Pedestal of the Master Sword

The Pedestal of Time is the resting place of the Master Sword as depicted throughout many games of the Zelda series. It is usually portrayed as a small, gray pedestal with a Triforce symbol in the front, and in its Twilight Princess appearance, it has Hylian writing as well. The location of the Pedestal of Time varies from game to game, although it is normally found in some sort of forest or inside the Temple of Time. The pedestal's purpose in the game's story ranges from being the key that locks the entrance to the Sacred Realm to keeping Ganondorf's seal and magic intact.

While the name "Pedestal of Time" was introduced in Ocarina of Time, it is implied that the actual pedestal was already first introduced in A Link to the Past. It has also been suggested to make an appearance in a few other games with differing amounts of evidence supporting each case.

A Link to the Past
In its first appearance, the Pedestal of Time in A Link to the Past is the resting place of the Master Sword, as long as it's not needed by a hero. It is located deep in the Lost Woods, and written in it is the description of the Cataclysm's Eve as well as requirements for pulling out the Master Sword. It is commonly believed that the inscription in the Pedestal of Time refers to the events of Ocarina of Time: speaking of the Hero of Time when he obtained the three Spiritual Stones and pulled the Master Sword from its resting place in the eve of an event known as the Great Cataclysm. As such, the Master Sword cannot be retrieved from the pedestal unless three pendants known as the Pendants of Virtue are upheld by someone worthy of the sword's power.

During the first half of the game, Link has to collect the three Pendants of Virtue in order to retrieve the Master Sword to possess enough power to defeat Aghanim and prevent him from completely opening the path to the Dark World. After obtaining the pendants, Sahasrahla advises Link to go to the Lost Woods, telling him that if he really is the true hero, then the sword itself will select him as its master and be allowed to be pulled from its Pedestal. The young hero travels to inner part of the Lost Woods and, using the Book of Mudora, he translates the inscription within the pedestal before presenting the Pendants of Virtue. By doing so, Link is able to acquire the Master Sword and continue on his quest to rescue the Seven Maidens from Aghanim's imprisonment. Once all the Maidens are rescued, the young hero defeats Aghanim as well as Ganon, the King of Thieves, which restores the Sacred Realm as well as Hyrule to its peaceful nature. Link is then seen at the end of the game returning the Master Sword to the Pedestal of Time, allowing it to have its eternal rest.

Ocarina of Time
In its first chronological appearance of the series in Ocarina of Time, the Pedestal of Time is shown to be the resting place of the Master Sword and is located within the Temple of Time behind the sealed Door of Time.

After Princess Zelda reveals to Link how to gain entrance to the Sacred Realm through the land of Hyrule, the young hero goes on to collect three Spiritual Stones as well as the Ocarina of Time in order to enter the Sacred Realm and obtain the Triforce before Ganondorf. Link travels to the Temple of Time and uses the Spiritual Stones as well as the "Song of Time" to open the Door of Time, revealing the Master Sword resting in the Pedestal of Time. By drawing the Master Sword from its pedestal, Link unwittingly throws open the gate to the Sacred Realm, granting Ganondorf access to the Triforce; moreover, since Link was too young to bear the title of the "Hero of Time", his body was sealed away for seven years inside the Chamber of the Sages so that he would age enough to properly assume the role of the prophesied hero. Once Link wakes up from his slumber, the young hero learns that, by placing the Master Sword back into the Pedestal of Time, he could return to his childhood years. In order to reverse the process once again and travel back to the future, Link must simply draw the sword from the pedestal once again. Link uses the ability to travel through time by the use of the Pedestal of Time in order to awaken all of the Sages and defeat Ganondorf once and for all.

After Link and the Seven Sages seal Ganondorf within the Evil Realm, Link returns the Master Sword back into the Pedestal Time, thus closing the road between times as well as the Door of Time.

The Wind Waker
In The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, the Master Sword is found in a basement chamber sealed by a giant statue of the Hero of Time inside Hyrule Castle, and it is seen once again resting in a pedestal resembling the Pedestal of Time. When Link discovers the blade, Hyrule Castle is frozen in time, along with all of its occupants. As he pulls the blade from the Pedestal, the huge knight statues above the pedestal lower their swords in unison, and time's flow resumes in the castle. At the same time, it served as a key that was keeping the seal on Ganondorf's magic intact, allowing the King of the Gerudo and his whole army to regain their powers.

At the end of the game, after Link thrusts the Master Sword into Ganondorf's forehead during their battle atop Ganon's Tower in the forgotten land of Hyrule, Link and Princess Zelda are sent away back to the surface just as Hyrule is flooding due to King Daphnes Nohansen Hyrule's wish. Due to this, it is assumed that both the Master Sword and the Pedestal of Time are washed away along with Hyrule.

As is the case in A Link to the Past, it is unclear whether this pedestal is meant to be the same Pedestal of Time seen in Ocarina of Time, but due to their striking resemblance, it is a distinct possibility.

Twilight Princess
The Pedestal of Time is officially present in Twilight Princess, located deep within the Lost Woods in an area known as the Sacred Grove. Since Twilight Princess takes place hundreds of years after the events of Ocarina of Time, the Pedestal is one of the few parts of the Temple of Time that does not lie in ruins at the time period in which this story unfolds.

After being cursed into a wolf by the power of the Shadow Crystal, Link is told to seek out the Master Sword hidden in the Sacred Grove in order to break the curse. Once there, he is tested by a pair of statues who guard the entrance to where the Master Sword lies. Link must guide the statues to where they once stood and, once he beats their challenge, they allow entry to the "true" Sacred Grove. It is here where Link finds the Pedestal of Time as well as the Master Sword. When the young hero approaches the sword, the curse cast on by Zant is broken, returning him to his Hylian form and allowing him to retrieve the sword from its pedestal.

Later in the storyline, when Link returns to the Sacred Grove in search for one of the missing fragments of the Mirror of Twilight, he momentarily strikes the Master Sword into the Pedestal of Time in order to remove a statue that was blocking a door. This door, which is thought to be the former Door of Time, is a sort of portal that allows Link to enter the Temple of Time as it had once been in ages past. Inside the past Temple of Time, Link once again temporarily returns the Master Sword to its pedestal in order to reveal a secret staircase which allows access past an illusion-wall of sorts that conceals a corridor leading deep into the bowels of the temple.

After Link defeats both Zant and Ganondorf, he returns the Master Sword to the Pedestal of Time before departing for new adventures. The pedestal is last seen during the ending credits.

Upon closer observation, there are two identical Hylian inscriptions on the Pedestal of Time, both reading "Master Sword" when translated.

Trivia

 * Four pedestals similar to the Pedestal of Time appear in the Palace of the Four Sword, the dungeon exclusive to the Game Boy Advance version of A Link to the Past.
 * Twilight Princess features the ruins of what appears to be the Temple of Time from Ocarina of Time. However, these ruins which include the Pedestal of Time, are not located in Hyrule Castle Town either as they would be expected to be if they were meant to represent the Temple of Time from that story. Instead, these ruins are found in the Lost Woods like the pedestal in A Link to the Past.


 * The Game Boy Advance game Hamtaro: Ham-Ham Heartbreak features a reference to the Pedestal of Time. On his quest to save love for all hamsters, Hamtaro finds three orbs: a red one, a green one, and a blue one. As in Ocarina of Time, these have to be put in a pedestal to unlock what at first appears to be the Master Sword, but it instead turns out to be a spoon.