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The Hero of Time is the title given to the Link who appears in, and later in  as the Hero's Spirit. Link is bestowed this title upon awakening from his seven-year slumber after retrieving the Master Sword from the Pedestal of Time. By traveling through time to awaken the Six Sages and stop the King of Evil Ganondorf from conquering Hyrule, the Hero of Time's tale becomes a legend that is passed down through generations, proving to be of great relevance to both the Mythology in the Zelda series as well as the timeline in which the games take place.

The Legend of the Hero of Time


In the land of Hyrule, legends speak of the Triforce, the mythical Golden Power said to reside in the Sacred Realm which has the power to grant the wishes of its holder. Ganondorf, the King of the Gerudo tribe, schemes to enter the Sacred Realm to claim the Triforce and thus rule the world. With the unwitting assistance of a young boy named Link and Hyrule's Princess Zelda, Ganondorf is able to enter the Sacred Realm after Link retrieves the Master Sword from the Pedestal of Time. However, because Ganondorf's heart was not in balance, the Triforce separated upon being touched by the King of Evil, leaving him with only the Triforce of Power and transforming the Sacred Realm into a corrupt world of evil. The Triforce of Wisdom was then bestowed upon Princess Zelda and the Triforce of Courage upon Link, respectively. Link was then put into a slumber for seven years until he matured enough to properly handle the Blade of Evil's Bane, the Master Sword. Meanwhile, Ganondorf used the Triforce of Power to take over Hyrule, transforming the land into a world of monsters.

Link eventually awakens as the Hero of Time and, using the Master Sword and the Pedestal of Time, travels through time to seek the Seven Sages, who were said to have the power to bind Ganondorf and return peace to Hyrule. With the assistance of the Seven Sages, the Hero of Time, wielding the Master Sword, battles Ganondorf and weakens him enough to allow the Sages the time they need to bind him and throw him back into the void of the Evil Realm. The King of Evil, with the Triforce of Power still in his hand, threatens to return one day to exterminate the descendants of the Hero of Time and the Sages to make them pay for his imprisonment.

With Hyrule now at peace, Princess Zelda uses her power as a Sage to send the Hero of Time back to his own age in order to regain his lost childhood. Upon his departure, the Triforce of Courage splits apart into eight shards and are scattered across the land to be found again one day by another Hero that would have need of its power. The Master Sword is also left in the Hero's wake, being returned to its pedestal in turn. With this act, the Hero of Time vanishes from this branch of Hyrule's history, leaving only his legend behind.

The Hero's Fate
Before leaving the land of Hyrule, the Hero of Time warns Princess Zelda about Ganondorf's plans and what the future would unfold if the King of Evil was not stopped. The princess entrusts Link with the to prevent Ganondorf from entering the Sacred Realm, and the young hero then departs from Hyrule with the ocarina in hand to seek his fairy companion, Navi. In the process, however, he stumbles into a parallel universe known as Termina, which was being threatened to be destroyed by its Moon. With the aid of the Ocarina of Time and the fairy Tatl, Link saves Termina from its imminent downfall and soon after leaves the land.

Despite this, the Hero of Time continued to lament the fact that he was not remembered as a hero after he was returned to his original time upon defeating Ganon. After his death, he was unable to go to the afterlife because of the regrets that kept him tied to the world of the living, feeling regret that he was unable to pass on the lessons of his life to the younger generations. In order to ease his regrets and finally pass on his knowledge, he teaches the seven Hidden Skills to his descendant, the Link of.

Legacy
The legend of the Hero of Time becomes of great significance in the development of the Zelda Timeline and the mythology in the Zelda series. His battle against Ganondorf marked the point in which the timeline split into three branches: the Downfall, Child, and Adult Timeline. Princess Zelda's plan with Link to save Hyrule by retrieving the Triforce resulted in Ganondorf obtaining the Triforce of Power, eventually leading to Link's death and thus forming the Downfall Timeline. Should Link succeed in defeating Ganondorf, the princess sending the Hero of Time back to his original time creates two timelines: the Child Timeline and the Adult Timeline. The latter of the two shatters the Triforce of Courage and vanishes the hero in the Adult Timeline, resulting in Hyrule eventually being flooded since there was no hero to fight against Ganon once the Sages' curse broke. In the Child Timeline, the Hero of Time becomes filled with regret by not being remembered as the hero that saved Hyrule from Ganondorf, eventually leading him to linger on as the Hero's Spirit in the Era of Twilight.

Although Hyrule was flooded in the Adult Timeline and the memory of the kingdom vanished, the legend of the Hero of Time transcended through time. In Outset Island, it became a custom to clothe boys in green once they came of age. A statue depicting the Hero of Time is also prominently displayed in the sunken Hyrule Castle, demonstrating how meaningful the legend of the brave boy clothed in green was to the citizens of Hyrule.