The Legend of Zelda

The Triforce of Ruin

Chapter I: Ushering in the New Age

The large hood on Link's nondescript green robes felt awkward. He had become accustomed to his hat to the point that his head felt naked without it and no substitute ever felt right, especially not this peripheral vision robbing hood. Still, even if the trade off didn't seem entirely fair, what the hood offered was admittedly worth it, although, come to think of it that by definition would make it fair, wouldn't it? Link shook his head within the hood. Arguing with himself over trivialities wouldn't change his situation any.

He could hide himself from the swollen Castle City crowd, but he would have to confront them before the day was over. That or suffer the wrath of the princesses. Well, one would be queen soon, not that that was likely to temper her displeasure any if he were to try to avoid his so called 'duty'. But dear goddesses! Did he hate public oration!

Link was jostled out of his depressing thoughts as the crowd continued to push past. With a sigh he started moving along with them out of self defense. He actively dreaded the thought of arriving at the castle proper, but he supposed getting trampled to death would be worse than having to give one little speech. Probably.

The number of people making their way toward the castle was a little shocking. Link had seen Castle City while it still housed the countless refugees who'd fled from Ganon's forces. In the years since Link had ended that particular problem, most had returned home, or at least made a new home elsewhere. Even still, not everyone had left. Castle City had been changed forever, now sporting an entirely new layer that wrapped around the outside of the city's defensive walls. Tents and makeshift shacks were slowly being replaced by more permanent buildings as what had once been the primary refugee camp evolved day by day into a real home for the people who had been unfortunate enough to lose everything during those dark days.

For the last several weeks though, Castle City's numbers had continued to swell to previously unreached heights as people flocked here not for safety but in celebration. Zelda's coronation alone would have drawn thousands, but today was also the day that they would return the newly whole Triforce to the Sacred Realm. Something that had not been done in centuries. Not since that ancient king had split the Triforce of Courage from its siblings and hid it.

Link would be expected to stand alongside the two Zeldas and give some words in honor of the occasion. He honestly didn't see why, after all he wasn't royalty and as far as Legendary Heroes go its not like he'd done much. Sure he'd restored the Triforce of Wisdom, defeated the Prince of Darkness, recovered the Triforce of Power, saved the Princess Zelda, recovered the long lost Triforce of Courage, and in doing so saved the legendary Princess Zelda I...but as long as you didn't list all those things in a row like a conceited fool, it wasn't all that impressive.

Link sighed again. Well, if it meant so much to the people of Hyrule to see their Legendary Hero and hear him talk a little, the least he could do was oblige them. Seeing as how many of these people had taken the effort to travel all this way it would be rude not to. As it was, Link was cutting it dangerously close to being rude and suffering a little royal wrath to boot. Traversing the endless pedestrian sea was taking far longer than he expected. By the sound of the crowd the parade was making its way toward the castle faster than he was. He'd planned on avoiding the parade element of the celebration by reaching the castle ahead of time, but he'd underestimated the strength of the crowd and wouldn't be able to beat the parade after all.

"I suppose," Link said to nobody in particular, which was probably just as well seeing as how he could barely even hear himself over the crowd's roaring buzz. "If you can't beat them, might as well join them."

Turning to his right Link began pushing his way not toward the castle ahead but to the road that cut through the city leading right to its gates. If he hurried he could still join up with the parade and catch a ride. Probably on the horse he was supposed to have been riding since the parade's start. Sweet golden gods he hated horses. At least riding them. He'd hoped to at least avoid that bit of torture if not the speech making. Not to be.

The problem with his new strategy became instantly apparent. Everyone was pushing to get closer to the parade. While the distance to cover was vastly less, Link could see the road from where he stood, the crowd's density became nearly impenetrable. Squeezing through the small gaps between individuals quickly turned to forcing himself between people where no gap existed. Aggressively as Link was navigating the sea of parade viewers, he just wasn't going to make it before the parade passed, if at all.

What little progress he was making came to a complete and sudden stop as a burly hand roughly planted itself on his chest. Looking up, very up, Link saw the owner of the hand. It belonged to the single largest man Link had ever seen. The man's face may have been buried beneath a shaggy black beard, but Link was pretty sure the man wasn't smiling. "Sorry friend," the man said in a decidedly unfriendly baritone that managed somehow to be perfectly audible over the cacophony. "You want a better view of the parade, should have come sooner."

"You should sit on your papa's shoulders so you can see too!" piped a small voice that brought Link's attention to the little girl atop the bearded man's shoulders. At least she was smiling, even if her idea was fully absurd in the way only a child could be. Cute, yes. Helpful? Way south of yes.

"We're all trying to get a good view for our families," rumbled the bearded man, "not fair for someone to just shove themselves to the front, just cause they're late to the party. I've been here four hours just to give my little girl a chance to glimpse the Princesses Zelda and the Hero of Courage."

Hero of Courage huh? So that new title was gaining in popularity. Before his latest adventure they'd been calling him the Hero of Prophesy.

"You don't understand," Link began before ending with a sigh. No choice then. Desperate times, Link supposed as he pulled his hood off, brushing his messy brown hair away from his pointed hylian ears. Ears like his wouldn't erase all doubt from what he was about to confess, but they were rare enough these days that it wouldn't hurt to show them off. "I am the Hero of Courage. I need to get to the parade now."

The bearded man's eyelids lowered in what Link assumed was exasperation, clearly that was not what he had been expecting Link to say. "Why aren't you in the parade right now if that's true?"

Link shrugged. "I don't like horses?" Again, not what the man probably expected.

The little girl's gap toothed smile widened ear to ear. "Ooooh! I like horses too! Look! Look! They're coming this way!"

"That's not quite what I said," Link mumbled as he looked to where the girl was now pointing so excitedly that he was a little worried she'd bounce right off her father's shoulders. More concerning was that she was right. The parade was fast approaching.

Pulling the leather glove off his left hand, Link raised it up in front of the bearded man's face. "Look! I really am the Hero of Courage or Prophesy or whatever I'm called nowadays! I don't have time to explain or even a good excuse as to why I'm not in the parade right now, but I need to get there before the princesses pass by! If I'm late for the coronation: They. Will. Kill. Me."

The bearded man may not have fully heard Link's impassioned, if admittedly ridiculous plea. The way his eyes widened, however, told that he clearly saw the glowing golden outline of the Triforce on the back of Link's upraised hand. One of the three triangles would be pulsating stronger than the other two, but it was unlikely the man understood what that meant, or even noticed the detail. What he did understand is that Link was exactly who he claimed to be.

"Papa!" His daughter clearly understood as well. The child leaned clear over the top of her father's head bringing the two face to face, her blonde pig tails hanging lower than 'Papa's' beard. "Papa! Papa! Papa! He's the! Papa!"

"I know! I know!" The man struggled to get the frantically excited child back upright in order to clear his vision. "Goddess! You really are the Hero!"

Link lowered his hand before the microcosm of commotion he'd caused could draw any attention away from the parade. If everyone realized who he was while he stood in the middle of an already excited crowd...Link was pretty sure causing a riot would not help his situation out any. "I need to get over there!" Link pointed urgently over to the road. "Before the Awoken Princess and Queen-to-be pass us by!"

The shocked expression on the large man's face lasted only a moment longer, before morphing into stern determination. "Hang onto my jacket, Hero! I'll get you there, on my family's honor I will!"

Without thinking Link grabbed the unexpected life line fortune had sent him and held fast to the back of the bearded man's jacket as he shifted his massive frame to face the parade road. He reached up to pat his daughter's head, told her to hold tight, gazed out over the human ocean that Link had been drowning in up til now.

Then he proceeded to swim through it.

Forgoing any subtlety the man bulled his way through the crowd. Grabbing the startled and confused celebrators with the oak trunks he had in place of arms, roughly shoving them behind as he marched Link through their cries of anger and dismay. The pace they started with was faster than Link had expected, let alone dared to hope for, and it only increased as the people ahead began forcing a path in advance of their march.

And then they stopped. The suddenness caused Link to crash into the large man, though it didn't budge him any further ahead. "Stand down citizen!"

Royal Guards, Link thought. He'd made it all the way to the parade, which was good for him, but judging by the guardsman's tone of voice, maybe not too good for his new friend.

"Easy guardsman! Easy!" Link called as he stepped around to get between the bearded man and the guardsman's...spear point. Several spears were aimed at his new found burly friend's burly chest, and behind the guardsman were the two Zeldas along with a third, noticeably riderless horse. The bearded man looked to be the appropriate amount of surprised and scared, but by the way his daughter was shouting, "Papa! Look knights! Horses Papa! The princesses! Papa! Papa look!" she didn't seem nearly as concerned.

"Lord Link?" the guardsman directly in front of him said, clearly startled by the Hero's unexpected appearance. "That really is you, Lord Link! Where have you been?"

"Of course it's me." Gah, Lord Link. He had just managed to forget about that. While he'd resisted taking an official title in nobility for years, eventually there was no real choice but to give in. Zelda had been insistent that the hope of being raised to nobility as a reward for great deeds was very important to the common people of Hyrule, and that if they watched the deeds of even the Legendary Hero go unrewarded they'd assume that nothing they could possibly achieve would be worthy. In the end he had been rewarded a portion of an estate mostly of farmland belonging to a noble family that had fallen on financial hardship. The family was more than happy to continue running Link's portion of the farms in his absence, likely gaining profit from the reputation Link's name brought. Knowing he was part, even in a minor way, of someones political games was irksome, but it was what it was.

"Spears down please," Link said as he liberated himself from the baggy robes that he'd been hiding in. "This man was helping me out, we'll need to reward him later, but for now let's not threaten him."

"Of course Lord Link." The guardsmen lowered their spearheads and rendered a salute. "You'll be mounting your horse now, my lord?"

"Unfortunately I expect I will." Link handed the robes to the lead guardsman and placed his conical hat back onto his head from where he'd held it inside his leather belt. "Oh, don't think I was chastising you by the way. It's good you're all alert and cautious. I'm just flippant by nature." It was good too. Today of all days would be an ideal time for Ganon's followers, the disturbingly devoted and organized cult naming themselves 'Death Rattle', to make a move. In fact, if not for this threat Link very well may have risked Zelda's royal wrath to skip out on today's madness. "Stay alert."

"Of course Lord Link."

"Oh, and don't call me Lord will you?" Link checked his sword to make sure it was clear of its scabbard in case it was needed.

"Of course Lord Link."

"While I'd love to have an in-depth discussion on the accepted definition of 'of course'. I think I've tried the patients of our Queen-to-be and Awoken Princess enough for one day." The two Zeldas had reacted to his appearance with enough calm that Link could almost believe that they'd predicted the very thing, which knowing those two, they very well may have.

Despite the impressive aura of regality and the legendary name the two young women shared, Link once again noted that the princesses didn't much resemble each other. Princess Zelda I, Hyrule's very own Awoken Princess, wore an emerald dress that did a brilliant job of drawing attention to her curly red hair as she rode her horse sidesaddle, whereas, her very great grandniece and future Queen of Hyrule rode a fairy book white horse as gallantly as any knight while in a gold accented white and red dress designed specifically to allow for horseback riding, a slender yet deadly battle-ready sword at her side. Her straight blonde hair which hung long enough to touch her saddle was topped with a small golden crown that she'd soon be trading in for a much larger one.

The later gave a nearly imperceptible role of her eyes as Link reluctantly mounted his too big steed. "Easy, Epona, eeeeaasy...let's try to get along for just this little bit, pretty please."

Parade successfully joined, Link sighed inwardly and raised his arm in acknowledgment of the now wildly cheering crowd, waved to the bearded man, smiled an actual sincere smile at his perpetually awestruck daughter, and began his ride toward the castle. It was time to crown a queen and usher in a new golden age.

Author's Notes:

Welcome to The Triforce of Ruin! A couple quick notes on what you're in for if you choose to stick around. This will be a sequel to the two original NES titles: The Legend of Zelda and Zelda II. I have plans for this to be fairly "epic" in terms of length, and while I have no doubt that it will be my longest fanfictional work to date, only time will tell if I'm aloud to de-quote the term epic. Either way expect something novel length when all's said and done. I'll try to get in a good rhythm and update at least once a week, but there will be a small delay after posting my first two chapters due to a major move I'm about to make. After my journey of a thousand miles is done and I'm all settled into my new status quo I'll do my best to find that aforementioned rhythm.

The standard disclaimers about me not owning the Zelda franchise or characters are in place as are the standard invitations for constructive criticism. I've got a couple grammar quirks I'm aware of. For example it has been pointed out to me that I occasionally mix up homonyms (such as seen and scene). Yep, turns out I've done that a couple times and damn it's annoying. Both for me going back and seeing the silly little errors and for you the reader stubbing your literary toes (as opposed to your literal toes) on them. Anyway, please point out such errors to me so that I can fix them post haste and thanks in advance. Oh, and I will be making an honest effort to minimize my mistakes, so hopefully they won't be overly distracting. Now that the standard part of my Notes are taken care of, on to the non standard stuff!

Mythology Notes:

If you're reading this you're probably a fan of the Legend of Zelda series. You may even be a super fan who's played every game a dozen times over and had your own well reasoned time line theories back before the Hyrule Historia was a thing. If you're in the later group feel free to skip the mythology notes altogether. For the rest of you this little section may help. Before all that one quick disclaimer: You will not need these Mythology Notes in order to understand and enjoy this fanfic. I don't want to scare anyone away with something that may imply over complication/convolution. Having a PhD level understanding of every Zelda game is most certainly not required to enjoy The Triforce of Ruin. In fact full disclosure, there are games in the series I've yet to play. These notes are more for people who are curious as to which games in the series I'll be taking elements from, and if you're really worried about spoilers about a specific game feel free to skip these as well. Long story short, I want these to be informative, a little fun, but not mandatory. Also, don't expect them every chapter.

One more thing. You super fans out there, feel free to correct any mistakes I make. I want the information I'm basing my story on to be as accurate as possible. Not just outright mistakes either, send me messages about any details you feel I may not be aware of. Okay, on to the first installment.

The official Zelda timeline gets a little wonky around The Ocarina of Time, because of the time travelling nature of that game's story the timeline itself is split into three unique directions. One in which Link is returned to his childhood and Ganandorf's evil plot is thwarted before he can take over Hyrule, one in which Ganondorf does conquer Hyrule but is defeated by the adult version of Link, and finally a timeline in which Ganondorf defeats Link but is later sealed within the Golden Realm with the Triforce. This darkest timeline so to speak is actually the one with the most games on it. Here's what it looks like:

The Ocarina of Time - A Link to the Past - Oracle of Seasons/Ages - Link's Awakening - A Link Between Worlds - The Legend of Zelda (original) - The Adventure of Link

This story takes place shortly after Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, putting it at the tail end of the timeline. The "Link" in this story is the hero from the original two NES games. One of the interesting things from those games is that each one had a different Zelda in it. The Zelda Link was saving from the sleeping beauty curse in Zelda II was not the same princess as the one Ganon had kidnapped in the first game. I've always been intrigued by the idea of a sequel to these two games because of this dual Zelda element. Now, I realize the potential for confusion is there by having two lead characters with the same first name. I'll be doing my best to limit any vagueness that could lead to confusion. This is one of the reasons I'm starting with a coronation (that and in real life countries get ruled by queens and not princesses). So moving forward we'll have Queen Zelda and Princess Zelda, but beyond the different titles expect the two young women to be very different characters.

Well, until next time. Happy reading.