The Wind Waker

*“The wind... it is... blowing...”*

— Ganondorf's last words before turning into a stone after Link defeats him

* GCN
* HD

## Map

***The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker*** is the tenth installment in the *The Legend of Zelda* series, released in 2003 for the Nintendo Game Cube. It is preceded by *Four Swords* and succeeded by *Four Swords Adventures*. The Hero of Winds is the main protagonist and Ganondorf is the main antagonist. Ganondorf's minions are the villainous faction.

It is the tenth game in the series, and the first in the Adult Timeline, set some time after the events of *Ocarine of Time*. It follows Link, accompanied by the King of the Red Lions, as he tries to save his sister from the Helmaroc King, joins Tetra's pirate crew, and eventually stops the returned Ganondorf from taking over the sunken Hyrule and the Great Sea.

During a Nintendo Direct on January 23, 2013, an enhanced remaster of the game was announced for the Wii U console, called *The Wind Waker HD*, and was released during the Fall of that year.

## Synopsis

*Set hundreds of years after the events of Ocarina of Time in the timeline that Link left behind as an adult, Ganon returns after having been defeated, but since Link was back in the past, no one could help Hyrule. The people pray to the Gods to help them, and they result in flooding all of Hyrule. The Wind Waker finds the hero Link in a sea scattered with 49 islands, which necessitates frequent sailing and naval combat. Link lives with his grandmother and younger sister Aryll on Outset Island, one of the few inhabited islands in the Great Sea. Link must save his sister from Ganondorf who thought she was Zelda. He accompanies a gang of pirates who journey to the Forsaken Fortress, where Link's sister is being held. There, he discovers the truth about Ganon, and goes on a quest to stop him. The only way to do so is to gain the Master Sword, which lay below the waves of the Great Sea. Link gets the Master Sword and awakens the two Sages who imbue the Master Sword with power, and Link uses it to defeat Ganon and save Princess Zelda. The King of the Red Lions reveals that he was actually the King of Hyrule all along, and uses the power of the Triforce to seal Ganon underwater with the Master Sword embedded in his head forever.*

## Summary

On Outset Island, a young boy named Link finally comes of age to wear the green of the hero. Link's younger sister Aryll's present to him is permission to use her Telescope. With it, Link sees the Helmaroc King fly over the island, carrying a young girl in its talons. A pirate ship is pursuing the bird, firing at it with a Cannon. One of the projectiles causes the bird to drop the girl, who lands in a tree in the forest atop the island. Link grabs a sword and rushes off to find the girl. Link learns that her name is Tetra, and that she is the captain of that band of Pirates.

As Link leads Tetra back to her ship, the bird swoops down and kidnaps Aryll, mistaking her for Tetra. A Rito postman named Quill informs the stunned Link and the unsympathetic Tetra of stories of a large bird who kidnapped young girls with long ears and took them to the cursed Forsaken Fortress. He charges Tetra with helping Link rescue his sister from the Fortress. Tetra reluctantly accepts, and with her help, Link is able to infiltrate the Fortress and reach the cell where his sister is being kept. However, the large bird discovers him, and at the command of a sinister shadowy figure, it hurls him into the sea.

Link is recovered by a talking boat, who introduces itself as the King of Red Lions. The King tells him of the story behind the shadowy figure at the Forsaken Fortress, revealing it to be Ganondorf. Somehow, the seal of the gods had failed. The King explains to Link that the key to defeating Ganondorf is locked away in a great power, the Master Sword, which can only be wielded after many trials are overcome.

To access this power, Link must gather the three Goddess Pearls. First, Link and the King of Red Lions venture to Dragon Roost Island, home of the Rito tribe, in search of Din's Pearl. Before Link takes off, the King gives Link an ancient conductor's baton called the Wind Waker, which he can use to control the wind and navigate the Great Sea easier. Link meets up with Quill again and learns that the Rito are having trouble with the Sky Spirit, Valoo, atop the mountain on the Island. Fledgling Rito earn scales from Valoo that allow them to grow their wings, but the Dragon has somehow lost control of itself. He also learns that Din's Pearl is in the possession of a young Rito named Prince Komali, who is afraid of earning a scale from Valoo. However, Komali refuses to give the Pearl to Link, as it is a gift from his deceased grandmother. With the help of a friendly Rito named Medli, Link ascends the mountain and learns that a large beast named Gohma is responsible for Valoo's outrage. Link defeats Gohma and brings Valoo back to his senses. Prince Komali gives Din's Pearl to Link and is inspired to earn a scale from Valoo.

Link then sets out for Forest Haven, home of the Koroks and the Great Deku Tree, to find Farore's Pearl. The Great Deku Tree gathers his Korok friends to conduct a ceremony to give Link Farore's Pearl, but a Korok named Linder flies in and informs the Great Deku Tree that their friend Makar has fallen into the Forbidden Woods, a vine-covered island infested with monsters. The Great Deku Tree immediately requests Link to save Makar from the sinister island, and Link agrees to do so. He finds Makar in the depths of the dungeon and saves him from Kalle Demos, earning him Farore's Pearl from the Great Deku Tree.

Link and the King of Red Lions set sail for Greatfish Isle to obtain Nayru's Pearl from the Water Spirit Jabun. However, they find the island ravaged and Jabun nowhere in sight. Quill arrives and informs Link that Jabun fled to a cave behind Outset Island to hide from Ganondorf. However, he tells Link that the cave is blocked by a Giant Stone Doorway that cannot be penetrated and that Tetra and her Pirate Crew tried to break through it to no avail. Quill tells Link to find the Pirates on Windfall Island if he wishes to see Jabun. Link sails there and discovers that the Pirates have tied up Bomb-Master Cannon and are stealing his Bombs. After overhearing Gonzo telling Mako the Password to enter Tetra's Ship, Link proceeds to the ship and uses the Password to gain entry. He takes the Bombs the Pirates have stolen for himself and returns to Outset Island to break into Jabun's cave with them. Although he is skeptical about Link, Jabun agrees to hand Nayru's Pearl over to him. Link proceeds to place the Goddess Pearls on their respective statues on the Triangle Islands, which causes the Tower of the Gods to rise from the depths of the Great Sea.

Link scales the Tower of the Gods and defeats its guardian, Gohdan, who opens a portal to the roof of the Tower. Link finds a giant bell on the roof and rings it, revealing a golden portal on the waves in front of the Tower. Link and the King enter it and travel beneath the waves to find a Castle suspended in time. Link explores the Castle and finds the Master Sword, the Blade of Evil's Bane capable of banishing Ganondorf. Link pulls the Sword out of its Pedestal, which restores the flow of time to the Castle. Afterwards, Link returns to the Forsaken Fortress and defeats the Helmaroc King while Tetra and her Crew rescue Aryll. Link confronts Ganondorf, but the Master Sword proves to be ineffective against him. Ganondorf reveals that while the Master Sword is the Blade of Evil's Bane, it is also the key to sealing his magic. Link broke the seal by pulling the Sword from its Pedestal and restoring the flow of time to the Castle beneath the Sea. Ganondorf overpowers Link and declares that the Master Sword's power is gone. Tetra intervenes, but Ganondorf overpowers her as well, and his Triforce of Power resonates. He realizes that Tetra is in fact Princess Zelda, and recognizes Tetra's necklace as a fragment of the Triforce of Wisdom. Quill and the newly-bewinged Prince Komali swoop in and save Link and Tetra before Valoo engulfs Ganondorf's tower in flames.

The King of Red Lions takes Link and Tetra back to the Castle beneath the Sea and reveals that they are in the kingdom of Hyrule, which was flooded by the goddesses after the events of *Ocarina of Time* to prevent Ganon's return. The King of Red Lions also reveals himself to be Hyrule's king, Daphnes Nohansen Hyrule. He fuses the missing shard of the Triforce of Wisdom in his possession with the fragment on Tetra's necklace to reveal her identity as Princess Zelda, the true heir to the Royal Family of Hyrule. The King instructs her to remain in Hyrule, and sends Link back to the sea above to reawaken the Master Sword's power and reunite the Triforce of Courage—split when the Hero of Time left Hyrule after completing his mission. Until then, the portal to Hyrule is sealed to keep Zelda safe.

It is revealed that Ganondorf's forces killed the Sages of Wind and Earth whose prayers contributed to the Master Sword's power, rendering the Sword useless. To restore the Master Sword's power, those who carry the blood of the Sages must take their stead in the Wind and Earth Temples and pray to the gods. Makar and Medli awaken as the new Sages of Wind and Earth, respectively. With their power and prayers, Link is able to restore the Blade of Evil's Bane to its original form. He then hunts down the scattered shards of the Triforce of Courage and brings the completed piece back to the Tower of the Gods to present it to the gods. The Triforce piece then passes into him, proving that Link is the true Hero, the Hero of Time "reborn". Because Link had used the power of the Wind Waker to travel the Great Sea, the King of Red Lions declares him the Hero of Winds.

When Link descends beneath the waves, he discovers that Ganondorf kidnapped Zelda and took her to his headquarters, Ganon's Castle, a daunting fortress that even the legendary Knights of Hyrule were unable to assail in ages past. Link makes haste for the tower and scales it. Ganondorf is waiting for him, sitting on a bed where Zelda is sleeping. He expresses his outrage at the concept of people living on the Great Sea above Hyrule with little to nothing to achieve. He then transforms into a large marionette-like creature to battle Link, who defeats him. Ganondorf takes Zelda away and tells Link to follow and stand before him. He catches Link off guard and knocks him down, and proceeds to summon the pieces of the Triforce from within Link and Zelda, along with his own to assemble the full Triforce. He wishes for the rays of the sun to expose Hyrule anew so that the kingdom and the world may be his.

However, Daphnes Nohansen Hyrule touches the Triforce first. The King wishes for Hyrule and Ganondorf to be buried beneath the waves of the Great Sea. He also wishes for hope for Link and Zelda; that they might be able to create a better world. The Triforce grants the King's wish, flooding the land of Hyrule once again before vanishing.

In a fit of madness, Ganondorf attacks Link. With the Master Sword at its full power, Link and Zelda battle Ganondorf as Hyrule floods around them. Link eventually deals the final blow to Ganondorf, stabbing him through his head and turning him to stone. After bidding farewell to the King of Hyrule, Link and Zelda are spirited away to the surface of the Great Sea as the floodwaters come crashing down, burying Hyrule and its King beneath the Sea. Zelda returns to her old form as Tetra and Link are reunited with Aryll, the Pirates, and some of Link's friends. In a post-credits scene, Link and Tetra sail away with their Crew in search of a new land with the wind as their guide. This scene marks the beginning of the first Nintendo DS Zelda game, *Phantom Hourglass*.

## Characters

Hero of WindsKing of Red LionsTetraGanondorf

## Media

### *The Wind Waker*

 Japanese
 USA

### *The Wind Waker HD*

 Japanese
 USA

## Trivia

* According to the original Japanese text, the Master Sword was sealing Ganon's minions ("mazoku", translates to "Demon Tribe" or "Demon Race"), as it can be observed in the game, and not his magic.
* According to the *Guinness World Records Gamers Edition 2008*, The Wind Waker had around 500,000 pre-orders and was at the time (2002) the most pre-ordered game on record.
* The game's main theme song includes both the "Earth God's Lyric" and the "Wind God's Aria".
* *The Wind Waker* is the first *Zelda* game where every single boss has its own musical theme. In the subsequent games, however, at least two bosses share a common track.
* Link yells "Come on!" when he calls Medli, Makar, or a statue. This marked *The Wind Waker* as the only canon *Zelda* game to date in which Link has spoken in actual words until the release of *Twilight Princess*, in which Link can be heard yelling "Giddy-up!" as he rides Epona. In *The Adventure of Link*, a textbox does say "I found a mirror under the table" at one point, but the Japanese version used no pronouns and is written in much the same way as the "You got" speeches (that is, it's from Link's perspective, but not him speaking). Other characters also speak actual English words, most notably Beedle, who says "Welcome!", "Thank you!" and "Bye!".
* On the disc of the American version, the Hylian reads "*Zeruda no Densetsu Kaze no Takuto*," which is the game's name in Japan.
* The greeting "Hoy!" in this game is similar to the Portuguese "Oi!" or the Dutch "Hoi!" Additionally, "Oi!" is the equivalent of "Hey!" in Japanese. "Hoy" is also a saying used by sailors, of which the game holds many elements.
* The entire ending cinematic, from when Link and Tetra are picked up by the pirate ship to the very end of the epilogue cutscene, is a pre-rendered FMV, as opposed to other cutscenes which are rendered in real-time, marking the first time prerendered FMVs have been used in a Zelda game. This cutscene was probably prerendered in order to properly implement the transition between the cutscene and the credits. Remnant text from a non-FMV ending exists in the game data.
* If the player has a file of both *The Wind Waker* and the GCN version of *Metal Gear Solid*, in the latter game the boss character Psycho Mantis makes a cameo mention of the former game during the battle.
* The game contains an abnormally large amount of unused/early content left in the data, likely a result of development being rushed during its later stages.
	+ *The Wind Waker* is notable for its test rooms, which are accessible with an Action Replay device. Interestingly, the textures in the test rooms and even one of the rooms themselves are shared with *Super Mario Sunshine* and *Super Mario 64 DS*. These textures consist of squares which have a certain number of meters per side; the number of meters is drawn on the textures. *The Wind Waker*'s first test room contains transparent water in a pool, which is likely a leftover from the earliest stages of development when transparent water was going to be used in the ocean. Even more interesting is that a "walkable" slope is present under this water, suggesting an item, most likely the Iron Boots, would have allowed Link to walk underwater like in *Ocarina of Time*. Another test room features textures that don't belong in the game itself, but was likely leftover from the early Spaceworld 2000 trailer of a techdemo featuring Link and Ganondorf, both resembling their *Ocarina of Time* counterparts, fighting in a dungeon that had similar textures.
	+ Staircases in the later parts of the game use ramp collision boxes instead of the stair programming seen in the rest of the game. Most of these ramp-stairs occur in the Hyrule Castle area, but some occur in the Forsaken Fortress. The main difference is that Link can roll up the ramp-stairs to move quickly, but will crash and fall back instead if he attempts to roll up regular stairs.
	+ A vast amount of unused stages, meant for the final release of the game, can be found within the disk. Most notably, a huge amount of unused rooms are present in various degrees of completion. These range from a very old forest area that was showcased in the game's first E3 trailer, to multiple test rooms, and even places intended for the final release, like a different design for the Tower of the Gods and an art studio on Tingle Island. More unused areas exist than the amount of islands in the final game.[*citation needed*]
	+ *Hyrule Historia* contains a compendium of this game's early concept art. It reveals many unused ideas for the game, some of which were implemented in later games. The most well known concept was of Link getting progressively older as the game went on, but was scrapped because of difficulties implementing this idea. Another example, an island resembling a Nintendo GameCube was drawn, possibly the source of inspiration for Dee Ess Island in *Phantom Hourglass*. Another concept was that Link could interact with the submerged Hyrule through special portals around the Great Sea, guarded by actual fishermen. This would likely have been the implementation of walking underwater, as described above. Remnants of that idea can be seen via hacking Link to be under the ocean; he can walk on invisible ground below the water.
	+ The version of the Dragon Roost Island theme found on the game's soundtrack includes a plucked bass, which is not present in the original version of the theme found in the game. The version with the plucked bass was also used in *Super Smash Bros. Braw*

* After *The Wind Waker*'s release, the *Zelda* games for the Nintendo DS utilized the same graphical style.
* The engine of the game was the basis for those of *Navi Trackers* and *Twilight Princess*. *Twilight Princess* contains some leftover data from *The Wind Waker*, namely models for the Wind Waker and Bomb Flowers.
* By extension, it's also the first game to evidence that the character Link, like Princess Zelda, has multiple incarnations over the decades/centuries.
* The sailing mechanic inspired the creation of the means of Transportation seen in the Nintendo DS *Zelda* games, and is similar to Link's method of transportation in *Skyward Sword*.
* Many properties of this game were borrowed by *Super Smash Bros. Brawl*, including Link's animated incarnation, a stage, parts of the soundtrack, and several trophies and stickers.

## Continuity

* According to the English translation of the game, Daphnes Nohansen Hyrule says that the Hero of Time, after defeating Ganon, embarked on another journey and left the land of Hyrule, which could be interpreted as a reference to Link's adventure in Termina. The Japanese text however, mentions that the hero left Hyrule traveling through time, apparently referencing Link's return to his original time at the end of the game.
* The game contains a few references to previous games in the series, notably *Ocarina of Time*; the Hero of Time mentioned throughout the game and the various stained glasses in the Master Sword chamber are all from *Ocarina of Time*.
	+ The portal sound is created from the same audio sample used in the "Final Hours" theme from *Majora's Mask*.