Pedestal of Time

"The Master Sword is a sacred blade which evil ones may never touch.... Only one worthy of the title of "Hero of Time" can pull it from the Pedestal of Time..."

— Rauru

The Pedestal of Time is a magical pedestal of stone that serves as the original resting place of the Master Sword, the Blade of Evil's Bane, when it is not in use by the Hero of Time or his successors. It is usually depicted as a pedestal of grey stone, often with the symbol of the Triforce emblazoned on it, sometimes along with texts of ancient Hylian. The Pedestal of Time also serves as a lock that seals the portal leading to the fabled Sacred Realm that is located in the ancient Temple of Time where the Pedestal of Time and the Master Sword are both housed. It was also stated that only those who carry the bloodline of the Knights of Hyrule can pull the Master Sword from the pedestal.

Origin

The Pedestal of Time was crafted to hold the mighty Blade of Evil's Bane, the Master Sword, when it was created by the Ancient Sages around the time of Hyrule's creation. The Pedestal was infused with all sorts of magical powers, as well as an immunity to wear or damage from the elements or time. The mighty Temple of Time was then built around the Pedestal of Time, the Master Sword having been infused into it to seal the gateway between Hyrule and the Sacred Realm. The Pedestal and the Master Sword were both sealed within a private chamber, the Chamber of the Master Sword, by the magical Door of Time, a mighty stone door that could only be opened when the three Spiritual Stones were gathered and placed upon the altar in front of the Door. The "Song of Time" was played using the magical instrument known as the Ocarina of Time. For many ages, the Pedestal of Time and the Master Sword it held lay undisturbed behind the Door of Time, awaiting the time when the prophesied Hero of Time would come to claim the Master Sword as his own and take up his role in Hyrule's history.

Appearances

Spoiler warning: Plot or ending details follow.

The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past

Artwork of the Pedestal of Time from A Link to the Past

The Pedestal of Time is believed to make its first appearance within the series in A Link to the Past. In this game, The Pedestal of Time is found in a grove in the heart of the Lost Woods. While there is no sign of the Temple of Time, the Pedestal still holds the Master Sword and is engraved in ancient Hylian with the following inscription:

The Hero's Triumph on Cataclysm's Eve,

wins three Symbols of Virtue.

The Master Sword he will then retrieve,

keeping the Knights' line true.

Link, the hero of the game, seeks a way to defeat the dark wizard Agahnim, who has seized control of Hyrule and is attempting to break open the barrier to the Dark World in order to fully release his alter ego, Ganon. Upon learning that the Master Sword is the only weapon capable of slaying Agahnim, Link discovers the three Pendants of Virtue scattered around Hyrule, and travels deep into the heart of the Lost Woods to find the Blade of Evil's Bane. Once there, he uses the ancient Book of Mudora to translate and read the Pedestal's inscription before presenting the Pendants of Virtue and removing the Master Sword from the Pedestal of Time once again. Link then uses the Master Sword in his quest to free the descendants of the Seven Sages, the Seven Maidens. He then uses the sword to slay both Agahnim and the Dark Lord, Ganon, reuniting the Triforce and restoring both the Sacred Realm and Hyrule to peace. At the end of the game, Link returns the sword to the Pedestal of Time, where it was noted to have slept forevermore. This was proven false however, with the release of A Link Between Worlds.

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

Artwork of Link pulling the Master Sword from the Pedestal of Time in Ocarina of Time

The Pedestal of Time is for the first time referred to by name. It is found in the Chamber of the Master Sword that lies just beyond the fabled Door of Time in the ancient structure known as the Temple of Time.

In the game, the Hero of Time collects the three Spiritual Stones and the magical Ocarina of Time, in an attempt to enter the legendary Sacred Realm and receive the ancient Triforce before the evil Gerudo King of Thieves, Ganondorf. After opening the Door of Time using these items and the "Song of Time", the hero finds the Pedestal of Time just beyond the Door, infused with the Blade of Evil's Bane, the Master Sword. The Hero pulls the Master Sword from the Pedestal of Time and opens the sealed gateway between Hyrule and the Sacred Realm, which results in his being sealed away in the Temple of Light that resides in the Sacred Realm (and is connected to the Temple of Time) until he is old enough to properly handle the Master Sword. This results in Ganondorf accessing the Sacred Realm and seizing the Triforce in an event known as the Great Cataclysm, giving him the Triforce of Power.

The Hero of Time awakens seven years later and is returned to the Chamber of the Master Sword, right in front of the Pedestal of Time, by Rauru, the Sage of Light. The hero then learns that the Pedestal of Time possesses the power, when re-infused with the Master Sword, to return him to his childhood seven years in the past, allowing him to effectively travel through time to accomplish his goal of defeating Ganondorf, the King of Evil. At numerous points throughout his quest to save Hyrule from Ganondorf, the Hero of Time returns to the Temple of Time and uses this power of the Master Sword and the Pedestal of Time to perform tasks both as a child and as an adult. After the Hero of Time and the Seven Sages seal the King of Evil in the Sacred Realm, the hero returns the Master Sword to the Pedestal of Time and closes the Door of Time. This version of the Pedestal is available as an item in the Animal Crossing games.

The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker

The Pedestal of Time from The Wind Waker

The Pedestal of Time is thought to have made another appearance in The Wind Waker. After Link, the Hero of Winds, gathers the Pearls of the Goddesses and conquers the trials of the Tower of the Gods, he is able to open a portal that takes the King of Red Lions and himself to the bottom of the sea, where they find the ancient land of Hyrule frozen in time inside an enchanted air chamber that has kept the water from the Great Sea from destroying the land. Inside Hyrule Castle, Link solves a puzzle involving the Triforce symbol, and opens the way to the castle basement hidden beneath a statue of the Hero of Time. Inside the basement, Link finds a chamber decorated with stained glass windows depicting the Seven Sages from Ocarina of Time as well as the sealing away of Ganon. In the center of the chamber, inside a floor depiction of the Triforce, rests the Pedestal of Time and the Master Sword. Link pulls the sword from the Pedestal of Time, and realizes he has broken an ancient seal placed upon the Pedestal and the sword that kept Hyrule in its slumber. All around him, the statues of the Knights of Hyrule above him tilt their swords together overhead and color creeps back into the world, reawakening the land of Hyrule from its age-old slumber and reawakening Ganondorf's army as well as his full powers.

After Link restores the Master Sword and uses it to defeat Ganon atop his tower, the land of Hyrule is destroyed at the wish of the King of Hyrule, Daphnes Nohansen Hyrule, who reclaims the one true wish-granting Triforce shortly before the final duel with Ganondorf and wishes for the kingdom to be washed away along with Ganondorf and himself, realizing that both he and Ganondorf are bound to Hyrule and that the world above would never be free of Ganondorf's threat as long as Hyrule remains intact. The King then sends Link and Princess Zelda to the surface and remains at the bottom of the sea with Ganondorf as the land completely floods, presumably washing away both the Master Sword, which was still stuck in Ganondorf's head, and the Pedestal of Time.

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

Link returning the Master Sword to the Pedestal of Time in Twilight Princess

The Pedestal of Time is one of the very few things that remain intact from the Temple of Time seen in Ocarina of Time. In this game, the Temple of Time is seen to have fallen into deep disrepair over the course of a century and has become overgrown with flora. The area is shown to have fallen out of nearly all public knowledge and has come to be called the Sacred Grove, deep in the heart of the Lost Woods.

After Link, the new hero of the game and descendant of the Hero of Time (implied to hold the Triforce of Courage, possibly inherited from the Hero of Time), is cursed into the form of a wolf by the Usurper King of Twilight, Zant, he is forced to seek out the Blade of Evil's Bane, the Master Sword, to break the curse. After traveling to the entrance of the Lost Woods, Link is forced to chase and battle a Skull Kid, a spirit of the forest that guards the way to the Sacred Grove where the Temple of Time once stood. After besting the Skull Kid, it opens the way off the ruins the pair battle in that lead to the ruins of a grand temple, the Temple of Time. Link is then put to the test by a pair of statues that guard the meadow that was once the Chamber of the Master Sword, and he is forced to guide the statues back to their original places. Upon doing so, the hero is granted access to the Master Sword's meadow, where Link finds the Pedestal of Time and the Master Sword right where the Hero of Time left them a century earlier. The Pedestal is shown to have an inscription on it that when translated from ancient Hylian reads "Master Sword." Link approaches the Master Sword and the Pedestal of Time, only to have the evil magic binding him broken, returning him to his Hylian form before he removed the enchanted blade from the Pedestal of Time once again. The Pedestal appears to be protected from the elements and wear by ancient magic, along with the Master Sword itself, as both appear to not have taken any damage over the decades in the elements.

Link inserting the Master Sword into the Pedestal of Time in Twilight Princess

The Pedestal of Time plays another role later in the game when Link is forced to return to the Sacred Grove in search of one of the lost fragments of the Mirror of Twilight. Temporarily restoring the Master Sword to the Pedestal of Time removes a statue blocking the former door to the temple (thought to be the Door of Time due to an ancient Hylian inscription which reads "Time Door"). Link steps through this door and is transported back through time's flow, back to when the Temple of Time stood tall in the days of the Hero of Time. Returning to the Chamber of the Master Sword, Link once again restores the Master Sword to the Pedestal of Time to reveal a staircase leading up to the window behind the Pedestal of Time, revealing a much larger portion of the temple that had previously been hidden. After Link completes his quest to defeat Zant and Ganondorf, he returns the Master Sword to the Pedestal of Time in the Sacred Grove, until the time it would be needed to once again battle evil.

The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds

Artwork of the Pedestal of Time from A Link Between Worlds

The Pedestal of Time once again appears, and like Link to the Past it is depicted as being found hidden deep within the Lost Woods. When Yuga places a magic barrier over Hyrule Castle after capturing the Sages' descendants, Seres and Osfala, Sahasrahla reveals that the Master Sword is needed to destroy Yuga's barrier, though Link must first obtain the Pendants of Virtue. Sahasrahla is surprised to learn that Zelda had previously given Link the Pendant of Courage and informs Link of the two remaining pendants are in the House of Gales and the Tower of Hera. Link manages to obtain the other two pendants and journeys to the Lost Woods to claim the Master Sword from the Pedestal of Time. Following Yuga-Ganon's defeat and the restoration of Lorule's Triforce by Zelda and Link's wish on Hyrule's Triforce, Link returns the Master Sword to its pedestal to await the next time the sword is needed to defend Hyrule from the forces of evil.

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

The Master Sword inside the Sword Pedestal in Breath of the Wild

The Pedestal of Time referred to as simply as the Sword Pedestal appears in Korok Forest in the Great Hyrule Forest region south of the Great Deku Tree who guards the Master Sword alongside the Koroks until Link awakens from the Slumber of Restoration and comes to retrieve it. Korok Forest is surrounded by the fabled Lost Woods which once again acts as a natural barrier keeping out all who would seek the blade, forcing Link to navigate the woods to reach it which can be done as soon as "The Isolated Plateau" is completed. The sword pedestal is now triangular and weathered though it is implied that the Sheikah Sword Monks redesigned it to allow the Chosen Hero to access a special trial designed to unlock the Master Sword's true power. Zelda's favorite flower the Silent Princess grows near the pedestal and has thrived there since the Great Calamity.

Many Hylian travelers seek the legendary blade which is known as the "sword that seals the darkness" though few have learn of the location of its pedestal and the Lost Woods as well as the sword's previous chosen wielder being alive would prevent most from obtaining it though Traysi suggests in a Rumor Mill article that it can apparently be wielded only by one with a heroic bloodline (presumably anyone directly descended from an incarnation of the sword's many heroic wielders which may be represented by the Knight's Bloodline as Link's father was a Royal Knight and Link followed in his footsteps becoming Captain of Zelda's Royal Guard detail after defeating a out of control Guardian with a simple Pot Lid before the Great Calamity) and Traysi herself notes it would be useless for herself or anyone else not related to a hero to seek it. However it is suggested the Master Sword's dormant spirit choses her wielder indicating bloodline is not a guarantee one will be able to remove it from its pedestal.

The Great Deku Tree allows Link to take the sword but notes it will test him to ensure he is worthy to wield it once more. When Link tries to remove it the sword saps his Heart Containers as he pulls it out and will die if he doesn't have at least 13 Heart Containers and temporary extra yellow heart containers acquired from food or sleeping in special Inns or Beds do not count. The Great Deku Tree will stop him the first time if he does not have enough though subsequent attempts Link will die if he does not have enough. Heart Containers can be obtained by trading four Spirit Orbs to Hylia via her Goddess Statues. He can also sell Stamina Vessels to the Horned Statue in Hateno Village to trade them for Heart Containers after completing "The Statue's Bargain" side quest. This shows that even one perviously chosen by the sword may be tested to ensure they are strong enough to wield its power. If he has the correct amount he can remove the sword triggering the final Recovered Memory.

Princess Zelda as she is about to place the the sword into the sword pedestal

In this memory, Princess Zelda speaks to the dormant spirit of the battle worn Master Sword lying on the pedestal with its scabbard. She tells the sword its master Link will return for it even though he is likely to lose his memories due to the Slumber of Restoration though has faith he will find it when he awakens and it will rest safety in its pedestal until then. The Great Deku Tree asks Zelda what she is planning to do next. Zelda reveals the dormant spirit of the sword spoke to her and notes her role is still unfinished and that there is something she must do. The Great Deku Tree senses her dedication and refuses to give a message to Link from her noting it would sound beter coming from Zelda herself. Zelda then places the sword inside its pedestal before she leaves to seal herself and Ganon in Hyrule Castle while Link recovers. This marks the first time the sword is shown being placed in its pedestal by someone other than an incarnation of Link. After the memory ends the Great Deku Tree reveals it was a vision of the past. He then tells Link he now holds the Master Sword, a divine weapon that can only be wielded by the Hero Chosen by the Master Sword. However he warns Link not to overuse it. Once removed Link cannot remove the Master Sword from his inventory though it will momentarily be sealed with his other equipment during "Stranded on Eventide". The Master Sword's default Hyrule Compendium picture that can be purchased from Symin at the Hateno Ancient Tech Lab depicts the Master Sword in the sword pedestal though Link can also take its picture before removing it.

During "The Master Trials" DLC, Link receives a message from a mysterious voice to return to Korok Forest to take part in a trial. Upon hearing of the message the Great Deku Tree notes the time has come to take part in the "Trial of the Sword" which will unlock the Master Sword's true splendor. During the Trial, Link's items are sealed save for his Key Items forcing him to rely on items and equipment he finds during the trial. To access it Link must return the sword to its pedestal and will be transported to an Illusionary Shrine where the trial takes place.

Spoiler warning: Spoilers end here.

Other appearances

Subseries warning: This article or section contains information on a subseries within the Legend of Zelda series and should be considered part of its own separate canon.

Hyrule Warriors

Spoiler warning: Plot or ending details follow.

Master Sword in its Sacred Pedestal in Hyrule Warriors

The Master Sword rests in its pedestal located in Temple of the Sacred Sword (which may be the game's incarnation of the Temple of Time). Though it is never referred to as such, its design resembles the Pedestal of Time. In the game it is simply referred to as the "Sacred Pedestal". During the game, Zelda decides that the Master Sword is needed to defeat Cia and her forces of darkness. However Impa reveals that the Master Sword in its Sacred Pedestal are also what keeps the final fragment of the King of Evil's soul under seal and worries that seal will break if they remove it, though Lana states that the Temple's barrier should hold long enough for them to use the sword to defeat Cia. However they are unaware that Ganondorf has partially managed to revive himself though most of his power remains under seal. When Zelda and Link discover that their Triforce pieces have suddenly returned to them (unaware Cia did this to prevent Ganondorf from obtaining the complete Triforce), Zelda decides it is a perfect opportunity to retrieve the Master Sword in order to defeat Cia who managed to retain the Triforce of Power. The allied forces of Hyrule managed to open the Doors of the Temple despite Wizzro's attempt to stop them by disguising himself as Lana and manipulating the Temple's army of Ghost Soldiers to deter the forces of Hyrule. Fighting his way through Wizzro's army of monsters, Link and his allies open the Doors of Time and enter the sacred grove containing the Master Sword and the Pedestal of Time along with the casket containing the final piece of Ganondorf's soul. Link pulls the Master Sword from the pedestal, only to be attacked from behind by Wizzro, though Wizzro's magic is dispelled by that blade's evil banishing power. Wizzro finds that the powerful barrier around the sacred pedestal's sacred chamber keeping Ganondorf's soul under seal also weakens evil beings such as himself and is force to retreat from the Temple to regain his strength. Link and his allies take advantage of this to defeat Wizzro and his forces. Wizzro then reveals that Cia is hiding out in the Temple of Souls. As Lana predicted, the barrier around the last of Ganondorf's soul fragments holds strong, however Link does not return the Master Sword to its pedestal due to having defeated the partially revived Ganondorf at the Temple of Souls. Dark energy pours out from the pedestal breaking the final seal on Ganondorf's soul allowing him to fully revive himself. After Ganon is defeated by Link and his allies, Link and Zelda both return the Master Sword to its pedestal.

Spoiler warning: Spoilers end here.

Subseries warning: Subseries information ends here.

Non-canonical appearances

Non-canon warning: This article or section contains non-canonical information that is not considered to be an official part of the Legend of Zelda series and should not be considered part of the overall storyline.

Super Smash Bros. Melee

The Master Sword and Pedestal of Time appear as a trophy and in the Zelda-based Underground Maze level. In this level, if a character attempts to approach the five Pedestals with the Master Sword in them, the character is attacked by Link. The sixth and final Pedestal holds the Triforce and ends the level.

Super Smash Bros. Brawl

The Pedestal of Time briefly appears during Link's intro scene in the Subspace Emissary. It is seen in an unnamed forest where Link retrieves the Master Sword.

Animal Crossing

The Master Sword, set in the Pedestal of Time, appears as a piece of furniture.

Non-canon warning: Non-canonical information ends here.

Theory

Theory warning: This section contains theoretical information based on the research of one or several other users. It has not been officially verified by Nintendo and its factual accuracy is disputed.

Some fans theorize that the pedestal in which the Master Sword was placed at the end of Skyward Sword is the Pedestal of Time. This is supported by the fact that only Link can wield the sword, and would not have moved it after the events of the game. Also, when the Hylian text on this pedestal is translated, it reads "Hylia". This supports the theory because Hylia is associated with time, and the Sealed Temple is widely believed to have become the Temple of Time. Interestingly, this pedestal has the same design as the Goddess Pedestal found Inside the Statue of the Goddess indicating that it may be the Goddess Pedestal. This leads to the possibility that the Goddess Pedestal eventually became the Pedestal of Time.

Theory warning: Theories end here.