Q and A: Soundtracks, BEN, and Zelda Theories

For starters, I apologize for skipping last weeks Q and A. I was insanely busy and just not able to get it out on time, so I moved last weeks to this weeks. One of our newest writers, Jacob Whitlock, joins me this week as we go through and answer your burning Zelda questions. Everything from BEN DROWNED to A Link Between Worlds and beyond. What are you waiting for?

Nicole Bovard: What r your thoughts on BEN DROWNED?

Jacob: It’s a fun creepy-pasta. I was admittedly a tad freaked out when I first saw it. While it may be a tad overrated today, it’s an enjoyable tale.

Nate: It was fun while it lasted. I think the main problem with BEN DROWNED is it blew up in popularity way more than the creator ever intended it to, so he tried to extend it beyond his initial plans and it fell apart. In fact, he had a game or whatever he was going to make that just never happened. It was pretty fun when people thought it was a real story at first. Once it tried to become more, it sort of fell apart for me.

Hailey McFetridge: WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ZELDA SOUNDTRACK?

Jacob: Majora’s Mask with Skyward Sword as a close second.

Nate: Easily The Wind Waker, though I am sure many others would say Ocarina of Time.

Cameron Flack: How many, and who are, the major Gods/Goddess’s in The Legend Of Zelda? Would, for instance, Valoo be considered a God, and if so, is he a Major God?

Jacob: To my understanding, there are the Three Golden Goddesses: Nayru, Din, Farore that created the world. There’s Hylia, the original protector of the triforce who was also reborn into Skyward Sword’s Zelda. As for the rest, other deities are guardians chosen to watch over what they’ve been assigned.

Nate: I am pulling this off the top of my head so forgive me if I am wrong, but I believe Jacob is spot on. Din, Nayru, and Farore created the world and Hylia, a 4th Goddess, was the protector of the Triforce left behind. Valoo, while described as a “deity”, is just more of a folk lore type ordeal. He’s likely more of a sage type presence than anything else, as often times throughout Zelda history the people have often interchanged Goddesses and Gods with their sages, as the sages play an important role throughout the series. So, to my knowledge, only four Goddesses actually exist. Valoo isn’t actually a God, he’s more like the Ruto people’s Great Deku Tree. You can read more about this in Hyrule Historia.

Augustine Vega: most mind blowing zelda theory?

Jacob: My favorite theory is in Majora’s Mask, where it’s theorized that Tingle is the Termina equivalent to Link

Nate: Honestly, this is the toughest question today because I have to try and interpret what you mean by mind blowing. As an example, do you mean the theory that was so well supported and so out there that I feel like I just learned something I totally never knew about before? Because if so, the entire premise behind The Philosophy of The Wind Waker takes the cake. If you mean just the most “out-their” theory, that’s a bit tougher. I suppose it would be a theory of my own: That a timeline doesn’t exist. I know, Hyrule Historia and all, but I still feel that was just cobbled together (timeline wise) and they never kept any super secret timeline document around.

Micah Behr: I’m wondering. What are your thoughts on the creation of Lorule? It’s well-known that Hyrule and the Sacred Realm were created by the three Goddesses, but what of Lorule? Same goddesses or do Nayru, Din, and Farore have their own Lorule counterparts?

Jacob: While still not having played A Link Between Worlds, I gather that Lorule is simply a parallel universe/planet/dimension that runs alongside Hyrule. It would make sense for there to be counterparts of the goddesses. Whether they worked exactly like the goddesses in Hyrule, your guess is as good as mine.

Nate: You’re not going to like my response, because I’m not going to give you a definitive answer. At the end of the day, Lorule to me has always existed and we’ve just never been there, so in that regard it was created at the same time Hyrule was by the same Goddesses (though, likely unplanned). However, that is a total shot in the dark, and A Link Between Worlds does nothing to shine any light on it.

Jace Mansfield: What do you think about the parallels between the Triforce (power, courage, wisdom) and the holy trinity in Christianity(Father, Son, Holy Spirit)?

Jacob: It’s not uncommon to take inspirations from religion. While not being a religious person myself, I love learning about the source material and what inspired interesting concepts in my favorite series.

Nate: The whole concept of religion in Zelda has always been intriguing. The Triforce itself does create a sort of religion in the series, though I never really saw a direct correlation between the Triforce and the holy trinity. I say that because the only similar aspect is the number 3, as the Triforce itself represents both good and evil, while the holy trinity just represents the three aspects of one God. Still, you can certainly draw comparisons and religion has been a major influence on the series for a long time. Their has even been some Islamic type influences in the past, and arguably a bit of Muslim on top of that. None of this is wrong, and gaming often draws upon religion for inspiration because it is what the developers know, and in knowing that, it helps players make a connection. It is also a very hard conversation to have, because people get very passionate about religious comparisons.

Kyle Wilson: if Link is the hero of time for using the Ocarina of Time to travel back and forth through time… then does that make Ravio the hero of space since he has the braclet that allows him to become a painting and move between worlds?

Jacob: Technically, yes.

Nate: I actually disagree with Jacob. Yes, Link in Ocarina of Time and Majora’s Mask is considered the Hero of Time because he can alter time with the Ocarina as well as move through time with the pulling of the Master Sword, but it’s not as cut and dry with Ravio. For starters, all Ravio is doing is moving between parallel dimensions. He isn’t inherently bending space, and technically speaking Link himself does the same thing throughout the game. I won’t go too much further into this because we start to get in the realm of spoilers, and with Ravio there is a lot of them, but Link is technically the one doing the saving, so Link would be the Hero. Calling him the Hero of Space, however, doesn’t fit, because space is more closely linked to outer-space, where as what Link really is here is the Hero of the Space-Time continuum. Something like that. It’s just a game, and not every “hero” needs a nickname I suppose. In fact, when else has Link really gotten such names beyond Ocarina of Time and The Wind Waker?

Madison Weber: Could the Hero (and/or Link) ever be female in an actual Zelda game? Why is The Legend of Zelda so timeless and un-changing when so many other games evolve?

Jacob: Technically yes. Link is conceived by his mother at some point, and there’s a 50/50 chance that Link would be a girl.

In all seriousness, it’s always possible to make the decision to make Link, Linkette. While I personally would be very interested to see what playing as a female in a Zelda game would be like, the male dominance fantasy has a strong presence in the Zelda series. Putting a female as the lead may alienate a lot of male players. Hopefully I’m wrong

in that assumption, but that could be a reason why.

As for Zelda being a rather static, yet timeless franchise, I think that the series has evolved tremendously. Story presentation in Skyward Sword and Twilight Princess were far stronger than previous entries. If we’re talking about actual design, however, the developers certainly need to experiment a bit more. The series has admittedly been very formulaic.

Nate: Wait, Link is a dude? You could have fooled me! What with his perfect skin complexion, female like eyes, and lips that look like he is wearing lipstick. I mean, he’s certainly a pretty boy, and those types already feel a bit feminine. No, I am not saying Link is gay, not that it would be a real issue if he was, just that he already has a ton of female like features. No surprise really, as generally the female form is what is associated with the perfection.

What I am really getting at here is that Link doesn’t need to be female, because his features allow him to be approachable by both males and females. He is clearly a guy, but one that women can see themselves being. This is why his gender has never been a huge issue in the Zelda series, outside of the whole save the Princess trope, but that has more to do with Zelda than Link. I mean, how many female Link cosplayers are out there? Answer: A lot, and they tend to look more like Link than the male cosplayers do. Link is sort of a gender neutral character as it stands.

As for why Zelda is timeless, I would argue that’s not actually true to begin with. The popularity of the series has actually been declining steadily since Ocarina of Time with Twilight Princess being a notable exception. The problem the series has, in my mind, is the entire identity of what it is. While the series constantly experiments with new ideas – by changing up how it wants to tell stories and how it deals with the aesthetic so much, it’s creating so much confusion around what the series is that it sort of buries itself under its own ambition. The series has been constantly changing, just not always in the ways that it should be.

Tyler Savatovic: what is the true zelda timeline?

Jacob:

Whatever Hyrule Historia says. It’s the official Nintendo Timeline.

Nate:

Lucas B. Gomez: What

are your theories on A Link Between Worlds link having the majoras mask?

Jacob: I can only think

of it being a tease for a Majora’s Mask remake. Or perhaps just a cute Easter

Egg. As for where it came from in the universe of that game, I have zero ideas

on that.

Nate: It’s just an Easter Egg really, nothing more.

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Until next week folks, Stay Classy!