Triforce

Triforce
Origin	Sacred Realm
Debut	The Legend of Zelda (Wisdom and Power) Zelda II: The Adventure of Link (Courage/full Triforce)

The Triforce (commonly referred to as the Golden Power or the comical misnomer of Triumph Forks) is a sacred artifact featured in the Legend of Zelda series. It is a mysterious object that resembles three giant golden triangles, the three individual parts being Courage, Wisdom and Power. It contains the power of the Golden Goddesses that created it and is known for granting wishes to those who who claim it. Even in games where the actual Triforce does not appear, its likeness is seen on shields and buildings due to being an important symbol in Hyrule. There are many mysteries surrounding the Triforce and its powers which arise, deepen or are solved as it appears throughout the series.

Information

Origin and Powers

It is said that after the three goddesses created the world of Hyrule, they left the Triforce behind as a symbol of their power. It became the basis of the world's providence and came to rest in the Sacred Realm. The Triforce would grant wish to whoever touched it, apparently unable to judge between good and evil, but it would only grant wishes to one with a balanced heart in regards to the virtues of courage, wisdom and power. It also could only be used by one with an "unbreakable spirit". The degree to which the Triforce granted the wish was proportionate to the strength of the person's wish. If someone with an unbalanced heart touched the Triforce, that person would only receive the piece with the virtue they exhibit, while the other pieces would separate and travel to others who had those virtues. Only by uniting the three pieces from these chosen ones could the Triforce be reunited to grant a wish. In the games, Link is usually associated with Courage, Princess Zelda with Wisdom and Ganon with power. It has also been shown that individual pieces could be further split down into smaller shards, usually by the piece's bearer. The Triforce cannot actually be wielded by the gods. This has led Zelda to speculate that the reason for the Triforce's creation was to give hope to mortals.

The Triforce also has other powers and attributes which are less clearly defined. In some games, the Triforce has been shown to speak through what it describes as its "spirit" or "essence". Within the Oracles games, the Triforce acted under its own power to teleport Link to a faraway land for an adventure. The Triforce also has a strong connection to the Sacred Realm, which is said to act as a mirror of the Triforce. The Sacred Realm becomes a paradise when one with a good heart makes a wish upon the Triforce, or it devolves into a Dark World when someone with an evil heart wishes on it.

Triforce Mark

It is also a recurring element within the games for characters to gain Triforce marks on the back of their hands. This was associated with ownership of a Triforce piece in Ocarina of Time, where the mark would only glow matching the Triforce piece that the character has, and the Triforce marks have the same meaning in The Wind Waker and seemingly Twilight Princess as well. However, there have also been several instances where a character (so far all incarnations of Link) has had a Triforce mark without owning a piece of the Triforce. In Zelda II, Link gained a Triforce mark on his hand on his sixteenth birthday (despite having obtained two pieces of the Triforce in the previous game), and it was described as the mark of a legendary hero. The Triforce mark had similar implications for Link in the Oracles games.

Skyward Sword utilized the Triforce mark in a way that redefined it, as Link suddenly gained the mark when his sword was empowered with the first of the three sacred flames (which were each associated with a different goddess). For each flame that he reached, one matching piece of his Triforce mark would begin glowing. This would seem to imply that Link was gaining the Triforce pieces, but Zelda later clarified that the full Triforce mark proved that he had passed his trials and was someone worthy of truly wielding the Triforce. She said that it was proof that Link was the hero of legend and had sacred power within him.

History

Pre-Timeline Split

Skyward Sword expands on the early history of the Triforce. It is said that the Goddesses originally entrusted it to the goddess Hylia. Hylia had to defend it from the forces of Demise when he surfaced and waged war on the surface in search of the Triforce. She eventually hid the humans as well as the Triforce by sending them on a piece of land into the sky. After Demise's initial defeat, Hylia gave up her divine form so that her chosen hero could one day use the Triforce instead, and she was reborn as the original Zelda. The Triforce itself was hidden within the Sky Keep that was hidden in the underside of Skyloft's Isle of the Goddess. The three Triforce pieces were kept in separate rooms, and in all cases they only appeared within Silent Realm versions of the rooms. Link had to undergo an arduous series of tasks and trials to reach Sky Keep, at which point he was able to collect the Triforce. Link had to make a prayer to the Triforce, which caused the Isle of the Goddess to descend back to the surface and destroyed Demise in the present time. Once they traveled to the past, Impa said that she would look after the Triforce to continue to keep its existence hidden from man. Within the present, the Triforce remained outside the Statue of the Goddess in the ending, when Zelda decided to stay on the surface world and look after the Triforce.

Over the years, there were bloody wars waged over the location of the Triforce, as many sought to use its power. In Ocarina of Time, the Triforce was housed within the Sacred Realm in the Temple of Light, which could only be reached by pulling the Master Sword within the Temple of Time after unlocking the Door of Time with the Ocarina of Time and the three Spiritual Stones. Although it was Link who opened the gate to the Sacred Realm, Ganondorf touched the Triforce. Due to his heart being unbalanced, he only kept Power while Courage and Wisdom went to Link and Zelda respectively. All three still held their individual pieces at the end of the game, despite Ganondorf's failed attempts to unite the Triforce. At the end of the game, Zelda sent Link back in time, causing a new timeline (the Child Timeline) to form, in which Link had the Triforce of Courage as a child.

Defeated Timeline

Within this timeline, the Hero of Time had died in battle with Ganon in an alternate version of the events of Ocarina of Time. Ganon was able to unite the Triforce, but the sages then used their power to seal him away in the corrupted version of the Sacred Realm known as the Dark World. Ganon remained there for centuries and plotted to free himself so that he could conquer Hyrule. In A Link to the Past, Ganon's attempt ultimately ended in failure, and the Triforce was found by Link within the Pyramid of Power after destroying Ganon at the climax of the game. The Triforce's spirit spoke to Link at that point, asking him to touch it and make his wish. With Link's wish, the Sacred Realm was restored to a pristine state, and many of the evil deeds done by Ganon and his minons were undone. This included reviving the dead. During the ending credits, the Triforce pieces appeared to drift apart.

It also appeared within the opening of both Oracle of Seasons and Oracle of Ages, which was set in the same generation as A Link to the Past. The Triforce pieces were stored on separate pedestals within Hyrule Castle. Link approached the Triforce, which teleported him away to a distant land for the first of his adventures (Holodrum in Oracle of Seasons or Labrynna in Oracle of Ages). The Triforce spoke to Link at this time, telling him to accept their quest.

At some point after this, the Triforce was split again. The Triforce of Power was sealed away with Ganon, while the Triforce of Wisdom was passed down the Royal Family's bloodline. As for the Triforce of Courage, it vanished, but it was said to reside within the spirit of a true hero, and it would awaken when its time came. During the time A Link Between Worlds, Hilda and Yuga of Lorule set a plan into motion to steal Hyrule's Triforce for their own kingdom. Yuga used his magic to turn Princess Zelda, the current holder of the Triforce of Wisdom, and the Seven Sages into paintings and used them in a ritual to revive Ganon, whom he then fused with. Link went on a mission to rescue the Seven Sages and proved himself as a true hero at the same time. The Sages then used their power to summon the Triforce of Courage for him, unaware that this was part of Hilda and Yuga's plan. Hilda later took the Triforce of Wisdom from Zelda's painting, but Yuga Ganon then betrayed her by turning her into a painting and claiming that piece for himself as well. After Yuga Ganon's defeat, the Triforce was united and returned to Hyrule's Sacred Realm. There, Zelda and Link made a wish on it together that restored Lorule's Triforce.

At some point afterwards, the backstory for Zelda II: The Adventure of Link occurred. There was a king who once used the Triforce to rule wisely over Hyrule. After his death, his son was only able to inherit part of the Triforce, and his attempts to find out the location of the other piece(s) led to Princess Zelda being put in a seemingly eternal sleep. At some point before or after this, the Triforce of Courage was hidden within the Great Temple, where only someone capable of wielding it could find it. This is why only the Triforces of Wisdom and Power appeared in The Legend of Zelda, in which Ganon had stolen the Triforce of Power and sought Zelda to reclaim Wisdom. However, she split it into eight pieces that were hidden across the Underworld, where Link found them during his quest. Only with the full Triforce of Wisdom could Link enter Ganon's Death Mountain lair. After defeating Ganon, he claimed the Triforce of Power as well. In The Adventure of Link, Link received a Triforce mark on his hand on his 16th birthday, which led him to go on an adventure to claim the Triforce of Courage from the Great Temple. After finding it and reuniting the Triforce, he used it to revive the sleeping Princess Zelda from the backstory.

Adult Timeline

In the aftermath of Link's defeat of Ganondof in Ocarina of Time, Ganondorf had been sealed away while possessing the Triforce of Power. And as Link was sent back in time to a different timeline, this timeline's Triforce of Courage split into eight pieces that were scattered around what would later become the Great Sea. The Triforce of Wisdom was also split into two pieces, one being held by Daphnes Nohansen while the second was seemingly given to his offspring and passed down to Tetra.

During the events of The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, Tetra eventually received Daphnes's piece, which resulted in her transforming to resemble Princess Zelda. The new incarnation of Link, the Hero of Winds, also traveled the Great Sea and earned the Triforce of Courage by uniting its pieces. At the end of the game, Ganondorf united the Triforce after incapacitating Link and Zelda, but Daphnes beat him to it. He wished to give Link and Zelda hope, and for Hyrule to come to an end. This caused the Great Sea to begin flooding into the preserved part of Hyrule, destroying it while the Triforce itself ascended to an unknown location.

Child Timeline

Twilight Princess is vague in relations to the Triforce. The backstory told of a group of interlopers who attempted to take control over the Triforce in the past, only to be imprisoned within the Twilight Realm where they became the Twili. Within the game, Link, Zelda and Ganondorf all appeared to have their respective Triforce pieces, as evident in the Triforce marks on their hands. It is shown that Ganondorf gained the Triforce of Power suddenly when he was about to be executed by the Sages, an empowerment which they described as a 'folly of the gods'. The mark on Ganondorf's hand faded away during his apparent death in the ending, which may represent the Triforce of Power leaving his body.

The Triforce played no role in the storyline of Four Swords Adventures, but at the end of the game, a Triforce symbol over a doorway in Hyrule Castle was shown to glow golden. It is uncertain if this is supposed to literally represent the Triforce's presence or not.

Lorule

In Link Between Worlds, the alternate world of Lorule had its own Triforce. It seemed to be the same as Hyrule's Triforce, but it is depicted upside-down, and Hilda implied that it might not have been associated with the same virtues as Hyrule's Triforce. As in Hyrule, bloody wars were fought for the Triforce. However, the solution chosen by Lorule's royal family was to destroy the Triforce. This only caused the land to fall further into chaos over the years, and it inspired Hilda to come up with the plan to steal Hyrule's Triforce so that she could use it to preserve her kingdom's future. Although this plan ultimately failed, Zelda and Link made a wish on Hyrule's Triforce that restored Lorule's Triforce. With this, Lorule was able to face a bright future.

Other Appearances

Video Games

• The Triforce appears in Kirby Super Star (as well as the Kirby Super Star Ultra remake) as the last treasure that Kirby can find in The Great Cave Offensive.
• In Super Smash Bros. Melee, the Triforce appears within the Underground Maze level of the Adventure Mode as the final goal of the stage.
• In Super Smash Bros. Brawl, an image of the Triforce appears during both Link and Toon Link's Triforce Slash Final Smashes. In these moves, the image surrounds and entraps the enemy while Link slashes at them.
• In Hyrule Warriors, the Triforce is featured in the plot of Legend Mode. Cia was originally entrusted with the protection of the Triforce, but it scattered after she was corrupted by Ganondorf's spirit. She initially kept Power while Courage and Wisdom went to Link and Zelda, respectively. When Link and Zelda (disguised as Sheik) tried to fight Cia, she managed to swipe both of their Triforce pieces and used it to open the Gates of Souls in different time periods, to free fragments of Ganondorf's sealed spirit. However, Cia later railed against Ganondorf's attempts to control her and the Triforce by making it scatter again, ad so Link and Zelda regained their respective pieces. When Cia perished in battle, Lana received the Triforce of Power from her. However, Ganondorf then launched a campaign in which he ended up defeating all three of the Triforce holders and stole their pieces to unite the Triforce. He used its power to start conquering Hyrule and then to turn into Ganon, but he was ultimately defeated by Link and his friends. Link, Zelda and Lana then regained their respective pieces and used the full Triforce's power to seal Ganon away again. The ending of the Wind Waker tale later shows that, after Cia's return, she and Lana watched over the full Triforce together.

Other Media

• The two pieces of the Triforce from The Legend of Zelda appear in the Zelda cartoon. Reflecting the status quo at the beginning of the first game, Princess Zelda has the Triforce of Wisdom protected while Ganon seeks the Triforce of Power. Both pieces are depicted as colored tetrahedrons rather than golden triangles and sometimes are capable of speech.
• The Triforce has also appeared in the various manga adaptations of the different Zelda games, with little difference in its storyline role.