Hyrulean Civil War

Hyrulean Civil War
The Hyrulean Civil War, as depicted in the prologue of A Link to the Past
First appearance	A Link to the Past (1992)
Appearances	A Link to the Past Ocarina of Time Twilight Princess A Link Between Worlds
Country	Hyrule
Occurrence	Once
Purpose	Fighting over the Triforce
Characteristics	Country is united under the Royal Family of Hyrule Link is born and left under the Great Deku Tree's care Ganondorf learns of the Sacred Realm and plots for its conquest

"Some time ago, before the King of Hyrule unified this country, there was a fierce war in our world."

— Deku Tree Sprout

The Hyrulean Civil War is a war mentioned in Legend of Zelda series. Though never explicitly stated in the games, it is widely accepted among fans that the conflicts referred to in The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, and The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess are all the same event, the Hyrulean Civil War, due to matching characteristics from the events. A full history of the war can be assembled when information from the three separate games is united into one account.

The war is understood to take place in the realm of Hyrule shortly before the events of Ocarina of Time. According to the Deku Tree Sprout, it took place before the King of Hyrule unified the country. As stated by Lanayru, the land of Hyrule and all its tribes were content in mind and body for many ages, until word of the Sacred Realm and its wish-granting Triforce spread throughout the world. As depicted in the prologue of A Link to the Past and explained by Lanayru, when knowledge of the Triforce spread, the people of Hyrule fought to gain control of the Sacred Realm and the almighty Triforce within.

Lanayru further reveals that at one point in the war, a group of Interlopers attempted to use the their powerful dark magic, the Fused Shadow, to seize control of the Sacred Realm and take the Triforce for themselves. Finally, the Golden Goddesses sent three of the four Light Spirits to seal away the Fused Shadow and force the Interlopers into a parallel dimension known as the Twilight Realm, where they would go on to become the Twili tribe. Successful in banishing the Interlopers, the Light Spirits broke the Fused Shadow into four pieces; one went to the Twilight Realm, and the Light Spirits sealed the others within the Forest Temple, the Goron Mines, and the Lakebed Temple. The Golden Goddesses allowed a single link between Hyrule and the Twilight Realm to remain, the Mirror of Twilight, and left it in the care of the Ancient Sages.

At some point later, the Hyrulean Civil War ended when the land of Hyrule was united under one banner. The Hylian Royal Family reigned and the other races pledged their loyalty to its king.

At one time during the war, to escape from the violence of the conflict, a Hylian mother fled to the forbidden Kokiri Forest with her baby boy. The mother was gravely injured, and her only choice was to entrust her child to the Great Deku Tree, the guardian spirit of the forest. The Great Deku Tree could sense that this was a child of destiny, whose fate would affect the entire world, so he decided to take him in. After the mother passed away, the child was raised as a Kokiri, completely unaware of his true Hylian heritage until the Deku Tree Sprout divulged the true story to him years later when he grows up to become the Hero of Time.

In A Link Between Worlds, the story told in the prologue of A Link to the Past is retold through portraits in Hyrule Castle. In addition, it is explained that a similar war took place in Lorule at the same time, known uncanonically as the Lorulean Civil War. This resulted in the Lorulean Triforce being ultimately destroyed.