Link is God

Firstly. I am a new member and I wanted to share this theory because LOZ is a game series that has intrigued me from the very beginning. When you see something like "Link is God" in the title, don't get immediately freaked out.

What I mean when I say "God" is that the "God" of the Zelda universe is the person who sets all of the events of that universe in motion. So Miyamoto. Every character who exists in the Zelda universe is the result of a thought or idea that Miyamoto has had and made into reality through the medium of video games. I'm not here to question anybody's belief in God.

I think that the biggest area of debate amongst any LOZ fan is the timeline. But let's ignore the timeline and just examine the concept of the game for a bit.

The game is called "The Legend of Zelda" and it's supposed to be exactly that: a legend. I wonder why in OOT, there already IS a legend of the "Hero of Time" and all of the temples and all of the sacred sites that were visited by the original "Hero of Time" are once again visited by that version of Link. The same thing happens in A Link to the Past when there already is a standing legend of a villain who tried to access the Golden Land.

Link is a gift from God to all of the lands of Hyrule because he is tailor-made to fit into the story of each game. Miyamoto says, "I want to try [x] kind of dungeon" or "I want to include [x] play mechanic" in the next game... and then he comes up with a version of Link for the game whose background story, personality traits (he's courageous), and reason for existence is solely to complete the game.

Link is "born" on a computer in a program that assembles polygons together to look like a character. The developers develop an entire universe for him to live in, and an entire story for him to live. He continues to live on this loop of existence;

1. He wakes up one day and someone tells him that he's got some huge mission to complete.
2. He finds a sword and sheild.
3. He begins his journey.
4. An introductory dungeon.
5. He fights many enemies and goes to the castle.
6. He meets Zelda.
7. The main enemy shows up.
8. Zelda somehow disappears.
9. More temples. Sidequests.
10. Master Sword.
11. More temples. Sidequests. Items acquired. Achievements. Navi Killed.
12. Final Dungeon. Final Enemy Defeated. Triforce restored. Game finished. Play again.

Every game includes the list of events that I've stated above in some form or another, plus many other events too numerous to list in one or even a thousand posts. The point is that every game makes mention to previous event that took place that was almost exactly like the events taking place in whichever game you're currently playing.

I think that the reason why Miyamoto keeps people on a string about the timeline is because the timeline itself doesn't really matter that much to him. What's important to him is creating a fictional universe filled with interesting characters and phenomenal events taking place that always make me feel like a kid sitting on my knees with a slurpee and some fun dip each time I pull the Master Sword out of its pedestal.

It's a legend and it should be appreciated as a legend. A legend is independent of time and space because it is a manifestation of a thought; a life that we all can live and a set of challenges that we can all can overcome by simply moving our thumbs. No one knows exactly when or how it got started, it's simply a legend that's been embodied countless times by a little sprite/polygonal dude.

We all want the answers to this whole timeline question, but the only place for us to turn is to the "God" of the Zelda Universe. And He never gives a clear answer, does He?

I'd like to use this thread to talk about what I've learned about life by playing the game. I invite anyone who wants to talk about this with me to join. It will be fun. Trolls Welcome.

I'm still not entirely sure what you mean by "Link is God". It seems you are actually referring to Miyamoto as God.

The rest of your post is quite good, however. I really like your line about Miyamoto trying to recreate that childhood experience, because that's exactly how I feel about what I want in a Zelda game.

I think this forum is a little too obsessed with the timeline. They're stories, and we should appreciate them all as individual stories instead of worrying about how they connect. I think we will get better Zelda games if the developers don't have to worry about that.

So... the point of this is to say the games are made so it's possible to beat it using Link, and that the developers probably don't care too much about the timeline?
Well, I think most people already knew this and agree. People use the timeline anyway to come up with theories though. Theories have to be based on something, and the timeline happens to be something canon.

As for learning things about life from Zelda, hm... unfortunately I can't think of anything at the moment. I learned what "weary" and "wound" meant, but I can't recall learning anything very significant.

Well....for learning things for life from the Zelda games.....they taught me how to read ^~^. I like this theory.

Originally Posted by Mamba

I'm still not entirely sure what you mean by "Link is God". It seems you are actually referring to Miyamoto as God.

The rest of your post is quite good, however. I really like your line about Miyamoto trying to recreate that childhood experience, because that's exactly how I feel about what I want in a Zelda game.

I think this forum is a little too obsessed with the timeline. They're stories, and we should appreciate them all as individual stories instead of worrying about how they connect. I think we will get better Zelda games if the developers don't have to worry about that.

I'm saying that Link is God because he's a primary force of his universe. Whenever there is a need for him, Ganon, and Zelda to be concurrently alive, they are all born (with the exception of possibly Ganon who continues to be resurrected) and raised to complete a purpose.

Link is perfectly crafted by the God of the Zelda universe in every one of his incarnations and he has a unique destiny in every game that isn't so unique. The whole timeline thing means that it's always the original spirit of Link, but that Link takes on many bodies throughout his quests.

Link is just a resident spirit of that universe who is given a body and a destiny whenever he is needed. Therefore he is a "godly" being because he always starts out every game with level 1 equipment (or below) and by the end of the game, he gains enough power and does something to restore order and balance to the world as though he were a God.

He plays the role of a Jesus-type character who is pure and never has a bad thought. He comes when he's needed and he is basically the savior of the entire universe. He's always a direct insertion of God into each respective game because there would be no story if he were absent.

---------- Post added at 08:38 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:30 PM ----------

Originally Posted by moo1

Well....for learning things for life from the Zelda games.....they taught me how to read ^~^. I like this theory.

This game has taught me to look at life as though I were Link.

We're all on a journey to something larger and we all start out at level 1 with level 1 equipment and a level 1 understanding of our universe. We have to go through many trials in our lives (school, work, etc.) and I look at each one of these trials as a dungeon that has its own set of challenges and puzzles to solve.

Link himself seems like a guy without any real expression or emotion, he never talks. When I played Mario 64 and I heard Mario's voice for the first time, I thought, "Wow! I wonder what Link actually sounds like as well!"

Unfortunately he hasn't spoken to this day, and that's why I see him as a symbol for life. He seems to be self-aware to me. He knows that he's in a video game and that he's doomed to repeat the same loop of his life millions of times over. He never has thoughts or feelings, or emotions of his own because he knows that he's being controlled by someone else all the time.

Link has taught me that sometimes it's okay to turn off the game and go out on my own adventure, but that I have the choice in the matter as to what I want to do in life. There isn't anyone secretly controlling what I do with a game controller. Video game characters have no free will, but as humans, we do.

^ Toon Link speaks.

So, I feel like this was just a complicated way of saying Link is the main character.

That's exactly the way I saw it, EvanDotTom... I don't even think this should be in theorizing... General Zelda, perhaps, but not theorizing.

Originally Posted by Hylian Sam

That's exactly the way I saw it, EvanDotTom... I don't even think this should be in theorizing... General Zelda, perhaps, but not theorizing.

I'll leave it here for now, because the OP goes a bit in depth than what is usually accepted in General Zelda with the whole timeline debate. But I'll see what happens with the next few posts and make a decision to move this thread if needed.


To the OP: Interesting thread. But this is pretty much the same thing for a lot of the main characters out there. EvanDotTom nailed what I was going to say.

The stories in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time aren't exactly "stories" or "fables," but merely "prophecies." It's sort of like those Christians and Jews with their tales of the Messiah. They believe in it because their God said he'd come.

As we see in The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, the Sheikah are the überbadasslol agents of the Goddess, Hylia. One thing that most people overlook in Ocarina of Time is that Sheik actually states that the legend of the Temples and the Hero of Time are actually passed down in Sheikah legend, not Hylian legend. Just Sheikah legend.

So, it is clear that the legend of the Hero of Time was given to the Sheikah by their leige, Hylia. Either that, or the fact that Skyward Sword Link also jumps through time to save the world inspired the Sheikah legend.

Yes it's true that Link fulfills a messianic role in his stories, but that's also true of pretty much every other protagonist hero in fiction, and it doesn't make him God of his particular universe either.