Long ago in the land of Hyrule, legends spoke of a great power left behind by the Golden Goddesses following Hyrule's creation. Stories speaking of the Sacred Realm and the omnipotent "Golden Power" known as the Triforce that resided within it spread across Hyrule over the ages, causing a lust for the Triforce's power to grow and fester in the hearts and minds of Hyrule's people until there was nothing left in many of them but pure greed. The Triforce could not judge between good and evil and thus would merely grant the wishes of its holder. One day, a gateway to the Golden Land of the Triforce was accidentally discovered and opened by a band of thieves skilled in dark magic and their leader, a man named Ganondorf. It was a place like no other, a realm of midday golden skies rather than blue. And there, shining down upon this world from above, was the Triforce in all its glory. A long running battle then ensued between Ganondorf and his followers to the heart of the Sacred Realm in a race to reach the Triforce first. Ganondorf fought his way past and killed all of his followers that had accompanied him into the realm along the way so that he could claim it uncontested.

After the murders of his followers, Ganondorf stood over the Triforce and grasped it with blood-stained hands. A voice whispered to him, stating that if he had a strong desire in his heart to wish for it. In response, Ganondorf's laughter echoed across time and space and reached even Hyrule itself as he made a wish that he become the ruler of the world. Thus, one of Hyrule's greatest threats was born: the King of Evil, Ganon, who now had the strength of the Triforce at his command.

As a result of Ganondorf's wish for the domination of the world, the Triforce caused the Sacred Realm to radically change. It began to wither and die as it was transformed into a twisted copy of Hyrule that represented what Hyrule would look like if Ganondorf ruled it. Dark clouds now permanently blackened the skies. As a side-effect of this transformation, the Triforce's magic was used to cast a curse over the entire realm, one that would cause any without protection from it to transform into a shape that would reflect what is in his or her heart. The Golden Land was now the Dark World, a place of darkness and evil. Ganon was not satisfied merely with ruling the newly-transformed Dark World however, as he sought to return to Hyrule and conquer it as well. In time, evil power began to issue forth from the portal to the Golden Land, beckoning to men from the outside to seek out the Golden Power and have their wishes become reality through its magic.

As greedy men from Hyrule entered the Dark World hungry for the Golden Power, each of them was transformed into a monster reflecting the greed within them. As a result, Ganon's army of monsters grew to a large enough proportion that he was now capable of launching an invasion against Hyrule. Many plagues began to beset Hyrule as well, causing catastrophes for the people that would precede the coming storm. Finally, with his army now ready, Ganon launched the invasion against Hyrule, intending to fulfill his wish to be the ruler of both the Dark World and the Light World. Ganon's army swarmed from the Dark World and flooded into Hyrule, causing mass chaos and attacking Hyrule Castle. Meanwhile, the Seven Sages searched for a courageous individual that could take up a weapon that had been crafted to combat magic as powerful as that of the Triforce's, a sword that could banish evil itself, the Master Sword. However, no hero worthy of the blade could be found.

The King has called forth the seven maidens, descendants of the Sages, to come up with a plan to seal Ganon within his own corrupted realm, the Dark World. They agreed to this plan, but soon realized that they'd need some ancient artifacts in order to create the seal. The King ordered his army, the Knights of Hyrule, to defend the castle, and the Maidens, at all costs. Meanwhile, he needed another group to go out and gather the artifacts required to seal the Dark World. The maidens explained that, while they could not find a hero to wield the Sword of Evil's Bane, they did find a number of individuals with their own special talents and potentials. The King orders the Maidens to summon them to the Kingdom at once, as he plans to form a team out of them to go out into the deadly world outside of the castle to gather the artifacts that could seal Ganon into the corrupted Sacred Realm once and for all.