While I really liked A Link Between Worlds, I kinda felt like they (Nintendo's writers) were phoning it in when it came to some of the story elements. They had a good opportunity to connect the storylines between ALttP and the original LoZ and didn't even try. So this is my effort to do that, and other than a couple of cut scenes, mostly all it would take is to amend the text a little.
The backstory - what isn't explicitly mentioned right off the bat is that after the events of A Link to the Past, the remaining people of the Dark World founded Lorule. Once Ganon was gone, the people made a kingdom and turned the Pyramid of Power into a Castle and started to live life again. But because they haven't had the Triforce's power in the realm, after a while the land has been starting to crumble, hence why the map is fractured, and Lorule is slowly dying. These facts come to light in small snippets from Hilda or other Lorule denizens. Also, there never was a Lorule Triforce - only the normal one that Ganon had used to transform the Golden Land into the Dark World all those years ago.
The game starts off the same - Link wakes up, gets the sword, takes it to the captain, goes through the graveyard tunnel, fights Yuga, meets Ravio, etc. After that he goes to the castle to inform Zelda what's going on and there's a lot of commotion and that's because not only is there graffiti on the castle walls, but the people are panicking because the Triforce has disappeared and they don't know what happened to it. Inside the castle while he waits for Zelda, Link reads the history of Hyrule but the fifth panel of the story is going to be changed a little bit to be a little more in line with the events of ALttP, specifically that the Triforce was never split into 3 parts and that it's kept by the royal family in a secure place, only to be used in the most dire of circumstances. As Link is led to meet Zelda, she's talking with a captain and mentions that she can't figure out how the intruder slipped past the guards while we are shown a view of the Triforce location, which has vines lining the walls in the same way that the Palace of Darkness did (see pic above) hinting that Yuga flattened himself and slid along the wall under the vines. Zelda’s theory is that someone is trying to resurrect Ganon, but it’s a red herring.
Then Zelda gives the Pendant of Courage to Link and sends him to see Sahasrahla. He doesn't believe that Ganon is returning anytime soon, but that they should trust Zelda's intuition just to be on the safe side and sends him to fetch Osfala. After that, all the normal stuff happens, he gets the Master Sword and goes back to Hyrule Castle. As Link is confronting Yuga, he turns Zelda into a painting and slips into Lorule thinking that Link won't be able to follow. Link enters Lorule and after poking around the castle a bit, he sees the ceremony Yuga performs with the portraits of the Seven Sages. It’s revealed that Yuga has the Triforce of Power and that he tried to grab the whole Triforce, but it split and two of the pieces are missing (mirroring what happened to Ganon in Ocarina of Time).
Yuga (correctly) assumed that Zelda has the Triforce of Wisdom, and that one of the descendants of the Seven Sages was the most likely candidate to have the Triforce of Courage so that’s why he turned all of them into paintings and kidnapped them. However, none of them have it, so in his frustration he scatters them across Lorule. He then begins the process of extracting the Triforce of Wisdom from Zelda’s painting when Link shows up in a triumphant entrance and sees that Hilda is attempting to “stop” Yuga, and tells Link that she can hold him for a while, but needs the help of the Seven Sages to aid her in completely stopping Yuga, as her magic isn't strong enough. This is a ruse done as a way to keep Link occupied while they do the ritual to get the Triforce from Zelda. We will later find out that Link was a bit noisy (probably breaking pots or something) and Hilda had caught onto his presence, hence the fake-out "binding" of Yuga to send Link away.
So then the rest of the game goes on like normal with Hilda telling Link small bits of Lorule back history whenever he reaches a new area or completes two dungeons and then Link finally recovers all of the portraits and goes back to Lorule Castle sooner than Hilda expected. He walks in on Hilda (without being seen/heard this time), and sees that Hilda has been successful in extracting the Triforce of Wisdom from Zelda by showing her hand with the Triforce symbol on it while gloating to the painting of Zelda. Then it becomes apparent that Hilda and Yuga are in cahoots when she says to Yuga (who surprisingly isn’t being restrained in any way), “Okay now give it to me,” and Yuga tells her ‘no.’ It turns out that Yuga kinda admired Ganon and when he got the Triforce of Power decided to follow in Ganon’s footsteps and try to get the whole thing. Hilda is bewildered and angered at this betrayal because he’s double crossing her and ruining the plan they had. Hilda was supposed to get the whole Triforce and Yuga was the backup agent she hired when Ravio had chickened out.
Then Yuga senses the Triforce of Courage in the room and notices Link, who has been watching this play out. It turns out that in rescuing the sages, Link demonstrated the courage to be worthy of the Triforce of Courage, and Hilda realizes that by sending Link on what she believed to be a wild goose chase, she inadvertently caused Link to gain the Triforce of Courage. Yuga lashes out at Link and the first phase of the fight ensues. When he is beaten, Yuga takes the Triforce of Wisdom from Hilda and phase 2 begins. When Link is successful, he takes the Triforces of Power and Wisdom away from Yuga, frees Zelda, then gives her the reunited Triforce willingly. Ravio runs in and tries to stop the madness, reporting that most of Lorule has been destroyed, that the fighting over the Triforces has accelerated the destruction process, and the remaining good people are all gathered in front of the castle wondering what they should do.
Hilda surrenders herself to Zelda for her crimes, fully expecting to be executed for her plot, but also admitting that she was desperate. Zelda then uses the Triforce and after a flash of light, Zelda, Link, Hilda, Ravio, Sheerow, and all of the people from Lorule (but not Yuga) are standing in Hyrule. Zelda announces that the people of Lorule are offered refuge, and that she won’t execute Hilda. However, her titles, magic, wealth, and political powers are revoked and that she will be just a regular citizen in Hyrule. Zelda expresses sympathy for Hilda trying to save her people, misguided as it was.
The epilogue has Zelda deciding that the completed Triforce is too tempting of a target to be kept at the castle, and it can’t be destroyed lest Hyrule ends up like Lorule. They decide that one of the pieces should be hidden far away in a palace just in case. It’s also decided that the people of Lorule will take up living in the forest, and it wouldn't be a smart idea to have them so close to the sacred grove and the Master Sword's resting spot, so Link leaves the sword in the care of Dampé (someone they know they can trust), whose descendants will watch over it until the next hero needs use of it.
Yuga (correctly) assumed that Zelda has the Triforce of Wisdom, and that one of the descendants of the Seven Sages was the most likely candidate to have the Triforce of Courage so that’s why he turned all of them into paintings and kidnapped them. However, none of them have it, so in his frustration he scatters them across Lorule. He then begins the process of extracting the Triforce of Wisdom from Zelda’s painting when Link shows up in a triumphant entrance and sees that Hilda is attempting to “stop” Yuga, and tells Link that she can hold him for a while, but needs the help of the Seven Sages to aid her in completely stopping Yuga, as her magic isn't strong enough. This is a ruse done as a way to keep Link occupied while they do the ritual to get the Triforce from Zelda. We will later find out that Link was a bit noisy (probably breaking pots or something) and Hilda had caught onto his presence, hence the fake-out "binding" of Yuga to send Link away.
So then the rest of the game goes on like normal with Hilda telling Link small bits of Lorule back history whenever he reaches a new area or completes two dungeons and then Link finally recovers all of the portraits and goes back to Lorule Castle sooner than Hilda expected. He walks in on Hilda (without being seen/heard this time), and sees that Hilda has been successful in extracting the Triforce of Wisdom from Zelda by showing her hand with the Triforce symbol on it while gloating to the painting of Zelda. Then it becomes apparent that Hilda and Yuga are in cahoots when she says to Yuga (who surprisingly isn’t being restrained in any way), “Okay now give it to me,” and Yuga tells her ‘no.’ It turns out that Yuga kinda admired Ganon and when he got the Triforce of Power decided to follow in Ganon’s footsteps and try to get the whole thing. Hilda is bewildered and angered at this betrayal because he’s double crossing her and ruining the plan they had. Hilda was supposed to get the whole Triforce and Yuga was the backup agent she hired when Ravio had chickened out.
Hilda surrenders herself to Zelda for her crimes, fully expecting to be executed for her plot, but also admitting that she was desperate. Zelda then uses the Triforce and after a flash of light, Zelda, Link, Hilda, Ravio, Sheerow, and all of the people from Lorule (but not Yuga) are standing in Hyrule. Zelda announces that the people of Lorule are offered refuge, and that she won’t execute Hilda. However, her titles, magic, wealth, and political powers are revoked and that she will be just a regular citizen in Hyrule. Zelda expresses sympathy for Hilda trying to save her people, misguided as it was.
The epilogue has Zelda deciding that the completed Triforce is too tempting of a target to be kept at the castle, and it can’t be destroyed lest Hyrule ends up like Lorule. They decide that one of the pieces should be hidden far away in a palace just in case. It’s also decided that the people of Lorule will take up living in the forest, and it wouldn't be a smart idea to have them so close to the sacred grove and the Master Sword's resting spot, so Link leaves the sword in the care of Dampé (someone they know they can trust), whose descendants will watch over it until the next hero needs use of it.
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