Imprisoning War

The Imprisoning War was first mentioned for the first time in The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past.

It is described as Ganondorf's attempt to obtain the Triforce. The Triforce rested in the Golden Land and Ganondorf and his henchmen fought the Knights of Hyrule in order to enter it. Once inside seven wise men sealed the gate between the Sacred Realm and Hyrule, thus imprisoning Ganondorf in the Sacred Realm. The only way to break the seal of the seven wise men is to imprison all seven descendants of the wise men.

It is rumored that The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is, in fact, the tale of the Imprisoning War, though that is never stated, and there are several inconsistencies with the theory. The primary inconsistency with the legend and Ocarina of Time is that, according to ALttP's manual, the Master Sword was forged during this time, but no one was able to use it.

Despite this contradiction, a fair majority of people in the Zelda community believe that Link's adventure in OoT is during the time of the Imprisoning War.