Allegories in Architecture: Revisited

It’s a secret to nobody! In my last post regarding the Architecture of the Ancient Cistern, I made it all the way to Dungeon 9 – and after a cursory glance at my map (and some help from the loyal readers of Zelda Dungeon), quickly realized that I had left several rooms unvisited…and some not even fully explored. In this featured follow-up to the first entry in Allegories in Architecture, I revisit those lost and forgotten rooms with some shiny new keys!

Will I be led to Red Rings, Dead Ends, or Silver Arrows? Ready your Sail Cloth and make the jump to decide for yourself!

For those of you returning, taking the first few steps into this article might bring about a familiar feeling. Within the air of the golden corridors and unseen depths of the Ancient Cistern now lingers a sense of intimate familiarity…but discovery is a fickle pleasure. A thin layer of dust still veils the secrets of rooms left untouched and the remnants of our last adventure have barely had time to settle…but there is a time for poetic language and a time for talking about The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword – and today, I’m feeling less like Thoreau and more like Fils Aime (but apparently just a little bit like Doctor Seuss).

Outstanding feedback from the Zelda Dungeon community has made it clear that there are some inaccuracies and misunderstandings laying the foundation for some of the important claims in the last Allegories in Architecture. My aim is to address these inaccuracies and leave you with a better understanding of what was intended, while also adding some extra caulking to make the points more cohesive. Let’s get right to it.


Furnixes at the Skipper’s Retreat

“…flying around the Idol’s head – placed just below a massive lotus flower – are phoenix-like creatures called Furnixes (which are found only in the Ancient Cistern).”

Look! Furnixes – and there isn’t a lotus (or drop of water, for that matter) in sight! It’s true, these creatures do make their homes atop the Skipper’s Retreat in the once verdant province of Lanayru. Now, I could try and justify their appearance here by citing the region’s recurring hieroglyphs, which appear to resemble blooming lotus flowers, or perhaps the fact that LD-301N Skipper can’t function outside of time crystals and may therefore gesture towards his return – but those tap into a much more complex story we’ll delve into another day. What, then, links the appearance of these birds to the story of the Ancient Cistern? The answer is simple: nothing. They likely appear to compliment the inclusion of Peahats, which require the use of the whip to unearth.

The mistake originates from the phrasing of my claim, which was supposed to read “Which are found only in the Ancient Cistern’s main hub area” or, for further clarification, “Which are only found in the paradise portion of the Ancient Cistern.” Relative to the Ancient Cistern, the Furnixes do only make appearances in the uppermost regions of the dungeon. Relative to the other provinces and a small portion of Skyloft, the Furnixes are not unique to the Ancient Cistern. Although they make their debut in Lake Floria’s hidden shrine, they do make appearances in other areas of the game…

As do more architectural secrets.


The Sky Keep: Paradise in the Clouds

“…they also appear in the Desert Shipyard, Fire Sanctuary, and Sky Keep.”
- LINK_IS_DA_BOMB

Ancient Cisterns? Arid Deserts? You don’t need to be an ornithologist to realize just how strange these birds’ migratory patterns are. Given their spontaneity, it should be no surprise that in a land far above Lanayru’s heat waves and Faron’s great waterways, Furnixes patrol the skies of the Sky Keep’s most familiar rooms. The dungeon houses areas whose architecture reflects the most important themes of the Ancient Cistern – and if the grand, decorative corridors and dark sinister chasms aren’t enough to convince you that this is an extension of the shrine, perhaps this will:

Another important detail to take note of is the presence of clouds in the upraised patterns decorating the walls of the Sky Keep. They serve a dual-representative nature in resembling not only clouds, but the scales of Koi fish, which are the prevalent gargoyles of the Ancient Cistern. Interesting fact: there is an old myth that states if a Koi can ascend to the top of a waterfall, it will turn into a dragon. Note that most of the water-spewing objects inside of the Cistern are none other than waterfall producing Koi fish! This myth gave rise to the popular belief that the Koi fish was a symbol of advancement and betterment – themes which exemplify the Buddhist religion.

Considering that the Sky Keep (formerly the Temple of Hylia) used to be a part of the surface, these rooms could have very well been built by the same ancient society for the sake of protecting the Triforce and assisting Hylia. Skyward Sword isn’t shy about exploring world-state awareness, and though before the time of the fourth Goddess, it wouldn’t be a stretch to assume that this culture carried knowledge of the future. I myself predict that next week’s Allegories in Architecture will shed some light on this phenomenon…but I’m no clairvoyant.

There is one last mutual characteristic between the Paradise rooms of the Sky Keep and the Ancient Cistern: their giant rotating pillars.

Though a rare practice, one of the few tools used by Buddhists to assist in the learning of crucial or relevant mantras is the Prayer Wheel. Believed to be gifts from the Buddha and Bodhisattvas, these prayer wheels are believed to assist in purifying negative karma while amplifying wisdom. Traditionally, the wheels are spun clockwise (to correlate with the motion of the rising sun) and appear in a variety of forms. In this case, the designers chose Stationary Wheels with distinct, decorative layers hidden beneath some of the vine entanglement. Let’s take a second look at the wheels found in the lower portion of the Ancient Cistern:

As if lowering a thread from Paradise wasn’t merciful enough, the presence of prayer wheels (which have appropriately been abandoned and forgotten by the denizens of Hell) gestures towards the compassionate nature of the Buddha. It is a passive way to alleviate the eternal torment of those not willing, practiced, or educated enough to earn their place in paradise. I should take a moment to reference what Fi says about the cursed Bokoblins:

It makes sense for the wheels to be covered in vines if the souls they were built for despise everything they represent. Perhaps these wheels weren’t built as an act of compassion. What if these wheels were placed here to ward off the dead, whose hatred would drive them to torment the living? Then one could assume that the vines covering the wheels here have lessened the influence of holy seals, and allowed these Cursed Bokoblins to reanimate without fear of immediate banishment. Afterall, Fi does mention that they hate pure, bright objects.

But what’s this? there’s something peeking ever so shyly through the vines of the underworld’s prayer wheels…

What better way is there to accentuate the presence of prayer wheels in a Buddhist themed dungeon than by adding Ankhs! True, the Ankh comes from Egyptian Mythology – but its Buddhist counterpart is just a little more offensive, or more appropriately put, more generally misunderstood. The Ankh is a symbol of life – more specifically, it is the key to eternal life. Choosing an aesthetic which taps into our heuristic attributes (in this case, we see Ankh and thank – oh! Ancient Egypt! or more generally, Oh! Ancient culture!) is both clever and fitting – it compliments the notions of enlightenment already established with the Idol, the Lotus and the Whip (remember, the Whip is Enlightenment!) and reflects on notions of rebirth. In this particular case, Eternal Life is to Egyptians what rebirth and enlightenment is to Buddhists.

Don’t be blinded by the light of Paradise – for we’ve one last jump into the abyss.


The Sky Keep: More Trials of Hell

“But the dead cannot exist outside of Hell, and doing so would oppose the laws of life. He is able to survive in the Sky Keep only in a room resembling the maw beneath the Ancient Cistern’s Lotus Pond.”

Dark, yet able to cast shadows. Verdant, but not flourishing. Silent, but not torturous. LD-003K doesn’t make an appearance in the Sky Keep’s eerily similar Hell-area (which we will cover very soon), but rather an area that takes all the scenery of the Sky View Temple with the aesthetics of the lower part of the Ancient Cistern – or perhaps more notably, Farore’s Silent Realm. Both are comparable, in their own way.

Farore’s Silent Realm, as with the others, requires that your soul be ripped from your body for the purpose of attaining spiritual growth. In the Ancient Cistern’s basement, your soul has been ripped from your body because it failed to attain spiritual growth. It would be appropriate for LD-003K to appear in this realm, as although he was driven by greed in a past life – he was none the less passively righteous. Servitude in this “Limbo” is better than suffering in Hell. There is also a parallel obligation, given that you must surpass Dreadfuse for the same reasons you surpass the Spiders in the first portion of the Ancient Cistern – to get your enlightened little hands on a small key.

What door does that key open?

Don’t be shy, take a few more steps.

This should start looking extraordinarily familiar, as though you had been here in a past life…

The Ancient Cistern houses the flame of Farore – goddess of courage.

As if to Parallel the Ancient Cistern, the Sky Keep’s Hell themed rooms – packed to the brim with Zombie Bokoblins, Stalfos, and a number of other sinister minions of evil – lead you to something similar:

Given the multitude of thematic similarities and parallelism between thematic consistencies, I am led to believe that these portions of the Sky Keep are indeed an extension of the Ancient Cistern. Whether it be the product of divine will or Cultural Clairvoyance (Ooooh, I like the sound of that), these two areas are inextricably linked. Both dungeons provide Link with challenges that test his courage. Overcoming them will forge his spirit, his blade, and his will. Like tempering a sword, the Gods take their time to craft the perfect hero.

For those of you who have not read the article which this entry is supposed to compliment, you can find it here.

But what’s this? I have one last key…

*Click**Click*

I wasn’t lying when I said the Zelda Dungeon Community’s feedback was phenomenal! Since you all took the time out of your day to read my Article, I took the time out of mine to read all of your comments. I chose a select few out of the bunch to respond to – and If your comment doesn’t appear here – fret not! I have not forgotten you or your patient eyes! You more likely than not contributed to one or more sections of this article (Prayer Wheels included!). Thank you so much for your support. As long as Zelda Dungeon continues to let me write, I will continue to bring my finest food for thought. Now, let’s get to responding to your comments:

“Or knows a lot about Buddhism. Or is just a smart guy. It’s a wonderful article, just appreciate that for what it is.” – Lola

Indeed I do! I’ve been studying Japanese Language and Culture for close to a decade now. Japanese Literature became heavily influenced by Buddhism during the Medieval era, and much of the religion’s Japan-centric mythology took shape during this time. If anyone is feeling up for some interesting reading, I highly suggest picking up a copy of Traditional Japanese Literature by Haruo Shirane. Reading that book alone made this Article possible. Hell, I could even attribute it’s length to it

“No offense, but seeing as the author was mature in regards the subject, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with him mentioning genitalia.” – Guest

I’m aware of the demographic of Zelda Dungeon, and I don’t want to offend or disturb anyone. I’m treating the subject as though it were art – a symbolic gesture that has less to do with the content of the message than it does the subtext. That being said, I will only ever mention this sort of thing if it is relevant – not because I think it is “funny” or my audience will get a cheap laugh from it. Nope. No genitalia jokes here, folks.

“That was one long article. And really intersting, too. BTW, the Wheel looks like one of weapons Amaterasu gets in Okami. If you cant see it, use this http://okami.neoseeker.com/wik… and count the spikes. there are 8 of them.” – Link Fanatic

Link Fanatic. I could write books about symbolism Okami and its DS sequel Okamiden!!! Cultural Motifs, references to origin texts, relationships to mythology – you name it. In due time, I’ll have a Twitter page devoted to analyzing or exploring games outside of Zelda. At some point I’ll post a link to that page at the end of these articles, and I promise you I’ll have a nice long read about Okami up on the site Thank you so much for bringing this up. I loved that game. It’s so good to know that it hasn’t gone unappreciated!

‘This reminds me of another artical i read about majora’s mask, and it’s undertones. great read!” – Guest

I believe the article you’re referring to is The Message of Majora’s Mask – and I loved that article. A writer after my own heart, if you will – being my favorite Zelda game in the series, it was nice to see the game put into a cultural perspective. I hope to do some of that through-the-lens-of-culture-esque writing here on Zelda Dungeon. Just be sure to stop me if I get too speculative!

“Am I the only one that saw similarities between this dungeon and Tsuta Ruins in Okami? Maybe not so much Buddhist overtones, but the main chamber seemed similar.”- fimbulvetr

Seriously – am I going to have to write a crossover article for Zelda and Okami? Again – yes! That game took many, many stories from traditional medieval literature, many of which were written by Buddhist monks, and turned them into a rich, magnificent story. I’m honestly having trouble containing my Okami-excitement. Hmmm….what to do…

“Awesome article! Just didn’t agree in two points; first: with the LD-003K because the story says he was the captain of the pirates…” – Tiranofarl

I left him out of this article for a reason…stay tuned for next week

“Curse you! I had this same idea. You deserve a pat on the back.” – Yo

The only thing that makes us different is Zelda Dungeon – I don’t own this idea and I hope you don’t feel I’ve robbed you of anything. I always hated it when I had a thought (like Oh man! They should make Pokemon Snap for the 3DS or WiiU!) that showed up on a gaming site, like, the next day. I empathize!

“BOSS!!!”- You-Know-Who

I LOVE THE 90S! …OR MAYBE THE LATE 80S!

“Not since I read theories about Stone Tower Temple have I read about such amazing allegory and inspiration for a Zelda dungeon. There are truly some fantastic Zelda dungeon designs, not only in regards to gameplay but in allegorical meaning as well, and it’s articles like this that make you remember that.” – Guest Of Honor

To anyone and everyone who wrote a comment in the same vein – thank you. The approval of the ZD community means greater, better quality articles for the site.

“So, what’s coming next?” – Robert

I sprinkled some clues throughout this Article. I warn that my next entry relies much more on speculation, but the connections are sound. There may not be an origin text like The Spider’s Thread to compare architecture and design to, but there will none the less be creative, compelling speculation that will, at the very least, get you thinking.

On a final note – If you, the readers of Zelda Dungeon, want to see a specific aspect of Zelda explored – whether in architecture or theory – leave it in the comments, and I’ll take note of each and every suggestion.

At the very beginning of this Article I referenced the possibly foreboding but comfortably familiar feeling you might experience walking into a long post.

My hope is that by the end of it, you were able to walk away with something equally as familiar.

Thanks so much for reading – and I hope you stay tuned for more!

Author: Robert

A (deku) scrub here at Zelda Dungeon, Robert spearheads the Allegories in Architecture series, which aims to explore the Legend of Zelda’s in-game culture and its real-world inspirations. When he’s not scouring Hyrule for symbolism, he’s been known to breed Pokemon, thwart Dr. Wily’s evil plans and help Patricia Wagon round up those naughty Hooligan Sisters. Catch him on Twitter for more Game related cultural forays – and don’t be afraid to challenge him at Mario Kart 7…if you’re comfortable with defeat.