Spoiler Interesting Family Crest

[BamaLynx]

I was looking through the new screenshots posted by IGN, and I noticed the family crest of the slender male with white hair that we've seen in the various trailers and such. His crest appears to be a tree. We obviously haven't seen the crests of every character, but this ones seems different from the others since most of the ones I've seen seem to have some form of a bird on them. This may not be the case at all, but I'm curious now of this characters significance in the game. Also curious to see if this will have any connection to the Great Deku tree at some point in the game.

I had a few options/thoughts about what his crest could mean....

- Maybe he is from the most ancient/original family in Skyloft, and the fact that his crest is a tree signifies that his family rose to power and influence prior to their people's movement into the sky when they still lived below the clouds (crest is "ground" related)...while most of the other families have an air-related crest (birds) which could mean their ancestors were only familiar with Skyloft.

- Maybe he is not actually Skyloftian, and perhaps he is from the forest area below the clouds.

- Maybe it is not an unsual crest at all, and we simply do not have a very large set of data points to base these opinions on (highly likely this may be the case).

 

[Djinn]

Every time I see that guy, he reminds me of the Rito from WW. Just *** a beak and you have the SS version of Quill.

I do not think a tree symbol on his clothing is enough to consider him somewhat related to the Deku Tree, trees have been used on family crests and in symbology before. Normally they are related to growth, wisdom, and learning. It also represents life in general, often the symbol is called the tree of life while certain specific trees have been considered sacred to certain cultures. Tree symbolism is actually very common around the world.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tree_of_life
http://livingartsoriginals.com/infoforests.htm
Now we have seen that this character is an important figure in Skyloft from the few videos released during E3, he was the master of the bird ceremony that Link took part in. It could be possible that his family crest is more related to his role as a teacher of students in Skyloft or he is a keeper of information. I am thinking that he is the bird expert mentioned in the Nintendo Power article before as that fits with his role in the bird ceremony in the video from last June. He seemed to be the real authority on how to control a loftwing and told the students of the knight academy what they were supposed to be doing within the ceremony. Gaepora seemed to be there in a more supporting role only disciplining certain students. So the tree on his clothing could also symbolize his role as keeper of the birds. As birds commonly live in trees, his position of loftwing keeper or lorekeeper symbolizes his family being the primary caretakers, the "tree which all the birds live on" in a way.

 

[Yonatesf]

He looks like a Sheikah.

 

[Djinn]

He does hold a similar appearance, but months ago I pointed out that the Rito resemble the Sheikah much more than they ever resembled Zora. Both species had swarthy skin, red eyes and white hair. Although it is hard to tell if this guy has red eyes, they do not glow as brightly as the Sheikah woman's eyes do in the second pic. However there is a mention of a Sheikah stone appearing just outside of the Knight Academy in Skyloft so it may be possible that there is some kind of connection.

 

[:Zelda:Druggie:]

That map behind him intrigues me as well, anyone see a possible connection between one of the ground areas and that map ? http://zeldadungeon.net/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=18079&d=1317320177