Yeah, good point about the stalemate. I recall you bringing up the point before that courage balances wisdom and power. I think it's a good theory. After all, power isn't everything if you're too sissy or stupid to use it properly. Ganondorf could have come upon Link earlier and killed him, but he kept himself locked away in his stronghold. Zelda had the wisdom and foresight to disguise herself and guide Link's actions. Link himself seems to be the pusher and mover: he is bold enough to actually DO something, instead of hiding or locking himself up in a safe place.

We may not have evidence that Zelda performed magic prior to getting the ToW. But we do know that perfectly good magic IS possible without the help of any Triforce. I think the Triforce has little to do with enhancing magical power (unless that's what the holder wishes more than anything else). The Triforce's main purpose is to grant wishes. It does this by giving its holder more power, wisdom, and/or courage than they would normally ever have. The Triforce may be magical insofar as it's the essence of the goddesses working. But it only enhances ones' personal magical ability when doing so would help grant the wish, using the force available to them.

So what am I saying? The Triforce of Courage need not have any visible magical effects - as long as it does its job. The ToC is not useless: it helps to partially grant the holder's greatest desire, inasmuch as pure courage will help. And what do you think Link's greatest desire would be? Likely, to destroy Ganon and bring peace to Hyrule. After all, it was greed like Ganondorf's that got Link's parents killed. How successful do you think kid Link would have been against Ganon in his full power? I laugh to think of it. But given courage, Link can gather enough weapons to do battle with Ganon. Even then, Link would have been lost had it not been for Zelda's guidance. Consider how well Link would have done against Ganondorf if he hadn't had the Light Arrows. Consider further how well Link would have done against Ganon, if the Sages hadn't been in just the right place to seal him. Link may have been able to defeat Ganon just by dumb luck, but having the guidance of the ToW, through Zelda, certainly helped.

So what I'm saying is that the Triforce pieces are not all created equal. They don't grant equal forces. They don't all necessarily give one greater magical powers, that the holder may kickest ass. The goddesses knew full well how any one force could get blown out of proportion, and used to cover Hyrule with darkness. This is why they made the Triforce so it would split. Two Triforce holders, chosen by destiny, could surely prevail against the abuses of one Triforce holder.