Hyrule Castle Town

Hyrule Castle Town, also known as Hyrule Castle Town Market or just Market, is the main forum and center of activity in Hyrule, located in the same vicinity as Hyrule Castle. It is usually depicted as a bustling metropolis where Hyruleans come to engage in business and trade and, as such, it is considered to be one of the liveliest towns in Hyrule. The population is mostly Hylian, but as seen in Twilight Princess, Gorons commonly occupy the streets in hopes to sell their wares. In all the games in which it appears, Hyrule Castle Town is home to a wide variety of shops, sidequests, and even minigames.

As a means of some protection, the city is usually surrounded by a moat that is only accessible by bridges or drawbridges. Throughout the Zelda series, Castle Town has been prone to conflict multiple times and has been the subject of invasion more than once.

Ocarina of Time
In Ocarina of Time, Castle Town Market is located in the northernmost section of Hyrule, directly in front of Hyrule Castle. The entrance to the Castle Town is surrounded by a moat whose source floats from Zora's River, and the only way to get across it is by using a drawbridge; however, since monsters roam the field at night, the bridge is only lowered during the daytime in order to protect the townsfolk.

Directly inside the gates of the town is the Guard House, which is a small building filled with jars. Further in is the main area of the Castle Town, a rather happy-go-lucky, yet surprisingly small community. All throughout the day and night, the Castle Town Market is home to various stores and outlets where Hyruleans from all over come for shopping and entertainment. It hosts a wide variety of shops, including the Bazaar, the Happy Mask Shop, and the Potion Shop; moreover, businesses that focus in the entertainment area can also be found, which consist of the Bombchu Bowling Alley and the Shooting Gallery. While all of the previously mentioned shops and businesses are only open during the day, there are also other locales that are open exclusively during the nighttime such as the Bombchu Shop and the Treasure Chest Shop.

During the night, the Market becomes a quiet, calm town seeing as most of the citizens will have departed by now; furthermore, packs of dogs roam all over the now-empty town, and they will follow Link if he gets close enough to one of them.

The smaller, less austere version of the city also serves as the home of the Temple of Time, a large structure that functions as the resting place of the Master Sword. The Temple of Time is located at northeast part Castle Town in a more secluded area, far from all of the bustling and noises that surround the Market.

However, when Link returns seven years later after retrieving the Master Sword from its pedestal, he is shocked to find the town completely in ruins as a result of Ganondorf's invasion. Most of its citizens managed to escape to Kakariko Village, leaving the town overtaken by hordes of ReDeads. Due to this, Link can no longer enter any of the previously inhabited locales of the Market. Directly outside of town, the drawbridge has been destroyed by Ganondorf, allowing the city to be accessed by Link during the day as well as the night. However, because of this, the monsters outside of town were able to cross the rubble of the bridge and gain access to the town as well.

Back Alley
An area known as the Back Alley is also situated within the Castle Town, and it is considerably less crowded and quieter than its market counterpart mostly due to the fact that this is where most of the town citizens live. Not too many people roam these streets; thus, Link can usually only find one or two people dawdling in the alley at any given hour. The young hero can only enter through three doors in the Back Alley, two of which are residents' homes and one of them being the Bombchu Shop.

After obtaining all of the three Spiritual Stones and retrieving the Ocarina of Time from the moat near the Castle Town entrance, Link can go to the Back Alley to witness one of the most commonly-missed scenes in the game. There will be a dying soldier in the east area of the alley where, if the young hero speaks to him, he will tell Link about Ganondorf's betrayal to the King as well as Princess Zelda's escape from the castle. He then urges Link to go to the Temple of Time and, shortly after, the soldier takes his final breath and dies. If Link tries to speak to him again, Navi will mention that he's not moving anymore.

Once Link becomes an adult, the Back Alley becomes inaccessible due to its entrances being blocked off by rubble.

The Minish Cap
In The Minish Cap, the town is named Hyrule Town and is located in the middle of Hyrule, just south of Hyrule Castle. Unlike the other games, there are no other Hylian settlements, and most important buildings can as such be found in Hyrule Town. The town contains ordinary personal houses, a shop, a library, a school, a bakery, a cafe, an inn, a Post Office, a Figurine Shop, and several mini-games.

The mayor of Hyrule Town is named Hagen. Most of the townsfolk are more than happy to fuse Kinstones with Link; some of them being Marshall (an elderly man who tells of the Picori legend during the Picori Festival, found later in front of the Mayor's Residence), Keeley (a blonde woman find either in front of Brocco's stall, or with Verona near the well behind Romio's house), Anton (a blond man with a crew cut always near Borlov's shop), June (a brown-haired lady always near the cafe), Sheila (a blonde lady found in front of Simon's Simulation at the beginning, and between the bell and the Mayor's Residence later in the game), and Dottie (an elderly woman found at the Hyrule Town's market).

Twilight Princess
In Twilight Princess, the Castle Town is divided into four sections: the West Road, East Road, South Road, and the Central Square, which connects all other three subsections. The entrance to Hyrule Castle is located north of the town center where Link must go through two sets of double doors to reach the castle's courtyard. All sections of the castle town, with the exception of the Central Square, have an entrance leading from Hyrule Field. Two back alleys connect the longitudes (east and west) with the southern part of the town, which can be used to avoid walking through the center square.

Running through the town in wolf form causes a public uproar. Soldiers soon appear, although they do not attack Link, but he can scare them away with a Spin Attack. Midna advises that the young hero does not change form until he leaves town, as to avoid an even bigger panic amongst the locals.

Throughout Link's quest, Hyrule Castle Town becomes an important location that the young hero must keep revisiting, whether it be to collect Tears of Light, meet "The Group" at Telma's Bar to know his next location for the Mirror Shards, or get clues to ultimately recover Ilia's memory.

Central Square
As its name suggests, the Central Square is the busiest section of Castle Town. A fountain bearing the Hylian Crest rests in the middle, while a cafe bar can be found in the west portion of the square to hear about the latest gossip. Near the cafe is an entrance to the viewing platform, where Link can view the entire Central Square as well as buy a variety of wares from Gorons. Some musicians are situated near the entrance to Hyrule Castle, and farther back is a young Hylian known as Soal who will polish Link's shoes for just 10 Rupees, thus allowing the young hero to enter Chudley’s Fine Goods and Fancy Trinkets Emporium. The town is filled with busy Hylians who, unlike in the Ocarina of Time incarnation, will not talk to Link, except for a couple of ones that are either sitting down at the cafe bar or just standing around.

West Road
(Please note: On the Wii, this is East Road)

The West Road's main attraction is the STAR Minigame, hosted by Purlo, where Link can win quiver upgrades. Near the entrance of the West Road is Charlo, an old, bearded man who asks the young hero for donations for the sake of peace in Hyrule. If Link donates 1000 Rupees to Charlo, he will be rewarded with a Piece of Heart.

South Road
South Road serves as the market of Castle Town. The road's main street is populated by many food booths, ranging from fruit stands to bread stands. However, it also has other items for sale, such as flowers, although Link is unable to buy any of these items since an excuse is always brought up: the apples from another stand are always sweeter, the bread is too expensive, and no one is manning the flower booth.

Other than the food stands, the South Road has many locations of interest that Link can visit. Agitha's Castle is situated on the west portion of the South Road, where Link can bring Golden Bugs to Agitha to receive Rupees as rewards and, ultimately, a wallet upgrade. Next to Agitha's Castle is the Fortune-Telling Mansion, being run by Madame Fanadi, who will help Link in his quest for a price, whether it be telling him where to go next or show him the location of a Piece of Heart that he hasn't obtained yet. On the other side of the South Road is one of the most important locations in the game: Telma's Bar. Link must continuously visit the bar to help him progress through his journey since Telma's Bar is the main hangout for "The Group", a cadre of vigilantes working to restore peace to Hyrule who will often guide the young hero as to where to go next.

Jovani's House is also located in a small alley behind Telma's Bar. Link stumbles into Jovani's House as he, in wolf form, is trying to reach Princess Zelda in her chamber in Hyrule Castle. Link can return to Jovani's house by digging in a soft patch next to his door as he is tasked by Jovani to retrieve the 60 Poe Souls scattered throughout the land.

East Road
(Please note: On the Wii, this is West Road)

The East Road is one of the quieter areas of the Castle Town since, presumably, it is where most of the townsfolk live. The only point of interest in the East Road is Dr. Borville's Medical Clinic, located right before the gate leading to Hyrule Field. It is inside the office where Link obtains the Medicine Scent, which ultimately leads the young hero to retrieve the Wooden Statue.

Link's Crossbow Training
Hyrule Castle Town is easily missed as in Stage 3, which uses Hyrule Castle as the backdrop and focuses on aerial targets. The Fruit Balloons from the Fruit Pop Flight Challenge reappear with the same ranking system for the scoring. Watermelons are the largest, and worth the least; oranges are median in both size and score; and strawberries are the smallest and highest scored. An occasional meteor can be seen streaking across the night sky, and shooting it yields 300 points.

Spirit Tracks
In Spirit Tracks, the town, as usual, is located in front of the Hyrule Castle grounds, and also houses a water fountain at the center. However, Castle Town is very small in appearance, housing only a few buildings and people. Unlike previous games the town, is not obligatorily revisited often, and as such, not much occurs there. However, a woman there will give Link a Force Gem that will extend the tracks in the Forest Realm in return for giving her the Fish obtained from Papuchia Village. A man will also sell 5 Cuccos to Link for 50 Rupees. Castle Town is also the location of this game's endurance level known as Take 'Em All On.