Volume V Title 1: The Wind Waker

The tale of a green clothed boy, the Hero of Time, who taveled through time to save the land from the dark one, was passed down through generations until it became a widely known legend...

But then... A day came when a fell wind began to blow across the Kingdom.

The great evil that all thought had been forever sealed away by the hero...

...once again crept forth from the depths of the Earth, eager to resume its dark designs.

The people believed that the Hero of Time would again come to save them

...but the hero did not appear.

Faced by an onslught of evil, the people could do nothing but appeal to the Gods.

In their last hour, as doom drew nigh, they left their future in the hands of fate.

What became of that Kingdom...? None remain who know.

The memory of the Kingdom vanished, but its legend survived on the wind's breath.

On a certain island, it became customary to garb boys in green when they came of age.

Clothed in the green of fields, they aspired to find heroic blades and cast down evil.

The elders wished only for the youths to know courage like the Hero of Legend...

On said island, Outset Island, a young boy was just coming of age. His grandmother handed him the green clothes as tradition had it. But this wasn't going to be a traditional day: a gigantic bird was spotted in the sky, holding a girl in its talons. Shooting cannonballs at the bird was a pirate ship, and one eventually hit it, making it drop the girl on top of the island's mountain where a forest stood. Preoccupied with her fate, the boy borrowed a sword from an elderly warrior of his village and went into the forest. There he protected her from a bunch of monsters but just as they were leaving, something dreadful happened: the gigantic bird came back, and kidnapped the boy's sister, Aryll.

The boy asked the leader of the pirates, the girl that he helped, Tetra, to aid him in chasing the bird and Quill, a postman of the Rito tribe (a people gifted with features of birds, including the ability to fly), helped persuading them by pointing out that young girls with long ears had been getting kidnapped all over the Great Sea as of late and that both Aryll and Tetra fit that description, meaning the bird had probably mistaken its victim for the latter. He also informed them of the location of the bird's nest: Forasken Fortress, once hideout to a nasty pirate gang, now overrun with monsters. Tetra decided to help Link as long as he had a shield so he took his family's heriloom with him, a shield said to have belonged to the Hero of Time and after saying his good byes left the island with the pirates.

Eventually, the boy was able to infiltrate the fortress and find his sister (with the guidance of Tetra that could speak to him through a stone, the pirate's charm, she had let him borrow), but just then the gigantic bird captured him, and tossed the helpless kid out in the sea on its master's command. Fortunately the boy was rescued by the King of Red Lions, a boat with the ability to speak and move without any sailor. Once the boy came to his senses, they were safe at Windfall Island, a merchant town. There, the boat revealed the identity of the monstrous bird's master: it was the very same emperor of the dark realm spoken of in the legends, Ganon. The one who obtained the power of the gods, attempted to cover the land in darkness, and was ultimately sealed away for a second time by the very power he hoped to command. But now, he had somehow returned. This the boat told to the boy, and offered to help him save his sister; but to face the dark one, the boy would need something he could obtain only after many trials. And so, a new quest begun for the young boy of Outset Island.

Their first step was Dragoon Roost Island, a mountain, the tallest of the Great Sea, home to the Rito tribe and spirit of the skies the great dragon Valoo. There they hoped to obtain one of three jewels, Din's Pearl. But first, the King of Red Lions gave his young friend the legendary Wind Waker, a baton used long ago to direct prayers to the gods and borrow their power. With it, the boy could direct songs such as the Requiem of the Wind, that borrowed the power of Zephos god of winds (who acknowledged him as the new Wind Waker) to change the direction in which said element blows.

Unfortunately, it turned out that the Rito were facing a serious crisis: the dragon Valoo had become furious and they were thus unable to obtain scales from him. Without these scales, any Rito reaching adulthood would be unable to grow wings. The boy found himself involved in this matter and helped Valoo's attendant to be, the Rito girl Medli, in investigating. It turned out that monsters lurking in the mountaintop were scourging the dragon's tail; the boy, however, promptly defeated them and then Komali, son to the Rito chieftain, awarded him with the pearl of the goddess.

The boy and his boat then sailed to the south, until they came to what looked like a great tree rising far above the ocean's surface, inside this Forest Haven was the Great Deku Tree. After being rid from the small parasites that were attacking him, the Deku Tree spoke to the boy; at first, mistaking him for the Hero of Time because of their clothes. Then the tree introduced him to the Koroks, the children of the woods that once took on human forms and were known as Kokiri. The Deku Tree was willing to part with Farore's Pearl, but it just so happened that the time for them to celebrate an important prioritary annual ceremony had come and one of the Koroks was missing, having fell into the Forbidden Woods. The boy accepted to rescue Makar, the missing Korok. In the process, he often found shelter in the homes that once belonged to the Kokiri. Once Makar had been rescued, the boy was given Farore's Pearl and witnessed the ceremony of the Koroks, a small concerto that allowed the Deku Tree to produce seeds that the Koroks would distribute all over the islands. It was the Deku Tree's hope that one day these tree would build a new vast land, joining all of the islands.

Approaching the location of the last pearl, a dreadful sight was met: the island had been ravaged and torn apart. On top of that, the world had been cursed with an endless night. But all was not lost it turned out that the water spirit Jabun, holder of the pearl, had taken refuge nowhere else than in Outset Island! Equipping himself to find the water spirit, the boy sailed back to his home. There, the King of Red Lions spoke with Jabun. The latter too mistook the boy for the Hero of Time, but the boat denied any relation existing between the two; and yet persuaded the giant fish in giving them Nayru's Pearl, dispelling the curse that was cast on the land.

The two companions proceeded to place the pearls in three statues situated on different triangle island. Once they had done so, the statues changed to the shape of the goddesses and rays of light joined them forming three huge golden triangles on the water's surface. From the middle of those, an huge tower arose to the sky, as tall as Dragon Roost. It was the Tower of the Gods. A place that the gods had instructed their subjects (possibly the Wind Tribe and the Minish) to build, in order to test the courage of men. Only one able to overcome its trials would be acknowledged by the gods as a true hero and be permitted to wield the power to destroy the great evil. Once he managed to climb to the tower's top, the boy confronted and defeated the arbiter of the gods, Gohdan, a mechanical being called of Minish making. The boy, now a hero, rang a bell on the tower's roof, and a small ring of light appeared on the water below. The hero returned to his boat and mentor, and the two sailed into the ring of light.

Once they did, they begun to descend into the sea; they boy almost passing out without breath first because of the water... then as they dove down into air because of awe for what lied below him and the sea: a land that spread as far as they eye could see and in the middle of it, a magnificent castle. But all of this, was lifeless and deprived of color. Following the instructions his boat gave him, the hero ventured inside to solve the riddle that would grant access to the basement. In the castle a small army of monsters stood, frozen in time as they were rampaging through the glorious halls. Eventually the boy found the entrance to the basement under a statue that looked surprisingly like him; it was in the image of the Hero of Time. Once he went downstairs he found himself in a great room with glass windows representing the three triangles, different people (the likes of some he had never seen before) and some sort of monster. Unknown to him, they were the Sages (six of them, their leader absent) and Ganon. Over one of the figures, a woman with fish features, was the same symbol on the clothes of Medli and Komali. Could the Rito descend from this woman? The King of Red Lions contacted the hero through Tetra's stone, and told him about the sword that occupied the center of the room: it was the Master Sword, the weapon he needed to defeat the dark one and save his sister. Without hesitation, he took the sword out of its pedestal, but in doing so he allowed time to resume its flow and had to confront the monsters in the main hall. Equipped with the legendary blade he succeeded, but as he tried to leave the castle, he was hindered by a bleak barrier placed by the dark one around it; therefore he went back to his boat and returned to the world above eager to dare the Forsaken Fortress again.

There after battling Phantom Ganon, the hero managed to save his sister and Tetra, who came to his aid, sent her to safety. The hero then confronted her bird kidnapper and its master, a man with brown skin and red hair that introduced himself as Ganondorf. The master of forsaken fortress explained to the boy that the sword he brought, while being the blade of evil's bane, had for long served another purpose: that of a key for the the seal the gods placed on the land below the sea, Ganondorf and his magic. Removing it, the seal had been broken. Regardless, the hero tried to fight the dark one, but was quickly defeated. Ganondorf revealed him the reason for this: the Master Sword had lost its power, it no longer shone with the power to repel evil. Tetra protected the boy from being finished off, but as Ganondorf took hold of the pirate girl, the Triforce of Power in his possesion begun to resonate making him realize that this was the descendant of Princess Zelda. However, before he could do anything, Quill and Komali flew through the room snatching the two children in their talons and as soon as they were out, the dragon Valoo set Ganondorf's abode aflame with his fiery breath.

The boy, Tetra and the King of Red Lions returned to the land below the sea; there, in the castle's basement the boy's boat revealed himself as the king of this land, the King Daphnes Nohansen Hyrule. He told them that the Pirate's Charm was a variation of the legendary Gossip Stones and how this land was once turned into a world of shadows by Ganon, who sought to obtain the power of the gods for his own evil ends. Hyrule could not oppose the fiend, and so the royal family decided to leave the fate of the kingdom in the hands of the gods whose answer was to seal away not only Ganon, but Hyrule itself with a torrential downpour of rains from the heavens. Before sealing the kingdom, however, the gods chose those who would build a new country (supposedly, those of good nature) and commanded them to take refuge on the mountaintops. Hundreds of years passed and so long as Ganondorf was not revived, brought back from being suspended in time, Hyrule would remain below, never waking from its slumber. Then, the king told Tetra that her necklace was a shard of the Triforce of Wisdom, the sacred power of the gods that Ganon had been searching for; and as he reunited her Triforce part with his, she was revealed to be truthfully Princess Zelda, direct (although distant) descendant to the King. Because Ganondorf knew this, Zelda was then to remain hidden in the secret basement while the hero would restore the Master Sword's power.

Returning to the world above, the hero's boat told him what he suspected was the cause for the Master Sword's loss of power: something could have happened to the sages who infused the blade with the gods' power. The sages resided in Hyrule, in the Wind Temple to the north and the Earth Temple to the south; praying to the gods. But rather than challenge Ganondorf's barrier and draw his attention to Zelda, they chose to reach the temples from their other entrances high upon Hyrule's mountaintops, above the sea. The King also told him about the Hero of Time, that defeated Ganon and brought peace to Hyrule. He went on to tell him, that a piece of the Triforce, that of Courage, was given to the Hero of Time and he kept it safe, much as Zelda kept hers. However, when the Hero of Time was called to embark on another journey and left the land of Hyrule (that is, when Zelda sent him back in time), the Triforce of Courage was split into eight shards and hidden throughout the land. At that time they lay in the Great Sea (on the islands foundations). Only once the hero had the whole Triforce of Courage he would be allowed into Hyrule again.

In the temples, the Hero learned new melodies and also that the souls of the Earth and Wind Sages Laruto (of the Zora, fish like people) and Fado (of the Kokiri of whom the Deku Tree spoke) had been stolen by Ganondorf when he returned to Hyrule. Lingering still, they told him that to empower the Master Sword, he was to find their descendants and take them to their temples so they could offer prayers to the gods. The clue that would allow him to recognize them, would be the instruments they too would carry like the Sages, a harp and a violin. If the hero could conduct them with the Wind Waker through the songs he learned, just as the king used to with the ancient Sages, then they would surely remember. The boy remembered seeing these instruments in the possesion of Medli the Rito (evidently there really was a connection between the Zora and the Rito) and Makar the Korok.

After awakening them, he helped the two return to their chambers in the respective temples, and so the sword of the one true hero was revived; its blade once again housing the power to repel evil. In order to return to Hyrule, the boy also had to gather the Triforce of Courage's shards, which he did with the help of a man named Tingle (someone he had freed from imprisonment on Windfall Island). This 35 years old, persuaded of being a fairy, helped him translate the maps that marked the shards' positions. Back at the Tower of the Gods, the boy held up the Triforce so the gods would grant him access to the land below; the Sacred Triangle then faded out and its mark appeared on his hand. Seeing this, the King deemed him a true hero, the Hero of Winds. The two then hurried to Hyrule and Zelda's chamber.

Sadly, the hero only found an illusion in the princess' guise, which vanished replaced by Ganondorf's cruel voice. He taunted the boy telling him there was no safe haven now that his power was restored and sent his minions after him. Once he had defeated them, the hero used the Master Sword to dispel Ganondorf's barrier around the castle and with no hesitation made his way to the mountains and Ganon's Tower. Inside, the hero found the portal through which Ganondorf could seep in the world above, as well as several trials which he managed to pass. In doing so, he obtained the sacred Light Arrows and dispelling Phantom Ganon went on to face the real one. He found Ganondorf sitting by a sleeping Zelda, intently gazing at her dreams; dreams of the endless oceans above, that none can swim and yield no fish. He asked the Hero what the King had told him, if it was that the gods sealed Hyrule away, leaving people who would awaken it and saw this as a ridiculous, hopeless dream born to deny what he believed was the truth, that the gods had destroyed Hyrule. He then sent a puppet in the form that was inside his vile heart, that of Ganon, to fight against the hero, but the latter prevailed and Ganondorf commended him, recognizing the boy as the Hero of Time reborn.

When the Hero reached Ganondorf and Zelda on top of the tower, the dark one opened up to him. He told of his desert kingdom, how the wind blowing there only brought death, and that he had always desired the gentle breeze of Hyrule. For this reason he had gathered the three with the crests, just as he had so long ago when the Hero of Time defeated him, to impose his desire on the gods through the might of the Triforce that grants the wish of whomever touches it. Taking the boy off guard, Ganondorf knocked him out and, promising not to harm them, retrieved the Triforce parts which combined into one. He begun shouting his wish to the skies as he advanced toward the Triforce, his wish for the sun to reach Hyrule again and for it to be given to him. But as he lowered his gaze, he found that someone already had laid hand on the Golden Power. The King of Hyrule voiced his wish: hope for the two children that were involved into this old struggle; to give them a future and wash away the ancient land of Hyrule, so that rays of hope could shine on the future of the world. As the Triforce opened holes into the seal of water, allowing it to submerge the ancient world, all that could be heard above the flooding water was Ganondorf's insane laughter. The irony of having been denied the wish for the sake of these two children and their desolate ocean brought him to a decision: if he could not have his wish, no one would. Unsheating his sword, he turned around to meet the boy's gaze, and their battle begun. It was a most hardous battle for the Hero, but with the help of Zelda who had borrowed his bow and Arrows of Light, he eventually prevailed, and the Master Sword stabbep the dark one turning him to stone.

As the cascading waters drew closer to the top of the tower, the King explained his reasons to the two children. He had lived regretting the past, bound to Hyrule through all these years, just as Ganondorf was. In the end though, he decided to let these children live their future, walking a path of hope through the dark times that would come. Zelda expressed her wish for the King to join them in a search for a new Hyrule, but the old monarch only replied that this new land would not be Hyrule, it would be their world. Just then, the water submerged them, but in carrying out the King's wish, the Triforce's magic enveloped the two children in a thin layer of air and took them to the surface. Only the King and Ganondorf stood behind. The boy woke up in the sea above and found Tetra floating by his side. Prince Komali flew up to them, followed by Tetra's pirate ship from which were hailing her friends pirates as well as Aryll, Medli, and Makar.

Not too long later, a sense of deja vu was being had by the inhabitants of Outset Island: one of them, a boy clad in green was about to leave with a well known group of pirates. This time, however, he had his own boat (no longer being an avatar to the King) and they were setting off to explore the world, carried on by the wind.