#I don't even think the torture dungeon has enough evidence to really consider in the novel and its not even mentioned in the show

[llycaons]

im finally feeling awake now so @pharahsgf this is the post I was talking about

foolish. reductive. immature. disrespectful. willfully ignorant. WRONG

[powdermelonkeg]

What are some random headcanons you have? (for any zelda game)

I'm going to go all out with this one and talk about Arbiter's Grounds. Specifically, its architecture.

See, this structure here is a fascinating study, because the amount of effort put into it gives us insight into TWO histories.

So, what is Arbiter's Grounds? Put simply, a torture chamber.

We have spikes impaling skulls, traps around every corner, undead crawling the halls, and at its heart, the Hyrulean equivalent to capital punishment.

But also, strangely, we have religious carvings in here as well.

This is the Gerudo goddess of sand; Geluda. We've only ever seen her in Ocarina of Time, in the Desert Colossus.

So why is she here, in a torture dungeon of all places? And why, also, is she in a place utilized by the Hyruleans, who don't worship her in any capacity?

If we look really closely at Arbiter's Grounds, we see something incredibly interesting.

We have this new-ish looking, gold-edged, geometric Hyrulean architecture, like the kind that we see in the Temple of Time.

And the patterns don’t really match the normal parts of the temple.

Even if you look at the gold-edged pillars, they’ve been modified. Compare the Hyrulean marks on the gold to the squiggles on the stone, like in the above picture.

The letters here don’t spell anything, but they LOOK Hylian.

Just glancing through it, I can see  half of an L, a Z, and a W.

And if you look closely, the Royal Crest on this doorway has been fixed OVER images of the sage medallions

You can find more evidence of the medallions near the roof of Arbiter’s Grounds in almost every room, in Hyrulean gold.

We know that this place is where you meet the sages when you go to find the mirror. But why here? Why put the spirits of Hyrule’s holy in a death prison?

Here’s what I think. The only Gerudo we ever see is Ganondorf in this game.

Aside from him, nothing. No camps, no prisoners, no cities, nothing. We maybe have Telma, and she’s unconfirmed.

But they’re in later games, and none of the skulls in the traps look human-like. So they weren’t executed for losing the war, which was my first thought when considering Arbiter’s Grounds.

The desert stretches well off into the distance, so it’s a safe enough assumption to say that they left the area to avoid war with Hyrule, leaving their temple behind.

The Hylians commandeered it to use as their execution grounds, giving it its name. It was the Hylians that came after that installed all the traps, and the people foolish enough to try stealing from the death trap wound up as the stalfos and redeads you come across.

It’s adding insult to injury, taking Ganondorf’s people’s sacred temple and defacing it in the wake of their war. The only minor consolation we have is that it’s not the first time it’s been used this way.