The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (Ishinomori)

A comic book miniseries by Shotaro Ishinomori based on A Link to the Past appeared in Nintendo Power beginning in January 1992 and ran for 12 issues. Many portions of the game were omitted, and several new story segments were added.

Plot Summary
Link awakens, contacted telepathically by Princess Zelda, and his uncle is missing. Following Zelda's voice to Hyrule Castle, Link sneaks into the castle and finds his uncle dueling Agahnim. Agahnim vanishes and orders the soldiers to bring Zelda to him before anyone else she has contacted finds her. Link's uncle passes on his sword and shield to Link, who continues to search for Zelda while she related to him Agahnim's plan - to use the power of the descendants of the seven Wise Men to open the door to the Golden Land and unleash the evil power contained there. Link finds Zelda and the two escape through a hidden passage to Sanctuary. Agahnim appears and easily defeats Link when attacked. As he spirits Zelda away, Zelda tells link only the legendary Master Sword can harm Agahnim. Later that night, Agahnim has wanted signs posted around the country calling for Link's arrest for kidnapping Zelda. The master of Sanctuary sends Link to find Sahasrahla, a descendant of the Wise Men who knows more about the Master Sword.

Link finds Sahasrahla's house in Kakariko Village in the care of his wife, but Sahasrahla himself isn't there. A villager alerts the soldiers to Link's presence, and while fleeing he finds a boy watching over Sahasrahla's wife who knows where he can be found. Link travels to the Eastern Palace and finds Sahasrahla. Sahasrahla tells Link he must recover the Pendants of Virtue to claim the Master Sword, and gives him the Pendant of Courage. The soldiers pursuing Link find him, but empowered by the pendant Link easily dispatches their leader and sends the rest fleeing. The soldiers report to Agahnim, who suspects Link is a descendant of the Knights of Hyrule and orders him killed. Link returns to Kakariko to find the Library has been set on fire by soldiers. Link saves the librarian from the flames, who shows Link the Book of Mudora, their most prized book. Using a glider kept in storage in Sahasrahla's home, Link flies over the Desert of Mystery and locates the ruins of the Desert Palace. Using the Book of Mudora to translate the runes he finds, Link finds the Pendant of Power but is attacked by a Lanmola. Using the pendant's energy Link kills it but is stranded with the glider ruined by a sandstorm.

Left to traverse the desert on foot, Link is guided by Sahasrahla's telepathy to Death Mountain. A portal there causes Link to see a vision of two people standing with his uncle. Believing them to be his parents Link reaches for them, and his hand turns into a claw when it passes the portal's boundary - Sahasrahla warns the power of the Dark World turns the inhabitants into a reflection of their heart, and Link's hatred of Agahnim would turn him into a beast if he were to enter. Link enters the Tower of Hera and climbs to the top to battle a giant spider, seizing the Pendant of Wisdom from one of its eyes, healing his arm when he grasps it. With all three pendants, Link enters the Lost Woods and seizes the Master Sword from its pedestal. With only a single night left until Agahnim casts his final incantations on Zelda, Link's friends construct a hot air balloon to carry him into the castle. Link lands on the castle's highest tower and finds Agahnim in the middle of his spell - Link attacks him but the Master Sword passes right through Agahnim's body. Agahnim casts Zelda into the Dark World, and battles Link. With Sahasrahla's advice, Link uses the Master Sword to turn back Agahnim's magic and kill him. With his final breath, Agahnim transports Link to the Dark World, Hyrule Castle crumbling to reveal the Pyramid of Power.

Momentarily transformed into a monster by his negative emotions, Link manages to control them to remain in human form, and searches the world for Zelda. Attacked by monsters pursuing a fairy, Link kills them and the fairy Epheremelda leads him to Great Zora, who tells Link about the ruler of the Dark World, Ganon. Zora also tells Link one of the maidens Agahnim captured is imprisoned in the Palace of Darkness, where a stockpile of explosive materials is kept. Zora grants Link a disguise to sneak around the palace, but he is discovered and attacked by Gleeocks. Link detonates the explosive stockpile with a bomb, and the palace is destroyed and the maiden released, who grants Link a relic called the "Comm Fork". A knight named Roam appears in the rubble and transforms into a monstrous eagle, challenging Link for the Master Sword. Link defeats Roam, who reveals he is also a descendant of the Knight of Hyrule, seeking the Silver Arrow to destroy Ganon. Using the Comm Fork after Roam departs, Link sees a vision of Sahasrahla in his home, and discovers the Comm Fork lets them communicate. Using Link's travels to map the Dark World by comparing it to Hyrule, and with Epheremelda's gossip gathered from other fairies, the two travel to the Swamp Palace but find it barren. Using the Comm Fork to guide Sahasrahla, the sage finds a well in the Light World, and when the boy accompanying him activates a fountain, the Swamp Palace floods, leading Link to a new chamber. Link finds the second maiden and kills a large tentacled monster to free her. The maiden tells Link Zelda is imprisoned in a rock shaped like a turtle at the end of the world, and vanishes.

Epheremelda tells Link there is a map of the Dark World in the Ice Tower, when Link hears Zelda contact him telepathically. Abandoning Epheremelda to follow the voice into Misery Mire, Link is caught by a trap set by a Wizzrobe, who conjures Vitreous to devour him. Zora appears from a whirlpool to rescue him, able to warp between worlds due to the presence of water in both. Reunited with Epheremelda, Link travels to the Ice Tower and locates the map of the Dark World etched on the floor, but the master of the tower Kholdstone unleashes Stalfos to kill him. Link destroys the Ice Tower with the power of the Master Sword and lands at Turtle Rock when it shatters. Using the Master Sword as a lightning rod, Link strikes Turtle Rock with lightning to open the entrance, finding it full of lava. A three-headed dragon attacks and Link is saved by Roam, who followed him. The two cut off the dragon's ice head, causing its ice and fire to mix and explode. Link saves Zelda from her crystal and the four escape Turtle Rock as it collapses. Roam boasts that the Book of Mudora's prophecy supports him as the Legendary Hero, as he is the one seeking the Silver Arrow, and leaves to find it. Zelda tells Link the book also mentions the Hero will overcome his heart's emotions, which Roam has not, and they continue on without Roam

The three find Ganon's Tower, and Roam appears, admitting he has failed to find the arrows. Overwhelmed by his failure Roam transforms and flies up the tower, Zelda channeling her powers to guide her and Link in as well. The group is attacked by illusions of Link's past foes, and when Roam attacks a specter of Agahnim approaching Zelda he is killed, Ganon rising from the illusion. Ganon and Link battle, and Zelda takes up Roam's crossbow, firing it at a wound Link slashes over Ganon's chest. The power of the imprisoned maidens turns the arrow into the Silver Arrow, and Ganon is destroyed. The Triforce rises from his body, and with a wish in his heart Link grasps it, transporting him and Zelda back to Hyrule. Zelda is crowned queen and makes Link the leader of the Knight of Hyrule. Though the two cherish their time together, their duties now keep them apart. Link lays the Master Sword to rest in the Lost Woods once again, the comic's final scene showing the sword overgrown by foliage as it sleeps waiting for a new bearer.

Differences From the Game

 * Several new characters are introduced, most prominently Roam, the librarian of Kakariko, and an unnamed boy who is friends with Sahasrahla.
 * Sahasrahla inhabits the Eastern Palace rather than just living near it, and gives Link the Pendant of Courage. In the game the player must defeat the Armos Knights to claim the Pendant.
 * Death Mountain is on the borders of the Desert of Mystery. In the game Death Mountain is far north and the desert is to the south-west.
 * The monster fought in the Tower of Hera is a giant spider as opposed to the Moldorm fought in the game. However, when the monster's illusion appears in Ganon's Tower, it is still called a Moldorm.
 * Link cannot travel freely between worlds and is trapped in the Dark World once Agahnim transports him there.
 * Link maintains his form in the Dark World by controlling his emotions, while in the game the Moon Pearl is needed to maintain human form.
 * Link is attacked by monsters called Gleeocks in the Palace of Darkness. However, the monsters are bright orange lizards with green gems on their heads, and thus physically resemble smaller versions of the Helmasaur King which is fought in the game.
 * The boss of the Swamp Palace may or may not be Arrghus - the monster is shown as a bright red jellyfish that attacks with tentacles, but no eyeballs are shown.
 * The events of the Dark World are heavily abridged - Skull Woods and Thieves' Town are entirely removed, and Link only saves two maidens before finding Zelda. Though Link enters Misery Mire and the Ice Palace (referred to as the Ice Tower), no maidens are imprisoned there. The collection and usage of items vital to the game's completion are often removed entirely from the comic, with only the Book of Mudora appearing in the same capacity.
 * The monster fought in Turtle Rock in a three-headed dragon with a grey head, a red head that breathes fire and a blue head that breathes ice. Though the three heads and their powers are a reference to the game's boss Trinexx, the dragon is never called Trinexx and besides the three heads the two monsters bear no similarities.

Further Notes

 * In the Dark World Link is accompanied by Epheremelda who offers him assistance. This is before Ocarina of Time introduced Navi as the first canon Fairy Companion.
 * When sent into the Dark World Link begins to transform into a wolf-like creature. Link would later transform into a wolf in Twilight Princess.
 * Zelda assists Link in the battle with Ganon, firing the Silver Arrow to kill him. In some later games, Zelda fires Light Arrows to help Link in the same manner. When Zelda deals the final blow in the comic, she does so by aiming at a glowing wound Link carves across Ganon's chest to paralyze him - Ganondorf possesses a similar wound in Twilight Princess.
 * Agahnim and Ganon are explicitly shown to be different beings, communicating between worlds in one scene.