The Zelda Pantheon

[DekuNut]

So, question: how do you guys think the Zelda Pantheon itself works? For the longest time we just had the Triforce Goddeses (Din, Nayru, and Farore), but over the last few years we've gained Hylia, The Spirits of Good, and probably others I can't think of.
I really don't have much to say on the matter; I'm just kinda unsure about this whole thing.

 

[Whimsical]

To be honest, I really liked the idea of the 3 goddesses, who represent and made the triforce, being the "most powerful" gods. Then, you've got the sages/wise men, who are kind of like saints, powerful in their own right but still answerable to din, nayru and farore. Then, you have link, zelda and ganon, who are the bearers of the goddess' power. (courage, wisdom and power.) To me, that made perfect sense.

THEN they had to mess all of that up with the inclusion of Hylia in SS. So, it wasn't the 3 goddesses who made hyrule, it was hylia? Not only that, but hylia is later re-incarnated as Zelda. So, Zelda can't just be a princess with cool powers, she has to be a literal goddess. That is dumb, imo. Don't even get me started on Demise. Ganon apparently can't have any motivation other than "Grrr there's a curse because he's the literal devil and swore revenge."

Also, if the triforce is an all-powerful relic that can grant ANY wish, couldn't you use it to, I dunno, wish away Hylia? Not that you would, but if that WERE possible that would make the triforce, and by extension the 3 goddesses, more powerful than Hylia. So who is really in charge?

 

[Djinn]

It does sort of follow the more animistic belief that there are multiple tiers of deities in the world. Which even Greek followed as well if you read a bit more into it beyond what was required in highschool. They at least had the overarching primordials then the Titans, then the gods, then gods of place, then nymphs and genus loci of certain physical objects or specific spots.

But Eastern belief has a separation of gods of heaven and gods of the earth. This setting seems to follow that.

So you got the golden goddesses who are the principal gods of heaven. These are the ones that nothing in the world interacts with but are the creator deities.

Now for gods of Earth, starting with the gods of certain aspects of nature. Zephos and Cyclos who control the wind. Hylia who's function was not named, some people consider her the goddess of time. She might be the god that governs the world Hyrule is in, much like the Ocean King watches over his world.

The gods of place, would be the Light Spirits who each govern a specific location, with the exact same job as a genus loci. The three dragons of Skyward Sword have the same duty to the same spots apparently before the Light Spirits. The Four Giants govern the region Clock Town is in. The Spirits of Good who watch over New Hyrule of Spirit Tracks. The Sols of the Twilight Realm,

Gods of certain things, objects, specific spots. Through some conversation in the games it sounds like these positions are appointed by other gods. The Deku Tree is the guardian of that specific forest, Jabu Jabu of the water of Hyrule, Valoo the sky above the drowned Hyrule, Levias the sky realm Skyloft is in. The Fairy of Wings resides in the Gale Boomerang, The Spirit of Healing who lives in the Spirit Flute, The Season Spirits who reside over a certain season of Labrynna,

 

[DeactivatedUser2]

To be honest, I really liked the idea of the 3 goddesses, who represent and made the triforce, being the "most powerful" gods. Then, you've got the sages/wise men, who are kind of like saints, powerful in their own right but still answerable to din, nayru and farore. Then, you have link, zelda and ganon, who are the bearers of the goddess' power. (courage, wisdom and power.) To me, that made perfect sense.

THEN they had to mess all of that up with the inclusion of Hylia in SS. So, it wasn't the 3 goddesses who made hyrule, it was hylia? Not only that, but hylia is later re-incarnated as Zelda. So, Zelda can't just be a princess with cool powers, she has to be a literal goddess. That is dumb, imo. Don't even get me started on Demise. Ganon apparently can't have any motivation other than "Grrr there's a curse because he's the literal devil and swore revenge."

Also, if the triforce is an all-powerful relic that can grant ANY wish, couldn't you use it to, I dunno, wish away Hylia? Not that you would, but if that WERE possible that would make the triforce, and by extension the 3 goddesses, more powerful than Hylia. So who is really in charge?

There's been more Goddesses than the 3 Goddesses in the series before Hylia even came to fruition; the Goddess of Sand and the Goddess of Time (unless you consider the Goddess of Time to be Nayru or Farore) come to mind.

 

[Spirit]

-Hylia
-Golden goddesses
-Sages
-Flat earth
-Five elephants
-Giant space sea turtle

 

[el :BeoWolf:]

To my understanding, off the top of my head, we have the golden goddesses at the top, then Hylia directly below them. Then there's the dragons, light spirits and the four giants below Hylia. Then just some other deities/guardian spirits

 

[Beauts]

Lots of religions have gods at varying levels. Hinduism for example, as well as the Ancient Greek and Roman religions.

My personal take on the Zelda pantheon is something along these lines:

So you have the 'actual' goddesses, which are Din, Farore and Nayru. They created the world and everything in it and left the Triforce behind. Then you have Hylia, who is like the 'goddess' of the people, kind of how Jesus was like God on earth or whatever. Perhaps it is possible that she had godly powers just to protect the Triforce and everything in Hyrule. Kind of like there was all this power, and the Three Goddesses are the origins of it, but Hylia was the one who wielded said power.
Then you have the deities which, like the Sikh Gurus and Islamic Prophets, are dotted across time, from the dragons in SS to Lord Jabu-Jabu and the Great Deku Tree in OoT to the Light Spirits in TP (I'm not going to go into the debate as to whether they're the same essential beings reincarnated at this point, I'm going to treat each era of Zelda as it's own for sake of explanation). I also think that the dragons/deities are some kind of 'earth' versions of the Goddesses, given the similarities in names. (Eldin, Lanayru, Faron)/. This would reinforce the similarities in a way with the Ancient Greek beliefs in the sense that their Gods were also able to interact with the world.
I believe the Sages only came to exist after the Triforce was first sealed into the Sacred Realm, and they were then in charge of protecting the Triforce. I think that when Hylia was reincarnated as a mortal, was p much defeated if it wasn't for the Chosen Hero and so forth, the powers that be decided that a single guardian for the Triforce was too weak to properly protect the Triforce, so the task was distributed to the Sages once the Triforce was sealed away into the Sacred Realm for protection. It's much harder to defeat 5 people with almost godly powers than it is 1 because they won't all be in one place. Obviously though, this fell apart when the Triforce split and Ganondorf was able to subdue the Sages with the Triforce of Power. It's obvious in some senses though that the guardianship of the sacred realm was kind of the point of the temples in OoT, at least.

Then you have the fact that separate deities/religions seem to exist further down the line amongst different groups. It's obvious to me that the Gerudo believed in the Three Goddesses religion but they seem to have their own deity just like the Zoras and Kokiri; however, the main difference is you know basically nothing about the Sand Goddess or whatever you want to call the woman the OoT Spirit Temple features (similarly depicted in the Ancient Cistern). It would make sense that there are almost different denominations, especially when the culture is clearly different as is the case with the Gerudos, but Ganondorf was evidently aware of the Triforce, and not just because he is Demise's reincarnation, but because Twinrova made him aware of it, which means that there was at least general knowledge of the Hylian religion. If being King of the Gerudo is in any way the same as being the King of England back in the day, the people generally follow whichever religion their ruler follows/imposes unless there is enforced secularism- and somehow I dount that Ganondorf is the most tolerant guy. I also happen to believe the Sheikah also clearly believe a slightly different version than the general Hylian population, but that the basic principles of it are there in the fact they guard the Royal Family, the descendents of Hylia via SS Zelda. Maybe the Sheikah are sort of like a 'chosen people' which predate SS, given the fact the first Impa already exists in that game on the surface.

So, to summarise:

Actual Gods: Din, Nayru, Farore. (Creators of the Triforce)
Wielder of godly powers/protector of the world: Hylia (Protects the Triforce on behalf of Gods), Sages (protects the living world/sacred realm from Demise)
Earthly Gods/Deities of Worship: Various
Denominations: Various (see different deities, cultural differences, variations in beliefs between people and between games)
Chosen People/Peoples of Note: Sheikah, Gerudos (possibly)

P.s. I did not discuss the Four Giants or any other part of MM as I feel that Termina is a whole different ball game from Hyrule.

 

[Devon Thurgood]

We musnt forget the wind gods of wind waker. I imagine theres a lot more that we havent discovered aswell.

Ive wondered this before, but what if the religion practiced in skyward sword and the religion practiced in ocarina of time/twilight princess/etc are completely seperate religions?

 

[DeactivatedUser2]

Golden Goddesses
The three Golden Goddesses are above everything, as they are the reasons the world came to fruition.
Demise and Hylia
Hylia would be directly below the Golden Goddesses, because, as powerful as she is, she still answers to the Golden Goddesses. Demise is also about equal to her in strength; the only difference is he could use the Triforce without having to give anything up, like Hylia had to do with her Godly position and immortality.
Deities and Lesser Gods
Light Spirits, Spirits of Good, Goddess of Sand, Goddess of Time (possibly) and small Spiritual beings such as the Great Deku Tree and Jabun.
Link, Zelda, and Ganondorf
Explanatory.
Sages
One thing I noticed was how high people were putting the Sages on their list; agree to disagree. While they're the reason Hyrule has stayed safe in dangerous times, such as the Imprisoning War or Ganondorf's (failed) execution, I just don't see them as high up as the main trio who possess the Triforce, much less the lesser Gods.
Hylians
The Goddess' chosen people.
Humans
Regular, lame people.
Bulblins/Bokoblins/Moblins/Miniblins
Semi intelligent enemies that can at least establish some sort community.
Other Enemies (Stalfos, Chuchu, Bubble)
Basic, unintelligent enemies that are regarded with dungeons and other disgusting or dangerous places.

 

[Spamomanospam]

Also, if the triforce is an all-powerful relic that can grant ANY wish, couldn't you use it to, I dunno, wish away Hylia? Not that you would, but if that WERE possible that would make the triforce, and by extension the 3 goddesses, more powerful than Hylia. So who is really in charge?

I think "any wish" is an overstatement by foolish mortals that don't understand fully. If the Triforce was crafted by the Goddesses, how could its magic outweigh theirs?

 

[Devon Thurgood]

I think "any wish" is an overstatement by foolish mortals that don't understand fully. If the Triforce was crafted by the Goddesses, how could its magic outweigh theirs?

Theres also the mattar of paradixical wishes. What if you wishedthe triforce had never exsisted? Is that somehow possible?

 

[Spamomanospam]

Theres also the mattar of paradixical wishes. What if you wishedthe triforce had never exsisted? Is that somehow possible?

That depends on whether it has the power to erase/reset time. Theoretically, if you travel back in time and keep it from every being forged, then it would no longer exist, however it would probably create another timeline split, so the future you return to would be identical to the one you left, and only the new alternate universe would have no Triforce whatsoever. Like Trunks in DBZ.

 

[Devon Thurgood]

That depends on whether it has the power to erase/reset time. Theoretically, if you travel back in time and keep it from every being forged, then it would no longer exist, however it would probably create another timeline split, so the future you return to would be identical to the one you left, and only the new alternate universe would have no Triforce whatsoever. Like Trunks in DBZ.

Isnt it more likely youll return to the future you created? The one with no troforce?

 

[Chill Fruit]

Well, ALBW seems to imply that every dimension has its own triforce, and that breaking it will slowly destroy the dimension, so if you wish for the Triforce to never exist, you're essentially destroying your own dimension.

Then we enter a paradoxical loop ... unless you apply to the many timelines theories that say any kind of messing with time just displace you to an alternate parallel timeline that instantly diverges. At which point wishing for the Triforce to never exist is basically suidice by gods.

 

[Devon Thurgood]

Well, ALBW seems to imply that every dimension has its own triforce, and that breaking it will slowly destroy the dimension, so if you wish for the Triforce to never exist, you're essentially destroying your own dimension.

Then we enter a paradoxical loop ... unless you apply to the many timelines theories that say any kind of messing with time just displace you to an alternate parallel timeline that instantly diverges. At which point wishing for the Triforce to never exist is basically suidice by gods.

I always got the idea that the triforce is powerful, but not infinitly powerful. The triforce is a fraction of the goddesses power right? If thats the case the goddesses have more power than the triforce so the triforce isnt infinite.