Segment I: The Creation, the Triforce, the Sacred Realm

This will be the beginning of a series much like my "LionHarted's Theory Thread", except it will focus more on analyzing the series as a whole chronologically, rather than one event at a time. I plan to lay it out as follows:

Segment I: “The Creation of Hyrule, the Legend of the Triforce, and the Mythical Golden Land"
Segment II: "The Conquests of Ganon the Evil King of Darkess and the Triumphs of the Hero"
Segment III: "A History of the Peoples and Races and Societies Found Within Hyrule"

I may do more, depending on the success of the first three. Anyway, without further ado, enjoy the first installment.

“An Independent Survey of the History of Hyrule”, Segment I: “The Creation of Hyrule, the Legend of the Triforce, and the Mythical Golden Land”

As is the case with any historical study, understanding a society’s outlook on the creation of the world is imperative to understanding that society as a whole. Accordingly, any in-depth examination of the Legend of Zelda myth requires that we delve for a moment into the already deeply-scrutinized Creation Myth, the early legends concerning the Triforce, and the mystical Sacred Realm, which would later come to be known as the Golden Land. Since the Ancient Hyrule myths are, of course, the oldest records we can salvage of these stories, it is only fitting that their examination would come first on the agenda.

“Before time began, before spirits and life existed... Three golden goddesses descended upon the chaos that was Hyrule: Din, the goddess of power; Nayru, the goddess of wisdom; Farore, the goddess of courage. Din, with her strong flaming arms, cultivated the land and created the red earth. Nayru poured her wisdom onto the earth and gave the spirit of law to the world. Farore, with her rich soul, produced all life forms who would uphold the law.

“The three great goddesses, their labors completed, departed for the heavens. And golden sacred triangles remained at the point where the goddesses left the world. Since then, the sacred triangles have become the basis of our world's providence. And, the resting place of the triangles has become the Sacred Realm.”

~ “The Creation of Hyrule,” Ocarina of Time

Already we may find some discrepancies in interpretation within the very first clause. One can interpret the phrase “before time began” either literally or figuratively—either time itself did not exist before the world’s creation, or this description merely illustrates the apparent timelessness of the world. If the former, then we can presume that time itself does not exist in the realm of the gods; if the latter, then we simply presume that the early Hylians were very crafty storytellers. The next phrase, “before spirits and life existed”, however, seems not to be subject to any independent discrepancy. This phrase’s interpretation depends upon that of the previous one—in order to be literal, the preceding phrase must also have been literal, and the same applies to a figurative interpretation. In all fairness, however, either interpretation is of equal merit.

This particular version of the Creation myth describes the Creation deities as being “golden goddesses descend[ing] upon the chaos that was Hyrule”. We ought to note two important points from this citation: one—that they were, indeed, goddesses, and not gods; two—that Hyrule was a realm of chaos until the Creation was finished. Of course the point about the deities taking on the feminine speaks for itself, but the description of Hyrule as a chaos is important when determining the context of interpretation. Some scholars consider the description of existence before Existence as a void to be evidence for a literal translation of the “before time began” clause, since, of course, voids tend to exist without any semblance of time, at least without time as we have come to know it. Those who stand in opposition to this view tend to simply denote this particular choice of diction as a descriptor of the formlessness of the physical world, and not of reality as an abstract idea.

One thing that is strange to note is that, while Farore is the goddess in charge of creating all sentient life, she is not the goddess of fertility—that role passes instead to Din. These categorizations are not at all surprising, especially given the geocentric views held by most societies during the initial stages of civilization. The earth would have taken on the role of provider, and, as such, would also have taken on any attributes of fertility, and those traits would have also passed to Din. Another interesting note is that, while Din and Farore possess elemental aspects—fire and wind, respectively—Nayru has no alchemic element attributed to her. This is perhaps indicative of society’s prevalent ignorance—both of and towards—what we would today refer to as ‘wisdom,’ which, of course, was the virtue that Nayru was patron of.

Another topic of much deliberation is the meaning of the term “spirit of law”. Does this mean, as some suggest, a sense of morality? Or does it mean the natural law? The interpretation truly depends upon whether or not one believes that all life-forms can have a sense of morality. Some animals obviously lack the mental capacity to calculate right versus wrong or good versus evil, and [most] plants and fungi-forms obviously have no apparent mental capacity to begin with. But, at the same time, is it really possible for life-forms to “uphold the law”, if that law is the natural law? Would they not then simply be subject to it (against their own will, in some cases) rather than implementers of it?

Of course, the most important segment of this entire myth is the ending, in which the creation of the Triforce and of the Sacred Realm takes place. The Sacred Realm was supposedly “the point where the goddesses left the world”, the very point at which the golden triangles remained after their creation, when the goddesses “departed for the heavens”. Based on this description, we can assume that the Sacred Realm is somewhere high above the world.

As for the description of the Triforce—more examination of other Triforce lore from this period is necessary before we can determine its role as the “basis of our world’s providence”. Luckily, an ancient legend passed down by the Sheikah (and we can assume by the Royal Family as well) sheds much light on the matter.

“The resting place of the sacred triangle, the Sacred Realm, is a mirror that reflects what is in the heart—the heart of one who enters it. If an evil heart, the Realm will become full of evil; if pure, the Realm will become a paradise. The Triforce—the sacred triangle—it is a balance that weighs the three forces: Power, Wisdom and Courage. If the heart of the one who holds the sacred triangle has all three forces in balance, that one will gain the True Force to govern all.

“But, if that one's heart is not in balance, the Triforce will separate into three parts: Power, Wisdom and Courage. Only one part will remain for the one who touched the Triforce—the part representing the force that one most believes in. If that one seeks the True Force, that one must acquire the two lost parts. Those two parts will be held within others chosen by destiny, who will bear the Triforce mark on the backs of their hands.”

~ The Legend of the Triforce, Ocarina of Time

The Sacred Realm’s role as “a mirror that reflects what is in the heart—the heart of one who enters it” certainly describes the transformation from the Golden Land to the Dark World that occurs each time the Evil King Ganon makes a move on the Triforce while it rests in the Realm—his evil heart transforms the Realm upon his entering, either by the power of the Triforce itself, or otherwise. This description of the behavior of the Realm helps us better understand its role during both the Ancient Hyrulean Era and the New Hyrulean Era, after both its initial discovery and its rediscovery after the Lost Era.

Interesting to note that here the depiction of the Triforce is as one entity—“the sacred triangle”—whereas in the Creation myth it was referred to as parts of a whole—“the sacred triangles”. It is obvious that this myth came about much later, when the people had established the Triforce as the “power of the gods”, the Sages began to call it after the rise of the Hero of Time, or the “Golden Power”, as the people chose to call it in the legends of the Hero of Time (which I shall analyze at a later date). “Power, Wisdom, and Courage” obviously refer to the three pieces of the Triforce—the Triforce parts bearing the same names—but what is this “True Force to govern all”? Is it the force that forms the ”basis of our world’s providence” that comes from the Creation myth?—most scholars assume as much. The rest of this legend is fairly self-explanatory, and does not allow for any interpretation other than the literal, so it needs no discussion.

Ordinary citizens would have, by and large, not known much of this legend, since only the members of the Royal Family and the Sheikah clan that protected them had knowledge of it. This fact can certainly explain why these aspects of the Triforce’s power are never mentioned elsewhere in Hyrulean lore, and why all knowledge of them seemingly disappears during the Lost Era. Of course, during the Lost Era itself, only fragmented knowledge of the Triforce survived, and most of those fragments were skewed, and most of those distorted details had been mixed up even further. The Triforce is better known as the “Golden Triumph Forks” during this era—at least, to those who are not intimately familiar with the legend of the Hero of Time (those who are number few)—and the Sacred Realm is forgotten altogether.

Of course, sometime around the second coming of Ganon the King of Darkness, in the New Hyrulean Era, the people reassembled the surviving lore, and compiled a second Creation legend, albeit one highly different from the first:

“In the times long past, before man first emerged, the gods descended upon the world when it was nothing but chaos. Using their various abilities, they brought order and life to the world. The god of power dyed the mountains red with flame and made the solid earth. The god of wisdom made science and magic, and awarded the land with natural order. And from the gentle heart of the god of courage, those which crawl on the earth, those which travel in the air, and all manner of living creatures of the world were made.

“After forming all that is, when it came time for them to depart from this realm, the gods consummated the land with a symbol forged of their own power, in the form of a sacred, golden triangle: the Triforce. Their course finally reaching its completion, the gods left the Triforce to govern this land. The Triforce, held three emblems: ‘one who would Conquer Power,’ ‘one who would Govern Wisdom,’ and ‘one who would Temper Courage,’ respectively. It would shine in the Sacred Realm, somewhere in the world, until one who was worthy of inheriting those powers appeared.”

~ “The Genesis Preface,” A Link to the Past Instruction Manual

Most of the main details remain intact—there are three Creation deities, each of them representing one of the three virtues, Power, Wisdom, and Courage; the deities’ roles in the Creation are also the same, except the deity of Power no longer has a connection to fertility; the Triforce is left in the Sacred Realm “to govern [the] land”, and holds the three “emblems”, again, Power, Wisdom, and Courage. The diction used is far more archaic than the original legend, likely due to sloppy translating, and a small bit is added at the end regarding “one who was worthy of inheriting those powers”, which was missing from the original text.

It is also obvious that this version of the tale borrows much from the monotheists’ Creation myth, both in its title—the “Genesis Preface”—and in some of its wordings—“and from the gentle heart of the god of courage, those which crawl on the earth, those which travel in the air, and all manner of living creatures of the world were made.” Perhaps the Hylians intermingled too much with humans during the Lost Era, and allowed the distinctive qualities of their tradition to be distorted by outside influence. In any case, such was the religious background of the New Hyrulean Era, and such was the context in which Ganon the King of Darkness entered the Sacred Realm to claim the Triforce for the second time in Hyrule’s history—

—which, of course, leads us to a historical examination of the conquests of the Evil King throughout the Four Eras, which I will cover in the next segment. Until then, thanks for reading!

All good but I'll bring up one point. The concept that the Triforce is used by "someone worthy" to govern the land of Hyrule was brought over from AoL. The King of Hyrule used the Triforce to bring order (peace) to Hyrule and he split up the Triforce until someone worthy of using the Triforce to restore order (i.e. Link) would prove himself. That was why Hyrule was so full of darkness in AoL's backstory. The Triforce was not available to hold back the darkness.

Hate to disagree with you on a certain point, but it seems I'm the only one who believes it.

It is safe to say that Nayru is the goddess of Water. This can be taken into account because during the Creation Myth sequence, Din forges the land, and we are taken under the 'natural bridge' that is at Lake Hylia. Note that there is not even the slightest appearance of Water until Nayru passes over and CLOUDS form in the sky.

That taken into account, I would like to say that, as such Din has power over Fire and Earth(Seasons), Nayru over Water and Time(Ages), and Farore over Life and Wind(breath of life, could also be seen as creating from nothing (ORACLES ONLY!)).

You can shoot the n00b, wait for it... *Blindfolds self*... NOW!!

Originally Posted by jhurvid

All good but I'll bring up one point. The concept that the Triforce is used by "someone worthy" to govern the land of Hyrule was brought over from AoL. The King of Hyrule used the Triforce to bring order (peace) to Hyrule and he split up the Triforce until someone worthy of using the Triforce to restore order (i.e. Link) would prove himself. That was why Hyrule was so full of darkness in AoL's backstory. The Triforce was not available to hold back the darkness.

It's not a matter of the Triforce not being able to hold back the darkness, it was when the King received a disturbing message from his closest advisor, the Wizard. However it is my best guess that when he received that message it was about Ganon's return, so he split up the Triforce to protect it. Thus these events of the LoZ follow up according to AoL backstory of the LoZ.

Originally Posted by LOZ Historian

It's not a matter of the Triforce not being able to hold back the darkness, it was when the King received a disturbing message from his closest advisor, the Wizard. However it is my best guess that when he received that message it was about Ganon's return, so he split up the Triforce to protect it. Thus these events of the LoZ follow up according to AoL backstory of the LoZ.

I said "available", not "able". There is no evidence of a Wizard warning the King of Hyrule and there is no need for a best guess. The King of Hyrule kept the darkness at bay with the Triforce but he couldn't find another to continue his work before he died. So he cast a spell on Hyrule to reveal the one who would continue the destiny of keeping order in Hyrule. This is all stated in AoL's manual.

Originally Posted by jhurvid

I said "available", not "able". There is no evidence of a Wizard warning the King of Hyrule and there is no need for a best guess. The King of Hyrule kept the darkness at bay with the Triforce but he couldn't find another to continue his work before he died. So he cast a spell on Hyrule to reveal the one who would continue the destiny of keeping order in Hyrule. This is all stated in AoL's manual.

What do you mean there was not a wizard? There was the Dark One that put the sleeping spell on his daughter, Zelda. But no. I did not mean that there was a message brought by him to the king, but I most definatly rember there being an unexpected message that the king heard and then split up the Triforce following that message. In fact I will even dig up the quote for you the next time you post.

The Wizard from the Sleeping Zelda story seems to have actually been a threat to the Kingdom--hence, why the entire purpose of AoL is to break the spell on the Princess using the Triforce and to restore order to the land.

Originally Posted by AoL Manual

Then, a magician close to the king brought him some unexpected news. Before he died, the king had said something about the Triforce to only the younger sister of the prince, Princess Zelda. The prince immediately questioned the princess, but she wouldn't tell him anything. After the prince, the magician threatened to put the princess into an eternal sleep if she did not talk, but even still, she said nothing.

In his anger, the magician tried to cast a magic spell on the princess. The surprised prince tried to stop him, but the magician fought off the prince and went on chanting the spell. Then, when the spell was finally cast, Princess Zelda fell on that spot and entered asleep from which she might never awake. At the same time, the magician also fell down and breathed his last.

The Wizard actually sounds more like an Agahnim figure than anything else--one who gets close to the King in hopes of obtaining his favor and the ability to get closer to claiming the Triforce and the land for himself--an antagonist. Why the magician falls is unknown--perhaps he is an incarnation of Ganon, who will later be brought back from the Underworld (for LoZ)? We may never know.

Originally Posted by Link-herooftime

It is safe to say that Nayru is the goddess of Water. This can be taken into account because during the Creation Myth sequence, Din forges the land, and we are taken under the 'natural bridge' that is at Lake Hylia. Note that there is not even the slightest appearance of Water until Nayru passes over and CLOUDS form in the sky.

The images we see are not part of the myth--they're there for theatrical effect.

Originally Posted by LionHarted

The Wizard from the Sleeping Zelda story seems to have actually been a threat to the Kingdom--hence, why the entire purpose of AoL is to break the spell on the Princess using the Triforce and to restore order to the land.

The Wizard actually sounds more like an Agahnim figure than anything else--one who gets close to the King in hopes of obtaining his favor and the ability to get closer to claiming the Triforce and the land for himself--an antagonist. Why the magician falls is unknown--perhaps he is an incarnation of Ganon, who will later be brought back from the Underworld (for LoZ)? We may never know.

I disagree that the Wizard is meant to be evil because:
1) He had apparently died when he put Zelda to sleep. Why would he do something that would kill himself?
2) If he wanted information from Zelda, why would he then put her to sleep so she couldn't tell him?

From what the quote says, the spell sounds more like the result of a fit of rage than an act of malevolence. There really isn't anything other than the possibility to suggest that the magician was evil.

PS: LionHarted, please don't confuse the Underworld (LoZ) and the World of Spirits (AoL) because zeldalegends translators made it clear that they are completely different.

Originally Posted by jhurvid

I disagree that the Wizard is meant to be evil because:
1) He had apparently died when he put Zelda to sleep. Why would he do something that would kill himself?
2) If he wanted information from Zelda, why would he then put her to sleep so she couldn't tell him?

Originally Posted by jhurvid

From what the quote says, the spell sounds more like the result of a fit of rage than an act of malevolence. There really isn't anything other than the possibility to suggest that the magician was evil.

The Wizard may have been after the triforce of Courage as well as the Prince. That way when the Triforce of Courage did not fall into the others hands in care of the Royal Family he put a spell on here so no one would ever find it. The artwork of this scene kind of implies he's an evil entity if you look at the chaotic scene of the issue. The lust for power besets both the Wizard and Prince. But the Wizard looks more "evil" in my mind.

It is possible that the Wizarde is perfectly good, in your eyes, but he obviously becomes demonic when he demands the wherabouts of the Triforce of Courage, thus cast a spell on her so the prince would not safe keep it within the Royal Family.

Originally Posted by jhurvid

PS: LionHarted, please don't confuse the Underworld (LoZ) and the World of Spirits (AoL) because zeldalegends translators made it clear that they are completely different.

Obviously you should not believe this Lion Harted or you only strenthen his point in one of his other threads that the Dark Realm spoken of in OoS/OoA is the same as the Underworld in LoZ. That makes OoS/OoA come after AoL, and we disagree with that point.

AoL's manual said that the Wizard cast the spell on Zelda "in his anger". Until there is positive evidence that he was evil, I don't think he should be viewed as evil.

Originally Posted by jhurvid

AoL's manual said that the Wizard cast the spell on Zelda "in his anger". Until there is positive evidence that he was evil, I don't think he should be viewed as evil.

And WHY!!!!! WHY was he angry! Because Zeld awould not reveal the secrets to where the Triforce of Courage was! He wanted it and so did the Prince. The unexpected news obviously made the King split up the Triforce for some of these reasons that someone or someones would later be after the Trifroce. So the Triforce WAS in danger if he were to die. That is why he split it up and that is why this chaotic event took place between the Wizard and the Prince. He may b=have not been evil in person, but something was obviously deriving him to act agressivly in pursuit of knowledge of the Triforce of Courage. The Prince on the other hand was just being greedy like most do in the lust for the Golden Power during other times.

Originally Posted by LOZ Historian

And WHY!!!!! WHY was he angry! Because Zeld awould not reveal the secrets to where the Triforce of Courage was! He wanted it and so did the Prince. The unexpected news obviously made the King split up the Triforce for some of these reasons that someone or someones would later be after the Trifroce. So the Triforce WAS in danger if he were to die. That is why he split it up and that is why this chaotic event took place between the Wizard and the Prince. He may b=have not been evil in person, but something was obviously deriving him to act agressivly in pursuit of knowledge of the Triforce of Courage. The Prince on the other hand was just being greedy like most do in the lust for the Golden Power during other times.

It could have been frustration but I agree with you that an element of greed crept up as a theme of that event. Still, I'm just making the point that nothing implies that the Wizard was evil.

Originally Posted by jhurvid

It could have been frustration but I agree with you that an element of greed crept up as a theme of that event. Still, I'm just making the point that nothing implies that the Wizard was evil.

Alls I am saying is that "greed" can be an element of evil's use when there is a time of darkness afoot. And clearly the King saw this coming before he died. If the wizard was not truely evil, then something possessed him to be evil. Or it was just greed in its true form like you said. But I don't think so. I think Ganon's work had a hand in this event.

When I see evidence of Ganon's intervention, I'll accept it for truth.

Originally Posted by jhurvid

AoL's manual said that the Wizard cast the spell on Zelda "in his anger". Until there is positive evidence that he was evil, I don't think he should be viewed as evil.

Unfortunately, this line is missing from the more recent retconned GBA version manual, which ought to be more updated, don't you think? The wizard fights off the prince and is responsible for a great tragedy. I would imagine that he's somewhat antagonistic, don't you think? The AoL manual even says that if anyone other than the chosen one uses the Triforce, its use "will result in many evils." Obviously the