Oracle of Ages



The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages is the eighth installment in the The Legend of Zelda series, released in 2001 for the Game Boy Color. It is preceded by Oracle of Seasons and succeeded by Four Swords. The Hero of Legend is the main protagonist and Veran is the main antagonist. Labrynna's monsters are the villainous faction.

It is the eighth game in the series, and the third in the Downfall Timeline, set very soon after the events of A Link to the Past. It follows the same Link, called to the Triforce again to be sent on another mission, this time in the foreign kingdom of Labrynna. This game can be linked with Oracle of Seasons to fight the true final boss, which is Ganon, resurrected by the Twinrova sisters.

Synopsis
A direct sequel to A Link to the Past. We pick up with Link at the exact moment he is touching the Triforce at the end of that game, and the Triforce tells him that his journey isn't complete yet. There is another land that needs his help. Link is transported to Labrynna, where he meets the Goddess Nayru. He discovers the evil plot perpetrated by Veran to kidnap Nayru and use her power for evil. Link uses the Harp of Time to travel between the past and the present to uncover the Essences of Time and stop Veran and save Nayru.

Summary
Link, having been sent from Hyrule to Labrynna by the power of the Triforce, awoke in Labrynna, almost immediately after stumbling upon Impa, who was besieged by a group of Octoroks. Unknown to Link, Impa had fallen into the clutches of the evil Sorceress of Shadows Veran. This allowed her to trick Link into moving a sacred barrier that obstructed her goal: to possess the Oracle of Ages, Nayru. In full view of Link and Nayru's bodyguard, Ralph, Veran quickly possessed Nayru and began to utilize her newfound power of controlling time, traveling to the past and beginning her plan to bring untold sorrow to the world. Meeting with Labrynna's guardian, the Maku Tree, Link learned that to defeat Veran, he would need the Essences of Time. However, the Essences, as their names suggest, were hidden throughout time, making them very hard for one person to obtain. By taking up the Harp of Ages in Nayru's house, Link was able to traverse time and search for the Essences throughout Labrynna, all the while correcting the damage Veran had caused to the land, such as in Symmetry Village.

More than halfway into his journey, Link finally got a chance to rescue Nayru from Veran's clutches, at Ambi's Palace. However, as soon as he did, Veran possessed Queen Ambi. Using her new authority, Veran was almost successful in capturing Nayru, Link, and Ralph, but at the last second Nayru used her power to return them all to the present.

Gathering the last of the essences, Link prepared for the final showdown with Veran, but before he could go, Ralph ran off before him, so that he might slay Ambi, even knowing that with Ambi as his ancestor, her death would mean his. Veran proved too powerful for Ralph, knocking him out instead of killing him before moving on to fight Link. After freeing Ambi, and the powerful battle that followed, Link was able to best Veran once and for all. Veran laughed as she died, saying that her goal had been completed, the Flame of Sorrow lit.

As Link, Nayru and Ralph returned to their own time, a mysterious pair laughed, saying that the true evil had yet to arrive...

Trivia

 * After entering Poison Moth's Lair, revisiting the floodgate keeper and speaking to him twice causes him to start spouting some of Impa's dialogue from the prologue.
 * The two games were developed by the Flagship studio within Capcom, with some of Nintendo's staff such as Shigeru Miyamoto in supervisory roles. Notably, Hidemaro Fujibayashi, a planner for the duology, would go on to leave Capcom and take increasingly important roles in the Zelda series at Nintendo, eventually becoming the director of the 3D games starting with Skyward Sword.
 * Their original Japanese subtitles translate to Fruit of the Mysterious Tree: Chapter of Space-Time.
 * These games were first stated to be a midquel between A Link to the Past and Link's Awakening with the same Link. This has since been modified to be an indirect sequel to both with a new Link. This wiki does not acknowledge this timeline change because it's stupid.
 * The development of these two games is a rather interesting and complex one. There were going to be three games, collectively called "The Triforce Series", and would link to each other to form a complete narrative. The "Power" chapter would have gameplay focused on changing seasons using the Rod of Seasons, the "Wisdom" chapter would focus on puzzles involving color and a Magic Paintbrush item, and the "Courage" chapter would focus on time with the day changing between morning, noon, afternoon, and night. However, it was soon agreed that linking three games together in one continuous narrative, but allowing the games to be played in any order, would be too complex (indeed, you would be able to play through such a combination six different ways). Thus plans were changed to just two games, with story and gameplay recycled into the games that became Oracle of Seasons and Oracle of Ages. As The Artifact entry on the main page explains, elements of the original trilogy intent remain in the final product when one knows them to recognize them.
 * In addition to the above plan, the trilogy was meant to be preceded by a remake of the original NES The Legend of Zelda for the Game Boy Color, with both the remake and the "Trilogy" project being the result of a Capcom producer outright threatening Miyamoto that if his team wasn't given the chance to make a Zelda game, Capcom would just make their own Serial Numbers Filed Off version.
 * Hyrule Historia reveals concept artwork for Ganondorf, who only appears as a mindless Ganon, meaning he was considered but cut for unknown reasons.

Continuity

 * Hyrule Historia marks this game as a sequel to A Link to the Past, and for the most part, the games themselves suggest the same thing. However, implication suggests that the Lv. 2 sword (Noble Sword) and Lv. 3 sword (Master Sword) are one and the same, in different stages of power. It is also heavily implied of both that this is the very same Master Sword seen in many other Zelda games. So... how did it get from Hyrule to Labrynna?
 * The Lost Woods have always had strange teleporting abilities.
 * I see it in one of two ways. Either A: The Master Sword in Oracles Isn't canon. or B: The Labrynna Master Sword is not the same Sword of Evil's Bane. After all the design slightly differs on the crossguard despite the Master Sword's design being concrete at that point.
 * According to the Hyrule Encyclopedia, the Master Sword as it appears in the Oracle Games is apparently just an upgrade to the Noble Sword, which gives it power that's comparable to that of the true Master Sword of Hyrule, but isn't meant to be the exact same blade.
 * Skyward Sword establishes that the Master Sword is sapient and can possibly move about on its own, but this still begs the question of which order of sword upgrades between the two games is canon. Namely, if the broken sword the old Zora gives to you is canonically the last upgrade, that detracts from the notion that it is the same Master Sword, since it's unlikely Fi would be able or willing to snap herself in half for no reason.