The Ringer

"The Ringer" is the first episode of the Zelda animated series. It was broadcast in the United States and Canada on September 8, 1989.

Plot

 * See also: Episode transcript

Link reluctantly gets out of bed, complaining about his "boring" life in North Castle and reminiscing about the days when he would roam the world and constantly fight monsters. He looks out the window and sees Princess Zelda in a nearby balcony and whistles at her. Annoyed, Zelda leaves and shortly after, a Moblin sneaks behind Link and attacks him while more Moblins come into his room. One of the minions tries to steal the Triforce of Wisdom in Link's room, but the young hero manages to defeat them and sends them back to Ganon's Evil Jar. Link then notices that one of the Moblins dropped a Magic Bow, and stores it in his pocket before Zelda knocks on his door. After the young hero tries to kiss her, Zelda greets him with a smack to his cheek for having whistled at her before. Link then tells her of the Moblins that attacked him earlier, and the princess, noticing that this was the third attack by Ganon in the same month. Much to Link's dismay, Zelda orders Link to stay in his room and guard to Triforce while she goes off to judge the Magician's Contest. Meanwhile, in the Underworld, Ganon punishes the Moblins and concludes that if he wants the Triforce of Wisdom, he will have to get it himself. He begins his plans to spoil the Magician's Contest by appearing in cognito: since his teleportation powers are limited in the "upper world," he disguises four Stalfos in robes and makes them carry him on a platform. Ganon eventually arrives to North Castle and asks to be let in the contest. When Zelda asks him if he is an amateur magician, the evil wizard answers by making a bird appear out of his hands, which the princess approves of but asks that he wait his turn. Zelda continues to judge the contest while Ganon makes the bird turn into an Ache and orders it to go see who is guarding the Triforce of Wisdom. The Ache, having seen Link and Spryte next to the Triforce, later comes back to Ganon and informs him that the young hero is guarding the sacred relic. When one of the magicians makes a lizard appear on Zelda's hand, Ganon uses his magic to turn the lizard into a fire-breathing dragon that promptly turns towards the princess, causing her to scream in fear. Link hears Zelda's scream and rushes down from his room to help the princess. Although the young hero tries to defend himself from the dragon's fire using his Magical Shield, the flame is too strong. In order to make an opening for Link's attacks, Zelda throws a nearby plate in his direction, and the young hero fires several sword beams at it which reflect back at the dragon, promptly defeating it. However, Zelda and Link soon learn that the dragon was just a diversion and Ganon had managed to steal the Triforce of Wisdom.

Princess Zelda quickly grabs a seed that was sitting on a nearby table and asks one of the magicians from the contest to use their growing spell, causing the seed to immediately grow into a giant tree. The princess then ties a rope around the tip of the tree, and after Link and Zelda climb on top of it, Link snaps the rope with his sword so that the two are launched out of the castle. Zelda falls on top of Link, who tries to get her to kiss him, but Zelda pushes him away and warns him that Ganon is coming. Although Ganon is quickly approaching a secret Underworld entrance, Link zaps one of the Stalfos carrying the evil wizard, resulting in Ganon falling over, who commands his minions to attack the young duo while he calls for reinforcements. Link gives Zelda the Magic Bow that he found earlier, and when he sees that more Stalfos are coming from the Underworld entrance, he takes his belt off and ties it around both him and Zelda to fight back-to-back. The pair easily defeats the Stalfos together, and when there is only one Stalfos left, it takes out a bomb from underneath its chest and throws it at Link and Zelda; however, the young hero blocks it with his sword and zaps the foe. Ganon attempts to make a quick getaway with the Triforce of Wisdom in hand, but Link uses the bomb that the Stalfos threw at him and knocks it back at Ganon, causing the Triforce to be knocked from his hands.

With the Triforce of Wisdom now safe, Link tells Zelda that he will not get the belt off around them until she kisses him. Just as they are about to kiss, Spryte comes in and interrupts them, using her magic to get the belt off. The episode ends with Ganon inside the Evil Jar threatening that Link and Zelda will pay for what they have done.

Characters

 * Link
 * Princess Zelda
 * Ganon
 * Triforce of Power
 * Triforce of Wisdom

Enemies

 * Moblins
 * Ache
 * Stalfos

Items

 * Crissword
 * Magical Shield
 * Magic Bow
 * Bomb

Trivia

 * The cartoon series establishes that Link's entire inventory is actually shrunk inside his magic pouch. When Link is fighting the dragon, he pulls a miniaturized shield from the pouch, which then grows to normal size.
 * This episode marks the only time the Triforce of Power speaks.