As Link approaches Lorule Castle’s gate, Hilda contacts him to warn him that Yuga has escaped her control and his monsters have taken over the Castle. She releases the barrier to let Link in. After a introductory miniboss fight against a fiery flail trooper, the real work begins. As in Wind Waker (or, perhaps, the Palace of the Four Sword from the GBA version of A Link to the Past), the central door of the castle has four seals protected by four more minibosses at the end of subdungeons. Before starting any of them, however, Link can grab the final dungeon item: Red Mail, further reducing his damage taken.
The first subdungeon involves navigating a maze of tiles that only pop out of the lava below when Link is near enough, and guiding rolling balls over the tiles without getting squashed. At the end, Link fights a giant purple Bari. The second subdungeon requires navigating a networks of color switches and their corresponding walls, and escorting a giant bomb flower to blow up a rock. The miniboss here is another purple Moldorm; this one doesn’t have a platform to knock Link off of, but the walls sometimes close in leaving Link little room to stand. Of course, Link can merge with said walls, wait for the Moldorm to skitter past, and pop out and whack the tail.
The third subdungeon has the inverted light property (things are hidden when there’s light, but visible in the dark) from the Dark Palace, plus narrow mazelike walkways over a pit that disappear in the light – but to remove the walls blocking the way, Link needs to light the torches, then memorize the way forward. Another fiery flail trooper awaits as the end boss. The final subdungeon has hookshot puzzles, two eyeball stones to return to sockets, and the Wallmaster stalker/escort mechanic from Skull Woods. The miniboss in an Arrghus that’s not noticeably different from the fight in the Swamp Palace.
With the door open, Link walks back into Hilda’s study. The fissure that originally brought Link to Lorule is still there, and Link can pass through back to Zelda’s study in Hyrule Castle to see what’s going on. Link finds Hilda still admiring Zelda’s painting; after she greets Link, she touches the painting, drawing the Triforce of Wisdom from it. She tells Link the story of how Lorule reached its ruinous state. Once, it had its own Triforce, and as in Hyrule, an artifact of the gods that grants wishes was a tempting target, so everyone fought over it. Unlike Hyrule, which sealed the Triforce away to prevent its (mis)use, Lorule destroyed theirs. Without the Triforce to hold Lorule together, it started falling apart. So when Hilda learned about Hyrule and its Triforce…
Well, the game’s dropped a few too many hints that Hilda’s behind it all for it to really be surprising when she says she’s guided Link’s entire journey – with her (and Yuga) securing the Triforces of Power and Wisdom along the way – but it’s still an effectively creepy moment when her eyes turn red and she summons Yuga to take the Triforce of Courage from Link. Yuga – still merged with Ganon, fights Link in a straight-up duel. When Link wins, Hilda pops back in to ask for the Triforce of Power so she can continue the fight. However, Yuga’s been after the Triforce for himself all along, turns Hilda into a painting, and absorbs her and the Triforce of Wisdom.
Yuga turns his attention to Link; the main part of this battle is the obligatory Dead Man’s Volley sequence. After Yuga is hit, he merges into the wall, so Zelda manages to reach out from her painting to give Link the final weapon he needs: the Bow of Light, which he can use while merged to attack wall-merged Yuga. The first time, Yuga holds off the arrow, but Link sneaks around behind to attack from the back. The second time, Yuga deflects the arrow and charges, again leaving his back open before he can stop and turn around. The final time (after Yuga tries two balls at once), Yuga’s defense is perfect – unless Link turns around and fires an arrow the long way. Each time leaves Yuga stunned and vulnerable, and after the last, he explodes, restoring Hilda but leaving her stunned on the floor.
Link rescues Zelda from her painting, but Hilda refuses to give up. She and Zelda argue about the Triforce, until Ravio stumbles in, saying this needs to stop. He removes his mask to reveal he’s the Lorulean Link, then turns to Hilda to explain himself. Like her, he needed the help of Hyrule’s hero… but to stop her. He understands why she wants the Triforce, but taking it would leave Hyrule as doomed as Lorule is now, and there has to be a better way to save Lorule than that. He finally gets through to her when he points out that this is exactly the sort of thing that led Lorule to destroy its Triforce in the first place.
Finally seeing reason, Hilda takes Link and Zelda to Lorule’s Sacred Realm, which was where Yuga discovered the link to Hyrule in the first place. The dominating feature is a huge black monolith – the Triforce’s gravestone – with a big glowing crack. Hilda takes Ravio’s bracelet and uses it to send Link and Zelda through the fissure (after Ravio says a fond farewell to Link). Link and Zelda arrive in Hyrule’s sacred realm, with the full Triforce restored to its proper place. They go to take a closer look at it, and since they restored it, they get to make a wish, so they reach out. Back in Lorule, the monolith explodes, and as Ravio and Hilda look on, the Triforce is restored.
The credits show scenes from Hyrule, starting with the seven Sages returned home. Then there’s a celebration at the Milk Bar, a shot of the Cucco-dodging game (there’s a reward here for surviving the “endless” mode for 999 seconds that I never got close to unlocking, and some things even I can say “screw that” to), Gramps (with the main series theme playing – is the implication that he’s a Link, perhaps even the one from A Link to the Past?), and the Maiamais. Link and Zelda admire a new painting of Hyrule’s history, which includes Ravio (as a blurry figure in the background, but his bunny costume is unmistakable even before it zooms in). Finally, mirroring the final scene of A Link to the Past’s ending, Link returns the Master Sword to its pedestal and walks away.
A Link Between Worlds did a wonderful job of tweaking the Zelda formula and reimagining A Link to the Past. In particular, Lorule is a great new version of the Dark World, and Hilda and Ravio stand among my favorite characters.
