soon as Link gets there, she had already left.

 

Zelda travels to [[Eldin Volcano]] through teleportation. As soon as she reaches this area, she sees [[Bokoblin]]s everywhere. She did her best to get to the top unnoticed, but the bokoblins surround her at the temple entrance. Two [[Mogma]]s see her getting dragged away into the temple, and Link overhears them talking about her. Before the leader of the bokoblins gets to her, [[Impa]], a servant of the goddess, saves her by using her magic. She takes Zelda to the spring and explains who she is and that she helped Link on the way there. While Zelda prays, Link comes in and sees Zelda again, but Impa tells her that she must go to the desert. While Impa scolds Link from being late to save Zelda from the bokoblins, Zelda goes through the portal to the [[Lanayru Desert]].

 

Zelda and Impa go through the desert into the [[Temple of Time (Skyward Sword)|Temple of Time]], and Impa destroys the entrance to delay the enemy following Zelda. She plays her harp to activate the [[Gate of Time]] leading to the past. As soon as it opens, Zelda sees Link come in through the side entrance of the temple, but [[Ghirahim]] breaks through the blocked entrance Impa created, and blocks Link from getting closer to Zelda with magical fire. While Impa and Ghirahim fight, Zelda teleports her harp to Link and tells him that he will need it where he is going. After that Link notices that the fire disappeared and attacks Ghirahim while Impa and Zelda escape through the portal. Zelda promises Link that they will see each other again before Impa breaks the portal.

 

After Link has gotten the power of the Master Sword, he goes off to the Sealed Temple to open the Gate of Time. When he arrives in the past and meets Zelda, she tells him the legend of Hylia that the old woman told her thousands of years later and her plan of using him to save the world. After she tells him all that, Zelda seals herself and asks Link if he can wake her up when the seal is broken and Demise is gone.

 

Zelda finally woke up after thousands of years of sleep, thanks to Link and the Triforce, who killed Demise with the Statue of the Goddess. But just after a couple of minutes of happiness, Ghirahim showed up, injured Link and Zelda, kidnapped Zelda and entered The Gate of Time to resurrect Demise (since he is just sealed in the past). Link got to his feet and ran after them. When Link arrives in the past, he sees Zelda lying on the ground, fainted. Ghirahim is doing a spell to resurrect Demise and sings his theme. Ghirahim sends hundreds of monsters to attack Link. After the one vs hundreds war, Link comes down to Ghirahim to fight against him and save Zelda from losing her soul. When Link is done with the battle, Ghirahim says he has been doing the spell while he fought against Link. He then successfully resurrects Demise. Just as Demise has been resurrected, Demise is taking a sword from Ghirahim's body and takes all of his powers. Groose comes and tells Link he can save Zelda by killing Demise before her whole soul is gone. Demise is making a portal and tells Link he wants to fight in another dimension where there are no going out except Demise gets killed, if he dares. Link enters and faces Demise.

 

When Link has won over Demise, Demise's last words are: "My hate... never perishes. It is born anew in a cycle with no end! I will rise again! Those like you... Those who share the blood of the goddess and the spirit of the hero... They are eternally bound to this curse. An incarnation of my hatred shall ever follow your kind, dooming them to wander a blood-soaked sea of darkness for all time!"

 

Demise is gone for now and Zelda comes back to normal. While Link seals away Fi for the next Hero, Zelda asks Impa to go to the future with her. Impa says she can't because the past is her present, but she promises that they will see each other again, so Zelda gives her one of her bracelets that she was wearing so that Impa could remember her while she waits to see each other again. When they come back to their time, the Gate of Time disappears and they see the old woman. She shows Zelda the same bracelet, meaning she is Impa in the present. After seeing each other one last time, Impa dies and disappears, her promise finally fulfilled. Later, Gaepora comes down to visit and Groose goes back to Skyloft. Then, while Link and Zelda stand on the Statue of the Goddess alone with the Triforce, she says that she wants to stay and live in the land below.

Furthermore, Zelda's power did not awaken easily, regardless of the steps she took to do so. With each passing day, she became increasingly frustrated with her inability to prevent the impending doom of [[Calamity Ganon|Calamity Ganon's]] return. This frustration was also fueled by her relationship with [[Link#Breath of the Wild|Link]]. After Link was chosen to wield the [[Master Sword#Breath of the Wild|Master Sword]], and was appointed as Zelda's protector by the King himself, Zelda believed that Link's path as the chosen hero was of relative ease. Compared to the continual failures in fulfilling her role, Link always achieved anything he set his mind to. Early on their relationship, Zelda often told Link that she did not need his protection, and that she preferred to be left alone to continue her research.  

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