The Triforce of Power is one of the three pieces of the Triforce. It embodies the essence of the Goddess of Power, Din, the creator of Hyrule.[1] Whoever holds the Triforce of Power is granted "true power".[2] This power is absolute, making the recipient of Din's blessing a god-like entity, vastly more powerful than any mortal, affording its wielder near-invulnerability,[3] vast strength and an unlimited source of mystical power, making it likely the most dangerous of the three separate pieces in the wrong hands. Because of this, Ganon is almost always the bearer of the Triforce of Power, due to his sheer desire for ruling the world with an iron fist. It represents the top piece of the Triforce. The Triforce of Power is one of the two parts of the Triforce initially introduced in The Legend of Zelda, alongside the Triforce of Wisdom (the Triforce of Courage was not added until its sequel).
Mainline appearances
The Legend of Zelda
In the original The Legend of Zelda, as explained in the game's instruction manual, the Triforce of Power was stolen by Ganon to become its possessor and uses the sacred triangle to send Hyrule into chaos. But in order to obtain ultimate power and thus be able to truly conquer the world, he then proceeds to search for its counterpart, the Triforce of Wisdom. Princess Zelda, that piece of the Triforce's bearer, purposely shatters it into 8 fragments and hid them across dungeons in fear of the monster. After Link eventually recovers all the shards of the Wisdom piece and destroys Ganon in Death Mountain via Silver Arrows, the young hero ultimately obtains the Triforce of Power for himself in order to help Zelda, with the restored Triforce of Wisdom, bring peace back to Hyrule.[4]
The Adventure of Link
In The Adventure of Link, six years after the events of The Legend of Zelda, during the ending of the game, Link unites this piece alongside the Wisdom and newly acquired Triforce of Courage after defeating Dark Link in the Great Palace to become the complete Triforce and wake Princess Zelda from her deep slumber.
A Link to the Past
in A Link to the Past, the Triforce of Power, alongside the other two pieces, are visibly seen on the title screen and credits. In this game, the complete Triforce was used by Ganon to make his vile wish for the Golden Land to become the Dark World, and therefore the Power piece is not seen being infused onto himself (an extremely rare case of such). Following the main antagonist's ultimate defeat by Link, once again by Silver Arrows, the hero would unite all of the three pieces to make his own wish to restore both Hyrule and the Sacred Realm back to normal. Like the other sacred triangles in The Adventure of Link, the Triforce of Power was never obtained or used by itself in the Super NES title.
Ocarina of Time
In Ocarina of Time, the Triforce of Power plays an important role for the first time in The Legend of Zelda series. When Ganondorf invaded the Sacred Realm and claimed the Triforce after Link pulls the Master Sword, the sacred triangles separated, leaving him with only the Triforce of Power, the aspect in which he most believed, while the Wisdom and Courage pieces respectively go to Princess Zelda and Link, and they themselves received the blessings of the Goddesses Nayru and Farore.[5] Because he did not managed to obtain the other two pieces that are chosen by destiny, the villain was not satisfied with Din's blessings and is determined to capture Zelda and defeat Link, and steal the Triforce of Wisdom and Courage in order to truly conquer Hyrule. Nevertheless, the Triforce of Power alone makes Ganondorf become the Evil King and is unimaginably powerful, granting him unlimited strength and matchless mystical power. The King of Evil uses this piece of the Triforce during Link's 7-year sleep to utterly throw the Kingdom of Hyrule into chaos just like in The Legend of Zelda. When Link as the Hero of Time finally challenges and apparently defeats the Gerudo warlock at the top of his castle (which soon came to its total destruction), Ganondorf, in a fit of hatred, uses the Triforce of Power at its full extent to transform himself into Ganon, his true form, to battle the hero once and for all, more dangerous than ever. The Triforce's essence made the villain's entire body invulnerable except for his tail, making this area his Achilles' heel. Even though his second and ultimate defeat resulted in Ganon being brutally slashed and stabbed by the Hero of Time's hand via the Master Sword, it is likely the maximum-powered Triforce of Power prevented his death in spite of the sacred blade's power to vanquish evil. When the Seven Sages at last send him to the Evil Realm, the Triforce of Power, rather unfortunately, was not lost from Ganondorf's hand, allowing the main antagonist to reappear later in the Adult Timeline and cause the Golden Goddesses to summon the Great Flood, sealing him in the underwater land of Hyrule. This is spoken of in the introduction of The Wind Waker. [6][7]
The Wind Waker
In The Wind Waker, following the events of Great Flood, Ganondorf once again acquires the Triforce of Power to cause terror across the Great Sea (although it is implied his raw strength is much weaker than in Ocarina of Time). When Link tries to fight him for the first time, the Triforce of Power can be seen resonating as he holds Tetra with his powerful grip, while her necklace - a large fragment of the Triforce of Wisdom, glows as well. Later, as the Hero of Winds eventually restores the weakened Master Sword and battles him at his tower, Ganondorf knocks the young hero out and fully extracted not only his Triforce of Power, but also the Wisdom and Courage pieces from Princess Zelda (Tetra) and Link, respectively, to reform the full Triforce and attempts to make his wish to conquer Hyrule, but ultimately fails when its king, Daphnes Nohansen Hyrule, touches it before Ganondorf and he himself wishes to Golden Goddesses for Hyrule's complete destruction by being washed away, followed by his defeat when Link delivers a lethal Parry Attack onto his forehead, turning him into stone.
Twilight Princess
In Twilight Princess, Ganondorf unexpectedly gains the Triforce of Power through what the Sages referred to as a "Divine prank".[3] It allows him to survive his execution via being stabbed in his chest by the Sword of the Sages, but is sent off into the Twilight Realm, which allows him to house the power given to him by his Triforce piece on Zant.[8] Ganondorf seemingly loses the Triforce of Power after he is fatally impaled and defeated by the Master Sword via an Ending Blow at the end of the game by Link, the Hero of Twilight, who is the descendant of the legendary Hero of Time (who appeared as the Hero's Spirit in-game) in the Child Timeline.
A Link Between Worlds
In A Link Between Worlds, Yuga, its main antagonist, manages to revive and fuse with Ganon, giving Yuga complete control of the Demon King's body (but not soul), and as such, usurps Ganon's Triforce of Power. During the final battle, when Yuga further fuses with Princess Hilda while in portrait form, he also takes the Triforce of Wisdom from her (which was previously stolen from Princess Zelda), making himself even more powerful. He intends to steal Link's Triforce of Courage to make it complete, but fails to do so when he is ultimately destroyed by the young hero.
Echoes of Wisdom
In Echoes of Wisdom, Null (while using the Zelda echo) attempts to grab the Triforce, or as it calls the object, Prime Energy, to ensure it can bring everything back into the Void. However, the Golden Goddesses anticipated this move, and had the Triforce split between itself, the real Princess Zelda, and Link. It is heavily implied that Null ended up with the Triforce of Power.
Trivia
- The Legend of Zelda is the only instance anywhere in The Legend of Zelda series where Link actually obtains this piece of the Triforce by itself and being taken away from Ganon after destroying him with a Silver Arrow, despite this occurring at the very end of the game.
- As the Triforce since Ocarina of Time is widely known to split apart into three parts if one with a tainted heart were to touch the golden relic and obtain the one he believes in the most as well as the Sacred Realm turning into a world of evil according to Sheikah legends, in all cases seen throughout the series, the piece taken is always the Triforce of Power, and the person who stolen that particular fragment is none other than Ganon himself, or in the case of Echoes of Wisdom, Null.
- The Triforce of Power is the only piece of the Triforce never to be broken into fragments anywhere in the franchise, unlike its Wisdom and Courage counterparts. However, the planned but scrapped third entry of the Oracle games had Ganondorf splitting it into multiple parts as a way to safeguard it from Link and Princess Zelda, ironically like how the Triforce of Wisdom was split by Zelda in the original The Legend of Zelda to protect it from the villain.
- Although the Triforce of Power is traditionally marked on Ganon's right hand like Princess Zelda with the Triforce of Wisdom, in A Link Between Worlds, when he fused with Yuga to become Yuga Ganon, the relic is on his left hand, instead, much like Link with the Triforce of Courage.
- Interestingly, the Triforce of Power in The Legend of Zelda was used as part of the title logo and credits, and is seen upside down as opposed to the rightside-up Triforce of Wisdom. An inverted Triforce would not be seen in the series until A Link Between Worlds (not including BS The Legend of Zelda or Mystical Seed of Courage), released 27 years later, as the Lourle counterpart of Hyrule's.
- In Ocarina of Time, when obtaining the Golden Gauntlets, Link's tremendous superhuman strength is on-par with Ganondorf's with the Triforce of Power, as seen when he lifts and throw huge, black, incredibly heavy granite pillars at great distances.
- Despite the Triforce of Power being heavily associated with Ganondorf due to its appearances on his hand in the mainline games, this piece of the golden relic has been rarely seen on his actual form's hand in other media.
- The notorious Fierce Deity form in Majora's Mask is considered by some fans as Link's answer to the Triforce of Power rather than Courage.
- In the Valiant Comics rendition of The Legend of Zelda, the Triforce of Power is indicated to be a major contributing factor to Ganon's dehumanization due to Link when gaining the artifact developing similar traits to his archenemy before ultimately casting it aside.
- In The Legend of Zelda TV series, like is Wisdom counterpart, the Triforce of Power has the ability to speak, something which does not directly occur in the games.
- During the final battle in The Wind Waker, the Triforce of Power can be seen continuing to resonate on Ganondorf's hand despite the Triforce itself already being used. This also applies for its Wisdom counterpart on Princess Zelda.
Gallery
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Triforce of Power resonating on Ganondorf's fist in Ocarina of Time 3D -
Artwork of Link with Triforce of Power and Princess Zelda with the Triforce of Wisdom, in The Legend of Zelda -
The Triforce of Power is visible on the title screen of The Legend of Zelda -
The Triforce of Power revealing itself immediately after Ganon's death in The Legend of Zelda -
The Triforce of Power in The Legend of Zelda TV series -
The Triforce of Power on Ganon's ashes in BS The Legend of Zelda -
A furious Ganondorf using the Triforce of Power to become Ganon in the final battle of Ocarina of Time -
Ganon stealing the Triforce of Power in the opening cutscene of The Wind Waker -
The Triforce of Power is visible as Ganondorf is punching Link out in The Wind Waker -
The Triforce of Power resonating in The Wind Waker HD -
Yuga Ganon combining the Triforce of Power with the Triforce of Wisdom in A Link Between Worlds -
The Triforce of Power being held by Lana in Hyrule Warriors -
The Triforce of Power in the Ocarina of Time Akira Himekawa manga -
The Triforce of Power is the essence of the goddess Din -
Ganon, the main antagonist, is the standard bearer of the Triforce of Power
See Also
References
- ↑ "Din, the goddess of power... [...]With her strong flaming arms, she cultivated the land and created the red earth." — Great Deku Tree (Ocarina of Time)
- ↑ A Link to the Past manual, pg. 3
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 "In all of his fury and might, he was blind to any danger, and thus was he exposed, subdued, and brought to justice. Yet... By some divine prank, he, too, had been blessed with the chosen power of the gods. His abiding hatred and lust for power turned to purest malice..." — Sage (Twilight Princess)
- ↑ The Legend of Zelda manual, pg. 3
- ↑ "Seven years ago, Ganondorf, the King of Thieves, used the door you opened in the Temple of Time and entered the Sacred Realm. But when he laid his hands on the Triforce, the legend came true." — Sheik (Ocarina of Time)
- ↑ "Someday... When this seal is broken.... That is when I will exterminate your descendants!! As long as the Triforce of Power is in my hand...." — Ganondorf (Ocarina of Time)
- ↑ "But then...a day came when a fell wind began to blow across the kingdom. The great evil that all thought had been forever sealed away by the hero... ...once again crept forth from the depths of the earth, eager to resume its dark designs. The people believed that the Hero of Time would again come to save them. ...But the hero did not appear. Faced by an onslaught of evil, the people could do nothing but appeal to the gods." — N/A (The Wind Waker)
- ↑ "I shall house my power in you... If there is anything you desire, then I shall desire it, too." — Ganondorf (Twilight Princess)