Royal Family of Hyrule

The Royal Family of Hyrule is a long-running bloodline of royalty that was established following the Era of Chaos, many years after the events of Skyward Sword. Descended from the Goddess Hylia, who was reborn as the first incarnation of Zelda, the Royal Family consists of numerous kings, a Prince of Hyrule and many princesses who share the title of Princess Zelda. Keeping a close contact with the other leaders and races within Hyrule, they rule over the land with the most prominent authority.

Throughout their history, the Royal Family of Hyrule passes down many powers and sacred objects, including the magical abilities that they inherited from their ancestor Hylia, the Light Force, the Goddess Harp, the Triforce of Wisdom and the Ocarina of Time. Others things passed down within the family include the legend of the of the Sacred Realm and the Picori. They maintain contact with the sky beings known as the Oocca, who are said to have helped in the early development of Hyrule, assisting in the construction of the Temple of Time to protect the entrance to the Sacred Realm watched over by the family.

Members of the family live within Hyrule Castle and are known to be buried within Hyrule Castle Graveyard and a Royal Tomb located in a graveyard behind a village formerly home to the people who protect them. Their crest is that of the one used by their ancestor during the age in which she ruled over the very same land, formerly known only as the surface. The crest depicts a Loftwing, alone the symbol of Skyloft, and the Triforce.

History and Appearances
With the history of Hyrule splitting and taking three different paths after the events of Ocarina of Time, the historical appearances of the Royal Family of Hyrule also splits, giving them three different destinies over the course of the three histories.

Unified Timeline
Prior to the events of Ocarina of Time, there was only one timeline containing the events of Skyward Sword, The Minish Cap and Four Swords.

The Era of the Sky: Skyward Sword
Although the Royal Family of Hyrule is not yet established during the events Skyward Sword, their ancestor Hylia, reborn as the first Zelda, and her father Gaepora are present. Her descendants would inherit her magical abilities that she has in her life as the Goddess Hylia and would go on to establish their role as Royal Family of Hyrule many years later, after an age of chaos resulting in the establishment of the Hyrule Kingdom and Hyrule Castle at the center of the kingdom.

The Force Era: The Minish Cap
During the events of The Minish Cap, the Hylian Royal Family only has two known living members: King Daltus and the Princess Zelda of the time. The Royal Valley is said to be the place where the deceased members are buried. King Gustaf is found here, along with unnamed members. The Princess Zelda and Link are childhood friends, while King Daltus is old friends with Link's relative, Smith. The Royal Family are the only ones who know the truth about the Picori.

The Force Era: Four Swords
In Four Swords, very little is known about the Royal Family other than all princess bearing the title of Zelda now watch over Four Sword Sanctuary, where the Four Sword now rests.

The Era of the Hero of Time: Ocarina of Time
Ocarina of Time is set 10 years after an unknown King of Hyrule unified the country during the Unification War. and during the Era of the Hero of Time. The Sheikah, the Zora, and the Goron races have sworn fealty to the Royal Family. The Zora have formed an alliance with the Royal family, even allowing the flow of the river to stop for the King's messenger, and Darunia considers the King to be his "sworn brother." Still ruling the kingdom but never seen, he dismisses the predictions of his daughter about Hyrule being taken over by the Gerudo thief Ganondorf to be untrue.

When the Hero of Time awakens from his seven-year sleep in the Sacred Realm, Hyrule Castle is long since destroyed, replaced by Ganon's Castle, and Hyrule has been taken over by Ganondorf. With the exception of Princess Zelda, whether or not the king, or any other unseen members of the Royal Family at the time, were killed or went into hiding remains unknown.

Sometime prior to the events of the game, the Composer Brothers of Kakariko Graveyard composed songs for the Royal Family of Hyrule. Also during their lifetime, their srcret mission was to investigate the mysterious powers that the family had inherited.

Adult Timeline
In this timeline, the Hero of Time defeats Ganon, resulting in the latter being sealed within Sacred Realm by the Seven Sages. This timeline contains the events of The Wind Waker, Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks.

The Era of the Great Sea: The Wind Waker
Sometime after the sealing of Ganondorf in the Adult Timeline, he eventually broke of his seal and once again terrorized Hyrule. With the Hero of Time being nowhere to be found an the end of all hope for the land, the three goddesses who created the world ordered that the inhabitants of Hyrule move to the mountaintops. They sealed the land away and buried it beneath an ocean that came to be known as the Great Sea. Hundreds of years passed, but the blood of the Royal Family continued to live on, carrying the Triforce of Wisdom down its line. After her mother passed away prior to the events of The Wind Waker, the last remaining descendant of the Royal Family, Tetra, was completely unaware of her heritage. The last King of Hyrule, Daphnes Nohansen Hyrule, reveals her true identity as a member of the family to her by uniting the two pieces of the Triforce of Wisdom that they both held. The king tells her that she is the last link in the dying bloodline and that Ganondorf must be defeated if the sealed Hyrule is to be saved.

Defeated once more, with the Master Sword plunged into his forehead, Ganondorf fails to take over Hyrule. Unfortunately, Daphnes had already made a wish on the completed Triforce to break to seal on Hyrule and wash it away beneath the ocean. He had also wished for Link, the Hero of Winds and successor of the Hero of Time, and Tetra, to have a hopeful future and find a new kingdom to call their own. With this, Hyrule was flooded and Daphnes perished after bidding them farewell. The Royal Family's bloodline would continue on.

'The Era of the Great Voyage: 'Phantom Hourglass''
Set shortly after the events of The Wind Waker. Tetra, her pirate crew, and the Hero of Winds are still voyaging to find a new land that will succeed the kingdom of old.

The Era of Hyrule's Rebirth: Spirit Tracks
When Tetra and her pirate crew discover a new land, they meet the Lokomo known as Anjean. She entrusts Tetra with the Spirit Flute in return for her and her descendants vowing to protect the land, which came to be known as Hyrule, or "New Hyrule" in fanon. One hundred years later, the Princess Zelda of the time, said to be the granddaughter of Tetra, is the only known living descendant of the Royal Family.

The new Royal Family take on a similar role to their ancestors, guarding a land called Hyrule and living in a Hyrule Castle with knights. Chancellor Cole serves as the royal advisor of the princess.

Child Timeline
After having been sent back to his childhood by the adult Princess Zelda of Ocarina of Time, the Hero of Time began a new history in which Ganondorf never destroyed Hyrule Castle and failed to take over the kingdom for 7 years. He warned the current King of Hyrule and the child Zelda of the tragic future that awaited the kingdom if nothing was to be done. He gains the Royal Family's trust and subsequently spends an undisclosed period of time with Zelda, after which she then gives him the Ocarina of Time as a farewell gift on his journey to look for his friend Navi. With knowledge of Ganondorf's actions, he was to be executed by the six sages atop Arbiter's Grounds, a prison for Hyrule's most notorious criminals. Through unknown means, the Triforce of Power appeared on his hand, allowing him to avoid the execution and kill one of the sages. He was then banished to the Twilight Realm as a last resort.

This timeline contains the events of Majora's Mask, Twilight Princess and Four Swords Adventures.

The Era of Twilight: Twilight Princess
In Twilight Princess, the Princess Zelda of the time appears to be the only living member of the Royal Family of Hyrule, as seen in her flashback scene at the throne during Zant's attack. During the events of the game, Zant, the so-called "King of Twilight" working for Ganondorf, overpowers the knights of Hyrule Castle and gives Zelda a choice for the life or death of her kingdom. She chose the former, resulting in the kingdom being covered in twilight. The castle was later destroyed after the battle with Beast Ganon, and Zelda helps Link combat Ganondorf on horseback.

The Era of Shadow: Four Swords Adventures
In Four Swords Adventures, the current Princess Zelda is the only member seen. The full Triforce is now located within Hyrule Castle.

Decline Timeline
In an alternate timeline in which the Hero of Time is defeated by Ganondorf in Ocarina of Time, the lineage of the Royal Family remained strong, but the kingdom of Hyrule slowly diminished and went into decline. Having defeated the Hero of Time, Ganondorf now possessed the full Triforce. He was subsequently sealed within the Dark World by Zelda and the other awakened sages, taking the Triforce with him. During a short period of peace, various people began to enter the corrupted Sacred Realm, not to return. Evil soon began to flow fourth from the seal, and so the King of Hyrule ordered Seven Sages to close to entrance to the realm once more. This event came to be known as the Imprisoning War.

This timeline contains the events of A Link to the Past, Oracles of Seasons, Oracles of Ages, Link Awakening, The Legend of Zelda and The Adventure of Link.

The Era of Light and Dark: A Link to the Past
After a period of misfortune for the kingdom of Hyrule, the King offered a reward to the one who could end these troubles. A mysterious wizard known as Agahnim soon arrived and ended those troubles with his sorcery, being declared a hero by the King and given the position to be his chief advisor. Agahnim used this position as a means to brainwash the soldiers of Hyrule and take over Hyrule Castle. He sent the descendants of the Seven Sages from the Imprisoning War into the Dark Wold, the last being the current Princess Zelda. During this time, he killed the King of Hyrule. He is later revealed to be a pawn of Ganon, who once again plans to take over the kingdom. When the current Link defeats him in the Dark World, he makes a wish upon the Triforce for it to restore Hyrule to its former condition, bringing the King of Hyrule back to life and spawning Hyrule's Golden Era.

The Era of the Light and Dark: Oracle of Ages and Oracle of Seasons
Taking place shortly after the events of A Link to the Past but within the lands of Holodrum and Labrynna, the Hylian Royal family has only a minimal role in the storyline. The same Princess Zelda from A Link to the Past does appear in the password-linked quest, however. The inhabitants of the two lands seem to have no royal government and nothing suggests that Queen Ambi of Labrynna's past is of Hylian royalty.

The Golden Era
In the backstory for The Adventure of Link, set during the Golden Era when the Kingdom of Hyrule was still unified, a wise king ruled over the land using the Triforce. Unfortunately, this wise king passed away, and his son and heir could only inherit the Triforce in part, because the king did not believe he possessed the necessary qualities. So the king hid the Triforce of Courage away in the Great Palace until someone with special inborn qualities could find it. The young prince was swayed by the counsel of a corrupt wizard, who told him that his sister, Princess Zelda, was hiding the missing pieces. The prince interrogated the princess, but she would reveal nothing. In retaliation, the wizard cast a spell over Zelda, causing her to fall into an eternal sleep. The prince, stricken with guilt, issued a decree that all females born into the royal household were to be named Zelda by law and not tradition in honor of his sister.

This marked the end of the Golden Era and began the Era of Decline, where Hyrule as a kingdom began to diminish over time and became separate from its former unification established during the Unification War ten years prior to the events of Ocarina of Time.

The Era of Decline: The Legend of Zelda
In The Legend of Zelda, set during the Era of Decline that followed Hyrule's Golden Era, the Hylian Royal Family is responsible for guarding the Triforce of Wisdom. When a revived Ganon attacked, the young princess Zelda of this era broke it into eight pieces and hid them, an act for which she was imprisoned by a Ganon. Her loyal servant, an elderly Sheikah named Impa, manages to escape imprisonment and request help from a young, sword-wielding boy.

The Era of Decline: The Adventure of Link
Despite many generations having passed since the the tragedy of of the Sleeping Zelda that marked the end of Hyrule's Golden Era and the law that made is so that every princess thereafter must be called Zelda. The only known person known to carry on knowledge of that legend is the elderly Impa from the previous game, who tells Link the legend and helps him awaken the ancient sleeping princess. The young hero goes on to successfully find the hidden Triforce of Courage and awaken the princess.