Hyrule Castle

Hyrule Castle is a castle and the home of the Royal Family of Hyrule in several The Legend of Zelda games. Hyrule Castle is a landmark area of Hyrule, and it first appears in The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. In several of its appearances, Hyrule Castle is taken over by an enemy force, especially Ganondorf.

Hyrule Castle's architecture and overall design vary throughout the games, although several aspects remain consistent throughout its appearances. Hyrule Castle consistently sported the appearance of a generic European castle. In the three-dimensional games, Hyrule Castle is white or gray with tall, angular spires and green or purple rooftops.

The North Castle is a predecessor to Hyrule Castle, especially in The Legend of Zelda television show, where it is home to Zelda and her father, King Harkinian.

The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
Hyrule Castle first appears in The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, and is located in the center of Hyrule. The location has six floors and features a courtyard and moat.

At the start of his adventure, Link goes to Hyrule Castle at the request of a telepathic voice, who directs him to a hidden entrance east of the castle. The hidden entrance takes Link to the basement floor of the castle, where he finds his uncle, who was mortally wounded from battle. After receiving a sword and shield from his uncle, Link continues exploring Hyrule Castle. Upon reaching the third basement floor, Link encounters and battles a Ball and Chain Trooper, who is guarding a cell that Zelda is imprisoned in. After it is defeated, Link and Zelda escape to the Sanctuary by taking the Sewer Passage north.

Later in his adventure, after Link obtains the Master Sword, he must go back to Hyrule Castle and rescue Zelda again. With the Master Sword, Link breaks the seal on Hyrule Castle Tower and continues to the top where he encounters Agahnim. After the battle, Link is sent to the Dark World where he continues his journey. The pyramid is the Dark World's equivalent of Hyrule Castle, and it is where the final battle against Ganon takes place.

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
In The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Hyrule Castle is first seen during the opening credits. The castle is situated west of Death Mountain and just directly north of Hyrule Castle Town. The entrance to Hyrule Castle Town alone is protected by a moat and a drawbridge which lowers only during the day. Beyond Hyrule Castle Town is a path which leads eventually to Hyrule Castle, but features a gate and several guards along the way. In order to infiltrate the castle, Link must sneak past each guard until he gets to the castle itself, surrounded by a moat. Link never directly enters any "important" parts of the castle, but he does manage to enter the courtyard (where he meets Zelda) using a secret entrance on the east side (similar to his infiltration in The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past). Hyrule Castle is later destroyed and replaced by Ganon's Castle.

The castle and its surrounding area is the arguably most prominent and important place in the game, housing the Temple of Time, a town, many of the game's plot twists, and the game's final bosses, Ganon and Ganondorf. Surrounded by a small village, drawbridge, and moat, it models the stereotypical monarchial or feudalist castle. The king of Hyrule is never shown, although Ganondorf is shown falsely pledging allegiance to the King during the scene where Link meets Zelda.

Most of the castle is never seen or explored. The extensive castle gardens and the castle courtyard are the only areas available to explore. The castle courtyard serves several purposes, both as introducing the characters of Princess Zelda and Impa, and as a staging point for embarking on the next series of quests. Paintings of some Mario franchise characters can be seen from the Castle Courtyard.

The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
Hyrule Castle, at first frozen in time, is situated under the Great Sea and accessible at the site of the Tower of the Gods. Only the main hall, which contains a secret passage to a room where the Master Sword is found, and a small courtyard may be visited. When Link takes the Master Sword, the castle and the land around it unfreezes. Enemies who were assaulting the castle at the time it was frozen reawaken and must be defeated. As time continues in the game, an area outside the castle is made accessible for Link to explore. In the basement room housing the Master Sword, 9 stained glass windows depict the Triforce, Ganondorf, and the six sages from Ocarina of Time.

The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures
In The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures, Hyrule Castle lies just south of Death Mountain, somewhat near the center of Hyrule (seemingly a combination of its locations in A Link to the Past and Ocarina of Time).

The interior is very similar to its A Link to the Past incarnation, while the exterior (shown) is based on that in The Wind Waker.

The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap
Hyrule Castle is a notable location in The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap. To restore power in the magic sword broken by Vaati, Link must find four elemental artifacts and imbue the blade with their essence at an Elemental Sanctuary, which can be found in Hyrule Castle. As the story progresses, Vaati disguises himself as the king, making getting into the Elemental Sanctuary more difficult, requiring some stealth to make it in successfully. Finally, toward the game's completion, Vaati transforms the entire castle into Dark Hyrule Castle, which is much larger than normal Hyrule Castle and is by far the most difficult dungeon in the game.

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
Hyrule Castle plays a central role in Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, both geographically and plot-wise. Located in the center of Lanayru Province, many of the game's more dramatic moments and plot twists take place within its walls. The structure itself is visible from almost any point in Hyrule, and its grounds and interior are far larger than in any previous Zelda game. The castle also serves as the game's final dungeon, and is possibly the largest dungeon of the game in terms of sheer floor space, although it is a relatively short dungeon compared to the rest. In this dungeon, a small contingent of ghosts appear when Link's heightened wolf senses are used to help Link on certain puzzles-in one room, they point to a painting that must be shot with a bomb arrow; in another, Link must follow the pointing fingers of Hyrule's undead elite, as deviating from the path they indicate places link on floors that will drop out from under him.

After transforming into a wolf, Link is thrown into the castle dungeon, but escapes with Midna to Princess Zelda's chamber, where Zelda explains the castle was overrun by twilight creatures led by Zant. Later in the game, a force field surrounds the castle. At the end of the game, the true nature of the force field is explained. Ganondorf has returned to Hyrule and captured the castle. The final fight with Ganondorf partly takes place in the throne room of the castle, where the first two phases of the battle are fought--Ganondorf first possesses Zelda, but Link is able to defeat him without harming her. Ganondorf then takes the form of a raging boar. After Ganon's exterior form is destroyed, his "spirit" battles Midna, and as a result, the castle seemingly explodes. Ganondorf survives, reforms himself into his true Gerudo form, and the rest of the battle takes place in Hyrule Field. After the battle, the Hyrule Castle throne room is seen in pristine condition, but it is unclear whether it was simply rebuilt, or if the explosion did not directly take place at the castle at all, or even if the view is from before the explosion itself.

The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Anniversary Edition
Hyrule Castle appears in The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Anniversary Edition during the re-release-exclusive stage, Realm of Memories. Both the exterior and interior can be explored, in the form of the first and second stages of the Silver Door respectively.

Super Smash Bros.
Hyrule Castle also appears as an arena in Super Smash Bros.. Its design is based on the castle from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, which was the latest The Legend of Zelda game that was released at the time.