North Castle

The North Castle, or North Palace, is a location in The Adventure of Link and the place where the game begins. Princess Zelda lies in an enchanted sleep on a dais within the heart of the North Castle. It is a place steeped in history, especially concerning her story, which states that she was laid to rest within the castle's walls an age before the events of the game after being cast into an enchanted slumber by an evil magician who wished to force the location of the Triforce of Courage out of her alongside her brother, the Prince of Hyrule. The prince then laid her to rest in the North Castle and gave the order that any future female members of the Royal Family of Hyrule would be named Zelda in commemoration of his sister's memory. The castle is one of the few friendly places for Link during the events of the game and is able to be visited at any time during the game.

History
The North Castle has a long history stretching back to the days of the legendary King of Hyrule that once ruled over the entire realm of Hyrule with the united Triforce at his command. It is said that the King ruled over a golden age for Hyrule using the relic's magic, but as he was a child of man himself, his days soon became numbered. Knowing his death was near, the King concluded that no worthy person existed that would use the united Triforce for the good of the country (not even his own son) without producing evils for it. He then decided to leave the Triforce of Power and the Triforce of Wisdom within the main part of his kingdom, but to spirit the Triforce of Courage away to the Great Palace to await the day when a worthy person would come to claim it. The King documented this in an ancient scroll, leaving it in the hands of the Impa family alongside six magical crystals, and confessed what he had done to his daughter, Princess Zelda, choosing not to reveal this secret to his son.

After the King's death, the Prince of Hyrule ascended to the throne of the kingdom but was dismayed to learn of the disappearance of one of the Triforce pieces, leaving him to only inherit the Triforce in part. Though he searched Hyrule high and low for the missing piece, he could not find it. One day however, a magician that had been close to the King approached him and revealed to him that the King had confided a secret regarding the Triforce to his sister, Princess Zelda. The Prince confronted Zelda about this, but she refused to tell him anything about it, as their father had not wished him to know. The magician then confronted the princess as well and threatened to cast her into an eternal slumber if she did not reveal what she knew. Still she chose to say nothing however, honoring her father's wishes. In retribution, the magician carried through on his threat and began to cast an extremely powerful sleeping curse upon Zelda, and though the Prince attempted to stop him, he was cast back by the magician and the spell was cast, causing Zelda to fall unconscious there on the spot. The magician died from the magical backlash of the curse, and the Prince was left to grieve over his fallen sister due to his own folly.

Shortly after these events, the Prince had Zelda's body transported to the North Castle, an oppulent palace located in Western Hyrule's northern regions and located on an island surrounded by a moat. Within the heart of the castle, the Prince had his sister's body laid to rest upon an altar in the center of the chamber. A magical spell was also placed upon the door to this chamber, so that it would only open for one bearing the symbol of the Triforce on the back of their hand, thus earning it the title of the "Door That Does Not Open". The Prince left his sleeping sister here in the safety of the North Castle hoping that she would one day come back to life, and to commemmorate this tragedy, he gave a special order that from that day forth, any females born into the Royal Family of Hyrule would be given the name "Zelda" in honor of his fallen sister. Few knew the secret of how to open the door to the princess's chamber within the North Castle, primarily the members of the Impa family, and this secret was passed down amongst them in the generations to come as they kept an eye out for the one that would bear the special symbol that would mark them as the princess's only hope for salvation.

The Adventure of Link
At the start of The Adventure of Link, the young hero Link, still basking in his victory over the evil Ganon a few seasons earlier in The Legend of Zelda, is celebrating his sixteenth birthday when he suddenly realizes that the mark of the Triforce has appeared on the back of his hand. Puzzled by this, he seeks the counsel of the nursemaid of the Princess Zelda he'd rescued before, Impa. Impa was quite shocked to see the mark, as her family had been watching for the appearance of such an individual for generations. After regaining her composure, Impa took Link to the North Castle, to the legendary "Door That Does Not Open". She then took Link's hand in hers and pressed the back of it against the door, causing the lock to fall open and grant access to the sleeping princess's chamber. There on the altar, exactly as she'd been left an age before, was Princess Zelda, lying in state and awaiting the day when she would be able to awaken once more. Impa related the story of what had happened to her to Link and entrusted him with a chest containing the six magical crystals and scroll left behind by the King. Upon reading the ancient scroll (which Link could read, despite his having never seen that form of Hylian before), Link knew what would have to be done to awaken the princess and set out to accomplish this goal.

While he sought out the six special palaces scattered across Hyrule to restore each of the crystals to a special statue within each of them, Link was able to return to the North Castle at any time during his quest. It was one of the few places he could come to that would provide safety from monsters, especially Ganon's minions. The only major place visited within the North Castle however when he visits is the chamber of Princess Zelda, leaving other parts of the castle unexplored during the events of the game. After succeeding in restoring all of the crystals to their respective statues and lifting the "Binding Force" that was cast across the Valley of Death by the King, Link was able to enter the Great Palace in search of the final piece of the Triforce. There, he confronted the mighty Thunderbird as well as his own shadow to finally recover the Triforce of Courage. Taking it back to the North Castle, Link reunited the relic with its two counterparts and used the united Triforce to dissolve the magician's curse, causing Princess Zelda to stir from her slumber at last.

Other Appearances
The North Castle is also a main location in The Legend of Zelda Valiant comics and the television series. Link and Princess Zelda live here while they fight against Ganon's evil forces during the events of the series. Here it is portrayed as the home of Princess Zelda and her father, King Harkinian, and later Link himself supposedly after the events of the first two games. The castle is portrayed as being larger than previously shown in The Adventure of Link and is shown to have much activity around it in this incarnation, a departure from its previous appearance, which seemed to indicate that the North Castle was a solemn place that few visited due to its tragic history. In this incarnation however, the people of Hyrule come to engage in economic activity in the marketplace that is located in the courtyard of the castle (much like the castle's spiritual successor in the following years, Hyrule Castle). There are also several towers and buildings within the main structure, primarily a tower each for both Link and Zelda and a residence for King Harkinian.