Chapter 8: Evil Magic

The dungeon wore on. More Likelikes, a few more Wizzrobes, even more Moblins, another three eyed Digdogger, another three Dodongos, and still no clear sign of an end. The dungeon was clearly mocking him and any who dared traverse it.

Then he found one room that had a large amount of square blocks, all arranged in a U shape. One at the far end was in a groove with another pressure plate. As soon as he stepped on it, he heard something open up behind the stone blocks. But they were too high for him to tell what. So he pulled the block back and went to investigate. Two skull bubbles rushed at him, one managing to inflict its curse on him. Knowing that the curse would wear off, he pressed on.

But in his path, a giant hand grew out of the wall. It had a single eye in its palm. And a strange pattern of magic appeared on the walls near it. Somehow, Link knew that these hands were bad news.

He backed off, but one of the skull bubbles flew too close to the hand. It grabbed the skull without being afflicted by its curse and dragged it into the wall. The spot of magic vanished, taking the hand and skull bubble with it. This time, Link waited for the curse to wear off and then approached the wall again.

The hand appeared once again. Link brought out his sword, but quickly had to back up as it kept approaching, flexing its fingers like it was preparing to grab him. Link attacked several times, but even with the Master Sword, the hand took several more hits before dying, turning to dust and black smoke. Link felt relieved, but then noticed that another hand had emerged from the wall behind him. A third magic portal (if that's what it was) was appearing in the corner.

There was bravery and then there was stupidity, Link thought as he rushed past the emerging hand and kept going down the narrow passage. These hands were likely not worth the effort unless he knew that he could eventually kill them all. He nearly ran into another emerging hand in his path, but he swiped his sword at it as he went by. There was an open staircase right in the corner of the room; he ran down the stairs and into an underground tunnel.

He paused at the bottom of the stairs to catch his breath. The hands did not pursue him down the stairs. Nor did there seem to be any in this tunnel. Just Keese as usual. Link took care of them with his boomerang, then traversed the long passage.

He emerged into a room filled with red and blue Moblins. The door and staircase both sealed shut when he entered the room. Of course. He took care of the monsters and went through the door

In that room, he found another Aquamentus. At least the lights were on in this room, allowing him to deal with it easier. But right as he drew the Master Sword, a bolt of lightning came from the ceiling, killing Aquamentus on the spot. Tensing, Link looked around for the source of that magic. It was up on top of the tall ledges in the room. A pair of strange hags, one dressed in white with blue hair and one dressed in black with red hair. Koume and Kotake.

"Hah, we've found you at last, boy!" Koume shouted triumphantly.

But Kotake screeched. "Eeek, isn't that the Master Sword that he has in hand? How could such a lowly peasant earn the right to wield that blade? He's just a fisherman."

"How do you figure that?" Koume asked.

"His clothes," her sister said. "They're, um… they're popular along the southern shore. The point is, he shouldn't have that infernal holy weapon."

"But he does," Koume said. "And it seems that he's picked up more fragments of the Triforce while we've been on this wild goose chase. Well no matter. We'll just slay you in the name of our Lord and King, Ganon!"

"Too true," Kotake said darkly. "Besides, leaving an Aquamentus at the end of this dungeon full of those dirty heathen Moblins? That is so weak. So you can face over a hundred Moblins… how about a mob of Lynels instead?" The two sisters cackled and summoned up two orange Lynels. The two centaur beasts roared and threw their magical blades at him.

Link ran for behind a pillar. A mass of Lynels was not what he wanted to face, especially in such close quarters where it was harder to avoid their thrown swords. And those witches could just summon up more.

He heard the two Lynels rushing up on either side of the pillar. Link gripped his sword, then rolled under the feet of the one to his right, slashing at its ankles as he went by. With a jump back onto his feet, he finished it off. Next, he pulled his bow out and shot at the other Lynel, causing it to stumble before throwing its blades. Then Link took another arrow out as quickly as he could and shot Koume with it.

Initially, he thought he might be off with the aim since he had to hold the bow and sword in one hand, but it struck her, causing a shriek. "Koume!" Kotake called, then hastily summoned up an orange, a blue, and a black Lynel before floating over to check on her.

Link dodged the volley of swords from the new Lynels, but the injured one behind him wasn't so lucky; it died of the friendly fire. With another down, he retreated to behind the other pillar, to put his sword away. He then ran for the other pillar, firing an arrow as he went by. It didn't seem to hit anything, but it did cause the blue Lynel to stop suddenly, making the orange one run into it. With violent thoughtlessness, the two roared at each other and began fighting.

He switched back to his sword. But, the time he took doing that allowed the black Lynel to charge by the pillar and turn to face him. Link blocked the first sword strike with his shield, then stabbed the Lynel in the torso. For that, he got cut in the arm and nearly had his foot stepped on. He managed to pull back before the full weight of the beast was pressed down; that would have surely crushed his foot. He blocked the next double sword hit by using his shield and sword, but that gave him no room to counterattack.

Fortunately, the blue Lynel had killed the orange one; it threw its swords at the black one and Link. The young man ducked out of one, but the other struck the black Lynel in the back. Screaming furiously, the black turned its torso and flung a sword at the blue Lynel, killing it. In doing so, he gave Link the time he needed to make a killing blow of his own, slashing across the beast's chest and forcing it to collapse. It was warped away too.

"Don't think you've won yet!" Kotake screamed, then appeared on the floor with him. Her hair and dress erupted into red flames, and her eyes turned ugly red. "I will incinerate you for what you've done to my sister!" She put her hands together and muttered a spell which launched a wide stream of fire at him. Link blocked it with his shield, but the intense heat seemed like it might burn him anyways.

Once the spell was done, she seemed winded. Link went up to attack her, but his sword went right through her body, like it was made of flames. Kotake began to cackle. But then, a stray ice ball appeared and abruptly froze a large potion of the floor, raising sharp ice spikes underneath her. Kotake screamed in agony, her flames flickering down and showing flesh again.

"Eek, I didn't mean that!" Koume cried. "I was just trying to help."

"Help a little less," Kotake grouched. But then her eyes widened as Link swung his sword at her again. These women were clearly not human, Link knew. They were on Ganon's side, so they might be demons, or even monstrous beasts like the Moblins and Lynels.

So he killed Kotake. Her black dress collapsed onto the floor, acrid smoke rising from it. There was a strange thin wail as a vapor form of Kotake appeared. Before long, it morphed into a scream of fear as a black hand, much like the blue ones he had faced, grabbed hold of her soul. "The price for thy power is now paid, Kotake," a menacing voice said, before the hand vanished with her through its portal.

Koume wailed, then jumped to the floor, forming her body into ice and snow. The arrow was still stuck in her side. "Then I will have to kill you! My life matters not when she is gone, so if I must die to defeat you, then I will." She clapped her hands and summoned a dozen pale blue and white Octorocks, who fired snowballs and spiked ice balls everywhere. Then she launched an ice spell much like her sister's fire stream.

Link blocked that with his shield, feeling as though he might get frostbite. But an idea came to him. Might the same thing that killed Kotake work on Koume in reverse? He pulled out his new red candle, then put it in his shield hand. It activated despite the cold. Once Koume ended her spell, Link dashed over and set the flame to Koume's snowy hair.

And it rapidly engulfed her in flames despite her being made of ice. She screamed, but Link wasn't going to leave it to chance. He stabbed her as well.

The same thing happened as her white clothes dropped to the floor, leaving melting snow. The strange black hand appeared and said, "The price for thy power is now paid, Koume," and vanished with her.

But, there were still the snow Octorocks. Link exchanged the candle for the bow to more quickly eliminate them. Finally, the room was empty, save for the ruined black and white dresses of the witches. And even those were beginning to unravel. Ganon was trying to keep anything from getting to his enemies.

A red sparkle suddenly appeared around Link. At first he tensed in concern, but then felt that this was a benevolent power. It drew him to the door that Aquamentus had been guarding. He had to go to the next room.

In there, there was another altar room. Link climbed up and found another golden fragment lying there. He brought out the piece of Power and reconnected it with this new piece. Once he reunited them, the red sparkle turned into a strong glow. "Link, ye strong one, you have proven your worth to the Triforce of Power. Receive then the blessings of I, Din, which shall allow you to cast spells without the use of the spoken word. May you find what it is that you seek." Then it faded, revitalizing his energy as it went and adding the half of the Triforce of Power to his necklace.

Now he had the blessings of all three goddesses. Link smiled, bowing his head to thank them. If he completed the Triforce of Wisdom or Courage, and got the last piece he could of Power, then he should be ready to face Ganon.

The end of his travels seemed to be in sight. It was greatly encouraging.


Aside from the first piece of Wisdom, Link had not been in the eastern forests much. He spent a couple of days exploring now, finding a few shops, a few hidden homes. But the poor folk who were hiding here couldn't understand him and were reluctant to help. The shopkeepers rarely left their shops, depending on traveling traders to increase stock. They all agreed that the woods were dangerous, but disagreed which part were most.

Link found a small lake patrolled by many monsters, but the Unraveled Tune did nothing there. And there seemed to be no dungeon; even the pieces of Power were not reacting much. He explored northward a bit. Towards evening, he located a fairy pond.

A blue haired fairy emerged. "What do you want?" she asked in an annoyed tone. But then she chimed and floated closer. When she next spoke, it was with more respect. "Oh, you're a friend to fairies, and a hero of the goddesses? I'm so sorry. I've just had these people continually bug me, like bombing my pond and throwing things in it. I'm not that kind of fairy! It's all because Ganon Pighead has offered rewards to those who can hand over us fairies to the monsters. I've had to resort to cursing people to get left alone."

Link nodded. He couldn't blame her for being angry at first. He thought over some things he wanted.

"Hmm?" She listened. "Oh well, yes, you may camp here. It's no big deal to me. And, you're looking for a dungeon where us fairies dislike going. In the thickest part of the forest, off the path… oh, I know the place! Um, you have a map, right? Let me see it."

He nodded, then brought it out. She flew over and looked at the area, eventually pointing out a section of the southeast part of the forest.

"Down here... you'll know it as this hideous monster tree. Wizzrobes sometimes appear from there, especially in the winter when the dragon roams. I don't know how they get in or out, but if I were you, I'd burn that nasty tree right up. It makes this whole forest look bad. And burning it would improve things for everybody."

He nodded and gave her a sign of thanks. For his stay, he played the recorder for her (she seemed happy to accept that as payment for the safe camping spot). Then he had a small supper and set up camp.

After buying some more food, supplies, and water from a nearby shop, Link went to the southeastern part of the woods and searched for a monster tree in the thickest parts. And these parts were thick, almost worse than the Lost Woods. There were long winding pathways that opened into small meadows, with paths that could deceive in which direction they were heading. To make things worse, it had decided to start raining, with thunder booming to the west. Hopefully the red candle upgrade would start a fire that would go.

And then a black leaf flew by on the wind. Link snatched it out of the air, looking closer at its magic aura. It was infused with some of the gaseous energy that made up the Wizzrobes. The leaf by itself was not dangerous, but it proved the presence of Wizzrobes. He looked in the direction the wind was blowing from.

Just in time too, for he caught sight of a Wizzrobe casting a spell. He brought his shield up to deflect it, but then had a thought. Swing the sword at it, from here. Puzzled but thinking it was worth a shot, Link drew the Master Sword and swung at thin air.

A beam of energy much like the white blade of the sword flew out, nailing the Wizzrobe and killing it in one shot. Josiah had talked about the rare occurrence of sword beams. If the wielder had the right power… and he did have the blessing of Din as well as the Master Sword, so such things might happen more often now.

In the growing wind and rain, Link held his shield arm up to partly cover his face while he looked to the tree that had been behind the Wizzrobe. The other trees around it were green, healthy, and pretty. But this one was all twisted and gnarled, with black leaves and reddish bark. It certainly seemed like a monster tree. Instead of moving in the wet winds like all the other trees, it was absolutely still. He wasn't sure if it was safe to approach it.

Trying something, he pulled out his candle, bow, and an arrow. He lit the arrow on fire (something that took a few tries), then quickly launched the arrow at the tree. The flaming arrow hit the trunk, finally causing it to shudder. For a moment, nothing happened. Then the winds shifted, causing the fire to flare up. One moment the strange tree was there; the next, it had collapsed into hot ashes.

Link ran over and used the damp dirt and even his shoes to stamp out the embers. He did not want to start a forest fire just to take down one tree. A hole with a metal ladder had appeared, taking most of the ashes down there. Once things looked taken care of, he got on the ladder carefully, kicking off any hot embers with his shoes, then descended. Raindrops fell down on him until the wind kicked up again.

This dungeon was brown, with moss growing on the stone gargoyles. There were three ways to go, but both the east and north rooms were dead ends. Not only that, but the north room was even occupied by a blue Gohma. This crab beast took three arrows to its eye before it would be killed. Since there was no apparent way forward, he checked out the western passage from the entrance.

This led him to another one of those giant furball monsters with lilies on its sides, the Manhandla. It was accompanied by two fireball spewing statues. He hadn't seen this beast in a long time. However, he still remembered how to beat it, and the Master Sword proved more effective at cutting off those spitting tulips. Yet that just meant it was sooner to when it reached its hyper rolling state. He destroyed it and got some bombs for his trouble. And he had to pick them up quickly, before the statues set them off. He proceeded to the next room.

Which was filled with red and blue Darknuts, a number of blocks blocking off a stairway in the middle, and some skull bubbles. At least it wasn't more Likelikes plus bubbles, Link thought. He also considered that the Darknuts might have been dumbed down too. While the one in Maser Digdogger's dungeon had been able to speak and fight magnificently, these Darknuts paced around, only using chopping attacks when he got in range. Or when he got hit by a skull bubble's curse; they seemed almost attracted to him then and he had to keep running until the curse ran out.

Eventually, he was able to push the blocks until he found one that moved, and then go into the staircase. However, instead of a tunnel he found another dead end. There was a miniblin chest down here, though. Opening it, he found a strange book, thin in width, but thick with many pages. On the cover was an engraving of the Triforce, along with the title, 'Magic Words and Phrases; My Personal Reference'.

A magic book. Link smiled. Useful, and now he had a reason to keep that magic rod. He opened it up and found, oddly enough, that the words were in a large typesetting. 'While some naturals can cast magic freely, most peoples must use a device to work through: a staff, a rod, an instrument, a necklace, and so on. Various artifacts work differently for different people. Experiment or ask your guide for assistance.

'Once you have your way in using magic, you must learn the words of magic. These must be spoken in order to use the spell. Such words and the description of their effects will be recorded in this book for your convenience.

'There are currently 1 spells in this book.'

Only one spell? Flipping through, Link noted that most of the pages were regrettably blank. But the page right after the introduction text had a spell. 'Wave Burn- this spell creates a straight line magic 'wave' to strike the first foe it encounters. Will stop at walls. Any organic target will erupt into flames. Have fun torching your enemies! But don't torch your friends or you won't have any…'

The blessing of the goddess Din gave him the ability to cast without using words. Which was good, because otherwise this and the rod would be useless to him. Link pulled out the rod and set it to full size. He read the arcane word that accompanied the description of Wave Burn, then closed the book and focused on the rod in his left hand. After trying a few things, he swung the rod down, like he did sometimes with his sword, while thinking of the words. This time, the red gemstone flashed as a ripple of magic raced through the air. It carried on down the hall and hit a bat, then burst into flames. However, the Keese did not seem fazed by this. It just kept flying, now lit on fire.

Well, the spell worked. Link just didn't want fire bats chasing after him too. He put the book and rod back in his depth bag, then pulled out his boomerang and dispatched the fiery Keese.

That left one problem; there were all dead ends in this dungeon. Hopefully some wall could be bombed around here. Link pulled out his sword and began testing it against the walls, listening for that distinctive chink that indicated a weak wall.

He finally found it all the way back in the room the Gohma had been in. He cleared the way with a bomb, then proceeded into another room, one filled with more Darknuts. Link had a feeling this would be another long dungeon.

He did have to battle another blue Gohma, and another tulip furball. But before he was even starting to feel tired, he found one of those locked doors with a name plate. It said 'Gleeok'. Again? Link hoped it wouldn't be another pet of Koume and Kotake.

When he walked in, he didn't see any captives in the room. But there was a four-headed dragon in the room. It was pale blue, though, and started shooting snowballs at him. Snowflakes began to fall as well. Odd, but it gave him a plan. He brought out the magic rod and used Wave Burn on it.

The dragon started to catch on fire, but then a sharp cold wind blasted through the room, sending a flurry of snowflakes towards the dragon. The flames went out. Feeling ice crystals on his skin and clothes, Link decided not to try that again. Instead, he brought out his bow and began shooting at the heads. This Gleeok may have had four heads, but that meant each head had less room to maneuver with.

Then it brought all of its heads up. Magic began to gather quickly. There weren't any pillars in the middle of the room, so he went to a corner by the door and by the large block structure that was surrounding the dragon. Bringing his shield up, he hoped this was enough.

Four large streams of cold energy blasted by him, or onto his shield. Once it stopped, he looked to it. All of its heads were lowered; it seemed that spell exhausted it too. So Link took the chance to strike at its necks with his sword. Two came off and began flying about rapidly, spitting snowballs and spiked ice balls at random. The other two heads rose up and bit his legs.

That hurt, like a dozen freezing steel knives going through his legs. Link cut off a third head, but then the snow in the room increased as the remaining head let go of his leg and rose up. Meanwhile, the main Gleeok roared, then came down as if to bite Link's head off. He bought his sword up and send that through the back of its mouth instead.

For some reason, this Gleeok burst at that, sending almost freezing blood at him. Some of it splattered into his nose and at his lips. And that hurt like acid water, smelling and tasting like rotten meat. Link sputtered, then tried to wipe it away. Despite feeling sickened, he brought out the medicine bottle and drank some of it, hoping to counter any nasty effects it might have. Then he pulled up the bottom of his pants and spread some medicine on the bite wound. As it did with smaller wounds, the magic medicine closed the puncture wounds up nicely, stopping his bleeding. It took all that he had to fix everything.

At least, on the surface. When Link got back up, he still felt nauseated, now lightheaded. Maybe if he just got out of this blood drenched room, he'd be okay. As the strange snow in the room finally died off, he went into the door behind where the Gleeok had sat.

It was an altar room as expected. Another golden fragment lay on the table's surface, this one fitting to the other two of Power. Now he just needed one of that, the one Ganon held. But first, the last pieces of Wisdom and Courage needed to be acquired too.

He gripped the piece of Power, hoping to send Zelda a message that he had it. But his hands began to shake and his throat felt like it was being constricted. What was happening? Was Ganon trying to get rid of him from afar? He teleported out of the dungeon, thinking that might help.

That ended up so disorienting that he collapsed onto the muddy ground and heaved. Not quite throwing up, but he was now so dizzy that he didn't want to get up. Raindrops fell onto him, lighter than before. But then a flash of lightning appeared, tearing apart the sky with a colossal boom.

"Who is that?" a man asked. Several people approached him. "What happened to him?"

There was a sniff. "Gleeok blood," an older woman said. She came closer to him. "Young man, did you kill the snowy Gleeok?"

He looked up to them. The old woman was dressed in a purple dress. A strong witch? And there were three men with her of various ages. He nodded.

"Oh my word..." one of the men said.

"Wait, he's the one with the Triforce," the oldest man (although not nearly as old as the witch) said. "We, um, should…"

"We should help him," the old woman snapped. "He may have killed that dread beast, but he's been poisoned by its blood. I need to work on him quickly, but this storm is going to pick back up any second."

"But Ganon…"

"Bah, I don't give a rat's ass about Ganon. Bring him to my place; get to it."

"Yes, Gran," one of them said. He came over and picked up Link, placing him over his shoulder.

The old witch walked alongside him, examining him already. "From the looks of your legs, I'd say you used magic medicine on those bites. Did you drink any of it?"

He nodded.

"Good, that'll keep you alive long enough for me to get you the proper treatment. Don't worry; I won't do anything improper with you. Go on to sleep and I'll take care of things."

Despite feeling awful, he smiled to her, then closed his eyes. It wasn't easy, what with the pain and tightness of his throat trying to keep him up. But before he knew it, he was asleep.


He woke up intermittently during the next few days. The old witch, who insisted she was okay with being called Gran by everyone, would give him some potion of healing, then a dish she called 'mush stock', which was some kind of mashed mixture of vegetables, mushrooms, and barley in a cuccu broth. It was good, if oddly textured; it was likely not something he'd want normally. But the witch insisted that it was good in times of illness. He suspected that there was some kind of sleeping leaf in with the mush stock, because he fell back asleep soon after eating it.

But he was glad for the sleep. When he was awake, his body felt achy all over, cold but with sweat. He was wearing some kind of sleeping gown while lying on a modest bed, sometimes covered with a warm blanket, sometimes not. And his legs tingled horribly. "Be glad you can't feel that actual pain of that," Gran would sometimes tell him. He took her word for it.

But there came one day when he was given a glass of milk and some porridge. "The worst of it's gone now, Link," Gran said as she set the items down on a crate nearby. "Now you just have to spend some more time here to get your strength back fully. And don't worry none about me. If Ganon sends his minions my way, then I'll just zap them into oblivion." She chuckled. "And I doubt the big pig man will dare to come down here himself."

Link smiled, then sat up. He felt a little woozy, but shifted himself over to the crate and drank some of the milk. It was good, fresh and cold. And the porridge was much better than the mush stock, flavored with honey and some kind of spice he didn't know.

Taking a drink of her own milk, Gran then said, "Ganon came in nearly a hundred years ago, so some of us old folks remember what it was like before him. This land was plentiful, and oh so lovely. There were more than humans around, you know. Hylians, like perhaps you have in your bloodline. And Zoras, and Gorons, and there are rumors of more. We also remember a time when Ganon was a man, not a beast.

"He started off in northern Hyrule, the lands beyond Death Mountain which are said to be an equally wondrous land. He was an adviser to the King, no less, and then to that King's son and daughter. But, the Hyrulean royalty were said to know a great secret about the Golden Power, the Triforce, which you seem to be wearing in pieces. Ganon was from a foreign land; he had gained the trust of the royal family, but not enough to learn what they knew of the Triforce. When the King died of an illness, he is said to have passed on the secret in full to his daughter, but not his son.

"Ganon tried to press the young King for information, but he admitted that it was his sister, Princes Zelda, who knew the secret. So Ganon tried to trick her into releasing that information. Being wise to his purpose, she refused. This angered him and so he cast a curse upon her, to sleep forever, never aging, never dying. The young King tried to fight him, but lost. However, Ganon did not kill him. He left for southern Hyrule, as he had found out that the Triforce was being held here, somewhere secret.

"The young King was deeply upset about this. He declared that from then on, every crown princess of Hyrule would be named Zelda, starting with his daughter. Then he gathered up an army to fight Ganon. That is as much as I know about northern Hyrule. They have managed to hold the border north of Death Mountain, but could not stop Ganon from taking the Triforce.

"But the Triforce would not fully accept him. The three segments all broke into pieces, scattering this way and that. Only a single fragment, one of Power, remained with Ganon. The King of Monsters was infuriated, but any attempt he made to reclaim the pieces failed. Since he now ruled southern Hyrule with an iron fist, he subjected us all to terror, discouraging any of us from gathering up the fragments. He was able to find where some were, and set monsters to guard them from any who would dare rise against him.

"And the snowy Gleeok was one of them. But this demonic dragon was not satisfied with being kept in a dungeon. Every winter, he would emerge and terrorize the eastern woods. He would coat the trees in ice, killing many and preventing us from keeping enough firewood. He destroyed our villages and forced us into hiding in these little holes underground. Many young men attempted to destroy this beast, but none succeeded before you." She took a drink, then added, "That is the history of the one you slew."

Link nodded. He had heard stories of the snow dragon, even in Waterfront. It hadn't occurred to him that he might be the one to slay it, though.

"Even if they're afraid of retribution, everyone around here is grateful for what you have done," Gran said. "So Link, do not feel obligated to give me anything in return. Just keep on your quest and bring down that tyrant Ganon."

He smiled and nodded again. That's what he had intended to do all along. But, Zelda… he wondered if the one he was speaking with was the grand-niece or something to the original one fifty years ago. She had to be, for Impa had mentioned her being held captive at Ganon's Castle. The older Zelda must have still been in northern Hyrule, whatever happened to that land.

Despite what she said to not worry about it, he spent the next week helping her with chores. Fall was setting in and even though the snowy Gleeok was gone, she and the others inhabitants of the eastern forest still needed to prepare for winter.


Yes, after the long dungeon under the false lake, you fight an Aquamentus. Such a let down.

The dungeon reached by burning the tree is technically the eighth dungeon in the first quest. Unlike this version, there's little to indicate that that particular tree is special. It looks exactly like the rest. The only hint that it might be something more is that it stands in the middle of a clear path. Oddly, it's not that long if you go straight to the boss. It's not even that long if you wander around, compared to the graveyard and false lake dungeons. It does help a little that you get the lion key there... a little. The boss isn't elemental, but if this game was really redone to be like the rest, making the Gleeoks elemental might be something they'd try.

I'd love to see the original redone to some standards of the modern games.

Also, we get backstory from Gran here. This is quite close to the canon storyline of the first two Zelda games. The main difference is in what Triforces are where: in the games, Link repairs the Triforce of Power in LoZ, the younger Zelda has the Triforce of Wisdom (or, that one is repaired in the second quest), and Link gets the Triforce of Courage in AoL while trying to break the curse on the older Zelda.

Yes, there are two Princess Zeldas rescued by one Link in canon!