The Story Begins

Link starts off his quest on a new Zelda staple: as opposed to the previous two titles where Link originated from absolutely nowhere and had no place to call home himself, this Link has a home and this is where we start the game (and virtually every title from here on out will start in Link's home).  The story also, for a welcome change, is right in our face...from the very beginning.  You can't avoid it, the events start right at the beginning and are en media res.  The plot makes you follow it although you do have freedom to explore on the side, adding a deeper dimension that the previous titles did not have.  When you start the game and climb out of bed, you are contacted by a voice...

Zelda's First Contact

Much as you would like to ignore the voice and go back to bed, the voice continues to harass you.

Zelda Pleads For Help

And now the voice is pleading for help and introducing itself?!  I guess we should climb out of bed and help!  Through this whole introduction, the whole beginning of the plot is thrust at you: how a wizard named Agahnim has kidnapped the descendants of the seven wise men and that he is trying to break the wise men's seal by sending them away.  Wow, all that information already?  Of course, what we don't know is how little Princess Zelda is actually telling us...there is a lot hidden in those words that we have to uncover, especially that "to rescue those seven maidens, you have to travel to another dimension of reality and traverse seven difficult dungeons."  Of course if she had told Link that, I'm sure Link would have jumped right into action and not procrastinated at all.  All she's telling you, really now, is that she needs to be rescued.  A small, minor task that we can easily handle...but one that will open the can of worms on us and they won't stop until they wriggle their way to a dramatic climax.  One of the best things to is that if you want to, you can do a little side exploring while things are downpouring around Hyrule..and giggle to yourself that Zelda is still whining for help.  Of course, that would be mean too.  We should help her, after all, our uncle went to help her too and we wouldn't want to let him down.  : )

The Lamp

Before we go though, let's check out that treasure chest...a lamp!  Yay, I'm afraid of the dark and mostly the things that go bump in the night through it.  The funny thing about this is it introduces the Zelda "don't worry, you're not that screwed yet into resetting..." element that you'll find in a lot of other games (i.e. Fire Emblem.  holy moly.)  Instead, if you DON'T pick up this item here, in the dungeon that we are coming up to, you have three opportunities to pick it up.  The infamous Zelda "here, you REALLY REALLY need this, I'm not going to let you advance without it!" programming.

One way or another, Zelda has asked for our help to gain her freedom from some evil wizard's clutches who apparently has some wicked scheme up his sleeve.  We'll have to see what that's all about!