Life Lessons From the Gorons

For many gamers, the most memorable games are those that make impressions on us, show us new things, or give us some food for thought. Large games incorporate philosophy to build up the moral environment and bring life and character to NPCs, creating contrast between you and the various locations you are allowed to visit. Though simple in comparison to multi-player online games, the Zelda franchise excels at providing differing “communal” personalities, where each race has their own universal values and thoughts throughout the games. Philosophy is, in itself, an act of interpretation and justification, something that we fans do all the time with any and all Zelda games. If the potential of the franchise to teach and guide was not there, none of us would have such passionate beliefs regarding the characters, circumstances and worlds within the games. Though these aspects are more apparent in modern titles, like Ocarina of Time, it’s understandable that a good story took a backseat to mechanics in early game formats.

The Goron tribe from Ocarina of Time is probably the simplest and most obvious example of life lessons presented in Zelda games, though for some of us it may have gone over our heads the first time through because we initially played it as children. In the game, the principle problem for the Gorons is that their favorite food, rock sirloin, has been sealed up in Dodongo Cavern by a big. . . rock. After speaking with various starving Gorons you discover a simple truth: they are stubborn and would rather go extinct by dying horrible deaths than work together to eat some sub par rock, a substance they have been consuming since the birth of their tribe. If you were a picky eater when you were younger, I’m sure you can relate to not wanting to eat food that isn’t delicious, but after being sent to bed with no dinner, weren’t you ready to eat something, anything, in the morning? Would even your self-centered, growing brain have let you die because you didn’t like chicken? Apparently, all the Gorons would have.

Sadly, the Gorons general lack of understanding or caring that actions they take will lead to certain death does not extend to courage or heroism. They will simultaneously starve themselves to death and refuse to attempt to stop another creature, in this case Volvagia, from eating all of them. Whichever Goron happens to possess some level of daring among all that enraging apathy is named the tribal leader, as in the world of Ocarina of Time it would seem that bravery is a genetic trait, and all conquests, rescues and otherwise dangerous activities are left to him alone. Thus, the race that grows in the franchise to be considered strong, full of vitality and honor and otherwise respectable, is reduced to a species that is preyed upon, manipulated and treated like dragon snacks.

Lessons learned from the Gorons’ behavior are subtle more because a player must step away from the game instead of taking everything inside that little world for granted. While logically we may say it makes perfect sense for a tribe to need help unblocking a cave so they can eat, once we start looking at the details of who we are dealing with, the whole situation crumbles into absurdity. Not only that, but these lessons are shown to and ingrained in us with real-life examples. While the game shows us that eating something is better than eating nothing, our own parents or family have berated our ears with the knowledge that somewhere in the world, whether in our own country or in a foreign land, other people would be grateful for the food we are rejecting. Knowing the Gorons could feast and be happy if they suffered a little displeasure by eating something unsatisfying is parallel to us recognizing that rewards rarely come without effort and are so much sweeter (pun intended) when we overcome controversy to achieve them.

Lastly, teams are not always perfectly built and not all team members are suited to every task. Just about everybody has a story or two about someone who wasn’t a team player or having to take on more than their fair share of work. It’s okay if not everybody has the same aptitudes as you do, so don’t be afraid to take a leadership position if you feel comfortable with the task at hand and clearly other people do not. On the other hand, always try your best and be willing to participate. If the Gorons had all just agreed to work together to remove that boulder, each one would have dealt with a minimal of work and discomfort.