Chapter 4: In Search of Knowledge

The Royal Library of Hyrule had suffered comparatively little during Ganondorf's most recent incursion, seeing as he had promised Agyra several priceless tomes with arcane magical knowledge. The fact that the library was hidden away in a subterranean compound several miles from Castle Town had probably helped, too, since the monsters preferred sacking towns and buildings above ground, a painful lesson the Royal Librarians had learned over the centuries. Countless unique volumes had been destroyed during Ganondorf's early invasions, their knowledge often forever lost to the world, not to mention the catastrophic effects of the Great Flood, so that the accumulated body of Hyrule's knowledge suffered from many gaping wounds that would never heal. In spite of that, the Royal Librarians were always diligently at work to archive anything they deemed worthy to survive for future generations, be it books about history, magic, technology (those always seemed to suffer the worst), science or any other conceivable topic. The current library stretched seven stories deep and held more books than any of its predecessors in history, if the archivists were to be believed. It had been three weeks since the fateful day the monsters had suddenly fled Hyrule and the pall of darkness had ceased to cast its shadow over the land, and the damage done by the few marauding monsters had been repaired. The library saw little traffic during the busiest of days, and during this troubled time, even the scholarly inclined inhabitants of Hyrule had more pressing matters to look after than catching up on their reading, so that, not counting the librarians on duty, there was only a single visitor in the library. He had the aspect of an old, bearded man with a grandfatherly smile on his face, and the ever watchful librarians would never have deemed him a danger to their precious books.

If only they knew who I am, Ganondorf thought with a wry smile, they would be fleeing in panic, or foolishly attack me trying to defend their books.

But that was just as well, since he had an oath to keep, and his aims here would be easily achieved without violence, anyway. Satisfied that his magical disguise was working, he inspected the index and then sought out the third story, where the tomes about Hyrule's history could be found. The books were sorted chronologically, thus, the oldest ones could be found on the far side of the room, which was where Ganondorf was headed. The books here were older than himself, he noted, and written in a variation of Hylian that he did not understand. But of course he was prepared for this and had cast a spell on himself that enabled him to read and understand them in spite of this. He scanned the books' spines, reading their titles, until he found one that might serve as an adequate starting point for his search, titled Collected Legends of the Sheikah. He removed it from its shelf, placed it one one of the nearby tables, sat down, and started reading.

Several days ago, Ganondorf would have laughed at the suggestion that he do academic research and go through dusty old tomes in order to increase his power, claiming that there was nothing that could not be learned by simply doing it. But that was before the Goddess of Power had shown him how very weak, no, how unprepared he was for his great mission to destroy the Gods. He had been overconfident to the point of foolish arrogance, and had paid for it with a humiliating defeat.

During the three days he had spent within his temple, slowly recuperating from his battle wounds and going over his fight with Din again and again, he had come to the realization that while he might have the speed and smarts and stamina do go toe to toe with at least one of the Goddesses and last for a while, he lacked the strength, the power to pierce their skin, not to mention their armor, for neither spell nor sword had availed him much. He had considered stealing some of the potent, magic-enhancing talismans held by the royal family of Hyrule, but that would have gone against the truce he had declared, and he doubted that Zelda would have give them to him if only he asked nicely.

But there was another option: If his magic was too weak, maybe he could find a better weapon, one that could penetrate the Gods' divine armor. He knew about the Master Sword, naturally, that had been forged specifically to counter the might of the Triforce and thus the power of the Goddesses; far too often had it weakened the strength of his Triforce of Power by simply being in his vicinity, reflected his most powerful of magics, and cut through his armor and flesh when no other sword had. Not that he could use the Master Sword, of course; it was the ‚Blade of Evil's Bane', and although Ganondorf did not consider himself evil as much as merely highly determined, he could not so much as touch the damned thing without his hands bursting into flame. He had tried that once, long ago, and felt no compulsion of doing so again. But if he learned more about the circumstances of the Master Sword's creation, when, how, and by whom it was forged, he might be able to create another weapon like it, a weapon for him to fight the Gods with.

Collected Legends of the Sheikah had been compiled about a century before his birth, a librarian's note told him, written by an unnamed Hylian scholar who had spent many decades among the long-since extinct shadow people who used to act as the Royal Family's guardians. Ganondorf found most of its contents highly interesting: He knew everything he cared to know about the time after his birth, but the ages before that were largely unknown to him, a few unrelated tales by his teachers aside, as the Gerudo had never been much for writing books and had passed along their history in stories told to each new generation.

He had never known, for instance, that he had not been the first mortal to claim the Triforce for himself; he had been preceded by a Hylian prince whose name had been struck from the pages of history. The legend told that the Triforce had split into three parts then, as it had done when he first touched it, and the prince had plunged the land into war with his desire to regain control over the two pieces lost to him. Here the legends grew vague, as the author's notes remarked, and merely told in few sentences that the prince was defeated with a magical sword forged to oppose the powers of the Gods, which later legends would come to call the Master Sword. Several footnotes referred to a different work with the promising title The Forging of the Master Sword. He could not find it anywhere, though, and consulted one of the librarians, who told him with a regretful tone that the book had been lost among many others during the seven years of Ganondorf's first reign of terror over Hyrule, and that there were no known copies in existance.

What goes around, comes around, Ganondorf thought sarcastically, displeased at his younger self's foolish actions. If only he could go back in time...

He allowed himself a smile. That, he thought, can be arranged.


Hyrule Castle had seen better times. Many of its spires were destroyed, most of its windows broken, and the royal gardens were reduced to trampled fields of mud. The wind howled through the numerous holes in the walls, and if not for a few flickering torch lights behind the ruined windows, it would have appeared devoid of any life. It looked as though a horde of monsters had pillaged the castle, which of course was exactly what had happened, as Ganondorf knew only too well; he had given a group of moblins leave to use the castle as they pleased. Faced again with the consequences of his past actions from a different perspective, he wondered whether events could have taken another course. He wondered if that was what regret felt like.

He violently shook his head, banishing such unbecomingly sentimental thoughts and locking them away in a remote corner of his mind. He could not afford any distractions right now. If he was discovered here, he would have great difficulty convincing Zelda or anyone else that he bore them no malice and was not here for yet another attack on the castle. He was merely looking to steal – no, he reminded himself, to borrow – the Royal Family's most ancient heirloom, the legendary Ocarina of Time. With its power, he could journey back along the timestream to a point before his first invasion of Hyrule, seek out The Forging of the Master Sword in that time period's Royal Library, and return with the knowledge he sought with no one being the wiser.

Of course he was operating on the assumption that the Ocarina still existed – he, at the very least, had never destroyed it – and that it had been already returned to the Castle, since Princess Zelda had surely taken it with her when she escaped. But if he was wrong, he could still look somewhere else, and starting his search in Hyrule Castle was the most logical approach. Infiltrating the castle was not going to be easy, though, since he dared not use his magical abilities to fly or disguise himself – if Princess Zelda was in the Castle, and he had to assume that she was, her heightened sensibilities would immediately let her know that Ganondorf was nearby. So he would have to enter relying only on his natural skills and stealthy movement to evade any guards – an excellent exercise that would tell him whether he had become too dependant on his wizardry.

He drew the hood of the dark brown cloak he had conjured up back at the library over his head and approached the ruined outer gates, entering the castle courtyard, carefully listening into the night for any signs of life. There was nothing, and he slowly moved along the wall until he reached the inner gate, which was guarded by two weary-looking Hylian soldiers in worn-out armor. A small brazier between the two illuminated the scene and, presumably, served to keep the soldiers warm. They seemed tired and bored, as night watchmen usually were, but neither of them would allow himself to fall asleep while the other was still awake to report him, and Ganondorf decided that he could not pass them unnoticed without using either magic of violence. Frustrated, he withdrew into the shadows and gazed up the high walls of the inner courtyard. If he could climb them, he would reach the battlements and be free to enter the castle proper from there. Without hesitation he approached the next wall and moved his hands over the surface The castle was built with huge, unshapely boulders, roughly cut to rectangular shape, with enough space in between for hand- and footholds – a far cry from the chiselled marble of older castles and its perfectly symmetrical blocks. Hyrule as a whole was not doing too well, it seemed – and now who is responsible for that, he asked himself sardonically. Then he cleared his thoughts, took a deep breath, reached up for a stable handhold, and began climbing.

It was easier than he had expected, a testament to his strength and skill. There were no soldiers up on the battlements, and Ganondorf sneaked into the castle corridors. Most of them were unlit, and he met not another soul, although people might well be sleeping behind the numerous closed doors. Not knowing where the Ocarina might be, he chose to simply follow his instincts, and when he came upon a tower staircase, he decided to move up. Looking out of the window while climbing the circular stair, he realized that he was in the castle's highest tower that had somehow survived the moblins' demolition efforts, and which was as likely a place for the Ocarina to be as any. Approaching the top floor, he heard a soft voice talking and made doubly sure not to make any noise as he moved. He arrived at the torch-lit top story and found four wooden doors, two of them nailed shut, one of them latched with a bolt and a heavy lock, and the fourth door left slightly ajar, an oil lamp flickering inside. The voice came from within the room.

Seized by curiousity as well as caution, Ganondorf inched silently towards the door and peeked inside. Somehow, he was not particularly surprised when he saw Princess Zelda, sitting on a simple wooden bed, wearing her usual royal dress with full regalia, circlet, earrings and all. Right next to her sat Link, wearing his threadbare green garb including the stupid hat. The Master Sword rested in its scabbard atop his knees, and he was listening to Zelda's words with great earnestness.

"This entire situation is strange. Ganon and his monsters have not stirred for days, but I can't believe we've seen the last of him. There's something in the air, a tension... you feel it too, don't you, Link? That's why you haven't placed the Master Sword back to rest."

Link nodded silently, a grave look on his face. Of course these two would not trust his talk of peace, Ganondorf reflected, not so soon at least.

"During that night, atop the tower... I thought it would finally be over. We would fulfill our destinies and banish Ganon and then be free to live our lives... but I think I just made everything worse! Now he's out to kill the Goddesses! If he can do that... what will happen to Hyrule?"

An excellent question, Ganondorf thought. The Goddesses had created Hyrule, so all the myths and legends told, but were they also maintaining its stability? Would killing them upset, maybe even destroy the world? No, it couldn't be!

"I have been reading many ancient legends these days, and I don't think Hyrule would be affected, but still... I could be wrong."

Zelda rubbed her face, obviously tired.

"And even if Hyrule is not in danger... shouldn't we do something to stop him? Killing the Goddesses just wouldn't be right! I mean... they are the Goddesses!"

Needless to say, Ganondorf did not find this argument very convincing.

"But there is nothing we can do. We don't even know where he is! If he kills them, it'll all be my fault, Link. I was so proud, so full of myself – to think that I might be able to talk sense into the King of Evil, to break the endless cycle. And all I achieved was planting this mad idea in his mind!"

Link placed his hand on her shoulder, trying to comfort her.

"I know what you're going to say. That I'm responsible for what I do, and he for what he does, right?"

He nodded, and she laughed happily.

"Everything is always so simple with you, Link," she said, which made him frown. "No, I mean in a good way! Oh come on, I wouldn't make fun of you!"

Link, too, laughed, clearly not offended.

How touching, Ganondorf thought. I may shed a tear.

"But I know one thing for certain," Zelda said in a more serious tone. "If Ganon goes through with this, we will both be pulled into this huge mess. It's like he said... as long as we are the Triforce Bearers, we are fated to meet again. And we will stop him if we can. But before that happens... Link, please, I know you hate him – I know you somehow remember every one of your encounters, I could tell when I saw you look at him – I must talk to him again. I know he is insane, but he spoke of peace with such conviction... maybe I can talk him out of it. Maybe I'm just naive, but if he could be redeemed... please, Link, stay your hand just long enough for me to try."

Not a chance, dear Princess, Ganondorf answered in his mind. The Gods will pay for what they have done to my people. Oh, and for the record: I am not insane.

Link did not seem to like the idea much, either, but he finally nodded in agreement.

"Thank you, Link. I promise you, if he cannot be stopped... then I will do what I must."

She suddenly yawned loudly, in a rather un-princesslike manner.

"I'm sorry Link, it's been a long day."

Considerate of her fatigue, Link rose up from the bed and fastened the Master Sword to his belt, preparing to leave so she could get some sleep. Zelda opened her mouth as if to protest, but said nothing, probably knowing he was right. Link performed a slight bow, which she answered with a light jab to his chest.

"Hyrule bows to you, Link, not the other way round. Thanks for listening to me. Have a good night."

Link turned around and walked toward the door, and Ganondorf cursed himself for only now realizing that he would walk right past him if he did not hide immediately. The other rooms were all locked, and magic was unthinkable with Zelda in the next room – so what to do? There was a dead spot at the end of the corridor opposite to the staircase, but Link had but to turn around to look out of the window and he would see him.

The window! Without thinking – no time for that – he leaped toward the glassless opening and on to the sill, held fast on the stone and let his body drop down. There he hang on the tower's outer wall, his entire body weight dragging on his fingers. A fall would not have been lethal – not for him – but he would drop right into the courtyard and the guards would sound the alarm. A turn of events he would rather avoid, so he held fast with all his strength. He felt pathetic, hiding like that, but he had built up quite a tolerance against humiliation. He waited a minute, hoping that Link would not remain in the corridor or watch Zelda undress through the keyhole, and used his lower arms to jerk himself back inside. The corridor was empty.

What had all this foolishness been about, anyway? It was not like he had learned anything worth the risk of discovery. The two were still planning to fight him, if necessary? He did not care much for that, given his oath, but he would cross that bridge when he got to it. Maybe he had been listening just for the sake of hearing them talk, two people who trusted each other and were joined by bounds of friendship such as he could never experience?

He spat out in disgust, sickened by his own feeble thoughts. Ganondorf did not need friends. He simply needed to find a way to defeat the Goddesses – that was the reason for his presence here, after all.

Ganondorf had not seen the Ocarina in Zelda's bedroom – though in truth, he had not overlooked the entire room through the small slit beween door and wall – and decided to check the barred room. Surely, Zelda would not go to the trouble of securing a room with nothing valuable inside. He picked the lock with great ease – the Hylians had not called him King of Thieves for nothing – and entered the room. It was unlit, but the torches in the corridor provided enough light to see. The room was full of items, most of them unceremoniously placed on the floor in the absence of much furniture: books, jewelry, flags, weapons, a regular treasure trove of the Royal Family. And there, lying on a chair in a corner of the room, he saw a small blue instrument. Many of the items in here radiated a magical aura, but this one's was the most powerful. Surely, it could only be the Ocarina of Time.

Ganondorf greedily picked it up – and hesitated. He did not know, after all, how to use it. And he was no good at music.

Well, how hard could it be? He was a sorcerer, a warlock; he would force this puny instrument to do his bidding. He put both hands around it, closed his eyes and thought of Hyrule Castle Town from more than two thousand years ago. Ganondorf was very old, and his memory had many gaps, usually starting right after him being defeated, but he could remember that place as though it had been yesterday. He still remembered how he had hated the town's inhabitants, prancing about without a care, provided for by the vast, fertile fields of Hyrule, and how much he wanted to see them suffer, like the Gerudo had suffered...

Suddenly, unprompted, he was engulfed by the Ocarina's power. The tower room faded around him, and everything turned white.