The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker - Plot

Plot

The game takes place some time after Ocarina of Time, on a vast ocean known as the Great Sea, dotted with tiny islands. A legend, passed down among the islands, tells of an ancient kingdom that was attacked by a great evil called Ganon. Ganon was eventually defeated and sealed away by a boy wielding the Blade of Evil's Bane. Some time after the boy left the kingdom, Ganon reappeared and attacked once again, but neither the boy nor the Blade reappeared. The ultimate fate of the kingdom remains a mystery.

The game opens on Outset Island. It is Link's birthday. While he is celebrating, a gigantic bird flies overhead and drops a girl in a wooded area of the island. Link rescues the girl from creatures in the woods, but his younger sister Aryll is taken by the bird. The girl turns out to be a pirate captain named Tetra, who reluctantly agrees to help Link rescue his sister. With Tetra's assistance, Link finds Aryll on an island called the Forsaken Fortress, along with two other kidnapped girls. Before he can rescue her, he is captured by the giant bird and flung far out to sea.

Link is rescued by a talking boat that calls himself the King of Red Lions. The boat tells Link that the giant bird is controlled by Ganon, the same evil from the ancient legend. He also says that Link needs to find the three Pearls of the Goddesses to gain the power he needs to rescue his sister. Once retrieved, the pearls open the way to the Tower of the Gods, where Link must prove his worth to wield the power he needs. Once he overcomes the trials, he is taken to a castle, suspended in time underwater, where he finds the Master Sword, the legendary Blade of Evil's Bane.

Link returns to the island fortress to rescue his sister. He is soon joined by Tetra, who takes his sister and the other girls to safety while he challenges Ganon. Link defeats the giant bird, but Ganon easily overpowers Link. Tetra returns to help Link, but she is also defeated. Ganon reveals that the Master Sword has lost its power to repel evil. He discovers that the necklace Tetra wears is a piece of the Triforce of Wisdom. Ganon concludes that Tetra is Princess Zelda because she possesses a fragment of the sacred relic. Tetra denies it, then she and Link are swept from Ganon's grasp by the Rito, a race of people Link had helped while looking for the pearls.

Link returns to the underwater castle with Tetra. There, the King of Red Lions reveals himself as the King of Hyrule, and that they stand in Hyrule Castle, the seat of power in the ancient kingdom. After Ganon broke free of his seal, the gods ordered the people to flee to the mountaintops, then flooded Hyrule, sealing it and Ganon under the Great Sea. The King confirms that Tetra is, indeed, Princess Zelda, the predestined protector of the Triforce of Wisdom.

Zelda remains in the castle while Link and the King return to the surface to investigate why the Master Sword lost its power. They discover that two of the ancient sages that provided power for the Master Sword were killed by Ganon's forces. To restore the Master Sword's power, two new sages must be awakened. Link finds the new sages, restores full power to the Master Sword, then seeks out the eight pieces of the Triforce of Courage left behind by the ancient hero of the legend.

Link then returns to Hyrule to find that Ganon has found Zelda and kidnapped her. Link follows Ganon to his tower; there, Ganon overpowers Link and takes his Triforce. His own Triforce of Power combines with Link's and Zelda's Triforces to form the complete Triforce, which grants the power to govern all. Before the Triforce can grant Ganon's evil wish, the King appears, lays his hand on the Triforce, and wishes for Ganon and the rest of Hyrule to be washed away, and for Link and Zelda to be returned to the surface. Enraged, Ganon duels with Link as water begins to downpour over Hyrule, an epic battle that ends with Link petrifying Ganon in stone, with the Master Sword lodged in Ganon's forehead. Link and Zelda return to the surface, while the King decides to stay in Hyrule. Zelda returns to her old form as Tetra and Link is reunited with Aryll. After returning to Outset Island, Link and Tetra decide to sail away in search of a new land to call Hyrule.