Hyrulean Civil War

According to The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, there was a fierce war in the realm of Hyrule shortly before the events of the game. While trying to escape from the fires of the war, a Hylian mother and her baby boy entered the forbidden Kokiri Forest, although the mother was gravely injured. As she was dying, her only choice was to entrust the child to the Great Deku Tree, the guardian spirit of the forest, who could sense that this was a child of destiny whose fate would affect the entire world. After the mother passed away, the child was raised as a Kokiri, not made privy to his true heritage until the Deku Tree Sprout revealed the true story to him years later, when the boy grew up to become the Hero of Time.

"Hoping to claim the Golden Power as their own, the people began to quarrel and fight... Many sought to enter the hidden Golden Land... But none returned, and instead evil power began to issue forth from the dark portal... So the king commanded seven sages to seal the gate to the land of the Golden Power. Many brave knights were lost in the battle to protect the sages from the tides of evil, but the seal was cast! Evil flowed no more!"

- Excerpt from the opening of A Link to the Past (GBA remake)

"Many people aggressively sought to enter the hidden Golden Land... But no one ever returned. One day evil power began to flow from the Golden Land... So the King commanded seven wise men to seal the gate to the Land of the Golden Power. That seal should have remained for all time..."

- Excerpt from the opening of A Link to the Past (SNES version)

"Though he (Ganondorf) swears allegience to my father, I am sure he is not sincere...Yes, I told my father about my dream. However, he didn't believe it was prophecy..."

- Princess Zelda in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

"You must know that it was the will of the goddesses that we lock away the forbidden power…When all was chaos, the goddesses descended and gave order and life to the world. They granted power equally to all who dwelt in the light, and then returned to the heavens. The lands where the goddesses descended came to be known as the Sacred Realm. For ages, the people lived at ease, content in mind and body…But soon, word of the Sacred Realm spread through Hyrule, and a great battle ensued…Among those living in the light, interlopers who excelled at magic appeared. Wielding powerful sorcery, they tried to establish dominion over the Sacred Realm. It was then that the goddesses ordered us three light spirits to intervene. We sealed away the great magic those individuals had mastered. You know this magic…It is the dark power you seek…the Fused Shadow. O hero chosen by the goddesses…Beware…Those who do not know the danger of wielding power will, before long, be ruled by it. Never forget that…The dark power that you seek is within the sleeping Lakebed Temple in Lake Hylia…"

- Lanayru in The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess