Great Cataclysm

"I am Aginah. I sense something is happening in the Golden Land the Seven Wise Men sealed... This must be an omen of the Great Cataclysm foretold by the people of Hylian blood..."

- Aginah

"The Hero's triumph on Cataclysm's Eve wins three symbols of virtue. The Master Sword he retrieves, keeping the Knight's line true."

- Pedestal of the Master Sword

On Cataclysm's Eve
The Great Cataclysm is the name given to a prophecy surrounding the resurgence of Ganon in A Link to the Past, who had previously been sealed inside the Dark World during the Imprisoning War. The inscription on the pedestal of the Master Sword reads: "The Hero's triumph on Cataclysm's Eve wins three symbols of virtue. The Master Sword he retrieves, keeping the Knight's line true." This refers to the Link of A Link to the Past, who was destined to triumph over Ganon and reclaim the Triforce, preserving the bloodline of the knights who fought against Ganon during the Imprisoning War. The Maiden Link rescues in the Skull Woods further explains that the prophecy of the Great Cataclysm means that whenever an evil person seizes the Triforce (as Ganon did during the Imprisoning War), a hero is destined to rise up and vanquish the evil one. Furthermore, the prophecy states that the hero must be of the bloodline of the Knights of Hyrule. This seems to indicate that the Cataclysm ends with the battle between the Hero armed with the Master Sword and the evil person holding the Triforce.

In the instruction manual for Link's Awakening, another reference to the prophecy is made. Link "fulfilled the Hyrulian prophecy of the Legendary Hero and destroyed the evil tyrant Ganon."