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The Golden Land ( A Link to the Past, Stone Tablets of Antiquity) or, by later translations, the Sacred Realm ( Ocarina of Time, The Wind Waker) is one of the more fantastical locations in the fictional Zelda world. In each of the games, the Sacred Realm is described as a mythical plane, or parallel world, created by three world-creating goddesses to be the holding place of the Triforce, an artifact of great power.
The Triforce
The Triforce is composed of three golden equilateral triangles (themselves arranged as the three corners of a larger equilateral triangle). The three pieces of the Triforce represent the essence of each of the three goddesses that created the game's world, Hyrule: Din's Power, Nayru's Wisdom, and Farore's Courage.
The Golden Land in the story of A Link to the Past
According to the English manual...
- In Hyrule, there are many Hylian buildings which are mentioned repeatedly in the Legends. These buildings, which now lie in ruin, pale shadows of their former splendor, are closely tied to the Triforce. Some were said to have the Triforce itself...
- If it were only a symbol of the Gods, the Triforce would be coveted by many. But a 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 been lost over time. Some said the Triforce lay under the desert, others said 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.
Once Ganondorf got a hold of the Triforce, his evil heart and its power combined made the world change utterly. Ganondorf's wish was to conquer the world. The Golden Land withered and died and became a place of darkness and evil... it became the Dark World, a reflection of Hyrule that was meant to serve Ganondorf's wish of conquest. But Ganondorf was not satisfied, and plotted to take over Hyrule to make his wish come completely true.
Ganondorf began to use the Triforce's powers to lure others into the Dark World. Once there, they were transformed into reflections of their own hearts. Ganondorf himself became a boar or pig-like creature. Upon this transformation, Ganondorf went by the name Ganon, the King of Evil. Ganon used the men lured into the Dark World by the Triforce to build an army, with which he attacked Hyrule. The Seven Sages* then erected a barrier to seal the Dark World away, preventing any from entering.
Within time, Ganon sent a portion of his spirit across the barrier to become the wizard Agahnim. Using the wizard as his pawn, he killed the King of Hyrule and began to capture the descendants of the Sages. By using a dark ritual to send them over the barrier into the Dark World, the barrier would break free once again. Although Agahnim is killed, he ultimately succeeds in breaking the seal. Later, upon Ganon's death, the Dark World vanishes entirely.
- -- Originally refered to as the "Seven Wise Men" in the SNES Link to the Past, this was changed to the more accurate "Seven Sages" in the GBA remake, since, as Ocarina of Time clearly demonstrates, only two of the seven Sages were actually men.
The Sacred Realm in the story of Ocarina of Time
The realm sealed
The realm remained sealed away from the physical world by a seal that could only be opened with a unique collection of items:
- Three Spiritual Stones—each belonging to a different race of Hyrule and representing one of the three goddesses
- The Ocarina of Time—when the Song of Time is played upon it in the presence of the Spiritual Stones, the Door of Time will open in the Temple of Time, which acts as the gateway to the Sacred Realm
- The Master Sword—created to defeat evil and can only be wielded by the righteous, or specifically, Link.
The seal broken
Link and Princess Zelda, discovering that Ganondorf, the game's antagonist, seeks to possess the Triforce, attempt to stop him by arriving at the Sacred Realm first. Unfortunately, their efforts to stop Ganondorf merely unseal the Sacred Realm for him, which he would have been unable to do himself as he could not wield the Master Sword). Ganondorf takes the Triforce, but because his heart is not in balance, he is only able to obtain the Triforce of Power, temporarily thwarting his plans for becoming the ruler of the world. The other pieces of the Triforce revert to those in Hyrule whose hearts most reflect the quality that the piece embodies; Princess Zelda gains the Triforce of Wisdom and Link gains the Triforce of Courage, unbeknownst to him. Although the Sacred Realm was beautiful ("the midday sky was gold, not blue"), it becomes warped and twisted under Ganondorf's control, becoming a reflection of his own heart by means of the Triforce of Power. Only the Temple of Light at the center of the Sacred Realm remains an uncorrupted stronghold. It is here where Link is held for seven years until he physically matures into the Hero of Time. The sage, Rauru, remained in the Temple of Light seemingly since its creation, before the seal of the Realm, and gives Link his first medallion in his quest, the Light Medallion.
The realm restored
At the end of Ocarina of Time, Link defeats Ganondorf, who is then sealed in the sacred realm (which can also be known as the dark world) by the Sages, mythical protectors of Hyrule. It is disputed whether the realm returned to normal after these events. (Note: At the end of "Ocarina of Time", Ganondorf said that one day he would "eliminate" the descendents of the seven sages, leading up to the events in "A Link to the Past")Dark World
In A Link to the Past, the legend of the Dark World unfolded. It was a corrupt version of the Golden Land where the Triforce, a relic of extraordinary power, lay. When Link drew the Master Sword from its pedestal in Ocarina of Time, Ganondorf, King of the Gerudo thieves, entered the Sacred Realm and used his Triforce of Power to corrupt the Golden Land, turning it into a reflection of his own heart—the Dark World.
There is not much known about the Dark World in Four Swords Adventures. However it appears to be a different world from the Dark World of A Link to the Past, as it is apparently filled with live vegetation, whereas the other is not. The Dark World is entered through portals that must be activated with a Moon Pearl. Once there, the player must look at the Game Boy Advance screen to see their Link in the Dark World. Link's shadow can then be seen in its equivalent location in the Light World on the television screen.
External links
- A Link to the Past manual extract taken from Zelda Universe
"Sacred Realm"