Religion in the Legend of Zelda: The Ultimate Guide
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 29 ก.ย. 2024
- The people of Hyrule seem to subscribe to a sophisticated religion that is unlike anything that we see in the real world. What could we learn if we were transported into this world as an anthropologist to study Hylianism?
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You should analyze the religion in Avatar: The Last Airbender
Probably all the same, Freemasonic Illuminati crap. A Pyramid object and Providence? Not exactly subtle with their eye of providence reference
Maybe Taoism
everything in the avatar is heavily based on asian and asian related cultures
@@coracias4523 water-bending culture is extremely Daoist, the duality of their spirits, the concept of flow between them, the push and pull thing. Even some social aspects like the gendered roles in society. Heck their spirits are literally the Taijitu symble, you don`t get more on the nose than that
@@boredfartless4221 lol you ignorant twit.
Lovely content! Keep it up!
You should do Starfox Adventures. I've noticed that Starfox Adventures holds an Animistic worldview.
I have needed this video my whole life thank you
Here's a theory, the entire narrative of each Zelda game is itself a ritual practice. Zelda, Link, and Ganon all repeat the same cycle of death and rebirth over and over again to keep evil sealed away. Sometimes Link and Zelda win and sometimes they lose but the cycle is part of the worship of Hylia
Hylia and Demise reincarnate because they both changed into human forms in order to wield the triforce (as their demigod forms cannot touch it). Link is reincarnated due to a curse by Demise. It's not worship, it's quite literally because they all failed to learn the teachings of the goddesses and decided to strive and use the triforce. Demise in a lust for power, and Hylia due to a wise plan to stop Demise. Link just got caught up in all of it.
Demise is inspired by *Mara* from Buddhism, he is the antagonistic force of the Universe opposing the harmony of the Gods, he is the source of Evil. His goal is to destroy the World of the Gods and establish upon its ruins a new world ruled by Demons. He is the *Satan* (adversary) that takes on multiple forms and incarnations across the epoch as demon kings like Malladus and Ganon are know as incarnations of Darkness.
He is the avatar of the otherwise immaterial idea of Evil.
The *Curse of the Demon Tribe* he mentions at the end, in its Japanese version, was not being casted, it was already casted and is not *directly* bonding the Hero and the Priestess of divine blood but the Demon Tribe.
The Demon Tribe shall go through an endless cycle of rebirth until the end of Time, the incarnation, the new Demon King, shall lead this Demon Tribe and repeat what this incarnation of the Hatred has done. Attempting to destroy the world of the Gods and bring forth a new one of demons.
Hylia and the Hero were meant to prevent this from happening and so should be needed everytime the Demon Tribe rises to power again, menacing the harmony of the world.
Love it. It has an element of, "Eternal Return."
speaking of Demise, i have a headcanon that the Golden Goddesses created the world we're familiar with (the "light world") overtop/within the world that Demise comes from, which takes different forms in different iterations of the series (different timelines). whether that be the Twilight realm, Lorule or wherever Demise himself is from in SS, they are all places given material form as a byproduct of the creation of the world of Hyrule.
in a similar way that the Golden Godesses didnt intend for the Triforce to be used in any specific way, they also didnt intend for the world exist in any specific state, meaning that the Triforce can be used for evil and the "dark world" can exist, even if lesser beings attempt to influence things for their own desires (making the "dark world" be the only world or using the Triforce primarily for evil, for isntance).
random theory, but i wanted to get it out of my head lol
This is at the perfect intersection of all my interests.
Same. I've played too much Breath of the Wild in recent months.
Nothing on narwhals OR pimps in this video though. :(
ReligionForBreakfast I CONCUR
Mine too. I'm not even a game player and this lured me in from the title and kept me all the way through. I wish the series "Caprica" had continued on the Sy Fy channel. It has the same theme.
I also agree... What a beautiful intersection of my passions...
“Hundreds of years later” - funnily enough, it’s actually many thousands of years between the earliest Zelda story and Breath of the Wild. So the fact that this religion continues to exist in any form at all is astounding.
it probably doesnt help that most of the religious information in the game is known only to those who have access to ancient material/text and/or are ancient beings themselves. the near clean wipe of the world by the Calamity basically functioned to accelerate the removal of information from the world by the destruction of text and structures that might help keep these ancient ideas alive among the survivors. but also most of the places that would still contain such information is either so dangerous that no one can go there and come back alive (Hyrule Castle) or are so hard to reach that no one is physically/mentally capable of doing it (The great plateau being too high to climb to and Korok Forest having a "haunted" maze leading to its center)
you cold almost argue that Calamity was specifically intended to erase the Hylian religion from the world to facilitate a more "direct" attack on the world later on once the greatest threat to Ganon/Ganondorf was removed. maybe this will be clarified in the new BotW game
More like millions given the recent 10,000 years is a tiny blip in the overall timeline that includes the separation into three (each with a convenient theme of power, wisdom, or courage) and reunification of said timeline.
Unlike actual religions that fizzle out after five years, right.
It helps that their Goddess actually exists
To be fair magic is real in their world and there's visible proof of it everywhere so it would kind of be hard to stop believing in something that affects you daily
Seeing Hylian religion, it seems as if it evolved out of two religions, one around the three goddesses and the artefacts like the tri-force, and the other around the personal Godess Hylia and her veneration. Why? First of all, the two parts are only loosely connected, both could be an independent religion. Secondly, there are two types of priests/monks one for each sub-religion, just as if they didn't belong together forever. The golden goddesses are also referred to as the old gods, which could be a hint to that they created Hylia, but also to that their religion preceeded the Hylia worship. If the latter is the case, it could be speculated that Hylia is used as a legitimation of a power other then the tri-force or rather the sages.
Disclaimer: I don't know much at all about the story, so this is from an outsiders perspective.
Kinda like taoism and buddhism
@@thisiswheezie Or Shinto and Buddhism, considering the game is Japanese
And a third religion, which is just Christianity, and it is only at the end of the Fallen Hero timeline.
Maybe the mazes and booby traps in the temples are designed to be a "test of faith". If you are worthy of attaining the power, you will be able to make it through the maze-test successfully. (not a Zelda game player, just an objective outsider's guess)
Agreed! I personally think they're basically hero-quest sites, where you go to enact a dangerous rite that can save the world. :P
That's their actual function in the games. Though the lore is a bit more complicated. As mentioned, they house ritual objects (and often just large creatures/demigods/etc.). Other times they can be places of worship.
Your guess is correct, most of them are just that, but they test not only your faith, but your aptitude and and worthiness. In the latest game there are Shrines that were built by monks to literally challenge the Hero to prove that he is worthy of their reward. And in A Link to the Past, the first three mazes of the game were ancient palaces that housed pendants representing the virtues of the Triforce, and only with those three pendants is the Hero able to wield the divine Master Sword in that game. But the latter 9 mazes were more like fortresses entrenched by evil monsters to guard against the Hero. Some of them might even have been sacred places before being desecrated by the monsters, but the game isn't very clear on that.
As far as shrines in BoTW go, you’re dead on! I could easily see this applied in other titles as well
It's like indiana jones and the last crusade when he has to take a literal leap of faith.
I'm a zelda nerd who's usually upset to see people push BS about the games and lore, but you pretty much nailed it. There's lots of intricate details to explore, but indeed it mostly focuses on the divinity/ritual power of the triforces, which are basically the literal physical representations of the goddesses. What wasn't covered in the video is that not everyone in the Zelda games can wield magic. It's pretty much exclusive to Hylians, who are Hylia's chosen people (who quite literally descended from the heavens in skyward sword). In the games later in the timeline, there's worries about blood purity, and the diluting of this innate magical race. Which is what Zelda is distressed about in BoTW. She's having a hard time accessing that part of her, because it's been thousands of years since the bloodlines were pure. We see lots of race mixing in Botw which is generally pretty taboo especially in the earlier games. This is why the Gerudo are disliked, who rely on other races to continue their own.
Demise wasn't mentioned at all, who's essentially the dualistic opposite of Hylia. Equally as powerful, but ultimately the "wrong side". As hylia incarnates into Zelda, Demise incarnates into Ganondorf. They then struggle over the triforce. Link is particularly notable, given he's the hero chosen by hylia and then later cursed by demise, locking the three of them into endless reincarnation.
These three characters have an innate affinity with the triforce. Hylia/Zelda with wisdom (nayru), Link with courage (farore), and Ganondorf with power (din). The triforce naturally requires all 3, and each character has to undergo their own struggle to finally reach that balance. Zelda struggles with courage/power, Link with power/wisdom, And Ganondorf with wisdom/courage. Without all three, the triforce splits and naturally goes to whoever is "chosen" in that area (aka zelda/link/ganon). Most notably this happens in OoT when Ganondorf approaches the triforce for the first time.
The only real time we start seeing a different religion is after the great flood in the adult timeline (When the King of Hyrule touches the Triforce in WW and condemns hyrule and the triforce to sink into the ocean). Ganondorf is sealed away at the bottom of the ocean meaning no more demise reincarnations, the triforce is at the bottom of the ocean meaning no one will really get it, and a new land is founded for new hyrule. By Spirit tracks, the old religion is mostly forgotten.
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This is all, of course, ignoring the other religions and belief systems that appear in the Zelda games.
You should do a video too.. That was interesting to know
We found the Zelda loremaster.
Now try to bring Majora's Mask into it.
@@magusperde365 majoras mask is more of a personal tale of Link coming to terms with his mortality but there is a very famous post from years ago that tries to figure out what the religion of Termina may have been, especially in relation to Hyrule
I thought the reason why Zelda was having trouble was because her mother died when she was still a little girl so she wasn't able to pass down the necessary teachings she needed to awaken her power.
Another interesting element is what I want to call "cyclic mesianism": power, regardless of how well it is protected is always destined to fall into the hands of a "dark mesiah", Ganon who brings the world to the brink of destruction. However, this act causes the hero to be appeared to undo this catastrophy who himself gains the divine power to defeat the dark mesiah only for the cycle to later repeat itself. Cyclic cosmology.
Nice Video! I'm a big fan of Religion and Pop Culture. Seriously, there needs to be more of this on youtube. Keep up the good work.
Thanks! I'm planning more pop culture topics in the future.
@@ReligionForBreakfast Animatism is a term coined by British anthropologist Robert Marett to refer to "a belief in a generalized, impersonal power over which people have some measure of control".Marett argues that certain cultures believe "people, animals, plants, and inanimate objects were endowed with certain powers, which were both impersonal and supernatural."Mana, Marett states, is a concentrated form of animatistic force found within any of these objects that confer power, strength, and success.
There is also the concept of magic in some religions:
Ceremonial magic (ritual magic, high magic or learned magic) encompasses a wide variety of long, elaborate, and complex rituals of magic. The works included are characterized by ceremony and a myriad of necessary accessories to aid the practitioner. It can be seen as an extension of ritual magic, and in most cases synonymous with it. Popularized by the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, it draws on such schools of philosophical and occult thought as Hermetic Qabalah, Enochian magic, Thelema, and the magic of various grimoires. Ceremonial magic is part of Hermeticism and Western esotericism.
My biggest question is why Hylia worship disappeared after SS, only to reappear millenia later in BotW.
Hylia worship is actually pretty standard throughout the games. Her first appearance was in the first game released that wasn't in the post-decline time period (AKA Link to the Past). Lake Hylia was named after her, as were the Hylians (her chosen people). In Majora's mask there's a direct reference of her as "the goddess of time". After OoT though things get a bit iffy due to historical reasons. In the adult line, the flood pretty much wipes out anything of the old hylian traditions/knowledge/religion. In the child line, we can see Hylia worship going strong. In the decline timeline we still see Hylia/Zelda as a central figure up until the decline. Botw she's not really even worshipped, there's just references about her. In fact, the faith of hyruleans and hylians has dropped so much they mostly have stopped caring about their religious traditions. We see racial purity go away. We see a more general ignorance about the origins of Hyrule, who the gods are, what purpose the sheikah serve, etc. Hyrule is mostly just rebuilding, and all they know is the ominous fear of ganon who's came back.
Zelda is struggling with her faith, wondering why things aren't working how they're supposed to.
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From a game perspective, it's because hylia as an actual character was only officially written in Skyward Sword. BotW was made after that, which is why she yet again is mentioned directly. Zelda games aren't made in chronological order. Which is where your problem is coming from. A lot of lore is actually from retcons in later developed games that take place earlier in the series. We know link is the chosen hero, but we didn't know why that was until SS came out. In LoZ1/AOL/LTTP we knew the triforce was divine but we didn't know it's origins until OoT. Etc.
She was not needed, and forgotten. The sky loft folks had descended and Zelda was their Hylia. Speculation: It’s only until after Twilight princess where twilight link is taught by the hero’s shade (Ocarina Link) that a journey of rediscovery with the sky people (oocca) about Hylia and her role in the world.
We just don't see everything of the world during our adventures, people might still worship her for all we know...
But the Sheikah are her most loyal worshipers and preach about her a lot, they might be the reason why she became popular once again since the 10 000 years of BOTW.
And no, there are nothing telling us she is the same as the Goddess of Time.
"Religions change over time."
The answer is Hylia did not exist in the minds of Nintendo devs for 20 years until Skyward Sword was made. She was shoved into a mythos that did not initially have her as part of it.
The temples in the Zelda series- while primarily based in some form on religion, also often seem to have secondary uses/functions- either that, or former religious sites were repurposed. The biggest example of this I can think of is the Shadow Temple in Ocarina of Time- it seems to be an execution site during the war that occurred in Hyrule before the start of that game, while the nearby, and very connected Bottom of the Well seems to be a former torture chamber (although not an actual religious site, seemingly)
The Spirit Temple is also very interesting- as it seems to be devoted to a figure known as the 'Desert Colossus'- likely a goddess of some sort- mentioned as the goddess of the sands- although- PERHAPS- this is simply another interpretation of Hylia herself, as the Colossus is similar to the giant stone statues of Hylia from Skyward Sword shown in this video.
And then there's the alternate places the games are set in- Termina, for example, which seem to have the very physical deities of the Four Giants, the mysterious symbolism of the Stone Tower Temple, and beyond that, there are the other, very present whale-like deities known as the Leviathan- of which the Ocean King (deity of the sea in Phantom Hourglass) and the Wind Fish (a deity whose very dream is the entire setting of Link's Awakening) and Levias, a whale-like guardian protector in Skyward Sword all seem to be members of- clearly extremely powerful deities, especially since one is capable of creating an entire physical island simply through the passive act of dreaming.
There is a LOT more religious elements in The Legend of Zelda to explore- I haven't even touched on the dragons and other lower-level guardian deities.
Oh hey, I got a shout out. I didn't even expect it. Good video. ^_^
Ah! I love so much about this video! It's exceptional. Still, I have one critique.
You mention the only religious intermediaries are the Sages and Sheikah but that's simply not true. Much of Zelda mythology deals with Shintoism, though not exactly within the cult of Hylia itself. There are other, lesser forms of worship. The Zora venerate their patron deity of Jabu-Jabu for example. Princess Ruto is something of a shrine maiden for this deity, bringing forth tribute in the form of edible fish.
Then there are another set of characters who seem to be directly linked with the Golden Goddesses, the Oracles of Din, Nayru, and Farore from the Oracle games and from the Minish Cap. Not only do these characters bear the same names and color schemes of the Golden Goddesses but they also preside over incredibly powerful ritual artifacts that control nature and space-time. In Japanese I believe they are not referred to as Oracles, but as "shrine-maidens". This implies a direct connection to divinity. It may even be possible that like Goddess Hylia and the women of the royal family these "Oracles" are mortal reincarnations of the Golden Goddesses.
Seriously though, wowza. This is an extremely interesting video and exceptionally well-researched. I love your take on the cult of Hylia and in general the goal of most Zelda religions. The acquisition of Power. That's ritcheous, man.
(Oh, and I just realized this. The Zelda franchise has a concept called Force which, loosely, is the energy imbued in all things by the Goddesses that animate life and manifest powerful magical energy. In the Minish Cap we see the Light Force is considered sacred power and that's just a big Force Gem. We also see the crystalline elements, which are said to be made of Force, are venerated as well. The Wind Tribe literally "deifies" the Element of Wind. And of course, who could forget the TRIFORCE? ;) Basically, I think it's somewhat more accurate to say Zelda religions are about amassing power through the acquisition OF Force!)
Thanks so much for the feedback! You're totally right I forgot about Jabu-Jabu and other culture's religious practices (e.g. the Zoras). This just means I need to make a sequel...
Oh... OH!
*Majestic!*
You seem quite knwoledgeable of the series' Lore!
@@nonoctoro4933 It's me, Chateau haha
@@ChateauLonLon Oh... XD
"Hundreds of years". Hah. HUNDREDS! HAAAHAHA. OH MY GOSH.
Whoa, great analysis. As a kid, I'd try to picture how each of the rooms in the Zelda temples were used---but I never made it that far before my brain gave up.
Really nice ! An episode on "Shadow of the Colossus" would be fantastic.
khaledjeff how does that apply? religious how?
I'd love that!!! I hope he does one day, though there probably isn't enough info. I mean he could also look at ICO...
fodolo craigo In the game, Shadow of the Colossus, you play as this young man who, you discover later/throughout the game, belongs to some sort of priest/shaman group. The being(s) you interact with during your mission is a god/were gods. They are trapped in an abandoned land riddled with ruins of temples.
You must complete rituals to restore the fallen idols and restore the god(s)'s power.
Jem TS I've played the game, and it's too vague and not enough material, I think, to warrant its own video - and if it did, it would be an extreme reach.
Okay, I love this, and I think this is one of the best descriptions of the Hylian religion I've seen, but I'd make a few notes where I disagree.
First, we do see evidence of the Golden Goddesses worshipped in an individual light. While it's not super prominent, they do seem to have their own cults. Each has a specific symbol for one thing. Those symbols are seen on architecture and objects of ritual importance. Sometimes grouped together and other times individually. There are place names for them as well, which usually dictates worship of some kind. Also there are great spirits associated with them that seem to act as their intermediaries, as well as Oracles named after them.
You also never really brought up Demise, which feels like an oversight. He was the original Demon King who wages war against the gods themselves. And the presence of active mystical evil in the world is a direct result of his curse which ensures that an embodiment of his malice will always return.
The problem, of course, is that we never see anyone talking about this in-game except for a very few members of the religious elite which are in the know. Which means that the religion either has forgotten this, or it exercises a very odd and unique practice where it keeps it a secret from the populace that the world is broken and why. Imagine the top elite cardinals and the pope were the only people who knew about Satan and tried to hide his existence from the populace? Probably the forgotten theory is more likely, but even that seems really unlikely.
Finally, while I generally agree about the purpose of the temples as being protective fortresses for objects of ritualistic power, I think it would be better to characterize them as tests to ensure only the worthy achieve that ritualistic power. The puzzles are all solvable and the key to solving many of them can usually be found within the temple which makes me feel like they are meant to test the mettle of great warriors.
Maybe mentioning Demise is taboo? Like a Voldemort sort of thing
Hundreds of years later is an understatement. BOTW takes place 10,100 years after the first appearance of Calamity Ganon, which occurred long after the end of all three timelines. All three timelines last many centuries past OOT, which takes place many centuries after Skyward Sword. So we're talking about an incredibly old religion.
Also Hylianism itself predates Skyward Sword. Hylia and the Golden Goddesses were already worshipped before her death, and thousands of years passed between her death and her reincarnation as the first Princess Zelda.
the Deku tree wasn't kidding when he said "the Triforce is the basis of our world's provinence"! in A Link Between Worlds, Hyrule's mirror counterpart, Lorule decided that to keep their Triforce out of the hands of evil, they destroyed it, causing their world to begin to fall to chaos and initiating an apocalyptic slow decay of their reality
Based on various other theories and my own theorizing, my guess is that the Temples in Ocarina of Time were ~originally~ created around very ancient magical power sources, possibly gateways to the Sacred Realm. Each one was operated by various pre-Hyrulian people groups, who had varying cultures and beliefs, but in the end they all came down to the veneration of the power that emanated from the temples. Something happened during the so-called Age of Chaos (mentioned in various game backstories) that caused these magical sources to be closed off, and the temples were re-purposed over the years for other uses or were abandoned. This is why these six Temples can be used to access the Chamber of Sages, which is explicitly stated to be within the Sacred Realm, when that doesn't happen with any other so-called "temples" in the series. I've had this theory for a while now, and this video definitely does not contradict it!
Though this is not explicitly stated in any of the games, I also think the implication is that the three Golden Goddesses left the Triforce behind as a tool for mortal beings to fight back against otherwise impossible threats, such as supernatural entities or natural disasters. It's very interesting to me that Hylia is forced to give up her divinity in order to make use of the Triforce, implying both that she CAN'T use it unless she is mortal, and that its power surpasses her own. This puts the ultimate power in the hands of mortals, not in the hands of the (now absent, possibly gone forever) Golden Goddesses, and that's a very interesting feature not often seen in real-world religions.
(I can't believe this video is four years old and was only recommended to me now. C'mon, TH-cam, you should know me better than that!)
I think the other important factor here with the hylean religion is the context of when the prayers are offered. A lot of the stuff from Breath of the Wild with Zelda & Link are prayers offered during wartime, by a coalition force that is losing the battle and desperate for anything to fend off Ganon and that conflict is still ongoing when you return 100 years later, having only chilled while Links injuries & Zelda's actions triggered a stalemate. That kind of situation tends to illicit different types of prayer and goals from divine intercession than we see in times that are far less fraught.
As someone planning to run a Zelda D&D game, this is definitely going to be used as a source, lol.
So this means we need to save Marin from being trapped as a seagull forever ?
When I was young I always had the impression that there were no other gods in the Zelda mythos other than the three goddesses, but then I realized that they actually mention other gods all the time. I was a little bummed, because I always thought the premise of three, but only three, god-figures was pretty unique. I don't think I know of any other religion like that.
Christianity is arguably a tritheistic religion, depending on how you interpret the creeds.
Hell yeah! This video was excellent, and if you are interested in doing more religious analysis of popular fiction, I’d be a happy consumer!
A comparison of Star Wars canon and Christian canon is coming out this month, working on it now. I'd like to do one on the Shinto themes in Pokemon too.
I'd love one of these for the Elder Scrolls series 😊 I've always loved exploring the religion in the games
This was fantastic! I loved it. As a Zelda nerd and a burgeoning religious interest, this video hit the sweet spot between the two.
Haha glad you liked it! Definitely intersected two nerdy interests of mine too.
So.... a few errors I'd like to correct. And I feel being an anthropologist myself and a *huge* Zelda Freak, I'm qualified. :)
For starters - the Eastern Palace from A Link To The Past you showed? Not a temple. It is in fact the former summer palace of the Hylian Royal Family - as is its Darkworld Counterpart, which is a corrupted form of the Sacred Realm, which in turn, mirrors the world of Hyrule.
You are similarly not correct about a temple of Farore, Nayru and Din.
There are multiple shrines dedicated specifically to them scattered across the landscape, and they are considered the patrons of three of the four great peoples - as well as being embodied in their ritual objects - the sacred stones, which themselves were later carved into pendants, and it is believed that the world is their temple.
This is especially the case in Skyward Sword given the outdoor shrines and inner temples dedicated to each of them in Faron, Eldin and Lanayru Provinces - which in turn bear variations of their names derived from their draconic servants.
Farore is associated with the Lost Woods, Din with the volcanic and powerful Death mountain, and Nayru with the massive freshwater Lake Hylia.
Also the Arbiters Grounds isn't a temple...
Technically.
It's a prison and a judicial site.
... Converted from a destroyed Gerudo Temple to the Goddess of the Sand.
Also Ganondorf was being executed as a traitorous Hyrulian citizen, not 'ritually slaughtered'.
Also you have clearly neglected the importance of Avatars in Hylianism.
Farore, Din and Nayru all have incarnations in the form of three Oracles by the same name - of Secrets, Seasons and Time respectively.
Something I didn't see mentioned, while the 3 creator goddesses don't have any temples, and rarely any iconography at all, they DO have Oracles, one each. These oracles perform no public function and are in fact covert. But like Zelda, appear to be a holy bloodline said to contain an amount of the three goddesses ritual power, specifically Nayru controlling the passing of Ages, Din the passing of Seasons, and Farore the Revelation of Secrets, specifically in the context of linking iterations such that something that is already over and forgotten can still affect the now.
The common theme here is of course Time. One moves things forwards like a line. One moves things in cycles. And one reconciles by making those cycles affect each other as they move forward, becoming a spiral of progression.
6:25 In Germanic/Eddic polytheism too, we see the the God Heimdall either fathers or blesses the conception of the three people who would represent and come to form the three major castes: Jarl. Karl, and Thrall. He also takes special interest in Jarl and adopts him as his own son. According to The Asatru Edda, when Heimdall passed from this world he said "Upon Jarl have I put all my hope, therefore
must you take him to be your ruler. Follow my advice, then he and all pious folk who follow him shall remain my children; then shall the foddik, which I have struck up for you, never go out. The light there shall everlastingly enlighten your brain, and you shall then remain free, even from unfree powers, as your sweet rain streams from the salt water of the endless sea.” After this Jarl became the King of Sweden and his son Konur after him.
This was really nice to watch. The concept and way it was discussed kept me fully engaged. I really enjoy this channel overall but this video seemed in particular while serious was also fun. I understand this was an offbeat production for the channel focus but it has me really curious what a video on Silent Hill would look like.
Don't the golden goddesses have oracles, spells, and more than a few geographical areas named after them and with each being heavily associated with a venerated trait? I say veneration of the golden goddesses is still quite strong after millions of years which is about as old as the kingdom of Hyrule is which is massively impressive.
If hylian religion existed in the real world. I could definetely see people interpreting natural disasters as "Someone evil touched the triforce" Or that there is an unseen war between the hero and the demon, that the people sometimes can see a glimpse off through nature. Similar to how many polytheistic religions have gods and demi-gods in constant conflict that then is narrated by the religious authorities. Link might be just a myth, a sort of Perseus of hylian religion, and we play those myths.
There's a meme that the people in the Pokémon world substitute the word god for Arceus, but there's no evidence that anyone actually worships or even venerates Arcues, who is regarded as a demiurge at best.
Wonderful analysis!
I'd love to see a video like this about the Yevon religion from Final Fantasy X! 🙂🙂🙂
Ocarina of Time, hands down, greatest video game of all time. (In my humble opinion)
Looks like he really liked Zelda. That's all. Or giving an advertisement? It's really simple to think. The game made by Japanese company and the fantastic story of the Legend of Zelda is Japanese creation story from their point of view of pre- Christian European Mythology. Of course, they think European Mythology on their point of view from Japanese pantheism, Shinto.
P.S. the three triangular symbol reminds me Mitsubishi. Did Mitsubishi funded this game?
I'm guessing we are of similar age. This game was life changing when it came out in the mid 90s. I believe it was the first game that actually had simulated "days" as you would experience the sun setting and rising like clockwork
Actually, there kind of are temples for Nayru, Farore, and Din. Din is kind of the Goddess of the Gorons and Gerudo, Nayru is the goddess of the Zora and Rito, Farore is the goddess of the Kokiri and Koroks. And the function of the temples is kind of explained in some of the games if you pay close enough attention to the NPC dialogue. Pretty sure Twilight Princess mentions the Water temple in a sacred ground, maybe even place of worship for Zoras. Pretty sure they mentioned that the Fire Temple is the mine where they get their primary sustenance and raw manufacturing material, plus it acted as a holding cell for their chief when he got possessed by an evil spirit. It also seemed to act as some kind of training ground for their cultural armored sumo wrestling practice. It's there, you just need to look for it. play close enough attention.
I think something you are missing here is that Link himself is part of the world's mythology, being such a legendary figure which wields power himself. We are seeing Hyrule through the eyes of a Hercules like figure.
I wonder if he had any cults
what a cool video..as a life long Zelda fan this was a dream..Thank you!
One of the coolest parts about Zelda lore and religion is really the relationship between demons and gods.
Most of the time demon are just evil spirits that are always evil and hardly change.
But in Zelda anyone can become a demon if they have enough malice and hatred (Ganon, Vaati, possibly Majora and Demise/Ghirahim) and the reverse is true if a demon has enough good they can become human (batreux)
Also Ghirahim and Fi imo are references to the Masamune/Maramasa legend because one is logical rational, serene, good and peaceful, the other is bloodthirsty, cruel, passionate, emotional and irrational.
Also Demise and Hylia are also references to Amaterasu and Susanno in a weird way and my theory is Demise is a fallen storm god that became the king of demons.
One of my favorite sources discusses my favorite fandom. I am now complete. I appreciate the Ocarina of Time shout out! One of the best games ever made
Hylia gives strength in exchange for spirit orbs that are obtained from the mummified corpses of hylian monks after link completes certain tasks of strength and intelligence.
Interesting side note: until around the release of Ocarina of Time, the Hylian Religion was Christianity: hence the cross on Link's shield, the "Book of Spells" being "The Bible" in Japanese, and even an official illustration for A Link to the Past of Link praying before a Crucifix.
Midly incorrect!
The Fairies and Great Fairies exist since TLOZ, they are technically minor deities guarding ponds.
Adventure of Link has an item named the Trophy in the west but its Japanese name was *Megami no Zou* the Goddess Statue!
A Link to the Past has Venus, which Japanese name was *Megami* Goddess and she is a winged lady just like the Statue from the previous game or the later Goddess Hylia. She also has what she cakll her "friend" , another winged lady at the cascade and there is another one at the Pyramid.
The game is called *Kamigami no Triforce* "Triforce of the God" in Japanese. The Manual introduced us to the Golden Gods for the first time and while never referring to them as female, as a depiction of them clearly showing they are.
We have to pray in front of horned statues to open the way to the Desert Palace.
I wish I had thought of something like this when I was homeschooling my son...Maybe I'll still make him do something like this even though he's in college now. I love this!
???
Actually I saw that symbol in the world between worlds, in starwars rebels. Can you talk about it?
Perhaps worth revisiting or trying to get back in the algorithm?
So, the dragons are manifestations of their heavenly counterparts! OMG I love Zelda!
Zelda lore is so amazing.
When someone with an unbalanced heart touches the Triforce, the sacred relic is split up into three pieces: Power, Wisdom and Courage.
“In a realm beyond sight, The sky shines gold, not blue. There the Triforce's might Makes mortal dreams come true.”
「天下る何処かに黄金の力有り。
触れそめし者の望み神に届かん。」
_"The golden power lies somewhere descended from the heavens. He who claims it as his own shall have their desires granted by the gods."_
Same line in Japanese
One thing worth mentioning is that the Goddesses LEFT the land they created and the Triforce was found where they departed. I think it's entirely normal for Hylians to not worship the Goddesses given that they left their creation to its own devices. They no longer directly influence the land. The Triforce - the relic they left behind - does.
I would love to see you do an Elder Scrolls video! Although that might have to be a whole series
I wish you’d start doing more videos like this.
You know a lot about religions, which you should of course. But you made up some names for Zelda you didn't need to. Like "ritual powers". You're using that to refer to heart containers and magic, am I right? How about the term "Essence", as Stamina and Hearts are referred to in BotW? Or do you mean it's a term that you use to describe anything resembling magic in any religion?
5:00 This line is actually much more literal, because A Link Between Worlds shows that without the Triforce, the lands literally start to break apart. Also, you mentioned that the people worship the Triforce over the Old Gods, which is a bit unusual. One thing to note is that the Triforce is considered to literally be "The Power of the Gods". Some games even show people praying to the Triforce despite the text saying they're praying to the Gods. So, it could be considered that the Triforce = Old Gods/Golden Goddesses. While A Link to the Past does say the Triforce only has a small essence of the Gods', it was the first game to cover the religion and is very thematically inconsistent. It also featured Christianity in the Japanese version of the game which had to be removed for American audiences, and its inconsistencies are explained away due to the decline of the Kingdom. Alternatively, the Triforce could be to the Gods what Ganondorf is to Demise.
Not all Zeldas are blonde. Twilight Princess Zelda and NES LoZ Zelda are brunette, though the latter might not be an actual Zelda due to the tragedy of Zelda the First.
8:00 I mean, it's somewhat mediated. You must have a balance of wisdom, courage, and power to use it, else it splits and you will need to find the other two pieces who belong to chosen people who must give it to you (or you must take it with force) and put it back together before using it. Then, it depends on how much you actually want your wish whether or not it's actually effective. It was also originally guarded by Hylia, though since you're talking about religion throughout all the games, I'll ignore that.
9:30 You should acknowledge that some of these DO have explanations in the series and don't need to be speculated upon. The Temples in Ocarina of Time were originally the domains of the Sages, where Sages alone do what you described is generally done by the masses in a religion. They are also other gateways to the Sacred Realm (Not for living things to move through, but power). Same for the latter two dungeons in Wind Waker.
11:33 Hundreds of years later lmao. Saying BotW is hundreds of years after Skyward Sword is like saying current time is tens of years after the birth of Jesus. The backstory of Breath of the Wild takes place 10000 years before the acutal game, and the backstory is a long time after the last game of the timeline it belongs in, most likely Downfall. Then, there's the time between each game.
Overall, this is an amazing analysis from someone who's not specifically dedicated to the fandom. You did admit the flaws to the analysis at the end, such as not considering change over time most importantly. If I were to introduce a newbie to the *idea* of Zelda religion, I'd definitely consider your video.
Thanks for the thorough critique. You're right that I'm not specifically dedicated to the fandom. A fan, yes, but not an uber fan. I'll try to address some of your excellent points.
1) I use "ritual power" to refer to magic in an effort to avoid the term "magic" itself as it is not exactly an analytical term. One man's magic is another man's religion. So I use "ritual power" to be more neutral. Other scholars who study magic use this phrase.
2) I believe Christianity only appears in one timeline, which goes to my point at the end that the religion seems to change depending on the timeline. I didn't realize that some games portray people praying to the Triforce! That's interesting. I feel that supports my position, though, that Hylianism doesn't seem to care that much about the goddesses as persons, but rather, the object that they imbued with their power.
3) Forgot about the brunette princesses. That was an oversight on my part.
4) Good point about the Sages living in the Temples. Though, I think my point still stands that the booby traps are there to prevent people from gaining the powerful objects residing within the sacred sites.
5) You're right, BotW is super far in the future. Though not SO far in the future that buildings like the Temple of Time can still stand or the ruins of Lon Lon Ranch? Either hundreds or thousands.
1-
すべてを創造し終えられた神々は、この世界を去られる時、自らの力を象徴する黄金の聖三角体『トライフォース』を残されて世界のすべてをおさめさせました。
_After forming all that is, when it was time for them to depart 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 running to completion, the gods left the Triforce to govern this land._ - Japanese Manual
It is not *a small portion of their power* but a *symbol* of it.
The Triforce symbolizes the Divine to the people, I would argue it goes beyond simply the Golden Goddesses but all the Gods.
Adventure of Link and A Link to the Past had a Goddess Statue (Megami no Zou) and a Goddess(Megami) we know as Venus in the West.
2-
Indeed!
3-
It's debatable if they were used by the sages prior to the Temple of Time's construction and the birth of Prophecy involving them.
One example would be the Water Temple was described as a place of worship for the Zora to water spirits, there are depictions of a Water Dragon throught the Temple.
The Temple of Earth and Wind in The Wind Waker were a place of worship for the sages to the Gods of Earth and Wind which fueled the Master Sword of Divine Energy giving it its power to destroy evil, when prayed by the Sages.
4-
Indeed!
Just tell me what the Water Temple was for!
This can only ever have been put together by a nerd. I love it
I honestly hope that thousands possibly millions of years from now our descendants find the Zelda games and start worshipping hylia as a real god
Even if there is no god, even if all there is after death is returning to the empty void of the collective unconsciousness of the universe itself: I’ll be there looking down to them and nodding in approval
hey religion for breakfast, you really should check out the religions within the Elder Scrolls lore. There's a lot of levels within, in general. Off the top of my head, I can think of three specific and popular religions just in the games, beyond that there are two void beings who created everything, including 7 or so gods who are actually worshipped, and Deadra, beings who did not sacrifice themselves like the 7 or so Aedra who did.
There have been only one divine message, but the teachings differed depending on the Era and circumstances of each nation who followed the message that was convayed to it. As for the difference between beliefs, that must be due to personal influences of those who wrote and preached the message they received in the way they are now for reasons that belong to them.
Knowing the reason why people would change the message can be speculated to be personal benefit, arrogance... Etc, but you can never be sure about.
Nice topic.
Do you know that in Final Fantasy X, a religion of Yevon is the integral part of the game's story?
I believe you will find it interesting too. Go check that out.
I feel like you should reconsider Zelda from the standpoint of occult religious symbolism... the game is full of the number 3: goddess trinities, sacred triangles, 3 days to stop the moon from falling, three spiritual stones, etc.
This was so cool!!!!
What else could you cover in this style?
How about Indiana Jones?
Or maybe the Bajorans of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine?
There are probably tons more from games and media culture.
I do hope you’ll do more of these. It was fun!
"Hundreds of years later" that's cute
What about in the Twilight princess, you go to the sky and there are birds descendants of the direct gods!!!! Zelda would not be something like a kind of Avatar? this looks more with the influence of a part of Hinduism.
Keeping this in mind while I write my AU. Containers of Key Items bear the sigil of Din, Goddess of Power.
"Your species is tool-using. You understand one must create the means to do what one cannot by their inborn nature."
I'm surprised at how unseen this video is. I'd love to see more videos on in game religions. Is especially like to see a break down of the Dragonquest religion or Final Fantasy Tactics' religion.
I definitely have more video game themed videos planned. Pokémon in particular.
The original Buddhist exemplars were Buddhas and Arahants not Bodhisattva and Lamas. The oldest strata of Buddhist texts hold Arahants to be at a much higher level of attainment than Bodhisattva are, in fact they were considered entirely awakened and utterly free from Samsara. The Buddha was described as an Arahant and he said such an attainment was the final cessation of suffering.
One would think you’re aware of these facts which begs the question why would a person attempting to educate on religion present the obviously later developments as if they were original or normative?
Here’s an article by Bhikku Bodhi that will illustrate the development of these later developments like “the Bodhisattva path” www.inquiringmind.com/article/2801_22_bodhi/. Lamaism is an even later developments that represents only some of Tibet and Mongolia’s particular traditions far from being foundational, universally recognized, or normative.
Great video! I was really hoping you would mention the fact that the first shield in the legend of Zelda had a cross on it. What do you think about that? Again great video and thanks
Gannon isn't really the king of demons. The term he goes by is Ma-oh. Oh means ruler, so that tracks, but Ma does not mean demon. Like anything in Japanese, Ma has layers of meaning dependent on context, but basically it boils down to being unnatural, mystical, and malicious in nature. More precisely, then, Gannon is the king of all supernatural evil. Demons would fall under his domain, but it's much broader. I suppose he might be more like Ariman or Angra Mainyu of Zoroastrianism, in opposition to the Hylian goddess. But the interesting twist on that is that he was once human and only became the king of evil by touching the triforce, because that was his desire.
Though, I have heard that Skyward Sword throws a hitch in that by introducing a greater evil that came before and influenced Gannon, so . . . well, I've not played SS, so I wouldn't know about that.
There doesn't seem to be enough context/consideration of the fact that Nintendo is first and foremost, Japanese. direct comparisons between the elements in the game with real life religions just seem superficial, without thinking about how western fantasy "imagery" entered manga/video games before LoZ. Designs may have shifted over time as the franchise expanded in the global market, the many of those "Japanese-Western" elements carried on.
Also, originally in Japanese these "temples" were called 「神殿」(lit. God+palace) which also means not only temple but "sacred place" or "sanctuary". This suggests that they aren't necessarily places where people go to pray or worship, like in real life.
Hylianism is internally diverse.
There’s a lot of parallels between LoZ’s stories and mechanics with Shintoism
Of course scholars see religion as "climbing the same mountain". It was 𝘥𝘦𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘥 that way. It's a construct, not a table or a chair. So we perceived it as it was conceived; we looked for things that fit that definition. It's crazy to look back now and think "oh, we're being reductive... by generalizing all religions to be like what they needed for us to have identified to fit the name 'religion'".
Sure, at some point people start grouping things under that moniker by analogy based on a tacit categorization strategy rather by the strict definition, but then what you have are things that can't be generalized because they never fit the requirements to be a religion to begin with.
You can argue that a different definition is needed but there are no such things as "better" or "worse" definition. Classification systems are arbitrary by nature. You'll be changing the definition basically because as a religious studies scholar you kinda wanted to study that too. So the previous definition under which the generalization applied is as good as any.
Man, what a rant. I just really don't like attempts to redefine concepts without taking a critical look at why they were the way they were to begin with. It all makes sense if you give it a shot.
The Elder Scrolls series would make for an interesting video, but it's incredibly dense and often contradictory (kinda like real world religions, eh?) so it could take a while. On a surface level, it's all very classical mythology. Heroes, god-men, fantastic creatures. But dig a little deeper and you'll find a surprising amount of Gnosticism underpinning the series.
I really like this, it’s interesting to see someone talk about religion in the Zelda universe, especially someone who really seems to know what they’re talking about. I’d never really considered how... hands-off the 3 goddesses are. It’s interesting, though, that as the games have moved forward Din, Farore and Nayru have actually become less present in favor of Hylia.
I think the 3 goddesses are supposed to be aspects of her or something, but I can’t recall.
Either way, I’d love to see more of this sort of thing from you, video game analysis is my jam.
Yeah I definitely plan on doing more video game analyses. Glad you liked it!
The goddess are fairly hands on, actually. Early on we see essentially their "representatives" in the struggle for their combined power over reality (Demise, Hylia, and Proto-Link). Later on we see them do things like flood hyrule, grant powers to their particular representative, etc. We also see other incarnations of the goddesses, more literally as the Oracles who control time, the seasons, etc.
But naturally Hylia is worshipped more, given she's quite literally ruling the country.
I would argue that Zelda doesn't carry on Hylia's essence after her incarnation. She does have "the blood of the goddess" after the events of Skyward Sword, but that appears to be an ancestral marker alone rather than something that gives her power. (Note that Tetra is unable to bless the Master Sword herself unlike Hylia-incarnate Skyward Sword Zelda.) Furthermore, Breath of the Wild shows us that Hylia has returned to the land of Hyrule somehow outside of a Zelda form many years after Skyward Sword Zelda's death.
Also, while the SS Sheikah and BotW mummified Sheikah undoubtedly exist to serve Hylia, the Ocarina of Time Sheikah and Twilight Princess Sheikah are instead tasked with caring for the Royal Family's graves and keeping communication with the Oocca tribe alive... nothing to do with Hylia.
Another thing: we don't have any direct evidence that TP Ganondorf was after the Triforce. We are told that he was trying to conquer the Sacred Realm (which is where the Triforce is usually located), but he shows no interest in the Triforce throughout the rest of the game.
Finally, while Hyrule Historia and the Zelda Encyclopedia do say that the Zelda series exists in three timelines, those books (or at least the timelines in them) are likely not canon as they were not written by anyone involved with any of the games of the series, and the person actually in charge of the series has said Nintendo wants to move away from that timeline, and that he is of the opinion that the timeline is for the players to discover and debate themselves. Since the tri-part timeline described in the books would open up two or three massive plot holes in Ocarina of Time and effectively retcon away almost half the events of A Link to the Past, the likelihood of its canonicity is slim at best.
Those details aside, this was a great video! Very well done.
How funny that game design created a religious cult/mythos focused on acquiring power -- because of course, the religion exists in-game to provide power/progression to the player. When you think about it, it makes sense!
In Ocarina of Time, Kaepora Gaebora in Lake Hylia tells child link: "At the lake bottom there is a Water Temple used to worship the water spirits." So it seems that the Temples in Ocarina of Time at least were intended to worship spirits. If water spirits are worshiped at the Water Temple, it follows that fire spirits were worshiped at the Fire Temple, forest spirits worshiped at the Forest Temple, etc.
As one commentor said the Shrines are places where you are tested for your skills and worthiness. The spirit monks rewards you once you completed these tests. Btw, I just started playing this game. It fun and worth it!.
I saw the triforce symbol in a Buddhist temple in Japan. Is there some relationship between Buddhism and Hylianism?
Break apart the name Z-EL-DA in a Hebrew context and you'll start to understand only a little bit about the spiritual rabbit hole that is the legend of zelda.
break it down for me?
@@fodolocraigo8426 th-cam.com/video/rr3hO8t6Wis/w-d-xo.html
this is newer and not as iconic in gaming history but it would be really neat to see an analysis of the religion in deltarune's little church town. Obviously it seems to embody a pop cultural christianity in many ways, but it seems to have some theological differences (like father alvin specifically mentioning their lack of confession and the deity being referred to as an angel).
You would probably need to wait for the whole game to release but an analysis of this or the broader portrayal of religion in rpg games would be cool.
if you compare hylian holy temples to the templar cave in indiana jones... there might be a more accessible visible parallel as to how religions prepare defensively but hyrule seems defiantly public about its display... best offense is an in-your-face defense
RelgionForBreakfast: "When i played this game as a kid"
Me playing this game still as an adult
“-in the form of a blonde woman, Zelda.”
*cries in LoZ, LoZ2, and Twilight Princess*
Things like the dungeon are more occult rituals for the unaware or uninitiated. The same way someone might watch a piece of media or participate in it and be going through an occult ritual unaware that they were even doing so. You see it all the time in our culture now with symbolism in newsstand magazines, music videos, movie, etc.
Nayru, Din, Farore
Wait, your brother is EC Henry? I've been subbed for years now! Small world lol.
YOUR BROTHER IS EC HENRY??? I love both of your channels!!
I wonder if the lack of Ritual power is due to the how present actual magic and magical beings are within the world. You have things that have very clear and unambigious magical power in this world or literal monsters, really questions the need for Ritual power in their religion.
Great video, I would love to see other fantasy religions explored in such a way.
Came here looking to use Zelda gods in my new d&d campaign, very helpful, thank you
One problem with high fantasy is that their religions are not well developed. They have gods but where are their passion narratives?
This... this is the kind video I have been waiting for my whole life.
11:50 AMOGUS
Just rewatched this because I selected it as the 3rd best video uploaded to TH-cam in my annual list. I love the idea of thinking about religion in the video games we consume. Especially with Zelda where there is obvious religious paraphernalia peppered throughout the world. I'd love to see more videos like this.
Honored to have made the list! There will definitely be more video game topics here in the future. Pokemon is on my list of topics to consider.