Great Palace

The Great Palace is the final dungeon of and the resting place of the Triforce of Courage. Link seeks to enter the palace to claim the relic and unite it with its two counterparts, the Triforce of Power and the Triforce of Wisdom, in order to awaken a cursed Princess Zelda from an eternal slumber cast upon her an age before by an evil magician. After succeeding in lifting the "Binding Force" cast over the Valley of Death in the central section of Hyrule by restoring six crystals to their respective statues in six other palaces found across the land, Link is able to enter the palace in search of the final Triforce piece. Within the walls of the immense palace, Link is faced with his greatest challenges yet from some of the fiercest enemies he has encountered. Eventually, he is faced with the very powerful guardian of the palace, the mighty Thunderbird, and shortly thereafter faces his own shadow to win possession of the Triforce of Courage from an old man that resides in the palace, guarding the relic until a worthy person came to claim it.

History
The origins of the Great Palace are unclear, such as who built it or when it was built exactly. The palace is introduced in the backstory of The Adventure of Link, which reveals that there was once a wise King of Hyrule that ruled over a golden age for the kingdom of Hyrule with the united Triforce at his command. However, as his time began to draw to a close, he began to arbitrate as to what to do with the Triforce once his death came. Deciding that no worthy individual (not even his own son) existed to inherit the full Triforce and thus keep it from bringing evil upon Hyrule, the King decided to split the relic up into its three component pieces, leaving the Triforce of Power and the Triforce of Wisdom within the kingdom. The Triforce of Courage, however, was spirited away by the King, to be concealed deep within the heart of an immense structure known as the Great Palace, located at the head of the Valley of Death in Eastern Hyrule. The King crafted both a guardian for the palace as well as a final test for the one that would enter the palace in search of the missing piece of the Triforce. Here the relic would remain, resting in the deepest sanctum of the palace, awaiting the time when a worthy person would come in search of it.

An age after the King of Hyrule hid the Triforce of Courage deep within the Great Palace, the young hero known as Link basked in the wake of his triumph over the evil Ganon several seasons before in when suddenly, on his sixteenth birthday, the symbol of the Triforce appeared on the back of his hand. Little did he realize that this was the result of spell the King had cast over Hyrule long ago, which would cause the symbol of the Triforce to appear on the hand of a courageous individual that had proven their courage and worthiness, marking them as the King's intended successor as the possessor of the united Triforce. Puzzled and shaken by the symbol's meaning, Link consulted the nursemaid of Princess Zelda, Impa, about its meaning. Impa immediately realized the vast importance of this symbol, as her family had kept watch for this special individual for generations. After regaining her composure from her initial shock at the sight of the symbol on Link's hand, Impa immediately took Link to the North Castle.

Impa took Link to the so-called "Door That Does Not Open" and pressed the symbol on Link's hand upon the door, causing its lock to fall open and grant entry to the chamber beyond. Inside, Link saw a beautiful young woman sleeping peacefully upon an altar in the center of the chamber. Impa began to related to Link the "Legend of Zelda" passed down through the generations. This legend stated that after the King concealed the Triforce of Courage within the Great Palace, he confided what he had done to his daughter, Princess Zelda, but chose not to tell his son, as he had judged him unworthy of possessing the entire Triforce. Soon after the King's death, the Prince of Hyrule ascended to Hyrule's throne but was dismayed and angered to see that he would only inherit the Triforce in part, causing him to search far and wide for the missing piece, though this search proved fruitless. It was then that a magician that had been close to the King brought some unexpected news to the prince, revealing that Princess Zelda knew a secret regarding the missing piece of the Triforce. The prince immediately confronted his sister about the Triforce, but she refused to tell him anything. The magician then threatened to place Zelda in an eternal slumber if she did not speak, but still she said nothing. Though the prince tried to stop him, the magician cast the powerful spell upon Zelda and died from the magical backlash from the spell. In his grief, the prince laid his sister to rest in the North Castle, hoping that she would one day come back to life. He also decreed that in honor of his fallen sister, every female member of the Royal Family of Hyrule would henceforth bear the name of Zelda.

Link learned that the only thing powerful enough to break the magician's curse on Princess Zelda was the united Triforce. Impa then handed Link a chest bearing the symbol of the Triforce and containing an ancient scroll and six mysterious crystals. Link found that he could read the ancient handwriting of the King to his surprise, and discovered that the Triforce of Courage even now lay in the depths of the Great Palace, awaiting a worthy person to come and claim it. In order to reach the Great Palace however, Link learned he would have to remove the "Binding Force" cast over the entire Valley of Death by the King. The only way to do that would be to restore each of the crystals to their respective statues deep within the six other palaces located all around the continent of Hyrule. With great resolve and courage, Link set out from the North Castle to seek out each of these palaces, and after much adventuring and toil, he was able to successfully restore all of the crystals to their proper places, causing the Binding Force to dissipate and grant him access to the dangerous Valley of Death. After fighting his way through the hostile caverns and lava pits of the Valley of Death, Link finally reached the Great Palace atop the valley.

Within the walls of the immense palace, Link faced the most difficult challenge he had ever faced, as the enemies found within were far stronger than anything he had yet encountered on his journey.