Phantom Hourglass



The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass is the fourteenth installment in the The Legend of Zelda series, released in 2007 for the Nintendo DS. It is preceded by Twilight Princess and succeeded by Spirit Tracks. The Hero of Winds is the main protagonist and Bellum is the main antagonist. The Ocean King's Water's monsters are the villainous faction.

It is the fourteenth game in the series, and the second in the Adult Timeline, a direct sequel to Wind Waker, set soon after. It follows Link and Tetra and their crew, having come in contact with the Ghost Ship, and getting lost in the Ocean King's Waters. Link is joined by Linebeck and Ceila as they try to save Tetra from the Ghost Ship.

Synopsis
''Set sometime after the events of The Wind Waker, Link and his gang of pirates are exploring the Great Sea looking for the legendary Ghost Ship. They finally find it, and Tetra tries to climb aboard, but she goes missing. Link tries going after her but falls in the water... He later wakes up on an unknown island and it's revealed that he is now in the Ocean King's Waters. In order to find his way home, he uses the Phantom Hourglass to traverse the Temple of the Ocean King and save Tetra. He discovers that the evil demon Bellum has been syphoning off power from the Ocean King, and Link stops him for good, saving Tetra and the Ocean King's Waters. Tetra and Link go back to their crew as they try to discover new lands.''

Summary
Set some time after The Wind Waker, Phantom Hourglass opens with Tetra and her pirate crew along with Link chasing down a ghost ship claimed to have taken sailors and residents of the local islands. The crew discovers the ship, but when Tetra goes aboard to explore, she disappears. Link attempts to follow her but ends up adrift in the ocean.

Link later recovers through the help of the fairy Ciela, who has some amnesia about her past, and an old man named Oshus, who help Link on his quest to find the ghost ship and reunite with Tetra. To that end, they enlist the help of the reluctant Captain Linebeck and his ship after saving him from the Temple of the Ocean King; Linebeck only offers to help with the expectation of finding treasure along the way. Link discovers that to learn of the ghost ship's position, they must find the Spirits of Courage, Wisdom, and Power, using maps and clues hidden in the Temple of the Ocean King. However, to overcome the evil forces in the Temple, Link must make use of the Sands of Hours within the Phantom Hourglass and possessed by other creatures around the islands to prevent his life force from being drained. With the aid of the Hourglass, Link is able to locate and ally with the Spirits of Wisdom and Power easily, but the Spirit of Courage he finds looks exactly like Ciela. Oshus explains that Ciela is actually the Spirit of Courage and she lost her memory when Bellum attacked her. He also reveals that he himself is the Ocean King. Oshus further explains that he and Ciela had to take their present forms to hide from the life-eating monster Bellum, who is the cause of the ghost ship and other evil in the local area, and has taken residence at the very depths of the Temple. Link succeeds in his attempt to rescue Tetra with the help of the three Spirits, but finds Tetra is now a statue, a further effect of Bellum's life-draining power. Link is ready to continue but Linebeck initially refuses to help further having come up empty-handed for treasure so far, though agrees to continue once Oshus promises to grant Linebeck one wish after Link's quest is complete.

Link learns that the only way to defeat Bellum is to forge the Phantom Sword from three unique, pure metals around the local islands. After collecting the materials and forging the Phantom Sword, Link descends to the bottom level of the Temple, and initially appears to defeat Bellum. Tetra is freed from the statue form and revived, but before the group can celebrate, Bellum reemerges from the ocean depths and takes Tetra again. In the ensuing battle of the SS Linebeck and the ghost ship, Linebeck's ship is lost, as well as Oshus, and Link and Tetra are captured. Linebeck reluctantly picks up the Phantom Sword and is able to free Link and Tetra, at the cost of his own freedom, but is able to give Link back the Phantom Sword before Bellum possesses Linebeck and turns him into a Phantom-like knight, but Link is ultimately able to vanquish Bellum without harming Linebeck.

As the adventure closes, the sand from the Phantom Hourglass is released into the sea. Oshus, now in his true form of a gray, blue, and white whale, readies to depart with the Spirits, while Linebeck, surprising everyone, wishes not for treasure but for his ship back. After everyone says their goodbyes, Link and Tetra find themselves back on the pirate ship, where it seems only ten minutes have passed for the rest of the crew and they insist that it was all a dream. However, Link still possesses the now-empty Hourglass, and spies Linebeck's ship on the horizon, knowing full well that his adventure was real.

Trivia

 * Phantom Hourglass is the first Zelda game to utilize the touch screen. The game's control interface is carried over to Spirit Tracks, due to sharing the same engine.
 * Spirit Tracks also borrows the concept of a central dungeon as seen in Phantom Hourglass, although with several aspects of it improved or enhanced.
 * The concept of customizing the ship with the Ship Parts inspired the customization of the train in Spirit Tracks with the Train Cars, as well as the upgrade of items and potions in Skyward Sword.
 * It is the first game in the series with a real-time item selection, which is carried over in Skyward Sword.
 * Phantom Hourglass is the first game in the Zelda series that does not include any new tools; all the items have been featured in previous Zelda games.

Continuity

 * The game is set after the events of The Wind Waker, which makes it the second confirmed entry in the Adult Timeline. It is followed 100 years later by Spirit Tracks, which is situated in a new land that was discovered eventually by Link, Tetra and her pirate crew.