Inside The Score - The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time - The Bridge to Ganon's Castle

Multi-color ray of hope

This is pretty much the land of Mordor, only thing missing is the giant eye of Ganon scorching the entirety of Hyrule. As we will see later neither this Ganondorf fella nor the developers are subtle in presenting the evilness of this villain. We are now back in classic mode, the knight rescuing a princess trapped inside a black fortress. Only the sages and goddesses will be the light that remains accompanying Link and helping to break the barriers in front of them. This is only the first one to be conqueres, the huge pit of lava over which the castle floats (I told you it wasn’t subtle).

Accompanying Link in assaulting Ganondorf’s castle are the spirits of the sages coming directly from the Sacred Realm. With the effort both Link and the player put in, the impassable pit to what used to be Hyrule Castle is finally open. The sages conjure a magical bridge, an iridescent structure made with the color spectrum that represents the sages and their medallions. The scene gives an extra operatic touch to this musical game since the moment parallels the last scene from Richard Wagner’s Das Rheingold in which the gods also summon a rainbow to reach the castle.

Back when rainbows had more of a spiritual significance. Our opera is also about to end

In our last encounter with Sheik she told us another legend related to the golden goddesses and the Triforce. As with the previous retellings of the legends of the kingdom, the music is accompanied by the goddesses choir; however, the cutscene is not allowed to finish with the ‘Triforce cadence’ originally heard in A Link to the Past and on the story told by the Great Deku Tree; it simply fades out before that section. The missing piece of that cutscene is heard right here. The Triforce cadence in all of its glory is summoned to complete the piece; it only appears when divine intervention creates something. Hyrule’s mysticism is sonically represented, providing cohesiveness to the myths and legends of this old kingdom.

Musical Analysis

Structure: Section 1

Time Signature: 4/4

Tempo: 67

Melodic and Harmonic Profiles: G# Ionian/Major; G#Aeolian Dominant; G# Aeolian/Minor; Whole Tone

The harp and the glockenspiel play the usual accompaniment of the sacred cues, cascading and adding extended color to the music. The entire piece plays with the number three at many different levels. The particular rhythm of the accompaniment can be counted in groups of three—either in 3/4 or 6/8 or 12/8 or triplets in 4/4 Here are the harp and the glockenspiel soloed to hear the rhythm.

The tempo is faster now than on the ‘Legend of Hyrule’ cue

Like the Triforce itself, the cue only uses three chords that can be though of as taken from three different profiles which in turn are accompanied by a melodic motif of just three notes. The music is in a G# major tonality, but the other chords that are sitting side by side to the G# do not belong to that tonality; they are three different and independent chords. Two major chords, one dissonant, just like the protagonists of this story. It’s is indeed a fitting theme for The Legend of Zelda series overall. Three Triforce pieces for three protagonists across three timelines.

The harmony can be interpreted as:

G# – F# (b5) – E – G#

This harmony differs from the original, exclusively triumphant from A Link to the Past‘s Title Theme which was:

G# – B – C# – G#

One is heroic, the other is sacred

Besides that, this theme from Ocarina of Time also incorporates the quintessential ‘major’ Andalusian cadence emblematic of the entire Zelda series. it appears in the descending bass line; two whole steps plus one half step that are indelible to Zelda music.

The simplified version of the Triforce motif showing the emphasis on three notes against three different chords

Neither when we dispel barriers at Ganon’s Castle, nor even when we bring down the entire energy field protecting the tower, much less when we actually defeat the demon king himself; this will be the very last fanfare we hear on The Legend of Zeda: Ocarina of Time. It could not be any other way.