I personally would like to see a legend where Link is the last descendent of the Knights of Hyrule (I understand ALttP is like this), but the backstory is that the last Hero to defeat Ganon left Hyrule to forget his troubles (though really it's to hide the Triforce of Courage so the future Ganon can't assemble the Triforce), and a new villain, Ganon's apprentice, ravages Hyrule. The Princess disappears, and with her, the Triforce of Wisdom. Thus, without the full Golden Power watching over the land, and with it in the hands of Ganon's apprentice, the land deteriorates into a wasteland.
So, fast forward a millennium/some really long amount of time. You're a dude NOT named Link, just to throw you off. You are living in a distant country, and you are entering into manhood. You're an orphan, and you are blissfully unaware that you are the last living descendent of the above Hero. Hyrule has become an empire and rumors of people being kidnapped by its army are everywhere. Well, they decide to kidnap you and your girlfriend. You escape but she doesn't. Oh, and her name isn't Zelda. You travel to Hyrule to get her back, meet a friend who also had his girlfriend taken from him, find her as a prisoner, and meet Ganon's Apprentice, though he doesn't introduce himself. He holds his hand over you, testing to see if you have the Triforce of Courage. Nope. He throws you from the walls of his city, a little like Helmaroc King flung you halfway out to sea in TWW. This guy has been kidnapping people who are descended from the Hero who beat his master, attempting to find the Triforce of Courage. Well, your girlfriend isn't one, but she's still kept prisoner because G's A knows you're the last living Knight of Hyrule, and so you will bring the Triforce of Courage to him if he still has something to make you fight him. Well, your friend gets away safe and sound.
Of course, you survive, and you are found by a resistance. They tell you what you're supposed to do: get the Master Sword and beat this guy, since they think the Triforce of Courage is long gone. Well, you go to where the Master Sword is, in the barren Faron Woods. There, you learn that you need the Pendents of Courage, Wisdom, and Power to get it. Well, you naturally go to get them. As you go to get them, you see just how bad Hyrule's been affected by the No Golden Power. No vegetation at all, no animals, generally no life. Hyrule has to import all its food and resources.
The Resistance, at that moment, is rendezvousing with an army from your country, which has come to help free your girlfriend, whatever her name be. Well, when you get all three pendents, get the Master Sword, and get back to Castle Town, the Resistance and the army attacks, you join up, break in, free your girlfriend, and start trying to escape. However, Ganon's Apprentice's army has surrounded you, trapping you in the city. Now you, your girlfriend (who is good with a bow), your friend, who led the army to the Resistance, and her (adopted) father (who is responsible for marshaling the army) go down and defend the gates of the city. So, you take on an army (which is something I have wanted to see in Zelda since Sora took on 1000 Heartless in KH2). Well, when you've beaten a sizable chunk of the army out, Ganon's Apprentice introduces himself. He makes a bargain. He'll let the army leave in peace, without killing them, if your girlfriend gets put back in her cell, and everyone leaves without a fight. Naturally, this does not happen. He starts waxing eloquent about how you do not know who she is, even though you're her boyfriend, and you should. Then he reveals she is the last living descendent of Princess Zelda, who left Hyrule years earlier to hide the Triforce of Wisdom. You're stunned by this, because you did not possibly see this coming, even though you probably did. Your friend tries to attack when he discovers his girlfriend is actually dead, and G's A, in no mood to fight, teleports him away. Finally, he gets annoyed that you don't follow his orders and is about to eliminate the army when Zelda's Father (seeing as how she's practically Zelda, even though that's not her name, I'll be calling her Zelda) attacks G's A in order to buy time for you to get away. You drag Zelda away while she watches her adopted get ran through by G's A out of fury, and you watch as the army gets annihilated.
The place where you got the Master Sword is as good a place to hide as any, so you take Zelda there, she apologizes for not telling you, but it was for your safety, boring angst, reveals her family is descended from Zelda's, who hid from G's A and kept the ToW hidden from him, and now she tells you to go get the Triforce of Courage. Eight pieces are scattered all over Hyrule, so you naturally go to get them. Well, hate to break it to you, but the pieces actually have been looted. You trek through eight dungeons for no apparent reason, because every piece has been looted. Just when you are feeling mad about trekking through eight dungeons and getting nothing at all for your trouble, Zelda gets kidnapped again.
Anyway, you go to rescue her (again), only this time she's in G's A's Castle, at the very top, which forces you to confront G's A to get her. Well, you fight him, and G's A, it turns out, isn't the true wielder of the Triforce of Power, even though he thinks he is. Because of this, you mortally wound him. He has only been lent the ToP by Ganon, who wanted him to unite the Triforce so he could return from beyond the grave. G's A apologizes because he has failed G, while G, in a surprising display of morality, apologizes back, saying he didn't know about how he was the only true wielder of the ToP, even though he muses he should have suspected it. So, in order to fully take control of the ToP, G's A lets Ganon possess him. You start a fight with him, but you realize you can't possibly win. You don't have the ToC. Ganon attacks you so viciously, you are reduced to 1/4 of a heart, and collapse.
Suddenly, in an ending worthy of Super Metroid, your friend becomes a
Big Damn Hero (that's the name of the trope, don't blame me for using it since it's true) by entering suddenly, curb-stomping Ganon, but he can't beat him because you have the Master Sword or the ToC. He doesn't have the ToC, right? He's not a Knight of Hyrule. Well, sorry to disappoint, but he does have it. He reveals it to a flabbergasted Ganon, and gets slashed across the chest in a fit of rage. He smirks even though he's dying, saying "You're beaten, Ganon. I wasn't the rightful wielder of this thing. I was just the delivery boy." The ToC disappears from his hand, appears on yours, and you proceed to curb-stomp Ganon, kill him once and for all, and take his Triforce of Power as your own. Zelda gets freed, an you try to save your buddy. He dies peacefully, after saying he knew G's A, and though him, G, would let their guard down if they knew you didn't have it, so he went and got it himself. He had only been teleported just outside of Hyrule, so he had a head start while you went to hide Zelda. Now he goes to be with his girlfriend, and Zelda wishes on the united Triforce that Hyrule heals from the regime.
In the epilogue, you're the king, she's the queen, you're on excellent terms with the country you came from, as well as the rest of the world, the land is producing vegetation like nver before, and Hyrule is generally flourishing once again, because you returned the Golden Power to Hyrule. Yay, game over.
I'm currently writing a fanfiction like that, so I used the idea because, well, it sounds a little epic. Well, what do you think?
