After the Hylian elder people find Link, he goes to Hyrule Castle where the
king explains the whole ganondorf crisis. Link's task now is to collect three
Hylian crystals in order to strengthen the seal held on ganondorf. After link
complete three dungeons, ganondorf breaks free before you can return to
the castle. When link does return to the castle, ganondorf is already loose and
has wreacked havoc on everything inside. He tries to kill Link, but the power
of the crystals saves his life and sends Link to the realm of the sages.
Here, the spirits of the sages tell him that he must travel to the temples
scattered across Hyrule and reawaken the sages. When Link returns, he
finds that Ganondorf has twisted and corrupted Hyrule. Seven years have
passed, and Link is now an adult. Link must now travel through areas of the
land he's already been, but does not recognize due to Ganondorf's dark
reign of terror.