Shadow Invasion

Zant's Invasion of Hyrule is the name of a large scale invasion launched against the land of Hyrule by the evil King of Shadows named Zant, the usurper King of Twilight featured in Twilight Princess who overthrows the Royal Family of the Twilight Realm and seizes control of the Twili race for himself, as well as its aftermath. The origins of the invasion are rooted in a time long before the events of Twilight Princess when the King of Evil, Ganondorf, is captured and sentenced to execution for his crimes against the Royal Family of Hyrule by the ancient Sages. However, due to his possession of the Triforce of Power, this attempt fails, causing the Sages to use a relic known as the Mirror of Twilight to banish Ganondorf to the Twilight Realm, where roughly a century later, he influences Zant to take over the Twilight Realm and attempt conquest of Hyrule in exchange for releasing the Dark Lord back into Hyrule once more. Eventually a new incarnation of Link and Princess Zelda team up with the overthrown ruler of the Twilight Realm, the Twilight Princess Midna, to stop Zant and discover the truth behind his actions, which reveals to them that the great evil once fought by the Hero of Time has returned to haunt Hyrule once more.

An Execution Gone Wrong
Following his capture and imprisonment for his crimes following the end of Ocarina of Time, the Gerudo King of Thieves and King of Evil, Ganondorf, was sentenced to death by impalement in the infamous Arbiter's Grounds, home of a relic known as the Mirror of Twilight. The ancient Sages conducted the Dark Lord's execution in the Mirror Chamber atop the roof of the Arbiter's Grounds, and the Sage of Water brandished the Sword of the Sages, impaling Ganondorf through his chest and leaving him with a glowing wound. However, the Triforce of Power activated within Ganondorf at that moment, renewing both his malice and his strength and preventing death from overtaking him. The evil Gerudo soon broke free of his heavy manacles and used his new-found power to kill the Sage of Water before ripping the blade from his torso and turning it on its owners. Left with no choice to prevent the Dark Lord from killing them all and escaping, the Sages activated the Mirror of Twilight, opening the gateway between Hyrule and the Twilight Realm and sending Ganondorf through it.

The Rise of Zant
A century after the failed execution of Ganondorf, the Twilight Realm entered a period of political instability when the Throne of the Twilight Realm was suddenly vacated. The true Twilit king seemingly had no male heirs and only a single daughter, Princess Midna. One of the advisers to the Royal Family of the Twilight Realm, a Twili named Zant, stood as one of the primary candidates to ascend to the Throne of the Twilight Realm in the absence of any male heirs of the Royal Family itself. Midna's father however had refused to name Zant as his successor prior to the end of his reign, and due to there being no male heir to succeed him and no pre-chosen successor, the Twilight Realm was left without a ruler. Due to general mistrust of Zant due to his thirst for conquest and his lust for power, he was passed over, and the position was filled by the seemingly lone final member of the Royal Family of the Twilight Realm, a female Twili named Midna. With the ascension of Midna to the title of "Twilight Princess", Zant became emotionally unstable and entered severe depression, turning his head to the heavens in search of an answer to his situation. It was in this state that he was approached by the spirit of Ganondorf, who posed as a god and offered an exchange: he would give Zant the power to take the throne by force, and once he was secure as the ruler of the Twilight Realm, Zant would release Ganondorf back into Hyrule. Bestowing a fraction of the strength of the Triforce of Power upon Zant, Ganondorf hid in the shadows as Zant transformed the Twili into Shadow Beasts and attacked the Palace of Twilight, where he overthrew Midna by force and transformed her into an impish creature before she escaped Zant's coup. Zant then sealed away the Sols, the source of light in the Twilight Realm, within the Palace of Twilight, leaving the land in darkness. As the sitting ruler of the Twilight Realm, Zant now had the authority to reopen the portal generated by the Mirror of Twilight, and so he did, meaning to invade the World of Light and conquer it so that shadow and light could be merged together and the Twili could return to Hyrule.

The Invasion of Twilight
Zant opened the gateway between the two worlds as the self-proclaimed King of Twilight. As the Mirror of Twilight is the lone link between Hyrule and the Twilight Realm, it is thought that Zant brought his army through this very same portal, as he was now able to open the portal as the sitting ruler of the Twilight Realm. Twilight surged from the Arbiter's Grounds and preceded the coming of Zant's army as they flooded from the Twilight Realm into Hyrule. The King of Shadows used his sorcerer's powers to shroud the areas traveled by he and his army in twilight. As long as twilight was present, Zant and his army were not reduced to mere shadows, as they could no longer retain physical form in the light as punishment for their ancestors' actions. Zant first targeted three of the four Light Spirits that had been responsible for locking the Dark Interlopers away in the Twilight Realm long ago at the behest of the goddesses, sending his Shadow Beasts to steal their light and divide it up amongst a multitude of twilit insects that would scatter around the provinces. This action caused the Light Spirits to be reduced to little more than powerless vapor, as well as casting each of their respective provinces into twilight as well and reducing those who resided in them to spirit form. The Twili army conquered province after province with ease, but Zant had his sights set on conquering the one thing that could be seen from almost anywhere in Hyrule: Hyrule Castle.

The Siege of Hyrule Castle
The Twili army eventually even reached the gates of the fortified Hyrule Castle Town itself, invading the city and forcing the surrender of its inhabitants. Once the city was firmly under his control, Zant turned his attention to the stately Hyrule Castle just beyond the city's main square. Shadow Beasts poured into the well-manicured courtyards of the castle, swarming and overwhelming the soldiers that were present to guard the home of the Royal Family of Hyrule and setting the area ablaze, with the smoke and flames even visible from the square of Hyrule Castle Town. With the castle now surrounded by the members of his army, Zant turned his attention to conquering the castle and capturing the country's young matriarch: Princess Zelda, who ruled from her Throne Room high atop Hyrule Castle Tower. The Shadow Beasts burst into the solemn halls of Hyrule Castle, killing soldiers as they went and forcing others to retreat up the great central keep of the structure, Hyrule Castle Tower. Eventually, only the citadel that housed Princess Zelda's Throne Room remained, and what soldiers were left fled up the keep to protect their ruler from the coming Twili army. They attempted to fortify the Throne Room for the coming attack, with Princess Zelda herself even taking up a ceremonial rapier sword to command her soldiers in the coming struggle. However, twilight soon billowed into the chamber through its large doorway, and from the twilight emerged countless Shadow Beasts that viciously attacked the soldiers in their path. Eventually, most of the soldiers that had been protecting Princess Zelda were dead or captured by the Shadow Beasts, who remained at attention as they cleared the path to the Throne Room for their leader.

Light Surrenders to Shadow
It was at this moment, when her army was now outnumbered or half-dead, that Princess Zelda was faced with a dark figure proceeding to strut up the central carpet of her Throne Room. This dark figure, Zant himself, stopped a few meters away from Zelda's throne and gazed at her and her last few remaining protectors. It was here that the self-proclaimed King of Shadows presented the Princess of Hyrule with an ultimatum: to surrender and have the lives of both she and her people spared, or to fight and perish in the resulting battle. At this, Zelda's protectors uneasily glanced at their ruler, wondering what she would choose to do and what implications it would have for them. Zelda, not wishing to risk the lives of her people against seemingly impossible odds, dropped her rapier sword as a sign of submission, signaling that she would yield to Zant's demands and surrender herself into his custody. Twilight surged from Hyrule Castle and covered the land like a shroud, causing much of the Hylian populace to be reduced to spirit form, unaware of what had happened to them. With this, the largest phase of the invasion was now complete, as the land of Hyrule and its government were now under the control of the King of Shadows and secretly his dark master.

Aftermath
The aftermath of the invasion is largely chronicled during the events of Twilight Princess, where a new savior rises from the bloodline of heroes to save Hyrule and the Twilight Realm from Zant and his master, that new hero being a new incarnation of Link, who lives in the distant Ordona Province, namely in the quaint Ordon Village. It is this small yet peaceful annex of Hyrule that becomes Zant's final target, as it is the last major province and home to the final Light Spirit, Ordona.

A Hero in the Making
On the day that he was scheduled to leave for Hyrule Castle to deliver a special gift to the Royal Family, a young man named Link and his friends are brutally attacked by King Bulblin and his Bulblin riders (serving as co-operatives of the members of Zant's army but really fighting for Ganondorf) at the spring of Ordona, where the Bulblins knock Link out and make off with his friends from Ordon Village. The young hero pursues them across the gorge separating the Ordona and Faron Provinces and discovers that Faron Province is now shrouded in a strange darkness before being forcefully pulled through this strange curtain of darkness and into the twilight by one of Zant's Shadow Beasts. Though the beast attempts to strangle Link, the Triforce of Courage activates to protect its bearer, forcing the beast to relinquish its hold on Link. Rather than transforming into a lost spirit like all others however, Link is transformed into a divine wolf form, revealing that he is not only the possessor of the Triforce of Courage but also the Hero chosen by the goddesses to save Hyrule from evil. The beast then drags the unconscious Link to the dungeons of distant Hyrule Castle as the overthrown Midna watches nearby.

Link is rescued from the dungeon of Hyrule Castle by Midna and accompanies her to meet with the imprisoned Princess Zelda, who charges the pair with finding a way to defeat Zant and restore light to the land of Hyrule before they are forced to leave her. Midna and Link return to Ordon Village, just outside the curtain of twilight, where they find a sword and shield before returning to the Faron Province. Here, Link recovers the lost Tears of Light belonging to the Light Spirit Faron and restores light to both the Light Spirit and the Faron Province. It is here that Link is given the Hero's Clothes, the very garb once worn by the Hero of Time and a priceless treasure kept by the Light Spirits. Faron gives this heirloom to Link, confirming that he is indeed the Hero chosen by the goddesses and the true successor of the Hero of Time.