After yet another failed attempt to steal the Triforce of Wisdom, Ganon decides to change things up a little by exploiting Link's weakness: Princess Zelda. Instead of sending another mook, he casts a spell to place a magical mirror inside her room and when moonlight strikes it, it creates an evil reflection of the princess and becomes a magical portal to Ganon's lair. The doppelganger orders some Moblins to kidnap the real princess, but Link overhears her screams and rushes in to defeat them, but he's too late and the mirror is broken in the process. Forced to find another way to bring the Triforce of Wisdom back to Ganon, the doppelganger tricks Link to bringing it to Ganon's lair while pretending to be the real princess. Unbeknownst to her, he quickly catches on that she's an imposter, but follows regardless so he can find the real Zelda.
The episode contains examples of:
- Confronting Your Imposter: Subverted. The imposter thinks the façade was working the whole time even though Link actually figured it out a long time ago. Therefore, when the real Zelda walks in on her kissing Link, she thinks she's been found out and quickly runs off with the Triforce of Wisdom, prompting a chase scene.
- Evil Doppelgänger: The fake Zelda is a creation of a Magic Mirror who works for Ganon, with a rude and bossy personality, and she even goes as far as to use kisses to trick Link into doing whatever she wants. While technically she also doubles as Zelda's Mirror Self, the mirror acts more like a portal between Ganon's Lair and Hyrule than actually containing its own Mirror Universe.
- Glamour Failure: Link finds out that the princess he's been following is actually a fake when he notices the lack of a reflection in the water while on horseback, though there were other clues like her kiss feeling cold.
- Magic Mirror: The key reason Princess Zelda got cloned into an evil version of herself. However, it also works as a portal that transports a person directly into Ganon's lair, as the Moblins demonstrate by capturing the real Zelda and passing her over to Ganon before Link can find out she was replaced.
- Missing Reflection: This is how Link finds out Zelda was captured by Ganon and an evil clone of her was put in her place. After the Zelda clone attacks the castle and kidnaps the real Zelda, she tricks Link into going on a mission to defeat Ganon after the mirror breaks in the midst of the battle, preventing her from returning to the Underworld with the Triforce of Wisdom in hand. While riding to Ganon's lair on horseback, Link takes a look in the lake to see that the clone isn't casting a reflection and plays along to stage a rescue mission.
- Spot the Imposter: After Zelda and her doppelganger fall into some muddy water, it soaks their clothes in a brown liquid to the point where it's impossible to tell them apart. Link's solution? A kissing contest! Long story short: the clone was willing to do so, while the real Zelda refused.
- Red and Black and Evil All Over: The fake Zelda's black-and-red outfit is pointed out in-universe by Link, who notices the difference right away, only for her to brush it off as just a change in style.
