Tag: The Hyrulian Pantheon

Great societies throughout history have told legends and myths about deities and other divine characters almost as long as humanity has existed. Over time these stories evolve into set religious beliefs shared by people who already share a culture. Sometimes these beliefs develop pantheons of gods with multiple tiers and intricate workings. The people of Hyrule are no different, and the release of Skyward Sword gives us just the information we need in order to understand what their pantheon was…

The subject of the goddess Hylia is a confusing mass of tales at this point, yet to be delved into and sorted out by theorists of the fan community. Before Skyward Sword even starts we are told a legend about her, passed down by the Hylians of Skyloft, which tells of her duty guarding the “ultimate power” from the demonic hoards rising from the earth. It shows her putting the remaining Hylians on an outcropping of earth and using her…

All but one of the characters discussed here as Evil Gods are highly debatable. All of them are called Gods by others for one reason or another. Some even have temples built for them by their worshipers. I have not included characters who proclaim themselves to be gods because of the amount of power they have gained.   There are a handful of gods in both Greek and Norse Mythology who are considered evil. Hades is an example of one…

In every pantheon there are mystical creatures and spirits that exist outside of normal understanding. They are not races, per say, but rather, they are anomalies of nature. Sometimes they serve purposes, to guard certain things or places for example, or just to cause trouble. The Hyrulian pantheon also has these spirits present in its lore.   I do believe that there is a distinction between a race or creature and a spirit, and so do Zelda’s myths. Let’s use…

It is in the Guardian category that Hyrulian culture really shines. There is a god for some things, some spirits and demi-gods scattered through the world, and of course the Three Goddesses, but the guardians of the land are everywhere. They are in everyone’s business, and chances are if you live in this world you have met one of them at some time. If not, you must live under a rock, never leave your house, and are of no importance…

I considered lumping these in with the minor gods and ignoring this rung on the divine ladder, but none of them really belonged in the previous article. None of them belong in the next article on divine guardians either, as all of them are more important than that. In the end I decided that it was best to have them in their own category, more important than guardians but less important than full gods. A Demi-God in traditional mythology is…

In every pantheon there are many tiers or levels of gods based on power and importance. Besides the major gods, there are many others. The Greeks had a god for practically everything. Not all of them were important enough to live on Mount Olympus, and some that did live on Olympus weren’t all that important. Take Hephaestus for example, the deformed god of the forge. Hera threw him off of Olympus when he was born because he was hideous, but…

A Classic Mural of the Three Goddesses (aLttP) Hyrule’s major gods are the Three Goddesses: Din, Nayru, and Farore. They form a three part union of perfect balance, symbolized by the Triforce and central to Hyrulian culture. Din’s primary role is the Goddess of Power, Naryu’s is the Goddess of Wisdom. and Farore is the Goddess of Courage. These three concepts are the center of Hyrulian religious belief.   A person cannot have power without the wisdom to know what…

No study of cultural mythology can proceed without an understanding of how that culture perceives their world. Cosmology itself isn’t restricted to mythologies. The Big Bang Theory is a cosmological theory, for example. Cosmologists seek to understand the origin, evolution, and structure of the universe, as well as what keeps it all together, and what the ultimate fate of the universe is. Greek cosmology is relatively simple, once you figure out which version of it you’re going to go with….

Since the series’ conception, the exact nature and structure of Hyrulian religion has been a mystery. We have known there are Goddesses and Gods, Guardians and Spirits, Temples and Sacred Places. What we haven’t known is how all of these separate deities exist in relationship to each other, if they believe themselves to be in relationship to each other in the first place, or whether or not there are different tiers, such as in many multi-god religions.  I have always…