Hyrule Castle Tower

Hyrule Castle Tower is the name of the keep of Hyrule Castle, the stately home of the Royal Family of Hyrule that governs the land of Hyrule in the Zelda series. The tower is usually an important location within the castle complex and often is the site of several Boss battles throughout the series. It first featured majorly into A Link to the Past as the lair of the dark wizard Agahnim and was the place where the Hero Link battles him for the first time at the top of the tower. It features again in Twilight Princess once again as the keep of the castle and is the location of the Throne Room of Hyrule from which Hyrule's monarch, Princess Zelda, rules over the land. Here Link confronts Ganondorf after fighting his way through the castle and up through the tower. The tower is usually at the heart of the castle, surrounded by the outlying parts of the castle, and is the highest point of the castle complex, usually visible from almost anyplace in Hyrule.

A Link to the Past
Hyrule Castle Tower first appears in A Link to the Past and serves as the lair of the dark wizard Agahnim, who has betrayed and overthrown the Royal Family of Hyrule after he previously pretended to aid Hyrule by quelling several disasters, subsequently gaining the right to live in Hyrule Castle as the King of Hyrule's most trusted adviser. Agahnim made his quarters atop the tall Hyrule Castle Tower and later has each of the Seven Maidens brought to his chambers atop the tower to be sent to the Dark World by his dark magic. The tower has seven floors in total. Its entrance is at first protected by an evil barrier cast by Agahnim, denying access to the castle's upper levels at the start of the game.

After succeeding in finding and acquiring the Master Sword after a quest for the Pendants of Virtue, Link discovers that Princess Zelda has been captured by the brainwashed soldiers of Hyrule Castle and taken to the top of Hyrule Castle Tower to share the same fate as her six counterparts that had been previously sent to the Dark World from Agahnim's chambers atop the tower. Link returns to the castle and fights his way to the entrance of the tower, slashing the evil barrier with the Master Sword and deactivating it, permitting entry to the tower. After battling his way through the structure while ascending the tower, Link finally arrives at Agahnim's chambers on the seventh floor but arrives just in time to see him sacrifice Zelda to the Dark World before the dark wizard retreats to his private quarters just beyond. Link follows the evil magician, and a fierce battle ensues between the two of them. Link reflects Agahnim's evil magic back at him using the Blade of Evil's Bane and eventually subdues him, resulting in Agahnim drawing the both of them into the Dark World in order to escape Link.

Twilight Princess
Hyrule Castle Tower reappears in 'Twilight Princess once again as the keep of Hyrule Castle but this time also acting as the location of the Throne Room of Hyrule as well, which is located in the citadel perched atop the tower. To reach the citadel and thus the Throne Room, one must traverse all the way through the tower and make their way to an outside catwalk that leads up to the citadel. The tower is visible from almost any point in Hyrule and serves as the location from which Princess Zelda rules the kingdom from on high. Similar to its A Link to the Past version, this incarnation of Hyrule Castle Tower has multiple floors and is located at the heart of the castle, with several smaller structures surrounding it from the perimeter. In this version, the tower makes up the bulk of the castle's main structure in addition to its role as the keep of the complex.

The main attraction of the tower, the Throne Room, is first glimpsed within the game in a flashback that shows how the Usurper King of Twilight Zant invaded Hyrule Castle and forced Princess Zelda's surrender after he conquered the castle and ascended to the Throne Room atop Hyrule Castle Tower. From that point onward, Link can glimpse the tower almost at any point throughout Hyrule, whether he be near or far from Hyrule Castle Town. Even after the entire castle is surrounded by the Twilight Pyramid after Ganondorf takes control of it, Link can still see the tower from almost anyplace through the pyramid's energy barrier. He does not actually get to enter and explore the tower until near the end of the game, after Zant has been deposed from the Twilight Realm and the Fused Shadow has been recovered from him. After Midna uses the Fused Shadow to destroy the Twilight Pyramid surrounding Hyrule Castle, the pair enter the complex and gain the key from King Bulblin that permits entry into the lower levels of the tower. As Link works his way up the tower, he finds that much of its interior has been heavily damaged and thus has to be extremely careful when ascending to the Throne Room atop the tower. There, the pair meets Ganodorf, sitting atop Zelda's throne with Zelda's lifeless body haging in a niche above the throne. Ganondorf then takes possession of the princess's body and attacks as Puppet Zelda, resulting in a battle to free the princess's body of his influence. After this is achieved, the Dark Beast Ganon is fought and conquered by Link and Midna, with Zelda's spirit returning to her body shortly thereafter. Though the tower appears to have been destroyed along with the rest of Hyrule Castle following Midna's confrontation with Ganondorf, it is revealed that both the tower and the castle at large have been rebuilt at the end of the game.