Sing for the Unicorn

"Sing for the Unicorn" is the fifth episode of the Zelda animated series to be broadcast, but the second in production order. It first aired in the United States and Canada on October 6, 1989.

Plot

 * See also: Episode transcript

It is evening in Hyrule. King Harkinian is enjoying the night air while Link tries to swing in to Princess Zelda's room with a little help from the king. When he lands in her room, the princess is impressed by the flowers that the young hero brought and Zelda offers him a big kiss, which Link gladly accepts. However, Zelda then hears King Harkinian's cry for help and rushes off to her window to see that Ganon, who is riding on the back of a mysterious flying unicorn, has begun his assault on the castle and is after the king. Link launches himself over to where Ganon and the King are, but he is promptly attacked by Vires. By the time the young hero finishes them off with his Crissword and Sword Beams, Ganon has already begun to fly away, but Link jumps off and manages to grab onto the unicorn's tail. Just then, Ganon zaps Link, who loses his grip and begins to fall to his death. Before giving up hope, Link spots four Vires below and retrains his fall by grabbing two of the Vires' feet. Ganon zaps him again, causing Link to fall even further to his death, but survives with Zelda's help. In the Underworld, Ganon imprisons the King in a room with a slowly-disappearing floor as punishment until Zelda turns Hyrule and the Triforce of Wisdom over to Ganon. Meanwhile, Link and Zelda enter the Underworld but are attacked by Armoss when the princess accidentally touches one of the statues. The heroes defeat the Armos with the sword and bow but a trap door opens beneath them and plunges them deeper into the dungeon where Stalfos await them. Link easily zaps several of the Stalfos, but one of them sneaks up from behind and knocks his sword off when more Stalfos ambush the young hero. Although Zelda is helpless since she lost her bow in the previous room fighting the Armos, a mysterious warrior luckily appears and defeats the rest of the Stalfos using her sai while targeting Link as well in the process. Link attempts to shoot the warrior with a sword beam but realizes that it is a human since the beam did not cause it to vanish. Zelda then grabs the warrior and Link removes its mask, revealing that it is a woman who does not speak Link and Zelda's language. Zelda is able to communicate with her, revealing that her name is Sing and is trying to rescue her unicorn that Ganon stole. Link agrees to help her and uses a bomb to blast his way into Ganon's lair.

Due to the blast that Link caused, Ganon hears the group coming and begins to head their way. Link and the others fight a pair of Lynels at the entrance, and the young hero picks up a magic whistle after he defeats one of them. Sing and Princess Zelda run ahead and cross the bridge, where they see two Moblins guarding the Unicorn. After Sing defeats them and gets her Unicorn back, an Armos appears with a bomb in hand; however, Zelda throws her boomerang at its hand, which causes the bomb to explode near him, thus killing the Armos. Because of the explosion, a hole opens beneath where the Armos was and reveals the place where the King is imprisoned. Link then begins to make his way to where Sing and Zelda are, but before he reaches the end of the bridge, Ganon appears before him. Link is able to zap him once with his sword beams, but the evil wizard uses his magic to cut the bridge, which the young hero manages to hold on to while it swings him to the other cliff. Just as Ganon is about to deliver the final blow, Zelda defeats Ganon using her boomerang while Sing and her unicorn rescue the king from his fall in the pit room. Seeing the happy ending, Link blows the magic whistle to call upon a whirlwind that warps them out of the Underworld.

The episode ends with Sing waving goodbye to the King, Zelda and Link as she's riding away on her unicorn.

Characters

 * Link
 * Princess Zelda
 * Ganon
 * King Harkinian
 * Unicorn
 * Sing

Enemies

 * Vires
 * Armos
 * Stalfos
 * Lynel
 * Moblin

Items

 * Crissword
 * Bow
 * Bomb
 * Magic Whistle
 * Boomerang

Trivia

 * This episode establishes that Link's sword beams cannot harm a normal person. Presumably, this was done to tone down the violence in the series, much like how Link never uses his sword to strike or stab any enemies.