#zelda theory

[azuresage]

It gets talked about a lot but I still can't stop nerding out about Link's characterization in TotK. It's done through his many creative dialogue choices and his expressions of course, but it's also done so subtly through what he *doesn't* say. Notably, he doesn't talk about himself. And this is why nobody recognizes him unless they've already met him. Because he doesn't tell them when they've got the wrong impression of him.

The meme about Link having Tony Hawk syndrome is so real. People will look at him and straight up say, "Wow, you look exactly like Link!" without a hint of irony. Lookout Landing has a detailed picture of his face in their watchtower and the search party still doesn't recognize him. Penn works with Link for a long time and thinks he's unlucky that the Yiga keep "mistaking" him for the Hero (granted, Traysi asked him to deliberately keep quiet, but Penn still didn't put two and two together himself). I think the reason for this, aside from it being really, really funny, is that Link just doesn't talk about himself. He doesn't feel the need to.

Characterization isn't just about what we see a character doing, it's also about how other characters respond to them. Link is so unassuming and humble that he doesn't match people's expectations of what "Link" should be like. The three Gerudo ladies hanging out around Outskirt Stable are one of many perfect examples. Link stands in front of them carrying the Master Sword, but they expect the Hero to be taller than they are, with a giant glowing sword, so they don’t believe it's him. Obviously that's not the reality, but they don't know that. Link doesn't correct them, either. Again, he doesn't feel the need to.

This is also why many NPCs from BotW don't recognize or remember Link. To them, he was just a passerby that did them a good turn once 6+ years ago. Nobody's going to remember a person like that for so long after. They had no way of knowing he was the Hero, unless it came up for story quest reasons. When they hear stories about the Princess's Appointed Knight who woke up from his 100 year nap, defeated the Calamity, and rescued Zelda, they imagine someone larger than life. Then when they see what Link actually is like, they can't put two and two together.

This is true even during the Hyrule Restoration efforts. Link always follows behind Zelda as her shadow, which she notes in her diary, but the people in the stable investigation quests and in Hateno don't recognize him either, even though he went everywhere she did. Link is just that unassuming. He resigns himself to being a shadow, allowing Zelda to take the lead and do as she pleases but always staying nearby to support and protect her. He doesn't need to be recognizable to do his job. And we know from both BotW and now TotK that he's wholly devoted to her. He's content with this. Many people more eloquent than I have spent many paragraphs elaborating on this. I just wanted to focus on what it says about his character.

Link is humble and unassuming, so much so that nobody believes that he's the Hero unless they already know him. He's devoted to Zelda, so much so that he's willing to do anything to chase even a glimpse of her. He doesn't talk about himself or correct people who have the wrong impression of him. He doesn't need to do that to chase his Zelda. He is a person of great humility in spite of his station. I think that's so interesting and neat how the comedy of him being unrecognizable also tells us all this about him. It's also cool how this is only one aspect of him; all the dialogue choices and expressions he makes during cutscenes and actions out in the world show a whole other, lighter side to him that meshes with this. It's all so good. I am in love with it. It always kills me inside when people dismiss his characterization as being nonexistant or flat just because it's not spoonfed to them or when they say Link being unrecognizable is lazy writing instead of a deliberate choice. I am biting and gnawing and gnashing over him and his relationship to Zelda. I love them so much.

[weareswords]

Zelda fans losing our minds over Ganondorf returning, Zelda becoming Hylia, the Zonai tribe origins, and the potential infinite time loop

Polygon: HUMMUS

[stinkgh]

The entire Zelda fanbase rn:

[evangelina-loz]

- - ┈┈∘┈˃̶༒˂̶┈∘┈┈ - -

I still don't share the opinion of people who consider Fi annoying. Like, yes, it pops up on the screen every five seconds, I get it.

But it's so logical from the point of view of the plot.

Of course, we, the players, understand how to solve this or that puzzle or defeat this or that monster, but here we miss a very important detail.

Link's character doesn't know anything we know.

This guy had just descended from sky to earth, left his small peaceful island, where the only "dangerous" place was a small cave, and found himself in a huge, unknown world.

Of course, Fi will always fly out with his tips and hints, because it's like teaching a baby to walk —you watch it’s every step and are afraid about whether it will fall.

If I were in Link's place, I wouldn't even give Fi the chance to return to the sword for at least five minutes.

- - ┈┈∘┈˃̶༒˂̶┈∘┈┈ - -

[carrotsnake]

since peacocks don't really exist in the wild era, riju's feather patterns on her armour seemed purely cosmetic until totk, where it resembles the leaves of trees in the depths. along with the gerudo underground cemetery, it's another leftover of her people's past involvement there, passed down from each chief.

[ya-kiri]

I get Ganondorf is supposed to be "evil" and everything but let's not kid ourselves and say the Royal Family aren't partly to blame for what is probably going to go down in Tears of the Kingdom. They had the bright idea to desecrate and preserve the corpse of someone (known for havoc and dark magic) who spews out a dangerous substance fuelled by dark feelings of anger and hatred, literally called "Malice", in painful suspended animation.

They really thought "Wow, this totally won't piss him off" in the 10,000 years Calamity Ganon was a thing? Once again Link has to be the one to clean up the mess of the Royal Family after they took things too far (Shadow Temple cough cough, Twilight Realm as prisoner dumping ground, cough cough).

[roy-dcm2]

Zelda Theory - The True form of the Kokiri / Koroks

There's something about the Kokiri that doesn't add up.

There's the matter of the rules of the Kokiri and the Lost Woods. Although that might be simpler than it seems.

One rule is that Kokiri must not leave the Kokiri Forest, because they might die, or grow up. But we see them at Lonlon Ranch at the end of Zelda 64.

There can be a simple explanation:

It was the old Deku Tree that made the original rule, and the New Deku Tree does not demand that the Kokiri be permanently confined to the Forest.

But, I gotta ask, why wait until now to revoke that rule?

"Ocarina of Time" never mentions it, but there are some lapses in logic when it comes to Link and the Kokiri.

The Deku Sprout reveals to us that Link was actually delivered to the Deku Tree as a baby and raised as one of the Kokiri. But… wouldn't they all remember Link was a baby?

Like, wouldn't Saria, his closest friend, remark to him that he was a baby, when they met? Wouldn't his bullies (like Mido) tease him about being a baby?

Unless, they all forgot about it.

The Deku Tree is very old and powerful Spirit, he might have the power to alter memories. Especially the memories of the Kokiri, who are probably just extensions of his own spirit.

I'd could even speculate that the Koroks are actually the ORIGINAL forms, and they became the child-like Kokiri, in order to accommodate baby Link, and allow him to grow up around people that look like him.

And of course, the special rules that Kokiri cannot leave the Forest were set in place to protect Link. (at first)

It's likely the Deku Tree could sense the spirit of the Hero inside of Link, and he needed to be guarded until Destiny called on him to rise up.

Finally, by the time of Wind Waker and Breath of the Wild, the Deku tree no longer had a child to guard, so he had no qualms about letting the Koroks go beyond the forest. Regular people can't SEE the Koroks!

(Also, after many tests, we know Koroks are indestructable, lol)

Imagine that... Saria was a Korok the entire time. Link never saw her true face. It makes it all the sadder, doesn't it?

[snarky-art]

I love theory videos about Zelda stuff but man I really hate a lot of them when they talk about the Zonai. So often they use weighted language such as “primitive” and “less” and terms that we’re really trying to move away from in anthropology and art history since it just isn’t accurate to the way a lot of civilizations were and 9/10 times places the area of comparison on European and Anglo-sphere structures as the main point of reference. There’s also the idea that “progress” and “advancement” is strictly linear, which just isn’t the case.

The fields that are used in academia for these areas of study were founded by white men in Europe using eugenics or the ideology that would go on to be the basis of eugenics as a reference point. It’s based in highly problematic (to say the least) structures and we’re working on deconstructing that.

I just wish more people who aren’t as familiar with these fields knew that so I could better enjoy the videos and so the videos themself could actually have things of substance instead of a misplaced idea of “less tech like what the Hylian’s and Shiekah used means they were dumber and less advanced” when if we’re going to use our understanding of the current field of study, it just means they most likely just had different priorities and also just because the structures we’re looking at are made of stone instead of metals doesn’t mean they’re less “advanced”

Media and its relation to our reality and society is cyclical and the reinforcement of those ideas to a larger audience who doesn’t know better is harmful for real world reasons and also isn’t a viable way of analyzing things even if it’s “just a video game,” even if that is the way Nintendo intended it since they have a huge imperialist past that’s still ingrained in their culture to this day and is reenforced by the same things I’m critiquing in this post.

I dunno I’m just tired lol

[zeldadeservesabreak]

“Where did all the Sheikah tech and shrines go?”

… is one of the most annoying questions I’ve seen repeated over and over again by people and theorists. Because the answer is quite literally in your face the entire game if you just pay attention to the details.

There’s actually 3 very obvious reasons for the shrines and towers disappearing. And since I get this question a lot, I’m gonna answer them here:

1. They were repurposed by Robbie and Purah.

This is the most direct answer with evidence you can clearly see. Purah and Robbie are still tinkering with stuff, and the Purah Pad is a perfect example of this. It is very clearly still Sheikah technology. It looks and acts just like the Sheikah Slate, but it’s more refined and streamlined. So it’s pretty apparent that since the events of Breath of the Wild she and Robbie have continued their studies and made improvements on the tech.

Additionally every one of the sky view towers houses guardians underneath. This is very clear in the little cut scene that plays out when you activate one for the first time. Guardian legs pop out, and then apply the appropriate gear to you before launching you into the sky. If you pay attention to Link’s reaction as well, the first time this happens in Lookout Tower he is visibly FREAKED OUT by this. No doubt a reflexive defensive reaction to his time fighting Guardians in the last game.

So the tech isn’t entirely gone. It’s been repurposed.

2. It was dismantled on Zelda’s orders.

This is not explicitly said, but it’s heavily implied. Zelda has been traveling with Link since the first game and helping to rebuild Hyrule. Part of healing from a calamity is removing evidence of that calamity so that people can move on with their lives and not be reminded of the thousands that died.

This is also probably because Zelda feels guilty about the role she played. After all she was the one who unearthed the guardians in the first place. She set up the very same guardians that eventually got possessed by Calamity Ganon and DESTROYED THE WORLD.

Also, having finally stopped the calamity it is in Hyrule’s best interest to remove technology that could still be beneficial to your enemies. The last thing they need is another calamity happening that reactivates all the dead Guardians… again. (More on this later)

You can find evidence of this in many places where shrines once existed now only exist an empty patch that resembles the shrine’s shape. These patches are clean, do not disturb the landscape much at all, and it seems much more controlled and surgical compared to what I’m about to talk about in the next section. I believe these patches are where Zelda’s construction team are responsible for dismantling the shrines.

So it’s pretty clear to me that healing the land from the calamity by removing them and any other Sheika tech/shrine would be a priority.

3. Ganon’s Gloom destroyed the rest.

This is also not explicitly stated, but is pretty clear when you examine the facts. Gloom is extremely dangerous. Far more dangerous than the calamity’s corruption. Gloom saps your life away and is the reason all weapons in Hyrule just suddenly decayed when the upheaval happened. It’s so powerful that it literally decayed the Master Sword! The most powerful weapon in the Zelda franchise got instantly destroyed by gloom from Ganon’s initial attack.

So taking this evidence and extending it further… what’s something Ganon would want to get rid of? How about something that could be used against him? Like, say…. The divine beasts and the guardians… or how about a magical shrine that could resurrect a fallen hero?

His calamity form was destroyed by the technology initially, and while he took his revenge by possessing them the next time, the divine beasts were eventually ripped away from his control by Link and the sages were able to fire upon him yet again. So that tech is dangerous and Ganon isn’t dumb. He’s not gonna risk the same mistake happening again.

And there is evidence of this as well. If you travel around Hyrule, in many of the places where Sheikah shrines once existed you will often find bandit camps or giant gloom infestations with sink holes into the depths.

So what happened to the divine beasts and the rest of the Sheikah shrines and tech that wasn’t repurposed or dismantled? Ganon’s gloom destroyed it.

Conclusion.

I know that it’s frustrating that there aren’t many reference to these things by NPC’s. It could easily have been handled by a couple lines of dialogue by a few random characters here or there. But to be honest I look at this as just another puzzle left by the developers.

Like so many aspects of the Zelda franchise, it’s often left to you (the player) to piece together clues and small details to form your own conclusions to things. Environmental storytelling is very much a huge part of both Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom’s world building. To me the fact that there are so many clues about what happened is an indication that the developers did understand that people would question this.

The problem I’m seeing is that after asking the question “where did all the Sheikah tech go?” people are either too unimaginative or very unobservant, and don’t bother trying to ANSWER that question.

The answer is in the game. It’s all around you. You’ve been walking over it, around it, and diving into it (quite literally) while you’ve been playing.

[dilfmansion]

do y’all think hylians’ ears express emotions the same way cats do?

like perking up when they’re happy or excited or noticing something, or drooping down when they’re upset, or when they’re really agitated pinning back against their head

is this anything?? I am not a biologist lmfao

[babbletaels]

In Tears of the Kingdom, Clavia, the wife of the mayor of hateno village, takes care of Zeldas house while Zelda is gone. Clavia sweeps the floor in the house and keeps it tidy. As we know, Zelda has been living in Hateno village, the now largest hylian settlement in Hyrule, founding a school and studying in her secret well. Everyone in Hateno village knows her, she's the princess of course they know her.

If you approach Clavia while she's on her way home from cleaning the princess' house, Clavia will tell you something along the line of, she's tired and heading home, and if you need somewhere to sleep you should check in at the inn.

Zelda has most likely been working with the mayor, and knows Clavia and that's why Clavia cleans the princess' house. There is no fucking way that IF Link lived together with Zelda, she wouldn't know.

So no, Zelda and Link do not live together in Hateno village, and if you talk to the villagers it doesn't seem like Link even visits Hateno that often. Literally the Zora in Breath of the wild recognize Link better after 100 years than the villagers in Hateno did after 6ish years. Most likely Link lived and worked at Lookout Landing and he gave away his house to the princess.

I'm not saying Link and Zelda aren't a couple, they do seem to be very close, but they definitely just did not live together.

I don't want to start a completely new game just to prove that Clavia says that you should check in at the hotel, but here is a screenshot of what she says if you talk to her a second time while she's on her way home. Like she really doesn't want you to sleep in Zeldas house.

[uraniumm00n]

Just wanted to put this out here. In the Gameplay trailer Link only has one green vile/light

This is from the other Trailers ⬇️

He usually has 4! And I thought they could possibly be the new ability we will get like, Fuse, Ascend and UltraHand and that we had to collect them but even if they showcase all Links new ability he still has only one light. So it couldn't possibly be that

What do you think it could be?

ARRRRRHHHGGGG!!! IM SO EXCITED!

and a little overwhelmed but thas oki

[arsonwizard]

the current mood

[evangelina-loz]

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ɪ ᴛʜɪɴᴋ ᴛʜᴇ ʀᴇᴀꜱᴏɴ ᴡʜʏ ʏᴜɴᴏʙᴏ ɴᴏ ʟᴏɴɢᴇʀ ᴜꜱᴇᴅ ᴅᴀʀᴜᴋ'ꜱ ᴘʀᴏᴛᴇᴄᴛɪᴏɴ ᴀᴛ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ᴛɪᴍᴇ ɪꜱ ᴀɴ ᴀʟʟᴇɢᴏʀʏ ꜰᴏʀ ʜɪꜱ ᴘᴇʀꜱᴏɴᴀʟ ɢʀᴏᴡᴛʜ.

ᴀꜰᴛᴇʀ ᴀʟʟ, ᴛʜʀᴏᴜɢʜᴏᴜᴛ ʙᴏᴛᴡ, ʏᴜɴᴏʙᴏ ᴡᴀꜱ ᴀꜰʀᴀɪᴅ ᴏꜰ ᴀʟᴍᴏꜱᴛ ᴇᴠᴇʀʏᴛʜɪɴɢ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ꜱᴜʀʀᴏᴜɴᴅᴇᴅ ʜɪᴍ. ᴀɴᴅ ʟᴇᴛ ʜɪᴍ ꜱᴛɪʟʟ ʙᴇ ᴀ ʟɪᴛᴛʟᴇ ꜱʜʏ ᴀᴛ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ᴛɪᴍᴇ, ʙᴜᴛ ʜɪꜱ ᴘᴇʀꜱᴏɴᴀʟ ɢʀᴏᴡᴛʜ ɪꜱ ᴠᴇʀʏ ɴᴏᴛɪᴄᴇᴀʙʟᴇ. ʜᴇ ɪꜱ ᴛʜᴇ ꜰɪʀ��ᴛ ᴛᴏ ɢᴏ ᴛᴏ ᴛʜᴇ ᴛᴇᴍᴘʟᴇ ᴏꜰ ꜰɪʀᴇ, ᴏꜰꜰᴇʀꜱ ʜɪꜱ ɪᴅᴇᴀꜱ ꜰᴏʀ ꜱᴏʟᴠɪɴɢ ᴘʀᴏʙʟᴇᴍꜱ, ᴇᴛᴄ.

»»———-　　———-««

𝗔𝗻𝗱 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗲𝗻𝗱, 𝗬𝘂𝗻𝗼𝗯𝗼'𝘀 𝗱𝗲𝗳𝗲𝗻𝘀𝗲 𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗻𝘀 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗼 𝗮𝗻 𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗮𝗰𝗸.

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[carrotsnake]

Zelda and the Tale of Melusine

I'll be looking at the parallels between Zelda's arc and some Medieval tropes of female metamorphosis, using Melusine: Or the Noble History of Lusignan as an example. Specificially a translated copy of Jean d'Arras's version, since that's the most well known one.

To start, a run down of Melusine:

She's a half human, half fairy woman cursed by her mother for imprisoning her mortal father in a mountain. The curse dictates every Saturday she turns into a serpent from the naval down. She must marry a human man for a long time to slowly undo the curse and become fully human, but he must never see her monstrous form beforehand.

If he does, she'll lose her humanity forever and transform into a dragon.

She meets a knight in the woods, he suspects her otherworldly knowledge comes from "some phantasm or diabolical power", to which she goes don't worry about it kitten. But he likes her so he's like ok! ^_^ yay!

She keeps giving him cool fairy advice, and with it his life magically becomes a whole lot better - he gains wealth, power, and not just him but other people listen to her advice: crops flourish, castles are built. The kingdom is thriving! They love her just as much as he does, so it's no surprise they get married. But there's just one condition, she hides in the bathhouse every Saturday, and he's never to visit or peep at her.

He breaks his promise and discovers her secret. She says he's cursed both of them, and now he's lost her forever: "Be sure that as long as you live I shall always find pleasure in seeing you; but [...] never again shall you see me in female form."

The next passage is as follows:

'Melusine, uttering a very doleful cry and then a heavy sigh, leapt from the window into the void, and as she swept across the orchards she metamorphosed into a massive dragon some fifteen feet in length. [...] In her dragon form she circled the fortress three times, and each time she flew past the window she uttered such an excruciating, desolate cry that everyone wept for pity, knowing that she was leaving under constraint and against her will. Then she disappeared in the direction of Lusignan, letting out such rueful shrieking and strident cries that wherever she passed it seemed as if lightning and thunder were about to split the sky.'

He never sees her again after that. But phantoms of her start appearing in the castle, secretly visiting her children at night and generally just spooking people by standing there menacingly. And that's how the myth is born.

I've already drawn connections through the images above, but what's the point of this?

Like lots of other fans I was irked by the whole 'zelda jesus' thing in totk, yeah it is a little odd that everyone follows her advice without question, and it's never wrong.

I'm curious, if the team was drawing from Western myths, that this was supposed to echo the fae. Especially since most of the quests keep you on your toes on whether this was the real Zelda giving advice, or a fake - a phantom(!) - deliberately sabotaging them. It mirrors how opinions on Melusine were split between a benevolent fae or a demon. Splitting them into two entities though, I can see how that would defang it.

The og text wasn't exactly that nuanced either. I remember my prof joking the message amounted to "always listen to your weird snake wife!" Maybe we SHOULD listen to our weird snake wives.

It's interesting Melusine only interacts with children after the curse - botw+totk imply only young children who are pure of heart can see dragons.

I recommend reading the whole thing if you can find it! Then you can look for more parallels, and read riveting pieces of dialogue such as this:

[imjiahn]

So, if THIS is the old map of Hyrule. Than there is some water missing.

Also around the great plateau

That