The Story of Hyrule
'A History of the Hylian Race at home and abroad'
By Bryne, Scholar of the Wind Tribe
Introduction
You may have heard these stories before.
Many of these tales have been passed down through generations; through word of mouth, though song, through painting, through scraps of parchment from some ancient book. Tales from historians, bards, parents and writers combine to tell us this epic history of a land doomed to witness both great heroism and great horror.
These stories stretch from the Era of Creation and the time of the Golden Goddesses, through to the rise of the foul Ganon and the splitting of the timelines and finally through to whatever fate awaits this Great Kingdom; whether Decline, Calamity or Flood.
This is also the chronicle of the Hylian People and the other races of the world; the Gorons, the Zoras, the Rito, the Sheikah, the Gerudo, the Minish and the many others
This is the legend of the Chosen Hero, of the Blood of the Goddess and of the Demon King's Hatred. These are the chronicles of the Triforce, the Master Sword and the Four Sword.
This is the Legend of Link, Zelda and Ganondorf.
This is the Story of Hyrule.
The Era of Creation
The Legend unfolds... "According to the Hylian scrolls, the mythical gods descended from a distant nebula to the world and created order and life."
-
Before time began, before spirits and life existed... Three golden goddesses descended upon the chaos that was Hyrule... Din, the Goddess of Power... Nayru, the Goddess of Wisdom... Farore, the Goddess of Courage... Din... With her strong flaming arms, she cultivated the land and created the red earth. Nayru... Poured her wisdom onto the earth and gave the spirit of law to the world. Farore... With her rich soul, produced all life forms who would uphold the law."
- The Great Deku Tree (of the Era of the Hero of Time).
"Aeons ago, the Deities of Power, Courage, and Wisdom descended to the world of chaos. They created the world that we know and left behind a symbol of their strength, the golden emblem known as the Triforce, which they hid in the Golden Land."
- Librari the Minish, in his memoirs.
Once there was a realm of unending chaos. A realm ruled not by the laws of gods, or even by the laws of nature. This realm was simply primordial darkness, home to powerful thaumaturgic storms and endless cosmic rain.
Nothing lived in this realm, for nothing could. Even demons would have been torn apart by the wildness of the magic, as even their twisted kind need some order to feast upon.
And that it how it would have remained, if the Golden Goddesses hadn't arrived from a Distant Nebula to bring about the waking of the world. There were three of these Goddesses, each possessing her own symbol and realm of power. Din, the Goddess of Power - also called the Goddess of the Sands and the Lady of Fire. Nayru, the Goddess of Wisdom, also called the Goddess of Time and the Bringer of Rain. And finally Farore, the Goddess of Courage, also known as the Goddess of the Winds and the Goddess of Life.
Together they brought order out of the chaos and forged the World of Light; that which would one day become Hyrule, Termina, Holodrum, Labrynna, Subrosia, New Hyrule and Hytopia. Din, with her strong flaming arms cultivated the land and created the red earth. Nayru, poured her wisdom onto the earth and created the natural laws of the world. Farore, with her rich soul produced all life forms to live under that law.
So three blessings of Power, Wisdom and Courage respectively.
With their labours complete, the three Goddesses departed for their distant home. At the point where they left however, three sacred golden triangles remained - the Triforce. This was both as a final gift for the races of the world and an anchor to prevent it falling into chaos. Together all three pieces of the Triforce would grant any wish, but only the pure of heart would be able to wield the artefact without issue. In the infinite wisdom, the Goddesses forsaw the problems such a powerful artefact could create and so did not leave it unguarded. Instead they passed it and the world as a whole into the care of the lesser goddess Hylia (or 'Her Grace'); future patron of the Hylian people and direct ancestor of the Royal Family.
Hylia moved the artefact into a secondary plane of Hyrule's reality, known then as 'The Silent Realm'. While life did have a strong prescence in that world as with our own, it was not mortal life for the realm was intended to be limited to spirits and other divine beings. This has changed over time, though not always for the best or noblest reasons. In the modern eras, this plane is known as 'The Sacred Realm'; though it was known as 'The Dark World' under the dominion of Ganon in the downfall timeline.
However, along with the Silent Realm came another reflection of the Light World. As this world was not an intended creation of the Goddesses, it was far more exposed to the ravages of the outer void and the damage that uncontrolled magic can inflict. Nonetheless life existed here as well, though it was not of a king that the normal races would appreciate. Though this corrupted place has many names, it is the traditional that is the most fitting - the Demon World. Even in the Era of Creation, evil existed in the Light World's shadow; waiting for its chance to rise against the Goddesses' chosen.
This was not the only world the Goddesses made in that era before time, in the void that might well still exist beyond the walls of our reality. Lorule, our sister world shared a identical origin though their history would be marked by the cost of rejecting the Goddesses' final gift. The World of the Ocean King dates from this period, though there is evidence to suggest that the Golden Goddesses were not intially involved in that world's creation. The Twilight Realm possibly also originates here, though the common suspicion is that the world was created by Hylia much later as a punishment for the Interlopers from the Force Era.
The Legend unfolds...