Religion in Skyward Sword

Also, Kolaktos (or whatever his name was) Reminded me of Buddha.

Originally Posted by Bobby Emerald

But....there are churches like that irl. I don't see it as a religious offender; I don't see any of the religious elements in the series as offensive in any way, actually. Personally, I don't see a reason to be offended. (Well, I do recall people complaining about the Fire Temple music in OoT, but that's a special case I suppose.)

Yes, churches exist. I meant that LttP had religious elements that actually do exist, such as churches but SS doesn't. SS characters have their own completely made-up religion. It's not like LttP because SS doesn't have churches or other religious elements that actually exist. And no, I don't find it offensive. My point was this: there is absolutely no reason to be bothered by a completely fictional religion that contains no obvious parallels to real beliefs and isn't mocking a particular real religion. If the game blatantly mocks a real religion or even parallels it (like LttP's churches), then it's more likely people would get mad. In the case of Zelda games I personally think no one should be offended by its religious references. But, people may get mad regardless because it remotely mentioned their religion, even if it was done in an appropriate manner. SS however doesn't mock or parallel a real religion, so I see no reason to be bothered by it.

Originally Posted by Cor Sicarius

Also, Kolaktos (or whatever his name was) Reminded me of Buddha.

Well, I think I would have gone with Shiva, the Hindu God of Destruction and stuff (as I understand it), but I do see where you're going. Shiva is more likely to have multiple arms, however, although Buddha is represented in many ways. I did think that the big statue in the middle of the Ancient Cistern looked similar to a representation of Buddha, though.

Originally Posted by eiyuu_004

it isn't really "religious", I'd say its more .... "mythological". Sure those can be the same thing depending on your views, but pretty much every myth has those elements, including god-man that somehow make a sacrifice to save the world/land/etc. Jesus was probably the most recent of those type figures in history actually, so I wouldn't say the Zelda story is Christian based. The Zelda series tends to be based on eastern religions more than anything, particularly Shinto and (especially in parts of SS) Buddhism, and of course many other ancient mythologies, but they all kind of blend together anyway, so its hard to say one is more of an influence.

I personally agree eiyuu. The Zelda series definitely draws a lot from Eastern religions, especially Shintō and Hinduism, and in the original cut of Ocarina of Time, Muslim. No one religion can be pinned down to the series, nor to Skyward Sword in particular. Again, I must say I agree with eiyuu: the series is more mythologically influenced than anything, and many people even believe that each game is just a different retelling of the same story, which is certainly a mythological thing to do.

Originally Posted by Trisha

Yes, churches exist. I meant that LttP had religious elements that actually do exist, such as churches but SS doesn't. SS characters have their own completely made-up religion. It's not like LttP because SS doesn't have churches or other religious elements that actually exist. And no, I don't find it offensive. My point was this: there is absolutely no reason to be bothered by a completely fictional religion that contains no obvious parallels to real beliefs and isn't mocking a particular real religion. If the game blatantly mocks a real religion or even parallels it (like LttP's churches), then it's more likely people would get mad. In the case of Zelda games I personally think no one should be offended by its religious references. But, people may get mad regardless because it remotely mentioned their religion, even if it was done in an appropriate manner. SS however doesn't mock or parallel a real religion, so I see no reason to be bothered by it.

Well I agree with you on all of these points. However, the intention of this thread was not to ask if people were offended by SS religion because it resembles some real religion, but more how you feel about it in general, since I would say this game is more spiritual than the rest of the series.

But! I don't mind if that is the direction everyone wants to take this thread. Whatever leads to good discussion

I disliked it. I think all monotheistic religions are boring and oppressive. Monotheism probably arose as a movement to consolidate power in the church under one authority. I can have fun with polytheism, but monotheism is too offensive to individualism.

I would say what makes Skyward Sword cool is that it defines what Hyrule's religion IS. It tells us who the gods are that the Hylians worship--and what exactly those gods did for the people to start worshipping them in the first place. It also establishes an ambiguous source of evil, so to speak, from which all future evil stems (sort of like Hyrule's own version of Satan, or something)...

Originally Posted by Cor Sicarius

Also, Kolaktos (or whatever his name was) Reminded me of Buddha.

I KNOOOW!
But Skyward Sword religious aspects didn't bother me. I think it worked well with the game.
And I don't see why religion in a game is offending.
I mean, it's not even a real religion.
Unless you worship Zelda. I can see some people on this site doing that.

I ALWAYS thought Zelda was very "religious" based, but it never bothered me. I believe more in the Zelda religion than I do with any IRL ones, anyhow.

Every game revolves around the Triforce, goddesses, the hero and the fall of gannondorf (evil)
It's all there. It IS a fantasy game, and they do make numerous references to other religions (some things were mentioned in previous posts) But I feel these usages are all just supposed to be inspired from certain religious symbols/ideas to create an entirely fantastical and original belief system, if you will.

There wouldn't be much to the Zelda franchise without it, in my opinion, and it makes the game feel more spiritual and intense. I have never once thought there was too much of it added into the game. It's just the way the series is, and I have always approved the way they integrated it into the storyline.

Haha, my dad watched me play for a little while and exclaimed that the game was teaching people to be pagans when they mentioned a goddess. I lol'd and told him the 'praying at bird statues' thing was just an in-story justification for saving your game, and that seemed to satisfy him.

I hope I don't rub anyone the wrong way by saying this, but it doesn't even seem like religion. More like powerful deities have actually done things in relatively recent memory (and are even doing things currently) and people are acting accordingly. If some sky lady descended from the heavens and saved humanity from like, everything I'd probably build a statue of her, too.