A Link Between Worlds has a backstory told during the intro of the game and told as paintings in Hyrule Castle, and this backstory can be a little confusing because some details seem to be contradictory when comparing them to what was told in A Link to the Past and Ocarina of Time.
I wanted to make this post to help explain these events. First with a longer, more detailed explanation, and then with a short version summary.
Before I get into it, I wanted to be sure everyone knows what the timeline is, since I'm going to referencing many parts of the timeline.
I'm sure most people know the timeline, but for those that are unfamiliar, here is the current official timeline (as shown in the Zelda Encyclopedia):
From Nintendo's official site:
The origin as told in Ocarina of Time:
The origin from the GBA version of A Link to the Past's manual:
The Golden Land is the Sacred Realm.
Din, Nayru and Farore left the Triforce in the care of Hylia.
From Hyrule Historia:
Hylia sent a chunk of earth into the sky (becoming Skyloft) along with the Triforce.
From the Zelda Encyclopedia:
LONG VERSION
Here is the intro cutscene in full:
https://youtu.be/8Hece9JZ140
And here is the same story told via the paintings in Hyrule Castle (plus I included the intro cutscene in screenshot form as well):
https://thelegendofnavi.blogspot.com/2020/05/a-link-between-worlds-backstory.html?m=1
Both versions of the story are worded differently, with some parts providing greater or less detail.
The first part says how the Triforce was once kept within Hyrule itself (likely meaning it wasn't in the Sacred Realm at this time):
This must be referring to the time at the end of Skyward Sword (and perhaps sometime afterwards). At the end of the game, the Triforce is no longer in Skyloft (nor is it in the Sacred Realm), but rather it sits atop the Goddess Statue at the Sacred Grounds (the statue that descended to the land below Skyloft when sealing Demise).
It's unclear when the Triforce was placed into the Sacred Realm, or who placed it there (possibly Zelda), but sometime after the events of Skyward Sword the Triforce was placed within the Sacred Realm.
Wars were fought to keep the Triforce out of evil hands (the people who would become the Twili were the reason for one of these battles).
From the Zelda Encyclopedia:
From Twilight Princess:
The Seven Sages sealed the Triforce in the Temple of Light (within the Sacred Realm).
The Temple of Time was built by Rauru, which was the only entrance into the Sacred Realm (connected to the Temple of Light).
From Hyrule Historia:
From Ocarina of Time:
The Chamber of Sages is in the Temple of Light.
This same chamber (presumably) is also seen in A Link Between Worlds:
During the events of Ocarina of Time, Ganondorf invaded the Sacred Realm (due to Link removing the Master Sword, which was the key into the Sacred Realm).
When Ganondorf touched the Triforce, his imbalanced heart caused the Triforce to split into three (leaving him with the Triforce of Power), and this also corrupted the Sacred Realm, turning it into the Evil Realm (which would be know as The Dark World).
From Ocarina of Time:
The Dark World is only ever referred to as the Evil Realm in Ocarina of Time:
This next part is referring to Link from A Link to the Past:
It "skips over" Ocarina of Time Link's battle with Ganon because in this timeline Link gets killed, therefore he wouldn't be remembered in history as a "hero".
The events of Ocarina of Time and A Link to the Past almost seem to "merge", because the history in this timeline would only remember when a hero finally came and defeated Ganon.
It says how Link joined with the descendants of the Seven Sages (the Maidens from A Link to the Past), and that they sealed Ganon in darkness.
However, an "issue" occurs when you consider that during A Link to the Past, Ganon was never "sealed" but instead he was killed (hence why Twinrova tried to resurrect Ganon in the Oracle games).
And this isn't referring to some other time in-between games that Ganon was sealed, because Sahasrahla makes it clear that during A Link to the Past Ganon was not only defeated, but also sealed:
Throughout the game Ganon's return is mentioned a few times.
The terminology seems to vary depending on who is speaking, either saying "revive", "release", or "summon":
We also see Yuga use the Seven Sages to release Ganon:
To make sense of this discrepancy I have played through the games multiple times, as well as looked in Hyrule Historia and the Zelda Encyclopedia for answers. But nowhere can I find that Ganon was both killed and sealed in A Link to the Past.
However, I believe this is simply an unconventional "sealing". Where as in Ocarina of Time, the Sages actually used their powers to seal Ganon into the Sacred Realm, I believe in A Link to the Past, Ganon was sealed as a result of Link's actions.
Link killed Ganon, then he made a wish to the Triforce which undid everything that Ganon had done. This includes making the Dark World fade away, restoring the Sacred Realm back to normal.
From Hyrule Historia (the final sentence):
I believe that Ganon's remains also faded away with the Dark World, which "sealed" him in a void of darkness.
In the Oracle games, Twinrova needed a vessel for Ganon's spirit, which was Zelda, but when that failed they used their own body as a vessel instead.
Link prevented Ganon from fully being resurrected, which is why Ganon was "mindless" and not fully himself.
When Yuga revived Ganon, he was again seemingly not fully restored to who he once was (almost as if he was void of soul).
When Yuga summons him, Ganon is seen rising out of a void of darkness.
I believe this is what remains of the Dark World when it faded away, basically it became a void of darkness which trapped Ganon's body.
Twinrova had to use a vessel for Ganon to return because his body was trapped in this void, so they simply tried placing his spirit into another body.
Kind of like Chancellor Cole in Spirit Tracks being used as a vessel for Malladus' spirit (and again, Zelda was supposed to be the original vessel).
On a side note, both Onox and Malladus are from a Dark Realm (perhaps even the same).
From Spirit Tracks:
From Hyrule Historia:
From the Zelda Encyclopedia:
Also, it's interesting that both Ganon and Malladus needed Zelda to be their vessel.
Twinrova not being a proper vessel is the reason for Ganon's madness.
From the Zelda Encyclopedia (the final sentence):
This is just the rest of this part, in case anyone cares to read it in full:
Similarly, Cole wasn't a proper vessel and Malladus couldn't sustain is form for long:
The next part says how the Triforce split into three:
This is referring to the ending of the Oracle games when the Triforce turned into birds and flew away.
From the Zelda Encyclopedia:
It also says that one part found its way to Ganon:
This seems like another "divine prank" like mentioned in Twilight Princess, where Ganondorf was "blessed" with the Triforce of Power (even though in that timeline he never obtained it).
SHORT VERSION
This would be after Skyward Sword but before Ocarina of Time (even before Minish Cap).
The Sages hid the Triforce in the Temple of Light (which is located within the Sacred Realm).
This is during the events of Ocarina of Time. Ganondorf corrupted the Sacred Realm when he tried to obtain the Triforce.
This is actually merging the events of Ocarina of Time and A Link to the Past. The first sentence is referring to Ganondorf obtaining the Triforce in Ocarina of Time, it is simply condensing Ganondorf going into the Sacred Realm, him getting the Triforce of Power, the Triforce splitting, and it taking Ganondorf seven years before he was able to obtain the last two pieces.
The second sentence is referring to the events of A Link to the Past, when Ganon invaded Hyrule (using Agahnim), killing the king and kidnapping the Seven Maidens, in order to turn the Light World into the Dark World.
This is referring to when the Triforce split at the end of the Oracle games.
BRIEFLY GOING OVER THE BACKSTORY IN A LINK TO THE PAST
Here is the intro from A Link to the Past (GBA):
https://youtu.be/bNc7N9LvBqE
A Link to the Past's backstory is pretty much entirely referring to events set in-between Ocarina of Time and A Link to the Past.
This is referring to The Imprisoning War (set after Ocarina of Time).
From Hyrule Historia:
In this timeline, Ganon was sealed while in possession of all three pieces of the Triforce (as opposed to the Adult Timeline where he only had the Triforce of Power).
It's unclear if these are the same Seven Sages from Ocarina of Time or not (as this would have been many years after the events of Ocarina of Time).
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