A deep dive into the ever-changing beliefs of the Hylian people

One of the core aspects of The Legend of Zelda is the mythos surrounding Hyrule and its creation. Every story of Hyrule is grounded in the idea that the three Golden Goddesses created the world and the ultimate power of the Triforce, although the exact story of the Goddesses and the beliefs of those inhabiting Hyrule has never been consistent between games. Kings often try to hide the existence of gods to prevent conflict or knowledge is lost with time.

What is the true story of the gods? How does the Hylian people’s understanding of their religion change? What in-world reasons caused said change? This article will answer all of these questions and more by diving into each era of Hyrule’s history and dissecting the religious beliefs of the kingdom’s inhabitants and the reasons behind them. 

A quick review of the ancient history

In the beginning, the three Golden Goddesses created the world. Din created the earth, Farore created life to inhabit the earth, and Nayru created law to uphold life on the earth. As the three departed their new world, they left behind the Triforce, which would grant the wishes of those who touched it, and the Goddess Hylia to protect both the world and Triforce. 

Eventually, Hylia found herself at war with the Demon Tribe and their ruler, Demise, who threatened to destroy everything Hylia held dear. To protect her people, the Hylians, Hylia sent them up into the sky on a plot of land she created for them. This island would be rich in food and water, and the cloud barrier would protect them from the Surface. Hylia then sacrificed herself to put the Demon King in a seal. Knowing the seal would eventually break, Hylia set a plan into motion. First, she would be reincarnated into a Hylian girl, Zelda, in order to maintain the seal. Second, she designated a chosen hero that would fight and eventually defeat Demise. This is the tale that is told in A Link to the Past, Ocarina of Time, and Skyward Sword.

The era of the Sky — The rediscovering of the Triforce

The beliefs of Skyloft’s inhabitants are unique compared to the rest of Hyrule’s history, as they had almost no knowledge of the three Golden Goddess, the Triforce, or the story of old. Even Zelda’s father Gaepora, who was a very intelligent scholar, barely knew of the Triforce’s existence. It had all become a legend and only the ancient Levias knew the details of the world’s creation. All of this is a very ironic fact given that the Triforce resides inside Skyloft itself.

Instead of worshipping the Golden Goddesses, the people of the Sky sang the praises of Hylia. In her honor, the Hylians revered a giant statue of the goddess that was visible from any position in Skyloft. They also made sure to thoroughly adorn the village and academy with Hylia’s symbol. It is undeniable that this is one of the more religious eras for the Hylians, and a unique time when a god was worshipped. But everything changed once Link uncovered the Triforce, as greed now drove men to desire the power of the gods for themselves instead of worshipping it.

The Era of Chaos — War and disaster

Though a brief time of peace coincided with the Hylians’ rediscovery of the Triforce, the land was quickly consumed in conflict. Each of them had the same goal in mind, to take the Triforce and conquer the Scared Realm it was kept in. Not much is known about this era, as it is only briefly mentioned in Hyrule Historia. 

However, it is known that this time of conflict came to an end once the Ancient Sages placed a seal on the Sacred Realm. They used the Master Sword as a sort of lock on the heavenly realm and built the Temple of Time to protect it. The temple would become an important site for the Hylians, though its real purpose was kept hidden. Conflicting sources make the Temple’s original location a mystery. Hyrule Historia hints that it was built on top of Hylia’s Seal Temple, but Breath of the Wild’s Great Plateau suggests otherwise. Interestingly, the sages sealing the Sacred Realm happened around the same time that the Kingdom of Hyrule was officially formed. 

The revelations about the Triforce and Scared Realm sent Hyrule into chaos. The ancient power had been rediscovered, and everyone wanted a piece. Hyrule’s religion had been thrown for a loop, as it was no longer a story about praising Hylia but the Golden Goddesses and the power they offered. But with the Sacred Realm closed off to the people and the kingdom formed, Hyrule and their beliefs were heading toward another major shift.

The Era of Prosperity, Force, and Hero of Time

After the Era of Chaos came to an end, religion began to play a smaller role within Hyrule. At some point, an evil arose and a Picori dubbed “The Hero of Men” came from the sky with the Light Force in hand to save the day (as seen in The Minish Cap). Afterward, the tiny hero left behind his blade, which was sealing the Light Force in a chest. The royal family quickly hid this from everyone in Hyrule in an attempt to prevent conflict and shorten its impact on the Hylian people.

By the time of Ocarina of Time, most people in Hyrule, aside from select advisors of the Royal Family, seemed to even know of the existence of the gods. While the exact reason for the shift in the religious beliefs of those in Hyrule is unknown, it can be speculated that the Royal Family hid the existence of the goddesses and Triforce from the world to prevent conflict. This can be backed up as the Royal Family used a very similar move to hide the Picori, the Light Force, and the Hero of Men for that exact reason.

Either way, religion was being forgotten about in Hyrule. Whether or not this happened naturally, or was encouraged by the Royal Family is up for debate but a religious decline in the kingdom can not be denied. However, everything abruptly changes when Ganondorf takes over Hyrule and the timeline starts to fracture.

The Hero of Time is Defeated

In this universe, Ganon defeated Link, took the Triforce for himself, and knowledge of the relic became common throughout Hyrule. In a desperate attempt by the Sages, Ganon was sealed in the Sacred Realm with the Triforce. Unfortunately, this did not stop history from repeating itself when The Imprisoning Wars broke out. Much like the Era of Chaos, this war was a series of conflicts for control of the Triforce. The massive belief in the Triforce lead to bloodshed. Once again, the Sages had to completely block the Sacred Realm to stop the fighting. At some point after the wars, a sanctuary for worshipping the gods was opened up, the closest Hyrule ever gets to a truly organized religion since Skyward Sword.

Everything returned to normal again after Ganon was defeated in A Link to the Past, as the Sacred Realm once again became Hyrule’s holy land and the Golden Goddesses remain the deities of choice. From here, things remain consistent besides the king decided to make more use of the Triforce. The only remnant of Hylia’s legacy is the belief that the Royal Family has a divine mandate to rule.

The Hero of Time is victorious

In this timeline, the Hero of Time is successful in his battle against Ganon. Though, shortly after, Zelda sends him back in time. In the process, two timelines are created. There is the Child Timeline, where Link returned to the past and warned Hyrule about Ganondorf’s threat, and the Adult Timeline is where the Hero defeated Ganon but left when Zelda sent him to his original time. This, of course, creates a split in the beliefs of Hylians.

The child timeline

After the young Link warns the Royal Family about Ganondorf’s plot, a war breaks out between the Hylians and Gerudo. Unlike the previous wars in the name of the Triforce, this one was fought between two well-defined groups, though the Hylians still won in the end. Without Ganondorf’s takeover of the kingdom, knowledge of the Triforce still remained scarce and the people of Hyrule stayed in the dark about the mythos. By the time of Twilight Princess, it is clear the Golden Goddesses have returned to popularity by some degree, as Hyrule Castle houses statues of the goddesses and the sages have remained in power. But besides that, only those close to the Royal Family appear to know about the gods or revere them.

The adult timeline

The adult timeline had been conquered by Ganon in Ocarina of Time, therefore knowledge of the Triforce was common. However, the Royal Family held control over it and managed to keep the peace. For the first time, it appears that the people saw the Golden Goddesses as a source of protection, as they believed that the goddesses sent the Hero of Time to save them. Ironically, the Hero of Time exists because of Hylia, yet the people turned to those who created the Triforce. This belief proved faulty by the time Ganon rose again, and the people nearly lost everything. The gods did save a select few of them but flooded the rest of the world. All of this is explained in the opening title crawl of The Wind Waker. By the time the game starts, very few people know of the gods, and even fewer believe they are more than simple legends. The original religion of Hyrule had come to an end.

Conclusion

The Hylian people had many shifting beliefs throughout time. Rarely were the gods seen as protectors like most human religions. Instead, for most of their history Hylians believed the gods provided immense powers that could be won. Afraid of the greed of men, kings would hide knowledge of the relic to maintain peace. Though, eventually, the people would learn of the Triforce and war would shortly follow.

The only times this pattern changed is in The Wind Waker‘s back story and Breath of the Wild where the gods did play a protector role to the Hylians. However, it is notable that even in those times, the mythos never provided a strong moral code for the people to follow. No scripts, books, or even tablets described how to live. This meant that knowledge of the gods was an active threat, as it would cause those empowered by greed to seek their divine power.