Black Tower

The Black Tower, officially named Ambi's Tower, is a massive tower of stone and grout featured in Oracle of Ages that was built to the heavens 400 years in Labrynna's past by the order of Queen Ambi. Originally, the project of building the tower was intended to guide Queen Ambi's love, the Captain, home from the sea. These peaceful plans for the construction of the tower changed however when the Oracle of Ages, Nayru (secretly under the control of Veran, the Sorceress of Shadows), arrived as though from nowhere and became Queen Ambi's most trusted adviser through Veran's cunning. She convinced the hapless queen to push her people much harder and to build the tower all the way to the heavens so as to go down in history as Labrynna's "greatest queen". She also hoodwinked the queen into allowing her to use the powers of the Oracle of Ages to create an endless day so the people would have to work on the tower without rest. Oblivious to the suffering and misery she was inadvertently bringing upon her people, Queen Ambi's project, Ambi's Tower, began to earn a new title amongst her subjects: the Black Tower.

Origins
Some time before the events of Oracle of Ages, Her Royal Highness Queen Ambi of Labrynna fell deeply in love with a sea-faring man who intensely loved her in return. This sea-faring man, the Captain, was the leader of a band of pirates that thirsted for adventure on the high seas beyond Labrynna's borders, much like himself. Despite his great love for Ambi, there came a day that the Captain's thirst for adventure prompted him to take his men and set out to discover what truly lay beyond Labrynna's coasts. While he and his men went off adventuring across the Zora Seas, Ambi remained behind in Labrynna to fulfill her duties as the ruler of the kingdom, but she yearned to see her beloved again and prayed that he would safely return to her one day, so that their relationship with each other could be continued.

Over the course of her reign, Ambi developed a reputation as a very kind and benevolent ruler that came to be beloved by her subjects. However, as time went by, Ambi grew increasingly concerned about the Captain's safety and began to wonder what had become of him or whether he would ever return to her. Eventually, her worry and distraction in regards to the Captain grew to such large proportions that she conceived a plan to either learn his location or guide him home from his lost adventure: to construct an immense tower that would be tall enough that it could see out all across the land and far across the sea. In this way, Ambi intended to erect the tower with peaceful intentions so as to search the land and sea for her beloved Captain or for it to act as a large beacon that would guide him home from the sea back to Labrynna. She hoped that wherever he was, the Captain would be able to see the tower and would thus have a means of finding his way back home to where she loyally awaited his return. This tower was then given the official title of "Ambi's Tower".

The Coming of the Oracle of Ages
Meanwhile, 400 years in the future beyond Ambi's reign, the Sorceress of Shadows known as Veran took possession of Zelda's nursemaid, Impa, and used her body to gain Link's trust so as to get him to remove a barrier that was preventing her from approaching the location of Nayru, the Oracle of Ages. Once this was accomplished and the pair had met with Nayru herself in the Forest of Time, the evil sorceress left the body of Impa and possessed Nayru's instead. Once Veran was secured in Nayru's body, the Possessed Nayru opened a Time Portal to the past, journeying back 400 years to the reign of Queen Ambi.

Shortly after her arrival in Ambi's age, Veran used the form of Nayru to seduce Queen Ambi and used the queen's kind heart against her, becoming her most trusted adviser as a result. As Nayru, Veran persuaded Ambi to send those closest to her away from Ambi's Palace and to have the palace sealed off from the general public. This would ensure that Veran's grip on Ambi would go unopposed and serve to isolate the queen from anybody that may have brought her to her senses about Nayru's true nature. Pretending to sympathize with the queen's story of lost love, Veran began to twist the project of Ambi's Tower to serve her own purposes secretly. She persuaded Ambi that if she built the tower all the way to the heavens that history would forever remember her as Labrynna's greatest queen. Ambi was tricked into allowing Nayru to create an endless day so that construction of the tower could continue uninterrupted. The queen was oblivious however to the fact that by forcing her people to work continuously on the tower without rest, she would inadvertently bring untold sorrow and misery to her subjects, which was exactly what Veran wanted. As these events unfolded, the citizens of Lynna Village began to secretly give the tower a new but ominous title: the Black Tower.

Arrival of the Hero
Soon after these dark developments, the Hyrulean Hero Link followed Veran into Labrynna's past with the aid of the Harp of Ages and set about solving the mystery of what Veran's true goal could be in bringing misery to Labrynna's people. What nobody yet realized is that Veran's true goal was to use the Black Tower to call upon an Age of Darkness that would generate enough negative energy amongst Labrynna's people that it would pass through the tower and be delivered unto Twinrova. Link began a quest in secret to find the eight Essences of Time that could enable him to penetrate Veran's dark magic and defeat the Sorceress of Shadows ultimately. Over the course of this quest, the tower continued to rise toward the heavens, and the Maku Tree warned Link that dark repercussions would be in store for Labrynna once it succeeded in reaching the heavens while the project was under Veran's influence. After completing the dungeon within the Mermaid's Cave, Link was informed that Queen Ambi had left her palace temporarily to inspect the tower's construction herself, leaving the security slightly lessened around the palace. Seizing upon this opportunity, Link infiltrated Ambi's Palace and was able to use Mystery Seeds to eject Veran from Nayru's body. Unfortunately, Queen Ambi chose this particular moment to return to the palace and became Veran's next unwilling host, leaving the evil sorceress now in complete control of the construction of the Black Tower as a result even as Link and Ralph escaped with Nayru's help.

While Link continued his quest for the Essences of Time, the tower soon reached the heavens even as Labrynna's people suffered beneath a now-possessed Queen Ambi. Using Ambi's influence, Veran cruelly forced the wearied people to work to the point of exhaustion, and the decor of the tower began to take a dark turn as its higher levels were adorned with hideous statues of a demonic beast resembling a Medusa Head and a raised platform was erected near the highest turret. Dark clouds began to congregate around the top of the tower, an ominous sign of the tower's new purpose, and monsters began to infest the tower, sealing off the turret. Once the tower reached completion, Veran climbed to the tower's highest level and stood upon the platform to call upon her Age of Darkness, which caused dark energies to flow through the body of Queen Ambi and to the Sorceress of Shadows. It now only remained for her to wait for enough of the negative energy she was creating amongst Labrynna's people to pass through the tower and into the hands of Twinrova in order to light the Flame of Sorrow. The young Hero soon succeeded in finding all of the Essences of Time and brought them before the Maku Tree, whose memory was now fully restored and was now able to produce a Huge Maku Seed that possessed the power to break through Veran's dark magic. It was here however that the Maku Tree warned Link that he must stop Queen Ambi at the Black Tower and cast down Veran for good and all.

The Hyrulean Hero vs. The Sorceress of Shadows
Link headed for the Black Tower with the eight Essences of Time and the Huge Maku Seed in tow. Upon arrival, he found the Royal Guards and the workers in disarray due to the recent infestation of monsters and the disappearance of Queen Ambi to the top of the tower, which nobody else seemed to be able to now reach. The young Hero pressed onward, climbing the tower's multiple levels and slaying beasts. As he climbed, the number and strength of the monsters began to increase and the atmosphere got gradually darker as he neared the turret. Finally, Link arrived at the entrance to the Black Tower Turret and found a veil of dark energy surrounding it. Using the Huge Maku Seed given to him by the Maku Tree, Link was able to break the barrier of dark energy Veran had cast and faced the Sorceress of Shadows herself at the summit. In a similar strategy to his battle with the Possessed Nayru, Link utilized Mystery Seeds to force Veran out of Ambi's body and strike her with his sword, eventually succeeding in ejecting her from the queen's body entirely. Ambi took her cue from Link and fled the tower while the Hero remained behind to fight Veran in her "true form", that of a demonic fairy. This did not phase the Hero however, and the Sorceress of Shadows fell once again to Link's blade. With the battle seemingly over, Link was accompanied to the base of the tower by Nayru and Ralph.

Veran was far from defeated however, and she sent a Wallmaster to grab Link, who pushed Nayru and Ralph out of the way, and bring him back to the top of the tower to face her one final time. Here she revealed a truly frightening side of herself as she took on three grotesque forms that even she admitted that she did not like, those forms including that of a beetle, a bee, and a spider. Link engaged Veran in a truly deadly and exhausting battle that ultimately ended with Link vanquishing the Sorceress of Shadows utterly. As she lay dying however, Veran merely laughed and warned that this would not stop all the negative energy and sorrow she had created from passing through the tower and on into the hands of Twinrova, lighting the Flame of Sorrow. Indeed this event unfortunately came to pass, fulfilling Veran's intent for the Black Tower and bringing the return of Ganon one step closer, making Link's victory over her somewhat bittersweet. Queen Ambi however was restored to her former self and returned to being a kind queen beloved by her people, giving the battle of the Black Tower some degree of victory to Labrynna.

Legacy
The Black Tower still stands tall over Labrynna to the present day, 400 years after it served as the site of the final battle between the Hyrulean Hero and the Soceress of Shadows. Unfortunately, its dark history never completely faded, and this tarnished its reputation even in future generations to some degree, leaving some citizens of Labrynna uneasy about it. It is perhaps most well known for the famous final battle that took place at its summit, overshadowing its original intent as a symbol of love rather than suffering or conflict. The memory of the struggle that took place atop the Black Tower was reinforced by a series of statues of Link that were built after the battle by order of Queen Ambi in Link's honor for saving her and ridding Labrynna of Veran. Still, the tower withstood the test of time and remains a remarkable feat of accomplishment that added to the fame of the queen who commissioned its construction.

Architecture and Design
The Black Tower is shown to have been built with a design that falls in line with typical medieval towers or castles. It was constructed using black bricks and grey grout, hence the tower's nickname as the "Black Tower" that not only conforms to its dark purpose but also is descriptive of its aesthetic appearance. However, some of its features are unique, such as the hideous statues that adorn its upper levels, bearing a close similarity to the Medusa Head featured in Oracle of Seasons, and the strange yet original design for the tower's top, which appears to have a disc-like structure atop the roof of the tower's highest turret, acting as the capping feature for the tower's top. An observation platform was also constructed on the tower's highest level, just outside the entrance to the turret, where the Possessed Ambi came to call upon an Age of Darkness and start channeling Labrynna's sorrow through the tower. The tower rises clear into the heavens, towering high over Labrynna and making it visible from nearly any point throughout the land and far out to sea. From a distance, the tower has an impressive appearance that gives a sense of power or prestige, as was the intention of Queen Ambi after she was convinced that the tower would guarantee her a spot of fame in history. Up close and within however, the tower's decorations and labyrinth-like path to the turret can at times appear disturbing or even frightening to those who dare climb all the way to the turret.