Four Sword

The , also known as the Sacred Blade, and the Sacred Sword, is a recurring in . It is a legendary magical blade that sparkles with magical power, and it has a hilt of gold, usually encrusted with a jewel that varies in color. As its name implies, when wielded by one of pure heart, it has the power to split its pedestal into four near-identical copies of themselves. Like its spiritual counterpart in the series, the , it possesses the power to repel evil, meaning that like the , it cannot be touched by those of impure heart. The only person shown to have wielded the in gameplay is the hero of , . Typically when it is in use by , it will split him into four copies of himself with differing colored tunics: green, red, blue and purple. It has often been used to seal evil entities away such as and later .
==History==
Unlike the , the was not originally of the world of , nor did it originally go by that name. As revealed in , the began as a creation of a race of tiny, thumb-sized beings known as the (known as the "Picori" by ) and was known as the . According to the , long in 's past, a war broke out across the land when an army of dark creatures descended upon it and wreaked havoc. Just as all seemed lost, a young man known as the rose up to defend , and the tiny descended from the sky to bring him a sword, the , and a golden light, the . Using these two gifts, the hero drove back the creatures and locked them all away within the , sealing it with the itself. Following these events, the was carefully enshrined by the people of , while the was magically sealed inside 's . For many years afterward, the blade that would one day become the was kept in the care of the . It was brought out of once each year for the annual held to honor the service the rendered during the war against evil.
==Appearances==
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When completing for the Game Boy Advance, the secret Palace of the Four Sword dungeon becomes available. Here, Link must defeat more challenging versions of the bosses from and recover shards of the Four Sword. Once all four shards are collected, Link must fight four Dark Links. After defeating them, the shards unite and become the Four Sword.
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In its titular appearance, the Four Sword appears as a sacred blade enshrined in the Four Sword Sanctuary that seals away a great evil, the Wind Sorcerer Vaati. According to legend, when Vaati rose to power some time in the past, he carried off many beautiful maidens to his palace and terrorized the people of Hyrule until a heroic young man wielding a Sword appeared. The hero was able to defeat Vaati, seal him within the blade of the Sword, and rescue the maidens. Nobody seemed to know how this young man succeeded where countless others had failed, but the maidens spoke of how his Sword caused him to split into four copies of himself and how the four who were one worked together to subdue the Wind Sorcerer. Following these events, the blade was left enshrined deep within the forests of Hyrule, in the Four Sword Sanctuary where it served as Vaati's prison.
 begins many years after these events. Princess Zelda goes with her childhood friend, Link, for a stroll through the Four Sword Sanctuary to check the seal on Vaati, which the princess senses is weakening. When they arrive, a dark figure descends upon the scene and captures the princess. Vaati reveals that the seal of the Four Sword is broken and that he will rage once again, but not before carrying Princess Zelda off to his palace above the clouds and making her his bride. The Wind Mage knocks Link out and carries the princess away, and shortly thereafter three fairies descend upon the scene as Link comes to, revealing to him what has become of the princess and explaining the power of the Four Sword to him. Seeing that he will have need of its power, Link draws the blade from its pedestal and is shattered into four colorful copies of himself. The four Links then use the Four Sword, now also shattered into four versions of itself (each having a different colored jewel to match the Link that wields it), to work their way across Hyrule to acquire the Keys necessary to open the way to Vaati's Palace. The heroes, after much toil, succeed in this endeavor and reach the palace, where they battle Vaati and, with the Sword's power, succeed in defeating him, resealing him within its blade. They free Princess Zelda from her captivity and return the blade to its resting place in the Four Sword Sanctuary, once again holding Vaati at bay.
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In its second appearance, the Four Sword is shown to still rest in the Four Sword Sanctuary for several centuries. The Sword still seals away the Wind Sorcerer Vaati after he was re-sealed within it by Link and Princess Zelda. With the passing of time, the people have come to feel a sense of peace and security. However, dark storm clouds soon blacken the skies of Hyrule and fill all who see them with fear and dread. This has caused some to fear that the seal of the Four Sword binding Vaati may once again be weakening. The specter of Vaati's return causes such disturbance that Princess Zelda sees fit to convene a meeting of the six other Shrine Maidens that guard the different regions of Hyrule and have the power to open the way to the Four Sword's resting place. Intending to inspect the Sword's seal herself, Zelda decides to take Link along with her for extra security while she checks to see if Vaati's return is really imminent.
Upon opening the portal to the Four Sword Sanctuary, the entire party of the Shrine Maidens, Zelda and Link are surprised by the emergence of Shadow Link, who kidnaps the Shrine Maidens and Zelda before luring Link through the portal to the Four Sword Sanctuary. Seeing he has no weapon to duel his dark doppelganger, Link draws the Four Sword from its pedestal, causing himself to split apart in the same manner the Sword had worked previously, causing him to split into four different colored versions of himself. Shadow Link laughs and makes a quick exit as Vaati escapes his prison once again and sends the four Links far away with a whirlwind. Upon awakening, the four meet Kaepora Gaebora, who tells them that they must master the power of the Four Sword in order to defeat Vaati and rescue Zelda and the Shrine Maidens. To do this, they must gather a total of 2,000 Force Gems in each area they visit to fully power up the Four Sword and give it the Power to Repel Evil. In this manner, the four heroes work their way across Hyrule and gradually rescue all of the maidens with the power of the Four Sword. They eventually reach the Palace of Winds and confront Vaati, ultimately destroying him for good using the blade's power. However, it turns out that the true evil behind Vaati's release and the evil plaguing Hyrule is Ganon, who has stolen a Trident possessing the great magic of an evil spirit. Confronting Ganon alongside Princess Zelda, the four heroes succeed in subduing him while the Shrine Maidens magically seal him within the blade of the Four Sword. The Sword is returned to the Four Sword Sanctuary soon after, now serving as the prison of Ganon.
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In , many years have passed since the original 's first appearance during the war. The annual is put on, marking the one hundredth year since the last came to . The festival's sword-fighting tournament winner gains the honor of approaching the and touching the itself; The winner this year is a new face in Hyrule, a dark stranger named Vaati. however, the stranger reveals himself to be , a powerful sorcerer, and uses his dark magic to blast open the , thinking the is inside, shattering the in the process. When the evil sorcerer turns to stone, sends (and consequently his companion, ) on a quest to restore the and use its power to break 's curse on .
To this end, has the blade's fragments reforged into the by the master smithy and learns from the that he needs the mystical in order to transform it into a new, sacred sword. The are the crystalline jewels infused with the powers of the major four elements of the world: earth, fire, water and wind. They are scattered all across in different locations, and must take them to the located in 's courtyard in order to infuse each into the blade of the reforged sword. Meanwhile, , still searching for the , learns that it rests in a sealed chamber within the , and that the sacred blade is necessary to gain access to it. The sorcerer decides to wait for to restore the sacred blade and use him to gain entry to this chamber. This plan succeeds when successfully retrieves the final , the , from the and brings it to the , where infusing its power into the blade alongside the others fully regenerates the blade and transforms it into the . This opens the chamber, revealing the location of the , which turns out to be embodied within the body of . learns this and takes to the roof of the newly-transformed to perform the ceremony necessary to extract the from her. arrives in time to stop the ceremony and is forced to confront in several deadly forms. By creating four copies of himself, finally manages to defeat him.
The allows to create up to three of himself.
==Design==
The Four Sword is a double-edged blade with a spear-point at its tip and a fuller hilt, which has usually been depicted as being gold in color. The hilt is engraved with an eye-like symbol, likely a reference to its history with Vaati the Wind Mage. On the pommel of the Sword's hilt near the top, the Sword is typically depicted as having a round jewel whose color usually reflects its wielder. For example, the part of the Four Sword wielded by the green Link will have a green jewel whereas the red Link's Sword will have a red jewel. In Link's case, the Sword will have a green, red, blue and purple jewel in each of its clones for each copy of Link. When the Sword is not in use however, it appears that the jewel has a dull greenish color likely to reflect its dormancy.
The Sword is shown to not have always been of this design however. For instance, when it was known as the Picori Blade, it more closely resembled the Master Sword with its purplish-colored hilt. After it is shattered by Vaati and re-forged into the White Sword by Melari however, it begins to more resemble the shape of the Sword it would become, albeit with a green-colored hilt. It was not until the power of the Four Elements were infused into the Sword that it finally transformed into its present incarnation, with its hilt changing first from red to blue and finally to the gold color that is seen in the chronologically later games. The Four Elements, which would chronologically later become known as the four "Royal Jewels," also typically are kept near the Four Sword's resting place on a special pedestal.
==Powers and Abilities==
Like the Master Sword, the Four Sword is blessed with many magical capabilities that have been infused into its enchanted blade. Some of these capabilities have been present in each game the Sword is featured in while others have been specific to a particular game. In total, there have been three major abilities the Sword has shown itself capable of performing, though as stated earlier not all of these have appeared in every game the Sword is featured in. Also, some of these abilities that are shown in more than one game are shown to slightly differ from game to game. Overall, the Sword has shown itself capable of repelling and sealing evil entities away, creating three separate clones of the blade's wielder, and also breaking powerful curses.
When the Sword is drawn from its pedestal, it will cause its wielder to split apart into four separate versions of themselves, each nearly identical to the original. The sole differences between the different clones is the tones of their voices (some are deeper than others) and the color of their clothing (in Link's case, his different clones along with himself are colored the four aforementioned colors). The non-canonical manga has depicted the Four Sword as causing the different colored clones to represent different sides of one's psyche as well. The four can work together as a team or they can work independently should the need arise as well.
When the four Links choose to fight in formation, they can do so in four different ways: horizontal line, vertical line, box and diamond. The horizontal line is just as it implies, with the four Links lining up in a vertical line and attacking in unison. The same principle applies for the vertical line with the exception of the four Links standing vertically instead. The box formation has the four Links stand together in a square shape and attack as though in a box. Finally, the diamond formation has the four Links assemble themselves in a diamond shape and attack from all sides simultaneously.
The Sword's ability to create clones has varied from game to game. For instance, while in and the Sword keeps the clones around indefinitely and in varying colors, this principle is different in , where Link must power up the Four Sword and stand on special tiles to create the clones, who all look alike and only manifest themselves for a limited time before vanishing. The reason for this difference is not made clear, though it's likely just an aesthetic change for gameplay's sake. In this same game, the Four Sword also shows the ability to, when charged up, cast a magical beam of energy that can break curses, such as the curse Vaati placed upon Princess Zelda.
When Link's health is full in most games featuring the Four Sword, the Sword will emit an energy beam. However, in , the Sword's power is based upon Force Gems, 2000 of which Link must recover in each area in order to restore the power to repel evil to the Sword's blade. Only when this is accomplished can Link destroy the Barriers in each area made with Vaati's magic and proceed to the next area. If not enough Force Gems have been found by the end of the area, the Sword will take Link back in time to redo the level and find enough of them. In , the Sword will not emit an energy beam until Link has acquired the Master Sword in .
==Other Appearances==
===Four Swords Manga===
In the , the Four Sword functions much the same way as it did in the game, where it splits Link into the four colored copies of himself as Hyrule is faced with multiple threats. The manga combines elements of and , with Link facing not only the threat of Vaati, but also Shadow Link and ultimately Ganon himself. The four Links battle their foes all across Hyrule and eventually reach the heavens atop the Tower of Winds, where they battle Vaati with the power of the Four Sword and with the unlikely help of Shadow Link, who has turned against the side of evil. Shadow Link smashes the Dark Mirror to help the four Links destroy Vaati, even knowing that this will kill him as well. Following this, Ganon reveals himself and battles the four Links himself. Using the blade, they succeed in subduing Ganon and return the Four Sword to the Four Sword Sanctuary in order to merge into one again before walking away hand-in-hand with Princess Zelda.
===The Minish Cap Manga===
Unlike the game, the Four Sword is not originally called the Picori Blade, but rather the "Sacred Sword" in the . It still functions largely in the same manner it did in the game however, with Link seeking to re-forge it into a new sacred blade. The Sacred Sword eventually becomes the Four Sword, fulfilling the same role the Picori Blade did within the game. Unlike the game, Vaati eventually sees the error of his ways in the end however, accompanying Ezlo back to the Minish Realm in the end after apologizing to all whom he has wronged.
== Trivia ==
* The hilt of the Four Sword in appears blue when picked up and held by Link despite it actually appearing golden in artwork and when in its pedestal.
* The Four Sword resembles the appearance of the Master Sword when forged with all elements in .
==Nomenclature==
==Gallery==
File:FSA Artwork.png|Official artwork depicting the four Links wielding the Four Sword against the forces of Vaati and Ganon
File:Four sword clash.png|Two Four Swords clashing
File:ALttP Four Sword Green Sprite.png|Green seen in 
File:ALttP Four Sword Red Sprite.png|Red seen in 
File:ALttP Four Sword Blue Sprite.png|Blue seen in 
File:ALttP Four Sword Purple Sprite.png|Purple seen in 
File:FS Four Sword Resting Sanctuary Sprite.png| with blue pommel gem seen in the 
File:TMC Elemental Sanctuary 2.png|The former after being transformed into the 
File:TMC Four Sword Sprite 3.png|The newly-forged from 
File:TMC Four Sword Sprite 2.png|The as seen on the title screen of 
==See Also==
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