When Link arrives at Hyrule Castle, the place has been ransacked. The statue of the Hero of Time that guarded the path to the chamber where the Master Sword was kept is smashed, and the way is open. When Link enters the chamber, he’s relieved to see that Tetra’s okay, but it turns out to be an illusion. Ganon taunts Link, saying that at full power the wards on the castle couldn’t stop him, and he’s kidnapped Tetra. A ring of fire surrounds Link, and two extra-powerful Darknuts drop in to fight him. When they’re defeated, the fires subside, and Link leaves the castle to go fight Ganon in his tower.
The first main room in Ganon’s Tower has a barred door with four seals. Each of the seals corresponds to a side room, themed after four of the dungeons (Dragon Roost Cavern, Forbidden Woods, Earth Temple, and Wind Temple), and yeesh. The one for Forbidden Woods had a long crossing I was just barely able to cross with the Deku Leaf glider, ignoring the second cart that I couldn’t figure out how to get on. The Earth Temple hallway had a bunch of puzzles involving setting petrified Dark ChuChus on switches and making it to the stairs before they woke up, and the last one had a Stalfos attack just when Link thinks he’s clear so he has to do it all again. And it allowed just enough time for me to catch the lowest stair as it returned to the top. By comparison, the Wind Temple hallway requiring gliding through a narrow gap between cyclones was relaxing. After each of the four hallways, Link has to fight the dungeon’s boss again, allowing him a chance to get a picture of Gohma (Carlov is really picky about this one – it took me a bunch of tries) and Kalle Demos [1].
With the seals broken, Link can go forward. In the next main room, there are doors to the right and left, with a seal blocking the way forward. The door to the right has a series of torches, and the King contacts Link telling him to note the room’s layout. Going to the left, there are switches, and if Link hits them in the order the torches/switches were highlighted (also corresponding to the number of lights in each set), a portal to the Forbidden Fortress opens, allowing Link to go back to the surface if he has any business to take care of. Like, say, turning in pictographs of the Mighty Darknut, Gohma, and Kalle Demos. Well, it would have been nice to know this would be here before I ran back and forth after each boss fight. Oh, well, there’s still one pictograph left to get, so it can still be still useful.
Back to the right, Link can drop into the hole in the center of the room, starting a series of fights with Phantom Ganon. Phantom Ganon has some new tricks up his sleeve: pink ball attacks that split into vast swarms that Link needs a spin attack to fully deflect, or surrounding Link with a bunch of illusory doubles and then closing in on him to thwack him – Link can hit the right one, but I found it easiest to just bug out of the circle and wait for the next energy ball attack. After each hit the phantom takes, his sword remains behind, falling with its hilt pointing at the next door Link needs to go through. (There’s a hint about this in the room with the torches.) After six of these fights, Link comes to a different room; after defeating Phantom Ganon once more, a chest appears with the light arrows.
Going through the door again returns Link to the room next to the portal to the Forbidden Fortress, and Link faces Phantom Ganon for the last time. Link can hit him with a light arrow, killing him immediately. Then Link picks up Phantom Ganon’s sword and throws it at the seal blocking the way forward, breaking it. The last stairway has Moblins and both normal Darknuts as well as a final pair of Mighty Darknuts. Link’s out of patience with these guys, so he uses light arrows to kill them each with a single hit. Even if their loot balls don’t have magic pots, the jars nearby have them, and so Link’s ready to enter the final chamber for the showdown with Ganon.
Link enters Ganon’s chamber to find him watching over a sleeping Tetra. Ganon muses about the Great Sea, mocking the idea that the people there could restore Hyrule as ridiculous, and that the gods destroyed Hyrule instead of preserving it. Recognizing Link as the hero, he then prepares to give Link a chance to prove it. Rather than fighting Link directly, Ganon brings out a giant puppet. This is the last pictograph Link needs to complete the Nintendo Gallery. Only… there’s no real way out of this fight, only resetting or dying. Then the journey to and especially from the Forest Haven is a nuisance (the warp location nearest the Forsaken Fortress is actually an isolated spot with no non-warp way in or out). For completing the gallery, Carlov creates one extra figurine – Link and the King of Red Lions (which notes Link’s “unnatural interest in figurines,” heh) – then leaves the gallery to Link and disappears.
Next: The final battle for Hyrule. [2]
[1] The boss rematches are black and white, but since Link takes color pictures of the black and white bosses, Carlov accepts them. The world is a complicated place.
[2] I was severely tempted to make a reference to “I’ve Got No Strings,” but it doesn’t really seem to fit, and I’ve never actually seen Pinocchio and only know the song via Age of Ultron.
