Gustaf

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King Gustaf is a minor character in The Minish Cap. In the game, he is a ghost, but he was once king of Hyrule. This makes him the ancestor of its current King Daltus and Princess Zelda.

He first appeared to Link after he retrieved the Water Element from the Temple of Droplets. He marks his grave on Link's map and requests that he come visit. When Link arrives, Gustaf gives him a gold Kinstone that will open a stone door in Veil Falls. This allows Link to reach the Cloud Tops, which leads to the Wind Element.

Timeline Significance

Though Gustaf plays a relatively minor yet pivotal role in The Minish Cap, he may perhaps be more pivotal in the role he plays in the so-called timeline of the entire Legend of Zelda series. Prior to the release of The Minish Cap, most fans of the series universally agreed that Ocarina of Time was the true first game in the timeline of the series due to its inclusion of the origin stories of such elements as the Triforce, Ganondorf, the establishment of Hyrule as a kingdom, and the origin story of the Sacred Realm/Dark World. Since the release of The Minish Cap however, a fraction of the Zelda community have for several good reasons come to believe that The Minish Cap precedes Ocarina of Time chronologically. However, it is Gustaf himself that seemingly voids this argument by stating that he ruled Hyrule as king "countless ages ago", indicating that Hyrule has, at that point, existed as a kingdom for many ages. This is in stark contrast to Ocarina of Time, where it is established that Hyrule has only existed as a kingdom for roughly a decade at the opening of the story as a result of the bloody Hyrulean Civil War that left the Hero of Time an orphan. Thus, though Gustaf plays a relatively small role in the events of The Minish Cap, his very inclusion in the story of The Minish Cap, combined with his remarks, casts significant doubt upon the possibility of The Minish Cap preceding Ocarina of Time.