Marked by the sign on his hand, Link was destined to become a hero, but in the peaceful days following his first quest, he became restless. He wandered the forests, crossed the deserts, and delved into the caverns of Hyrule, looking for clues to explain his feeling of unease. In the time he became aware of a whisper that passed between the birds, beasts, and even through the blades of grass: there was a new magic in the land, nameless and terrifying.
Lying as still as a marble, Princess Zelda slept the dreamless sleep of enchantment. When Link found her thus arrayed in the North Palace, he saw at once that she was spellbound. His greatest fear had come to pass. By refusing to reveal the secret power of the Triforce to a wizard, Zelda had brought on her own downfall. But all was not lost. If Link somehow unlocked the mystery of the Great Palace, he could save Zelda and the Triforce of Courage.
Again Link took to the fields and forests, but these places had become wild and dangeroud, inhabited by enemies of old. Link found himself relying on his wits and swordplay at every step. Creatures he had never before seen also waylaid him: spiders called Deelers that dropped from the trees, tall Geldarms that rose from the sands of the Tantari Desert, and of course the Moblins, armed with spears and hatred.
Link’s mission was to enter each of six palaces and restore a missing crystal to a statue. Together the statues created a magical lock on the Great Palace. Only by replacing the six crystals could Link open the final door. In each palace, however, he had to battle a Statue Guardian of great strength: Barba the Dragon, Ironknucle the Knight, Carock the Wizard and others.
As he closed the palaces, Link crossedthe whole of Hyrule, from Ruto in the northwest to Death Mountain in the south, from the Island Palace in the Stormy Straights to Maze Island in the Far Eastern Sea. He helped villagers when he could, but he never lost sight of his ultimate goal. Finally, after uncovering the secrets of Old Kasuto, Link pushed on to the Great Palace where he met the Thunderbird.
Once the Thunderbird was vanquished, Link thought that Zelda and Hyrule would be saved, but it was not to be…not yet. Exhausted from his journeying, Link had one more enemy to defeat-an enemy so unexpected that he did not know what to do, for the enemy was his own shadow.
