01 - Prologue / Title Theme - The Legend of Zelda (NES) Orchestral Arrangement

Today is my birthday, as well as Zelda's 30th anniversary, so naturally we share the same destiny. Link's Awakening was my stepping stone towards orchestrating the true main theme in grand fashion. There was no way I could have done this a year ago, and I needed all the practice from arranging other games. Having a whole year to think about how to arrange this was extremely helpful. In addition to this track, I will arrange the rest of the soundtrack, as well as Zelda II: The Adventure of Link.
What I like about the very first Zelda is how its tone is straight up good vs evil, without any gimmicks. While the story is super barebones, it has a Lord of the Rings vibe to it (obviously), so I thought I would follow in the same fashion. And just like how LOTR starts with a prologue explaining the events leading up to the main story, I decided to do the same. I assume if Nintendo ever remade this game, they would probably do the same thing, matching up to the same format as their more recent installments. Here is my "retelling" of the iconic story. In fact, I wrote the script out first, and then scored the music to fit the text. Please excuse the crudity of the sketches. I only just finished the music yesterday, which gave me only a day to make the video so that I could post it online in time.
Anyways, my biggest gripe with Zelda games is that the characters are too one note. Sure they are archetypes, but there's almost no characterization to Link, Zelda, and Ganon. The good guys are good simple because, and the bad guys are bad simply because. Hard to relate to them. I wanted to add real tension to the good guys' actions. That's why here you see the king displaying weak faith, Zelda making a much harder commitment to good than you previously imagined, and Ganon have a more simpler motivation (like gollum's corruption from Lord of the Rings again). I feel this adds a bit more weight to the story, without really changing the core. I also ommitted any mention of Link so that it really feels more like Zelda's legend. My favorite part of adding the prologue is that it makes the listener wait and guess when the iconic main theme is gonna appear!
Ok now to music choices. The thematic structure of the prologue is a musical palindrome. It goes like this: Triforce Theme---Ganon's Theme---Ganon's Dungeon---Zelda's Lulliby---Ganon's Dungeon---Ganon's Theme---Triforce Theme. I pulled iconic melodies from other Zelda games because I also assume Nintendo probably wouldn't mind retconning a bunch of stuff so the old game better fits the series. There are also a ton of other musical references from the Zelda games that I crammed as much as I could. See if you can identify all of them.
While arranging this piece, I made the mistake of listening to Nintendo's 25th anniversary recording of the Main Theme, and it just blows this track out of the water. I think it's the gold standard of the main theme. So I decided to find inspiration outside the game. I borrowed the instrumentation from Navigator's Glory - Final Fantasy XIV. I like that anvil instrument that plays on the beat. Feels like it could describe Link gearing up in preparation for adventure. The use of all the instruments in the orchestra is great there. You really have to tweak every single note to make it sound right. There is still so much I can do to improve this track, so I am calling this a first draft. It will be improved by the time I finish the album.
The Legend of Zelda Orchestral Arrangement
Arrangement and fan art by Jeremiah Sun
Originally composed by Koji Kondo
You can buy this game for 3DS from the Nintendo eShop